Three Kingdoms: Wolong's brother-in-law, tricking Liu Bei into seizing Jingzhou

On the north bank of the Wei River, Han Camp.

"The Xiliang Iron Cavalry is indeed as good as its reputation. They robbed me of more than 40,000 hu of grain and grass in five days."

"Mengqi, your old subordinate Pang De is really a good cavalry commander, worthy of being a member of your Ma family army."

Liu Bei flipped through the battle report in his hand and couldn't help but sigh.

What he held in his hand was the intelligence sent by the grain protection army, which detailed the grain and fodder that had been robbed in recent days.

There were more than 20,000 Xiliang cavalry, led by Cao Zhen, Wen Chou and Pang De, among whom Pang De had the best performance.

There were more than 40,000 hu of grain and fodder, but Pang De alone looted and burned nearly 30,000 hu, and also killed nearly 2,000 soldiers who were guarding the grain.

At this time, Liu Bei was both annoyed and somewhat admiring of Pang De.

When mentioning Pang De, there was no hatred on Ma Chao's face, but instead a hint of regret and sorrow.

"This Pang Lingming is an expert in martial arts, and can compete with me. He is also proficient in commanding cavalry, and is truly a fierce general of the time."

"When Cao Cao conquered Zhang Lu, Pang Lingming was in Nanzheng and was unable to retreat to Shuzhong with me. He had no choice but to follow Zhang Lu and surrender to Cao Cao."

"In fact, he surrendered to Cao Cao out of necessity."

"I didn't expect that he would fight so hard for Cao Cao today. It seems that Cao Cao has won his heart and made him willing to fight to the death for the pseudo-Qin."

Xiao Fang agreed with Ma Chao's sentiment.

As in previous history, Pang De initially surrendered to Cao out of necessity, not by voluntarily betraying the Ma family.

But after surrendering to Cao, Pang De went through some kind of psychological transformation, and he turned from a surrendered minister into a loyal minister of the Cao family.

When Guan Erge flooded seven armies and dominated China, he and Yu Jin were both defeated and captured.

Yu Jin was a long-time minister of Cao Cao, but he was unwilling to die for Cao Cao and surrendered to Guan Yu.

On the contrary, Pang De, who surrendered to Cao halfway, refused to surrender and was beheaded by Guan Yu.

Now that I think about it carefully, it should be as Ma Chao said. Cao Cao used some unknown means to conquer Pang De's heart and make him repay his loyalty with his death.

There's nothing strange about this.

After all, among the heroes of the late Han Dynasty, only Cao Cao could compete with Liu Bei in terms of personal charm.

"It's a pity that such a brave general is in the hands of Cao Cao, what a pity..."

Liu Bei admired Pang De but could not get him, and could not help but shake his head in regret.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to lead my Han cavalry to protect our food supply and defeat Pang De and other Qin cavalry."

"If I meet Pang De, I will capture him alive and make him submit to Your Majesty!"

Ma Chao volunteered.

A gleam of light flashed in Liu Bei's eyes.

Using cavalry to restrain cavalry is naturally the best solution to break the enemy cavalry's harassment.

Moreover, after defeating the Xiongnu and Wuhuan, the Han army obtained tens of thousands of excellent horses. After two years of training, it has formed an elite cavalry of more than 25,000 horses.

Using cavalry to counter the enemy, Liu Bei was quite confident in his cavalry both in terms of quantity and quality.

Moreover, as Ma Chao said, if he could get another brave cavalry general like Pang De, it would naturally be a great gift from heaven and couldn't be better.

"It is true that using cavalry to restrain cavalry is good, but Mengqi, you overlooked one point. Pang Dewenchou and his men may not necessarily engage in a head-on confrontation with our army."

Fa Zheng suddenly spoke:
"The mission that Cao Cao gave to Pang De and his generals was to raid our army's food supply route, forcing our army to run out of food and grass at the front line and be forced to retreat back to Hedong."

"Then Pang De and his men must be aiming at our army's food supply team, not at destroying our cavalry."

"So if he encounters a large group of our cavalry, he will definitely stay away and not engage in battle with us, leaving us no chance of defeating him in one battle."

"From Puban Pass to the Wei River, the grain route stretches for more than 170 miles. With such a long distance, the enemy cavalry can attack everywhere, and our army, relying on only 20,000 cavalry, cannot defend against it."

"If you think about it this way, our 20,000 Han cavalry alone may not be able to solve the problem of the food supply route being attacked."

Ma Chao was silent; his desire to fight was suppressed by Fa Zheng's words.

Liu Bei frowned again, stroked his beard and nodded slightly:
"Xiao Zhi's words make sense. It is indeed not feasible to rely solely on cavalry to find and annihilate the Qin cavalry and protect my grain route of more than 170 miles."

The Han emperor and his ministers all had a lot of discussions and were all troubled by the current situation.

Before troops move out, food and fodder must be sent ahead. The smooth flow of food supplies has always been a matter of life and death.

When Qin was fighting at home, its food and fodder could be transported comfortably from Chang'an to Weikou via the Wei River.

The Han army was no match for them.

Originally, the most convenient route for transporting grain was to start from Luoyang and transport it westward along the Yellow River to Guanzhong.

However, the grain route used by the east and west was blocked at Tongguan.

Therefore, when the grain ships arrived in Shan County, they had to cross the river north to enter Hedong County, be transported by land to Pubanjin, then cross the Yellow River to Puban Pass, and then be transported by land to Weishui.

The round trip distance is at least doubled, and about 70% of it has to be traveled by land.

The consumption on the road alone was two to three times the Qin army's food consumption.

If they were attacked by the Xiliang cavalry again on the way, out of the last 100,000 hu of grain and fodder, only 20,000 hu could be successfully transported to the front line.

The Han Dynasty now controls ten states, but no matter how powerful it is, it cannot withstand such consumption.

The only solution now is to protect the vital land grain route between Puyang Pass and Weikou, which has become the key to whether Guanzhong can be taken.

As for how to protect it, the ministers had no good idea for the time being.

Of course, this problem was difficult for others, but not for Xiao Fang. After waving the feather fan a few times, Xiao Fang had already thought of a solution in his mind, and he wanted to help Lao Liu solve the problem.

Just before he opened his mouth, he caught a glimpse of Ma Su beside him, who seemed to be hesitant to speak, as if he had thought of a way to break the impasse.

It seems that there is an idea.

Young people have ideas, so we need to give them opportunities.

Xiao Fang took back the plan that was about to come to his mind, turned back and said to Ma Su:
"You Chang, if you have any ideas for a solution, please share them with His Majesty and everyone else."

Everyone's eyes were focused on Ma Su.

Ma Su was stunned at first, then he smiled slightly awkwardly, only then did he realize that Xiao Fang had seen through his thoughts already.

"You Chang, do you have any good ideas?"

Liu Bei had long seen Ma Su's wisdom, and when he heard what Xiao Fang said, he immediately became excited.

Ma Su calmed himself down, walked forward calmly, and bowed to Liu Bei:

"Your Majesty, I have thought of a plan that may help break the enemy's cavalry's harassment."

"My plan is to build a tunnel!"

Corridor?

As soon as these two words were uttered, the eyes of Fa Zheng and other counselors all lit up, and they instantly understood Ma Su's meaning.

Generals like Lao Liu and Ma Chao, however, still had blank looks in their eyes and were unable to comprehend his meaning for a while.

"Compared to the Pseudo-Qin, the greatest advantage of our Han Dynasty is our national strength. The strength of our national strength is not only reflected in our soldiers, horses, and food, but also in the number of laborers we can mobilize."

"I believe that Your Majesty should immediately issue an order to recruit the men from Hedong and Henei to build a corridor from north to south, connecting Puban Pass and Weikou."

"Once this tunnel is completed, our army's grain team will pass through it. If the Qin cavalry attacks, the grain guard team can rely on the tunnel wall to repel the enemy cavalry, rendering them useless!"

"This is my strategy to break the impasse."

Liu Bei suddenly realized, and his confused face was suddenly filled with ecstasy.

The corridor can be regarded as a kind of highway. The difference is that earth walls or wooden fences must be built on both sides of the corridor as a barrier to protect the corridor.

To put it simply, a simple wall is built on each side of the corridor.

The most fatal thing about the grain team when they encountered the Western Liang cavalry in the wilderness was that the surrounding area was flat and there were no strategic locations to rely on, making it very easy for the cavalry to outflank them and then rush in when they found a flaw and they would be defeated.

The situation was different after the tunnel was built. When the Qin cavalry attacked, the soldiers guarding the grain could quickly rely on the walls to block the enemy cavalry without having to worry about being entangled by the enemy cavalry.

The cavalry's most common pulling tactic was no longer useful.

If the cavalry gave up pulling the strings and charged head-on, they would be blocked by the wall and unable to break through it.

This is the purpose of the corridor.

However, building this corridor would be extremely time-consuming and costly, and not something that any prince could afford.

Liu Bei was different.

Now he controls ten states, has a large family and great power, and it is no problem for him to mobilize men to build a 170-mile corridor.

"Your Majesty, Ma Youchang's plan is really brilliant. Building a tunnel is indeed the best way to break the enemy's cavalry harassment and protect our food supply!"

"Your Majesty, I think this plan is feasible!"

Fa Zheng suddenly understood and praised loudly.

"The Prime Minister is indeed a man of vision. This Ma Youchang is indeed a man of extraordinary talents..."

Liu Bei secretly praised Xiao Fang's ability to judge people, and asked with a smile:

"Prime Minister, what do you think of You Chang's plan?"

Xiao Fang smiled.

The strategy that Ma Su mentioned actually coincided with the strategy he had thought of.

As for the tunnel plan he came up with, the inspiration came from Cao Cao.

To be precise, it should be Cao Cao in history.

In order to pacify Guanzhong and eliminate the Xiliang generals, Cao Cao once led a large army westward. However, he was blocked in Tongguan by the Xiliang Legion led by Ma Chao and Han Sui.

Cao Cao's strategy to break the impasse was the same as Liu's, which was to sneak across the Yellow River from Pubanjin, bypass Tongguan and enter Guanzhong.

The difference is that Lao Liu crossed the river on ice, while Cao Cao crossed it illegally by boat, but they both ended up in the same place...

Later, Ma Chao and other members of the Guanzhong Army also retreated to Weikou, attempting to use the Wei River as a barrier to continue blocking Cao's army from advancing southward. At the same time, they also sent light cavalry to attack Cao's army's food supply route.

Cao Cao used the tactic of building a tunnel to successfully break the Xiliang cavalry's plan to rob grain and protect the grain route.

The time and space are different, the enemy and us are different, but the conditions on the battlefield and the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and us are similar.

In this situation, it was not difficult for Xiao Fang to think that the boomerang shot by Cao Cao would hit Cao Cao himself.

However, with Ma Su's wisdom, he was able to come up with this strategy, which really made Xiao Fang, the person who recommended him, proud.

"Your Majesty, You Chang's plan will surely defeat Cao's plan to attack our food supply route. I think it is feasible!"

Xiao Fang's approval gave Lao Liu great confidence, and all the worries in his eyes disappeared.

"Okay, let's follow You Chang's plan."

"Pass on my order to quickly mobilize the men in Hedong and Henei to build a tunnel to connect Puban Pass and Weikou!" (End of this chapter)