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

Liu Bei issued an imperial edict, and the counties of Hedong and Henei were quickly mobilized.

Tens of thousands of civilians rushed to Guanzhong and, under the protection of more than 20,000 elite Han troops, began to build the corridor from Puban Pass to Weiku.

The Qin army did not take it seriously at first. By the time Cao Cao received the news and realized Liu Bei's intention, the tunnel had been built for more than 30 miles.

Cao Cao became anxious.

If this tunnel is repaired, wouldn't his cavalry's tactics of raiding the grain route be cracked, and the Xiliang Iron Cavalry would no longer be useful?

So Cao Cao immediately gave orders, ordering Pang De and other generals to destroy the Han army's corridor.

Upon receiving the order, Pang De, Cao Zhen and Wen Chou immediately led the Western Liang cavalry and launched a frenzied attack on the Han army's tunnel and the soldiers and civilians who were building the tunnel.

To no avail.

The advantage of cavalry lies in field battles, not in attacking and defeating enemies.

No matter how simple the repaired corridor was, it could barely be considered a wall, but a simple wall was still a wall, and it was enough to disrupt the roundabout and flanking tactics commonly used by the Xiliang cavalry.

The Han army set up a guard post every three steps and a sentry every five steps in the corridor, with sufficient garrison troops. A tower was built every hundred steps as a hub.

The Han soldiers on defense were mostly equipped with strong bows and crossbows, including repeating crossbows. Whenever they encountered an attack from the Qin cavalry, they would shoot at them with a hail of arrows.

The Xiliang cavalry was blocked by the tunnel and could not attack from the flank, so they could only attack from the front.

The Han army in the tunnel launched a crazy counterattack with dense arrows, indiscriminately shooting and killing the oncoming enemy cavalry.

After several attacks, the Xiliang cavalry suffered thousands of casualties but achieved no results.

After Pang De and his companions discussed it, they decided to give up destroying the repaired tunnel and instead stop the Han army from extending the tunnel further southward.

The Han army was well prepared, with 20,000 elite infantry, more than 10,000 cavalry, and 30,000 heavily guarded civilians who were building the road, just waiting for your Xiliang cavalry to arrive.

The result can be imagined.

The swarming Xiliang cavalry could only flee in embarrassment after suffering a severe beating from the Han army's infantry and cavalry.

After several battles, the Xiliang Cavalry lost thousands of soldiers and gained nothing, and finally had to give up helplessly.

So they could only watch as the Han army blatantly built a tunnel all the way from Puban Pass to the north bank of the Wei River.

The corridor was completed within a month.

The Han army's food supply team was delivered unimpeded through the tunnel to the main camp of the Han army on the north bank of the Wei River, more than 170 miles away.

The Qin army's grain-robbing tactics came to nothing, and the severely beaten Xiliang cavalry could only retreat back to the Weikou camp in disappointment.

Weikou City, inside the government hall.

"I never thought that the big-eared thief would come up with the idea of ​​building a tunnel to stop my cavalry from robbing our grain!"

"Who on earth came up with this plan for the big-eared thief? It's really hateful, hateful~~"

Cao Cao threw the battle report sent back by Cao Zhen onto the table, with anger and helplessness on his face.

Inside the palace hall, the ministers of Qin were discussing the matter, with worry written all over their faces.

"Whether it was Xiao Fang or any other strategist, no matter who proposed the tunnel plan to Liu Bei, the Han army no longer had to worry about transporting food and fodder. This is a fact."

"Without the worry of food and grass, Liu Bei can focus on attacking Weikou. Yongnian's strategy of refusing to defend Weikou is worrying."

Guo Jia shook his head and sighed, his brows deeply furrowed, and his eyes were filled with worry.

Cao Cao's face was gloomy again and his eyes turned to Zhang Song.

A bead of sweat quietly seeped out on Zhang Song's forehead.

After rolling his eyes a few times, he smiled disapprovingly:
"Feng Xiao, why do you get discouraged and lose confidence so easily?"

"The core of my strategy of defending Weikou is to take Weikou as the center and use the Wei River as a natural barrier to prevent the Han army from crossing the Wei River."

"Even if Liu Bei built the tunnel, what would it matter if he didn't have to worry about transporting food and grass?"

"As long as we hold on to the Weikou and the Weishui defense line, Liu Bei will not be able to cross the river, no matter how much food and grass we have available."

"When the spring rains come, the roads become muddy. Even if he has a corridor and supplies, it will still be difficult to transport them."

"At worst, we can just withdraw our cavalry, defend the Weishui defense line with all our strength, and wait for the rainy season to arrive."

Zhang Song was quick-witted. In just a few words, he made up for his mistake and filled the gap with a coherent explanation.

Guo Jia swallowed and had nothing to say.

Cao Cao's face was slightly less gloomy, and after a moment's hesitation, he nodded slightly:
"At this point, we can only do as Yongnian said and withdraw our cavalry and defend the Wei River with all our strength."

"Pass on my order, send scouts to strictly patrol the south bank of the Wei River, keep an eye on the movements of the Han army, and prevent the big-eared thieves from sneaking across the Wei River from other places."

"If you find any signs of Han troops sneaking across the river, report it immediately. I will lead the army to stop them immediately and attack them halfway across the river!"

The generals take orders.

Zhang Song secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Cao Cao picked up the battle report again, looked at it a few more times, slowly tore it into pieces and threw it on the ground.

"Big-eared thief, I was careless and let you sneak across the Yellow River by chance."

"The Wei River is a natural barrier. Don't even think about sneaking a single soldier across it!"

...

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

"You Chang's tunnel plan is indeed a brilliant plan to break the impasse. Once the tunnel is completed, our grain supply will be unobstructed and no more grain will be robbed or burned by the Qin army." "I can finally rest assured."

Liu Bei flipped through the grain book in his hand and finally felt relieved. He looked at Ma Su with an approving smile.

Ma Su did not dare to boast of his achievements, but bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, my tunnel plan can only solve the problem of food supply temporarily."

"It is now the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and the spring rains are not far away. The Hedong and Henei areas are mountainous, and the roads will be muddy and difficult to travel. It will still be inconvenient for us to transport food and fodder."

"So I think we should take advantage of this opportunity when we have no worries about food and grass, cross the Wei River as soon as possible, seize Weikou City, and then take Tongguan, and open up the most convenient food route from Luoyang to Guanzhong."

Ma Su remained calm and did not become arrogant because of the success of his strategy.

These words exposed Cao Cao's current strategic intentions.

"Your Majesty, what Youchang said is absolutely right."

"I guess that Cao Cao's current intention is to defend the Wei River and prevent our army from crossing the river until the spring rains fall."

"By then, the food supply will be blocked again. If our 200,000-man army runs out of food and grass, we will have no choice but to retreat eastward."

"So I think we must cross the Wei River and capture Weikou City within a month!"

Fa Zheng agreed with Ma Su's judgment decisively.

The smile on Liu Bei's face disappeared, and was covered by a layer of shadow again.

"Just as one problem was solved, another one arose. It seems that this attack on Qin will be full of difficulties."

Liu Bei laughed bitterly at himself and glanced at his advisers:
"Jinglue, Xiaozhi, Youchang, do you have any good plan to cross the Wei River and seize Weikou?"

Xiao Fang pondered in silence, gently waving his feather fan, and a strategy gradually formed in his mind.

"Cao Cao has a large number of troops stationed at the Weikou area. If we try to cross the river from here, we will surely be attacked by Cao Cao halfway across the river."

"In that case, we will make a feint to the east and attack the west. We will use our main force to pretend to force a crossing here, while sending other troops to sneak across from upstream and downstream."

"As long as we can successfully land tens of thousands of soldiers on the south bank, set up camp, and gain a foothold on the south bank, my 200,000-man army will be able to cross the river calmly and surround Weikou."

"With Cao Cao's current military strength, if he orders all of our troops to cross the river, it will be impossible to defend Weikou!"

Ma Su pointed at the sand table and immediately offered another strategy.

"You Chang, you are too wishful thinking."

Fa Zheng shook his head and pointed at the sand table.
"With Cao Cao's wisdom, and Guo Jia, Zhang Song and others' insight, how could they not be on guard against us making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, sneaking across the river from upstream and downstream?"

"I expect that the Qin scouts and patrols will be densely distributed along the south bank of the Wei River, upstream and downstream, monitoring the north bank at all times to prevent our troops from sneaking across the river."

"As long as our army shows signs of sneaking across the border, Cao Cao will know about it in a blink of an eye and will soon lead his army to stop us."

"In such a short time, we simply cannot get enough troops to the south bank, let alone set up camp and gain a foothold."

"When Cao Cao's army arrives, the vanguard troops that land will be unable to resist and will inevitably be driven into the Wei River, resulting in more casualties."

Compared with Ma Su, Fa Zheng was much more experienced and saw through the loopholes in Ma Su's plan at a glance.

Ma Su fell silent, twirling his chin with his hand, and fell into deep thought.

The two of them proposed several strategies one after another, but either they found out that they were inappropriate later, or they were rejected by the other party.

After discussing for a while, they still couldn't come up with a perfect plan.

"Jinglue, do you have any good ideas?"

Liu Bei saw some clues from Xiao Fang's eyes and asked expectantly.

"Ahem, in fact, Youchang's plan is not impossible."

"I believe that at this point, only You Chang's plan can enable our army to cross the Wei River and seize Weikou within a month!"

Xiao Fang finally expressed his opinion.

Either you don't speak, or once you speak, Lao Liu and everyone else will be confused.

Use Ma Su's strategy?
After discussing for so long at the beginning, didn’t they deny Ma Su’s strategy?
Why are you coming back again?
"Prime Minister, if we use Ma Youchang's plan, and if our army fails to cross the river, Cao Cao's army will come to stop us. How should we respond?"

Fa Zheng did not beat around the bush and asked directly.

Ma Su also nodded slightly and looked at Xiao Fang.

A strange look flashed across Xiao Fang's eyes, and he asked meaningfully:

"The flaw in You Chang's plan is that the army cannot cross the river quickly enough to deal with Cao Cao's massive attack."

"What if we can use some tricks to transport tens of thousands of elite soldiers to the south bank in a short period of time?"

Everyone was shocked, and their eyes changed from confusion to surprise.

That’s tens of thousands of troops.

To cross the river, you have to take a boat, and you have to queue up to get on and off the boat, and you have to sail across the Weishui River, all of which takes time.

Moreover, the boats and rafts have limited carrying capacity. With the existing carrying capacity, transporting more than 5,000 people across the river each time is already the limit.

How could tens of thousands of people be transported to the other side at the same time in such a short period of time?

"Prime Minister, I don't quite understand. How can we send tens of thousands of troops to the south bank in one go?"

After Fa Zheng was stunned for a moment, he asked the question on everyone's mind. (End of this chapter)