Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

There has always been a lot of fighting between generals in the military. Cao Zhen has been in the military for most of his life, so he is naturally good at dealing with such things:
"Your Majesty, I know the reason for this. It was when the Shu army invaded at the end of last year. Wang Chang led the front army and thought he had a good plan. However, he was attacked by Zhuge Liang and retreated repeatedly. At that time, Fei Yao had fewer soldiers and Wang Chang had more soldiers. Therefore, the Wei Cheqi ordered Wang Chang to withdraw first and let Fei Yao lead the army to block Wei Yan's army of the Shu army. As a result, more than half of Fei Yao's troops were killed or injured, and he himself lost two nephews. After Fei Yao returned to the camp, he kept accusing Wang Chang. The two of them refused to give in to each other, and they quarreled many times in a few months and became enemies."

Cao Rui listened quietly without saying much.

Cao Zhen continued, "Since Fei Yao has lost two nephews, in my opinion, it would be better to give Fei Yao another nephew. Wang Chang's children are all young, but Wang Chang has a close cousin named Wang Shen, who is now a Lang in the Shangshutai. Fei Yao has two sons and three daughters, and the eldest daughter is not married yet. I think it would be better to let Fei Yao's daughter marry Wang Shen."

"The two of them are fighting because of a grudge in their hearts, but they can't let it go because of their face. Your Majesty, I think if this marriage can be completed, the two of them will be able to talk it out."

Cao Rui nodded with a hint of approval: "The general is really good at fooling people. Yes, there are too many trivial matters like this in the world. We should fool people if we can. Just do as the general says. I will grant them marriage."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Cao Zhen bowed in response.

Wang Chang and Fei Yao have different positions in Cao Zhen's heart. Fei Yao is an old subordinate who has been fighting with Cao Zhen for many years, and Wang Chang comes from a big family in Bingzhou. If Fei Yao can establish a relationship with the Wang family, it will be a great thing for Fei Yao himself. Not to mention that Cao Zhen has met Wang Shen, who is considered a good young talent.

Although he claims to be impartial, he is actually biased.

"Let's talk about the battle you sent out this time."

Cao Rui raised his hand and pointed at Wen Qin: "Jiangling and Xiling are both in retreat. You have challenged them repeatedly in the past few months and collected food and grass in the surrounding areas. These two places are undoubtedly too quiet."

"I know that the commander of Jiangling in Wu is Zhu Ran, and the commander of Xiling is Bu Zhi. Although these two are not very capable in leading troops, they are already well-known in Wu today. Why are they so cautious?"

Wen Qin thought for a few moments, then stood up and saluted: "Your Majesty, I am the commander of this army, and I have some guesses in my mind. Please allow me to speak for myself."

"Yes." Cao Rui nodded.

Wen Qin said, "Your Majesty, I crossed the Han River from Fancheng on January 23rd, rested in Xiangyang for a day on the 24th, arrived at Yicheng on the evening of the 25th, and reached Dangyang on the 27th. I captured Dangyang that night. After leaving two thousand cavalry in Dangyang as a rear wing, I arrived in the suburbs of Jiangling at noon on the 30th."

"Perhaps it was because I led the troops here suddenly. When I led the army to Jiangling, it seemed that there was not much defense there, and the people outside the city had not yet retreated into the city. I guessed that the city's garrison commander Zhu Ran had not been in battle for a long time, so he was confused and did not respond for a while."

"From the beginning of February to the middle of February, I used Dangyang as a fulcrum to capture all the counties of Zhijiang, Huarong, and Jingling, and took food and grass for military supplies. At the same time, I ordered Jiang Boyue to lead 1,000 Yulin cavalry and 5,000 Hu cavalry to harass Xiling, but the enemy still did not dare to fight."

"So, until the end of February, Lexiang, southwest of Jiangling, gathered its forces and crossed the river to the north, forming a battle array based on the city. I did not fight them, and the enemy's troops were all infantry and difficult to attack. Therefore, by mid-March, the Wu army outside Jiangling City had increased to more than 30,000, and I withdrew the main force to Dangyang. In this way, we repeatedly invaded and confronted them until we withdrew our troops."

Man Chong took over Wen Qin's words and asked, "Zhong Ruo said that the Wu army was afraid of fighting and would not advance?"

Wen Qin nodded: "From my point of view, it is true." Man Chong asked again: "Then why was it so slow to gather troops later?"

Seeing Man Chong's serious expression, Wen Qin became a little unsure: "Maybe... maybe they are completely unprepared?"

"We should not speculate on national affairs." Man Chong shook his head: "What was the situation when the general attacked Jiangling?"

Cao Zhen recalled for a moment and said, "I attacked Jiangling that year... That was in the third year of Huangchu, more than ten years ago. At that time, three directions attacked Wu, and the Wu army was also stretched to its limits. I led the army to attack Jiangling for more than two months, and only then did Zhuge Jin and other troops of the Wu army slowly come to support me."

Man Chong nodded: "This shows that it is not that the Jiangling defenders are deliberately slacking off, but that the nearby troops are not coming to rescue quickly."

Cao Rui listened quietly to Man Chong's speech without interrupting.

Judging from Man Chong's intention, it seemed that he wanted to use this topic to begin to explain his ideas and theories on attacking Wu.

Man Chong turned to look at Cao Rui, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, I think the Wu army's actions are a continuation of the idea of ​​the war against Wu in the third year of Huangchu. At that time, the Wei army attacked Jiangling, Ruxu and Guangling directly, and attacked three places along the Yangtze River at the same time. They were all equally urgent, so the Wu army made some considerations in their internal deployment. If I remember correctly, it was after Cao Zixiao's failure in Ruxu that Sun Quan pulled out more troops to support Guangling."

Cao Rui responded: "This is the order of attacking first and attacking later."

"Your Majesty is right!" Man Chong continued, "Based on the war this year, General Wen's 20,000 cavalrymen arrived at Jiangling from Yicheng in a few days, catching the Wu army by surprise. And the Wu army must have guessed that 20,000 cavalrymen came all the way to Jiangling alone. Is the Great Wei going to launch another full-scale attack?"

"As I expected, Jiangling garrison commander Zhu Ran and Xiling garrison commander Bu Zhi did not dare to fight in this suspicious situation, but instinctively focused on defending the city. In their eyes, the Wei army had 20,000 cavalrymen in the vanguard, and there should be even more infantrymen in the rear, so defending the city was their top priority."

"As time gradually approached mid-February, according to Wu's deployment, Zhuge Jin in Wuchang should have sent troops to help, and the defenders of the various counties in southern Jingzhou and Changsha would arrive in Lexiang, south of Jiangling. And Sun Quan, who was far away in Jianye, should have learned of the news from Jingzhou at this time."

Hearing this, Cao Rui also laughed out loud: "It seems that this idle chess move I made has played some role after all. Just after the New Year, I sent someone to send Xu Xiang back to Jianye. I'm afraid that Sun Quan didn't have time to be angry for long after hearing my reply, and he must have heard about the war in Jingzhou."

"After two months of hard work, I wonder what Sun Quan's mentality is at the moment."

Cao Zhen also laughed a few times: "When Sun Quan in Jianye heard that something happened in Jingzhou, I guess his mentality would not be good. After all, one is upstream and the other is downstream, one in the west and the other in the east, it is difficult to take care of them."

Cao Rui smiled and nodded, then stood up, put his hands behind his back and chanted: "I live at the head of the Yangtze River, and you live at the tail of the Yangtze River. I miss you every day but I can't see you, let's drink the water of the Yangtze River together."

"Your Majesty, your writing is very good." Man Chong responded with a salute: "Your Majesty, I think it would be better if you could attack Jingzhou first in the future!" (End of this chapter)