My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 818: Sending troops to Hedong to divide Cao's bandits

There has never been an emperor or a prince in the world who complained about the size of his territory, and Liu Bei certainly didn't complain either. This was just too much.

However, Liu Bei would definitely feel that his current territory structure was not very reasonable and suffered too much from external operations. The various fronts could not communicate and provide support in a timely manner.

After recovering Heluo and Yanyu, the situation has certainly improved a lot compared to two years ago, but it is still not enough.

It is still too difficult for other states and counties under Liu Bei’s rule to cooperate with the civil and military officials and the army of Shu.

So ever since he heard Wang Ping report the instability in the Longxi direction and that his side had sent a small force to support it, Liu Bei sighed with regret, feeling that he might have missed an opportunity to strike directly at Cao Cao's back.

At that time, he ordered Gan Ning to cooperate as soon as possible, not seeking a large scale, but only a quick response.

On the other hand, Liu Bei also immediately summoned the Zhuge brothers, Pang Tong, Lu Su and others to discuss how the main forces of the court in Guandong can make the best use of this change.

At that time, it was only the end of March in the first year of Zhangwu.

"This is a rare opportunity, and we cannot prepare for it for too long. No matter how the court responds, we must make a decision as soon as possible. Cao Cao will not be able to make a mistake in his deployment of troops because he is worried about a fire in his backyard."

Liu Bei was very anxious. Several important ministers had not arrived yet, but he had already set the tone, hoping that everyone would think about how to attack quickly.

After understanding the situation, the Zhuge brothers looked at each other and saw approval in each other's eyes. They believed that they really needed to be more radical at the moment and seize the opportunity decisively to shorten the suffering of the people of the world as soon as possible.

Liu Bei now has a large family and a large fortune, so he can afford to play a little bigger.

After a brief discussion, Zhuge Liang took the lead in proposing his own suggestion:

"Your Majesty, there are three main routes that our army can use to attack Cao Cao.

The first step was to attack from the west and break through Hangu Pass. Although Hangu Pass today is not as precipitous as it was during the Qin Dynasty, the danger of Hangu Pass is still rare in the world. It is the most difficult to achieve results by attacking here, and the losses will also be the greatest.

Moreover, even if they broke through Hangu Pass, at most they would occupy Hongnong County. After passing Hongnong, they would have to fight Tongguan again to enter Guanzhong and reach Chang'an. It was not cost-effective to attack such a strong pass for the benefit of only one county.

The second route is to advance northward along the Qin River from Henei, attack Shangdang from Changping, and enter Bingzhou.

This route is relatively the easiest to take. Although Shangdang is surrounded by mountains, Bingzhou is also a place that overlooks the lower places and has a geographical suppression on Jizhou. However, Changping is far less dangerous than other places.

At that time, the Qin State first took Henei Yewang, Huaixian and other places in the south that originally belonged to the Han State, and then went north from Yewang to Changping. Lian Po set up camps and fortifications in Changping and deployed hundreds of thousands of troops before he filled the long and multi-line defense. Finally, he fought a stalemate and attrition war with the Qin army.

If there is no opportunity to attract enemy forces in Longxi now, our army originally planned to slowly fight a war of attrition with Cao Cao and steadily defeat Cao Cao with the absolute advantage of national strength. Then it is okay to take this route to bleed Cao Cao.

If we choose this route, Cao Cao will definitely not be able to outlast us in terms of manpower and material resources, and the imperial court will not be at any risk and will win in the end. However, the people will suffer more, and the money, food and materials consumed will be the highest among all the routes.

This route has one final disadvantage, that is, because our army is advancing northward along the main road in the south of Bingzhou, the enemy has more room to maneuver. Even if we are defeated after several bloody battles, the remaining enemies can continue to flee and withdraw to Guanzhong via Fenshui and Hedong.

This means that after our army finished this battle, we were unable to directly kill the enemy, and even encirclement and annihilation would be difficult. Bingzhou is mountainous, with Taihang in the east and Luliang in the west, and there are also several parallel north-south ridges in the interior. After the army advances, it is difficult to outflank the enemy. This battle was really a stupid one. "

Zhuge Liang first commented on the first two routes of advance. The first one was the most direct, heading straight to Chang'an. The advantage was that the benefits were the greatest. If Chang'an was captured, Cao Cao would be completely wiped out. Even if some of his remnants escaped, the Cao family would be nothing if Chang'an was lost. In the end, they would just be a group of bandits.

The disadvantage is that you may not be able to defeat them, and you will suffer heavy losses with bloodshed.

The second route is the most stable, and has the slowest returns. However, the advantage is that Liu Bei will definitely win by attrition, and there is no possibility of a comeback by Cao Cao.

For Cao Cao, the second route is an absolute slow death. If Cao Cao and Liu Bei were to switch places and Cao Cao were to choose, he would most likely choose this route, because for him it would ensure his throne as emperor, and Cao Cao would not care if he spent more money and food or had more soldiers and civilians die in the process.

But Liu Bei is not Cao Cao.

Liu Bei cared about things that Cao Cao didn't care about at all. Not only did he want to gain the world, he also wanted the people to suffer as little as possible.

Zhuge Liang rejected both options, and Liu Bei actually roughly guessed that the last option must be the one Zhuge Liang would recommend.

"So, sir, you still want to cross Zhongtiao Mountain, break through the Zhenguan Pass, and enter Hedong County?"

Liu Bei had learned how to answer quickly. After answering, he glanced at Zhuge Jin and others and saw that they all had an expression of understanding, and it was obvious that there was no disagreement on this issue.

Zhuge Liang did not keep the suspense and directly pointed out the final expectation: "Your Majesty, I do think that we should focus on breaking through the Chen Pass."

Liu Bei thought about it, confirmed the details and said, "Sir, are you so sure that once Cao Cao finds out that the rear is unstable and withdraws troops from the east to the west, he will focus on withdrawing the garrison in Hedong? Will this leave Hedong empty?"

Zhuge Liang: "I am not sure, but it does not matter."

Liu Bei: "Sir, do you think that Chenguan Pass is easy to attack? I have visited it in the past few months and have seen the terrain around Chenguan Pass. The pass walls there are indeed far inferior to Hangu Pass and even worse than Tongguan Pass. But the road to Chenguan Pass is narrow, and it is difficult to pass even if you just camp on the road.

If we want to attack by force, we can't use more troops. We can only hope to select the most elite soldiers and attack in turns quickly. I'm afraid it will be difficult to fight. In comparison, breaking Changping and entering Shangdang at least doesn't have such a big terrain disadvantage. "

Zhuge Liang quickly said the final key: "I don't think that Chenguan Pass is difficult to attack, and I can't predict which defense zone Cao Cao will withdraw troops from, but our army can cooperate with one hand and the other to make Cao's army feel that Chenguan Pass is relatively less in need of defense, so that it will create a void."

When Zhuge Liang said this, Pang Tong, who was standing beside him, was afraid that Liu Bei had not fully understood what he said, so he also helped explain some details, which could be considered as a joint effort:

"Your Majesty, what Zhuge Lingjun meant is that our army knows that breaking through Changping and entering Shangdang is a sure way to go, but it will be a waste of time and effort, and Cao Cao will definitely not be able to outlast us. Therefore, Cao Cao must also 'know that our army knows this'.

Then we can follow Cao Cao's malicious speculation and attack Changping with heavy troops, pretending to attack Shangdang. At the same time, we can even deliberately leak some secrets to let Cao Cao know that we are going to wear him down this way.

Let Cao Cao know that we want to compete with him in manpower until Cao Cao's people are exhausted and his soldiers are exhausted, and then our army can march straight in, and no matter which route we take, we can destroy Cao Cao.

Even if Cao Cao knew this news, he would not doubt it, because our army could really do this, but he could only defend, otherwise Bingzhou would be completely lost. Maybe before Cao Cao was exhausted, he would wake up and know that he could not continue to waste time, and retreat after enough time, but he would never give up the entire Bingzhou at the beginning - if Cao Cao fell to the point where he would not defend as long as he found that he did not have enough troops and could not defend it in the end, then where could he defend? He could only end his life directly!

Once Cao Cao decides to "defend Bingzhou for at least a period of time", we will take advantage of the fact that he has tied up a large number of troops in Guanzhong and Bingzhou and Hedong is bound to be empty, and suddenly use a small elite force to quickly attack Chenguanxing in order to break through the pass.

At that time, we will go straight to Hedong, cut off the Fen River, and completely cut off the connection between the enemy in Bingzhou and Guanzhong. We may be able to completely annihilate Cao Cao's troops in Bingzhou, or even force his main force to land while the people's hearts are unsettled."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei's eyes finally lit up again - it was not that the news was not exciting enough, but that he had heard too many good news in the past two years, so he was a little tired. Therefore, only this kind of big move that could potentially wipe out the enemy of an entire state in one battle could barely make Liu Bei excited.

Indeed, he was already a little impatient to fight Cao Cao one county at a time. His advantage was now so great that he could not completely destroy Cao Cao in one battle, but he still had to look forward to taking over an entire state in one battle.

"Kong Ming, is this what you meant just now?" He couldn't help but confirm with Zhuge Liang one last time.

"It is not much different from what Shi Yuan said." Zhuge Liang admitted, "However, although the plan is good, I dare not be complacent. If we completely annihilate Cao's army in Bingzhou, there may be some variables.

They are the senior generals of Bingzhou and the elite cavalry of Cao's army. Even if our army cuts off the road from the south through Hedong to Guanzhong, they still have other ways to go.

They could cross the Yellow River from Pingyang County in the north and enter Shang County, but there was no water transportation like the Fen River on that road, so they had to cross the mountains and could not carry baggage, making the march difficult.

In addition, the cavalry could also choose to exit from Yanmen Pass, walk along the prairie to the west in a big circle, bypass the Yinshan Mountains, and then cross the Hetao Pass back to the south of the Yellow River.

In short, it is difficult to completely wipe out the high-ranking Cao army in Bingzhou. But Cao Cao is already in such a precarious situation, his army must be demoralized, the middle and lower-level civil and military officials, and even ordinary soldiers, as long as we can cut off the Fen River in Hedong, they will have nowhere to go and cannot hold on, and most of them should surrender to the court. "

Zhuge Liang's words were relatively steady, unlike Pang Tong who dared to say that the enemy would be completely wiped out, as that would have seemed too arrogant.

We should annihilate 90% of them. Some of the diehard elite cavalry, as well as senior generals and people from the Cao family, will then flee to the grassland.

Liu Bei thought about it and realized that this was indeed the truth.

He would be satisfied if he could annihilate 70% to 80% of the enemy forces in Bingzhou. The cavalry and senior generals were just extras.

He thought for a moment and then ordered: "We must also guard against the grasslands. We should try to stop them when the time comes. Let Zilong go back to Shanggu and keep the cavalry ready. If necessary, as long as the southern line is encircled, he will leave Guangning (Zhangjiakou) from Shanggu, and then head west, traveling light and fast, searching for possible escaped enemies.

If there are still roaming Xianbei tribes on the grassland at that time, and they are willing to submit to the imperial court, they will be allowed to submit and gradually assimilate into the Han culture. If they refuse to submit and want to follow Cao Cao, then Zilong will wipe them out!

Of the two routes in the middle, one requires troops to attack Changping and enter Shangdang, so let Yide go. Yide is a tough man and dares to face a war of attrition with heavy casualties on both sides.

He had no sympathy for his soldiers, which was originally a big shortcoming, but he was even more ruthless when he was asked to lead the troops in a battle where both sides suffered heavy casualties. When the Cao army heard that it was Yide who led the troops, they would believe it to be true.

As for the route to attack Chenguanxing and break through Zhongtiaoshan, it requires suddenness and elite troops, not numbers, so Yunchang should go. Although Yunchang is not as good at running as Zilong and Mengqi, he is better at attacking than Zilong. After all, attacking Chenguanxing requires attacking the pass, and the advantage of speed alone is not enough.

In addition, Yunchang is from Jieliang, Hedong. If he can break through the Chenguan Pass, he can return to Hedong in glory. I will only give him 30,000 soldiers and horses, so that he can take advantage of the situation and fight a quick battle.

As for Yide, it would not matter even if we gave him 100,000 troops. If our army wanted to attack Shangdang, it had to start from Hanoi, and the local food and military supplies in Hanoi were not stockpiled much before. Cao Cao must have thought that our army would not make extra reserves locally.

If Yide brings more soldiers, Cao Cao will definitely be more convinced that "the manpower and money in Henei are all supplied to Yide's side, and Henei will definitely not be able to spare more troops for other purposes", so Cao Cao will be more relaxed. "

Fighting a war in the real world is just like playing Hearts of Iron. You have to consider the region’s military carrying capacity.

In Hearts of Iron, if the troop organization is too wide and too many people are packed into one grid, the efficiency penalty of congestion will be incurred.

To attack the area of Henei, 100,000 men was already a lot in Cao Cao's eyes. Zhang Fei's high-profile move just concealed Guan Yu's actions.

The Zhuge brothers and Pang Tong would naturally not interfere with Liu Bei's specific personnel decisions.

Liu Bei was not good at giving advice, but he listened to advice. After giving advice, in the implementation stage, Liu Bei was still very strong in selecting generals.

Sending Guan, Zhang and Zhao out at once is enough to give face to Xiahou Dun and others.

……

Liu Bei's order was quickly implemented, because Liu Bei's army also wanted to take advantage of the time when Cao's army was tied down by Wang Ping and Gan Ning.

Once Gan Ning's side is stabilized, Cao Cao will not need to keep so many people in Longxi, and the gap in the east will not be so big.

After receiving the order, Zhang Fei naturally did not dare to delay. He began preparations at the end of March. He spent just a few days preparing and mobilizing troops before the battle. On the second day of April, an army of 100,000 rushed out to attack.

Zhang Fei headed north from Yewang County in Henei Prefecture, advancing along the Danshui River valley, a tributary of the Qinshui River, and soon came into battle with Cao's army in Bingzhou.

In just three days, Zhang Fei first broke through Gaodu County, the first gateway along the Dan River in Shangdang County, and then approached the direction of Changping.

When Xiahou Dun heard that the first county along the state border had been lost and Zhang Fei was still advancing rapidly, he naturally did not dare to delay and immediately pushed all the main forces of Bingzhou to the south. While ensuring that the Eight Passes of Taihang would not be lost, he tried his best to tilt the rest of the troops here.

At the same time, he also reported the situation in Bingzhou to Cao Cao.

But Cao Cao had no reinforcements to send to him, because the urgent news from Pang Hui in Longxi came earlier than him, that Gan Ning's small group of cavalry had already entered the plain area of Longxi and wreaked havoc, so Cao Cao had to block Gan Ning first.

Although Xiahou Dun's situation was also urgent, the mountainous area of Bingzhou was not suitable for quick attack after all. Cao Cao felt that Xiahou Dun had the ability to exchange space for time and slowly retreat to delay the situation.

Cao Cao urgently ordered Xiahou Dun to hold out for at least a month, and then come to rescue him after the imperial court blocked Gan Ning and there were fewer troops occupied in the Longxi direction.

(End of this chapter)