The Duke of Shu Han began guarding Jingzhou in place of Guan Yu.

Chapter 339 Guan Yu's Last Lesson

Chenliu...

Dongjun...

Kou Feng, a native of Changsha, Jingzhou, was still confused when he heard these two place names that belonged to Yanzhou.

All he knew was that both prefectures were adjacent to the Governor of Henan and were not far from Yingchuan.

But what does this have to do with preventing Cao Wei from taking over Jiangdong?
What does it mean to cut off its north-south passage?
Wait, north and south?
Kou Feng subconsciously recalled the map he had seen before and suddenly understood Mi Wei's plan.

After Cao Rui moved the capital to Ye City.

The Cao Wei army actually formed two major groups north and south of the Yellow River.

The geographical link between the two sides has been the Heluo region in the past two or three years.

Luoyang has now fallen.

What remains are the prefectures and counties along the great river.

Among these.

Yanzhou Dongjun had two ferry crossings, Yanjin and Baima.

And it is closest to Ye City.

It seems particularly important.

Once the Han army can occupy the entire southern bank area along this great river, or even just a few key locations.

From then on, whether Cao Rui and Cao Hong were willing to admit it or not, they were effectively divided into two different military groups.

Will there be suspicion between the ruler and his ministers?
Will they start to dislike each other?
Will everyone feel insecure?
This is all normal human behavior.

Even though the rulers and ministers of Cao Wei were all sages and gentlemen, and trusted each other implicitly.

However, geographical separation also hinders mutual military and material support between the two sides, as well as the movement of people.

For example, if the Han army launches a major offensive against Ye City from the Three Rivers region, how will the Wei army, which is far away in Huainan, come to its aid?
Should we detour to Qingxu to go out to sea, and then circle back by sea?

The time, manpower, and resources wasted along the way will be incalculable.

The military costs were so exorbitant that they rendered the rescue operation meaningless.

In order to avoid this worst-case scenario.

How could those Huainan generals who were still loyal to the Wei dynasty stand idly by and watch the Han army isolate the north and south?

This is the true meaning of attacking where the enemy must defend!

At this moment, Miwei said again:

"Of course, this plan may not be able to mobilize all Wei generals to march north."

"Perhaps some people have already developed ulterior motives and are really thinking of going to Jiangzuo alone... but it is not a bad thing in terms of the overall situation."

"Because in this way, the two sides will really become estranged."

Compared to Cao Wei's complete control of the Jianghuai region, the fact that a few military leaders who had lost their legitimacy were confined to Jiangzuo was a relatively acceptable outcome.

As long as the surname is not Cao, what difference does it make whether the King of Wu of the Han Dynasty is surnamed Sun or not?

At worst, we can unify the north first, and then deal with Jiangdong.

Having made up his mind, Miwei immediately put it into action.

Half a month later, all the troops were ready.

Because the direction of the troop deployment was east of Yin in Henan.

Therefore, in addition to Miwei's Fangcheng Legion, Guan Ping also led his own troops to assist in the battle and served as the vanguard of the eastern expedition.

Zhang Fei remained stationed in Luoyang, refusing to move.

Guan Yu was no longer able to lead troops into battle.

However, when Mi Wei's troops reached Guandu, north of Zhongmu, he still personally came to reward the troops.

Mi Wei: "I am about to lead an eastern expedition. I wonder what advice my maternal uncle has for me?"

Guan Yu countered:

"How do you plan to fight this battle?"

Miwei Zhaozhidao:
"It's nothing more than combining the orthodox and the unorthodox, avoiding the strong and attacking the weak."

"First, let Zhang Junsi (Zhang Yi) of Nanjun cooperate with Wu Ban and Chen Shi to advance eastward along the Yangtze River, so as to make it appear that they are going to rescue Yangzhou from Jingzhou."

"At the same time, Liao Yuanjian (Liao Hua) was sent north from the Three Passes of Yiyang to the Huai River, and also made a feigned move eastward, as if to plunder Shouchun."

"But both of these tactics are just feints to confuse the enemy general."

"The objective was to cover our army's surprise attack on Yanzhou."

"Judging by the time, my brother-in-law (Guan Ping) should arrive at Suanzao and engage the local garrison. In that case, the two feint attacks will have achieved their objectives." "As for how to fight in Yanzhou afterward, we can only wait and see how the Wei generals decide, and then adapt to the changing circumstances."

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu scoffed softly:
"Look, you are now a seasoned military commander with your own unique system, and you are already famous throughout the country. I have nothing more to teach you."

Even so, he still pointed to the canal beside Guandu and asked:
Do you know the origin of this canal?

Mi Wei responded:

"It is said to be the Honggou Canal opened by King Hui of Wei during the Warring States period."

"Later, Emperor Gaozu and Xiang Yu used this ditch as the boundary to divide the world, which is known as the 'Chu River and Han Border'."

"However, over the centuries, the river course has changed, as have the ditches on both banks. It is now difficult to verify whether the water in this canal is still the same ditch from back then."

"It doesn't matter, as long as this matter exists." Guan Yu waved his hand, clearly not caring about these details.

He then added:

"Speaking of the Han-Chu border, although Xiang Yu showed signs of weakness at that time, his strength was not yet exhausted, and he could not be directly confronted by Emperor Gaozu. Why did he hastily draw the border and retreat his troops, which allowed the emperor to take advantage of him, thus missing the last opportunity to seize the divine weapon?"

Mi Weiyin seemed to understand something, and Zhao Zhi replied directly:

"Because we ran out of food, we had no choice but to retreat."

Guan Yu nodded, but did not continue discussing the Han-Chu War. Instead, he changed the subject, pointing to his feet and saying:
"My uncle served Cao Cao in this area back then, and he killed Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang, thus relieving the siege of Baima."

Of course, Miwei knew about such a classic battle.

So he seized the opportunity to play the straight man and said:
"To take the general's head from the midst of ten thousand troops, my maternal uncle is truly the greatest general of all time!"

Guan Yu stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

After laughing, he continued:
Although the siege of Baima was lifted, Yuan Shao's offensive did not stop; instead, he reinforced his troops and crossed the river to attack.

"It wasn't until later, when Cao Cao sent men to burn Yuan Shao's grain carts and seize his supplies at Wuchao, that the morale of Yuan Shao's army wavered, and Cao Cao seized the opportunity to counterattack. That battle was the only one that decided the outcome."

At this point, Guan Yu finally concluded:
"Xiang Yu and Yuan Shao were both powerful warlords who rose to prominence in the chaotic world. How could they not know the most basic principle of protecting grain and supplies?"

"It's not that I don't know, it's just that I've been on the battlefield for a long time, seen a lot, and become increasingly respected. As a result, I've become arrogant and have forgotten some of the most original and fundamental principles."

"It's like someone who has never had to worry about food or clothing since childhood. They often don't care that the old grain in the barn is moldy, or that their clothes are worn out and their shoes are broken."

"But if we really lack food and clothing, won't we, being just mortals, freeze and starve to death?"

"And then there's your maternal uncle."

Guan Yu pointed to his heart.

"Back in Jiangling, I always looked down on the people of Wu and didn't care much about Mi Zifang and Shi Ren's thoughts. If you hadn't filled the gaps in time, I'm afraid I would have been disgraced and lost Jingzhou long ago?"

"Therefore, I will only teach you one principle today."

"A general, no matter how many victories he wins or how deep his strategies are, must never forget his original aspirations and must remain as cautious from beginning to end as he was at the beginning!"

Leaving these words behind, Guan Yu, who was seventy years old by Chinese reckoning, turned and left with his hands behind his back.

All those things—the Chu-Han Contention, the rivalry between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, the daring assassination of Liang Zhong amidst the masses, the beheading and return—were thrown to the back of our minds.

……

News of the Han army's sudden eastern expedition quickly reached the Shouchun and Hefei areas, and then became known to the generals in Huainan.

However, due to Mi Wei's double deception, and the fact that the Wei generals were like hungry wolves swallowing up Jiangdong from the south.

So it wasn't until Guan Ping successively captured Suanzao, Yanxian, and Baima, taking over the two most important ferry crossings between Dongjun and Weijun (where Yecheng is located), namely the southern bank areas of Yanjin and Baimajin, that the generals and governors of Wei Kingdom finally realized what was happening.

The Han army is planning to sever their connection with Ye City!

The generals reacted differently to this.

For example, Guanqiu Jian, the governor of Yanzhou.

He was only there to supervise the army in Huainan and, incidentally, to keep an eye on Cao Rui's restless generals.

Now that the flames of war have reached the counties under his jurisdiction, he naturally has no choice but to return to Yanzhou to put out the fire.

He also sent someone to inform Wang Ling, the governor of Yuzhou, and Cao Hong, the general of the cavalry, who were the closest to him, and asked them to find a way to help him as well.

As for Zang Ba and Zhu Ling...

The former is launching a fierce attack on the two important passes of Eastern Wu, Ruxu and Niuzhu, in the direction of Yangzhou.

The latter had even almost reached the walls of Jianye.

Of course, it's impossible to just leave whenever you want.

I'll just pretend I didn't receive the notification.

Compared to these two factions with clear objectives, Cao Hong, who was in the middle, was the so-called top general of the imperial clan.

Making a choice becomes much more difficult and awkward.

(End of this chapter)