My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 626: Bad News Keeps Coming

Lu Xun nodded and said, "That's exactly what I meant."

After thinking for a moment, Liu Feng nodded vigorously: "Boyan's view is excellent. I predict that Cao Zixiu will act in accordance with Boyan's opinion."

"Lord!"

Lu Xun straightened his body and said with a serious expression, "The time for the decisive battle has come, and the strategy we discussed earlier can be implemented."

Liu Feng was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright, Boyan, who do you think can be a general?"

Lu Xun immediately blurted out, "Lu Meng is suitable."

In his previous life, Lü Meng was considered Lu Xun's mentor, recommending him to Sun Quan on several occasions. It was precisely because of Lü Meng's guarantee, and because Sun Quan also wanted to reconcile with the powerful families of Jiangdong, that he continued to promote Lu Xun.

By the time Lü Meng crossed the Yangtze River in disguise at Jingzhou to launch a surprise attack on Guan Yu, he was already quite weak. Lu Xun became Lü Meng's deputy and made a significant contribution to the success of the entire plan.

In this life, Lu Xun was appreciated and promoted by Liu Feng, while Lü Meng, who joined later and came from a lower social class, progressed much slower than Lu Xun.

Even so, Lü Meng is now the commander of a battalion and holds the rank of Colonel with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain). Just a few years ago, Lü Meng's brother-in-law was only a military officer, and Lü Meng was merely the head of his brother-in-law's personal guards.

Liu Feng quickly nodded in agreement. He was quite familiar with Lü Meng's talent, and Lü Meng was extremely loyal. Moreover, he came from a humble background, had no family constraints, and was completely obedient to the monarch.

Moreover, Lü Meng was skilled in both literature and martial arts, and also possessed the attribute of being a late bloomer. In the past few years, through the training of himself, Zhuge Liang, and Lu Xun, his abilities have improved quite rapidly.

This time, he can indeed be allowed to take on the important responsibility of leading a detachment.

"Alright, send a message to Niu Bi Quan Cong's troops, ordering them to take half a month's worth of provisions and weapons and head north to Luocheng immediately. They will operate independently initially, but after joining up with reinforcements, they will be placed under the command of Lü Meng."

Liu Feng stood up and began to issue orders, while Xu Shu quickly took notes.

Quan Cong's troops were stationed in Niubi County, with more than 3,000 soldiers. Two thousand of them were his own elite troops, and one thousand were retainers of powerful local figures from Sichuan who had come to join him, as well as young knights-errant from Sichuan, local officials, and county soldiers.

Niubi County is accessible to Chengdu and Luocheng, but the upper reaches of the Jian River are navigable by boat, not even small boats, making water transport impossible. Furthermore, the journey from Niubi County to Chengdu and Luocheng requires crossing the Longquan Mountains and traversing mountain trails, making resupply extremely difficult.

For this reason, Liu Feng ultimately only arranged for Quan Cong's troops to wait in Niubi County.

This is the perfect time for them to set out and launch a surprise attack on Luocheng.

If a surprise attack succeeds, that would be ideal. If not, try to build siege equipment and wait for reinforcements to arrive before launching an attack. If you cannot succeed before Cao Cao's reinforcements arrive, retreat southeast, pass through Jintang and cross the Jian River, and then you can join up with Liu Feng.

This plan seems quite risky, but in reality, the risks are not that great.

The reason is simple: Luocheng was not a place that Cao Cao's army had to defend.

Many people have a misconception that when Liu Bei attacked Chengdu, he was stuck at the gates of Luocheng for a year, and even Pang Tong died in battle there, forcing Liu Bei to send Zhuge Liang to lead the Jingzhou army into Shu to provide support.

This can easily lead people to mistakenly believe that Luocheng is a dangerous place like Jiange or Jiameng.

In reality, Luocheng is a large city located on the Chengdu Plain, with a well-connected network of roads. There are at least seven or eight routes from Chengdu that bypass Luocheng to reach Fucheng. However, these roads are not as smooth and wide as the Jinniu Road; most of them are narrow country paths.

The reason Liu Bei halted his troops at Luocheng was because there were 20,000 elite Shu soldiers in Luocheng.

If they bypassed Luocheng and headed towards Chengdu, the Shu army in Luocheng could easily cut off Liu Bei's supply lines, and might even be able to flank Liu Bei's army and launch a pincer attack with the Chengdu garrison.

This is the reason why Liu Bei had to endure a year-long siege of Luocheng.

But Cao Cao's army didn't need it.

Even if Luocheng falls, Cao Cao's army can still retreat by taking country paths around Luocheng. And Cao Cao's army, eager to retreat, will certainly not pursue Lü Meng and Quan Cong's troops, so their danger will naturally be minimal.

That being said, even if Luocheng wasn't that important to Cao Cao's army, why did Liu Feng risk sending Lü Meng, Sun Ce, and Quan Cong with elite troops to launch a surprise attack on Luocheng?

The reason remains simple: Luocheng was stockpiled with a large amount of military equipment, food and supplies for Cao Cao's army. If it could be captured, it would not only greatly weaken Cao Cao's fighting power, but also force Cao Cao's army to abandon the easy Jinniu Road and instead take the difficult country paths.

Cao Cao's army lost Luocheng and suffered heavy losses of supplies. They also had to travel along country paths, which would not only slow their march but also double the fatigue of their soldiers. It should be noted that this change of route alone could buy the Left Guard Army at least three to five days and multiply the physical exhaustion of Cao Cao's army. These were all gains without any cost.

The narrow paths in the fields could not accommodate Cao Cao's large army, so Cao Cao's army had to split up and retreat along multiple paths. This gave Sun Ce's left-wing cavalry an opportunity to launch surprise attacks and harass them.

Such abundant rewards only require some risk. As the saying goes, "A merciful general cannot command an army," and Liu Feng would never give up such great rewards for a small risk.

"We also mobilized Lu Meng's own troops, along with Sun Ce's troops, totaling more than 6,000 men, to bypass Chengdu via Jintang and launch a surprise attack on Luocheng."

The garrison in Luocheng consisted of only a few hundred Cao soldiers and two thousand instructors. If they could launch a surprise attack into the city or open the city gates, taking Luocheng would not be difficult at all.

The combined forces of Lü Meng and Quan Cong numbered four to five thousand, sufficient to defend Luo City, especially with Sun Ce's more than three thousand elite cavalry nearby. Sun Ce's cavalry's main task was to harass, raid, and delay Cao Cao's eastward advance, but they could also help defend the city if necessary.

As for the remaining armies, they naturally stayed in Guangdu to continue besieging Chengdu, putting pressure on the allied forces and delaying the time for Cao Cao's army to split up and advance eastward.

Liu Feng's plan was finalized, and messengers relayed his orders.

It is a hundred li from Guangdu to Niubi by small path, but the messenger can reach the destination in just one or two days by traveling day and night.

The following morning, Quan Cong, the governor of Niubi County, had already received the order. Having made preparations beforehand, Quan Cong had stockpiled a large amount of dry rations, weapons, horses, mules, and wheelbarrows, and had also recruited 800 able-bodied men from Niubi and Zizhong counties. Upon receiving the order, Quan Cong immediately acted according to the pre-prepared plan, organizing the vehicles, equipping the supplies, and gathering the able-bodied men.

Early the next morning, Quan Cong led all the soldiers and 800 able-bodied men of Niubi County, totaling more than 4,000 people, from Niubi and headed north. Quan Cong estimated that it would take three days to cross the Longquan Mountains and reach Jintang, and then another day to reach the outskirts of Luocheng.

As for Lü Meng's troops, they would wait a few more days until Quan Cong launched his surprise attack on Luocheng before marching north. The reason for this arrangement was that the Left Guard Army in Guangdu was under close surveillance by the allied forces, and if they were to split up and march north, it would inevitably arouse suspicion among the allied forces in Chengdu.

The route from Guangdu to Luocheng requires a detour, and the Left Army's cavalry is fewer than that of the allied forces.

If Cao Ang, Sima Yi, Huang Quan, Cao Ren, and others discover that the Left Guard Army's objective is Luo City, it could very well lead to a surprise attack by Cao's cavalry on Quan Cong, as well as Lü Meng, Sun Ce, and other units.

Chengdu is only sixty or seventy li away from Luocheng, and there is a ready-made Jinniu Avenue to travel on, which cavalry can cover in a day. In case of emergency, if they spare the horses or have spare horses, they can reach the destination in just half a day.

Therefore, Lü Meng had to wait for the right opportunity before setting off, and could not go north to join Quan Cong too early.

While Liu Feng had made the arrangements and Quan Cong had already set off on his mission, Cao Ang had not yet received the battle report from the east.

This outcome was due to the deliberate blockade by the Left Army.

When Wang Ping attacked Jiange, he launched a surprise attack under cover of night, while simultaneously driving the routed Hanzhong army eastward to try and block the news. To Wang Ping's west, He Qi was also strictly blocking anyone coming from the east, and deployed all his limited cavalry on the east bank of the Zitong River to hunt down any who managed to escape westward from Jiange, thus slowing down the westward spread of the news.

Therefore, it wasn't until the news of Wang Ping, Zhou Tai, and Huo Du's successful recapture of Tianxiong Pass, which was delivered to Liu Feng's desk, that someone managed to escape. After fleeing from the northern hills, they turned southwest and successfully reached Fucheng to deliver the message.

The reason for the slow progress was twofold: firstly, the blockade and capture by the Left Guard Army played a significant role; secondly, the Hanzhong Army was indeed unfamiliar with the geography of Shu, so much so that the fleeing soldiers lost their way for seven or eight days before some of them successfully made it out of the hilly area.

By the time Li Zheng of Fucheng received the news, it was already the ninth day after the Battle of Jiange.

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng could hardly believe his ears.

Over the next two days, three or four different groups of defeated Hanzhong troops found their way to Fucheng. Although their stories varied and none of them could clearly explain the battle at Jiange, they all shared one thing in common: Jiange and Jianmen Pass had fallen.

Two short days were not enough time for Li Zheng to send people to confirm these messages. After hearing that the defeated soldiers had been causing trouble in the hilly and mountainous areas to the north for seven or eight days, Li Zheng's heart sank.

He dared not send anyone to verify the military situation according to the military order. Instead, he directly dispatched his trusted confidant with a few defeated soldiers to travel day and night to Chengdu. He instructed his confidant that he must not hand over the intelligence without seeing Cao Ang, and that the defeated soldiers must not have any contact with any other troops.

After his trusted confidants left, Li Zheng sent out his elite scouts to secretly detour through the hilly area north of Fucheng to Jiange to confirm the situation.

However, the intelligence brought back by these scouts left Li Zheng in despair. Jiange was now deserted, while there were garrison troops on Jianmen Pass, even flying Cao Cao's banners, clearly trying to conceal their identities. If they hadn't received intelligence about the fall of Jianmen Pass early on, these scouts, due to their carelessness, might have actually fallen into the trap.

After receiving confirmation, Li Zheng once again sent a trusted confidant to Chengdu to report the latest intelligence to Cao Ang, along with his concerns and pessimism about Tianxiong Pass.

When the news reached Cao Ang in Chengdu, it triggered another earthquake.

Fortunately, Li Zheng's messenger resolutely carried out his orders and only presented the intelligence tray after meeting Cao Ang.

Cao Ang was so shocked by the bad news that he almost fainted on the spot. The Allied Forces' defeat in the Battle of Guangcheng had already proven that they were no match for the Left Army in open field battles.

Now that his retreat route had been cut off and he was completely cut off from his base in Henan, Cao Ang felt a metallic taste in his mouth and a tightness in his chest. But he ignored his physical discomfort and hurriedly invited Cao Ren, Sima Yi, Cao Chun, Cao Xiu, Yang Xiu and others over.

Upon hearing the news, Cao Ren and the others were all greatly alarmed. Even Cao Ren, who had followed Cao Cao through the great rebellion in Yan Province, was terrified by Cao Ang's news.

"Retreat immediately!"

Yang Xiu nearly jumped up. His voice was still trembling as he spoke, and his legs were so weak that his body was slightly swaying.

But he couldn't worry about that. He just looked at Cao Ang and pleaded, "General, if we retreat now, we can still secure the Luocheng-Zitong line. With the supplies and provisions there, we can hold out for half a year. At that time, the General will not stand idly by and watch us perish in Shu. He will surely have a way to rescue us. But if we don't retreat now, the Left Army will definitely point its sword at Zitong next. Once Zitong and Fucheng are lost, it will be too late for us to retreat."

Yang Xiu felt that his proposed method was excellent, at least it was the best way out at present.

There were more than 20,000 Zuo Mu troops besieging the city outside Zitong. This does not include Wang Ping's troops who captured Jiange and Tianxiong, as well as Zhou Tai and Huo Du's troops who came to Jiameng's aid.

Now that all these troops are freed up, once they advance westward and join forces, He Qi's army will have 30,000 soldiers, almost matching the total number of Cao Cao's troops. How can they be easily defeated?

Moreover, there are Left Army troops stationed in both Guanghan and Jiangzhou, and the Fu River is connected upstream and downstream. It will take at least seven or eight days, or at most ten days, to reach Fucheng or Zitong.

It should be noted that at least the Jiangzhou section of the road in Guanghan is now completely controlled by the Left Army, and there are many cities and towns along the way.

The army can travel light, without having to carry a large amount of food and supplies. They can resupply and camp along the way, and can even travel fifty or sixty li a day. If they march quickly, they can even travel seventy or eighty li. Moreover, with the Fu River as their support, they can transport soldiers, food, weapons, armor, and supplies.

This is the advantage of advancing along the inside line.

From Yang Xiu's perspective, reopening the route was no longer an option. The only course of action now was to hold the line and await reinforcements, hoping that the general would relieve the siege from the outside.

"inappropriate."

One of the people in the hall shook his head and stood up to object, saying, "Although Dezu's view is sound, it is too pessimistic."

Yang Xiu looked up and saw that the person who objected was Cao Ren. He earnestly advised, "General, this is not the time to act rashly. The best course of action is to think about how to protect yourself."

Cao Ren slowly shook his head. It wasn't that he had a problem with Yang Xiu, but he genuinely felt that Yang Xiu's strategy was too passive and conservative.

"Dezu, let me ask you this: if we retreat to defend Luocheng, what will the Left General under Guangdu do?"

Yang Xiu was startled, his mind raced, and his face gradually turned pale.

(End of this chapter)