My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 402: Unstoppable, Easily Solved
After a day of continuous fierce attacks, Wei Yan captured Anfeng City and tore a hole in Cao's Huainan defense line.

In this battle, Liu Bei's army suffered quite a lot of casualties, with more than a thousand people killed or seriously injured. Considering that most of Wei Yan's siege troops wore steel-filled armor, this number was already exaggerated.

The main reason was that they were in a hurry and could not use Ge Gongche to avoid the attack of rolling logs and rocks, so they could only use flying ladders and cloud ladders to climb the city. If you were hit by a rock, no matter if you had armor or not, you would be seriously injured if not killed. The role of armor in this battle was just to immunize against 80% to 90% of the damage from Cao's arrows, but it was inevitable to avoid "real injuries".

After the battle, when cleaning the battlefield and treating the wounded, a rough estimate was made that two-thirds of the casualties of Liu Bei's army in this battle were caused by stones, accounting for the majority.

After counting the results, Zhuge Liang felt a little guilty and began to think: Is there a way to make the Ge Gongche or other siege equipment that can resist stone attacks lighter and more passable? In the future, when we need to rush and have to attack directly without filling the river, we can also quickly push these equipment to the base of the city wall...

If the siege vehicle cannot be improved and made lighter, then one idea is to research a new trench bridge vehicle to increase its load-bearing capacity.

Unfortunately, Zhuge Liang was not a god after all. He only had this idea in his mind temporarily. It was impossible to come up with a countermeasure during this year's battle. Even if he did come up with a plan, it would take time for him to calm down and produce results after the war ended this year.

However, although the casualties in this battle were not small, its strategic significance was still great. The Cao army in Runan was already empty, and after the gap in Anfeng was torn open, Liu Bei's army could go upstream along the Huai River and advance westward.

Just three days after Anfeng was captured, Liu Bei's army advanced upstream to Fubo County. This small county had only a few hundred regular Cao army soldiers, and was defended by the county lieutenant and several Quchang troops. It was extremely empty. Liu Bei's army did not fight at all. It just surrounded the city, set up its posture, and sent people to persuade it to surrender, and then it intimidated the defenders into surrender.

After passing Fubo, go upstream for another day, turn slightly south and join a tributary of the Huai River. Go another day and you will reach Liao County.

There are slightly more defenders here, and they are somewhat willing to fight.

However, Liu Bei's army had come here with great victory and their morale was high. They were also able to persuade Cao's army, which had surrendered in several counties before, to surrender first, to undermine the morale of the defenders, and to help destroy the pits and other outer defenses.

In addition, Liao County was not as important as Anfeng after all, and it had no moat, so Liu Bei's army's heavy siege weapons could advance quickly, so after two or three days of defense, it was quickly captured - and at this time, it was only the beginning of August and the middle of the month.

In contrast, in the northern battlefield of Xuzhou, Guan Yu had just defeated Zhang He in Fuyang in early August and had not yet taken Taishan County. Zhuge Jin was in Pengcheng and had just begun to besiege Zhu Ling.

In the Ru'nan battlefield in the south, we have already won the offensive and captured three or four county towns in a row. This is quite impressive progress.

However, after taking Liao County, Liu Bei's army encountered some new problems. The main problem was that they advanced too fast, the troops were too tired, and the supply could not keep up.

In addition, Wei Yan was slightly injured during the Battle of Anfeng. Although he was able to hold on after emergency treatment, there were no tough battles in the following days and the troops were relatively relaxed, so they managed to get through it.

However, after another battle in Liao County, Wei Yan's old injuries broke again, and he also suffered some new injuries. Finally, he could not hold on any longer. After Zhuge Liang learned about the situation, he reported it to Liu Bei, and then ordered Wei Yan to temporarily hand over his military power and go back to recuperate.

Originally, the promotion of officials based on merit should have been unified after the Huainan Campaign was completely over. However, when Liu Bei heard that Wei Yan was reluctant to go back to recuperate and wanted to kill more enemies, he made an exception and promoted him to the rank of captain.

After Wei Yan felt relieved, his courage was gone and he went back to recuperate.

As soon as Wei Yan left, Zhao Yun held on to Cao Ren in Fuli and Qi County. The western battlefield temporarily lacked a general to command the troops. Zhuge Liang wrote a letter to Liu Bei in Shouchun in the rear, suggesting that the army wait for a few days and wait for Gan Ning to return to take over.

But when Liu Bei heard about this arrangement, he was very unwilling. He personally led a team of cavalry and rode to the front line in Liao County to inspect and discuss with Zhuge Liang:

"When Xingba comes, we will naturally let him join the battle, but should our army stop attacking in the few days before Xingba comes?"

Zhuge Liang tactfully advised: "This is not for Wenchang's sake. We have captured four counties in a row, and the troops have expanded the territory to the west by more than 150 miles. We also have to divide our troops to the south to search and occupy the tributaries along the south bank of the Huai River. The troops are indeed a little tired.

The reason why the soldiers were able to hold back their complaints before was because Wen Chang led by example. He suffered and was injured together with the ordinary soldiers, so the soldiers dared not speak out and would not disobey military orders. Now the lord has allowed Wen Chang to go back to recuperate. If the whole army is not allowed to rest, I am afraid that people will not be united. "

After hearing this, Liu Bei was decisive: "Now I and Cao thief have completely torn our relationship apart. Once Yuan Shang dies, I will fight with Cao thief for the world, and there will be no room for maneuver.

At this time, of course, we should take advantage of the last chance before Yuan Shang's death to weaken Cao Cao as much as possible. How can we be afraid of hardship? If we want to have some leisure time, we can wait until Yuan Shang dies and our army has to switch to a defensive position. We can rest as much as we want. But now we have to unite and grit our teeth.

How about this, before Xingba returns, I will lead the army to continue the attack. With me supervising the battle and sharing the hardships with the soldiers, I believe the soldiers will understand. "

Zhuge Liang certainly would not persuade Liu Bei to do this. After all, Liu Bei was also knowledgeable about military affairs. It was fine if he did not risk going to the front line when supervising the battle. Moreover, it was a crusade against Cao Cao, so it was reasonable for Liu Bei to personally command the troops in the stage of expanding the results of the battle. The opponent had the qualifications. There were some things that Zhuge Liang could not say directly, and Liu Bei needed to take the initiative to take up this responsibility.

Zhuge Liang: "In that case, I will follow your orders, but you must not lead the troops in person. When Xingba arrives, he will be in charge of supervising the battle."

After the two men had agreed, Liu Bei took command personally, and the next day he raised the "Liu" flag in the Liao County army.

Liu Bei's army rested for a day or two, and then received new reinforcements from Shouchun. Their morale was boosted, and they launched an active attack again.

The counties of Yuanlu, Qisi, Yulou, etc. were also surrounded and destroyed one after another under Liu Bei's personal supervision and attack. Cao's army was short of manpower in this area, and there is nothing to elaborate on the process.

Liu Bei's army was advancing at a speed of one county every five or six days. Counting the days, they would be able to advance to Yiyang, Cao Cao's last important stronghold in Huainan, by the middle of September.

Historically, after the establishment of the Cao Wei regime, Cao Pi split up the Runan County of Yuzhou, and separated the part of Runan located south of the Huai River to form two new counties, Yiyang County and Anfeng County. After the split of Runan County, only the Huaibei part of the original Runan County was retained.

The two Yiyang and Anfeng counties that Cao Pi demolished were based on Yiyang County and Anfeng County as their county seats. Although all this has not happened yet, it can be seen from this that the Huainan part of Runan County is actually centered on these two counties.

Taking Anfeng and then Yiyang would be equivalent to taking over all of Cao Cao's remaining territories in Huainan. The rest were scattered small counties in the mountainous areas and were insignificant.

……

Liu Bei's rapid advance in Huainan was due not only to the high morale of the attacking troops, their excellent equipment, complete supporting facilities, and their bravery in combat,
Another factor that must be thanked is that Cao's army in Huainan was short of manpower. A considerable number of the garrison troops in Huainan were tricked by Zhuge Liang in advance and lured north.

Just like Zhang He, who lacked the support of Lu Zhao and Feng Kai's troops on the eve of the battle, was naturally defeated by Guan Yu.

On the other hand, in Huainan, Li Tong, the governor of Runan, lost the troops of Cai Yang and Qin Qi, and was beaten by Wei Yan and Liu Bei, which was what he deserved.

However, compared to the battlefield in Xuzhou, Cai Yang and Qin Qi in Runan were at least more capable than Lu Zhao and Feng Kai in Xuzhou. After finding out that they had been tricked, they wanted to return to help and remedy the situation.

Three or four days after Wei Yan captured Anfeng County and was about to reach Liao County, Cai Yang and Qin Qi received urgent news from the south and realized that they had fallen into a trap.

Cai Yang did not even wait for Li Tong's letter for help to arrive, but went straight to Qin Qi to discuss with him the strategy of retreating.

Cai Yang: "Our army has now crossed the Huai River and the Wo River, and will reach Xiang County today to ensure General Cao's safety. Now it seems that Zhao Yun's attack on Fuli was a feint.
Otherwise, how could he have so much spare energy to launch a fierce attack on Anfeng? Anfeng was captured in two days, and Liu Bei's army must have mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and horses! From this point of view, General Cao does not need to worry too much about his retreat.

The garrisons in Fuli and Zhuyi alone are enough to break through Zhao Yun's containment. We still need to prepare as soon as possible and return to Huainan to help Li Fujun stabilize the situation."

Cai Yang is Qin Qi's uncle, so it is certainly impossible for him to speak to Qin Qi in a negotiating tone. It is more like he is the one who has the final say and is talking to himself indecisively.

Qin Qi just nodded in agreement, "Ah, yes, yes, yes," and followed orders.

After hearing this, Qin Qi volunteered: "Uncle, what you said is very true. Why don't you let me lead the cavalry to rush back to support, and uncle will lead the central army. Try to march 80 miles a day and force a march back to Huainan to join the battle."

After all, Cai Yang was old and experienced, and he was an experienced leader. He stroked his gray beard and said, "I have no objection to you returning to support us first, but don't rush ahead, lest you meet the enemy alone and be intercepted and defeated by Liu Bei's troops.

When choosing the return route, he would rather take a longer route. Before crossing the Woshui River, he would first go upstream for a hundred miles, bypass Chengfu County, and cross the river near Qiao County to avoid Gan Ning's navy on the Woshui River.

Before crossing the river, ask the local government to raise more boats, make full preparations, and try to cross the river quickly. Don't rush to get started after just getting a few boats, and ferry back and forth slowly, so as to avoid more trouble at night! "

Of course, Qin Qi agreed to all of his uncle's suggestions.

But he was a little anxious and a little unconvinced: Is it necessary to be so careful? It is true that Gan Ning has been doing evil and harassing many places on both sides of the Woshui River recently, but can his hands reach so far? Even to Chengfu County?
(End of this chapter)