My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 421 Cao can come, Liu can go
With the arrival of envoys from the Liu clan, such as Yi Ji and Zhang Song, in Pengcheng, it was already February of the ninth year of Jian'an.

This means that Cao Cao's army had been stationed heavily in Fuli and Suiyang since the beginning of December last year, and had been engaged in a stalemate with Liu Bei for more than two months.

During these two months, it was certainly impossible for Cao Cao to sit back and wait for Liu Bei to summon the clan members, hold a meeting with the princes, and form a new anti-Cao alliance.

Although we know that the chances of retaking Xiaopei and Pengcheng by relying on a large-scale frontal attack are slim, we still have to try.

So for more than two months, Cao Cao also tried various offensive methods, trying his best to test Liu Bei's defensive flaws while controlling the casualties.

Cao Cao's exploratory attack can be roughly divided into two or three stages.

The first stage was the early and middle of the twelfth lunar month. Because he did not know the strength of Liu Bei's defense, Cao Cao tried a "full-scale attack" during this stage, that is, launching an offensive against Xiaopei and Pengcheng from all possible directions.

Cao's army attacked Pengcheng by land from the twin cities of Fuli and Zhuyi, which were guarded by Cao Ren, heading slightly east of due north, but was blocked by Liu Bei's army on the south bank of Sishui and Huoshui.

Since Cao Ren failed in his plan, Cao Cao then divided a part of the fresh troops that had just returned from the battlefield in Hebei, led by Li Dian, and attacked Xiao County in Pei County from the north from Xiang County, which was further upstream from Zhuyi. Xiao County was also a county town on the north bank of the Huo River, upstream of Pengcheng.

Therefore, the route of Cao's army was equivalent to the previous route from Zhuyi to Pengcheng, in that both the starting point and the destination point were moved upstream by a county.

Liu Bei's army followed suit and continued to fight against Cao Cao along the Huo River. They gradually built a long trench and defense corridor on the north bank of the Huo River from Pengcheng to Xiaoxian, preventing Cao's army from having any chance to cross the river. Once they saw Cao's army showing up, they would attack them halfway across the river.

Cao's army suffered a total loss of thousands of people, and after these attempts failed, they could only turn to a stalemate.

The plain area between the two parallel rivers, Suishui and Huoshui, was originally the easiest route for Cao's army to attack. If they couldn't attack the plain between the two rivers, there was no hope for the other two routes.

The third offensive of Cao's army was led by Zhang He from Xiayi County, Pei County. The fourth offensive was led by Le Jin, who was stationed in Lu County (Lu State) to the north of Pei County.

Cao Cao also appointed Xiahou Yuan to be in charge of these two forces and to be responsible for the entire northwestern front.

Zhang He attempted to attack from east to west along the Mangdang Mountain Valley Road, break through Feng County from Xiayi, and recapture the Mangdang Mountain area. However, he was defeated several times by the elite mountain troops of Liu Bei's army led by Chen Dao and Zhou Tai.

Although the total number of casualties during the entire battle still remained at the scale of several thousand, compared with the two-month battle time, this cumulative loss was nothing. But Zhang He's battle was really ugly, much uglier than Cao Ren and Li Dian's offensive in the two river plains on the southern line.

Cao Cao was also quite angry when he first heard about Zhang He's achievements, but after calming down and gaining a deeper understanding of the situation, he learned that Liu Bei had deployed the elite mountain warfare troops of the south, the Danyang troops, in the Mangdang Mountains.

This was also the first time that the main force of Cao's army fought against Liu Bei's mountain warfare troops on a large scale. Because they were not familiar with the bravery and geographical advantages of Danyang soldiers in mountain warfare, it was normal for them to suffer some losses. From then on, they learned a lesson, played to their strengths and avoided their weaknesses, and no longer fought mountain warfare with the armies of the southern princes.

Therefore, Cao Cao did not punish Zhang He in the end. He knew that Zhang He had tried his best, and he personally comforted him, which made Zhang He grateful and said that he would definitely die for Sikong.

Since Zhang He's attacks along the way had failed, Cao Cao's Le Jin's attempt to break out from the Lu State in the north of Pei County and attack Pei County to the south would naturally not work.

Because Cao's army also had to cross the mountains and pass through the Jiuli Mountain area north of Mangdang Mountain, where they would also encounter Liu Bei's mountain warfare troops waiting for them to tire themselves out and defend in a dangerous place. When the difference in the strength of the two sides was no more than three times, Liu Bei's army also had an advantage in equipment, so it was more than enough to hold on.

(Note: The western part of Pei County is Mangdang Mountain, across which it borders Liang County. The northern part of Pei County is Jiuli Mountain, across which it borders Lu State, which is the area of Jining and Qufu in later generations. Except for a few basins and valleys, the other main parts of Jiuli Mountain, Mangdang Mountain and Taishan Mountain are barely connected.

Directly south of Pei County is the Huoshui and Suishui plains, which border Cao Cao's hometown Qiao through these two parallel rivers. To the east of Pei County is Pengcheng, which is Liu Bei's territory. So Cao Cao has exhausted all the routes to attack Xiaopei from the south, north and west, but they were all blocked by Liu Bei, leaving him with no other choice. The route to the east is Liu Bei's own territory, so it is impossible to attack from there.)
At this point in the war, it can basically be said that Cao Cao gained nothing from fighting Liu Bei for more than two months. Thousands of casualties were also incurred on each front.

The morale that had just been boosted by the pacification of Hebei and the remaining prestige of the "victorious army" were basically wiped out.

Those who had underestimated the enemy and thought that "Liu Bei only came to take advantage of the fact that our main force was destroying Yuan Shang. When our main force comes back, we will definitely make Liu Bei look bad" now shut up, and no one clamored for Cao Cao to launch a full-scale attack anymore.

……

All the various exploratory attacks launched by Cao Cao's army over the past two months were repelled by Liu Bei's army.

However, as time entered February and the spring ploughing season was about to begin, Liu Bei became a little tired of this sticky war of attrition.

Especially on the third day of February, Liu Bei heard from the messenger who came in advance on a fast horse to report the news that Zhang Song, Liu Zhang's messenger, had arrived in Huaiyin accompanied by Sun Shao, and would reach Xiaopei in three to five days.

Liu Bei then called Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu to discuss whether there was any way to make Cao Cao stop.

When Liu Bei asked Zhuge Jin for advice, he was naturally straightforward and said, "Zi Yu, the spring ploughing season is approaching, and I don't want Cao Cao's attack to delay the spring ploughing season in Pei and Pengcheng counties.

I heard that Zishan also brought back Linyi rice, so the spring ploughing in Huainan and Jiangnan cannot be delayed. This year I hope to plant all of this Linyi rice and turn it into seeds so that I can continue to plant it widely next year. I really want to see if Linyi rice can really be harvested twice a year in Jiangnan.

I think Cao Cao's repeated harassment of our army is nothing more than a desire to prevent us from holding the ceremony of building the mausoleum and worshipping in Mangdang Mountain and to disgust us. He doesn't invest many troops each time and suffers little loss, so it seems that he can afford it. Do you have any way to hurt Cao Cao once and for all and make him stay quiet for at least ten days or half a month, especially to stop Zhang He from harassing us along the way?

It will also help to let the envoys of Brother Jingsheng and Brother Jiyu see that the peace under our army's rule is so great that even the Cao army dares not invade and surrenders obediently. This should also be of great benefit to our army in establishing prestige in the hearts of other anti-Cao princes. "

Zhuge Jin listened quietly to Liu Bei's question and did not express his opinion immediately.

Because of the cold weather, he did not open the folding fan in his hand to fan the air. He just turned the folded fan in his hand like a poor student in later generations turning a pen.

He could certainly understand Liu Bei's request. Liu Bei did not want a substantial military victory this time, nor did he want to conquer Cao Cao's territory or annihilate a certain army.

What Liu Bei wanted was a symbolic military victory that could complement political propaganda.

To put it bluntly, it is just like before holding certain international summits in later generations, it would be best if the stock market had a big rise, and then there should also be some achievements worth promoting in other fields, which would be the icing on the cake.

The actual results are not important, but the publicity value is important.

In this case, this matter is not difficult to handle. Zhuge Jin turned the fan for a long time, and finally thought of a trick. He grasped the fan bone in his palm and knocked it on the table in front of him.

"It is not difficult to make Cao's army quiet down for ten days or half a month. For more than two months, we have been passively showing weakness and deliberately provoking Cao's army to attack in order to better weaken Cao's military strength.

Since we have to focus on establishing our prestige and not killing the enemy, we should adjust our strategy accordingly. We can no longer passively defend, but take the initiative to attack and counterattack Cao's army. Cao's army is not sure of the real situation, and will suffer losses in the counterattack. Naturally, they will be confused and quiet for a while. "

Liu Bei nodded subconsciously, thinking that this statement made sense. Guan Yu, who was standing beside him, stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes and asked:
"Then how should we counterattack? The Cao army has the largest number of troops and the most fierce offensive force. Now the only ones left are the plains between Suishui and Huoshui in the south and the mountainous areas on the northwest sides of Pei County. The Cao army should have recognized the reality and knew that they can't attack. Should we also counterattack Zhuyi and Fuli from the south? Directly repel the main force of the 200,000 Cao army?"

When Guan Yu asked the question, although he was somewhat puzzled, he was also eager to try. In his opinion, even if he could gather 70,000 or 80,000 men and counterattack Cao's army of more than 200,000, he would still have a chance. If he could really fight a great battle like this and inflict heavy damage on the main force of Cao's army, wouldn't it be great? But it was indeed a bit risky and the gamble was too big.

Zhuge Jin quickly denied Guan Yu's guess: "Who in the world doesn't know Yunchang's bravery? But there is a soft persimmon to squeeze, why do you have to face the strong enemy head-on? Of course, I don't want you to take the southern route to attack Qiaodi. On the contrary, I suggest that our army take the northern route, cross Jiuli Mountain, and take the posture of attacking Lu."

Guan Yu had never thought of this direction, and he did not react for a moment. He and Liu Bei could not help but ask: "Why Lu?"

Zhuge Jin picked up the fan, stood up and paced, walked a few steps to Liu Bei, pointed at the map on the table and said: "My lord, Yunchang, please look, now our army and Cao Cao are in a stalemate, the battle lines are intertwined, and two bulges have been formed.

For our army, Xiaopei is a bulge, so Cao's army had previously wanted to strive to retake Xiaopei and flatten this bulge.

Another protruding part of our army is Taishan County in the north. The reason why it is protruding there is also due to the natural terrain, because the Taishan mountain area is located there. The Cao army never thought of directly retaking this protruding part, because the terrain of Taishan is much more dangerous than Xiaopei, and it is not cost-effective to invest a lot but get little profit.

The Cao army on the opposite side also formed two salients. One was Fuli and Zhuyi in Qiaodi, which was the Cao Ren defense zone that was previously surrounded on three sides by our army. This salient had our Xiaopei salient to the north and our Huainan Shouchun and Yicheng troops to the south.

But now Cao Cao himself is stationed here to support Cao Ren, and the main force of Cao's army of more than 200,000 is also stationed here. So although this is an undefensible salient, Cao's army has an absolute advantage in military strength. Even if we don't have the geographical advantage, we will not attack there.

Another salient part of Cao's army was the State of Lu to the north of Xiaopei. Lu had Xiaopei to the south and Mount Tai to the north. It was sandwiched between the two salient parts of our army and was located in a basin surrounded by Mount Tai and Mount Jiuli.

After our army had been defending for several months, if we suddenly attacked from the north and south, the southern army would cross the Jiuli Valley Road, then bypass the fortified city and go north to the rear of Qufu in Lu County. The northern army would come from Taishan County, go out of the Taishan Valley Road and go south, also going straight to the back of Qufu in Lu County.

If these two armies could cut off communication between Qufu and the rear of Cao's army by advancing from the north and the south, they would be able to annihilate part of Cao's army in a field battle, encircle and attack its reinforcements, mobilize hundreds of thousands of Cao's main forces, and consume part of the enemy in mobile warfare.

In this way, even if our offensive was ultimately a feint, and we immediately withdrew our troops after seeing the main force of Cao's army arrive, and failed to capture Lu, it would still make Cao's army exhausted and go around in circles for a month without achieving anything, and Zhang He's offensive on Mangdang Mountain would inevitably be terminated.

At that time, we can also remind Cao Cao: If he continues to harass our Xiaopei bulge, then we can also harass his Lu bulge in the same way. In contrast, our army has the mountains to rely on, while Cao's bulge is all in the plains. Let's see who can outlast the other!

Cao Cao is a smart man. After discovering that our army has figured this out, he will definitely stop the attack tentatively to observe our army's reaction after he stops. If he stops, and we stop too, he will be even more uneasy and will not dare to escalate the conflict again before he has new confidence.

When the envoys of Liu Biao and Liu Zhang come to watch the ceremony, they can also see the drama of "Cao's army was forced back by our army's counterattack and dared not to attack again". At that time, Liu Biao and Liu Zhang will respect their lord and dare not look up to him. "

Zhuge Jin spoke eloquently, analyzing the enemy's psychology and geography thoroughly. Liu Bei and Guan Yu looked at the map, and after listening to the whole thing, they also breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Bei: "Zi Yu is indeed a master of calculation! After you have thoroughly sorted out the situation by comparing it with the map, the knot at the junction of the four states of Qing, Xu, Yan and Yu has suddenly become clear! Yun Chang, prepare to send troops immediately.

Send someone to inform the garrison in Taishan County, and arrange a date for us to attack from the north and south to strike a blow to Le Jin of Lu. This will also prevent Cao Cao from harassing us all the time! We just want to let Cao know that if he can come, I can also go!"

Guan Yu hurriedly bowed to receive the order, and then ran down with great vigor to arrange the troops.

(End of this chapter)