My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 516: Attacking from the West and Attacking from the East
Strictly speaking, the loss of 5,000 people out of an army of 60,000 to 70,000 was not too exaggerated.

However, at the beginning of the decisive battle, they were suddenly attacked and severely defeated by the enemy. The morale of the remaining 60,000 Cao troops hit rock bottom.

Of course, to be honest, Xiahou Yuan's action to rescue the remnants of the Jiangnan Old Camp did win back some hearts and minds. Although the damage exchange ratio was not cost-effective, it at least let the soldiers know that General Xiahou was still responsible and would not stand by and watch the dying like Gongsun Zan did.

Everyone felt that General Xiahou's main problem was his intelligence. Every time he fell into a trap and was suppressed by the enemy, the Cao army was worried about whether they would fall into Liu Bei's more ruthless trap in the next final battle. Everyone was on edge.

Xiahou Yuan himself, of course, was vaguely aware of the situation and knew what the soldiers were thinking. But he had no choice. At this point, he could only look forward and try to deal with the situation as it came.

……

The next morning after rescuing the remnants of the Jiangnan old camp, Xiahou Yuan urgently convened a small-scale military meeting.

On the one hand, it was to comfort Feng Kai who had returned from a bloody battle, and on the other hand, it was also to discuss the next deployment.

Although Feng Kai lost so many troops, Xiahou Yuan still wanted to reward him. It was not Feng Kai's fault that he could not defeat Gan Ning. He had tried his best and achieved his strategic goal.

So right from the start, Xiahou Yuan made his position clear:
"The primary responsibility for the loss of so many men in the battle last night lies with me. I misjudged Gan Ning's combat capability. A few days ago, Gan Ning made a feint attack to test us, but I saw him retreat after his ship ran aground. I mistakenly thought that Gan Ning relied too much on his ship and that his actual combat capability was not that strong.

Who knew this was also a trick of Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong! Gan Ning's show of weakness a few days ago was probably just to lure the enemy. Captain Feng was able to fight like this and rescue his comrades in the Jiangnan old camp. He is a meritorious man. I will report my merits to the Prime Minister and ask for a reward."

Feng Kai was initially worried that Xiahou Yuan was cruel and would hold him responsible if he lost the battle. But after hearing this, he finally felt relieved and even shed tears of gratitude.

He quickly bowed according to military etiquette: "General, your kindness in recognizing your talents and your fair judgment in rewarding and punishing are rare today. I will repay you with my life."

Jia Xu on the side also breathed a sigh of relief, and Zhang Xiu suddenly felt a sense of empathy. It seemed that he was full of strength and wanted to fight to the death with Zhang Fei and Gan Ning.

Xiahou Yuan didn't want to waste time on these red tapes, so he raised his hand to stop his subordinates from expressing their determination in vain, and asked directly:

"Zhang Fei has broken into the old camp in the south of the Yangtze River and joined forces with Wei Yan. What should our army do next? Should we hold on to the new camp and wait for Zhang Fei to attack?

After all, the new camp has not been in operation for a whole winter like the old camp, and it is located in the north of the river, with relatively flat terrain and lack of strategic locations. At present, morale is low. Wenhe, do you have any details to add about the defense?"

Jia Xu was named, and could only frown and analyze: "Zhang Fei came at a very bad time. Although our army has 60,000 soldiers, some of them went to Dangqu County and Mengtou, Dangshi and other villages to plunder the food and grass of the Qiang people and Bandun barbarians.

We must hold on for now and wait for the troops to gather. Otherwise, if we give up the estuary where the West Han River (Jialing River) and Dangqu (Qu River) converge and allow Zhang Fei to occupy this place, the troops we sent to collect food and grass along the Dangqu will be cut off from returning by water.

I suspect that the reason Zhang Fei was able to seize such a good opportunity to attack must be that there were spies from the Qiang people and the Bandun barbarians who secretly contacted Liu Bei and tipped off Liu Bei.

Otherwise, with the mountains blocking the way, how could Liu Bei's army know so quickly that we were just dividing our forces to go back to the hinterland controlled by the barbarians to gather food? They caught the key point so accurately."

Jia Xu's analysis was very accurate after the event, but it was a pity that it came a little late.

The reason why Liu Bei's army was able to seize the opportunity so well was indeed because Xiahou Yuan burned, killed and looted in Dangqu and other places, forcing Wang Ping and other elite members of the Bandunman tribe to cross mountains and ridges to the south to contact external aid for revenge.

Otherwise, with the mountains blocking the way north of Chongqing and the dangerous terrain near Diaoyu Mountain, Xiahou Yuan could definitely extend the information gap of the intelligence blockade to one month by blocking the gap.

Jia Xu dared to divide his troops and gather food to delay time because he had calculated this point. Unfortunately, he forgot to calculate how hard the enemy would fight after offending the Bandun Barbarians and climbing over the mountains and cliffs.

After hearing Jia Xu's analysis, Xiahou Yuan and the other three generals fell silent.

It hurts to be caught.

After a long time, Zhang Xiu, who still didn't know anything about naval warfare, rashly asked a relatively simple question:

"General, Wenhe, since we have decided to fight and retreat, and to take the detachment that went to Dangqu to collect food with us, why don't we just retreat slowly along the Dangqu River Valley and resist step by step?

Why do we have to stay at the confluence of the West Han River and the Dangqu River, wait for the friendly troops along the Dangqu River to return downstream to join us, and then withdraw via the West Han River?"

Zhang Xiu did not understand mountain warfare. He was a cavalry general from the Xiliang faction. In addition, the Xiliang army never paid attention to logistics. They relied on burning, killing, looting and raising food on the spot. Therefore, they had a poor understanding of the difficulty of logistics and geography. After hearing this, Xiahou Yuan and Jia Xu were both a little contemptuous, but they did not show it on the surface. Jia Xu controlled his emotions and said slowly and patiently:

"If we retreat upstream along the Dangqu Canal, we will eventually be able to retreat to Hanzhong and delay the Prime Minister's reinforcements to enter Sichuan. However, we have to cross the Daba Mountains upstream of the Dangqu Canal to return to Hanzhong. There is no waterway. The Daba Mountains are the watershed between the Han River and the West Han River (Jialing River).

How much baggage and food would we have to abandon to get back to Hanzhong? How much heavy military equipment would we have to throw away? How many soldiers might be killed or injured?
In contrast, if the troops were to withdraw along the West Han River, they could go upstream to the outside of Jiameng Pass, then retreat along the Jinniu Road to Yangping Pass, and return to Hanzhong from the Yangping Pass road. No supplies or weapons would have to be abandoned, and the soldiers would not have to worry about falling and getting injured while climbing over dangerous places.

The only thing we have to worry about now is whether Zhang Fei will take advantage of the fact that our detachment that went to Dangqu to collect food has not yet returned and attack our main camp."

Jia Xu analyzed the pros and cons clearly, and all that remained was for Xiahou Yuan to make his own decision.

Xiahou Yuan's face turned pale, and he stroked his beard and thought for a long time: "I have made up my mind. I will hold on to this camp and fight a decisive battle with Zhang Fei. Our army has a total of 60,000 troops, and more than 10,000 soldiers who are collecting food will return in three days.

But even if we only use 45,000 men to defend the camp, Zhang Fei on the opposite side has only that many men at most. The forces of both sides are equal, and our army can't hold on for three days? Wenhe, you don't have to consider those major decisions on battle and defense, just pay attention to helping me find loopholes in tactics. "

Jia Xu immediately accepted the order, and that morning he helped Xiahou Yuan inspect the defense deployment of the camp again and helped to point out some small improvements for the sake of perfection.

Xiahou Yuan also did not forget to personally inspect the entire camp. He went to each section of the defense line to encourage the soldiers, telling them that they just had to hold on and wait for the friendly forces to fully meet up.

He also told the generals and soldiers clearly: Liu Bei's army must know that we have sent troops to Dangqu to collect food, so Zhang Fei must think this is a good opportunity to attack the main camp and defeat Cao's army one by one. He will definitely attack with all his might. Today is a godsend opportunity to thwart Liu Bei's offensive! All we have to do is hold on firmly!
……

On the other side of the battle line, Zhang Fei indeed had no way to launch an attack that morning - it was not because Zhang Fei was lazy, but because he had just joined forces with Gan Ning to encircle and annihilate 5,000 Cao troops last night.

As the victorious party, Zhang Fei also needed to first clear out the newly occupied camp, and then meet up with Wei Yan to reward and appease Wei Yan's soldiers who had been besieged for more than seven months.

The wounded soldiers who have not recovered from their injuries in Diaoyucheng should also be transferred to Jiangzhou in the rear with better medical conditions for treatment and recuperation in a timely manner. This will ensure that the remaining soldiers in Diaoyucheng are in high spirits and willing to fight hard for their lord. Otherwise, if they don't even care about the safety of the wounded, it will definitely chill people's hearts and affect their combat effectiveness.

All of this processing will take at least one day.

Moreover, Zhang Fei attacked Cao's old camp in the south of the Yangtze River, while Xiahou Yuan's main force had already retreated to the new camp in the north of the Yangtze River. It was impossible for Zhang Fei to cross the Jialing River directly to the north to pursue the enemy under Xiahou Yuan's surveillance, as he would definitely be blocked by Xiahou Yuan at the crossing and attacked when they were halfway across the river.

This requires Gan Ning to work harder and find gaps along the Jialing River defense line.

Then he helped Zhang Fei transport a detachment to the other side, set up a camp, gain a foothold, build a simple temporary pier, and then cross the main force to the other side for a decisive battle with Xiahou Yuan.

During this process, Gan Ning originally wanted to take a longer detour before trying to cross the river to ensure that the landing site was safer and would not be disturbed by Cao's army.

However, Pang Tong, who followed Liu Bei in the army, came up with an idea for Gan Ning:
"Xingba, you don't have to go too far. First, send the boats northward along the main stream of the West Han River, detour for 40 miles, then drop a group of soldiers and pretend to set up camp. Cao's cavalry will definitely be attracted. You don't have to set up camp. Just drop the long-halberd soldiers to form a moon formation with their backs to the water, use the chariots as support, and deploy crossbowmen on the chariots. Rely on these soldiers to resist the attack of Cao's cavalry.

As long as we can hold back Cao's cavalry, our main force that really wants to cross the river and land can attack from the east while making a feint to the west, go around to the upstream of the Dangqu River estuary, and cross the river at night, which is also 40 miles away. Even if Cao's army finds out, as long as their main cavalry is pinned down by the first group of decoys crossing the river, they will definitely not be able to catch up with the second group in the east with only infantry, and our army will be able to gain a firm foothold in the north of the river. If Cao's army dares to counterattack, we can weaken them again."

Gan Ning immediately understood what he meant and said he would do it right away.

Zhang Fei, who was listening in on the side, couldn't help but applaud this tactical arrangement. He also took the initiative to challenge Liu Bei to a battle:
"Brother, since you want to use the strategy of making a noise in the west and attacking in the east, why don't you let me lead the decoy troops in the west and pretend to make a desperate attempt to cross the river to attract Xiahou Yuan's attention.

My target is obvious. As long as I appear on the battlefield and shout insults at the enemy, how can the enemy not know that my group is the real main force crossing the river?"

Liu Bei was slightly trembling after hearing this: "Third brother, be careful! Pretending to land and forming a battle array with your back to the water, and being attacked by the enemy's main force halfway across the river, this is no joke, it is very dangerous."

Zhang Fei, however, didn't care at all and insisted on asking for battle: "Don't worry, big brother! I will personally lead the main force and land in the east."

Liu Bei wanted to say something, but found that he had inadvertently been taken over by his third brother and had succeeded in cheating.

"Well, you've been very frustrated in the past few years, so I'll give you a chance to establish your authority. That day you attacked Xiahou Yuan's defense, and you were not happy. Today, let Xiahou Yuan attack your defense once."

(End of this chapter)