My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 639 Eat the soft persimmon first, then bite the hard bone

He heard that Cao Ren's reinforcements were about to cross the Han River to the south with the support of Cai Mao's navy.

Liu Bei was of course very clear that he could not delay any longer outside the city of Xiangyang.

This vanguard cavalry under his command could ensure that they would not be afraid of fighting in the field when facing the Jingzhou army led by Cai Mao in Xiangyang City.

But if Cao Ren also rushed to the battlefield and joined forces with Cai Mao, Liu Bei would definitely not be his opponent.

They had to wait for Zhuge Jin to join forces with the navy and infantry from Wuchang and other places before they could have the strength to fight.

However, just before leaving, he heard from Xu Shu that he could still make a quick effort and instigate the disintegration of the unity within the enemy army, so that Cao Cao would not dare to trust and use the Kuai family in the short term.

Of course, Liu Bei was willing to give it a try, as it wouldn't take much time anyway.

So he told Xu Shu without any doubt: "Just do whatever you want to do. No need to waste time explaining. But I will only give you a quarter of an hour."

Xu Shu simply bowed his hands and said without further ado: "Don't worry, my lord. A quarter of an hour will be enough."

As Xu Shu spoke, he rode forward and stopped outside the range of the crossbows on the city wall. Then he asked the scolds to shout in unison:
"Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue! Yicheng has been conquered by the Grand Commandant! Most of your clansmen have already joined the light! Why don't you quickly open the city gates and welcome the royal army into the city! I know that it was Cai Mao who plotted to assassinate Lord Jingsheng. You didn't participate, so don't die with Cai Mao!

"The army led by Zhuge Situ and General Guan will arrive in Xiangyang in a few days. Even Cao Ren will not be able to save you by then! It is better to present the heads of Cao Ren and Cai Mao to the commander in chief in exchange for preserving the family's wealth and glory!"

The scolds shouted in unison for a few rounds, which indeed caused a slight commotion on the city wall.

Xu Shu didn't waste any time. He had several members of the Kuai family brought up and asked them one by one in private, "Who among you is willing to surrender and go outside the city gate to persuade Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue to surrender?"

Several prisoners looked at each other for a while, and some of them were willing to surrender, while some of them were stubborn and kept silent, just lowering their heads and eyes.

Xu Shu nodded, but did not pull those who were willing to surrender, but instead pulled those who were unwilling to surrender first.

"Since you don't want to surrender, there's no point in keeping you. Let you go back to the city wall. If you can persuade Kuai Liang to lower the basket and carry you back to the city, you'll have a chance to survive."

As he said that, Xu Shu personally swung his sword to cut the hemp ropes that bound those members of the Kuai family, and kicked them on the buttocks, telling them to get out.

These people were confused and rushed towards the city wall without thinking. Xu Shu asked the scolds to shout out their identities and explain that they were stubborn and unwilling to surrender, so they could be sent back to Xiangyang and let Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue lower the hanging basket to pick them up.

However, the people on the city wall were watching him. How could Kuai Liang dare to act rashly? What if he handled the situation improperly and Cao Cao became suspicious of him?

While the Kuai family members on the city wall were hesitating, Xu Shu had already issued an order: "Since you yourselves are unwilling to accept them, and these traitors are unwilling to surrender, they should be executed!"

Xu Shu gave Huang Zhong a look, and Huang Zhong fired a series of arrows, shooting to death several members of the Kuai family in front of the defenders.

Then, Xu Shu pulled a few people who expressed their willingness to surrender, and asked them to go to the foot of the city to persuade the Kuai family to open the city gate, and he also equipped them with large shields to protect against arrows.

Those people were forced to move closer and shout.

The Kuai family members on the city wall were reluctant to shoot arrows at their own people, and were unable to deal with the situation in time, so the atmosphere on the city wall became quite weird.

The officers who obeyed Cai Mao were afraid that the Kuai family would not be able to bear the pressure and would suddenly revolt. The Kuai family was also worried that Cai Mao's confidants would be suspicious of them, so they were wary of each other for a while.

In the end, it was Cai He, Cai Mao's cousin who was sent to guard the city gate, who lost his patience and ordered arrows to be shot at the captives who tried to persuade them to surrender.

The surrenderers who were shouting at the city immediately shrank their heads, hid behind their shields, and then ran back. Some of them were shot in the calf while running, but they were dragged back and it was not fatal.

Xu Shu also used both kindness and force. He immediately rewarded those members of the Kuai family who were willing to cooperate in persuading the surrender. He also gave a large amount of extra money for medicine to the one who was shot in the calf - and all this was done under the sight of the defenders on the city wall.

Anyway, Xu Shu didn't expect any one of his moves to be effective alone. What he wanted was to defeat the master with a random punch and muddy the waters as much as possible so that after Cao's army took control of Xiangyang, they would be at a loss as to what to do with the Kuai family.

Among them were those who would rather die than surrender, but were abandoned by their own people, those who surrendered, and those who were wanted to be silenced by their former masters after surrendering.

There is a mixture of everything in this big pot. After encountering so many changes, will Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue feel resentment? Will they worry that Cao Cao will think they feel resentment? Let Cao Cao guess it himself.

Moreover, the effect of Xu Shu's actions was immediate.

Because Cai He ordered arrows to be shot at the Kuai family members who tried to persuade them to surrender, some of the Kuai family's personal soldiers on the city wall lost their patience and, out of mutual suspicion, some individual officers even used knives in a small group.

In the end, it was Kuai Yue who realized that something was wrong. He took the initiative to shout and force all his personal guards and servants to lay down their weapons and not resist. Only then did he quell this sudden internal suspicion.

……

After disgusting the Cai and Kuai families and creating a little rift, Xu Shu immediately led his men to withdraw.

As for Cao Ren, all his troops had not yet had time to cross the Han River, so it was impossible for him to chase Liu Bei.

After discussing with Xu Shu and Huang Zhong, Liu Bei decided to split his troops into two groups during the retreat.

Xu Shu volunteered to go with Huang Zhong to occupy Linju in the west, so as to contact Fangling and join forces with Huo Jun who was guarding Shangyong.

Liu Bei himself, with half of his cavalry, went south back to Yicheng to hold the city, waiting for Zhuge Jin to join him.

However, in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly, Xu Shu still asked Liu Bei to use a trick to confuse the enemy:
A small number of light cavalry were left behind, equipped with more than one horse for each man, and they patrolled the gates outside Xiangyang City with branches dragged by their horses' tails, creating the illusion of a continuous rear army in the billowing smoke and dust.

Two hours after the main force withdrew, these light cavalrymen who were left behind took advantage of sufficient transfer and accelerated their withdrawal.

Cao Ren on the opposite side also cautiously asked Cai Mao about the situation here when he just crossed the Han River.

Cai Mao told him that Liu Bei had come to Xiangyang in person and wanted to seize the city. Fortunately, he had temporarily blocked the three gates of Xiangyang with rammed earth, so even if there were civil and military officials in the city who were loyal to Liu Bei, they could not respond for a while.

When Cao Ren learned that Liu Bei had arrived so quickly, he also began to desire credit.

However, he still couldn't figure out the strength of Liu Bei's army, so he sent out scouts first. It turned out that Liu Bei's cavalry was probably tens of thousands strong, and seeing that Cao's army had no intention of retreating, Cao Ren had to be cautious for the time being.

A few hours later, Cao Ren learned that Liu Bei's army had suddenly retreated, so he sent people to chase them, but it was too late.

On the contrary, some scouts were too arrogant and chased too far downstream along the Han River. Seeing Liu Bei's flag, they advanced rashly and were greedy for merit.

As a result, Chen Dao, who was beside Liu Bei, led the cavalry to turn around and attack, defeating them. Dozens of heads were beheaded, over a hundred were captured and more than a hundred horses were seized. Only then did Cao Ren's troops cease to function.

After the remaining scouts fled back to Xiangyang, they reported the situation to Cao Ren, but Cao Ren was helpless.

……

It was already late at night when all Cao's scouts returned to the city.

Cao Ren was in a depressed mood, but Cai Mao, who came to meet him, had to serve him carefully and held a grand banquet in the Jingzhou Mu's mansion to welcome the reinforcements and thank them for their rescue.

Cao Ren had a bad temper and was not very polite to Cai Mao. He could only say that his words and expressions were decent, but his tone and expression were always cold.

Fortunately, Cai Mao was a man who could tolerate flattery and still smiled on the surface.

As for Cai Mao's inner thoughts, he had already complained countless times: "Humph! The Prime Minister and I are old friends. How much merit have I made for the court this time? Moreover, Liu Biao originally planned to send Liu Qi to join Liu Bei, and was just waiting to formally discuss favorable conditions!
If it weren't for me, would the court be able to take back Nanyang County and Zhangling County this time? Maybe Liu Bei would have gotten them! Well, I won't argue with this rude man for now. When the Prime Minister comes in person, I will let him see how magnanimous and considerate I am."

Cai Mao prepared himself for this, and then, while toasting Cao Ren at the welcoming banquet, he asked indirectly about the distance of the reinforcements:

"Thanks to General Cao's timely arrival today, Liu Bei did not dare to forcefully besiege Xiangyang City. General Cao is indeed the best general under the Prime Minister's command, and his troops are advancing at a lightning speed. Come, let us toast General Cao!"

Cao Ren did not want to hit a smiling person, so he forced a smile and drank Cai Mao's toast.

Cai Mao immediately took advantage of the situation and asked, "Although Liu Bei has retreated, I heard that his infantry and navy are led by Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu, and they will arrive within five or six days at the latest.

The enemy's rear army is probably about 100,000 strong. Although General Cao is brave, this amount of troops... may not be enough to support the enemy alone. I wonder where the rear army led by the Prime Minister is now?"

Cao Ren didn't want to reveal the details of the military secrets, but he thought again. The people in Xiangyang were unstable at the moment. If he kept it a secret and made the defenders afraid, that would be bad. So after careful consideration, he decided to show off his muscles and said in detail:

"Don't worry! Even if Liu Bei brings another 100,000 troops, they are no match for the Prime Minister! The Prime Minister has already personally traveled south from Xudu, leaving Yingchuan County and entering Nanyang County. He will arrive in Wancheng in less than five days."

Cai Mao was slightly panicked when he heard this: "It will take five days to reach Wancheng? I'm afraid that by then, Zhuge Jin will have already arrived in Yicheng, and there will only be one county left to Xiangyang."

Yicheng is the nearest county to the south of Xiangyang, only sixty miles away.

Forty miles of it is a plain area, and another twenty miles is the mountainous area of Xian Mountain. Sixteen years ago, when Liu Biao had just established a foothold in Jingzhou, his general Huang Zu camped on Xian Mountain in the southwest of the city and supported the defenders in the city. Later, he shot and killed Sun Jian who was attacking the mountain there, which curbed the development momentum of the Sun family for several years.

Seeing that Cai Mao was a little flustered, Cao Ren looked down on this traitor even more. However, he still had to calm people down, so he raised his voice and announced in a stern voice:
"Don't be afraid! Although the Prime Minister will arrive in Wancheng in five days, he has already assigned Xu Huang to my command! Together with Yu Jin who has been in charge of garrisoning Tongbai, these two armies will have as many as 30,000 to 40,000 troops each!

I have consulted the Prime Minister, and the deployment is complete. When the time comes, let Xu Huang guard Fancheng, which is across the Han River from Xiangyang.

He ordered Yu Jin to set up camp at the strategic location of Mount Xian in the southwest of the city, forming a three-way alliance with Xiang and Fan, and supporting each other, just like the story of Huang Zu killing Sun Jian.

Our three armies combined have more than 100,000 troops! We are not afraid of Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin at all. The Prime Minister personally led 100,000 troops to support us. Given time, we will surely defeat Liu Bei!"

Under the influence of alcohol, Cao Ren did not hide anything and boasted about the might of his own army in one breath, making promises to the surrendered generals in Jingzhou.

Cai Mao and Zhang Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief and boasted about their own fighting prowess. On the one hand, they wanted to join in the fun, and on the other hand, they were worried that Cao Ren would look down on them.

"It turns out that the Prime Minister can send out 200,000 troops in just a few days. It's really like a mountain pressing down on our heads. Why should we worry about Liu Bei's demise? Our Jingzhou army also has 70,000 to 80,000 people. We are willing to be the vanguard to help the Prime Minister and the generals and defeat the enemy together!"

When Liu Biao was in power, there were more than 100,000 Jingzhou troops in the entire five counties of northern Jingzhou.

Cai Mao said that he could bring 70,000 to 80,000 troops to surrender, but in fact, this was quite exaggerated. He counted all the troops in the entire Zhangling County, Shangyong and Nanyang as those who followed him to surrender to Cao.

It is believed that only the garrisons in Nanjun and Jiangxia counties were incorporated by Liu Bei.

But in fact, the territory occupied by Liu Bei was obviously more than the two counties in the south. As for Shangyong, although the Han River waterway was cut off by Zhangling County, it seemed to be an isolated and remaining force.

But in fact, as long as Huo Jun surrendered to Liu Bei, he could communicate and exchange information by land through the mountainous area between Linju and Fangling.

When a large amount of military supplies and food were needed, they could also rely on the Hanzhong County upstream to transport food to Shangyong via the Hanshui River. So in fact, there was no problem that "Shangyong had to follow Cai Mao because the Hanshui River downstream was cut off."

In addition, not all of Zhangling County followed Cai Mao to join Cao. The two frontier bridgeheads of Yicheng and Linju had already been captured by Liu Bei. Although the local garrison was not large in number, only a few thousand in total, they all abandoned Cao and joined Liu.

There were also some counties in Zhangling County on the north bank of the Han River, in the Suizhou area in later generations. It was very likely that they were captured by Zhuge Jin's navy on the way upstream of the Han River.

If we remove all those chips that have not been firmly secured, the number of people that Cai Mao can lead to invest is no more than 50,000 people at most.

The remaining nearly 80,000 former members of the Jingzhou Army chose to surrender to Liu Bei.

That is to say, from the perspective of military strength, Liu Bei and Liu Qi obtained more than 60% of Liu Biao's inheritance, while Cai Mao, Zhang Yun and Kuai Liang only took away less than 40%.

And considering that Liu Bei raised the banner of revenge for Liu Biao and even had his troops wrapped in white cloth, Liu Bei had gained great popularity in Jingzhou over the years.

Cai Mao's 50,000 to 60,000 men had to be loyal to him because they were still defending the city and could not cause trouble or escape. If there was an opportunity for a field battle one day, who knows how many would defect and how many would desert.

It is difficult to estimate the number of people who were truly loyal to Cai Mao and fought for him until the end.

Cao Ren also knew that there was some truth in what Cai Mao said, but he didn't have time to figure it out, and he didn't want to offend anyone. For the time being, he discounted Cai Mao's words and only counted the surrendered troops of Jingzhou in the three cities of Xiangyang, Fancheng, and Wancheng, and estimated the defense deployment based on this scale.

Cao Ren then looked at the map in detail again, and based on Cai Mao's latest report on the enemy situation, he checked to see which areas in northern Jing had not been divided up between the enemy and our armies.

After some sorting out, Cao Ren quickly focused his attention on Zhuyang, Shandu, Dengxian and Yunxian, upstream of Xiangyang.

Those places were also part of Zhangling County, among which Zhuyang and Shan were located south of the Han River, and the other two counties were located north of the Han River.

However, because Cao Ren was in such a hurry and just arrived in Xiangyang today, he did not have time to fully take over the surrounding small counties.

Cao Ren immediately asked Cai Mao: "Lord Cai, as the governor of Zhangling, the four counties upstream should also be under your jurisdiction, right? That is the throat connecting Shangyong. Have those counties made a clear statement and submitted to the court? Will they be seized by Liu Bei?"

Cai Mao didn't even need to look at the map, and immediately answered: "These counties have always been under my jurisdiction. The local county magistrates, county lieutenants, or the garrison military commanders and music chiefs are all my people. When the second son received the imperial decree to succeed as governor of Jingzhou, I sent letters to the four counties, and they all supported the second son as governor."

Cao Ren frowned and said, "It's not enough to just send a letter of support. Have you sent troops?"

Cai Mao couldn't help but feel that Cao Ren was making things difficult for him. He spread his hands and said, "I already have my own troops there. What good would it do to send more people there? Wouldn't it make people think that I don't trust them?"

Cao Ren thought about it and it made sense. After all, Cai Mao himself was too busy to handle all the tasks. Apart from Zhang Yun, there was no other candidate who would be absolutely loyal to him and not loyal to Liu Bei or Liu Qi.

If we send more people, and if they are unreliable, Liu Bei may still be able to persuade them to surrender when he gets there. Wouldn't that be a waste of time?
In order to ensure that the counties would not be incorporated by Liu Bei and to cut off Liu Bei's contact with Shangyong, the only way was to send Cao's direct troops to take over the defense, such as replacing the people guarding the gates of each city with Cao's troops. Only Cao's own people would not be easily intimidated and surrender to Liu.

Cao Ren understood these reasons and gave the order: "Well, tomorrow I will allocate some troops and let Xu Huang and Yu Jin each lead several thousand to take over the counties upstream to protect the flanks.

Then, our army can divide its troops and continue to go upstream to force a landing in Shangyong County where Liu Qi was originally stationed! By the way, Liu Qi took Huang Zhong back to Hanyang. Who did he leave to guard Shangyong? Is it easy to force a landing?"

Cao Ren came from afar and knew nothing about the generals in Jingzhou. When encountering such a thing, he could only ask Cai Mao temporarily.

Cai Mao was naturally well aware of the personnel affairs in Jingzhou, and he answered immediately: "The only person Liu Qi left in Shangyong was an unknown general named Huo Jun, with less than 10,000 soldiers. Once the imperial army arrives, he will surely surrender."

Cao Ren was very satisfied with this deduction and nodded. "Then Yu Jin and I will hold out against Liu Bei in the south of Han and consolidate our camp. Xu Huang in the north of Han will first divide his forces to occupy all the counties upstream that have not been occupied. Then, we will concentrate our forces to fight Liu Bei to decide the outcome!"

Cao Ren's order was quickly conveyed to all the generals, including Xu Huang, who was still in Fancheng on the other side of the river, and received a new order sent back by a patrol boat overnight.

The next morning, Cao's war machine began to operate rapidly according to this new deployment.

……

After Cao Ren changed his strategy to a frontal stalemate and seizing open ground from the flank, he naturally did not have the energy to immediately move south and counterattack Yicheng in the next two or three days.

After all, Yicheng has elite cavalry led by Liu Bei himself, as well as three or four thousand former Jingzhou troops who surrendered to Liu Bei. If some local militiamen are temporarily recruited, it will not be difficult to gather more than 10,000 people to defend the city.

Cao Ren knew that Zhuge Jin's navy and infantry would arrive in three to five days at most, so even if he concentrated 100,000 men to attack at full speed, it would be impossible to break through Yicheng, which was defended by 10,000 men, in five days.

In this case, it is better to proceed steadily and not to provoke Yicheng first, so as to avoid being caught off guard by Zhuge Jin who came to reinforce when the offensive is exhausted.

Liu Bei had been exhausted from running around to enclose land for the past few days, and his cavalry and horses were in urgent need of rest.

So when Cao Ren didn't come to find him, he was happy to sleep in the city and recover his strength.

But after resting for two days, Liu Bei was still puzzled, so he asked Xu Shu for advice:
"Cao Ren has been in Xiangyang for several days. He has a large number of troops, but he only defends the city and builds camps instead of heading south. What's the reason?"

Xu Shu thought for a moment and gave a pertinent answer: "Cao Ren did not dare to act rashly. On the one hand, he was worried that even if he went south, he would not be able to achieve any results in the next few days, and he was afraid of encountering our reinforcements.

On the other hand, Cao Ren must have found a soft persimmon for Cao Jun to exploit, and wanted to expand the victory in other directions first. After all, Cao Ren had rushed all the way along the Baihe River to attack Xiang and Fan. There were still many counties in Nanyang County and Zhangling County that had not been formally conquered. "

"Is that so?" Liu Bei pondered for a while after hearing this. "The only places that have not yet been determined to be our enemy are Shangyong and Suixian on the east and west wings.

As for Shangyong, I have already sent a letter to the garrison in Hanzhong to reinforce and defend as you said, so I believe everything will be fine. In this case, we should just wait for Ziyu's reinforcements to arrive."

After Liu Bei figured it out, he stopped worrying about it and let the armies under him carve out their own territory and determine their sphere of influence.

He stayed in Yicheng for another day. Finally, a fleet of warships came upstream on the Han River in the south. They were the navy and infantry from the Wuchang garrison brought by Zhuge Jin, with a total of more than 50,000.

Liu Bei personally went to the Han River wharf west of Yicheng to greet him, and hosted a welcome party for Zhuge Jin in the city, while also discussing strategies to defeat Cao.

(End of this chapter)