My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 647: Once a battle is lost, it is full of loopholes
Sima Yi was stared at and questioned by Cao Cao like this, and he felt panic for no reason and was a little at a loss as to what to do.

It can only be said that Sima Yi, who was only 30 years old, was still too young when facing Cao Cao, who was already 54 years old.

Every time he was eager to make a contribution and show off, he was easily seen through by Cao Cao.

However, wealth and honor come with risk, Sima Yi knew very well that he was not as strong as Guo Jia, Xun You, and Jia Xu in terms of military strategy, and was far inferior to Xun Yu in terms of internal affairs and personnel.

But in comparison, after observing Cao Cao for three or four years, Sima Yi also discovered an advantage he had over Xun Yu.

That is because Xun Yu was too proud and was embarrassed to do many things, and he did not unconditionally help Cao Cao to get promoted.

Therefore, as long as Sima Yi himself has 60% to 70% of Xun Yu's awareness of internal affairs and personnel matters, and Sima Yi is even more unscrupulous, he may still be able to help the prime minister do some things that Xun Lingjun could not do or had not thought of doing.

This is Sima Yi’s differentiated competitive advantage.

He must hold on tightly to get out quickly.
Win faster promotion than others and gain more trust from the prime minister.

At this moment, his words had already been spoken, and there was no turning back. He could only persevere to the end.

So he bit the bullet and made a detailed plan for Cao Cao:
"Although we lost many soldiers and generals in the defeat of General Yu, we did not lose any land. It was an offensive battle in which our army attacked Liu Bei's grain storage area.

Now the news has not spread, and only a few of the prime minister's trusted confidants know about it. Therefore, as long as they cover it up a little when reporting to the court, it is not impossible to turn defeat into victory...

At most, we can admit that General Yu did lose some soldiers, but he did successfully burn Liu Bei's army's grain storage in Dangyang County, preventing Liu Bei's army from launching a full-scale offensive for several months."

Sima Yi didn't dare to go into more details, but this was enough.

How could Cao Cao not understand how to conceal defeat and turn it into victory in order to whitewash the prestige of the imperial court?

This kind of thing was common in history and in the court controlled by Cao Cao.

For example, the parallel universe is also in these two years. After the Battle of Chibi, Guan Yu also "cut off the northern road" on this battlefield, that is, blocking the communication and reinforcement supply line between Jiangling, which Cao Ren defended, and Xiangyang in the north.

According to historical materials later recorded in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms" and quoted from the Xudu court, in the "Jiebei Road" of that year, Guan Yu was "severely defeated" by a large number of Cao army generals such as Xu Huang, Man Chong, and Li Tong.

But as Guan Yu was defeated more and more, Cao Ren in Jiangling gradually ran out of ammunition and reinforcements and was forced to "retreat in an orderly manner."

Xu Huang, Man Chong and Li Tong kept winning, but either lost their troops or died of illness.

With this kind of Spring and Autumn style of writing, Cao Cao was able to temporarily stabilize people's hearts.

But the key question is, what else is he going to do with this time difference? If it is just to delay time and delay the spread of the bad news of defeat, then this operation is meaningless.

Cao Cao also knew this, so he asked Sima Yi coldly: "It is indeed okay to delay temporarily, but what should we do after the delay? What should we do during this period?"

Seeing that the prime minister had finally asked the key question, Sima Yi put himself in his shoes and said, "As long as we can temporarily show that the imperial army has won consecutive victories in northern Jing, the prime minister can naturally step up efforts to purge dissidents in the court!

Previously, the Prime Minister had recaptured Nanyang Wancheng, and also captured Xiang and Fan, and was about to conquer Shangyong. Without any effort, he conquered Liu Biao and expanded his territory to three counties. If such a great achievement has not been rewarded, doesn't it seem that the court...does not know how to reward and punish. "

When Cao Cao heard this, his pupils suddenly shrank.

Sima Yi was advising him to continue finding excuses to promote himself, enhance his prestige, and eliminate those opposition forces that dared to cause trouble.

Strictly speaking, taking advantage of Liu Biao's death to pacify Jingbei was indeed a remarkable achievement.

Before this, Cao Cao was not in a hurry to cash in the promotion and reward given to him immediately, because he felt that everything was not settled yet and he could still quickly expand the results of the battle and gain more.

If he had more merits and achievements, and was promoted to a higher rank, everything would be more natural, and the voices of opposition within the Xudu court would be smaller.

However, after being reminded by Sima Yi, he remembered that everything seemed to be a bit too impatient.

With Yu Jin's defeat and the loss of 30,000 men, his hope of expanding his victory was slim.

At this time, there is every reason to take advantage of the peak of military achievement and take what can be taken, and eliminate any opponents who may show up first.

Moreover, this is what the original Cao Cao did in history. In his later years, there was no development at all, but he still kept finding excuses to be promoted and receive honorary treatment.

For example, he fought with Sun Quan so many times, and actually they always won and lost. But when Cao Cao won, he would be promoted and given more treatment, and when he lost, he would remain silent as if nothing had happened.

After a long period of "promotion when winning and no demotion when losing", Cao Cao's status became more and more respected, and he was able to deal with the pro-Han faction in Xu Du with high pressure.

At this moment, as long as Yu Jin's defeat is temporarily concealed, it is obviously an excellent time node to "promote if you win and not demote if you lose."

Once the actual loss of territory begins, all these actions will no longer be convincing.

After Cao Cao had thoroughly understood this, he calmly asked Sima Yi: "According to Zhongda's opinion, if I pacify northern Jing and recapture Nanyang and Xiangyang, what should the court do?"

Sima Yi was so frightened that he immediately bowed and said, "How dare I, a humble official in the Prime Minister's office, interfere in the affairs of the imperial court? With the merits of the Prime Minister, he deserves the title of Duke. The details will naturally depend on the public opinion of the imperial court!"

Sima Yi would never dare to say this in public.

But in such a private occasion, there were no outsiders, so you could just stop at the right time and there was no need to worry about Cao Cao "borrowing something from you to appease public opinion."

Sima Yi then let out a few words and tactfully described his humble opinion.

Cao Cao just sneered, thinking to himself: "Relying on the death of Liu Biao and the stalemate on the front line, I can first confer a duke title... Well, it seems that this is the only opportunity.

If we delay any further, it is unclear whether we can get much benefit from Liu Bei, so we should just take the money first."

Cao Cao knew very well that he needed this "promotion if winning, no retreat if losing" operation very much.

Of course, doing so will definitely have serious side effects.

But the side effect was mainly in terms of external false reputation. From then on, Liu Bei could better attack him for "wanting to abolish the Han Dynasty and establish his own regime" and "pretending to be a Han prime minister but actually being a Han traitor".

However, all this is actually not very important. Because in this world, as of today, there are only two families left in the world: Cao and Liu.

All the heroes in the world have been destroyed, so there is no longer any problem of forming alliances, winning over others, or dividing others.

External reputation plays a big role in a world with many forces coexisting. If you have a good reputation, you can unite more forces to stand on your side.

However, when there are only two forces left in the world and they are either us or our enemies, the effectiveness of these things decreases.

No matter whether Cao Cao has a good reputation or not, Liu Bei's people will oppose him and continue to fight with him.

In Cao Cao's own territory, what was more important was harsh and effective rule rather than reputation.

For example, as long as Cao Wei's later "inter-service law" and other systems were implemented and improved in history, the families of military officers and soldiers were held as hostages.

Even if the soldiers on the front line were dissatisfied with the Cao family, they would not dare to surrender to the enemy easily when the battle situation was unfavorable.

In times of chaos, severe punishments are effective quickly. Why bother with benevolence, righteousness, and morality? How can we directly integrate the Legalist rule efficiently? How quick and effective will it be?
In this situation, Cao Cao cared more about "power" rather than "reputation".

Taking advantage of the opportunity to confer the title of Duke, luring opponents to emerge and then killing them, was an efficient way of "trading fame for power".

Since your reputation has become bad, then you will continue to be bad to the end, go all the way to the end, and exchange your reputation for other more efficient things!
Perhaps, this is also the biggest impact on Cao Cao's mentality after the world evolved from the "Three Kingdoms" to the "Two Powers Confrontation" pattern.

Liu Bei pursued "always the opposite of Cao" and pursued orthodoxy and reputation to the extreme.

Cao Cao also involuntarily pursued "the opposite of Bei". Since he could not surpass Liu Bei in fame, he might as well seek something practical.

"We really need to speed up the planning of this matter. Zhongda, you should go back to Xudu and hint this matter to Wenruo on my behalf, urging him to get it done as soon as possible - it must be done during the period when Liu Bei and I are at a stalemate in Jingxiang!"

Sima Yi was also quite ecstatic when he heard this.

At present, the Prime Minister is facing a strong enemy on the front battlefield and it is difficult for him to achieve decisive success. If he stays at the front, his chances of making plans and gaining merit will be much less.

But if we can go back to Xudu temporarily and deal with those matters of persuading him to ascend the throne first, it would be much easier to succeed.

However, Sima Yi knew the important officials in the court very well, and he was very careful in judging people. He also knew that Xun Yu might not be willing to cooperate with this matter.

So he cautiously asked Cao Cao for instructions: "I am a low-ranking official with little power. If Lord Xun is unwilling to implement it, I don't know..."

Cao Cao frowned and indeed began to feel disgusted with Sima Yi.

He never thought that Xun Yu would oppose him on such a matter.

"Wen Ruo and I have known each other for nearly twenty years, how could he not be better than I want? Don't let your imagination run wild!" Cao Cao subconsciously cursed Sima Yi, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt a little suspicious and guilty, so he finally added in a low voice,
"If something unexpected happens, let Shizhong Xi Lu take charge of this matter! Bypass the Shangshu Ling! When your majesty promotes or rewards a rank, he always needs the Shangshu Ling's approval. It's the same even if there is a Shizhong!"

Cao Cao also knew that if that day really came, it would not be legally acceptable to bypass the Shangshu Ling.

But in such chaotic times, how can we talk about "procedural justice" in everything? It is necessary to exercise discretion in emergencies.

Sima Yi was naturally secretly proud of having received Cao Cao's approval. This time, he finally had the opportunity to further demonstrate himself.

……

The words are divided into two parts.

Cao Cao sent Sima Yi from Wancheng to Yingchuan Xudu to cover up the bad news of Yu Jin's defeat.
By the way, he also boasted about the previous achievements in capturing Nanyang, Xiangyang and Shangyong, and helped Cao Cao arrange the appointment of Duke of Wei.

All of this takes time to work out, and it will be impossible to see any results without a month or two.

On the other hand, Guo Jia, who was sent by Cao Cao to Fancheng, finally arrived at his destination smoothly despite his sick body after several days of transfer on a safe carriage.

Guo Jia also brought some reinforcements to Xu Huang. On the one hand, it was to make up for the losses after Yu Jin's defeat in the Hannan battlefield. At the same time, it was also necessary to ensure that Xu Huang was in the Shangyong direction and get everything done as soon as possible to eliminate the upstream flank threat of Cao's army in Xiangyang.
Then he would return as soon as possible and join forces with Cao Ren and Yu Jin to deal with the upcoming reinforcements from Guan Yu.

However, recently things in the world seem to be not going as Cao Cao wants.

As soon as Guo Jia arrived in Fancheng, he heard that Xu Huang was at the Shangyong front and things didn't seem to be going well.

This surprised Guo Jia. He had been ill recently and had paid little attention to military affairs. He immediately caught up with Man Chong, who had been assisting Xu Huang and was now staying in Fancheng, and asked him in detail:
"General Xu is good at attacking strongholds and advancing decisively, so why would he linger in Shangyong's territory for so long? I heard that the garrison commander of Shangyong is Huo Jun, an unknown general."

Man Chong was helpless and had to tell the truth: "Before the war, who would look up to Huo Jun? But Huo Jun was quite daring to ask for a fight.

At that time, General Xu had just conquered the four counties along the Han River upstream of Xiangyang, and planned to continue his advance, pass Wudang, turn into Yongshui, pacify Fangling, and then divide and conquer the counties of Shangyong.

Who would have thought that Huo Jun would dare to take the initiative to attack, and instead of defending Fangling and Shangyong, he led his troops to Wudang, where he engaged in a fierce battle with General Xu in such a muddy and filthy place.

General Xu spent a lot of time to take down Wudang. Now Huo Jun led the remaining troops to retreat slowly, step by step, and hold on layer by layer.

I don't know how long it will take General Xu to achieve his goal. We can't help much either, we can only help General Xu defend Fancheng and Xinye and wait and see. "

After listening to Man Chong's retelling, Guo Jia was not at peace. Instead, he had a bad premonition:

"Huo Jun has less than 10,000 soldiers, but he dares to take the initiative to advance and defend Wudang? Is there a trick? As far as I know, isn't the small county of Wudang located in a quagmire?

Huo Jun gave up the dangerous mountainous area and took up the swamp in order to block the Han River and prevent Shangyong counties from being defeated one by one. The pros and cons of this trade-off were not in line with the correct way of military strategy. Sun Tzu said that it is a taboo for military strategists to station troops in plains, marshes and other dangerous places.

Huo Jun did this on purpose, was he trying to tire out the enemy? "

After all, Guo Jia was the strategist under Cao Cao who had the most sophisticated grasp of military details. After he personally inquired about it, he quickly realized that there was a problem.

After thinking about it for a while, he quickly figured out how to help Xu Huang fill in the gaps and remind Xu Huang of certain things to avoid.

But it all seems a little late.

……

The timeline goes back to the tenth day of June, before Guo Jia went to Fancheng, when Yu Jin had not yet been defeated in Dangyang.

The view also shifts from the Jianghan Plain to the Shangyong area in the middle and upper reaches of the Han River.

After all, Yu Jin and Xu Huang received orders from Cao Ren respectively. One was responsible for the battlefield in southern Han and the other was responsible for the battlefield in northern Han. One went south and the other went west, each with his own mission.

Therefore, Cao's army also operated on these two fronts in parallel. The final victory or defeat would be decided almost immediately.

Xu Huang, who was ordered by Cao Ren to take over Shangyong, had just arrived at Wudang County controlled by Huo Jun after going upstream from Yun County and Zhuyang County upstream of Xiangyang and marching for many days.

Strictly speaking, Wudang County does not belong to Shangyong, but to Nanyang County.

This is a county town in the southwestern corner of Nanyang County, roughly equivalent to Shiyan Danjiangkou in later generations.

The famous Wudang Mountain is of course located in today's Wudang County. However, the county seat of Wudang County is not built on a steep mountain.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, there was no one on Mount Wudang. Taoism had not yet flourished, and even Zhang Lu was a "rice thief" who was eliminated. There were only a few barbarians on the mountain, living in seclusion and without any leader.

Therefore, Wudang County was actually built on the reservoir area of the later Danjiangkou Reservoir, or on the edge of the swamp near Shiyan. After the "South-to-North Water Diversion" project was carried out in later generations, the ancient Wudang County had sunk under the water.

The Han River and the Zhushui River (today's Malan River, the upper reaches of which flow through Fangling) meet in this area. The water levels differ greatly between the flood season and the dry season, and the water accumulates nearby, forming large areas of muddy swamps.

From a military perspective, such a bad place is certainly not worth defending.

Even if they defended this county town, they could ensure that they controlled both the Han River and the Zhushui River at the same time. They could prevent Xu Huang from going upstream and defeat Shangyong along the Han River and Fangling along the Zhushui River respectively.

However, considering the dilapidated terrain of the county town, which is easy to attack but difficult to defend, Huo Jun's stubborn defense here would be like hitting a rock with an egg, giving Xu Huang a chance to annihilate or cripple him.

To put it bluntly, the advantage of "concentrating military forces" brought about by guarding this place is not enough to make up for the disadvantages of the city itself, which has poor facilities and is too difficult to defend.

Therefore, that morning, when Xu Huang arrived near Wudang County and scouts confirmed that Huo Jun's main force was indeed stationed in Wudang County, he was overjoyed.

"Huo Jun is indeed a man of courage but no strategy. In order to avoid being defeated one by one by me, he gave up the strategic location in the mountainous area and stored his troops on the edge of this swamp.

The wall of Wudang County is low and dilapidated, and the foundation is soft. Even with several times more soldiers than me, it won't take long for me to break it!
Once I annihilate and force the landing of Huo Jun's main force here, he will have no more soldiers to use, and Fangling and Shangyong will be easily captured!

This will save me from having to lead a large army to travel hundreds of miles along the mountains and valleys to fight everywhere! The whole army will rest for a while, build equipment, and attack the city in two days!"

After Xu Huang made this strategic declaration of contempt for his opponents and to boost morale, he waved his hand and gave the order.

The soldiers under his command also decisively carried out Xu Huang's orders and made their own arrangements step by step.

……

After two days of preparation, early in the morning of June 12th.

After Xu Huang's army had built enough flying ladders, battering rams, and a limited number of siege vehicles and wooden donkeys for digging the city, they launched a formal attack on Wudang County as scheduled.

Some people may think that Xu Huang’s attack was a bit hasty - he didn’t even build a ladder truck, but just made a simple flying ladder and started the attack.

But in fact, considering the dilapidated state of Wudang County's fortifications, such preparation was not really underestimating the enemy.

The soil quality of the city wall of Wudang County is very poor. Because this is a city on the edge of a swamp, even the rammed earth used to build the wall cannot be selected from fine loess.

No matter where the soil is taken from, it will be mixed with black mud with more humus. If it is not screened, it is possible to use silt, not to mention black mud.

Therefore, the city wall of Wudang County is loose and porous due to the loss of humus in the rammed earth caused by years of rain erosion.

The soldiers carried ladders and used the inertia of the charge to climb up to the top of the city wall. The heads of the ladders could even penetrate several inches into the soil.

In this case, even an ordinary simple flying ladder would be difficult to be pushed down by the soldiers defending the city with a fork pole, so it doesn't matter whether it is a cloud ladder or not.

The wooden donkey for digging cities that Xu Huang built specifically for this purpose is also particularly useful for such city walls.

The city wall built with this black mud was extremely soft and mushy when it was dug, and a hoe would create a big hole.

A dozen or so wooden donkeys with sloped roofs for digging cities, covered with rawhide and mud to prevent fire, could be used. As long as they were successfully positioned against the base of the city wall and powerful soldiers started digging hard, they would be extremely effective.

Xu Huang used flying ladders, battering rams, and wooden donkeys to dig the city walls and launched a rapid attack on the city walls.

Huo Jun was on the top of the city wall, also shouting loudly to supervise the battle. There seemed to be a lot of arrow reserves in the city, and arrows kept pouring down like rain. The powerful crossbows also caused considerable casualties to Xu Huang.

However, Xu Huang had a resolute look on his face and did not care about the casualties, because he saw clearly that his troops were advancing very smoothly.

The first soldiers who climbed up the city walls with the help of ladders were slaughtered by arrows and rolling logs and rocks from the defenders in just the first two cups of tea. After enduring this most difficult period, the first soldiers managed to gain a foothold on the top of the city walls and started hand-to-hand combat with the defenders.

Although the soldiers who climbed the city wall first would most likely be stabbed and killed by swords and guns, the situation became stalemate as more people climbed up the wall.

The rain of arrows from the top of the city wall soon became sparse, and the defenders continued to send in spearmen and halberd soldiers to fill the line and block the gaps, leaving the archers with no position to shoot arrows.

Many of the defenders' archers were forced to pick up their swords and engage in close combat.

Xu Huang observed coldly from a distance and soon discovered a clue: these guards were not very strong in hand-to-hand combat, and their momentum was not united. Whenever they encountered the fearless Cao army's elite soldiers, they would attack and charge fiercely, which would slightly force back the cowardly defenders.

Xu Huang had studied the enemy a long time ago, so he did not find it too strange. He immediately understood the reason: after all, the soldiers led by Huo Jun were the Jingzhou soldiers originally under the command of Liu Biao and Liu Qi, not the veterans of Liu Bei's camp.

It was common knowledge among all the princes in the world that Liu Biao's Jingzhou army had relatively low combat effectiveness and fighting will.

Compared with the troops of Cao Cao and Liu Bei, the forces of Liu Biao and Liu Zhang are typical examples of being strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

Moreover, the relatively elite Jingzhou troops under Liu Qi were taken to Hanyang by Huang Zhong before the war to help Liu Qi seize power when Liu Biao died.

Those who remained in Shangyong were already the relatively weaker troops in Jingzhou.

Faced with Xu Huang's fierce attack, defending a low and dilapidated city seemed beyond their ability.

As the firepower from the crossbows and rolling logs and rocks on the city walls became sparse, Xu Huang's wooden donkey carts for digging the city walls were able to successfully move up to the corners of the wall and could operate without any interference.

The soldiers in the car used their shovels to dig hard, and each shovel could penetrate several inches into the wall. The morale of Cao's army was greatly boosted, and they dug even harder.

At the critical moment, Huo Jun didn't care about preserving his strength anymore. He poured out all the boiling oil on the top of the city wall, and also threw down countless swallowtail torches and bundles of firewood.

Cao's offensive was barely blocked by the fire attack with oil and grease at all costs. Many flying ladders were also ignited by this wave of oil and grease operations. Cao's follow-up reinforcements could not climb up, and the first climbers who had already attacked the top of the city were slowly besieged and annihilated by Huo Jun.

In the wooden donkey carts below the city, many soldiers could not stand the continuous burning of kerosene and firewood, and they abandoned their carts and fled with smoke and fire.

Xu Huang's first attack was barely able to hold on.

Xu Huang saw that his offensive was slightly frustrated, but he was not discouraged. He knew very well that Huo Jun's observance of the law today would definitely not last long.

Now it is the Eastern Han Dynasty. Any oil or fat that can start a fire is extremely expensive and cannot be used continuously or on a large scale.

It was only the first day of Huo Jun's defense, and he was already pouring oil without any regard for cost. In a broken place like Wudang County, how many days would the stockpile last for him to pour oil?

Xu Huang calculated the progress and was certain that he could capture the place within three days.

By that time, after annihilating Huo Jun's main force, although Fangling, Shangyong and other counties would be more solid, the enemy would have no soldiers left, so wouldn't he be able to seize the land?
(End of this chapter)