My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 657 Zhuge Jin: Just One Level Higher Than Jia Xu Is Enough
When Jia Xu heard the question raised by Cao Ren, he was quite shocked.

It can be seen that Jia Xu just found out about this.

He never expected that Gao Shun would launch such a rash landing operation, suddenly driving a nail between the east of Xiangyang City and Yuliangzhou, amid the heavy encirclement of Cao's army.

After all, the Lumen Mountain camp, thirty miles downstream on the opposite bank, was just lost two days ago. The speed of Liu Bei's army's advancement was too fast.

Moreover, Gao Shun's way of advancement was to focus only on clearing the obstacles in the waterway on the east bank of the Han River, while ignoring the Xianshan camp on the west bank of the Han River. He then continued to move northward, allowing Yu Jin to threaten the land retreat of the Yuliangzhou landing troops.

Is it just because Du Xi and Wen Pin are weaklings compared to Yu Jin, so he picked one of them? After squeezing one, he just left the other alone?
What did Gao Shun want to do? What did Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin want to do?
Is it necessary to be so reckless? Is it intentional to lure the enemy or have some other conspiracy?
Jia Xu had to think carefully for a very long time before he came up with some of his own analysis and discussed it with Cao Ren - his tone was very uncertain, and it could not even be said that he was offering advice, but only discussing it.

Jia Xu: "This matter is really hard to see through at the moment, I hope the general will be cautious. In my opinion, Gao Shun suddenly led tens of thousands of troops and penetrated between Xiangyang City and Yuliangzhou Water Fort at night. Now he has initially gained a foothold.

If our army insists on launching a counterattack immediately, it will also face some unfavorable situations:
First of all, although Gao Shun took the initiative to jump into our army's encirclement, the position he chose was still very clever.

It is now the rainy season in summer and autumn. Even if we go back ten days, the waterway west of Yuliangzhou would not be passable by boats.

If Gao Shun had launched an attack and landed here at that time, our troops in Xiangyang City and the Xianshan Camp could have directly attacked Gao Shun by land without even the help of ships.

However, the enemy chose this time to attack. The timing was perfect, as the autumn rain had just caused the water to rise and the low-lying area between Yuliangzhou and Xiangyang City was flooded by the Han River to the extent that small boats could pass through.

If we want to fight back now, if we do not use boats and just let the soldiers wade across the river, some of them will definitely be washed away, and they will be intercepted and killed by the enemy in boats along the waterway. Even if they reach the shore, it will be difficult for them to form a formation and they will be attacked halfway across the river.

The geographical disadvantages that the armies in Xiangyang and Xianshan had to overcome were already so obvious. If General Xu in Fancheng wanted to reinforce, it would only be more troublesome. He needed to cross not only a branch river that was only flooded during the rainy season, but the main stream of the Han River. If he landed rashly, he would be in greater danger of being attacked halfway across the river.

So, the only troops that can attack Gao Shun directly are Cai Mao's Yuliangzhou Water Fortress. After all, there is no river or waterway between Cai Mao's troops and Gao Shun, so they can attack directly in formation and walk to the battlefield. "

Jia Xu paused for a moment when he spoke here.

He obviously had a few more words to say, but it was not convenient to say them out loud, as saying them out loud might easily hurt the reputation of some of the weaklings.

But everyone knew in their hearts: Cai Mao's land combat strength was the weakest among all the Cao army's units. Cai Mao alone would definitely not be able to defeat Gao Shun in a field battle. Letting him attack alone might just do what Gao Shun wanted.

So, this is a bit of a dilemma.

Cao Ren also understood this meaning, so he stroked his beard and thought for a few seconds, then said in deep thought:

"Gao Shun's ability to hold his ground and fight to the death should not be underestimated. I have experienced this when he was under Lu Bu's command. Now that he can rely on the river to block his way, it would be unwise for us to cross the river and attack him rashly.

But his troops were not able to guard Yuliangzhou from every angle. Even if he could patrol along the Han River with scouts during the day, and find our fleet gathering, he would dispatch troops to block the way.

What about at night? Didn't Gao Shun successfully land under the cover of darkness last night? What if our army also took advantage of the darkness to transfer part of the garrison troops in Xiangyang and Fancheng to the Yuliangzhou water fort controlled by Cai Mao by water?

The next day, we will go from the high camp on the east side of Yuliangzhou Island and sweep Gao Shun's troops from east to west. Will Gao Shun's 30,000 men be driven into the river by us?"

Cao Ren's deduction is indeed in line with the correct military strategy.

If he sent people directly to the shore during the day, they might be intercepted by Gao Shun. But at night, both sides had poor vision, so it was fair for both sides.

Yesterday Gao Shun did it on the first day of the month and sneaked ashore at night, so today Cao Ren also did it on the fifteenth day, following their example.

Jia Xu actually thought of this point.

He deliberately didn't finish what he said just now. On the one hand, he was still unsure and wanted to save face for Cai Mao; on the other hand, he also wanted Cao Ren to discover this blind spot himself and let the commander-in-chief have a greater sense of participation in making plans.

After all, when a strategy is thought of by Cao Ren himself, he will have more feelings for it and will be more likely to implement it resolutely.

This was not taught to him by others; he wanted to do it himself and he is full of self-motivation.

Therefore, Jia Xu just went along with it and expressed his admiration: "General, your idea is indeed brilliant. I didn't think of it for a while. However... this strategy seems to have some drawbacks, which should not be ignored."

Cao Ren was in a good mood when he saw that Jia Xu approved of his idea. At this time, it was much easier for him to accept Jia Xu's suggestions.

So he smiled and encouraged: "Wenhe has thought carefully, and what he thinks will surely be helpful, but you can speak freely!"

Jia Xu pointed out cautiously: "General, if you expect to send troops to the island in the dark tonight, it will inevitably delay an extra day.

Our army will do nothing today, and Gao Shun will have another day to reinforce the landing position. When we launch the attack tomorrow, the enemy may have a higher earth wall around the camp and a deeper trench.

Moreover, Yuliangzhou is only 60 miles away from Yicheng by land, and even if the Han River is included, the water route is only more than 80 miles. Once the enemy knows that Gao Shun has gained a firm foothold, they may send in reinforcements at any time. Waiting one more day means one more day of uncertainty. "

To put it bluntly, Jia Xu's worries can be summed up in one sentence: I can wait, but I'm afraid the longer the night, the more trouble I'll have.

He let Cao Ren think of the strategy of "gathering troops at night" himself, and then he pointed out the drawbacks of this strategy, also in order to put himself in an impeccable position.

Otherwise, if Jia Xu was the one who came up with the strategy and found the loopholes, then if they were defeated in the future, Cao Cao might blame him:

You know this trick is unreliable, why don't you think of another more reliable strategy? What, you said you can't think of any better trick? How can you be so incompetent?

However, this trick was originally thought of by Cao Ren, and Jia Xu was only responsible for plugging the loophole.

If we lose again in the future, we can say, "I have already reminded General Zixiao that this strategy has a loophole, but after weighing the pros and cons, General Zixiao still insisted on doing so, and I had no choice."

Jia Xu also took the art of self-preservation to the extreme, and he also tried his best to remind people as much as possible.

One must put in effort to make plans. If Cao Cao lost, Liu Bei would definitely wipe out Jia Xu's entire family just because he had twice put down the crimes of loyal ministers.

However, while offering advice, it is also necessary to try to avoid responsibility.

Jia Xu was also very clear that Cao Cao might not win against Liu Bei. If things did not go well, it would be very important for Jia Xu to keep his wealth and glory for a few more years during Cao Cao's gradual decline, so as not to be blamed.

Neither of them can be neglected.

At this moment, after hearing Jia Xu's reminder, Cao Ren did not expect that there were so many twists and turns behind Jia Xu.

He just weighed the pros and cons and felt that there was really no better choice, so he just did it.

So Cao's army immediately began to prepare for the march and transfer in the middle of the night, and this preparation work itself could last almost a whole day, so Cao Ren's plan was not a waste of time.

To transfer a large number of Cao’s troops to the water fort in the east of Yuliangzhou Peninsula, a lot of ships are needed.

The ships that Cao Ren and Xu Huang had in Xiangyang and Fancheng could not transport so many people in such a short period of time, and even two return trips would not be enough.

Therefore, Cao Ren had to send a patrol boat to contact Cai Mao's water fort first, so that Cai Mao could free up the boat and prepare it. He went to Xiangyang and Fancheng to pick up people respectively, and then transported them back to meet up after nightfall.

Then the next day, Foxiao could concentrate his forces to launch a surprise attack on Gao Shun - as for a direct attack at night, that was impossible, as the scale of the troops Cao Ren had to assemble would be very large, and a night battle would easily cause chaos.

When Cao Cao attacked Wuchao at night, he only led 5,000 men. Given the communication conditions and night vision in ancient times, it was almost impossible to lead tens of thousands of people to attack at night.

For Cao Ren, it was good enough if such complicated preparations could be completed in one day. Any operation involving coordinated sea and land operations would be so troublesome.

……

Cao Ren was busy contacting Cai Mao and Xu Huang to prepare for tonight's transfer and assembling troops.

That afternoon, near dusk, another urgent military intelligence was delivered from the west of Xiangyang City.

The messenger rode his horse breathlessly to the west gate, showed his seal to prove his identity, and asked the defenders to pull him up to the city in a basket.

After the captain in charge of guarding the city gate confirmed that everything was correct, he quickly escorted the messenger straight to the former Jingzhou Governor's Mansion, now the headquarters of General Cao Ren Zhennan.

In just a few cups of tea, the urgent news was delivered to Cao Ren.

"Report to the general! Huang Zhong, a general under Liu Bei's army, led his troops north three days ago and approached Shandu County the day before yesterday. The magistrate of Shandu County sought help but failed. The city was narrow and the soldiers were few. Facing Huang Zhong's fierce attack, Liu Biao's old subordinates in the city suddenly rebelled, killed the magistrate and the military commander guarding the city, and surrendered to Huang Zhong!
Now Huang Zhong has divided his troops and is approaching Zhuyang County! The Zhuyang County Magistrate sent me here to ask for help, saying that if no reinforcements are sent, if something unexpected happens... Huang Zhong will be united with Shangyong Huo Jun. "

Cao Ren listened to the report and read the letter himself, with little change in his expression.

What was written in the letter was even more detailed than the oral report by the messenger. It also roughly described the strength of Huang Zhong's military force, which was why they were able to capture a county town in just three days. It was probably because they mobilized tens of thousands of people.

As for how many tens of thousands this "tens" of thousands meant, I couldn't figure it out for a moment.

Of course, the so-called three days to capture a city is indeed fast in absolute terms. But in relative terms, it is nothing.

Liu Bei's army on the eastern front captured Lumen Mountain in one day, rested and marched for one day the next day, and on the third day they repelled Cai Mao's navy on the Han River and landed on Yuliangzhou overnight.

Compared with the speed of Gao Shun and Guan Ping, Huang Zhong's speed can't be considered fast.

Moreover, the urgent report also made it very clear: Huang Zhong’s capture of the city was not entirely due to his combat effectiveness. There was also the problem of Cao’s army’s previous rush to grab land and not washing the mud after quick success.

When Xu Huang took over the four upstream counties and connected to Shangyong, because these small counties were not very important and he did not want to divide the troops too much and dilute the combat effectiveness, he only left a few hundred to nearly a thousand key personnel in each county to guard the city gates and take overall command.

In small counties such as Shandu and Zhuyang, the main garrisons were still the troops left behind by Liu Biao.

Now, Cao Cao was showing signs of decline overall on the Jingbei battlefield, having suffered several minor defeats at the hands of Liu Bei.

The military officers who were once Liu Biao's subordinates and had defected to Cao must have been worried, wondering if they had defected to the wrong person.

In this situation, it was indeed easy to scare people when Huang Zhong led tens of thousands of troops to the north and displayed his flags to boost military prestige.

Once chaos broke out among Liu Biao's former subordinates in the city, it would be impossible to defend the city with just a few hundred or thousands of Cao's direct backbone troops.

However, things have come to this, and Cao Ren has no choice but to accept this reality.

"It seems that Liu Bei's army is really arrogant. Guan Yu and Huang Zhong divided their troops into two groups and marched northward, both of them mobilized their main forces. Otherwise, how could they be so powerful?
However, there are only so many enemy troops in Yicheng, and both routes are the main attack, which means that Liu Bei does not have many reserve troops. As long as our army makes a desperate effort and concentrates its forces on one of the routes, we are still very confident that we can defeat them one by one..."

Cao Ren pondered this in his heart, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this judgment made sense.

For this purpose, he once again found Jia Xu and discussed the situation with him. Jia Xu also felt that Cao Ren's calculations were correct and gave Cao Ren a lot of more long-term deduction suggestions.

After some calculations, Cao Ren finally made up his mind:

"Since this is the case, our army cannot delay any longer. In a decisive battle with the enemy, we must fight quickly and decisively. This way, we will have more time to finish fighting on one side and then turn around to attack the other side, defeating the enemy one by one!

Huang Zhong's side is not that important for the time being. At worst, we can give up Zhuyang County as well. Huang Zhong is going north by land anyway, and he can't bring warships with him. After taking Shandu and Zhuyang, if we can't raise warships on the spot, we won't be able to cross the Han River and go north immediately.

What we lost temporarily were only two counties in Hannan, which is not a big deal! As long as we defeat Guan Yu's main force and then turn back to fight Huang Zhong, the temporary gains and losses of a few small counties will not matter!

By the way, there is one thing that I must take care of for the Magistrate of Zhuyang County - the city can be lost, but before it is lost, the fortifications must be cleared and all the civilian ships along that section of the Hannan coast must be collected and burned!

Even if Huang Zhong captured the city, he would not be able to find a boat to cross the river! As long as all the boats were burned, he would be innocent even if he lost the city!"

Even if the two counties are temporarily occupied by Huang Zhong, so what? We don't want them!

Let go of the west first, and kill Gao Shun and Guan Yu in the east first!
Jia Xu took note of Cao Ren's decision and did not think there was anything wrong with it. He immediately conveyed it and made arrangements.

……

Cao Ren thought he had grasped the weakness of Liu Bei's army and decided to go all out.

He did not care about the fact that Huang Zhong occupied a county town and advanced to the south bank of the Han River upstream of Xiangyang.

But he didn't know that Huang Zhong, who had just captured Shandu County, had already begun to carry out some secret and urgent actions on the banks of the Han River outside the north gate of the county.

"All soldiers, dig as hard as you can! Don't be lazy! Except for the sentries, all others should dig soil and build cofferdams! Try to hold back the river water!
The low-lying swamp in the eastern suburbs of the county, according to the request of Xu Changshi, temporarily blocked the gap on the south side to store water! The heaviest autumn rain season is coming soon, we must take the opportunity to store more water! "

Many of Huang Zhong's subordinates did not understand this move.

Some people also questioned: Why not take the opportunity to speed up the offensive and first take over Zhuyang County, which is further upstream from Shandu County, and completely secure it?

Why did they relax the pace of the attack right after they broke through a county just upstream of Xiangyang, and instead came here to block the swamp and build a cofferdam?

However, Huang Zhong ignored all these doubts.

Even if it was a relatively high-ranking general who needed an explanation, Huang Zhong would use the request of Xu Shu, the chief secretary of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, who was accompanying the army, to evade the question, and told everyone to ask Xu Shu if they had any questions.

Xu Shu was originally from the Lumen school and had lived near Xiangyang for many years. He was very familiar with the geography of the surrounding counties.

Shandu County is located dozens of miles west of Xiangyang City. In fact, the "Longzhong" where Zhuge Liang lived in seclusion is also located in this county.

Xu Shu and Zhuge Liang both studied under Sima Hui and had been to Longzhong many times. His understanding of the local geography was certainly very profound.

Therefore, Xu Shu certainly knew how to command the soldiers to dig and build the cofferdam and how to build it specifically in order to best implement Situ's strategic plan.

Under his command, no matter how confused the subordinates were, they had to keep it to themselves and just carry out the orders.

……

Four flowers bloom, each showing its own beauty.

Cao Ren urgently prepared warships and moved a large number of Cao's troops from Xiangyang and Fancheng to Yuliangzhou when night fell for a decisive battle with Gao Shun.

Gao Shun and Guan Ping worked hard to dig and repair fortifications on the west side of Yuliangzhou, hoping that the subsequent attack on Cai Mao's water stronghold would be smoother, or that they would have the strength to hold out longer when faced with an enemy counterattack.

Cai Mao hid in the Yuliangzhou water fort, sent out all the ships he could, and waited for Cao Ren's further instructions.

Huang Zhong captured Shandu County, and then he started digging aggressively on the south bank of the Han River upstream of Xiangyang, doing something secretive.

And the last group of people on the Jianghan Plain, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin, also reached a moment of historical choice.

During this day, they also have a lot of things to do and will be involved in many important decisions that determine success or failure.

The night before, Guan Yu had personally arrived at Lumen Mountain, which was further ahead, from Yicheng, and rested there, preparing his troops, and reorganizing his formation, ready to continue marching north to reinforce Gao Shun and Guan Ping at any time.

Guan Yu's reinforcements originally left behind a reserve force of 20,000 people. However, some of them had suffered losses during the previous battle at Lumen Mountain. Those wounded and exhausted soldiers were obviously unable to participate in the subsequent battles and could only be used to defend the home.

Therefore, Liu Bei sent an additional 20,000 troops from his direct troops in Yicheng to follow Guan Yu, bringing the number of Guan Yu's support troops to more than 40,000.

If Guan Yu could successfully join forces with Gao Shun and Guan Ping, he would be able to gather a total of 70,000 troops.

As long as Cao Ren and Xu Huang were lured out of the tortoise shell city, Guan Yu would be able to fight them in the field and decide the winner.

Of course, Guan Yu's trip northward this time was very low-key, in order to paralyze the enemy. The route from Yicheng to Lumen Mountain was sailed on the Han River at night. The purpose was to prevent Yu Jin and the scouts sent by the Xianshan camp on the west bank of the river from discovering Guan Yu's move northward in advance.

This kind of thing can't be kept secret for long, but there's only a little over a day's time difference, so we have to keep it secret for as long as possible.

In order to ensure that the operation was as foolproof as possible, even Zhuge Jin, who was the prime minister, also followed Guan Yu north and personally inspected the Lumen Mountain camp in order to keep abreast of the latest situation on the front line and make adjustments accordingly.

If no new accidents occur and everything goes according to the pre-war plan, then Zhuge Jin will be fine and he only needs to rule the country.

In such a crucial decisive battle, we should be prepared for the worst and do our best.

Early that morning, Guan Yu was waiting anxiously in the Lumen Mountain camp, just wanting to know what the latest situation was at the front line.

His eldest son and his capable general, Gao Shun, had just been thrown into the enemy's encirclement as bait. It was impossible for him not to be nervous.

But he couldn't reveal his strength too early, otherwise he wouldn't be able to seduce Cao Ren and the others.

They waited until noon, but there was still no news. Zhuge Jin was very calm, so he asked Guan Yu to eat something first and wait for the news.

Guan Yu was very impatient, but he also knew that Zhuge Jin was right, so he ate the roasted lamb leg with a tasteless taste.

Zhuge Jin sat at the table opposite him, not nervous at all, and even had the leisure to have a few drinks.

After Guan Yu quickly finished his meal, Zhuge Jin was still nibbling at his meal.

At this time, a patrol boat suddenly came down the river from the dock, and the messenger was quickly received into the village and brought before Guan Yu.

Guan Yu stood up anxiously and went to the messenger to ask: "How is the situation at Yuliangzhou? Was the landing smooth last night? Did Cai Mao launch a counterattack? Did our army attack the camp? Did Cao Ren launch a counterattack?"

The messenger reported quickly and urgently, telling everything he knew and handing over Gao Shun's secret letter.

Guan Yu took a quick look and found that everything went well last night as the letter said.

Early this morning, Gao Shun waited until the end of Chen time and approaching Si time, but did not see any counterattack from Cao's army.

One can see warships flying around Cai Mao's Yuliangzhou water fort, but the enemy has not made any substantial counterattacks.

Gao Shun originally planned to send out a patrol boat to report the news at dawn, but because he found that the enemy's reaction was slow and unusual, he observed for an extra hour or two, and only sent out a messenger to report the situation at 9 o'clock in the morning.

After reading this information, Guan Yu couldn't help but feel a little confused.

Cao Ren did not counterattack? He just patrolled the Han River with warships? Could it be that he wanted to block our army from reinforcing Zhongda via the Han River? But did Cai Mao's navy have the strength to do so?
Guan Yu was so worried that he had to ask Zhuge Jin for advice: "Zi Yu! What do you think about this? How could Cao Ren not react? Our army has established a firm foothold in Yuliangzhou, so he should be restless and try to counterattack!
If Cao Ren does not counterattack, should we send reinforcements or not? If we do not send reinforcements, will it be a trick? If we send reinforcements too early, will Cao Ren be scared back and not dare to leave the city to fight us in the field? "

From Guan Yu's words, one could tell that he was so concerned that he was a little confused.

This is not the mentality that a calm and victorious person like him should have.

Zhuge Jin was not panicked at all after hearing what Guan Yu said. However, with his keenness, he also clearly observed Guan Yu's confusion and the unusual situation of the enemy.

Zhuge Jin couldn't help but perk up and think carefully.

"When Cao's army found out that Zhongda had landed safely, they had no intention of counterattacking? Instead, they sent out warships in all directions, as if to cut off the Han River waterway? To cut off our army's route back and the route for reinforcements?
Cai Mao might think so, but Cao Ren would never be so arrogant, and he also has Jia Xu by his side... Cao Ren knows how capable Cai Mao is, and there is no hope if he relies on Cai Mao alone."

Guan Yu saw Zhuge Jin's leisurely attitude and asked, "Then in your opinion, what exactly is Cao's army thinking? Why did they know that Cai Mao alone could not do it, but the other troops still did not move?"

Zhuge Jin closed his eyes and thought for a long time, and suddenly it dawned on him: "Cao Ren only moved ships but did not move troops, so he was not so arrogant as to think that Cai Mao's navy alone could block our retreat...

But he didn't have many other options - so he was probably accumulating strength and wanted to play it safe? He was afraid that if he directly waded into the water to counterattack Zhongda, he would be defeated halfway across the river, so he chose to take a roundabout way to reinforce Yuliangzhou. He mobilized Cai Mao's fleet, perhaps just to transport people. "

Zhuge Jin did not need to use much of his intelligence. He just enumerated exhaustively like Sherlock Holmes, and eliminated all impossible options. Then the last one left, no matter how impossible it seemed, had to be the correct answer.

Because in this situation, there was very little Cao Ren could do by mobilizing the warships, and there were no other possibilities.

After hearing this, Guan Yu suddenly understood.

If you think about it this way, it all makes sense!
Guan Yu stroked his beard and pondered: "It turns out that Cao Cao also wants to wait for another day before sending reinforcements, so as to catch him by surprise. Isn't he afraid of our reinforcements...

But in this case, it seems that our army cannot send reinforcements too quickly? Otherwise, when Cao's army sees that our army's strength has increased greatly and there is little hope of defeating our army, they may abandon Yuliangzhou and not rescue it. "

Zhuge Jin nodded, he also felt that this was indeed a possibility.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly. After a brief thought, Zhuge Jin came up with a way to take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the opponent's strategy:

"Eh? Never mind! I suddenly thought of a plan that might be able to counter Cao Ren's desire for stability!"

Guan Yu was immediately excited when he heard this: "Can this be controlled? I would like to hear the details."

Zhuge Jin: "Since we know that Cao Ren may send troops to reinforce Yuliangzhou Water Fort tonight, we only need to notify Zhongda immediately and let him take advantage of the situation and deal with Cai Mao in this way..."

When Guan Yu heard this, his pupils immediately dilated.

(End of this chapter)