My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 667: Yu Wenze trapped in Xiangyang

At the same time, the battle to pursue and annihilate the remaining enemies on the shore came to an end.

On the Han River, Chen Dao was leading two or three hundred small boats, frantically chasing and intercepting the last batch of retreating Cao army transport ships.

In terms of numbers, Xu Huang's last fleet of retreating troops carried more than 10,000 people, and was overloaded by several thousand people than normal. The force was far greater than Chen Dao's pursuit force.

There is no other way. Cao's army is in a state of fleeing for their lives. This is the last trip, so they will squeeze in as many people as possible as long as it is not overloaded to the point of capsizing.

However, with so many people on board, the boat was inevitably slow, and turning was not very convenient. Many soldiers did not have long-range weapons, so they could not improve their combat effectiveness on the river.

When Chen Dao was in pursuit, his speed advantage was obvious. He caught up with Cao's ships and began to shoot arrows at them. Cao's army also shot back at him, and the two sides fought fiercely on the river.

Chen Dao's soldiers were clearly better at swimming than Cao's troops, and their accuracy was also better when they shot arrows on the bumpy river surface.

In addition, Cao's army was crowded and the boats were full of people. Even if Chen Dao's soldiers fired blindly, as long as the rain of arrows covered the boats and the enemy ships had no cover, there would be casualties immediately.

In comparison, not only was Cao's return fire inaccurate, but Chen Dao's boats also had shields on the sides, which showed that they were well prepared and specifically prepared for naval battles.

The level of protection of the breastplates and helmets of Chen Dao's troops was also far superior to that of Cao's troops. In the exchange of fire, they immediately gained the upper hand.

Soon, dozens of Cao's boats were shot and bloodied, and most of the soldiers on the boats were killed or wounded. The corpses of the wounded were everywhere, and because of the overload, corpses fell into the river from time to time.

However, Cao's army was not completely powerless to resist. Their advantage was that the warships Xu Huang sent to ferry people were not only small boats, but also some large and medium-sized warships above the level of battleships, but there were not enough of them.

In contrast, due to the problem of waterway passability, Chen Dao had to come here with all his crew in boats, as large ships larger than warships had a deep draft and could not pass through for the time being.

In the panic of Cao's army, some naval generals commanded their ships to turn around and resist Chen Dao's fleet.

Cao's army used large ships to fight against Chen Dao's small boats, and the protective advantage of the large ships' superstructure shelters was immediately apparent.

Chen Dao exchanged fire with Cao's army for a while, and soon realized that something was wrong. He immediately shouted to all the troops to use their speed advantage to increase their distance.

It is not easy to convey orders on the river, so they can only be conveyed using simple flag signals. Fortunately, Guan Yu's navy was well-trained and could still understand the order to "disperse".

Each ship, guessing and guessing, moved away from Cao's warships and attacked Cao's weak boats. However, in this way, in order to avoid the enemy's large ships, the efficiency of killing the enemy was greatly reduced.

According to this progress, Chen Dao could only stay on the river and kill an additional two to three thousand retreating Cao troops, but he could not achieve any greater achievements.

Chen Dao felt quite unwilling to accept this. During the fierce battle, he saw several warships of Cao's army intercepting in front of him. He broke away from the main force of Cao's army, and there was Yu Jin's flag on them.

Chen Dao wanted to make one last attempt to grab a piece of cake, so he gritted his teeth and shouted, "All the boats around here, come over! Use the hooks to hook the side of the boats, jump on them and capture Yu Jin! As long as we capture Yu Jin, it will be more useful than killing three or five thousand more Cao soldiers!"

Chen Dao's subordinates were already in high spirits, and they were unwilling to let a group of warships ruin their plans. Seeing that the commander finally gave in, many brave soldiers drove their boats over.

A canoe will definitely be at a disadvantage in a battleship, but this is not necessarily the case in a boarding battle. As long as the hook is used well, the superstructure of the battleship is not very high, and people cannot stand on the cabin roof, so it can be completely reversed.

The retreating Cao army was not professional sailors and did not do a good job of preventing boarding.

A group of boats under Chen Dao's command, despite suffering casualties from being shot at and the threat of being stabbed by the enemy's spears when they just boarded the ship, succeeded in boarding the ship one after another after paying the price of dozens of people. They then began to fight and slash with swords, sabers, and hammers.

Cao's soldiers were on the water, and their footing was relatively unstable, so they would naturally suffer some disadvantages in hand-to-hand combat.

Chen Dao's troops rose and fell, advanced rapidly, and fought fiercely. After a bloody battle, they finally controlled three or four warships, although they also suffered a lot of casualties.

"Where is that dog thief Yu Jin?" Chen Dao captured several officers on the enemy ships and asked them repeatedly.

But the result disappointed him.

"General Yu is not on our ship! We are only retreating under General Yu's banner to stabilize the morale of the troops!"

"General Yu did not retreat north to Fancheng. He just took dozens of ships, left the main force, and went upstream to the west! General Cao asked him to return to Xiangyang to take charge of the situation! He is really not with us!"

Chen Dao was anxious and repeatedly asked several captured enemy officers before he confirmed that Yu Jin was indeed not there.

"He actually let this fellow escape! I should have thought that Cao Ren would definitely send people back to Xiangyang to take charge of the situation! Otherwise, there wouldn't be a Cao army general of high enough status in Xiangyang City. With only a few troops in Xiangyang, wouldn't everyone be so panicked that they would directly surrender to my lord! Why didn't you think of this!"

Chen Dao couldn't help feeling a little regretful, but there was nothing he could do.

Today, Xu Huang sent out a fleet and carried out several rounds of ferry withdrawal. Most of the troops were withdrawn to Fancheng on the north bank.

Because it was faster to retreat to the north bank, it only needed to travel six miles to make a round trip. But retreating upstream to Xiangyang City would take thirty miles of water.

If one can make one trip, the other can make five trips. In order to save time and evacuate more people, Xu Huang should also retreat to the north bank.

Chen Dao was preconceived by this impression, so of course he would deliberately stop the enemy ships on the south bank from crossing north. How could he focus on guarding against the enemy ships on the south bank sticking to the south bank and heading upstream to the west?

Moreover, there were at least tens of thousands of people retreating to the north bank, and only one or two thousand people retreating to the west. With limited manpower, Chen Dao would definitely prioritize chasing the big target, and would not think of sacrificing the big for the small.

"General Chen, what should we do now?" After knowing that Yu Jin was not here, several other close officers under Chen's command also asked for his opinion.

Chen Dao saw that most of the enemies here were about to reach the north bank, and with so many warships intercepting them, it would be difficult for him to achieve much results.

In comparison, Yu Jin had to walk 15 miles by water to retreat to the north water gate of Xiangyang City. Compared with this side, which only has three miles, the interception space is much larger.

Chen Dao gritted his teeth and quickly ordered: "All troops, follow me, turn around and try to chase Yu Jin upstream! If we can't catch him, that's fine. But if the enemy navy in Xiangyang City has support and large ships, we must not fight to the end."

Although Chen Dao wanted to make more contributions, he would not be reckless.

He knew that it would be unwise to rely on small boats to attack the enemy's large ships.

……

Chen Dao pursued the enemy deserters who crossed the Han River to the north and barely captured more than 2,000 soldiers.

In the end, because of the obstruction of the enemy's warships, he only had a boat and no target of sufficient value for him to fight to the death at all costs.

In the end, Chen Dao decided to quit while he was ahead and turned around and went upstream, trying to make one last attempt to make a profit. It would be best if he could catch Yu Jin, but if he couldn't, there was nothing he could do.

On each of the warships under his command, the soldiers paddled and rowed hard to increase the speed of the boats as much as possible, without caring about conserving their physical strength at this time.

After chasing for nearly half an hour and going upstream for ten miles, they finally saw the team of Cao's warships that they had ignored before, heading upstream along the south bank.

Chen Dao couldn't help but get excited and shouted to boost morale: "Brothers, row faster! Yu Jin is right in front! The lord has offered a reward. Whoever captures Yu Jin will be promoted one level if he is a lieutenant general or above! Those below the rank of lieutenant general will be promoted two levels!

Yu Jin doesn't have many ships or people around him, so this is a rare opportunity to make a contribution!"

When the sailors heard the good news, they were all energized. They mustered up their remaining courage, squeezed out their last rowing potential, and quickly pressed forward.

The Cao army warships on the opposite side were still trying hard to escape, but the soldiers on the ships were not afraid of fighting. When they saw the enemy chasing them, they shot arrows at Chen Dao's navy.

For a moment, one group of ships was fleeing, and another group of ships was chasing, and the competition was getting closer and closer.

In order to make his target less conspicuous, Yu Jin did not dare to use too many warships when he retreated. So he mostly rode on small boats. He thought that in the chaos on the river, the enemy would not deliberately choose to chase him when there were many targets to chase.

Now he was finally exposed, caught in a hail of arrows. The disadvantage of the boats' lack of superstructure cover was exposed. The guards around him were also killed and wounded one after another in the crossfire, and the situation was once extremely critical.

Seeing that he had killed and wounded many enemies, and even seized several enemy boats that had lost power due to heavy casualties, Chen Dao became more eager and more confident in his pursuit.

However, at this time the two armies were getting closer and closer to Xiangyang City.

If Chen Dao had paid attention in advance, he might have seen that the north water gate of Xiangyang City in the distance had been opened, and enemy naval warships rushed out of the city and sailed downstream to meet the enemy, obviously to support Yu Jin.

The personal guards around Yu Jin steered the boat while fighting desperately by shooting arrows. When they saw the friendly forces coming to support them, their desire to survive was ignited, and the boat's speed was raised to the maximum again.

"General Yu, don't panic! Cai Mao is here to help you!" The Cao army's warship fleet behind finally relied on the advantage of large ships and rushed to the battlefield in a menacing manner.

The person who came was Cai Mao, who was defeated by Gao Shun and Guan Ping in a night attack eight days ago.

After Cai Mao was defeated that day, he lost the water fort and fled from Yuliangzhou Water Fort in a small boat with only a few thousand remaining soldiers.

However, because most of its warships were sent out to pick up troops from generals such as Cao Ren and Xu Huang to reinforce Yuliangzhou that day, when Gao Shun launched a surprise attack, those ships were halfway and not in the water fort, thus avoiding the fate of being captured by Gao Shun.

After Cai Mao retreated, he returned to Xiangyang City, reorganized his defeated troops, and assembled his warships. Although he lost at least half of his naval forces, he was still able to save some tower ships and fighting ships.

Today, hearing that Cao's army downstream was defeated and seemed to need water support, Cai Mao made preparations for the attack.

However, the northern water gate of Xiangyang City was at least fifteen miles away from the battlefield, unlike Fancheng which was only three or four miles across the width of the Han River. Therefore, Cai Mao was unable to send reinforcements in time at the beginning.

But at this moment Yu Jin was about to escape to Xiangyang. Cai Mao still had some courage, so he rushed out at full speed to rescue Yu Jin.

Chen Dao was unwilling to give in, and taking advantage of Cai Mao's incompetence, he rushed forward and tried to shoot at him to intimidate him, hoping that Cai Mao's troops would become demoralized and afraid to engage in battle.

Unfortunately, the navy is ultimately a technical branch of the military, and cannot rely on the determinism of will like ancient land warfare.

The battleships and the warships were definitely at a disadvantage. No matter how high the morale of Chen Dao's troops was and how well equipped the soldiers were, they were ultimately defeated by Cai Mao. Chen Dao could only withdraw his troops while he was ahead. The battleships were light and swift, and Cai Mao was unable to catch up, so he escorted Yu Jin back to the city.

Less than half an hour later, Yu Jin returned to the former residence of the Governor of Jingzhou and the General of Zhennan in Xiangyang City, looking dusty and dirty.

Cai Mao was shocked and confused when he saw that Yu Jin ran straight to the shogunate even though his army was defeated.

He sent someone to prepare a feast of wine and meat to calm Yu Jin down, and at the same time asked him indirectly about the battle situation today:

"General, you have fought hard. I wonder why you didn't see General Cao Ren during the fierce battle with Guan Yu today?"

Cai Mao's subtext was very clear. The former Jingzhou Governor's Mansion and Zhennan General's Mansion had been used as Cao Ren's shogunate in the past few months. How could Yu Jin be qualified to use it?
Could it be that the situation on the Yuliangzhou battlefield today is particularly serious, and even Cao Ren has met with an accident?

Cai Mao hardly dared to think further, and his whole body couldn't help but shiver slightly.

Fortunately, Yu Jin's next words made this soft bone stand up a little for a few seconds, but only a few seconds.

"Yuliangzhou was submerged by the flood, and Guan Yu took advantage of the situation to attack with his navy! General Zixiao was forced to lead his troops to retreat to Fancheng! Why didn't your navy leave the city immediately to reinforce after the flood peak passed?
In the end, it was all thanks to Xu Gongming who worked hard on the north bank to send a small boat to pick us up, otherwise the army would have been annihilated today! Well, let's not blame the past. General Zixiao has given me full authority to take over the defense of Hannan, and you all must obey my orders."

Yu Jin was already hungry and extremely tired. How could he be in a good mood when he was being questioned?

So while he was tearing a piece of lamb leg and pouring wine into his throat, he was scolding and beating Cai Mao, making him realize who was the boss in Xiangyang City now.

Before he withdrew his troops today, he was still ashamed and looked like a punching bag. Now that he had fled into Xiangyang City, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief and put on the posture of "the top leader of Hannan's defense."

It's not that he is arrogant, but after experiencing all the ups and downs, he instinctively needs to vent.

The anger he suffered from Cao Ren and the humiliation and fright he suffered from Guan Yu could only be vented on Cai Mao.

Anyway, Cao Ren is gone, and he has been given such a dangerous mission. In the last stage of his life, why not abuse his power?
As for a surrendered general like Cai Mao, even though he was said to have had some friendship with the prime minister, it was wartime now, and Cao Ren said that Yu Jin was fully responsible for the defense of Hannan.

As long as he has power in his hands, he will issue orders. This can be regarded as his final act of madness.

Cai Mao, who was standing aside, was not very good at military strategies or combat, but he had some skills in emotional intelligence and in observing people's words and expressions.

So even though Yu Jin spoke in a domineering manner, he still heard a lot of subtext in Yu Jin's words and couldn't help but secretly sneer.

"Hearing General Yu's words, I'm afraid the Imperial Army has suffered at least seven or eight out of ten losses today... What should we do? Could it be that General Cao Ren, because Yu Jin was defeated and incompetent, is treating him like a pawn, leaving Xiangyang to perish along with him?
If Guan Yu and Huang Zhong come again, how can we defend Xiangyang? If I fall into Liu Bei's hands, I'm afraid I will have no chance of survival, and even my wife and children will not be spared."

Cai Mao was very experienced in losing battles. He could judge the extent of the losses from a defeat just from a few words.

No matter how much Yu Jin bluffed, in his opinion, it was all just a show of strength but weakness.

Cai Mao knew that although he had smothered the seriously ill and dying Liu Biao with a quilt, the act seemed to be done in secret, but Liu Bei would never tell him the evidence.

When Liu Bei led Liu Qi to lead his army north, the banner he raised was to avenge Liu Biao. In front of the three armies and when swearing an oath to Liu Biao's spirit tablet, he said that he must kill Cai Mao and his wives, concubines and children.

The reason why the oaths were sworn so precisely was because the Cai family had a complex network of relatives in Jingzhou, and Cai Mao's relatives were all Liu Biao's relatives, so the scope of the case could not be too wide.

And anyone who has done business knows that the more vague the other party is when negotiating terms, the less they intend to fulfill their obligations.

It's like a scumbag meeting a wishing girl, he dares to agree to any condition. Anyway, he has decided to run away after sleeping with her from the beginning. It's not a real marriage, but he dares to agree even if he wants the moon in the sky as a betrothal gift.

The more they nitpick over wording when negotiating a contract, the more it shows that they are seriously considering cooperating.

Liu Bei even picked out the words when he swore. As the person being sworn, who wouldn't be afraid?

Given Liu Bei's credibility, he would definitely kill Cai Mao's entire family. Cai Mao never expected to survive if he fell into Liu Bei's hands.

He could only try his best not to fall into Liu Bei's hands.

Thinking of this, Cai Mao became as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He no longer cared about victory or defeat, or wealth. He just wanted to save his life.

I must find a way to escape from Xiangyang City and go to Hanbei, even if I lose my military power in the future and can only be a rich man.

Cai Mao was there daydreaming and only caring about his own life and property.

Yu Jin, who was standing by, finally finished a leg of lamb and drank some hot and sour fish soup with dogwood to soothe the hangover and moisten his throat. He looked up and saw Cai Mao's suspicious expression. Yu Jin also became alert and asked again:
"How many troops are left in Xiangyang City? I was stationed in the Xianshan Camp before, and I don't know much about the defense of the city. Now I have to do my best to defend the city!"

After being asked this question, Cai Mao came back to his senses and reported helplessly: "General Cao's direct troops left behind are only more than 10,000 people, and my old troops in Jingzhou also have more than 10,000 people. There are only so many left. To defend Xiangyang, the key is to rely on the troops withdrawn from today's battle..."

Yu Jin's heart sank. He was not the main general in the Hannan battlefield before. He only knew the real situation of the Xianshan camp. Although he had heard about how many people Cao Ren had transferred, his information was not the latest and most comprehensive.

After listening to Cai Mao's report, Yu Jin realized that Cao's army in the Hannan battlefield had been weakened after this battle and had fallen to this point.

With only more than 20,000 people, how can we defend Xiangyang?
Fortunately, Yu Jin quickly remembered that he still had less than 10,000 troops left in the Xianshan camp. Now that Yuliangzhou was beaten so badly, there was no need to keep the Xianshan camp, as such a small number of people would only be defeated one by one.

In addition, there were several thousand people who fled westwards and retreated back to the city when the water attacked today. If these people can be gathered together, together with the troops in Xianshan, the total force in Xiangyang City can still be close to 40,000.

With 40,000 people and a city called Xiangyang, it would not be easy to resist Guan Yu, Huang Zhong, and possibly Zhang Fei who would soon arrive at the Jingbei battlefield.

No matter what, it is better to gather the remaining troops first and deal with the other things later.

When Yu Jin thought of this, he didn't care about eating or drinking, and immediately issued an order: "Help me put on my armor quickly, I will personally lead the cavalry out of the city and go to the south of the city to tell the troops in the Xianshan camp to withdraw immediately. Now we can't afford any more mistakes, we must gather all the available troops to defend the city!"

Cai Mao did not dare to disobey, so he helped Yu Jin change his horse and allowed Yu Jin to gallop out of the south city with a team of fresh cavalry.

After Cai Mao watched Yu Jin go away, he wondered whether he should think of a way to discuss with Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, or even Jia Xu to see if there was any way to save his life.

……

The words are divided into two parts.

While Cai Mao was thinking about how to save his life, Yu Jin was also running all the way, covering more than twenty miles and heading straight up Mount Xian.

Along the way, while he was riding his horse, his mind was idle, calculating how many soldiers the imperial court had lost in this battle in northern Jing.

It has come to the point where all the people in Xiangyang can't even muster 40,000 people.

He himself had lost nearly 20,000 Cao troops and 10,000 newly surrendered Jingzhou troops in the previous battle of Dangyang. Chen Dao captured several counties in Zhangling County on the eastern front and also brought back some old Jingzhou troops.

Later, Guan Yu sent Gao Shun and Guan Ping to attack Lumen Mountain and wipe out more than 3,000 Cao troops and Wen Pin's Jingzhou troops of 7,000 to 8,000.

Huang Zhong captured Shandu and the small county of Zhuyang, and annihilated about 2,000 people in each place.

The final big battle was the decisive battle at Yuliangzhou.

In this battle, Gao Shun and Guan Ping annihilated 10,000 to 20,000 troops when they broke through Cai Mao's water stronghold.

Later, Guan Yu drowned nearly 30,000 enemies. He also chased, drove away and trampled on Cao's rear troops who were trying to retreat by boat, numbering another 10,000 or 20,000. Finally, he chased and killed more than 2,000 people in a naval battle on the Han River. Gao Shun and Guan Ping wiped out Chang Diao, who was left behind, on the shore.

After adding up all these scattered accounts, even though Yu Jin was not very good at math, the final number still made him feel shocking.

During the three months of the Jingbei Campaign, the imperial court had actually lost nearly 130,000 troops!

Among them, nearly 90,000 were Cao Cao's own troops.

There are another 40,000 who are former subordinates of Liu Biao who were forced by Cai Mao to surrender to Cao.

At the beginning of the war, Cao Gong led an army of 200,000 south and, with the help of Cai Mao, captured half of Liu Biao's former subordinates.

Now, there are only 110,000 old Cao troops left, and 30,000 of Liu Biao's old troops.

The total remaining available troops dropped from 270,000 to 140,000.

Of these 140,000 miles, there were still 40,000 troops left in the battlefield south of Han and about 100,000 in the battlefield north of Han.

The 100,000 people in northern Han were distributed from Fancheng to Yunxian and Dengxian in the upper reaches of the Han River, as well as Xinye and Wancheng along the Baihe River. The total number was only 100,000.

Therefore, many places are already stretched to the limit. If the subsequent decisive battle really breaks out, it will be impossible to unite 100,000 people and throw them into a single battlefield.

Otherwise, if there is another mistake, not to mention Jingbei, even Xudu would be lost.

As of today, the offensive and defensive situation between Cao Cao and Liu Bei has been completely reversed.

From now on, Cao Cao will completely switch to defense, and it will be Liu Bei's turn to launch an all-out attack.

Yu Jin had to try every possible means to barely hold on and delay time.

As for the overall turnaround, that was no longer something Yu Jin could control.

(End of this chapter)