My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 678: Sailing on Land, Cutting Off the Enemy's Backing

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei summed up the lessons of the failed initial all-out offensive, and continued to prepare their troops, find out the loopholes and fill them in, working hard to slowly tighten the noose on Cao Ren.

Over the next ten days, the intensity of the confrontation between the two sides in the siege battle of Fancheng decreased slightly.

Guan Yu did not waste lives on the ant attack, but built equipment, filled the moat, and created more attack routes. He lured Cao Ren's catapults and crossbows to attack, and then counterattacked with his own catapults, which had much better performance.

The two sides continued to engage in a consumption contest of technical weapons, and the rhythm of the battlefield gradually became similar to the Battle of Guandu eight years ago.

In the past, Cao and Yuan also relied on high platforms, catapults, tunnels, and long trenches to fight each other for several months.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei could not think of a decisive way to break the deadlock, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Time quickly came to late October.

The news of Guan Yu's setback in the attack gradually spread back to Yicheng in the rear. The main pain points and difficulties in attacking Fancheng were gradually sorted out more and more clearly and sent to Zhuge Jin.

Although he didn't have high hopes, Guan Yu still took the attitude of giving it a try and see if Situ could come up with another good idea.

Liu Bei and Zhuge Jin both saw the battle report sent back by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

After understanding the difficulties faced by the soldiers on the front line, Liu Bei also eagerly asked Zhuge Jin to think of another solution.

"Cao Ren's catapults and crossbows always have an endless supply. Behind him is Cao Cao, who has the entire Xudu military supplies to support him. It's not very profitable for Yunchang Yide to fight him in a consumption war - does Ziyu have a good plan to block Cao's army from reinforcing Cao Ren?"

This battle has lasted from summer to winter.

Zhuge Jin had also thrown away his folding fan and instead held onto the Silver Frost Beast Charcoal hand warmer to keep warm.

He stroked the warm bronze and went through in his mind the tactics used by all dynasties, both at home and abroad, to deal with waterway blockades. Gradually, he naturally thought of the tactics used by the Ottomans against Constantinople in 1453.

Historically, in the last battle, the Byzantines used iron chains, hidden stakes and reefs to block the waterway of the Golden Horn.

The Genoese were able to continuously transport military supplies and reinforcements to Constantinople, but the Ottoman warships were unable to intercept them.

In the end, the Ottomans chose to sail on dry land. They built a bamboo stretcher track on land, and then used manpower to drag 400 warships into the Golden Horn, ambushed the defending Genoese fleet, and finally completely cut off all supply routes to Constantinople.

Now, Cao Ren blocked the mouths of the Han River and the Bai River, and Fancheng was right at the throat of the river mouth.

Did Liu Bei's army also have to build a bamboo rail at least several miles long along the Baihe River, and then transport some of the boats in by land? Wouldn't that be too wasteful of manpower?

Zhuge Jin originally thought that this was too wasteful. If Fancheng could be resolved quickly, it would be better not to use such a long-lasting large-scale project, which would be too costly and time-consuming.

But now it seems that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei have been besieging Fancheng for a month and a half, and it has been twenty days since the full-scale attack began.

In addition, the Battle of Fancheng also concerns whether Yu Jin will surrender as agreed, and whether Liu Bei's camp can quickly slap Cao Cao in the face and quickly destroy the prestige that Cao Cao has accumulated by proclaiming himself Duke of Wei.

With so many benefits added together, Zhuge Jin had to reconsider whether the costs were worth it.

Zhuge Jin thought to himself, "Why not... give it a try? Maybe the cost is not as high as imagined. Historically, the Ottomans transported large sea vessels and warships, which was of course labor-intensive and costly. But now I just need to transport some warships and canoes, which is not difficult. Maybe I don't need a high-standard sliding rail track. I can just lay a few bamboo poles and pull the boat over...

If it really doesn't work, we should have considered organizing people to build boats upstream of Fancheng. However, even if it is a boat, it will take at least a month to build it, unless we build a raft directly, which can be completed in a few days.

However, Cao Ren was also very cunning. Before the battle, he had already cut down almost all the trees along the Baihe River between Fancheng and Xinye, leaving nothing for our army. If we cut trees from farther away and transported them to build boats, we would have to tow the trees dozens of miles at least, which would be less work than towing ready-made boats.

Moreover, if shipbuilding takes a long time, Cai Mao's navy will definitely find out. They search along the Baihe River every day. If they find anything unusual, they can nip our shipbuilding attempt in the bud. Now it has dragged on to winter. It is also difficult to expect to build embankments to block the water and weaken Cai Mao's navy through water attacks. The water storage in the dry season in winter is too slow..."

Zhuge Jin estimated the amount of work in his head, and at the same time compared and checked other options. Finally, he found that there was no better choice, and the idea of "driving on dry land" became more and more intense.

Historically, when Liu Bei's army fought against Cao Cao in Nanyang County, they did fight a classic battle example of "burning the camp at Bowang and using water from Baihe River". However, the "using water from Baihe River" happened on the eve of the Battle of Chibi, in early autumn, when seasonal weather conditions allowed for water attacks.

In this situation, the window of opportunity for water attack had already been used up when Guan Yu flooded Yuliangzhou. The best time for water attack had passed, so naturally, we could no longer stick to the old ways.

So, there really is no other option.

After sorting out everything, Zhuge Jin didn't want to play it safe anymore. Liu Bei's camp now had the resources, so he decided to try his luck. At worst, it would be a waste of money and manpower. After taking Fancheng and Wancheng, he would temporarily suspend the offensive and continue to accumulate strength.

Of course, if there is a chance to threaten Xu Du again after further weakening the main force of Cao Cao in Nanyang, Zhuge Jin will definitely advise Liu Bei to try his best again and try to capture Xu Du before taking a break.

However, all this is still too far-fetched. Anyway, it is unrealistic to directly kill Cao Cao in this Northern Expedition. It can only be said that it will decisively reverse the power balance between Cao and Liu.

Even if the battle was successful, according to Zhuge Jin's estimation, the bottom line would be to destroy Cao Cao's reputation, seize the entire Nanyang County, and take over Fancheng, Xinye, and Wancheng.

The upper limit is to force Cao Cao to move the capital, just as Guan Yu almost did in history.

For these seemingly beautiful prospects, take a bigger chance.

Seeing that Zhuge Jin remained silent and pondered for such a long time, Liu Bei did not urge him.

Liu Bei knew that Ziyu must be making a very big decision involving a lot of resources, so he was so hesitant and weighing the pros and cons.

I don’t know how long it took, but Zhuge Jin finally came to his senses.

He put down the copper stove that was covering his hands, asked his attendant to bring the map, then gestured a few times, closed his eyes and recalled the topography of the south bank of Baihekou, and finally said:
"I do have an idea, which may seem a little far-fetched. But precisely because it is far-fetched, Cao Ren may not be on guard. It will just waste a lot of manpower and money."

Liu Bei became excited when he heard this and quickly encouraged him: "Tzuyu, just say whatever you want! As long as we can defeat Cao Ren, we can raise manpower, money and food."

Zhuge Jin pointed at the map with his fan bone, drew a line on the south bank of Baihekou, bypassing the mountain mouth, and then explained:

"We are familiar with the terrain at the mouths of the Baihe River and the Han River. Apart from this mountain pass, the rest is flat land formed by silt deposits. Our army may be able to cut more thick bamboos to form a slide, and then transport small boats such as gao gao by land, bypass Fancheng, and then lower it into the river upstream of Fancheng.

In addition, our army had previously occupied Huyang County, which is located on a tributary of Tanghe River, a tributary of Baihe River. Although the enemy had taken away all the ships before Huyang fell, as long as there were still houses in the city that had not been demolished, our army could use local materials, tie the beams and pillars into rafts, transport stones, and float downstream.

Then, as long as our army can temporarily control the surface of the Baihe River, we can imitate Cao Ren's method of blocking the waterway by sinking his warships at the mouth of the Tangbai River, and block the waterway between Xinye and Fancheng. At that time, we will not be able to use it, and the enemy will not be able to use it either. We can just clear it again after the war is over.

Moreover, once our army can block the river, the waterway between the two ends of the blockage may be used by our army. At most, we will have to add two more steps to load and unload vehicles and ships, and spend more manpower on auxiliary soldiers and civilians. In this way, even if we attack Xinye directly later, the food route will be much smoother. "

Zhuge Jin laid out his ideas from a high vantage point.

Liu Bei basically failed to raise any questions throughout the whole process. Although Zhuge Jin later mentioned many details, which did make sense, Liu Bei did not listen to them at all.

Because Zhuge Jin's words, just the beginning, were enough for Liu Bei to spend a long time digesting. The concept of "dry land" was enough to make Liu Bei's brain burn, and he had no time to care about the details behind it.

After thinking for a while, Liu Bei finally came up with some traditional methods and asked Zhuge Jin to consider it: "This...wastes money, food and manpower, but this method has never been heard of since ancient times. Isn't it too hasty? Since you want to destroy and cut off the waterway, are there other ways that are feasible?
My dear brother, you are not good at water attacks. You just helped Yunchang plan to flood Yuliangzhou. Can you try to build a cofferdam to store water, or set up more reefs in the shallows of the river? "

Zhuge Jin had just completely deduced in his mind these traditional practices that Liu Bei could think of subconsciously, and he felt that they were indeed not feasible.

So at this moment, he could naturally respond fluently and explain everything to Liu Bei one by one.

Why can't we rely entirely on water attacks? Because the weather is not right.

Why can't we build the ship from scratch? Because it would take too long and Cai Mao would find out and destroy it.

Since ancient times, when the northern regimes went south, why did they have to go through the Baihe River and then the Han River to attack Xiangyang? Or go through the Fei River and then the Ruxu River to attack Hefei?
Isn't it because the army on the north bank couldn't build ships again when they reached the Yangtze River, so they had to build ships in the tributaries on the north bank of the Yangtze River and then sail into the Yangtze River.

Because any long-term shipbuilding and construction project is very fragile in its infancy. If you are discovered by the enemy before you have completed it, and the enemy concentrates its superior forces to destroy it, you will definitely be wiped out if you expect to resist with the warships you have just built.

Even if the north and the south were to switch places and the southern princes marched north, it would be unrealistic to expect to build ships on site in a new water system.

Even if there are famous naval generals like Zhou Yu and Lu Yi, if they are expected to be ready, and Cai Mao on the opposite side presses forward with his already formed navy, he can still crush Zhou Yu and Lu Yi to death.

In the face of an absolute disparity in military strength, no matter how famous a general is, it is useless. This is the law of nature.

Liu Bei was also knowledgeable about military affairs, so he just asked those questions because he didn't understand them at the moment. After Zhuge Jin explained it briefly, he understood and stopped worrying about it:
"Then we can do everything according to your wishes. You can arrange whatever money, food and manpower you need." However, Liu Bei's discussion was not completely worthless. The more the truth is argued, the clearer it becomes. Zhuge Jin was also slightly inspired and came up with two additional tricks:

"Although what the lord said just now cannot be directly applied, it is also a little inspiring and may be used to improve my previous deployment. For example, although it is almost winter and the water in the Baihe River is dry, it is impossible to carry out a water attack.

But we can also pretend to build a dam to block the river and store water to drown the enemy in order to paralyze Cao Ren and Cai Mao and make them think we are going to attack by water. But in fact, the purpose of our construction is to sail on dry land and transfer warships.

After all, the construction of the boat on dry land will also make a lot of noise, and the enemy may notice it and take precautions. We find a stupid move that is not worth taking precautions against as a cover, allowing the enemy to spy on us, while hiding the real purpose, making it easier to respond to changes. For example, we can cover it up like this..."

Zhuge Jin's mind was opened up, and he casually came up with a few insignificant tricks, pretending to be real when false and pretending to be real when false. In short, he tried every possible way to deceive.

Liu Bei was stunned by what he heard. He thought to himself that even after listening to the explanation of the person who devised the plan, he was still confused for a long time before he understood what Ziyu really wanted to do.

If it was an enemy, wouldn't he be confused?

Liu Bei was overjoyed and immediately told Zhuge Jin to do whatever he wanted and to cheat in any way he wanted.

……

After reaching a consensus with Liu Bei, Zhuge Jin quickly began to prepare to implement his own strategy.

Of course, he also had to communicate with Guan Yu on the front line for the final time. After all, a lot of manpower and resources needed to be mobilized, and Guan Yu's cooperation was required.

As for Zhang Fei, there is no need to know so much for the time being.

Guan Yu was also anxious about his ineffective attack on Fancheng. After listening to Zhuge Jin's overall plan, he immediately gave his full cooperation and asked Guan Ping and Tian Yu to lead the troops to take charge of the construction.

In just a dozen days, Liu Bei's army took two approaches: on the one hand, they surveyed and selected a location outside the siege camp to build a slipway in preparation for transporting small warships, and on the other hand, they looked for a suitable place with suitable hydrological features upstream of Fancheng and pretended to build a cofferdam, apparently intending to store water.

In addition, stone reefs were added near the cofferdam to block the waterway.

However, these tricks were soon discovered by Cao's army in Fancheng and could not be concealed for long.

This was because Cao Ren would need to dispatch some reinforcements and supplies from the rear at most every eight or ten days, or maybe only every three to five days at most.

As long as Cao's navy and transport teams passed by, they would definitely discover Liu Bei's army's construction intentions.

Even if the navy did not pass by, the cavalry scouts sent by Cao's army from Xinye and other places in the rear would search for the enemy along the Baihe River to ensure that the direction of Fancheng was safe.

Although the siege battles on the front lines were fierce, the scout battles between Cao and Liu had not stopped during this period. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei would also send out cavalry to search and intercept, and kill Cao cavalry who came from Xinye and other places to test and investigate.

Over the past month, the cavalry scouts of both sides have suffered casualties and fought very hard. This is how the two sides can maintain a delicate intelligence balance and know roughly what the enemy is doing.

Therefore, one day in late October, Cao Ren had basically detected many of Guan Yu's small movements. For this, Cao Ren also paid the price of more than a hundred scout cavalry and a dozen small boats.

When Cao Ren discovered something was wrong, he immediately summoned Jia Xu and Cai Mao and went to the place where the seriously ill Guo Jia was recuperating to discuss countermeasures.

When everyone was present, Cao Ren got straight to the point and pointed out the severity of the situation:
"Guan Yu attacked Fancheng but failed, and he could not break through the reefs that our army had set up to block the mouth of the Baihe River. Recently, he chose two places with shallow and slow currents upstream of Fancheng, that is, between Fancheng and Xinye, and threw large rocks into the river to form reefs.

But Guan Yu lacked warships and could not sink large ships to block the waterway directly, so he could only rely on piles of stones, which was why progress was slow. In addition, it was said that he was also setting up reefs upstream, looking for other branches and tributaries to block the waterway - what do you think Guan Yu was planning? And how can we crack it? "

After Cao Ren asked, he looked at Jia Xu and Guo Jia.

Jia Xu was the first to answer the relatively easy question: "Fortunately, Guan Yu's progress is slow due to the rocks blocking his way. General, you can quickly order General Cai to attack with the navy to destroy Guan Yu's construction and make him give up halfway.

This attempt to penetrate deep into the enemy's rear and cut off navigation has been seen in ancient military tactics. It is indeed useful for blocking a strong city with water support. But the problem is that the construction is slow. It can be destroyed halfway before it is completed, and the besieger's troops will be wasted. "

Cai Mao was originally just watching the show from the sidelines, but he didn't expect that Jia Xu would bring trouble to him. Cai Mao was also very depressed, thinking that it was us who managed to help you, old thief Jia, get out of Xiangyang in the first place, so why don't you know how to repay us?
You know, more than a month ago, Cai Mao's excuse for fleeing to Fancheng was to "escort Jia Xu back to the north." Cai Mao himself and his family were just incidental.

Cai Mao still thought that after that collusion to escape, Jia Xu would give him some face.

Who would have thought that when a naval battle was about to take place, he would be pushed out first. Moreover, it was a battle that Cai Mao himself thought was "optional for the time being" and not urgently needed.

However, Cai Mao had no way of refusing. This was a serious combat mission and he couldn't say it out loud.

Cao Ren quickly looked at him, hoping that he would take the initiative to express his position.

Cai Mao knew he couldn't escape, so he agreed dejectedly: "I am willing to lead the navy to fight back against Guan Yu. However... since Guan Yu is still upstream of the reef, and we have built a cofferdam to block the water, do we still have to be on guard against Guan Yu's water attack?

If Guan Yu suddenly destroyed the weir and released the water after our warships launched the attack, our warships would be downstream and easily be swept into each other. We must be careful!"

Cai Mao had some knowledge of naval affairs and was familiar with the surrounding geographical environment. He knew that if water was released upstream, the warships downstream would be easily destroyed.

Especially since the Baihe River is not very wide, there is no place to move. Even if the boats themselves are not overturned by the waves, if they collide with each other and chaos occurs, the losses will definitely not be small.

Cao Ren knew nothing about naval warfare, and after listening to Cai Mao's complaints about the difficulties, he didn't know what to do for a moment, so he had to look at Jia Xu and Guo Jia again.

Jia Xu had just answered a simple question and also gave Cai Mao a little help, showing that he and Cai Mao had no personal relationship and no private benefits were transferred to each other.

So when Cao Ren asked again, Jia Xu was already watching his nose and his heart, but at the same time he frowned and pretended to be thinking carefully and taking it seriously.

"Just now when General Zixiao asked for advice, I pushed Cai Mao to fight. I believe no one will suspect that I colluded with Cai Mao in order to withdraw to Hanbei. Now that I have come to the point, there is no need to embarrass Cai Mao any further. With Fengxiao's wisdom, he will surely be able to come up with countermeasures and rebuttals." Jia Xu thought to himself but did not show it on the surface.

There was silence for a while, because Jia Xu did not comment. In the end, Guo Jia, who was seriously ill and had a slow mind, reluctantly spoke up for both sides:
"General Cai's concerns are reasonable and he is indeed cautious, but he is still like a frightened bird. In my opinion, Guan Yu may have used the water plan too many times, especially since Yuliangzhou had just flooded our army, so he was arrogant and wanted to copy the same plan again.

But he didn't know that the situation was different with the passage of time. It was already winter, and the rain was not as heavy as before. Even if he stored water, how much could he store? Could he use the flooding plan again?
In my opinion, he was probably just trying to divert water and store it elsewhere, lowering the volume and level of the main stream of the Baihe River so that his plan to block navigation with the reefs would be easier to implement. After all, as the water level of the Baihe River dropped, the depth of the reefs he needed to fill would be shallower, and the large rocks and iron cones he filled in would be less likely to be washed away by the current.

Cai Mao actually vaguely knew these principles, but he just didn't want to take the risk of fighting, so he gave so many reasons just now.

Now that Guo Jia had exposed him and said he was worrying for nothing, Cai Mao had no choice but to add a few more questions in his desperate attempt to find a cure: "What if Guan Yu really planned to build a dam to store water and launch a water attack?"

Guo Jia was very confident about this: "There is not enough water in winter. Even if he attacks by force, the power is not enough to be feared. Moreover, if he really does that, our army can also use other methods to defeat him... Let him suffer the consequences!"

Guo Jia's words were definitely not bragging, he really had the ability to break this forced tax plan - it was a pity that Guan Yu had no intention of using the water plan, it was just a superficial attempt.

But Guo Jia was bedridden and unable to go to the front line to observe in person and learn the details of the enemy situation. He had to rely on lying in bed and listening to reports. It was no wonder that he made such a judgment.

No matter how smart you are, you still need the support of practice and observation to make accurate and correct judgments.

Guo Jia then began to talk eloquently and eloquently, roughly explaining his method of cracking the problem.

In short, all of Cai Mao's worries and fear of fighting were eliminated, and at the same time, he also sincerely gave Cai Mao some advice.

Cai Mao had no choice but to go into battle.

Jia Xu, who had been pretending to be less intelligent than Guo Jia and slow to react, pretended to have just figured it out after seeing that the overall situation had been decided, and helped to fill in the gaps:
"What Military Advisor Guo said just now is very reasonable, and I have benefited a lot from it. However, General Cai is worried that the enemy may release water to hit our ships and disrupt our fleet during the battle, so we must guard against it.

I foolishly believe that after our army destroyed Guan Yu's dam construction site, we may be able to slightly adjust the deployment of the navy. For example, we can move part of the navy north to Xinye County where the Baihe River and the Yushui River meet, and then threaten Guan Yu's construction camp from upstream.

In this way, even if Guan Yu refuses to give up and builds reefs and cofferdams to store water and reduce the water volume of the Baihe River to block navigation, we will attack from Xinye upstream and destroy it. Even if Guan Yu releases the water at that time, because the navy of Xinye has the advantage of upstream, Guan Yu will not be able to drown us, but will drown himself instead. "

When Cao Ren, Guo Jia and Cai Mao heard this additional opinion, their eyes suddenly lit up, and all three felt that what Jia Xu said was absolutely right.

To prevent being flooded by water, isn't the best way to go around to the upstream? Since ancient times, how can you flood the upstream from the downstream?
Moreover, because Jia Xu held it in until the very end and said it casually, no one suspected that he was trying to escape from the dangerous situation again.

He didn't know why this old poisonous creature had such a keen sense of smell, but he always felt that it was no longer as safe as retreating to Xinye and helping Fancheng maintain its retreat than continuing to follow Cao Ren in besieging Fancheng.

Jia Xu didn't see any substantial changes and had no evidence, but he just had the sense to avoid putting himself in danger.

(End of this chapter)