My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 755: Zhuge goes to war, and flowers bloom everywhere

Let’s go back to Youzhou in early November of the 16th year of Jian’an.

That was about twenty days before Xiahou Dun withdrew his troops from Hebei.

Zhao Yun, who had been stuck in Liaodong for a long time, finally returned to Yuyang County quietly. He led hundreds of cavalrymen to the dock on the seaside of Yongnu County in a low-key manner, waiting to welcome the reinforcements coming by sea.

After all, it was only the beginning of the eleventh lunar month, so the Bohai Sea had not yet completely frozen over, and ships could still sail. There were a few small pieces of floating ice and broken ice on the sea, but it did not affect safety.

A month and a half ago, as the sporadic wars between Buyeo and Goguryeo had completely subsided, Zhao Yun had actually been idle for a long time.

There was no military affairs in Liaodong that required his personal attention, and there was no need for Zhao Yun to oversee Liu Bei's reply to the King of Goguryeo conferring the title of marquis and promising him a hereditary official position.

But Zhao Yun worked diligently and personally, strictly following the request in his lord's reply letter, and stayed in Liaodong for so long. He was afraid that if he returned to Jixian, he would not be able to keep it secret and appear on the streets of Jixian and be discovered by enemy spies, and his previous arrogant strategy would be completely exposed.

In order to make the performance more realistic, Zhao Yun had to deceive his own people as well, making the middle-level civil and military officials in his own camp feel that "Buyu and Goguryeo have been making trouble so far, and General Zhao can't spare any effort."

Only when one reaches Mi Zhu, or at least a civil servant of Tian Chou's level, can one know the whole truth.

However, no matter how well the confidentiality work was done, Zhao Yun had to return to Guangyang County in early November, otherwise he would not have time to personally take charge of the pre-war mobilization work.

Moreover, according to the agreed date, Zhuge Jin and the reinforcements he brought from the south would also arrive in November. Zhao Yun had to come back a few days in advance to fulfill his role as a good host and welcome Zhuge Jin.

Finally, Zhao Yun arrived at Yongnu County, Yuyang Prefecture, on the first day of November, and rested there for three days. On the fourth day, he welcomed the fleet carrying Zhuge Jin and his reinforcements.

"I greet Situ. It is not easy for Situ to come here from afar. This time, he will definitely lead our army to pacify Jizhou."

As soon as Zhuge Jin's boat docked at the pier, Zhao Yun stepped forward personally. When Zhuge Jin walked down the plank to get off the boat, Zhao Yun extended his hand to help him, showing great courtesy.

Zhuge Jin originally wanted to persuade Zhao Yun to be more polite, as they had known each other for fifteen or sixteen years. However, seeing Zhao Yun's seriousness and the fact that there were outsiders present, he accepted the offer.

Ma Chao, who followed Zhuge Jin ashore, saw Zhao Yun being so humble to Situ Du, so he quickly stopped laughing and became serious.

Originally, Zhuge Jin transferred Ma Chao to the Hebei battlefield to show his strengths. Because they traveled together all the way, Ma Chao became a little familiar with Zhuge Jin. Knowing that Situ was lenient towards others, he gradually became less afraid of him than at the beginning.

Who would have thought that once he got ashore, he would see Zhao Yun, a senior general who was much higher in rank than him, being so courteous and courteous. How could Ma Chao dare to be arrogant? This method of using people with a balance of tension and relaxation was perfectly grasped.

After Zhao Yun met Zhuge Jin, he personally led the way for him, and the group of soldiers went to Yongnu County to rest first.

Zhao Yun also carefully asked Zhuge Jin if he was tired from the journey and whether he wanted to ride in a carriage. Zhuge Jin waved his hand casually, indicating that everyone could just ride on horses.

The bumps in the car were no less than riding a horse. He had practiced regularly over the years and his riding skills were pretty good. He still felt more comfortable riding a horse.

Zhao Yun lagged behind Zhuge Jin by half a horse's length and walked together with him. This made it easier for him to lead the way and chat with him, and also ensured courtesy.

"Si Tu has come a long way this time, and he must have been tossed on the sea for too long, so he is tired of riding in a car, so he might as well go for a ride to relax. The waves on the Bohai Sea are quite strong this season, and you must have encountered a lot of headwinds on the way north."

Zhao Yun said casually, empathizing with Zhuge Jin's difficult journey.

Zhuge Jin smiled calmly and explained casually: "At this time of year, the northwest wind is indeed prevalent, but fortunately we didn't take a long boat ride. I have already planned all this. From Xuhuai all the way to Qingzhou, we traveled by land and rode horses.

I arrived at Beihai County and boarded the ship, crossed half of the Bohai Sea, and landed here. If the coast of Bohai County had not been infiltrated by Gao Lan's troops, I would have ridden north along the coast for fear of exposing my whereabouts. "

Zhao Yun recalled the route Zhuge Jin had mentioned, and then he suddenly realized it and stopped worrying about it.

Going north by sea in winter is indeed against the geographical and meteorological conditions, and is like enduring hardship without any effort.

Zhuge Jin was so knowledgeable about astronomy and geography that it was impossible for him to make such a low-level mistake. He took a short boat ride just to keep it secret.

In his plan, most of the undefended territory in Bohai County could have been used as bait and temporarily occupied by Zhang He and Gao Lan. To avoid the enemy's eyes and ears, he had to be cautious.

The group quickly entered Yongnu County. Zhao Yun had people prepare wine and meat for the welcome dinner in advance. He invited Zhuge Jin to take a seat first, and also invited Ma Chao and other reinforcements to join him.

Zhuge Jin told everyone not to be restrained and to eat and drink as much as they could to relieve the fatigue from the journey.

After three rounds of drinking and eating a lot of game, Zhao Yun asked about the specific follow-up battle plan to see if there was any need for fine-tuning.

Zhuge Jin put down his wine cup and asked Zhao Yun to talk about his initial plan first.

Zhao Yun then proposed a plan based on his understanding of the current situation in the Youzhou war zone:
"I have been confronting Zhang He for several years, and I have some understanding of his talent and habits in using troops. This time he has besieged Gongjin in Nanpi for more than a month, and his troops are old and tired after being stationed under a strong city.

His troops were all dispatched from Hejian County, which was adjacent to the west of Bohai Sea. Gao Lan's troops were mostly transferred from Qinghe County, and a small number of troops were transferred from Pingyuan County. As for Xiahou Dun's main force, they were drawn from Wei County, Zhao County and other counties in the rear of Jizhou.

So I thought that once the war started, we would attack from Yijing in the southeast of Zhuo County, cross the Yishui River to the south, and then go south along the tributary of the Yishui River on the south bank, about a hundred miles, passing through Wuyuan and Zhongshui counties, and then go south for a while by land, and we can reach Lecheng, the capital of Hejian County. The whole journey is no more than 150 miles.

Lecheng is not only the lair of Zhang He's headquarters, but also located sixty or seventy miles west of Nanpi. Our army's siege of Lecheng can not only make Zhang He have no lair to return to, shake his military morale, but also cut off his way back to the west.

If Zhang He wanted to withdraw his troops at that time, he could only retreat upstream along the Zhang River, passing through Dongguan and Xiuxian all the way back to Qinghe County.

At this time, if Ziyi can follow the pre-war plan and use the Qingzhou troops to cross the Yellow River to attack Pingyuan County, then we can attack from both north and south and very likely cut off Zhang He's way back at Xiu County, where Bohai and Qinghe meet.

This will not only help relieve Gongjin's siege of Bohai and completely restore the counties of Bohai, but will also help surround and annihilate Zhang He's new forces - does Situ have any other ideas?"

When Zhao Yun was planning his attack route, he always had Yijing as his attack point in mind. This location roughly corresponds to Xiong County of Baoding in later generations, and Leping, which he was going to attack, corresponds to Xian County of Hejian City in later generations.

On the one hand, it is because Yijing is indeed a strategic point and transportation hub between You and Ji. Otherwise, before his death, Gongsun Zan would not have built the "Yijing Tower" here, thinking that by defending this place, he could block Yuan Shao's northward advance.

On the other hand, Zhao Yun had worked under Gongsun Zan for several years, and he was still a little obsessed with the lesson of Gongsun Zan's downfall. He subconsciously wanted to prove that this tactical route was not wrong in itself, but it was because Gongsun Zan's luck had run out that he could not use it well.

Zhuge Jin was thinking about Zhao Yun's plan, and subconsciously opened his folding fan and wanted to wave it a few times. He shivered slightly in the cold wind, and then he remembered that it was winter, so he closed the folding fan again and used the fan bones to rhythmically tap the table.

After knocking a few times, Zhuge Jin made a pertinent comment: "As the saying goes, if you aim for the best, you will get the middle; if you aim for the middle, you will get the worst. Zilong is really cautious in deploying his troops. He deployed his troops in such a conventional way, aiming only to annihilate the enemy and break the siege. In the end, if something unexpected happened, maybe he could only achieve one of the two. Most likely, he would break the siege, but fail to annihilate Zhang He."

Zhao Yun was a humble and cautious person by nature. When he heard his brother-in-law point out the problem to him, he showed no emotion at all. He just calmly and modestly asked Zhuge Jin to come up with another plan.

Zhuge Jin tapped his knuckles on the table rhythmically, pondered for a while, and then deduced the situation: "If you ask me, since our army is strong and powerful, and we are ready to wait until the enemy's southern front is tight and Xiahou Dun withdraws his rear troops before taking action, we might as well block a bigger blockade.

Letting the Lord and Yunchang Yide stick to the main force of Cao's army on the southern line is an attempt to besiege Wei to save Zhao. Why can't we do it again in Hebei? If we want to draw an encirclement, we should make it bigger. Cao's army fights Cao's army, and we fight ours.

The border between Youzhou and Jizhou is so long, there is no place in the entire Yishui River that cannot be crossed? The same is true between Qingzhou and Jizhou, there is no place in the entire Yellow River that cannot be crossed? The route you just imagined is just a backup plan.

If the situation is right, we can be more radical and cross the river between Fanyang County of Zhuo County and Beiping County of Zhongshan County, which is much upstream of Yijing. After entering Zhongshan of Jizhou from Beiping, we can go straight to Lunu County, the county seat, via Puyin, or go downstream along the Hengshui River to Anxi.

Anyway, our army is on the northern front and has many famous generals, so we can divide our forces. When the time comes, you, Zilong, and Mengqi can each go one route, one from Zhuojun to Zhongshan, and the other from Zhuojun to Hejian.

We will go to expand the territory, regardless of whether to encircle and annihilate or not. As long as there is fire everywhere in Zhang He's backyard, he will naturally go back to rescue. At that time, our army will respond flexibly and encircle and annihilate him wherever we can.

A considerable part of his army is infantry, so it is impossible for them to march too fast. However, as long as the pure cavalry units of our army are large enough, we can pull the enemy into motion and annihilate them anywhere.

In this way, our army will start with the two main goals of relieving the siege and expanding the territory, and these two main goals can definitely be achieved. Annihilating the enemy is just a byproduct, and it is also very likely to be achieved. Even if it cannot be achieved, at least in the first stage of the sneak attack, more territory can be expanded, which is a profit no matter how you look at it. "

Zhao Yun imagined what Zhuge Jin had drawn, but he did not dare to be as optimistic as Zhuge Jin.

"Although our army is well-trained and has a large number of troops, if we divide our forces to infiltrate, I'm afraid it would be a bit too arrogant to think that we can circle the territory and penetrate hundreds of miles at full speed. We must not give the enemy a chance to defeat them one by one..."

Zhuge Jin couldn't help but laugh and reminded him, "Zilong, although we must be cautious in war and not fight unprepared battles, you are also underestimating yourself and the extra advantages our army has outside the battlefield.

According to my strategy, if you and Meng Qi really split your troops into two routes, then the route through Hejian will definitely require a large number of troops and will occupy the main force on the northern line.

The number of troops from Zhuojun to Zhongshan was much smaller, and the purpose of that route was just to create a big momentum, so that the enemy would mistakenly believe that the Yishui River had collapsed and the entire route had collapsed, thus causing them to panic. The main force that really participated in the mission of encircling and annihilating Zhang He was the one that went south to Hejian.

However, the lord has left a great legacy in Zhuojun and Zhongshan areas. Just imagine, the lord was born in Zhuo County, Zhuojun, his native hometown. It has been six or seven years since our army recovered Youzhou. The local people know the lord's roots and the people on the other side of the Yishui River also know the lord's kindness and have good things for him.

It has been twenty-eight years since my lord entered the officialdom after making meritorious contributions in suppressing the Yellow Turbans. From twenty-eight years ago to twenty-five years ago, he served as the county lieutenant of Anxi County, next to Lunu County, the capital of Zhongshan Prefecture, for three years. He made friends with many local gentry, and many people knew his virtue and respected him and remembered his benevolence and righteousness.

Zilong, you led a large army into the country. How could there not be local people willing to be the insiders? How could there not be people offering food and drink to welcome the royal army? Taking a step back, after taking down Lu Nu and An Xi, you went south from Wuji to cross the Hutuo River. Whether it was from Xiaquyang to Julu, or to Zhending County, the seat of Changshan Prefecture, you were not familiar with those places? No local powerful people came to welcome you?
Therefore, this group of people, with a small number of troops, can accomplish great things and make a lot of noise, making the enemy's overall situation more and more confused, not knowing where to rescue or how to rescue. "

By then, even if Xiahou Dun or Zhang He wanted to save the situation, they would be unable to do anything as they saw the situation was rotten to the core.

After hearing this, Zhao Yun was finally completely convinced by Zhuge Jin, and his inner habit of pursuing steady and cautious use of troops was slightly reversed.

Situ's strategy may seem risky at first glance, but it is not risky at all. Zhongshan County is where Liu Bei served as an official for several years, and Changshan County to the south is Zhao Yun's hometown. During the years when Zhao Yun was in Youzhou, he also infiltrated and bribed the other side of Yishui River, so he could win over some local people.

After figuring out all the causes and effects, Zhao Yun was convinced and accepted the marching plan that Zhuge Jin had revised for him.

Seeing that Zhao Yun had finally figured it out, Zhuge Jin smiled and nodded. Perhaps because his worries had been resolved, he felt more relaxed and his thoughts became more open. Zhuge Jin struck while the iron was hot and helped Zhao Yun analyze two more deductions:
“Moreover, I infer from common sense that Zhang He and Gao Lan have been attacking Nanpi and Tianjin for a long time but have failed. If the situation on the southern front is really tight and Xiahou Dun has to withdraw some troops to defend, then Zhang He will be even more powerless to attack and can only switch to siege.

Zhang He was a veteran who had been fighting for more than 20 years. He must have realized that the cold weather was good for defense but not for attack. His troops had been reduced so much, but he still had to ensure that Gongjin was completely surrounded and killed. He could only do so by building stronger siege fortifications and making the tunnels, trenches and earthen walls higher and deeper.

Therefore, if our army directly crossed the Yishui River from Yijing to Lecheng via the Longshui River, and cut off the enemy's route back to Nanpi, the enemy might still have high fortifications and deep trenches to hold out and wait for reinforcements. Anyway, Zhang He planned to besiege the city for a whole winter, and once Xiahou Dun left, he would leave the food for him, and Zhang He would not be able to finish it all at once.

If they fight on their home ground, their morale will hardly collapse. At that time, our army will have to bear the disadvantages of attacking the stronghold, and the geographical advantage that Gongjin won in Nanpi will be lost by us.

However, if we attack all along the northern line and split our forces into two groups from Zhuojun, attacking both Hejian and Zhongshan, the momentum will be so huge that Zhang He will be frightened and worry about the devastation of the entire Jizhou. He will have to withdraw his troops and get out of the siege camp in Nanpi.

By then, no matter how well he builds his siege works, they will be useless. Our army can ensure that we can fight Zhang He in the Hebei Plain as soon as possible, and he will not be able to escape."

Zhao Yun naturally had no way of refutation of this additional reason. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him, and finally he decided to do exactly as he was told.

For many days thereafter, Zhao Yun slowly and quietly adjusted the military deployment according to the new adjustment plan brainstormed by everyone, and carried out the final preparations before the expedition.

And everything happened just as Zhuge Jin had expected. Within ten days, the information that Xiahou Dun was preparing to withdraw his troops reached Zhao Yun, and Zhao Yun immediately prepared to take action.

Zhuge Jin asked him to wait for a few more days, at least until Xiahou Dun had gone far away and marched to another war zone so that he would not be stuck and unable to turn back.

Zhao Yun thought about it and suddenly realized that this made sense, so he let the troops hold back for a few more days.

While Zhao Yun was looking for an opportunity to attack, he got another piece of military intelligence from the front line:
Sima Yi brought Cao Cao's order to ask Xiahou Dun to withdraw troops from Hebei and send them to Henan. Before Xiahou Dun left, someone offered him a specific defensive strategy, perhaps it was Sima Yi. According to this strategy, Zhang He sent people to fetch water and irrigate the siege camp of Nanpi, which was reinforced once again, turning it into a circle of ice walls and ice trenches.

When Zhao Yun learned this, he was slightly worried: Zhang He built the siege fortifications so strongly. If he followed his previous plan and only took Hejian and Leping, and then cut off the Zhang River to cut off Zhang He's retreat, then Zhang He might not be in a hurry to leave.

Anyway, Jizhou was Cao Cao's homeland, and Zhang He was fighting on his homeland, so he wasn't afraid of being surrounded and without supplies. When fighting on his homeland, supplies were everywhere, and the front line was actually a food storage point, so he couldn't starve to death.

In that case, wouldn't Zhao Yun have to charge into Zhang He's Ice City?
But now, according to Zhuge Jin's adjusted strategy, the hundreds of miles of Yishui River and the Yellow River can be spread everywhere. As long as the momentum is made big, Zhang He will have to come out of his turtle shell and go back to rescue everywhere.

As long as Zhang He is mobilized, everything will be easier to fight.

So, finally, on the fifteenth day when Zhuge Jin and Zhao Yun received the news of Xiahou Dun's withdrawal - counting the days, it was estimated that Xiahou Dun had already arrived in Luoyang, or at least in Chenliu.

Zhuge Jin finally announced that the army would officially march south, crossing the Yishui River from Zhuo County in Youzhou and entering Jizhou.

The Eastern Route Army on the northern line was led by Ma Chao, who crossed the river from Yijing to the south, went south along the Longshui River, and went straight to Leping, infiltrating the entire Hejian County.

The Western Army on the northern line was led by Zhao Yun, who crossed the river from Fanyang to the south and took the eastern half of Zhongshan County.

Taishi Ci, who set out from Qingzhou on the southern route, would also cross the river from Gaotang County on the south bank of the Yellow River and head straight for Pingyuan on about the same day.

(End of this chapter)