My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 766 Where there is a bulge, there is a pincer attack

I have to say that Cheng Yu still has some brains.

Or, in other words, smart people see things in a similar way. Cheng Yu also saw the opportunity that Zhuge Jin might have seen.

In the spring and summer of the 17th year of Jian'an, the main force of Liu Bei's army in Hebei, under the coordination of Zhuge Jin, advanced rapidly and captured several counties in succession. The war gradually entered a deep water zone, and all the soft persimmons had been squeezed.

Zhuge Jin himself rarely felt tired and began to search the map carefully again, looking for new weak points that could be exploited.

One day in early July, as the war on the northern front came to a standstill, Zhuge Jin personally arrived at the siege camp besieging Guantao County and inspected the front-line troops. He then returned to the central army tent and summoned major generals such as Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci to hold a brief military meeting to discuss the next stage of the battle plan and listen to everyone's opinions.

The lands in Jizhou that Xiahou Dun still controls are mainly Weijun, Zhaojun and Guangpingjun. The cores of the three counties are Yecheng, Handan and Guantao respectively.

Guantao County is located to the east of Yecheng, and is separated from Yecheng by the last county. It is also the gateway to block Liu Bei's army from entering Wei County. That is why Zhuge Jin placed Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci's troops here, planning to break Guantao first this year and then attack Yecheng.

Zhao Yun and Ma Chao were not at the Guantao front because they were taking another route to attack Yecheng from the north. They were still preparing to attack Handan from the north.

In the Hebei battlefield, Zhuge Jin deployed a total force of 110,000 to 120,000 troops in the first phase. Now, after a period of fighting, the troops have suffered some casualties, but subsequent reserve troops are also being replenished continuously.

In addition, after the death of Zhang He and Gao Lan, a considerable number of veteran soldiers who had served Yuan Shao returned to the army, so the total strength of Liu Bei's army on the Hebei battlefield increased instead of decreased.

Specifically, in July of the 17th year of Jian'an, there were about 130,000 to 140,000 Liu Bei troops on the Hebei battlefield, and these people were roughly evenly divided into two parts: Zhao Yun and Ma Chao had 60,000 to 70,000 troops on the northern front, and Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci also had 60,000 to 70,000 troops on the eastern front.

From a long-term perspective, after Handan and Guantao are captured in the future, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao can attack Yecheng from the north, while Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci can attack Yecheng from the east, completing a large pincer attack and eventually taking over the entire Jizhou.

If nothing unexpected happens, Zhuge Jin feels that it is possible to completely resolve the Jizhou issue within this year, and his camp will surely gain new gains on other fronts this year.

Therefore, within the whole year of the 17th year of Jian'an, the main part of Cao's territory east of Taihang Mountain and Hulao Pass was conquered. In the 18th year of Jian'an, the remaining part was taken. Finally, Cao's territory was completely driven to the west of Taihang Mountain and Hulao Pass within two years. All of these are completely possible.

Of course, this is just a general direction of effort. Everyone dreams of good things. How to achieve them specifically and how to avoid imagining and being too ambitious is a science, and there is still a lot of work to be done.

After Zhuge Jin inspected the 60,000 to 70,000 people under Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci's command today and sorted out the current situation, he couldn't help but ask them:
"You have been stationed at the gates of Guantao for a month or two. The further west you advance, the more stubborn Cao's resistance will become.

The closer they get to Yecheng, the less room they have to maneuver. Xiahou Dun will definitely defend to the end, and if he fails, he will retreat step by step.

Do you think there is any strategic arrangement that is more suitable for our army to perform better and more suitable for quickly breaking through the situation and opening up a new situation? "

It was July and the weather was hot. Zhuge Jin asked questions while waving his folding fan vigorously.

When the battle of Jizhou just started, it was still the coldest month of winter. Now we have occupied six or seven counties in Jizhou, and six or seven months have passed. Time flies, the seasons change, and we have occupied one county per month on average.

When Zhuge Jin asked this question, his expression and tone were very relaxed. The listener also looked relaxed. Taishi Ci had no intention of helping to give advice. He just wanted to wait to hear the conclusion and then execute it. He knew that Situ was mainly asking Zhou Yu.

Who can blame Gongjin for having a better brain? Although it is not as good as that of Zhuge brothers, sometimes when Zhuge Jin is lazy, he is still willing to use Zhou Yu's daily strategies so that he can save some brainpower.

After careful consideration, Zhou Yu did come up with a plan that seemed radical, but was actually quite unexpected and might have miraculous effects:
"Why don't we not limit our army to Hebei and pretend to continue to attack Guantao County, but actually secretly mobilize warships, suddenly cross the Yellow River to the south, and launch a surprise attack on the eastern part of Yanzhou?
Please see, Situ, our army's advancement in Hebei is much faster than that in Henan. We have advanced to Guantao County on the north bank of the Yellow River, but the entire Yanzhou on the south bank is still occupied by Cao Cao.

If I were to ask you, after crossing the river, our army would attack Puyang County directly, and even penetrate Shanyang County, all the way to Yuzhou Pei State in the Mangdang Mountain area, which might be effective. At present, the main force of Cao's army has been tied down and exhausted, and there are no reserve troops that can be deployed. If we suddenly change the direction of attack, it will be difficult for the enemy to respond effectively immediately.

Moreover, to implement this strategy, we don’t even have to rely on ourselves, we can also strive for the cooperation of friendly forces. In the previous stage, the troops of Xuzhou were cooperating with Yunchang to attack from the south, first helping Yunchang to take Qiao County, and later moving to Liangdi to assist in the attack on Suiyang.

Now if we let the Xuzhou army turn north and attack us from the north and south, then our army only needs to break through Puyang County and let the Xuzhou army break through Shanyang County. Both sides only need to break through the depth of one county to complete the encirclement. "

As Zhou Yu spoke, he had someone bring a map and demonstrated on the map, indicating that the strategic depth that his plan required to penetrate was not very far, so the surprise factor was still guaranteed.

However, Zhuge Jin thought Zhou Yu's initial plan was a little rough. It might be because Zhou Yu had never thought about this problem before, and he only thought about it when Zhuge Jin asked him about it. It was definitely impossible to make it perfect immediately.

While listening, Zhuge Jin shook his folding fan a few times to dissipate the heat from his brain, making it easier for him to overclock his thinking and improve the leak.

Finally, he came to a conclusion and commented cautiously: "Gongjin's method is fine in principle, but it is a bit hasty in the details. I am afraid it will not be effective quickly and will lead to some difficult battles.

This detour was too deep and too radical. What was Puyang County? It was a place where Cao thieves had deep-rooted control, and it was adjacent to Dong County where Cao thieves started.

Moreover, during the years when Cao Cao and Lu Bu fought for Yanzhou, the main tug-of-war was also fought in Puyang County. Later, during the Battle of Guandu, a considerable part of the attempt to stop the northern army from crossing the Yellow River to the south was also deployed in Puyang.

Therefore, the Cao army there, especially the local officials and generals, must have sufficient experience in how to guard against the northern army crossing the Yellow River to the south, and they are also well prepared. In addition, our army is now besieging Guantao, and we can cross the Yellow River directly from Guantao to the south, and Puyang is right opposite. How could the enemy not have thought of this?
Therefore, it would be better to slightly adjust the crossing point and cross the Yellow River to the south at any point between Guantao and Pingyuan, where the enemy's defense is not strict. Anyway, the enemy will definitely have heavy troops at both ends of this section of the river bank, but it is impossible to strictly guard everywhere in the hundreds of miles in between, and there are not so many troops.

Our army will quietly observe for a while, and then secretly deploy troops suddenly, and cross the river at the enemy's weak position, which will surely have a miraculous effect. "

After listening to Situ's advice, Zhou Yu quickly came to his senses, so he did not deliberately insist on his wrong opinion. He immediately changed his mind and supported Zhuge Jin's opinion.

He also sincerely said that what he had just thought of was just a rough plan because of the time constraints. If he had more time to think about it carefully, he would definitely be able to come up with a better and more complete one.

As if to prove his own strength, Zhou Yu followed Zhuge Jin's improved plan, brainstormed again, and helped the group to do more pros and cons analysis.

Zhou Yu quickly analyzed that it would not be a good idea for the Xuzhou army on the southern line to go directly north through the Mangdang Mountain area between Liangdi and Peiguo. The southern line could also be more stable and withdraw a little further east.

Because Shanyang County, located to the north of Liang and Pei, has hills and swamps, its terrain is still the remnant of the Mangdang Mountain area, which is relatively complex and not conducive to the rapid deployment of the army. If Shanyang County must be included, the march and interweaving of the friendly forces on the southern line may be hindered.

However, if they gave up on taking Shanyang County and retreated to the border of Lu County, they could avoid these terrain disadvantages. Moreover, if Cao's army wanted to support the Lu County Basin, its reinforcements would have to pass through the complex terrain of Shanyang County, which would be a problem for Cao's army's troop movement and logistics support.

Therefore, it is better to play it safe and leave the logistical problems to Cao's army. If Cao's army does not rescue, Lu will be safely in their hands. If Cao's army rescues, it will be a good opportunity for them to suffer the consequences. At that time, the main goal is to annihilate Cao's active forces, surround and attack the reinforcements, and then annihilate part of the enemy.

"Okay, then follow this adjusted plan and notify Yun Chang to have his Xuzhou troops prepare as well. The date of the attack will be set half a month later, on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the Ghost Festival. After all, it takes time to contact friendly forces, and it also takes time for them to prepare for battle."

Zhuge Jin finally made the decision to just take the chance and then see how the situation develops.

Eat whatever you can get into your mouth first, and then take the next step and see what will happen in the future.

……

Zhuge Jin's improvisational plan required coordination with friendly forces, so it naturally couldn't be rushed.

Especially because the entire Yanzhou is still in the hands of Cao Cao, the communication between the two major war zones of Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu needs to bypass the Yanzhou salient controlled by Cao Cao first, which makes it even more difficult to control the time.

The express messengers also had to cross Mount Tai and the Yimeng Mountains, which further complicated the matter.

So in the end, it was not until the end of early July that Guan Yu received Zhuge Jin's letter.

The date of attack agreed in the letter was July 15, so Guan Yu only had six or seven days to prepare for battle. He could only adjust his deployment while replying to Zhuge Jin.

After reading the letter, Guan Yu did not hesitate at all. He immediately went to the tent to discuss the matter and conveyed Zhuge Jin's request directly in the form of a formal military order.

It can be seen that Guan Yu trusted Zhuge Jin's advice very much. Zhuge Jin's tone in the letter was to discuss with him, but Guan Yu directly chose to execute all of it unconditionally, without any reservations or adjustments.

"Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, listen to my orders!"

After all the senior generals arrived, Guan Yu, wearing a shiny steel-forged armor and a green Shu brocade battle robe, sat behind the commander's desk with a golden sword and a large horse, and ordered his generals in a deep and powerful voice.

In such formal occasions, of course one would not address someone by their courtesy name, no matter how good the personal relationship is.

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun did not dare to be negligent and immediately stepped out of the line: "I will be your general!"

Guan Yu waved his hand and said, "You two, immediately lead your troops and all the rest of the Xuzhou army, and prepare to march out within three days.

Then we will quietly march back, look for the place east of Shanyang County where Cao's army is less alert, cross the Mangdang Mountain area, and head north into Lu. Situ will assign some troops from Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci to cross the Yellow River to attack Lu and Jibei County with you.

Cao's defenses are stretched thin everywhere. Our fierce attack has attracted the enemy's eastern troops to the two defensive directions of Yecheng and Suiyang, and the rest of the defense areas must be empty. This unexpected change of tactics will surely allow us to cut off these two counties from Cao's hands!"

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun exchanged a quick glance and said in unison, "I obey your orders!"

In the following days, the two men quickly made preparations for the expedition, and then strictly followed Guan Yu's request, leading about 30,000 to 40,000 Xuzhou troops, quietly withdrew from the Suiyang front line, marched and moved, chose a place to the north of Yuepei State's mountainous area, and were ready to penetrate into the plains between Shanyang County and Lu State at any time.

Guan Yu himself naturally remained firmly on the front line of Suiyang, and ordered the flags of Zhang Liao and Gao Shun to remain in the siege camp in Suiyang. He also ordered some soldiers from the Huainan war zone to move into the empty camp left by Zhang Liao and Gao Shun and continue to live there.

Every day, cooking and cooking in the kitchen were carried out according to the standard of full staffing, ensuring that the enemy troops defending Suiyang City would not be able to find any flaws and would not notice that the number of enemy troops attacking the city at the front line had decreased.

Guan Yu even personally supervised two exploratory sieges, and personally showed up outside the range of the crossbows of the enemy soldiers defending the city to call on them to surrender.

Seeing Guan Yu personally leading the troops to attack the city, General Cao on the city wall also felt like he was facing a formidable enemy. He desperately organized his reserve troops to defend the city and managed to withstand Guan Yu's offensive.

The attackers used chariots, ladders and catapults.

The defenders also desperately threw all kinds of weapons and supplies for defending the city, throwing as many rolling logs, lime bottles, and gold juice as they could, and even swallowtail torches soaked in grease and whole pots of boiling oil were not stingy, spending whatever was needed.

Although the city finally withstood Guan Yu's attack, several gaps in Suiyang's moat were filled up by bulldozers during the offensive and defensive confrontation.

Several corners of the city wall were also targeted, and a lot of earth was dug down by the wooden donkey used to dig the city wall.

In later life, Zhang Xun was able to rely on Suiyang City to defend against the Anshi Rebellion for two years. Now, it is unknown how long the Suiyang defenders can hold out under Guan Yu's attack.

And who could have seen that Guan Yu was still able to launch such an offensive only after Xu Huai's forces were reduced by half.

He had already handed over a small half of his troops to Zhang Liao and Gao Shun to take away and fight elsewhere, but the remaining 60% of the troops were still fighting so vigorously.

Coincidentally, while Guan Yu was making a strong attack on Suiyang, Zhou Yu was also fighting the siege of Guantao with great momentum on the battlefield of Guangping County in Jizhou in the north.

As a result, Xiahou Dun of Jizhou did not realize that Taishi Ci's troops had temporarily disappeared from the opposite side of the eastern defense line.

Taishi Ci, who disappeared in the north, and Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, who disappeared in the south, will soon organize a new pincer attack to clamp down on another salient of Cao's army.

(End of this chapter)