My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 771: The decisive battle in Hebei begins
September 16, the 17th year of Jian'an.

This day was also the thirteenth day after Cao Cao and Sima Yi had secretly discussed and decided to use the advantage of Cao's army's internal operations to launch a counterattack and decisive battle.

It was also the eleventh day after Cao Cao secretly ordered the troops to assemble.

A Cao army of about 170,000 to 180,000 people finally gathered in Wei County as quietly as possible during these days and stationed in several counties around Liyang.

The rear army was still in Liyang, while the front army had already advanced to Wei County, which was only one or two counties away from Guantao County that Zhuge Jin and Zhou Yu were besieging.

Cao Cao's initial plan was to mobilize 200,000 people, but time was too tight. In order to make the decisive battle sudden, he repeatedly increased the speed of the forced march and shortened the time limit for assembling the troops, so he really could not gather that many people.

However, Xiahou Dun still had 50,000 to 60,000 local garrisons in Hebei, with 40,000 around Yecheng alone. This did not include the local militia and civilian warriors who were temporarily mobilized in each city and could only defend the city but not fight in the field.

Therefore, if Cao Cao included all the local garrisons in Hebei under Xiahou Dun, he could still gather a total of 230,000 to 240,000 combat troops.

Even if it is impossible to mobilize all these people to participate in the decisive battle on the front line of the battlefield, and leave some people to guard the key points at home, we can mobilize up to about 220,000 people to participate in the decisive battle in the field.

Cao Cao felt that this force was enough. Although he could not guarantee victory, waiting any longer would only lead to more troubles, so he might as well take a gamble based on the current conditions.

At this moment, it was early morning of that day. Cao Cao forced himself to get up early in the morning, put on full armor with the help of his attendants, rode a tall horse, and personally inspected the army.

Cao Cao was old, so he didn't have the energy to personally shout and mobilize the entire army before the battle.

But he still gathered all the main generals, gave them a few instructions, and then asked his staff to help read the pre-war manifesto to the entire army.

"Everyone, the prestige of the court and the peace of the world all depend on this battle. Zhuge Jin is despicable and cunning, and Liu Bei is hypocritical. If they control your Majesty, your Majesty will surely be murdered by these traitors!

Although I, Cao Cao, have been mocked and attacked by many people in the world, I have a clear conscience! I have always been loyal to my country over the years! Liu Bei, this thief, relied on his past fraud to become the Minister of the Imperial Clan. If Your Majesty falls into his hands, how could he not commit treason! "

Cao Cao and his generals made their final mobilization speech, and their tone sounded sincere and somewhat deceptive, which for a moment slightly aroused the generals' fighting spirit.

Then he waved his hand proudly, signaling the army to march straight from Wei County to Guantao County.

The two county towns are about seventy or eighty miles apart, which means there is only one day of marching left. If nothing goes wrong, the battle can start tomorrow.

When Cao's army reached here, there were no other counties between Wei County and Guantao. The land on the plains was open to both sides, and Zhuge Jin's scouts would often appear, so it was impossible for Cao's army to keep their whereabouts secret.

Cao Cao was mentally prepared. Once he left Wei County to the east, he would be discovered by the enemy's scouts immediately, thus alerting Zhuge Jin and making him prepare for war.

But Cao Cao firmly believed that this time difference of at most one day would not change anything. Even if Zhuge Jin found out and sent people to ask for help overnight, the enemy's reinforcements would not arrive.

Cao's army marched quickly according to plan, and indeed encountered many enemy scouts along the way. A small-scale but short and fierce scout battle soon broke out between the two sides.

In order to move more lightly and quickly, the elite scout cavalry under Zhuge Jin's command would not wear heavy armor, but often only leather armor, so they had no advantage in defense compared to Cao's cavalry.

But their bows, swords and lances were all made of the finest steel, and the hydraulic hammers repeatedly struck them, so the Cao army's armor was basically unable to withstand them. Only officers wearing fish-scale heavy armor could withstand the cuts of the steel-filled sabers. And the armor-piercing cone-headed arrows and heavy lances with steel-filled spearheads were not something that even traditional fish-scale armor could defend against.

Both sides were in a state of high attack and low defense, and both had high-bridge saddles and double-sided metal stirrups. The scout battle was a back-and-forth battle. Zhuge Jin's side only had an advantage in the casualty exchange ratio, and also spied on some enemy situations, but it could not bring about a qualitative change on the battlefield.

In contrast, Cao's army felt a little relieved after seeing that they had fought well in the early scout battles.

Who made Cao's army's demands and psychological expectations so low? Everyone subconsciously felt that being able to fight the enemy back and forth was acceptable, even if the casualties were a little higher than the enemy's.

As the saying goes, there will be no disappointment without expectation, so after a small friction, the morale of Cao's army actually recovered briefly.

Cao Cao had a clear idea of the situation as he looked at it, and he couldn't help but feel more excited about the prospect of the decisive battle.

After a day of minor fighting and retreating, Cao's army finally arrived at the outskirts of Guantao County at nightfall on September 16.

The Cao army walked sixty miles in the whole day, and now they were less than twenty miles away from Zhuge Jin's siege camp east of Guantao City.

Cao Cao chose to set up camp 15 miles away from the enemy, and sent part of his troops to enter Guantao County from the west, so that the soldiers could have a good night's sleep. He cooked and ate before dawn the next day to ensure that the whole army was in good condition, and then continued to advance in the morning light and approached Zhuge Jin's camp.

Of course, throughout the process, Cao Cao continuously sent out scouts in batches to harass the enemy and maintain reconnaissance of the enemy.

Therefore, until the early morning of the 17th, when Cao's army launched a large-scale offensive, Cao Cao had a relatively accurate grasp of the enemy's movements, and he also knew roughly how many direct troops Zhuge Jin had on hand to be deployed in the first wave of battle until the eve of the war.

"Although Zhuge Jin's reaction was a little slow, it was still in line with the rules. Yesterday, he recalled Zhao Yun's troops who were originally in Handan overnight. However, it seems that Zhao Yun only hastily pulled back the cavalry, and his infantry will not be able to catch up with this battle. The situation is still acceptable to our army."

In the last moments before the battle, Cao Cao assessed the battlefield situation in this way.

Liu Bei's army in Hebei has roughly 70,000 to 80,000 men. If Zhao Yun had not returned at all, Zhuge Jin and Zhou Yu would only have more than 40,000 men. But now that Zhao Yun's cavalry has returned, the total enemy strength in the battle may rise to 50,000 to 60,000 men. There are still 10,000 to 20,000 infantrymen who should be separated to the north of Handan.

Cao Cao's army had 220,000 soldiers. Of course, it was impossible for these 220,000 soldiers to arrive at the battlefield at the same time in one day. But it was still possible to annihilate the enemy in a short period of time by using 220,000 soldiers against 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers.

"Prime Minister, please give the orders. How should we deploy our forces for today's battle?" At the moment of battle, as the sun gradually rose in the east, all the generals came to Cao Cao's central military tent to ask for specific battle strategies.

Cao Cao asked his attendants to lift the curtain of the tent to let in the morning light. Looking at the sunlight on the ground, he said calmly, "Zi Lian! Wen Lie! Each of you will lead a cavalry unit and go around to the east of Guantao and the east bank of the lower reaches of the Baigou River, and ambush in a place with hills and trees.

If our army defeats Zhuge Jin in a short while, Zhuge Jin will retreat that day, and you will seize the opportunity to intercept and kill his fleeing soldiers!"

Cao Cao said this while pointing to the map.

It turns out that the main water system in this plain is the Baigou River. The Baigou River flows in the southwest and northeast direction, which is the same as most rivers in the Hebei Plain, such as the most famous Zhangshui River and Luohe River, which all flow in this direction. It is not surprising.

Guantao County is located on the southeast bank of the Baigou River, so today's decisive battle is destined to be fought on the southeast bank of the Baigou River. On the northwest bank opposite the river, Zhuge Jin has no troops deployed at all, and Cao Cao does not have to bother to block him. He knows that if Zhuge Jin is really defeated and wants to escape, it is impossible for him to cross the Baigou River and go to the northwest bank. The most he can do is to escape downstream on a grain ship.

If Zhuge Jin dared to cross the river after his defeat, Cao Cao could defeat him by relying on the small number of diversionary troops on the northwest bank. If Zhuge Jin did not cross the river, but just sailed downstream, Cao Cao had secretly prepared a number of fireboats and rafts in the upper reaches of the Baigou River when he was in Wei County some time ago.

Although Cao's navy was not very powerful, it was still quite powerful because it had the advantage of being upstream and had stored a huge amount of supplies and rafts for fire attacks in advance. If Zhuge Jin wanted to escape, Cao Cao would definitely be able to create chaos in every link and make Zhuge Jin's army defeated.

However, Cao Hong and Cao Xiu were shocked when they heard Cao Cao's order. They didn't expect Cao Cao to be so bold that he would not let them participate in the frontal battle and was already thinking about how to hunt down the remaining enemies after defeating Zhuge Jin.

Are you so confident? The decisive battle has not even started yet, but you are already thinking about how to "eradicate all evil and prevent the tiger from returning to the mountain"?
Cao Hong, being a senior figure, could not help but persuade and confirm, "Prime Minister! Let us ambush downstream in advance. What if we do not have enough troops for the decisive battle on the front battlefield? To be on the safe side, we have to make preparations for both situations!" Cao Hong had tried his best to speak more tactfully, hoping that Cao Cao would think more about "what to do if we fail to defeat Zhuge Jin head-on within a day or two".

Given Cao Cao's caution, he had obviously thought about this issue carefully in advance, but he didn't mention it at the beginning because of time constraints.

Since Cao Hong asked, Cao Cao calmly said: "Of course I have other preparations. In such a big battle, how can we rely on one blow to win? So this deployment is just for the situation where we can quickly defeat the enemy in the next two days.

If we cannot defeat the enemy within two days, our army will change its strategy to encircle Zhuge Jin, quickly build long trenches and corridors around the camp, and be prepared to besiege the point and attack its reinforcements.

If our army is completely exposed in the wilderness and delays time, once other troops under Liu Bei come to rescue Zhuge Jin, our army will be attacked from both inside and outside, and the situation will inevitably be bad.

Therefore, if a quick attack cannot immediately defeat the enemy, we must immediately prepare to attack the reinforcements. In this way, even if other enemy troops arrive, our army has two camp walls in front and behind to rely on, and we can ensure that Zhuge Jin is surrounded and his food supply is cut off. At that time, we can force the enemy to switch from defense to offense, and let the enemy bear the disadvantages of attacking the camp. "

Cao Cao's deployment was a correct military strategy. In history, when large-scale military battles on the plains could not quickly determine the outcome of the first battle, the two sides would turn to a standoff to defend the camp, which often forced the enemy to play the role of attacking the camp and bear additional casualties.

It is not surprising that during the Battle of Guandu twelve years ago, the armies of Yuan and Cao also set up camps and confronted each other.

However, this time, even if Cao Cao failed to take down the enemy in the first wave and had to switch to besieging the enemy and attacking the reinforcements, his time was still quite tight.

Because Cao Cao was now very weak on other fronts, he drew troops from several war zones to attack Zhuge Jin, in order to prevent Liu Bei from besieging Wei to rescue Zhao.

Therefore, even if he surrounded the point and attacked the reinforcements, Cao Cao would have to resolve the battle within more than a month at the latest, otherwise there might be a major collapse in other directions.

Cao Cao didn't know how much food Zhuge Jin had stored in the Guantao camp, and whether it would be enough to last for more than a month. Cao Cao really wanted to know this information, but he had no way of getting it before the battle.

If Zhuge Jin's stored food could last for two months or even longer, then Cao Cao could not expect to win by encircling Zhuge Jin and then starving the enemy to death. He had to win by storming the camp. No matter how heavy the casualties of the storm were, he could only grit his teeth and hold on.

Even if he didn't risk his life to attack the entire camp, Cao Cao would at least have to find Zhuge Jin's grain storage area in the Guantao camp, and then capture or burn it. That would obviously reduce Zhuge Jin's ability to continue fighting, and he would have to break out to get food, making Zhuge Jin bear the disadvantage of the attacking side.

That's similar to the situation during the Battle of Guandu.

However, Cao Cao also knew that there was little hope for this matter and he could only do his best and leave the rest to fate. How could Zhuge Jin keep making the same mistakes that Yuan Shao had made?

……

These possible deductions are still just empty talk now. Cao Cao didn't want to go into too much detail. He just wanted to keep them in his mind and improve them slowly based on circumstances.

But Cao Hong had his concerns, so Cao Cao could only give some of them roughly. By the way, it was also to reassure the generals and let everyone know that the prime minister had a backup plan and was not blindly betting everything on one throw.

After hearing about this, Cao Hong did not ask any more questions. He obediently followed Cao Xiu and took the cavalry to ambush downstream of Guantao.

Then, Cao Cao led the main force of Cao's army, divided into batches and in multiple directions, and slowly pressed towards Zhuge Jin and Zhou Yu's camp.

After all, he still has more than 100,000 people at his disposal, and he needs a very wide battlefield front to deploy, so attacking in multiple directions is necessary.

The deployment of the army was very time-consuming. They set out and maneuvered in the early morning, and it was not until the beginning of noon that several vanguards of Cao's army were deployed in place.

Zhuge Jin, who was surrounded in Guantao Camp, remained as still as a mountain. He just focused on guarding his huge camp which stretched for several miles and had at least 50,000 to 60,000 people in it.

In the Han Dynasty, a camp of one li in length and width could only house a few thousand people at most. Even if a camp of 50,000 or 60,000 people was densely packed, it would have to be a block of tofu with a side length of three to five li. In fact, considering the needs of combat, different purposes, and the storage of supplies, the area would only be larger.

After the two armies faced each other, the battle lines were close to within a mile, and then the Cao army stopped one after another and did not rush forward. Zhuge Jin's soldiers were waiting in battle formation behind the camp walls and wooden fences, with long spears standing in rows and bows and crossbows ready to be strung at any time.

Cao's army's huge formation formed a semicircle, from the southwest corner to the northeast corner, forming a semi-encirclement of Zhuge Jin. The northwest corner was left unencircled, but the Baigou River was only a few miles away in that direction, so there was no need to worry that Zhuge Jin would withdraw his troops through the narrow gap if he could not defeat him.

Seeing that the enemy army was so calm, Cao Cao also sent his staff and cavalry generals, with a large group of scolds, to the front of the battle line to shout and talk. He was thinking about hitting the enemy's morale before the real fight, so that they would know why they were being beaten.

The aide sent by Cao Cao was none other than Yang Xiu, who was now well-known for his eloquence and quick wit.

Yang Xiu had been gossiping a few days ago, and when Cao Cao found out, he was afraid that he would leak the secret, so he locked Yang Xiu up. But Yang Xiu was lucky to have his life, and was not killed as in the original historical story.

Now that the war was about to begin, Cao Cao was no longer afraid that Yang Xiu might leak secrets, so he thought it would be a good idea to make use of him and let Yang Xiu go to the front of the battle line to make the announcement.

He was the son of Yang Biao, and his status was noble, which made him suitable for undermining the morale of the enemy. At the same time, if he was shot to death by Zhuge Jin's order, it would not be a pity for such a person to die. He could also inspire his own side and make people in the world think that Zhuge Jin was intolerant and shot down famous people who tried to persuade him to surrender.

Yang Xiu came to the front of the battle line and was forced to shout out the lines he had reported: "Traitor Zhuge! You have fallen into the trap set by my Prime Minister! Now the imperial army of hundreds of thousands has gathered in Hebei. I will make a desperate effort to destroy you first. It is like a mountain crushing chicken eggs or a vast ocean pouring charcoal into a basin!

Even if Liu Bei still has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, he won't be able to rush to Hebei to rescue you! Soldiers on the opposite side, listen up! As long as you surrender, the court will forgive you for your past mistakes! Many of you were captured by the traitor Zhuge before and had no choice but to surrender. The court will give you another chance to turn from darkness to light! "

Yang Xiu had just finished his shouting when someone on the other side suddenly started to curse and relayed Zhuge Jin's rebuttal:
"Yang Xiu, my boy! How was your father, General Yang, framed by Cao Cao? You are such an unfilial son, and you are still working so hard for Cao Cao! Also, if you are vulgar and uncultured, just find someone else to scold you. There is no need to copy Chen Lin's rhetoric and smear it. Are you scolding me or Cao Cao?
It's still unclear who has fallen into the trap. If you have the guts, just attack the camp and let Cao know who has fallen into the trap right away!"

Zhuge Jin's words were heard by the soldiers of both armies through the scolding technique. Cao Cao couldn't help feeling embarrassed, and his inner anger grew more intense.

"You really can't help crying until you see the coffin! Send a message to Li Dian and Le Jin, immediately split into two groups and attack Zhuge Jin's camp!"

"The general will obey the order!"

Li Dian and Le Jin immediately reorganized the team for the last time, and then led the army to charge forward.

Li Dian's army launched an attack from the southwest corner of the enemy camp, while Le Jin's army launched an attack from the southeast corner. Both armies had more than 10,000 people, and they rushed up in a black mass.

Cao's army arrived in a hurry and had no heavy siege equipment, so they relied on simple wooden rafts to build a trench bridge, crossed the trench in front of the camp, and rushed towards the fence.

Fortunately, the outermost defensive fortifications of Zhuge Jin’s camp did not seem that solid.

In the past two or three days, Zhuge Jin instructed Zhou Yu to strengthen the defense of the camp, and also reinforced the inner layer to avoid scaring Cao's army.

So when Cao's army first attacked, they had no idea what kind of bottomless pit they were facing.

(End of this chapter)