Riding and cutting the imperial pirates of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 652
At the same time that Jianchang fell, Xiangyang's reinforcements finally set off, and the main general was Wenpin.

Wenpin did not go directly to the front line, but went to Hanshou in Wuling County, and chose this place as his headquarters.

Thanks to Guan Yu's blessing, the place name Hanshou can be described as thunderous, but it is basically impossible that it was sealed in this place, because Hanshou was originally the capital of Jingzhou, and it lasted until the end of Zhongping. Riding into Jingzhou, the capital was set in Xiangyang.

The reason why Wang Rui moved to the prefecture is difficult to find out, but judging from the fact that he died after Sun Ce and Cao Yin, it is probably because Cao Yin was the prefect of Wuling. For Yuan Shu's territory, setting the capital in Xiangyang can serve as a better defense.

There are three reasons why Wenpin chose Hanshou as the location of his camp.

First, Hanshou is close to the front line, only a hundred miles away from Linxiang, the capital of Changsha County, and there is also a waterway leading directly to Xiajun in the northeast of Changsha. Perhaps, Hanshou has become the best position for on-the-spot command.

Second, Hanshou's geographical location is good, no matter it is not too far from Nanjun, Wuling, or Jiangxia, with all the waterways, Wenpin sits here, and can easily mobilize the troops of the three neighboring counties.

Third, Hanshou is adjacent to the Taojiang River in the south and Dongting Lake in the north. Not only is agriculture more developed, it has been a major grain-producing county since ancient times, and it is also a very important place for material transshipment. Hanshou is different from Linxiang and Xiajun in that the surrounding rivers are not There are many, the terrain is gentle, and it is also suitable for large-scale army gathering. If Linxiang and Xiajun fail to hold, then Hanshou can quickly transform into a gateway to guard the throat and prevent the Yangzhou army from going north to Nanjun .

Wenpin came to help at the right time, because at this time, not only Jianchang in Yuzhang fell, but Liling in Changsha also fell under Xu Fang's soldiers, and Zhang Xian also suffered a big defeat!
Previously, he divided his troops into two groups, one positive and one strange, so he set up a suspicious formation and rushed to help the front line and Jianchang, thinking he had a plan, but he was ambushed by the Yangzhou army.

The Yangzhou army who ambushed was led by Huang Zhong himself. After Zhou Tai pulled out several Wu Forts on the front line of Changsha, Huang Zhong had brought thousands of troops into ambush.

After learning the news that the Changsha Army was divided into two groups, he was not confused by Zhang Xian at all, and accurately judged the marching direction of the main force of the Changsha Army.It only took one day and one night to march to the battlefield in a hurry, and teamed up with Zhou Tai's troops outside the city of southern Hunan, and achieved a nearly wiped-out victory with a similar force. In the end, a team of more than [-] troops only had a few hundred He fled back to Linxiang.

Combining the other two battlefields, it has been less than a month since the battle, the Yangzhou army has already beheaded [-] people and captured more than [-] people.

Especially in Huang Zhong's ambush battle, he was merciless against the former Pao Ze, chasing and killing him from outside the city of southern Hunan to the Linxiang River, from nightfall to the evening of the next day!
The south of Hunan is tens of miles away from the Linxiang River, and the corpses of Changsha soldiers are scattered along the way.The river was dyed red, and the defenders abandoned their luggage and fled in a hurry.In order to run faster, almost all the officers and soldiers dropped their armors.

However, Zhou Tai did something later, which made Huang Zhong very angry. If he hadn't been warned by Wang Zheng once before going out, he would almost have another internal strife.

What did Zhou Tai do?
But like Wu Sheng, in order to intimidate the enemy, especially the Linxiang defenders not far away, after the war, he privately collected all the corpses of the Changsha Army's dead soldiers and put them all in one place. By the Linxiang River, I made one (you know).

Thousands of corpses, the scene of putting them together is really horrifying. There are really piles of bones and piles of corpses, which can be seen from a long distance. Now it is summer again, and the smell of corpses and blood is blowing in the wind. , Directly several miles away, for a while, the defenders were defeated, and even the entire army was wiped out. It went up the Xiangshui River and spread throughout Changsha.

As the so-called three people become a tiger, once this rumor spreads, it cannot be controlled artificially.

The rumors at the beginning were relatively reliable. In the beginning, it was just that "the Yangzhou army defeated the Changsha defenders and killed thousands of enemies". army, beheaded more than ten thousand", and in a few days, even Zhang Xian, the prefect who had never left the city, was "captured and captured" in this battle
As for this caring person, of course it is Mi Fang and his staff from the Benming Department.

The figures of killing the enemy became more and more outrageous. The insightful people in the gentry just laughed at it, but most of the common people followed suit. After all, they had no idea that for Changsha County, for a battle, killing What is the concept of tens of thousands of enemies?

If you can kill more than [-] enemies, then at least thousands of captives will be captured, plus those who were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness, and those who deserted, the total number may exceed [-]. If the casualties reach this point, Zhang Xian may Really want to consider abandoning the city and fleeing.

In any case, there are too many people who say it, each one is conclusive, and those who don't believe it will be suspicious, which has caused an impact. In this battle, Huang Zhong's name has already resounded throughout Changsha, and there are even people who continue to speak to him. The spread of other states and counties seems to have become the number one killer in the Yangzhou army.

Speaking of which, he was originally from Nanyang, Jingzhou, and he had been in the army for more than ten years, and he had made a lot of military exploits, but because of his birth, he had never been reused, so he had a reputation. Before that, he was only limited to soldiers in the army In the middle, it is very meager to say, but after this war, it is a real rise to fame!

But this is not a good reputation. In Huang Zhong's view, it doesn't matter how many enemies he kills in a battle on the battlefield. Wouldn't such an act tarnish his reputation?The key is still his hometown
It is inevitable to feel dissatisfied, and because of this, he has a grudge against Zhou Tai, a Yangzhou guy.

However, no matter how grievous there is, this is not the time for it to flare up. The quarrel between the two is not detailed here, but Wenpin's side. All the generals of the garrison came to discuss military matters.

Because of the important status of Linxiang, Zhang Xian, the prefect, cannot move lightly. Therefore, except for Zhang Xian who did not go, other surrounding counties, such as stationed in Yiyang, Zuotang, Linyuan, Yuannan and other places, the generals of the garrison army.
Then they came here one after another, according to the size of the local city, the number of garrisons is also different, there are Xiaowei, Duwei, and Dubo.

When Wen Pin came, he brought 3000 horses with him, all of whom were cavalry. The generals of this army also participated in the military council. In addition, Wang Can, one of the seven sons of Jian'an in the future, also came to Hanshou .

Although Wenpin was young, he had the air of a general. When the generals arrived, they exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then asked about the current situation on the front line in Changsha.

In this regard, the Yiyang county lieutenant, who is in Changsha and not far from Linxiang, has the most say, and immediately said: "General, the Yangzhou army has not launched an offensive recently, but they are constantly dispatching troops. Because Jianchang has fallen, the enemy can drive straight in, and there has been no trouble at the moment, so it should be thinking of taking the capitals of the remaining counties in Yuzhang first, and then mobilizing the baggage to enter in large numbers."

"Not only Jianchang, but now southern Hunan, Liling and other cities have fallen, and Linxiang's current situation is not very good. According to the report of the Taishou Army, there were nearly [-] troops in the city, but after this battle, it was Nearly one-third of it was lost, and although there are still more than [-] left, [-] are new recruits, not only that, the morale of the army is now low, and there are many complaints."

"There's a lot of complaints?" Wen Pin narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard the words, "Why? Is it because of the defeat?"

"It's not just the defeat of the army, the key lies in the fall of Jianchang City."

Wei Dao of Yiyang County: "As early as the beginning of the siege by the Ganning and Ning tribes, Hua Xin, the prefect of Yuzhang, sent someone to ask for help. The prefect was worried that the enemy would "surround the spot for help", so he stayed put. Many people said that it was him. If you refuse to send troops, you just sat and watched the enemy's strength, and now they are rushing straight in, and now the soldiers are approaching the city, under such circumstances, how can there be no complaints in the army?"

"Prefect Zhang's concerns are not unreasonable."

Wenpin had read Zhang Xian's strategy and ideas for facing the enemy in the military newspaper before, and he was also psychologically prepared for the current situation. He nodded and signaled the county lieutenant to continue.

"After Huang Zhong and Zhou Tai defeated our army outside Linxiang City and Xiangnan City respectively, the day before yesterday, Wang Zheng's Xu Fang Department and Gan Ning Department joined forces and captured Liling again. Now the Fourth Route Army of Yangzhou has joined forces. At this point, there should be more than [-] enemies entering the country, and they have all set up camp fifty li away from Linxiang City, but they have not attacked the city yet."

"It's just ready to go." Wenpin smiled, and asked again: "Now you can check clearly, how many troops are there in the Yangzhou Army in Nanchang?"

"I don't know for the time being, but since Wang Zheng is in Nanchang, according to the general's estimation, there are at least ten thousand troops in Nanchang now." The county captain said: "And according to the reports from the horse scouts, there was another general in Jianchang with the word "Wei" before. If you look at the direction in which your soldiers and horses are stationed, you may be planning to go to Linxiang."

"Wei character general flag?" Wen Pin asked, "Is it Wei Yan, the general under Wang Zheng's command?"

"Probably this person."

"There are 5000 pioneers and 5000 follow-ups, but only [-]."

Hearing this, a general on the side smiled and said: "The law of war says, "Ten rules surround it." Xiang? Isn’t this wishful thinking?”

"It's fine if it's someone else, since they are soldiers and horses of Wang Zheng, they should not be underestimated!"

Wen Pin, however, straightened his expression, and said solemnly: "Everyone says that Wang Yukou has military strategies and is good at using soldiers, but I think that he is better at training than using soldiers."

"When Yuan Shu was defeated last year, I fought side by side with the Xuzhou army. I found that the soldiers of this generation are not afraid of death, but they strictly observe military discipline. They are really the first-class soldiers in the world! If ordinary soldiers want to break the city, It may take several times the strength, but if it is the Xuzhou Army, it will be equal in strength, if used properly, I am afraid that there may not be no chance."

"However, the Linxiang Wall is a tall city, and there is a moat. Even if the bandit army is brave, I'm afraid there is no absolute certainty."

At this time, Wang Can, who had never spoken, said, "I retreated [-] steps and said, if the same force can take down Linxiang, how can this soldier be elite? Wang Zheng is willing to lose in vain?"

"Um"

Wenpin pondered for a moment, then clapped his hands and said, "Zhongxuan's words are reasonable. The enemy soldiers approached the city, but they didn't move. I'm afraid it was due to the order of the king's government. He must also know that it is very difficult to take down Linxiang with only 5000 people. Maybe, There will be follow-up troops going out from Nanchang."

"Look, General,"

The county lieutenant pointed to the map and said: "According to the existing intelligence analysis, there are about [-] people from the Yangzhou Army who have entered the territory of Changsha. Under the leadership of the general, their garrison locations are as follows: there are thousands of defenders in the north and south of Linxiang City, thousands of people are left in southern Hunan and Luoxian County, and more than [-] troops led by Wei Yanbu from Jianchang East Come, I have already left Yunbie Mountain and crossed Wenshui River, judging from his marching route, it should be going to the south of the city to join forces with Xu Fang's troops."

"That is to say, the enemy and us are looking at each other across the Xiangshui River?"

"exactly."

The Xiangshui River is the Xiangjiang River, which belongs to the Dongting Lake water system in the Yangtze River Basin. It is the largest river in Jingzhou. It has many branched waterways. There are three medium-sized rivers around Linxiang. One comes from the northwest and flows to the southeast; the other comes from the southwest and flows to the northeast, forming a cross at the intersection of Linxiang. Looking across the Xiangshui River.

This is why it is said that Linxiang is difficult to attack, and it is also the reason why Wang Zheng tried every means to lure the defenders out of the city!
It is because Linxiang is the real "city of Linxiang". Compared with Linzi, it not only has a strong city, but also has many defenders, and besides the moat, it is located in the area where the river meets, which is really easy to defend and difficult to attack. .

There is a saying in the art of war that it is a taboo for military strategists to sidestep the water and the enemy. What is "side the water and side the enemy"?
One side is the river, the other side is the enemy, the middle area is too narrow, it is not conducive to deploying formations, this is the deadly place of military strategists.

The terrain outside Linxiang City just happens to be very consistent with this statement, and the key is that there are not two rivers in Linxiang, but three, and they just form a crossing triangle, that is to say, no matter which side you choose When attacking Linxiang, two of the waterways will be blocked. It is almost impossible to avoid all three rivers.

The current deployment of the Yangzhou Army is actually trying to avoid the disadvantages of the terrain to a certain extent.

Xu Fang is stationed on the north side of the confluence of two rivers, and Zhou Tai and Huang Zhong are stationed on the south side of the confluence of two rivers. However, such a deployment actually has a big problem. Try to avoid waterways and at the same time abandon the city walls close to the general do not care
To put it bluntly, it simply gave up the siege.

(End of this chapter)