Qinglong Three Kingdoms

Chapter 367

It can be said that Xiangyang, Liu Biao's base camp, will inevitably be the most difficult battlefield for Zhu Wei and Jingbei in this battle.

If Zhu Weizhen had an army of tens of thousands, he might be able to surround the main city of Xiangyang and Fancheng on the north bank of the Han River, and fight the two cities as one.

But now Zhu Wei only has about [-] troops to attack Xiangyang after all, so he can only find a place to set up a camp in the southeast of the main city of Xiangyang, and then start a fierce offensive and defensive battle with Liu Biao.

But in this way, Fancheng has become the second safe zone for the main city of Xiangyang. It is entirely possible to recruit young and strong men in Fancheng, train new soldiers, and send reinforcements to Xiangyang City continuously.

Moreover, Xiangyang City covers a very large area, and there are also farmlands in the city that can be cultivated. The water source provided by the Han River is enough for the soldiers and civilians in Xiangyang City to fetch water.

Therefore, even if Zhu Wei wanted to fight Liu Biao in Xiangyang for a long time, he might not be able to force Xiangyang to run out of food. In this way, the only way to capture Xiangyang City was to attack the city wall, break through the city gate and enter Xiangyang City.

It's just that although Xiangyang City is an old-style earthen city with rammed earth structure, it is indeed a tall and solid city under the construction of Liu Biao. Later generations of the Southern Song Dynasty used the original ancient city as the basis and outsourced bricks and stones in important areas. He resisted the siege of Meng Yuan for more than three years, which shows the solid defense of Xiangyang City.

In addition, Liu Biao's subordinates are also assisted by military advisers, unlike Zhu Wei's previous fights against Ruo Rong, Huang Zu, etc., who can use tactics to mobilize Liu Biao's troops out of the city. Carry out the final defense.

Previously, Wang Yuyan sent Mu Lan and Teng Yuyan with cavalry to enter Nanyang County. Although Liu Biao had the idea of ​​sending reinforcements from Xiangyang City to Nanyang County, facing Zhu Wei's strong attack, Liu Biao might not divide his troops again. Wenpin and Zhangxiu may be convened for assistance.

Therefore, the more significance of Mulan and Teng Yuyan sending troops to Nanyang County this time is to prevent Wenpin and Zhang Xiu from Nanyang County from returning to aid Xiangyang.

In general, Zhu Wei was ready for a tough siege battle, so he naturally prepared a lot of siege equipment in the craftsman workshop in Yuzhang, and transported them over by river boat.

In addition, Zhu Wei had Zhang Zhao in charge of the overall situation at the rear this time, so he also brought Huang Yueying to Nanjun. On the one hand, it was to allow Huang Yueying to assist Wang Yuyan in handling trivial matters in the army, so that Wang Yuyan could spare more time for research on military strategies and tactics. On the other hand, he wanted to give full play to Huang Yueying's talent in machinery and equipment, so that he could help Zhu Wei construct various siege equipment designs in time when he was attacking the city.

Therefore, in Zhu Wei's central army, he also brought many craftsmen from the artisan workshop, ready to build siege equipment on the spot when needed, to help him attack Xiangyang City.

Of course, as the news of Zhu Wei's army sending troops was detected by Liu Biao, Liu Biao also made various responses.

On the one hand, Liu Biao issued a letter angrily denouncing Zhu Wei's move as treason, and asked Xu Du to issue an order to convict Zhu Wei. Liu Qi's [-] troops were used as the first battlefield to fight against Zhu Wei's army.

No matter what the fighting is like on the Yicheng side, it can hinder the progress of Zhu Wei's army.

Even if Yicheng is defeated, Liu Biao still has time to make more defensive preparations in Xiangyang, and he can also call and train a large number of young men in Xiangyang to assist Liu Biao in protecting Xiangyang.

The most local snake in Nanjun still has an advantage in this respect.

At the same time, Liu Biao also ordered Cai Mao of Jiangling to send troops to attack from the Yangtze River to intercept Zhu Wei's army's logistics and food roads, and then blocked the retreat of Zhu Wei's army through the Han River, preparing to attack Zhu Wei's army back and forth.

It’s just that Cai Hao responded quickly, saying that Jiangling is also facing the threat of Zhu Wei’s Jingnan Camp in Qianling County, and at the same time, the Yangtze River waterway is on Chibi’s side, which has been blocked by the navy under Zhu Wei’s tent under the command of Gan Ning. .

However, Cai Hao still agreed to send Cai Xun and Lu Gongshuai [-] troops to Yicheng to help Liu Biao fight against Zhu Wei.

It can be said that Liu Biao made a series of military arrangements to face Zhu Wei, which is similar to Wang Yuyan's previous strategic analysis, but Wang Yuyan sent troops to deal with them in advance.

For example, in Nanyang County, before Liu Biao gave any instructions to Nanyang County, Liu Biao had already received a message from Wenpin and Zhang Xiu in Nanyang County, saying that Zhu Wei had an army attacking Nanyang County. The city has plundered the land, and three county towns have already been captured. The enemy army is heading towards Xinye. It can be predicted that the enemy's real target should be the northern area of ​​Xiangyang.

For this, Liu Biao could only order Wenpin to deal with it himself. At the same time, Liu Biao also issued a military order to Zhang Xiu, summoning Zhang Xiu to deal with Zhu Wei's army in Nanyang County. After solving Zhu Wei's partial army as soon as possible, he came with Wenpin Aid Xiangyang.

For a while, Liu Biao's side could be regarded as the mobilization of the whole army and the whole people.

In order to deal with the invasion of Zhu Wei's so-called 20 troops, Liu Biao even recruited a large number of young and strong civilians in several cities to increase Liu Biao's defensive force, which doubled the available troops under Liu Biao's account several times at once.

In this way, as Zhu Wei sent troops to Jingbei, the atmosphere in Jingbei suddenly became full of gunpowder, and Yicheng, a frontier town facing Jiangxia County in Nanjun, became the first place for Zhu Wei and Liu Biao's armies. Where the confrontation battlefield is.

Liu Biao relied on the foundation of Liu Qi's garrison in Yicheng before, but he could also use Yicheng as the foundation of defense, occupying some geographical advantages over Zhu Wei.

This Yicheng can also be regarded as a medium-sized county under the radiation of Xiangyang. The landform of the territory is mainly "three mountains, two rivers and five fields". It presents the changing trend of plains, hills, and mountains, and extends the altitude in a stepwise manner.

Therefore, Yicheng is also surrounded by mountains on the east and west sides, but the central area is a valley plain suitable for people to live and settle. The terrain of this valley plain is also high in the north and low in the south, and it is open to the south.

Yicheng, where Liu Biao is currently stationed, is located on a highland in the west of the central part of the valley plain.

After Zhu Wei's army entered Nanjun from Hanshui, they learned the news that Liu Biao was stationed in Yicheng to face the battle, so they built a temporary land and water camp as a frontier military base on the north bank of Hanshui, about ten miles away from Yicheng.

Zhu Wei's army can also use the Han River as a natural barrier to protect the safety of the camp, and they are not afraid of Liu Biao's sudden attack when he sends troops to build the camp.

At this time, Zhu Wei's army who came to Yicheng had nearly 1 main soldiers and more than [-] auxiliary soldiers. It was said that it was still a [-] army. After arriving in Yicheng, it took two days to build a temporary land and water camp. , and did not rush to launch a siege of Yicheng.

And Liu Biao relied on Yicheng County’s city to guard him. He had more than [-] regular soldiers and recruited nearly [-] young and strong soldiers from Yicheng. In other words, he is not afraid of Zhu Wei's military superiority.

But Liu Biao didn't intend to take the initiative to fight...

(End of this chapter)