Chapter 1220 Sound North Strikes South

   "Wang, General Wang, I, my lord, I mean, General Zuo Hussar, where are you?"

  Seeing that the person in front of him didn't answer immediately, but had a complicated expression on his face, Wei Chang suddenly felt that something was wrong.

  I didn't know why, but I sank, and at the same time I was a little flustered.

  Although Wei Chang has been with Wei Yan for a long time, his talent is not very good, it can only be said to be ordinary.

   It can be said that abandoning Gaodu City and withdrawing troops from Gaoping Pass may be the biggest decision he has ever made in his life.

   Moreover, Wei Rong had to be instigated and pushed before he could make such a move.

  But Wei Chang knew that it was impossible for him to hide the military newspaper from his lord.

  He was even ready to be beaten to death by an adult—the kind with only one breath left at most.

  Wang Han was originally very dissatisfied with Wei Yan.

  Because of Wei Yan's impulsiveness, the engineering battalion had to accompany him, hovering on the verge of annihilation.

   It's just that the somewhat simple and honest little general Wei in front of him saved the people in the engineering battalion in one fell swoop.

  Recalling Wei Yan's last move, Wang Han couldn't help but sighed, and said in a low voice:

   "Little General Wei, Old General Wei, he told us to retreat first, and he himself led the army to cut off the rear..."

   "My lord, will you personally lead the army?"

   Wei Chang's face changed, and he subconsciously raised his eyes to look behind.

  The continuous team is retreating towards Gaoping Pass.

   It can be seen that the soldiers look a little sluggish.

  This kind of depressing atmosphere is rare in the Han army over the years.

   "Little General Wei, where are you going?"

   Seeing Wei Chang get back on his horse and pull the reins, Wang Han hurriedly stepped forward to stop him and asked.

  Wei Chang looked anxious:

   "I'm going to meet the adults."

   "Young General Wei can't do it!" Wang Han became impatient when he heard this, "Old General Wei has something to say, all the retreating soldiers will be under the command of Little General Wei, guard Gaoping Pass tightly, and there must be no mistakes."

   "Little General Wei's current task is to gather the soldiers and regroup as soon as possible, lest the bandit army take advantage of the vacancy and enter. What if the Gaoping Pass is lost at that time, what can we do?"

   "Old General Wei asked me to bring the Command Talisman and Command Sword, and hand them over to General Wei, so that General Wei can lead the army..."

  It’s good that Wang Han didn’t say this, but when Wei Chang heard it, his heart sank!

  He didn't wait for Wang Han to finish speaking, and interrupted Wang Han's words extremely rudely:

   "What? Is that what your lord ordered?"

   "Naturally, how dare I speak nonsense about such an important matter in the military?"

  After Wei Chang saw that Wang Han really took out the command talisman and command sword, he only felt that the sky and the earth were spinning suddenly.

  He gripped the reins tightly, not letting himself fall off the horse.

"grown ups…"

  Wei Chang knew Wei Yan very well.

  Others don't know, but Wei Chang knows that as an adult, he attaches great importance to military power.

  My lord must compete with Zhongduhu for a very important reason, that is, he wants to monopolize one side, lead an army, and prove himself.

  During the Northern Expedition, the prime minister incorporated the Hanzhong army, and at the same time included the adults in the prime minister's mansion.

  Since then, the adults have lost the opportunity to lead the army alone.

   Over the years, this matter has almost become an obsession in the hearts of adults.

   Especially the soldiers of Shangdang, but they were brought out by him himself.

  Under what circumstances will your lord hand over military power?

   Wei Chang was in a trance, and his mind was already in a mess.

  Thinking of my disobedience to my lord's orders, I retreated to Gaoping Pass without authorization, which led to my lord being forced to retreat and cut off the rear...

  Wei Chang couldn't sit still on the horse anymore, his body wobbled, and finally turned over and fell off the horse.

   "Little General Wei?"

   "Little General Wei!"

  Wang Han and the others were shocked, and hurried forward to help Wei Chang up, shouting anxiously.

  Wei Chang's physical fitness is good, after all, he has been practicing his ability to fight and fight all year round.

   This fall just made him feel angry, and after being massaged by Wang Han a few times, he woke up leisurely again.

  As soon as he woke up, he cried "Wow":

   "My lord, the child is not filial, it is the child who harmed you!"

  He cried a few times, probably because he was still out of breath, coughed a few times, then struggled to stand up, and got on the horse again.

  Wang Han hurriedly shouted: "Little General Wei? You are..."

  Hearing Wang Han's shout, Wei Chang seemed to remember something, and turned around:

   "General Wang, the talisman and the sword are under your temporary control. When you arrive at Gaoping Pass, gather up the withdrawn soldiers as soon as possible and guard Gaoping Pass..."

  Wang Han was taken aback for a moment, then became anxious.

   No, isn’t this what I relayed to Wei Chang?

  Why did Wei Chang repeat this to himself?

   Seeing that the tears on Wei Chang's face were still wet, Wang Han knew what he wanted to do, and quickly persuaded him:

   "Little General Wei, Old General Wei asked you to guard the Gaoping Pass, so it must have been considered long ago."

   "If you don't listen to Old General Wei's orders, and ruin Old General Wei's arrangement, wouldn't it be a waste of old General Wei's painstaking efforts?"

  Wei Chang shook his head:

   "General Wang, it is because of my willfulness that your lord was forced to cut off the heir. Now that your lord is in danger, if I just sit back and do nothing, how can I be a son of man?"

  He took a deep breath and looked at Wang Han seriously:

   "General Wang, I know that you have been with the Central Guard for a long time, and you have been instructed by the Central Guard. Your ability to lead the army is far superior to mine."

   "So in my opinion, you are more suitable than me as the person who guards the high level pass."

   After he finished speaking, he bowed deeply to Wang Han and saluted:

   "General Wang, I entrust everything to you!"

   After finishing speaking, he got on his horse, called his personal guards, and ordered to bring all the Wei family's trilogy, as well as the army battalion trained by the adults over the years.

  After the assembly of the men and horses was completed, Wei Chang led the two thousand people and headed retrogradely towards the eldest son.

  Wang Han couldn't persuade him, so he could only let him go.

  As Wei Chang said, he has followed the Central Guard for many years and naturally learned a lot.

  Shangdang's current situation, the importance of Gao Pingguan's status is self-evident, how could Wang Han not see it?

  Combined with the important task of protecting the engineering battalion, it is unavoidable that he should not accept Wei Chang's request.

  The military situation is urgent, and it's hard to say about the eldest son, but the Wei bandits in Gaodu City may arrive sooner or later.

  Both Wei Yan and his son were absent, so Wang Han had to take on the important task of guarding Gaoping Pass.

   I don't know whether it was intentional or not, Wei Chang took all Wei Yan's old subordinates away.

   It saved Wang Han a lot of trouble.

   But there are pros and cons.

  Wei Yan's cronies are basically the elite of the army.

  Their departure has made the combat effectiveness of the remnants of Gaopingguan somewhat worrying.

   While deploying defenses, Wang Han sent people to notify Chang'an and Hedong respectively as quickly as possible.

   Just as the situation in Bingzhou was changing, the situation in Jingzhou far to the south also changed.

  Lu Xun first asked Zhuge Jin to lead the army to attack Taizhong, and then wrote a letter to Feng Yong, attracting the main force of Jingzhou Governor Guanqiu Jian.

  It was at the end that I unexpectedly led the Wu Guoshui army to go up against the Han River, and cut off the connection between Xiangyang and the north of the Han River, making Xiangyang an isolated city in the south of the Han River.

  Although Zhuge Jin was dead, Lu Xun gave way to Zhi and continued to lead the army, attacking Pingzhong in the south of Xiangyang.

   Xiangyang, which lost contact with the north of the Han River, was broken into the water village outside the city by the Wu army overnight.

   Finally had to shrink all the troops to the city.

   There is no way to send reinforcements to support the Wei army in the middle.

  Lu Xun came too fast, causing the defenders of Xiangyang City to be at a loss at the very beginning.

   Even the water village in the moat can be lost overnight, let alone cooperate with the Wei army in the middle of the river.

  Although the Wei army in the middle of the battle tried its best to prevent the Wu army from crossing the barbaric water to the north, Bu Zhi used the superior force to pretend to forcibly cross the water.

   On the other hand, they sent surprise soldiers to go around to the downstream, cross the water where the Wei army was out of reach, and then outflank them from the flanks.

   Facing the siege of the Wu army, although the Wei army resisted tenaciously, they were still outnumbered in the end.

  Most of them were either killed in battle or captured, and only a very small part fled back to Xiangyang.

   After Bu Zhi captured Pingzhong, he continued to lead the army northward and pushed towards Xiangyang.

   Xiangyang City is surrounded by water on three sides, and the only land route is to the south.

  Now that the central government has lost its defense, Bu Zhi led the army from the south and began to form a comprehensive siege of Xiangyang City.

  Wait until the news of Buzhi's capture of Zhuzhong reached Lu Xun's ears, even a quiet person like Lu Xun couldn't restrain his ecstasy, and couldn't help clapping his hands and laughing:

   "Xiangyang will finally fall into our hands!"

The reason why   柤zhong is the southern barrier of Xiangyang lies in its special geographical location.

  This area is a hilly landform, and there are Yishui and Manshui as its support.

   It happened to be stuck on the west side of the Jianghan Passage, which is the main road between Nanjun and Xiangyang.

  After Chibi that year, there was a little-known battle between Guan Yu and Le Jin and Wen Pin of Cao Wei in the north.

  The battle took place in the Qingni area.

  In the seventeenth year of Jian'an (212 A.D.), Cao Cao marched into Ruxukou and attacked Jiangdong. Sun Quan asked Liu Bei for help.

  Guan Yu, who was guarding Jingzhou, sent Su Fei to the north, intending to harass Xiangyang and contain the Wei army in Jingzhou, so as to prevent the Wei army in Xiangyang and Jiangxia from going down the river and attacking Sun Quan.

  Unexpectedly, Su Fei was defeated by Le Jin, Guan Yu then personally led the army to resist Le Jin in Qingni.

  Wenpin from Jiangxia also led the army to attack Guan Yu.

  Guan Yu had no choice but to retreat to Nanjun.

  Le Jin took the opportunity to attack Linju and Jingyang counties near Jiangling and won.

  The scale of this battle is not too large, and it can even be said that it has nothing to do with the situation at that time.

  Guan Yu did not lose any land, and the actual results obtained by Le Jinwenpin and others were nothing more than letting "the barbarians in the valleys of the southern counties advance and surrender."

   That is to say, the battle of Qingni caused the barbarians in the north of Nanjun to completely fall to Cao Wei.

  But it was this innocuous small-scale battle that had a certain impact on the Battle of Xiangfan seven years later.

  Because the area in the middle of the river is the place where the barbarians occupy.

  After the Battle of Qingni, Cao Wei got the support of Jingman and easily controlled the strategically important place on the edge of the Jianghan Pass in the middle of the river.

  If you want to attack Xiangyang from Nanjun to the north through the Jianghan Passage, you can't go around the middle of the river, otherwise the road ahead will be worrying.

  In the battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu failed to capture Xiangyang in time, except for the lack of troops and the strong city of Xiangyang.

   There is another important reason, that is, he failed to completely surround Xiangyang, but only used the Han River to surround Xiangyang on three sides.

   Even the troops to completely cut off the Han River and cut off the connection between Xiangyang and the north of the Han River are not enough.

   Not to mention sending troops to attack the southern barrier of Xiangyang in the middle class, thus completely surrounding Xiangyang.

   This gave Xiangyang enough room to maneuver.

  With the cover in the middle of the river, the counties in the Jianghan Passage to the south of Xiangyang can continuously send supplies and personnel to Xiangyang.

   Coupled with the inability to cut off the connection between the north and the south of the Han River, Fancheng was unable to attack for a long time, and Xiangyang City naturally refused to surrender.

   Surrounding Xiangyang, which is surrounded by water on three sides from the water, there is no way to attack the city.

  Guan Yu blindly attacked Fancheng, but did not attack Xiangyang.

  This is also the reason why Lu Xun still forcibly gave way after Zhuge Jin's death, and led the army to continue to attack Zhugezhong.

   Knowing that Bu Zhi was approaching the city of Xiangyang from the south, it meant that Lu Xun's arrangement was more than half successful.

  He couldn't hide his excitement.

  "The thieves saw that my relatives led the army, cut off the north and south of the Han River in a swift manner, and broke through the water fortress outside the city without concealing their ears. They must only say that I want to attack the city from the north!"

  Lu Xun slapped the crude map made of silk and silk, his face was slightly flushed, showing his extremely excited mood at this time.

  Even compared to the battle of Yiling and the battle of Shiting, his emotions did not fluctuate so much.

   After all, although this World War II was a great victory, it was nothing more than a battle to defend the territory.

   But if Xiangyang can be won in this battle, then I will be the third person to open up the territory for Great Wu after Zhou Gongjin and Lu Ziming.

   Not to mention taking Xiangyang, it is equivalent to breaking the shackles imposed on Wu by the Wei thief, which is of great significance.

  Zhu Ran and the others couldn't help being surprised when they heard the words of the Great General:

   "What does General Shang mean, we are going to attack Xiangyang from the south?"

   "Yes! How difficult it is to attack Xiangyang from the water!"

  Lu Xun's tone was sonorous and forceful:

   "We did not cross the Han River to attack Xiangyang from the north, but attacked the north from the south. Why did we abandon the south and go from the north?"

  Guan Yu had no choice but to capture Fancheng.

  Because Fancheng cannot be taken down, there is no way to cut off the connection between Xiangyang and the north.

  Similarly, if the northern army goes south and wants to capture Xiangyang, it must first capture Fancheng, so as to break Xiangfan's horns.

   "Now we have completely cut off the Han River by surprise. Whether we can take Fancheng or not is of little significance to us."

  Lu Xun clicked on the location of Fancheng:

   "Of course, I'm not saying that Fancheng is not important, but right now, capturing Xiangyang is the top priority."

   Right now, the Great Wu Shuijun, which has an absolute advantage, controls the Hanshui River and temporarily minimizes Fancheng's impact on Xiangyang.

   But this situation cannot last for a long time.

   After obtaining Xiangyang, they must find a way to take Fancheng again.

   Then take advantage of Wu's naval force to travel between Xiangfan and Xiangfan.

   In this way, the Xiangfan defense line is completely completed.

  Hearing Lu Xun's plan, Zhu Ran couldn't help being surprised and delighted:

   "The last general has been thinking about how to break the city these days, but he has never had a clue. It turns out that the general has already made preparations!"

  Lu Xun looked at Zhu Ran with a smile on his face:

   "General Zhu already guessed?"

  Zhu Ran's breathing also became heavy, subconsciously lowered his voice:

   "The great general is using himself as a bait, but actually intends to send another general to lead elite troops from the south to attack the city?"

   What it means to win Xiangyang is self-evident.

  Zhu Ran can be regarded as an old man in Wu's army.

  Before today, he had been thinking about the strategy of breaking the city, but found that there was no other way except to go the way of Guan Yu's Xiangfan battle.

  Now hearing the words of the great general, he suddenly sees the sun.

  Lu Xun couldn't help laughing out loud. After laughing, he nodded to the south of Xiangyang City:

   "Fancheng and Xiangyang City can indeed be horns, but that's what the Northern Army said."

   "For us, attacking Fancheng is not as good as occupying Xianshan!"

  Xian Mountain surrounds Xiangyang and is also the last barrier to the south of Xiangyang City.

  According to Xianshan Mountain, you can overlook the whole city of Xiangyang.

   If you attack it from a high position, it will be broken.

   "Now that the infantry general has captured the center, he can attack Xiangyang from the south at any time. I am here to continue to attract the Xiangyang thieves and place heavy troops in the north."

  Lu Xun looked around everyone with piercing eyes:

   "In addition, I will pretend to attack Fancheng soon, so that the bandit army north of the Han River will think that I want to imitate Guan Yu's old affairs and have no time to take care of Xiangyang."

   "I need a general to cooperate with the infantry general, lead the elite soldiers, and attack Xianshan Mountain. Who can go?"

   As soon as the voice fell, Zhu Ran couldn't wait to stand up before anyone could speak:

   "The last general wants to go!"

   "Okay! I also mean that it belongs to General Zhu."

  Lu Xun solemnly told Zhu Ran:

   "General Zhu, whether you can take Xiangyang depends on whether you can take Xianshan. The key to this battle lies in the general. I only hope that the general will not disappoint me."

  Zhu Ran looked excited and said loudly:

   "Don't worry about the general, and listen to the news of the last general."

   Without further ado, Lu Xun dispatched some elite soldiers to join Zhu Ran's headquarters, took a boat on the Hanshui River, and secretly detoured to Mount Xian.

   Lu Xun, on the other hand, made great fanfare and declared that he wanted to attack Fancheng.

  Just when the armies of Wu, Wei and Wei were all nervously preparing for the battle, Lu Xun stood on the bow of the building ship, his eyes were deep, but he was not looking at Fancheng, which was within sight.

   Instead, northwest, the direction of Wuguan Road...

  (end of this chapter)