Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 95: War-torn Central Plains
In mid-June, when the heat of late summer had not yet dissipated, the stalemate in the Xuzhou war situation underwent a decisive change!
Four months ago, Ji Ling claimed to have 200,000 troops, but in reality he only had 50,000 veterans from Jiujiang and more than 20,000 new recruits raised along the way. This is considered a huge army today, marching out of Runan, capturing Xiaopei, and heading towards Xuzhou.
Faced with the aggressive Yuan Shu, Cao Cao temporarily made peace with Liu Bei - after all, Yuan Shu not only had a dispute with Liu Bei over Xuzhou, but also had a dispute with Cao Cao over Yuzhou.
If Xiaopei is captured, not only will the territory of Xuzhou be flat, but Yuan Shu will definitely take Pei County and advance to Yingchuan!
"Xu" means "Shu" - originally Xuzhou was mostly plains with no strategic locations to defend, making it a war zone that was easy to attack but difficult to defend.
During the Tao Qian period, the seemingly honest old Tao Qian captured Xiaopei, which served as the western gate of Xuzhou and gave Xuzhou a glimmer of hope.
Therefore, Cao Cao's initial strategic plan had always been to capture Donghai County, Pengcheng County, and Langya County, that is, to divide Xuzhou with Yuan Shu with the Huai River as the boundary, and then fight a decisive battle with Yuan Shu.
However, now Lu Bu's troops have actually worked closely with Liu Bei and have survived in Xuzhou until now. Facing Yuan Shu's northward advance, Cao Cao has no choice but to cooperate.
Especially at this time, the world was in turmoil. As Dong Zhuo's old subordinates, they once held the emperor hostage. The four generals Li Jue, Guo Si, Fan Chou and Zhang Ji, who were now dominant in Guanzhong, turned against each other because the grain production in Guanzhong, which had been damaged, was no longer enough to feed their elite troops in Liangzhou.
Fan Chou was killed by Li Jue, while Zhang Ji fled to Guanzhong and went to Nanyang to "obtain" food.
This forced Liu Biao to accept Yuan Shu's goodwill three months ago, and the two sides temporarily stopped fighting. This not only allowed Yuan Shu to concentrate on dealing with Cao Cao and Liu Bei in the north, but also Liu Biao was able to kill Zhang Ji with a single powerful attack!
You should know that although these Xiliang generals are not as famous as the brave generals under the various princes, most of them are veteran soldiers who have been baptized by the Huns and Qiang. Not only are their troops elite, but the grassroots officers are also very skilled in combat, and the generals have the most basic military qualities, which are far beyond the reach of ordinary armies.
However, it was such a coincidence that Zhang Ji was defeated by the Jingzhou army in Rangcheng, and even Zhang Ji himself was hit by a stray arrow and died!
Afterwards, Liu Biao took the initiative to mourn Zhang Ji and expressed his condolences, expressing his understanding of the Xiliang army's behavior of "taking" food when they had nowhere else to go, and his deep regret for Zhang Ji's accidental death...
At the same time, he lured his nephew Zhang Xiu, who inherited Zhang Ji's army, to surrender. Zhang Xiu was touched by Liu Biao's sincerity, but more importantly, he had nowhere to go - although the Xiliang army was strong, they also needed to eat!
He couldn't go back to Guanzhong, and now almost all places were occupied by these princes. It was no longer like the past when there were only some conventional garrisons. If he attacked by force, he was worried that he would not be able to capture the city before the military supplies were exhausted.
If this continues, the army will disperse little by little on its own without fighting, and even the Xiliang Army, which has always had poor military discipline, is likely to mutiny!
Therefore, Zhang Xiu accepted Liu Biao's proposal and settled in Wancheng at the northern end of Nanyang County, the northern gate of Jingzhou facing the Central Plains.
Nanyang County is located in the northern part of Jingzhou. It is one of the richest counties in the world. Like Runan County, its population exceeds two million, which is equivalent to half a state.
Moreover, the terrain is superior. It is separated from the Central Plains by the Funiu Mountain. As the name suggests, the mountain is shaped like a lying cow. There are only two roads that can be used for military operations between it and the Central Plains.
One route is to start from Wancheng, pass through Luyang and Ruzhou to reach Hulao Pass, and break through the pass to reach Luoyang. When the heroes were attacking Dong, Nanyang County was occupied by Yuan Shu. At that time, Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, who defected to him, went north along this road.
The other route also starts from Wancheng, passes through Bowang, Fangcheng, and Ye County, and reaches Xudu - this is the road Cao Cao took when he went south later.
Once Wancheng was lost, the troops of Jingzhou could only retreat south to Xinye and give up the northern part of Nanyang. On the contrary, as long as Wancheng was not lost, the troops of the Central Plains would find it difficult to advance into Nanyang, and naturally they would not be a threat to Jingzhou if they did not advance into Nanyang.
This shows how important Wancheng's terrain is to Jingzhou.
Zhang Xiu stationed his troops in Wancheng, just like Huang Zu to Liu Biao, he "obeyed orders but not announcements". Anyway, Liu Biao provided him with food, so he just stayed here to "guard the door".
However, Zhang Xiu's arrival made Cao Cao feel uncomfortable.
Liu Biao's previous arrangements in Nanyang County had always been weak, and nominally he and Cao Cao were an alliance to fight against Yuan Shu, so Cao Cao didn't feel anything was wrong.
But now that Zhang Xiu is in Wancheng, Cao Cao always feels like a knife is pointed at his chrysanthemum...
Under such circumstances, Cao Cao had no choice but to cease fire with Liu Bei first, while fighting Yuan Shu in Yingchuan and being tied up by Zhang Xiu.
Even so, Liu Bei and Zhang Liao did not have an easy time in Xuzhou.
Fortunately, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were both powerful generals, and Zhang Liao was even more brave and resourceful. Gao Shun's 800-man formation was known to be invincible in battle.
The two sides joined forces and fought fiercely for several months in Xiaopei and Pengcheng areas with the Huainan Army led by Ji Ling, with each side winning and losing.
Now it was June, and the weather was still hot. Xuzhou was still barely defending itself, unable to defeat the enemy, and could only wait for Ji Ling to run out of food and withdraw his troops.
However, after the fall of Shucheng, Lujiang County fell completely into the hands of Yuan Shu. The grain routes in the rear became much smoother, and the grain reserves in Shucheng were obtained. A month ago, Zhang Fei led his men to intercept the grain route but failed and suffered a small defeat. Although food is tight in Huainan, it seems that Ji Ling will not lack food before winter!
At this time, changes that could determine the outcome of the war were brewing in Pengcheng and Xiaopei...
On this day, the Cheng and Xu families among the Xuzhou gentry donated a batch of beef and wine as a reward to the army. Liu Bei was very happy and instructed Zhang Fei not to drink excessively and the soldiers in the army were not allowed to drink more than one liter (about 250 ml in later generations). At the same time, of course, he could not forget the friendly forces in Xiaopei.
Taking advantage of the break, Cheng Jie, Xu Tong and others brought beef and wine to Xiaopei, and Wei Xu welcomed them as a representative.
Wei Xu got drunk under the urging of Xu Tong and Cheng Jie, and Xu Tong secretly passed a message to Wei Xu, tempting him with the title of marquis and using the excuse of Lv Bu's going south to alienate him - Xu Tong had also investigated the temperaments of several Lv Bu's generals in Xiaopei before, and when he saw that it was Wei Xu who came to greet them, he began to celebrate in his heart.
Wei Xu was indeed secretly moved. Although Xu Tong refused to admit it after he sobered up, after returning to the city, Wei Xu was criticized by Zhang Liao for drunkenness, which made him even more dissatisfied.
Zhang Liao and Gao Shun have always been Lu Bu's confidants, but in terms of seniority, Wei Xu and others were above them when they were under Ding Yuan.
Before leaving, Lu Bu handed Xiaopei to Zhang Liao, which had already made Wei Xu and others dissatisfied. However... some of them were convinced after seeing the abilities of Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, while others were still resentful. Wei Xu was undoubtedly the latter.
So he began to take the initiative to contact Xu clan secretly , while Xu clan and Cheng clan had already colluded with Yuan Shu secretly...
