Chapter 897 Making Things Difficult for Lao Cao

Past Jiangling is an open impact plain, and the misty Dongting Lake is also there. From this plain, it is directly to Changsha, with no danger to defend.

Therefore, Lao Cao stationed heavy troops here, blocking the river bank along the Yangtze River from here to Yangzhou. The purpose was to prevent Wang Yan's army from crossing the river in large numbers to guard the rear.

Wang Yan's navy veteran Cao Cao would definitely not be able to defeat him. With such a big warship sailing into the river, Cao Cao's navy warship was like a small sampan. Of course, the navy's warships can't come in. It's too tiring to swim upstream. But even if he doesn't use warships, Wang Yan still has warships that can sail offshore and inland rivers, and they are not comparable to Cao Cao's warships.

Fighting on the boat, Lao Cao had nothing to do, but it was not easy to land. This was why Lao Cao had heavily stationed troops on the river bank, and he would never give Wang Yan a chance.

"Kong Ming, you have seen the situation on the other side, how do you cross the river to attack?" Wang Yan asked casually with his hands behind his back.

Zhuge Liang was not afraid of General Wang at all, and said without hesitation: "Cao Cao's troops are making dangerous moves, and they will definitely look for opportunities to cross the Han River to disrupt our hinterland. We can send troops from Nanyang, cross the Han River to meet Cao's army, and attack Shu. Our soldiers will be brave and capable. , Cao Cao's army is difficult to resist, and Cao Cao does not dare to abandon Shu, so reinforcements will inevitably be insufficient. Cao Cao will inevitably retreat to Shu and resist us in a dangerous way, so I can defeat Jing and Yang in one battle."

Wang Yan asked with a smile: "Can you take on this responsibility?"

"With an army of 20,000, and one brave general, we will stop Cao Cao's invasion, attack Shu, and force Cao Cao to rush for reinforcements." Zhuge Liang said firmly, leaving no room for maneuver for himself.

"I can't say enough. Cao Cao is not a mediocre person. He has more capable ministers and he does have good plans. When I use troops, my first priority is to cherish them. There are many dangerous places in Bashu, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. If it is not necessary, the lives of the soldiers must not be wasted. . The general trend is mine, Cao Cao will be defeated, and success or failure will not affect the matter. You should bear in mind."

"Yes, General."

"The duties of joining the army remain unchanged. You go to Hanzhong. The warlord Zhao Yun will command 20,000 troops to attack Shu. Guo Jia will supervise the supply of grain and grass. The documents will be delivered first, so go."

"Liang, you will live up to the great general's high expectations. If things don't work out, mention..."

"If it doesn't work, it won't work. Don't give my son a good life in vain. Just go." Wang Yan waved his hands, not wanting to talk nonsense anymore.

Zhuge Liang handed over his hand, bowed to leave, and rode away after a while.

Wang Yan also wrote a document, used his general's seal, and handed it over to his personal guards to deliver the order. It will first pass through Luoyang and then be sent to Hanzhong.

Wang Yan had actually had a lot of chats with Zhuge Liang before, and it was true that he was quite competent. This is normal. After all, Zhuge Liang was only twenty years old when he came out. He was able to make full use of various resources to preserve his vitality and win victory with very few troops.

So after some communication, although Wang Yan was not as thirsty for talents as the ancient kings and knelt down to ask for help, he still gave him trust and let Zhuge Liang, the county magistrate, supervise military affairs and lead Zhao Yun to command 20,000 soldiers and horses. An army all the way, this is quite reused.

Wang Yan did not stay long. After investigating the enemy's situation, he took his accompanying bodyguards down the river and landed at Shicheng (Ma'anshan City).

This was originally a border area. After the war started, Huang Zhong, who was guarding here, cooperated with Dian Wei's Xuanjia Battalion to withstand the raid and then organized a counterattack. The battle went hundreds of miles and pushed the front directly to Wuhu. Therefore, the area around Shicheng became the rear area.

"Huang Zhong, see the general."

"Dian Wei, see the general."

The second general wore armor and respectfully struck his chest with his right fist in a military salute. Behind them, five hundred elite soldiers also acted in the same way, shouting to see the general, and paying attention to the general standing on the wooden plank connecting the shore.

General Wang, still in his green robes, walked onto the pier in a few steps, stood upright, and banged his chest loudly, shouting that he would win.

In an instant, all the soldiers were shouting victory.

After a set of inspiring and seemingly useless rituals, Wang Yan followed Huang Zhong and Dian Wei on foot along the river, strolling towards the front line.

"How have the casualties been recently?"

"Thousands of people have been killed and wounded so far in the battle. The strength of Cao's army is several times that of mine. Although our army has expanded to 20,000 troops, the defensive area is very wide. Moreover, its troops and horses are complicated and they continue to harass our army..."

Huang Zhong talked about Lao Cao's tactics with anger on his face.

Lao Cao does have skills and fights well. Yangzhou was the main battlefield. Lao Cao mobilized an army of 200,000 troops to attack at the beginning. Later, he saw that Huang Zhong and others blocked the attack and continued to increase their troops. Although Huang Zhong and others quoted each other, they lacked the coordination of the commander and fought independently, suffering some losses.

The main reason is that Lao Cao relied on his large number of troops to mobilize across the board and concentrate his troops to attack one place many times. If there are reinforcements from other places, Lao Cao will mobilize troops and horses to take advantage of the situation. As a result, these capable generals under General Wang suffered a lot of defeats.

Of course, they were not given in vain. They had strong troops and strong logistics. Although they suffered losses, they were not completely defeated. Moreover, it is cold autumn now, and it is getting colder every day. Cao Jun is still not good at keeping out the cold, which affects his combat effectiveness to some extent. Overall, the situation has stabilized.

There were not many casualties on Dianwei's side. There were more than 2,000 people in total, all of whom were heavily armored cavalry. So far, dozens of them have been injured and three people have died.

The advantage of heavy armored cavalry is there. The riverside is the main attack area, and it is all flood plains, so heavy cavalry can be used. It's time to use it. For so many years, Xuanjia Camp has hardly fought any battles.

"Han Sheng said that the army of more than 200,000 was under the command of Cao Cao himself. Han Sheng does not need to worry too much. The war is not going well, not because of you generals. It was Cao Cao's surprise attack. I did not appoint a commander-in-chief. You all fought on your own and your hearts and minds were not the same. I came to Yangzhou for this reason. Let's see how long Cao Cao can hold on."

As they laughed and talked, several people got on their war horses and went straight to Wuhu along the river. There were no civilians here for a long time. They were either captured by Cao Cao or ran to Wang Yan's side. The dozens of miles between the two sides were deserted.

And no one entered the city of Wuhu. Because the battle line was before Wuhu, Cao's army could not enter even if they wanted to. Wang Yan's army did not have the rules of siege and defense.

General Wang started his business for 24 years and never fought a siege battle, let alone a city defense battle. What he did most was siege. He would never sacrifice the lives of his generals for a city or a place. He would not shrink in the city like a cuckold and let others come to attack him.

The virtue of martial arts must be established. Even if there is a city, they will set up tents in the wild. Just do it, do it hard.

Of course, you have to have strength, otherwise you will become a fool. But the pros and cons of the city are here. It defends against strong enemies, but it also gives you the opportunity to be cowardly.

Coming to the new military tent set up for him, Wang Yan took a look at the current battlefield situation in Yangzhou.

In the entire Yangzhou battlefield, Wang Yan's strategic goal is actually very clear, that is, to capture Nanchang. Then go west from Nanchang, pass Luoxiao Mountain (Wugong Mountain) and take Changsha directly. It can be said that taking Nanchang will win the Battle of Yangzhou. Then fight again, and the name in the history books should be called the Battle of Changsha.

Cao Cao naturally understood Wang Yan's strategic goal. He was to defend Nanchang from Wang Yan and push the front line to the front, not giving Wang Yan a chance.

At present, the two sides are fighting around Huangshan, mainly concentrated in Wuhu, She County and Damo (Quzhou City).

After a quick look, Wang Yan ordered: "Send a message to Lü Bu, Zhang Fei, Gao Lan, and Taishi Ci to march out together and attack Cao's army in ten days."

"Yes! General!"

The officer in charge of communications, who was sitting in the room with hair growing all over his body, responded, got up and ran out, wrote the military order, and arranged for the delivery of the letter. The ten days was to take into account the time for fast horses to deliver the letter and the time for pre-war preparations, so it had to be fast.

Huang Zhong asked: "General, there are already fierce battles in various places, why do you do this?"

"This move is to 'attack fiercely' to confuse Cao Cao. This time I will lead the troops and attack along the river. You will lead the troops to attack Wanling (Xuancheng), Jingxian, and Lingyang. If Cao Cao guards against us, other places will definitely be defeated. If he does not guard against us, I can take Pengze in one battle and point the troops to Nanchang. Hanzhong also has troops attacking Shu. Cao Cao will definitely be overwhelmed and unable to cope with it."

"General, you are a god in using troops. This battle will win."

"You will win!" Dian Wei, who had been silent for a long time, finally said something.

Wang Yan smiled and asked someone to bring the meal up. He ate with a group of officers, chatting casually about military affairs and examining the level of these officers.

This time his arrangement seemed nothing. As Huang Zhong said, everyone was fighting, so it was no big deal. But the decisive factor was that he could order everyone to launch an attack on the same day, and it was a fierce attack. There is a big difference between being fierce or not, fighting alone or fighting together.

If he hadn't come and he hadn't given orders, Huang Zhong and others wouldn't dare to do so. Although it is said that a general is not subject to orders from the king, he still has to protect his life. Of course, they can unite themselves, but if they win, they will be suspected, and if they lose, they will be responsible. Even if their boss is General Wang, even if they know that Wang Yan doesn't care at all, they dare not move.

And once the whole line is defeated, they can't afford the consequences. They are just generals, not commanders.

Wang Yan came in person, and the world is his. He said how to fight, and that's definitely no problem. If you win, you will be rewarded, and if you lose, you will be blamed.

Players like Lu Bu who have no political wisdom have been pitted a lot, so he naturally thinks a lot. Zhang Fei is a reckless man, and he has long been beaten by Wang Yan. He has only obeyed two people in his life, one is his elder brother, and the other is Wang Yan. Without orders, he will definitely not move. The remaining Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci, and Gao Lan all understood the situation.

This is true. When the war of unification started, the generals began to be careful. They certainly believed that Wang Yan would not hide his bows and arrows. There had never been an emperor like Wang Yan in the past, but this did not stop them from being careful.

And his strategy was actually quite effective. The so-called "make the empty real and the real empty" is just as he said to Huang Zhong. This time he launched a full-scale fierce attack, and his army's combat effectiveness is there, and the strength of the generals is also there.

Because of Cao Cao's actions, the generals in Yangzhou have expanded their troops, at least more than 10,000 people. Cao Cao's more than 200,000 troops, of course, were not evenly sent to one place for 40,000 or 50,000. Instead, they were scattered in various places, and enough troops were left in Pengze and Nanchang.

The saying of fierce attack means fighting a hard battle, which means that there can be a certain degree of war losses. In such a war, the combat effectiveness of his subordinates is very high, and at that time, the whole line must be in a state of emergency.

Even though Cao Cao knew that Wang Yan's goal was to attack the Yangtze River, because Wang Yan could use more forces to defend the river, Cao Cao had no way to stop him. If he sent more troops to stop Wang Yan and Huang Zhong, then other places would inevitably be repelled. If he defended other places, then Wang Yan would be beaten all the way out.

But even though Cao Cao knew that the coastal area had the most troops, he still didn't dare to gamble, because he didn't know if there were ambushes in other places. You know, once Shexian and Damo were broken, Nanchang would come next.

This is the difficulty of the commander. Lao Cao would receive news of battles in various places in a similar period of time. He needed to analyze what Wang Yan's purpose was and make a decision as quickly as possible. Speed ​​is the essence of war. If there is no decision, the generals in front will fight desperately, because they cannot move without orders, and moving means death. But if they don't move, they might be killed by the opponent, it's that simple.

The time to test Lao Cao has come...

Ten days passed in a flash. In the past time, Wang Yan recruited another 15,000 soldiers and horses to lead them personally, and Dian Wei also followed him.

This time, all the soldiers recruited were from Henan. The previous military order had been issued, and under the efficient operation, the reserve militia had been assembled. In fact, to be precise, most of them were soldiers from Jizhou. The troops that Huang Zhong and others had previously added were local soldiers from Yangzhou. To be more precise, most of them were the former Xuzhou soldiers, the group of people who followed Liu Bei in his early years.

After breakfast, Wang Yancheng stood with his feet wider than his shoulders and his arms stretched out, allowing his guards to put on armor for him, thinking about how many years he had not fought. After a careful calculation, it had been fifteen years. The last battle was the one that killed Gongsun Zan in Taiyuan. He didn't even wear armor and challenged Gongsun Zan and more than ten generals under his command.

He was nostalgic, but he was not a person who was stubborn about the past. But now he is 42 years old. He is still a person after all, and his physical fitness is indeed declining, although the impact is not great, only a little bit. But it is inevitable that he will think about his youth.

However, he has a lot of such feelings. Every world he has stayed in for decades, he can't help but think about it, and often count the gains and losses.

Soon, the guards helped put on the black iron armor and the red cloak. Wang Yan buckled his helmet, took the lance, and stepped out of the military tent.

Outside, rows of soldiers were already standing in awe, and the horses were constantly digging the ground. They looked at the mighty General Wang with fanatical eyes.

A small number of them were veterans, and most of them were new recruits. They had never seen Wang Yan. Now they were going to fight with the general, so of course they were fanatical.

Wang Yan rode on the horse and silently scanned the dark army formation. He did not see a pair of scared eyes. He nodded with satisfaction and waved his hand.

The guards behind him picked up the horn tied to the horse, gathered their strength, puffed their mouths, and the deep horn sounded. In an instant, the silent army formation became restless, and shouts came one after another. Then, they marched westward in an orderly manner.

On the opposite side, there were 50,000 soldiers and horses stationed in various places, and they were frequently mobilized to harass. Correspondingly, Wang Yan's troops were stationed accordingly. There were countless small battlefields in a local battlefield, and the wars in various places intertwined, forming a large-scale war.

The troops led by Wang Yan personally this time were only more than 3,000 people. He had to find the main force of the enemy and then kill them. Dian Wei had to be behind him, that was a guarantee, a surprise force. Behind him, there were also militias dispatched and local militias gathered to guard the rear.

Lao Cao was afraid that Wang Yan would sneak over the mountains and ridges to get through, and Wang Yan was also afraid that Lao Cao would come, and Lao Cao was much more ruthless than him. With the militias withdrawn, there was no defense force in the rear, and Lao Cao must have killed a lot.

Wang Yan rode on his horse and marched slowly, advancing forward, and the cavalry of the communication passed the news from everywhere. There had been battles in the front, some had won, and some were besieged. The main reason was that the enemy had more troops, his troops were less, and the enemy had more room.

Therefore, General Wang was in charge of the front line, directly dispatching the troops of more than 500 people, and occasionally sending his troops to support.

As I said before, the art of war is to mobilize the enemy's troops by mobilizing one's own troops, and try to form a situation of more against fewer in a local area.

Even if Wang Yan's army is more powerful, 500 soldiers in formation are enough to defeat Lao Cao's thousand-man team. But now is not the time when everyone is a grass-roots team. Lao Cao's soldiers are elites who have been trained for six years. It is impossible to have the same scene as the original battle with Yuan Shao in Hebei, which can always cause him a lot of casualties.

This can be seen from the casualties caused by Lao Cao's surprise attack on his army. If the soldiers are still the same quality as six years ago, then Lao Cao's active attack this time will inevitably be a big defeat.

Adapting to the growth of the enemy is a necessary thing to do.

So Wang Yan is also constantly mobilizing, and the large troops are pressing forward. Not to mention fighting with more against fewer, but also to try to form a situation of equal strength, so that he will win the local war here.

In fact, after only one day of fighting, Xu Chu already felt obvious pressure. He knew that the opponent was Huang Zhong, but Huang Zhong didn't know it was him. The two had not fought against each other so far. But in the previous battles between the two armies, generally speaking, they both won and lost. However, at the beginning, he did suffer a big loss, otherwise Huang Zhong would not have pushed the battle line so far.

But the two sides have been fighting for more than half a month, and he has been familiar with Huang Zhong's tactics. However, today, he feels quite uncomfortable. He has the strength but can't use it. Every time he mobilizes, the opponent can know in advance, which makes him very panic and uneasy. It is the powerlessness of losing control of the battlefield, and he is a little at a loss for a while.

It seems that the opposite side is a bottomless tiankeng, where there is extreme darkness and nothingness. He doesn't know what the other side is going to do, and even when fighting, he doesn't know what he is going to do.

War is of course also a psychological attack. Losing one day, losing one day, being killed, wounded, captured, etc., Xu Chu has lost more than 3,000 people and has lost red eyes.

In the military tent, Xu Chu looked at the casualties counted by the military Sima, drank a sip of wine helplessly, and ate a handful of peanuts, frowning and thinking hard about what was going on.

Wen Chou has been in Cao for a long time, and he was not killed by Guan Yu or Wang Yan. Fortunately, he lived for many more years. This time, he served as Xu Chu's deputy general. He was also drinking, eating peanuts, frowning and thinking hard.

Suddenly, he slapped the table and looked up abruptly. Looking at Xu Chu, who was looking suspicious and full of questions, he said firmly: "It must be Wang Yan himself!"

"Wang Yan himself?"

Xu Chu was surprised, but then he couldn't help nodding: "It must be Wang Yan. Huang Zhong led the army to raid Wanling, and the one who led the army in Wuhu must be Wang Yan. Otherwise, Huang Zhong would not dare to split his troops. Wang Yan is really a god in using troops, and I am not his opponent."

Wang Yan is strong and Cao Cao is weak, so Xu Chu speculates about Wang Yan with the arrogance of a strong man. He doesn't think that Wang Yan, with his current status and his civil and military officials, will personally risk arrows and stones. After all, swords and guns have no eyes. The so-called son of a rich man should not sit in the hall, that's the truth.

But he didn't expect that Wang Yan would come.

He thought about Wang Yan's fierce past, and wrote a military report very straightforwardly, emphasizing Wang Yan's affairs here, and asked someone to report it to Cao Cao, who was personally supervising the army in the rear, asking for instructions.

As a proud warrior and a fierce general with a great reputation, Xu Chu certainly did not accept Wang Yan before they fought. From ancient times to the present, bragging has never stopped, and he did not believe that Wang Yan was really that awesome.

But after fighting today, he was convinced. In one day, Wang Yan reduced his troops by 3,000. If he fights again tomorrow, the loss of troops will definitely be greater. Because Wang Yan is different from dealing with more than 50,000 troops and 50,000 troops. Similarly, his command is also different.

He himself will definitely not be able to stop Wang Yan, and it will be difficult for him to hold on for too long. He can't do it by dividing his troops, and gathering troops in one place is a dead end.

In addition, he is proud of his military power. From Wang Yan's command ability, he thinks the rumors are untrue and seriously underestimates Wang Yan's command ability. Therefore, he believed that Wang Yan's personal combat power was still quite strong. If he was not confident in his own martial arts, a man like Wang Yan would not go to the battlefield in person, and his subordinates would not let Wang Yan do such a suicidal thing.

So he could only hope that Lao Cao could understand his difficulties. Either he would send more troops, or Lao Cao would come to fight Wang Yan himself.

But what he didn't know was that Lao Cao had already known about Wang Yan's coming in person through the information sent by various departments in the morning...

Daily thanks to the good brothers who voted for the monthly ticket for support,

Thank you to the brothers who voted for the recommendation for support,

Thank you to the big brothers who read the book silently for support.