Chapter 149 What Liu Biao wants
If the Three Liu Alliance can really be established, with Liu Biao as the leader, it will span the three states of Jing, Yang, and Xu, and can also expand towards Yuzhou, Yizhou, and Jiaozhou.
At that time, Liu Biao’s ambition cannot be overstated.
Liu Biao thinks this operation is very feasible.
Among the three, he has the highest official position. Not only is he the only one who has been granted a title, he is also a general with the title of general. He has the power to open the three divisions of Yitong, and his status is also the most respected.
Moreover, both Liu Bei and Liu Yao are being bullied by Yuan Shu. If you help him at this time, you will definitely win the gratitude of the other party, right?
It shouldn’t be too much to make some small requests when the time comes.
"Ming Gong, Liu Zhengli was not an easy talker in the past."
Kuai Yue was so astute. Liu Biao changed his expression a few times, and he guessed what the other party was thinking. Just pour a basin of cold water on it.
Liu Biao and Kuai Yue have known each other for many years and understand each other well.
Liu Biao knew how outstanding Kuai Yue's talents were and how powerful his energy was, so naturally he did not dare to use it freely, otherwise he would have no power at all, and he would probably not be able to compare with Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty in Chang'an City.
Kuai Yue also knew Liu Biao's ability and shrewdness, and understood that the other party would never let him go just because he showed weakness and pretended to be stupid. Instead, he would be wary of him.
It's better to just fight when it's time to fight, which will not only relieve the resentment in his heart, but also make Liu Biao not worry about him so much.
After hearing Kuai Yue's retort, Liu Biao also remembered Liu Yao's bad temper, and felt a little helpless.
When Liu Yao was nineteen years old, his uncle was kidnapped by a group of thieves. He had the ability to rescue his uncle, and then became famous in the county. Based on this, he was promoted to Xiaolian, worship the doctor.
Later, he was elected as an official and started as a county magistrate. Who were the people who debuted with him at that time?
In the previous Tao Qianzhi, the current prefect of Kuaiji County and the future Duke of Cao Wei, Wang Lang, were loyal and courageous. They set up an altar in jujube and raised the altar to make alliances. Zang Hong was praised by Yuan Shao as the most outstanding person in Qingzhou. , leaving Tao Qian, Zhao Yu was well-known in Xuzhou, but he made a mistake and was assassinated by the villain Zuo Rong.
I can only lament that there were so many heroes in the late Han Dynasty, but it was a pity that the central axis of the Eastern Han Dynasty could not be used for them.
Liu Yao has an extremely stubborn temper. When he was the magistrate of Xiayi County, the prefect of the county entrusted Liu Yao with his noble relatives. As long as Liu Yao was willing to take care of him, it would be easy to get promoted and make a fortune.
But Liu Yao flatly refused at first, and after being forced by the prefect of the county, he abandoned his official position and ran away.
This made the prefect of the county very embarrassed.
Of course, the reason why Liu Yao can be so strong is because the Liu Yao family is very powerful in Qingzhou, and even the eunuchs do not dare to make enemies of them easily.
Liu Yao and his brother Liu Dai were able to be promoted as outstanding talents by the state and county. They impeached the nephew of Zhong Changshi and became the prime minister of Jinan. However, they had no merits and demerits, and they succeeded in making The other party was deposed. If he had a different background, he would have been sent to the capital long ago.
Not to mention that Liu Dai would become the governor of Yanzhou in the future, and Liu Yao would be appointed the governor of Yangzhou again.
"Indeed, Zhengli has a strong character..."
When Liu Biao heard this, he was a little embarrassed at first, but he was not displeased.
After thinking for a while, Liu Biao asked: "If I want to go south along the Yangtze River and attack General Zuo together with Zhengli, will Zhengli agree that I will report to the prefects of Lujiang and Yuzhang counties?"< br>
Kuai Yue's face was expressionless, Liu Biao's appetite was similar to what he thought.
Lujiang County is close to Jiangxia County, but this does not mean that communication between the two is very convenient. The entire Dabie Mountains divide Lujiang County and Jiangxia County into two parts. The land transportation is quite narrow, and It is backed by a mountain on one side and a lake on the other, which is not conducive to the march of the army. It is often said to be a dead place by military strategists.
The Battle of Shiting, the Battle of Soochow that broke out in later generations, took place in this narrow passage.
Therefore, the most efficient mode of transportation between Lujiang and Jiangxia is the Yangtze River Waterway.
Historically, Soochow Wu occupied the southern part of the Dabie Mountains, while Cao Wei occupied the northern part of the Dabie Mountains. They divided the north and south of Lujiang County into two and controlled them separately. It did not change much until their death. It is because of this relationship. .
For Liu Biao, it is completely different. If he can get Lujiang County in his hands, the water and land passage from the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to the lower reaches will fall into the hands of Jingzhou at the same time, and it will be greatly enhanced. This shows Jingzhou’s influence on Yangzhou, Xuzhou and Yuzhou.
In this way, Liu Biao's soft power and influence will immediately reach a higher level. If this soft power can be transformed into a basic base, it will even be enough to compete with Yuan Shao.
As for Yuzhang, although it has a vast territory, rich output, and a large population, it is far less important than Lujiang County in terms of geographical location and degree of development.
However, Liu Biao really wanted to recommend his confidant and old official Zhuge Xuan to take over as the governor of Yuzhang. Although he had not returned yet, he had written a letter to inform him of his return date.
Unfortunately, Kuai Yue's answer was quite ruthless. He just uttered four words coldly: "Absolutely impossible."
But Liu Biao still did not give up and continued to ask: "Then If I occupy Jiangbei first with troops and horses, how will Liu Zhengli react? "
Kuai Yue did not answer in a hurry this time, but fell into deep thought.
This time he meditated for a long time, but Liu Biao was not impatient at all, and just waited quietly.
Finally, Kuai Yue raised his head again and said cautiously: "I'm afraid Liu Zhengli will just swallow his anger."
Liu Biao was immediately overjoyed. He still trusted Kuai Yue's judgment.
“That’s the case, it’s feasible.”
Liu looked happy and eager to try.
Whether Jingzhou can obtain Lujiang and Jiujiang, the land north of the Yangtze River, is the key to whether it has leadership power in Yangzhou.
If the land in Jiangbei was in Liu Biao's hands, Liu Yao would have no choice but to surrender and surrender.
Since Kuai Yue felt that Liu Yao would give in, this was undoubtedly the result Liu Biao hoped for most.
"When does Ming Gong plan to send troops?"
Kuai Yue raised his head and saw the joy on Liu Biao's face. He felt a little unhappy and deliberately recommended himself: "If Ming Gong will not give up, the more he is willing to do it. Ming Gong serves and attacks Lujiang."
Liu Biao was choked immediately. He naturally did not want Kuai Yue to go.
Because he knew that once Kuai Yue left, although the possibility of success would be greatly increased, it also meant that Kuai Yue would have more military exploits and have a greater influence on the army.
"No, the state affairs are heavy, and I can't leave Yidu for a moment, let alone several months."
Liu Biao pretended not to understand what Kuai Yue meant and objected. : "Let De Gui go."
Compared to Kuai Yue, Cai Mao has less ambition and is easier to talk to. What's more important is that Cai Mao is his brother-in-law and is always more loyal than outsiders.
Kuai Yue had expected it earlier, but he was still slightly disappointed in his heart. However, he could understand Liu Biao. After all, Liu Biao was not stingy about what should be given to the Kuai family.
The entire civil servant group in Jingzhou, headed by the Kuai family, really can no longer be given excessive military power.
So Kuai Yue stood up and left the table, thanked him and said, "I am so grateful for my kindness."
Liu Biao quickly helped him up, waved his hand and said, "Yidu, you and me. "Why do you need to sit down?"
Then Liu Biao asked: "In that case, I want to send an envoy eastward, is there anyone who can recommend me?"
Kuai Yue pondered for a moment and recommended: "Lingling Liu Xian, named Shizong, has extensive knowledge and strong memorization, knows economics, understands allusions, and has a perseverance. He can be an envoy and he should fulfill his mission."
"Liu Shizong."
Liu Biao thought for a while and readily agreed: "It is indeed a foreign country. I am afraid that you have all the famous scholars and talents in Jingzhou. Liu Shizong is indeed a suitable candidate for the mission."
So Liu Biao decided on the envoys and sent Liu Xian and Liu Shizong to visit Yangzhou and Xuzhou.
At this time, the land of Huaisi was turbulent, and a war was about to reach its climax.
After three days of reorganizing Yuan Shu's army, with Sun Ce as the vanguard, Wu Jing as the successor, Qiao Rui as the commander of the central army, and Sun Bi as the rear army, the entire army of 30,000 troops marched to Guangling.
At this time, Taishi Ci was harassing him along the way, causing Yuan Shu's army to gather cavalry troops to capture Taishi Ci's troops.
However, Tai Shici was also very shrewd. He retreated back to Guangling City with a false shot.
The army of Yuan Shu's army stretched out and flags were fluttering. When the vanguard Sun Ce's army arrived outside Guangling City and started to camp, the rear army Sun Ben had not yet left Jiangdu City.
For Yuan Shujun, this battle also has considerable advantages. The logistics line is very smooth and the consumption is very small. Food and ammunition can be continuously flowed down the river from Liyang and unloaded directly to Jiangdu. And Jiangdu is only more than ten miles away from the frontline camp, so it can be transferred at any time, and there is no possibility of being robbed.
Yuan Shujun fought steadily this time and did not attack the city easily. Instead, he set up camp and besieged the city and began to build engineering equipment.
Yuan Shu's army is making multiple preparations. If the main force of Xuzhou's army comes south for reinforcements, they will retreat and they can do business when they return. Perhaps Yuan Shu agreed to Sun Ce's plan, then their busyness under Guangling City also had the effect of deceiving Liu Yao.
If no reinforcements came from the Xuzhou Army in the end, Yuan Shu did not change his mind and forced them to attack Guangling.
Then the equipment prepared during this period will come in handy. Otherwise, a strong city like Guangling cannot be filled with human lives, right?
There are only 30,000 Yuan Shu's army in total, and 10,000 Xuzhou's army in the city. In theory, Yuan Shu's army does not have an advantage.
Fortunately, the Xuzhou Army was newly arrived and was not popular among the people.
Otherwise, with the 10,000 Xuzhou troops, plus the thousands of strong men and tens of thousands of women, children, and old people in the city, Yuan Shu's army would not be able to defeat Guangling City even if it was completely dead.
Liu Feng stood on the city wall, looking at Yuan Shu's military camp.
The opponent surrounded three gates and only one was missing. He only surrounded the three gates in the north, south and west, leaving a gap in the east gate.
But there was no way Liu Feng would give up Guangling.
If such a strong city was given to Yuan Shu, how many Xuzhou soldiers would have died under the city?
"Uncle Zilong, teacher, when do you think the other party will launch an attack?"
Liu Feng really doesn't understand, and he humbly asks for advice.
Zhao Yun and Tai Shi Ci looked at each other, wanting to be humble to each other. Finally, Zhao Yun said: "Looking at the speed at which the other party builds siege weapons, it is expected that in three to five days, they will have the confidence to attack the city. As for when to start, it depends on the opponent's coach's choice."
Tai Shici also nodded in agreement: "Young master, please see, these are wells, used to control high points, and can be used from a high position. , shooting arrows into the city to cover up the soldiers climbing up and rushing towards the city gate. If the enemy is waiting for these sharp weapons, they don’t have to wait so long.”
Liu Feng suddenly realized that he saw that more than twenty wells on the opposite side had been formed. No wonder Zhao Yun and Tai Shici both felt that the other side would attack the city in these few days.
It was very busy outside the city, and the city was not idle either.
Liu Feng had previously organized the young and strong through the officials of Guangling County and County, and asked them to go out to cut down trees, carry stones, and strengthen the city defense.
Liu Feng was chatting, but Yuan Shujun's generals were gathering and preparing for battle.
"My lord's order has been sent, let us try our best. If possible, the priority should be to capture Guangling. If nothing can be done, we can use this to confuse Liu Yao and sneak attack Jiangdong."
Qiao Rui and the generals present relayed Yuan Shu's decision.
Although Sun Ce and others are not very satisfied with this decision, it is actually far better than the bottom line in their hearts.
At least Yuan Shu also realized that compared to the fatness of Jiangdong, Guangling City was undoubtedly a hard nut.
So, the generals readily accepted the order and decided to launch a general attack five days later, using all the engineering equipment at once.
At the same time, Yuan Shu also agreed that they would send additional manpower to continue to investigate the situation on the Dantu front line in order to facilitate the next stage of fierce fighting.
Judging from the current intelligence, Dan Tu only has less than 2,000 garrison troops, while Qu'a has three to four thousand garrison troops.
As long as Yuan Shujun can capture Dantu, Liu Yaojun will not be able to stop Yuan Shujun anymore.
Five days later, Yuan Shu's army feasted on the whole army, and then the main force left the camp and surrounded Guangling City.
The equipment of Yuan Shu's army is much better than that of Xuzhou's army.
Sun Ce's troops are certainly well-equipped, with an armor coverage rate of over 80%. Even Qiaorui's troops have an armor coverage rate of over 60%, and there are many iron armors.
Yuan Shujun first pushed out the well, and pushed it step by step until the range covered the city wall of Guangling City, then stopped, and then began to reinforce and build fortifications to resist the counterattack of the defenders.
Generally speaking, the defenders cannot tolerate Jinglan's continuous output of firepower at the city head. This will not only greatly increase the casualties of the defenders, but also seriously damage the morale of the defenders.
At the same time, it will also interfere with the supply of war preparation materials on the city wall by able-bodied civilians, which can be said to have many disadvantages.
This is also the power of Jinglan.
Therefore, the defenders will concentrate their elite troops, protrude outside the city, seize and destroy the wells.
Or rely on tall buildings to counterattack in the city, using bow to bow to kill the siege archers on the well.
Yuan Shu's army was divided into three parts and besieged the north and southwest gates of Guangling City respectively.
To the north are 6,000 Sun Ce's troops, to the west gate are 6,000 Wu Jing's troops, and to the south gate are 8,000 Yuan Shu's troops. Sun Ben's army stays at the camp to support the front.
The siege weapons were also divided into three parts. The North Gate and West Gate each received 30%, and the remaining 40% were concentrated in the South Gate.
This plan was approved by all the generals after discussion.
At this time, Yuan Shujun was still quite harmonious. Sun Ce, Sun Bi, and Wu Jing were a family, and the relationship between them was very harmonious. Qiao Rui worshiped and admired Sun Ce from the bottom of her heart and obeyed his words.
With such an atmosphere and foundation, the plan is naturally quite easy to draw up.
Sun Ce actually took special care of Qiao Rui, asking his uncle to bypass the farthest and most dangerous north gate, while he was in charge of the west gate, taking care of both sides, and taking care of the south gate, which had the most open terrain and was closest to the camp. The door was given to Qiao Rui.
Qiao Rui is not a fool and is very grateful to Sun Ce.
Of course, the reason why only 20,000 people were dispatched, while Sun Bi's 8,000 elites stayed in the camp to watch and support the battle, was not because Yuan Shu's army was stupid and arrogant and looked down upon the Guangling Xuzhou army, but because the battlefield was so big. , we can only get rid of these people.
If Sun Bi's eight thousand elites join the battlefield, it is likely that the battlefield will be overcrowded and the deployment will not be efficient, which will instead affect the war and increase one's own casualties.
Unless Sun Ben puts his eight thousand men in the east of the city, even so, Sun Ben can only bring two to three thousand men at most, because there are large tidal flats in the east of the city, making it impossible to form an array.
Therefore, Yuan Shujun simply maintained the strategy of surrounding three and missing one, and placed Sun Ben's troops in the camp to ensure the safety of the camp.
Yuan Shu's army had good morale and wanted to take the lead, but he did not expect that Xuzhou's army was eager to fight and had high morale.
Faced with Yuan Shu's army's all-out offensive, the Xuzhou army was naturally not afraid and chose to go directly out of the city to fight.
With the loud sound of the trumpet, the south gate of Xuzhou opened, and the Xuzhou army, led by Pan Zhang's tribe, slowly left the city.
The first one to leave the city was the hundred cavalry led by Taishi Ci. This was a cavalry unit that was gathered together after plundering the horses in the entire Guangling City. Fortunately, Taishi Ci’s men were good at riding and had participated in cavalry drills. There were not many soldiers, but they lacked horses.
Now that we have horses, our immediate combat power is directly increased.
After Taishi Ci's troops left the city, it was naturally impossible to launch an attack alone. Instead, they turned to the side to hold down the formation.
They were followed closely by Xu Sheng's 1,600 pikemen. The equipment of these pikemen was more luxurious. Each of them had a round shield on his left hand.
There are three straps in this round shield, two long and one short, inside and outside. The two long straps go around the shoulders from the upper and lower parts respectively, and are bound under the armpit on the other side, while the short one is used to strangle The wrist, while fixing the shield, does not affect holding the gun with both hands.
In this way, the spearmen have an extra wooden shield in their left hands, which can be used to block arrows.
The 1,600 spearmen were divided into four rows, each row containing 400 people. At the same time, they were divided into four small formations, with a line of two or three people left in the middle of each formation. wide gap.
All the pikemen raised their spears vertically. After Taishi Ci, who was the first to leave the city, led his cavalry to press the formation, they became the vanguard and moved forward without hesitation.
After them, Zhao Yun's troops came out of the city. Four thousand people were divided into two groups, covering the flanks of the pikemen in the middle and protecting their vulnerable flanks.
Then there were the heavy armored infantry led by Pan Zhang and Zhou Tai.
Before the war, Zhou Tai specifically asked Liu Feng to fight, so Liu Feng simply gave him to Pan Zhang, temporarily serving as Pan Zhang's deputy and commanding 150 heavy armored infantry to open the way. pioneer.
At this time, Zhou Tai had already helped the Xuzhou Army to build a navy army with a total of 2,000 men, of which 1,000 were just sailors. However, with a wave of his hand, Liu Bei promoted Zhou Tai to the Navy Sima and Jiang Qin to Qu. Military Marquis.
These heavy armored soldiers do not need to walk, but sit on bullock carts and are taken care of by auxiliary soldiers. When they are needed to break the formation, they will wear armor and go into battle.
(End of this chapter)