My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 665 Survival by cutting off the tail
Faced with the dire situation where he had to fight for survival, Cao Ren glanced at the generals with a cold look, thinking of a countermeasure in his mind.

Unfortunately, he was not a wise general known for his sharp brain, and it was really difficult for him to come up with a plan to make a living in such a short time.

In the end, he could only do something to stabilize the morale of the troops.

So he decided to first select the men who must be chosen to cover the rear and die bravely, so that the other generals would not have to worry so much and could look forward as much as possible and rush out together.

After all, at this point, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Cao's army had to sacrifice a pawn.

At least one, and possibly more if the situation continues to deteriorate.

"Let Yu Jin cover the rear? No, after all, he is an old man who has followed the Prime Minister for nearly twenty years. His performance has always been good before, and he can be useful in other ways." Cao Ren thought about it in his heart and suppressed the idea of giving up Yu Jin at the beginning.

Although he was angry, he still had a good sense of the overall situation and knew that he could not abandon the general just because of a victory or defeat.

In the end, he just glanced at his trusted general Chang Diao - the one who, in the original history, died at the hands of Zhu Huan of Jiangdong in the Second Battle of Ruxukou more than ten years later in order to gild Cao Ren's own son Cao Tai before Cao Ren's death.

In order to show his attitude of letting his trusted people shoulder the heavy responsibility in times of crisis, Cao Ren gave the order in a very structured way:
"Chang Diao! I order you to take 5,000 men from our division and continue to guard the outer camp of the water stronghold. If Gao Shun thinks our army has retreated and wants to pursue us, you must defend the stronghold wall and prevent him from leaving! Can you do it? Just hold them off for a few hours to buy time for the main force to break out!"

As long as you hold out for half a day, even if you can't hold on any longer, I will allow you to surrender. After we return, I will also have the Prime Minister treat the families of all the soldiers who are left behind with kindness. They will not be treated as the families of those who surrendered, but will be treated as the families of those who died in battle!"

"Yes! General, rest assured. I will fight to the death and hold Gao Shun back!"

In such a situation, Chang Diao certainly could not refuse. He was also a close confidant of Cao Ren's family who had been treated with great kindness and support. At this time, he was asked to risk his life.

The other generals, such as Yu Jin, were still somewhat worried at first, but when they saw that Cao Ren assigned tasks fairly and did not let his own troops escape first, the morale of the army was slightly stabilized.

Cao Ren gave a few more words of encouragement on the front line, and seeing that people's hearts were still there, he assigned specific tasks for breaking out.

"Yu Jin! You will lead your troops as the vanguard. When the water recedes, join me in fighting our way back to Xiangyang City! Guan Yu will definitely try to attack us halfway across the river, so you and I must go separately.

You will cross the river eastward from the south side of the Yuliangzhou waterway, and I will take the north side. You might attract Guan Yu himself, so be careful."

As Cao Ren spoke, he drew a shallow groove in the ground with his sword, and then pointed at the two ends of the groove, indicating his plan of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west.

Well, to be precise, it should be called "making a noise in the south while attacking the north."

The first group to cross the river would undoubtedly be met by Guan Yu's main force. However, the entire waterway stretched for nearly twenty miles from north to south, so if one side got caught up in a melee, the other side could still sneak across the river and escape.

This was obviously intended to be a cannon fodder for Yu Jin in another situation.

Yu Jin had a worried look on his face, but Chang Diao, a direct subordinate of Cao Ren, had just been given a mission to cover the rear and he was too embarrassed to refuse. He could only say that he would do his best to contain Guan Yu and strive to break through successfully.

After making these general arrangements, Cao Ren could only let the soldiers rest and eat while preparing, because the flood had not completely receded. He also made occasional additions to the plan to fill any gaps.

Just like this, another quarter of an hour passed, and Cao Ren saw from afar the water level of the Yuliangzhou waterway in the west. Indeed, the water level had dropped, and the shore that had been submerged finally began to gradually reappear above the water surface.

After confirming this, Cao Ren's anger towards Yu Jin subsided a little.

Because this is enough to prove that the flood peak just now was not a natural rise in water. It was most likely that Zhuge Jin used artificial means to fan the flames, otherwise it would not have come so quickly and receded so quickly.

Therefore, it is normal that Yu Jin could not defend himself, and it was not his fault of negligence.

Seeing the water gradually receding, Cao Ren was about to wave his hand to give an order, formally implementing the previous deployment and letting the troops march out to break out.

But at this moment, one of his generals came running back from the north bank, pulled Cao Ren's armor sleeve, and pointed to the north:
"General! General Xu on the other side of the river has sent a boat to pick us up! There is also a messenger from Military Advisor Guo! He said he heard that there was a flood on the south bank, and Military Advisor Guo has a plan to offer."

Cao Ren suddenly raised his head and looked towards the north.

In the past few days, in order to have a decisive battle with Guan Yu and to annihilate Gao Shun first, he did ask Xu Huang to dispatch troops to participate in the decisive battle.

However, he also had to leave troops to defend the rear, so Xu Huang did not go to the front line in person. He only sent two generals, each with thousands to tens of thousands of troops to assist.

Now, two or three hours have passed since the water level rose.

Fancheng is only separated from the south bank by the Han River, which is only two or three miles wide at its widest point. So it is not surprising that Xu Huang was able to find out what happened on the south bank in time and then send someone to contact him.

Cao Ren was also desperate and had no choice but to seek help from anyone. When Guo Jia offered some advice, Cao Ren was of course happy to see it happen. He ordered all troops to postpone their breakout operations until he could meet with Guo Jia's messenger.

But in the blink of an eye, Guo Jia's messenger was brought before Cao Ren. The messenger was not good at speaking, but just presented Cao Ren with a well-sealed wax bamboo tube.

Cao Ren didn't have time to look at the seal carefully. He just took a quick glance and immediately pulled out his dagger to violently open the letter and split the bamboo tube in half.

Cao Ren took out the letter from the broken bamboo tube and read it roughly:
"General Zixiao, I am astonished to hear that our friendly forces on the south bank were attacked by the enemy. Although we cannot confirm the cause at this time, given Zhuge Jin's resourcefulness, this flood was most likely his design.

Since this was Zhuge Jin's plan, Guan Yu must have made follow-up preparations. I humbly believe that if the general suddenly decided to break out and return to Xiangyang, he would be attacked by Guan Yu halfway across the Yuliangzhou waterway, and his army would inevitably collapse.

In this case, it would be better to have the troops retreating to Xiangyang stay westward along the northern shore of Yuliangzhou. When they reach the river mouth, they should prepare a large number of small boats for rapid ferries. If Guan Yu intercepts them, they can travel more than ten miles and return to the north gate of Xiangyang City.

Guan Yu's navy was certainly not weak either. Once they discovered our new move, they would likely sail from the Han River mainstream, around the Yuliangzhou Peninsula, and back to the north bank, intercepting our army on the Han River.

Therefore, our army must retreat quickly. If we cannot gather enough ships in a short period of time, and if our rear army is unable to transport them and is caught up by Guan Yu, our navy will suffer heavy losses. If our navy suffers further losses, the defenders of Fancheng will no longer be able to communicate with Xiangyang by water during the rainy season.

"I have advised General Xu Gongming to assemble the warships heading towards Fancheng as soon as possible and immediately head to the south bank to pick up the troops. Considering the dire situation on the south bank, I would like to ask General Zixiao to make a decisive decision and personally return to the north bank to defend it. This may be the best strategy."

After reading the letter, Cao Ren just pondered for a moment and sighed. He was already about 70% convinced by Guo Jia.

This is indeed the case. It is not surprising that most of his men were killed by Guan Yu on the way back to Xiangyang!

In this case, it would be better to gather small boats and retreat along the main stream of the Han River instead of taking the Yuliangzhou waterway.

Because Guan Yu's navy had just gone around the main stream of the Han River to the north side of the Yuliangzhou waterway, and then rushed back to the south side when the flood occurred.

Therefore, Guan Yu is still on the south side of Yuliangzhou Peninsula. He wants to return to the north side of Yuliangzhou Peninsula. However, since the peak of the flood has passed, it is impossible for him to return by the original route and the fleet will be stranded.

Guan Yu had no choice but to walk along the main stream of the Han River again and then bypass the entire Yuliangzhou Peninsula, which would take about half a day.

Moreover, the flood had just receded and the flow of the Han River was still very turbulent. The speed of sailing against the current would only be slower than usual, so it might take Guan Yu longer to arrive.

However, the plan proposed by Guo Jia also had a fatal flaw. A veteran general like Cao Ren could see it at a glance, that is, the retreat distance was too long and many ships would be needed.

If there were not enough boats and the troops had to be ferried in batches, the troops left behind in the first batch who were unable to board would definitely panic. Once Guan Yu realized that something was wrong and took the initiative to launch an offensive, the troops left behind would definitely be devastated. Once the morale was unstable, they might even surrender in large numbers.

Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Guo Jia mentioned in the letter that he advised Cao Ren to withdraw part of his troops directly to Fancheng on the north bank!
This point on the north bank of Yuliangzhou is actually closer to Fancheng than to Xiangyang!
Because you want to go back to Xiangyang, you have to sail upstream against the Han River for more than ten miles to reach the water gate of Xiangyang's north city.

But if you want to go to Fancheng, you just need to cross the main stream of the Han River, which is at most three miles away.

Even if you land directly on the other side and that landing point is not inside Fancheng City, it doesn’t matter.

As long as Cao's army gained a foothold on the north bank, it would be impossible for Guan Yu's army to immediately land on the north bank of the Han River and pursue them.

If Guan Yu had the courage to do so, he would have been attacked halfway across the river and pushed directly into the river by Xu Huang, who was waiting for him on the north bank.

However, after implementing this supplementary plan, Guo Jia also made another disadvantage clear: the main force of the army would withdraw to the north bank, and by then the navy would have insufficient strength left, and Xiangyang on the south bank would no longer receive reinforcements.

If a decisive victory cannot be achieved in the subsequent defensive battles, the city of Xiangyang will automatically fall to Guan Yu's siege in half a year at most.

But Cao Ren couldn't just abandon Xiangyang now. After all, this was Xiangyang! There were still so many grains, supplies, and military equipment left by Liu Biao in the city that hadn't been spent.

If we give up Xiangyang now, the gains alone will be enough for Liu Bei to take advantage of the victory to counterattack Wan, Luo and other Central Plains areas! Xudu may not even be safe!

Moreover, there were still so many Cao troops left in Xiangyang City that there was no time to move.

After much deliberation, Cao Ren finally made up his mind.

We still have to listen to Guo Jia's advice!

As for what Guo Jia said, implementing this strategy and saving most of the troops will lead to the cutting off of Xiangyang's reinforcements, and those returning to Xiangyang may be trapped in an isolated city. These are already the lesser of two evils.

Cao Ren glanced at all the generals and finally found that Yu Jin could be used in a better way.

He closed the letter and instructed Jin, "Guo Fengxiao sent a letter urging our army to split up and retreat. One part should be ferried directly to the north bank on the small boats sent by Gongming. A small number of troops should go upstream and return to Xiangyang City.

Of course, we don't have enough boats right now to transport too many people at once. Furthermore, to attract Guan Yu's attention, we need to split up our forces and pretend to take the Yuliangzhou waterway, forcing a breakout back to Xiangyang. This will delay Guan Yu's discovery of our true intentions.

I need to assign a general to carry out the next two tasks. Yu Wenze, are you willing to redeem yourself from your crimes and lead a part of the troops to break out westward and defend Xiangyang on my behalf?"

Yu Jin was frightened when he heard this, but he quickly realized that Cao Ren was going to retreat north to Fancheng with the rest of his trusted confidants.

At this point in the war, Xiangyang south of the Han River, as well as the Xianshan camp, might gradually become abandoned. Unless the Prime Minister could subsequently achieve a major victory on the north bank, it would be difficult for the entire Xiangyang-Fanyang war situation to change radically.

However, even if this mission is extremely dangerous, what choice does he have as a defeated general?
Perhaps in General Cao's view, when the camps on both sides of the Yuliangzhou waterway were flooded by Guan Yu, he, Yu Jin, should have vowed to fight to the death.

The fact that he can live a little longer now is so that he can make up for his crime and make meritorious contributions. He should be aware of this.

Moreover, Cao Ren had just assigned Chang Diao the mission of intercepting Gao Shun's rearguard, and Chang Diao had accepted it. In comparison, Yu Jin's mission was slightly less difficult and dangerous, so he couldn't refuse it.

Yu Jin closed his eyes painfully and thought for a while, and finally sighed: "I will definitely defend Xiangyang to the death for the Prime Minister! Please put the overall situation first and retreat to Hanbei with peace of mind!"

Cao Ren finally breathed a sigh of relief. Now that things had come to this, he no longer blamed Yu Jin. Instead, he walked forward sincerely and patted Yu Jin's shoulders firmly a few times: "Wen Ze, victory and defeat are common in the military. Although you made a mistake for a moment, you are ultimately a pillar of the country and deserve the name of loyalty and righteousness."

Cao Ren's subtext is obviously: No matter what happens to you in the end, I will advise the prime minister to give your family the same compensation as those who died for their country.

However, there was no need to make these words too clear. I had already said them once to Chang Diao, and it would seem deliberate if I repeated them exactly to Yu Jin.

Everyone knows it.

After talking it out thoroughly, Cao Ren immediately began to dispatch troops.

He made an estimate and divided the troops into two groups.

His own troops boarded the small boats that Xu Huang had just sent and immediately crossed the Han River to the north.

The remaining ships that could not be transported temporarily and those that needed to be left behind to delay the war were all handed over to Yu Jin. The remaining troops of Yu Jin's headquarters also followed Yu Jin back to Xiangyang.

After some planning, it took only a quarter of an hour for the first batch of Cao Ren's troops to begin to retreat.

However, Guan Yu and Gao Shun on the opposite side would not be unaware of it. They would soon discover the clues and launch a counterattack and pursuit.

……

On the Liu Bei side, the first person to discover that Cao's army was flooded and was planning to retreat in panic was Gao Shun, who was obviously fighting directly with Cao Ren.

Gao Shun and Cao Ren's positions had been in a state of close combat for the past few days. The two sides fought tooth and nail, each guarding a piece of territory in the Yuliangzhou water fort camp, fighting to the death.

Therefore, whenever Cao's army made any movement, Gao Shun was the one who reacted the fastest.

Almost as soon as Cao Ren began to withdraw his troops, Gao Shun, who was stationed at the lookout post on the north side of the camp near the Han River, discovered the unusual movements of Cao's warships on the surface of the Han River and reported it to Gao Shun immediately.

After hearing this, Gao Shun went to the front line in armor, took a look around, and quickly made his own judgment.

Gao Shun put down the copper-tube crystal telescope and said to Guan Ping beside him:

"Cao Ren must have planned to withdraw directly across the Han River because his rear army was flooded by General Guan and he was afraid that his entire army's route of retreat would be cut off!
I didn't expect him to be so decisive. If he hesitated for a day or two and was reluctant to give up Xiangyang City, General Guan would have surrounded him by land and sea and blocked all his retreat routes! Then he could have wiped out the enemy army! What a pity."

In Gao Shun's opinion, Cao Ren decisively chose the latter between "wanting to save the entire army and being reluctant to give up anyone, delaying for a day or two, and ultimately losing everything" and "immediately making up his mind to abandon part of the troops in exchange for the successful retreat of other troops."

For Liu Bei's army, the enemy's choice can only be said to have both advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantage, of course, was that Liu Bei's army lost the opportunity to completely wipe out the enemy.

There were also advantages. The remaining troops would have their fighting capacity and fighting spirit greatly weakened. Especially after the main force had successfully retreated, the morale of those abandoned troops would surely collapse quickly. At that time, the cost to Liu Bei's army of annihilating this part of the enemy would be much lower.

In other words, the enemy has lost the opportunity to "fight to the death and fight to the death" in exchange for another group of people being able to escape relatively safely.

After this explanation, Guan Ping was naturally eager to try and immediately volunteered:

"Uncle Gao, let me lead the troops to attack and drive all of Cao Ren's rear troops who haven't boarded the boats into the Han River!"

Gao Shun frowned and thought for a while: "We must try, but don't attack too hastily. Cao Ren is not an easy person to deal with. He will most likely leave elite troops behind to block the attack.

Our army's counterattack was too hasty and too swift, and it might even cause more casualties. You should try it once. If the enemy resists firmly, the follow-up pursuit will be left to General Guan. We just need to do our duty. "

Guan Ping nodded, thinking that Gao Shun had a point, but that he was too timid and cautious. He still wanted to take advantage of his youth and vigor to give it a try.

Guan Ping then quickly organized thousands of fresh troops, turned defense into offense, broke through the wall guarded by his own soldiers, and rushed towards the Cao army's defense line on the other side.

Before the charge, it was customary to suppress the enemy with intensive shooting from bows and crossbows so that they dared not show their heads, and then take the opportunity to close the distance and quickly engage in close combat between the two armies.

With this kind of jagged front lines, it is very easy to complete the transition from offense to defense, and there is no need for too much foreplay.

However, after fighting for a while, Guan Ping immediately realized that what Uncle Gao said was right.

Cao Ren was not a fool. When the situation was critical, he left behind his subordinates to cover his retreat, and their fighting will was still very strong.

Chang Diao led the death squad and fought with Guan Ping's attacking soldiers. Both sides fought with their swords cutting into flesh and guns drawing blood, but they refused to retreat at all.

Guan Ping wielded the Qinglong Sword, and any enemy he encountered would be killed or limbed when hit by such a heavy and sharp weapon, regardless of whether they were wearing armor or not.

But Guan Ping's elite soldiers weren't quite as strong. Many of them fought with halberds and horse-slashing swords, but any inaccurate moves would be deflected off the enemy's armor.

Therefore, Guan Ping quickly determined that the Cao army's blocking troops on the opposite side were equipped with the steel-filled armor and full-piece breastplates that had been seized from the camp on the Yuliangzhou River bank.

Cao Ren was really willing to spend a lot of money and equipped the rearguard troops with some of the best armor just so that they could hold out a little longer.

However, the effect of this huge investment is immediate.

This led to Guan Ping trying to charge two or three times. Although he gained some advantages in casualties exchange, he was still unable to break through Chang Diao's defense line.

The rear guard Cao's army used equipment comparable to that of Liu Bei's army and forcibly blocked Gao Shun's pursuit and counterattack.

After all, Cao's army was now on the defensive, and they had the fortifications of the camp to rely on, so it was not so easy to be quickly breached.

Gao Shun could not do anything without considering the casualties of his own soldiers, otherwise even if he won a tragic victory and broke through Chang Diao's defense line, he would not have the energy to fight Cao Ren's main force.

He could only count on Guan Yu to personally expand the results of the pursuit.

……

The words are divided into three parts.

Gao Shun launched a counterattack, but was blocked by Cao Ren's rearguard troops.

In the direction of the Yuliangzhou waterway, as the water level receded, some old ships sank to the bottom of the river, and Guan Yu's blocking line of defense was basically complete.

Guan Yu eventually killed 10,000 to 20,000 Cao troops with the help of the flood, and captured tens of thousands of prisoners. Then he planned to wait for Cao Ren and Yu Jin to rush his defense line and try to break through.

However, nearly an hour after the flood peak completely receded, Guan Yu still did not wait for Cao Ren's counterattack, which made him finally realize that the situation had changed a little.

He was farther away from Cao Ren's camp than Gao Shun, the distance between the two being about ten miles.

Therefore, it was normal for the reaction speed to be slow by more than half an hour. This was due to objective conditions and had nothing to do with Guan Yu's talent.

Upon discovering that Cao Ren was actually retreating in batches in small boats to the north of the Han River, Guan Yu immediately called Chen Dao and Tian Yu to discuss countermeasures with them.

Guan Yu did not expect his subordinates to come up with much advice, so he mainly gave orders himself and let others check and fill in the gaps.

Guan Yu Qiangang said arbitrarily: "Most of our warships are too large, and the water was too rough just now, so it is impossible to go upstream and return north.

Now we can only take boats through the Yuliangzhou waterway and quickly go out of the north entrance to pursue them, and kill as many as we can.

For the rest of the warships and larger, another commander must be sent to take the main stream of the Han River, bypass the Yuliangzhou Peninsula, and attack the enemy retreating by water.

I will lead the remaining infantry, actively advancing eastward by land, to pursue those enemies who have yet to board their ships. By attacking from three different directions, we'll destroy as many enemy troops as we can! While it's impossible to completely annihilate this powerful enemy, taking Xiangyang should be a sure thing this time!

Everyone, please work hard to maximize your gains. However, if we encounter a counterattack from Cao's army, no single route of our army will be strong enough to deal with the formidable enemy alone. If we need to retreat and buy time, we must do so decisively, waiting for our allies to arrive and cooperate. We must not advance too recklessly."

Chen Dao and Tian Yu received the order, and Guan Yu hastily assigned them to Chen Dao to command the small boat troops that could go directly north through the Yuliangzhou waterway to intercept the enemy as soon as possible. Tian Yu led the large ships that needed to take a detour, and Guan Yu led the land forces himself.

Among them, the team led by Chen Dao had about six to seven thousand people, the team led by Tian Yu had more than ten thousand people, and the infantry led by Guan Yu himself had about twenty thousand people.

This kind of division of forces was originally quite risky, and it was easy for the enemy to defeat them one by one. But now the enemy was also in a hurry to retreat and escape, so the risk was not so great if they were to disperse.

(End of this chapter)