My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 681 Cai Mao: I could have won, but my teammates kept giving away heads

After Zhuge Jin's advice, Guan Yu's originally confused thoughts gradually became clear.

We quickly sorted out how to fight in the next stage and how to summarize and distinguish the priorities.

Once his worries were gone, Guan Yu was no longer nervous and insomniac. After drinking a few cups of wine with Zhuge Jin, he fell asleep as soon as he returned to the tent. His sleep quality was surprisingly good.

When he woke up the next day, Guan Yu felt refreshed. After stretching his muscles a little, he received a report from his subordinates saying that Lu Yi and Han Dang, who were chasing the remaining enemies, had cleaned up the battlefield, counted the warships and captured spoils, and returned to the camp.

Guan Yu stroked his beard, tidied his appearance, and then received Lu Yi and Han Dang with dignity and satisfaction.

"Thank you for your hard work! This battle has greatly defeated Cao's navy, which is enough to establish our victory in Nanyang. When we recover Fancheng and Wancheng, you will all be great contributors!"

Lu Yi and Han Dang thanked him profusely, and then began to report their military exploits, saying that they had captured more than 4,000 enemies and accepted their surrender, and seized more than 60 warships.

Among them, there are nearly twenty large and medium-sized warships such as fighting ships and battleships, and the rest are small boats.

When reporting these figures, Lu and Han's emotions inevitably became more and more excited. At the end, they naturally asked Guan Yu what to do with these captured warships.

Guan Yu had already figured out the answer last night, so he stroked his beautiful beard and said calmly and mysteriously, "Search all the empty hulls of the burned ships and let them float downstream and return them to Cao Ren!"

Han Dang was shocked when he heard this, and couldn't understand why he should "aid the enemy".

Lu Yi, however, reacted faster than him. After a moment's thought, he immediately felt that he had guessed Guan Yu's thoughts, and hurriedly said half from the bottom of his heart and half in flattery:

"General Wei is indeed far-sighted! Cao Ren is hiding in Fancheng. If he loses his warships, he will definitely hold on to the end. If he is really surrounded in the future and his support is cut off and his military supplies are insufficient, he will choose to break out by land warfare.

Now we leave him some boats to give him something to think about, and also to induce his army to waver in morale and make him reluctant to give up this water escape route. When the time comes, he will be distracted and weak, which will be just the right time for our army to defeat the enemy!
If we can do this one or two more times, and send thousands of people out each time for our army to annihilate, it will be much more convenient than hiding in a strong city and fighting a war of attrition!"

Lu Yi's deduction made Guan Yu nod his head frequently, and he looked at this young man with a higher opinion of him.

Lu Yi's idea was not exactly the same as Zhuge Jin's, but there were some key points that coincided with each other. They both hoped to give Cao's army hope of a waterway breakout, so that Cao's army would be confused and unable to work together.

But Lu Yi thought about more details and lacked a global perspective. He was still focusing on "how to come more times and trick Cao Ren into sending thousands of people to die each time."

After all, if you expect the enemy to deliver heads to you, you have to leave enough means of transportation for the enemy to deliver heads.

Otherwise, even if the enemy general has the qualifications to be a transport captain, he will be unable to do anything without the right ingredients.

Guan Yu didn't dwell on these details, so he quickly changed the subject and reminded Lu Yi from another angle:
"Although we won a great victory in yesterday's battle, we should not underestimate the enemy. Yesterday, our army was just sailing on dry land and suddenly appeared, catching Cao Cao off guard.

Cao Cao was eager to counterattack as soon as possible while our army was still unstable, and because our army cut off the communication between Fancheng and Xinye, the enemy army was unable to contact the other armies in time to rush to the battlefield together, and was ambushed and defeated.

However, Cao's navy in Xinye will not be idle either. They may appear sooner or later. By then, our army will not have the advantage of water and fire attacks, but will have to bear the situation where the enemy has the advantage of upstream. Boyan must be careful. "

Guan Yu's advice was partly his own thinking, and partly his thinking was based on Zhuge Jin's help in his reconsideration of the situation last night.

Outsiders may not understand these words at first, but Lu Yi and others have no difficulty understanding them.

To put it bluntly, when Lu Yi's navy suddenly appeared in the Baihe River, the Cao army in the north and south would of course soon know of Lu Yi's appearance and existence. This could not be concealed.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, the enemy forces in both the north and south directions would likely send troops to counterattack and try to nip Lu Yi in the bud, whether it was Cao Ren in Fancheng in the south or Xu Huang and Cai Mao in Xinye in the north.

But the problem is that in the ancient war environment, communication conditions were very backward.

After all, Fancheng and Xinye are more than a hundred miles apart, and Fancheng has been heavily surrounded by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei on land. Not even a single scout can get out, so no one can deliver the letter on horseback.

As for communicating through the Baihe waterway, this trick could have been done by Cao Ren and Xu Huang. They often sent out several patrol boats to send messages. When Guan Yu did not have a navy, he could not block the communication lines on the river.

But when Lu Yi suddenly descended from the sky and appeared in the Baihe River with hundreds of small boats, this originally relatively stable communication line was completely cut off.

Cao Ren was anxious and had to hurry, so he couldn't agree on a date with Cai Mao in the north to ensure that they arrived at the battlefield at the same time and attack Lu Yi from both the north and the south.

He could only hastily send Zhuge Qian to attack the enemy before they had a firm foothold, hoping that Cai Mao would be more self-conscious and seize the opportunity more accurately, and it would be best if they could arrive at the battlefield "at the same time" without any prior arrangement.

Facts have proved that Cai Mao, a hesitant man, failed to seize the opportunity to fight, and gave Lu Yi the opportunity to fight south first and then north, splitting one battle into two.

Guan Yu's reminder was also to hope that Lu Yi would not be complacent after winning a game, but to continue to be vigilant and be prepared for the second wave of counterattack that might come at any time.

In particular, Guan Yu also knew that the victory in yesterday's battle was not only due to Lu Yi's on-the-spot command and Han Dang's brave fighting, but also due to two important off-the-board factors.

The first was the Fancheng navy led by Zhuge Qian, which came upstream from the lower reaches. In the combat environment of Baihe River, Cao's army had to bear a disadvantage in speed and maneuverability.

Secondly, before yesterday's battle, Guan Yu had several days to rebuild the water storage cofferdams on the depressions on both sides of the Baihe River, storing water for several days. This allowed him to release a wave of water at the moment of the enemy's attack, speeding up the charge of the upstream navy, allowing Lu Yi's fire ships to quickly approach Zhuge Qian's large ships during the sprint phase, leaving the enemy no way to escape.

Without this off-court advantage, the success rate of yesterday's fire attack would definitely be greatly reduced.

With the demise of Zhuge Qian, although the strength of Cao's navy was greatly damaged, Zhuge Qian also risked his life to step on the minefield and consumed the two moves that Guan Yu had arranged in advance.

When Cai Mao came again later, he was the one who had the advantage of the upstream, and Guan Yu had no time to store and release water to create an advantage before the battle.

Lu Yi must fight Cai Mao in a fair fight, or even suffer the consequences.

Lu Yi was also a man who was well versed in strategy. He was too busy last night and did not think of this for a while. After being reminded by Guan Yu, he immediately sorted out the situation and understood the changes in the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and us.

After pondering for a while, Lu Yi regained his composure and assured calmly: "General Wei's reminder is indeed a golden word. I will definitely keep it in mind and always be on guard against it.

However, the threat from Cai Mao in Xinye is no longer a threat. I do not need the advantage of fire or water, nor do I need the advantage of upstream. As long as he dares to come, we can defeat him in a fair fight."

Guan Yu heard him speak seriously and did not suspect Lu Yi of being arrogant.

Afterwards, Lu Yi also appropriately analyzed the actual changes in the enemy's and our own strengths, confirming his own guess.

Because of the demise of Zhuge Qian in yesterday's battle, Lu Yi had already "helped the enemy" with so many large and medium-sized warships. Now Lu Yi had upgraded his weapons to better ones. He estimated his own strength and believed that he could fight a tough battle.

To put it bluntly, Cao Ren and Zhuge Qian, because they underestimated the enemy and launched a hasty attack, played the role of "transport captain" and helped Lu Yi upgrade his equipment.

If Zhuge Qian had not given his lives to help Lu Yi upgrade his equipment, and if Cai Mao had come directly from upstream, with Lu Yi's real strength at that time, he might not have been able to defeat Cai Mao.

After listening to Lu Yi's report, Guan Yu quickly inspected the situation of the naval officers and soldiers and confirmed that the morale of the soldiers was indeed high and their fighting spirit was high. He no longer worried and let Lu Yi perform on his own.

……

It’s true, Zhuge Jin’s worries and Lu Yi’s deductions were soon realized.

Because just one and a half days after Lu Yi and Han Dang killed Zhuge Qian, a navy of Cao's army came from the upstream direction of Xinye to launch a tentative attack, and the leader of the troops was none other than Cai Mao.

There is no doubt that Cai Mao reacted too slowly, and in fact he was forced to fight by Xu Huang. The two sides argued for a long time, and Cai Mao always felt that the pre-war preparations were not solid enough, and he didn't know when Cao Ren in the south would take action. In the end, he was slow to act.

When Cai Mao led Cao's navy stationed in Xinye to the battlefield, Lu Yi had already urgently incorporated some of the captured large ships and upgraded their equipment. The two sides fought a tough battle on the Baihe River, and there was nothing fancy about the process that was worth describing.

The fierce battle lasted for most of the day and ended with Cai Mao's defeat, with the loss of about two thousand naval soldiers.

Cai Mao's losses were not great. Compared with Zhuge Qian, his losses were less than one-third of Zhuge Qian's.

But this does not mean that Cai Mao fought well, but that Lu Yi did not have the advantage of fire and water to use. It was difficult to achieve a devastating victory in a narrow river channel by relying on frontal fighting.

In addition, although Cai Mao had no other skills, he was good at knowing when to stop when things were going well and when things were not going well. As soon as he saw that the situation was not right and he could not take advantage, he decisively sold out his teammates and retreated.

After retreating, Cai Mao returned to Xinye and met Xu Huang and Jia Xu, and he completely shirked the responsibility for his defeat.

From the beginning to the end he only said, "I only hate that ignorant Zhuge Qian who gave away his head, causing Lu Yi to become stronger and stronger. If Zhuge Qian had not given away his head first, maybe I could have won the battle today."

Cai Mao's words were rough but reasonable, so Xu Huang and Jia Xu could not blame him and could only accept it.

At this point, Cao's army's attempt to reopen the Baihe waterway was completely over. Although Cao Ren had some warships that had escaped, they were no longer strong enough to fight and could only be used to break out in the future.

Of course, whether the breakout can be successful is hard to say, at least it is not up to Cao Ren alone to decide.

...After completely crushing Cao's army's attempt to seize control of the Baihe River, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei systematically intensified the war of attrition against Fancheng during the remaining days of November.

Previously, Cao's army still had 140,000 troops on the battlefield of Nanyang north of the Han River (excluding those who were surrounded by Yu Jin in Xiangyang).

The continued consumption of the Battle of Fancheng resulted in the loss of thousands of people. Zhuge Qian and Cai Mao were defeated in two naval battles by Lu Yi respectively, which resulted in the loss of more than 10,000 naval troops in total.

Now the total strength of Cao's army in northern Han has dropped to more than 120,000.

Among them, there are still 40,000 to 50,000 people on the Fancheng battlefield. The two important strongholds of Xinye and Wancheng each have 20,000 to 40,000 reserve combat forces that can be used for maneuver. The other surrounding counties and important passes have a total of more than 10,000 garrison troops.

Therefore, the fact that Fancheng's support route was cut off did not lead to Cao Ren's immediate collapse.

Originally, the dry season in December of winter was a time when shipping was more difficult. Before winter, Cao Ren had already stockpiled a lot of supplies and military equipment, and could withstand a continuous war of attrition.

Even if Lu Yi did not launch this battle to cut off the waterway in November, the shipping on the Baihe River would have been temporarily interrupted when the freezing period of December came.

The true power of Guan Yu in cutting off Cao Ren's support would not be revealed until the beginning of next spring.

Because according to the original progress, by the end of February or early March, when the spring rains caused the water level to recover and the frost was completely lifted, Cao Ren would continue to receive supplies from the rear. But now these long-term supplies are gone, and by March, the Fancheng defenders may collapse.

Of course, this does not mean that as long as Cao’s army does not collapse immediately, Lu Yi’s strategy of cutting off flights and supplies will be completely useless.

After all, humans are not machines. They will look forward to the future and have a confident expectation.

If every member of Cao's army could know that "as long as they continue to be besieged, they will surely die by March of next year", then many people who are not strong enough mentally would not be able to hold on until March, and they might collapse mentally at any time.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's continued siege and consumption of energy were causing more people in Cao's army to gradually recognize this reality, thus causing the army's morale to collapse ahead of time.

Cao Ren is now continuing to defend the city with all his might in order to boost morale, block the news, strengthen the confidence of the entire army and create a turning point.

The results will not be seen overnight. There is bound to be a long and arduous stalemate, and both sides have to do their best.

……

At the end of November, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei continued to destroy the moat of Fancheng to ensure that there would be more attack routes in the future, so as to avoid being hit by Cao Ren's trebuchets, blocking the attack roads at fixed points, and smashing Liu Bei's Ge Gong cars and ladders.

When Cao Ren first learned the news that Zhuge Qian had died in battle and Cai Mao had retreated, he also lamented and was angry at their lack of fighting spirit.

But despite his grief and indignation, the enemy did not give him much time to feel sad. On the third day after Zhuge Qian's death, Cao Ren was beaten so badly that he had to personally inspect the city, supervise the battle and defense, and continue to consume the city's defense equipment with Guan Yu.

Guan Yu's auxiliary troops expanded the river while filling it up, while using catapults to smash into Cao Ren's catapults.

Both sides consumed large amounts of military equipment and supplies every day. Since Cao Ren's support had been cut off, he had to be frugal with all military supplies.

The catapults were broken and could only be repaired and used as is, and their combat effectiveness was visibly declining.

This war of attrition continued for several days, and time quickly entered the twelfth lunar month.

Cao Ren saw no possibility of a turnaround and was inevitably anxious.

It was already the third day of the twelfth lunar month. After another day of attrition warfare, Cao Ren felt exhausted both physically and mentally, and the morale of his soldiers was terribly low.

He knew that this couldn't go on, so he somehow came to the place where Guo Jia was recuperating, wanting to see if Guo Jia had any other solutions.

Especially after the recent disastrous defeat of the Fancheng navy and the complete seizure of control over the Baihe River by the enemy, does Guo Jia have any tricks to crack it?

Guo Jia's condition has become increasingly serious. Recently, he has been unable to even get up and has basically been staying in bed all day, so he doesn't know much about news from the outside world.

When Guo Jia saw Cao Ren coming to visit, he was even a little surprised, because he didn't know to what extent the war situation had deteriorated.

"Zixiao came to visit suddenly. Could it be that the war situation is not going well again? Ahem, I just regret that my body is sick and I am afraid that I will never get better this time. Coughing, asthma and lung diseases make it difficult for me to survive the cold winter..."

Guo Jia sighed with an extremely haggard look on his face, as if he had guessed that something bad was going to happen.

Cao Ren also sighed, and told Guo Jia about the battles of the past few days, especially the defeat of Zhuge Qian and Cai Mao in the naval battle, and then asked for advice helplessly:

"Although the water supply has been cut off, it will not have an immediate effect, but in the long run, the situation is definitely not optimistic. It won't be long before Guan Yu will publicize this and undermine the morale of our army.

As long as the soldiers know that their support is cut off, they will be panicked and lose their fighting spirit. If this continues, how can Fancheng be defended? In the past few days, I have been thinking about how to break out, wondering if I can fight Guan Yu to the death while the morale is still high! Even if I can't win, I will take care of as many as I can get out.

But this matter is of great importance, and I am really unsure. That is why I came to consult with Feng Xiao to see if there is a better way. "

Cao Ren knew that if the current situation continued, it would be like boiling a frog in warm water.

Although continuing to drag on and relying on the consumption of the strong city could cause greater casualties to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but according to this tactic, when their morale is exhausted, they will not have the courage and endurance to fight to the death and break out. By then, they will be like a frog on the verge of being boiled to death, unable to jump at all.

If you want to break through, if you want to fight to the death and make a big move, you must do it before morale is exhausted.

In principle, Guo Jia agreed with Cao Ren's idea.

Guo Jia coughed a few times, sorted out his thoughts, and analyzed: "To fight to the death in order to break through, in this desperate situation, is in line with the right way of military strategy - I remember twelve years ago, when Zhuge Jin just defected to Liu Bei, Liu Bei and Guan Yu were besieged in Huaiyin by Yuan Shu's army, and they faced such a situation.

If Liu Bei had thought that he had only one month's worth of military rations left, and had defended Huaiyin City to the death to consume Ji Ling and Liu Xun, he could indeed have caused considerable casualties to Yuan Shu's army attacking the city, but what happened in the end? They still starved to death, or at least were too hungry to fight back and were destroyed in silence.

But Liu Bei borrowed Zhuge Jin's advice, sang and measured the sand, temporarily stabilized the morale, and then fought desperately, defeated Liu Xun, and defeated Ji Ling, which led to the later achievements. The situation our army is facing today is so similar! If we really wait until the spring to run out of supplies, we will not have the energy to break out even if we want to leave."

The examples Guo Jia cited were not quotations from classics, but they were also famous battle examples of the time. Cao Ren was also very familiar with those past events, so he felt very involved when listening to them.

After hearing this, Cao Ren couldn't help but take a few deep breaths and gritted his teeth and said, "Does Feng Xiao also advise me to break out immediately?"

Guo Jia thought for a while with a dazed look in his eyes, then shook his head: "Back in Huaiyin, Zhuge Jin didn't persuade Liu Bei and Guan Yu to immediately fight back against Yuan Shu, right?
Because he knew that when the news of the loss of Xia Pi was transmitted back to Huaiyin, Yuan Shu's army would be in high spirits and prepared. He had to wait until the enemy became complacent and did not think that a breakout would occur before suddenly breaking out. Only in this way would he have a chance of success.

It is the same today. Guan Yu knows that our army's water supply has just been cut off, so he will definitely be particularly wary of our breakout. So we must wait and continue to fight a war of attrition, at all costs, to survive this period and paralyze the enemy. Since ancient times, there have been thieves for a thousand days, but how can you guard against thieves for a thousand days? "

Cao Ren stroked his beard and thought about it. He felt that what Guo Jia said made sense and was somewhat at the level of Zhuge Jin. He should be able to match the enemy on equal terms.

After Cao Ren accepted this idea, he asked, "What do you think is the best time for our army to break out? We must have a plan."

Guo Jia racked his brains for a long time, and it seemed that he had squeezed out all his potential. Finally, he had a flash of inspiration and came up with an idea:

"It's hard to say the exact date. Will the enemy be on guard for ten days, or twenty days? Given Zhuge Jin's caution, I really can't guess.

So instead of deciding by the day, it is better to look at other favorable conditions of time and place, and adapt to the situation. Once a certain time is met, the decision to break out can be triggered..."

Cao Ren became more and more absorbed in listening, and when he heard this, he immediately asked, "What specific time do we have to wait for?"

Guo Jia closed his eyes and uttered a few words slowly: "Wait for the heavy snow, wait for the Baihe River to freeze!"

Cao Ren was stunned, and then he roughly figured out the reason.

"Great! Guan Yu has surrounded Fancheng by land, and if we break out by land, we will have to go through a series of bloody battles.

But if one day in the future the Baihe River suddenly freezes over, although Lu Yi has gained the advantage of navigation on the river, all his warships will be frozen in the ice and he will be unable to move. Wouldn't that make him equal to our army?
Moreover, as long as the freezing comes quickly and suddenly, the enemy will not have time to set up camp on the ice and form a tight encirclement. Our army can march northward along the ice surface of the river and perhaps break out of the encirclement!"

After sorting out Guo Jia's thoughts, Cao Ren suddenly felt that he saw new hope.

Of course, heavy snow and freezing are not so easy to come by.

It is only the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, and it is not the coldest time of the year. Baihe is just on the north bank of the Han River, not very far north, and the freezing period of the year is very short. It is estimated that it may be possible to wait until at least the middle and late twelfth lunar month, or it may not be possible at all.

But Cao Ren had no choice. He had been planning to fight a war of attrition with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei anyway. In this case, he would continue to fight and attrition, and try to eliminate more enemy troops.

Once the opportunity comes, you can react flexibly and make a prompt decision to decide whether to take this step.

As for how many people could break out after taking this step, and whether it would be a good or bad outcome, that was not something Cao Ren could imagine.

(End of this chapter)