Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Chapter 93 East-West Coordination
Wei State, Chenliu County.

After Cao Rui entrusted all matters in Luoyang to Wei Zhen, the first stop of his southern tour was Chenliu.

It took the emperor five days to travel from Luoyang to Chenliu.

After all, they were marching within the borders, and Cao Rui was escorted by only 5,000 cavalrymen under Cao Hong. The remaining 45,000 central troops had been led south by Cao Zhen several days in advance.

When the army is on the march, food and supplies are naturally the top priority. The logistics of an army of more than 40,000 people naturally have to be transported along the river.

To the south of Luoyang are Luo River and Yi River. Along the Luo River, it flows into the Yellow River, then into the Wo River through the canal, and then flows south into the Huai River, and finally converges in Shouchun, Yangzhou, where Cao Xiu was.

After Cao Rui arrived in Chenliu City, the ministers around him began to deal with the military affairs that had accumulated over the past few days.

The Eastern Wu had already launched a tentative attack, and the location of this attack was quite similar to the location mentioned in Zhou Cang's letter of false surrender.

According to Zhou Cang's letter, Sun Quan would send Lü Fan and Sun Shao to attack Guangling, Quan Cong and Zhu Huan to attack Hefei, Bu Zhi and Zhu Ran to attack Xiangyang, and Lu Xun and Pan Zhang to attack Meifu.

Now news has come from Chen Qun in Xiangyang and Wen Pin in Jiangxia that an unknown number of Wu troops are active near the border, and there seems to be a possibility of attacking to the north.

As the emperor, Cao Rui came to Chenliu and naturally requisitioned the prefectural governor's mansion in Chenliu as his residence. At this time, there were as many as six people around Cao Rui who were planning and advising him.

Cao Zhen had already led his troops south in advance, so Sima Yi naturally followed Cao Rui at this time.

Four attendants, Liu Ye, Xin Pi, Huang Quan, and Chen Jiao, also went south with Cao Rui. The attendants were supposed to accompany the emperor and provide him with advice. Since he was already on a southern tour, why would the attendants stay in Luoyang? They all went south together.

In addition to the above five people, the Central Guard General Jiang Ji is also with Cao Rui now. Jiang Ji is a talented person. This time, Wei wants to use troops in Yangzhou, and Jiang Ji is a key figure.

Jiang Ji's talent lies in his familiarity with the Yangzhou water system, and the smooth flow of water transportation is the guarantee for the use of troops in warfare.

As early as the sixth year of Huangchu, Emperor Cao Pi led his army to Guangling to show off his military power to Sun Quan across the Yangtze River. Although the arrival was smooth, when preparing to return north and passing through Jinghu Lake, thousands of ships were unable to move forward due to siltation.

At that time, the former Emperor Cao Pi was quite frustrated, and even wanted to imitate the actions of Emperor Wu Cao Cao when he retreated from the Battle of Chibi. He wanted to burn all the ships and then return to the capital by land.

In the end, Jiang Ji's suggestion was adopted. Jiang Ji ordered people to dig four or five waterways on the flat ground and build dams to intercept the lake water. He used the lake water to wash the ships into the Huai River, saving the country countless resources.

Cao Rui sat in the hall and looked at the six ministers sitting below: "In Xiangyang and Jiangxia, the Wu soldiers are already making tentative attacks."

"Sikong, what do you think should be done about this matter?"

Sima Yi cupped his hands and replied: "Your Majesty, Xiangyang and Jiangxia are not the battlefields planned for this time."

"If we defend the city and do not engage in battle with the Wu soldiers, then all of Dongwu's attention will be focused on Yangzhou."

"If a war breaks out between Xiangyang and Jiangxia, it will be disadvantageous to Wei. Dongwu relies on river transportation. Whether it gathers troops near Wancheng or Jiangxia, it will only take longer to transport them. It will not make any essential difference to Dongwu."

"In my opinion, since the Eastern Wu has launched an attack near Xiangyang and Jiangxia, we must fight, but we must fight on a small scale and not expand the battle in Jingzhou, so as not to disrupt the original strategy of the battle in Wancheng."

Cao Rui nodded: "That's right. Everyone else, what do you think?"

This was Jiang Ji's first time attending a meeting next to the emperor, so naturally he wanted to show off.

Jiang Ji said, "Your Majesty, I have something to say."

Cao Rui waved his hand and said, "We are discussing matters before the Emperor. Since I have asked, you can just state your opinion directly without asking for instructions first."

"I understand." Jiang Ji said with a folded hand: "I think that given the current situation in Jingzhou, it is difficult for Wu to capture Xiangyang and for Wei to capture Jiangling."

"In that case, can the foreign troops near Xiangyang be withdrawn to do something else?" After Jiang Ji spoke, he looked at the emperor's slightly frowning brows.

Cao Rui seemed to have thought of something and asked, "In the third year of Huangchu, we attacked Jiangling and besieged the city for half a year. How many troops did we use? I remember that the Dongwu army in Jiangling was led by Zhu Ran with 5,000 men, right?"

Sima Yi replied: "We sent more than 60,000 troops from the west, about 30,000 of which besieged Jiangling, and the remaining 30,000 fought in the vicinity of Jiangling."

Cao Rui asked: "If Wu's army attacks Xiangyang, and Xiangyang City is guarded by 5,000 soldiers like Jiangling in the past, how many people can take it down in three months?"

Xiangyang? Sima Yi thought for a moment and said, "If we want to defend Xiangyang for three months, it will be difficult to capture it without more than 30,000 troops."

"Your Majesty, do you want to transfer the General of the Cavalry to go east along the Han River?"

Cao Rui nodded slightly.

If we do not count the people who settled in the inland counties, the total military strength of Wei State currently reaches 300,000.

But even such a huge number of 300,000 seemed a little stretched once it was dispersed across the vast territory of Wei.

Of the 300,000 troops, 50,000 were from the Luoyang Central Army and 100,000 were from the various counties. In contrast to the Central Army, the troops stationed on the border were called the Foreign Army. The total number of Foreign Army troops was actually only 150,000.

There were 20,000 foreign troops in Yongliang, 10,000 in Hebei, 40,000 in Jingzhou, and the remaining 80,000 were stationed in Yangzhou and surrounding states.

This time, Cao Rui led the entire 50,000-strong Luoyang central army southward, plus the 80,000 foreign troops that Cao Xiu had already assembled in Shouchun, a total of 130,000 people.

If the available troops from the five states of Qing, Xu, Yang, Yu and Yan are included, we can still squeeze out about 40,000 troops.

One hundred and seventy thousand troops, including fifty thousand central troops, eighty thousand external troops, and forty thousand soldiers from prefectures and counties. These were all the forces Cao Rui could mobilize on the southeastern front this time.

But this is just data on paper. The actual troop strength calculation is probably much less.

Shouchun City needs to be defended, right? Hefei City needs to be defended, right? Naval transport and food and fodder logistics all need to be divided, right?

The maximum number of field troops that can be mobilized is 150,000, which is basically the same as the number when Cao Rui and his ministers were planning in Luoyang last month.

Although this number is greater than Sun Quan's "hundred thousand troops", Sun Quan has the great advantage of occupying the Yangtze River and can transport troops conveniently along the river.

To the extent that Sun Quan could often gather 100,000 troops on a local battlefield.

Cao Wei's territorial population was much larger than Sun Quan's, but at this time it could only send 150,000 troops to Yangzhou.

At the end of the seventh year of Huangchu, there is no illusion of being able to push forward to the end by relying on the advantage of military strength.

The only way is to use slightly more troops and deploy them in a solid manner in order to win the battle on the battlefield.

In the most ideal case, with 150,000 versus 100,000, a few extra troops or a few less will often determine the outcome.

There were a total of 40,000 foreign troops in Jingzhou, of which Jiangxia had about 15,000 and Xiangyang had about 20,000.

If we could withdraw troops from Xiangyang to reinforce Jiangxia during the battle in Wancheng, we could then let Wen Pin threaten Wuchang directly along the Han River from Jiangxia.

Wuchang is the capital of Eastern Wu!
Cao Rui looked at Sima Yi and said, "Do you think you can attack Wuchang from Jingzhou?"

Sima Yi thought for a moment and said, "Sending troops from Jingzhou to Wuchang is certainly feasible."

"But if Your Majesty is in Shouchun and the General of the Cavalry is in Xiangyang, the battlefield changes rapidly and the news is often not transmitted in time."

"How to ensure that Jingzhou's troops can be dispatched to Wuchang at the same time as Your Majesty's troops are dispatched to Wancheng? I think this is the most difficult thing."

Huang Quan, who was sitting nearby, also spoke up at this time: "If the General of Cavalry had arrived in Wuchang earlier, it is very likely that Sun Quan would not have planned to use troops in Wancheng and would have turned his entire army from Wancheng to attack Wuchang."

"If the General of the Cavalry arrives in Wuchang later, he will not be able to help the war in Yangzhou."

"It would be best if the two places could fight at the same time, so that Sun Quan would be unable to take care of both ends."

Cao Rui said: "This is also what I am worried about. However, as for Jingzhou, I think it would be good if it could help the battlefield in Yangzhou. If there is no time to coordinate, it is inevitable."

According to the current military situation, Cao Wei controls the Huai River and Eastern Wu controls the Yangtze River. Cao Wei and Eastern Wu are fighting in the Hefei-Ruxu area between the Huai River and the Yangtze River.

Since there was no area along the river for ship construction and docking, it was difficult to challenge the Wu army's navy in the direction of Yangzhou.

But in Jingzhou, Xiangyang has ships, at least five hundred!
"Sikong, draft an order for me and send it to the General of Cavalry. Ask him to make a careful plan on how many ships and troops he can dispatch if he goes south to Jiangxia."

Sima Yi immediately accepted the order.

Cao Rui actually quite likes the current discussion atmosphere among his ministers.

In other words, the six talented men headed by Sima Yi, who accompanied him to advise on military affairs, made Cao Rui feel like he also had a "general staff".

The so-called imperial court was just a ruling center located in the capital and centered around the emperor.

Now the emperor led the central army to leave Luoyang for a southern tour. Due to this geographical barrier, the court was naturally divided into two parts.

The first part is now led by Wei Zhen, who stays in Luoyang to be responsible for the normal operation of state affairs and to uniformly requisition materials for the front-line war.

The second part is now led by the emperor himself, and is the decision-making center for military and national affairs. This part is now in Chenliu City, and will reach Qiao County in a few days, and will reach Shouchun in a few days.

Separating decision-making from execution, the emperor was firmly in control of the decision-making. Cao Rui was actually strengthening the power around the emperor through the war against Wu.

Sima Yi, Liu Ye, Xin Pi, Huang Quan, Chen Jiao, and Jiang Ji.

These people are now always by the emperor's side. Should we give these six people's "institution" a name?
(End of this chapter)