The Three Kingdoms become stronger when they get treasures

Chapter 162 The Fall of Fan City
After the archers on the city wall quickly shot three arrows, they quickly withdrew and retreated to the south of the city together with the archers in the city.

Zhang Wu saw that the soldiers had all retreated, and Cao Jun's soldiers began to climb up the city wall, so he ordered to light it.Hay and dry firewood were piled under the catapult, and kerosene was poured on the catapult and dry wood. After Xing Daorong heard the order, he arranged for the soldiers to light the fire quickly, and then retreated quickly.

Suddenly, the flames rose, and more than 100 catapults formed a wall of fire, blocking Cao Jun's pursuit.The Jingzhou Army had already boarded a ship and left Fancheng under the support of the Xiangyang Navy.

After nearly a month, Cao Cao finally occupied the military center of Fancheng, across the river from Xiangyang.

Inside Xiangyang Taishou's mansion, Zhang Fei anxiously said to Liu Bei: "Brother, I heard that Fancheng has been lost, Dudu Zhang has retreated to Xiangyang, Cao Cao's army will arrive soon, what should we do?"

Liu Bei was also a little anxious, he knew how powerful Cao Cao was, he took care of all the little friends back then, and now he was going to fight again in Xiangyang, and little Adou was still young.If Zhang Wu couldn't defend Xiangyang, with Cao Cao's hatred for him, his family might not be able to escape when the city was destroyed.

"Mr. Kong Ming, what do you think?" Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang.

"Don't worry, my lord. Although Dudu Zhang lost Rangcheng and Fancheng one after another, it was because the land in the north of the river was conducive to the attack of Cao Cao's army. It was difficult for Jingzhou infantry to resist Cao's elite infantry. However, Xiangyang is different from Fancheng. It is located in the south of the Han River. Surrounded by water and surrounded by mountains, Cao Cao must first solve the problem of crossing the river if he wants to attack the city with his army. Based on the strategy of Shi Yuan and Yuan Zhi, Liang thought that Dudu Zhang must have voluntarily abandoned Fancheng and implemented a strategy to lure the enemy."

"Oh? In this way, Dudu Zhang has a plan to defeat the enemy?" Liu Bei asked happily. Now Liu Bei still takes defeating Cao Cao and saving the emperor as his primary goal.

"It's hard to say. After all, Cao's army is powerful, and Cao Cao has used troops for many years. Xun You, Cheng Yu and others are also resourceful men. Although they will not risk crossing the river to attack Xiangyang, they will definitely not withdraw their troops easily."

Zhang Fei said: "I heard that Cao Jun also has tens of thousands of sailors. Those who train in that big pond, don't they dare to go into the water and fight?"

Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "How can the navy trained in the pond compare with the navy on the big river? Cao Cao's tens of thousands of sailors are facing Xiangyang's [-] navy, and until now they only dare to operate on the shore. If they dare If you drive to the center of the big river, you may have to feed the fish." You northern landlubbers, how do you know the dangers on the water? It is not possible to rely on a large number of people.

No matter how fierce the general is, if he doesn't know how to swim, he will die if he falls into the water.A fierce general like Pang De was captured alive by Zhou Cang after falling into the water.

"So, Cao Cao has nothing to do with Xiangyang?"

"Cao Cao's biggest difficulty is the excessive consumption of food and grass. If there are no other accidents, Cao Cao's army will not be able to last long."

Zhuge Liang's analysis is good, Cao Cao is facing two major problems at the moment.

One is the problem of food consumption.It has been more than a month since the army conquered Jingzhou. Although Rangcheng and Fancheng were successively captured and the territory north of the Han River was occupied, the battle line was longer and the consumption of food and grass supplies was even greater.

According to the records of "The Second Year of Emperor Wen of the Former Han Dynasty": "Today, for a family of five farmers, there are no more than two authors who serve them, and those who can cultivate no more than a hundred mu. The harvest of a hundred mu is no more than three hundred stones." The mu here is Small acres, the number of acres cultivated by a labor force in the Han Dynasty was more than 14 mu, and the annual grain output was about 140 catties per city mu, so a labor force produced about 2000 catties of grain per year.The total population of the territory Cao Cao occupied at this time was only 400 million. Excluding soldiers and people from aristocratic families, how many pure laborers could farm the land?Now Cao Jun eats horse chews and transports them on the road. It costs more than 300 million catties every day. This month, it will be nearly [-] million catties. I really can't afford it.

Another problem is that the army can't cross the river, and the air can't attack Xiangyang.Although there are sailors in our own army, they are not opponents of the Jingzhou navy, and have been suppressed on the shore and dare not go out.

Therefore, Cao Cao did not dare to take the risk of crossing the river even if he ran out of food and grass every day.Since the expedition, through the battle between Rangcheng and Fancheng, Cao's army has lost 6 to [-] horses. If Xiangyang can be captured, it is worthwhile to die another [-], but I am afraid that before Xiangyang is touched, the army will be buried in the belly of the fish up.

In the original book, Cao Cao was really lucky. Before the army arrived, Liu Cong was so frightened by Cai Hao and Kuai Yue's alliance with several big families that he surrendered.Cao Cao easily occupied Xiangyang, Jiangling and other important towns in Jingzhou without bloodshed, and then the four counties in Jingnan also passed on. At that time, Huang Zhong was nominally Cao Cao's subordinate.

If Liu Cong did not surrender, although Cai Mao had no skills, at least he was better than Xiahou Dun, Zhang Liao and others in water warfare, and Kuai Yue was also a first-class strategist. It is really hard to say whether Cao Jun can cross the river.If Liu Bei led his army into the city when Wei Yan opened the city gate, first cleared Cai Mao and others, and then held on to Xiangyang City, with Zhuge Liang's ability, he would definitely be able to hold on until Liu Qi led the Jiangxia navy to help.At that time, first cut off Cao Jun's retreat on the water, and then call in reinforcements from Nanjun and the four counties of Jingnan. With the combination of inside and outside, Cao Cao might not be able to safely withdraw to Xudu.

It's a pity that after Cao Cao's super god start, the waves flew up, which eventually led to a wave of annihilation and almost pushed the crystal.What's even more pitiful is that Cai Maoman thought that he would be more brilliant after taking refuge in Faxiao, but in the end he was hacked.

Now Cao Cao is not so lucky. This 30 army is the most elite main force under Cao Cao's command. If this battle is defeated, it will not be able to recover within ten years, and the dream of unifying the world will not be realized. .

"What clever plan do you guys have? The army can't stay in Fancheng all the time." Cao Cao called all the generals and advisers to discuss military affairs.

Seeing that everyone is silent, Cao Cao also knows that this problem is not easy to solve. That Zhang Wu made it clear that he used the Han River to block Cao Jun’s attack. In fact, he didn't have much loss when he was defeated. Although Jingzhou has a small population, it is still very easy to recruit tens of thousands of soldiers.

If Cao Cao can't afford it and retreats, will he stay in Fancheng with an army?If you leave too much food and grass, it will not be easy to supply, and if you leave too little, it may be taken back by Zhang Wu.The next time I come to conquer Jingzhou, I have to go through it all over again!
Zhang Wu is indeed more difficult to deal with than Yuan Shao. He knows his strengths and weaknesses. He just doesn't come out to fight Cao Jun on land, and has been relying on defending the city to consume Cao Jun.And on the water, as long as Cao Jun's navy dared to leave the shore a little bit, they would pounce on them like wild dogs. It's really shameless!

(End of this chapter)