The Three Kingdoms become stronger when they get treasures

Chapter 178

As soon as this remark came out, Cao Cao was taken aback. At this time, the main force was here, not to mention Hefei, even Xu Du was empty of troops. If Sun Quan really went to attack Hefei, it would be a big trouble.

But will Sun Quan really play Hefei?Are we not allied?You Sun Quan thinks that you have never beaten Zhang Wu, not only did you not make a profit but also suffered a little loss, you want to vent your anger on me, thinking that I am easy to bully!

"Gongda, Sun Quan just formed an alliance with us, is he going to back out so soon?" Cao Cao asked.

"Prime Minister, this is just a worry of mine, but Zhang Wu has a good saying. There are neither eternal friends nor eternal enemies in this world, only eternal interests. Sun Quan's alliance with us is for interests and for conspiracy. Jiangxia and Nanjun are now unable to achieve this goal. With Zhou Yu's wisdom, I am afraid he will take a more beneficial approach to them. Jiangdong has been plotting Hefei for a long time, and now is a good opportunity, so we must guard against it!"

Cao Cao is not only a military strategist, but also a statesman. He is also very familiar with this set, knowing that what Xun You said is very reasonable. If he were Sun Quan, he would probably do the same thing.When Yuan Shao's second son was killed, he also fought Yuan Shang with Yuan Tan first, and then killed Yuan Tan.

This is the so-called alliance. You never know when the other party will tear up the alliance and stab you in the back, so this kind of alliance can never really work together.

Xun You's remarks were also approved by Cheng Yu and Sima Yi. They also believed that they would rather believe what they had than not believe what they had. If Hefei was taken over by Sun Quan, the impact would be quite great.

The first is to lose a grain producing area, which will make the Cao Cao Group's economic situation very bad.

Secondly, it is even more impossible to attack Jiangdong.Now Jiangdong's main line of defense is the Yangtze River, but the Yangtze River is too long, it is impossible for the Jiangdong Army to fortify everywhere, and there is still pressure to defend.It would be much easier if the line of defense was moved north to the Huaihe River.

Finally, Shouchun and Runan will be threatened by Jiangdong's army, which will contain a large number of Cao's troops.

So from the beginning to the end, Cao Cao attached great importance to Hefei, and even sent two of the "Five Good Generals" to guard Hefei.As long as Sun Quan cannot take Hefei, he will not be able to carry out the Northern Expedition for a day, and he can only be suppressed in the south. Even if he used despicable means to capture Jingzhou, he would not be able to move forward until the end of Soochow.

"Since this is the case, what measures should we take to deal with it?" Cao Cao asked again, but he knew that Hefei was not only short of troops, but also had no generals to guard it.

I thought I could capture Jingzhou in one fell swoop this time, and then go to Jiangdong. How dare Jiangdong go to fight Hefei again, and beg for mercy. Who knew that so many soldiers died without even touching the city wall of Xiangyang.

It's like spending a lot of money without even holding the girl's hand!
Xun You said: "This place is far away from Hefei, and there are mountains in the middle. It is too late to send troops to rescue. For the current plan, we can only send a small number of elite cavalry to help. Although the Jiangdong Army has many troops, they are not good at infantry. Hefei is far away from the river. Far away, the Jiangdong army must disembark and land to attack the city. Liu Fu, the governor of Yangzhou, has done a great deal of kindness and enlightenment, and the people love him very much. Don't drive Yangzhou. As soon as the reinforcements arrive, the Jiangdong Army will surely retreat."

After Cao Cao heard this, he felt that this was the only way to go. He and Liu Fu were also old friends. He knew Liu Fu's ability. Although he was not good at fighting, he was still good at civil affairs. Still have confidence.

"Okay, Miaocai!"

Xia Houyuan stood up and replied, "The end is here."

"Immediately lead a thousand tigers and leopards to ride lightly on the road and rush to help Hefei in the starry night. If Hefei has not fallen, you don't have to enter the city. You just attack the Jiangdong Army outside the city so that they cannot attack the city with all their strength. If Hefei has fallen, then retreat. Shouchun, wait for my army to arrive."

"The last general takes the order!" Xia Houyuan took the order and went, summoning the cavalry to support Hefei.From here to Hefei, you have to go back to Wancheng first, and then pass through Runan. The journey is very long, and Xia Houyuan, a cavalry general who is good at running thousands of miles, is suitable.

It is recorded in "Book of Wei" that Yuan was a general, and when he went to urgent illnesses, he often caught the enemy by surprise. Therefore, there is a saying in the army: Xia Houyuan, the captain of Dianjun, has five or six hundred in three days and one thousand in six days.

The tiger and leopard cavalry is also the elite of Cao Jun's cavalry, and the ace troop in Cao Cao's hands. When chasing Liu Bei in the original book, he once "traveled three hundred miles a day and night".What this army is best at doing is to run thousands of miles and win more with less. It has made innumerable contributions to Cao Cao's southern and northern wars and the elimination of many princes.It is also because this cavalry unit is so powerful that Cao Cao never let generals with foreign surnames lead it. The current leader of the tiger and leopard cavalry is Cao Chun, a general of the Cao clan.

Although Xia Houyuan's surname is not Cao, he is actually Cao Cao's cousin, so he can also lead tigers and leopards to fight. After he led the army to set off, he didn't dare to delay at all along the way. Sometimes he even ate on horseback.

Afterwards, Cao Cao ordered Zhang He to lead [-] cavalry as the second batch of rescue troops and set off soon.As soon as the cavalry arrived, Sun Quan and the Jiangdong army had to obediently board the boat and hide. This is the power of the cavalry.Just as Cao Cao's army dared not go ashore to fight Sun Quan in the water no matter how many troops there were, no amount of Jiangdong's army dared to go ashore to fight Cao Cao's cavalry in the field.

Therefore, Cao Cao had to send reinforcements quickly. Even if the reinforcements failed to catch up and Sun Quan took Hefei, as long as the Jiangdong navy did not block the Huaihe River in time, Cao Jun could still take Hefei back.Facing the siege of Cao Jun's infantry, even Zhang Wu finally gave up Fancheng, and he did not believe that Sun Quan could withstand it.

After dispatching reinforcements, Cao Cao began to discuss with the generals and counselors about retreating. At this time, it was impossible not to retreat.The water army is finished, there is no hope of crossing the river, food and grass are consumed too much, and more and more soldiers in the army are getting sick.At the beginning, the climate was not acclimatized, and it would not infect people. Now that the weather is getting hotter, the plague has started to appear. If we don't withdraw our troops and Zhang Wu doesn't attack, we will die.

Cao Cao summed up the experience and lessons of this Southern Expedition. The biggest mistake was insufficient preparation and insufficient ideological attention. There were very serious subjectivism and formalism, and he did not have an in-depth understanding of the southern climate, water and soil, and water warfare. , Comprehensive understanding.Since the elimination of Yuan Shao and the great victory of unifying the north, the whole group has a kind of pride, complacency and carelessness, and has not fully realized the complexity and variability of the struggle among the princes under the current new situation. .

It is not so easy for the army to retreat. It may turn into a rout. Once the 20 army panics, no one can control it.

However, this was all child's play for Cao Cao. After all, although the water battle was defeated, the main force was basically not lost. After the powerful cavalry was defeated, Zhang Wu did not dare to lead his army to pursue.

(End of this chapter)