Chapter 126: Dividing Runan, Yuan Shu is confused When Liu Bei received Guan Yu's letter, he had actually entered Lujiang. This is also because of the crisscrossing water veins in Huainan. Although many tributaries have been cut off due to severe drought, the real main trunk of the Huaihe River is still there. From Chengde to the west, there is another lake called Wabu Lake. After crossing this lake, you will enter Lujiang. Liu Bei's troops originally wanted to support Guan Yu, but they did not expect to receive the victory report from Guan Yu as soon as they arrived here. Seeing that Guan Yu not only captured Xincai and captured the families of Yuan Shu's soldiers, but also obtained the imperial seal, Liu Bei was overjoyed and smiled at Qin Zhen: "The military advisor's prediction was correct. Yunchang has indeed captured Ruyin, Xincai and other cities, and has achieved complete success!" After Qin Zhen heard this and read the letter carefully, he shook his head and smiled: "I didn't expect this to happen, it's really a testament to the general's ability!" "If the general had not been so careful, he would never have been able to take the city and the imperial seal!" Having said this, looking at the two words "Wen Ji" that Guan Yu emphasized in the letter, he could not help but nodded secretly.

It seems that the Talent Recruitment Hall is still useful! Not only did he get Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng first, but now he has got Wen Ji. Speaking of the name Wen Ji, perhaps many people have never heard of it. But this man had a very famous grandson named Wen Yang, who was a famous enemy in the late Wei and early Jin dynasties! His son Wen Qin was one of the three generals who rebelled in Huainan and wanted to restore the Wei Kingdom. There are very few records about Wen Ji, only that he was brave and was a cavalry general under Cao Cao. However, since Wen Qin is famous as the son of a famous general, it can be seen that Wen Ji is also a rare military talent. Now they have enough soldiers and horses, but they lack generals! Having one more Wen Ji can also provide more help. While thinking, he suggested to Liu Bei: "It is this Wen Ji who was first valued by Yuan Zhi and now has the jade seal back. It can be seen that he is a talent that can be cultivated!" "After arriving in Xincai, the lord must reward him well, otherwise he will be ruined by his meritorious officials!" Liu Bei heard this, nodded and smiled: "This man is loyal and brave and should be promoted!" But then he wondered again: "But since Yunchang has already taken Xincai, he should have sent the money and food back as soon as possible. Why should we go there?" Because Qin Zhen urged him to return to Shouchun as soon as possible to govern the country, Old Liu was very eager to return home. Now hearing that Qin Zhen was going to march into Xincai, he naturally felt a little confused. After hearing this, Qin Zhen shook his head and said: "It is precisely at this time and that time that we are dredging the road, and General Guan has not yet taken Xincai, so we should provide support, collect money and food from Xincai, and resettle the people." "I think Yuan Shu knows this and will not dare to turn back when he sees Cao Cao holding him back!" "However, General Guan won a complete victory in this battle. He not only took money and food, but also captured Yuan Shu's family." "Yuan Shu still has troops at the moment. If he knew about this, he would definitely turn back. Cao Cao would probably follow him when he sees this!" "If the two families come at the same time, it will be difficult for General Guan to deal with it, regardless of whether he wins or loses. Therefore, he must go to Xincai first to see how the two families react before returning!"

To be honest, at this point in time, Qin Zhen actually doesn't want to run around anymore. I haven't seen my wife and children for a long time. Now that the situation is settled, I should return to Shouchun, take my wife and children south, farm and develop, and enjoy family happiness. But he didn't expect that Guan Yu would be so powerful this time. Not only did he take Xincai, he also captured Yuan Shu's family, and even stole the imperial seal, which was Yuan Shu's lifeblood! In this situation, Yuan Shu would definitely go crazy. Given his temperament, he might even turn his guns around and attack Xincai. But Yuan Shu is secondary. The key is to fear that Cao Cao will take advantage of the situation and attack Xincai! Against Yuan Shu, Guan Yu could still defend the city, but what would he do against Cao Cao? If Cao Cao moved out of the court and asked Guan Yu to hand over the imperial seal and money and grain, would Guan Yu resist or not? If we resist, that means we are rebelling against the imperial court. If we don’t resist, are we sending the peaches to Cao Cao? Therefore, at this time, Liu Bei needs to appear in person, otherwise the overall situation cannot be stabilized at all! Liu Bei looked embarrassed when faced with Qin Zhen's explanation. If Qin Zhen's words were true, he would probably have to meet Cao Cao this time. If it were in the past, he would naturally not be afraid of meeting Lao Cao. But now he wants to be independent, and Lao Cao represents the court. If he meets Lao Cao in person, how should he explain it? After thinking it over, he said to Qin Zhen: "How about transferring Yide to the west?" He thought that with insufficient troops and horses, he could not stand up straight, so he might as well transfer Zhang Fei from Shouchun to fight against Cao Cao. However, Qin Zhen smiled and said: "Why do you need to transfer Yide? Have you forgotten that Runan still has our army to support us?" "We can mobilize them to come here to strengthen our army's morale!" When Liu Bei heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said: "Military Advisor, are you talking about Liu Pi, Gong Du and other troops?" "It's Liu Pi, Gong Du and others!" Qin Zhen nodded and said leisurely: "The overall situation in Huainan has been decided, but the situation in Runan is still involved. Even if Cao Cao defeats Yuan Shu, he cannot eliminate him." "After this battle, Yuan Shu's retreat was blocked by our army, and he could only flee northeast to Runan." "Similarly, Cao Cao was unable to advance, and the autumn harvest was approaching, so he was unable to advance further and could only seize the areas west of Runan." "In this way, no one will be able to take the cities in southern Runan. This is a great opportunity for our army to seize this place." "You can ask Liu Pi, Gong Du and others to take Yichun, Ancheng and other places under our army's banner, and then go east to join our main force, connect Xincai, Ruyin and other places into a line, and share Runan with the other two families!" "This way, we can keep our army firmly in Runan and strengthen our army!" After hearing what Qin Zhen said, Liu Bei nodded repeatedly, thinking that this method was feasible! Now they, Cao Cao and Yuan Shu have all reached the end of their strength, and the situation in Runan is about to be determined. Now is a good time to grab territory. As long as Liu Pi, Gong Du and other troops are mobilized, we can help them seize territory.

It can also add a new force, which is killing two birds with one stone! With this in mind, Liu Bei hurriedly sent a letter westward, formally appointing Liu Pi as the captain of the bandit-suppressing army and promoting Gong Du to the rank of captain, and ordering the two to lead all their troops eastward. At the same time, he quickened his pace and headed towards Xincai. At this time, in Pingyu City, just as Qin Zhen had inferred, Yuan Shu was on the verge of going crazy. The way things developed was because Cao Cao listened to Guo Jia's suggestion and returned to Shangcai. Because Cao Cao had heard that Liu Bei had already reached the city of Shouchun, he was anxious and wanted to defeat Yuan Shu quickly. So, following Guo Jia's suggestion, he turned back and attacked Shangcai. After hearing the news, Yuan Shu hesitated for a while, and finally rejected Yan Xiang's suggestion to attack Cao Cao's rear with all his strength, and adopted Yang Hong's strategy. On the one hand, he sent Sun Xiang to reinforce Shangcai, and on the other hand, he sent Li Ye to attack Xiahou Yuan fiercely, attempting to counterattack with the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao. However, Cao Cao seized the opportunity, lured Sun Xiang into the city, showed weakness to the enemy, and pretended to return to reinforce Xiahou Yuan. Sun Xiang, Le Jiu and others fell into the trap and went out of the city to fight, but were defeated and returned. After this victory, Cao Cao was unwilling to miss the opportunity and urged his soldiers to attack Shangcai fiercely. At this time, Yuan Shu was faced with two choices again. One was to abandon Nandun, withdraw all troops, and fight Cao Cao to the death in Shangcai. The second is to take the enemy by surprise, abandon Pingyu, and unexpectedly go upstream to attack Dingying, where Cao Cao stored grain! Naturally, these two options were offered by Yan Xiang to Yuan Shu. Because in his opinion, in this situation, if he wanted to win, he had to give Cao Cao some explosives. Otherwise, if Cao Cao was allowed to continue fighting like this, Yuan Shu would be defeated by Cao Cao sooner or later. But faced with these two suggestions, Yuan Shu chose the third one and kept his troops in place! The reason is very simple. According to Yang Hong's original words, it is: "Cao Cao is doing this now, deliberately showing our army that it is weak!" "If we give up Nanton, our army will be trapped in an isolated city and it will be difficult to defend it!" "If we abandon Pingyu and attack Dingying fiercely, it would be like a snake in a bag." "Once Cao Cao returns, it will be like sealing the mouth of a bag. There will be no way out, so neither option is feasible." After hearing this, Yan Xiang thought that since the main force was not moving, it would be a good idea to give up Nandun and send Li Ye to launch a surprise attack on Dingying! As a result, Yang Hong refuted again, saying that Li Zheng still had 5,000 soldiers stationed in Dingying, and a surprise attack by 8,000 people would hardly be effective. The two men disagreed again, which prevented Yuan Shu from taking the right measures and gave Cao Cao the opportunity to win. Cao saw the opportunity and launched a fierce attack on Shangcai for more than ten days. Under the repeated fierce attacks, Yuan Shu's army suffered countless casualties. Finally, on the fourteenth day, Cao Cao issued a death order: "If you don't break the city within three days, you will be killed!" When the order was given, all the soldiers under his command fought to the death. Cao Cao personally went to the foot of the city and supervised the troops to move earth and stones to fill the trenches. When he saw a general trying to avoid the arrows and failing to get up, he drew his sword and killed him himself. Then all the generals and soldiers, great and small, marched forward, and the army's morale was greatly boosted. The city was unable to withstand the enemy and eventually fell into the hands of Cao Cao.

Li Feng, Le Jiu and Sun Xiang who were in the city were all captured by Cao Cao and beheaded at the city gate. At this point, the balance of victory completely tilted towards Cao Cao. After the victory, without waiting for Yuan Shu's reaction, Cao Cao adopted the strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west suggested by Guo Jia. He pretended to go downstream, but actually turned back to attack Nandun again. When Yuan Shu received the news, he hurriedly sent troops to stop Cao Cao's troops from marching south. Unexpectedly, Lao Cao had already headed towards Nanton. At this time, Li Ye and Zhang Xun were attacking Xiahou Yuan's troops fiercely. Cao Cao suddenly appeared and won another victory. Fortunately, Zhang Xun reacted promptly and returned quickly, thus stabilizing Nandun. Correspondingly, after the two major defeats at Shangcai and Nandun, Yuan Shu lost more than half of his troops, leaving him with only more than 40,000 troops, stationed in two cities. In contrast, Cao Cao lost more than 20,000 soldiers, but captured more than 20,000 Yuan Shu prisoners, and his military strength increased instead of decreasing. And in such a tense situation, Yuan Shu suddenly received a letter asking for help from Xincai. When Yuan Shu saw that Guan Yu had already marched into Xincai, he was horrified and quickly called Yan Xiang and others to discuss: "I heard that Guan Yu was marching into Xincai. Could it be that Shouchun has now fallen into the hands of the enemy?" After hearing this, Yan Xiang and Yang Hong took Yuan Yin's letter for help and read it. Then they looked at each other and were all surprised. You know, with Cao Cao's march into Nandun, their situation in Runan was on the verge of collapse. Liu Bei's sudden arrival at this time was not good news for them. After thinking for a while, Yan Xiang said to Yuan Shu: "This letter has our army's seal on it, which shows that it is not groundless, but it does not necessarily mean that Shouchun has fallen." "Perhaps Liu Bei knew that our army had moved the capital, so he fled across the city and headed straight for Xincai." "Now that our army has retreated here, Xincai cannot afford to lose. We can send an army to find out the truth!" This time, Yang Hong rarely shared the same opinion as Yan Xiang. The current situation is no longer the time for them to fight. You must know that Cao Cao has already gained an overall advantage and they have no way to retreat. At this time, it is very important to keep a retreat! If Xincai falls, it will be a fatal blow to them. Therefore, no matter how many troops Guan Yu has, they must return to support first. When Yuan Shu heard this, he naturally hurriedly sent Chen Ji to lead 3,000 troops south to reinforce Xincai. After sending out troops in this way, Yuan Shu was worried that his retreat would be breached, so he hurriedly sent spies south to determine whether Shouchun had been captured by the enemy. As a result, his spies had only been out for two days when they saw Chen Ji reporting back, saying that Xincai had been captured by Guan Yu. Yuan Yin died, and along with the families of Yuan Shu's generals and soldiers, as well as Yuan Shu's only son Yuan Yao, were all captured by Liu Bei's army! Faced with this series of news, Yuan Shu was confused. All the ministers including Yan Xiang and Yang Hong were also confused. They were still fighting with Cao Cao here, but they didn't expect that their home had been stolen by Liu Bei! It took no more than three days from the time Yuan Yin sent the letter for help to the time they received the news of the fall of Xincai! In other words, even if they sent reinforcements the moment they received the letter for help, it would be too late to reinforce Xincai.

The offensive of Liu Bei's army was far more fierce, more sudden, and more difficult to accept than that of Cao Cao! (End of this chapter)