Chapter 238: Lao Cao helps a lot, Sun Ce's world falls It was not accidental that Cao Cao sent troops to Nanyang. In the original history, Cao Cao fought for several years in Nanyang, from the second year of Jian'an to the Battle of Guandu. Almost whenever he had time, Cao had to send troops to Nanyang. This was partly because of the battle of Wancheng, which caused a blood feud between the two families. On the other hand, it is because Nanyang is the gateway to Xu County! From a geographical point of view, Nanyang is separated from Guanzhong and Luoyang by mountains in the north. To the south is Liu Biao's power, to the east it leads directly to Yingchuan, and to the west it leads to Hanzhong. This geographical location meant that if Liu Biao wanted to go north, he would have to open a gap in Nanyang! If Cao Cao wanted to defend the Central Plains, he had to use Nanyang as a strategic buffer in his rear. Therefore, the land of Nanyang was almost a place that Cao Cao and Liu Biao had to fight for. According to the original course of events, after Cao Cao was defeated in Wancheng, he would return to attack Yuan Shu and then continue to attack Zhang Xiu. However, with Qin Zhen's reversal of the world situation, Cao Cao has never had the opportunity to send a large army to Nanyang since last winter.

In April and May of this year, frictions arose between Cao Cao and Liu Bei in the Central Plains. This made Cao Cao even more worried about the current situation in the world, and he wanted to find a way to break the impasse! In the original history, during this period of time, Lao Cao had already begun planning for Xuzhou. But Xun You analyzed the situation for Cao and said that now that Liu Bei was going south to Jiangdong, they could basically defeat Lu Bu. But once Liu Bei captures Jiangdong, they and Liu Biao will be the only ones left around! Now Yuan Shao is ready to make a move and may march south at any time. What if Liu Bei stabs them in the back? Therefore, attacking Lu Bu would only lengthen their defensive line and expose more weaknesses to Liu Bei. At this time, the only way out is to march westward, mobilize troops first, and see what Yuan Shao will do! This was not the first time Xun You had mentioned the change in strategic direction to Cao. As the battle of Chen State broke out, Cao Cao finally realized that Liu Bei was not so easy to mess with. When Xun You brought up the issue again, he summoned all his advisers to a meeting! After everyone made their proposal, Xun Yu proposed the version of Conquering the World to Cao Cao! Different from the original theory of four defeats and four wins in history, Cao Cao proposed: "Although Yuan Shao is a formidable enemy, his plans are incomplete, his troops are not strong enough, his moral integrity is weak, and his inner jealousy makes it difficult for him to be defeated." "I am only worried that Liu Bei will implement benevolent policies in the south, win the hearts of the people, and employ good assistants, so that our army will lose its retreat." "So according to Gongda's words, our army should advance westward first. However, if we don't take Nanyang, we won't be able to conquer Guanzhong. If we don't take Henei, it will be difficult to conquer Sanfu!" "The army should attack the weak first and then the strong, and advance in sequence, taking Nanyang, attacking Henei, and then taking the Yongliang area." "As long as Xiliang is taken, our army can defeat Yuan Shao, retreat to Hanzhong, and head south to Yizhou, where we can wipe out the bandits one day!" His version is similar to what Xun You said before, but the difference is that he suggested Cao Cao to take Nanyang and Henei first, and then take Yongliang. Although Cao Cao gradually became wary of Xun Yu, Xun Yu's role was ultimately irreplaceable. Hearing this, he said that he knew the reason, but was afraid that Liu Bei and Lu Bu would turn against him. His original words were: "There is no major threat to Nanyang and Henei. I am worried that after I advance westward, Yuan Shao will lure Liu Zhang, Liu Biao, Liu Bei, Lu Bu and others to attack our army together!" "So, even if we occupy Yongliang, we only have three states to fight against many powerful enemies. What should we do when the time comes?" No one could give Cao Cao advice on this issue, but Xun Yu directly said to him: "Liu Zhang and Liu Biao are both good guard dogs, there's no need to worry!" "The only people we should worry about are Lu Bu and Liu Bei. But Liu Bei is a tyrant and will never obey Yuan Shao's orders!" "Lü Bu is a treacherous villain. Although he is heading north now, he will certainly follow Yuan Shao when he sees that he is powerful in the future."

"So when Yuan Shao goes south, we can directly join forces with Liu Bei to fight him together!" When Cao Cao heard this, he looked embarrassed. He thought that he could tolerate asking him to keep Lu Bu, but asking him to ally with Liu Bei was a bit difficult. Even if he was willing, would Liu Bei agree? He hurriedly told them his problem, and Xun Yu assured him that Liu Bei would definitely help them deal with Yuan Shao when the time came! Because as they moved the battle line westward, Yanzhou became a useless piece of land, with a long and narrow battle line and enemies on all sides. In their hands, the threat they posed to Liu Bei was limited, but in Yuan Shao's hands, they could directly threaten Liu Bei's foundation. Once they were defeated by Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao, who controlled four states, could use the power of his great victory to attack Liu Bei's territory. Since Liu Bei had no cavalry, it would be difficult for him to defeat Yuan Shao who occupied the Central Plains! As long as Liu Bei does not want to end up retreating to Jiangdong, he will help them fight Yuan Shao. If necessary, Liu Bei would even attack Lu Bu directly and put pressure on Yuan Shao from the direction of Qingzhou! Having said this, Xun Yu proposed another strategy to Cao Cao. He would give Liu Bei the position of Governor of Xuzhou, first causing the alliance between Liu Bei and Lu Bu to break down, and then ensure that Liu Bei would join them in defeating Yuan Shao! After some analysis, Cao Cao's path gradually became clear, and he simply turned his attention to Nanyang. At this time, Guo Jia gave Cao Cao another plan, asking Cao Cao to persuade Zhang Xian to rebel. First, when they sent troops to Nanyang, Zhang Xian could distract Liu Biao first; Secondly, it can contain Liu Bei, making it difficult for Liu Bei's power to grow, forcing him to unite with them! So Cao Cao followed this plan, and as a result, when Qin Zhen was on a diplomatic mission, Zhang Xian suddenly raised an army. After the plan was completed, Cao began to prepare for war. When the autumn harvest was halfway through, he brazenly sent out tens of thousands of troops to attack Nanyang. This time, the scale of the military expedition was much larger than in history, and it came more rapidly. Half a month after the troops were dispatched, they defeated the coalition forces of Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao in Anzhong and marched all the way to Zhang Xiu's base camp, Rangcheng. This situation scared Liu Biao so much that he thought Cao was going to attack Jingzhou directly. He thought that Zhang Xian was rebelling in the south now, and if Cao Cao really wanted to attack him from both sides, he would probably have difficulty defending Jingzhou! In order to prevent Cao Cao from moving south, he urgently ordered Cai Mao and others to return to the army. After several days, the letter finally reached Cai Mao. Seeing Cao Cao's massive attack on Nanyang, Cai Mao was also shocked. Qin Zhen just mentioned to him the matter of buying ships and captives, so he called Huang She and said: "My Lord, Cao Cao is now attacking Nanyang very urgently, so I have to ask you to come back." "Their prisoners of war are indeed a lot of trouble. Since Liu Bei's army is willing to pay them back with money, we might as well take the initiative and accept the matter first!" "After we return to Xiangyang, I will explain to you. What do you think?" Strictly speaking, Huang She is one generation younger than Cai Mao and Qin Zhen, but he is only slightly younger than Cai Mao. Seeing that Cai Mao was so eager to discuss matters with him, he knew that the military situation in Jingzhou was very urgent. After thinking for a while, he thought that since Cai Mao was the one to explain, it wouldn't have much impact on Huang, so he nodded and said: "Let's follow the military advisor's advice. Since the military situation in the state is urgent, I should go too and not delay here!" After the two men discussed it for a while, they found Qin Zhen and directly agreed to leave these ships and prisoners of war behind. Qin Zhen was surprised to see the two of them being so straightforward, and couldn't help asking them the reason. After knowing that it was Cao Cao who sent troops to Nanyang, he shook his head and smiled: "In that case, it is Cao Mengde who helped our army!" "Well, I wanted to keep you two for a few more days, but since the military situation in Jingzhou is urgent, you two should withdraw immediately!" "As for the compensation for these warships, our army will make the payment after this battle is over. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Cai Mao no longer worried that Qin Zhen would break the agreement. He simply bowed and led Huang She's troops to retreat towards Jingzhou. At this point, the battle for the Yangtze River came to an end. After obtaining more than a thousand warships and two thousand prisoners, Liu Bei's navy grew stronger again and completely controlled the water rights of the Yangtze River. The two people who were most happy about this matter were Gan Ning and Lu Su. After all, a navy has no combat effectiveness without ships. With the 10,000 navy under their command, if they add a thousand warships, their combat effectiveness will at least increase several times! This made the strength of their troops increase to the point where they could cross the river, and the two men could not help but be happy. However, Gan Ning still needed Liu Bei's approval, so compared to Lu Su's joy, he was a little more nervous. While they were waiting for Liu Bei, Sun Ce was also mobilizing troops in the south. The story of this has to start with Zhuge Liang's plan to cross the river. Because Zhao Yun, Xu Sheng and others were going to go south that day, Zhuge Liang persuaded Lujiang and Jiujiang to take action separately. Sun Ce then divided his troops into 10,000, with 5,000 to be sent to Wuhu and 5,000 to be sent to Chungu. Because Zhou Yu requested to transfer 10,000 troops to the west to garrison Pengli Lake, Sun Ce ordered Sun Ben to lead troops to reinforce. As a result, as soon as the troops set out and Sun Ben arrived in Jing County, he received the news from Zhou Yu. It is said that a beacon tower has been set up in Lujiang, and the army of Jingzhou has already marched into Xiazhi, and the confrontation between the two armies has become a reality. Sun Ce was naturally surprised when he saw this letter. You know, Zhou Yu is not the kind of person who believes everything he hears. Now even Zhou Yu has written to tell us about the difficulties in the west, so we know what kind of situation their navy is facing. He then hurriedly called Zhang Hong and Chen Duan to consult on the matter, wanting to see how the situation could be saved. Regarding this issue, Zhang Hong suggested to Sun Ce that he should withdraw Sun Ben's troops and wait and see what happens! Because they had already released the Chungu defense according to Zhou Yu's strategy, Lu Su was free. At this time, if Zhou Yu's strategy could succeed, he would be able to win without this army. If Zhou Yu's plan fails, the area west of Jing County will be in danger. Liu Bei only needed to place a troop along the way to cut off Sun Ben's way back. Therefore, it is obviously a better choice to withdraw the troops and defend Jing County. After hearing this, Sun Ce immediately ordered Sun Ben to stop and garrison in Jing County without sending any more troops to Pengze. Facts have proved that Zhang Hong’s suggestion is extremely correct! Because just a few days after Sun Ce issued the order, they received news that Liu Bei's army had moved south from Tongyang, crossed the Yangtze River, and arrived in Danyang. But before Sun Ce could rejoice, bad news came one after another. Zhou Yu was defeated in Congyang; generals Dong Xi and Chen Bao were killed in battle; the Jiangdong navy was almost wiped out! The moment Sun Ce heard the news, half of his world collapsed. He stood up and stared at the scout who brought the message. His first reaction was that the knight was lying. His brother Zhou Yu's military ability was rare in the world, so he would never suffer such a great defeat.

He was questioning and furious at the same time, and almost pushed the scout who reported the news down and beheaded him in public. Thanks to the persuasion of Zhang Hong and Chen Duan, Sun Ce was finally able to stop his impulse to kill. But at the same time, a series of questions arose one after another, such as where did Zhou Yu go after his defeat. Now that their navy has been completely wiped out, how should they defend themselves? Under this tremendous pressure, Zhang Hong and Chen Duan planned a defensive strategy for Sun Ce. In general, it means stationing troops along the river to prevent Liu Bei from landing from Jiangdong. First, the garrisons in Chungu and Wuhu remained unchanged, and Sun Ben continued to guard Jing County. Secondly, in order to prevent Liu Bei's army from landing and advancing from the uninhabited area west of Danyang, Sun Ce led 10,000 troops to garrison in Fanchang west of Chungu. Secondly, he sent orders to Zhu Zhi, Lu Fan and others in the east to guard Shicheng, Moling and other places closely. Finally, they blocked the river mouth at Dantu and prevented Liu Bei's navy from advancing eastward. These four plans directly turned the Yangtze River coast into an iron wall, and Liu Bei had to work hard to land. After arranging all this, Sun Ce ordered his men to search for Zhou Yu's whereabouts. After searching for several days, we finally received news from Zhou Yu. It turned out that after the defeat, in order to prevent the enemy from continuing to pursue him, Zhou Yu turned into an inland river and stopped outside the city of Wuhu. Upon receiving this news, Sun Ce ordered Sun Fu to stay in Wanling temporarily while he headed towards Wuhu alone. (End of this chapter)