Cao Jun's eastward expedition, with Jiangling City as the base camp, took advantage of the advantage of going downstream, transported grain, grass, ordnance, and medicinal materials to the Wulin camp by water, and supplied hundreds of thousands of soldiers of Cao's army.

Hongcheng is located in the middle of Jiangling and Wulin, and the narrow waterway of the Yangtze River is also a docking point for ships, and now Hongcheng has fallen into the hands of the Jiangdong army, which is equivalent to cutting off the supply line of the Cao army, how can hundreds of thousands of horses survive?

The problem is, Hongcheng is a strategic place - the city is high and deep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, there are 30,000 ironclad soldiers stationed in the city, and there is a general Chen Jiao in charge, this person is cautious and has the ability to take charge of himself, how can he lose the city overnight?

"Prime Minister, the city will be lost in the end, and it will be difficult to forgive his sins in death--woo!"

"Chen Changshi is back, how did Hongcheng fall?"

………………

Between the confusion of everyone, a person rushed in from outside the tent, with his hair scattered, his armor was torn, and he was covered with bloodstains, it was Chen Jiao, the guard general of Hongcheng, who knelt on the ground and kowtowed!

Chen Jiao, the word Ji Bi, Guangling County, both civil and military, strategic, once served as Gongcao, county commander, Taishou...... Because of his outstanding political achievements and his merits in reassuring the people and suppressing thieves, he was promoted to the chief of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and he was deeply valued by Cao Cao, so he was ordered to sit in Hongcheng!

"Two days ago, the last general received an order from the prime minister, claiming that the plague was epidemic in the army and a large number of medicinal materials were urgently needed for treatment.

The last general saw that there was no problem with the Jun order and the token, and he also heard that there were many soldiers who fell ill, so he unified 10,000 people and horses, escorted hundreds of ships of medicinal materials, and went straight to the Wulin camp.

The last general hurriedly returned to the division to rescue, but was ambushed by Zhou Yu, under a fierce battle, the headquarters was completely damaged, and Hongcheng also fell into the hands of the enemy. ”

While speaking, Chen Jiao took out a Jun order and a token, Cao Yingzhong has strict military discipline, and those who do not have an order are not allowed to transfer troops, otherwise they will be guilty of plotting rebellion with intentions, and the lord will be on the ground!

Chen Jiao is cautious, and he has repeatedly checked, and there is no problem with Jun Ling and Token, so he led his troops out of Hongcheng, and he didn't want the Jiangdong Army to take advantage of it, is this a coincidence? Or is it a machination?

"The Prime Minister's order, the Prime Minister's token, what's going on?"

Cheng Yu and Mao Jue stepped forward to check, and were surprised to find that Jun Ling was Cao Cao's handwriting, and the handwriting was not bad at all, and the specifications, patterns, and numbers of the token were no problem, but they were used by Cao Ying!

But everyone knows very well that the battalion has never given an order to transfer troops, not to mention that Cao Cao has been unconscious, even if he has the intention to mobilize people and horses, he can't write a word, where did this order come from?

The token is placed in the Chinese military tent, and there is a special person to watch it day and night, except for Cao Cao himself, and a few cronies, no one can touch it, how did it be stolen?

"This decree is forged, someone imitates the handwriting of the Prime Minister, almost can be fake, this person must be a master of calligraphy, and often see the Prime Minister writing, secretly trying to imitate!

The token is real, but it was stolen by someone, and together with the imitation of Jun Ling, General Chen was deceived out of Hongcheng, and then the surprise soldiers attacked and cut off the waterway of our army, what a wonderful strategy! ”

Xiao Yi took the order, checked it several times, and finally saw the clue, and said that 'words are born from the heart', from the structure and charm of the text, you can see a person's character, age, status, and physical condition!

Cao Cao is in power, commanding the world, and has a deep literary attainment, so the handwriting is full of a heroic atmosphere, but after old age and decay, the wrist strength is slightly insufficient, and the handwriting has become vain!

The counterfeiter has a high skill, but he can imitate the handwriting of the traitor, but he can't imitate the momentum of the traitor, and the pen is slightly heavy, indicating that this person is young, his physical condition is very good, and the strength of his wrist is even more full!

Xiao Yi's second wife, Cai Wenji, is a master of calligraphy, listening to her evaluation of all kinds of famous artists, I think that today's first calligraphy master, none other than Pang Degong of Jingzhou, Pang Tong is his nephew, and he has his true inheritance!

It can be inferred from this that during the undercover period, Pang Tong secretly observed Cao Cao's handwriting, imitated this order to transfer troops, and took advantage of his position to steal a token when the plague was epidemic and people were panicking!

Then Pang Tong escaped from Cao's camp, handed over the Jun order and tokens to Zhou Yu, helped the Jiangdong army go upstream, captured Hongcheng in one fell swoop, and cut off Cao's army's waterway transportation!

Although Pang Tong left a letter saying that he would not attack the Cao army's camp, he did not say that he would let Cao Jun go back, he was going to trap hundreds of thousands of Cao troops and kill Cao Cao, Xiao Yi and others, what a vicious strategy!

"Pang Shiyuan--the old man hates it, sooner or later he will cut you a thousand times--cough!"

"Prime Minister--Prime Minister!"

After listening to Xiao Yi's inference, everyone finally suddenly realized, and also realized that Pang Tong's harm was indeed ten times more powerful than malaria, Cao Cao gritted his teeth even more, blaming himself for having no eyes, and fainted again!

Everyone was startled, and hurriedly stepped forward to check, and found that Cao Cao was just dizzy, and there was no major physical problem, so they asked Lang Zhong to take care of him, and recuperated in the big tent.

Cao Jun hundreds of thousands of people, every day people eat horses to feed, grain and grass consumption is huge, although the battalion has some grain stock, it can only support about 20 days, so the best way is to recapture the important town of Hongcheng and reopen the waterway transportation!

In this way, the materials of Jiangling City can be continuously sent, and if the Cao army retreats, it can also carry the naval warship, go up the Yangtze River, and return to Jiangling and Xiangyang smoothly, and then make the next step!

However, according to the investigation, Zhou Yu personally led 60,000 horses, stationed inside and outside Hongcheng, and commanded thousands of warships to line up on the surface of the Yangtze River.

The combat effectiveness of the Jingzhou Navy is far inferior to the Jiangdong Navy Army, and the command skills of Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are much worse than Zhou Yu.

The problem is that the chain warship is huge, stable, and strong, but it also has the weakness of slow speed and difficult turning, and it must occupy the upstream position, and then with the help of strong wind, it can exert its combat effectiveness!

Now going upstream, attacking Hongcheng, the iron cable warship is useless, if a single ship fights, I am afraid that a big war will be eaten by others There is no slag left, if the Jingzhou Navy is defeated, the situation of the Cao army will be even more dangerous!

Some people must have doubted that Cao Jun went down the river, and the water and land went together, since the waterway was cut off, wouldn't it be okay to take the land route instead, why worry so much...... The answer is: no land either!

Between Jiangling and Wulin, it was originally the ancient 'Yunze', because of the accumulation of sediment in the Yangtze River and the Han River, the water area continued to shrink, and it became a large swamp of 400 miles from east to west and 300 miles from north to south.

When Cao's army marched eastward, it was the cold winter wax moon, the lakes and swamps were all frozen, and the people and horses could be unimpeded, but now it was the middle of summer, and there were just a few heavy rains, and there was water everywhere, and the deep did not carry boats and boats, and the shallow vehicles and horses were not passable, how could the army walk?

Even if Cao's army of hundreds of thousands of horses forced through the swampy area, don't forget that not far from Wulin, there are nearly 200,000 Sun and Liu Lianjun, will they be indifferent?

As long as the Cao army retreats on all fronts, the combined forces of Sun and Liu will take advantage of the situation to pursue, at that time, the road in front is difficult, and the chasing troops behind cover up, and the Cao army will not be wiped out, and it will have to die seven or eight out of ten, right?

There is another way, that is, to leave a group of people and horses after the break, entangle the Sun and Liu coalition army, as long as it takes seven or eight days, the main force of the Cao army can return to Jiangling, but if the broken men and horses are left, I am afraid that they will definitely die, that loyal and brave and strategic general, can take on this heavy responsibility?

Countless problems were put out, the important ministers looked at each other, no one had a good way, they could only set their eyes on Xiao Yi, the life and death of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, the rise and fall of the Cao Ying Group, all on Da Sima alone!

"Hongcheng is lost, the waterway is cut off, and if you break through against the current, our army has no chance of winning at all, only to retreat from the land, and the army will take the Huarong Ancient Road, retreat west to Jiangling City, and then turn into Xiangyang City!

The land roads are muddy, and it is difficult for chariots and horses to travel, so you can give up all bulky things, and the soldiers only bring ten days' rations, and then let the diggers be the vanguard, and bring more straw, planks, ropes, etc., so as to pave a passage!

As long as our army retreats to the west, the enemy army will inevitably pursue and kill, and we must leave a group of men and horses, stick to the Wulin camp, and deal with Liu Bei and Sun Quan, as for the candidates who stay behind......"

Xiao Yi was ordered to take charge of the overall situation, and made the decision to withdraw the troops on land, as well as specific methods, but when it came to the candidates for the future, he couldn't help but pause and looked at the generals of Cao Ying......

Everywhere he looked, all the generals in Cao Ying trembled, and no one dared to take the initiative to ask for orders, not because the generals were greedy for life and afraid of death, but because the responsibility was too heavy and the difficulty was too high!

Because the person in charge of the broken queen must not only have the courage to fight to the death, but also have extraordinary strategies to delay the combined forces of Sun and Liu, so as to gain enough time for the main force of Cao's army to retreat to Jiangling!

If the ability is insufficient, let the Sun and Liu coalition break through the defense line, then hundreds of thousands of Cao soldiers and horses will become lambs to be slaughtered, and the generals who are responsible for the broken will become sinners through the ages.

"The matter after the break is extraordinary, this big Sima personally assumes the responsibility, the Xuanjia Army, the Trap Camp, the Danyang Army, the Student Army, and the Jingzhou Navy Army stay, and the rest of the departments retreat westward!

It is a matter of life and death, may you work together to tide over the difficulties, everyone go back and prepare, two days later in the middle of the night, all the departments began to retreat in an orderly manner, please remember:

There are those who leak military aircraft and shake people's hearts - behead!

There are those who disregard the order and disrupt the marching - behead!

There are those who are timid and flee privately - slash!

……………………”

Xiao Yi thought about it again and again, this difficult task after the break, no one can rest assured, it is better to bear it yourself, and at the same time promulgate strict military discipline, one sentence and one word, and everyone who listens to it is cold!

"Obey the order of the Great Sima Army--in two days, withdraw to Jiangling!"

There is one more chapter

(End of chapter)