In the middle of April of the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, the general Li Yi led the iron cavalry army to the banks of the Surabaya River. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the other side, Changyi City is quietly bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Li Yi stood on the embankment of the Ma River, looking into the distance, and his heart was excited. The army finally arrived at the destination at the scheduled time, and the next step was to take Changyi at any cost and strive to gain a firm foothold in the shortest possible time.

The scouts rushed along the embankment, and all the bridges on the Surabaya River were demolished by the enemy.

"Command all the departments to cross the river overnight." Li Yi waved his horsewhip vigorously and shouted, "Don't stop, continue to go south and kill Liangqiu." ”

………………

Guan Yu, the general of Zhengdong, led his army to cross the Pushui River, and Zhao Yun, who was the first to cross the river, galloped to the horse.

Guan Yu asked, "Where is Ying Xiang?" ”

"Ying Xiang has crossed the river and is rapidly heading south from the direction of Chengyang, sixty miles away from here." Zhao Yun replied, "Tonight, he will meet with me." ”

Guan Yu nodded with satisfaction, and said to the lead: "Zijing, after killing Dingtao, you take two thousand horsemen to surround the city and cut off the connection between Dingtao and Changyi." ”

Then he pointed at Zhao Yun and continued: "You and Ying Xiang will lead the army to immediately cross the Jishui River and go south to capture Chengwu. ”

Zhao Yun and Zhao Zhao bowed down to receive the order.

"Can I see the eldest brother in Chengwu?" Zhao Yun asked with a smile.

"You have to be fast, you must be fast......" Guan Yu knocked Zhao Yun's shoulder with the horsewhip in his hand, "If you let the eldest brother rush to Chengwu first, I will only ask you." ”

"Second brother, don't worry, I will definitely capture Chengwu before my eldest brother."

………………

Yuzhou Peiguo, Xiao County.

In the middle of the night, the candles in the big tent were bright, and Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Xiahoudun, Cao Hong, Man Chong, Xi Zhicai and others sat together to urgently discuss the military situation.

The changes in the battle situation in Yanzhou made them worried.

Dingtao Cao Ren came to the book. The Northern Xinjiang Army has conquered Juyang and Chengyang, and has now crossed the Pushui River and is killing Dingtao. At present, Guan Yu and Zhao Yun's infantry army is approaching Dingtao. Xu Huang's army is attacking Chengshi City. Xiahou Yuan held the city, and the two sides fought fiercely. After Gao Gan lost Puyang, he immediately gathered a large army to counterattack Puyang, and the two sides also fought flesh and blood, but Gao Gan's troops were insufficient, and if he blindly attacked like this, it was very likely to be defeated again, and even the white horse would be lost.

Changyi Cheng Yu came to write that the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry had surrounded Changyi, and it was estimated that Juye City had been lost. The army of infantry in the northern frontier will then move south and begin to attack the city of Changyi. Because the Northern Xinjiang Army broke through the defense lines of Juyang and Chengyang at an unbelievable speed, Cao Ren was forced to leave behind the reinforcements of Wei Yuanjin. At present, there are only 10,000 defenders in Changyi City, and in the face of the overwhelming army in the northern Xinjiang, it is quite difficult to defend, and the situation is extremely critical.

The urgent news from Yanzhou made everyone's hearts tremble, and the atmosphere in the big tent was very depressing.

"Now it seems that the situation in Changyi is the most urgent." Cao Cao looked at the generals and barely squeezed out a smile, "The speed of the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry is too fast. We are still 400 miles away from Changyi, but the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry has already arrived at Dingtao and Changyi. ”

He looked down at the map, his face was full of worry, and said: "It seems that we are going to fight face-to-face with the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry, otherwise it will be ......."

There was no answer in the big tent. The Jizhou War the year before last allowed the generals to see the sharpness of the iron cavalry in northern Xinjiang. If you fight face to face with the Iron Cavalry, although the army has a numerical advantage, the losses are unimaginable. At this time, ensuring the strength of the army is the best policy, once the loss of troops and even the advantage in strength are lost, the hope of defeating the Northern Xinjiang Army and recapturing the Central Plains is even more slim.

"Can't fight." Xi Zhicai stood up, "Prime Minister, a decisive battle with the Northern Xinjiang Iron Cavalry at this time is exactly what Li Yi desperately wants. At present, our only advantage is troop strength, as long as we can successfully reach the two cities of Dingtao and Changyi, relying on the superiority in troops, we can stop the Northern Xinjiang Army from capturing the Central Plains, and then stabilize the battle line at Dingtao and Changyi, so as to gain time for the alliance to gather coalition forces to launch a counteroffensive. ”

"Zhicai, what are your countermeasures?" Cao Cao asked. Before the army prepared to attack Yuan Shu, Xi Zhicai speculated that the Northern Xinjiang Army might take the opportunity to move south to the Central Plains, but unfortunately the result was successful. This made Cao Cao, who already trusted Xi Zhicai very much, value him even more.

"Let's first take a look at what methods the Northern Xinjiang Army may take to capture the two cities after it reaches the front line of Dingtao and Changyi." Xi Zhicai continued, "We have speculated several times before about the strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army attacking the Central Plains. According to the information sent by all parties, the strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army in attacking the Central Plains this time is about 200,000, of which about 130,000 are cavalry. If these 130,000 iron cavalry are all assembled on the front line of Chengwu and Liangqiu to prevent us from rescuing the two cities, then we will fight a decisive battle with the current 150,000 army, and the consequences will be self-evident. ”

"Just because we don't dare to fight it doesn't mean we have given up on rescuing the two cities. Yuan Shao of Henan and Liu Biao of Jingzhou, the armies of these two sides will soon enter Yanzhou. Hebei must have predicted before the war that we will ally the allied forces against the Northern Xinjiang Army, so time is the key to whether the Northern Xinjiang Army can win this war. ”

"If Li Yi wants to gain a foothold in the Central Plains and have a lasting confrontation with us, he must take Dingtao and Changyi before our coalition forces attack the Northern Xinjiang Army."

"The Northern Xinjiang Army's attack on the Central Plains this time is to advance in two ways in order to gain time. The two roads marched together, and the army of 60,000 foot soldiers was divided into two, so whether they were fighting Dingtao or Changyi, their troops were obviously insufficient. The siege force is insufficient, and the time and consumption of capturing the city are very large, which is obviously not good for the Northern Frontier Army. ”

"Now the iron cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army wants to prevent us from going north to support, and they can't help the infantry army to attack the city, so they can only rely on the infantry army to deploy their troops and strive to take the two cities in the shortest possible time." Xi Zhicai looked at the crowd, raised his hand and made a siege gesture, "When the Northern Frontier Army gathers eight times or even more than ten times the strength to attack Dingtao or Changyi, the forces they use to encircle another city are very small. ”

"This is our chance."

"Whether the Northern Frontier Army can win the Central Plains War does not depend on how many counties it captures and how many cities it occupies, but whether it can defeat its opponent in the end, if it fails to give the opponent a devastating blow, it will eventually fail and will not be able to gain a firm foothold in the Central Plains."

"At present, the results achieved by the Northern Xinjiang Army are not fundamentally helpful to the entire Central Plains War. The Great War in the Central Plains has only just begun, and the difficulties we have encountered are only temporary, as long as we maintain our superiority in troops, the Northern Xinjiang Army will be defeated sooner or later. ”

"Looking at the whole situation, we're at a disadvantage right now. The states and counties have not yet met with each other, the armies of the states and counties have not yet been assembled, and the superiority in strength and financial resources has not yet been revealed. If we want to quickly turn our disadvantage into an advantage, we must contain the offensive of the Northern Xinjiang Army as soon as possible and block the Northern Xinjiang Army on the line between Dingtao and Changyi, so as to gain time to turn the tide of the war. ”

"At present, we must not only save our troops, avoid the decisive battle with the Northern Xinjiang Army, but also prevent the attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army and drag the Northern Xinjiang Army on the battlefield in the Central Plains, so at this moment we have only one countermeasure, that is, to temporarily abandon most of Yanzhou, give up Changyi, and instead gather heavy troops on the front line of Baima, Dingtao, and Chengwu, and re-set the blocking defense line with the main focus on holding the city."

Xi Zhicai was about to elaborate on the deployment of troops, when Cao Cao raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Wait......" he beckoned to the guards standing on either side of the curtain, "come here and hold up the map." ”

The two guards hurriedly walked to the desk and picked up the map, and stood in front of the generals. Cao Cao and Liu Bei stood behind Xi Zhicai, and Xiahoudun and others also stood up and gathered in front of the map.

Xi Zhicai was not humble, walked to the map, and continued: "The advantages of the Northern Frontier Army are obvious, there are strong iron cavalry, brave infantry army, and sufficient grain and grass, on the contrary, our disadvantage is very serious. Yuan Shao's main army was dragged on the battlefield in Henan, and both Kansai and Hanoi were attacked, and Luoyang was in danger. Except for the army left behind in Yanzhou, the rest of the army is still more than 400 miles away from the battlefield. Liu Biao's army in Jingzhou was even farther away from the battlefield. ”

"After more than 100,000 of us arrived at the battlefield, we were sleepy and tired, if we just wanted to block the Northern Xinjiang Army on the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, and hastily fought with the Northern Xinjiang Army, it would be tantamount to using our own disadvantages to attack the advantages of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and defeat would be inevitable."

"What are our strengths at the moment? It's time, and we have enough time at our disposal. And then we have cities, and there are enough cities. As long as we hold the city, stubbornly resist the Northern Xinjiang Army, delay the speed of the Northern Xinjiang Army's attack, and delay the time for the Northern Xinjiang Army to stabilize the front, then our disadvantage on the battlefield will be reversed immediately, and we will be able to quickly control the initiative on the battlefield. ”

"As I said just now, after the Northern Xinjiang Army advances to the front line of Dingtao and Changyi, when the number of infantry troops is insufficient, it will definitely gather infantry from two attacking armies to attack one of the cities." Xi Zhicai pointed to Changyi City on the map, "Obviously, this city must be Changyi." ”

"The three cities of Puyang, Dingtao and Changyi formed a cone-shaped array in the western part of Yanzhou. Dingtao is the tip of the cone, and Puyang and Changyi are the foot of the cone. If all three cities are taken, the Northern Frontier Army will be able to use this cone-shaped formation to form a decisive battle with us. Now that Puyang has fallen, the right grain route of the Northern Xinjiang Army has been guaranteed, and the right flank of the army has been protected. Their immediate priority now is to quickly take Changyi, so as to ensure the smooth flow of grain routes on the left side of the Northern Xinjiang Army and ensure that the left flank of the army is protected. ”

In order to ensure that the army can encircle Dingtao while laying down Changyi, the left and right iron cavalry of the Northern Xinjiang Army are bound to go south at the fastest speed to kill the first line of Chengwu and Liangqiu, blocking the return of our army." (To be continued.) )