Li Yi asked Guan Yu, the general of the left chariot cavalry, to go to Yanzhou by name and command the armies of the two states to go south and open up the battlefield in Xuzhou. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhendong General Gao Shun and Mighty General Xun Di led the Seventh Infantry Corps stationed in Yanzhou, Annan General Wei Yan and Weilu General Zang Ba led the Twelfth Infantry Corps stationed in Qingzhou, and Xue Rengui's Eighth Cavalry Corps attacked Xuzhou.

At the same time, Li Yi ordered Li Jing, the general of Zhengxi, to Yingchuan and command the Sixth Infantry Corps, Xu Huang's Eleventh Infantry Corps, and Zhang He's Second Cavalry Corps to attack Yuzhou and Jingzhou. The generals of the three major legions were all under Li Jing's control.

Guan Yu and Li Jing then left Luoyang and headed for their respective destinations.

………………

At the beginning of February, General Luoyang marched.

More than 20 generals, including Yue Fei, the general of the Western Expedition, Zhao Yun, the general of the right chariot, Zhang Fei, the general of Wei, Xu Da, the general of the Northern Expedition, Gao Changgong, the general of Zhenbei, Lu Bu, and Zhang Liao, the general of Zhenxi, gathered in the general to participate in the military meeting of the Western Expedition.

"The purpose of the Western Expedition is not just to pacify Qiang." Xu Shu stood in front of the huge map, waved his hand and drew a big circle on the map of Longxi and Longnan, "The main purpose of this western expedition is to achieve the counterinsurgency strategy of suppressing Shu by encircling it, and the army will not only occupy the counties of Liangzhou, but more importantly, form an offensive advantage over Bashu, so that after the war in the western Xinjiang is over, the army will quickly go south to attack Bashu." ”

"In order to achieve the purpose of the attack, the lord plans to attack Liangzhou in three ways."

"The First Route Army marched directly westward and attacked the counties of Hanyang, Jincheng, and Longxi. This army was personally commanded by the lord, and the Wei general Zhang Fei was the deputy commander. ”

"The second route army is led by Pingxi general Hou Junji and Pingrong general Xu Rong, who will go down from the southwest of the river to attack the city north of the Yellow River in Jincheng County, contain the forces of the Qiang people, and help the main army quickly advance to the Hehuang area."

"The Third Route Army is led by Zhao Yun, the general of the right chariot cavalry, ......" Xu Shu looked at Zhao Yun and pointed to the Dasan Pass on the map, "General Zhao's army went out of the Dasan Pass, attacked Wudu County, cut off Liu Bei's road back to Bashu, blocked the rescue of the Bashu rebels, and strived to annihilate Liu Bei's rebel army in the Longnan area." ”

"Do you want to attack Hanzhong?" Zhao Yun asked.

"Wudu County is very difficult to fight, you must not underestimate the enemy." Li Yi shook his hand and said, "Wudu County is located between Longxi and Bashu, and the location is extremely important, Liu Zhang, Liu Bei, Zhang Lu, and Wei Duan all have heavy troops here. Your primary goal is to occupy Wudu County, force Liu Bei back from Longxi as much as possible, reduce the attack resistance for the main army advancing westward, shorten the time for the main army to calm Qiang to the greatest extent, and save the financial consumption of the imperial court. Once the main army has pacified the Qiang rebellion, we can carry out a two-way flanking attack and annihilate Liu Bei in Wudu. ”

Li Yi paused for a moment, and then said: "As for whether to fight Hanzhong or not, it is uncertain now, but if the situation allows, of course the imperial court hopes to recover Hanzhong as soon as possible." ”

Zhao Yun nodded, comprehending.

After Xu Shu explained the attack strategy a little, he immediately began to deploy the forces of the three-way army.

Wei general Zhang Fei led the Third Infantry Corps, Huqiang general Ma Chao led the Seventh Cavalry Corps, and the Second Army of the Guards Corps, with a total of 56,000 troops as the main force advancing westward.

General Hou Junji, the general of Pingxi, led the six cavalry corps and the five cavalry corps of the two armies with a total of 30,000 cavalry to the south.

After the two armies converge on the battlefield of Hehuang in Longxi, the total strength will reach 80 or 60 million.

The army attacking Wudu County consisted of the First Northern Infantry Corps commanded by Yue Fei, the general of Zhengxi, and the First Northern Cavalry Corps commanded by Zhao Yun, the general of the right chariot cavalry, with a total of 50,000 troops.

In the entire battlefield of Western Xinjiang, the imperial court invested a total of 136,000 cavalry troops.

"In mid-February, each of you led your men and horses to assemble in Chencang, waiting for the imperial court to attack the order." Li Yi stood up and waved his hand.

Before leaving, Li Yi met with Han Song, Kuai Liang, Wang Lang, Hua Xin and other special envoys from Xiangyang. Spread the will of the Son of Heaven and choose a day to fight.

Han Song and the others were terrified, worried that their heads would be used by Li Yi as a sacrifice for the sworn flag. Li Yi gave kind words and comforted them, hoping that they could stay in northern Xinjiang to serve the Han Dynasty.

A few days later, Han Song, Wang Lang, and Hua Xin pleaded guilty and were willing to stay in Chang'an, but Kuai Liang and Lü Fan asked to return to the south.

Li Yi worshiped Han Song and the three of them for the General's Mansion and repatriated Kuailiang and Lü Fan.

………………

Yanzhou, Changyi.

Guan Yu and Li Jing made an appointment to meet in Changyi.

Before leaving, Li Yi solemnly instructed them to trust and cooperate with each other and complete the goal of attacking the south as soon as possible.

Li Jing got straight to the point, and said to Guan Yu: "The lord will lead the army to conquer the western frontier in April or May, that is to say, we have at most two months left to complete the goal set by the imperial court. Judging from the current situation, can we achieve a victory in Xuzhou or Jingzhou? ”

Guan Yu pondered for a long time, shook his head, and said: "Since the rebels dare to divide the feud and dominate one side, of course they are fully prepared for prevention. The Xuzhou army in Langya, Donghai and Pengcheng has long been ready for battle. Whether we attack Langya from the southeast or go directly south to attack Pengcheng, we will not be able to achieve satisfactory results in the short term. I discussed with Gao Shun, Wei Yan, Zang Ba, Xun Di and others for a long time, but I felt that I didn't know where to start. What's the situation on the Yingchuan side? ”

Li Jing smiled bitterly: "The west of Yingchuan is Nanyang, and the south is Runan. If we fight Nanyang, Yuan Tan will go north to contain it, and if we fight Runan, Yuan Xi will attack and help each other. No matter how we fight, we will be stuck in a two-front battle and have no chance of winning. ”

"Do you have any advice from the pharmacist?" Guan Yu asked. Li Jing traveled hundreds of miles to meet with him, of course, not to complain to himself.

"Yun Chang, can you trust me?" Li Jing answered the question.

"Of course." Guan Yu said without hesitation, "Since the eldest brother sent you south to fight Jingzhou, of course he has considered all aspects of the situation and has absolute confidence in you." If you have a plan to break the enemy, I will help you. No matter if you open up the situation in Jingzhou or I open up the situation in Xuzhou, as long as we win a battle and deal a heavy blow to the rebellion, we will complete the mission given by the eldest brother, and it will also help the eldest brother to go west, which will also be of great help to us to go south to quell the rebellion in the later stage. ”

"That's good." Li Jing spread out the map on the desk and said to Guan Yu, "Let's fight Yuzhou." ”

Li Jing suggested that Guan Yu send a large army to feint to attack Pengcheng, and he sent a large army to feint Nanyang, and the two wings were quickly inserted to make a strong attack posture.

At this moment, Liu Biao of Jingzhou and Cao Cao of Xuzhou would urge Yuan Tan of Yuzhou to take the initiative to attack Yingchuan in order to contain the forces of the Northern Xinjiang Army and alleviate the crisis on the battlefields on both flanks.

Li Jing said: "As long as Yuan Tan comes out and his army no longer holds the city, we will have the opportunity to encircle and annihilate him, and we will be able to solve the problem in the shortest possible time." The attack on the city is protracted and the consumption is staggering, and this kind of battle cannot be fought at present. ”

"Yuan Tan is the weakest, if we can lure him out and inflict heavy damage on his army, we can fly south with lightning speed, completely occupy the three counties of Runan, Chen, and Liang, and suppress him to the south of Pei. In this way, we not only cut off Xuzhou and Jingzhou, and obtained a more favorable terrain for the offensive, but also obtained large tracts of fertile land, alleviated the financial difficulties of the imperial court, and helped the front-line army to stock up more food in preparation for the attack in October this year. ”

"What? In the fall, the pharmacist still has to grab grain? Guan Yu greatly appreciated Li Jing's strategy, and his confidence in winning a battle in the near future has greatly increased. When I'm in a good mood, I can't help but talk casually.

"The meaning of the imperial court is to extend the battlefield to the counties of Xu, Jing, and Henan, to strike at the enemy to the greatest extent and consume the enemy. During the period of the Lord's conquest of the Western Frontier, it is impossible for us to launch a second great war, so we can only rely on this method to inflict heavy damage on the enemy's army, break the will of the rebels, and divide and weaken the enemy as much as possible. Li Jing said with a smile, "Every time we attack, you and I attack together, so that the enemy is attacked on all sides and is powerless to resist." ”

Guan Yu's eyes lit up, his thoughts suddenly brightened, and he said well.

Li Jing planned to send 40,000 men to attack Wancheng in Nanyang and Pengcheng in Xuzhou on the eastern and western battlefields, and gather 80,000 men on the front line of Yanling and Xuchang to encircle and annihilate Yuan Tan. He said: "Considering that Yuan Tan's army may go north to fight Yingchuan, or it is possible to go north to fight Chenliu, I suggest that the lord ask General Chang Yuchun, who is stationed in Xingyang, to go south to help." ”

Guan Yu was slightly surprised. If Chang Yuchun's army is also transferred to the southern battlefield, then nearly 200,000 troops will be invested in the eastern, central, and western battlefields, which is very different from the requirements of the eldest brother. The eldest brother only asked him to fight a skirmish with Li Jing to combat the arrogance of the rebels, rather than launching a full-scale attack of this scale.

Li Jing saw Guan Yu's hesitation, and immediately explained: "The main reason why the lord gave us two months is to lead the army westward in May, hoping to end the war in Western Xinjiang within this year, but this possibility is actually very small. The prestige of the lord is known to everyone in the world, and the Qiang people saw the lord with the Han iron cavalry into the western frontier, what was the first thought? It's to escape, the farther away the better, they won't be like the desert Hu people more than ten years ago, stupidly fighting to the death with the lord, that is purely looking for death. ”

Of course, the Qiang people will not flee to the West Sea immediately, flee to the West Tilt Mountain, Minshan Mountain, they still have to deal with the Han army in the area of Hehuang, Caohan, and the Great and Small Elm Valleys. At the same time, the people who returned to Liangzhou had to be resettled, and the county governments in Hanyang, Jincheng, Longxi and other places had to be rebuilt, and it would take time. Therefore, it is impossible to end the war in Western Xinjiang within one year, and it will take at least two years or more. ”

"The longer the war drags on in the western Xinjiang, the heavier the burden on the imperial court will be, and the more financially strained it will be. Therefore, if we take Yuzhou first, it will greatly alleviate the financial tension of the imperial court, and it will play a decisive role in the imperial court's war to recover western Xinjiang. ”

Li Jing's words were reasonable, Guan Yu had no way to refute them, he hesitated for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and promised: "Okay, I'll pass the book to the eldest brother Feige immediately." ”

"Time waits for no one." Zhong Lijing persuaded, "While we are playing, we will deploy troops. ”

"The battle on both flanks immediately began." Guan Yu went out and said, "Fight first." ”

In early March, letters from Guan Yu and Li Jing were sent to Luoyang. After Li Yi looked at it carefully, he accepted their opinions and decided to do his best to attack Yuzhou first. However, he gave Guan Yu and Li Jing a clear deadline, within three months, they must take Yuzhou, otherwise they will be held accountable and severely punished.