Chapter 8 Two, both ways

In the tenth month of the lunar calendar in the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao issued an attack order, targeting Xiakou (now Wuhan, Hubei) at the confluence of the Han River and the Yangtze River. At this time, it was only two or three months since the start of the Jingzhou Campaign, and less than a month since the capture of Jiangling. Cao Cao personally led the team to set off from Jiangling. The marching route is roughly equivalent to the distance from Jingzhou City, Hubei Province to Wuhan City today. From the map, the straight-line distance is less than 500 miles. If you advance along the waterway, the distance will be doubled. More than that, because this section of the river has many changes and twists and turns, it is called Jingjiang today.

Although the land route was shorter, Cao Jun chose to take the water route because the land route was more difficult. After the Yangtze River flows to Jiangling, it does not go directly east, but goes south first, and then goes east after a large circle. In this semi-circular circle is the famous Hongze Lake area, which is now the fourth largest freshwater lake in China. , The water area is nearly 2,000 square kilometers, forming a low-lying area with dense river networks and lakes.At that time, the area of ​​this lake area was larger, and its name was Yunmengze.According to the description in Sima Xiangru's "Zixu Fu", its scope extends from the Dabie Mountains in the east of today's Wuhan in the east, to the mountains in western Hubei Province in the west, to the Dahong Mountains in the north, and to the Yangtze River in the south. Two hundred and fifty kilometers, which is several times the area of ​​the Hongze Lake area today.

Cao's army attacked Jiangxia County from Jiangling. The most direct way was to go east by land, but they had to go through Yunmengze. The traffic here was inconvenient, and the roads in many places were impassable, which was not suitable for large corps movements, so they had to choose to go east by boat. Fortunately, Jiangling gathered the main naval forces of the former Jingzhou, with thousands of large and small warships, which could meet the needs of Cao Jun's soldiers for transfer. The generals and soldiers of the Cao army boarded the ship, including horses and luggage. At first, everyone thought it was good. After all, marching is hard work. Now sitting on the boat and watching the scenery, they arrived at the destination without knowing it.

However, Cao Jun soldiers who are accustomed to marching on land obviously cannot adapt to this marching method and the climate and environment along the route immediately, and some serious problems will soon occur. Cao Cao personally led Cao Jun down the river, but this was not the entire main force of Cao Jun.In fact, Cao Jun's actions were not limited to Jiangling, and this attack had a more careful deployment. We call the road in Jiangling the West Road Corps.According to the records in the biographies of the "Three Kingdoms", the main force led by Cao Cao includes the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry led by Cao Chun, Cao Zhen, and Cao Xiu, the Suwei Army led by Xu Chu, and the ministries led by Xu Huang, Man Chong, and Ren Jun.Xu Huang's military position at this time is General Yokono, Man Chong is General Fenwei, and Ren Jun is Captain Changshui. Thousands of tigers and leopards and a part of the Suwei army, Ren Jun's navy should be trained by Cao Cao in the north, and the number will not be too many.

In addition, the former Jingzhou navy, as mentioned earlier, generally has about 20,000 to 30,000 people and thousands of warships of various types, basically all of them participated in the upcoming Jiangxia battle. Jiangling also has part of the main force of the Cao army, led by Cao Ren, and the task assigned to him by Cao Cao is to stick to it.Jiangling is the seat of Nanjun, one of the seven counties in Jingzhou, and holds a very important position.Going upstream from Jiangling, you can reach Yizhou through the current Three Gorges reservoir area. Although Liu Zhang surrendered on the surface, he had to keep a hand, so he asked Cao Ren to stay here and monitor the situation upstream.

Fortunately, Cao manipulated this arrangement, otherwise he might not be able to come back. This is the West Road Corps, but Cao Jun's main troops are not all in Jiangling at this time, and more troops are in Xiangyang.Cao Cao ordered the main forces in Xiangyang to form the North Road Corps, and quickly went south, pointing directly at Jiangxia County. This part of the main force includes Yu Jin, Zhang Liao, Zhang, Le Jin, Lu Zhao, Zhu Ling, and Feng Kai. They are all generals in the military today. Among them, Yu Jin is General Huwei, Zhang Liao is General Dangkou, and Zhang is General Pingdi. Le Jin is General Zhechong, Lu Zhao is General Yangwu, and Feng Kai is General Fenwei.

In other words, the main force of the North Road Corps is these seven "armies". According to the military system of the Han Dynasty, there are more than 10,000 people in a full-stacked "army".What's more, these guys are all fierce men who can fight. Except for Feng Kai who has less deeds, the rest of them are experienced in hundreds of battles and have made great achievements.Generally, such fierce generals can't help but have a bit of a temper. They have always been loyal and submissive to Cao Cao, but apart from Cao Cao, there are probably few who can restrain them.

The qualifications and combat achievements of the seven generals of the North Road Corps are roughly the same, and no one will be convinced by whoever is in command.Cao Cao thought over and over again, and suddenly thought of a person, and it would be most appropriate to send him there. This person is Zhao Yan, who once served as the director (master book) of the office of Cao Cao's Sikong Mansion. At this time, his position is the prefect of Zhangling County.Zhangling County was recently separated from Nanyang County, and Xiangyang County was also separated from Nanjun during this period, so the Seven Counties of Jingzhou was once called the Nine Counties of Jingzhou, but after a short time, it returned to the previous organizational system.Zhao Yan was serving as the prefect of Zhangling County at this time.

Zhao Yan cooperated with Li Tong in Runan County for a long time, and dealt with problems thoughtfully and comprehensively, which won Cao Cao's appreciation.Before the Battle of Chibi, Yu Jin's troops were stationed in Yingyin, Lejin's troops were stationed in Yangzhai, and Zhang Liao's troops were stationed in Changshe, all near Xu County.These few are a bit arrogant, and they can't get along at ordinary times (the generals are arrogant, and there are many disagreements). Cao Cao felt that Zhao Yan was good at communicating and coordinating, so he appointed him as the joint chief of staff of the three armies (and joined the three armies). Zhao Yan actually did a good job of this drudgery, to everyone's satisfaction (everything is taught and explained, so we get along well).

Cao Cao made use of Zhao Yan's strengths and asked him to serve as the joint chief of staff of Yu Jin and other ministries (duduhujun), supervising the seven armies of Yu Jin, Zhang Liao, Zhang, Zhu Ling, Le Jin, Lu Zhao, and Feng Kai.At the same time, Zhao Yan's good friend and senior staff officer of the Prime Minister's Mansion (Military Sacrifice Wine) Du Xi was sent to assist Zhao Yan. In addition to these seven armies, the North Road Corps also has a part of the navy, commanded by the former Jingzhou general Wenpin. Cao Cao had issued an order before, appointing Wenpin as the prefect of Jiangxia County. Wenpin can only perform his duties there when Jiangxia County is captured. .

The above is the situation of Cao Cao's troops directly invested in the Jiangxia Campaign. In addition to the two major corps of the West Road and the North Road, Cao Jun also indirectly invested many troops, including Zang Ba, Li Dian, Li Tong, Cao Hong, Xiahou Yuan, and Xiahou's troops. The following are also Give a brief introduction. Zang Ba, who had been stationed in Qingzhou and Xuzhou for a long time, was serving as General Weilu at this time. Before Cao Cao launched the Jingzhou Campaign, he ordered him to lead his troops to the south and move the main force of his troops to Guangling County, which is now Yangzhou on the north bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The Taizhou area posed a strategic threat to Sun Quan's base camp Wujun (now Suzhou, Jiangsu). Li Dian's military position at this time was General Polu, and Cao Cao ordered him to move his troops to Hefei, where he waited for an opportunity to invade Sun Quan's Lujiang County. Although Li Tong, the prefect of Runan County, was not a direct descendant of Cao Cao, he stood firmly on Cao Cao's side every time a major battle happened, and gradually gained Cao Cao's trust.Cao Cao ordered him to lead his troops to move south and put pressure on Jiangxia County from the north. Cao Hong's task was to guard Xiangyang, and Xiahou was in Xu County at this time, and he and Xun jointly guarded the rear.As for the arduous task of logistical support, Cao Cao handed it over to Xia Houyuan. The above-mentioned two major corps plus the troops of Cao Jun who indirectly participated in the Jiangxia Campaign from various places were between 200,000 and 300,000, including tens of thousands of navy troops. In that era, having such an armed force was enough to accomplish anything. This is probably the most troops Cao Cao invested in all previous battles, and it should be the safest one. But by a strange coincidence, he was defeated, and even the shadow of Jiangxia County hadn't been seen when he was defeated. In fact, Cao Cao never thought that the small Jiangxia County would not be defeated.