Chapter 885 Stop the Siege
Under the leadership of Li Yan, the three thousand Xiliang cavalry were like a pack of wolves hunting together. They were not eager to attack the prey. Instead, they were within a stone's throw of Cao Ren's army and circled slowly, observing the "prey." ” action, once he finds a flaw in his prey, he will rush forward without hesitation.
At the same time, Cao Ren was also observing his opponent. This Xiliang cavalry consisted of one person and two horses. The knights on the horses had exquisite eyes. They were obviously experienced in battles. He had led cavalry himself, so he naturally knew the skills of cavalry. Level of sophistication.
"Retract your troops. The enemy's formation is very tight. If our troops attack forcefully, we may fall into it and find it difficult to extricate ourselves."
Li Yan shook his head. Anyway, the purpose of his three thousand cavalry was just to save Jiangling City. As long as Jiangling City could be saved, it would be a great achievement. He did not have such a big appetite to swallow Cao Ren's nearly 20,000 troops in one go.
"Take the troops back to the camp and summon the generals to discuss matters."
Cao Ren looked at the three thousand cavalry standing opposite, with a gloomy look on his face. He snorted, and then waved his hand. The formation of the 20,000 troops remained unchanged, and they slowly returned to the camp.
After seeing the enemy troops withdrawing and returning to camp, Li Yan breathed a sigh of relief: "Someone will go to the city to report to Captain Wei Yan. The rest will follow me to the woods to the west of the city to dismount and rest."
The envoy sent by Li Yan ran to the city on flying horses and shouted to the top of the city: "Is Colonel Wei Yan here?"
"I am here, please thank General Li Lang for me." Wei Yan shouted.
"It doesn't matter, our army is stationed outside the woods to the west of the city. We won't enter the city for the time being. I ask Captain Wei for your forgiveness."
Logically speaking, there are only a few soldiers in Jiangling City now, and Li Yan's new force should enter the city. However, Li Yan's army is a cavalry, and the key to the use of cavalry is mobility. Three thousand cavalry are stationed outside the city and can attack Cao Ren's army at any time, effectively containing Cao Ren's 20,000 army.
Once inside the city, Cao Ren sent his troops to surround the city gates on all sides. The three thousand cavalry would not be able to get out of the city, and their mobility would be restricted, which was equivalent to being useless.
Therefore, after hearing that Li Yan's three thousand cavalry were stationed outside the city, Wei Yan was relieved. It seemed that Jiangling, who came for reinforcements, at least knew how to fight with cavalry.
"It's easy to say. Say hello to General Li Lang for me."
After seeing off the envoy, Wei Yan was still very busy. He had to visit the injured soldiers and renovate the city defenses. There were a lot of troublesome things waiting for him to deal with.
In Cao's camp, Cao Ren had a calm face.
"Damn it, I didn't expect that the Xiliang Iron Cavalry would come to reinforce them. They were about to capture Jiangling. It only took half an hour at most. I didn't expect that the success would fall short. Alas!"
Niu Jin sighed and smashed the table in dissatisfaction.
Cao Tai also sighed and shook his head.
Cao Ren didn't say much, just looked at Man Chong: "Bo Ning, do you have any other strategies now to capture Jiangling City?"
Man Chong shook his head: "The enemy can't just send their cavalry. They must have followed the army behind them. Our army will be surrounded by the enemy."
"What can I do?"
Man Chong's eyes lit up: "The reason why our army attacked Jiangling was to cut off the Xiliang army's food route and split Jingzhou into two. Now that our army is surrounded near Jiangling, it may not be possible to cut off the enemy's food and grass." transportation."
Cao Ren understood what Man Chong meant and nodded: "Okay, in that case, our army will be at risk from the enemy in Jiangling City!"
Since Li Yan arrived with his cavalry and stationed outside the city, posing a serious threat to Cao Ren's army, Cao Ren did not continue to attack Jiangling. Instead, he stationed outside Jiangling and sent troops everywhere to intercept the transportation of grain and grass to Jingnan.
Cao Ren cast a net in all directions, and the troops and horses of the grain transport team were naturally inferior to him. It was impossible to send out a large army to escort the grain and grass, right?
Xuzhou, Pengcheng.
Because of his campaign against Jiangdong, Cao Cao spent most of his time in Shouchun. Shouchun was connected to Jiangdong to the south and Qingzhou and Xuzhou to the north. Its geographical location was very important.
Therefore, Xun Yu, Cao Cao's most trusted advisor, has been personally stationed in Pengcheng and acted as Cao Cao's agent in government affairs.
"Prime Minister, why are you here?"
Xun Yu, who had just finished handling political affairs at the government office, returned home and was surprised because an unexpected person suddenly appeared in his home.
"Wen Ruo, haha, the court affairs have been hard on you these past few days while I'm away."
Cao Cao smiled and patted Xun Yu on the shoulder, saying a few words of comfort.
"The Prime Minister returns to Pengcheng, but does he want to meet with the Emperor?"
"No, the prime minister has already mobilized troops from Jiangdong, Qing and Xuzhou to attack Liu Ye!" Cao Cao said ambitiously.
Xun Yu was shocked and hurriedly advised: "Prime Minister, please listen to me. The strength of our army is far from that of Liu Ye. How could the Prime Minister want to launch a full-scale war?"
A total war is extraordinary. Once it is launched, it will be unrelenting. It will not stop until it uses all the strength of the country to determine a winner! Just like the Battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao, after hearing that Bai Qi blocked 400,000 Zhao troops, King Qin Zhaoxiang immediately went to the front line without saying a word and mobilized all men over the age of fourteen in the Qin State to participate in the battle. Only then did he win the Battle of Changping. victory. It can be said that Bai Qi's command level is indeed very high, but without the strong support of King Qin, it would be difficult to achieve a great victory.
The same was true for the more than three years of the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought for each other and fought to the death, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties. So when the Western Han Dynasty was founded, the national power was severely depleted. According to the rules, Han Emperor Gaozu required four horses of the same coat color to travel, but he couldn't find any. This shows the serious loss of national power caused by the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony.
Nowadays, the Xiliang Army is far stronger than Cao's Army in terms of territory, population, and strength. If they start a war rashly and turn this war into a war of attrition, the pressure that Cao's Army will face can naturally be imagined.
Cao Cao waved his hand: "Don't worry Wen Ruo, I have arranged for Zixiao to raid Jiangling to attract Liu Yuqing's attention. The Prime Minister will personally send troops to attack Yanzhou this time!"
Xun Yu frowned and seemed to have guessed: "Is the Prime Minister planning to raid Luoyang?"
Cao Cao nodded and laughed loudly: "Wen Ruo is worthy of being my son, and he really knows my heart!"
Yes, Cao Cao's strategy is to mobilize troops and horses everywhere, order Cao Ren to attack in Jingzhou to attract Liu Yuqing's attention, while he secretly returns to Xuzhou, leads an elite army to launch an offensive against Yanzhou, cuts through Yanzhou all the way, and finally attacks Luoyang and breaks through. Hulao Pass, capture and kill Liu Xie!
Now in the world, two emperors stand side by side. Cao Cao and Liu Ye each supported an emperor and attacked each other, thinking that they were orthodox, and the people of the world were confused.
What if there is only one emperor left in this world?