When Liu Cong heard that Xu Huang was the vanguard of the attack on Huyang, he also attached great importance to it, and sent letters one after another, informing Wen Ping and Guan Yu that they must be careful. And emphasized that in another half a month, the deployment of the entire Xinye and Wancheng exhibitions will be Wancheng. In other words, in half a month, as long as Wen Ping and Guan Yu can hold on to Huyang, they will win!

It makes sense why Liu Cong attaches so much importance to Guan Yu. There was once a history record. Cao Cao's evaluation of Xu Huang: "The thieves surrounded the antlers with ten heavy antlers, and the general won the battle, so he fell into the siege of the thieves and beheaded many captives." I have been using soldiers for more than 30 years, and I have heard of those who are good at using soldiers in ancient times, and I have not driven into the enemy's encirclement for a long time. And Fan and Xiangyang are surrounded, too Ju and Jimo, and the general's merits are more than Sun Wu and Sui Tho. "General Xu can be said to have the style of Zhou Yafu.

Cao Cao has been a soldier for more than 30 years in his life, and being able to have such an evaluation of Xu Huang naturally goes without saying that Xu Huang's status in Cao Cao's mind. After General Wen Guaner received Liu Cong's letter, he began to recruit people to build fortifications in Huyang City. When Xu Huang arrived in Huyang, Wen Ping and Guan Yu each led troops to guard the north and west gates of Huyang City. Embattled. And Xu Huang's rigor in governing the army also impressed Wen Ping and Guan Yu's second generals, but fortunately, they trained more sergeants and built fortifications according to Liu Cong's instructions.

Nearly 70,000 people on both sides fought at the west gate of Huyang. Although Xu Huang had outstanding command ability, he only had 40,000 infantry, and the defenders in Huyang City had 30,000, so Xu Huang was not enough to surround Huyang on all sides. You can only choose one direction to attack.

The two sides launched an offensive and defensive like this, and after a few days, Xu Huang did not make any progress. Fortunately, Cao Cao did not give him a deadline to break the city, so he could calmly build siege equipment outside the city.

In fact, Cao Cao also has his own calculations in his heart. After Sima Yi refused to be the vanguard and was driven back to Xuchang by himself, Cao Cao also reflected. Although he was unwilling to withdraw his troops immediately, he did not dare to advance rashly, so he wanted Xu Huang to lead his troops to Huyang to test first, and he would rectify his troops in Wancheng. If the attack power of Liu Cong's troops was not as predicted by Sima Yi, he could continue to mobilize troops and horses from Yuan and Hebei.

If he is frustrated, he also has a reason to withdraw from the army. Of course, it was on foot like the last time the troops were withdrawn from Hefei! After all, Liu Cong is not Sun Quan, of course Cao Cao is worried that Liu Cong will make a lonely bet and pursue it in an all-round way when he retreats, which may cause a large number of casualties in Cao's army! Even the withdrawal of troops must be carried out step by step!

At the same time that Cao Cao was preparing for the attack on Xinye, Liu Cong gave Cao Cao another surprise. Just after the New Year, news came that Liu Cong had deployed another 40,000 infantry between Huyang and Xinye, commanded by Wei Yan and Huang Zu respectively, divided into two divisions, and camped separately. The troops of the two men were thirty miles apart, distributed from east to west, and were located exactly between Huyang and Xinye. Separated between the Tang River and the White River. Cao Cao didn't see Liu Cong's sand table, otherwise he would definitely sigh at Liu Cong's military talent.

Liu Cong's deployment naturally has his deep meaning. First of all, Wei Yan's entry into battle gave a clear signal to the officers and men of the whole army: Yizhou reinforcements have arrived! At least for the time being, the Cao army in the Nanyang area is almost the same as the Liu army, which is to boost their morale and to fight the Cao army. Of course, Liu Cong is not only for this purpose, Wei Yan and Huang Zu are in place, now there are 30,000 infantry in Huyang, 20,000 each in Deng Xian and Biyang, plus a total of six troops in Xinye are deployed in a triangle like a stacked building block, Huyang is the top sharp corner of this triangle, Wei Yan and Huang Zu are the second layer, and Deng County, Xinye and Biyang form the bottom edge of the triangle.

The distance between the entire six armies was thirty or forty miles close to each other, and one hundred and ten miles away. This configuration ensured that no matter which unit was attacked by Cao Cao, soldiers could be quickly drawn from two or three other troops to support. It also changed Xinye's previous situation that he might directly face Cao Cao's army to Cao Cao's must defeat Wei Yan or Gan Ning to reach Xinye! If Cao Cao did not choose to attack Wei Yan or Gan Ning, then Gan Ning and Liu Pan could attack from both flanks, and the six troops would be arranged like a diamond.

Whether it is triangular or diamond-shaped, these six forces become a whole after such a deployment. There can be three forces attacking Wancheng or Runan, which makes Cao Cao feel truly threatened. Cao Cao urged Xu Huang and Zhang He to speed up the attack, and at the same time sent Cao Ren to lead 10,000 troops to launch a tentative attack. In this way, Cao's army also sent nearly 70,000 people. There are only 70,000 troops left in Wancheng.

The large-scale mobilization of troops and horses by the two sides in Wancheng and Xinye also accelerated the escape of the already scarce people. However, most of them chose to go to Jingzhou. This made the civil officials in Jingzhou busier than the generals on the front line. It has been nearly two months since the start of the Xuchang attack, and more than 300,000 people have fled to Jingzhou, but fortunately, there is enough land for distribution in Nanjun. Some were even relocated to the newly built Wuchang. And among them, 20,000 strong men were conscripted into the army, and these people were enriched into the counties. The subordinate counties of Jingzhou practiced the principle of mixing the old and the new, and they successively gathered 20,000 horses to train in the Xiangyang camp. In this way, with the soldiers mobilized from Yizhou, Liu Cong has enough strength to fight a war of attrition with Cao Cao.

As long as the main general in front does not put up an oolong, and there is the infiltration of the scouts and Jinyi guards of various battalions, Cao Cao can no longer help Liu Cong. If he continued to draw troops and horses from the mainland, Cao Cao was confident that he would be able to overpower Liu Cong. But unlike Liu Cong's environment, Cao Cao has the Gongsun clan in the north, Ma Chao in the west, Zhang Lu in the southwest, and Sun Quan in the southeast. Ma Chao and Zhang Lu were recently defeated by Liu Cong, and they would rather fight Chang'an than lead their troops into Shu again.

Not to mention that Sun Quan and Liu Cong are allies, before Liu Cong attacked Xuchang, Cao Cao put on a posture of wanting to destroy Sun Quan. Even if Sun Quan does not repay Liu Cong's rescue grace, he will take the opportunity to avenge the threat. Therefore, the troops in these directions cannot move, but must be strengthened.

Cao Cao had discussed the enemy among his subordinates countless times in public, and always believed that Yuan Shao was his biggest enemy in his life. In Cao Cao's view, neither the Eighteenth Route Princes' crusade against Dong Zhuo nor Lü Bu's attack on Yanzhou could be compared with the Battle of Guandu. If it is said that Lu Bu, Liu Bei, Yuan Shu and others are jackals, then Yuan Shao is the tiger in the back mountain, always staring at his own territory.

But now Cao Cao's thoughts began to waver, whether it was the first battle of Fancheng or the battle of Guandu, it could not be compared to Liu Cong's attack on Xuchang this time. Yuan Shao initiated the battle entirely because he had an absolute advantage and tried to annex the Central Plains. Cao Cao's defeat at the Battle of Fancheng can be attributed to the light enemy and the plague. But in such a passive situation now, from beginning to end, Cao Cao was led by Liu Cong's nose.

Compared with Yuan Shao, the fourth and third dukes, Liu Cong, who is a member of the royal family, is still noble. Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao with fewer victories, and successfully disintegrated and divided several of Yuan Shao's sons, breaking them one by one. And Liu Cong also won the victory in the defense of Fancheng with less victories, and now he is bullying the strong with the weak! This courage and scheming are incomparable to Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shaogang is self-serving, but Liu Cong knows people well. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are the same age, but Liu Cong is more than twenty years younger than Cao Cao! Especially when I think that Liu Cong is only in his early thirties, he is so sophisticated, and his command and dispatch are so calm. If Liu Cong could not be defeated in this battle, Cao Cao asked himself that it would be more difficult in the future. And although his sons are also slightly talented, they are not Liu Cong's opponents together.

For the first time, Cao Cao wavered in his ideal of unifying China! When he defeated Yuan Shao and won the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was ambitious, believing that no one in the world could stop him from joining China. Liu Biao in Jingzhou was not even as threatening as Sun Ce in Jiangdong at that time.

Only ten years later, this Liu Cong was born! He even felt that Liu Cong was his biggest enemy in this life, and he might be an enemy that he could not defeat in his lifetime. If it goes on like this, he will definitely not be able to consume Liu Cong. This is the law of nature...... No wonder Xun Yu will go south, no wonder the Son of Heaven will go south. Thinking of this, Cao Cao even had some sense of powerlessness. And the poor progress of Xu Huang and Zhang He, the two generals, makes this feeling in the furniture!

Cao Cao kept thinking of Sima Yi's words, although Sima Yi was very unhappy with disobedience, but compared to the silent strategists now, Cao Cao was still glad that he forced Sima Yi to come out. I hope it can assist Cao Pi well. Otherwise, Cao Cao was really worried that not only would he not win this battle, but even in the future, after a hundred years, the territory he had worked hard for decades would be gradually swallowed up by Liu Cong in the name of Kuang Fu Han Dynasty.

Whether to fight or retreat, Cao Cao was so embarrassed for the first time in his life. In the end, Cao Cao decided to attack, no matter how many favorable conditions Liu Cong occupied, Cao Cao thought that if he didn't take advantage of the fact that he could still defeat Liu Cong, it would at least greatly weaken him. Only in this way will it be possible for his sons to be in a corner of peace and divide a country. Otherwise, he Cao Cao may not be able to live in peace in his lifetime. You must know that Liu Cong dared to attack Xuchang when his strength was not as good as his own.

Now that he is supporting the Son of Heaven, if he has the same strength as Cao Cao, how can he be willing to be the lord in a corner of peace? In the past, when he supported the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty, the princes of all parts of the country were obedient to him. Now that Cao Cao has lost the son of Han Tian, all he can do is to claim the king by virtue of most of the country he occupies!

So Cao Cao immediately sent out tens of thousands of troops on standby in Wancheng, Cao Ren led 20,000 troops to reinforce Xu Huang, and Xiahoudun led 10,000 troops to reinforce Zhang He. He led the remaining 40,000 people towards Wei Yan's camp! Tried to link three parties to disrupt Liu Cong's triangular deployment. At the same time, Cao Pi, who had retreated to Xuchang, began to recruit new soldiers and raise grain and grass, while waging a war of attrition with Liu Cong.