Li Yan followed the step-by-step order, first ordered Feng Jin to lead the sailors to clear the pontoon bridge, cut off the connection between Xiangyang and Fancheng, and then break them individually.

This task was not easy at all, although the strength of the Wei army's naval division was not as good as that of the Han army's naval division, but under the cover of Xiangyang, Fancheng and pontoon bridges, relying on the advance deployment of the haode defense line, it still caused a lot of trouble to Feng Jin.

The Wei army planted a lot of wooden stakes in the Han water, only in the middle of the gap about ten steps wide, the Han warships entered this space, they could only advance by single boat, and they had to deal with it carefully, if they were not careful, they would hit the wooden stakes. This formation was conducive to the Wei army to launch an attack, and the thunderbolts on the city walls on both sides could accurately attack the warships, and this passage that was no more than a hundred steps long became the death passage of the warships.

Through this passage of death, the Han army's sailors were able to fight against the Wei army's sailors. In the face of the superior strength of the Wei army's naval division, coupled with the bow and crossbow positions on both sides, the Han army's naval division, which survived the catastrophe, was at an absolute disadvantage and fought very hard.

After losing the first battle, Feng Jin sacrificed the trick of traveling on land, and spent a few days again detouring to the lower reaches of the Han River, and in turn attacked the back of the Wei army. Wei Jun didn't expect this, and in a hurry, he was blocked by Feng Jin. At this time, the death passage became a fatal obstacle to the escape of the Wei army's sailors, the Wei army had no hope of escaping, some of them fled ashore and fled into the city, and the rest of the men and ships became Feng Jin's trophies.

It took Feng Jin a few more days to clear the pontoon bridge and remove the wooden stakes that Wei had planted in the Han River one by one. These things are not difficult in Jishu, what is needed is time and patience, and there is also the price that must be paid to deal with the Wei army's stone thrower. Fortunately, Feng Jin captured a lot of Wei warships and made up for some losses.

After taking control of Han Shui. Li Yan officially besieged the city of Xiangyang.

However, it was definitely not easy to attack Xiangyang City.

As an important fortress at the forefront of the Wei army's Jingzhou theater, the city wall of Xiangyang is tall and strong, and it is a double city, the city itself is solid, plus it has been prepared for a long time, the food is sufficient, and the morale of the soldiers is high, so it is obviously impossible to conquer Xiangyang in the short term.

Li Yan also recognized this, and he did not rush to attack the city. Instead, he ordered dozens of mounds to be erected outside the city that were taller than the city walls. Then he put the crossbow cart on it, and fired into the city, and the guard in charge of the lookout stood on the mound. Observe the situation in the city. Command the Thunderbolt to attack. Under the cover of thunderbolts, ballistas. Then he used a giant shield cart to protect the soldiers, approached the city wall, and built a mound of earth. Step by step, approaching Xiangyang City.

Although this method is clumsy, it is more secure, except for the Wei army in the city to use thunderbolt chariots to fight back and throw those crossbow carts, there is no more way to do it to the soldiers hiding behind the giant shield carts, and can only watch the Shu army get closer and closer. As long as Li Yan was given enough time to pile the mounds under the city walls, the Shu Han army would be able to attack the city walls along these mounds.

Around these mounds, both sides launched attacks.

The Wei army was protected by the city wall, but the Han army was victorious in the number of people, Li Yan put out more than 500 thunderbolts, crossbow cars, more than 10,000 people, day and night non-stop attack, 5,000 heavy battalion of sappers day and night to transport earth to build the city, and a large number of soldiers cut down wood to build ladders, siege vehicles and other siege equipment.

Now what Li Yan lacks is only time and the resulting consumption of grain and grass, as long as there is enough food for him to persevere, if there are no reinforcements coming, the fall of Xiangyang City will be a matter of time sooner or later.

After the news of Li Yan's siege of Xiangyang City reached Xinye, Sima Yi was very surprised, he remembered the strange situation that occurred during the last joint battle with the Wu army, and he couldn't help but suspect that there was another waterway from the west of Xiangyang to the lower reaches of the Han River, but he searched through the map and asked many local soldiers in Jingxiang, but he did not find this waterway.

Puzzled, Sima Yi had no choice but to put this matter aside first, led 20,000 main forces to Fancheng, and at the same time reported the situation in Xiangyang to Cao Rui, the son of heaven in Wancheng, and asked for cavalry support. Sima Yi didn't have much cavalry now, and for the Battle of Guanzhong, most of the cavalry was transferred to Zhang He. However, the Wei army is much stronger than Shu Han in terms of war horse resources, and a heavy general like Sima Yi still retains more than 1,000 horsemen as personal guard horses, but this more than 1,000 horsemen are okay to protect the main general, but they can't be used to attack the battle, so Sima Yi can only ask Cao Rui for support.

When Li Yan learned that Sima Yi had arrived, he ordered Wei Feng to lead his headquarters with 5,000 men and horses to cooperate with Feng Jin's sailors to block the attack along the coast to prevent Sima Yi from having the opportunity to cross the river, and at the same time ordered Meng Da to lead 10,000 troops to set up a blocking formation on the southeast side of Xiangyang City to prevent Sima Yi from breaking through the Han River and driving until the city of Xiangyang. He also ordered Zhao to lead 10,000 people to be stationed on the Dan Mountain in the southwest of Xiangyang City, and he himself commanded the remaining 30,000 people to continue to attack Xiangyang City.

The geography of Yangyang City is very distinctive. The Han River came from the west, flowed north of Xiangyang City, and then made a big bend and headed south. The north and east sides of Xiangyang City are surrounded by Han water, the south of the city is the north-south direction of the Da Hyun Mountain, the southwest direction is the east-west direction of the Wangchu Mountain, the mountains are like a screen, the peaks are facing each other, the terrain is precipitous. The enemy from the south could only approach Yangyang through a narrow passage between the two mountains.

In addition to the land route in the south, Xiangyang is only connected with Fancheng on the other side of the Han River through the pontoon bridge, which is a horn for each other, which was originally foolproof, but after the Wei army's naval division was wiped out again, Xiangyang became an isolated city, and it could only be hoped that the reinforcements would cross the Han River and reach the city.

Without the protection of the water division, in the face of the Han army's water division who had just won a big victory, and Wei Feng and others who were eyeing the other side of the river, Sima Yi couldn't find a way to solve it for a while. But he is not in a hurry, he knows very well that Xiangyang City is not so easy to break, don't look at Li Yan is busy now, he may not even touch the city wall.

But Sima Yi's military report was written in a hurry, and he had to ask Cao Rui for help almost every day, as if the city of Xiangyang was about to be broken.

……

Zhang He led 10,000 elite horsemen to Wancheng, and Cao Rui met him as soon as possible. The two monarchs and ministers looked at each other for a long time, and said in unison:

"General, you've lost weight."

"Bixia, you've lost weight."

The two were stunned for a moment, and then smiled. Cao Rui gave a seat and asked about the situation in Guanzhong. Zhang He suppressed his resentment, and said the situation in Guanzhong, although he endured it and endured it, Zuihou still couldn't control his mouth, and said: "This time the minister betrayed Bixia's trust, failed to conquer Guanzhong in one fell swoop, and gave up halfway, Guanzhong is probably not mine." As long as Zhuge Liang takes another year or two, the tuntian in Guanzhong will be self-sufficient, and when the time comes, it will be more than enough for self-defense. ”

Cao Rui sighed lightly and explained: "I also know about these situations, but Li Yan's soldiers are out of Xiangyang, and there is no general here, so I am uneasy. ”

Zhang He was grateful and regretful, and he couldn't say anything, so he had to sigh with the emperor for a while. On the way here, he had already thought of some reasons, and now he saw that the emperor was so helpless, and explained to him euphemistically, even if he had great grievances, he had to stuff in his stomach. Although there was not much resentment on his face, there was not much relief in his eyes, and the whole person looked depressed.

"What does the general think of the war in Nanyang?" Cao Rui changed the subject.

"Li Yan did not measure his own strength, for his own selfishness, he did not help Zhuge Liang to defend the pass, but attacked Xiangyang Jiancheng, and he will definitely be defeated." Zhang He exhaled, as if he had spit out all the unhappiness, and concentrated on analyzing the current battle situation. "But for my Dawei, this is a good opportunity. If Li Yan can be severely injured and annihilated these fifty or sixty thousand people, Yizhou will be empty, and if Zhuge Liang wants to keep Yizhou, he will inevitably send the main force back to help Hanzhong, and maybe there will be another opportunity in Guanzhong at that time. ”

"How can I hit Li Yan hard?"

"Li Yan is here for merit, and if he doesn't conquer Xiangyang, he probably won't leave easily. Since this is the case, let him attack Xiangyang, and if he can't attack it for a long time, the main force will attack and annihilate it in one fell swoop. ”

Cao Rui bowed slightly, he thought the same way, but in the past two days, he was a little upset by Sima Yi's military report a day, and now that he heard what the general Zhang He said, he was at ease. What made him even more reassuring was that with this 10,000 elite cavalry arriving, even if Li Yan conquered Xiangyang, he might not be able to have the spare strength to attack Nanyang, let alone threaten Wanluo.

When he thought of this, he couldn't help but regret it a little. Originally, he only stayed on the intelligence of the situation in Guanzhong, and he didn't know what the situation was, only when Zhang He was stubbornly defending Xiao Pass, he was unable to attack, and now when he heard Zhang He, he knew that Zhang He was waiting for Zhuge Liang to rescue Chen Shi, and he wanted to wait for work and break Zhuge Liang's main force before entering Guanzhong. It was his own edict that interrupted Zhang He's Jihua, and he also wasted a great opportunity, a great opportunity that Cao Zhi exchanged for his life.

Thinking of what happened before and after, Cao Rui's mood was very uneasy. Cao Zhen was seriously ill, Cao Zhi died in battle, the liliang of the clan was already too weak, and the family he had been guarding against was becoming more and more bold, and actually began to interfere with his decision-making. In order to compete for power and profit, is it tolerable to ignore such an important overall situation in the recovery of Guanzhong, which is unbearable?

However, Cao Rui also knew that no matter how much role Sima Yi and others played in this matter, after all, Zuihou made the decision, and the big war was imminent, and the discord between the monarch and the minister would only give the enemy a chance. He ordered Zhang He to enter Xinye, take the center to respond, and at the same time let Man Chong be careful about the situation in Eastern Wu.

Although Wei Guo has an agreement with Sun Quan, Cao Rui knows Sun Quan's temper, and no one can guarantee that Sun Quan will not turn fiction into reality and turn fake into truth. Sun Quan is accustomed to stepping on two boats, he secretly communicates with Wei on the one hand, and maintains an alliance with Shu Han on the other, Zhao Tong can enter Nanjun is a clear proof, and there is news that Wei Ba himself will also lead a large army into Nanjun, straight to Xiangyang, to help Li Yan.

In this case, once Wei shows the flaws of weakness, Sun Quan will definitely take the opportunity to make a move, maybe to send troops to Jianghuai alone, or maybe to send troops to Nanjun with Wei Ba, depending on the level of trust between him and Wei Ba. Don't look at Sun Quan's daughter just married Zhao Tong, but the hatred between Sun Quan and Wei Ba is not so easy to resolve, Sun Quan's willingness to let Wei Ba go north through Nanjun is not a strategy to lead the water north and add fuel to the fire.

Cao Rui is not worried about Sun Quan, and Sun Quan is also not worried about Cao Rui

(To be continued......)