Xiangyang and Fancheng are a very famous defensive combination in Chinese history.

From the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty Liu Xiu started from Nanyang, he paid great attention to the defense of Xiangyang and Fancheng, and when Liu Biao was the pastor of Jingzhou, in order to fight against Cao Cao, a strong enemy in the north, he began to build Fancheng into a military fortress and defend Xiangyang.

After Cao Cao went south, he was also keenly aware of the importance of Xiangfan's integrated defense, not only leaving Lejin, one of the five good generals, to defend Xiangyang, but also ordering people to rebuild Fancheng and completely build Fancheng into Xiangyang's Gongwei base.

Around Xiangfan, there have been countless battles in Chinese history.

From Guan Yu's attack on Xiangfan, which led to the decline of Liu Bei's group, to the confrontation between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty in Xiangfan for more than ten years, Xiangfan's defense system played a vital role.

From the perspective of the location, Xiangyang is on the south bank of the Han River, while Fancheng is on the north bank of the Han River.

Attacking from the north to the south and attacking Fancheng, this Xiangyang can send troops to rescue, and attacking from the south to the north, attacking Xiangyang, Fancheng can send troops to rescue.

Capturing any of them alone doesn't really do much good.

After capturing Xiangyang, the defenders in the north could rely on Fancheng as a springboard to threaten the city defense of Xiangyang at any time, forcing the attackers to station a large number of troops in Xiangyang.

And to capture Fancheng, Fancheng is only a military fortress, and does not have much supply and strategic value, and the side defending Xiangyang can also rely on Hanshui to continue to organize defense.

Therefore, to pacify Xiangfan once and for all, it is best to capture the two cities together, so as not to fall into a protracted tug-of-war.

As for how to attack these two cities at the same time, which can support each other and passively become corners.

The answer chosen by Guan Yu is the water army.

Yes, Guan Yu's choice was correct.

Throughout the history of the Battle of Xiangfan, the four most famous battles of Xiangfan in history were all won by the side with the advantage of the naval army, except for Guan Yu, the other three battles were won by the side with the advantage of the naval army.

Guan Yu's idea was to use the navy to go up the Han River, occupy an absolute advantage on the water, cut off the connection between Xiangyang and Fancheng, and crack the advantage of Xiangyang and Fancheng supporting each other.

Then, first besiege Xiangyang City without fighting, and attack Fancheng with all his might.

As long as Fancheng is defeated, there is a barrier to the north of the arch guard, and the joint naval army and the army completely block Xiangyang, then Xiangyang is the turtle in the urn, and it may not need to be fought, and it will surrender directly.

This is Guan Yu's strategic conception of the battle of Xiangfan. I have to say that Guan Yu's combat ideas have influenced future generations for a long time.

The Eastern Jin Dynasty defeated the former Qin in the Battle of Xiangfan, Yue Fei went north to attack Xiangfan, and the Southern Song Dynasty held the Xiangfan defense line for more than ten years.

The approach is correct, but the difficulties faced by each battle are different.

The geographical location of Xiangfan is too important for Cao Cao not to know, so once Guan Yu sends troops to cut off the connection between Xiangyang and Fancheng and storm Fancheng, then Cao Cao will definitely transfer troops everywhere to attack Guan Yu.

Cao Ren's first batch of reinforcements, Yu Ban's second batch of reinforcements, and Xu Huang's third batch of reinforcements are all like this, as long as Fancheng is still there, then Cao Cao will continue to send reinforcements to the rescue.

Guan Yu had to face so many reinforcements, especially in the open area north of the Han River, whether he could resist the might of Cao Cao's reinforcements and quickly capture Fancheng became the key.

At this point, Zhang Xi expressed his worries to Guan Yu.

On the contrary, it was Guan Yu who felt that Zhang Xi's worries were a bit redundant - we were feints, have you forgotten?!

Guan Yu's purpose in launching the Battle of Xiangfan was to prepare for the Battle of Hanzhong and attract Cao Cao's troops south. Of course, the more reinforcements sent by Cao Cao, the better, and it doesn't matter whether Fancheng fights or not.

Therefore, Guan Yu's purpose is to use Fancheng as a bait to focus on Cao Cao's reinforcements. This is also known as encirclement reinforcement.

When Zhang Xi heard this, he felt as if the development of things was a little different from what he thought.

If Guan Yu's plan is like this, then it can explain why Cao Ren was beaten by Guan Yu and called Dad, but he was still able to hold Fancheng.

But this can't be explained, after Guan Yu was defeated by Xu Huang, he still ordered the navy to block Hanshui and continue to besiege Xiangyang City, at that time, the battle of Hanzhong was over, and Guan Yu had also been driven by Xu Huang from the north of the Han River to the south of the Han River, and he should withdraw his troops.

So. In the battle of Xiangfan, how much did Guan Yu's thinking change?!

However, so far, Guan Yu's mind is still sober, and the proposed battle plan is also in line with the strategic purpose, at least in the eyes of Xu Shu and Zhang Xi, there seems to be nothing to blame.

After that, it was to prepare for the Battle of Xiangfan.

After Xu Shu finished this meeting, he had a special gathering with Zhang Xi, on the one hand, to discuss the liaison and pacification of Pan Jun, on the other hand, Xu Shu also repeatedly explained to Zhang Xi that after going out with the army, he must have the courage to advise the second master when he should advise, and he can't be so timid as before, otherwise it will not make much sense for the second master to take Zhang Xi to attack Xiangfan.

Zhang Xi also knew the importance of this matter, and said that he would still work hard to fight for what should be fought for.

At the same time, Zhang Xi also reminded Xu Shu in turn to be careful of Lu Meng, that guy's ability must be more than what he shows now, after all, he is a person who "hasn't seen you for three days, and you should be impressed".

This thing may be hiding some kind of immoral idea, you must be careful.

Xu Shu also nodded in response.

Then, the two separated, Xu Shu went back to Wuling County to guard the town, while Zhang Xi returned to his mansion and handed over the affairs of Nanjun with Zhao Lei, Wang Ji and others, and at the same time summoned Zhang Wei and asked him to hand over the affairs of the mining area to Deng Ai, and report to Guan Yu's army by himself.

Time came to the end of April unconsciously.

News came from Xudu that in early April, Geng Ji and the imperial physician Ling Jiben, Si Zhi Wei Huang, Jin Yi and others launched a rebellion, attacked Xu Du at night, burned the gate, tried to kidnap the Son of Heaven to escape, and shot Cao Cao's prime minister Changshi Wang Bi in the shoulder.

Although this matter, Geng Ji, Yoshimoto and the others didn't make any waves at all, and let Wang Bi calm it down the next day. However, Cao Cao, who had already raised troops in Yecheng and crossed the Yellow River, heard about this, and quickly ordered the army to change course and go to Xudu to suppress the rebellion and pacify the place.

What kind of place is it, Cao Cao's lair in the early years, where the Son of Heaven is.

Xu Du has also experienced an unknown number of power struggles in the open and in the dark, and Cao Cao does not know how many enemies he has cleaned up, so that Cao Cao can go to Yecheng, Hebei to build the capital and claim the throne with peace of mind. There are still people trying to rebel?!

Not to mention, the purpose of these people is to echo Guan Yu and kidnap the Son of Heaven to escape.

If this really makes those people succeed, what will happen?!

Xu Du's place is too sensitive, Cao Cao must go over in person, and he is not at ease with anyone to go.

Obviously, these are some of Guan Yu's arrangements north of Xiangyang over the years, and now they are playing a role.

After Guan Yu learned of the rebellion of Geng Ji, Wei Huang and others, he also quickly made arrangements and prepared to raise troops to attack Xiangyang.

Although Guan Yu also knew that when he received the news to raise troops, the rebellion of Geng Ji, Wei Huang and others might have been quelled, but this was not important.

The rebellion in Xudu will inevitably cause instability in Jingbei and other places, and Cao Cao will definitely come to Xudu, and he will attack Xiangyang at this time, which can better contain Cao Cao's troops.

Therefore, Guan Yu decided to divide the troops into two ways and attack Xiangfan.

One way, Guan Yu personally led the troops, led the navy along the Han River, approaching Xiangyang from the west, and the other way was the army led by Zhang Xi, attacking Linfang, and then turning around a small half circle to the north and entering Xiangyang.

Guan Yu's timing can be said to be very good, and Sun Quan's side is not bad at the timing.

After learning that Cao Cao had led his army into Xuchang, and Guan Yu had also raised troops to attack Xiangfan, Jiangdong Sun Quan took Sun Yu, the general of the clan, and Sun Huan as the main commander, led 30,000 troops to invade Hefei.

Sun Quan didn't believe it, Cao Cao could put aside the gains and losses of Hanzhong and Xiangyang, and came to compete with him for Hefei at this time.

For a time, Liu Bei attacked Hanzhong, Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan, Sun Quan attacked Hefei, and Cao Wei faced the enemy on three sides, feeling a little tired.

Cao Cao also had a real headache.

Faced with such a bad situation, Cao Cao's head wind disease was committed again, and it was very bad.

Cao Cao is also self-inflicted, obviously there is a famous doctor Hua Tuo who can help him treat head wind, and each treatment is particularly effective, and the most important thing is that people really haven't proposed to give you a scoop on your head. Just because people couldn't get an official and didn't return after the leave was overdue, Cao Cao killed people.

It's okay now, I deserve to kill you.

But Cao Cao is always a generation of heroes, very strong to withstand headaches, analyze the situation, and respond.

First of all, Cao Cao led the army to Xudu, searched the whole city as soon as possible, and arrested all the people related to Geng Ji and others.

This kind of thing, in Cao Cao's eyes, is that it is better to kill the wrong person than let it go.

Immediately afterwards, Cao Cao received the news that Guan Yu had sent troops to attack Xiangyang, and immediately sent Cao Ren to lead 10,000 troops to Xiangyang to meet the battle, asking Cao Ren to repel Guan Yu and keep Xiangyang.

As for Hefei, Cao Cao first ordered Zhang Liao, the defender of Hefei, to defend it, and then personally wrote a letter to Zang Ba, who was guarding Xuzhou, asking him to send troops to reinforce Zhang Liao if necessary.

Zang Ba, although he obeyed Cao Cao's orders, but in essence, he was still a half-land snake, and Cao Cao was not easy to offend to death, otherwise the land of Xuzhou would be chaotic again, and Cao Cao would really be uncomfortable.

After doing these things, Cao Cao continued to set his sights on Liu Bei, who was attacking Hanzhong, who was his henchman.

But the problem is that Cao Cao doesn't dare to leave Xudu easily now, and he has to wait until this pile of things in Xudu is settled, so that Cao Cao can rest assured that he can go west, and he can only temporarily let Xiahou Yuan hold on and wait for his own reinforcements.

By the way, I wrote a letter to criticize Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, and Cao Zhen. In the face of a reckless man like Zhang Feima Chao, the three of them are fighting like shit, if you can't keep Chen Cangdao, then you guys won't come back to see me.

At the same time as Cao Cao made arrangements, the war in Hanzhong also underwent some changes.

Seeing that Liu Bei's army was hoarding in front of Yangping Pass, Xiahou Yuan sent Zhang He to Guangshi outside Ma Mingge Road, on the one hand to protect the flank of Yangping Pass, and on the other hand, he could also go east to threaten the grain route of Liu Bei's army.

Liu Bei also reacted quickly, sending Wei Yan and Chen Shi to lead an army of 10,000 to attack Mamingge Road over the mountain, trying to cut off the connection between Guangshi and Yangping Pass, and protect the grain road, but also to break the horns of Yangping Pass.

Xiahou Yuan's reaction was not slow, and he hurriedly sent Xu Huang to cooperate with Zhang He, who was in Guangshi, and the two famous generals joined forces to flank Wei Yan and Chen Shi.

The two sides started a fierce battle around Ma Mingge Road.

(End of chapter)