On November 3, the thirteenth year of Jian'an, from the end of sunrise in the morning to the beginning of the eclipse, outside Yiyang City, Changsha County, Jingzhou.

In the hazy clouds and twilight, the rain that had been falling for many days suddenly stopped, and several long-lost sunrise slanting rays reflected on the rain-soaked land through the thick dark clouds.

Cai Mao's army had moved from Zikou to Yiyang City, more than 20 miles away, in the northeast corner of the wilderness plain, about four miles away from the city.

There is smoke curling from all over the camp, and after the morning mist clears, you can see the same smoke rising from Yiyang City, and further south, from the south bank of Lanxi in the southeast corner of Yiyang City, there is another camp towering.

A high oar was built above the camp, and two people stood on the oar, one was Guan Yu and the other was Zhuge Liang.

At this time, Guan Yu was wearing a green robe, and the hat on his head was also green, and the Qinglong Yanyue Knife was placed in the hands of Zhou Cang under the high turret, and the others stood on the high turret, standing awe-inspiring in the cold wind.

Zhuge Liang is wearing a gray and black fox fur, with a royal blue silk coat inside, and a light green robe in the innermost, the whole person is like an elegant son, overlooking the north.

"Strategist, will Cai Mao really attack today?"

Guan Yu looked at the enemy camp seven or eight miles away, yesterday Cai Mao moved the camp to the outside of Yiyang City, there were only more than 6,000 horses in Yiyang City, plus their army, it was only more than 16,000 people.

And Cai Mao is now an army of 25,000, plus more than 10,000 men and horses of Zhou Bo and Sun Yi in the rear, as well as Han Xi's water division on the lake, the total strength is close to 50,000.

With such a large gap in strength, Guan Yu did not choose to take the initiative to attack, but stuck to Lanxi and Yiyang, waiting for the enemy to attack.

"The prince must understand that since Cai Mao has taken the initiative to attack Jingnan, he must fight quickly."

Hearing his words, Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "Because the lord is very likely to come back at any time, so he will make a detour to attack Linxiang from Yiyang, and we are blocked here, and Cai Mao will not be able to move an inch." ”

"Hmm."

Guan Yu nodded, stroked his beard and said, "What if he attacks the city first?" ”

"Although there are fewer soldiers in the city, the city is stronger. The attack on the city is protracted, and it is more convenient to attack the camp. ”

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said: "What's more, if the prince thinks about it, if the prince is Cai Mao, the city is difficult to attack and the camp is easy to attack, and when the city is attacked, the camp with more soldiers and horses will come to support, and it is difficult to guard." When attacking the camp, even if there are few soldiers in the city to support, it is easier to repel it, and it is even possible to counterattack the city. Will the prince choose the easy first and then the difficult, or the first difficult and then the easy? ”

"This military advisor is reasonable, it seems that Cai Mao will indeed attack my camp first."

Guan Yu pondered for a moment, nodded slightly, and then laughed at himself: "It's just that I didn't expect that I, Guan Yu, would be powerful in the north, and in the eyes of others, I would become a person who was easy to attack, which is a new thing." ”

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "That's because the general didn't raise the banner, and Cai Mao naturally didn't know that the general was guarding here, if he knew, he wouldn't dare to attack." Even if he comes, there is a general here, but there is no return. ”

"Hahaha."

Guan Yu stroked his beard and laughed: "The military advisor wants to play with me, although I have a little reputation, but I also know that the world says that I am just a husband, why are you afraid?" However, the military advisor has a sentence that is right, for the sake of his brother's career, he Cai Mao dares to come, and he will teach him that there is no return! ”

"This is natural, but the prince should be careful."

Zhuge Liang reminded: "Cai Mao is a large number of people, and it is possible to send someone to Jingling to find Zhang Yun as a reinforcement, which cannot be underestimated." ”

Guan Yu said with a smile: "Huang Zhong is guarding in Yiyang City, we are on the south bank of Lanxi, and we all have barriers and horns for each other. Although Cai Mao has a lot of people, I will never be afraid of this. ”

"The courage of the prince is admirable. With the words of the prince, Liang can rest assured to go to Luo County to arrange. ”

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "It's just that before leaving, you still have to be reminded that the prince must remember that no matter how Cai Mao provokes outside the camp, don't leave the camp." Fighting a war requires timing, and you must not make a mistake! ”

"Strategist, go."

Guan Yu squinted his eyes and looked at Cai Mao's camp in the north, and his tone was full of confidence: "For my brother's career, what are you afraid of!" ”

"Then leave everything to the prince!"

Zhuge Liang smiled and bowed his hand, then turned and went down the stairs, still smiling on his face.

What he admires most is Guan Yu.

Although proud, it is not the kind of arrogance that is very contemptuous of everything.

It's the kind of thing that has everything in place and has the chance to win. Although the enemy is outnumbered, you only need to take adequate precautions, and you can also defy the pride of the enemy.

This is the proud bone!

Blind and ignorant pride is called arrogance, and having a clear understanding of friend and foe is an admirable quality!

After Zhuge Liang left, he took a boat all the way east to Luo County to prepare for the overall situation.

At the end of the meal, when the warm morning sun fell on the earth, there was already a lot of movement in the direction of Cai Mao's camp.

With the sound of table tennis drums and mooing horns, in several camps with horns on each other, groups of soldiers walked out of the neat ranks at the gate of the camp, with their bows wound, their knives unsheathed, spears in their hands, and neat steps.

They lined up in countless phalanxes of various sizes in the wilderness about two miles northeast of Yiyang City, and then headed in the direction of the south, as if intending to attack the city gate from the eastern city.

However, Guan Yu, who was watching the battle on the high oar above the Lanxi camp a few miles away, issued an order and said to the deputy generals Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao beside him: "Order the whole army to be on alert!" ”

Alert?

Zhou Cang wondered: "General, shouldn't we go out of the camp to save the city?" ”

Guan Yu stroked his beard and laughed: "Hahaha, they are coming for us, what are you doing out of the camp?" Do you give up the camp and fight them in the wilderness? ”

"Coming at us?"

Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao only felt that the second monk was confused.

Isn't the other side going to attack the city?

"Look."

Guan Yu pointed to the distance and said, "If the enemy wants to attack the city, how can he not have siege equipment?" Although Yiyang City is not high, it is also a city, surrounded by water, and there is not even a moat bridge, how to cross the moat? ”

"But we are on the south bank of Zishui, and we are surrounded by a tributary, Lanxi, isn't it even more difficult to fight?"

Zhou Cang wondered.

Guan Yu said: "Crossing the river is not simple, they have a lot of boats, just cross the river from the downstream, you can watch it, give the order to go down, the whole battalion is on alert, ready to fight." ”

"Yui."

Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao hurriedly went to convey the order.

Soon, the short and urgent sound of orders and sharp whistles spread throughout the camp, and everywhere there were the clattering sounds of iron-armored leaves, anxious and angry urgings, and neat shouts, and in an instant, Guan Yu's camp seemed to wake up.

In fact, Yiyang City in the Han Dynasty was not in the urban area of Yiyang City in the later generations, but at the fork of the two Zishui, and the approximate location was in the Qianjiazhou Township area of Heshan District, Yiyang City in the later generations.

Since ancient times, the lower reaches of Zishui have been separated, one to the north to connect to Yuanshui, and the other to the east to flow into Dongting Lake.

The branch that goes north is called Ganxi, because of the formation of a port called Ganxi Port from the south to the north, about ten kilometers away from the urban area of Yiyang City in the later generations, probably in the area of Ziyang District, Yiyang City in the later generations.

Lanxi is the upstream of Zishui, that is, a branch of Zishui in the urban area of Heshan District, Yiyang City, which carves out a huge piece of land around the Yiyang city in the Han Dynasty and forms the Qianjiazhou township.

In this way, from the geographical environment, the north direction of Yiyang City is Zishui, the northeast direction is a large plain land, and the southeast is convenient Lanxi.

The defenders of Yiyang City, Cai Mao's army, and Guan Yu's army were stationed in these three places respectively, which belonged to the peak momentum.

At this moment, Cai Mao raised troops from the plains and land in the northeast, and if he wanted to attack Yiyang City, he would have to build a large number of trenches.

Because the north and west sides of Yiyang City are water, a moat was dug and surrounded the city, so tools such as moats and bridges were necessary to cross the river.

However, Guan Yuguan did not carry a large number of siege equipment at all, which is enough to show that the enemy's target is the Guan Yu military camp south of Lanxi.

It seems that Zhuge Liang is right, Cai Mao is indeed pinching him as a soft persimmon, although the number of soldiers and horses in their camp is more than that in Yiyang City, Cai Mao still thinks that they are the easiest to attack.

Therefore, Guan Yu was also determined to teach Cai Mao a lesson, so that he would never return, so he immediately issued an order and began to reorganize the military horses and guard against the enemy.

The sound of gongs and drums in the camp shook the sky, and groups of soldiers emerged from behind the gimbals on the wooden fence.

Because it is a newly established camp, including Cai Mao and Guan Yu's camp, there are actually only wooden fences, and no earthen walls are built, but even if they are wooden fences, they have good defense and can bring great advantages to the defenders.

Cai Maojun in the distance went all the way to the south, passing by Yiyang City, and really did not stop, all the way to the southeast, along the Lanxi for several miles, a little far from Guan Yu Yingzhai in the narrow place of the downstream direction, hundreds of flying boats, scouts, yachts and other small boats were already waiting here.

The upper and lower reaches of Lanxi are connected to Zishui, so Cai Mao's fleet can enter Zishui from Ganxi, and then enter the lower reaches of Lanxi from Zishui to upstream the river, and lead the soldiers to cross the river in the lower reaches of Lanxi, and attack the Guanyu camp from the east.

The only pity is that Yiyang City and Guan Yu Camp are some distance away from the river, so he can't drive the building boat over, and shoot arrows directly at the camp and the city tower on the building boat.

After noon, Cai Mao's army had already appeared in the wilderness less than two miles away from Guan Yu's camp.

The south side of the river was full of forests and swamps and lakes, and they could not see the situation on the east side of the camp, but the scouts had long since dispersed.

Soon someone reported back to Guan Yu: "Report, General, the enemy has crossed the river to the east gate of the camp. ”

"Let's go, come with me."

Guan Yu picked up the Qinglong Yanyue Knife, and in addition to Zhou Cang, Pei Yuanshao and other deputy generals, there were also Guan Ping, Liao Hua, Deng Fang, Fu Kuang and other generals, of which Guan Ping was Guan Yu's eldest son, and Liao Hua, Deng Fang, Fu Kuang and others were obtained by Liu Bei when he recruited troops in Nanyang.

In addition to the old team such as Zhang Fei, Zhao Yuntai, Shi Ci, Mi Zhu, and Mi Fang, there are also Yizhou generals such as Wu Yi, Fei Guan, Zhang Yi, Deng Xian, and Wu Lan, as well as Wei Yan, Dong Ju, Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Gao Xiang, Kou Feng and other generals recruited in Jingzhou.

At this moment, the soldiers followed Guan Yu all the way to the east gate of the camp, Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao were not only Guan Yu's deputy generals, but also die-hard cronies, and when they saw the enemy coming slowly from a distance, they were very puzzled: "Since they have a boat, why don't they come directly from Zishui?" Just passing outside Yiyang City, aren't you afraid of the people in the city attacking? ”

"I see they wish there were troops in the city."

Guan Yu smiled.

Zhou Cang was puzzled: "Why is this? ”

Guan Yu said: "Cai Mao has a lot of soldiers, but there are few soldiers in the city, won't he set up an ambush?" ”

"I see."

Zhou Cang nodded.

In fact, there are not only 6,000 people in Yiyang City now, but also about 8,000 Han Hu soldiers.

But you can't get them to the battlefield in a short period of time, what if they suddenly turn against the water?

The strategy is to break the enemy's fighting spirit, so that they can stop resisting and surrender early, if they are allowed to go to the battlefield to fight with their former comrades, I am afraid that the army's morale will be even more unstable.

So those 8,000 pawns are just pawns.

Unlike Wu Yi's 20,000 Yizhou soldiers, it is an army that can be transformed into combat effectiveness.

In fact, Wu Yi's 20,000 Yizhou soldiers cannot be said to be the Yizhou army, but should be said to be Jingzhou soldiers.

Liu Yan is a native of Jingling, Jiangxia, Jingzhou, and when he was assigned as the pastor of Yizhou, due to the civil strife in Yizhou, he stayed in Jiangxia to recruit soldiers and horses, named Dongzhou soldiers.

Therefore, the Dongzhou soldiers were originally from Jingzhou, and there were also some Guanzhong refugees, Nanyang, and Jingzhou who followed Liu Yan's scholars.

Although most of their families are in Ba County, they do not have a sense of belonging to Jingzhou.

This led to the fact that after Liu Bei captured them, after a period of indoctrination, he was able to appoint them instead.

After that, Liu Bei also wrote to Liu Zhang to make peace, so that Liu Zhang did not kill their family members, and often sent letters from their families, so that the soldiers could rest assured.

And the situation has changed greatly in the past two years, Zhang Lu bullied the master, and Liu Bei said that he would enter Sichuan to help Liu Zhang deal with Zhang Lu, so that these Yizhou soldiers were barely available.

Now it is the civil war in Jingzhou, and Han Hu's 8,000 surrenders do not have such a military spirit to help Liu Pan fight.

Therefore, if Huang Zhong really went out of the city to fight, he would fall into Cai Mao's arms.

However, this kind of strategy is too obvious, not to mention Guan Yu, Huang Zhong also didn't fall for the plan, so he watched Cai Mao's army swagger through the city.

When Cai Mao arrived outside the east gate of Guan Yu's camp, he quickly began to arrange his troops and prepare to attack.

Guan Yujun saw that the camp was densely packed outside, dozens of phalanxes quickly appeared, and the 20,000 army could not see the border at a glance, and in the forests, hills, and wilderness outside the camp, it was Cai Mao's Jingzhou soldiers.

While Cai Mao reorganized his troops and horses and listed the formation, he sent a large number of scouts to check around the camp, which were relatively routine military operations.

At three o'clock in the middle of the day, all the Jingzhou soldiers lined up in formation, and with the thunder of war drums, there was no prelude between the two sides, nor did there be any pre-war conversation, and the war suddenly began.

More than a dozen phalanxes in the front row of Jingzhou soldiers suddenly began to press forward, surging like countless black clouds.

Shields were raised high, wooden ladders were raised overhead, and the soldiers outside the camp were like black ants, and then they got closer and closer, and the field of vision became overwhelming.

The soldiers roared, silent, screamed, and went crazy, like a surging flood, roaring and charging towards Guan Yu's camp in the cold wind between heaven and earth.

The battle started in an instant!

(End of chapter)