In June of the 24th year of Jian'an, it was obvious that the situation in the world had changed dramatically.

Liu Bei was finally defeated by Cao Cao after a stalemate for half a year on the battlefield of the Western Front due to the lack of elite main forces and the transportation of grain and grass, and retreated to Wudu County.

When Cao Cao was complacent and was preparing to attack Hanzhong, a battle report suddenly came from the battlefield on the eastern front, and the Seventh Army was flooded in the morning, and Cao Hong died in battle.

This made Cao Cao very sad at the same time, he hurriedly retreated back to Chang'an, and in July of the same year, led his troops from Wuguan to Nanyang.

Shen Chen's side had just finished the victory over Cao Hong, but the news of Sun Quan's backstab came from the rear, so he immediately withdrew his troops, leaving only Lü Chang to guard Wancheng, and the main force led the army south to help.

Sun Quan encountered Waterloo outside Xunyang City, and then retreated to the rear official pavilion, after rectification, he became angry and angry, and the army besieged Xunyang City.

By the end of June, Shen Chen sent his general Shamoke to the south with 10,000 Wuxi barbarians to aid Xiling and stationed in Xiling County.

Shamoke, the 80,000 elite group of Nanyang, was also among them, but at that time he did not participate in the battle of flooding the Seventh Army, but was stationed in the Xinye area as a rear remaining force.

The reason why you want to be in Xinye is because Xinye belongs to the center, you can rush to Wancheng and Kunyang to the north, you can go straight to Wuguan to the west, you can go to Xiangyang to the south, and you can go to the southeast from Zhangling to Jiangxia and then to Xiling.

Therefore, this is the best place for garrisons. At present, Sun Quan is attacking, Cao Cao is attacking Wuguan again, and at the same time sending Xiahoudun and Yu Ban to detour to Luoyang, and galloping south to aid Zhao Yan, the entire Eastern Front battlefield is extremely severe.

If Shen Chen directly withdrew his troops back to Jiangxia, Nanyang would only be left with 5,000 people from Wuguan Wen and 8,000 people from Lu Chang to garrison.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Shen Chen suspended his southward movement and retreated to Xinye for defense. At the same time, a large number of soldiers' families were immediately relocated and retreated to Xiangyang.

On July 4, under the response of Shamoke, Zhao Yun led his troops to break through at night, retreated from the Beibie Mountain Trail in Xunyang City to Qichun, and withdrew to Anlu on July 8, heading towards Nanjun.

Sun Quan's main force took advantage of the situation to occupy Xiling. At this time, the forces of the enemy and us have been staggered, and Jingnan, Nanjun along the Yangtze River, and Xiling County are occupied by Sun Quan.

The only thing along the Yangtze River that Liu Bei's group did not miss was Xiakou, and then Jiangxia. Zhao Yan led the remnants of the army to retreat to Dingling for rectification, and after the arrival of Yu Ban and Xiahoudun in mid-July, the two sides converged and marched into Nanyang again, to the north of Wancheng.

Cao Cao personally led the army to aid Wuguan. Xu Huang of Wuguan originally had 20,000 people, and the defense of Wenpin was already extremely difficult, and when the main force of Cao's army arrived, he naturally had to retreat.

By the end of July, Jingzhou's Shen Chen's forces had shrunk in an all-round way, with Lü Chang and Wen Ping retreating to Xinye, Zhao Yun and Shamoke retreating to Dangyang, and Shen Chen retreating to Xiangyang.

Their strength is also very limited, Shen Chen's main force is 50,000, Shamoke is 10,000, and Lu Chang and Wen Ping add up to more than 10,000, totaling more than 70,000, which is the original total strength of 80,000 in Nanyang.

plus Zhao Yun and Huang Shot, it is only in the early 100,000s. Because Su Fei and Chen Sheng were still trapped in Anhui County and besieged by Zhang Liao, in terms of overall strength, Jingzhou's Shen Chen Army was at an absolute disadvantage.

In addition to Zhong Xuan's 20,000 horses stationed in Chang'an, and Yu Banxia Houdun took away more than 60,000 people, his main force changed from 170,000 to 90,000, and Xu Huang's 20,000 people were 110,000.

This is just the troops led by Cao Cao himself, plus Yu Banxia Houdun and the remnants of Zhao Yan in Henan, with a total of about 240,000 troops, which can be described as earth-shattering.

Sun Quan in the south should not be underestimated, although he only dispatched 140,000 people, but there were still 30,000 reserve soldiers and horses in Misukou, and Sun Jiao's 10,000 or 20,000 family soldiers in Jingnan who were dissatisfied with Liu Bei's weakening of the family policy, a total of about 200,000.

For a time, Cao Cao and Sun Quan gathered a large number of troops and gathered in Jingzhou. But Liu Beijun's side was not unprepared, in early July, after Cao Cao's main force withdrew from Guanzhong and went straight to Nanyang, Liu Bei personally led an army of 120,000, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei troops went out of Chencang and Baoxi, and went straight to Chang'an, quite a bit to steal Cao Cao's ass from Wuguan.

Cao Cao had no choice but to order Yu Ban and Xiahou Yuan to continue to threaten Nanjun in late July, and he led the army back to Guanzhong, where he held Liu Bei's Ganting area, fifty miles south of Youfufeng Huaili County.

At the beginning of August, Lu Changbu and the Ministry of Cultural Hiring also withdrew from Xinye and retreated to Xiangyang, Nanjun, where Shen Chen's main force was assembled, about 70,000 people.

Since then, the situation between the two sides has gradually become clear. Shen Chen's main force fully retreated to Nanjun, and Yu Ban and Xiahou Yuan went south to seize Xinye and Fancheng, stationed in Fancheng, and confronted Xiangyang across the river from the Han River in the south.

Liu Bei attacked Chang'an with the strategy of encircling Wei to save Zhao, forcing Cao Cao's main force to return to defense, which caused the pressure on the north to drop sharply.

However, there are still 100,000 troops in the forbidden Xiahou Yuan and Zhao Yanbu, and there are more than 100,000 horses and horses of Sun Quan in the south.

On August 4, Sun Quan personally went to Xiakou, because the city of Xiakou was thick with high walls, and there were many grains and grasses in the city, and there were 30,000 horses, Lü Meng could not capture it in a short time, so they stationed in Shaxian and surrounded the Xiakou area.

At this moment, in Shaxian City, it turned out that Huang Zu was the residence of Jiangxia Taishou, Sun Quan was in the main position, and many soldiers and strategists on the left and right sides of the lower side sat in columns, and the hall was full of talents.

On the left are the strategists Zhuge Jin, Gu Yong, Kan Ze, Sun Shao, Yan Xuan, Lu Xun and others are there, and on the right are Lu Meng, Quan Cong, Pan Zhang, Ding Feng, Cheng Pu, Jiang Qin, Lu Fan, Song Qian, Zhu Ran, Zhu Huan, Zhu Cai and other generals.

Except for Xu Sheng and Yu Tuo, who are currently following Sun Jiao in the Jiangling area, He Qi, who cooperated with Zhang Liao to attack Su Fei and Chen Sheng in Anhui County, and Zhou Tai and Buqi, who died in battle, the main forces in Jiangdong are basically all here.

Everyone looked at Sun Quan above with serious faces. Although they took Jingnan, Xiling and Jiangxia, and even Jiangling, the most important city in Nanjun, they were handed, but the battle of Xunyang was really ugly, not only lost Zhou Tai's steps, but also caused morale to plummet.

Sun Quan sat on the main seat, his mood could not be said to be good or bad, although he lost Zhou Tai's steps, and also fought a humiliating battle in Xunyang, but after all, most of Jingzhou was in hand, only Nanjun and Nanyang were missing, and he couldn't cry no matter what.

Thinking of this, Sun Quan calmed down, looked around and said, "Thanks to you, the big thing is already halfway through. The land of several counties in Jingzhou has been pacified, and only Nanjun is missing. ”

"Nanjun is a tough bone to gnaw." Zhuge Jin sighed: "Shen Chen retreated to Nanjun, and also relocated a large number of people and soldiers' families, at this time, Nanjun has more than 100,000 people, if he wants to get Liu Bei's help, he must go south first to take Jiangling." ”

"Hmm." Lu Meng nodded in agreement and said, "And Liu Bei will never sit idly by, and will definitely send troops." Sun Quan said: "Cao Cao has already written to me, Liu Bei plans to encircle Wei to save Zhao, the main army to attack Chang'an, so Cao Cao has led the army back to defense, but he left Yu Ban Xiahou Dun, and let Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan stationed in Shangluo, ready to help. ”

"Something to be expected." Lu Xun said: "Liu Bei is in Hanzhong, and it is too far to rush to Jingzhou from Hanzhong, but it is not as convenient as Cao Cao to go south from Wuguan. When he got the news, he probably had to choose to go out of the customs and surround Wei to save Zhao. Gu Yong said: "Marquis Wu still has to be careful that Liu Bei sent people from Hanzhong to the south to help, although it is far away, but now Sun Jiao's side is insufficient, I am afraid that Liu Bei will send people to support, plus Shen Chen will inevitably impact Jiangling, in case Jiangling is lost, Liu Bei Shen Chen will attack Yiling from the east and west, Liu Bei's army will be able to return to Jingzhou." ”

"Wu Hou." Lu Meng stood up and said in a deep voice: "The next Jiangling will be the top priority, Meng Yuan will lead the army to garrison, only by repelling Shen Chen, can he cooperate with Cao's army to annihilate Liu Bei's army in Jingzhou in one fell swoop." ”

"Hmm." Sun Quan stroked his beard and pondered, and after a while, he nodded slightly and said, "Okay, Ziming, this matter will be handled by you." That lonely is in Shaxian, besieging Huang Jie. ”

"Yui." Lu Meng bowed heavily, his face solemn. This battle is the battle of life and death in Jiangdong, if he wins, he can dominate the south with Jingyang Jiao Sanzhou, and if he fails, he will die and the country will be destroyed, so he will go all out in this battle and fight to the death with Shen Chen.

The hall was dim, and the candle flame reflected Sun Quan's intertwined light and dark face, he stood up and looked around, then slowly bowed and bowed, and said in a deep voice.

"The rise and fall of Jiangdong depends on the princes. This time, we must win a big victory to be able to win the south. ”

"I am willing to die for Wu Hou." Everyone got up and saluted back, and their faces were extremely solemn, because everyone knew that this was the final decisive battle, and victory and death were only between the end of the day.

At that moment, Sun Quan announced the dissolution of the meeting, and afterwards summoned Lu Meng to discuss the details, and then re-arranged the troops and horses.

Sun Quan himself was stationed in Shaxian and led 50,000 people to besiege Huang Jie. Lü Meng went up the river downstream, passing through the state tomb, Baqiu, Huarong, Xiaoling to Jiangling, and stationed in Jiangling city defense.

Sun Jiao was stationed in Yidao to guard against Liu Bei's reinforcements from Yizhou in the west. In history, Guan Yu only had a short period of one month from the shock of Huaxia to the defeat of Maicheng, coupled with the poor information and lag, it may only take half a month, and the good situation took a sharp turn for the worse in an instant.

Liu Bei had just received the news that Guan Yu had flooded the Seventh Army and shocked Huaxia, and within a few days, he received the news of Guan Yu's death, which made him have no time to react to help.

Therefore, Liu Bei in history had no way to rescue Guan Yu at all, it was really Guan Yu's fall too fast.

But now it's different. Shen Chen delayed long enough, from June to August, two months in between, enough for Liu Bei to get the news.

Although Liu Bei was at that time

The "main force" is still in Hanzhong, and it will take at least three or four months to send troops from Hanzhong to aid Jingzhou, that is, at least after October at the earliest, to see Yizhou reinforcements.

But Shen Chen is not a dry eater, especially there are 100,000 horses stationed in Nanjun, even if Sun Quan and Cao Jun have a total of 300,000 people, they dare not guarantee that they can defeat Shen Chen in just two months.

Therefore, in order to block Liu Bei's reinforcements, it is inevitable to station a large number of soldiers and horses in Yidao. In this way, Sun Quan's troop deployment is very clear.

There are about 30,000 people in the direction of Yiling, about 60,000 people in Lümeng in the Jiangling area, 50,000 people in Shaxian in Sun Quan, plus a small number of soldiers stationed along the river and Xiling Jiangxia and other places, a total of 1560,000 people.

The number of Cao Cao in the north was relatively small, because Liu Bei chose to encircle Wei to save Zhao, Cao Cao himself took 80,000 people to the north to help, leaving four people in the forbidden Xiahou Dun, Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan.

Among them, Yu Ban and Xiahoudun led the most people, with 60,000 troops in the headquarters and about 60,000 or 70,000 remnants of Zhao Yan's army.

At the beginning, Cao Hong had 100,000 people in Henan, but only 80,000 confronted Shen Chen's 50,000 at that time, and although the Seventh Army was flooded, only 20,000 or 30,000 people were killed and wounded, and the remaining defenders of Kunyang, Wuyang and Dingling Yun County were still there.

Therefore, there are about 130,000 people on Yu Ban and Xiahou Dun's side. Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan are farther away, about 40,000 people in Shangluo, where they can not only rush to the aid of Chang'an at any time, but also go straight to Nanyang from Wuguan to the south.

So to a certain extent, both sides have their own arrangements, and they are basically very reasonable, and the north and south are sandwiched to attack the Shen Chen Department of Nanjun.

Relatively speaking, Shen Chen's current situation is more severe. There are more than 100,000 enemies in the north and more than 100,000 enemies in the south, and they are surrounded in Nanjun, which must be low morale for the low-level soldiers who don't know the truth.

The only good news is that Shen Chen had planned in advance and arranged in advance for the families of the soldiers and their relatives to move to Nanjun.

Including the elders of Huangmenting Township, they all abandoned their homes, carried dry food, and fled from Xinye one after another. Perhaps the fishing operation will pay a great price, such as the relocation of many people from their hometowns to the relative safety of Nanjun, and the occupation of many counties in Jingzhou by the enemy, and even the displacement of many people.

But there's no denying that there's no way around it. Because if you want to really take Jiangdong, you can only choose to fish to lure Sun Quan to attack, and it is impossible to take the initiative to attack.

If this is a fantasy story, it may work, but the reality is that it is difficult to take the initiative to attack Jiangdong, even if Shen Chen wins two big victories and Jiangdong declines, it will be difficult to work.

There are three reasons for this. First, there is no excuse to attack Jiangdong, Liu Bei established the world with righteousness, and if he loses righteousness, he loses his reputation and credibility.

The second is that the time and place are favorable, Jiangdong is strong in the water army and weaker than the foot soldiers, Liu Bei's water army is not the main force, a total of only 50,000 people, forcibly attacked, with the Yangtze River natural danger, Sun Quan occupies the right time and place, and the possibility of failure is great.

After all, even Cao Cao's several personal expeditions to the mouth of the river were in vain, not to mention Liu Bei, whose strength was still weaker than Cao Cao.

The third is external forces. Liu Bei took the initiative to attack Jiangdong, and Cao Cao would not sit idly by. Once Cao Cao, the strongest of them, joins the battlefield, then Liu Bei's group will be attacked on their backs, and the situation will definitely fall into a great disadvantage.

Therefore, combining these three points, it is very unwise to take the initiative to attack Jiangdong, so he can only lure the snake out of the hole, close the door and beat the dog.

And in order to achieve the effect, it is inevitable to pay some price. But the good news is that the price won't be too great.

Because Cao Cao Sun Quan was anxious to exterminate Shen Chen, who was entrenched in Nanjun, he would not attack the people. What's more, both sides have already regarded Jingzhou as a forbidden body, and slaughtering the people is tantamount to killing their own people, and neither Cao Cao nor Sun Quan would do such a stupid thing.

Therefore, the only price is that a large amount of territory is currently occupied by Cao Cao and Sun Quan, and the rest of the losses will probably not be too much.

At this time, in Xiangyang City, Shen Chen also convened the generals to prepare for mobilization on the eve of the war.