Cao Cao in Guanzhong quickly dispatched troops and horses to aid Nanyang, and after the meeting, Sima Yi immediately returned to his residence and privately wrote a letter to Cao Pi, informing Cao Pi that he recommended Cao Zhi to go on the expedition.

So a few days later, the messenger who delivered the order for Cao Cao traveled thousands of miles to Yecheng, met Cao Zhi, who was drunk by Cao Pi at that time, and then returned to Chang'an to report to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was furious when he heard this, and wrote a letter to scold Cao Zhi. And after that, he never reused Cao Zhi again, and completely gave up the idea of making him the heir.

But now is a critical moment, and Nanyang is in urgent need of reinforcements. Cao Zhi was overwhelmed, and the general who rushed to Nanyang was not found.

In desperation, Cao Cao could only temporarily let Zhang Liao go north to return to Yecheng, replace Cao Zhi, and lead his troops south to help.

The result was that this back and forth was really delayed, and when Zhang Liao arrived, the Nanyang War had already ended.

But that's all for later.

By the 11th of September, Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang had already gone south to Fancheng to help.

The heavy rain began at the end of August, and it has been raining for more than 10 days now, and the waves on the vast Han River are rolling and the rain is pouring like it has not stopped.

From a few days ago, Xiangyang was only flooded more than two or three zhang deep, to now the water surface is as high as four or five zhang, and the boat is driven outside Xiangyang City, and even can condescendingly shoot arrows into the city, which shows the height of the Han River at this time.

The Shen Chen army occupied a large number of higher hillsides outside the city, and even if they were prepared, many of their camps were submerged, and if they didn't have ships, I am afraid they would have been greatly affected.

The Jingzhou army attacked Xiangfan, Xiahoudun and Yu Ban resisted desperately, and the two sides surrounded the city with bows and crossbows, and the Cao army suffered heavy casualties in the wind and rain, and the morale of the army fell to the bottom.

Fortunately, there are not many times when the water is several feet deep like this, and the Han River still continues to discharge floods, and the flood discharge capacity of Xiangyang has been vigorously developed during the Liu Biao period, so that although the city is flooded, the water level always goes down quickly, so that the entire city is not gone.

But Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang, who had just arrived in Fancheng, suffered a disaster, when the two galloped from the direction of Wuguan, traveled more than 200 kilometers in four days, an average of 50 kilometers a day, and when they arrived in Fancheng, the Han River had skyrocketed.

At this time, it was completely different from the battle of Xiangfan in history, in history, Guan Yu went north in July and surrounded Xiangfan, and then in August, Yu Ban and Pang De were ordered to come to the aid and stationed outside the city.

At the end of August, the rainstorm began, and Guan Yu's army had a boat, so they all hid on the boat, but Yu Ban and Pang De had no boat, and the camp tent was flooded, so they could only run to the nearby hillside to avoid the flood, and Guan Yu was forced to surrender to the ban and kill Pang De, which was the flooded Seventh Army.

Cao Ren in Fancheng and Lü Chang in Xiangyang could not rush to their aid, so they could only watch as they were wiped out. It was not until the end of September that Xu Huang's army came to the aid and was stationed in Yanglingpo, which formed a stalemate with Guan Yu.

Then the two sides continued to fight until November, and when Sun Quan attacked Jingzhou, Guan Yu was forced to evacuate back, and then in just one month, Yun Chang defeated Maicheng, and the war was completely over.

Now it's different.

Because Shen Chen only went north at the end of August, when the rainy season had already begun, when Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang came to help, Xiangfan had already been flooded, and they could only be stationed in Yancheng, north of Fancheng, to wait and see the situation.

This made Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang unable to rush to Xiangfan's aid across the flood, so they became outsiders, so they could only temporarily collect rain gear and dispatch boats.

Taking advantage of the fact that they couldn't come, Shen Chen began to concentrate his main force to deal with Yu Ban in Fancheng.

On 12 September, the torrential rain continued.

Dunsai, located in the southeast of Deng County and northeast of Fancheng, is a high slope near the Han River.

At this moment, on the high slope, Shen Chen raised his eyes to look at Fancheng in the distance.

Today's heavy rain continues, after more than ten days of heavy rain, the Han River floods to both sides, and Xiangyang, Fancheng and even Dengcheng have become a Ze country.

Only Yancheng, which is more than 30 miles north of Fancheng, has not yet been submerged, but it is also raining heavily and the water does not stop.

Under the rain, a large amount of mud and rocks flowed on the slopes of Dunsay, mixed with a lot of grass and trees, and they continued to tumble downward, dyeing the flood water below the hillside a muddy yellow.

The water flows converge into small streams, which continue to flow into the waves below, but these are just small streams of water, more water sources come from the sky, from the upper reaches of the Han River, especially in the mountainous areas such as Wudang and Fangling, and the flash flood broke out into a disaster, and I don't know how much land was flooded.

Shen Chen was standing in the rain in a lily robe, and Zhou Budo next to him was playing a bamboo tus, and the raindrops crackled on the lily clothes and bamboo tusks, as if there was a terrible force in the sky coming down, and the hats and umbrellas were full of a sense of oppression.

The troops besieging Xiangyang have basically been transferred to Fancheng's side, totaling 70,000 people, and today they will begin to encircle and suppress the more than 30,000 forbidden troops in Fancheng.

Cao's army arranged 100,000 horses in Nanyang, of which Xiahoudun had more than 40,000 in Xiangyang, Yu Ban in Fancheng was more than 30,000, and the other 20,000 or 30,000 people were distributed in Wancheng, Xinye, Zhangling and other places in Nanyang.

Now because Shen Chen went north to besiege Xiangfan, and basically gathered in the peripheral area north of Fancheng, so counting Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang, Xiangfan already has 140,000 Cao troops.

This is not counting the Zang Babu and Zhang Liaobu who are coming over for reinforcements.

However, because of the favorable time, place and people, the flood helped Shen Chen's army divide the battlefield, so that his 70,000 men could be concentrated and attack the weak points of Cao's army.

】

For example, today it is 70,000 to fight Fancheng's 30,000 forbidden army.

Zhou Budo raised his head and looked at the still heavy clouds, the pouring rain seemed to be endless, turned his head and said to Shen Chen: "Senior brother, today's water level is even higher than yesterday, fortunately we evacuated from Xiangfan, otherwise we will definitely be submerged." ”

"Hmm."

Shen Chen tapped his chin, stood with his hands in his hands, and said in a deep voice: "Not only us, but also hundreds of thousands of people in Xiangfan, when the people were forcibly relocated, they probably complained. ”

"yes."

Zhou Budo sighed and said: "If it weren't for the fact that Senior Brother forcibly relocated with his personal prestige, and the location of the migration was not too far, just more than 100 miles away in the township, I'm afraid the people would not have agreed." ”

"How are they now?"

"They heard that Xiangfan was flooded, and they knew that the senior brother had saved their lives, and the previous grievances had long been swept away, and every household was grateful to the senior brother, and many people were praying for Haotian, hoping that the senior brother could defeat the Cao army as soon as possible, and that the flood would leave as soon as possible, and they would be able to return to their hometown."

"That's good."

Shen Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

The pressure on the people this time is also very great.

First of all, in terms of numbers, Xiangfan is the seat of Jingzhou, and the surrounding people are more than 100,000?

The mass migration of hundreds of thousands of people is not an easy task in itself.

In history, Liu Bei left Xinye, and more than 100,000 people followed, walking ten miles a day, and walking for more than a month from Xinye to Jiangling.

However, the place where Shen Chen settled the people was not so far, it was located in Xiangxiang Township, which was more than 100 miles south of Xiangyang, that is, the distance from Xiangfan City to Nanzhang County in later generations.

He gave Zhou Budo twenty days at that time, and he walked five miles a day, so it wasn't so troublesome.

The second is the resentment of the people.

Although the migration distance is not far, no one wants to leave their homeland.

Therefore, many people are reluctant to go.

If it weren't for Shen Chen's personal prestige and Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence and righteousness accumulated in Jingzhou for many years, I am afraid that Xiangfan would have been drowned by hundreds of thousands of people now.

Fortunately, time proved that Shen Chen's choice was right, if he didn't do this, then Xiangfan would not be able to hold it, the people would die, and in the end, the entire strategy would be completely defeated, so that Cao Cao and Sun Quan would succeed.

Zhou Budo said to Shen Chen again: "Now that the enemy's morale is low, the morale of our army is booming, and the water is still rising, it is extremely beneficial for our army. ”

"Hmm."

Shen Chen said: "The height of Fancheng City is only three zhang, but the water level has risen to five or six zhang high, although it has not completely submerged the city, but it has made our fleet unimpeded. ”

The water level of the Han River has skyrocketed to a height of more than five or six zhang and ten meters, but the topography of Fancheng is not level with the Han River, from the Fancheng city wall to the ground, and then from the ground to the horizontal plane, there is still a height of seven or eight zhang.

The same is true for Xiangyang, just like the height of the Chang'an city wall is twelve meters, but the real height of the city wall is only eight meters, and the remaining four meters are counted as the depth of the moat outside the city, there is a certain height difference.

Although the moat of Xiangyang was connected to the Han River, after the water level of the Han River skyrocketed, the distance from the city wall to the water level of Xiangyang was shortened very closely, but it did not completely submerge the city.

Therefore, the current situation is a vast ocean outside the city.

The moat, which had been used for defense, was now filled, and the water level soared from the level of the ground by nearly two feet, and all but the walls of Xiangyang and Fancheng were flooded, except for the city walls and the higher places inside the city.

Fortunately, Shen Chen chose to abandon Xiangfan at the beginning, otherwise at this time, Zhou Budo, Wen Ping, and hundreds of thousands of people around Xiangfan City would suffer.

When the news reached Nanzhang, where the people were placed in the army and the rear, the soldiers and people who did not understand why Shen Chen abandoned Xiangfan were all afraid and happy, full of gratitude to Shen Chen, and the name of Jingzhou's god of soldiers became louder and louder.

Dunsay is a small hill, which has been transformed into a dock dock at this moment, and the warships are parked on the Hanshui River in the east with their backs to Dunset, and tens of thousands of troops are distributed under the surrounding high slopes, and the ships stretch for more than ten miles.

Zhou Budo looked at Fancheng in the distance, under the impact of the flood, Fancheng was like a flat boat, crumbling, so he said: "Senior brother, maybe you can go to war." ”

"It's time."

Shen Chen turned his head and said to Deng Ai, Shan Yi, Wu Dang and other disciples behind him: "Pass the order, let Huang Zhong, Wen Ping, and Lu Chang lead the three armies to set out, surround the north gate, east gate, and south gate of Fancheng, and attack the city wall." ”

"Yui!"

When the people received the order, they immediately went to convey the military order.

Shen Chen immediately said: "Mingli, you are guarding the camp, Xiahoudun is trapped in Xiangyang and will definitely not be able to come to help." However, Xiahou Yuan and Xu Huang will definitely be on the periphery, so be careful that they sneak up on Dunse. ”

"Yes."

Zhou Budo nodded.

Shen Chen returned to the camp and ordered again to allocate more than 20,000 people from the headquarters to the west by boat.

Now he has four generals under his account, Gan Ning besieged Sun Quan in Shaxian, Zhang Xiu attacked Sun Jiao in Yidao, and the rest of Zhao Yun and Shamoke attacked Yiling in Meng.

Kou Feng Mengda and others were also helping Zhang Xiu and Zhao Yun and them, and after Huang Jian was liberated, they assisted Gan Ning in attacking the state tomb, and Sun Quan's army was almost unable to move, and there was a danger of annihilation.

And at this moment, his main elite directly took Xiangfan, although it was 70,000 to 140,000, the advantage was in Cao's army, and he could occupy the right time, place and people, how could he be invincible?

Soon after mid-morning, the Jingzhou army, which was scattered all over the hilly slopes along the eastern coast of Fancheng, began to move.

In addition to the 15,000 men left in the headquarters under the command of Zhou Budo, Huang Zhong 20,000 people as the main force directly took the east gate of Fancheng, and Wen Ping and Lü Chang each led 10,000 people to attack the north and south gates.

Shen Chen personally led the ships through Fancheng and headed northwest of Fancheng.

Sticky clouds covered the entire sky, wind and rain shrouded the four fields, and in the pouring rain, countless ships of the Jingzhou army set sail one after another.

The first to act was Huang Zhongbu, who was stationed in the middle of the army, and he was stationed at Kuangju, south of Dunsai, where Shen Chen was, and after Shen Chen's military order was delivered, he immediately ordered the troops to prepare for the battle.

Huang Zhong's generals Chen Shi, Zhang Zhu, Zhang Yi, Zhuo Ying and others each led their troops to board the ship, and in an instant, hundreds of large and small ships set sail, and the sails covered the sky and the sun.

The ships were equipped with ladders, bows and crossbows and other siege equipment, and they took the lead in the direction of Fancheng.

In the distance in Fancheng, Yu Ban was located on the tower of Dongcheng City, and he looked at the river water below with a sad face, which was still rising, and the river water had risen more than ten meters high, flooding the land of Fancheng, increasing the moat, and now it was only more than a zhang away from the female wall.

This means that the land below is completely capable of moving large boats, people walking on water, and boats traveling in the sky, which is a rare earthly river. Boats can even sail outside the city, and with a single jump from the boat, you can jump into the city from a high position.

Yu Ban knew that Shen Chen would definitely not let go of this opportunity, so he ordered all the soldiers in the city to hold on to the city wall day and night, even if it rained continuously for days, they could not go back to the highland barracks in the city to rest.

The soldiers ate and slept on the city walls, and although they wore robes and rain gear to protect them, they were all wet, and many of them were sick because of this, so that they complained, and the morale of the army was low to the bottom, and it was almost difficult to boost morale.

At this time, Yu Ban's lieutenant He Mao suddenly pointed to the waves and floods in the distance like the vast sea level and said, "General, there is a dark shadow of a ship over there. ”

"Huh?"

Yu Ban hurriedly raised his head to look, and saw that in the tumbling flood, there were countless black shadows appearing.

This scene was like the sound of a death horn, which brought the hearts of all Cao soldiers on the walls of Fancheng to a standstill.

After a brief pause, Yu Ban let out a heart-rending cry: "Enemy attack, herald, trumpet, everyone go up to the city wall." ”

"Woooooooo

The sound of a shrill horn resounded through the sky.

The Yu forbidden army in the entire Fan City seemed to be woken up.

There was chaos in the city.

Some soldiers who had been resting for several days were forced to get up after resting in the highland camp in the city.

There were soldiers who used small boats to carry supplies from the high ground and crossbows to carry their baggage to the various gates, and the soldiers on the city walls carried the things to the city.

Other soldiers clenched their spears one after another, quickly got out of their resting places, and ran to wait solemnly outside the rain women's wall.

The soldiers of the Cao Army dragged their tired bodies, still doing their own things, like swarms of ants in an ant nest, doing their own work.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

The city was full of boats of all kinds, and next to them was the roof, now submerged.

Like a city on the water, there are very few places for soldiers to rest.

However, since only the castle tower on the city wall could store a small amount of supplies, once the war started, they had to move the supplies to the city wall like ants.

Otherwise, things like lime, bows, and swords, once wet by water, are easy to get wet, rust and even volatilize.

In the confusion, there were various sounds, and groups of soldiers emerged from the battlements behind the female wall of Fancheng, and one soldier took a boat to the city wall and hurried up from the half-flooded staircase of the city wall.

Their bows and knives were unsheathed, and everywhere there was the clatter of ironclad leaves, anxious and angry urgings, neat shouts, and short and urgent orders and shrill whistles, and the walls were thrown into a mess.

And in the midst of this extreme chaos, everyone's mood is extremely low. The rain in the sky was still crackling and falling, and many people on the city wall saw that farther away, two more vast convoys of ships appeared on the surface of the flood river in the distance.

To the northwest, southeast and east of Fancheng, three fleets attacked, and the entire city was facing a difficult test.