The loss of Guanzhong was a huge blow to Cao Wei.

Because now Cao Pi has moved the capital to Luoyang, and from Chang'an to Luoyang, there is only Tongguan as a line of defense.

During the Warring States period, Hangu Pass could no longer be used due to the diversion of the Yellow River, which meant that once Shen Chen broke through the Tongguan defense line, he would be able to take the capital of Cao Wei directly.

This feeling of the enemy's proximity made Cao Pi feel a deep fear, and he even wanted to give up Luoyang and move the capital back to Yecheng, Hebei again, but was finally stopped by Sima Yi, Chen Qun and others.

But strategically, they are already at an absolute disadvantage, Liu Bei's group is weak and still takes the initiative to attack, Cao Pi originally wanted to rely on the huge national strength to drag Liu Bei's group down, using the city, the barracks, and the terrain to block Liu Bei of the Northern Expedition outside the defense line.

But now with the loss of the Western Front, they have fallen into passivity in terms of overall strategy. Although Tongguan could still be relied on to defend against, once Tongguan was lost, it marked an attack on the capital of Cao Wei and the danger of the empire being wiped out.

So it's imperative to think about what to do.

The strategists believed that the current situation was very unfavorable to them, so they had to seek a quick victory, and if they could defeat Liu Bei on the frontal Henan battlefield, they might be able to change this declining situation.

So Cao Pi changed the momentum of avoiding the war before, and ordered Xiahou Yuan, Zhang He and others on the front line to send troops to seek a decisive battle with the main force of Liu Bei's group on the front line.

But the strategists of Liu Bei's group had also expected this, so they also changed the previous strategy of constantly taking the initiative to provoke and seek war, Liu Bei asked Zhang Fei to hang up the battle exemption card, and Pang Tong Fazheng and others stuck to the camp, just not to fight against Cao Jun.

Everyone knows that it is Cao Pi who is in a hurry now.

After the loss of the Western Front, no matter whether Shen Chen continued to attack Tongguan or annexed the state, it would put huge pressure on Cao Wei, Cao Pi wanted to repel Liu Bei as soon as possible and then return to defend Guanzhong, how could Liu Bei give him this opportunity.

Therefore, the situation in Henan reversed for a while, before Liu Bei's group was eager to fight, and Cao Wei's group avoided war. Now it has become that the Cao Wei group is eager to fight, and the Liu Bei group has avoided the war.

And just when the situation in Guanzhong changed greatly and the situation in Henan also changed, the situation in Huainan also suddenly changed dramatically.

In the sixth year of Han Zhangwu and the seventh year of Wei and Huangchu, in early May, it rained for more than ten days in the Jiujiang area.

By late May, close to the beginning of June, the rain was much lighter.

On June 2, at the beginning of the last eclipse of the sunrise, the rain that had been falling for many days suddenly stopped, and several long-lost morning sun slanting rays were reflected on the rain-soaked land through the thick dark clouds.

During this period, the Huai River and the Yangtze River were in the rainy season, and the water flow in the lower reaches rose sharply, causing the water flow of the rivers such as fertilizer water and water application to increase sharply, and the wilderness was full of swamps and lakes.

However, this is only a normal phenomenon in the rainy season in Huainan, and the rain is not exaggerated to the point that when the water flooded Xiangfan in the morning, the river swelled five or six zhang high, submerging the city of Xiangfan.

So if Guan Yu wants to reproduce a flooded Hefei, it is obviously impossible.

More importantly, even if the rain is as large as the flood Xiangfan in the past, the flood discharge capacity of Huainan is not comparable to that of Xiangfan, Xiangfan is a Han water, and if the water volume exceeds the flood discharge capacity of the Han River, it is normal to flood Xiangfan on the edge of the Han River.

However, there are three super-large lakes in Huainan alone, namely Spoon Pi, Chaohu Lake and Peng Lize, and there are hundreds of rivers that can be used to divert and discharge floods, and it is impossible for floods to flood the entire Huainan.

Therefore, this heavy rain will not bring much help to Guan Yu's attack on Hefei.

But it is convenient for him to attack Chengde.

Cao Xiu's camp in Chengde was on higher ground and was not flooded and there was no loss.

But his cavalry was gone.

With the heavy rain after the swamp, the whole Chengde wild swamp is everywhere, the road is muddy, not to mention the horse, such a road is difficult for people to run.

At this time, it is more than 20 miles away from Chengde County and more than 100 miles away from Hefei.

When the morning sun fell on the earth and brought brightness to the earth, the lookout above the high turret of the Caoxiu camp in Wating had already seen the mighty fleet of ships on the fat water in the west from a distance.

"Woooooooooo

The desolate horn suddenly woke up the entire camp, and Cao Jun seemed to wake up from the silence of death, and the sound of all kinds of horns, war drums, and bone whistles was endless.

In the distance, the fleet soon stopped on the Feishui, and then countless small boats were launched and docked, and the dense boats covered the entire river, with the help of the criss-crossing network of waterways, sailed into the group of lakes southwest of Wating.

Here is Anhui Wabu Lake in later generations, the west side is hundreds of miles at this time, the waterway network is extremely developed, because of the heavy rain Cao army is now trapped on the high slope, the cavalry do not say to meet the enemy, it is difficult to walk a few steps.

However, Guan Yu, who had a fleet, successfully used the staggered water network to surround this camp southwest of Cao Ying, and Cao Xiu's tens of thousands of military camps stretched for more than ten miles, which was only one of the camps.

In the camp, Fan Ling, the general of Cao Xiu's department, was shocked when he learned of Guan Yu's attack, and hurriedly went to the camp to command in person, and at the same time asked for help from the rest of the Cao battalions in the east and north.

Guan Yu stood at the bow of the boat, his face was old and resolute, he was still wearing the brocade green robe, his gray and white beard was gently swaying in the wind, and even Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao on the left and right sides were already old, and they could no longer fight for him.

But his tall body looked at the camp in the distance with the help of the tall hull, even if the gray hair did not change his heroic nature, he saw that the flying boat driven by the soldiers in the distance had approached the watting, and waved his big hand.

"Woooooooo

"Bang bang!"

The sound of horns and drums suddenly became extremely fast.

After receiving this signal, the soldiers who had surrounded Cao Ying immediately began to dock, and then rushed towards Cao Ying from all directions, carrying cloud ladders.

"Arrows, arrows, arrows!"

Fan Ling let out a heart-rending cry, he was now hideous, because there were too many Han troops.

The camps were scattered, often with only a few thousand men per camp.

His soldiers were only more than 3,000 in total, and although the nearest battalions could normally rush to help at any time, the roads had been flooded by heavy rains recently, and it was very difficult to wait for reinforcements in a short time.

So the current situation is that he has more than 3,000 soldiers, and he has to rely on an immacable camp to defend against the attack of tens of thousands of Han troops, is this something that people can do?

With Fan Ling's order, the arrows rained down and swung out towards the Han army outside the camp.

Most of the arrows were missed on the shield in front, and then the Han army launched a fierce attack on the high slope, roaring and rushing to the slope like a wolf, hooking the wall with the barb on the ladder, and then staring at the rain of arrows and began to climb up.

Especially in the direction of the Zhaimen, a large number of Han troops flocked to it, and a Cao army often had to deal with the attack of seven or eight or even more than ten Han troops, even if he condescended to stab with a spear.

When a large number of Cao soldiers were stabbing down with their spears, they were grabbed by the guns, and several people helped pull them, and they could bring them under the wall at once.

All kinds of screams, swords and guns clashing, shouting and killing, and wailing are endless.

Immediately afterwards, a chaotic sound of the collapse of the house suddenly broke out in the direction of the walled gate, and then someone cried and shouted like a wolf: "The camp is broken!" At that moment, the figures on the wall of the wall were longing for the sound of killing, and the banging sound of the intersection of knives and guns was far and near.

The Han army poured in like a tide along the breach cut by the axe, and many Cao troops either fled north through the north gate to other Cao camps, or surrendered on the spot, and were quickly killed after stubborn resistance.

In the chaos of the army, Fan Ling was beheaded by Guan Ping, under the leadership of Guan Ping, soon the entire camp was quickly captured by the Han army, and the world seemed to be silent in a moment.

But soon, a large number of Cao soldiers from the Cao camp near the north and east began to assemble and rush towards this side.

Cao Xiu learned that Guan Yu was attacking Wating, he was busy reorganizing his soldiers, gathering tens of thousands of horses, and at the suggestion of his staff officer Sun Li, he chose to take the initiative to attack and gathered troops outside the camp to prepare for a decisive battle with Guan Yu.

If you don't fight a decisive battle, you can't

Although Cao Xiu's camp was not flooded, a large number of lakes and swamps appeared in the original wilderness plain due to the rising current.

This means that his camp is divided by criss-crossing waters, and the seven or eight camps that stretch for more than ten miles are now lake areas.

Originally, the camps were horns of each other, and under the staggered distribution, once any camp was attacked, other camps could immediately rush to help, thus forming the effect of alternate cover.

But now that the roads are flooded, and even the places that are not flooded are muddy, and it is difficult for the various barracks to react as quickly as before.

If you continue to stay in the camp, you will be broken by Guan Yu one by one.

So I can only choose to go out of the camp to fight.

He chose the location of the decisive battle in the northeast area of Wating, where there were many flat areas, gave up several camps, and stuck to the northeast corner.

A little further south from the lake, there are three or four square kilometres of plains, and although the land is still wet and muddy from the rain, it is at least much better than fighting in the criss-crossing lakes.

In the distance, Guan Yu had already led the army deep into the lake area, and on the fighting ships, he saw the enemy gathering on the plain four or five miles away in the northeast, Guan Yu thought for a while, and then gave an order: "Let the soldiers rush over, where is Wei Yan?" ”

"The last general!"

Wei Yan has been following Guan Yu in Jiangdong for several years, and he seems to have become the number one general under Guan Yu's account.

Guan Yu pointed to the east and said, "You lead 4,000 men to sail over the eastern waterway, and when we engage them, they will raid their flanks." ”

"Yui!"

Wei Yan received the order and immediately disembarked, the flag fluttered, and soon hundreds of ships followed him to the east.

"Where is Zhou Cang?"

"The end will be."

"You lead 3,000 people, go around, and when Wei Yan raids from the east, you will copy from the west."

"Yui!"

"The rest of the generals, follow me to attack head-on!"

"Yui!"

There are many generals under the account, and they should be.

At that moment, all the main forces of Guan Yu went ashore, assembled in Wating, and then dripped water towards Cao Xiu's army in the distance.

The two sides quickly approached, and the Han army outnumbered Cao's army.

Because Cao Xiu's army in Runan was only 30,000, and the troops of Lü Qian and Zang Ba combined were less than 50,000.

Guan Yu's main force was 80,000, of which 30,000 surrounded Hefei City, and he personally led an army of 50,000 to the north to meet Cao Xiu, so he had more men and horses than Cao Xiu.

It's not that Cao Wei has few troops.

The main reason is that Cao Wei's idea is to delay the attrition tactic, and the front line tries to use fewer troops and horses to achieve the defensive purpose.

Therefore, Cao Xiu's original task should have been to the Ruyin area east of Runan, and then use Zhang Liao in Hefei, Lu Qian in Shouchun, and Zang Ba in Guangling to form four lines of defense to block Guan Yu layer by layer.

As a result, Liu Bei's long-distance attack cost more than twice that of Cao's army, and after a year and a half, Liu Bei's group may withdraw due to the exhaustion of food.

At this time, Cao Wei pursued again, and he might be able to achieve a big victory. Luckily, as Jiang Ji said, dragging Liu Bei to death, he can really dominate the world.

But he couldn't stand the fact that Guan Yu and Zhang Liao communicated too frequently, which caused Xue Yi to be vigilant and report to Cao Xiu. As a result, Cao Xiu was also worried about the situation in Hefei, so he had to come over in person.

Unexpectedly, it coincided with the rainy season in Huainan, and the wilderness was full of swamps, so that his cavalry could not exert their might.

The two sides faced each other head-on, Cao Xiu had at least more than 10,000 horses and cavalry, even if Guan Yu's army waded ashore, he did not dare to directly order an attack, without horseshoes, the impact of the muddy and slippery ground was too great.

When the main force of the Han army had all gone up to the plain area and gathered their positions, they began to move forward, and with Guan Yu's order, the Han army launched a charge.

"Kill!"

Cao Xiu raised his broadsword.

"Kill!"

Cao Jun also let out an earth-shattering roar.

Then the rain of arrows that covered the sky and the sun was swayed, and the two sides collided together like a torrent.

The first to resist was the foot soldiers, and the Cao army's foot soldiers were far less than the Han army's foot soldiers, and they fell into disadvantage at the beginning.

But soon Cao Xiu ordered the cavalry to outflank the left and right, quickly cutting the battlefield, trying to save the situation.

But he didn't know that Guan Yu had already prepared, and in the swampy lake on the east side, hundreds of ships appeared on the lake covered by countless aquatic weeds and reeds.

They bypassed the frontal battlefield and came to the eastern flank of Cao's army, and then began to disembark one after another, launching a surprise attack from Cao's left flank.

Cao Jun was caught off guard, and the formation was on the verge of collapse in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, Zhou Cang launched an attack from the right flank of Cao's army in the west, causing confusion on the left and right flanks of Cao's army.

Seeing this, Guan Yu immediately launched an order for the whole army to attack and attacked the front of Cao's army.

The front and the left and right sides gradually could not support it, and in an instant, it was like a mountain collapsing, and the defeat was like a mountain, and countless Cao troops threw down their weapons and retreated to the rear.

Cao Xiu himself was also injured in the chaos, and if it weren't for the guards desperately snatching him out, I am afraid that he would have died under the blade.

The Han army pursued all the way, drove tens of thousands of Cao troops out of Baili, and pursued them for a day and a night, until they fled back to Shouchun in embarrassment, and then they retreated.

In this battle, Guan Yu killed thousands of Cao troops and captured nearly 10,000 prisoners, which can be described as a complete victory and shocked Huainan.

For a time, the Han army seized Chang'an on the western front, broke Cao Xiu on the eastern front, and surrounded Hefei, and the situation on the entire eastern and western fronts was already very unfavorable to Cao Wei.