As Liu Qi led his troops to Xiakou, baggage from Xiangyang and Jiangling arrived one after another. As the starting point of the army, Xiakou became more and more lively. As high-ranking members of the army, Liu Bei, Huang Zu and others also set their sights on the expedition to Jiangdong and sent scouts to explore Jiangdong's intelligence.

In the camp tent, Huo Jun was studying the map of Yuzhang with Liu Bei, Guan Yu and others. Under the three-step strategy, the first step is based on the Poyang Lake Plain, which has become the consensus of everyone.

"According to the military newspaper, in the land west of Yishan (Yellow Mountain), Tai Shi Ci led the Jianchang Lieutenant and ruled the sea dusk; Yuzhang guarded Sun Ben too much, and garrisoned the county to govern Nanchang; Luling guards Sun Fu too much, and the soldiers Luling Gaochang; Sima Xu Sheng of the thief department, led the troops to guard Chaisang. Xu Shu said.

Liu Bei looked at the annotations on the map and said, "When Bei saved Xuzhou in the past, Bei had a relationship with Tai Shici. When Kong Beihai was surrounded by yellow scarves, Ziyi rode alone and rushed into battle to ask for help, which can be described as skilled in archery and horse, and excellent archery. Jintun Haichang is a fierce rival and should not be underestimated. ”

As he spoke, Liu Bei clicked the names of Sun Ben and Sun Fu on the map with his hand, and said: "Sun Ben's name, when I led the crowd to discuss Dong Zhuo, I heard about it. He is Sun Jian's nephew, Sun Ce's cousin, Sun Jian raised troops in Changsha, Sun Benchu County supervised the post, and abandoned the official to follow Sun Jian to raise troops. ”

Unlike in romance, Liu Bei participated in the anti-Dong alliance not with Gongsun Zhan, but with Cao Cao. Moreover, the relationship between Liu Bei and Cao Cao can be traced back to the Luoyang period, in the early years, the two recruited troops in Peiguo, and after Cao Cao and Yuan Shao launched a war against Dong, Liu Bei also responded positively. (Note (1))

"Hou Sun Jian died, led the crowd into Yuan Shu's account, and was a general, although he was not known for his military strength, but he was quite famous. His younger brother Sun Fu was raised by him. The two are called brothers, but they are like father and son. Attack Sun Ben, and Sun Fu will save him. Liu Bei said again.

The military armed forces formed by Sun Jian are actually centered on relatives, and Sun Ben is the second person among them. However, during Sun Ce's period, because Sun Ben joined Sun Ce's group after Sun Ce conquered Wu County and Huiji, his status was not as good as that of Xu Kun, a core veteran in the early days of the army.

However, due to Sun Ben's old qualifications and the fact that he was a relative of the Sun family, after pacifying Yuzhang, Sun Ce still appointed Sun Ben as the Taishou of Yuzhang and let his younger brother Sun Fu serve as the Taishou of Luling, constituting a line of defense against Jingzhou.

Guan Yu frowned and said, "Tai Shici, Sun Ben, and Sun Fu are stationed in Yuzhang, if you can't rush down." The soldiers and horses of Danyang and Wujun will come to the aid quickly. And although this Chaisang is only garrisoned by Xu Sheng, if he can't overcome it quickly, Tai Shici will raise troops to help. ”

Although Sun Quan's dominance was unstable, thanks to Sun Ce's arrangement, Jiangzuo was not so easy to overcome. In terms of military arrangement, they are interlocking, with fierce generals in front and relatives in the back. If it weren't for Zhou Yu leading his troops back to Wu County, there would still be top commanders in Yuzhang County.

However, under Huo Jun's research, relying on the current soldiers and horses, these tight defense lines can still find out the flaws, so as to disintegrate this defense system. However, he needs more specific information to make a decision, after all, any strategy is based on the information he already knows.

Huo Jun asked, "Has Xingba come back?" ”

After Gan Ning joined Liu Bei, he became the only general of the navy under Liu Bei's account, and was awarded the qualification of commanding 2,000 troops, but Gan Ning needed to recruit himself. In this way, Gan Ning also shouldered the role of a scout, and personally led his troops to go deep into Chaisang to investigate intelligence.

As soon as the words fell, a bell rang outside the tent, and Liu Bei heard this movement and said with a smile: "Xingba is back!" ”

It is also interesting to say, Huang Zu accepted Liu Bei's horse, and the news of Zhang Feng's corruption and bribery and greed for military expenses spread in Jiangxia's army.

After a while, Huo Jun saw Gan Ning walking into the tent, so he asked: "Xingba, how many people have you found in Chaisang, and what is the movement of Tai Shici?" ”

Gan Ning drank the tea served by the attendant and said, "The movement of our army's assembly in Xiakou has been detected by the Jiangdong soldiers. Xu Sheng's subordinates increased from 500 to 800 people, and the soldiers were particularly strong, and there were many bows and crossbows. After Sun Quan withdrew his troops from Jiangxia, he besieged Ma and Bao Ertun in Danyang, and after breaking Ma Tun, he left the generals to besiege Bao Tun. ”

"The Taishi Ci Department stationed in Haidu, there are about 10,000 soldiers and horses. The number of soldiers and horses of Sun Ben and Sun Fu is unknown, and the combination of the two counties is not less than about 10,000 people. ”

Saying that, Gan Ning pointed to Yutu and said: "Chaisang is dangerous, if we can't conquer Chaisang, our army will not be able to talk about conquering Jiangdong." However, the city of Chaisang is solid, and it is too close to the sea sunset, if there is a wind and grass, Tai Shi Ci can lead his troops to help Chaisang, and its foot can be reached in two or three days, and it is slow in three or four days. ”

Haihuang County is near Yongxiu County, Nanchang in the later generations, and Chaisang is near Chaisang District, Jiujiang City, in later generations, the distance between the two places is only about two hundred miles. That is to say, the army must capture Chaisan within two or three days, otherwise, the army will be blocked in the city of Chaisang.

Guan Yu stroked his beard and said: "Lord, there are only 800 people in Chaisang City, and my army has arrived together, attacking the city from all sides, and the defenders will not be able to defeat it." And there is Lushan in the south of Chaisang, which is dangerous, and the troops can be divided to garrison Lushan to block Taishi Ci's reinforcements. After breaking Chaisang, the south sweeps Haichang and the east enters Pengze, which can be the foundation of the foothold. ”

Guan Yu's meaning is not difficult to understand, Chaisang has few soldiers and horses, and he can easily break through Chaisang by raising a large army to attack the city from all sides. At the same time, with the steepness of Lushan, he resisted the footsteps of Tai Shi Ci's rescue, and then after laying down Chaisang, he went south to fight against Tai Shi Ci.

Everyone bowed slightly, and they quite recognized Guan Yu's strategy. After all, Chaisang is like a nail, stuck on the road to Jiangdong. It seems that there is no other strategy than a strong attack.

Liu Bei turned his head to look at Huo Jun and asked, "What does Zhong Miao think?" ”

Huo Jun pondered for a while and said, "General Guan's words are not unreasonable, but they are not the best policy of our army. Chaisang is located in the west of Peng Lize and the south of the river. And Peng Lize is surrounded by Chaisang, Haidu, Yuhan, Liling, Poyang, Wuyang and other counties. If our army raises a large number of troops to break through the attack, although it can break through Chaisang, then the news of our army will also go with the river, which will alarm the counties of Peng Lize and make them take precautions. ”

"What does Zhong Miao mean?" Liu Bei asked.

Huo Jun's finger drew a circle around Peng Ze and said: "The land of Jiangdong garrison, but Chaisang, Haidu, Nanchang and other places. When the counties of Peng Lize were defenseless, our army should send all the troops along the river, act like lightning, divide the counties, seize the dangers, and carry out the strategy of joint attack by the branches. ”

Saying that, Huo Jun compared the drawings on the map and said: "For example, our army can send three parts, one to conquer Chaisang, one to fight Peng Ze, and the other to choose the main force to fight in the sea dusk." In an instant, all the counties on the west bank of Pengze fell into the hands of our army, recruited troops on the spot, and turned to the sea with the main force. And if Chai Sang and Ke, the three can hit Tai Shi Ci. ”

At that time, General Liu Bi will leave Changsha and enter Ai County, Jianchang and other places. Attack Tai Shi Ci on three sides, swallow his soldiers and horses, and plunder his city. To the north of Yuzhang, the counties of Peng Lize will be used by our army. ”

This is the method that Huo Jun thinks about to break the game, Xu Sheng, Tai Shici, and Sun Ben are closely arranged, if they want to break through this kind of defense line, they need to use speed and time to make them unprepared.

Under such a strategic core, Huo Jun took advantage of the convenience of water transportation to carry out blitzkrieg operations. The 20,000 troops were quickly inserted into Peng Lize, and with lightning speed, they completed the strategic goal of containing Tai Shici, capturing Chaisang, and taking the empty county.

After completing the strategic objectives, the army on the west bank of Peng Li Ze marched westward and joined forces with the main force to encircle the Taishi Ci division on the east bank.

Strategy belongs to strategy, and the tactics that have been carefully studied still need to be pondered. For example, the capture of Chaisan is still a problem.

(1): "Heroes": "In the last years of Emperor Ling, he was prepared to be in Beijing, and then returned to Peiguo with Cao Gongju and recruited the public. Emperor Huiling collapsed, the world was in chaos, and Bei also raised an army to fight Dong Zhuo. ”