Lei Yuan stared at the map intently and deduced his plan again.
He imagined the situation where Cao's army continued to move south and fought fiercely with Guan Yu's troops on the north bank of the Han River. He seemed to be able to see that the soldiers of the enemy and us were entangled and retreated, and they made shouts of killing that alarmed the world, which could almost turn into substance and change the weather.
The situation where the two armies of Jingzhou and Jiaozhou fought and each faced the enemy was broken after Guan Yu captured Xiangyang. At this moment, Cao's army was just a partial army that was beaten and ran away in scattered ways and had the ability to disturb them. The enemy was only the Jingzhou army of Guan Yu, and all the arrangements of Cao's army would only target Guan Yu.
Lei Yuan did not like history in his previous life, so he never paid attention to it. In another history, why Guan Yu was defeated so simply after changing hands in Jiangling. In his memory, only Guan Yu flooded the seven armies, which shocked the world, and then went to Jiangdong to defeat the alliance. He had no impression of what happened between these two nodes.
So after he came to this life, what he paid the most was to beware of the flood in the 24th year of Jian'an.
Before the Xiangfan War, Guan Yu and Lei Yuan led their subordinates to repeatedly consider the combat plan. During the process, Lei Yuan nagged endlessly, just as he urged Jiangdong back then, reminding all departments to be prepared to deal with the autumn rain and even the surge in the Han River.
Now, Cao's army has been hit hard by the flood.
So far, Lei Yuan still doesn't know how many Cao's soldiers turned into fish and turtles in the flood, maybe ten thousand, twenty thousand, or more? He has been fighting east of the Qingshui River these days, and every day he will see the bodies of Cao's soldiers buried in the mud. As the flood recedes, these bodies are exposed more and more and more and begin to rot. Even though Lei Yuan has been tempered by the war, he is often frightened by this.
The power of Cao's army around Xiangfan was weakened to the lowest point by the flood, while the two armies of Jingzhou and Jiaozhou were almost unharmed. Their rapid attack after the flood caused Cao's army to suffer twice as much losses as the flood and captured Xiangyang.
Even Guan Yu in another period of history cannot achieve greater results.
The problem is that that is not enough.
Lei Yuan had made many speculations about the battle of Xiangfan in another period of history after coming to this world. However, it was not until Lei Yuan himself personally participated in this battle that he truly contacted the two armies to test, compete, impact and respond again and again around Xiangyang; thus he noticed a key fact:
A simple flood cannot determine the outcome of the two armies' full-scale victory or defeat.
For Cao's army, although the losses caused by this flood were painful, they were not unbearable.
Tens of thousands of soldiers were damaged, but the Cao family leaned against the Central Plains and relied on the huge military household system established in the past few years, they had enough successors to invest. At this critical moment, the officials of the Cao family would not be stingy with squeezing out food and fodder that could support the army.
What's more, the headquarters of the King of Wei gathered in Wancheng and Xinye did not withstand the flood, and Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu and other generals still had the strength to do their best. Xiang and Fan Wei made them march south with all their might, trying to regain the situation.
Xiangyang City was lost, but Fan City was still there, and many military strongholds north of Fan City were still there. With the huge forces of Cao's army, these strongholds were still enough to control the vast area of ​​the Xiangfan battlefield and enable Cao's army to continue to put pressure on Guan Yu.
In another period of history, the power of the Jingzhou Army reached its peak after the flood. However, no matter how elite the Jingzhou Army is or how good Guan Yu is in battle, it is impossible to fight against most of the world with the power of a state. Now Lei Yuan can conclude that this fragile peak must have been overwhelmed by the huge force that Cao's continuous investment.
More importantly, although the flood cannot determine the outcome, the impact of the flood has profoundly changed the situation of the battle.
As the flood gradually receded, the continuous waters around Jingxiang were divided by high ground, and the water surface became shallower, so it was difficult for the navy to play a role; and the continued large areas of mud and water piles restricted the maneuver of the army, making it difficult for the two armies to advance and retreat on a large scale to avoid the real and attack the virtual.
In the end, Guan Yu's Jingzhou army benefited from water and was also trapped by water. When Jiangdong was defeating the alliance, Guan Yu was already in a difficult position to deal with the Cao army and had no way to deal with it.
Lei Yuan believed that his speculation must be very close to the truth of that period of history.
Because this is exactly the case he faced at this time.
The Cao army was coming in a turbulent manner, with overwhelming troops and countless troops. The King of Wei personally led the troops, and almost all the long-distance generals who relied on the power of the Cao regime to steer the Central Plains and Hebei were accompanied.
If the Cao army is sitting around Xiangfan, the three central generals of the Cao army, Yu Jin, the left general Zhang He, and the latter general Zhu Ling; and Cao Xiu east of Xiangfan, there is Cao Zhen west of Xiangfan; and the King of Wei will take Cao Zhang, Xu Chu and countless other powerful generals to choose people to eat.
Guan Yu could not control the situation in Xiangyang while fighting such a huge force. Even if he was an enemy of ten thousand people, he could not do it. Therefore, according to the plan, the one responsible for blocking Cao's army, covering and supporting the war in Xiangfan should be Lei Yuan's Jiaozhou army.
The Jiaozhou Army's actions were not smooth at all. Due to the influence of the water situation, Lei Yuan was unable to concentrate his troops in time. A few days ago, He Song, a few heavy generals in the Jiaozhou Army, died in battle, and his troops were completely annihilated.
He Song's death proved the power of the Cao army and their determination. From this, Lei Yuan realized that the role of the flood was limited, and also realized that if the Jiaozhou army wanted to block the main force of the Cao army, it would have to pay a huge price.
If Guan Yu, Zhang Fei or Zhao Yun were responsible for this task, they would definitely not hesitate. Because they were all true loyal ministers, they would never waver in supporting the King of Hanzhong and be willing to give everything for the King of Hanzhong's cause.
But Lei Yuan hesitated.
With He Song's death in battle, the powerful troops of the Lei family in Lujiang who were lying on Huainan would almost die. This not only brought a considerable touch to Lei Yuan, but also shocked the warriors in Jiaozhou.
After all, the times have changed, and the soldiers of Jiaozhou are no longer the end of their journey and they have spared no life. Now they are not only warriors, but also people who have gained huge benefits under the command of the King of Hanzhong. They are the core class of the regime. They are willing to follow Lei Yuan to win victory, but they are not willing to waste their lives in a certain war of attrition.
When Lei Yuan personally led the way in front of the formation, the soldiers were able to fight because of his inspiration or the pressure of military law. But in the end, people's hearts were not iron stones. Sooner or later, they would be afraid and shaken, and once they were afraid and shaken, the battle would be even more difficult.
This means that Lei Yuan must completely devote his family assets accumulated over the past few years to a certain flesh-and-blood grinder, and devote everyone's lives to the death in order to win the opportunity for the victory of the war.
In the end, Lei Yuan accepted Deng Fan's suggestion and temporarily changed the plan.
Lei Yuan is not afraid to bear the losses, but hopes that his losses should bring greater victory.
He felt that the important task of facing the main force of Cao's army should be left to Guan Yu. If the Jiaozhou Army freed up its hands, it could undertake other tasks that were equally difficult but more significant.
This change was so abrupt that Lei Yuan did not dare to send Ma Zhong to inform him, but instead replaced Li Zhen.
Ma Zhong came forward and was too busy with his business. With Guan Yu's arrogant personality, he didn't know what to do. On the contrary, Li Zhen was better off. Li Zhen was half of Lei Yuan's family. In the past few years, he often came to visit Guan Yu on behalf of Lei Yuan, Guan Ping and his son. No matter how angry he was, Guan Yu would not chop Li Zhen's head to vent his dissatisfaction.
Lei Yuan was convinced that as long as Guan Yu could be patient and listen to the new plan, he would curb his anger and he would definitely act according to the new plan.
As long as Guan Yu crossed the river to the north, the Cao army would rush over like beasts that saw prey. All of them had only Guan Yu left in their eyes, and all military arrangements were just to defeat Guan Yu.
In the environment where the terrain is still affected by floods, the arrangement of Cao's army cannot be as good as possible. Deng Fan submitted a very complete military report to Lei Yuan, and analyzed the terrain, roads, and material supply in detail. He assured Lei Yuan that the location that is most suitable for resettlement of Cao's army headquarters is Jiliuyan.
And this camp is always under the control of Deng Fan.
Once Cao's army headquarters enters, Lei Yuan will attack this place at the right time, cooperate with Deng Fanli and kill the head of the King of Wei in one fell swoop.
This new plan is extremely dangerous, and one step away may be doomed. However, if the two armies cooperate properly, the fruits of the victory of the entire Jingxiang war can be transformed from Xiangyang and Fancheng, the two cities in Xiangyang and Fancheng, into Cao Cao's elite Yecheng, and into Cao Cao himself!
Not to mention whether it can be achieved in the end, as a warrior, the excitement brought by the fact that the warrior could set such a goal was as if the electric current had flowed through Lei Yuan's body again and again, making him tremble and roar, and he wanted to vent his anger.
Chapter completed!