During the Battle of Guanzhong three years ago, Liu Bei's army retreated from Chang'an to Hanzhong, and was fiercely hunted by Cao's army at all costs along the way. Liu Bei cut off the rear with a fierce general, and repeatedly relied on the dangerous terrain to set up an ambush and counterattacked with a series of crossbows.
In the end, the main force of Liu Bei's army experienced many difficulties and finally returned most of them. However, during the battle, two crossbows of Huang Zhong's troops were seized by Cao's army. At that time, Cao's army felt as if they had obtained treasures and transported them back to Yecheng to try to copy them.
However, since the revival, the local workers have been transferred from Grand Secretary to local counties and counties, which has become a custom-made one. For more than a hundred years, there have been countless clans and families. Local clerks intervened in the process. The greedy and gluttonous people competed for their money. The cunning people stole them again. Compared with the previous Han Dynasty, the armor produced was not strong and the swords and guns were all dull. After the chaos, the workers in various places were even more loose and abandoned, and it was difficult to make them imitate and create precision crossbows.
This is a century of accumulated problems, and it is not possible to solve them overnight. Yecheng Bafu and Xudu court are in a confrontation, with undercurrents turbulent tides. Cao Cao concentrates on the game of the upper class, and does not want the already complicated situation to cause further setbacks, so it is even more difficult to make up the mind to cause minor troubles in the grassroots management affairs of counties.
In the following two years, Cao Cao changed three jobs to supervise the workplaces in various places without any pain, killing a group of unhealthy craftsmen. The final result was that he copied more than fifty crossbows at a high cost, and made two new models based on this.
Because it is really difficult to produce, products are more like playthings than weapons for battle formations. The Cao army's conquests and killings still rely on huge infantry and cavalry forces, and did not turn their attention to these scattered objects.
Fortunately, although there is no replication on a large scale, the process is recorded.
Liu Ye hurried away and hurriedly returned, holding the opened file and pointing a few of the words to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and looked at it for a moment.
"That's right. Such crossbows must use an entire eight-inch-long iron arrow. This kind of iron arrow is heavier than ordinary wooden poles. Therefore, the number of arrows carried by crossbowmen must be limited. For example, if you fight continuously, rely on baggage soldiers to carry special wooden boxes, carry crossbow arrows, or transport them with pack horses and vehicles."
Cao Cao returned the file to Liu Ye, leaned back on the soft pillow, and closed his eyes to imagine the water and landform around Chishan.
"According to Ziwen, the Jingzhou army set up seven ambushes in one breath among the lakes and swamps around Chishan and attacked at the same time. In order to ensure the great power of a strong bow and hard crossbow, it was entirely possible for them to leave the baggage troops behind. It was also possible for them to be unable to continue fighting because they were waiting for the baggage troops."
Cao Cao opened his eyes, looked at Cao Zhang, who was so angry that his face turned red, and then looked at Liu Ye: "The troops of Guan Ping are the main force of the Jingzhou Army. Since they are equipped with such crossbows, the rest of the Jingzhou Army, and even the Jiaozhou Army, may be the same. The benefits of crossbows have enabled them to gain the strength to confront the Iron Cavalry head-on, and forced them to slow down the rhythm of offense, defense, advance and retreat. All actions must be based on ensuring the crossbows. Since that is the case..."
Liu Ye said: "That is the battle between tens of thousands of people. When it comes to Xiangyang, tens of thousands of people fighting against tens of thousands of people, they will only be more cautious."
Cao Zhang frowned: "More cautious?"
Liu Ye responded: "The larger the scale of the battle, the more intense it is, and the longer it lasts, they will rely on logistical support. Considering the impact of the rainy season, the land path between Jingxiang will soon be difficult to carry the army. Therefore... their troops must rely on the Han River. If the safety of the Han River channel cannot be guaranteed, they will not be able to launch an offensive against Xiangyang and Fancheng."
Cao Cao nodded slightly.
He leaned back on the soft pillow and slowly said, "So, this is a good thing, right?"
Liu Ye complained to Cao Cao and left the church. When he returned, he took the map around Xiangyang and spread it on his own desk and looked for a while.
After a while, he stood up and bowed solemnly: "The king is wise, this is indeed a good thing that God has helped our army."
Cao Cao laughed in silence.
"Zi Yang might as well explain in detail."
"In the rainy season, the Han River is wide, and the Jingzhou naval army is well-trained and has a large scale. Although we have floating cities and floating bridges between Xiangfan, and stone-driven aircraft arranged south of the Qingshui River, northwest of Lumen Mountain, and Suling Mountain to ensure the waterway. But if the Jingzhou army firmly ignores it and continues to attack the floating bridge to break the connection between Xiangfan, the threat we can pose is actually limited."
Cao Zhang couldn't help but get up and stood beside Liu Ye to watch.
Liu Ye stretched out his slender fingers, tapped the map, and talked freely: "In addition, if the Jingzhou navy temporarily ignored Fancheng and instead gathered cover south of Yuliangzhou, first supported the infantry and cavalry to go westward and attacked the high ground on the front lines of Xishan, Fenghuang Mountain and Baima Mountain, then our early plans would be useless, and even if we surrendered the battlefield to the Jingzhou army."
Just a few days ago, Cao Cao summoned Jing Xiang and Nanyang ministers to announce his combat response around Xiangyang with great fanfare. At this moment, Liu Ye said that the threat was limited and the other was completely useless. He was really bold.
Cao Zhang couldn't help but secretly look at Cao Cao's face.
Liu Ye also paused.
Cao Cao raised his hand: "It's okay, keep talking!"
"yes."
Liu Ye continued: "However, after yesterday's battle, it can be seen that the equipment of the Jingzhou army is different from the past. They have become an army that relies on crossbows and logistics. Just imagine, when the Jingzhou infantry and cavalry were fighting fiercely with us, the reserves in front and even on land camps were exhausted and arrows were urgently needed, the ship was attacked by our huge number of flying stones..."
Cao Zhang suddenly woke up. He clapped his hands hard and continued loudly:
"No need to cause much actual losses. As long as the Jingzhou Army's fleet is disrupted, their transportation is hindered, and the material support speed is slowed down. The powerful crossbows on the land will become scrapped copper and iron, and those crossbowmen will be forced to fight!"
He snatched the map from Liu Ye and looked carefully.
"That's right! That's right! By that time, the Jingzhou navy would be in a dilemma. Once the land infantry and cavalry in Jingzhou lost the cover of their strong crossbows, they would become toothless tigers. Our army could divide the troops into two groups, one from the mountains in the south of Xiangyang City and attack from a high place. The other was the strong cavalry, leaving Xiangyang City, and pounce along the long dike on the west side of the Han River... It would definitely defeat the enemy! It would definitely win!"
Cao Cao laughed.
He said, "Ziwen, you are right. But what you can think of, can the people of Jingzhou not think of it? We want to set up stone generators in Lumen Mountain and Suling Mountain to stop waterways. They should have heard the news. And they rely more on the support of waterway logistics than originally expected... At this time, will they go straight to Xiangyang?"
Cao Zhang frowned and thought.
"They had to ensure the safety of the Han River transport route, that is, they had to go north of the Han River and take down the pre-set stone car position of our side? According to the previous agreement, the stone car was set up in the riverbank camp, adjacent to the highlands on the lines of Bawang Mountain, Lumen Mountain and Suling Mountain. I think Cao Wenlie's troops would enter Sanshan to help. So, in order to capture this mountain, the Jingzhou army had to continue to encircle north?"
Cao Zhang was a little confused: "In this way, the enemy's troops will be dispersed? No, the Jingzhou army used a huge force this time, which was enough to make a short-distance encirclement around Xiangyang. They surrounded the lines of Bawang Mountain, Lumen Mountain, and Suling Mountain, and then headed straight to the east bank of the Qingshui River, confronting the defenders of Fancheng across the river. Then? How can we see that God helped our army come?"
He had been stationed in Jingxiang for a long time. This time, the King of Wei led the emperor to the south. All military and political arrangements had been agreed on in Yecheng, and some of the details were completely unknown to Cao Zhang.
Therefore, when he calculated to this extent, he became more and more confused.
At the same time, Cao Cao showed a proud smile. His comfortable expression was like a child hiding a toy for a long time and finally being able to take it out and show off.
Liu Ye hurriedly leaned over and explained: "June, we are hoping that the Jingzhou army will deal with this."
“So what?”
Chapter completed!