To the south of Xiangyang City, west of the Han River, south of the Xiang River, and Goulin Beach.
The Jingzhou Navy fleet traveled back and forth between the beach and Longweizhou in the center of the Han River, transporting various wood and stones needed to build the camp. From Hutou Mountain to the west to the river beach on the Longweizhou line, several huge military camps have begun to take shape. The defensive equipment arranged along the camps and the leading generals responsible for the defense of each battalion are all ready.
Nearly a month ago, the Jiaozhou army crossed the Han River and captured two highlands, Paishan and Jiming Mountain, and the troops headed north and expanded westward. They once captured Caiyang County and fought fiercely with the Cao army in a vast area around Lumen Mountain. The cavalry under the Jiaozhou army had marched forward many times, threatening Dengsai and even Xinye several times, forcing the Cao army to increase troops in these two places.
However, perhaps because of the limited force, the Jiaozhou Army gradually stopped moving under the initiative, but continued to send small groups of elite troops to harass them. The main force was concentrated in the edge of Lumen Mountain and began to build camps to confront the Cao army. It seemed that its intention was to echo the main force of the Jingzhou Army west of the Han River and to remove the Cao army's strongholds around Xiangyang with a long-term and slow offensive.
At the same time, the Jingzhou army under Guan Yu's troops approached Xiangyang.
There is Huihu Lake on the water south of Xiangyang, with thousands of acres of water, all of which are several miles long and wide. Yang Yi, the former chief clerk of the general, studied and crossed the Xia Dynasty on the islands in Huihu Lake. There is a small water camp set up by the Cao army in Xiangyang. The Jingzhou army was about to be destroyed in the battle. Guan Yu then ordered the Jingzhou navy to temporarily enter Huihu Lake and divided the infantry and cavalry into four divisions, stationed in Caizhou, Longweizhou, Goulintan, and Guanzitan, which are suitable for large troops to set up camps along the river.
More than ten days ago, Zhao Lei, the troops of Jingzhou Army, walked around Wanshan Mountain and tried to cut in along the Xiang River, threatening the west side of the peaks of Xian Mountain. They were later repelled by Cao General Man Chong, who was stationed in Xiangyang City. Jingzhou Army attacked Fulong Mountain, Baizhang Mountain and other highlands. Because of heavy rains for several days, the roads between the mountains were unpassable, they were not successful.
Perhaps the previous few offensives were unfavorable, forcing the two armies of Jingzhou and Jiaozhou to adjust their deployment. For a moment, the situation around Xiangfan actually calmed down. The Cao army generals stationed in various parts of Xiangfan seemed to be in a hurry to counterattack, but they trained their soldiers all day long and built more camps.
In the first few days, the Cao and Liu armies confronted each other, which was quite tense.
Although the army did not move, the light cavalry and scouts of the two armies chased each other within a depth of dozens of miles, competing with each other for cavalry and bravery. The sharp whistles and whistles came one after another. The scout cavalry of the two sides sometimes faced three or five cavalry, and sometimes dozens of cavalry against dozens of cavalry. If it was fierce to a certain extent, the iron cavalry of the Cao army launched together, while the whistle cavalry of the Jingzhou army slowly retreated into the coverage of its own crossbows, and the two families stopped.
Later, due to heavy rain after heavy rain, the road became increasingly difficult to walk, and there was no secret of the military arrangements between the two sides, so the confrontation was just a confrontation.
In recent days, the people in Xiangyang, Zhonglu, Yicheng and other places saw that the war had not yet broken out, so they came out of the city one after another and rushed to the farmland to cook on the edge of the city. This is a habit of going deep into the bloodline for thousands of years. Even if the sky collapses and the earth is sinking, people have to eat. If there is a little chance, they cannot neglect to deal with the world.
Of course, under the calm appearance, the soldiers of the two armies were not negligent. Everyone was waiting, and everyone knew that some form of war would eventually come.
Guan Yu, Guan Ping, Zhao Lei, Yang Yi and others stood on the high ground south of the Xiang River and looked across.
There were no people on the river bank opposite, only some sparse posts, and there were three or five knights patrolling each other.
The Xiang River originates from Bianshan in the southwest of Xiangyang City, only a dozen miles from the beginning to the end, but halfway there gathered tributaries such as Tanxi, which were abundant in water. Because of the recent rainy weather, the closer it is to the Han River, the more rapid the water is, the water surface is more than ten feet wide, and the turbid waves are rising and falling along the coast, washing the water grass and continuous reeds into a tilted state.
This distance is not wide or narrow. If there is a crossbowman hidden behind the river bank opposite, Guan Yu's location is within reach of the arrow. Therefore, Zhou Cang, who was accompanying him, was a little nervous and personally led his people to hold a large shield and was ready to welcome the possible rain of arrows at any time.
Guan Yu was very careless. He tucked the hem of his military uniform in his belt, poked the Xiangshui River beach with a long bamboo pole, tested the softness of the soil at the bottom of the water, and then comprehensively considered the terrain on the other side and the layout of enemy camps, and calculated the locations suitable for crossing the river.
Because Guan Yu's body is huge and heavy, and the river beach is inevitably slippery, every time he strolls to the edge of the river beach, Guan Ping and his two entourages grabbed his arms, worried that he would slide into the Xiangshui River.
In fact, all the generals understood that it was not difficult to cross the river itself. The Cao army in Xiangyang and Fancheng were pitifully few ships. As Huihu and various river beaches changed hands one by one, the Cao army no longer dared to send them south to die. Under the cover of naval warships, the Jingzhou army crossed the river as if walking on flat ground.
However, the Cao army's defense was quite clever, making progress after crossing the river difficult. As everyone saw just now, the number of Cao army on the river bank was very small, with only the minimum number of people to warn. There were at least four or five important places behind the river bank, and solid fortresses were vaguely visible.
This fortress is not large in scale, but its location is quite clever, which just strangles several gentle beaches where the men gathered after crossing the water.
Relying on the highlands of Xianshan in the rear, Cao's army could see clearly the mobilization of the Jingzhou army. If the Jingzhou naval army takes action, the Cao army's cavalry can immediately gather at the corresponding fortress. When the Jingzhou army lands, the Cao army's cavalry in the camp launches an assault, which will definitely bring huge losses to the Jingzhou army that has not been in line.
Guan Yu and other senior generals of the Jingzhou Army had been exploring the terrain on the south bank of the Xiangshui River for several consecutive days, but they felt helpless.
Since last year, Le Jin, the general of Cao's army stationed in Xiangyang, was seriously ill and said that he has been bedridden recently. Therefore, the military affairs of the Jingxiang area are handled by the General Cao Zhang, the general of the cavalry, who is usually stationed in Xinye and Nanyang, and the specific defenses of Xiangfan cities are handled by General Fenwei Man Chong.
Man Chong was extremely talented. Although his troops were limited and he did not participate in the offensive operations of Cao's army, he defended the city along the line, and was in a strict and orderly manner. Everyone present was a long-time general, and he knew it was difficult to deal with it at a glance.
"Man Chong is really capable." Zhao Lei sighed: "We have the mountains and rivers around Xiangyang City, and we will defend each layer of defense. If we attack hard and fight, we will not suffer the losses of tens of thousands of people, we will be afraid that we will not see the Xiangyang city wall."
Guan Ping smiled: "Fortunately, we don't have to really attack and fight."
Xi Zhen behind Guan Ping yelled in disappointment.
Previously, the two armies of Jingzhou and Jiaozhou went north and had already formulated a strategy to face the enemy.
According to the initial idea, Lei Yuan was responsible for the flanking operations around Xiangfan and restrained Cao's army from Nanyang reinforcements. Guan Yu appeared to be divided into two groups, attacking the Xiangshui defense line between Xianshan and Hanshui, and the other was around the gap west of Xianshan and south of Wanshan, directly threatening Xiangyang.
Both attacks were threatened by the Cao army in Xianshan. If the Xiangyang defenders wanted to resist the attacks between the east and west, they would definitely mobilize the Cao army in Xianshan to go down the mountain to attack the flanks of the Jingzhou army. The mountain was narrow and steep, and the Cao army was inconvenient to dispatch its troops on the mountain. After repeated several times, flaws would definitely be revealed.
At this time, the Jingzhou army could dispatch generals who were familiar with the terrain of Xiangyang, mobilize newly formed barbarians who were good at mountain warfare in recent years to raid Xianshan. You could only take down this key pass that controls the east and west paths in one fell swoop, and you could enter the city of Xiangyang.
The general who is familiar with the terrain of Xiangyang is Xi Zhen.
The Xi family in Xiangyang is a powerful family who lives in the country for generations. Among the generals of the Jingzhou army, no one is more familiar with the surrounding environment of Xianshan than Xizhen. Even if he closes his eyes, he can climb up and down the mountain forever.
The barbarians who are good at mountain warfare are the Lingling County soldiers of Xi Zhen's troops. Since Xi Zhen collaborated with Shamoke several years ago, Xi's family has always had close contact with the Wuxi Barbarians. He has two thousand elite barbarians under his command, all of whom were good at running barefoots in the mountains and walking across the peaks and walking across the streams like flat ground.
This was the first time that Xi Zhen could take on heavy responsibilities in such a big battle, and he was ready to go. However, he never thought that Lei Yuan sent an envoy to report that he had discovered the treacherous plan of Cao's army using water instead of soldiers, and intended to make plans and ask Guan Yu's Jingzhou army to cooperate accordingly.
This made Xi Zhen feel a little disappointed.
Chapter completed!