Chapter 202 The confrontation on both sides of the Yellow River
Historically, the south bank of the Yellow River was only guarded by Liu Yan's thousands of troops, so Yan Liang's army had almost no obstacles in crossing the river and could send troops directly to the Baima Fortress.
But now, thanks to Lu Yan's advance planning, there are 50,000 defenders in Dongjun alone.
Moreover, Lu Yan specifically asked Cao Cao to transfer Chen Deng to Dongjun. With Yu Jin, a general who was good at commanding troops, Dongjun was bound to play an extremely important role in this war.
After Yu Jin and Chen Deng noticed signs that Yuan Shao was going south, they set up defenses on the south bank of the Yellow River early.
The Yellow River coastline is very long and there are many places that need to be defended.
In order to detect the enemy's situation in time, the only three thousand cavalry in Dongjun have been used as scouts. They patrol continuously every day. Once they find signs of Yuan Shao's army crossing the river somewhere, Yu Jin will send troops there.
support.
Yan Liang's army was stationed on the north bank of the Yellow River. With one hundred thousand troops and civilians, the camp stretched for dozens of miles!
The two armies are facing each other across the Yellow River, and their movements are basically clear at a glance.
Northerners were not very good at water warfare, and the Yellow River was turbulent. Yan Liang sent people to try to cross the Yellow River from different directions several times in one day, but Cao Jun discovered them in time and shot them back with random arrows.
Yuan Shao did not build any large warships, and even the boats used by Yan Liang to cross the river were temporarily requisitioned from other aristocratic families or common people.
Most northerners are not accustomed to water. After Yan Liang's soldiers were shot into the water by Cao Jun's bows and arrows or fell into the water in panic, they basically announced that they could only feed fish.
After a day of testing, not many of Yuan Jun's soldiers were shot dead, because they fell into the water and drowned in panic, but a full seven or eight hundred of them fell into the water and drowned...
After realizing that Cao's army was heavily defended and that forcibly crossing the river might suffer heavy losses, Yan Liang stopped trying and turned to Guo Tu and others for strategies.
Although Guo Tu is a villain, his intelligence is also impressive.
He proposed a plan to Yan Liang and found a person who looked similar to Yan Liang. He asked him to wear Yan Liang's Mingguang armor, pretend to be Yan Liang, command the army, and patrol along the Yellow River every day.
At the same time, flags were planted all over the camps along the Yellow River in an attempt to confuse Cao Jun on the other side so that Cao Jun could not see their specific troop deployment.
After all these deceptions, the real Yan Liang secretly crossed the Yellow River with ten thousand cavalry on the night of the second day, two to three hundred miles in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
day time,
Jie Yanliang and Chunyu Qiong continued to send people everywhere to cross the Yellow River, firmly attracting Cao Jun's attention.
As a result, Chen Deng and Yu Jin on the south bank of the Yellow River did not realize that the real Yan Liang had crossed the Yellow River and was running towards the White Horse Camp!
Fortunately, Chen Deng is also a man of extraordinary resourcefulness. He can see the strangeness of the current situation from some details.
Chen Deng knew very well that trying to stop Yuan Shao's hundreds of thousands of troops on the north bank of the Yellow River with only his 30,000 to 50,000 troops was tantamount to wishful thinking.
What he and Yu Jin have to do is to delay for as long as they can.
Although Baima Yingzhai is not big, the fortifications outside are very complete.
Trenches, horse pits, horse traps, etc. are all available.
After nearly three days of stalemate with Yan Liang's army, Chen Deng discovered some subtle abnormalities in Yuan Jun's army.
Therefore, Chen Deng decisively asked Yu Jin to withdraw all the garrison troops deployed along the Yellow River, and divide his troops to garrison the Baima Camp and the main camp in the direction of Puyang City.
Yu Jin was extremely puzzled by Chen Deng's request to withdraw his troops.
They were well guarded, so why did they withdraw immediately? So Yu Jin asked Chen Deng: "Prefect, if we withdraw our troops now, wouldn't we hand over the Yellow River to Yuan Shao?" Gu Wei
Chen Deng had cooperated with Yu Jin for more than a year and almost two years. He also had a very good impression of this general who was both civil and military and was a first-class general in allied battles.
Hearing Yu Jin's question, Chen Deng patiently explained to him: "General Yu, didn't you notice that Yuan Jun on the other side seemed a little too perfunctory when he crossed the river?
Moreover, Yan Liang wears bright armor and patrols along the Yellow River every day, as if he is afraid that we will not see him."
Yu Jin recalled it carefully, and then realized that it seemed that it was indeed what Chen Deng said, "It seems to be true...but is there any explanation in it?"
Chen Deng frowned, stroking his light beard with his fingers, and said: "As I expected, the Yan Liang who was hanging around every day is probably just a fake. The real Yan Liang may have crossed the Yellow River and is heading towards us.
The killing is coming..."
"Ah?!" Yu Jin was shocked when he heard this, and quickly confirmed again: "Is this really the case?"
"It's true!" Chen Deng said with certainty and decisiveness: "Yan Liang's bravery is not that of Zhao Yun, and a strong general like Dian Wei is invincible!
Therefore, General Yu, you should withdraw your soldiers quickly.
We should leave 10,000 people to defend the Baima Fortress, and the remaining people should return to the main camp in the direction of Puyang to form a horn with the Baima Fortress, and then wait for Prime Minister Cao's reinforcements. This is the best strategy!"
Yu Jin nodded and said, "I will send people to recall the defenders right now. The prefect can lead the army back to the Puyang camp. I will lead 10,000 soldiers to defend the White Horse Fortress!"
Chen Deng knew this was the best choice,
Because even if the White Horse Camp is breached, Yu Jin, whose martial arts is close to top-notch, might still be able to break out of the siege with his bravery.
If it were Chen Deng, a weak scholar with a "big belly", he would probably be chopped into pieces by the rebels as soon as the camp was broken.
...
Cao Cao led his army to form troops in Yuanwu, and Lu Yan's 40,000-strong army was also encamped in Yuanwu.
It's almost late at night,
However, in the Cao Jun camp located in Yuanwu, the lights were still brightly lit, and there was an endless stream of people coming and going.
Lu Yan, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Xia Houlan, Tai Shi Ci, Dian Wei, and the three brothers Liu Bei who had volunteered to be assigned to Lu Yan's staff, all gathered in Cao Cao's Chinese army tent.
It is already midsummer in June, and the temperature is already very hot.
Although the Chinese army's tent is spacious enough, there are dozens of people standing in the tent now, and the air is not circulating very well, making the tent extremely hot.
In addition to Lu Yan, even Zhao Yun and Guan Yu had sweat on their foreheads, and the stuffy hot environment made people gradually become irritable.
Cao Cao clasped his hands behind his back, lowered his head, and wandered inside and outside the tent, meditating.
Everyone saw that Cao Cao was thinking about the problem, so they suppressed their restlessness and waited patiently.
When Liu Bei first arrived at Cao Cao's tent, he was startled by the four rows of no fewer than thirty or forty important military and civil servants in the tent.
I think back then, even when Liu Bei was the most prosperous when he was serving as Xuzhou Mu Na, he only had seven or eight generals and a dozen civil and military officials under his command. Moreover, there were no real advisers among the civil officials. The only generals who could really fight were his own.
Just two brothers.
As for Cao Cao's account, not counting the generals guarding one side, those who were recruited include Xia Houyuan, Cao Hong, Zhang Liao, Xu Chu and others.
In addition, the group of extremely high-quality warriors brought by Lu Yan, who seemed to be glowing with golden light all over their bodies, almost blinded Liu Bei's titanium alloy dog eyes...