The stars have changed, and the years have changed. It is now the first month of the 10th year of Jian'an in the Han Dynasty (AD 205).
The people of Xudu are immersed in the joy of the New Year. Due to Cao Cao's clear governance, at least the people in Xuchang can still live and work in peace and contentment in this troubled world, and they can also rarely enjoy the beautiful atmosphere of the New Year.
Two years have passed since the third-front war. In the first year, Cao Cao completely implemented a policy of recuperation and took no external action except to deal with a few internal political opponents.
But in the second year, the ninth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao resolutely launched an all-out attack on Jingzhou.
In that three-front battle, although Cao Cao suffered considerable losses, Ma Teng, Liu Biao and Sun Jian also suffered losses each.
Cao Cao controls the entire north and has a profound foundation. Naturally, he recovers his energy faster than other princes. After a year, Cao Cao's army has been replenished. In addition, Cao Cao's army has many generals who are good at training troops.
Even the newly recruited soldiers have gained considerable combat power over time. As for Jingzhou and other places, they are not so optimistic. Not to mention the small number of army reinforcements, the combat power of the new army is not high. Cao Cao and Guo Jia
After deliberation, the counselors decided to take advantage of the opportunity when their own strength had slightly recovered while the strength of the other princes had not yet recovered, to launch an offensive and wipe them out in one fell swoop.
Cao Cao's first target was Jingzhou, because Jingzhou was the slowest to recover among the three princes.
Before that three-front war, there were 200,000 troops in Jingzhou, but 100,000 of them were naval troops.
Liu Biao sent 70,000 of the remaining 100,000 troops to attack Wancheng. As a result, the entire army was wiped out.
Within one year, Liu Biao recruited only 20,000 new troops, and the combat effectiveness of these 20,000 was extremely low.
Now is the best time to attack Jingzhou. Although Jingzhou's total military strength is still 150,000, the 100,000 naval troops can only be deployed on the Yangtze River. If they are brought to fight on land, their individual combat power may not be comparable to that.
Twenty thousand new troops.
In other words, if Cao Cao were to attack Jingzhou at this time, he would mainly face only 30,000 infantry troops.
Cao Cao personally led an army of 100,000, with Xiahou Dun, Zhao Yun, Zhang He, Yu Jin and others as generals, and went south to attack Jingzhou.
Although the situation in the last three-front war was very urgent for Cao Cao, he still had so many talented generals that there would eventually be generals who failed to make meritorious deeds on the battlefield. Furthermore, during the third-line war, the situation in Xuchang was also very unclear.
Seeing that Cao Cao is in crisis, these forces are ready to act, and they are all looking for opportunities to add insult to injury. These forces more or less have their own power. If they cause chaos together, the consequences will be disastrous. Cao Cao needs to have sufficient force around him to deal with everything.
accident to ensure that Xuchang will not fall into chaos.
This time when he attacked Jingzhou, Cao Cao brought with him the generals who had not participated in the last war to give them the opportunity to be promoted for their meritorious service.
The attack on Jingzhou went very smoothly at first. The only 30,000 infantry troops in Jingzhou that could still be relied upon were easily annihilated by Zhang He's Euphorbias, Xiahou Dun, Zhao Yun and other troops. The 20,000 new troops were also fighting against Yu Jin's troops.
was destroyed. Liu Biao, who was extremely panicked, added to the chaos and transferred half of the navy guarding Jiangxia to the north of Jingzhou. As a result, this group of navy's ability to fight on land was too poor. Cao Cao ordered the rising stars of the Cao family, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu, to lead an army of 10,000
, then defeated the 50,000 navy troops.
Xinye fell, Fancheng fell, and even Xiangyang could not hold it in the end and fell into the hands of Cao Jun. Liu Biao fled to Jiangling under the life-saving protection of a group of guards.
However, there are only five thousand Jiangling garrison left. When Cao Cao's army attacks, it will not only destroy the city.
At this time, Liu Biao fell into complete despair. After holding Jingzhou for so many years, he still failed to hold it and finally changed hands.
However, just when Cao Cao thought he could take all of Jingzhou into his own pocket, Sun Jian suddenly intervened.
Thanks to Liu Biao, he transferred half of the naval forces, which greatly reduced Jiangxia's defense capabilities. Naturally, Zhou Yu would not miss this opportunity, and immediately led a heavy army to capture Jiangxia in one go.
After occupying Jiangxia, Zhou Yu was not satisfied and quickly turned his attention to the four counties in Jingnan - Changsha, Wuling, Lingling and Guiyang.
Jingzhou's military strength has long been dwarfed by comparison. Almost all the soldiers who could be brought to the front from the rear have been transferred. Only three to four thousand people are left in each city to deal with possible barbarian rebellion. Under this situation, the four soldiers in Jingnan
Naturally, the counties were unable to cope with the invasion of Sun Jian's army and fell one by one.
The ones who captured the four counties in Jingnan were Zhang Fei and Chen Dao! Although they were unwilling to be Zhou Yu's pawns, as long as Liu Bei was still in Jiangdong, they had no choice.
After Cao Cao captured Jiangling and captured Liu Biao and a group of important officials in Jingzhou, he also learned that Sun Jian's army had captured the four counties of Jiangxia and Jingnan. Of course, he was furious about this.
After fighting so hard, Sun Jian took the opportunity to pick the fruits of victory, which is unbearable!
However, Zhou Yu's defense in Jiangxia was very tight. In the original three-line battle, Jiangdong suffered the least losses. After the grain and grass were burned, Jiangdong's army retreated without hesitation. Compared with the Jingzhou army that was completely wiped out, Jiangdong's army was stronger.
A lot of it has been preserved, so now I am not afraid when facing Cao Cao.
Although Cao Cao was still much stronger than Sun Jian at this time, his goal for this trip was only Liu Biao's Jingzhou. He did not expect that Jiangdong would actually intervene, so he only brought an army of 100,000.
If he wants to conquer Jiangdong, then Sun Jian is naturally not Cao Cao's opponent, but now that Cao Cao has only 100,000 troops, it is not that simple to get an advantage from Jiangdong's army.
You must know that Zhou Yu brought almost 100,000 troops to this expedition, and there were many generals around him. Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Zhou Tai, Tai Shici and other famous Jiangdong generals all appeared on the battlefield, plus
Zhang Fei and Chen Dao are both talented generals. In terms of military strength, Cao Cao's and Sun's armies are similar, and there is not much difference in the strength of their generals. Their combat prowess on the battlefield is almost equal. Cao Cao attacked Jiangxia several times, but in the end
He returned in vain and lost two of his generals.
Cao Cao knew that the troops he brought during this trip were completely unable to defeat Sun Jian's army and swallow up the entire Jingzhou. He could only withdraw his troops first after deploying garrison forces in Jiangling and Nanjun.
Cao Cao could not capture Jiangxia, but Zhou Yu could not further capture Nanjun, so the huge Jingzhou was divided equally between Cao Cao and Sun Jian.