Liu Bei was shocked and angry, and so were Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi.
The three of them, the emperor and his ministers, all felt as if they were being played by Yan Liang at this moment.
Shame, shame, and resentment are all accumulated emotions that stimulate their unhealed dignity.
"Although Yan Thief's plan is insidious, if he really goes to attack Luoyang, it will not be a bad thing for my country, Dayan." Sima Yi was the first to see the optimistic side.
Liu Bei's spirit was lifted. He turned to Sima Yi and asked, "What does Zhongda mean by this?"
Sima Yi smiled faintly and said: "Cao Cao will not give up easily when the Yan thieves attack Luoyang. He will definitely lead his army to support the defense. By that time, Cao Cao will definitely be in a stalemate with the Yan thieves. At this time, your Majesty can sit back and watch.
Seeing an opening, I can take action and deliver a fatal blow to the Yan thief. If I take the opportunity, I can reverse the disadvantage that I, Dayan, am in."
After Sima Yi spoke eloquently, Liu Bei's originally embarrassed face immediately turned into a joyous expression.
"What Zhongda said is absolutely true. The Yan bandits crossed the Yellow River and went on an expedition to Luoyang. Although this plan was strange, it exposed the entire supply line to my army. With such a weakness, how could I not take good care of it?
Take advantage of it."
Liu Bei, who originally thought he was being tricked, now became confident and seemed to have found a way to defeat Yan Liang.
Liu Bei, who regained his confidence, greatly praised Sima Yi, praising him for his sharp vision and his ability to grasp Yan Liang's weaknesses.
When Zhuge Liang saw Liu Bei praising Sima Yi, a trace of displeasure flashed in his eyes, but it didn't show on the surface, he just acted indifferently.
On the same day, Liu Bei, at Sima Yi's suggestion, issued an order to Zhang Xiu, who was on surveillance on the north bank of the Yellow River, and ordered him to closely monitor the line along the river. Once he discovered the Chu army landing on the bank, he immediately used the advantage of the cavalry to annihilate the Chu army ashore.
"Tie Yan, you want to play tricks on me, huh, let's see who plays tricks on whom." Liu Bei stared at the map, with a sinister sneer on his lips.
…
In the north of Luoyang City, Yan Liang is sitting on a red rabbit horse, high among thousands of troops, looking at the head of Luoyang City with the smoke billowing from the distance.
Thousands of arrows rained down from the sky above the city wall. Under the city wall, densely packed soldiers of the Chu army were climbing up the ladders bravely. Wave after wave launched a strong attack on the north gate of Luoyang.
The 70,000-strong siege army is devoting all its strength to launch a mad attack on Luoyang City.
To the east of Luoyang City, Yanshi City had already planted the flag of Chu. Cao Xiu's 20,000 troops were unable to break through the city. They were trapped in Gong County between Yanshi City and Hulao Pass, unable to advance or retreat.
To the south, Xiahou Shang at Taigu Pass was being attacked from two sides by fifty thousand Chu troops. He was also in a desperate situation.
Not to mention the lack of troops in the west, the Chu army has successively captured Gucheng and Hangu Pass, sealing off the connection between Luoyang and Hongnong County in the west.
The strategic vision before dispatching the troops has basically been realized. What Yan Liang has to do now is to do his best to break through the lonely city of Luoyang.
However, Xiahou Dun, the commander of Cao's army guarding the city, was not a vegetarian either.
When Cao Cao was campaigning in the east and west, he always used Xiahou Dun to guard the rear area. For many years, Xiahou Dun never made any mistakes.
It can be seen from this that there is indeed something extraordinary about Xiahou Dun's defense of the city, and this is indeed the case.
Although Xiahou Dun only had 5,000 regular troops under his command, as soon as he heard that Yan Liang's army was attacking, he immediately summoned the powerful surnames in Luoyang City, mobilized them to send out their servants, and quickly formed a departing army of about 10,000 people.
Xiahou Dun relied on this mixed army of more than 10,000 people and Luoyang's solid city walls to withstand several strong attacks by the Chu army.
While the battle was fierce in Luoyang, Cao Cao in Guanzhong also responded quickly.
Cao Cao personally led 40,000 infantry and cavalry, starting from Chang'an and marching under starry night to Hongnong. Starting yesterday, he launched a fierce attack on Hangu Pass.
In order to resist Cao Cao's reinforcements, Yan Liang had to dedicate about two dozen troops to reinforce Guancheng. As a result, the troops besieging Luoyang City were slightly insufficient.
More importantly, Yan Liang's army came by water, and large siege equipment such as thunderbolt chariots could not be transported, so they could not form a strong enough attack on Luoyang City, which undoubtedly weakened the Chu army's offensive.
In the siege battle before us, from early morning to dusk, the casualties of the soldiers under the city were already dead, but Luoyang City still did not fall.
"Retreat your troops." Yan Liang raised his whip and shouted, turning around and riding his horse back to the camp.
The armies withdrew their troops and returned to the camp in an orderly manner.
When Yan Liang returned to the king's tent, Pang Tong was already waiting there. Judging from his expression, it seemed that he had some bad news.
Yan Liang took off his armor and sat down, drank a glass of wine to quench his thirst, and then said, "Commander, if you have any bad news, just tell me."
Pang Tong smiled and said, "Actually, it's not really bad news. It's about our Yellow River grain channel."
With that said, Pang Tong handed over the latest information to Yan Liang.
Since Yan Liang's army landed in Henan County, the food and grass for the army of more than 100,000 people have been transported from the Weishanshui Port base by the Yellow River. The entire Yellow River has become the lifeline of the Chu army.
The Yan army on alert at Jiahe did not have a strong naval force, so they could only look at the river and sigh, sitting back and watching the Chu army's grain transport warships coming and going on the river.
However, the Yellow River is not like the Yangtze River. The water conditions on its river course are very changeable. From time to time, there are grain ships or warships, which are washed away by the river to the northern shore due to poor steering.
At this time, Zhang Xiu's Qingqi, who was patrolling along the river, rushed over immediately, surrounded and killed the soldiers on the boat, and took away the food and grass.
Since the beginning of the war, almost twenty ships of various types have been washed ashore by the river, and more than a thousand soldiers have been killed by the Yan army.
Although the number of more than a thousand people was insignificant compared to Yan Liang's army of more than 100,000, it was only a loss of less than ten days, and it was a non-combat loss.
If it continues unchecked and the Battle of Luoyang reaches a stalemate, the non-combat losses of the Chu army's officers and soldiers will be astonishingly large.
"Gan Xingba and others have 20,000 river patrol troops, why don't they take the initiative to find and annihilate the entangled enemy troops?" Yan Liang asked in a deep voice.
Pang Tong sighed: "Zhang Xiu's troops were mainly cavalry, and they would only surround and kill my small group of soldiers who rushed up the river beach. But when my large group of soldiers and horses came ashore to challenge me, Zhang Xiu led his troops to flee far away and refused to fight. .”
That's it. Liu Bei is playing harassment tactics. He wants to use such rogue methods to attack his supply line and indirectly aid Cao Cao.
After pondering for a long time, Yan Liang slammed the table and said in a deep voice: "Liu Bei, this annoying fly, it seems that I must personally give him some color so that he will never have the guts to harass my supply line again."
Seeing Yan Liang's momentum, he actually planned to take action personally.
Pang Tong said: "Zhang Xiu doesn't even dare to fight Xingba head-on, let alone the king himself."
"Don't worry. I have my own way to tell him to come and die obediently." Yan Liang sneered, and a trace of mystery flashed across the corner of his mouth.
…
Two days later, Baimajin waters.
More than 40 large vehicles and boats were floating in the river, slowly coming towards the north bank.
Yan Liang stood at the bow of the ship and looked into the distance, but he saw groups of cavalry galloping back and forth not far from the north bank.
Obviously, those cavalry were Zhang Xiu's river patrolling light cavalry.
Yan Liang glanced at the sun, then raised his whip and shouted: "Send an order to Ling Gongji and order him to follow the front troops and land immediately."
The order was passed and the red flag waved.
More than a dozen medium-sized warships began to approach the north bank. Once too many, several transport ships ran aground on the river beach.
Ling Tong led 700 infantry, quickly jumped out of the boat, pushed dozens of chariots and rushed to the north bank of the river beach.
According to Yan Liang's instructions in advance, Ling Tong scolded his soldiers, and soon he set up an arc-shaped formation that resembled a crescent moon, using chariots as walls and hugging the river at both ends, more than a hundred steps away from the water.
After the formation was completed, Ling Tong immediately ordered a blue flag to be raised in the formation to report the news to the main warships in the river.
Yan Liang immediately ordered Gan Ning to lead two thousand infantry and carry hundreds of large crossbows, and quickly go ashore to meet Ling Tong's troops.
Several hundred steps away, Zhang Xiu could clearly see all the actions of the Chu army.
At first, Zhang Xiu saw that the Chu army only sent a few hundred people ashore, and even pushed their chariots ashore. He was a little confused and did not dare to act rashly.
"Could Thief Yan want to use his chariot to fight against my light cavalry? It's a joke, I won't fight with you easily." Zhang Xiu was disdainful.
Just as Zhang Xiu was thinking about it, he saw more Chu troops approaching the river beach one after another, strengthening the defense of the Chu army's vehicle formation. And judging from the situation, it seemed that there were more Chu troops planning to board the north bank.
Zhang Xiu looked at Guan Liang carefully, and suddenly his expression changed.
"Oh no, looking at the Chu army's formation, could it be that they are seizing the river beach and setting up camp on the north bank?" Zhang Xiu was secretly surprised.
If the Chu army lands elsewhere, Zhang Xiu will surround and kill a small group of troops, but if there is a large group of troops, Zhang Xiu will withdraw his troops to avoid them.
But now the location where the Chu army wants to land and set up camp is quite close to the important town of Liyang. This means that the Chu army actually intends to capture Liyang.
At this time, Zhang Xiu could no longer sit idly by. He would never tolerate the Chu army threatening Liyang City. He had to catch the small group of Chu troops who had landed first before a large number of Chu troops landed, set up camp on the north bank, and established a firm foothold.
The army was destroyed.
Thinking of this, Zhang Xiu didn't think much, waved his gun and shouted: "attack with the whole army, let me crush the enemy thieves, and we must not let the thieves set up camp on the north bank."
Amidst the roar, Zhang Xiu fired his spear and drove his more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry troops toward the less than 3,000 Chu army on the shore.
Thousands of horses galloped, the sound was overwhelming, and the rumble of iron hoofs actually covered up the surging river water.
Looking at the approaching enemy cavalry, Yan Liang couldn't help but sneer at the corner of his mouth.
"Your Majesty, there are at least 10,000 enemy cavalry. General Gan and his troops have less than 3,000 troops and horses, so they may be difficult to resist. Why don't you, Your Majesty, send reinforcements to help?" Zhou Cang couldn't help but comment after seeing the situation.
However, Yan Liang sneered and said disapprovingly: "It's just ten thousand cavalry. What's there to be afraid of? Just follow me, Wang Jing, and watch them dominate. With three thousand infantry, I defeated ten thousand Yan cavalry."
Three thousand infantry defeat ten thousand cavalry!?
Zhou Cang had an astonishing illusion. He couldn't understand how a mere three thousand infantry on the riverbank plain could withstand the attacks of ten thousand cavalry from all directions.
Zhou Cang and the soldiers on his left and right all looked worried.
Only Yan Liang remained calm and snorted: "Zhang Xiu, aren't you good at commanding cavalry? Let me show you the power of the Moon Formation." (To be continued...)