Chapter 684: Attack Halfway Across the Border

However, the Liangzhou army did not attack the Xuexian city wall. Instead, they circled not far from the Xuexian city wall and killed some Cao soldiers who had not had time to escape. Then they retreated like a tide. .

Cao Junmenhou breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay, it's okay."

Xiahou Dun was shot in the shoulder by the pursuing Liangzhou Army during his escape. He was temporarily not allowed to fight in person, but he still went to the front line to supervise the battle. Therefore, although the Liangzhou Army attacked fiercely, Cao Jun was still able to persist.

After the failure of the night attack, Xiahou Dun's personality changed drastically and he became much calmer. He also studied more military techniques and gradually grew into a famous general under Cao Cao.

Not only was Xiahou Dun leading his army to fight against Yu Jin's Yanzhou Army, Cao Hong also led his army to join forces with the Youzhou Army led by Yan Liang to jointly attack Jizhou.

However, Xu Huang is a famous general with both wisdom and bravery, and Liu Ye specially left Liu Ziyang as Xu Huang's mastermind.

After analysis, Xu Huang believed that although the Youzhou Army was newly defeated, it was precisely because of the new defeat that Yuan Shao was cautious. Moreover, Yuan Shao probably absorbed Ju Shou's past advice and assisted Yan Liang by advising his ministers according to the law. It was not good for a while. deal with.

"So, our army is going to attack Cao Jun first?"

Xu Huang said to Liu Ye.

Although Liu Ye left Xu Huang to guard Jizhou, he only had 20,000 troops left. If he faced Yan Liang and Cao Hong at the same time, splitting the troops to fight would not give either side a crushing advantage. They would have to defeat the invading enemies first. The best strategy is to send troops to attack the other route.

Moreover, Cao Jun and Yuan Shao Jun are joining forces to attack this time. Maybe as long as one side can be defeated, the other side will automatically retreat.

In fact, Liu Ye told Xu Huang that if needed, he could ask Bingzhou Lu Bu for help with the handwritten letter he left. Although Lu Bu's men suffered heavy losses in the previous battle of Jinyang, it was not a big problem to assemble a cavalry force of several thousand men.

However, Xu Huang was confident that with the 20,000 troops and horses in his hands, he could repel the two invading enemies.

"That's right." Liu Ye nodded and said, "I heard that the commander-in-chief of Cao's army that invaded from Qingzhou this time is Cao Hong, Cao Cao's younger brother. This man is brave, but he is brave but has no plan."

"Mr. Ziyang means that our army can use tricks?" Xu Huang looked into Liu Ye's eyes.

Liu Ye smiled and nodded: "General Gongming really knows everything. No wonder he was entrusted with the important task of controlling one side by the general."

Currently, there are only four generals in Liu Ye's army who can take charge of their own affairs: Yu Jin, Zhang Jia, Ma Teng, and Xu Huang.

Among these four generals, Yu Jin and Zhang Zha needless to say, they are veteran generals who followed Liu Ye to fight during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. They have been with Liu Ye for more than ten years, so one One guarded Yanzhou and the other guarded Nanyang.

Ma Teng has always had prestige among the Qiang people. Moreover, his eldest son Ma Chao and nephew Ma Dai are important generals in the army, so they guard Liangzhou.

Xu Huang, the youngest among the four generals, was able to be entrusted with important tasks by Liu Ye. Liu Ye couldn't understand it at first, but today it seems that Xu Huang is indeed extraordinary.

"Yes, General Gongming, please take a look."

Xu Huang and Liu Ye stood in front of the sand table representing the entire Jizhou. Liu Ye had already ordered everyone in the army to change the march map to a sand table. He also specially trained a group of scouts. In addition to detecting the enemy's situation, they also had to survey the terrain. Collect them and be responsible for making the sand table.

Ancient marching maps were very different from modern maps. They were drawn up, south, and down, and they were extremely abstract. Therefore, sand tables were popularized in the army and became very popular immediately.

Liu Ye's palm pointed to a field in the lower right corner of the sand table, which was Qinghe County in the southeast of Jizhou. There were several gaps around Qinghe County. The black gap represented the county boundary, and the red gap to the east represented the state boundary. , to the east of Qinghe County is Pingyuan County in Qingzhou.

"Cao's army occupies half of Qinghe County, which is east of the Bianshi River."

Liu Ye pointed his finger at Qinghe County. Among the undulating land above, there were two small rivers, both of which were tributaries of the Yellow River. The one to the east was the Bianshi River and the one to the west was the Zhangjia River.

"Cao Hong's army invaded Jizhou, so they had to cross the Zhangjia River before they could move westward. Our army can be stationed in Liao County on the west side of the Zhangjia River to wait for work." Liu Ye showed a mysterious smile on his face,

At this point, Xu Huang had already understood, clenched his fist fiercely and said: "When Cao Hong crosses the river, our army will attack him halfway across the river and beat him to pieces!"

"Our army can order Zhongshan Kingdom, southern Zhending and other counties not to go out of the city to fight the enemy. We only need to defend the city to delay Yan Liang's advance. After defeating Cao Hong, the general will then lead his army northward."

"The Youzhou army has been newly defeated and its morale is low. If we know the news of Cao Hong's defeat, I'm afraid the army will lose the will to fight and may retreat when the time comes."

Liu Ye stroked his beard and smiled.

Xu Huang nodded, and suddenly said gloomily: "Why don't we order the construction of embankments to block the river, and just flood Cao's army!"

Liu Ye was stunned and nodded: "General Gongming's plan is a good one, you can give it a try."

Xu Huang said sternly: "This battle is the first battle since I have been guarding Jizhou. We must fight well so that the general can feel at ease!"

Liu Ye frowned slightly. In fact, Xu Huang's plan to flood Cao's army, how could he not have thought of it with his resourcefulness? I just thought of it but didn't say it, because this strategy is too vicious. Ancient water attack strategies usually affected pond fish and caused great harm.

For example, when Guan Yu flooded his Seventh Army, almost the entire city of Fan was submerged, and the surrounding large areas of fertile farmland were submerged. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed or injured.

In modern times, in order to prevent the Japanese army from going south, President Jiang ordered the use of explosives to blow up the entrance to the garden. As a result, although the Japanese army was prevented from going south, millions of soldiers and civilians in Kaifeng City were soaked in the water, and many of them died as a result.

If Cao's army is ordered to flood, the people and fields around Zhangjia River will inevitably suffer.

So Liu Ye thought for a while and said, "How about I order the residents around Zhangjia River to relocate?"

"No!" Xu Huang flatly refused.

"Although Cao Hong is brave and foolhardy, he is not reckless. If he sees that there is no other house around him, wouldn't he feel that something is wrong? What if there is damage to our army's plan?"

Seeing Xu Huang's determined look, Liu Ye couldn't help but frown, and his favorable impression of Xu Huang dropped a lot. Being competitive is certainly a good thing, but if it comes at the cost of killing people.

"The army can be organized for relief after the war." Xu Huang added: "Afterwards, supplies can be provided to the affected people, but this time we must not delay the military plane. The fighter plane is fleeting and cannot be let go!"