The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 757 Wen Pin and Tian Yu are trapped in a dead end

Zhang Fei accepted the order and left, preparing to lead his cavalry to provide support. He didn't need to bring anything on the way, as Shen Yi had everything he needed. The most important thing now was to get to E County as quickly as possible to meet up with Shen Yi.

After Zhang Fei left, Zhuge Liang continued his analysis: "This battle happened too suddenly. We were not prepared at all, but Cao Wei was also unprepared. It is still unknown who will win."

"So if we lose, it will be fine, but if we win, Cao Wei will definitely send reinforcements to our aid, and we will also have to send reinforcements. The two sides may very well engage in a piecemeal fighting tactic, or even directly trigger a decisive battle. Therefore, we must prepare in advance."

If this battle is lost, at most we will return to square one and continue to confront each other across the river. But if we win, there will be many more variables, and it may even bring forward the decisive battle between Han and Wei.

Guan Yu frowned and said, "Cao Wei has been frantically reinforcing Nanyang recently, showing signs of preparing for a decisive battle with us ahead of schedule. Since it's all happening ahead of schedule, there's nothing to be afraid of. There's no problem with troop strength, but can we keep up with the supply of provisions?"

The reason Liu Bei did not immediately engage in a decisive battle with Cao Wei was due to insufficient supplies. He originally planned to save up supplies for three years before launching a northern expedition, but now it seems that this plan is going to fall through.

Furthermore, Zhuge Liang had always been in charge of handling political affairs, so only he knew the true extent of the national treasury's grain reserves and whether they could support a major battle.

Zhuge Liang said, "The summer grain has been successfully stored, and this year's weather has been favorable with a good harvest. In addition, the autumn grain will be harvested soon. I dare not say more, but it should be enough to support the war for three to five months."

Guan Yu said boldly, "Then there's nothing to be afraid of. Let's have a decisive battle ahead of schedule. At worst, we can take Nanyang and then withdraw our troops."

Liu Bei then looked at Guan Xing, who nodded in agreement.

Liu Bei immediately said, "Then there's no question. We'll start the war this year, and we'll finish it off in one battle, completely crippling Cao Wei's main force."

The decisive battles don't need to be many; one is enough. If we can achieve another great victory like Guandu and Chibi, Cao Wei's military strength and morale will completely collapse, and all that will remain is to sweep through the enemy.

As the group bowed and prepared to leave, Liu Bei suddenly remembered something and continued, "Since it's a decisive battle, we must fight with all our might. Yun Chang, in the name of the General's Mansion, issue an order to Yong Kai, Meng Huo, and other powerful figures in the south to mobilize all their troops to assist in the battle. Otherwise, while I'm fighting on the front lines, they'll be causing trouble for me from behind."

Guan Yu clasped his hands in acceptance of the order and left the main hall. He immediately returned to the General's Mansion to mobilize troops, and Guan Xing was also summoned to the General's Mansion to help.

Moreover, the second batch of trainees trained by Guan Xing also graduated ahead of schedule and were assigned to various armies as junior officers such as squad leaders and captains.

With Liu Bei's order, the war machine of the Han Dynasty, which had been stagnant for more than half a year, started running again.

This made Fu Shiren even more miserable. Liu Bei had originally planned to reward him handsomely, but now that there was a war, he didn't have time to pay attention to him and just gave him some rewards before letting him go home to rest.

Zhang Fei, upon receiving the order, dared not delay. He led five thousand cavalrymen, galloping day and night, and arrived at E County in just two days. On the way, he encountered the second wave of messengers sent by Shen Yi to Jiangling. He learned that Shen Yi had defeated Wen Ping and seized the beachhead. Excited, he accelerated again.

That evening, Zhang Fei arrived safely in E County. Upon hearing the news, Shen Yi immediately led Ding Feng across the river to greet him. He was overjoyed to see Zhang Fei's cavalry, knowing that with cavalry, they would no longer fear Tian Yu.

The two men exchanged a glance, quickly stepped forward, clasped their hands in greeting to Zhang Fei, and said, "This humble general greets the Third General."

Zhang Fei jumped off his horse and patted Shen Yi on the shoulder, laughing, "Good lad, you even defeated Wen Ping, impressive! What's the situation now?"

Shen Yi replied, "After Wen Ping was defeated in Zhu County, he ordered all the troops in the various fortresses to be recalled. I sent people to intercept them, but the effect was not significant. Currently, Wen Ping still has tens of thousands of troops under his command. With the addition of Tian Yu and Yang Tai, the total strength exceeds 20,000."

"However, we also have good news. Zhou Shao has successfully contacted the former subordinates of Governor Zhou Tai and brought back another six or seven thousand men. Moreover, the bandits in Tongbai Mountain and Dabie Mountain have risen up in response to our army's recapture of Xiling. Sun Lang has already mobilized special forces to recruit them. Furthermore, the special forces members who had previously been lurking in various counties of Jiangxia have also revolted and have successfully seized three county towns, including Sui County in Nanyang Prefecture. In other words, Tian Yuwenpin has been surrounded by us."

After saying this, he invited Zhang Fei into the main tent, pointed to the map and said, "General, please look. To the north of Tian Yu and Wen Pin is the Tongbai Mountains. Currently, Li Kuan has already incorporated most of the bandits in the mountains and set up camps at various key points, which is equivalent to cutting off Tian Yu's way back north."

"I ordered Zhou Shao to lead six or seven thousand newly surrendered men to the Dabie Mountains to integrate the bandits and garrison the area. By using the terrain, they blocked the Wei army's reinforcements from Hefei. As a result, Tian Yu's escape route to the east was cut off, and Cao Wei's reinforcements from Huainan could not get through either."

"In this way, if Tian Yuwenpin wants to break through, he can only head west to Nanyang. If we can hold Suixian, we can completely trap Tian Yuwenpin in Jiangxia and make it impossible for him to escape."

Jiangxia's topography is quite absurd. To the north is the Tongbai Mountains, to the east is the Dabie Mountains, and to the west is the Tongbai Mountains. Beyond the Tongbai Mountains are the Dahong Mountains and the Han River. It is completely blocked by mountains and rivers. There is only one corridor between the Tongbai Mountains and the Dahong Mountains that is passable. The eastern end of this corridor is Sui County, and the western end is Zhangling, so it is called the Sui-Zhang Corridor. In later generations, it was renamed the Sui-Zao Corridor.

Therefore, historically, when the Central Plains armies marched south, they had to pass through Nanyang to fight Xiangyang to the death, or cross the Yangtze River from Huainan.

The reason why Xiangyang became the gateway to Jiangnan and why there is the saying that to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huai River is because the Tongbai Mountains and Dabie Mountains separated Nanyang from Huainan, forcing the Central Plains army to attack from both sides of the mountains. They either had to cross the Yangtze River from Huainan or go through Nanyang to fight the important town of Xiangyang. There was no other way.

This wouldn't have been a big deal in itself, but it was extremely unfavorable for Tian Yu and Wen Pin at this moment. Shen Yi had occupied both Tongbai Mountain and Dabie Mountain, blocking all of Tian Yu's escape routes to the east and north, forcing Tian Yu to head west to join up with the Wei army in Nanyang.

However, retreating to Nanyang was not so easy, as there was only one route available: the Suizhang Corridor.

You should know that Nanyang is a basin. What is a basin? It is a basin surrounded by mountains on all sides.

Zhang Fei stared at the command flag that Shen Yi had planted on the sand table in shock and said, "Good heavens, you actually surrounded Tian Yuwenpin without making a sound. If that's the case, what do you want me to do? Tell me what I can do?"

Shen Yi scratched the back of his head and chuckled, "This humble general wouldn't dare. You are the commander-in-chief. We will fight however you say we will."

He used to be the commander-in-chief, but now that Zhang Fei has arrived, is there any need to ask who to listen to?

Zhang Fei grumbled, "Just say it! Why are you being so coy?"

Shen Yi smiled and said, "Since that's the case, I dare to ask the Third General to divide the cavalry into two parts. One part should rush to Sui County to take over the defense line and prevent the Wei army from entering Nanyang. The other part should hold off Tian Yu's cavalry and cover General Sun Lang's journey to Sui County to provide support."

"This humble general has ordered Sun Lang to prepare 10,000 troops to garrison Sui County, but he has not dared to set off due to fear of Tian Yu's cavalry. If the Third General can hold off Tian Yu's cavalry and allow Sun Lang to reach Sui County smoothly, our encirclement of Tian Yu and Wen Ping will be completely formed. At that time, not only will Tian Yu and Wen Ping have no chance of escaping, but Xu Huang and Xiahou Shang of Nanyang will also have no chance of getting here."

Zhang Fei stared at the map for a long time, and after confirming that he had not found any loopholes, he patted Shen Yi on the shoulder and laughed: "You kid are indeed An Guo's first disciple, you're amazing. We'll do it your way. Xing Guo, you lead two thousand cavalry to Sui County to take over the defense line. You must hold out until Sun Lang's reinforcements arrive. Even if you die before Sun Lang and his army arrive, you must die in Sui County."

Zhang Bao clasped his hands in a fist and said, "This subordinate understands. When shall we depart?"

Zhang Fei asked Shen Yi, "Yes, when are we setting off?"