Chapter 357 A new round of deployment
When the Guanzhong frontline game began, Ma Su had already returned to the Nanyang Basin from Wuyin.
Nanyang has been basically pacified, Wancheng and Xiangfan have all lost their morale and surrendered to the Han army in advance.
Of course, in fact, Xiangfan's defender was not willing to surrender. He was from the Yingchuan family, and Cao Wei's political stance was acceptable. However, Wu Ban only used one sentence to make the guard who was so stubborn that he dared to curse Xiang Chong surrender.
"Captain Chen, the prisoners have revealed your origin and name. You have nothing to hide. If you don't surrender, General Ma will come to attack Xiangfan himself in half a month!"
Just a few words, but they seemed to have a huge power, almost frightening the governor of Xiangfan to death. After reacting, Chen Qun's clan brother immediately opened the door and surrendered without any hesitation.
When Ma Su came, it was not as simple as persuading him to surrender. Anyway, the hope of the imperial court coming to rescue now is slim, so surrender is not out of the question.
Moreover, he is from the Chen family of Yingchuan, and his family is quite influential in Luoyang. Cao Rui will definitely not do anything to Chen Qun because of his surrender, so there is no pressure to surrender.
Don't drag him until Ma Su comes. By then, people, lives, names and cities will all be lost.
As a result, the two fortified cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng finally surrendered after being attacked from the north and south by the Shu army for several months. The entire Nanyang was finally connected with Jingzhou, basically fulfilling Zhuge Liang's strategic vision of Longzhong.
By the time Ma Su returned to Xinye, the local registered population and loot had almost been counted. After statistics and summary, a total of hundreds of thousands of people were captured, 50,000 soldiers were surrendered, and countless armor and food were obtained.
It is indeed the largest county in the world. Even after so many years of chaos, the population is greater than the five counties of Longyou combined.
At the same time, Xiang Chong, the governor of Jingzhou, also went north to Xinye and joined Ma Di.
Here, Ma Di had followed his subordinates who knew him best for the longest time. Liu Yin, the general of Po Wu and the prefect of Wuling, met his old general again.
"General! Long time no see!" After meeting, Liu Yin quickly raised his hands and saluted Ma Di with an extremely respectful attitude.
If it weren't for Ma Su, Liu Yin would probably still be just a junior captain in the Southern Army. Since Ma Su was re-employed, Liu Yin has been promoted all the way and has become the second-in-command on the southeastern front of the Shu Han Dynasty.
"I have met General Zhengbei." The old general Xiang Chong also saluted Ma Su to show his respect.
"Thank you General Xiang and Xiuren for your hard work in this battle. It is indeed not easy to contain tens of thousands of Wei troops in Xiangfan." Ma Di nodded, helped Liu Yin and Xiang Chong up, and praised with a smile.
"Compared with the general's achievements in Runan, these are not worth mentioning." Xiang Chong shook his head and said with the same humility.
"But now I heard that the puppet Wei Cao Rui plans to personally come to Xudu to supervise the army. It seems that the Wei army will not give up. I wonder what the general's plans for the next expedition to the north are?"
"The flames of war are about to reach Cao Rui's hometown. If he doesn't hurry, there will be trouble." Ma Di complained with a smile, casually unfolding the map, and his expression quickly became serious.
Xiang Chong bluntly stated that the important point was normal. Don't look at Ma Di, who flooded the three armies and killed 70,000 Wei troops in one go. However, the number of Wei troops gathered did not decrease, but instead increased in number.
In addition, Cao Rui plans to come to Yujia to conquer in person, which basically represents Cao Wei's attitude.
Don't give in an inch!
Wancheng also sent a letter, saying that the Wei army was attacking Wuguan, and there was a strong tendency to attack Nanyang together with the Wei army in Xudu.
Overall, the situation has improved, but it is still not to the point where we can relax. There are likely to be several big battles and a long-lasting offensive and defensive confrontation.
"Now the Wei army outside Kunyang has reached 100,000, but we don't know the strength of our army, so we dare not advance rashly."
Ma Di pointed to the map and began to explain the current specific situation to Xiang Chong and others.
"Wei general Sun Li leads nearly 10,000 troops in Wancheng and is confronting Governor Zhang Yi. However, according to reports from scouts, there are still signs of a large army marching in Wuguan. It is estimated that Sima Yi will continue to send more troops to Nanyang."
"After several battles, our army has suffered heavy losses, with only more than 30,000 people left. Counting your troops, there are 50,000. With just such a small number of people, we need to guard against the siege of at least 110,000 people from the Wei army..."
"General, let me interrupt. I'm afraid it's not just the Wei army that needs to be on guard."
At this time, Liu Yin suddenly stood up and interrupted Ma Di, adding seriously.
"We also need to be prepared for the Soochow soldiers and horses in the direction of Jiangling, and the Wuling front line also needs enough troops to garrison. If the Jingzhou front line is empty, it is difficult to say whether Soochow will take this opportunity to make a sneak attack..."
"Ah? Under such circumstances, Sun Quan is still interested in Wuling?" Ma Di scratched his head. Didn't Sun Quan attack Hefei with a hundred thousand troops? In this case, no normal person would make additional enemies, right?
However, seeing Liu Yin's serious expression, Ma Su also felt that this worry was not groundless. With the temper of Jiangdong Sun Laoer, the timing of the plot against you is indeed unexpected.
What if Sun Quan really saw an opportunity... Ma Su didn't want to work hard for so long and finally made a wedding dress for Soochow.
"In this case, we need enough additional garrison to guard Soochow's soldiers and horses..." Ma Di touched his chin, and after careful calculation, he felt his head hurt again.
Calculating it this way, it seems that the military strength is somewhat stretched again. It is a tragedy that there are too many places that need troops but too little financial resources.
But soon, Liu Yin gave Ma Su a solution.
"General, don't panic. Although Soochow is cunning, they are not the Wei army and their combat power is not strong." Liu Yin gave Ma Di a suggestion.
"It is only necessary to reorganize some of Xiangfan's surrendered soldiers into the army and garrison them with the Jingzhou Army to resist Soochow. This can not only frighten Soochow, but also quickly absorb the Wei Army's surrendered soldiers, and digest the Nanyang area this morning."
"As for the north, the general probably needs to ask for help from Chengdu. With our current military strength, it is far from enough to stabilize Nanyang."
Liu Yin's words made everyone nod, and they all felt the same way.
With the current small number of troops, the pressure to capture all of Nanyang County is indeed too great. Especially when Cao Wei is determined to fight you desperately, it is completely insufficient.
"In that case, let's do what Xiuren said." Ma Su nodded slightly. It was the first time that someone came up with a solution so quickly and it was as he wanted.
Liu Yin is indeed a great talent.
"General Wu led his troops northward to defend Wancheng together with Governor Zhang, blocking the Wuguan Mountain Road and preventing the Wei army in Guanzhong from going south."
"General Xiang took over the Xiangfan front and was responsible for reorganizing and gathering the Wei army on the spot, and at the same time guarding against military threats from the direction of Soochow. If anyone appears who attempts to enter Xiangfan, kill them first and then interrogate them, even businessmen in white!"
"Xiuren led my troops and horses to follow me to Kunyang, and led the people in front. Let's go and have a chance to meet the emperor of the puppet Wei Dynasty!"
"Since we have defeated Nanyang, we will never allow it to fall again!"
"only!"