Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu led tens of thousands of horses and horses to confront Cao Ren across the Yangtze River and prepare for war.
At this time, Yizhou Mu Liu Zhang's general Xi Su led the entire army and surrendered to Sun Quan.
Zhou Yu went to the table and requested that the troops of the raider be merged into the ranks of Zhonglang General Lü Meng to expand his forces.
Lü Meng strongly praised Xi su, saying: "Raid Su has courage and ability, and admires naturalization, and has come from afar to defect." Logically, his forces should be expanded, not his military power. ”
Sun Quan agreed with Lü Meng's view and still let Xi Su lead his army.
Liu Bei consulted with Zhou Yu and sent Zhang Fei to lead a thousand soldiers to fight with Zhou Yu, and Zhou Yu lent two thousand men to Liu Bei to cut off Cao Ren's back road from Xia Shui (also known as Canglang Shui, a tributary of Han Shui).
Therefore, Guan Yu and Wu sent Su Fei to Hanshui to cut off the Northern Province, cut off the connection between Xiangyang and Jiangling, and completely besieged Cao Ren.
Gan Ning had been in Jingzhou for many years, was familiar with the situation, and was well aware of the importance of the geographical location of Yiling (yiling, hubei), and requested to take the opportunity to seize Yiling and attack Cao Ren from east to west.
Zhou Yu allowed it, and ordered Gan Ning to lead his army to rush from the small road and sneak into Yiling.
At this time, Yiling belonged to Liu Zhang's territory.
The Yiling defenders could not have imagined that Cao Liusun's three sides would fight each other in an indissoluble battle, and would also sneak attack the fourth side, which had nothing to do with the war, and there was no defense at all.
Gan Ning easily occupied Yiling and entered the city to defend.
Fearing a caught in the middle of a attack, Cao Ren divided his forces and besieged Yiling, intending to retake this strategic position.
Gan Ning only had a few hundred men under his command, and after the city was destroyed, hundreds of people were recruited, a total of only a thousand people, but the Cao army had five or six thousand people, and the strength was very different.
Cao Jun built a high platform and shot arrows into the city, and the arrows rained down, and Gan Ning's men were terrified, and only he talked and laughed freely.
Zhou Yu heard that Gan Ning was under siege and urgently summoned the generals for consultation.
The generals believed that they were undermanned and could no longer send reinforcements to save Ganning.
Lü Meng said to Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu, "Leaving Ling Tong stationed in Jiangling, I will go with you to break the siege, it will not take too long." I can assure you that Ling Tong will have absolutely no problem staying for ten and a half days. ”
Zhou Yu agreed to his suggestion and sent Lü Meng to lead an army to rescue Yiling.
Lü Meng suggested that Zhou Yu first set up firewood on the way of Cao Jun's retreat, and then command a large army to attack Cao Jun.
The Cao army was defeated, more than half of the casualties, and was blocked by firewood on the way to retreat, so they had to abandon their war horses and were captured by the Wu army with three hundred horses.
After the great victory at Yiling, Zhou Yu saw that the morale of the whole army had doubled, so he crossed the Yangtze River and garrisoned the north bank of the army to hold cao Ren.
Liu Bei submitted to the Eastern Han court, recommended Liu Qi to serve as the assassin of Jingzhou, and in the name of Liu Qi, led an army south to capture the four southern counties of Jingzhou.
The four counties were originally subordinate to Liu Biao, and although Cao Cao was demoted under Liu Chun's orders, they were not substantially taken over by Cao Cao.
After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao retreated north, separated by the Nan County and the Yangtze River that the two sides were fighting for, and the four counties fell alone in the south, each with its own thoughts, and had no intention of confrontation at all.
Liu Bei and Liu Qi basically just walked through the motions and sent people to lobby, and Wuling Taishou Jinxuan, Changsha Taishou Han Xuan, Guiyang Taishou Zhao Fan, and Lingling Taishou Liu Du all surrendered.
Huang Zhong was serving under Han Xuan at this time, and he also surrendered Liu Bei with Han Xuan.
Huang Zhong(?) –220), courtesy name Hansheng (一作汉叔), was a native of Nanyang,Nanyang (南阳, in modern Nanyang, Henan).
Huang Zhongchu was a general of Liu Biaolang, and together with Liu Biao's nephew Liu Pan ( Liu Pan ) , he was in charge of You County , Changsha Commandery ( present-day northeastern You County , Zhuzhou , Hunan ) .
After Cao Cao captured Jingzhou, Huang Zhong was ordered to take the place of general Andi, remaining in his original post and belonging to Han Xuan, the Taishou of Changsha.
Liu Bei pacified the southern counties, and Huang Zhong and Han Xuan submitted to Liu Bei together.
Liu Bei appointed Zhuge Liang as a general in the military division, and sent him to supervise the three counties of Lingling, Guiyang, and Changsha, collect taxes, and replenish military resources.
He also appointed Zhao Yun as a partial general, replacing Zhao Fan, who surrendered, and concurrently served as the Taishou of Guiyang.
Zhao Fan has a widowed sister-in-law surnamed Fan, which is very beautiful and can be described as a country.
Zhao Fan wanted to give her to Zhao Yun.
Zhao Yun disagreed, and said, "We are the same surname, and your sister-in-law is like my sister-in-law." ”
Zhao Yun persuaded him to marry this beautiful woman.
Zhao Yun replied, "Zhao Fan was forced to surrender, and his heart was unpredictable, not to mention that there were many women in the world. ”
Soon after, Zhao Fan took the opportunity to escape and disappeared.
Xu Huang garrisoned Fancheng, pacified the enemies in Zhonglu, Linfeng, Yicheng and other places, and together with the Fenwei general Man Yu who was stationed at Dangyang, recruited Guan Yu at Hanjin, and then entered Jiangling to defend Against Zhou Yu's attack with Cao Ren.
Li Tong, the Taishou of Runan, was also ordered to lead the crowd to attack Guan Yu, go south to meet Cao Ren, fight all the way, and even personally dismount, pull out the antlers of the enemy camp, and bravely crown the generals, but fell ill and died on the way.
Thousands of soldiers from Zhou Yu's army arrived at Gangneung Castle.
Cao Ren climbed the city wall to inspect it, organized three hundred warriors, and sent his troops to lead Niu Jin to fight.
Zhou Yu had many forward soldiers and few niu jin soldiers, and three hundred people were instantly surrounded by more than a thousand people.
Changshi Chen Jiao and others accompanied Cao Ren to watch the battle on the city wall, and when they saw that Niu Jin was outnumbered and fell into a heavy siege, his face changed in fright.
When Cao Ren saw this, he was furious and ordered him to lead his mount, intending to personally go out of the city to meet the battle.
Chen Jiao and the others stopped him and said, "There are many enemy soldiers, and their strength is unstoppable." General, why do you have to go to trouble with your own body? It is better to abandon these hundreds of brothers. ”
Cao Ren ignored them, dressed neatly, and led dozens of brave men to rush out of the city gate.
There was a river ditch more than a hundred paces away from the enemy soldiers, and Chen Jiao and others thought that Cao Ren would stop by the ditch and form a confrontation with Zhou Yujun.
But Cao Ren did not stop, and Tima crossed the ditch, rushed into the enemy's encirclement, and rescued Niu Jin and the others.
He looked back and saw that some of the soldiers were trapped in the enemy position, so he turned around and rushed into the enemy position again, killing several enemies and saving the soldiers.
Zhou Yujun saw Cao Ren's bravery and slowly withdrew.
At first, Chen Jiao and the others saw that Cao Ren was single and in danger, and insisted on rushing out of the city to rescue him, but they were very worried, until Cao Ren returned victoriously, they all marveled and said, "General, you are really a god under the heavens!" ”
All three armies admired his bravery, and Cao Cao also respected him even more, making him the Marquis of Anpingting.
Zhou Yu personally led the army to attack, and the two sides agreed on a time to engage.
Zhou Yu rode to supervise the battle, was shot by a flying arrow on the right flank, was seriously injured, and returned to the military camp.
Cao Ren heard that Zhou Yu was seriously wounded and bedridden, and immediately led his army to attack.
Zhou Yuqiang endured the pain, got up from bed, personally inspected the battalions, and boosted morale, but Cao Ren had to retreat.
Jiangling was besieged for more than a year, and Cao's army suffered many casualties, and in the end, Cao Ren had to abandon the city and withdraw.
Jiangling could not be attacked for a long time, in addition to the strong defense of the city and the abundance of grain and grass, it also had a lot to do with the discord of Sun Quanjun's generals.
Lü Meng later recalled: "At that time, Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu were the governors of the left and right and jointly attacked Jiangling, although Zhou Yu, as the commander-in-chief, had the right to make decisions on the spot, but Cheng Pu was a veteran general and also a governor, and the two were very discordant, and almost ruined the major affairs of the country." ”