The power of turning the corner

Author: Magic Prince

Chapter 86 The Power of the Corner

Sun Jian was ready to cross the river in advance. He first sent a small group of vanguard troops to cross the river to explore the general situation on the other side of the river. He found that Han Sui did not deploy any defenses on the other side of the Yellow River, and basically did not leave any

The troops had actually entered Jincheng County after crossing the Yellow River, and this was considered to be the official arrival of Liangzhou territory.

To the north of Jincheng County is Wuwei County, and to the northwest is Xiping County. In the entire Jincheng County, there is actually only one slightly larger city called Yunwu. It is located next to a tributary of the Yellow River, and is also located after Sun Jian crossed the river from Lanzhou.

Hundreds of miles away due west, and a large area heading north is a sparsely populated area. Due north of Lanzhou is a relatively balanced area with an altitude that is not particularly high, but the climate in this area is relatively dry.

, the living environment is not very good.

Directly north of Yunwu City are the remnants of the Qilian Mountains. There is a river passing through the mountains, but the overall altitude is very high. It is extremely difficult to travel north from here, and it is almost impossible for a large-scale army to do so.

You may choose to go here.

Sun Jian's only choice is to cross the Yellow River, then go all the way north, cross Wushaoling, and enter the Hexi Corridor. The terrain of the Hexi Corridor is relatively gentle, and then he can continue walking northwest.

Arrive at Wuwei City.

To the east of Wuwei City is the Tengger Desert, to the west is the Qilian Mountains, and to the northwest of Wuwei are Zhangye and Jiuquan. These all belong to the sphere of influence of Liangzhou. After Han Sui's main force retreated, a considerable part of the main force

He stayed near Yunwu City in Jincheng County, where Han Sui himself was also located at this time.

Then, only a small number of troops were left in the large area north of Lanzhou, which were distributed near several smaller settlements such as Baiyin, Yongdeng, and Tianzhu. Their role was mainly reconnaissance and defense. If

When faced with a large-scale army, they would decisively loot the local city and then retreat.

Then another part of Han Sui's main force gathered in Wuwei City. This is the key place to guard the Hexi Corridor. Without passing here, you cannot enter the hinterland of Xiliang. Therefore, if you want to completely defeat Han Sui, you must first capture Wuwei City.

.

Although the distance between Wuwei City and Yunwu City is still hundreds of miles, because Han Sui's main troops are Xiliang cavalry who are good at mountain warfare, his troops can basically travel between the two cities within two or three days.

One place, so that no matter which city is attacked, the other side can provide timely support.

Similar to Sun Jian's judgment, Han Sui did not deploy too many troops north of the Yellow River. However, because Yunwu City is located about ten degrees northwest of Lanzhou and is surrounded by mostly mountainous areas, it can be considered an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack location.

After Han Sui occupied this place, he could send cavalry to attack Sun Jian and his troops crossing the Yellow River in a short period of time, but Sun Jian was unable to threaten the safety of Yunwu City in a short period of time.

If he does not capture Yunwu City, but chooses to head north directly through Wushaoling to the Hexi Corridor, then he may be flanked by the Xiliang cavalry from Yunwu City and Wuwei City.

It is equivalent to saying that the two cities have formed a dichotomy here, making it difficult for the attacker to keep track of each other.

Of course, Sun Jian was not aware of this at this time. He did not expect that it would not be so difficult for Han Sui to support each other between the two cities, but if Sun Jian's troops wanted to defeat each other in the two cities

Mediating between them is much more difficult.

Because Sun Jian's idea of ​​crossing the river in advance was based on catching Han Sui's troops off guard, he could either concentrate his forces on a surprise attack on Yunwu City, or go north as quickly as possible, then pass through the Hexi Corridor, and

Taking Wuwei City before Han Sui was ready, but obviously the latter was extremely difficult. Wuwei City is a key pass on the Hexi Corridor. How could Han Sui not use heavy troops to get there, and the distance to get there was very long.

How much energy can soldiers have left to continue attacking a city after a long-distance attack?

Besides, Sun Jian's troops at this time were less than 10,000 at best. How could he easily capture Wuwei City, which was guarded by at least 10,000 to 20,000 people? So now Sun Jian actually has two choices. One is to continue to wait for the opportunity and not rush to attack.

, first transport all his troops across the river by boat, and then help Zhang Wen, Xiang Yu and even Dong Zhuo's troops cross the river smoothly, and then decide together whether to attack Yunwu City first or go directly north to attack Wuwei City, and even then

You can choose to divide your forces and perform these two operations at the same time.

The second option is that Sun Jian continues to implement his plan to surprise Han Sui and launch a direct attack on Yunwu City with incomplete troops. This is actually a gamble. One is that Han Sui is not in Yunwu City.

Leaving a particularly large number of troops, the second reason is that Han Sui's troops who bet on our city were not well prepared for defense and did not realize that Sun Jian would suddenly launch an attack at this time. These two conditions must be met before Sun Jian has the opportunity to quickly attack

Take Yunwu City.

Otherwise, without any of these conditions, Yunwu City, which occupies a geographical advantage, would not be captured by Sun Jian in a surprise attack. So what choice would Sun Jian make?

After a slight hesitation, Sun Jian decided to lead a force of less than 5,000 men to attack Yunwu City directly before all his troops could cross the river. What he wanted was speed, so these troops only brought food with them.

After three to five days, the remaining food supply will be provided by the follow-up troops.

However, Sun Jian's decision was firmly opposed by some of his soldiers. The reason was also very simple, that is, it was too risky. They believed that Sun Jian had a tendency to be greedy for merit and rush forward. This kind of decision was usually made by younger people.

It was made by an inexperienced general. How could an elderly general like Sun Jian with rich combat experience make such a mistake?

However, Sun Jian does not think that he has made any mistakes. Just like his own name, there is a Jian in it. His character is also very firm and decisive when he makes a decision. It is useless for anyone to talk to him.

.

He repeatedly emphasized to his soldiers that he was the one who made the decision, and asked others to say nothing more and just obey the orders he gave.

Sun Jian's soldiers seemed to know about Sun Jian's stubborn temper, so no one dared to say anything more. Anyway, the final result may not be all bad. Now they don't know much about the situation in Yunwu City. If it is true,

If you can't fight, at worst, you'll be fine if you retreat and don't fight.
Chapter completed!