Chapter 7 98 Guan Yu Floods the Seventh Army

After Liu Bei occupied Yizhou, Sun Quan of Eastern Wu sent someone to ask him to return Jingzhou, but Liu Bei disagreed.The two sides almost fell out because of Jingzhou.Later, it was heard that Cao Cao was going to attack Hanzhong, and Yizhou was also threatened.Both Liu Bei and Sun Quan felt that Cao Cao was their formidable opponent, so they made peace.Divide Jingzhou into two parts, with the Xiang River as the boundary, the west of the Xiang River belongs to Liu Bei, and the east of the Xiang River belongs to Soochow. Liu Bei'an went down to the other side of Jingzhou and concentrated on dealing with Cao Cao. He asked Zhuge Liang to sit in Chengdu and personally lead the army to Hanzhong.

When Cao Cao heard Liu Bei sent troops, he immediately organized troops to confront Liu Bei.Cao Cao also personally went to Chang'an to direct the battle in Hanzhong.The two sides held each other for a year.In the second year, in a battle at Yangping Pass, the Shu army won a big victory, and Xia Houyuan, the leader of the Wei army, was killed.Cao Cao had to withdraw from Hanzhong and retreated the Wei army to Chang'an. In this way, Liu Bei's position in Yizhou was further consolidated.In 219 AD, supported by a group of civil and military officials under him, Liu Bei proclaimed himself King of Hanzhong.

According to the strategy Zhuge Liang had already designed, he planned to attack Cao Cao from two routes.This time Hanzhong in the west has won the battle, so we have to take advantage of this momentum and attack the Central Plains directly from Jingzhou in the east. Jingzhou was guarded by General Guan Yu.Guan Yu is brave and resourceful, but he is arrogant.Liu Bei became the king of Hanzhong, and sent someone to bring officials to seal him as a former general, but Guan Yu was not very satisfied.Later, after someone explained how much the King of Hanzhong valued him, he happily accepted it.

This time, Liu Bei ordered Guan Yu to attack, and Guan Yu sent two generals to stay behind at Jiangling and Public Security.He personally led the army to attack Fancheng. Cao Ren, the general guard of the Wei army in Fancheng, hurriedly asked Cao Cao for help.Cao Cao sent two generals Yu Jin and Pang De to lead seven troops to reinforce.Cao Ren ordered them to station troops on the flat ground to the north of Fancheng, and to coordinate with the city, so that Guan Yu could not attack the city. When the two sides were in a stalemate, it rained heavily in Fancheng.The Han River rose sharply, and the water on the flat land was more than ten feet above the ground.Yu Jin's barracks were set up on flat ground, and floods rushed in from all directions, completely submerging the barracks of the Seventh Army.Yu Jin and his soldiers had to swim to find a high ground to avoid the water.

Guan Yu had long grasped Yu Jin's weakness of camping on flat ground.Taking advantage of the flood, he arranged a group of large and small ships, and led the water army to attack Cao's army.They first surrounded the general and asked him to lay down his arms and surrender.Surrounded by a small mound in the Han River, Yu Jin had no way to retreat, so he surrendered dejectedly. Pound took another group of soldiers to a river embankment to avoid water.Guan Yu's water army besieged them, and the archers on board shot arrows on the embankment together. One of Pound's subordinates was frightened and said to Pound, "Let's surrender!"

Pound scolded the general for his lack of ambition, and drew his sword to kill him on the embankment.Seeing Pound's resoluteness, the soldiers followed him to resist.Pound unhurriedly took up his bow and arrow and shot back. His arrow skills were very good, and many Shu soldiers were shot to death.The two sides fought from morning to noon, and from noon to afternoon.When Pang De's arrows were used up, he asked the soldiers to draw out their short knives and fight together.He said to the soldiers around him: "I heard that a good general will not run for his life out of fear of death, and a martyr will not lose his integrity in order to survive. Today is the day I die."

At this time, the flood rose higher and higher, and the exposed ground on the embankment became smaller and smaller.Guan Yu's water army's large ships attacked more violently, and Cao's soldiers surrendered one after another.Taking advantage of the commotion, Pang De took three soldiers and snatched a small boat from the soldiers of the Shu army, intending to escape to Fancheng.Unexpectedly, a wave came and capsized the boat.Pang De fell into the water, and Guan Yu's navy caught up with him and captured him alive. The soldiers took Pang De back to Guan Yu's camp.Guan Yu persuaded him to surrender with kind words.Pang De cursed and said: "The king of Wei has a million horses in his hands, and his power shakes the world; your master Liu Bei is just a mediocre man, how can he be an enemy of the king of Wei. I would rather be a ghost of the country than a ghost of the country. Your general!"

Guan Yu was furious. With a wave of his hand, he ordered the warriors to kill Pang De. Guan Yu wiped out the seven armies of Yu Jin and Pang De, and took advantage of the victory to attack Fancheng.Fancheng was flooded with water inside and out, and the city walls were damaged in several places by the flood.Cao Ren's soldiers were all frightened.Someone said to Cao Ren, "We can't defend the situation now. Before Guan Yu's navy can encircle us, let's escape in a small boat!" Cao Ren also felt that it was hopeless to defend the city, so he discussed it with Man Chong who was defending the city together.Man Chong said: "The mountain torrents will not last long, and the water will recede in a few days. I heard that Guan Yu has sent people to attack northward on another road. He did not dare to enter the army himself because he was afraid that we would cut his way back." .If we run away, then the south of the Yellow River may not be ours anymore. General, please persevere."

Cao Ren felt that what Man Chong said was reasonable, so he encouraged the soldiers to stick to it.At this time, Sun Lang, a commoner in Lu Hun (northeast of Song County, Henan today), launched an uprising, killed the county officials, and responded to Guan Yu.In the south of Xudu, there are many other people who responded.Guan Yu's prestige shook the entire Central Plains. When Cao Cao, king of Wei, arrived in Luoyang, he was alarmed by various parties and panicked.He discussed with all the officials and planned to temporarily abandon Xu Du to avoid Guan Yu's momentum. The counselor Sima Yi said: "Your Majesty, don't worry. I think Liu Bei and Sun Quan are very affectionate on the surface, but in fact they are very suspicious of each other. This time Guan Yu is proud, and Sun Quan must not be happy. Why don't we send someone to lobby Sun Quan and agree to take Jiangdong Give him the seal, and ask him to attack Guan Yu, so that the siege of Fancheng will naturally be lifted."

Cao Cao listened to Sima Yi's opinion and really sent an envoy to Sun Quan.