"Thousands of war horses, these are the only ones that have been brought back?" Liu Yi took Liao Hua to count the gains from this war. Looking at the war horses in the stable, Liu Yi was a little confused.

According to Liao Hua, the cavalry team of thousands of people under Cao Ren was almost wiped out, but there were only more than a hundred war horses he brought back, which was too big a gap.

"How can you care about horses on the battlefield?" Liao Hua smiled bitterly: "The thief cavalry rushed in, and the soldiers almost ran away first when they attacked. They kept rushing in the army, which would only disrupt the military formation. Most of these war horses had never rushed into the formation."

Liu Yi nodded when he heard this. He had never experienced fighting with the cavalry. The only time he fought with the cavalry was to go back to the way to Xuchang. Coincidentally, he also met Cao Ren.

However, at that time, Cao Ren's military formation was almost messed up by a donkey cart. Is it a chariot to deal with Cao Cao's cavalry?

Liu Yi looked at these war horses and shook his head silently. The chariots must be done, but they cannot be regarded as the key to reversing the outcome, because Cao's army actually had not many cavalry in Nanyang, and before the scale of stirrups, the frontal combat power of the cavalry was actually not as terrifying as seen in later generations. The cavalry really dominated the battlefield in the era of cold weapons was after the popularization of horseshoes, stirrups and saddles. In this era, the biggest advantage of cavalry was its maneuver power.

As for horseshoes, stirrups, and saddles, it is not difficult to make them. Liu Yi immediately equipped them with these horse harnesses, but it is for a large-scale promotion. Liu Bei does not have established cavalry, and most of the war horses are used by the generals. If you really promote these things, it is not Liu Bei, but Cao Cao and the nomadic peoples in the north.

Before Liu Bei could not form a large-scale cavalry, Liu Yi was not going to take out these three things. For the cavalry of this year, even the nations outside the Great Wall who were good at riding and shooting would find it difficult to get a bargain in front of the Han army. Therefore, Liu Bei's army is still focusing on infantry combat effectiveness.

"Find some soldiers who can drive." After thinking about it, Liu Yi said directly. The lethality of the chariots on the battlefield dominated by infantry is still quite amazing: "You must be good at driving."

"Here!" Liao Hua agreed and said goodbye and left.

Liu Bei arrived in Xinye on the third day after Guan Yu defeated Cao Ren. Compared with the tens of thousands of elite soldiers behind Cao's army, Liu Bei brought only more than a thousand personal guards this time. The troops that could be mobilized in Xiangyang were basically invested in the Nanyang battlefield. The troops responsible for attracting Cao's army also arrived in Xinye one after another in the past few days. Under Guan Yu's arrangement, the defense line was opened with Xinye and Chaoyang counties as the main ones.

However, after nearly a month of land battle, only about 23,000 troops sent out were left, and only about 23,000 troops brought by Guan Ping this time were left with only 18,000, which was because Guan Ping was relatively cautious.

The force of 40,000 is facing a large army of at least 80,000 Cao Cao, with a doubled force. This gap is much smaller than that in the Battle of Chibi, but it is also at a disadvantage. This is not something that Guan Yu can reverse in a victory, and this is also an important reason why Liu Yi opposed Guan Yu to take the battle himself.

If you win, it is actually not very beneficial, but if you lose, once Guan Yu loses, it will be a big blow to the morale of the Jingzhou army.

"What are the movements in Jiangdong?" After handing over the troops, Liu Yi finally got idle. Xinye's fortifications were now completed. Next, he only had to wait for the cement to dry up, and he could use the height difference between the old city wall and the new city wall to form a three-dimensional defensive fortification. It would be no easier for Cao's army to attack in again than attack Xiangyang in the past.

"At the end of last year, Sun Quan assembled 100,000 troops from Jiangdong and stationed troops at Ruxukou. Now he heard that he had occupied several counties. Sun Quan personally led the main force to Hefei. After this battle, the Jianghuai land was not owned by Sun Quan!" Pang Tong sighed. Sun Quan was very powerful this time. Lu Meng and Zhu Ran led the army, and Sun Quan personally led the army. Under his command, there were also Jiangdong generals such as Gan Ning, Ding Feng and Xu Sheng. Judging from the forces of Cao's army in the Jianghuai area, it should be no problem for Sun Quan to capture the Jianghuai.

At least in the eyes of Pang Tong and others, even Cao Cao was restrained by them in Nanyang. Sun Quan had such a big advantage and could not lose. You should know that in Jiangdong, there were thousands of siege equipment created by Liu Yi personally led his men.

"Sun Quan personally led the troops?" Liu Yi looked at Pang Tong with some surprise.

"No," Pang Tong nodded, and was a little strange about Liu Yi's reaction: "Is there any problem?"

"I can't say it." Liu Yi shook his head and said, "It's just that I have never heard of Sun Quan as the commander of a military force in the past!"

This is a big problem. The more wars you come into contact with, the more Liu Yi will find out the importance of an excellent general. It is not about how powerful his martial arts are, but about the issue of controlling troops.

Take Liu Yi as an example. Although he often leads troops to fight, he is mostly led by his generals. Liu Yi himself often uses a few tricks or makes some siege equipment to assist and decides the direction of the attack. If Liu Yi is asked to lead the troops directly, it would be great that he can play with a thousand people.

But what about Sun Quan?

I don’t deny that there are geniuses in this world, but no matter how talented a person is, he cannot really know it. This thing cannot be played by reading a few military books. With the emotions of Cao Xing’s soldiers and the cooperation between the various departments, how can the commands be sent to the entire army as quickly as possible? Without these skills, it is better to be honest in the rear. Or like Liu Yi, don’t worry about the matter of commanding troops and fighting, just be responsible for decision-making and logistics. But the question is, can a monarch like Sun Quan really do nothing?

It’s not that Liu Yi underestimated Sun Quan, but that he knew very well that when a person’s status reached a certain level, his ability would be mythized by the people around him. Over time, even he himself could not see it clearly, and felt that he could do whatever he did, but in fact, it really couldn’t.

Although Liu Bei, Cao Cao often fought in person. The two of them fought for a lifetime, without talent and experience were enough to allow others to manage the army in an orderly manner. In terms of military strategy, Liu Yi felt that Sun Quan could not compare with Liu Bei and Cao Cao.

"It's true." Pang Tong shook his head and thought about it carefully. Although Sun Quan was a good monarch, he would discuss military affairs with Zhou Yu and Lu Su for a long time. But if he thought about it carefully, it seemed that Sun Quan had always been planning in the rear. At first, Zhou Yu led the troops in Jiangdong, and then Lu Su, now Lu Meng. It seems that Sun Quan had experienced many major wars, but in fact, Sun Quan did not have real practical experience.

In this battle... Jiangdong will not kneel again, right?

When Liu Yi heard this, he had some bad premonitions in his heart. In fact, for Liu Bei Group, if Jiangdong can capture the land of Jianghuai this time, it will be the best result for Liu Bei Group. In this way, Jiangdong's strategic vision will gradually shift to Jianghuai without always staring at Jingzhou. This result is conducive to the firmness of the Sun-Liu Alliance.

If Sun Quan is defeated, then Liu Yi is very worried that Sun Quan will attack Jingzhou again. This is not impossible, especially if Liu Bei can successfully capture Nanyang this time, for Jiangdong, both Cao and Liu families will be considered enemies. The stronger Liu Bei is, the more he is, it will be equivalent to compressing Jiangdong's development space.

Liu Yi looked at Pang Tong, and Pang Tong also looked at Liu Yi. The two were speechless. After a long time, Liu Yi still said, "Why, please remind Sun Quan with a letter?"

"How to say it?" Pang Tong said with a wry smile.

Should I tell Sun Quan that if you are not capable, you should go back to Jiangdong obediently and hand over the battlefield to those with capable people to the custody. You just need to wait for good news in the back and win?

"No solution!" Liu Yi rubbed his temples with a headache. At the moment, they were too busy to worry about the battle situation in Jiangdong. The most important thing is that even if they saw Jiangdong's shortcomings, it was difficult to point them out directly.

"Go and ask the lord later." Pang Tong thought for a while and said, "You can let Zilong go to Jianghuai to help Sun Quan with his help."

If you really lose, at least you don’t lose too badly.

Liu Yi nodded and said, "It's feasible, but you still need to communicate with Jiangdong first."

Even if it was out of good intentions, just passing so bluntly would inevitably make Sun Quan feel that he was determined or that they looked down on Jiangdong. After a series of defeats, Liu Yi found that the civil officials in Jiangdong were hard to say, but the military generals were somewhat slim. If they really wanted to make them feel that they were expected to lose and sent Zhao Yun, they would probably be in a bad mood again.

It is necessary to avoid Jiangdong's big defeat, but also to make Jiangdong not feel that he is intentional to help them. This requires superb means. Liu Yi and Pang Tong sat together for a long time, but could not think of a way to achieve the best of both worlds. In the end, he decided to throw this issue to Liu Bei.

This kind of thing that is related to human relationships is what Liu Bei is best at.

"There is another one. We don't have enough troops, right?" I no longer think about the problem of Jiangdong. My own problems have not been solved yet. The difference in troops between Liu Bei and Cao Cao is somewhat different.

"Don't worry, Bo Yuan, at the end of last year, General Yide had sent troops from Langzhong. Although the journey was long, he should be able to reach Zhuyang in March." Pang Tong shook his head and smiled. Shuzhong has been much more stable in recent years, and it is possible to draw some of its troops to support Jingzhou. As for the troops and horses of Wei Yan in Hanzhong, they cannot be moved lightly. Xiahou Dun is still eyeing Chang'an.

"How many soldiers are there?" Liu Yi is more concerned about this issue. Cao Cao has more and more soldiers. If there are too few soldiers, it will be a drop in the bucket for Liu Bei's army.

"Thirty thousand." Pang Tong smiled. The road from Jiameng Pass to Nanzheng that Liu Yi had built before was handy at this time. Otherwise, it would be good to be able to transfer ten thousand troops, or to go directly to Jiangling and then come. However, it was not short to change the water route from Langzhong to Shu County. The road built by Liu Yi not only reduced the marching time, but also reduced the logistics transportation cost.
Chapter completed!