The reason why Xiangyang and Fancheng are collectively called Xiangfan is because they are one.

Xiangyang is to the south of the Han River, and Fancheng is to the north of the Han River. The two cities face each other across the river, one in the south and one in the north.

For the Wei State in Cao Cao's era, Fancheng was even more important than Xiangyang.

Because without Fancheng, facing the Southern Army, Nanyang only had the last strategic town left, Wancheng.

Moreover, it is still an isolated city with no danger to defend.

At that time, the Southern Army can directly bypass Xiangyang through the Han River and head north to the Central Plains.

Therefore, in the early days of Cao Pi's administration, there was even a move to build a Han River defense line with Wancheng as the core and Fancheng as the front line, leaving only a small number of troops in Xiangyang as an outpost.

It is a pity that at that time, Sun Quan also failed to notice the importance of Xiangyang to Jingzhou.

After sending light troops to capture Xiangyang, heavy troops were not deployed in time to guard it.

Of course, it is also possible that King Wu has common characteristics among human beings:

Those who get things too easily are often unwilling to cherish them.

So soon, Xiangyang was easily recaptured by the Wei army.

Then in the following days, the Wei army went south from Xiangyang and attacked Nanjun.

King Wu finally felt the father's love from the northern suzerain after Xiangyang was gone.

But at this time, even if Sun Quan reacted, Cao Wei would no longer be able to give him another chance:

The southern part of Jingzhou without Xiangyang is just like Wancheng without Fancheng. There is no danger to defend - at least the journey south from Xiangyang to the riverside can be said to be smooth.

During the Cao Rui era, Xiangyang's strategic status further improved.

Wei Ping Emperor Cao Rui made it clear more than once that Xiangyang and Hefei were the two most important strategic support points for suppressing Wu.

And Emperor Sun, who was promoted from King of Wu to Emperor of Wu, dreamed of returning to Xiangyang countless times.

Every time I think of Xiangyang being gained and lost again, I regret it endlessly.

Lu Xun, who led the army to the foot of Xiangyang City, stood on the highest point of the building ship and looked at the Xiangyang City Wall not far away. At this time, he had almost the same mood as Emperor Sun.

Since Liu Biao moved Jingzhou County to Xiangyang, Xiangyang's city walls have been continuously reinforced and raised.

Seen from the surface of the Han River, coupled with the visual difference caused by the embankment, Xiangyang City looks extremely majestic and tall.

With extremely complicated emotions, looking at the seemingly indestructible city, Lu Xun couldn't help but let out a long sigh:

"From this point of view, as long as there is a boat division, how difficult is it for the Northern Army to cross the Han River and go south to attack Xiangyang?"

"If Xiangyang was not allowed to leave in the past, why would Nanjun have to worry now?"

The most fertile land in Jingzhou has been in vain for so many years because Xiangyang was not in the hands of Wu.

How not to be lamentable?

It’s just that no one dared to answer Lu Xun’s words.

Seeing that everyone seemed to have not heard the words of the senior general, Zhu Ran, who had the highest status, coughed and asked:

"General, now that we have cut off the connection between Xiangyang and the north, what is the next step?"

Fifty thousand troops and warships covered the sky and blocked the sun, enough to cut off the flow of the Han River.

Now this huge fleet of boats is crossing the Han River between Xiangyang and Fancheng.

There is a water village connecting Fancheng and Xiangyang.

However, after the Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Xiangfan, the elite navy of the Wei Kingdom was lost.

It cannot pose much threat to Wu's navy at all.

Otherwise, Cao Pi would not have been able to gather a decent naval force when he attacked Wu several times.

During the reign of Emperor Cao Rui of Wei Ping, he suffered successive defeats in the west, and his finances were tight, making it even less possible to spare manpower and material resources to train the navy.

In addition, Lu Xun's arrival was so sudden this time that the poor Wei naval forces in the Xiangfan area had no time to respond effectively.

The Wu army, which had an absolute advantage, destroyed the water village and pontoon bridge between Fancheng and Xiangyang in one day, cutting off the connection between the two cities.

Before Wei State could break through the blockade of Wu State's navy, Xiangyang lost support from the north.

"In your opinion, generals, how should we capture this city next?"

Lu Xun did not answer Zhu Ran's words. Instead, he turned around, looked at everyone, and asked.

In fact, as soon as Lu Xun's emotional words came out of his mouth, he had already realized that something seemed wrong.

Therefore, Zhu Ran's question was quite meant to save him from the siege, so Lu Xun naturally wanted to get off the slope.

Zhu Huan, the former general of Wu State, died of illness three years ago. His son Zhu Yi inherited his father's army and went to war this time.

Zhu Yi was newly appointed as a partial general at this time. He was young and energetic. When he saw that the generals did not speak for a while, he immediately stepped out:

"General, I think that Fancheng and Xiangyang are one body. If you want to defeat Xiangyang, you must first defeat Fancheng."

"Otherwise, if the Wei thieves use Fancheng as an outpost to gather reinforcements, they may hinder us from taking Xiangyang."

When Lu Xun heard this, he smiled calmly, nodded and said:

"This is what Guan Yu did when he attacked Xiangfan in the past. Guan Yu can be regarded as a rare general. What he did is justified."

"Major General Zhu can see this, he really has a unique vision."

As he said that, Lu Xun looked around at everyone again:

"Does anyone else have suggestions?"

Someone mentioned:

"Come on, General, Fancheng is not easy to attack!"

Lu Xun continued to nod:

"That's right. The Wei thieves value Fancheng as much as Xiangyang, or even more."

He turned around again, pointed at Xiangyang, and said:

"Xiangyang is surrounded by water on three sides and has mountains in the south, which is perfect for bringing out the advantages of Wu Zhoushi."

Then he turned around and pointed at Fancheng:

"But if we want to capture Fancheng, I'm afraid it will be a little difficult. After all, we don't have the good luck that Guan Yu had back then."

When Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan, the Han River surged, and the water on the ground was several feet high.

When the water level was at its highest, the walls of Fancheng had collapsed to an unknown extent. Even if they had not collapsed, they were only one or two feet away from the water level.

Lu Xun believed that if it had been him, leading Wu's elite navy, he would have taken advantage of the situation to capture Fancheng.

But now, without the help of mountain torrents, we can only rely on infantry to go ashore to attack Fancheng. How difficult!

When Lu Xun said this, he said confidently:

"Everyone in the world thinks that if you want to take Xiangyang, you must first take Fancheng. This is actually true."

"But this is for the Northern Army attacking Jingzhou from north to south."

Lu Xun pointed in the direction of Fancheng again, "Of course, if you want to be like Guan Yu, and want to advance from south to north, from Jingzhou to the Central Plains, you can't avoid Fancheng."

"But we are different." Lu Xun said, raising his voice as if to remind the Wu generals:

"When we came here this time, we only wanted to go to Xiangyang. We didn't want to cross the Han River and go north, capture Wancheng, and march into the Central Plains."

"So Fancheng is not a must-win."

In Lu Xun's view, Guan Yu had too much appetite and wanted to capture Fancheng, Xiangyang, and even Wancheng in one fell swoop with tens of thousands of troops. This resulted in insufficient troops.

If he hadn't insisted on taking Fancheng, and even invested heavy troops in besieging Fancheng, he thought that Xiangyang in the rear was in his pocket, and delayed the best opportunity to capture Xiangyang.

Maybe in the end the Han Dynasty can really take Xiangyang and confront the Wei thieves across the Han River.

At this time, the world's understanding of the interdependent relationship between Fancheng and Xiangyang was far from the deep understanding it had after the Battle of Xiangyang in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

After all, the Qin and Han Dynasties could be considered a unified nation. They had never experienced confrontation between the North and the South, let alone the Battle of Xiangyang in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, so it was understandable that they had no experience.

Otherwise, Cao Pi would not have abandoned Xiangyang but wanted to protect Fancheng.

Although the world at this time paid some attention to the connection between Fancheng and Xiangyang.

However, the limitations of the times destined them not to regard Xiangfan as a complete entity - even Lu Xun could not transcend the times.

In fact, Lu Xun was extremely astute in realizing that relying on Xiangyang and the Han River to build a defense line could better protect Jingzhou.

After hearing Lu Xun's words, the generals finally understood:

"Come on, General, why don't we attack Fancheng?"

Lu Xun shook his head:

"No fight, I only want Xiangyang this time."

And it can't be beaten down.

Even if he can defeat him, I'm afraid he will end up like Guan Yu.

If we divide our forces and become weak, we will eventually have to send Fancheng back.
To be continued...