cite Han

Chapter 392 Closing
"Defeated, defeated..."

The defeated Jiangdong army boats frantically poured into Xiakou. The Xiakou waterway was originally narrow, and there were ambushes and pursuers behind.

Seeing that the defeated soldiers were frightened and panicked, they ignored the military orders and charged directly at the central army. The chaos spread at a speed visible to the naked eye, and Sun Quan couldn't help feeling ashamed.

He lost the bet, completely lost, and adding troops to the front line not only failed to save the defeat, but also lost his clan brother Sun He and thousands of soldiers. For a moment, Sun Quan felt regretful.

Lu Su, who was standing behind Sun Quan, was very anxious at the moment, and opened his mouth to speak several times, but considering that Sun Quan had a lot of resentment towards him for shooting the pole, he had to wink at Hu Zong and Zhou Tai frequently.

In the year of Hu Zong's weak crown, he had a handsome and unrestrained clothes with big sleeves; Zhou Tai was in his thirties, with a body like a bear and a tiger, and he was extremely powerful.

Both of them were ministers of Sun Quan's "hidden residence". Hu Zong and Sun Quan had a good relationship with each other, and they had been studying with the latter since they were 14 years old.Zhou Tai was kind to Sun Quan in saving his life. At that time, Sun Quan was besieged by thousands of bandits. Zhou Tai sacrificed his life to protect him. He was wounded twelve times to protect Sun Quan from danger.

Hu Zong comprehended, came to Sun Quan's side, and said in a low voice: "General, the front line has suffered setbacks, the morale of the army has been disturbed, and it is difficult to fight again. It is better to retreat temporarily to avoid the edge."

Zhou Tai took a step forward, clasped his fists and said: "The final general wishes to lead his troops to cover the retreat of the army after the war is broken. Please give me your permission."

Sun Quan looked at Hu Zong, then at Zhou Tai, and couldn't help but lamented: "This time I marched into Jiangxia, I wanted to avenge my father and comfort his spirit in heaven. I don't want to be defeated like this. How can I have the face to go back and see you?" Jiang Dong's father?"

"Winning or losing is a common matter for military strategists. Why should the general care about it? Besides..." Hu Zong said seriously: ""The Art of War" says: 'Know yourself but don't know your enemy, one wins and one loses.' The bandits have sharp weapons on their ships, and we are not prepared. , Fang has this defeat, and it is not a crime of war."

Speaking of this, Hu Zong paused for a moment, and said again: "Our Jiangdong warship is far better than the bandit army. What Huang Zu relied on was nothing more than a sharp weapon. The general can send spies to spy on him in the future, or buy the enemy general with a lot of money. , when our army masters this weapon, it will be as easy as breaking Jiangxia's bandits."

Hearing the words, Sun Quan's sad face was slightly restrained, he glanced at Lu Su, and ordered: "Pass my order, the rear army will change to the front army, and retreat in turn. The left cannot go to the right, the right cannot go to the left, and the front and back cannot change. Violation of orders who - beheaded!"

"No." Everyone responded in unison.

"General..." Zhou Tai wanted to stay with the Empress Dowager, but Sun Quan raised his hand to stop him as soon as he spoke.

"You Ping, after Chen (Wu) Zilie leads his troops to kill, you will stay by my side and protect my safety."

Although Zhou Tai looked disappointed, he didn't say anything more.He is from Jiujiang, and Chen Wu is from Lujiang, both belong to Huainan. Chen Wu is a well-known warrior in Huainan, and he has five troops under his command, all from Lujiang.The people of Lujiang are hot-tempered, decisive, and see death as home. Chen Wu supervised him, and he was relentless. He defeated Jiangdong for Sun Ce and made great military exploits, which is beyond Zhou Tai's comparison.

Faced with such a difficult and dangerous task, Chen Wu showed no fear. While organizing the defense line, he gathered the rout troops and covered the orderly retreat of the army.

Chen Wu imitated the Jiang Xia army's practice before, and used several large ships to cross the river. Since the enemy ships had sharp weapons, Chen Wu chose to dare to die hundreds, drive the fire boat, counterattack the enemy, and successfully blocked the enemy in Xiakou , to curb the enemy's pursuit.

The two sides fought fiercely for more than an hour, the army had successfully retreated, the task was completed, Chen Wu was about to get away, at this time Xu Kun led hundreds of remnants of the defeated general, and returned on foot from the south bank.

Chen Wu rescued Xu Kun and the others, and after repelling Jiang Xia's attack again, he quickly retreated.Jiang Xia's army naturally didn't want to stop there, and chased after him relentlessly.

In the next few days, Jiangxia's army chased Jiangdong's army between Zhu and E, and won two battles and two victories. They gained a lot and successfully recovered the two counties of Zhu and E.

Not long after hearing the news, the scholars and people in Qichun and Xiazhi counties also beheaded Jiangdong officials and turned the city against them.So far, the four counties in eastern Jiangxia captured by Jiangdong have all been declared lost.

As the saying goes: "Fortune never comes, misfortune never comes singly." Just as the Jiangdong army was fleeing all the way, Sun Quan suddenly received a report from the rear, and the three counties of Yuzhang, Luling, and Danyang all rebelled.

Sun Quan's eyes darkened immediately, and the most worrying thing happened in his heart. He led a large army to capture Jiangxia from the west, resulting in a emptiness in the middle of the country. Now, out of the five counties in Jiangdong, three have been reversed.

All the civil and military people in Jiangdong were at a loss at this time, only Lu Su did not change his color, and said: "General, the rebels in the three counties today are all mountains and bandits. Although they invade counties and counties, it is difficult to shake Jiangdong. The foundation. The general can order Zhou Yu to go to Danyang, Tai Shici to go to Luling, the general will lead the army himself, and return to Yuzhang. The chaos in the three counties can be settled in ten months."

Lu Su's remarks calmed down Sun Quan's chaotic heart a little.

Lu Su said again: "The old thief Huang Zu is the real threat to us. If Jiang Xia's army is allowed to rush into Jiangdong and join forces with the rebels in the country, the consequences will be unimaginable. Therefore, no matter how much the price is We must defeat the old thief Huang Zu so that he does not dare to look east."

Xu Kun nodded again and again when he heard it, and said: "Deng Yu and Feng Yi used their military skills in the past, but because they underestimated the enemy and pursued them, they were defeated by the Chimeiliu thieves. The Jiangxia thieves won consecutive battles, and Huang Zu must have arrogance and underestimate the enemy." Heart, now is the time for us to fight back."

Then Xu Kun took the initiative to ask for his life: "I am willing to lead the brave to die, counterattack the bandit army, and relieve the general from worries. If this battle is not successful, I will be a benevolent!"

"Brother..." Sun Quan frowned, but stopped talking.Xu Kun was able to get out of danger before, which made him overjoyed, and he really didn't want Xu Kun to risk himself again.

Xu Kun bowed and said: "I failed the general's high expectations. I lost the army in Xiakou and lost the general. Fortunately, Sun (He) Bohai gave up his life and was saved from death. Since returning, the general has never said anything to blame, but my heart But it’s really uneasy—I hope the general will make it happen.”

Sun Quan stepped forward to help Xu Kun, held the latter's hand tightly, and said with a little emotion: "Brother is determined to do so, and I have no reason why I shouldn't. It's just that my second brother is my right-hand man. River) unfortunately died in battle, my brother must not make any mistakes, otherwise I will have nowhere to rely on in the future."

"No." Xu Kun replied emphatically.

The next day, when the weather was beautiful and the east wind was strong, Xu Kun led the crowd to counterattack Jiang Xia's army at sunset.Jiang Xia's army was unprepared, so Xu Kun took advantage of the wind to set fire and fought fiercely until dark.After dark, the effectiveness of shooting poles was greatly reduced, and Jiangdong's army's superiority of fine generals and bravery gradually came into play. Soon, Jiangxia's army was defeated, and thousands of people under its governor Chen Jiu and general Zhang Shuo were cut. Huang Zu led the army and fled in embarrassment.

Although he was victorious, this battle completely killed one thousand enemies and self-injured eight hundred. In addition, it was already dark and his vision was blurred, so Xu Kun was unable to pursue and expand the results of the battle.

Sun Quan was in the rear, as anxious as ants on a hot pot. When the good news came back from the front line, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and all the civil and military soldiers also cheered and celebrated each other.

If this battle is lost again, Jiangdong's foundation will be in danger. Fortunately, Xu Kun lived up to everyone's expectations and successfully defeated Jiangxia's bandit army.

In this way, they can return to Jiangdong calmly to deal with the rebellion.In their view, the rebellion in the three counties was nothing more than scabies. It might be difficult to cure for a while, but it was not fatal.

At this point, the battle of Jiangxia came to an end. Sun Quan mobilized his troops to attack Jiangxia.From Sun He, Ling Cao, and Dong Xi, more than ten generals and school officers died in battle alone, over ten thousand soldiers died, hundreds of ships were damaged, and the losses were extremely heavy.

Of course, Huang Zu was not much better, and more than half of the warships were also lost.In this battle, both sides suffered losses, and there was no winner.

…………

Liu Jing knew nothing about the withdrawal of the Jiangdong Army. At this time, he was still stationed in Jiangling, while Zhuge Liang and Gan Ning were encircling Yiling.

The magistrate of Yiling stood at the top of the city, looking at Liu Jingjun who stood neatly and awe-inspiringly outside the city, even though the red sun was hanging high, he couldn't help feeling terrified.

Liu Jing's army marched to Yiling for several days to repair the war equipment, and finally started to attack the city today.

At this time, a heavy and loud voice sounded: "Why should Yiling panic? Didn't I send people to Zigui, Jiangling, Xiangyang and other places to ask for help a few days ago? We only need to hold on for ten and a half months, and reinforcements will arrive."

The speaker was about [-] years old, more than seven feet long, with tiger eyes and a square mouth, with a very special appearance, especially when speaking, his voice was like a bell.This person is Yiling Guard General, Dangkou Xiaowei Fu Kuang.

"Ten days and a half months? To put it lightly..." the Yiling county magistrate said angrily.Liu Jingjun outside the city has at least [-] troops.However, under Fu Kuang's command, there are only more than [-] soldiers, plus more than a hundred officials from Yiling County.

What's more, Liu Jing's army is well-armored, and it looks like an elite division at first glance. How can the mob of less than a thousand people on our side be able to resist?
"Boom...boom...boom..."

The thunderous drums sounded, and seeing that Liu Jing's army was about to attack the city, the magistrate of Yiling was terrified, and hurriedly said to Fu Kuang: "Lieutenant Fu, I don't know anything about military affairs, and staying at the top of the city is useless, so I will leave first, Yiling For the defense of the mausoleum, I will leave it all to the assistant captain."

Fu Kuang despised his greed for life and fear of death, so he gave a nasal "hmm".Such a rude move made the head of Yiling County furious, but he knew he was wrong, so he could only hold back his anger and leave.

Watching the other party's back disappear into the wall, Fu Kuang spat hard and cursed secretly: "You have no guts!"

Then he said to the left and right: "The southern thieves attacked, and the counties along the way fell one after another. There are countless people who defected to the thieves. I have received the kindness of General Liu, and I will repay it with death, but you don't have to. If you don't want to follow me If you fight hard, you can take my head and surrender to the southern thieves, so you can save your life and gain wealth."

All the songs under his command were excited, and they all shouted: "Why did the captain say this? We swear to live and die with the captain, and we will never have any second thoughts."

Officials in Yiling also rushed to express their opinions.

"Okay!" Fukuang clapped his hands. "Since you don't want to kill me for glory, then follow me to stick to Yiling and wait for reinforcements. I sent someone to ask the general for help a few days ago. I believe that the reinforcements will arrive soon. When the enemy retreats, we will all get the general Great rewards. If the reinforcements do not arrive and the situation is critical, the lords will tie me up and leave the city to surrender, and I will not lose my wealth."

What Fu Kuang said was very sincere, whether it was the trilogy under his command or the officials in Yiling, they were all deeply moved, and they all said: "I wish to follow the school lieutenant to stick to the righteousness and make meritorious deeds by killing thieves."

At the same time, Liu Jing's army outside the city formally launched an attack on Yiling.

Relying on the superiority in military strength, Liu Jingjun attacked from both east and north directions at the same time.

Due to the limited time, large-scale composite siege vehicles such as Linchong Liujun Chariot (Siege Tower) are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and cannot be built in a short time at all.Therefore, the siege equipment used by Liu Jingjun is all conventional well rails, ladders, punching carts, and stone throwing carts.

In the north is the side army, Zhuge Liang and Gan Ning take Huang Zhong as their generals, while the main force in the east, Gan Ning ignores Zhuge Liang's repeated dissuasion, and takes the command of the siege commander himself. Killing, so I don't like to be in the middle of the command.Gan Ning came to the front line in person, held a drum to boost morale, and led the soldiers to march towards the Yiling city.

There were not many troops in Yiling, and the scale of the arrow rain could not effectively suppress Liu Jing's army. Liu Jing's soldiers were well-trained, holding their shields high, and quickly advanced to the moat. Several trench bridges made of planks were stretched across the moat.

The first to pass the trench bridge was the Chongche, followed by various ladders, while many well rails and stone carts were left outside the moat, and they cooperated with the bow and crossbow phalanx to continuously pour arrows and stones at the top of Yiling City, so as to Cover and attack the city first.

Wei Yan overwhelmed Huo Du and became the first general of Liu Jing's army. As a fierce general in the army after Gan Ning and Huang Zhong, this result is also reasonable.

As for Huo Jun, Zhuge Liang sent him to lead [-] soldiers a few days ago to attack the gorge northwest of Yiling.

Guarding the Three Gorges at the Xiakou is the only way for Wuxian and Zigui to reach Yiling. As long as the Xiakou is controlled, it will be difficult for soldiers from Wuxian and Zigui to leave the Three Gorges.Naturally, it is extremely cost-effective to use five hundred soldiers to eliminate the worries of the West.

A ladder climbed up to the top of the city of Yiling. Liu Jingjun's first ascended soldiers held a large scorpion with a knife hidden in it, and leaped up the ladder.

As a general, Wei Yan couldn't be content to stay behind others, and of course he couldn't be too conspicuous, lest he become a target of public criticism.

"Kill...kill...kill..."

At this time, the soldiers from both sides had already formed a group, Wei Yan jumped onto the top of the wall, and directly charged towards the crowd in front of him, regardless of enemy or friend.

Wei Yan's physical strength was extraordinary, this blow actually knocked down four or five people at once, Wei Yan took advantage of the enemy falling to the ground, and when he was dizzy, he raised his knife and fell, beheading two people in a row.

At the same time, Wei Yan's left and right personal guards also boarded the city wall to guard the left and right.This made Wei Yan no longer need to worry about the threats from both sides, and only needed to move forward with one heart. Wherever he passed, limbs and limbs flew horizontally, blood splattered, and he was invincible.

Wei Yan is brave and invincible, like a tiger among sheep, very conspicuous, how can Fu Kuang turn a blind eye.

Fu Kuang knew that such a brave man would do great damage to his own morale, and he must not let it go, so he even brought his bodyguards to kill Wei Yan.

(End of this chapter)