Wei Ni

In early autumn, in July, the sky is high and the air is refreshing.

The maple leaves are turning red, the ears of wheat are heavy and the rice is drooping, and the joy of harvest is already brewing in the fields.

But no one cares about these nowadays.

The atmosphere at General Zhengdong's headquarters in Shouchun City was very depressing.

Man Chong, who originally intended to send troops to the new city of Hefei to fight Sun Quan in the field, was suppressed by the emperor's edict to "hold the city and wait for the Chinese army to come for reinforcements". He could only wait for news about the battle situation in the new city from the scouts every day.

This made him feel powerless.

But he also knew that Emperor Cao Rui's deployment was the most appropriate choice at the moment.

After all, if he went out of the city to fight with Wu soldiers in the field, it would be easy to win. If he lost, he might be pursued by Wu soldiers and even Shouchun City would be lost.

That is the unbearable weight of Huainan.

Moreover, the current strength of the troops gathered in Shouchun is only 30,000 infantry and cavalry. There is a huge disparity between the enemy and ourselves.

How many Wu soldiers came this time?
Wu Guozhou's ships spread from the Dongfei River under Hefei New City to Chaohu Lake. The number of troops may not be 100,000, but it will never be less than 70,000.

And they are also ready to surround the point and call for reinforcements!

Chevaux de frise, deer horns, chariot arrays, wooden castles, large oars, powerful crossbows. If the Wei soldiers marched forward, there was no telling how many casualties would occur before they could engage in close combat with the Wu enemy.

The cavalry song is also of little help.

The space outside Hefei New City was almost occupied by Wu soldiers, and cavalry tactics such as intrusion, intimidation, and outflanking could not be used.

It’s a bit difficult!

The thief Wu Du has been attacking the city for more than half a month, and it is not known whether Zhang Ying and Le Yang can hold on.

At this time, all the defense materials such as bows and arrows, wood, stones, gold juice, anointing oil, etc. have been consumed, right?

There is no need to worry about food.

The city has enough food to feed the four thousand defenders for half a year.

"Get the sesame oil ointment, pine branches, sulfur and other fire-starting materials from the storehouse and prepare them, and order the generals of the ministries to recruit dead soldiers!"

After waiting for more than ten days without seeing the Luoyang Chinese army arriving for reinforcements, Man Chong finally decided to do something.

Since we can't fight in the field, let's give it a try to see if we can burn the siege equipment of Thief Wu, so as to alleviate the pressure on Hefei New City and boost the morale of the defenders.

However, what he didn't know was that Sun Quan was also in a difficult situation now.

The besieged city had been besieged for more than half a month, so it was fine that the deployment of encirclement and reinforcements had not succeeded. However, the Wu soldiers suffered many casualties, but there was no sign that the city was breached.

Moreover, Sun Tai, who was supervising the siege of the city, died in the middle of the attack.

Sun Tai is the son of Sun Kuang, the fourth son of Sun Jian (the grandson of Cao Cao of Wei Wu), and is a close branch of the Wu clan.

His death in battle had a great impact on Wu Bing's morale.

What worries Sun Quan most is that the disease is spreading among the army and is showing signs of getting worse.

The army rises and the epidemic arrives.

This is inevitable.

Especially in midsummer when diseases and plagues are common, and this is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies along the lake and river banks.

But Sun Quan was not discouraged.

Although he had nearly 70,000 troops on his way, they were partial divisions. Like Lu Xun's troops who oversaw more than 10,000 troops heading north to Xiangyang, they were all coordinated to confuse the Wei army.

The real main force is Zhu Ran's side.

Just eight days ago, a messenger came to report that Zhu Ran had led his troops across the river and headed north!
Therefore, if the new city of Hefei can be broken, then break it; if it cannot break it, then trap it. As long as he stays here, Wei Huainan's troops will not dare to rush to support Xuzhou in a large scale.

In this way, the land of Xuzhou and Huaisi will enter the territory of Wu State!

And once Zhu Ran's tribe captured Huaipu, Huaiyin, Haixi and other pools, he used his elite navy to enter Xuzhou through the mouth of the Huai River to assist in the defense. He no longer had to worry about the water being flooded and making it difficult to sail in winter and spring. . This means that Wu soldiers can attack Shouchun City directly from the Huai River in the future, which will eliminate the strategic significance of Hefei New City in the Wei State.

With Gongli's strategy, one battle can lead to Wangqingxu and cannibalize Huainan!
It's a pity that Gongli didn't get to witness it.

Wow, so sad.

Just when Sun Quan was hesitant in his ambition and dreaming of a better future, reality dealt him a heavy blow.

That night, most of the siege equipment was burned by the dead soldiers of the Wei army.
This made him very angry, and he immediately ordered all the sergeants on duty that night to be beheaded.

You know, from the Hefei New City to Chaohu area, the Wei army had already fortified the walls and cleared the fields. It was not difficult to collect firewood for cooking, but there was absolutely no way to find big trees that could be used to build siege equipment.

But this did not make him want to stop fighting.

If you can't attack the city, just stay trapped. It won't have much impact on the battle situation.

He even had the idea of ​​dedicating some troops to support Zhu Ran. Anyway, the Wei army did not dare to go out of the city to fight in the field.

However, what a pity.

Before he could make a decision, he received a bolt from the blue.

Although Cao Rui, the emperor of Wei who was leading the expedition in person, had not arrived yet, the 8,000 advance cavalry who took the lead arrived in Huainan!
This made Sun Quan, who learned about the military situation, stunned for a long time. When he came to his senses, he sighed with sadness in his heart and melancholy in his eyes, "Ugh! The time has passed for me to honor the courtesy!"

Because the Wei army is coming, he will stop his troops.

There is no way, I can't leave.

According to the strategy left by Sun Shao, the battle plan formulated by the kings and ministers of Wu State and the hope of achieving full success were all based on the fact that Wei State's Luoyang Central Army was pinned down by Shu soldiers in Yongliang and unable to rush to Huainan.

There is no need to mention Hefei New Town here.

The siege equipment had been burned, and the diseases in the army were getting worse. He continued to stay here, just sitting and waiting to die.

And it is impossible for Zhu Ran to occupy Huaipu, Huaiyin, Haixi and other counties.

It takes time to conquer the city, pacify the people, repair the fortifications, etc.

Now Wei Guo just doesn't give them this time.

Therefore, even if Zhu Ran's side conquered and occupied the counties along the Huaihe River in Xuzhou, they would not be able to withstand the counterattack of the Luoyang Central Army of Wei State and the soldiers and horses of Qingxu State without a stable foothold.

There is no point in fighting anymore, the only way is to break it off.

Sun Quan has always been known for his decisiveness when it comes to withdrawing his troops and returning.

Even though he sent a fast boat to inform Zhu Ran and Lu Xun to stop their troops as soon as possible, he himself, with endless regret and deep unwillingness, asked the soldiers to burn the camp and board the boats to return.

Yes, he was very unwilling.

Why didn't the Shu soldiers contain the Wei Luoyang Central Army at Yongliang?

Obviously, he has seen the dawn of his hope being fulfilled!
But soon, he put his unwillingness aside and turned to worry about Zhu Ran.

He was able to advance and retreat freely along the way, but going north along the Zhongdu River and deep into the Zhu Ran tribe in Xuzhou was not so convenient - could he have followed in the footsteps of Gongli?

Thinking of this, after his troops retreated to Ruxuwu, he once again sent people to Xuzhou to inquire about the military situation.

The navy was also asked to prepare and prepare for rescue. Sun Shao had already died in the war, and he could not accept the news that Zhu Ran had also died in the war.

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

However, it is said that Zhu Ran's tribe, which set off a full month later than Sun Quan and Lu Xun, was well versed in the essence of the art of war, which requires speed and surprise.

He asked the entire army to rush there lightly, without carrying any baggage or siege equipment that would increase the load on the boat or slow down the speed of the boat. He ordered the soldiers to take turns rowing and march day and night. It took only two days to arrive from Dan. The disciples rushed to Fanliang Lake and successfully entered Shebei (Sheyang Lake) along the Zhongdushui East Road without the Wei army noticing.

After arriving at Shebei, continue north along the waterway and enter the Huai River.

After entering the Huai River, you can go west to Huaiyin on the south bank of the Huai River, go east to Huaipu on the north bank of the Huai River, and go back east to the estuary of the Huai River. Among them, in Haixi, a coastal city further north, there are also tributaries of the Huai River that are connected by "swimming water" and can be reached directly by boats.

Therefore, after Zhu Ran led the army into Shebei, he began to divide his troops, and the generals of each department acted according to the previous plan.

The first to attack was the Zhu Army Department.

Under the guidance of deputy general Tang Zi, he led boats upstream and marched to Huaiyin County, with about three to four thousand troops.

Tang Zi was originally a county soldier from Licheng County (which Cao Cao established as Donghai County and soon abolished it).

In the sixth year of Huangchu (225 years) of Cao Pi's reign in Wei Wen, Cai Fang, a soldier from Licheng County, rebelled and killed the prefect Xu Ji, and elected Tang Zi as the leader. After a while, he was defeated by the Wei army. Tang Zi fled to the sea, and then sought refuge in Jiangdong, where he was made a general by Sun Quan.

As a native of Xuzhou, he is very familiar with the terrain.

Therefore, after arriving in Huaiyin County, he personally led his soldiers to plunder villages and towns.

There were not many troops stationed in Huaiyin. After learning about the military situation, they did not dare to go out of the city to fight. They quickly sent people to Xiapi in Xuzhou and Shouchun in Huainan to report to Huanfan and Manchong.

At that time, Man Chong had just received the emperor's order to defend the city to the death.

Since he could not leave the city to fight in the field and could only use the cavalry to intimidate the Wu soldiers on the side of Hefei New City, he asked Xiahou Hui to rush to Huaiyin immediately on the grounds that the new army of three thousand soldiers could operate boats.

Just rush to Huaiyin County and show your face, so that Wu soldiers are afraid and dare not attack the city and plunder everywhere.

Huan Fan, who was in Xiapi, was preaching to his concubine Huan Yu!
Because all the Wu soldiers were attacking the new city of Hefei, but there was still no enemy in Xuzhou, he couldn't help but bring up the old things again, and taught Huan Yu not to imitate Xia Houhui's meddlesome behavior when he became an official in the future, which would only make others laugh at him.

Therefore, he was quite embarrassed when he learned about the military situation.

But he didn't dare to delay, so he even found the general stationed in Xuzhou to discuss the matter.

The generals who moved to high places were Cao Ren's subordinates at the earliest.

He followed Cao Ren when he was stationed in Jingxiang, and after the Battle of Xiangfan, he also took charge of the migration of the Huawai Jingman tribe in the south of Mianshui (Han River). It was precisely for this reason that Cao Pi felt that he had the ability to calm the people. After transferring Zang Ba Zheng back to the court, he asked him to station in Xuzhou to eradicate the remaining power of Zang Ba's separatist rule for many years.

At this time, he was already over fifty years old, but he was still strong and not afraid of the hard work of military service.

After learning that the thief Wu only had about three or four thousand soldiers to invade, and that he also sent out troops to plunder villages, he generously invited three thousand county soldiers to go to Huaiyin to deter him, so that the thief Wu would not dare to continue to show off his cruelty and persecution. Li Shu.

Then he died.

Wu's soldiers were showing weakness, and Tang's counselors were luring the enemy by looting.

Zhu Ran personally led more than 10,000 people from his headquarters to ambush the road!

The result of the battle was that Gao Qian died in battle, three thousand county soldiers died or surrendered, and the entire army was wiped out. Zhu Ran also recruited the county soldiers and led them to "repulse" the Wu soldiers. Successfully deceived the gate of Huaiyin. (End of chapter)