Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 192 186. War between the Two Counties
Let's go back a few days. Feng Xi was busy dealing with complicated affairs and was trying to take time out to visit Huang Chengyan.

Ma Su and Deng Ai naturally followed Feng Xi's request and led their own troops. It had been several days since they left Jiangling. Since the two had different goals, their routes were also different.

Ma Su left Jiangling and went down the Yangtze River to Dongting. From Dongting, he went south along the Xiang River and headed all the way to Changsha County.

Deng Ai's situation was more troublesome. Normally, the shortest route would be the same as Ma Su's, which was to go directly south from the Xiang River, pass through Changsha County and go straight to Guiyang County. However, Feng Xi specifically asked him to bypass Changsha County and attack Guiyang County from Lingling. Therefore, Deng Ai's route was somewhat similar to Zhang Fei's route to Jiaozhou that day.

Deng Ai and Ma Su separated after Dongting Lake. Ma Su went south along the Xiang River, and Deng Ai went west along the Zi River, forming an arc that just bypassed Changsha County. Then after arriving at Zhaoling, they changed to Chengshui River, and then changed to Leishui River to the south, directly reaching Guiyang.

Compared with Deng Ai, Ma Su can be said to have all the advantages. The shorter distance means that he has more time to attack Changsha. Although Changsha seems to have stronger defenses than Guiyang, in Ma Su's view, this is a backdoor that Feng Xi deliberately left for himself.

After Ma Su arrived at the city of Changsha, he asked Bao Feng to arrange the camping and cooking. On the other side, Deng Ai drifted on large and small boats for two days before arriving at Ling County, which is the confluence of several rivers.

However, Deng Ai did not rush to attack Guiyang County. Instead, he first led a hundred soldiers to Lingling County.

Since Lingling County was stabilized, the county governor has been the younger brother of the Xi brothers, Xi Hong. Xi Zhen was originally a military general and didn't know much about civil affairs, so he was happy to see his younger brother deal with these trivial matters while he could concentrate on rectifying the military affairs in Lingling County.

"Sir Governor, a young man has come to visit us. He claims to be Deng Ai, a military officer under the Grand Commander, and he has come to conquer Guiyang County."

On this day, the brothers Xi Hong and Xi Zhen were still handling some trivial matters in the conference room. Guiyang and Changsha counties had always been their focus of vigilance. Hearing that an official under the Grand Commander was coming, the two brothers did not dare to neglect it and immediately asked the guards to invite Deng Ai in.

"I have met General Deng. I heard that General Deng came here to conquer Guiyang?"

Xi Hong was quite polite and greeted Deng Ai.

"That's right... that's right. I was highly regarded by the Grand Commander and was ordered to come to suppress the rebellion in Guiyang. But Ai... Ai is not familiar with Guiyang, so I came here to ask the governor Yu... Yu Xi."

However, when Deng Ai opened his mouth, the Xi brothers were still a little surprised. They couldn't help but look at each other. They didn't expect that Deng Ai was a stutterer.

However, since he was a subordinate of the Grand Commander, there must be a reason why the Grand Commander valued him so much. The Xi brothers were not stupid people. They were just stunned for a moment and then returned to their normal state.

"If it is Guiyang County, its governor is the former governor of Guiyang County, Zhao Fan. In the past, two thieves under this man, Bao Long and Chen Ying, surrendered and returned. Zhao Fan was afraid that the late emperor would blame him, so he abandoned his post and fled. Now we know that this man has defected to the Eastern Wu, and the Eastern Wu has ordered him to continue to rule Guiyang County and appease the local people."

Xi Hong briefly introduced the situation of the governor of Guiyang County to Deng Ai. Deng Ai pondered for a moment, with many thoughts in his mind.

"I wonder if I can... persuade this man to surrender?"

Deng Ai thought that the best way was to fight without bloodshed, as it could spare civilians from fighting and achieve a quick victory.

"I'm afraid it's difficult. Zhao Fan is timid but suspicious. We have tried to contact him and told him that the Eastern Wu has declined and it is better to surrender early. But he drove back all the people we sent to persuade him to surrender. It seems that he is determined to fight against our Han Dynasty to the end."

Deng Ai nodded. Since he could not persuade them to surrender, he could only attack them by force. Deng Ai asked Xi Zhen for some topographic maps of Lingling and Guiyang, and after reading them carefully several times, he finally made up his mind.

After thanking the Xi brothers for their assistance, Deng Ai took his men away and prepared to plan the attack on Guiyang County.

Back to Ma Su, the Changsha garrison commander was Han Teng, a member of Han Xuan's clan who was killed by Wei Yan in the past. This man was somewhat similar to Han Xuan, both of them were equally ruthless. Knowing that since he had defected to the Eastern Wu, the Han Dynasty would never tolerate him, and Han Xuan's death at the hands of Wei Yan, Han Teng had no intention of surrendering.

"Captain Wang, the governor orders you to lead 3,000 soldiers to guard this island in the middle of the river and block the attack of the Shu army." Han Teng gave an order to an officer in the meeting hall of the county. The officer bowed and left. There were not many soldiers in Changsha County, so the soldiers assigned to Captain Wang were almost all young men who were forcibly recruited by Han Teng recently, and their combat effectiveness could be said to be negligible.

"Governor, although Captain Wang has the geographical advantage of defending the island in the middle of the river, these temporary conscripted civilians may not be a match for the hundreds of soldiers of the Shu army..."

The newly appointed county magistrate by Han Teng also had some insight and could see that this was just a delaying tactic and would definitely not be able to repel the Han army.

"Of course I know that Captain Wang is not a man of extraordinary talent. How can he defeat the Shu army with only three thousand civilians? But I have a clever plan... hehe..."

Han Teng's smile was so sinister no matter how you looked at it that it made the county magistrate feel a chill down his spine. However, since Han Teng was unwilling to say more, the county magistrate naturally did not ask any more questions and had to follow Han Teng's arrangements.

However, the place where Han Teng ordered Captain Wang to garrison was a delta where the Xiangjiang River and the Liuyang River intersected. The terrain was dangerous, and no matter how Ma Su wanted to attack Changsha City, he could not avoid this place.

"Oh, it seems that the enemy general has some strategy. He knows how to take the lead and occupy this strategic location. General Bao, you will lead 3,000 people as the vanguard to test the enemy's situation."

After Ma Su set up camp on the west side of the Xiang River, he naturally saw the camp of Captain Wang across the river. However, Ma Su did not take it too seriously. The weak combat effectiveness of such local county soldiers was obvious to all, so Ma Su let Bao Feng go and try to challenge them first.

Because of Feng Xi's order, Bao Feng had no objection to Ma Su's order, so he led 3,000 troops and tried to cross the river to attack.

"Hey, Lao Li, when do you think we can go home?"

On the island in the middle of the river where the Xiangjiang River and the Liuyang River meet, in Captain Wang’s camp, several soldiers in different clothes gathered together and talked in low voices. From their faces, one could tell that their morale was extremely low.

But this is normal. They are not regular troops. They are just strong men who were temporarily drafted here by Han Teng's order. It is really not easy for them to set up camp like ordinary soldiers at this time.

"How the hell should I know? Do you think I don't want to go home? When the Lord was here, how powerful was our Jingzhou army? Now we are facing the Lord's former army, how can we possibly defeat them?"

Not only Old Li, but everyone else did not show any surprise, but seemed to have expected it. After all, they were just civilians, and the opponent was the well-trained Jingzhou Army. No matter how you looked at it, they were just fighting with an egg against a rock.

"Old Li, what do you think we should do..."

"The enemy is attacking! The enemy is attacking!"

Before anyone could finish their words, they were interrupted by the sound of metal and shouting from the lookout tower.

However, the situation on Captain Wang's side was beyond Bao Feng's expectations. Although Bao Feng had only been in the army for half a year, he had been with Feng Xi in the battles in Jingzhou, and the ones he faced were either the regular army of the Eastern Wu or the army of Cao Wei. The intensity of the battles was obvious, so Bao Feng's growth was not slow, and he was now somewhat capable of deploying troops.

"Follow me and kill him!"

Bao Feng swung his iron hammer, led the way, jumped off the boat, and knocked over several soldiers, looking very majestic.

The young and strong men in Changsha who were originally recruited were already feeling uneasy. When they saw Bao Feng, who was as majestic as a god, they were so frightened that they dared not approach him.

(End of this chapter)