Chapter 2534: Sun Wu VS Liu Xiu + Guo Ziyi + Chai Rong + Li Xin
Chapter 2534: Sun Wu vs Liu Xiu, Guo Ziyi, Chai Rong, Li Xin
"Report... to inform my lord that a large number of Wu troops have appeared outside Xiling City."
"What?"
Liu Xiu and Guo Ziyi both exclaimed. Apparently they did not expect that besides Sun Ce, there was actually a Wu army that had penetrated deep into the hinterland of Jiangxia and had already reached Xiling, the seat of government.
"My lord, Sun Quan is in charge of the Wu army's logistics. He knows the movements of most of the Wu army, but this army was not mentioned in the information he gave.
This shows that this army took action after Sun Ce, and was separated from Sun Ce by one day, so it was not encountered by the general." Guo Ziyi analyzed.
Liu Xiu nodded and said: "So that's it. This army came to meet Sun Ce, but it was a step too late. When it arrived, Sun Ce's army had been completely wiped out.
They wanted to rescue Zheng Zhilong, but they were worried that they would not be a match for our army, and they arrived at Xiling empty, so they attacked Xiling unexpectedly, hoping to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao."
At this point, a sneer appeared on Liu Xiu's lips, and he continued: "But what they don't know is that even if Xiling City is empty of troops, it is still possible to hold on for a few days. In this time, I would have conquered Zhu County.
"
After saying this, Liu Xiu looked at the spies below and asked, "Do you know who the general of the Wu army is leading the army?"
"The opponent is flying the banner of Sun Wu, the Governor of Soochow."
"What?"
Liu Xiu and Guo Ziyi exclaimed again, obviously not expecting that the person who raided Xiling would be Sun Wu.
All of Liu Xiu's previous analysis was based on his belief that even if Xiling City was empty, it would be able to hold on for at least a few days.
But if Sun Wu leads the army, Liu Xiu really doesn't have much confidence. After all, even he is not Sun Wu's opponent, and he doesn't know whether the Xiling defender can defend Xiling under Sun Wu's offensive.
If the general of Xiling fails to guard, the consequences will be disastrous. After all, Sun Ce is being held in Xiling City.
After Guo Ziyi captured Sun Ce alive, in order to ensure that he would not be rescued by Wu, he moved him away as soon as possible, and the first stop was Xiling City.
Liu Xiu originally thought that after capturing Zhu County, he would transfer Sun Ce to the capital Changsha, but he did not expect that Sun Wu had already arrived at Xiling City before he took back Zhu County.
"Lord, Xiling City is currently empty of troops, and Sun Ce is in Xiling City. Once Xiling is captured by Sun Wu and Sun Ce is rescued, our army's plan will be in vain." Guo Ziyi said solemnly.
"General Guo, what do you think our army should do now?" Liu Xiu asked.
"Zhu County, and even the whole of Jiangxia, is not as important as Sun Ce alone. The top priority is to give up recovering Zhu County and rescue Xiling at full speed." Guo Ziyi said with a serious face.
Liu Xiu also agreed with this. After all, Sun Ce was related to the Chu State's plan to unify Jiangnan. As long as this goal could be achieved, it was not unacceptable to temporarily abandon Jiangxia and Lujiang counties. Therefore, Sun Ce must not be allowed to be rescued by Sun Wu.
"Sun Wu, Sun Wu, you are truly worthy of being the one who caused so much trouble to me with just one move."
After taking a deep breath, Liu Xiu ordered: "Pass this king's order to withdraw the entire army and go to rescue Xiling."
Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Chenggong and his son who were on the upper floor of Zhu County were prepared for a deadly battle, but they never expected that the Chu army who was preparing to attack the city suddenly withdrew inexplicably.
Regarding this, Zheng Zhilong and his son were also extremely confused and did not understand why the Chu army withdrew. But since the Chu army had withdrawn, they could naturally withdraw as well.
Zheng Zhilong was also worried that Liu Xiu was pretending to withdraw his troops to lure them out of the city, so he sent spies to keep an eye on the Chu army. It was not until the Chu army had withdrawn thirty miles that he felt completely relieved.
Just as Zheng Zhilong was about to evacuate from Zhu County, he received a letter from Sun Wu.
In the letter, Sun Wu informed Zheng Zhilong of the truth about the Chu army's withdrawal, and asked him not to withdraw but to continue to defend Zhu County. The main army would arrive soon, and Zhu County would naturally be safe by then.
With Sun Wu's words, Zheng Zhilong naturally would not withdraw his troops, but he was extremely worried about his lone army going deep into Sun Wu's army.
What Sun Wu is doing now is actually the same as Sun Ce, and it is several times more dangerous. After all, Sun Ce only faces Guo Ziyi, while Sun Wu also faces Liu Xiu in addition to Guo Ziyi.
It would be fine if Sun Wu had enough troops, but the problem is that since Sun Wu could secretly move to Xiling, the troops in his hands could not be too many, no more than tens of thousands at most.
There are only tens of thousands of troops, but they want to fight in the hinterland of Chu State. If you are not careful, you may be the fate of the next Sun Ce.
"Sen'er, do you think the Governor can return safely and rescue the Crown Prince?" Zheng Zhilong asked.
Zheng Chenggong was silent. To be honest, he didn't think Sun Wu could do these two things. After all, his opponent was too powerful.
"The Grand Governor is different from the Crown Prince. Since he chose to go deep alone, he must have carefully considered it and must have a complete plan."
Zheng Chenggong said, but his tone was a bit weak, and he was obviously not very confident.
"Oh, I hope the Governor can return safely." Zheng Zhilong sighed.
Although Zheng Zhilong was defeated by Sun Wu many times, it was precisely because of this that he was convinced by Sun Wu. Naturally, he did not want a talented commander like Sun Wu to fall into the Chu Kingdom due to Sun Ce's mistakes.
Zheng Zhilong wanted to support Sun Wu, but Sun Wu asked him to guard Zhu County without any intention of asking him to support him. Moreover, he was afraid that if he led his army to Xiling, he would fall into Liu Xiu's scheme, so he still refused to listen to Sun Wu. I am staying in Zhu County honestly.
Zheng Zhilong looked in the direction of Xiling and murmured to himself: "Grand Governor, if it were you, I would definitely be able to do it."
On the other side, Liu Xiu, who went to rescue Xiling, had been paying attention to the happenings in Zhu County even though he had left the boundaries of Zhu County.
If Zheng Zhilong chooses to withdraw from Zhu County and return to Qichun after he withdraws his troops, Liu Xiu will not mind dedicating 5,000 troops to take over Zhu County and hunt down Zheng Zhilong and his son.
This possibility is not small. After all, Zhu County is not a fortified city like Qichun and Xunyang. It is of little significance for Zheng Zhilong to stay and defend it.
Liu Xiu was always disappointed when he rescued the prince. Sun Wu had already reached this point, so he arranged everything for Zheng Zhilong in advance so that he would not evacuate from Zhu County, which also made Liu Xiu's plan fail again.
Zheng Zhilong did not withdraw from Zhu County, and Xiling was in danger. Liu Xiu naturally would not take Xiling by force. The top priority should be to relieve the danger of Xiling first.
"Where is Guo Ziyi and Chai Rong?"
Upon hearing Liu Xiu's words, Guo Ziyi and Chai Rong immediately stood up, knelt down on one knee, and shouted: "The general is here."
"You two will each lead an army of 10,000. Guo Ziyi will go north to prevent Sun Wu from escaping back to Qichun. Chai Rong will go south to prevent Sun Wu from going south to the Yangtze River and escaping back to Jiangdong by water. I personally will lead an army of 20,000 in the middle to prevent Sun Wu from escaping back to Qichun. Flee back to Zhu County."
At this point, Liu Xiu's eyes flashed with a cold light, and he said coldly: "Sun Wu is the most famous general in Soochow. All the generals of Chu State, including me, have been defeated by him, but this time since he dares
If we come to Xiling alone, we must not let him escape alive and return to the general."
"No." All the generals said in unison.
Following Liu Xiu's order, the 40,000 Chu army began to divide into three, march towards Xiling from three directions, and surrounded Sun Wu like a fishing net, preparing to completely block Sun Wu's retreat.
Faced with a famous commander like Sun Wu, Liu Xiu would normally not dare to divide his troops, but Li Xin, the governor of Jiangxia, had already sent him a flying pigeon message, saying that the Wu army came in a hurry and did not bring large siege equipment.
A few days is no problem.
It was because of Li Xin's guarantee that Liu Xiu's goal changed from rescuing Xiling to rounding up Sun Wu and never allowing him to escape back to Jiangdong.
At the same time, outside Xiling City.
Sun Wu looked at the ten-meter-high city wall and the large and small defensive equipment on the city tower, and suddenly felt that his decision to raid Xiling was a bit hasty.
After Liu Xiu left, Xiling City was indeed empty, with no more than 3,000 defenders at most, but Xiling City itself was a fortified city, and it was not difficult for 3,000 defenders to defend it for several days.
Suddenly, Ling Cao ran over and reported:
"Grand Governor, Liu Xiu has withdrawn his troops from Zhu County, and divided his troops into three groups to surround Xiling from the north, south, and middle directions. They will arrive at Xiling in two days at most."
"What?"
Zhou Tai exclaimed, "If this is really the case, then their retreat will be cut off. The only option left is to capture Xiling and defend it, waiting for reinforcements from the rear."
But can the strong city of Xiling really be captured in two days?
Zhou Tai really didn't have much confidence in his heart.
Sun Wu was not panicked by the upcoming three-pronged Chu army. Instead, his attention fell on Liu Xiu's reaction speed.
"Liu Xiu came so quickly this time?"
A flash of light flashed in Sun Wu's eyes. After all, according to common sense, after they were exposed in Xiling, there would be at least a day's interval between when they received the news from Liu Xiu and when they made the decision to withdraw their troops to support Xiling.
But less than half a day later, Liu Xiu's army had already withdrawn.
What does it mean that Liu Xiu was so impatient to withdraw his troops?
This shows that besides Xiling, there are other important things in the city, which made Liu Xiu unable to accept the Wu army's attack on Xiling, so he withdrew his troops without much hesitation and deliberation.
What could be so important that Liu Xiu could not wait to withdraw his troops?
There is only Sun Ce.
Previously, Sun Wu only thought that Sun Ce was most likely to be in Xiling and was not sure, but Liu Xiu's reaction made him 100% sure that Sun Ce was definitely in Xiling City.
After General Sun Wu shared his analysis with the generals, all the generals were extremely excited. After all, compared to conquering cities and territories, knowing the prince Sun Ce was the most important.
Originally, Sun Wu was still hesitating whether to attack the city, but now that everyone knew that Sun Ce was in the city, he naturally had no choice but to attack the city.
After wandering outside Xiling City for a week, Sun Wu ordered to concentrate his forces to attack the south gate, because according to his observation, it was the least difficult to attack the city from the south gate.
Wu's army only has 10,000 troops. It is impossible to surround it on all sides, and it is impossible to surround three without one. Therefore, concentrating all the troops to attack one gate is the best plan.
After Sun Wu gave the order, Zhou Tai and Ling Tong each led 3,000 troops. Under Sun Wu's command, they launched a fierce attack on Xiling City.
After a day and night of fierce attacks, the Wu army lost more than a thousand soldiers, but still failed to capture Xiling.
The Wu army fought bravely, but after all, they did not have large-scale siege equipment. If they only relied on ladders and crossbows, even if Zhou Tai and Ling Tong participated in the battle in person, it would still be too difficult to break through Xiling.
When Li Xin saw that the Wu army had retreated, he felt relieved. He realized that he had boasted too early.
It is true that Wu Jun did not have large-scale engineering equipment, but Sun Wu was really very discerning. He paid attention to discovering loopholes in Xiling City's defense and made targeted arrangements.
If Li Xin had not been cautious and knew that Xiling's troops were empty and there would be loopholes in any arrangement, so he had stayed at the tower and defended the city himself, Xiling City would have been captured by Sun Wu in less than half a day.
Sun Wu's offensive was so powerful that Li Xin could only barely parry. He even wanted to push Sun Ce out and use him as a hostage to force Sun Wu to retreat.
But reason told Li Xin that he must not do this, because not only would it not be able to force Sun Wu to retreat, but it might actually encourage his offensive.
After all, he couldn't really kill Sun Ce, and Sun Wu must have known this, so if he really pushed Sun Ce out to threaten him, it might actually encourage the Wu army's offensive.
At dawn the next day, Li Xin thought that the Wu army would come to attack the city again, but he did not expect that Sun Wu would withdraw his troops on his own initiative.
Both Zhou Tai and Ling Tong were extremely puzzled by Sun Wu's decision. After all, their retreat had been cut off, and the top priority should be to attack Xiling in one go.
Faced with the confusion of the generals, Sun Wu explained it this way.
"Since we can't capture Xiling in one day, it will be the same in two days. It's better to make other preparations before Liu Xiu arrives."
A commander with a higher attribute than Sun Wu could not conquer Xiling in only two days at such an emergency, so he decided to withdraw his troops and start from other aspects.
On the other side, Liu Xiu was relieved when he learned that Sun Wu failed to attack Xiling and instead withdrew his troops from Xiling.
He had cut off Sun Wu's retreat and laid an extremely tight siege. If Sun Wu could not attack Xiling, where could he escape even if he wanted to?
"Haha, it's just a desperate struggle."
Liu Xiu sneered. He had suffered a lot at the hands of Sun Wu. Now that he had the opportunity to avenge his past humiliation, he would naturally not let go of this opportunity.
Liu Xiu was full of confidence in the siege net he had laid.
After all, 40,000 troops besieged 10,000 Chu troops, and the leaders, Guo Ziyi and Chai Rong, were both famous generals with outstanding abilities, and they also had strong generals to assist them.
This was also the time when Liu Xiu had the greatest advantage over Sun Wu. He didn't believe that Sun Wu could still escape despite this.
Two days later, Liu Xiu confidently prepared to launch a decisive battle and completely defeat Sun Wu, but unexpectedly received the news of Guo Ziyi's defeat.
"Report... Lord, General Guo Ziyi was ambushed by Sun Wu's army in Jueyun Territory. A total of more than 3,000 people were killed. General Wu Zhiqi was also seriously injured. At present, the North Route Army has retreated twenty miles.