When Liu Bei marched towards Pingyu County, the armies of the other seven counties were not idle either.
Yang Xu, the governor of Nanyang County, deeply hated Yuan Shu's arrogance. After receiving the order from the imperial court to march, he rushed into the battlefield of Runan County with a newly formed army of 5,000 troops. In the first battle, he successfully defeated Wufang County and won the victory.
A good start.
The second battle was somewhat difficult. The resistance in Aoyang County was relatively fierce. Yangxu led his troops to surround the county seat, cutting off internal and external water sources, and forcing the defenders in the city to surrender.
In this way, the defenders in the city persisted for three to five days. When they could no longer hold on, they killed the county magistrate who was a disciple of the Yuan family, and Kaicheng surrendered.
The third battle was even more difficult. Yuan's general Qiao Rui led 5,000 troops to guard Shangcai County. The goal was to cover the flanks of Pingyu County. Yang Xu led troops and Qiao Rui collided with each other. The two sides started a fierce battle in Shangcai County.
The victory continued, so the pace of the attack was delayed.
On the other side, the armies of Jiujiang County and Lujiang County united together and gathered a total of 10,000 troops. With Lu Kang, the governor of Lujiang County, as the main commander, they followed the court's order and marched north along Yingshui River to attack Shen County. Successfully
After conquering Shen County, they launched an attack on Ruyin County.
Ruyin County is a relatively important county. The person stationed in Ruyin County is Yuan Shu's subordinate Zhonglang General Liang Gang. Liang Gang led 5,000 soldiers who had just been forcibly recruited and did not even have complete weapons and equipment to defend Ruyin County. Facing the Lujiang River,
The 10,000 troops assembled by the county and Jiujiang County were somewhat overwhelmed.
Therefore, he could only defend the city and refused to fight. While asking Yuan Shu for reinforcements, he resisted desperately to buy time.
In the other direction, the 10,000-strong coalition of Xiapi State and Pengcheng State invaded Pei State from two directions, and started a battle with Yuan Shu's generals Zhang Xun and Ji Ling. There was not much difference in the strength of the two sides, so near Xiangxian County
It became a stalemate.
But overall, Yuan Shu's troops do not have an advantage.
Because they did not govern the country well after they captured the country of Pei, but continued to plunder the supplies and property of the country of Pei, and plundered the local people, so the people of the country of Pei were not willing to support Yuan Shu's rule.
So when the official army attacked, they mostly provided support to the armies of Pengcheng State and Xiapi State, and even formed a team of rural warriors to help the official army destroy the logistics route of Yuan Shu's army, so that Yuan Shu's army lacked military supplies.
Zhang Xun and Ji Ling saw that the army lacked supplies and could not fight for a long time. They were very worried and wanted to retreat. The retreat was also very dangerous. They could only send people to Yuan Shu for help, hoping to receive reinforcements.
Otherwise, they wouldn't even have the confidence to escape.
On several battlefields, Yuan Shu's army was in a state of being suppressed and beaten. Only on the battlefield of Chen State, Yuan Shu's army rarely became stronger, and the two sides were actually evenly matched.
The reason is very simple. The person who led the military on the battlefield of Chen State was Sun Jian.
And his opponent is Cheng Pu.
His former subordinate.
But now, the two have equal positions.
Before the troops left Luoyang, Cheng Pu was still a captain in Wuyang. After the military reform in Luoyang, Liu Bei promoted Cheng Pu to the rank of Tianxing Zhonglang General.
And Sun Jian is now also the Zhonglang General - the Polu Zhonglang General.
The battlefield where the two lieutenants faced each other was quite interesting.
Cheng Pu was originally still participating in military training in Luoyang and was very busy. When he suddenly received the appointment, because the army had not been reorganized, he could only take the reorganized battalion to Chenliu County to help Zhang Miaotong, who was not trained in military affairs.
soldiers.
This time, the armies of Chenliu County and Liang State both had a mission, which was to recover the fallen Chen State. So when Liang Guoxiang saw Cheng Pu coming, he simply handed over his own army to Cheng Pu, hoping that Cheng Pu could complete this task.
.
Cheng Pu also took over the command of the army without hesitation.
Sun Jian, on the other hand, has not left since he defeated Chen State. He has always been stationed here, plundering resources to meet his and Yuan Shu's needs.
It's not that he has any greedy thoughts, it's purely to obtain more resources to strengthen his army and make himself a more powerful faction.
Yuan Shu promised that if he captured Chen Guo, he would become the prime minister of Chen Guo. After winning a few more battles, he would promote Sun Jian to be the governor of Yuzhou and make him the governor of a state.
So Sun Jian worked very hard.
This time he went to his hometown and the Huaisi area to recruit troops. He once again recruited a lot of soldiers and brought some trustworthy tribesmen with him. After Han Dang and Cheng Pu left, Sun Jian became less and less trusting of outsiders. He felt that he was the only one.
You and your hometown are worthy of trust.
He brought his younger brother Sun Jing and his eldest son Sun Ce and let them serve in the army.
This time, Sun Jian commanded more than 10,000 troops. In addition to the troops originally assigned to him by Yuan Shu, there were also troops he recruited himself, as well as soldiers who were captured and surrendered after the Chen Kingdom was defeated, and soldiers who were forcibly recruited.
Local soldiers of Chen State.
Sun Jian didn't think there was anything wrong with him killing an opposing clan king. Anyway, there were so many clan kings in the Han Empire, and the death of one or two was not a big deal. Coupled with his hatred for Liu Bei, his brain twitched.
Kill Liu Chong.
After killing Liu Chong, he immediately began to expand his army and prepare for war, but he just felt that from a military point of view, this would definitely lead to attacks from the court and other places, so he needed to take precautions in advance. Not having enough troops on hand would not work.
Among the army of more than 10,000 people, the most elite and most worthy of his trust are Huaisi, a soldier from Jiangdong.
This group of people was small in number, less than 2,000 people, but they received the best equipment and food treatment. They were personally led by Sun Jing and his son Sun Ce, as the absolute elite and leading soldiers under his command. In addition to the other troops
Both in terms of equipment and treatment, they are inferior to his own soldiers.
The main force against Cheng Pu this time was his disciples.
To be honest, Cheng Pu had imagined a reunion with Sun Jian countless times, but he never thought that he would be able to fully and face-to-face with Sun Jian on the battlefield so soon.
The governor of Chenliu and the Prime Minister of Liang both handed over the army to the command of Cheng Pu. They themselves retreated to the second line to provide logistics for Cheng Pu. They did not interfere at all in the military and did not want to assume any military responsibilities.
Before, Cheng Pu had worried about whether he could deal with Sun Jian, because he knew Sun Jian's old master's military capabilities better, but this time, Liu Bei seemed to have intentionally given this task to him, and did not give him much.
Send soldiers.
He knew that this was Liu Bei's test for him.
In the past, he will definitely be a general in the future. If he cannot survive, he may end up with the status of Zhonglang General.
Sun Jian, the person he once admired and trusted but who ultimately made him feel disillusioned and hated, he must overcome the past no matter what. If he cannot overcome the past, he will have no future.
This is a task assigned to him by Liu Bei, and a task assigned to himself by himself.
After the joint military operation of the eight counties was launched, Cheng Pu's troops crossed the county boundary of Chenliu County and entered the Chen Kingdom boundary, confronting the troops sent by Sun Jian across the waves.
Opposite Langshui is Yangxia County and Chen County, the northern barrier of Sun Jian's command headquarters.
By breaking through here, Cheng Pu can lead his troops directly to Yangxia County, and Lang Shui itself does not have any strong hindrance ability, so Cheng Pu is not too worried because of Lang Shui's existence.
He knew that Sun Jian grew up in Jiangdong and was good at water warfare, but he had also heard Sun Jian say that the water in the north of the Yangtze River was very different from the water in the south of the Yangtze River. The water in the north of the Yangtze River was not as abundant and easy to carry people as the water in the south of the Yangtze River, so Sun Jian always felt that his
Water warfare skills cannot be used in Jiangbei.
But despite this, Cheng Pu also knew that even if Sun Jian did not engage in water battles, he was capable of serious field battles and city offensive and defensive battles. He was very brave in fighting each other.
Therefore, he planned the water-crossing operation very carefully. After conducting reconnaissance on all sides and confirming that there were no ambushes, he ordered a commando team composed of soldiers familiar with water properties to launch a river-crossing operation and engage in water battles with the enemy forces on the south bank of Langshui.
The two sides fought fiercely. After some fighting, Cheng Pu's troops gained the upper hand because of their larger numbers.
On the opposite side, his opponent Sun Jing retreated slightly due to lack of troops, gave up this meaningless water defense line, and instead entered Yangxia County for city defense operations.
More than half a month ago, after Sun Jian learned that troops from Chenliu County had arrived at the border, he began to plan defensive operations, vigorously manage Yangxia County, and strengthen the county walls.
After Cheng Pu led his troops through Langshui, he discovered that although Yangxia County was not a big city, it was not easy to break through easily.
Fortunately, before setting off, Liu Bei equipped Cheng Pu with three trebuchet units, so Cheng Pu set up three trebuchets outside the city and used fire oil tanks and rocks to blast the city wall, causing serious damage to the defenders on the city.
Certain blow and deterrence.
However, because there is only one battalion of the elite main force, most of the troops are temporary soldiers recruited by Chenliu County and Liang State. Their combat effectiveness and quality in all aspects are far inferior to Liu Bei's well-organized Central Han Army, so the siege
The efficiency is relatively low.
Moreover, in terms of specific military operations, due to insufficient training, there was no mutual trust that prevailed within the Central Han Army. As a result, after Cheng Pu got used to the internal command system of the Central Han Army, he still had difficulty in commanding this new army.
Strongly unaccustomed.
After issuing an order, the anxiety and uncertainty of not being able to confirm whether the army could immediately carry out the order swept through Cheng Pu's heart and made him uneasy.
All kinds of awkwardness and unaccustomedness made him deeply feel the huge difference between Liu Bei's army and other armies. It also made him, who was used to playing high-end games, realize the differences in the world.
Not all armies are the Central Han Army, and not all officers are willing to invest so many resources in the army.
However, relying on the good military literacy cultivated through further study within the Liu Bei Group, Cheng Pu, a half-way monk from the Banla academic school, still managed to control this temporarily formed miscellaneous army, led them to the battlefield, and defeated Sun Jing.
The method is also very simple - throw away money.
Anyway, there is only one good way to deal with these unorganized and disciplined soldiers without adequate training and to make them obey orders and perform effectively, which is to give them money.
Make a promise before the war, pay a deposit, fulfill the promise after the war, and give rewards. After a few back and forth, basic mutual trust is established, and the soldiers' sense of belonging to the officers is initially established.
We are all ordinary people living in a colorful world. Don't mention those elegant things. Let's talk about money first. Once the money is in place, we can then talk about other things. If the money is not in place, there is no need to talk about other things. We don't care.
If the money is not enough, the crossbowmen will fire three arrows before the battle, but there will be no fourth arrow. They will even shout three times with the flow, and then wait for the enemy to rush over, they will turn around and run away. Such armies are also common.
.
This is true for technical arms, and it is also true for hand-to-hand combat troops. If they are not given enough money, they will really turn around and run away when faced with powerful enemies. In the end, the general will have to race with them to see who is faster and can survive longer.
The survival wisdom of a big-headed soldier is sometimes a sign of death for a general. Cheng Pu, who grew up from the bottom, can tell which is more important.
So in Yangxia County, Cheng Pu basically suppressed Sun Jing in the fight. Sun Jing, who was just starting out and had no combat experience, was no match for Cheng Pu. When faced with dangerous situations several times, he risked his life and brought his trusted friend Jiang Dong with him.
The soldiers saved him.
After fighting for several days, Sun Jing was injured in three places, half of Jiangdong's soldiers were killed, and the rest were all wounded. Sun Jing believed that one day, he would not be able to defend the city.
Fortunately, after holding on for five days, Sun Jian finally arrived with reinforcements.