Under the torrential rain, the sky and the earth were vast. It seemed that someone from heaven really had a message. As the dragons and tigers in the world competed with each other and murderous intentions occurred, the dawn of the day appeared a few minutes earlier than before.
But even so, the sky was still dark and dull.
Until there was a muffled "bang" of thunder, and the gloomy sky suddenly lit up!
At the same time, Sun Ce in the handsome tent suddenly opened his eyes. The carefree and leisurely surroundings that were surrounding him a moment ago were all dispersed. Instead, they were replaced by waves stacked one on top of another like the roaring waves of the angry sea.
The earth-shaking murderous intention, along with his knife-like eyes, surged towards the head of Shu County City.
"Siege the city!"
After the general gave the order, the officers and soldiers of the three armies all set out to camp. They saw banners for ten miles, covering the sky and the earth. In addition to a few mountains of earth that were almost piled up to the height of the city wall, various flying towers, ladders and city climbing vehicles were lined up in a row, stretching like a long snake.
, all crowded on the south side of the city wall, with dozens of trebuchets behind to protect them, and countless rams, hook rams, wooden ox carts, hungry falcon carts, rides and other equipment, either attacking the city gates or assisting
The city boarding car kills and injures the guards at close range.
If you look down from the top of the city, you will see that between the vast sky and the earth, at least tens of thousands of Sun Ce's troops, armed with armor and holding troops, are waiting in formation. They are as dark as dark clouds, and you can't see the edge at a glance. They have turned into a huge wave of people, carrying them with them.
With earth-shaking killing cries, they launched an endless charge against Shucheng.
In the torrential rain, those at the front quickly began to attack the city, followed by countless reinforcements. Between the forward and the backup, there were hundreds of warriors with cold faces, carrying their horses, isolating the two sides.
.
At this moment, the purpose of resisting the horse was not to deal with the enemy, but to prevent his own soldiers from retreating, because Sun Ce and the generals were mentally prepared from the beginning. Such a tough attack on the city in the rain would definitely result in many casualties.
There are bound to be retreats.
But they did not allow the soldiers to retreat, and they also wanted all the soldiers to know that there was only one way to survive, and it was only in the city!
On this day in Shu County, from dawn to dusk, the shouts and screams of murder never stopped for a moment and could not be heard without interruption.
At this time, in the city, Wang Zheng, Zhou Hui and others were also fully clothed and went to the top of the city in person.
Speaking of which, although Wang Zheng has participated in many battles since the uprising, he has rarely personally directed the siege of the city. He is either a party to the siege, or he has assumed the responsibility of long-distance rescue, such as within the territory.
This was the case in several major city defense battles, whether Wen Chou attacked Kaiyang or Yuan Tan attacked Fenggao.
Therefore, when the two armies really started their offensive and defensive confrontation, Wang Zheng did not rely too much on himself. In addition to using his past attack on Linzi yesterday as an example to remind everyone to be more vigilant, Wang Zheng wanted to strengthen defenses. Later, he asked Zhou Hui to serve as the defender.
He is the actual commander-in-chief of the city, and he only observes from the sidelines.
Zhou Hui was not polite and asked him to select 500 elite soldiers from the Tianzhu camp and put them at the top of the city. If there was an emergency, he would immediately order generals and give them small flags to go to the rescue. Those who had great achievements in killing the enemy, or
The front line will be promoted or rewarded. The herald will shout in unison to let the entire city's defenders know.
Then the voices of retribution kept coming and going.
"Bing Battalion retreated from the enemy three times in half an hour and attacked three times! Dubo so-and-so will be credited with merit once. Chief so-and-so will receive a certain number of heads and a certain amount of reward..."
Before the words were finished, another shout of victory was announced: "So-and-so in Ding Ying, a member of Du Bo, the grand thief, was killed in formation. He will be rewarded with a certain amount of money for each merit, and he will be promoted to Du Bo..."
When the war was at its peak, on the several-mile-long south city wall, there were sounds of rewards and merits everywhere, both inside and outside. They were mixed together and swayed upwards in the wind, swept up into the sky. Then they fell down again, accompanied by the cold rain, and scattered throughout the city. There were even more.
The officials in the city organized thousands of civilians to transport supplies to the city or pull away the wounded from the city. Tao Ze specially selected the loudest people from the army, about 200 of them, who did nothing.
To celebrate the victory, they immediately responded to the sound below the city, shouting and cheering: "Good!"
Wang Zheng and Sun Ce fought against each other for nearly half a month. After a battle of wits, they finally came to the most frontal battle of bravery.
...
To the north of the Lujiang River, the Tianzhu Mountains span half of Lujiang County.
The sky water covered with dust was blurred, and the wind and rain seemed to be mockingly getting stronger. Huang Zhong wiped his face randomly, reined in his horse and looked at it for a while. His appearance was calm, but he was also a little irritable in his heart.
The rain was so fierce that even a skilled archer like him could not see farther than a hundred steps.
It had been many days since they met up with Wang Xiong's tribe outside the city and went to the northwest of Lujiang. Hundreds of their originally more than 3,000 troops had been killed in battle.
There was no way around it. Although he had been prepared for it and had a brave general like Huang Zhong, he successfully broke out of the siege. However, several ambushes by Sun Ce's army still caused some damage.
Under such circumstances, and with Wang Xiong bringing Wang Zheng's instructions, after they walked out of the Tianzhu Mountains, they did not immediately launch an offensive against the cities captured by Cheng Pu. Instead, they hid near the foot of the mountain and made inquiries while
Long Shu's current situation, while trying his best to recruit Liu Xun's remaining defeated soldiers.
The Yangzhou army guarding the north of Lujiang River was divided into two parts. One part was naturally Liu Xun's private soldiers who were directly under his command, and the other part was officials and soldiers who were close to Yuan Shu.
Many of the former were from the Xuzhou Army (Liu Xun was from Langya), while the latter were mostly locals. After the defeat, they either scattered back home or went into hiding in the mountains. It was not easy to recruit them directly, so Huang Zhong and Wang
After Xiong discussed it, he decided to recruit Liu Xun's private soldiers under the banner of Wang Zheng, the current Xuzhou Mu. Not to mention, the effect was good. In the past ten days, he had recalled 2,000 troops, and some bandits and bandits were also heard.
When the wind came, nearly a thousand people gathered together. Of course, these people also came for Wang Zheng's banner, but it was because of his Tiangong General, Huang Jinqu Shuai, who had not been publicized for a long time.
Identity.
So now, Huang Zhong and Wang Xiong have about 5,000 troops in the bronze belt, including more than 2,000 cavalry and nearly 3,000 infantry. It seems that their military strength is better than when they first left the city, but neither Huang Zhong nor Wang Xiong
But he knew very well that among these newly joined infantry, whether they were Liu Xun's remnants or the bandits, their role was only to build momentum. In other words, if they really wanted to attack the city,
When opening up the road, you still have to rely on your own Heavenly Army headquarters.
At the same time, Cheng Pu in Wancheng also received a notice from Sun Ce. Knowing that a group of Xuzhou troops had come to the territory, he sent out sentries to investigate the surroundings. This situation led to the fact that although the main forces of the two sides had not fought so far, their respective outposts
Qi Kou has been involved in several direct fights.
Needless to say, the result is natural.
Not to mention the Jiangdong Army, which is not good at riding and shooting, even the Youzhou Cavalry, which is the most famous in the world today, may not be able to get an advantage from the third-order iron cavalry when a few people are fighting.
The annihilation force forced the sentry cavalry sent by Cheng Pu to continuously expand in size, from a team of five to ten or dozens...
In the end, it was even exaggerated to the point where the inquiring sentinel knights actually wanted a group of hundreds of people to safely leave the city!
Wang Xiong was naturally elated as the brothers performed with great force, but Huang Zhong knew that these consecutive victories actually had advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is naturally that the morale of the entire team is high. Even the newly joined defeated soldiers and bandits have a little more confidence. But the disadvantage... is naturally that seeing the Xuzhou Army's combat power is so arrogant, later on
It became increasingly difficult to lure Cheng Pu out of the city to fight in the wild.
Thinking of this, Huang Zhong couldn't help but look toward the southeast for a long time, and said to Wang Xiong: "Brother Wang, it's been raining heavily for several days. I wonder what the situation is like in Shu County?"
"The rain is so heavy, I expected that Sun Ce's offensive would be stopped for a while." Wang Xiong raised his face as raindrops fell on his cheeks. He took a long, cool breath and said after a pause: "General and the raindrops fell on his cheeks.
Brothers in the city may have some rest, which is a good thing."
Huang Zhong nodded: "This is expected to be the case. I heard the sentry riders say that since it started to rain, they have not been searching for the shadow of the enemy riders in the past few days."
There was no other way. With insufficient troops and no understanding of the enemy's situation, Huang Zhong was unwilling to have a head-on conflict with Cheng Pu's army in advance. Therefore, even if the sentinel cavalry repeatedly gained the upper hand against the Heavenly Army, whenever the two armies were about to meet, Huang Zhong
He will immediately move his troops and horses to the station.
Wang Xiong heard the words and glanced at the army stretching behind him, thought for a while and said: "The general ordered me and I to go to the north of Lujiang River to recruit the defeated soldiers first, and then fight again. So far we have recruited more than 3,000 troops. Although it is not
Even if it’s too much, I’m afraid it’s the limit in a short period of time. General Huang, in my opinion, why not just recuperate your strength in the past few days and officially launch an offensive once the rain stops?”
Huang Zhong fell into thinking after hearing this.
He looked around behind him. In the dense wind and rain, the team of five thousand people stretched like a long snake. He was secretly glad that it was not autumn or winter at this time, otherwise he would inevitably be infected with wind and cold under such rain.
However, even in the middle of summer, the feeling of being soaked all over the body is not pleasant. The Heavenly Army's strong physique is better, but the new recruits are not so good. Everyone is shrinking and sneezing from time to time.
It really can't be delayed...
Thinking of this, Huang Zhong looked up at Wang Xiong and expressed a different opinion: "It will be too late until the rain stops."
Wang Xiong was startled: "How do you say this?"
Huang Zhong said in a deep voice: "Ten days ago, Cheng Pu's sentry cavalry discovered our traces for the first time, and they will definitely report back to Sun Ce. If reinforcements are sent, they may be on the road at this time. As the saying goes, things will change if we are too late, this is one of them."
"Brother Wang, it seems that the rain will continue for a few more days. Our army can certainly use this opportunity to build up physical strength. Cheng Pu can also use this opportunity to repair and build up county defenses. Every time our soldiers recover a point of physical strength, they must
The difficulty of retaking the cities is also increasing, and our army cannot gain any advantage because of this, and that's the second reason."
"Moreover, the ground will be difficult to travel after the rain. Our more than 2,000 cavalry troops will have no place to use them. The enemy has a strong city, and our army cannot move. We attack the city with our shortcomings and attack the enemy's strong points.
.Do twice the result with half the effort..."
Having said this, Huang Zhong made a categorical judgment: "So in my opinion, if we want to launch an offensive and attack the city, it is better to launch an offensive and attack the city now than after the rain!"
"Now..." Wang Xiong's eyes widened and he gasped: "With the rain so heavy, the march is already difficult, but we still have to attack the city?"
Huang Zhong laughed: "Brother Wang followed the lord earlier than me. Everyone has heard about the Battle of Linzi. How could you, a participant, forget it? Under this heavy rain, the enemy also thought that we would not
When attacking a city at this time, one must lower one's guard. Isn't that just in line with the principle of taking the enemy by surprise and attacking him unprepared?"
"this..."
Wang Xiong happened to meet him during the battle in Linzi. He had no words to retort, and after a moment of silence he said: "Then where should we attack first? Wancheng?"
"otherwise."
Huang Zhong shook his head and immediately ordered his soldiers to take out the map of Lujiang and spread it on the spot. He pointed with slightly narrowed eyes and said: "Wancheng is a county government. The city has high walls and strong walls. As time passes by the thieves, it will return to the old situation. It can be concluded that
Now that Cheng Pu's main force is stationed in this city, no matter how brave our soldiers are, it may not be possible to capture them quickly. What I mean is to attack Long Shu first!"
"Long Shu?"
"Exactly, after Cheng Pu killed Liu Xun, he led his army back to Wancheng, but left a thousand men to garrison. Now under the heavy rain, both delivering news and sending troops to rescue are much slower. This is extremely beneficial to us.
situation, so I thought that if we want to launch an offensive, the first battle should be here!"
Longshu is located to the north of Wancheng. In fact, the straight-line distance is not too far, only two hundred miles away. But the key point is that Longshu is deep into the Tianzhu Mountains. It is a mountainous area. There is only one official road that allows cavalry to pass.
, it would be enough to rush for two or three days on weekdays, but now when it rains and the roads are muddy and difficult to walk, the iron cavalry are a little reluctant, let alone other ordinary cavalry, so if Wancheng rushes for reinforcements, it will not only take twice as long, but the cavalry will leave directly.
No more.
An extra two or three days may be the key to defeating the enemy, and may even defeat Qian County behind Long Shu!
Huang Zhong added: "There is another advantage in defeating Longshu. General Wu's troops entered Lujiang from Yuzhou. There are no two routes to go south. One is to take Yangquan and pass through Qianxian, and the other is to take Anfeng and pass through Liu'an. No matter which one,
We can all find it in Longshu, so that the two armies can join forces."
Wang Xiong said: "General Huang, although this plan has advantages, it also has disadvantages. If we rush to Longshu now, we still have to walk two to three hundred miles. If five thousand soldiers arrive at the city in the wind and rain, they will inevitably be defeated. This disadvantage
One; the movement of such a large number of soldiers and horses is not small, and it will definitely attract Cheng Pu's attention. What should be done if troops are sent to pursue? The second disadvantage: and we are already short of food and grass, even if Cheng Pu's pursuers are not afraid, we can
The lonely army is trapped in the enemy's territory. What should we do if the city of Longshu is strong and cannot be evacuated in a hurry? The city is difficult to conquer and the pursuers are coming. May I ask, general, what should our army do? This is the third disadvantage."
Huang Zhong waved his hands and said: "What Brother Wang said is true, but in my opinion, these three disadvantages can be eliminated."
"Oh?" Wang Xiong asked sideways, "How to break it?"
Huang Zhong stood up, raised his head and said: "Let's divide the army into two groups. Brother Wang will lead the infantry along the way and a thousand cavalry. He will put up more flags to show his momentum, and use my military flag to attack Wancheng;"
"As for my side, we will lead the remaining two thousand cavalry, silence our flags, take a small road, and rush to Longshu. Taking advantage of the darkness, Cheng Pu will most likely be confused by this sheep attack, thinking that we are trying to complete the victory in one battle, and directly attack
Take Wancheng!"
"This is a plank road built openly to cross Chencang secretly..." Wang Xiong understood clearly: "How can two thousand cavalry defeat the city! Isn't the general's plan too risky?"
"Soldiers are inherently dangerous, and battle formations are inherently dangerous." Huang Zhong said solemnly: "I have always admired Brother Wang for his wisdom and bravery, but I don't agree with what I just said. Why can't two thousand cavalry capture the city?
"
"The Lord once said that in war, the strong will never win, only the winner will be strong!"
"Moreover, these two thousand cavalry are such a force. They are elite warriors gifted by the lord, and they are victorious in every battle. Therefore, the most important thing in a soldier is quality, not quantity. A mere dragon is more than enough!"
At this time, Wang Xiong also understood that Huang Zhong had made up his mind. To put it bluntly, Huang Zhong's official position was higher than his, and he was the coach appointed by Wang Zheng. The other party's polite discussion with him was based on his qualifications and his status as a direct descendant of Qingzhou.
That's all, not to mention that his analysis was not unreasonable, so he no longer objected: "Since General Huang has the courage to go deep into the army alone and rain rain on Long Shu, he should wave the flag with all his strength."
"General, please rest assured and move forward bravely. As long as I have a breath, I will make it difficult for Cheng Pu to make any progress in Anhui City!"
As the saying goes, heroes think alike.
Under a rare continuous heavy rain, two current tiger generals, one young and one old, on the east and west sides of the Lujiang River, unexpectedly made a plan to seize the city in the rain!