Sun Li's army had been ordered to withdraw to the north bank of the river, and defended itself on both sides of the river near the mouth of Mianshui River.
The enemy soldiers coming up from the river were Bu Chan's troops. Sun Li had already seen the Bu family's flag on the boat. The Bu family should have a good relationship with Zhu Ran. In order to rescue Zhu Ran, Bu Chan's army launched another attack from the water.
An attack.
Wu's navy was fast and could land quickly (the ships at this time were all flat-bottomed boats, including sea-going ships), but Sun Li arrived in time every time, repelled the Wu soldiers, and forced them to reboard the ship and escape.
.
Except for a pile of corpses and wounded soldiers left by the river, nothing on either side changed.
At this time, Sun Li rushed to the front and saw the scene in front of him. He couldn't help but feel sad. He looked at the river and sighed with emotion.
Humanity is kind but does not command troops. Sun Li has been leading troops all year round and has experienced countless battles, big and small, but he has never been cruel. A few years ago in the Battle of Shaopi, Sun Li's army suffered heavy casualties. He once shed tears of sadness and wrote the emperor's
The rewards were distributed to the families of the fallen soldiers.
The sound of fighting has stopped, but only the river water remains. In the howling northwest wind, waves of water hit the river bank one after another, washing away the corpses. The cold river water moved the corpses into the water little by little. The river wind
It seemed to be mixed with the smell of blood.
The soldiers cleaning the battlefield moved slowly and scatteredly on the battlefield, bending down to pick up things from time to time, with slow movements, as if they were scavengers.
Sun Li turned around and said, "Send people to bury all the fallen soldiers on both sides."
The general replied: "Here."
Sun Li also dismounted and led the horse to walk slowly nearby. At this moment, he found a living person. When he got closer, he saw that it was a Wu soldier. The Wu soldier was sitting next to a corpse.
, covering his abdomen with one hand, both hands were stained with blood. Under his fingers, a bloody intestine could be seen. Wu Bing was in a state of depression, and his lips were white and peeling due to blood loss. It took him a while to realize that someone was approaching.
, raised his head and looked at Sun Li blankly.
"Alas!" Sun Li sighed, took out a water bag from his horse, and handed it to Zhang Hui, the general of the private army next to him. Zhang Hui stepped forward and put the water close to the enemy soldier's mouth. The enemy soldier moved slightly.
After a while, he took a hurried breath, and sighed "ha", as if he had found a small amount of satisfaction in the pain.
Zhang Fei put away the water bag, pulled out the Huanshou knife from his waist, and said, "I'll give you a good time."
Wu Bing did not resist, and Zhang Hui pressed the Huanshou knife against his chest. After a moment, he let out a muffled groan and was completely relieved.
...Over Jiangling City, the sky gradually dimmed, the trebuchets that had been roaring all day stopped, and the Wei soldiers who filled the river also stopped working. The fighting inside and outside the city has also stopped. But there is still a noise in the south of the city, and there is a burst of noise.
A burst of shouts.
Veteran general Zhu Ran was standing on the dilapidated rammed earth wall in the city, speaking impassionedly and angrily.
There were people gathered around, including armored soldiers, civilians, and even old, weak, women and children. Some people were listening to Zhu Ran's speech and shouted in agreement, while more people looked at the generals high up with blank expressions.
.
Zhu Ran loudly said: "The grievances of the people of Xuzhou are still there! Cao Wei's soldiers were extremely cruel, killing, raping, killing and plundering without hesitation. Once the enemy soldiers break the city, none of the soldiers and people will be spared. At this time, only the army and the people are united,
If you fight hard against the enemy, you will have a way out."
Some soldiers shouted: "Kill! Kill Cao Wei!"
But more people had no reaction at all and looked numb. Looking at Zhu Ran dancing on it, they might have thought he was singing an opera.
Those peasants who were driven back to the city from the manor in the north of Jiangling usually did not even have enough to eat, and some of them were even in rags. The population in various places has hardly increased for decades, and the generals still have to think about plundering Wei.
population to supplement manpower. In days like this, even if Zhu Ran talked about it, the people would remain expressionless.
But people did not dare to say anything and could only stand silently in the crowd, while the soldiers were filled with indignation and their shouts covered everything up.
So Zhu Ran continued to say loudly: "When Cao Wei's soldiers fill up the moat, we will go to the city to fight with them! The soldiers will fight to the death, the people will use rolling stones to hit them, the women and children will carry arrows, wood and stones, and the whole people will be soldiers. Jiangling City will fight to the end.
One soldier died. I swear to the death to coexist with Jiangling City."
A military general took the lead, and all the soldiers shouted: "We will live or die with the city!"
Zhu Ran boosted his morale, then left the rammed earth wall and led the group to leave.
The noise stopped, and there were faint groans of pain inside the wall, and the cries dispersed in the dim air. The incomplete city walls and towers gradually turned into black shadows everywhere, and those erratic voices were like ghosts.
, wandering among the ruins.
...The shouts in the city could even be heard in the Wei army camp outside the city. Wang Ling, who was inspecting the wounded soldiers, listened to the shouts of the enemy soldiers in the city, and his heart became heavier and heavier.
The Wei soldiers outside Jiangling City, except for the last time they rushed into the city gate and suffered an ambush, many people died; other times, there were very few deaths, because they had not yet reached the stage of ant attack. However, many people were injured, mostly
Arrow wound.
Wang Ling looked around, asking the various soldiers and generals, carefully asking whether there was enough medicine, cloth, and food. He left the dilapidated village only after dark.
A group of generals and counselors followed them out. Wang Ling climbed on his horse and turned around and said: "Send those wounded soldiers back to Xiangyang as soon as possible to recuperate. There is no benefit in staying in the army and wasting their supplies."
Wang Shen said: "Lu Kang has occupied Han Envoy's camp and is harassing the roads in the northeast. We should send troops first to drive Lu Kang away to prevent the carriages and horses transporting wounded soldiers from being robbed."
Wang Ling nodded in agreement.
After Han Guan was attacked and defeated, Lu Kang's few men could not completely cut off the Wei army's food route, but they only waited for opportunities to attack and harass the Wei army, causing greater transportation losses to the Wei army.
Because the Wu army lacks cavalry, it cannot move as fast as the wind. According to estimates by Wang Ling and others, the Wu army is extremely short of horses. The proportion of cavalry in most armies is only about one-twentieth. Lu Kang has thousands of people and horses, and the cavalry can only be two.
Three hundred is not bad. Therefore, Lu Kang has been very careful, fearing that he will fall into a trap and be ambushed.
However, leaving Lu Kang there was always a threat, as the baggage on the road would be robbed at some point.
Wang Chen's voice said: "General Sun blocked Bu Chan and did a good job."
Pei Xiu said: "General Sun has a lot of experience in guarding the west. If someone else is to guard the west, I'm afraid something will go wrong again. Letting General Sun continue to garrison at Shuikou is the safest way."
Wang Chen muttered: "Lu Xun is a famous general of the Wu Kingdom. Now it seems that Lu Kang has also received the true inheritance from his father and is good at the art of war."
When Wang Ling heard this, he said: "We have to ask Wen Shu (Wang Chang) to personally lead the troops to capture the camp on Xia Shui River, expel the land resistance army early, and beware of more enemy troops arriving from the direction of Xiakou."
After hearing this, everyone agreed.
Lu Kang is in the east and Bu Chan is in the west. As the war drags on, enemy troops are gradually increasing from both wings in the direction of Zhijiang City in the west and Xia Shui in the east. The Wei army will also divide its troops, and the battle line will become longer and longer.
Even if the Wei army has nearly 100,000 troops, it is not enough. After all, besieging a big city like Jiangling requires a large number of troops.
Wang Ling suppressed his worries and did not show it too obviously. The situation of this battle was more difficult than he had imagined.
This is not the first time that Wei has attacked Jiangling City. Cao Zhen has been here before, and coincidentally, Zhu Ran was also defending the city that time. This time, the Wei army's siege force was very strong, including troops, trebuchets, etc., but it was still called
Zhu Ran held on tightly... I think back to the last time Cao Zhen was defeated unjustly. That time Cao Zhen could only rely on ants to attack the city, resulting in greater casualties, let alone capture Jiangling City.
Zhu Ran is indeed an old turtle, very good at defending the city!
As soon as Wang Ling returned to the Chinese army camp, he met a close confidant, Lao Kun.
Lao Kun was a disciple of the Wang family and a native of Qi County. He had been with the Wang family for many years. At this time, Lao Kun was already the governor of Lujiang County. When Wang Ling saw this man, before he spoke, he immediately knew that Lao Kun must be under the influence of Wang Feixiao.
Order to come.
Several people then entered the Chinese army's tent. As expected, Lao Kun presented Wang Feixiao's letter.
After Wang Ling read the slips, he immediately asked: "Gong Yi wants to attack Zhuge Ke?"
Lao Kun said: "Zhuge Ke sent people to provoke and insult every day, and all the generals in the army were very angry. The two armies had been confronting each other for a long time. Our army has discovered the situation of the water thieves. Zhuge Ke has at most 30,000 to 40,000 troops.
And most of them are Shanyue barbarians. Those barbarians have no armor, only shields, and are very crude. In addition to Wang Dudu (Wang Feixiao), General Hu and General Lu also agree to attack Zhuge Ke."
Pei Xiu said on the side: "The terrain of Dongguan is complicated. Our strategy beforehand was to feint attack on the eastern front. We must be cautious when changing our strategy temporarily."
Lao Kun said: "On the west side of Ruxu River is Ruxu Mountain. The two earthen cities built by Zhuge Ke are both on Ruxu Mountain. Our army does not intend to attack the city, but to lure the enemy with siege. When Zhuge Ke leads his troops to reinforce
, and then defeat the enemy with formation battle."
Wang Ling frowned and thought, but did not say anything in a hurry. He is a general, and his decision is made when he expresses his stance.
However, Wang Ling was indeed a little moved. On the Jingzhou side, Zhu Ran could not retreat and defended the city. Looking at the situation, it would be difficult to capture Jiangling City before the spring tide. Wang Ling had already lost confidence.
It stands to reason that as long as the battle continues, a city will be captured sooner or later, but Jiangling is located on the bank of the river, and the Wei army is limited by time, so there is no way.
If Wang Feixiao can make some gains on the eastern front at this time, then the results of this year's massive military deployment will not be too ugly! After all, Pei Xiu's plan of "making a sound in the east and attacking in the west" has not been made public. Most people inside and outside the court only saw the Wei army.
It's just a three-line attack.
In addition, Wang Ling felt that the second son Wang Feixiao still had battle experience and had led troops in Huainan for a long time, so he was not Han Guan's kind of person.
If Wang Feixiao is Wang Ling's son, Wang Ling's opinion will be biased; then Hu Zhi is not a relative of Wang Ling. Hu Zhi, the governor of Qingxu, is also a talented man.
, have done a good job, and are also experienced veterans.
Therefore, Wang Ling still believed in Hu Zhi and Wang Feixiao's knowledge.