Sun Quan did not expect that Yan Liang could be so calm and save the Lian Nu for the last moment.
Watching Ling Cao retreat hastily and attack the ship forward, Sun Quan was shocked and even a little embarrassed.
His own hair was also cut off, and Han Dang was shot to death. In the end, instead of conquering the enemy's iron lock formation in one go, he was defeated with a loss of troops.
The first battle that Sun Quan personally commanded ended in such an embarrassing ending. How could the Lord of Jiangdong not be embarrassed?
In anger, Sun Quan wanted to order the entire army to attack again on the spot.
"Lord, the morale of our army has been reduced. It is not suitable to fight again today. Why not retreat to the camp for the time being and rest for a while before making plans."
At this time, Lu Su hurriedly persuaded him.
As soon as Lu Su spoke, Kan Ze also said: "Yan Liang has such a sharp weapon as a repeating crossbow. It is not easy to forcefully board the ship to engage in battle, and it is not possible to return to camp to discuss countermeasures."
The two advisers advised him one after another, and Sun Quan quickly calmed down.
After pondering for a long time, Sun Quan could only grit his teeth and said: "Okay, the whole army will retreat for now, and the head of Yan Liang's dog thief will be saved for another day."
Sun Quan issued a message, and tens of thousands of Wu troops could only slowly retreat eastward.
At dusk, Wu Jun returned to the water village thirty miles downstream.
After experiencing the death of Han Dang and the defeat in front of him, the morale of the Wu army was quite depressed. The soldiers who returned to the camp were all silent, with a bit of sadness written on everyone's face.
After entering the Chinese army's tent, Sun Quan took off his helmet. He was so angry that he wanted to throw the helmet on the ground to vent Yan Liang's "hurt" to him.
When he raised his arm, Sun Quan suddenly remembered that the generals were watching behind him. He hesitated for a moment, but then gently placed his helmet on the table.
When he turned around, the gloom on Sun Quan's face had disappeared and was replaced by calmness and confidence again.
"Victory and defeat are common matters for military officers. Today's battle with Yan Liang was just a fluke. If you are so discouraged, don't you want to avenge the righteous old general?"
Sun Quan looked around at everyone and encouraged the generals with his words.
The generals were quite depressed, but they soon cheered up with Sun Quan's encouragement. Everyone gritted their teeth and vowed to kill Yan Liang to avenge Han Dang.
In the big tent, the strong murderous aura burned again.
At this time, Ling Cao raised his hands and stepped forward, saying with shame: "At the end of the day, we are not in a good position to attack the enemy, and we failed to rescue General Han. Please punish me, my lord."
Han Dang was a veteran general of Yuangong in the Eastern Wu Dynasty. After all, he died under his own army. Ling Cao felt very sorry and took the initiative to apologize.
Next to him, his son Ling Tong frowned when he saw his father pleading guilty. He thought that it was the Marquis of Wu who ordered the attack. We were just following orders. Why should you, father, bear the blame on your own head?
When Ling Tong was displeased, Ling Cao kept winking at him secretly.
Ling Tong had no choice but to kneel down in front of him and apologize to Sun Quan.
Sun Quan sighed, "I have said before that victory or defeat is a matter of military strategism, and this battle is not your fault. As for the matter of General Yi Gong, the battle between the army and the country, the swords and arrows in front of the two armies are blind. There is nothing you can do about Fengde.
How can I blame you? You all should get up."
Sun Quan generously forgave Ling Cao and his son for their sins. Ling Cao was extremely grateful and thanked him repeatedly.
There was a hint of worry in Ling Tong's eyes.
Sun Quan's words seemed generous, but he did not mention that he ordered the attack regardless of Han Dang's life. It was as if he forced the attack and shot Han Dang, just like his father and son making a sudden decision.
Ling Cao was a pure martial artist, far less resourceful than his son, so he obviously didn't understand the meaning.
Ling Tong noticed something strange, and felt a little worried in his heart.
"Yan Liang's dog thief formation has a repeating crossbow weapon. If you have any good strategies to defeat the enemy, feel free to tell us."
Sun Quan looked around at the generals and asked loudly.
At this time, Lu Su, who had been pondering for a long time, raised his hands and said: "Yan Liangjun has a serial crossbow. It is obviously not wise to board the ship to fight. Su thinks that the next time we use troops, our army might as well set up shieldmen on the ship until the two ships are connected.
If you use fire attacks at the right time, as soon as the enemy ships are burned down, the iron companies in the river will have no support and they will naturally collapse."
When Lu Su proposed this plan, all the generals nodded and agreed.
Sun Quan was also convinced and stroked his beard and said: "Zijing's plan is very clever and very good. Let the soldiers rest for a few days. After the morale is restored, we will use fire attacks to destroy Yan Liang's iron lock formation in one fell swoop."
Sun Quan's words were full of confidence, and the fighting spirit of the generals in the tent soon became high.
"My lord, Ze thinks that our army's frontal attack on Yan Liang alone is not enough. Liu Qi's troops in Jingnan should also be put to good use."
The person who spoke out was none other than Kan Ze.
Sun Quan's eyes lit up, "What does Derun mean by this?"
"Liu Qi still has Huang Zu's 10,000 naval troops, and although Jingnan is far away, he can at least gather several thousand infantry. Although such an army cannot be powerful, if it can go north to the Xiang River, it can still threaten
Behind Yan Liang."
After a pause, Kan Ze continued: "So Ze thought, why don't my lord send people to Changsha and ask Liu Qi to send troops to attack Baqiu on the grounds of forming an alliance. When the time comes, they will attack from both sides and Yan Liang will be unable to see each other."
Hearing Kan Ze's suggestion, a mysterious sneer appeared on Sun Quan's face, "Derun's plan is very clever. We are fighting Yan Liang here in a bloody battle. How can we take advantage of Liu Qi? It's time to let him do something."
Let him set a fire behind Yan Liang's thief's ass."
Everyone in the crowd burst into laughter, and the original dejection of defeat seemed to have disappeared in the blink of an eye.
######
Chaisang.
A small victory, killing more than a thousand enemies, was enough to boost morale, but it did not make Yan Liang relax his vigilance.
He knew very well how strong Sun Quan was in his determination to recapture Chaisang. This blue-eyed man could even sacrifice a Yuan Gong veteran like Han Dang, so how could he give up just because he lost more than a thousand soldiers?
After that fierce battle, Yan Liang continued to strengthen Chaisang's respective defenses and closely monitored the Wu army's movements.
However, what surprised Yan Liang was that after that defeat, the Wu army never launched a large-scale attack for several days except for harassment by small groups of troops.
Wu Jun's silence made Yan Liang vaguely feel that Bi Yan'er must be planning some new conspiracy.
That day, Chaisang Military Mansion.
Yan Liang was discussing matters with the generals when his troops rushed in and delivered the urgent report from Lü Meng from Baqiu.
"Ziming has an urgent report? Could it be that that guy Liu Qi is dishonest?"
Yan Liang had a premonition, so he didn't go to see it himself. He only asked his army to read out Lu Meng's urgent report in front of everyone.
The content of Lu Meng's emergency report is very simple:
Recent careful reconnaissance revealed that Liu Qi had gathered 14,000 land and water troops, showing signs of moving north.
Sure enough.
"It seems that Liu Qi has not been punished enough. I ignored him, but he dared to take the initiative to provoke me." Yan Liang snorted coldly.
Xu Shu stroked his beard and said: "Liu Qi must have responded to Sun Quan's invitation and wanted to copy our rear area. Judging from the common people's opinion, Liu Qi probably wouldn't fight hard. He probably just wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.
I want to wait until our army is defeated by the Wu people, and then take the opportunity to collect profits."
Yan Liang nodded slightly, Xu Shu's judgment was in line with his judgment.
But then, Xu Shu said: "However, the main force of our army is in Chaisang, Jiangling, Xiakou and other places and there is insufficient defense, and Baqiu Lu Ziming only has three thousand naval troops. If something goes wrong, let Liu Qi's troops enter the Yangtze River.
The consequences would be disastrous. So I think we should give Baqiu more troops and horses."
Xu Shu is right. Although Liu Qi is weak, Huang Zu still maintains a fully organized navy in his hands. This is a force that cannot be underestimated.
Since Lü Meng sent him an urgent report, it means that Lü Meng believed that his three thousand navy troops alone were not enough to cope with Liu Qi's simultaneous land and water advance.
After pondering for a moment, Yan Liang raised his sword eyebrows and said loudly: "Where is Wei Wenchang?"
"The general will be here at the end." Wei Yan held up his hands and stepped out.
"I will send my horses and five thousand infantry to rush to Baqiu to reinforce Lu Ziming. You two just need to hold on to Baqiu. After I defeat the Wu people, I will return to the army and defeat Liu Qi with you."
"The general will receive his order at the end."
Wei Yan was ordered to leave, taking away Yan Liang's precious five thousand soldiers and horses.
Originally, Yan Liang could use Chai Sang's troops, which totaled nearly 35,000 soldiers and land forces. Now, in order to strengthen the defense of Baqiu, he had to transfer 5,000 troops, leaving only Chai Sang's troops and horses.
Less than 30,000 troops.
As for Soochow, since it captured Hefei and carved up Huainan, its national strength has been greatly expanded. In more than a year, the total military strength has expanded to 100,000 troops, and the troops stationed in various counties and key passes have been eliminated.
The mobile troops Sun Quan could use were about 80,000.
Nowadays, most of the rebels in Shanyue have dispersed and fled back to the mountains under the encirclement and suppression of the Wu army. More and more Wu troops have been transferred to the Chaisang front line.
When Yan Liang had just transferred Wei Yan's 5,000 soldiers and horses, intelligence came that 10,000 new soldiers and horses had been added to the Wu army camp thirty miles away.
The fluctuations in military strength made Yan Liang's disadvantage even more obvious.
At dusk for two days, Yan Liang rode his horse along the shore to inspect the defenses along the river.
Standing on the bank of the Ma River, looking at his rather "poor" navy, Yan Liang couldn't help but sigh: "After defeating the Wu army this time, it seems that I have to build a large number of warships."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jue Jue, a scout from Jue Chen, came and approached Yan Liang.
The scouts detected that the Wu people, who had been silent for more than ten days, began to make movements, and seemed to be ready to launch another large-scale attack.
Yan Liang dispatched troops to Baqiu, Sun Quan must have detected it, and it was time for him to attack.
What made Yan Liang uneasy was not Sun Quan's renewed attack, but the scouts' claim that the Wu people had brought a large amount of kerosene, saltpeter and other flammable materials from the rear. Various signs showed that Sun Quan obviously wanted to launch a fire attack.
.
"Sun Quan wants to use fire to attack the ship. It seems that Biyan'er has many wise men under his command. As a result, it will be really difficult to deal with."
Yan Liang frowned slightly, and a trace of worry flashed across his eyes.
At this time, Xu Shu smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, my lord, I have my own plan to make the Wu people's fire attack useless." Registered members of Piaotian Literature recommend this work.