Riding and cutting the imperial pirates of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 692 Lushan
When Wang Zheng raided Dangyang, the generals of the heavenly army also launched an offensive against Jiangling again.

Of course, different from the previous times, this time it was finally no longer Gan Ning fighting alone, and Wang Xiong on the other side also followed Wang Zheng's general order, and had already approached the city at night.

Knowing that the "Wu Niu Department" in the east of the city made another move after many days, Guo Yong did not dare to neglect, and immediately came to the east of the city to observe the enemy's situation.

Looking around, the soldiers and horses of the Heavenly Army are all over the mountains and plains, and they are very powerful, but Guo Yong took advantage of the firelight to watch for a long time, and suddenly showed doubts. There are about five thousand, why does the number seem wrong?"

"The number is not right?" The county lieutenant squinted his eyes, nodded and said, "It really doesn't look like a formation of 5000 troops, prefect, maybe the bandits have divided the troops again?"

"The implication is that besides the west gate and the east gate, there are also bandits entering the other city gates?"

Another general replied: "The last general just went to investigate. There is indeed a bandit army in the south. Right now, only the north city gate has no enemy. From the last general's point of view, the yellow scarf bandits are trying to encircle all three."

The general replied: "The last general just carefully looked at all the roads outside the city. Now the largest number of bandits is at the west gate, at least five thousand. In addition, there are only one to two thousand people on the south and west gates, which add up to nearly 2000 people." Thousands of soldiers, it seems that the bandits have gone all out this time."

"Lieutenant Lin, this is normal." Another person said with a smile: "I think the bandits here have also set up sentries around Jiangling. When they heard the news that the reinforcements from Xiangyang were coming, they must have been panicked, so they thought of dying. Let's fight to see if we can conquer Jiangling before reinforcements arrive."

It sounds reasonable, but Guo Yong always feels that the enemy's actions are weird.

If they were preparing for a decisive battle, logically, they should choose to recharge their batteries and attack the city after dawn. At this time, they would come out with all their strength. Could it be that they could not fight all night long?

Since the battle during this period, Guo Yong has experienced the bravery of the Xuzhou army. He admits that the enemy on the other side is worthy of the name of a powerful army in the world, but no matter how brave he is, fighting this kind of tough battle at night is asking for trouble?

But if it wasn't for the all-night battle, what was the reason for setting up a battle under the city with great fanfare?
The follow-up development was as expected by Guo Yong. Wang Xiong on the east side of the city just made people come to the city to shout and scold him a few times, but did not launch a formal attack, and the same was true of the Ganning Department on the other side of the city.

After receiving the reward, Guo Yong became more and more puzzled, but he still didn't understand what the enemy's actions were intended to do. After pondering for a while, in exchange for his personal guard, he said, "Immediately send a fast rider out of the city from the north, and take a detour to General Guan's camp. Let him know the current situation.”

"Here!"

Outside Jiangling City, Guan Yu's barracks in the valley.

Several horsemen went back to the camp, went straight to Guan Yu's commander's tent, and reported the army's situation: "General, the bandit army in the west suddenly moved last night. The Ministry of Ning flanked the city from left to right, attacking the city at the same time, and the momentum was so fast that Guo Yong, the prefect, came to the tower in person, and he was able to withstand it."

Guan Yu narrowed his eyes when he heard the words, and asked in a deep voice, "Is the bandit army in the east of the city really moving?"

"It's absolutely true." The sentry replied: "The villain waited outside Jiangling City and witnessed the battle between the two sides. The battle was fierce. The bandits on the east side were very brave. They led hundreds of elite soldiers with sharp knives. , approaching the top of the city for the third time. The defenders in Jiangling City desperately resisted, and the fire and oil attacked. The two sides fought fiercely for half a day. It is estimated that there were hundreds of casualties on the east side alone, and the other sides Added together, I am afraid it is nearly a thousand!"

Guan Yu pondered for a moment, then asked again: "The leader of the bandit army in the east is very brave? Could it be that Wu Niu?"

"No, the villain saw the word "king" written on the flag of the enemy general. Presumably it should be Wang Xiong, the captain of the king's thief. This person is the commander of the bandit army who crossed the river not long ago. In the hands of the general, it is difficult to fight again, so I went to Xiying to take over command."

"That's what I thought it would be."

Guan Yu nodded slightly. Originally, he was seriously injured like a broken arm, and he was on the battlefield. The conditions were limited, and he was lucky to survive. If he could still fight and be brave, it would be incredible.

"By the way, how many people are there among the Yellow Turban bandits who came across the river? Can you find out now?"

Hearing this, several sentry cavalry peeped at each other, showing shame at the same time, "General, the bandit army also set up sentry cavalry near the two camps. Whenever our military sentries approached, they were beheaded. Those who were discovered could not get close to the camps with extremely tight security. So far, only two camps have been found to have about 5000 people, but the exact number and details are still unclear."

Hearing this, Guan Yu seemed expressionless, but a look of worry flashed quietly in his eyes.

The law of war says that knowing yourself and the enemy can win every battle. In the history of two armies fighting, the first thing to fight is naturally the intelligence war. They will send sentry cavalry to each other, inquire about the situation on the opposite side, make arrangements, and then let their own coach use the information about the battle to introduce the enemy's plan and deployment.

Since information is so important, any army will inevitably arrange for the elite cavalry to serve as sentry cavalry, and when the two sentry cavalry encounter encounters during the investigation of information, most of the time they will choose to avoid each other
After all, you are an elite, and I am also an elite. The outcome is unpredictable. Besides, if I can't beat you, can't I escape?

There will never be an army that will make sentry cavalry often in groups, right?And when there are few people, it is too difficult to encircle a cavalry.

But when Wang Zheng was born, this practice among sentinels was broken.

Because Wang Zheng's definition of elite basically means that the third-tier system soldiers started. Not only the Tian Army, but even the sentry cavalry of the Xuzhou Army and Yangzhou Army will basically be served by iron cavalry.

In a small-scale battlefield, the individual combat power of the system soldiers can be fully utilized. Iron cavalry is enough to crush the sentry cavalry of any army, and they are not only outstanding in combat power, but also superb in riding skills, which makes all hostile When the Sentinels met them, they were not only faced with the problem of being unable to fight, but also unable to escape!
From Guan Yu's point of view, the opponent had a clear advantage over the sentry cavalry, which was really not a good thing, and to some extent even made him fall into a passive position.

Seeing Guan Yu's sudden silence, the lieutenant at the side thought he was dissatisfied, and quickly said: "General, there is no need to worry about this matter. Let's send more scouts and report three times a day. We can always find out."

At this time, another sentry said: "General, on the way back to the camp, I met a messenger sent by the prefect of Jiangling, saying that there is a letter to present to the general."

"Are you here to let the general send troops again?"

Guan Yu shook his head slightly, took a look, but this time what was said in the letter was different from the previous ones, and instead strengthened his confidence.

Probably the content is nothing more than Guo Yong said that the reinforcements from Xiangyang have arrived in Jiangling for a hundred miles, and they can arrive at most before nightfall tomorrow. He believes that then is the best time to launch the "plan to break the thief" agreed by the two parties before.

However, at the end of the letter, Guo Yong still euphemistically stated that the thieves and bandits came out today in a menacing manner, and their actions were somewhat secretive, so he hoped that Guan Yu could move forward [-] miles, so as to be safe.

"Twenty miles away from the camp?"

In Guan Yu's view, this is almost the same as directly participating in the war. He immediately waved his hand and threw away the letter, "If the thieves find out, wouldn't all previous efforts be wasted?"

But after thinking about it, I also have some doubts in my heart.

With the ability of the thief army's sentinel cavalry, it is impossible not to notice that Xiangyang's reinforcements are approaching. Under such circumstances, they should have retreated directly, and attacking the city is the worst policy, unless...
Thinking of this, a guess appeared in Guan Yu's mind, unless the bandit army was sure of breaking through the city!
But if so, why didn't it start before?
Like Guo Yong, Guan Yu became more and more confused the more he thought about it. After thinking for a while, he said: "Wait a little longer, wait a little longer"

"It won't be too late to make plans after the scouts come back after finding out the real situation of the enemy."

One after another, Jiangling asked for help.

In the evening of the same day, another letter came, and in the morning of the next day, there were two letters in succession. First, it was a letter with black letters on a white background, then it became part of a blood book, and then it became a whole blood book.
The content is getting shorter and shorter, and the handwriting is getting more and more scribbled. It can be seen that Guo Yong is driven into a hurry.

At noon the next day, Guo Yong's fifth blood letter was delivered.

The bloodstained face of the messenger who delivered the letter fell to the ground when he saw Guan Yu, crying loudly, "Jiangling is in danger! General, the siege of the city is getting tighter. If you don't send troops to rescue, Jiangling will not be able to hold on."

The so-called asking for help has to be alarmist, and at the same time emotional. The messenger knocked his head on the ground fiercely, and the blood was stained. The morale is not stable, the bandits are attacking the city with all their strength, day and night, the three walls of the city are damaged in many places, and last night he almost attacked and burned the city gate!"

"More than that, the thieves and bandits have plotted one after another. Since last night, they have been secretly transporting soil out of the camp from time to time. My family's prefect judged that the thieves' camp is digging tunnels! General Guan, this is what the thief Wang used to conquer Guangling in the past. Without the exit of the tunnel, if he digs the tunnel under the city wall, once the wall collapses, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians will die at the hands of the general!"

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Hearing this, Guan Yu narrowed his eyes, and shot a cold light like a blade: "How can I die at the hands of this general! Such nonsense, step back."

The left and right soldiers responded,

Dragging the messenger out, the messenger struggled desperately, knocking his head on the ground and screaming.Hearing the cries fade away, Guan Yu stood with his hands behind his back, feeling upset, and asked left and right, "What do you think?"

"General, won't our scouting be rewarded?" A general said, "It's true that the city wall was damaged, but it was hit by a trebuchet and a few bricks were dropped, so it didn't damage the defense, but."

Guan Yu looked sideways: "But what?"

"It's a matter of burning the city gate overnight and digging tunnels." The general paused, and added: "It's nothing more than burning the city gates. Digging tunnels can be done in a day or two. From this point of view, the end You will think that the thieves seem to have plans to spread out and besiege and attack for a long time."

"Siege?" Before Guan Yu could speak, another general sneered and said, "The bandits' army is no more than [-] at most. How can we besiege, let alone a long-term siege? Besides, Xiangyang's reinforcements are coming soon. If we want to attack the city, we can only Take advantage of the fact that there are not many defenders in the city, otherwise how can we still have a chance?"

"It's also possible that they are thinking of waiting for the Xu Fang and Huang Zhong tribes of Wuling County to defeat the Wenpin army before a decisive battle."

While all the generals were discussing, there was a sound of footsteps outside the hall, and two or three came in.Everyone raised their eyes and saw that it was the scout sent to the south of Jiangling.

The scout had a happy face when he entered the tent, and after a hasty salute, he immediately shouted: "Report to the general, the truth of the yellow scarf bandits, the villain finally found out."

"Oh?" Guan Yu shouted immediately, "Tell me quickly."

"The villain and others caught two scout horses from the Yangzhou army who were alone yesterday afternoon, tortured them to extract confessions, and learned the truth. The total number of bandit troops who crossed the river before was only more than a thousand people. Big defeat."

"That is to say, at present, the number of bandits under Jiangling City can only add up to 7000 or [-] people."

After finally finding out the real situation on the opposite side, Guan Yu breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked a question that he was more concerned about: "What about Xu Fangbu?"

"Xu Fang's tribe has not yet gone north, and is still under Linyuan City."

"What?" Guan Yu asked in astonishment, "Xu Fang is still in Linyuan?"

Xu Fang is still in Linyuan, so what is the patience of his family during this time?
In Xu Shu's letter before, he had already made it clear that if he had the opportunity, he must kill Xu Fang, the acquaintance of the king's government, so as to provoke his anger and raise troops to go north. This is the key reason why Guan Yu has been dormant. I hope to find out clearly that Xu Fang has already gone north, or at worst stopped at Zuotang, and then he may cross the river to Jiangling, then Guan Yu will have a chance!
After all, Xu Fang's identity is different. Other people like Gan Ning, Wang Xiong, and Wu Niu, in Guan Yu's view, are unknown and insignificant, so what if they are killed?

Guan Yu suddenly lost his interest. He picked up Guo Yong's appealing letters on the case table, sighed, and said to his soldiers: "Bring that Jiangling messenger back and tell him that the general will leave the army tonight."

The messenger was brought back to the hall again. Guan Yu glanced at him and said indifferently: "Go back quickly and tell Guo Yong that our army will arrive early in the morning at the latest, and follow the request in his letter." , Mention five thousand troops. "

"Tell him to be ready to respond and defeat the bandit army together."

"Thank you General Gao Yi!"

The messenger was overjoyed when he heard the words, and immediately wanted to return to Jiangling along the original route to report, but unfortunately, he was just [-] miles north of Jiangling with the great news, when he was spotted by the scouts of the heavenly army.

But in two or three rounds, the courier's companions fell off the horse one by one and were all shot dead. Afterwards, the heavenly army rushed up, captured the courier, and took him to Wang Zheng's tent.

(End of this chapter)