Chapter 436 Four Cai fell into the trap
At the same time, Cai Mao ordered Huang Zhong and Wenpin to take command of the headquarters and garrison Yiyang, canceling the mission to attack Wangcheng.
After this order, Wenpin and Huang Zhong became angry.
It was already agreed upon, how could it be changed so easily?
Cai Mao used Huang Zhong and Wenpin's failure to block Yiyang's troops as an excuse.
But Yiyang's soldiers and horses had already escaped before they set off, and the responsibility clearly fell on Cai Mao.
If he hadn't sought stability and waited and watched in Baqiu for more than ten days, the Yiyang soldiers and horses would not have been able to escape even if they had wings. But now it was their fault. How could Huang Zhong and Wenpin accept this? Not to mention that the fat in the mouth has to be vomited out and left to Cai Zan and Cai Yan, two losers.
Therefore, Huang Zhong and Wenpin rushed back to Baqiu at night, and a fierce dispute broke out between them in Cai Mao's tent.
But Cai Mao finally convinced Wenpin and Huang Zhong by virtue of their status. After all, the Cai family were Liu Biao's relatives, and Wenpin and Huang Zhong were just Liu Biao's generals.
However, Cai Mao was not just determined to have his own way. He also gave comfort and promised that after Kuai Yue arrived in Baqiu in the future, he would truthfully report Yiyang's achievements, and at the same time try his best to win the vanguard position for Wenpin and Huang Zhong.
Huang Zhong and Wenpin are not fools. You already broke your promise before, and now you are making a promise. Do you really think they are fools?
Moreover, now they are playing tricks again. The two of them hate it in their hearts, but they still cope with it on the surface.
Compared with Huang Zhong's stiffness, Wenpin's perfunctory attitude seemed much more sincere, which made Cai Mao even more dissatisfied with Huang Zhong.
Veteran ruffian, if Liu Biao had no one available, would he fall in love with you?
After Huang Zhong and Wenpin made concessions, Cai Zan and Cai Yan were naturally overjoyed and immediately rushed to Wangcheng with their four thousand troops.
Wangcheng in the Eastern Han Dynasty was roughly the Wangcheng District of Changsha City in the future, with only slight differences. Wangcheng in this era was not to the west of the Xiangjiang River, but to the east of the Xiangjiang River.
Therefore, there is no need to cross the river from Luoxian County to Wangcheng. It can be reached directly by land in two or three days.
Cai Zan and Cai Yan only thought that this was just an armed parade. All the soldiers and horses in Wangcheng had withdrawn, and the Jingnan army was obviously discouraged. If not, how could they put in so much effort to snatch Wangcheng from the hands of Huang Zhong and Wenpin.
Sure enough, as they expected, the details kept coming, and the city of Wangcheng was already empty. All the original soldiers and horses had been evacuated in the past few days, and now there were only a dozen wealthy families in the city working together to maintain law and order.
As soon as the army arrives, the door will be opened to welcome it.
Cai Zan and Cai Yan never imagined that they would be targeted by Sun Ce's men not far out of Luo County.
While monitoring the movements of Cai Zan's army, Sun He continuously dispatched his own soldiers to deliver intelligence to Sun Ce in the rear.
Liu Feng sent a lot of people to Sun Ce this time, including Sun He, Sun Jiao and other Sun clan members.
These people are undoubtedly Sun Ce's cronies and are willing to serve Sun Ce. Like Sun Ce, they all hope to gain a foothold under Liu Feng with their military exploits.
This is true even if his eldest brother Sun Jiao died.
After receiving the intelligence, Sun Ce made a rough battle plan.
The location of the decisive battle is just outside Wangcheng.
There are natural dangers here to help, and the terrain is extremely favorable to Sun Ce.
The reason why we chose this place is because it is a plain area, but it is sandwiched between mountains and rivers, and Wangcheng is like an attractive fruit, hiding at the foot of the mountain and the convergence point of the river.
Based on Wangcheng, to the east of Wangcheng is a mountain range called Yuchi Mountain. Although the altitude is not high, it firmly blocks the west of Wangcheng. The entire mountain extends to the Xiang River, leaving only a land passage. But it is not easy to get through this only passage, because it must pass under the wall of Wangcheng. If there is a group of crossbowmen on the wall, it will definitely cause heavy casualties to the troops below the city.
The most ridiculous thing is that if the Cai Jiajun really wants to break out from here, they will only send the entire army to Linxiang City, which can be said to be a trap.
To the west of Wangcheng is the Xiang River.
The Xiang River bypasses the west of Wangcheng City, turns to the south of the city, and then echoes Yuchi Mountain in the southeast of the city, forming a passage.
At this time, Sun Ce's troops were lying in ambush on Yuchi Mountain. At the same time, they quietly sneaked into Wangcheng with a force of a thousand people at night and took shelter in the homes of wealthy families in Wangcheng.
This battalion of thousands of people is divided into two parts. One part consists of 500 armored men, including 200 iron armored men. They are specially used to guard the east gate of the city to prevent Cai Zan and Cai Yan from entering the city. The other part consists of 500 armored men. Hundreds of crossbowmen will then control the city walls in the west and south of the city to block the Cai family's army from escaping south.
Sun Ce's main force was hiding on Yuchi Mountain, waiting for Cai's army to enter the ambush circle, and then raided from southeast to northwest, driving Cai's army towards the Xiang River, and finally completely surrounded and annihilated the opponent.
Cai Zan and Cai Yan were not idiots. When they came all the way, they did not rush into the city because Wangcheng was empty. On the contrary, they continued to contact the dispatched agents and spies to receive information. At the same time, they scattered the scouts to investigate. surrounding situation.
It can be said that Cai Zan and Cai Yan were actually 100% cautious.
But the problem is, this is Jingnan. Although the people of Jingnan were shocked by the battle of Baqiu, the antipathy towards the people of Jingbei has not been eliminated.
Although the scouts of Jingbei Army, Xi Zuo, can also send information, it does not mean that they know everything.
Take the retreat of the Wangcheng Army as an example. The scouts of the Jingbei Army could only see the Wangcheng Army leaving the city from the south and turning towards Linxiang from a distance, but they were unable to follow them.
This is the location factor.
If you blend in with the crowd, you can see the Wangcheng Army leaving the city, but once you follow them, your identity will be discovered by the surrounding Jingnan people and exposed.
In addition, the Jingbei Army focused most of its efforts on Wangcheng, but neglected the investigation of Yuchi Mountain, so that Sun Ce's 7,000 men were already quietly lurking in the mountain without knowing anything.
In the Jingbei army, Cai Yan led the front army with 2,000 troops, while Cai Zan led the rear army with 2,000 troops. There is a distance of two miles between the two parts, echoing each other from a distance.
The distance from Luoxian County to Wangcheng was about a hundred miles. Since leaving Luoxian County, Cai Zan kept marching at a speed of thirty miles every day. By the morning of the fourth day, he arrived northeast of Wangcheng.
Cai Yan looked at the closed city gate of Wangcheng, turned around and ordered: "Go and ask them to open the city quickly."
"Yes, General!"
After a captain responded to the order, he rushed to the city gate alone.
"People in the city, listen, the Jingzhou army is attacking the rebel general. General Cai Yancai, the general of the army, has arrived outside the city. If you don't want the whole city to burn, please quickly open the city gate and surrender."
The captain shouted three times at the foot of the city. The sound was so loud that it could be heard clearly both inside and outside the city gate.
After a while, the city gate creaked and slowly opened.
The captain's face was filled with joy and he turned back to look at the army behind him.
Cai Yan, who was in the military formation, waved his hand: "Ting Gui, you lead your troops into the city first."
"Yes, General!"
The person Cai Yan called Ting Gui was his younger brother Cai He, who was serving as the school captain under Cai Yan at this time. After receiving Cai Yan's order, Cai He waved his hand and led 500 people to advance towards the city gate. Their task was to enter the city first, control the city gates and towers, and open the way for the subsequent army to enter the city.
When the time comes for merit to be rewarded, they will surely be among the first movers. After all, their actions are naturally quite risky. If there is an ambush in the city, they will be the first to be attacked.
However, Cai He looked very relaxed. After all, in his understanding, the Jingnan Army in Wangcheng had already run away. How many tribes could there be among the big families in the city? One or two hundred people would be pretty good. How could he dare to fight with them? An army of four thousand men did the right thing.
Cai He thought he had a good fortune and was very happy, thinking about how to search after entering the city.
Cai Yan had agreed with him that the looted property would be divided into 40 and 60 parts, Cai Yan would get 4 and he would get 6. However, this was not because of Cai Yan's good intentions, but because he had to bear the share of Cai and his subordinates, and Cai Yan didn't care about it at all.
Thinking that although Wangcheng is not big, there are still more than a thousand families. Even if each family extracts three to five hundred yuan, it is still three to five million in wealth, not to mention the big households in the city have to calculate separately.
Just when Cai He was thinking wildly, an ambush suddenly appeared on the top of the city. More than a hundred people stood up from the battlements, with bows and crossbows in their hands, and immediately poured towards Cai He's troops.
With just one encounter, dozens of Cai He's men fell down. Dozens more were hit by one or two arrows, but they did not fall down because they were not critical.
The reason why there was such a great result was entirely because Cai He was too careless, and it was impossible for a normal first attack to avoid the arrow attack from the top of the city. However, Cai He and his men clearly brought shields, but carelessly used them, resulting in heavy casualties.
"Shield up, shield up!"
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Cai He was also hit by several arrows, but because he was wearing iron armor, it didn't cause any serious problems. The deepest arrow could only break through the armor, and was blocked by the silk inside. It only bit through the flesh.
Under Cai He's command, everyone put down their shields to resist the arrows from the city.
At the same time, the archers also began to counterattack towards the city head under the command of Cai He.
Cai Yan from a distance was shocked when he saw it.
"What's going on? Didn't the Wangcheng defenders evacuate?"
Cai Yan yelled and cursed loudly, but no one answered.
Therefore, he could only put aside this problem first, command the archers to press forward, and assist Cai He to withdraw from the range of the city's bows and arrows.
After a chaotic battle, Cai He finally withdrew, but his headquarters had suffered more than a hundred casualties. Even some of the wounded were not able to be brought back, and they were still left wailing under the city wall.
Cai Yan cursed loudly at Cai He. The biggest cause of casualties this time was Cai He's carelessness. Otherwise, even if they were attacked by the Wangcheng defenders, it wouldn't be so disastrous.
Cai He knew his mistake, lowered his head and remained silent, allowing Cai Yan to curse.
After a long while, Cai Yan was tired of scolding, stopped, and began to give orders.
At this time, Cai Zan and his troops also arrived at Wangcheng City. They were surprised to see that the former army was still arrayed in the field and did not enter the city.
Cai Zan personally brought people here to look for Cai Yan. When he learned that Wangcheng had surrendered and severely damaged Cai He's troops, Cai Zan was extremely shocked.
"Brother, what should we do now?"
Cai Yan originally wanted to attack, but now that his brother is here, he has to ask for his opinion, not to mention that Cai Zan is the commander in chief.
Cai Zan looked gloomy and asked: "How many people are there in the city?"
"I don't know."
Cai Yan's face was like the bottom of a pot, and he shook his head: "But there shouldn't be many people. There were about a hundred or ten people on the city wall just now. We couldn't see clearly at the city gate, but there were few people, so there shouldn't be many. But this crossbow has a Hundreds of pictures, confusing. ”
Cai Zhong, a subordinate of Cai Zan, suddenly interjected: "Nowadays, most powerful families in various places stockpile bows and crossbows. There are also many wealthy families in Wangcheng. It is normal to have more than a hundred bows and arrows."
There is some truth in what Cai Zhong said, and the other three Cai also agree with it.
Cai Zan thought carefully for a moment, then turned around and asked: "Is there any police information around?"
The leader of the Tanma hurriedly replied: "Reporting to the general, there was no warning."
The Jingbei Army is now on the plains, surrounded by plains in all directions, with the Xiang River on one side and the Yuchi Mountain on the other. It is quite difficult to surprise them. It is precisely because of this that Sun Ce is still lurking. He will wait until the Jingzhou army falls into the siege before he starts dispatching.
In this way, even if Cai Zan wanted to escape, he would not have time to gather his troops.
When Cai Zan heard that everything was safe, he relaxed his guard a little, and then ordered: "Send more reconnaissance cavalry in the direction of Yuchi Mountain, especially in the channel by the Xiang River. If there is any situation, immediately alert."
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Cai Zan was most worried about the waterfront passage in the south of Wangcheng, so he naturally had to make more preparations.
"Here!"
The leader of Tanma responded immediately and then made adjustments.
Cai Zan, together with Cai Yan and others, began to prepare to attack the city.
Wangcheng is not a big city, not even a county, it is just a town. It is only more than a hundred steps east of the city facing the Jingzhou Army, and four thousand people cannot spread out.
Therefore, Cai Zan ordered Cai Yan to attack from the north of the city, while he himself attacked from the east of the city. In addition, Cai He was transferred from Cai Yan's department to guard the southeast of the city.
After the assignment was completed, the ministries began to disperse, preparing to attack.
More than a hundred archers appeared on the wall of Wangcheng, obviously intending to defend.
Looking at the sparse defense from a distance, Cai Zan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that there were indeed not many manpower in the city.
Immediately, a ferocious smile appeared on Cai Zan's face. A mere wealthy family in the town dared to resist Fang Bo's army. It was really overestimating his own capabilities.
"Give me the order. After we conquer Wangcheng, we will not seal the sword for a day."
Cai Zan's order immediately aroused the whole army's uproar, and their morale immediately exploded.
Not sealing the sword means that you can plunder, rob, despise money, and even kill at will.
However, in most cases, the army will not kill people indiscriminately, because people themselves are also a commodity and can be sold into slavery. Moreover, killing people indiscriminately will only attract unnecessary resistance and cause a loss of wealth.
In general, not sealing the sword means a lot of wealth and women, which is an irresistible strong temptation for soldiers of any era (except PLA).
Seeing the momentum of the soldiers, Cai Zan showed a satisfied smile and waved his hand: "Attack!"
(End of chapter)