Chapter 312 Wu Jing's response
The Sun Jiajun originally planned to abandon Qu'a and Dantu, but they were reluctant to part with the food for the autumn harvest and wanted to delay a little more time, so they kept Wu Pan's troops.
Liu Feng saw this precisely. Since you don’t want to leave, then don’t leave. That’s why Jia Kui suddenly dispatched, marched to the foot of Qu’a City, closed the door and beat the dogs.
Now that one of them has been eliminated by the official establishment, I believe Wu Jing will be quite heartbroken when the news spreads back.
A force of three thousand men, even after the army expansion, should account for more than 30% of his total strength. The price Liu Feng paid was only six to seven hundred casualties from the old troops of Zuo Rong and Xue Li.
In fact, Liu Feng is still making money in essence, but he is not making as much as before.
"Mr. Wenrong."
Teng Zhou, courtesy name Wenrong, is the younger brother of Teng Dan.
Liu Feng turned to tell Teng Zhou: "Please contact the surviving officials in the city to restore the management of the city. At the same time, make plans to calm the people, and cooperate with Mr. Bo Qin to organize the autumn harvest."
"Yes, general. .”
After Teng Zhou accepted the order, he left with his brother Teng Dan to carry out the execution.
After walking outside the hall, Teng Zhou suddenly heard his brother Teng Dan let out a long sigh and sighed: "Zheng Nan was only thirteen years old, but he was able to fight in all directions, and he was also very loving and kind, and sympathized with the soldiers. He seemed to be really talented. It’s a gift from heaven.”
Teng Zhou glanced at his brother Teng Dan, with a wry smile on his face.
My brother is good at everything, but he is kind and a bit foolish.
Liu Feng is indeed a young hero, with terrifying talents, but to say that he is kind and kind seems to be a joke to Teng Zhou.
Teng Dan only saw Liu Feng's kindness to the wounded soldiers, but could not see Liu Feng's ruthlessness during the war.
Just from the fact that Liu Feng ordered the four gates to be surrounded, we can know that Liu Feng did not care about the casualties of the old troops of Zuo Rong and Xue Li.
If we surround three and one is missing, it will indeed reduce some casualties, but it will also cause some of the Sun Army to escape from the city.
Only by blocking the four gates can Sun's army be completely annihilated. No fish will slip through the net. After all, the main force attacking the city is not his own.
Even if Zuo Rong and Xue Li's old troops suffered more casualties, Liu Feng would not feel distressed.
It can only be said that Liu Feng may have great love, but he is definitely not a kind person. Just look at the current plan of driving away wolves and devouring tigers, which is a poisonous plan that even Liu Yao cannot pull off.
However, Teng Zhou did not tell his brother about this. In his heart, perhaps his brother's simple and tolerant character would be more favored by those in power.
In this case, why should he expose these things?
In fact, Teng Zhou really guessed what Liu Feng was thinking.
Although Liu Feng sympathized with the wounded soldiers and could not bear their suffering, he did deliberately consume them and maximize their value.
This group of people followed Zuo Rong and Xue Li and did nothing good. They burned, killed and looted countless times. Their military discipline was also quite bad.
The tribes of Zuo Rong and Xue Li have as many as 13,000 to 4,000 people. With such a scale, if Liu Feng wanted to correct them all, it would take too much effort and energy, and it would not be easy. worth.
In this case, let them use their lives to compensate.
It will undoubtedly be more cost-effective to disrupt the distribution of the surviving elites.
Liu Feng quickly captured Qu'a. When the news reached Wu County, Wu Jing was also quite shocked.
The annihilation of Wu Pan's army not only caused Wu Jing a huge loss in military strength, but also completely disrupted Wu Jing's defense plan.
Piling's troops only had one thousand men, and they were originally supposed to join Wu Pan's three thousand men to defend Piling together.
Now that Wu Pan's three thousand men have been wiped out, an important multiple-choice question is immediately placed in front of Wu Jing.
Either abandon Piling and withdraw the thousand people from Piling directly to Wuxi.
Or quickly send troops to reinforce Piling. The reinforcements must be at least 3,000 people.
Unlike Qu'a, Piling was included in Sun's army's defense plan, so Piling City had really prepared a lot of defensive materials. It would be a pity if they gave up due to lack of troops.
But if we increase our troops, is it still too late?
Even not counting the return time of the message, the distance from Qu'a to Piling is closer than the distance from Wu County to Piling.
If the reinforcements you send arrive later than the Confederate Army, it will be great fun.
As long as the Zhengnan Army is not stupid, they will definitely take advantage of the situation to cover up the attack. The reinforcements, let alone Piling reinforcements, may not even be able to protect themselves.
Moreover, Wu Pan died in battle, and Wu Jing was short of men. An army of thousands of people was not something that anyone could command. Wu Jing only had two or three arms in total.
After much hesitation, Wu Jing still couldn't decide, so he could only convene a meeting with the generals to discuss the matter.
After listening to Wu Jing’s narration, the hall fell into a dead silence.
Wu Jing’s generals were caught off guard. Wu Pan and his three thousand men were just gone?
Zhu Chao, Wu Jing's number one general with a foreign surname, couldn't help but wonder: "General, is the news reliable?"
Zhu Chao was also from Wu County, Jiangdong. He was a branch of the Zhu family. He had followed Wu Jing in the war early, and his qualifications were three points older than Wu Pan.
Although Wu Pan and Zhu Chao were Wu Jing's right-hand men, if Wu Pan's Wu family identity was removed, his military exploits and qualifications would still be inferior to Zhu Chao's.
Even Wu Jing respected Zhu Chao very much. Whenever he went to war, Zhu Chao served as Wu Jing's deputy general.
Therefore, although Zhu Chao's question was quite a slap in the face, Wu Jing still suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at him and nodded silently.
Zhu Chao's heart sank, and his face was very ugly. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said: "General, the plan now is not to send troops to reinforce Piling, but to quickly withdraw the troops from Piling and Wuxi. Come on!”
Wu Jing was surprised. He did not expect that his trusted general would be so pessimistic.
"This...isn't that what it is?"
It turns out that Wu Jing, Zhu Chao, Wu Pan and others had already discussed it, and they would use the cities in the north of Wu to fortify themselves layer by layer. They grind each other down city by city.
Therefore, they prepared a large amount of city defense materials in Piling, Wuxi and Wuxian, with Wuxian in particular being the focus.
The plan had already been made, but now that Zhu Chao suddenly gave up, Wu Jing was naturally very surprised.
Wu Jing's current strength is about 22,000, including 11,000 from Wu Jing's headquarters, the other 11,000 from Xu Kun's 6,000, Sun Ben's brother Sun Fu's 3,000, and Sun Xiang's His son Sun Xiu’s two thousand people.
However, not all of these troops are concentrated in Wu County.
Among them, Wu Pan's three thousand people have been wiped out in Qu'a. There are one thousand people placed by Wu Jing in Piling. Xu Kun leads the headquarters in Wuxi. The remaining Sun Fu and Sun Xiu are in Louxian and Youquan.
In Wu Jing's view, although Wu Pan's troops have been lost, he still has a lot of troops, so he doesn't understand why Zhu Chao suddenly changed the entire plan.
You must know that Xu Kun and his generals also participated in the formulation of this plan, and they cannot change it by themselves.
Zhu Chao said anxiously: "General, Brother Wu's biggest problem at this time is not that he was unable to retreat in time and was trapped and died in Qu'a, but that the Southern Army captured the city of Qu'a in half a day."
When Wu Jing heard this, he was moved in his heart: "Go on!"
Zhu Chao continued: "The layer upon layer of fortifications and city-to-city blocking strategies we set up earlier were to rely on strong City, delaying time for General Sun to move south. However, the strength of the Southern Army to attack the city is far beyond our imagination. Although Brother Wu is not led by all old brothers, he is very strict in running the army and has gained military morale. Although Qu'a is not big, the city is strong and the walls are intact."
"At first, with General Sun's ability, it took many days to break the city, but Brother Wu could not hold it for a day."< br>
Zhu Chao's face showed shock and faint fear: "Given the Southern Army's ability to attack cities and demolish strongholds, if we continue to set up defenses in Piling and Wuxi with three to five thousand men stationed there, what difference will this make?" Cutting meat to feed the enemy? ”
Wu Jing suddenly realized that he was convinced.
Wu Pan's three thousand men guarded Qu'a, and they descended in half a day. Even if four thousand men guarded Piling, how many days could they last?
Xu Kun has 6,000 men guarding Wuxi. How many days can they hold it?
Would it be taken down in a day or two again?
Zhu Chao’s suggestion is indeed good, but it is too conservative.
Thinking of this, Wu Jing made up his mind, stood up and ordered: "I have made up my mind to abandon Piling and order the Piling defenders to retreat to Wuxi. Ordnance, supplies, money, silk, food and grass can be transported if they can be transported. If they cannot be transported, all will be burned." At the same time, I notified Wuxi and informed General Xu of my decision to prepare to meet the enemy."
"The order is sent to Sun Xiu and Sun Fu to return to Wu County immediately without delay."
< br>When Wu Jing said this, his eyes fell on Zhu Chao: "Captain Zhu, I would like to trouble you to take your troops to Wuxi for support and obey General Xu's dispatch."
Zhu Chao also felt sad in his heart. Got it.
It is indeed too conservative to retreat to Wu County in one go. We have to try the other party again, otherwise if the other party has any trump card and suddenly uses it in Wu County, it will be all over. The city of Wuxi is high and deep, with strong walls. Xu Kun has 6,000 people, plus his own 3,000 people and Piling's 1,000 people, a total of 10,000 people. With Wu County as its back, Wu Jing still has 4,000 troops, plus Sun Yat-sen's army. Fu and Sun Xiu's 5,000 men and nearly 10,000 troops can support Wuxi at any time, which is worthy of a battle.
In addition, the road between Piling and Wuxi is muddy and narrow, and there are swamps everywhere. It is even more difficult to walk than Qu'a to Piling.
On the contrary, after passing Wuxi, the road to Wuxian County is quite smooth and the development is relatively mature.
The army is galloping and it will only take two or three days to arrive.
In this way, we can touch each other in Wuxi, and it is best to block the Southern Expedition Army.
If not, we must force the Confederate army to attack the city, so that Wu County can guard against the opponent.
After the discussion, Wu Jing immediately issued an order to all counties and cities.
Zhu Chao also prepared his army and prepared to set off for Wuxi.
********
After taking Qu'a, Liu Feng also summoned the generals to make a summary and was not in a hurry to continue sending troops.
On the one hand, we are waiting for the subsequent transfer of food. Now there is less than 2,000 shi of food in Qu'a City, which is not enough to conquer the Southern Army for one day. Naturally, we still need to continue to step up the transfer of food.
This task was given to Pan Zhang, and Zhuge Liang also brought a group of clerks to help with it.
The journey from Jurong to Qu'a is only three to five days. At the same time, the daily transportation of grain is only 4,000 shi, and Pan Zhang's troops escort him along the way. It is a fairly simple task, just in time for Zhuge Liang to try his hand.
After the generals first discussed the lack of gains from the siege of Qu'a, they began to discuss preparations for the next stage of war.
The goal of the next stage must be Piling. Jiangsu in the future world will be a large plain, but this is not possible at this time. We can only follow the road between the swamps honestly.
Although the road from Qu'a to Piling is difficult, it is much easier than the road from Piling to Wuxi.
And Piling cannot be compared with Wuxi and Wuxian, especially the latter, which was once the second city in the world. This is not bragging.
It’s just that the upper limit in the south was far lower than that in the north at that time. After the peace between the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, Wu County was quickly left far behind by the big cities in the Central Plains.
Not to mention Chang'an, the population of Luoyang far exceeds that of Wu County.
But even so, Wuxian County is still the first city in the south, where the best of Kuaiji and Wudi gather. As for Wuxi, it was once the capital of Wu State, so it is naturally an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place.
Therefore, Liu Feng's focus was actually on how to attack Wuxi and Wuxian after taking Piling.
There are currently two feasible routes. One is to transport grain from Guangling, enter Hangou from Dantu, continue southward, pass through Qu'a, Piling, Wuxi, and reach Wuxian.
This Hangou was built by the State of Wu during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It experienced large-scale repairs and use during the Qin and Han dynasties. It is a relatively mature water transportation project. Although in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, many sections of Hangou were in disrepair or blocked by siltation, making it impassable for large ships, there was still no problem in using small boats.
The second road is to export grain from Niuzhu and Liyang, enter the Yangtze River and go upstream for a hundred miles, turn to Wukou and enter Lishui, go straight to Taihu Lake and go north, reaching the bottom of Wuxi City.
The problem with this road is Yangxian, the key point of Lishui at the mouth of Taihu Lake.
Yangxian, also known as Yixing in later generations, belonged to Wu County at this time, but its actual location was closer to Danyang.
This city directly guards the entrance of Lishui River into Taihu Lake. Ships entering and leaving Taihu Lake from Lishui River have to pass through Yangxian. This city has always been an important city in the south. Later, as the area of Taihu Lake continued to shrink, Yangxian no longer lived near the water, but it still did not affect his important position.
Yangxian did not surrender to the Sun family at this time, and the Sun family had no time to deal with this isolated county on the other side of Taihu Lake. They concentrated their energy on Wu County and Yuhang.
But this does not mean that Yangxian will definitely support the Southern Conquest Army. If the fleet transporting grain is blocked in Yangxian, the troops on the front line will be hungry.
However, there is another advantage to this road, that is, Wanling can also go north along Lengshui, smoothly down to Lishui, and transport grain.
Wanling is the county seat of Danyang. Zhou Shang has been operating here for several years and has accumulated a lot of grain. Now that the autumn harvest is coming, he can easily get at least 20,000 to 300,000 dan.
After listening to Sun Shao narrate the specific situation, Liu Feng glanced at everyone: "If you have any good suggestions, you can speak freely."
As soon as Liu Feng finished speaking, everyone in the hall It fell into silence.
This scene is quite rare under Liu Feng.
But think about it, many of the people in the hall are new here, such as Fan Neng, Sun Shao, the Teng brothers, Zhao Fan and others.
Although Gao Shun was not considered a newcomer, he was later responsible for guarding Guangling, and he and Liu Feng had not seen each other for several months.
Only Xu Sheng can be regarded as the real Liu Fengyuan Cong, but his character is also relatively calm, and to put it bluntly, Xu Sheng is more suitable to be a general than a handsome man.
Seeing that no one was speaking, Zhao Fan showed a little eagerness, as if he wanted to speak.
This expression happened to be seen by Liu Feng, so he simply called him by name: "Gangyi, what do you think? Just tell me!"
After Liu Feng called him by name, Zhao Fan perked up. , stood up and said: "General, if you are not talented, I would like to be a pioneer and fetch Piling for you!"
Good guy.
Liu Feng is asking everyone to make suggestions on how to fight in the next stage, not asking you to directly recruit the vanguard.
Sure enough, as soon as Zhao Fan said these words, the generals present could not sit still. Except for Gao Shun and Jia Kui, even Xu Sheng showed angry expressions.
"General, the last general is also willing to be the vanguard. Within ten days, the general will capture Piling."
"General, the last general only needs eight days! I am willing to establish military law. ”
Yes, as soon as Zhao Fan said this, a group of generals started to fight for the vanguard, and Liu Feng couldn't laugh or cry.
Zhao Fan really doesn’t know how to advance or retreat. Can you imagine being a vanguard?
Even Jia Kui looked a little unhappy. He was not just asking for the vanguard for Zhao Fan, but he felt that Zhao Fan had ruined the military discussion.
"Shut up, everyone."
Liu Feng waved his hand angrily: "Piling Pioneer, I have made my own decision, and I don't need you to be so enthusiastic."
At this moment, news suddenly came from outside the hall, and intelligence was returned from frontline spies.
Liu Feng frowned, and behind him Xu Chu strode out of the hall, took the silk book and sent it back to Liu Feng.
Liu Feng took the silk book, opened it and looked at it, and was shocked.
"The enemy of Piling ran away."
This...
Liu Feng was a little surprised, and as he told the news, the generals in the hall were also in an uproar.
Everyone has just summarized a lot of experience in the siege of Qu'a, and there are quite a few mistakes in it.
Although Wu Pan's troops were defeated in half a day, it is really because Wu Pan's troops are neither adequate nor elite. At the same time, Qu'a is not a strong city that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. In addition, Wu Pan's troops are not strong enough to attack. Pansuo's troops had planned to run away for a long time, but they were blocked in the city by Jia Kui's surprise attack. The morale of the army was greatly affected.
There are so many factors that lead to such a result.
If Wu Pan is determined to hold on to Qu'a, although he still cannot hold it, he can at least hold on for a few more days, and it will inevitably cause greater casualties to the Southern Army.
Isn't this the reason why Liu Feng brought along the old men of Zuo Rong and Xue Li?
It is much more cost-effective to let them suffer casualties than to cause casualties to your own headquarters.
For the old people of Zuo Rong and Xue Li, there is not much resentment at being used in this way. After all, this is the case in this era.
Some people even killed 80,000 surrendered troops in one go because of lack of military rations.
Another important point is that although neither Zuo Rong nor Xue Li were from Xuzhou, most of the tribesmen they plundered were from Xuzhou.
Because one of these two people served as the Prime Minister of Pengcheng in Xuzhou, and the other served as the Prime Minister of Xiapi in Xuzhou, they were also responsible for transferring taxes from Guangling, Xiapi, and Pengcheng.
Therefore, the old subordinates of Zuo Rong and Xue Li had relatively high recognition and obedience to Liu Feng.
After Jia Kui heard that Sun Jun had abandoned Piling, he couldn't help but wonder: "General, is there a trap hidden there?"
(End of this chapter)
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