Chapter 346 The war begins
Judging from the paper numbers, Liu Feng's army is more than twice that of Sun Ce, but from the actual deployment, it is three times the opponent's.
After all, Sun Ce had to deploy his troops at four key points: Chadu Village, Gaoqiantun, Yuji County and Guling. Each location had a minimum of a thousand men and a maximum of more than three thousand.
For example, in Chadu Village and Guling, three thousand people is the bottom line for defense, otherwise it would not be able to support the entire defense line.
Therefore, the field force that Sun Cejun could really use was only 20,000 people.
In comparison, Liu Fengjun only needed to deploy one or two thousand men in Yuhang, and together with the local Xu Zhao, he could protect the city impregnably.
In addition, Wucheng and Youquan can mobilize tens of thousands of troops later, but the combat effectiveness of these troops is so poor that Liu Feng is afraid that they will be hindered if they go to the front line.
After Liu Feng arrived in Qiantang, he first awarded medals for his merits. There were more than 1,300 gold, silver, bronze and iron medals in total, including double-digit gold and silver medals.
Later, pigs and sheep were slaughtered that night to reward the whole army.
At this point, Liu Fengjun's morale has soared, and they are all gearing up and waiting for the decisive battle.
The next day, Yu Fan and He Qi asked to see him together.
After seeing Liu Feng, the two of them immediately burst into tears, especially He Qi, who almost fainted.
The two men had also received news at this time that Sun Ce went on a killing spree in Shanyin, killing almost all the He Qi family, and all the branches of the Yu family in Shanin.
Both of them now hate Sun Ce and the entire Sun family deeply, wishing they could eat his flesh and sleep on his skin.
"General, the two of us are willing to be the vanguard of this battle. We will advance without retreating. We will die but not live. If there is even a lie, I hope the sky will strike with thunder."
Yu Fan and He Qi were furious, and even wanted to atone for their sins with death.
Liu Feng sighed, stood up and stepped forward to help Yu Fan and He Qi up in person, holding one with each hand, and said comfortingly: "Feng already knows everything about Shanyin. Thief Sun is cruel and unscrupulous. , slaughtering soldiers and people for no reason, and being crazy, their actions are against heaven, and they will be punished by heaven."
Yu Fan and He Qi were so moved that they burst into tears, and their eyes were as red as blood.
Even so, the two of them still just stood still, listening to Liu Feng continue to say: "But the dead have passed away, and the living should carry on their ambitions, how can we be discouraged?"
< br>"Yu and He are both well-known families in Kuaiji, and their families are nobles. Although they have suffered disasters, Zhongxiang and Gongmiao are still alive. You two are both talented people. If you seal them, you will definitely be able to revive your family and carry forward the future. . Death is easy, life is difficult. ”
Liu Feng looked around and said: "Zhongxiang, Gongmiao, I regard you two as outstanding men. Now that the world is in chaos and the government is weak, how easy will it be for you to give up the difficulties? It is easy for you to die, but what about the inheritance of the family? ?”
Yu Fan and He Qi are good-natured people with straightforward personalities. Otherwise, Yu Fan wouldn’t be so vicious that Sun Quan couldn’t stand it, and He Qi wouldn’t fall out with the local tycoons at the slightest disagreement. .
Yu Fan and He Qi could not stand Liu Feng's words. They felt that Liu Feng had almost said it into their hearts. Even though there was such a big gap in status between them, Yu Fan and He Qi couldn't stand Liu Feng's words. Both of them could not help but regard Liu Feng as their confidant.
“The great discussions during the expedition to the south made both of us feel ashamed, and we became more aware of the burdens on our shoulders.”
Yu Fan and He Qi immediately prostrated themselves. They all said in unison: "We have no way to repay the kindness of Zhengnan, we can only repay it with death. If Meng Zhengnan does not give up, we and I are willing to die as the lackeys of Zhengnanmen!"
Liu Feng was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly picked up the two of them and sat on the same bed with them.
Liu Feng immediately appointed Yu Fan as Li Cao and He Qi as his subordinate governor, both of whom were trusted officials.
Yu Fan and He Qi burst into tears of gratitude and sincerely joined Liu Feng.
After gathering Yu Fan and He Qi, Liu Feng summoned the generals to discuss matters.
Now Sun Jun is on the other side of Qiantang. The two armies have been confronting each other for more than ten days. Naturally, what they want to discuss is how to defeat the enemy.
Liu Feng's men now also have a gathering of heroes, and it is definitely not an exaggeration to say that there are as many powerful generals as there are.
Faced with the natural danger of the Qiantang River, these generals who will go down in history were unable to come up with any good solutions.
Even Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, Zhou Yu and others who had been stationed in the north of the Qiantang River for more than half a month were scratching their heads and had some complaints against Liu Feng.
Previously, when the south bank of the Qiantang River was empty and there was no Sun army stationed at all, the army could easily cross the river, but Liu Feng ordered him not to cross the river.
Later, Sun Ce finally completed his repairs and pushed forward. He could also fight across the river while his footing was not stable.
But Liu Feng still disagreed.
Now that Sun Ce not only occupied the front line of Guling, but also rested on the front line for another ten days, the physical strength of the soldiers has also returned to full condition. It is indeed difficult to cross the river again at this time.
Of course, it’s not that the generals present felt that they couldn’t cross the river.
Although Wang Lang was able to resist Sun Ce by relying on the Guling Defense Line, had it not been for the leak of the Chadu Ancient Road, Sun Ce would have been blocked for more than half a year in the original time and space and would have been helpless.
But the Conquest of the South Army is different, and the heroes in the Conquest of the South are also different.
They had no doubts about crossing the river to defeat the enemy. Their hesitation and hesitation at this time was just because they could not come up with a clever plan.
In the eyes of Zhou Yu, Jia Kui and others, the Qiantang Defense Line is indeed a natural place of beauty. Guling City is small but strong, and it is located in a dangerous location. Even in the dry season, the Qiantang River still needs boats to ferry it. , if the soldiers swam across the river, there would be no need to fight next. Unless they put on dry clothes collectively, they would freeze to the point of losing their fighting strength in a quarter of an hour or two.
So, even a wise general known for his strategy can't come up with any good ideas at the moment.
It seems that the only way left is to attack by force.
Faced with the generals' slander, Liu Feng smiled and said nothing.
After all, with his current prestige, even the likes of Zhao Yun, Tai Shi, Zhou Yu, and Jia Kui could only dare to slander him, and they could not even protest in person.
"Since all the generals are helpless, let's write a letter of challenge and give it a try first."
Liu Feng is confident, so it's no wonder that he wants to give up. Sometimes, You need to give this group of outstanding people a little genius shock, otherwise how can you stabilize your position as the boss?
The generals naturally obeyed their orders, but Zhou Yu, Jia Kui, and Yu Fan all murmured in their hearts. Although they could not guess what Liu Feng was thinking, they all saw that Liu Feng had a plan in mind, so they would naturally guess. Liu Feng's strategy and intentions rose.
Liu Feng's war report soon spread to the other side of the Qiantang River.
Sun Ce was a little surprised and curious when he heard the letter from the other side in the tent.
The envoys were summoned into the tent, took the silk book and flipped through it.
Sun Ce did not expect that the words in the silk book were very concise.
There are only two sentences in total.
The first sentence is "Are you willing to surrender?"
The second sentence is: If you don't surrender, please retreat five miles and fight across the river.
Sun Ce suddenly narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
Liu Feng asked the generals in the army how to defeat the enemy. Naturally, Sun Ce was under greater pressure.
He is the weak side, and he is also the defensive side. He was born for Liu Feng.
In a simple sentence, both the strategic and tactical initiative are in Liu Feng's hands. He can only be beaten passively, waiting for Liu Feng to make the first move, and then choose how to respond.
Therefore, Sun Ce was naturally at his wits end. After discussing it for many days, he finally had no choice but to maintain the status quo and wait for changes. But now, the silk book Liu Feng sent to Sun Ce seemed to contain a glimmer of possibility.
Sun Ce’s eyes fell on the request to retreat five miles, and he was silently calculating in his heart.
At this time, Sun Ce naturally could not have imagined that more than a hundred years later, there would be a famous war with this letter as the battlefield. What he was thinking about now was only four words - strike halfway across .
If what Liu Feng said is true, then his best chance of winning is to attack halfway.
There is no need to completely kill them all, even if only half of Liu Feng's army is annihilated, the situation will be greatly improved.
If Liu Feng really dared to give him such a chance, Sun Ce would have full confidence to teach him a painful lesson. But he also doubted whether Liu Feng had any conspiracy inside.
Sun Ce is quite familiar with Liu Feng, and has suffered several losses from him.
Now that he is in such a desperate situation, Sun Ce may not know that he is controlled by Liu Feng like a puppet on strings, but he still understands more or less what role Liu Feng plays in it. of.
Therefore, Sun Ce will never underestimate Liu Feng.
After thinking about it again and again, he still couldn't think of any traps in it.
So Sun Ce decided to summon the generals to discuss matters.
Soon, Sun Jing, Cheng Pu, Song Qian, Chen Wu and other generals in the camp rushed to the tent.
After waiting for everyone to gather, Sun Ce did not delay and directly handed Liu Feng's letter to everyone for circulation.
After reading the letter, Sun Jun's generals also looked surprised. They were all battle-hardened warriors, and their first reaction was exactly the same as Sun Ce's.
Isn't this like divine help?
But immediately afterwards, he began to doubt himself again just like Sun Ce.
So far, Sun Cejun has never won a victory at the hands of the Southern Conquest Army.
Since Liu Feng crossed the river, Sun Ce's army has been defeated in consecutive battles and suffered heavy losses. The entire Wu County was lost.
Unless Liu Feng was dazzled by the victory and completely regarded Sun Ce's army as nothing.
But with so many good ministers and famous generals in the Southern Army, would they let Liu Feng do whatever he wanted?
Is Liu Feng really so arrogant that he cannot listen to any correct opinions?
Would such a person really do such a stupid thing?
But other than that, there is no way to explain Liu Feng's abnormal behavior.
The most important point is that Sun Cejun and the senior officials at the meeting all felt that they would win if they attacked half way across, and they could hold the line of defense even if it didn't work, and there would be no risk of failure.
They could not imagine Liu Feng's conspiracy hidden in the battle across the river, let alone any means to break the situation.
Sun Ce listened to the discussions among his generals. Although they all felt that Liu Feng was getting carried away, no one dared to make a decision.
In the end, Sun Ce made up his mind: "If this is the case, then why should I fear Liu Feng's battle across the river? I will make an appointment for three days, what will the generals think?"
Hear Sun Ce made a decision, and all the generals in Sun Ce's army breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to agree.
So Sun Ce replied a letter to Liu Feng, first refusing to surrender, pointing out that Liu Feng held the emperor hostage, deceived the superiors and deceived the subordinates, and raised troops in Jiangdong for no reason. If he retreated, he could forget about it.
If he refuses to retreat, then make an appointment to cross the river and fight in three days.
After Liu Feng received the reply, he sneered again and again.
Sun Ce is a rebel and dares to insult the pillar of the country. He is really arrogant.
But since he is willing to fight, he still falls into my trap.
Liu Feng became complacent, my plans were like ghosts and gods, nothing could be known by Sun Bofu, a mere lion.
Regarding Liu Feng's decision, the generals of the Southern Army were a little worried that Sun Ce's army would attack halfway across the river, but then they thought about it carefully and realized that the only way to go was to attack by force.
In this case, it doesn't matter whether Sun Cejun keeps his promise or not.
If Sun Cejun is really pedantic enough to keep his promise, then he will take advantage of him.
So, all the generals agreed with Liu Feng's decision, and the matter was settled.
Immediately, Liu Feng replied and agreed, agreeing that the decisive battle date would be three days later. Sun Ce's army would retreat five miles, and Liu Feng's army would cross the river and fight.
Later, Liu Feng announced the appointment to the entire army, and at the same time rewarded the entire army with wine and meat to boost morale.
At this point, the war is about to begin.
Three days later, Liu Feng's army prepared rice at the Yin hour and sent out troops at the Mao hour. On the Qiantang River, the flags of Zhou, Jiang, Dong, and Gan were fluttering, and hundreds of large and small warships and civilian ships were lined up in the north of the river.
Sun Cejun also seemed to be very trustworthy. He had retreated five miles the day before, leaving enough space for Liu Fengjun to cross the river.
Seeing that Sun Cejun seemed to have kept his promise, Liu Feng gave an order and the army began to take action. All the warships of the navy carried the sergeants of the Southern Conquest Army and began to cross the river.
The first batch of pioneers to go ashore were Gao Shun's 4,000 men.
After landing ashore, Gao Shun's troops completed their reorganization and began to advance forward to gain space for the following troops.
In the battle across the river, the risks for the forward are far greater than in ordinary battles.
Because the rivers and lakes will naturally divide the attacker's formation, the attacker's vanguard will fall into a lonely battle due to lack of support.
Especially in this case, the forward troops not only cannot retreat, but must also take the initiative to move forward to gain space and time for the follow-up troops to deploy their forces.
Otherwise, if they are all crowded on the shore, not only will they have no fighting power, they will also turn into dumplings and be driven into the river by the defenders, causing heavy casualties.
Therefore, the vanguard in the battle across the river is very important, so Liu Feng chose Gao Shun as the vanguard of the army against all opinions.
This is not only because Gao Shun is good at military training, has strict military discipline and is not afraid of death, but also because Gao Shun is extremely resistant to pressure, and Gao Shun himself has enough prestige and ability to control the army. , is the most suitable candidate right now.
Sure enough, after crossing the river, Gao Shun quickly organized his troops, divided them into four columns, and stretched the front as much as possible, obviously trying to gain space for the follow-up troops to expand.
Subsequently, Gao Shun personally suppressed the formation, and the governor's troops began to move forward.
He wanted to push the battle line as far out as possible to cover the landing of subsequent troops and have enough space to reorganize the team and expand their troops.
Just as Gao Shun feared, after he landed, Sun Ce's army began to move.
Sun Ce's more than 700 cavalry began to press forward, obviously wanting to harass and disrupt the rhythm of Gao Shunjun's forward pressure. It would be even better if Gao Shunjun could be forced back.
At the same time, the infantry formation behind also began to move forward, almost coming head-on with Gao Shun.
(End of this chapter)