Chapter 347 Sun Ce’s Thoughts
Sun Ce looked at the overall situation from the watchtower on a small slope. This slope was a site he carefully selected, and then he built it with soil and built on it. A simple watchtower was built in order to be able to command from a high position.
Today’s decisive battle is indeed a great joy from heaven for Sun Ce.
Sun Ce only had an incomplete Kuaiji County, while Liu Feng had already occupied Wu County and Danyang County in Jiangdong alone, and also had support from the North. In terms of protracted war, There was no way Sun Ce could defeat his opponent at all costs.
If Sun Ce were in Liu Feng's position, he would not send any large army southward. He would only need to deploy five or six thousand elite troops in Yuhang and ten thousand troops in Qiantang, coupled with three to four thousand elite navy troops. This would cut off any attempt by the Kuaiji Army to counterattack across the river.
In this way, it will only take a year and a half for the Kuaiji Army to be exhausted. By then, I am afraid that there will be no need for the troops from the north of the Qiantang River to go south, and the Kuaiji Army will collapse on its own.
Sun Ce was especially worried about the rear. Although he had left more than 10,000 troops in Kuaiji, more than 60% of these troops were surrendered by the Kuaiji army and could not withstand any disturbance.
So Sun Ce was eager to seek a battle. If he had no chance of winning, he would even dare to cross the river to seek a battle.
Now that Liu Feng dares to cross the river for a decisive battle, it is simply a good thing that he has dreamed of. Naturally, he will make full preparations to reverse the situation in a battle.
Sun Ce watched Gao Shun land ashore and began to reorganize his team. After the queue was complete, he began to move towards his own position.
Sun Ce immediately got off the watchtower, and the generals on the earth platform immediately came up to greet him, surrounding Sun Ce.
Sun Ce glanced at everyone, and finally stopped at Cheng Pu, and said: "Uncle Cheng, please lead the cavalry to attack, in order to hinder the advancement of Gao Shun's troops. If you can disrupt his troops, you will be more likely to do so." Good, but be careful not to take risks. Preservation of yourself is the priority. "
Sun Ce's attitude is very clear. He wants to prevent Gao Shun from continuing to advance and create more space for the subsequent troops of the Southern Expedition Army to cross the river. .
The cavalry is undoubtedly the best choice to perform this task, but this cavalry team is also Sun Ce's favorite, so he specially told Cheng Pu not to waste the battle.
Cheng Pu is an extremely rare cavalry general under Sun Ce. Sun Ce learned all his cavalry tactics from Cheng Pu, otherwise he would not have put such an important unit in Cheng Pu's hands.
In this battle, Sun Ce gathered almost all his family members, with a total of more than 1,700 cavalry. He was divided into three teams, including Cheng Pudu's 700 cavalry as the right team, Han Dangdu's 700 cavalry as the left team, and the last three More than a hundred cavalry were under Sun Ce's direct command.
In addition, Sun Ce also transferred two thousand people back from Chadu Village, and all the soldiers and horses in Yuji County were spared, just to fight Liu Feng.
Cheng Pu clasped his fists and accepted the order: "Don't worry, we will do as we are told!"
After saying that, Cheng Pu immediately took the order and left, returned to the formation, and then led The cavalry under his command came out in full force and galloped towards Gao Shun.
Afterwards, Sun Ce ordered Huang Gai and Rui Liang: "Uncle Huang, Wen Luan, you two will be the vanguard in this battle. I have only one request, and that is to drive Gao Shun away. Is it possible for you to go back to the riverside? ”
Rui Liang, also known as Wenluan, and his father Rui Zhi, like Zhu Zhi, not only came from a noble family, but was also a veteran of Sun Jian's era. He was more valued by Sun Jian than Zhu Zhi and was promoted to the prefect of Jiujiang and the prefect of Wu County.
After Rui Liang died in battle, his younger brother Rui Xuan inherited Rui Liang's tribe and was granted the title of Marquis of Liyang when Sun Quan became emperor.
It’s just that the abilities of the father and son are relatively average, and they were not very outstanding in the era of Sun Ce and Sun Quan. But even so, they still relied on their status and reputation to achieve two thousand stones.
At this time, the two brothers Rui Liang and Rui Xuan were serving under Sun Ce, with a force of four thousand men. Because their families were rich, the soldiers were well-equipped.
At this time, Huang Gai and Rui Liang clasped their fists and bowed together, and responded loudly: "Don't worry, general, we will defeat the high thief for you!"
"Good!"
Sun Ce boosted his ambition, and then specifically warned: "But the two generals must not fight together, it is best to keep some."
Afterwards, Huang Gai, Rui Liang and his two men each led four thousand of their men out into battle, followed Cheng Pu, and pressed forward against Gao Shun's battle formation.
At this time, Sun Ce still had more than a thousand cavalry and nearly 19,000 infantry.
Among them, Sun Ce personally led 6,300 people, and his lieutenants Chen Wu and Yuan Xiong commanded 2,000 infantry, and more than 300 cavalry were Sun Ce's guards.
In addition, Han Dang led 700 cavalry, Sun Jingfu and four others led 4,000 Fuchun soldiers, Zhu Zhi led 4,000 Guzhang soldiers, and Sun Xiu led 2,000 soldiers, half of whom were Sun Fuguo. The story of Jiang's survival.
In addition, Song Qian and Lu Dai each led 4,000 troops.
Sun Ce smashed through nine thousand troops at the beginning, including not only Cheng Pu's seven hundred cavalry, but Huang Gai was also known as a brave and good warrior. Although Rui Liang was not as good at fighting as Huang Gai, his soldiers The equipment is still superior.
Given the width of the battlefield, Sun Ce could actually invest another four thousand men. In this way, he would be able to outflank Gao Shun from both sides and even surround the opponent.
But what Sun Ce wanted was not to eat Gao Shun in one go. Regardless of whether he could succeed or not, Sun Ce was even more worried that Liu Feng would stop his troops.
Although Liu Feng is young, he has a very high reputation. Sun Ce can also be regarded as a young hero, but compared with Liu Feng, he is really far behind.
Sun Ce has suffered a lot in the hands of Liu Feng. Let’s not mention Guangling. Liu Feng’s ubiquitous oppression over the years has made Sun Ce’s expansion in Jiangdong extremely difficult. , as if there was a behind-the-scenes hand rubbing him, making him sink into the quagmire and unable to escape.
God knows how he felt when he received the news that Zhang Hong was conquered by Liu Bei. He spent four full years with Zhang Hong before he got him to relent and gave him some extremely useful advice. idea.
He also wanted to strike while the iron was hot. Once he made some achievements in Jiangdong, he would invite Zhang Hong across the river. As a result, Zhang Hong was directly conquered by Liu Bei.
As for the conquest of Wu and even the entire Jiangdong, it was extremely unsatisfactory, especially Zhou Yu's attitude towards him also changed.
Sun Ce has never denied that his friendship with Zhou Yu is sincere. The two people do have similar minds and similar interests.
But Sun Ce knew that the Zhou family's intention to win over him was quite despicable, just like Yuan Shu.
At first, the Zhou family hoped that they would be their dogs and fight for their reputation, status and property.
It wasn’t until he went down to Lujiang in a battle that the attitude of the Zhou family changed slightly.
But the problem is, I, Sun Ce, am Sun Wentai’s son. How can a tiger father have a dog son?
And the deeper the relationship, the more Sun Ce can see Zhou Yu's talents and ambitions.
Zhou Yu really has ambitions and talents that are no less than his own, so Sun Ce is afraid of and admires him. However, Sun Ce originally thought that Zhou Yu could bully him, and wanted Zhou Yu to help him convince Zhou Shang to abandon Liu Yao. , to help him win Niuzhu.
Obviously Zhou Yu had agreed to him at first and rushed from Shu County to Wanling in person, but then there was no movement for half a year, which was really puzzling. Later, there were even fewer letters.
It wasn’t until he heard that Zhou Yu was already serving under Liu Feng that Sun Ce suddenly felt at ease.
Now, Sun Ce has regarded Liu Feng as his greatest enemy. Now the opponent is stupid and dares to cross the river to attack.
What Sun Ce wanted was to give Liu Feng a fatal blow, or even a heavy blow to him.
Gao Shun can only survive four thousand steps. Even if he is completely wiped out, what's the point?
Master Liu Feng, these four thousand people?
If these four thousand people scared Liu Feng and stopped crossing the river, then he would be a loser.
That's why Sun Ce issued such a strange order. He wanted to defeat Gao Shun and make the opponent retreat to the riverside, but he couldn't completely defeat the opponent.
Sun Ce's purpose was to seduce Liu Feng into sending a steady stream of troops to rescue Gao Shun, so that he could eat them, and then continue to force Liu Feng to continue to invest new troops.
Only in this way can we hit the opponent hard in one fell swoop.
Liu Feng occupied Wu County for only a few months. Once he lost his military advantage, Sun Ce felt that he would regain the lost ground faster.
After receiving the order, Cheng Pu took the lead, led the cavalry out at a medium speed, and quickly approached Gao Shun's troops with the sound of double hooves. This speed can maintain a speed of 13 kilometers per hour and retain a large amount of horsepower.
The so-called double hoof sound means that when the horse is running, you can only hear the sound of two hoofs hitting the ground.
In just over a cup of tea, the cavalry led by Cheng Pu had already rushed to a distance of less than one mile from Gaoshun.
Gao Shun immediately issued an order, and the soldiers stopped as ordered. After sorting out the slightly messy team, the soldiers in the first row opened a certain distance, and then raised the tower shield in their hands, which was as tall as one person. Then insert the lower pointed groove into the ground as a stable support point.
At the same time, from the distance between these soldiers, the second row of soldiers walked out, each holding a crossbow in their hands. They stopped after five steps out of the queue, then squatted down and raised their hands. The crossbow was aimed at Cheng Pu's troops.
Finally, another line of soldiers followed the crossbowmen and walked in front of the shield bearers, holding long bows in their hands.
These soldiers did not rush to draw their bows. Instead, they first took out the arrows from the quiver on their backs, inserted five of them into the ground in front of their feet, then held the bow in their left hand, bluffed their right hands, and stared at the cavalrymen with their ears. His attention was focused on the officer, waiting for the other party to issue orders.
The changes in the military formation only took a few moments. During the process, there were only the officers' command and no other noises, which shows Gao Shun's ability in training troops.
In fact, Liu Feng had a lot of ships. With all his strength, it was not difficult to transport more than 10,000 troops ashore in one wave.
It’s just that Liu Feng can only transport up to 6,000 people due to other reasons.
Before the war started, Liu Feng had a careful discussion with Gao Shun.
Gao Shun thought that instead of bringing two thousand more men, it would be better to provide him with a large number of shields, polearms, and bows and arrows.
With enough bows and arrows, he was confident that he could stand alone for more than an hour, while Liu Fengjun only needed three-quarters of an hour from boarding the ship to landing on the other side.
When Liu Feng confirmed it, Gao Shun was even willing to issue a military order, so Liu Feng chose to believe the other party. Not only were 300 additional crossbows and 200 strong bows assigned to him, but 200 additional archers were specially assigned to him.
In addition, he also gave 500 tower shields as high as a person, 1,500 halberds, 50,000 arrows of various types, and 300 sets of iron armor.
Gao Shun was extremely grateful for Liu Feng's support and was confident in the mission.
Under Gao Shun's command, the military formation had changed. Cheng Pu in the distance was planning to conduct a side attack after observing.
In cavalry combat at this time, charges were not common. In most cases, they were raiding enemies who were not in formation, and sweeping through enemies who were out of formation.
If you have to charge forward with infantry in formation, it is often a very urgent situation. Either the victory or defeat is decided, or it is extremely critical to turn the tide, and it is only done when you have no choice but to do so. tactics used.
What Cheng Pu was thinking about at this time was harassment.
Because Gao Shun maintained a complete formation while marching and could switch to battle at any time.
After all, this was a frontal decisive battle, not an ordinary march, and the chosen decisive battle ground was open enough, and the width of the battlefield was enough to ensure that Gao Shun could march in a battle formation.
Looking at Gao Shun's battle formation, Cheng Pulema frowned. He did not expect that the opponent's formation would change so quickly. He had obviously anticipated the cavalry harassment. What made Cheng Pu feel even more targeted was the large number of crossbows. They were obviously on guard against Cheng Pu and the others.
Most of the riding bows cannot be compared with the walking bow in terms of power and range. If you try hard at this time, you will definitely have to be taught by so many crossbows. .
Cheng Pu frowned and did not order a side attack for a long time.
The cavalry side attack method mainly involves arousing the enemy at high speed and then throwing arrows towards the infantry battle formation to achieve the effect of harassment and killing.
But now that other people's crossbows are in their faces, it's not worth it to go there now.
Not to mention that the exchange ratio will be very disadvantageous. Even if it is a one-to-one exchange ratio, if you are a cavalry on your side, the blood loss will go to grandma's house.
However, Cheng Pu is also a veteran and is very steady. When he saw that there were no more fighters, he did not take forced action, but retreated to the side.
As long as he doesn't move, at least the task given by Sun Ce will be completed.
As long as Cheng Pu and his team of cavalry were watching eagerly, Gao Shun would not dare to withdraw and move forward.
Now, Gao Shun has only moved forward for more than a mile. This position is still quite awkward. It cannot be said that there is no space, but the space is really not big.
Gao Shun was in the formation. He glanced at Cheng Pu coldly, and then turned his attention to the battle formation of Huang Gai and Rui Liang approaching him in the distance, knowing that he could no longer continue. After advancing, they simply gave the order to convert the square array into a circular array.
The archers returned to the formation, and another group of shield soldiers emerged from it, forming a circle together with the original shield soldiers. It seemed that they were determined to hold on and wait for reinforcements.
Huang Gai quickly received the cavalry sent by Cheng Pu. After learning about Gao Shun's response, he suppressed his position and slowed down his advance.
The previous rush march actually consumed the soldiers' physical strength. After all, both sides were already on the battlefield, and the soldiers had already put on their armor before setting off.
The reason for this is that Gao Shun is still worried that Gao Shun will advance too fast.
Now that Gao Shun has been pinned by Cheng Pu, there is no need for him and Rui Liang to rush so much, as they can just give the soldiers a breather.
Although Cheng Pu pinned the opponent, he also lost the opportunity to attack. The fierce battle below will have to rely on their infantry.
(End of this chapter)