mtlumby2d Chapter 754 Sun Lang Enters the City, Shen Yi Attacks
Chapter 754 Sun Lang Enters the City, Shen Yi Attacks
Faced with the combined pursuit of Sun Lang and Hu Kun, Yang Tai, knowing that his troops were outnumbered, dared not linger. He led his army on a mad dash, each soldier moving so fast that they wished they had two more legs.
Although Sun Lang and Hu Kun wanted to catch up with Yang Tai immediately and annihilate him, they couldn't stop him and chased for a long time without catching up. Helpless, they had to withdraw their troops.
Finally, Sun Lang and Hu Kun successfully joined forces. After exchanging information, Sun Lang excitedly laughed and said, "That's great! With Xiling City, we no longer have to be chased by the Wei army. Tell the brothers to set off immediately and try to reach Xiling by this evening."
During this time, he was chased from Yingchuan to Runan by Tian Yu, and then from Runan to Jiangxia. He was really exhausted and desperately wanted to get a good night's sleep.
Hu Kun, however, was not so optimistic. He frowned and asked, "Shouldn't we be more cautious? After all, Tian Yu is still behind us. Tian Yu is leading cavalry, and once we leave Tongbai Mountain, the plains are wide open..."
Sun Lang laughed and said, "Don't worry, how could I not be on guard when I knew he was a cavalryman? As soon as we entered Tongbai Mountain, I ordered Li Kuan to lead two thousand troops to conduct guerrilla warfare in the mountains to slow down Tian Yu's speed. Tian Yu will not be able to catch up in a short time."
Two thousand troops are certainly no match for Tian Yu's six or seven thousand cavalry, but by taking advantage of the terrain of Tongbai Mountain, they can slow down Tian Yu's march and delay him for a few days.
Hu Kun said excitedly, "That would be great! Moreover, there are many bandits hiding in the Tongbai Mountains. If Li Kuan can recruit all of these bandits, it would be a great help."
The ancient profession of banditry was still thriving in the Republic of China era, let alone now.
Bandits are rampant in the Han Dynasty. They can occupy any mountain, and the Tongbai Mountains are particularly notorious for them. There are at least several thousand bandits hiding in the mountains. Whether Li Kuan can recruit them all depends on his abilities.
With Tian Yu no longer a worry for Sun Lang's rear, his army accelerated again and headed straight for Xiling, this time with Hu Kun covering their retreat.
Compared to Sun Lang's tens of thousands of exhausted soldiers, Hu Kun's thousand-plus men were a well-fed and well-rested fresh force. If he didn't cover the rear, who would?
As they drew closer to Xiling, the soldiers, eager for rest, quickened their pace and arrived safely at the city walls around 5 PM, where they were invited into the city by Guan Yan.
Once inside the city, they were completely safe. Sun Lang's army, which had been tormented by Tian Yu for many days, finally had a chance to rest. They all rushed into the camp and slept soundly for two whole days before gradually waking up.
As Sun Lang arrived at Xiling City, Tian Yu led his army out of Tongbai Mountain and successfully met up with Yang Tai. Upon learning from Yang Tai that Xiling had fallen, Tian Yu was devastated.
Sun Lang has seized the county town; this is a huge problem.
It should be noted that Xiling is both a prefectural city and a border city. The defensive capabilities of its city walls are many times stronger than those of the small county towns that Sun Lang had previously conquered. It would be difficult to recapture such a fortified city without three to five times the number of troops.
Sun Lang's forces are five times stronger than his own, which is 100,000 troops. Where could Tian Yu possibly gather 100,000 troops in such a short time?
After pondering for a moment, Tian Yu said, "Although Sun Lang has occupied Xiling City, it is difficult to defend an isolated city. If he wants to hold it for a long time, he needs someone to provide support. At present, the only person who can provide support for him is Shen Yi. In other words, at the same time that Sun Lang enters Xiling, Shen Yi is very likely to launch an attack on General Wen Ping. In that case, let's go to Zhu County to meet up with General Wen Ping and work together to defeat Shen Yi, forcing him not to cross the river easily."
The best strategy is to pick the weakest link. Although Sun Lang's forces are small, they are protected by a fortified city and will be difficult to capture in the short term. Shen Yi, on the other hand, has a large army but is the one attacking. Moreover, he must cross the river before attacking, and once he crosses the river, there will be no way to retreat. In this way, if he and Wen Ping join forces, they are very likely to inflict heavy damage or even cripple Shen Yi. In that case, Shen Yi will not be able to support Sun Lang.
Yang Tai chimed in, "That's fine. Even if we can't help General Wen resist Shen Yi by going to Zhu County, we can at least help him block Sun Lang and prevent Sun Lang from attacking General Wen from behind and colluding with Shen Yi from the inside."
After discussing and agreeing on a plan, the two of them headed to Xiling, intending to give Sun Lang the middle finger at the city walls of Xiling before heading to Zhu County to meet Wen Ping.
However, their location is hundreds of miles away from Zhu County. Is it still possible for them to get there in time?
South bank of the Yangtze River...
That noon, Hao Yu rushed into Shen Yi's room again, handed him a letter, and said, "General, General Ding Feng has replied, saying that he has successfully contacted General Zhou Shao and three thousand Wu soldiers, and they can launch an attack at any time."
Shen Yi was overjoyed. After carefully reading the letter, he said, "Three thousand is enough. Delay will only lead to unforeseen circumstances. We will act tonight. Order the army to eat and sleep immediately. We will cross the river at dawn tonight to attack Wen Ping."
From the day he received Guan Yan's letter, Shen Yi began preparing for the attack, and now everything was ready except for Ding Feng and Zhou Shao's reply.
Therefore, the army began to eat and rest. When the time of Yin (3-5 AM) arrived late at night, Shen Yi led 20,000 troops to the riverbank to observe the situation. He then ordered Hao Yu to lead 5,000 elite soldiers across the river by boat to begin the attack.
These are truly elite troops, absolute elites who fought alongside Guan Xing and Shen Yi against Lu Xun and were trained by Shen Yi for more than half a year.
Under Hao Yu's leadership, five thousand elite soldiers quickly crossed the river in small boats and began a fierce attack. They did not plan to launch a sneak attack because Wen Ping would not give them the opportunity.
Indeed, after receiving the urgent message from Xiling, Wenping issued a strict order to all the villages, tripling the number of guards each night, and requiring everyone to keep a close watch on the riverbank to prevent a surprise attack by the Han army.
Therefore, Hao Yu had only rowed his boat to the middle of the river when he was attacked by the Wei army. Arrows, crossbows, and catapults rained down on them like a storm.
Shen Yi had anticipated this, and not only prepared a massive number of shields, but also designed the entire cabin to be arched and covered with fireproof mud and straw. The soldiers at the bow were also holding shields, so ordinary arrows could not cause much damage to them. The stone fireballs launched by the catapults hit the top of the cabin and instantly slid down the circular roof into the river. Only the ballistae could pose a slight threat to the Han army, but there were too few ballistae and the firing speed was too slow, so the damage they caused was also limited.
In addition, the banks of this section of the Yangtze River are relatively flat and suitable for landing, which is why both sides have deployed heavy troops to guard it. In other words, Hao Yu can easily step onto the river as long as he rows across the other side, instead of being blocked by cliffs several meters or even tens of meters high as in other places.
Hao Yu braved the Wei army's attack and advanced with difficulty for half an hour before finally reaching the riverbank. He then jumped off the boat with his shield raised and rushed towards the Wei army. The soldiers on the other boats jumped off one after another and followed Hao Yu to attack Wen Ping. The rowers waited until they had all jumped off the boats and then quickly rowed back to pick up Shen Yi's main force.
After all, the number of warships was limited, and it was impossible to transport all the soldiers across the river at once.
In other words, before Shen Yi arrived, Hao Yu's 5,000 troops had to deal with Wen Ping's counterattack on their own, while also acting as Shen Yi's shield to cover the main force crossing the river, which put them under considerable pressure.
Wen Ping was in the camp that night. Instead of being shocked by Shen Yi's attack, he was extremely excited. He rushed out of the tent and shouted excitedly, "Brothers, follow me and kill!"
He was also eager to fight Shen Yi, hoping to defeat him as soon as possible and then return to Xiling to provide reinforcements.
Therefore, Shen Yi's initiative was exactly what he wanted; he would have been in trouble if Shen Yi hadn't come.
With both sides prepared, the two armies engaged in a fierce battle on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
At the same time, an army of about three thousand men was rushing to the battlefield from the northeast under the cover of night, led by Ding Feng and Zhou Shao.