Despite the disastrous defeat, Ji Ling was still hesitant to withdraw his troops.
So after escaping back to the camp, he immediately stood firm and gathered the defeated troops to deal with the enemy's possible counterattack.
Guan Yu indeed pursued Ji Ling all the way to the camp, but Ji Ling already had half of his troops in the camp and did not participate in the rescue of Liu Xun, so he could wait for work.
Guan Yu, who was already injured, couldn't take advantage, so he took it easy and withdrew decisively.
After the camp was stabilized, lieutenants Liang Gang and Le were still worried and requested to withdraw:
"General, our army was defeated today. Liu Xun's entire army collapsed. We don't know whether he is alive or dead. How about we retreat to Xuyi safely?"
Now that Guan Yu has just been scared off, this is a good time to retreat. If it were delayed for a few more days, it would not be that easy for Liu Beijun to recover from his physical injuries. "
Ji Ling was still conscious and directly objected:
"We can't leave so fast! Have you forgotten! Liu Bei has already lost his Xiapi. Today they still have such courage to fight to the death, probably because Liu Bei's strict military management and effective blockade, the soldiers still don't know that their home is gone!
But after this battle, they will definitely capture many prisoners of our army, and our army will also capture their prisoners. If these prisoners can be fully informed of the true situation and then released into Liu Bei's army, Liu Bei's morale may collapse!
In this way, although our army no longer has the advantage in strength, it may not have no chance of killing Liu Bei! If Liu Bei finally decides to go back and counterattack Xiapi, we can still gain the empty Huaiyin for nothing! Now we must stick to Liu Bei! "
When Liang Gangle heard this, they all looked at each other in shock. They didn't expect General Ji to be so ambitious.
In fact, this is not because Ji Ling is calm or resourceful - he has a shitty resourcefulness at his level.
Ji Ling was just stunned because he had been tortured by sunk costs these days. He had already invested so much money in order to let Liu Bei know the bad news and destroy the morale of the army. Today, he fell into the trap and suffered such a defeat.
This is all he thinks about, and he will never give up if he is not allowed to fully use this trump card.
This feeling is like a card player holding a deck of king bombs in his hand. Even if he knows that he is going to lose this game, he has to blow up the king bomb first before he can be happy.
…
Ji Ling accepted death and refused to retreat, insisting on giving full play to the fact that his hometown was stolen.
After hearing about the situation reported by Guan Yu, Liu Bei also looked very solemn:
"You defeated Ji Ling's troops rescuing Liu Xun so miserably, but Ji Ling still decided to stick to us after returning to camp, and was unwilling to withdraw directly to Xuyi?
It seems that the situation is more serious than Tzuyu originally thought. How can we go south and attack Guangling if we are entangled like this? If you leave too few troops here, you won't be able to defend it; if you leave too many troops, it will be difficult to get off Guangling. "
Guan Yu thought for a while, covered his left arm injured by the arrow and said: "Brother, if it doesn't work, we should divide our troops. When the enemy army was besieging the city with 40,000 people, we could still defend it with 12,000 people. Now that more than half of the enemy army has been wiped out, we We can definitely defend it if we leave three or four thousand men! You can take all the remaining soldiers to attack Guangling.
This matter cannot be delayed. Liu Xun was defeated and his soldiers were scattered. If we pursue quickly and cannot regroup when we catch up to Guangling, we will only have to deal with Liu Xun's troops guarding his home. The longer we delay, the more defeated troops will regroup. "
After listening to the persuasion, Liu Bei thought quickly and felt that he was still not sure.
Before this battle, they had twelve thousand troops. Although Liu Beijun won today's decisive battle, casualties were inevitable.
An inventory after the war revealed that the total number of casualties was at least 2,000, so there were at most 10,000 left, as well as some sick people and lightly wounded people who did not leave the firing line.
Ten thousand men were left to Guan Yu to defend Ji Ling and Huaiyin City, leaving three to four thousand men, and only six thousand men could attack Guangling.
Even if all the troops brought by Liu Xun collapsed, could these 6,000 men attack Liu Xun's troops guarding his home?
The situation remains very serious.
If before today's victory, Liu Bei's chance of winning was 10%, then after his desperate fight, this probability has been increased to about 30%, and he is far from overcoming the crisis.
Liu Bei could only sigh in the end: "Well, there is really no better choice. I will leave you three thousand infantry, and I will leave the wounded soldiers for recuperation, and take 6000 infantry to attack Guangling. The victory or defeat can only be left to fate." If we drag on any longer, the morale boosted by today's victory will collapse."
Guan Yu thought for a while and asked, "Brother, please leave me those thousand cavalry, at least most of them, and you can take some of the scouts with you.
In the past few days, I have wanted to put on a feint attack to counterattack Xuyi, but I will never be willing to fight. Maybe I can scare Ji Ling away and return to protect Xuyi. Anyway, you won't need cavalry to attack the city. "
Liu Bei thought it made sense, so he agreed. The thousand cavalry also lost two to three hundred in today's battle. He left five hundred for Guan Yu and only took two hundred with him as personal guards and sentinels.
However, at about the end of the morning, the hasty deployment had just been completed and Liu Bei was still preparing the rations needed for the siege troops. A general suddenly rushed into the shogunate with a few messengers and scouts to report the urgent military situation to Liu Bei. .
Liu Bei raised his eyes and was surprised to see that it was Chen Dao who came with Mi Zhu's son Mi Wei. He couldn't help but be surprised.
Mi Wei is now in his teens, still a teenager, and has not yet taken a title or officially entered an official career.
But Liu Bei took good care of Mi Zhu's family, so they all knew each other. He knew that Mi Wei had also been with his uncle Mi Fang in Haixi County before, but he didn't know why he ended up here.
Fortunately, Chen Dao opened his mouth and immediately cleared up his doubts: "My lord, the three generals sent Mi Shaojun as a messenger to report important military information."
Liu Bei immediately lowered his rank and pulled the other party aside to sit down and asked him solemnly. Mi Wei also said exactly:
"My lord, I was appointed by my father to follow the three generals back to Huaipu County from Haixi two days ago, where I will monitor the current situation of the Huaiyin battlefield.
Then the three generals brought another thousand troops and horses to Sheyang County. He followed Mr. Zhuge's plan and said that once he found out that Liu Xun was defeated in Huaiyin, he would immediately set off from Sheyang and disguise himself as Liu Xun's defeated cavalry to attack Guangling..."
Before Mi Wei finished speaking, Liu Bei was frightened: How dare you, third brother? A thousand people dare to disguise themselves as enemies and launch a sneak attack?
Although he had good intentions and a clear purpose, just to share his worries and help everyone break the desperate situation, Liu Bei soon realized that there was definitely something wrong with this plan!
He felt a burst of blood rush to his head, and interrupted Mi Wei's report with a gesture, shouting: "Get the map!"
Immediately, an attendant handed over a cloth map. Liu Bei quickly spread it out on the table, and then looked at the map carefully. Because the movement of holding the picture was too rough, there was even a sound of the silk being ripped, but Liu Bei could no longer care.
From the map, Sheyang County is indeed located halfway between Huaiyin County and Guangling County. Because it is located on the east bank of Hangou, it is indeed an area controlled by Liu Bei's army.
Just because the geographical location is not important, Liu Xun did not specially divide his troops to cross Hangou to get it when he went north, so he just kept it. There were only hundreds of Liu Bei's troops garrisoning the city.
If we attack from Sheyang County, we can indeed shorten the journey to Guangling County - it can save about one hundred miles than attacking directly from Huaiyin, and we only need to walk one hundred and sixty miles to get there.
But the problem is - Sheyang County is not close to Hangou, but is to the east of Hangou.
Liu Bei felt that Zhang Fei was just fooling around, and he complained bitterly:
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Even if Yi De is reckless, Ziyu is so smart, how could he give him such an idea?
Sheyang is not near Hangou, and it is east of Hangou. There is no ferry available locally! Guangling County is to the west of Hangou.
Yi De used his cavalry to disguise the enemy as a sneak attack. How did he finally cross Hangou to Hexi to attack the city? How can any cavalry army lead the ship with them when they are defeated?
Moreover, Liu Xun's main force was defeated west of Hangou. If the 'broken cavalry' appeared east of Hangou, they would be discovered directly! "
Liu Bei felt dizzy and anxious for a while. In his mind, he could almost see the tragic scene of his third brother being discovered and surrounded, and finally exhausted and defeated.
However, he seemed to have no choice. The third brother took risks, it was also to break the situation.
He was originally going to fight back against Guangling, so he had to speed up with all his strength to clean up this mess for his third brother.
Just when Liu Bei was almost crying and ready to fight for his life.
Mi Wei always seized the opportunity and continued to speak:
"Don't worry, my lord, please listen to my explanation! Of course Mr. Zhuge's strategy will not be so crude. I was interrupted before I finished speaking..."
After hearing Mi Wei's follow-up explanation, Liu Bei's frightened mood finally calmed down a little, and reason took over his brain again.
Indeed, he sent a genius like Tzuyu to follow his third brother! How could Tzuyu make such a stupid mistake with his talent!
Co-authored by Mi Wei, this kid is out of breath when he talks?
Liu Bei rubbed his chest and let out a long breath: "Why didn't you finish what you said in the first place?! Please explain Tzuyu's plan clearly!"
Mi Wei was also helpless: It was obviously you who interrupted...
But now is not the time to care about these things. Mi Wei took a deep breath, organized his words and said in an orderly manner: "Of course the three generals relied on something for this move. My father has already prepared the meeting five days in advance according to Mr. Zhuge's advice." The fleet rushed south from Haixi along the coast and flowed upstream into the Yangtze River Estuary.
Disguised as Danyang Sun Ce's merchant fleet, they then went to Guangling County and entered Hangou to provide siege equipment and military supplies for the three generals' sneak attack troops. By the way, they also helped the three generals' cavalry to cross Hangou from Sheyang west at night.
The order given by the third general to the boy was that once he found out that his lord had defeated the enemy in the siege of Huaiyin, he should immediately go to the city to inform his lord of this action, and he could quickly rush to the rescue with the main force of the infantry. The three generals should guard the White Gate Tower to wait for Lu Bu's approach, waiting for the lord's help to capture the whole city. "
After listening to these explanations, Liu Bei was stunned for a while, then thought about the map, and finally came to his senses.
Ziyu’s talent is truly a ghost!
In a hurry, he thought of letting Zizhong cross the river in white clothes, pretending to be a businessman from Sun Ce, but actually providing logistics and river crossing convenience for the sneak attack troops!
In this case, the third brother's sneak attack should have a high chance of success. Although the danger is definitely still there, at least I see the opportunity.
The only one who needs to work hard now is himself. He cannot let down the city gate that his third brother fought so hard to steal!
Why did Lu Bu let Xu Dan defend Baimen Tower until Lu Bu's main force captured Pi? Today, I am going to let my third brother capture the East Water Gate of Guangling, and then let him capture Guangling!
Heaven's way is good, but retribution is really unpleasant.
"Heaven has given Ziyu to help the Han Dynasty and eliminate thieves!" The wrinkles on Liu Bei's cheeks rarely twitched, and he gritted his teeth and roared out the order:
"Immediately mobilize 6,000 men and follow me directly to Guangling County! Don't prepare military rations, just take five days' rations with you! Advance lightly and quickly! Rescue Yide! This battle must completely annihilate the remnants of Liu Xun!"
——
PS: I originally thought this chapter would be 2,000 words, after all, it’s the third update today. But in the end it failed out of context, so I’ll give you a thousand more words.
Seeing that I am so sincere, please count the votes.
There will be an update of 3,000 words after 12 o'clock in the evening, which is considered tomorrow (Tuesday).
Tomorrow during the day, there will be 2,000 words at 8 a.m. and 5 a.m. each time, so there will be a total of 7,000 to 8,000 words tomorrow.
That’s why I work so hard on Monday and Tuesday.
We will resume two updates per day from Wednesday to Sunday (from now on, we will only send you one extra update on Monday and Tuesday when the recommendation positions are changed. The remaining five days will be as usual, all for the effect of the recommendation position. In order to prove to the editor that I am still valuable.)
