When Lei Bo came to the city wall, he first looked at the soldiers under the city and the boats in Feishui not far away. The flags and uniforms all belong to one's side. Moreover, it comes from the fertile water, so it should be Yuan Shu's place to promote food and ordnance. After the observation, Lei Bo looked through the documents and military symbols. He nodded and asked the soldiers to open the city gate.
"Creak!" The city gate, which had become heavier after being soaked by the rain, was opened with great difficulty.
The soldiers outside the city quickly entered the city gate, and Lei Bo also led his soldiers down.
"Wait a minute, why haven't I seen you before? Isn't it Zhang Ren who is transporting grain?" Lei Bo asked a man dressed as a military commander.
The military commander raised his hands and replied: "I am transferred from Shu County. The general said that the man may have been transferred to fight."
"That's not right. How come you let the guards from Shu County come to transport food?" Lei Bo said hesitantly.
The army commander saw that Lei Bo's expression was not right, so he stepped forward with both feet and at the same time unsheathed his sword around his waist.
"Qiang!" Lei Bo also reacted quickly enough. He dodged the blade sideways, but the armor on his shoulders was cut off, and blood and rain seeped out.
"Swish, swish, swish!" Lei Bo's bodyguards all pulled out their swords, and Sun Jiajun, who was also pretending to be Yuan Shu's army, also raised their weapons.
"The enemy is attacking!" After being stunned for a while, a guard shouted.
"Bang, bang, bang!" The gongs were sounded intensively, and the guards also picked up their weapons.
Lu Meng, pretending to be a military commander, swung his sword forward again. The two slashed and killed the defenders in front, and Lei Bo retreated again and again to avoid Lu Meng's pursuit.
The Jiangdong Army who entered the city desperately attacked the defenders, and they firmly controlled the city gate.
Along with the sound of dense footsteps, another wave of Jiangdong's army of more than a thousand people ran to the city outside the city. They raised their shields and braved arrows as they poured into the city.
Sun Ce, who is handsome and agile, is riding on a war horse with a gun. He was accompanied by two personal followers, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin. The three of them stabbed and slashed the defenders like tigers emerging from their cages.
Sun Ce caught up with Lei Bo at a gallop, his spear trembling like a python and pounced on his vitals.
Lei Bo rolled to the ground trying to avoid the gun blade. But Sun Ce controlled his horse to keep up with him, and after another thrust, Lei Bo was accurately stabbed in the throat.
"Hey!" Jiang Dongjun cheered. But the defenders were all timid. The general was killed and the city gate was breached. How could they still be in the mood to resist?
"Come in and capture Liu Xun alive!" Sun Ce shouted.
"Capture Liu Xun alive!" "Capture him alive!" Jiang Dongbing shouted again, making the soldiers and civilians in Lujiang City extremely frightened.
Six fierce generals including Ding Feng, He Qi, Lu Meng, Xu Yi, and Pan Zhang each led their troops to surround the garrison camp and Yuan Shu's mansion.
It was raining continuously, and the defenders in the city didn't know how many enemy soldiers were coming. They all panicked before Jiangdong's army arrived. No matter how Liu Xun and Chen Lan called out, it was of no avail.
Jiangdong's army penetrated deep into the enemy's hinterland. This was a life-and-death battle with no return, so everyone fought hard and defeated almost four times the enemy.
The morale of the defenders was not high. After one unit was defeated, many soldiers from the local area abandoned their weapons and surrendered.
On the city wall, Sun Ce and his guards looked at the battle situation in the city.
"Major General, look!" Jiang Qin pointed at a dozen riders who had escaped from the city.
Sun Ce reached out and took the bow and arrow. Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin and the personal guards also took out their bows and arrows.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" A burst of arrows shot past, and only the rider was left fleeing south.
After the meeting, Zhou Yu, Lu Su and others also gathered on the city wall to report the battle situation to Sun Ce.
"It was a really good fight this time. I haven't had such a good time in a long time!" Lu Meng laughed.
"If Zhou Lang's arrangement was not perfect, we would not have captured Lujiang so smoothly." Lu Su said.
Zhou Yu smiled and said modestly, "Our army has the right time, right place, and right people. It is good luck to intercept Yuan Shu's fleet. It proves that God is also helping our army win."
"Gong Jin, don't be humble. You arranged the march and the city. You should be the first to capture Lujiang," Sun Ce said.
"Major General, let Liu Xun and Chen Lan run away. The one you just shot was Yuan Shu's son and son-in-law." Ding Feng ran up the city wall and said.
"Yuan Shu said back then that if Shi Shu has a son like Sun Lang, why would he regret his death?" Sun Ce said with a joking smile: "No wonder Yuan Shu said this, what kind of me is he?"
What kind of son do you have? "
"Yuan Shu said this just to win over the young general. He never thought that one day, the young general would personally lead his troops to capture his lair." Zhou Tai said. He had followed Sun Ce for a long time, and he knew almost everything about the situation back then, including when Sun Jian was seriously injured, Sun Ce used the imperial seal to borrow troops and food.
"What did you find during the search of Yuan Shu's residence?" Sun Ce turned around and asked.
Zhou Yu knew what he was pointing to, so he shook his head and said, "Only some female relatives were left behind. We searched all over the house, but nothing was found."
Sun Ce frowned, he had made an oath before. To take back the jade seal that was sent out back then.
"It is not the fault of a common man to have a treasure before he achieves hegemony. That thing may not be useful. You did the right thing by Bo Fu back then." Zhou Yu advised.
Sun Ce looked at Feishui, his eyes filled with excitement.
In Sun Ce's eyes, his younger opponent is Yuan Xi. Now that Yuan Xi is at the peak of his power, he must move faster. Otherwise, the world only knows Yuan Xi and not Sun Ce, so that's okay. Yuan Xi in the north and Sun Ce in the south are just ironic. Don't you see, Murong from the north is like this.
Hefei is an important town in the north of the Yangtze River. It is adjacent to Shishui and Chaohu Lake. It is a line of defense guarding the river and a battleground for military strategists of all ages. At the same time, Hefei, Liyang, and Guangling are the throats of the Huai River from the north. As long as these three places are controlled. The forces south of the Yangtze River and east of the Yangtze River cannot go north to the fertile Huai River area.
Guo Tu opened the curtain of the carriage and looked outside at the gray sky where the rain had stopped. There were also groups of soldiers and families with their families.
Liu Bei spread benevolence and righteousness, so the people were willing to flee with him. But Yuan Shu is like Dong Zhuo back then. Excessive restraint was imposed on the territory. The people were willing to follow him away from his homeland and migrated north.
Naturally, it was the result of explicit force with swords and guns. After comparing it with Guo Tucai, we discovered that it turned out to be Hebei and other places under the rule of Yuan Xi. It can be regarded as a paradise in the war era.
"Xu Yi, are you going to Hefei soon?" Guo Tu asked.
Xu Yi, who was riding on a war horse to protect the carriage, turned her head. "I've already seen the city wall."
Xu Yi and several tiger guards were sent from Yuan Mai to assist Guo Tu. Their mission was to protect Guo Tu's safety. Xu Yi was the close guard arranged by Yuan Xi for his younger brother Yuan Mai. Guo Tu was slightly grateful to receive such attention from Yuan Xi.
Soon, Guo Tu was brought into Hefei City. In contrast, the people were not so lucky. They were camped outside the city.
In the government office in the city, Yuan Shu changed his clothes under the waiters of several maids and servants. He summoned several civil and military officials in the hall, including Guo Tu.
"Everyone has worked hard on the journey. Come and try this honey water. I just asked someone to find it. It's fresh." After saying this, Yuan Shu picked up the wine cup and took a sip with great enjoyment.
Picking up the wine cup filled with honey water, Guo Tu was shocked. He didn't expect Yuan Shu to be so good at it.
"Report, urgent report from Lujiang!" The herald ran into the hall with rain all over his body.
Yuan Shu frowned and scolded: "Why are you so flustered? Maybe the thieves are catching up!"
"The thieves did not catch up, but..." the herald hesitated for a while, then said with difficulty: "Lujiang has fallen!"
"Bang!" The wine prince in Yuan Shu's hand fell to the ground. Everyone present, including several civil and military officials, were stunned for a while.
"According to the scouts who escaped, Sun Ce personally led his troops along the waterway to Shouchun, and then tricked Lei Bo into opening the city gate." The herald lowered his voice as he spoke, "Master Yuan Yin escaped to Hefei even though he was injured. However, Huang Yi and the young master unfortunately died."
Everyone did not dare to say anything. After a while, Yuan Shu said in disbelief: "Lujiang will not be breached. How many people does Sun Ce have? Isn't Ji Ling still in Liyang? How could he let Sun Ce enter Lujiang!"
No one could answer, but Sun Ce's surprise attack was really beautiful. It was exactly what the art of war said: to catch someone by surprise and attack them unprepared.
Guo Tu sighed that his mission had failed, and at the same time he looked at Yuan Shu with pity. Without Lujiang, his home for hoarding supplies, Yuan Shu had no chance of making money.
Judging from the current morale of Yuan Shu's army, another powerful man who once galloped around was coming to an end.
The Jiangdong Tigers, the Sun family and his son are really awesome! Guo Tu put away his previous contempt. He knew that if Jizhou wanted to dominate the world in the future,
If not, then the Sun family will be the last strong enemy.
At the same time, Guo Tu was also thinking about any remedy. After all, although Xu You's mission failed. But the Jizhou army still captured the granary in Hedong. If he returned empty-handed, it would be difficult for him to have a chance to rise up among the top leaders of Jizhou.
In the late July and early August of the third year of Jian'an in the Han Dynasty (197), Sun Jiajun took advantage of the rainy season to use navy boats to penetrate into the hinterland of Yuan Shu's army, attack Wanxian and Liyang in one fell swoop, cut off Yuan Shu's army's retreat, and attack Yuan Shu's army stationed in Hefei. The army launched an encirclement posture on three sides.
Yes. Many soldiers of Yuan Shu's army fled. Yuan Shu, who suffered the pain of losing his son, gathered Ji Ling and other remaining troops. He coerced the people in Lujiang and Jiujiang villages, many of whom were rich, and wanted to go north from Guangling to Qingzhou to join his nephew Yuan Xi. The history of the previous generation of the Yuan family has come to an end. The new generation of head of the Yuan family, the current general Yuan Xi, has begun a new chapter in taking charge of the Yuan family.
After this battle, the Sun Army gathered its troops and occupied most of Lujiang and Jiujiang. After years of hard fighting, the Sun family father and son grew from weak to strong, and finally occupied the six counties of Yangzhou, gaining the strength to compete with Jingzhou, and at the same time truly emerged in the Jiangshui and Huaishui areas.
Xuzhou, Xiapi.
A group of boats transported Yuan Shu's troops and civilians to Xiapi through Surabaya. Then pass through Yishui to reach Langya, and then pass overland through Daxian Mountain, known as the natural danger in Qinnan, to reach Qingzhou.
Liu Bei took Zhang Fei and Jian Yong to the ferry. Looking at the families and their families, like common people being escorted, Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh.
"Brother, why are you sighing? Is it because Yuan Shu is being unkind?" Zhang Fei asked depressedly.
Liu Bei shook his head and sighed, "I just lament that the villagers and the people are living a hard life. Just like us in Xuzhou, although we want to spread benevolence and treat the people well, aren't the people who follow me suffer the same way?"
"My lord is different from Yuan Shu and the others. You know the suffering of the villagers, so you treat them kindly. But Yuan Shu and the others do not care about the life and death of the people except for their luxury and enjoyment." Jian Yong replied.
"You two, shut up. They are coming!" Liu Bei shouted.
Several people got off the boat in the distance. Among them were Yuan Shu, Yang Hong, Yan Xiang, and Guo Tu. Liu Bei quickly led Zhang Fei and Jian Yong to greet him.
"General Yuan, Mr. Gongze. You two gentlemen, please be polite." Liu Bei greeted the guests respectfully.
"Excuse me, Duke Xuande has come out to greet you, but we are just taking advantage of the passage. Duke Xuande, you should be in Pengcheng to guard against Cao Cao." Guo Tu said.
"After Cao Cao heard that Guanzhong was captured by the general and the Ma family, he immediately retreated to Pei State. I thought he was busy cleaning up the mess, so he hurriedly came to greet Mr. Liu Bei."
Yuan Shu spoke feebly. Liu Bei knew what was going on with him, so he tried to comfort him and said, "Everyone, I'm going to hold a banquet in the city to welcome you all."
Yuan Shu was eager to go to the city to rest, so he immediately agreed.
Guo Tu walked behind and asked Jian Yong: "Generals Zang Ba and Hao Zhao, have they withdrawn their troops?"
"After Cao Cao retreated, they also retreated to Mount Tai." Jian Yong answered truthfully.
"Is it still peaceful over there in Mount Tai?" Guo Tu asked again.
"When Cao Cao's troops left Pengcheng, Cao Ren led his troops to counterattack Mount Tai. After Cao Cao retreated, he could not attack for a long time, so he also retreated to Yanzhou. Zang Xuangao is a talented general!" Jian Yong said with a complicated expression. He was heartily opposed to joining Yuan Xi. Zang Ba, Chen Deng and others were disgusted.
"With your talent, if you came to Jizhou, your achievements would probably be higher than mine." Guo Tu tried.
"Everyone has his own ambitions. I will follow Duke Xuande to the death." Jian Yong replied stiffly.
Guo Tu felt bored and stopped talking.
Yuan Xi and his staff had already analyzed that there would be no big problem in joining forces with Liu Bei. The key point is to win over the Jiangdong Sun family to their side. So under Yuan Xi's instruction, Zhang Hong took Wang Shuang, Zhao Yun and others, traveling day and night, to Jiangdong.
Jiangdong Sun Jian and his staff are also discussing the next strategy.
Since driving away Liu Yao, the Sun family has secured control of Jiangdong. Jiangdong is a remote place within the territory of the Han Dynasty. However, there are many outstanding people in Jiangdong. After Sun Jian took control of Jiangdong, he listened to Zhang Zhao's suggestion and moved his administrative seat from Qu'a to Wuxian.
This can be regarded as a retelling of the old story in the old Huangli calendar. Wu County (also known as Suzhou) is in the middle of Wu County, close to Zhenze (known as Taihu Lake). It has convenient water and land, a larger population, and is more prosperous than Qu'a.
At the same time, Zhang Zhao also offered suggestions and actively contacted the Jiangdong family. Among the Jiangdong families, the Yu, Lu, Zhu, Wei, and Gu families were the most famous.
Ce actively contacted various major families and quickly recruited a large number of talented people from aristocratic families. Among them, the Lu family's Lu Kang, the Gu family's Gu Yong, the Zhu family's Zhu Huan, and the Wei family's Wei Teng were the most capable and famous. Lu Kang, whose courtesy name is Jining, is the head of the Lu family. Although he is old, he is very famous.
The Lu family's children are full of talented people. The Lu family returns to the Sun family, which attracts other families to follow suit. Gu Tan, whose courtesy name was Yanxian, was a brother of the same clan as Gu Yong, who served under Yuan Xi, and he was very talented and learned. Gu Tanben was the county magistrate in Wudi and had considerable political achievements. Sun Jian took control of Jiangdong and immediately appointed Gu Tan as the commander-in-chief of the army to participate in the military and political affairs of Wu.
Zhu Huan, whose courtesy name is Xiu Mu. Although he is only seventeen or eighteen years old, he values righteousness over wealth. He is not only brave, but also good at leading troops. He was recruited into the army as a general by Sun Ce.
Wei Teng, courtesy name Zhou Lin. The children of the Wei family are upright and outspoken. With the support of the family, Sun Jian established a foothold in Wudi and began to plan for the next step of development.
This is a brief summary of Jiangdong’s Sun family some time ago. The Sun family is actually much more inspiring and pure than the Yuan family.
As soon as Sun Jian finalized his development strategy, he received a report that Zhang Hong, the special envoy of General Yuan Xi, had crossed the Yangtze River and arrived in Qu'a. Yuan Xi and Sun Jian have no friendship or alliance. The areas they control are thousands of miles apart and have no intersection. However, Yuan Xi is the only important strategic partner that Sun Jian can rely on.
From a geographical point of view, Sun Jian's biggest threat at present is Cao Cao, the remnants of Yuan Shu and Liu Bei, who are only separated by a river. Liu Bei's strength is not much stronger than Sun's, and the threat is still second.
As for Cao Cao, he was powerful and had obvious intentions to expand southward. It was almost impossible for Sun Jian to stop Cao Cao from going south to Huainan on his own. Only by establishing friendly relations with Yuan Xi and hoping that Yuan Xi would contain Cao Cao in the north can we delay Cao Cao's momentum of southward expansion.
Similarly, from a strategic perspective, Yuan Xi also needed Sun Jian to contain Cao Cao from the south. Both parties have conditions for cooperation. Zhang Hong can be called the dark prime minister behind Yuan Xi. He came to Jiangdong personally to seek an alliance to jointly fight against Cao Cao.
Sun Jian had his own ideas: Liu Xi should get along well with him; Cao Cao should not take the initiative to provoke him. Sun Jian immediately ordered Wu Jing to rush to Qu'a to meet Yuan Xi's teacher Zhang Hong and his party as a sign of respect.
