This is the Jiangxia Prefecture. General Cai Hao, Prefect Huang Zu and other generals are discussing the plan to conquer Yuan Shu. Ordinarily, as a county magistrate, he is not qualified to participate in a meeting of this level, but Zhuge Liang is the heir to the Zhuge family.
The Zhuge family has been somewhat weakened in recent years, and there is a lot of controversy over whether it can still be regarded as one of the five major families in Jingzhou. The reason was the death of Zhuge Gui, the head of the Zhuge family.
When Zhuge Gui died, Zhuge Jin, Zhuge Liang and Zhuge were all still young, so his younger brother Zhuge Xuan temporarily took over as the head of the family. Zhuge Xuan is a man who values friendship and has no ambitions. The Zhuge family has been deteriorating under his hands over the years, but he only cares about teaching Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang and has no interest in family affairs.
Although many people secretly laughed at Zhuge Xuan, the Zhuge family still had a certain amount of power in Jingzhou, so Cai Mao gave the Zhuge family some face and allowed Zhuge Liang to attend such an important meeting.
At this moment, Cai Mao squinted his eyes and looked at Zhuge Liang.
Originally it was just a matter of face, but he didn't expect that Zhuge Liang, who was only accompanying the last person, would stand up and say this.
That’s right, since ancient times, inheritance has not been passed down to the elders, and it has not been passed down to the descendants. As one of the aristocratic families of the Zhuge family, the position of heir was not passed to the eldest son Zhuge Jin, but to Zhuge Liang. This is somewhat intriguing.
Cai Mao asked with a smile on his lips.
"I know that you have a grudge against Sun Ce's adopted brother Ji Shu. But the Lord's order is to attack Yuan Shu, and we also have a secret agreement with Liu Bei's envoy. You asked me to turn against Sun Ce, which is against the Lord's order."
The story of Ji Shu's robbery was widely spread in Jingzhou and Jiangdong, which made Zhuge Liang a joke among the famous families for a while. Seeing Cai Mao mention it, everyone in the hall couldn't help but laugh in a low voice.
Facing the ridicule around him, Zhuge Liang remained calm and composed. The mere noise could not shake him at all. He looked directly at Cai Mao and said seriously.
"Why am I serving the public just to satisfy my selfish desires? The king's order is indeed to attack the puppet emperor Yuan Shu, but the general will just let Sun Ce capture Jiangxia? If Sun Ce were allowed to capture Jiangxia, he and Yuan Shu's army would surround us in Anlu, In the Shiting area, we will all die without a burial place! As the saying goes, 'if the general is outside, your orders will not be accepted', please make a decision as soon as possible, general!"
These words made the audience quiet down instantly, and everyone thought carefully.
It is not impossible for Sun Ce to send troops to Jiangxia to rescue Yuan Shu. This is exactly the plan to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao. If Sun Ce really sent troops to Jiangxia, they would have to return to rescue them, otherwise they would fall into the danger Zhuge Liang just mentioned.
It is not difficult to prepare for such a situation. As long as 20,000 troops are left to strengthen Jiangxia's defense, Jiangxia will definitely be protected.
But what if Sun Ce did not send troops to Jiangxia by then, but rushed to Shiting to help Yuan Shu? Cai Mao's army will fall into an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength. This would be a big joke, and they might even be severely defeated by the combined forces of Sun Ce and Yuan Shu.
Everyone was a little silent, not daring to speak casually. Cai Mao also asked Zhuge Liang a little awkwardly.
"Kong Ming, what you said makes sense. But now we are deciding the movement of the army, which is related to the victory or defeat of our army. How can you guarantee that Sun Ce will not go to Shiting to rescue Yuan Shu, but come to attack Jiangxia?"
Zhuge Liang said solemnly without even thinking about it.
"Sun Ce has a blood feud with the king. Now that he is fully fledged, how can he be willing to just help Yuan Shu rescue the siege? He will definitely take this opportunity to annex Jingzhou! If Sun Ce does not come to attack Jiangxia, Zhuge Liang is willing to sacrifice his head to the rank of general."
No one expected that Zhuge Liang would go to this point. In order to let Cai Mao deal with Sun Ce, Zhuge Liang dared to use his life as a guarantee. Cai Hao laughed.
"No jokes in the army!"
Zhuge Liang also answered fearlessly.
"Dare to issue a military order!"
"good!"
Cai Mao was overjoyed. He stood up and praised Zhuge Liang. He quickly asked someone to get pen and ink to write a military order for Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang is right. Sun Ce may indeed have to guard against the possibility of sending troops to Jiangxia, as this is a matter of life and death. But if he really left troops to guard against Jiangxia, Cai Mao would not be able to tell his master the truth if he was defeated in Shiting. Now that he has Zhuge Liang's military order, he still deserves the greatest credit if he wins, and if he loses, the heirs of the Zhuge family are here to shoulder the responsibility. Why wouldn't he do it?
Zhuge Liang's eyes were like a torch and he could see these people clearly.
"Liang has another plan for the general."
Cai Mao smiled again and again.
"My dear nephew, there is no need to worry, just speak up!"
······
When Ji Shu and Yueying rushed to the north gate, the Han army had been killed and retreated, leaving only corpses on the ground.
Dangtu City is temporarily safe. Ji Shu praised the soldiers who were on duty at the city gate, and asked Jiang Qin, Xu Tu, and Hou Cheng to go to the county government office to gather information.
According to the soldiers' descriptions, it can be determined that the temporary camps stationed on various roads were almost always attacked by the Han army at night at the same time. After some statistics, only 700 of the 1,500 soldiers stationed abroad escaped. If the night assembly training was not one of the main training subjects of the Habayashi Army and the soldiers responded quickly, I am afraid they would have been annihilated silently.
This made Ji Shu's back feel cold and he had an ominous premonition. This was not like a Han army vanguard who rushed back after discovering the fall of Dangtu. It was more like a well-planned ambush. But it was useless to think about it now. The thick night was a paradise for ambushers. Ji Shu asked everyone to retreat and rest for now. He concluded that since Dangtu was already prepared, the Han army would not attack the city at night. No matter how short the city wall was, they still needed to prepare some crude siege equipment.
But I'm afraid no one can sleep peacefully this night.
Ji Shu climbed onto the city wall of Dangtu at dawn to check on the enemy.
Counting the troops and horses lost in defending the city last night, the Yulin Army now has less than 5,000 men left. At this moment, the north, east, and south of Dangtu have been surrounded by more than 8,000 Han troops, leaving only the west gate. The outer space is empty.
Encircling three and missing one, this siege method aims to occupy the city and does not pay attention to destroying the enemy's effective strength. If they are surrounded, the defenders will fight to the death, but once a way out is left, the morale of the entire defenders will drop and they will want to escape.
Ji Shu's ominous premonition was confirmed. If they are the vanguard of Cai Mao's return, they will definitely surround Dangtu and buy time for Cai Mao's army to arrive later, and then they can destroy Jiangdong's army in Dangtu in one go. But they safely left the Yulin Army a way out, and were not afraid of the Yulin Army's escape.
This is really an ambush, and there may not be Cai Mao's army behind him.
So where will Cai Mao's army be? Shiting? Ridiculous, how could the person who set up an ambush leave the main force of the army in Shiting? The Han army in Shiting was probably just a bluff and feint attack, with no more than 20,000 people at most. They've fallen into a trap!
Ji Shu punched the wall, and he became anxious. The Ganning tribe who went to conquer Xiakou Port and the Taishi Ci tribe who guarded Jiangxia City might be attacked unexpectedly.
God knows how things will turn out!
Everything seemed to have gone off track overnight, and the fear in Ji Shu's heart was hard to express.
We can't stay here, we must leave quickly!
In the end, regardless of whether Cai Mao's army was behind this ambush or not, they had to leave and send Dangtu away. The Han army outside the city seemed to have expected this result, and did not even prepare simple siege equipment overnight.
It seems that there is an invisible hand controlling everything. Who is it? who is it! Endless fear stopped Ji Shu.
Can Jiangxia City really be saved? If they abandon Dangtu and go to Jiangxia now, and when they arrive outside Jiangxia City, they find that the city has been filled with Han army flags, then the Yulin Army, which is exposed in the wilderness and has no food supplies, will probably die in a few days. Destroy it.
There is also a ferry outside the west gate where you can take a boat back to Chaisang. But doing this would be tantamount to abandoning the 30,000 Jiangdong Army in Jiangxia!
Hey, how did I command the army before?
Ji Shu put his hands on the wall and was at a loss. His eyes gradually lost focus.
"calm down!"
Yueying hugged Ji Shu from behind. Only then did Ji Shu realize that his whole body had become cold, and Yueying's soft body brought him a slight warmth.
"Don't worry! You are no worse than Brother Zhuge. Make your decision calmly. I will always be by your side."
Yueying said without any scruple the name that made Ji Shu so anxious and frightened, that genius who should not have assisted a mere Liu Biao. But for some reason, Yueying's words had a magical power that made Ji Shu feel at ease. A faint sweet fragrance came from his nose and made his stuck brain gradually move.
"Let's go! Order the army to rush to Jiangxia City immediately."
When he turned around again, Ji Shu's eyes became sharp again, and Yueying smiled happily and nodded.
Not long after, the Yulin army abandoned Dangtu City and marched towards Jiangxia City. Ji Shu and Yueying rode in front of the team.
Ji Shu believed that Gan Ning, Zhuge Jin, Taishi Ci, and Xu Sheng would not let him down. He bet that the Han army could not conquer Jiangxia City!
Zhuge Liang never dreamed that Ji Shu and Yueying would leave Jiangxia City at this time. If he knew this news, he would definitely regret that he had left a plan to attack Dangtu with only three soldiers and horses to surround them.
