Shouchun City.
After discovering suspicious signs in the forest to the north of Shiting, Zhou Tai decisively ordered Shiting's 1,000 defenders to search the forest, and sent people to report to Xu Sheng and Ji Shu.
Anyone else might have suspected that the common people were making a fuss and mistook the bandits for the army, but Zhou Tai didn't think so. He himself is a hunter. In these troubled times, which pure land in the world can avoid the disasters of war and bandits? Which hunter has not been dealing with bandits, officers and soldiers since childhood, how can he admit his mistakes?
There were 50,000 Wei troops stationed in the Song County Fortress, while Sun Ce left Xu Sheng and Zhou Tai with 30,000 troops, including even Chu's ace Hu Xiaoying, just to contain the enemy. If something went wrong, he and Xu Sheng would not be able to hold their heads high among the generals.
Unfortunately, the opposite happened.
"Last night, a large number of Wei troops suddenly broke out from the Song County Fortress. General Xu Sheng led his soldiers to stabilize the defense line and fight back hard, while asking his subordinates to rush back to Shouchun to report the news. When the subordinates were leaving, a large Wei army suddenly attacked At the rear of our army, we couldn't tell how many people there were in the dark night. We could only see languid figures and forests of torches. If my subordinates hadn't set off to start the battle, they would have almost fallen into a siege and couldn't escape. I also ask General Zhou Tai to send troops quickly. Answer!"
The soldier who reported the news was dusty, his body was filled with the smell of blood, and his face was full of anxiety.
It's the ambush north of Shiting! It was still too late. If Xu Sheng received the news from Zhou Tai, he would retreat some distance and rearrange the defense line.
In ancient times, there was only one road from Shouchun to Runan, Song County. Zhou Tai couldn't tell whether the Wei army had found a new road over the mountains and reached Shiting, or whether it had been dormant there when the Chu army sent troops from Lujiang. But this is not important now. What is important is that Xu Sheng's 20,000 troops will definitely not be able to withstand being attacked from both sides by the Wei army. They may have been defeated and retreated at this moment.
"Send the order, the Tiger Roar Camp will assemble immediately and set out to assist General Xu's troops to withdraw to Shouchun!"
The only solution for now is to help Xu Sheng's remaining troops retreat to Shouchun and wait for the lord's army to return to rescue them.
Zhou Tai looked anxious and asked the soldiers who reported the news to go down to rest, and then he explained to the deputy general.
"After I leave, you strengthen Shouchun's defense, and send people to secretly monitor the soldier who reported the news just now."
The deputy general was startled and asked hurriedly.
"General, do you doubt him?"
Zhou Tai waved his hand.
"That's not true. He is holding the token that Xu Sheng and I made, and he knows the code word. There is no doubt that he is the messenger. But now that the battle situation has changed, I am not sure how many people there are in Shiting's ambush. Are they going to deal with Xu Sheng's troops or horses? Shouchun City. I am responsible for the safety of Shouchun City, so I have to be careful. You know that."
"Yes, general, don't worry!"
Seeing the deputy general's answer, Zhou Tai nodded, put on his armor, picked up his spear and walked out.
A quarter of an hour later, the Tiger Roar Camp was assembled, and three thousand cavalrymen left the north gate and galloped towards Song County.
After running north for two hours, Tan Ma came back with a wounded soldier. When the soldier saw Zhou Tai, he quickly dismounted his horse, knelt down on one knee in front of Zhou Tai and clasped his fist to report the matter.
"General Zhou, last night 90,000 Wei troops attacked our army from front to back. Our brothers were unable to resist and were defeated after only one night. General Xu's whereabouts and life or death are unknown."
"What did you say? There are 90,000 Wei troops!"
Zhou Tairu was struck by thunder and his body shook violently. He jumped off the horse, stepped forward and grabbed the man's shirt with a look of disbelief on his face and asked urgently.
The soldier was covered in wounds, and his clothes and armor were stuck together with coagulated blood. He ignored the pain and looked into Zhou Tai's big eyes with a sad look on his face and replied.
"The last general dare not deceive General Zhou. Last night, the Wei army came fiercely. After a battle, we found that the enemy army numbered 70,000. General Xu commanded us to fight and retreat without fear of him, but somehow there was someone behind us. 20,000 enemy troops appeared! Our army was attacked from both sides and was in disarray. The defense line was quickly cut into several sections by the Wei army, and we also lost contact with General Xu. In the end, the entire army was defeated, and the brothers had to break out individually. "
Zhou Tai gently let go of his hand and took a few steps back, feeling a little confused for a moment.
He had no idea that the Chu army's 20,000 elite soldiers would be wiped out in one battle. He was worried about Xu Sheng's safety, but what worried him even more was the situation of the battle.
Before Zhou Tai set off, he thought that the Wei army wanted to use Shiting's extraordinary troops to severely damage Xu Sheng's tribe and seize the advantage of the Shouchun battlefield.
That's true, but what's going on with this strength? Are you kidding him?
This army is enough to fight the main force of the Chu army!
The scout who was exploring the road saw that the young general he had brought back had already reported the military information to Zhou Tai, and he quickly reported to Zhou Tai the information that the scout team had obtained.
"General, we have found out that the leading generals of the Wei army are Cao Ren and Xiahou Dun. Now, Xiahou Dun leads an army of 50,000 to Pengcheng, while Cao Ren leads an army of 30,000 to attack Shouchun City."
Zhou Tai was alert.
"Not good! My lord is in danger!"
Zhou Tai was a rough man. He didn't understand how important the alliance between countries was. He only knew that Xiahou Dun, who was fighting Xu Han, came to Shouchun with a large number of troops. It must be some dirty deal between Liu Bei and Cao Cao.
"Quick! The whole army rushes to Pengcheng Fortress immediately!"
Zhou Tai got on his horse and quickly ordered the Tiger Roaring Camp to turn towards Pengcheng. He didn't know what would happen at the border of Xuzhou, but he knew that 50,000 Wei troops must not appear behind the unsuspecting main force of the Chu army.
As for Shouchun City, he no longer cares about it.
······
Xu Sheng's 20,000 elite soldiers were wiped out in one battle, and Xu Sheng's life and death were unknown. Zhou Taizheng rushed to Pengcheng with 3,000 Tiger Roar Battalion.
Sun Ce was ambushed by Liu Bei on the way to Xiaopei. Fortunately, he discovered it early and minimized the loss. Even so, the losses were not small. Now Sun Ce was leading the remaining 35,000 troops towards Guangling Port in the southeast of Xuzhou.
It didn't take long for this information to reach Ji Shu, and every piece of information made Ji Shu almost vomit blood.
"Liu Bei, this despicable villain!"
Ji Shu now wants to chop Liu Bei alive!
He originally thought that Liu Bei was playing a trick to let the Chu army consume more power. In the long course of history, such things happen frequently. But he didn't expect that Liu Bei would switch sides before the battle!
It's hard to imagine what kind of amazing benefits Cao Cao promised, which made Liu Bei, who cherished feathers, break his promise. Could it be that Cao Cao wanted to capture the entire Chu Kingdom and give it to Liu Bei?
Is Cao Cao crazy? Or is Liu Bei stupid?
Sun Ce did not retreat to the west, but rushed to Guangling Port in the southeast. This was to return to Jiangdong along the coast through the port.
"Yes, you can't come to Pengcheng, otherwise you will be trapped here by the Han and Wei Dynasties."
The Wei army blocked the west side of Pengcheng. If Sun Ce retreated to Pengcheng, the Han army would follow and block the east side of Pengcheng. At that time, the Chu army really became a turtle in the urn, and could only be slaughtered by Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
Zhou Yu and Pang Tingding saw this through and asked Sun Ce to march towards the southeast coast of Xuzhou. This was an advance at the expense of retreat, and Guangling Port was the only way out for the Chu army.
"Brother Zilong, you immediately bring 6,000 white horses to rescue him."
"Take orders!"
The military situation was on fire and the situation was critical. Zhao Yun had no more words to say and immediately turned around and left the commander's tent.
"Send an order for the scouts to expand their search. There must be a Han army ambushing nearby!"
Now, Ji Shu is leading Qiao County, which is located between Pengcheng and Xiaopei, and he thinks of Mi Fang.
Mi Fang's stationing in Qiao County is definitely not as simple as he said.
Since Liu Bei wanted to deal with Sun Ce, Ji Shu didn't believe that Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu would put all their hopes on the Wei army without considering that Sun Ce would not retreat to Pengcheng.
There must be an ambush in Qiao County!
If Sun Ce did not return to Pengcheng, the ambush troops in Qiao County would pursue Sun Ce and cooperate with other troops to complete the purpose of surrounding the Chu army.
The soldiers who delivered the order took the order and left, and the generals quickly understood what Ji Shu meant. Ji Shu looked at everyone and said.
"We must stop the Han army's ambush here! No, destroy it."
"But the Wei army will soon arrive outside Pengcheng. If we stay here, we will be attacked from both sides."
Hou Cheng raised objections.
Ji Shu frowned and slowly walked to the hung map.
What Hou Cheng said was absolutely correct. Once attacked from both sides, Ji Shu's remaining troops would soon be eaten to the bone by the combined forces of Han and Wei. But Ji Shu couldn't take them to chase Sun Ce.
"what to do?"
Ji Shu muttered to himself, staring at the map and forcing himself to calm down.
"Military advisor, isn't the method obvious?"
It was Wei Yan who said this. He looked at Ji Shu deeply and continued.
"Military advisor, you know everything, why do you pretend not to know? For now, the only way is to abandon the chariot and protect the commander."
Ji Shu's body trembled slightly as he stared at the map, then turned to look at Wei Yan.
Yes, it's simple. Just let Zhou Tai lead the Tiger Roar Battalion to defend Pengcheng and buy time for Ji Shu to eliminate the Han army's ambush.
But in order to survive, can you order your brother to die?
Wei Yan's eyes were calm, indifferent, and unyielding. He stared into Ji Shu's eyes and said.
"The military advisor is responsible for the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, and the safety of our lord is at stake. We must make a decision without hesitation!"
Ji Shu couldn't help but take a step back and held the table with his right hand.
At this moment, Ji Shu thought of Wang Yun for some reason. How had he never been in this situation? Didn’t he have a king to save? Doesn’t he have any people to save? Doesn’t he carry the expectations of the Han Dynasty and the ministers on his shoulders?
Only now did he understand the weight and despair he was carrying, and how lucky he was to be able to rescue his sister in the first place.
Wei Yan knelt down on one knee, cupped his fist and continued.
"We, the officers and men, are all willing to die for your Majesty. Please make your decision, your military advisor!"
Seeing this, Jiang Qin, Hou Cheng, Su Fei and others also knelt down on one knee and said with fists in hand.
"We, the officers and men, are all willing to die for your Majesty. Please make your decision, your military advisor!"
Ji Shu slowly sat down.
I tried to stop Wang Yun back then, but who can stop me now?
Ji Shu grabbed the pen with trembling hands.
We unknowingly become the people we once hated the most.
······
Not long after Zhou Tai arrived in Pengcheng and sat down, Ji Shu's messenger quickly arrived in Pengcheng. When he opened Ji Shu's letter, there was only this sentence written on it.
[Youping, die here, I will take my eldest brother back to Jiangdong safely. ]
Zhou Tai grinned and smiled.
