Yong'an County, Wu County Port.
On a sentry tower in the water village, two Shu soldiers were looking nervously at the river.
There was news ten days ago that the Chu State had assembled an army and was stationed outside Jiangling City. Calculating the distance, the Chu army may still be marching along the long road of Yiling, but anyone who knows a little bit about Chu knows that the most powerful force in Chu is the naval army that looks down upon the Central Plains.
Therefore, there are not many garrison troops left in Shuizhai, only 500 people. Obviously, the idea of launching a water war with the Chu army has been given up by the top management, and these people are left here just to avoid wearing the hat of "defeat without a fight". You can imagine how the soldiers who stayed behind felt.
Several huge sails were faintly visible in the faint river mist, and the sentinels' tormented hearts finally settled.
"It's the Chu Army! The Chu Army is here! Report quickly!"
The person next to me turned a few steps and a warning bell rang.
Seeing his companion ringing the bell, the man who spoke first swallowed and spoke again.
"I'm going to report the military situation to the commander. You, just knock a few times and follow me quickly."
Before he finished speaking, his feet had already gone down the ladder of the sentry tower deftly.
Grass!
The soldier who rang the bell cursed secretly in his heart, and his heart that had fallen to the ground was raised again. He looked at the river, and the outlines of three huge building ships could be seen, with many smaller warships vaguely surrounding them.
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
At this moment, alarm bells were ringing, and the military camp in the port was noisy. It was obvious that news of the enemy attack had been received. The sentry who rang the bell secretly counted in his mind and rang eleven or twelve times. He didn't even take the crossbow placed on the sentry tower, and just jumped down the stairs.
The thin river fog could not conceal the march of the army. A dozen large ships raised all their sails, and then the weak east wind advanced at full speed.
"Fire the arrow!"
Xu Sheng stood at the bow of the boat and shouted in a deep voice.
A dense rain of arrows suddenly fell from this end towards the Wu County water village.
There was only the sound of anxious running for life, not even a trace of decent resistance.
Soon, the fighting ships of the Chu army smashed the gate of the water stronghold, and the soldiers of the Chu army rushed forward.
When Xu Sheng's boat docked, there was already a commander waiting for him.
"General, the enemy army abandoned the city. Only a dozen corpses of enemy soldiers who were killed by arrows were found. Our army had no casualties. I have ordered a commander under my command to lead two hundred cavalry to capture a few tongues."
Xu Sheng nodded with satisfaction.
This can be regarded as the first achievement of the war. It is simply a free gift, but it cannot be ignored.
"Huo Yi."
"The general is here!"
A young man walked out behind Xu Sheng. Huo Jun died in battle when the Shu army invaded Jiangling. Sun Ce recognized his merits and promoted his son Huo Yi to the rank of commander-in-chief.
Xu Sheng looked at the taciturn young man, took out a map and gave it to him and gave instructions.
"This is a sketch made by our spies. You lead three thousand men and horses and set off immediately to Baidi City, find a place with sufficient water sources to set up camp, and detect the enemy's situation for our army. If Baidi City's troops are strong, do not fight with it and retreat. Come back as soon as you come back. Your first task is to explore as clearly as possible the terrain around Baidi City and the enemy's checkpoints and troop strength."
"If our army can capture Baidi City before the military advisor takes Yiling County, I will go to the military advisor to show you my merits."
Huo Yi shook his head slightly, cupped his fists and said.
"It's my responsibility, I don't dare to claim my merits. I will go down and make preparations now."
After saying that, Huo Yi turned and left.
Xu Sheng looked at the young man's leaving figure and asked the general who reported to him earlier.
"Guobai, what do you think of this new colleague?"
"Huh? Oh, his kung fu is not bad, but his personality is a bit old-fashioned for his young age."
After hearing his subordinate's answer, Xu Sheng nodded slightly.
"It's okay to be old-fashioned, as long as you don't lose your blood. Okay, you first take people to check the military camp and set up checkpoints. Before the end of today, make sure there are no suspicious people left in Wu County."
"Yes, General!"
······
Huo Yi led his army to reach the boundary of Baidi City more than a day after setting off. He originally thought that the enemy army would stop them along the way after abandoning the port, but the Shu army was actually defeated, allowing him to travel all the way to Baidi City.
Huo Yi looked at the river and said.
"The scout team went to a high place to observe the terrain and look for a suitable place to camp. The others rested in the woods on the roadside for two quarters of an hour. They all cheered up and left the main force of Wu County. We may encounter enemy resistance at any time. "
"yes!"
Huo Yi didn't talk nonsense and left his adjutant to command the soldiers. He personally led a team of scouts to the front to observe the enemy's situation.
Not long after, Huo Yi and others were standing on a hilltop, looking at the city that came into view through the shade of the trees.
In the distance, a city stands on the river, in the middle of this waterway that extends in all directions.
A village chief next to him wiped his slightly sweaty forehead and said.
"General, Baidi City is surrounded by water. The river is too narrow. The building boats will definitely not be able to sail in. It would be good if dozens of fighting ships could sail in and a dozen of them lined up. But there is no cover on the shore. I'm afraid As soon as they landed, they were beaten back by a hail of arrows from the city, and they had no time to assemble their siege equipment."
If you want to capture this place, the difficulty of siege is indeed extremely high!
Even Huo Yi couldn't help but nod.
"This is really a water fortress."
"No wonder, the Shu army doesn't care about Wuxian Port at all. If they want to attack Yong'an City, Baidi City is the hardest nut to crack."
At this time, a sharp-eyed scout answered.
"General, there are ten posts at the top of the city. There are two ten-man teams patrolling on both sides of the city tower. This does not include the secret sentries in the city. The guards are extremely tight. If the four walls are configured in this way, there will be at least three or four people in the city. Thousands of people were stationed.”
The village chief murmured.
"It's not easy to fight, but when General Xu leads the army over, we can block the waterway and surround Baidi City. Do the few broken fishing boats of the Shu army dare to fight with us?"
Catching a turtle in an urn is an idea, but it doesn't work here.
Huo Yi shook his head and said.
"That depends on how much food is stored in Baidi City."
"Sichuan is a big producer, and it hasn't fought many wars in recent years. The food in Baidi City can last for a year, right?"
There were some things Huo Yi didn't say. There was a long distance from Jiangling to Yong'an, and the cost spent by the Chu army was far greater than that of the Shu army. They can't afford it.
"Hey, let's leave the siege to the top to worry about. Draw a map! Be more detailed. Once it's done, we can go back and set up camp."
The soldiers responsible for drawing the map left in response, and Huo Yi also found a place to sit down and rest. For some reason, there was always a hint of uneasiness in his heart, and he looked at Baidi City in trance.
He didn't know how long it took, but the soldier reported to him that the map had been drawn, and he came back to his senses, but he didn't understand why he felt uneasy. In the end, it could only be attributed to his uneasiness as this was his second major battle.
Back in the army, other scout teams have found several suitable places to camp. Huo Yi followed Xu Sheng's instructions and chose a transportation thoroughfare with sufficient water to set up camp.
It was already dark when the guard posts were arranged, Huo Yi had a hasty meal, and fell asleep with the fatigue of the day and the anxiety of leading an army alone as a vanguard for the first time.
