Besides, the main force of the crossing army led by Zhou Buyi and his own cavalry were still besieging Shitou. Although great progress has been made in besieging the Wu people by land and water. The Han army has climbed onto the Wu army's city wall several times and has been able to gain a foothold for longer and longer periods of time. However, there is still a critical step left before the city can be breached. . Zhou Busuo thought: "It seems that even if Stone City is captured, Moling will not be captured in a short time. If we continue to attack, Jiangling's navy will probably arrive soon, and we should make preparations for withdrawal." Thinking of this, he began Officially planning to cross the river, but still not relaxing the siege of Jianye.
Logically speaking, the navy in Niuzhuji is enough to help the army cross the river, but considering that it takes more than one or two days to cross the river, and once it hits the Jiangling navy while crossing the river, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, Zhou Buyi did not call Huang Quan's troops, but recruited ships from the houses on the south bank. Naturally, there are no big ships to speak of, but fortunately, there are still many Wu boats on the south coast. In a few days, more than two hundred civilian boats were collected, but the boats were smaller than ordinary boats. One It can carry at most fifteen or sixteen people.
Then Zhou Buyi sent an order to all armies to begin to withdraw from the siege one after another. All the ministries were extremely frustrated after hearing this. The siege lasted for more than a month and cost nearly 10,000 casualties, but even Stone City was not breached. This was difficult for both superiors and subordinates to explain. Many people advised Zhou Buji to take it easy. Zhou Buji had made up his mind and said to his generals: "Although our army is temporarily disadvantaged, there are still Bashu and Xiangyang naval forces upstream attacking Jingzhou. As long as we can contain the Wu people here, we can wait for the upstream navy to come and join us." , Victory will only come sooner or later." But after hearing this, all the ministries were even more frustrated. They originally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and make meritorious deeds, but now that after the troops withdrew, didn't all the credit go to Xiangyang and Jiangzhou?
Despite all the talk, the evacuation of the siege began. Zhou Buyi chose Yanziji as the place to cross the river, which is at the foot of Mufu Mountain in the northeast of Jianye. Yanziji gets its name because there are stone peaks rising abruptly from the river, facing the sky on three sides, like a swallow spreading its wings to fly. As a ferry, the terrain here has gentle river flow, a wide view, and it is convenient to block the Wu raids behind it. It is the best choice for crossing the river except Niuzhuji. However, the scope of the encirclement was too large and the morale of the three armies was low, so the withdrawal progressed slowly. Until Renyin in December, there were still 40,000 people who had not yet reached the withdrawal position.
At this time, Zhou Busuo suffered from some cold and felt a little weak, but he still insisted on seeing the affairs between the armies. Speaking of which, during the days of siege, there were many soldiers who were not acclimatized to the local conditions, and many people died because of this. All the dead soldiers could not be taken away, so they had to be hastily buried in a hidden and high place. Fortunately, apart from the disease, there is still a lot of food and grass, enough for the army to eat until February next year. But whether they can all be taken away when crossing the river is another question. However, Zhou Buyi didn't care about that much anymore. He just hoped that the whole army would arrive as soon as possible and then cross the river to rest as soon as possible.
That afternoon, thick smoke rose from the valley to the west, which was quite conspicuous in the light fog. Deng Aiden looked up and saw black smoke arranged in a triangle, and knew that there was an emergency military situation. He quickly reported the matter to Zhou Buyi. Zhou Buji knew that Jiangling Navy had probably arrived, and hurriedly took his entourage to Yingkou to wait for the latest news from Niu Zhuji.
After a while, a group of scouts galloped to the front of the camp. They dismounted and could not stand upright before they gasped and said: "Grand Governor, a large number of Wu navy troops have arrived upstream and have already engaged our army at Niuzhuji! "
Zhou Buji was startled when he heard this. Unexpectedly, the Wu people were so decisive and started fighting directly in Niuzhuji! He immediately became anxious and began to pace back and forth unconsciously. At the same time, he quickly sent someone to inquire about the latest news about Niu Zhuji.
More than half an hour later, the Pegasus scouts reported back. Zhou Buyi knew something was wrong just by looking at their faces, so he had to force himself to stand firm and ask, "How is the battle going?"
The scouts looked at each other in confusion and were speechless. Only after Zhou Buji repeatedly urged them, they finally said with difficulty: "Grand Governor, when we walked to the right wing of the battlefield, we saw that Deng Dang's troops had switched sides! They were surrounding our troops with the Wu people. Although we were unable to take a closer look, Governor Huang’s office is afraid that the situation is over!”
After finishing speaking, the whole place fell into dead silence, and the scouts did not even dare to raise their heads to look at the expressions of the generals. After a while, I heard Zhou Bujie say: "We will investigate again and report again. How many people are there in the enemy army? Whether our army will win or lose. If defeated, what will be the losses and whether we can respond? We must all make it clear." Scout They then clasped their fists and agreed. When they saw the general's state, they couldn't help but be shocked. In the cold wind, Zhou Buyi's face was as pale as gold and his whole body was shaking, as if he might faint at any moment. But he endured it in the end, and after letting his entourage do not need to support him, Zhou Busuo immediately went to the shore to inspect the ships, and at the same time once again urged the troops who had not yet arrived at the river bank.
In the early morning of the next day, the Han army finally received specific news about the Battle of Niuzhuji: Huang Quan, the commander of the Navy, was martyred, and more than 20 middle- and high-level generals including Jia Kui, Cen Guang, Miao Shang, Zhang Yan, and Wang Chang died in the battle. , the 60,000 Han navy navy went out, Du Ji led 20,000 people to the north bank and escaped from Shengtian. The rest either died in battle or surrendered. Although the Wu army lost seven large warships due to Huang Quan, leaving only two that were obtained by Deng Dang's rebels, they captured a large number of Han warships and probably had more than 500 ships under their command. Although many soldiers were killed in the battle, after being supplemented by Deng Dang's troops, the number of troops increased instead of decreasing, reaching 70,000.
At noon that day, when the remaining Han troops arrived at Yanziji, the mighty Soochow Navy appeared in the river. At this time, the fog has not completely dissipated, the head is white, and a ray of sunlight is seeping from the clouds. The surroundings were numb and the cold wind was blowing. The clothes soaked with sweat suddenly became cold, making people shiver. At this time, the sound of paddles hitting the water came from the river. Through it, there was also a slight smell of blood in the cold wind like a knife. The war horses brought by the Han army suddenly stamped their hooves uneasily and neighed softly, ready for battle but confused. The soldiers of the Han army rushed to Yanzijitou. With the gradually brightening sky, they saw a dense fleet gathering in the river. Groups of cockroaches were circling the river several miles away from them, shuttling back and forth. Countless large flagpoles with human heads on them were swinging up and down.
When the captain Yan Yu saw this scene, he hurried back to Zhou Buqi's tent and panted to report: "The Wu people are coming, they are all over the river, they can't be counted!" Yan Yu went to find Guo Huai again, and Guo Huai At this time, people were being ordered to step up preparations for fortifications on the east and west sides to prevent the Wu people from Jianye from coming out to attack. He rolled his eyes at Yan Yu and said, "We're already surrounded. Don't be afraid. There was a battle on the other side yesterday and there won't be any more action today. You need to be energetic and well fed first, so that you can fight vigorously."
The noisy boating of the Wu people lasted for a long time, and they were also waiting for the main force to arrive. The Han army, lacking the cooperation of the navy, could only remain silent and calm, and intensively repaired fences and other fortifications along the river. In the evening, an extremely rare sunset appeared in the sky, which looked like blood stains from a distance. Gusts of cold wind blew over, and the Han army flags inside the fence were flapping in the wind. On the river a few miles away from the fence, the Wu people's huge fleet blew trumpets to demonstrate to the Han army. The loud sound was like a whale's cry, and then they drove towards the north bank.
Although there was no direct battle, the Han army felt the pressure doubled. The opponent headed to Jiangbei at this time, obviously to completely cut off the Han army's return route. If there is still a slight possibility of victory for the Han army in the battle, even if they lose, they will be happy. When the Wu people chose to avoid fighting at this time, they made up their minds to keep the Wufu army on the south bank. This was tantamount to a long period of torture, but for the Han army at this time, they could not think of any countermeasures.
But even so, the military meeting still has to be held. The Han generals quickly received the order and immediately went to Yanzijitou to discuss countermeasures with Zhou Busuo. It was already dark at this time, Zhou Buyi was still braving the wind and cold, with an unhealthy blush on his face, and the generals who came to the tent looked even more embarrassed. They looked at the general's expression and thought about the current predicament, and were silent for a moment.
Zhou Buyi forced himself to sit on the bed and counted the number of people who were coming, but found that Zhang Zhao had not arrived. The generals immediately reacted: I'm afraid he will have to do it again! Hu Du immediately asked for orders to pursue Zhang Zhao's troops, but it was too late. Before he left the tent, a scout came to report that Zhang Zhao's troops south of Yanziji suddenly left at dark and headed straight for Heading towards Jianye!
Although Zhang Zhao did not participate in the highest-level decision-making of the Han army, he knew many of the falsehoods and realities of the Han army. Now that he was allowed to escape back to the Wu people, the negative impact on the Han army would be immeasurable. Thinking of this, the Han generals felt even more discouraged and frustrated.
At this time, someone slowly said: "This is not a big deal. I had a headache at first. I wonder whether I should use him next. Now it seems that my big worry has gone away." After hearing this, everyone raised their heads and found that at this time, Governor Zhou Buyi reluctantly stood up and continued: "Although the enemy has the right time and place, they do not dare to fight to the death with our mourning soldiers. This means that there is still room for maneuver. Don't be depressed."
Thinking of Zhou Buwei's glorious achievements in the past, the generals were all excited again. Maybe he could continue to bring victory to the Han army?
As expected, Zhou Buyi showed a confident look and directly issued military orders to the generals: Guo Huai's troops were ordered to defend against Jianye's movements in the southeast, Li Dian's troops were to defend the river banks, and Hu Du's troops were ordered to continue searching for ships in Danyang and Fuchun counties. , Sun Zi guarded the northwest granary, Wen Hui tried to contact the situation in the north of the Yangtze River, and the rest of the people were divided into two groups, one group practiced boating on the river, and the other group cut wood and built ships on the shore. After receiving the military order, everyone immediately had an idea and no longer panicked. They retreated while speculating on the general's intentions, imagining that Zhou Buji could create another miracle.
After seeing off the generals, Zhou Buyi slumped down on the platform and coughed uncontrollably. Under such circumstances, is there really any way to escape unscathed? Most of Huang Quan's troops have been destroyed. How many people can he take with him from the remaining brigade? Could it be that God did not bless the Han Dynasty, and it was broken and buried here?
