Shi Bao was a man of poor character and had mixed reputations. But in terms of military, his talent was definitely not low.
Now Jiangdong's army is divided into two groups, the left and right, to attack Ying County, with a total of more than 20,000 people, while the Ying County defenders have less than 1,000 troops. Holding tightly is definitely not an option.
After all, Shi Bao is in charge of military affairs. It can be judged from the military affairs documents exchanged some time ago. There are not many defenders in Jiangling now. Therefore, even if Shi Bao sticks to Ying County, it is impossible to wait for reinforcements, and the soldiers on hand can There is absolutely no way to stop the attack of more than 20,000 Jiangdong troops.
Therefore, Shi Bao quickly issued a warning to Jiangling. On the other hand, he took the initiative to send people to contact Sun Huan and Sun Yu's team, telling them that he saw that Jiangdong's army was strong and wanted to surrender.
At the same time, Shi Bao evacuated all the people from the villages and towns outside the city into the city, and ordered the entire city to be under martial law. People were not allowed to go out or make loud noises without any reason.
And Shi Bao himself has been sitting in the government office, never going out if nothing happens, let alone arranging the army to prepare for war, strengthening city defenses, and inspecting war preparations.
None of the army sergeants understood what Shi Bao did, but because of what Shi Bao did some time ago, Shi Bao now has a very high reputation in the army. Although they didn't understand, no one raised any questions. Do as you are told.
After finishing these superficial phenomena, Shi Bao also took action in private.
The purpose of martial law was to prevent anyone from passing on information to Jiang Dongjun privately. He was trapped in the government office for the purpose of showing Jiang Dongjun in the city a closer look.
Privately, Shi Bao ordered his soldiers to sneak out of the city at night and send some rations and ordnance to a mountain forest in the north of the city to hide in preparation for future battles.
As for Sun Huan and Sun Yu, they are indeed murmuring now.
If you are an ordinary reckless man leading the army and hear that Shi Bao is going to surrender the city, then of course you will advance quickly, strive to take over Ying County as soon as possible, and then march to Jiangling.
After all, Jiangdong's army was conducting a sneak attack this time, and what they wanted was a speed of advance.
But Sun Huan and Sun Yu were promoted by Sun Quan from the clan to lead the army. They were not just reckless men, and both of them had good strategies.
Although sneak attacks are about speed, sneak attacks are more about stealth.
Not long after they had just finished their sneak attack on Wulin, Ying County had already learned the news and sent people to say that they wanted to surrender. Is this credible? !
Facing Shi Bao's request for surrender, the two men were dubious. Although they were still leading the army forward, they both stepped up their vigilance and slowed down their advance, fearing that there might be an ambush waiting for them.
But when the two men actually led their troops into the boundaries of Ying County, they found that there was no one in some villages on the outskirts of Ying County.
This is very unreasonable.
If you really want to surrender the city, then you should take no precautions and let the people continue to live as usual. When you see your army coming, the defenders should rush over to welcome the surrender.
But now, not only did Shi Bao come to ask for surrender, but even the nearby people were nowhere to be seen.
What is this for? !
Not to mention that the reinforcements from Jiangling City have already arrived. This kid Shi Bao is lying and has set up an ambush nearby. Are you preparing for an ambush? !
Not to mention, it's not impossible. After all, the distance from Yingxian County to Jiangling is much closer than the distance from Wulin to Jiangling.
If this is the case, it is not safe to divide the troops into two groups. There are more than 10,000 troops on one side. Don't turn around and let people ambush you. Defeat them one by one.
Sun Huan and Sun Yu were both a little surprised, and they unanimously slowed down their advance, and at the same time began to let the two armies merge together, not giving Shi Bao a chance to defeat them one by one.
It took the two three days to finally rejoin the troops fifty miles outside Ying County and prepare to march toward Ying County together.
At this time, Sun Huan and Sun Yu received reports from the scouts and craftsmen ahead.
There is no movement at all in Ying County now.
There were no soldiers guarding the city walls, and no sound came from the city.
The news that came out from the inside of the city was that Shi Bao had been hiding in the government office, and all the defenders were on standby in the city. It was unknown why.
Isn't this too abnormal? !
Sun Huan and Sun Yu didn't understand. What did Shi Bao want to do? !
If you want to defend the city, you should prepare wood and rolling stones, and soldiers go to the city wall to hold on to prevent Jiangdong's army from attacking the city.
What kind of strategy is this to stay in the city and not get out? !
The two of them summed it up and thought that this might be Shi Bao's trick to lure the enemy. He wanted them to think that Ying County was unprepared and quickly marched to launch an attack on the city. Then he suddenly rushed out of the city to coordinate with the reinforcements who were ambushing them somewhere. Attack from front and back.
Therefore, Sun Huan and Sun Yu slowed down their march again and sent out reconnaissance horses everywhere. They must find the Jiangling reinforcements ambushing outside the city and defeat them before attacking the city.
In this way, Sun Huan and Sun Yu led the army to walk for two full days over a distance of fifty miles, and then slowly arrived at the gate of Ying County.
In the end, neither Sun Huan nor Sun Yu found any trace of the arrival of so-called reinforcements.
But now Ying County is still defenseless, and there is no Shi Bao coming out of the city to surrender. Sun Huan and Sun Yu are really confused. What is this Shi Bao doing? !
Are there really such stupid people these days who don’t fight, don’t defend, or don’t surrender? !
Anyway, Sun Huan and Sun Yu couldn't imagine it, and they always felt that Shi Bao had some trump cards that he hadn't used yet.
To be cautious, the two decided to temporarily camp outside Ying County, build siege equipment, and prepare to attack the city.
On the day when the two men arranged for the soldiers to camp, a hanging basket was suddenly placed on the city tower. It was said to be an envoy sent by Shi Bao, who came to ask the two generals why they camped outside the city instead of entering the city directly. !
Sun Huanxin said that Shi Bao really regarded the two brothers as idiots, right? !
Why don't you just open the city gate if you want to surrender? You even use a hanging basket to send an envoy, but you have the nerve to ask us why we camped? !
If the two countries had not killed the envoy during the war, Sun Huan would have vented his anger by killing the envoy.
But Sun Yu said that if he slowed down a little, he would have a way.
The so-called Jiangling reinforcements have been unable to be found, and Sun Yu is not sure whether there are no reinforcements or he has not found them.
So, Sun Yu thought, since he couldn't find it, he would just stop looking and just lure the snake out of its hole.
In front of the envoy, Sun Yu praised Shi Bao for his knowledge of current affairs, and asked the envoy to go back and tell Shi Bao that he would lead Jiangdong's army into the city tomorrow, hoping that Shi Bao would open the city gate to welcome Jiangdong's army.
After sending the envoy away, Sun Yu asked the army to strengthen their vigilance and prepare for possible robberies at night.
Sun Yu said this to make Shi Bao think that Jiangdong Army believed his surrender and was not wary of Shi Bao.
If Shi Bao really surrenders, nothing will happen tonight and he can just lead his troops into the city tomorrow.
If Shi Bao was pretending to surrender in order to cooperate with Jiangling's reinforcements, then after learning that his people believed his words, he would definitely notify the reinforcements outside the city and seize the opportunity to rob the camp and attack them while their foothold was not stable. of.
This saves Jiangdong's army from looking for reinforcements everywhere.
After all, people like him have already arrived at the city. If Jiangling's reinforcements don't come out for a sneak attack, there will be no chance.
So, Sun Yu had set a trap and was waiting for Shi Bao to jump in on his own initiative.
As night fell, Sun Yu and Sun Huan were both ready.
As night fell, the city gate of Ying County opened wide, and many soldiers with torches rushed out.
But unexpectedly, the soldiers who came out of the city with torches did not come towards the camp of Jiangdong Army. Instead, they rushed collectively to the north. This is the direction of Jiangdong Army's flank.
At first, Sun Yu and Sun Huan thought that Shi Bao was going to attack from the flank, but soon, the two brothers discovered that the soldiers leaving the city had not gathered at all.
Rather than attacking, is it more like escaping? !
So, this Shi Bao had no intention of defending the city or surrendering, so he just abandoned the city and fled? !
Sun Huan and Sun Yu were extremely angry.
If you want to run away, then you should run away early. You could have run away while we were still in Wulin. Why did you have to run away suddenly when we were besieging the city? !
The brothers were tormented along the way, slowing down their march, searching for so-called reinforcements, and finally setting up camp outside Ying County. What the hell is this for? !
That is to say, it was dark, and it was really inconvenient to send out an army to pursue him. Otherwise, the two brothers would like to catch him and kill him just like this.
But now, there is no choice but to wait until tonight.
Early the next morning, Ying County, without the guard of Shi Bao, opened the city gate as soon as possible. Led by the county magistrate and county magistrate who finally regained their freedom, Ying County surrendered and welcomed Jiangdong's army into the city.
But Sun Huan and Sun Yu were a little nervous by Shi Bao, and they did not enter the city immediately. Instead, they sent people into the city to take over the defense, and then entered the city cautiously.
In the end, there was no ambush by Jiangling reinforcements and no strategy. Sun Huan and Sun Yu occupied Ying County without any blood.
After occupying Ying County, Sun Huan and Sun Yu had no intention of staying any longer.
After all, Ying County is very close to Jiangling, no more than a hundred miles away. Since they have occupied Ying County, they only had a day's rest. Sun Huan and Sun Yu left 500 people to garrison Ying County and led 20,000 Jiangdong soldiers. Continue westward and prepare to attack Jiangling.
But when the two men had just left Ying County less than thirty miles away, an urgent report from Ying County suddenly came from behind - Shi Bao was leading a thousand county soldiers to attack Ying County.
Sun Huan and Sun Yu really didn't expect that Shi Bao didn't run far away and actually dared to come back and attack? !
And the most disgusting thing about Sun Huan and Sun Yu is that Ying County is now their rear and a node in the grain and grass supply line.
Once Shi Bao is allowed to lead the troops to capture Ying County, his own logistics supply line will be cut off, and the plan to attack Jiangling will probably come to nothing.
Sun Huan and Sun Yu discussed it and decided to temporarily divide their forces. Sun Huan continued to lead his troops to attack Jiangling, while Sun Yu led 5,000 soldiers back to aid Ying County and try to hold on to the grain and grass supply lines.
But when Sun Yu led his soldiers back to Ying County, he found that Shi Bao had already led his troops to retreat.
Shi Bao did command his soldiers to besiege the city, but Shi Bao did not attack by force. He just fired a feint and then retreated towards the east.
When Sun Yu heard that Shi Bao was retreating to the east, he suddenly panicked.
To the east is Wulin, which is a transit station on the grain road that transports grain from Jiangxia to support the army's westward expedition.
This time Jiangdong Army was attacking by surprise, so it required a fast advance and it was impossible to set up too many defense forces on the grain road. Therefore, like Yingxian, Wulin did not have many soldiers and horses for defense.
Upon hearing that Sun Yu was retreating to the east, Sun Yu immediately continued eastward with five thousand soldiers and horses, preparing to rescue Wulin.
But before Sun Yu could lead his army too far, news came from Ying County, saying that Shi Bao had led his army back to fight again.
(End of chapter)
