Lü Meng was much luckier than Sun Huan. He didn't have to worry about his food and grass supply line, because Lü Meng's supply line took the Yangtze River waterway.
Originally, if the police were not suppressed, there was a risk that Lu Meng's food and grass supply line would be cut off by the police.
But the reason why Lu Meng dared to besiege the public security forces instead of fighting and go north to attack Jiangling first was because the public security forces had few civilian soldiers and no navy. Self-protection may not be a problem, but attacking out of the city would definitely be insufficient.
What's more, just in case, Lu Meng also arranged for Xu Sheng to keep an eye on Wen Pin from the public security department, and then he could safely lead his troops north to attack Jiangling.
Jiangling is right on the Yangtze River. The west gate and south gate of Jiangling City are all within fifty miles of the Yangtze River. If Lu Meng can't stand such a short land supply line, then he shouldn't lead the army.
But Lu Meng also has trouble with Lu Meng.
Although Lu Meng led his army to successfully cross the Yangtze River and disembark on the north bank, the march towards Jiangling was not fast.
Because Deng Ai led 5,000 miners from the Mining Camp, who appeared on the flanks of Lü Meng's army from time to time, threatening the safety of Lü Meng's army's advance.
Ever since the attack on Gong'an failed, Lu Meng knew that this sneak attack on Jingzhou could no longer be described as a sneak attack. The next attack on Jiangling could only be a force attack.
If Lü Meng can successfully conquer Gong'an and cut off Wuling Xu Shu's possibility of supporting Jiangling, and if Sun Huan and Sun Yu can lead their troops to march quickly, and the two armies converge at the foot of Jiangling City, then Lü Meng is fully confident that he can persuade Wang Ji to surrender.
After all, in Lu Meng's view, Wang Ji was just a scholar with no experience in fighting, and he was not a native of Jingzhou. He had not even been an official for Liu Bei for a long time, so he could not commit the crime of fighting to the death for Liu Bei when there was no hope.
But the problem now is that the public security has not captured it, and Wuling doesn't know when it will be free. Under such circumstances, it is basically impossible for you to expect Wang Ji to surrender without a fight.
Therefore, Lu Meng changed his strategic plan. Before the situation in various places changed significantly, he would storm Jiangling and create enough pressure on Jiangling. This might force the scholar Wang Ji to surrender.
As long as Jiangling is captured and then swept across the counties north of Jiangling, the resistance of Wuling and Lingling will not last long.
As for Xiangyang, this cannot be solved by Lu Meng alone. It depends on whether Cao Cao in the north has the ability.
Therefore, Lu Meng's strategy, from attacking Guan Yu from the front and back, and capturing Jingxiang, has now changed to at least capturing Nanjun, thereby forcing the surrender of Wuling and Lingling, and occupying Jingnan.
To capture Nanjun, we must rush to Nanjun to govern Jiangling as soon as possible, and launch an attack on Jiangling as soon as possible.
However, at this time, an army of about 5,000 people appeared on his flank.
Who is the leader of this army? !
unclear.
How is the combat effectiveness? !
have no idea.
What is the purpose? !
Even less understanding.
Faced with such a situation, how could Lu Meng dare to march with peace of mind.
After all, there are a lot of people, five thousand people.
You must know that Lu Meng brought a total of only about 35,000 people to Jiangbei. 5,000 people threatened his flanks. If he did not solve them, he would not feel at ease.
Therefore, Lu Meng sent Ding Feng to lead 5,000 Jiangdong troops to test this army.
It turned out that the other party was very cunning and retreated at the first touch.
Ding Feng wanted to pursue him, but Lu Meng quickly called Ding Feng back.
Obviously, the opponent's purpose is to divide their troops so that they can devote fewer troops to attacking Jiangling, thereby achieving the purpose of defending Jiangling.
If you pursue him, you will only be fooled.
The most important thing is that Lu Meng discovered that the commander-in-chief of this team judged the situation very accurately. When to approach to create a threat, and when to retreat to protect himself, the timing was quite mature.
This kind of commanding ability and battlefield observation ability are definitely not something ordinary people can achieve.
Such a person cannot divide his troops to attack. He would rather stay on the flanks and be on guard at all times than divide his troops to pursue him. If he is eaten in one bite, it will be a heavy loss.
Fortunately, Jiangling City was not far away. Although Lu Meng always had to worry about sneak attacks from the flanks, he finally successfully set up camp under Jiangling City.
After setting up camp, Lu Meng also sent out reconnaissance cavalry to contact the Sun brothers who came from Jiangxia. However, the reconnaissance cavalry left the camp for fifty miles to investigate, but no trace of the Sun brothers was found.
Lu Meng is wondering, what's going on? !
I wasted fifteen days in the police city. Logically speaking, the Sun brothers should have arrived earlier than me.
Why haven't you arrived yet? !
Lu Meng didn't know the situation for the time being, so he could only set up camp first, strengthen the alert, and order the siege battalion to build siege equipment and prepare to attack the city.
Lu Meng knew that Jiangling city defense was strong. After all, there was a key research report on Jiangling city defense in his early intelligence work.
But after actually looking at it, I realized that this Guan Yu actually made Jiangling City so strong.
The city wall is about five feet high, which is one foot higher than an ordinary city wall. At this height, it will be very difficult to attack with cloud ladders and hook ladders, and the defenders have more time to throw rolling logs and rocks.
Even if a crossbow is used to suppress the wall, the position of the crossbow shooter still needs to be moved several feet forward, otherwise it will be difficult to suppress effectively.
But the crossbowman moves forward and is easily suppressed by the opponent's archers. It's a dilemma.
Not to mention that Jiangling City like this must have regular defense facilities such as barbicans, inner cities, caves for hiding soldiers, arrow towers, and arrow holes. It is not easy to defeat this hard nut through siege warfare.
Looking at Jiangling City like this, Lu Meng frowned and thought for a long time, really not knowing how to attack.
A conventional attack is not impossible. According to Lu Meng's calculations, the current defenders in Jiangling City will not exceed 10,000 people. The defender of Jiangling City has no military experience, so it is not yet known whether he can effectively organize the city defense.
However, if conventional siege methods are used, it will inevitably increase the casualties of Jiangdong Army.
You must know that a sneak attack on Jingzhou is not done after defeating it. Xiangyang in the north is still in Guan Yu's hands. Once Guan Yu really gives up the defense of Xiangfan and returns to reinforcements, he may not be able to defend Jiangling City if he loses too much in attacking Nanjun.
The only way to reduce losses and conquer Jiangling is to attract the defenders in the city to go out to fight in the field, defeat them in the field battle, and reduce the number of defenders. Only in this way can we hope to capture this strong city at a relatively small cost.
Although there were losses in the field battle, Lu Meng felt that the losses in the field battle were within his control as he faced a weak scholar with no experience in leading troops.
But the problem is: how to attract the defenders in the city to agree to fight? !
It was not impossible. After all, the guard Wang Ji was a scribe. Even if he had read military books before, he would not have much battle experience.
Moreover, Wang Ji was not well-known before and was young, but suddenly he was in a high position. He only relied on the reputation of his teacher and master. It was inevitable that some of the city guards would be dissatisfied. Wang Ji should also want to prove himself.
Lu Meng thought for a while, then returned to the camp and wrote a letter to Wang Ji, a letter that strongly belittled Wang Ji and persuaded him to surrender.
Belittling Wang Ji was not the purpose. Lu Meng wanted to use this kind of belittlement to arouse Wang Ji's competitive spirit and fight with him out of the city.
Therefore, Lu Meng first said in his letter that Wang Ji was young and relied on the shadow of his master to reach the position. He had no achievements in literature or military skills, but he was shamelessly occupying a high position in the state and county. He did not feel ashamed but felt proud. This was shameless. A virtuous person.
Then he started to talk about how he built his merits step by step from a small soldier to his current high position. Compared with Wang Ji, he should be the hero of the world, and Wang Ji is just a villain who relied on his luck to advance. That’s all.
In the end, it was to persuade Wang Ji to surrender quickly and to realize the current situation. Otherwise, after the city is broken, no one in the family, old or young, will be left behind.
From the beginning to the end of this letter, Lu Meng did not mention that Wang Ji should go out of the city to fight in the field, but Lu Meng believed that it would be incredible if Wang Ji could not resist leaving the city after reading these words.
Scholars these days are ashamed of themselves, and even if they scolded them like that, Wang Ji should go out of the city to prove himself if he wants to save face.
And as long as Wang Ji leaves the city, it is not difficult for him, a general who has climbed up from the bottom step by step, to defeat a scholar who is on the battlefield for the first time.
After Wang Ji received Lu Meng's letter, he was indeed very angry.
He's not someone like Zhang Xi who was used to swearing in his previous life. It would be strange for Wang Ji not to be angry at such a letter that completely negates him.
Moreover, Wang Ji was indeed only in his twenties at this time, and he was more or less youthful and energetic. At that time, he wanted to lead his troops out of the city and fight to the death with Lu Meng.
But as soon as he left the house, the cold wind blew, and Wang Ji suddenly calmed down. Going out of the city to fight in the field? !
Isn't that sending someone to death? !
Although I have read some military books and know some strategies, I have never commanded an army in battle.
If someone who has never been to the military camp several times orders a group of soldiers to go out to fight in the city, isn't that an act of seeking death? !
Besides, Lu Meng could choose to invade Jingzhou when Nanjun’s defenses were at their most empty. Could he really be such an ignorant person? !
If Jiangdong dares to let such a person become the governor of one side and let him lead so many troops to attack others, then it must be that Sun Quan is also mentally retarded.
Therefore, this should be Lu Meng's attempt to anger himself and provoke him to go out to fight in the city.
He couldn't be fooled, so he still had to hold on to the city.
Well, I know that, but... the more I think about it, the angrier I get.
But Wang Ji really has no choice. He really doesn't have any usable soldiers or generals in his hands now.
Wenpin was trapped in the Public Security Bureau and was unable to withdraw from the enemy for a while. Deng Ai was still outside the city and did not return to the city. Although he was very smart and directly led troops to threaten Jiangdong Army's flanks, it also resulted in the army now without a backbone general. .
Wang Ji knew very well that his current general had to rush to the shelf just because of his high position. However, he had no battle experience at all. He commanded the soldiers to defend the city. He still had a chance to make mistakes and make mistakes, but when he left the city When facing the enemy, he really felt that he didn't die quickly enough.
To be honest, as long as there is a general who can talk about the past, Wang Ji really wants to give it a try, and go out of the city to fight with Lu Meng.
It's not that he fell into the trap, but mainly because Wang Ji also had some ideas of his own and wanted to try to see if it would work.
But now we don’t have the manpower.
Just as Wang Ji was thinking this, this man came to his door.
The soldiers guarding the north gate came to report that there was a group of soldiers knocking on the door outside the north gate. The number was about 600. The leader claimed to be Shi Bao, the captain of Ying County, and he carried a seal with him.
Wang Ji's expression suddenly changed and he hurried to the north gate.
(End of chapter)
