Wang Ji, a scholar from Jingzhou, was so excited that he personally led the army into battle and commanded five hundred soldiers to block the Jiangdong Army's troops that broke into the formation.
It is true that Wang Ji is a scholar, but scholars these days are somewhat skilled in martial arts for self-defense. The sword they carry with them is not a decoration, it can really be used to cut people.
Wang Ji is not good at weapons or hand-to-hand combat, but he realizes that his archery skills are still good.
Unlike the rotten Confucians of later generations who only studied eight-part essays, for Confucian scholars of this era, shooting among the Six Arts of the Gentleman was a compulsory course.
Shooting is not only a etiquette, but also a practical combat skill.
On the one hand, Wang Ji directed his soldiers to block the gap and buy time for his companions to return reinforcements. On the other hand, Wang Ji also drew his bow and arrows, taking advantage of the long-range advantage of arrows to continuously shoot at the enemy.
Wang Ji can shoot at the enemy, but it also means that Wang Ji has entered the range of Jiangdong Army's bow and arrow.
The low-ranking captain of the Jiangdong Army was not stupid. The enemy's commander was within his range. With such a great achievement in front of him, who wouldn't be tempted?
Therefore, Wang Ji naturally became the target of Jiangdong's soldiers on the field.
Jiangdong's soldiers who did not carry crossbows could only fight forward, while Jiangdong's soldiers who had the opportunity had already begun to draw their bows and crossbows.
Seeing that Wang Ji was about to become the target of public criticism, Sun Shangxiang made a move at this moment.
Sun Shangxiang held a long shield that he found from nowhere, and stood beside Wang Ji to help Wang Ji block the incoming arrows.
The soldiers of Jiangdong Army were depressed. If the shot missed, it would not be a great achievement, but it would be a serious crime of beheading! ! !
Of course, Sun Shangxiang cannot always protect Wang Ji like this. Even if she is willing, Guan Xing is not willing.
Guan Xing was also shocked when he saw Wang Ji actually playing in person as the coach.
It can certainly boost the morale of the soldiers if the commander leads the troops to personally participate in the battle, but if something goes wrong, the losses will be even greater.
You must know that Wang Ji is not a military commander like Guan Yu, he is a civilian official. At least Guan Xing has never seen this civilian official show his martial arts.
But Guan Xing also knew that now is the time when the whole army needs to work together to fight, and command is of little significance. It is better to engage the whole army in battle and arouse the determination of the soldiers to defend.
It depends on whether you can survive until the end.
Guan Xing also gritted his teeth, gave up his commanding responsibilities, picked up the Qinglong Dao that was standard for the children of the Guan family, got on his horse, and rushed out.
However, Guan Xing did not go to fight alone. Instead, he first found Sun Shangxiang and Wang Ji and asked them to retreat.
Sun Shangxiang cannot be harmed. Not only Jiang Dong doesn't want to see it, Guan Xing also doesn't want to see it.
As for Wang Ji, he was too forward.
The coach can go to the front line to fight in person, but at least he must stay outside the range of the bow and arrow, otherwise he will be killed too easily.
The death of Wang Ji had a great impact on the entire army, so Guan Xing asked Wang Ji to retreat and take command.
In fact, there is nothing to command. When the battle reaches this level, it is all about willpower. Wang Ji only needs to be responsible for his own safety and serve as the spiritual pillar of the entire army.
As for the gap that Jiangdong's army broke into, he, Guan Xinglai, was responsible for it.
Upon hearing this, Wang Ji quickly followed the instructions and ordered the flag-bearing soldiers and himself to temporarily retreat fifty steps to ensure a safe distance.
By the way, I thanked Sun Shangxiang who was withdrawing with him.
Wang Ji calmed down the moment he found Sun Shangxiang standing beside him.
He knew that his life had been saved by Sun Shangxiang, and he also realized that although his hot-headed forward thrust was helpful in boosting morale, it was also too dangerous.
Now, Guan Xing took over the second line of defense of the Chinese army. Although Wang Ji retreated fifty steps, he still stayed close to the front line and did not retreat any further, which also stabilized the morale of the soldiers.
For a time, Jiangdong Army's attack was blocked again, and they were temporarily unable to advance.
Lu Meng was really anxious.
The current Jiangling garrison is fighting for its best, and the Jiangdong Army is not fighting for its best.
The battle has been going on for more than an hour, and it has been half an hour since the fire broke out in the rear camp. Quan Cong, who went to rescue, had been killed by the enemy and came back to report that the fire-fighting had failed.
If Jiangling defenders could not be defeated quickly and took advantage of the situation to advance into the city, Lu Meng really didn't know what would happen when the entire army knew that the rear camp's food and grass had been burned and the rescue force had been defeated.
Again, Jiangdong is an army with a world-wide military system.
When the leading generals knew that the rear camp's food and grass had been burned down and that the rescue had not been successful, would they still command their troops and attack with all their strength? !
Apart from anything else, the offensive of the right army where Quan Cong is now has slowed down a lot and is not as fierce as before.
Therefore, Lu Meng must let the entire army see the hope of conquering Jiangling City, and let the generals understand that as long as Jiangling City is conquered, they can get the food and grass supplies in Jiangling City, and the losses they pay now are worth it.
But if progress cannot be made, then as time goes by, these generals will have their own little ideas, and there will be more and more cases like Quan Cong of the right army conserving their strength.
At that time, if we only rely on our own more than 10,000 Chinese troops to attack, even if we can repel the Jiangling defenders, it may be difficult to defeat them, and there will not be enough troops to fight for the Jiangling city gate.
After all, there should still be some defenders in Jiangling City.
Now Lu Meng regretted why he left Xu Sheng with 8,000 soldiers. Leaving 3,000 soldiers was enough. If he had 5,000 more soldiers, even if his attack was disadvantageous, he would still have enough food and grass to defend the rear.
The fierce battle under Jiangling City continued. After Guan Xing was relieved of his command responsibilities, he went into battle as a military general and led Wang Ji's last 500 reserve troops. After a burst of fighting, he finally blocked the gap created by Jiangdong Army in the middle. , re-consolidated the defense line.
As time went by, Lu Meng became more and more anxious. Even now, he still has not broken through the last line of defense of the Jiangling defenders. On his own side, more and more soldiers are slowing down the offensive.
Generals kept sending messages, hoping that Lu Meng would postpone the attack. They said that after a long and high-intensity attack, the soldiers' physical strength had been exhausted and they could no longer attack.
At the same time, these generals all asked Lu Meng, without exception, about the loss of food and grass for the rear army.
Lu Meng understood that the second question was the key.
As for the first one, it was just an excuse for the general not to attack by force.
Really, Lu Meng really wanted to tell these generals the truth and tell them that our food and grass had been destroyed, and now we only have a last-ditch fight. We must break through Jiangling City so that we can survive.
In an ordinary army, such a method of provoking generals might be effective.
When Cao Cao attacked Yuan Shu, there was not enough food and grass. After borrowing the heads of the grain and grass officials to calm the public anger, he used this method to motivate the entire army and defeat Yuan Shu in one fell swoop.
But the damn world military system in Jiangdong means that the first reaction of these generals when they learn that there is not enough food and grass is definitely not to fight to the death, but to retreat.
The soldiers are raised by them, and they pay for their usual money and food. These soldiers are almost equivalent to the generals' private soldiers.
They will not be willing to harm their own interests in dangerous situations to help others gain benefits.
This is why the people of Jiangdong fought vigorously every one of them in defensive battles, but they all withered in offensive battles.
In the final analysis, fighting a defensive war is to protect their own interests, but in an offensive war, they are not willing to work hard when their interests are unclear.
This time Lu Meng was able to persuade Sun Quan to send troops to attack Jingzhou. It was also because there were few soldiers in the southern county and Cao Cao was cooperating in the north. Everyone felt that the chance of victory was high and it would be profitable before sending troops.
Now, none of the key cities have been occupied, and food and grass were burned under Jiangling City. If this is not captured, won't everyone be starving in a few days? !
Under such circumstances, if you Lu Meng boasted that we could capture Jiangling City, who would believe you if we relied on the supplies from Jiangling City to replenish the lost food and grass?
What if I can't win? !
At that time, if there is a mutiny, or the defenders in Jiangling City suddenly attack, the losses will be the troops we finally raised.
Therefore, in this situation, Lu Meng could only hold on.
He told the generals in the army to continue to attack hard. As long as he gritted his teeth and defeated Jiangling, he could acquiesce in allowing these generals to occupy some of the property and population.
In addition, tell the generals in the army that some grain and grass have indeed been burned, but it is not serious. A batch has been rescued, which is enough to last until the next supply of grain and grass arrives.
Hold on if you can, lie if you can. As long as the desires of these generals are aroused and they continue to attack, Lu Meng believes that the Jiangling garrison in front of him will not be able to hold on for long.
However, Lu Meng found to his despair that even if he gave the order, the overall offensive rhythm of Jiangdong Army was still slowly weakening.
Not to mention Lu Meng noticed this, even Wang Ji noticed it.
The previous Jiangling garrison's defense line had been suppressed by Jiangdong Army's attacks and was shrinking again and again, and it was about to be unable to hold on.
But now the Jiangling defenders not only hold on to the defense line, but also have a faint tendency to push back the defense line and expand the defense line.
In addition, the current Jiangdong Army's attack rhythm is getting slower and slower, and the attack preparation time is getting longer and longer. Wang Ji can probably see that Jiangdong Army has reached the end of its battle.
This made Wang Ji very excited. As long as he carefully withstood the recent waves of attacks, Jiangdong Army's attacks would become less and less threatening. He would win this defensive battle.
What excites Wang Ji even more is that on the west side of the battlefield, the banner of Liu Bei's group faintly appeared.
Wang Ji probably knew that it was Deng Ai and Shi Bao who burned the food and grass and quickly led the army to return for reinforcements.
Of course, Wang Ji also knew that Deng Ai and Shi Bao were marching and fighting like this, and the soldiers were not regular soldiers. It was hard to say how much combat power they really had left.
However, the appearance of this reinforcement can very well boost the morale of Jiangling City defenders and give them the confidence to hold on.
Lü Meng also knew that the appearance of this reinforcement was not necessarily a threat, but Lü Meng knew better that the appearance of this reinforcement would make the generals who were already thinking about their retreat even less want to attack.
Lu Meng didn't know what to say now.
The stinging pain that kept coming from the injury on his shoulder was nothing, but the suffocation in his heart that he couldn't spit out or swallow was really uncomfortable.
Finally, after weighing for a while, Lu Meng finally gave the order.
The battle is invincible and the future is worrying. Retreat your troops and return to put out fires and grab food.
(End of chapter)
