It's not that Lu Meng didn't know his situation, and it wasn't that he didn't know that as a commander-in-chief, he shouldn't pin his military hopes on the enemy's unreliability.
However, he was really unwilling to do so, and at the same time, there was no way out.
It was Lü Meng who insisted on persuading Sun Quan to abandon the Sun-Liu alliance and launch a sneak attack. It was Lü Meng who personally formulated all the strategic plans and told Sun Quan that this sneak attack would definitely succeed.
But now, everything is not going as expected.
Lu Dai of Guiyang has not yet received any news of conquering Lingling County and threatening Wuling County. This gives Xu Shu of Wuling County enough time to quell the barbarian rebellion and support Wenpin of the public security.
Xu Shu's speed in quelling the barbarian rebellion was also faster than Xu Shu's imagination, not to mention that Xu Shu also quickly organized a team of new soldiers with a number of up to 10,000. This organizational ability also exceeded Lu Meng's estimate of Xu Shu.
To be honest, Lu Meng didn't think he looked down upon Xu Shu. After all, during the Battle of Jingnan, Xu Shu could quickly lead his troops to react and block his way to the west. Lu Meng felt that Xu Shu's ability , basically not much worse than myself.
But now it seems that he still underestimated Xu Shu's ability. Thinking from his perspective, Lu Meng felt that it would take at least a month for him to put down the barbarian rebellion in Wuling and organize reinforcements to rescue the police Wenpin.
But now, Xu Shu has done it in about twenty days.
It's better now. Xu Shu's temporary underestimation allowed him to lead troops and threaten his own food supply.
In addition, reinforcements from Jiangling were about to arrive, but he was still lingering under the city. The grain road might be harassed at any time. Logically speaking, Lu Meng really should choose to retreat instead of continuing to fight under the city of Jiangling.
Lu Meng's reason told him that continuing to fight like this might bring unpredictable harm to the entire army, but at the same time, Lu Meng couldn't bear the feeling in his heart.
Of course, Lu Meng was even less able to predict how he would face his lord Sun Quan, who had always trusted him once he withdrew his troops.
Therefore, Lu Meng still wanted to give it a try, betting that the defenders in Jiangling City would not be able to sustain the attack for a few days.
But in reality, this is impossible.
Zhou Taidu has already passed Dangyang County, how could he not inform Wang Ji in Jiangling City? After all, his purpose is to rescue Jiangling.
Therefore, at this time, Wang Ji had already learned that reinforcements were about to arrive.
Although there are not many reinforcements coming, for Wang Ji, it is a good thing to have more than two to three thousand reinforcements now, so that at least he does not have to huddle in the city and be beaten passively, and people block the door and get beaten.
Jiangling City's defense is very strong, the city wall is high enough, and the city's defense supplies are sufficient. It is simply unrealistic for Jiangdong's army to break through Jiangling City by climbing the city wall.
The only troublesome thing is the Jiangling City Gate. The city gate is indeed loose now. Wang Ji has sent a reserve team of 2,000 people to the Tibetan Soldier Cave at the city gate just in case.
But in the final analysis, Wang Ji still has the confidence to continue to hold on for a while, not to mention that there are already 10,000 reinforcements on the way.
Therefore, Wang Ji's current mentality is relatively relaxed, and the troops in the city are still sufficient. It is impossible for him to be unable to hold on as Lu Meng expected.
In fact, at this time, Lu Meng has fallen into an irrational state of love for war. This state is very fatal for a coach.
In history, the Second Master was defeated in Maicheng and Ji Han lost Jingzhou because of his love for fighting at the foot of Xiangyang City.
Now it was Lu Meng's turn to fall into this irrational state.
Therefore, in the next few days, Lu Meng suddenly increased the intensity of his attack on Jiangling City Gate, urging the soldiers to attack regardless of casualties.
The soldiers were unsuccessful in attacking and wanted to retreat to rest, but Lu Meng personally stood in front of the military law team and ordered the military law team to shoot arrows at the retreating soldiers to drive them to continue attacking the city.
At the same time, Lu Meng also sent out crossbowmen to suppress the Jiangling defenders on the city tower, preventing the defenders from using rolling stones and wood to attack the charging vehicles and soldiers below the city who were attacking the city gate.
But the problem is that the crossbowmen cannot control the range very effectively. Although Lu Meng ordered the crossbowmen to suppress the defenders of the city tower and create opportunities for the Jiangdong Army's attacking soldiers below the city to attack the city gate. But in fact, the crossbowmen at least A small number of the bows and arrows fell on the attacking Jiangdong Army.
The soldiers of Jiangdong Army wanted to retreat, but behind them were the crossbowmen of the Military Law Corps. If they wanted to advance, they had to endure the accidental injuries of Jiangdong's crossbowmen.
After weighing the two sides, Jiangdong's soldiers' desire to attack has indeed increased.
After all, there is still a glimmer of hope to attack forward and break through the city gate, but to retreat back to the camp is 100% a matter of military law.
This is a battlefield, and there is no way to escape for a while. I can only rush forward, praying that I will not be so unlucky and accidentally injured by one of my own arrows.
Indeed, what Lu Meng did did caused the gates of Jiangling City to loosen greatly under the impact of the charging car, giving people hope of breaking through Jiangling City.
But similarly, the morale of Jiangdong Army is also in decline visible to the naked eye.
When they withdraw their troops and return to camp at night, the soldiers of Jiangdong Army will feel like they are surviving a disaster. But once night comes, thinking about having to continue to attack the city like this tomorrow, the entire Jiangdong Army will fall into a state of lifelessness.
Therefore, in the past few days, Jiangdong Army has experienced continuous desertions. Why do they continue to stay in the camp when they know that if they go to attack the city tomorrow, they will most likely die.
Lu Meng is not unaware of this situation, but now he is really in a difficult situation.
Look at the Jiangling City Gate, it looks like it can be captured with just a little more effort.
But looking back at the morale of the army, it is almost as if it has hit rock bottom.
Moreover, these soldiers are all his own sergeants, and they belong to the troops directly under Sun Quan. If the losses continue like this, it is estimated that even the two brothers Sun Yu and Sun Huan will have to come and talk to him.
Therefore, Lu Meng finally began to waver and included retreating among his options.
The current situation is indeed very unfavorable to Jiangdong Army.
Reinforcements are about to arrive in Jiangling City. Although there are still insufficient troops in the city, it will take five or six days, or no more than ten days at most. Once the reinforcements arrive, Jiangling City will become impregnable and difficult to conquer.
Although Xu Sheng behind him was still holding on, he basically sent one battle report to him every day, which showed that he was under great pressure.
Although Lu Xun has broken through the outer defense line of Yidu County and can conquer Yidu at any time, the question is whether Lu Xun conquers Yidu or not will not have a decisive impact on the current situation. If Jiangling does not conquer it, conquering Yidu will not have any impact. practical significance.
Lu Meng was really shaken. He thought about whether he should be more sensible and withdraw his troops back to Lukou.
However, there is one problem that Lu Meng cannot avoid - his dispatch of troops this time has destroyed the Sun-Liu alliance. Once he temporarily withdraws his troops and allows Liu Bei's group to relax, Jiangdong will definitely be retaliated against.
Even though the navy of Liu Bei Group is not yet Jiangdong's opponent, on land, Liu Bei Group can station troops in Nanjun and use Wuling and Lingling to seize the two counties of Changsha and Lingling that now belong to Jiangdong.
Not to mention how the strength will increase once Liu Bei Group captures Hanzhong in the west and stabilizes the Xiangfan defense line in Jingbei. At that time, Jiangdong will not only lose an ally, but will gain a very powerful one. of enemies.
No matter whether the lord Sun Quan wants to go north to fight for the world, or to seize control across the river and defend himself, he cannot face enemies from two directions at the same time.
If Lu Meng cannot capture Jiangling and occupy Nanjun this time, it will drag Jiangdong into a very dangerous situation.
At that time, it was no longer a matter of Lu Meng's personal life, death and reputation, but a matter of Jiangdong's life and death.
Therefore, Lu Meng felt that he had no retreat and must attack Jiangling and defeat Jiangling.
As for the current unfavorable situation, Lu Meng had nothing to do.
On the one hand, the army is intensifying inspections in the camp, and if any deserters are found, they will be beheaded in public to intimidate the entire army.
On the other hand, orders were sent to Xu Sheng and Lu Xun, asking them to continue to hold on. One insisted on defending and blocking the attacks of Wenpin and Xu Shu. The other insisted on attacking. After conquering Yidu as soon as possible, he led his soldiers back to Jiangling City to help the attack.
Lu Meng made all psychological preparations and continued to attack the city the next day.
But soon, Lu Meng discovered that this siege was different from the past. This time, the gate of Jiangling City took the initiative to open.
Lu Meng was not yet mad at the loss, and knew that this could not be Wang Ji's initiative to surrender.
So there is probably only one reason for opening the city gate at this time - the Jiangling City reinforcements have arrived, and now they have enough troops to go out to fight in the city, burn down and rush the cars.
This was nearly two days faster than Lu Meng expected.
Lu Meng suddenly felt his eyes darken and almost fell off his horse.
Lu Meng's personal guards hurriedly supported him, helping Lu Meng calm down, and at the same time covering up Lu Meng's dilemma of almost falling off his horse.
After all, he is the coach, and every move he makes is related to the morale and morale of the army.
After taking several deep breaths, Lu Meng managed to maintain his health, forced himself to calm down, pushed away the protection of his personal guards, and continued to direct the battle.
Really, even if the reinforcements arrive, it will only be 10,000 more people. He still has more than 40,000 people. Against 20,000 people, he still has an advantage. Lu Meng knows very well in his heart that this is wrong. This is a city offensive and defensive battle, not a field battle, and the comparison of troop strength cannot be calculated so simply.
But there was no way, Lu Meng had to think this way to give himself a reason to persist in the attack.
Moreover, the enemy came out of the city, which was not necessarily a bad thing for him. Lu Meng immediately ordered the Chinese army to attack and press forward. With the numerical advantage, he tried to surround the soldiers who came out of the city, burned them and rushed to the chariot, and inflicted maximum damage on the enemy.
Hiding behind the city wall, I can't do anything to you. Now that you're out of the city, just stay! ! !
(End of chapter)
