Cao Xiu quickly marched into the army, and it took only two days to enter Dangtu County and join Zhou Li.
On the day they entered Dangtu County, the Soochow Army in charge of counterattack outside the city suspended their attack on the city, temporarily retreated ten miles, and assumed a defensive posture.
After Cao Xiu entered Dangtu County, he did not immediately launch a counterattack against the Soochow Army. Instead, accompanied by Zhou Li, he inspected the city defense of Dangtu County to understand the specific situation of Dangtu's defensive battle in the past few days.
Zhou Li naturally complained for a while, expressing the price he had paid to surrender to the Wei Dynasty. At the same time, although he did not say it explicitly, he was somewhat dissatisfied with the loss of the city defense caused by Cao Xiu's unhurried march.
But Cao Xiu was very satisfied.
To be honest, it was only at this moment that Cao Xiu truly believed in Zhou Li.
Cao Xiu didn't believe Zhou Li before because he felt that Zhou Li's defection was too sudden. He was really not sure whether Zhou Li was a fake surrender or a real surrender. He was marching slowly all the way and had this concern.
But now, Cao Xiu's worries were finally dispelled.
While Cao Xiu was slowly advancing towards Dangtu County, Zhou Li fought in the defensive battle of Dangtu for five days, and the price he paid was nearly two thousand casualties, and the walls of Dangtu County were also damaged in many places.
Judging from the battle traces left at the scene, the competition between the two sides was very fierce, and judging from the losses of Zhou Li and the Soochow Army outside the city, the two sides were really fighting for their lives.
There is no need to pretend to surrender.
After inspecting the defense of Dangtu County, Cao Xiu finally let go of his suspicions about Zhou Li. After comforting Zhou Li for a while, he immediately began to appoint officials and make promises, saying that he would report to the emperor and declare Zhou Li to be the general of the left. Please ask the emperor to make Zhou Yi a marquis.
At this time, Zhou Li was happy and took the initiative to propose to Cao Xiu, but later withdrew Runan's suggestion.
The reason is very simple. He, Zhou Li, has successfully defected to the Wei Dynasty. At this time, shouldn't he leave this place of right and wrong and go to the rear to enjoy the glory and wealth? !
Zhou Li's proposal made Cao Xiu feel contemptuous in his heart, but he couldn't let it out. Also, if this guy didn't seek glory and wealth, why would he surrender to the Wei Dynasty?
But now, Cao Xiu didn't want to retreat, so there was no reason for Zhou Li to retreat alone.
Cao Xiu comforted Zhou Li again and again, and graciously allowed Zhou Li to continue to garrison Dangtu, while Cao Xiu himself began to think about how to deal with the Soochow army facing him.
At this time, Zhou Li sent in timely information: the Soochow army that counterattacked Dangtu County had about 10,000 people. After five days of fierce fighting, there were still about 7,000 people left.
The general leading the army was Quan Cong.
Quan Cong. Cao Xiu had heard of this person, and he was somewhat famous. But more importantly, Quan Cong's wife seemed to be Sun Quan's eldest daughter.
Here is a digression.
Sun Quan's eldest daughter, Sun Luban, historically married Zhou Yu's son Zhou Xun first, and then married Quan Cong after Zhou Xun died early. But in this time and space, Zhou Yu is not dead. Even for the sake of checks and balances, Sun Quan will He would not marry his daughter to Zhou Yu's eldest son.
Zhou Yu is a military magnate. If his son marries his eldest daughter and has a relationship with the royal family, it will not matter when Sun Quan is alive, but if Sun Deng succeeds to the throne in the future, the Zhou family will be a big trouble for the Wu Emperor. .
Sun Quan didn't know that he could live such a long life, and at this time, Sun Quan had no dissatisfaction with the prince Sun Deng. He would not leave uncontrollable hidden dangers to the prince.
Therefore, Sun Luban was directly married to Quan Cong by Sun Quan out of the need to win over the martial nobles of Jiangdong.
But no matter how you put it, in Cao Xiu's view, although Quan Cong has some reputation and ability, if he can reach a high position, he will most likely be a relative of Soochow.
In this case, Cao Xiu wouldn't be polite.
The next day, Cao Xiu sent out troops and formally fought with Quan Cong in the field.
Then, Quan Cong led more than 5,000 remaining troops to retreat, planning to retreat to Shouchun.
It’s really not that Quan Cong is letting go of water, it’s really that he can’t do it.
Although Quan Cong married Sun Luban, the eldest daughter of Sun Quan, out of political necessity, Quan Cong himself was not a general who held a high position by relying on his status as a relative.
Quan Cong served as an official in Soochow after the Battle of Chibi. He later pacified Shanyue and followed Lu Meng in the sneak attack on Jiangling. He was all responsible for this. His ability was at the upper level among the new generation of Soochow generals. Otherwise, he would not have been favored by Sun Quan and married. The daughter win over.
Although according to Lu Xun's plan, Quan Cong would definitely be defeated outside Dangtu County, Quan Cong did not want to be defeated too cowardly.
Therefore, Quan Cong really went all out and fought a wild battle with Cao Xiu.
But Quan Cong really wants to scold her! ! !
Cao Xiu's level of command and combat was really much higher than Quan Cong's, and Quan Cong's response did not make any mistakes, but he still lost, so much that Quan Cong almost jumped.
No matter how good the response is, the soldiers are the ones who actually carry it out, but the soldiers of Soochow are really capable in field combat. Quan Cong decided that after returning this time, he must support the general's training plan. Even if others objected, he would still spend the time. It cost a lot to train his own soldiers.
It was so embarrassing to lose. If Quan Cong hadn't seen the opportunity quickly, it would have been impossible for more than 5,000 people to evacuate.
Quan Cong felt embarrassed, but Cao Xiu was surprised. Why do you feel that today's Soochow soldiers are much more beaten than before? !
I remember that during the Battle of Chibi, the Soochow Army, which was still the Jiangdong Army at the time, was leading a great victory. In the process of chasing Emperor Taizu Wu, they were repelled several times by the Wei Army who had just experienced a disastrous defeat. This was how Taizu came to be. The possibility of Emperor Wu returning to Jiangling safely.
A few years ago, during the Qingxu Battle, the Soochow Army lost the advantage of sneak attacks and became more and more difficult to fight. Finally, with an absolute advantage in military strength, it was blocked by a group of remnants of the Wei Army that had retreated from Qingxu. outside.
But now, although the Soochow Army paid a price of nearly 2,000 casualties in the first battle, it also caused more than 1,000 casualties of the Wei Army. This rate of improvement in combat effectiveness is already very fast.
From this, Cao Xiu further strengthened his idea - if he continued to let Soochow develop secretly, the eastern border of the Wei Dynasty would inevitably fall into continuous wars in the future.
It was indeed correct to send troops to attack Shouchun this time.
Therefore, after Cao Xiu saw Quan Cong's defeat, he immediately ordered the entire army to pursue him.
This Soochow army must be crippled and dispersed, and they must not be allowed to return to Shouchun to strengthen Shouchun's defense.
At the same time, Cao Xiu did not want to see this Soochow army retreat after its defeat and use it as a seed to train more troops of similar combat strength.
With such strength, the Soochow Army can be wiped out as many as they can.
For this reason, Cao Xiu did not hesitate to personally lead the army to pursue Quan Cong's defeated army. As for Dangtu County, Cao Xiu still handed over to Zhou Li to garrison.
On the one hand, Zhou Li took the initiative to surrender, and Cao Xiu had to at least show some trust and preferential treatment to Zhou Li. If Zhou Li was directly relieved of his military power and imprisoned, who would be able to do anything about it in the future if word of this got out? Will you be willing to lead your troops to join the Wei Dynasty? !
In troubled times, everyone pursues glory and wealth, but they don’t want it to be at the expense of losing their rights.
On the other hand, after a direct battle with Quan Cong, Cao Xiu also recognized the combat power of this Soochow army. Cao Xiu had no final hope for Zhou Li who still defended Dangtu under such an attack by the Soochow army. A hint of doubt.
With both sides fighting like this, Zhou Li has completely cut off the possibility of returning to Soochow. It is better to follow the trend and give Zhou Li a heavy responsibility to show his importance.
Of course, Cao Xiu was not stupid enough to leave all the escape routes to Zhou Li alone.
Cao Xiu recruited Zhou Li's troops and horses, and took these Dongwu surrendered soldiers to pursue Quan Cong, leaving three thousand Wei troops for Zhou Li to garrison in Dangtu County.
Nominally, Zhou Li has the right to command these Wei soldiers, but if Zhou Li really wants to do something, it is hard to say to what extent these Wei soldiers will carry out it.
This was the last line of insurance that Cao Xiu left for himself. After doing these things, Cao Xiu personally led his troops to pursue Quan Cong all the way and headed towards Shouchun.
And Quan Cong. Quan Cong is real, so unlucky.
Because Quan Cong really didn't expect that Cao Xiu would be so petty, leading an army of more than 20,000 people to pursue his 5,000 defeated soldiers endlessly.
Originally, Quan Cong wanted to lead his troops back to Shouchun, but Cao Xiu followed closely behind him. Quan Cong paused for a moment before the Wei army caught up with him, making Quan Cong nervous all the way, let alone stopping his troops to rest. , he didn't even dare to go in the direction of Shouchun City.
Just like that, he led the Wei army all the way back to Shouchun City. With the current number of defenders in Shouchun City, it was not about returning reinforcements, but about leading the Wei army to attack the gate of Shouchun City.
Therefore, Quan Cong had to change his route and retreat towards Yin Ling.
Quan Cong's change of route midway made Cao Xiu happy. The Dongwu general's change of route instead of going to Shouchun proved that Shouchun's defense force was now insufficient and he no longer had the ability to send troops to deal with these defeated troops.
Therefore, Cao Xiu continued to pursue Quan Cong until he was less than twenty miles away from Shouchun, then he chose to let Quan Cong go, reorganized his army, adjusted the direction of attack, and began to march towards Shouchun.
At the same time, Cao Xiu did not forget to convey the military order behind him, asking Zhang Te, Zhang Pu, and Xue Qiao to lead the troops to join him.
As for Quan Cong, who pursued him all the way, only about 3,000 soldiers were still with him, and among these 3,000 soldiers, there were only more than 1,300 soldiers who were directly his own.
Nearly 60% of the world's soldiers have been lost. These world soldiers have to be recruited, trained by themselves, and supported by themselves.
Quan Cong wants to cry but has no tears. He has experienced this once before the city of Hefei, and another time under the city of Jiangling, and now he is here again? !
Why is it that it is always you who is unlucky? ! !
(End of chapter)
