Jia Kui, who was stationed at the border of Pengcheng State, was indeed aware of the large-scale mobilization of soldiers from Guangling County.
But Jia Kui really didn't dare to move.
It's not that I can't move, but I don't dare to move. I really don't dare to move.
Since Lu Xun dared to mobilize Xu Sheng's Guangling army to leave Guangling and enter Huainan to fight, it was impossible not to be prepared for Jia Kui of Pengcheng State.
Long before the battle began, Lu Xun secretly transferred Zhuge Dan from Langya County to Xiapi County. As long as Jia Kui dared to march into Guangling County, Zhuge Dan in Xiapi could command the soldiers from Xiapi and Langya counties to directly attack. Pengcheng Kingdom.
Let’s see whether it was you, Cao Wei, who lost Pengcheng State, or I, Soochow, who lost Guangling County.
Indeed, but judging from the map, Cao Wei captured Guangling County and connected it with Pengcheng State, which is basically equivalent to cutting off the connection between Soochow Huainan and Qingxu. For Soochow, this is also unacceptable. result.
But there is a premise here, that is, Pengcheng State is still in the hands of Cao Wei. Cao Wei can provide troops and food support to Pengcheng State and Guangling County through Yanzhou behind Pengcheng State.
If Pengcheng Kingdom is lost, Soochow will not only have direct access to Yanzhou, but will also lock Guangling County in the gap between Huainan and Xuzhou, turning it into a dead place.
If this situation really comes to fruition, regardless of the outcome of Soochow's battle with Cao Xiu in Huainan, Jia Kui's side is already destined to lose.
The cost of this tactic was too high. After Jia Kui noticed Zhuge Dan's appearance at the border of Xiapi and Pengcheng Kingdom, he immediately mobilized his soldiers to return to the eastern defense line and did not dare to march to Guangling County in the south.
At the same time, as Zhuge Dan appeared in Xiapi, the original guard of Xiapi, Lu Xun, the governor of Qingxu of Eastern Wu, was nowhere to be seen. This also made Jia Kui aware that Cao Xiu's plan to march to Huainan was probably a deliberate poaching by the Eastern Wu army. of a trap.
The person fighting Cao Xiu in Huainan was probably not Sun Shao but Lu Xun.
The selection of the general was wrong. Coupled with Cao Xiu's character and habit of commanding troops, Jia Kui was really worried that Cao Xiu would be surrounded like a rice dumpling again.
What's more terrible is that this time, he is too far away from Cao Xiu. Even if Jia Kui wants to save Cao Xiu, he probably won't be able to save Cao Xiu.
Everything depends on whether Cao Xiu himself can survive this crisis and withdraw from Huainan to Runan.
At this time, Cao Xiu was really trying his best.
Falling into the same pit twice in a row already made Cao Xiu a little angry.
In addition, Cao Xiu was accused of sending troops without authorization. Although the emperor's edict later made up for it, Cao Xiu knew exactly what happened, Gao Tanglong knew it, and Cao Rui, who was in Luoyang, must also know. .
If Shouchun cannot be captured, Cao Xiu will have no good fruits to eat when he returns, let alone being surrounded in Huainan and experiencing another big defeat.
Cao Xiu cannot be defeated and must lead his troops to break out. At the same time, it is best to inflict a large number of casualties on the Soochow army and try to create an invincible and undefeated situation.
Therefore, after Cao Xiu learned that his retreat was cut off, he did not hesitate at all. He left Zhang Pu to lead 5,000 men, and the remaining 47,000 men retreated to counterattack Dangtu County.
Cao Xiu retreated very decisively, and Xu Sheng suffered disaster without any hesitation.
Xu Sheng only brought 10,000 Guangling troops to Dangtu County. Although with Zhou Li's internal response, there was no loss in capturing Dangtu County, but there was no supplement, and it was still only 10,000 people.
Xu Sheng did not dare to transfer the defenders from other counties to guard Dangtu. He must prevent Cao Xiu from playing the trick of attacking from the east and attacking from the west and breaking through the defense areas of the other three counties.
Therefore, Tu's defenders only had the 10,000 Guangling troops brought by Xu Sheng.
But Cao Xiu on the opposite side had 47,000 men, which was almost five times the strength of Xu Sheng.
Moreover, the combat power and morale of the Wei army were different from what Xu Sheng thought.
In Xu Sheng's view, the Wei army's retreat will be cut off, which will inevitably affect the morale of the army. When the morale of the army is unstable, if they choose to attack the city by force, the effect will not be too great.
Just like the time when Commander-in-Chief Zhou Yu lured Cao Xiu to Shiting, setting up ambushes at all levels, and blocking them at all levels, the Wei army's morale was immediately in chaos, and its combat effectiveness dropped sharply.
This is why Xu Sheng only brought 10,000 Guangling troops to defend Dangtu.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that Xu Sheng did not dare to completely exhaust Guangling's defense. Guangling only had a total of 20,000 Soochow troops guarding it. Being able to allocate 10,000 people to fight at once was already the limit.
You can't really bet that Jia Kui doesn't dare to march into Guangling.
But when the reality came down, Xu Sheng found that although the Wei army was a little impatient in attacking, and its morale was obviously affected, it was precisely because of this that the Wei army's initial attack was quite fierce.
It was so violent that Xu Sheng and Zhou Li had to bite the bullet and endure a large number of casualties.
Xu Sheng really didn't understand and had no time to think about how Wei Jun could maintain his morale and be so capable of fighting.
Xu Sheng couldn't figure out the reason for this, but Cao Xiu himself knew it very well.
Again, Shouchun is not Shiting.
Shiting was too deep into the heart of the Soochow Army. Even if they wanted to retreat, Cao Xiu's army would not be able to withdraw for a while.
And when the soldiers see that they can't move forward and there is no hope of retreat, they will naturally become morally confused and lose their combat effectiveness.
Dangdangtu County is less than fifty miles away from the Runan border and more than eighty miles away from Ruyin. In other words, as long as Dangtu County is captured, not only can supplies and rest be obtained on the spot, but it can also be opened up again. The passage to Junrunan.
Under such circumstances, how could Wei's soldiers not fight tooth and nail in order to return?
It’s not the last desperate moment yet! ! !
Therefore, under the command of Cao Xiu, the Wei army with a completely different mentality launched a fierce attack on Dangtu County, and even Xu Sheng and Zhou Li were overwhelmed.
After only four days, the Wu army in Dangtu County already suffered about 2,000 casualties. Although the Wei army outside the city suffered more casualties, the Wu army was small in strength, with only 10,000 people stationed in Dangtu County.
In addition, Dangtu County has experienced three offensive and defensive battles in less than half a month, and the losses in the city defense are also quite large. Even if Xu Sheng has enough troops now, the city defense losses may not last long.
At this time, Xu Sheng was desperately counting the time and predicting whether Governor Lu would capture Ruyin. At the same time, he was also complaining about what Sun Sheng, Ding Feng and others were doing in Shouchun. Why didn't they take the initiative to attack at this time? , attacking the rear flank of the Wei army.
And Sun Sheng. Sun Sheng did not take the initiative now, but it was not that Sun Sheng didn't want to, but that he couldn't.
There was no way, Cao Xiu retreated too quickly and too decisively, and Sun Sheng didn't even react.
The day before, Cao Xiu was still desperately attacking Shouchun, and Sun Sheng was constantly deploying his troops to defend. He didn't know how many days he could hold on. However, the next day, Cao Xiu withdrew his troops with all his strength.
At this time, the 5,000 reinforcements led by Lu Shu were still two days away from Sun Sheng. Sun Shao's 3,000 bluffing troops were only halfway from Chengde, and they were at least five days away from Shouchun. time.
As for the 10,000 German troops led by Ding Feng, they had just set off from Chengde and rushed to Shouchun to join Sun Sheng and others.
These reinforcements cannot be counted on for a while.
Not to mention, when Cao Xiu retreated, Zhang Pu and his five thousand soldiers were left behind to break up the rear.
Under such circumstances, how could Sun Sheng dare to launch a rash pursuit? Does he still want Shouchun City? !
When Lu Shu led the reinforcements to Shouchun, Sun Sheng made some calculations and realized that including the reinforcements, he only had less than 10,000 troops, while Cao Xiu's total strength was about 50,000. He launched an attack on the Wei army from the rear. The attack can indeed effectively coordinate Xu Sheng's frontal blocking battle, but if it is not good, the troops he brings may also be surrounded by the Wei army.
Therefore, Sun Sheng decided to wait until Sun Shao and Ding Feng's troops and horses were all in place before taking the initiative to attack the Wei army.
Sun Sheng calculated that it would take about ten days. With Xu Sheng's ability and the 10,000 Guangling troops he brought, it shouldn't be a problem to guard Dangtu County for ten days, right? !
In this way, Sun Sheng chose to stand still in Shouchun and wait for reinforcements to arrive. This was a matter of Sun Sheng's ability and courage. No one can be blamed.
Therefore, Xu Sheng could only continue to hold on in Dangtu County, while thinking about how long he would hold on.
In Xu Sheng's view, he had to hold on at least until Governor Lu occupied Ruyin and received military orders before he could collect the remaining troops and retreat.
At this time, Lu Xun actually occupied Ruyin.
Ruyin, which was guarded by only 2,000 people, had no generals to guard it and only one assistant general commanded it. It was impossible to defend the city when it was attacked by Lu Xun's 20,000 navy troops.
Therefore, it only took Lu Xun three days to break through and occupy Ruyin.
According to the original plan, Lu Xun could actually order Xu Sheng to conserve his strength at this time, retreat slowly, retreat to Ruyin to join him, intercept Cao Xiu on the second line of defense, and cooperate with the pursuers from Shouchun to attack Cao Xiu from front to back.
However, Lu Xun suddenly discovered that a Wei army team suddenly appeared in Yingyang, northwest of Ruyin County.
There were not many people, only about 3,000 people, but why did such a Wei army appear in this place? !
Lu Xun was a little unsure.
(End of chapter)
