The Shu army withdrew, which was good news for Lu Zhi and Lu Kai who were guarding Wuling County.
But the direction of the Shu army's withdrawal was towards Lingling County further south. This time, without Lu Kai's reminder, Lu Ju himself could sense what the Shu army wanted to do.
The grain and grass sent to Wuling County from the four counties in Jingnan are mainly provided in two directions.
One is Changsha County to the east of Wuling County, and the other is Lingling County to the south of Wuling County.
These two places are the current grain-producing areas of Jingnan.
The Shu army went in the direction of Lingling County. You don’t need to think about it to know that they were going for Lingling County’s food and grass. However, the defenders in Lingling County now totaled less than 2,000 people. .
Not to mention the old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers, they were still distributed in various counties. The county with the largest number of troops would not have more than 300 defenders.
Once the Shu army enters Lingling County, there will be no force that can stop them. Lingling County will definitely be turned upside down by the Shu army.
However, Lu Ju and Lu Kai had no way to stop the Shu army from going south.
Being able to defend Wuling County and preserve the existing army's food harvest is already considered good.
Now there are only more than 2,000 soldiers in Wuling County. If the defense of Wuling County is abandoned and goes south to support Lingling County, once the Shu army kills a carbine, Wuling County will really be unable to defend it.
Therefore, even Lu Ju can only choose to keep the existing food and grass and let the Shu army go south. As for how to destroy this Shu army, I am afraid that we can really only wait until the reinforcements sent back to Wuling County by the general are dealt with. .
And this time, another three days have passed.
Lu Dai led the three thousand public security garrison and finally returned to Wuling for reinforcements.
Seeing Lu Dai returning for reinforcements, Lu Zheng and Lu Kai both breathed a sigh of relief. At least in their opinion, the ability of General Zhennan was enough to encircle and suppress the Shu army.
But seeing the number of reinforcements Lu Dai brought back, the two of them felt helpless again. Just three thousand people? !
Lu Dai had no choice but to explain the reason to these two people.
His son was so cheating that he couldn't wait for the follow-up reinforcements to arrive and had to immediately lead troops to come for reinforcements. Otherwise, if Wu Ling suffered a loss, his son would definitely be questioned by the general before Lu Zheng.
But after Lu Dai carefully inquired about the situation of the Battle of Wuling, he was now at a loss.
Theoretically speaking, Lu Dai was not willing to see the Shu army go south so easily and wreak havoc within the four counties of Jingnan.
Especially the two counties of Lingling and Changsha, where there are too many meritorious nobles and noble families of Soochow. If the Shu army were to interfere with them all, the pressure would be so great that even Lu Dai might not be able to withstand it.
But the real problem is that Lu Dai only has 3,000 men in his hands, and according to Lu Kai, the Shu army that left Wuling County had about 10,000 troops.
Even if it is a mob, three thousand people versus ten thousand people, it is not easy to win.
Therefore, Lu Dai did not dare to go south immediately to intercept the Shu army under such a weak force. He had to stay in Wuling County and wait for the arrival of follow-up reinforcements.
Fortunately, Lu Dai was not kept waiting for too long. It was only five days. Zhou Yu assigned 10,000 soldiers to Lu Dai. Under the leadership of General Pi, they marched all the way and finally arrived at Wuling from Jiangling.
Although the march was very hard, Lu Dai did not have time to give the soldiers any more rest. After a little preparation, Lu Dai immediately led his troops south to Wuling County.
But before Lu Dai could reach the border between Wuling County and Lingling County, he received news from Lingling County. Three of the eight counties in Lingling County had already been conquered by the Shu army, and they were still in a period of industrialization. Three counties in the grain area.
Before they arrived, Lingling County had already been turned upside down.
As soon as he received the news, Lu Dai immediately ordered to march at full speed and rush to Quanling County, the county seat of Lingling County. On the one hand, it was to guard the seat of Lingling County, and on the other hand, it was also to prevent the Shu army from breaking through Quanling County. Flee directly and enter Guiyang County.
If this Shu army really destroys Lingling County, and then enters Guiyang County, or even goes north to Changsha County, the four counties in Jingnan will most likely be destroyed.
This is something Lu Dai will never allow.
Therefore, Lu Dai immediately rushed on his way to reinforce Quanling County and then passed the Xiangshui River and was about to cross the river to Quanling County when he was ambushed by Shi Bao.
On the one hand, Lu Dai was in a hurry, and in order to pursue the marching speed along the way, he indeed neglected to check the surrounding enemy situation.
On the other hand, Lu Dai did not expect that he would be ambushed less than fifty miles away from Quanling County. Before that, the magistrate and defenders of Quanling County did not convey any discovery to him. Report of enemy situation.
Therefore, Lu Dai's ambush was a solid one. After the battle, more than 3,000 people were lost in the battle.
And because he was ambushed on the bank of the Xiang River, less than fifty miles away from Quanling County, Lu Dai seriously doubted whether the Quanling County Magistrate had surrendered to the enemy, so he did not dare to retreat to Quanling and had to go west. Taoyang County in the south retreated.
This is tantamount to completely giving up Quanling and the passage to Guiyang to the Shu army.
Lu Dai was very angry about this. After retreating to Taoyang, he found that the Shu army did not pursue him. Lu Dai immediately took the time to rest and reorganize the troops and re-boost the morale of the troops. After ten days of rest, Lu Dai immediately sent out troops. Counterattack Quanling.
In Lu Dai's view, Quanling County at this time must have been captured by the Shu army, and it is very likely that the Shu army at this time has broken through Quanling and broken into Guiyang County.
But when Lu Dai led his troops across the Xiang River and approached Quanling, Lu Dai unexpectedly discovered that the Quanling County Magistrate actually came out of the suburbs to greet him, and cried with a depressed look on his face as to why the reinforcements had only arrived at this time.
After careful questioning, Lu Dai found out that after ambushing him, the Shu army did not take advantage of the situation to attack Quanling, but disappeared.
Lu Dai was confused at that time as to where the Shu army had gone. Why didn't he receive any information? !
It’s not that Lu Dai didn’t receive the intelligence, but that Lingling County at this time had been messed up by Shi Bao’s army. Under the superior strength of the Shu army, it was enough for each county to have the troops to protect themselves. That's right, how can we have time to communicate with each other and pass on information?
For example, Lu Dai once asked the magistrate of Quanling County at that time why he did not warn him when he was ambushed by the Shu army on the Xiang River, less than fifty miles away from Quanling County.
The Quanling County Magistrate expressed with a depressed expression that at that time he had no idea that there were Shu troops in his territory, and he did not receive the news until ten days after the ambush on the bank of the Xiang River ended.
The reason is that there are only 300 soldiers guarding Quanling County. The Quanling County Magistrate at that time directly ordered the entire army to shrink the county and evacuated all the people into the city. More than ten miles outside the Quanling County, the county magistrate had two His eyes were dark, let alone checking whether there were any enemy troops fifty miles away.
What kind of county magistrates did Da Wu, who made Lu Dai angry on the spot, send to these places? !
Now, for Lu Dai, the important thing is not to settle old scores, but to figure out where the Shu army has gone. More than 20 days have passed since the last ambush. If you can't figure out the movements of the Shu army, you will How to intercept and suppress this Shu army? !
The only thing that can be determined now is that this Shu army did not capture Quanling County, so at least the possibility of them crossing the border from Quanling and sneaking into Guiyang can be ruled out.
But the problem is that Quanling is located on the shore of the Xiang River, with Chong'an County and Xiangxiang County to the north. Through these two counties, you can go directly north to Changsha County.
To the south, there are Yingpu and Lingdao counties.
Through Yingpu County, you can go directly south to enter Jiaozhou, and through Lingdao County, you can also enter the southwest of Guiyang County.
It can be said that if they bypass Quanling County, this Shu army will go to many places, and they all have certain strategic significance. It is impossible for Lu Dai to divide his troops and go to so many places at the same time.
For this reason, Lu Dai could only temporarily garrison troops in Quanling County and send out fast horses from the army to check back and forth in the four counties to see if there were any Shu troops. But this took time.
Xiangxiang County is at the northernmost end of Lingling County, and Yingpu County is at the southernmost end of Lingling County. Going back and forth, a month of twenty days is probably not enough.
But Lu Dai had no choice. Lingling County had insufficient troops. Facing the pressure of the Shu army entering the country, the counties had to protect themselves, which affected the efficiency of communication. Who should you ask Lu Dai to complain about? !
You can't complain about General Shang who depleted Jingnan's troops, right? !
And just when Lu Dai was patiently stationed in Lingling County, the liaison reconnaissance cavalry sent to the four counties came back with no news, but it was Lu Ju from Wuling County who sent news.
The Shu army fought back to Wuling County, and seven days before Lu Dai received the letter, they captured Zhaoling at the junction of Wuling County and Lingling County.
Judging from the time and distance, the Shu army may have fought back to Wuling County by this time.
In other words, the Shu army neither went north nor south. After ambushing Lu Dai, they chose to go west, reversed the direction Lu Dai came from, and killed him back.
Lu Dai was completely fooled by Shi Bao! !
(End of chapter)
