Strictly speaking, Shi Bao's approach violated the strategic deployment made by Zhang Xi and Pang Tong before the war.
According to the requirements of Zhang Xi and Pang Tong, after conquering the entire Lingling County, Shi Bao and Pan Jun should lead their troops to join Jiang Wei and jointly attack Wuling County. After Wuling County is completely conquered, they should join forces and go there. Changsha County, together with the main force of Wulin, besieged Changsha.
However, no one can predict the development of the battlefield.
For example, Zhang Xi did not expect that his navy would be so capable. He had the upper hand in the two water battles at Baqiu and Xiakou. He kept the Soochow navy in the water stronghold and did not dare to fight easily, which resulted in him having to lead the troops in advance. It was like an army crossing a river. Shi Bao never expected that he would directly pacify Lingling County with almost no effort.
At this time, it would be a bit silly to continue fighting according to the original plan.
Going back to counterattack Wuling County, taking Wuling County in a time-consuming and laborious manner, and then marching eastward to Changsha County, this is equivalent to giving Zhu Ran some time to rest and recuperate in Changsha County.
Therefore, Shi Bao suddenly changed his strategy and led his troops northward into Changsha County regardless of Lu Dai in Wuling County. This was his self-judgment based on the actual situation.
At this point, Shi Bao naturally has to bear the risk, but as the commander-in-chief of the First Army, if Shi Bao does not even have this responsibility, then he is not qualified to lead this partial army.
Therefore, after Shi Bao sent a message to Jiang Wei, asking him to continue to pester Lu Dai of Wuling County, he led his own troops and approached Liling County of Changsha County.
This move forced Zhu Ran to send troops to reinforce Liling County, and the only mobile force Zhu Ran had on hand now was the troops led by Zhang Cheng.
Poor Zhang Cheng, he didn't fight a single battle along the way, he was all on his way.
When he was first transferred from Jiangxia to Wuling County, Zhang Cheng felt better and had at least ten days of rest. But as soon as the full-scale war broke out, Zhang Cheng started running around.
We were marching all the way, and we didn't even have time to take a break. The battle situation changed too fast.
This also led to the fact that after Zhang Cheng led his 15,000 soldiers to Liling County, the overall morale of the army was not too high.
What's even more terrible is that before Zhang Cheng could rest for a few days in Liling County, Shi Bao had already led 30,000 Han troops to the city.
Although Shi Bao knew that among the soldiers he led, only 10,000 were elite county soldiers of the Han Dynasty. Once the city was attacked, only these 10,000 people could be used. The remaining 20,000 Wuxi barbarians could still be used in the field. Okay, they are just a burden when attacking a city. But Zhang Cheng doesn’t know that.
With 30,000 troops besieging the city, the morale of Zhang Cheng and the 15,000 soldiers under his command would not be high.
We were asked to go back and forth all the way, and we were almost exhausted. Now we finally have to fight, and we actually asked 15,000 people to fight against 30,000 people who are officials. They just want to torture us to death, right? !
This emotion gradually began to spread among Zhang Chengjun.
It's just that Zhang Cheng is not that kind of incompetent idiot. Although he is Zhang Zhao's son, Zhang Cheng's military ability is still acceptable. He noticed the spread of this kind of emotion in the army in time, and tried his best to comfort him, so that he did not cause any harm. Even worse results.
But as for morale, I really can’t mention it anymore.
For this reason, Zhang Cheng had to choose the strategy of huddled in Liling County and unable to escape.
Zhang Cheng did not dare to take the initiative to test Shi Bao's strength, and Shi Bao did not dare to attack rashly, for fear that Zhang Cheng would see through that his troops were not good at attacking the city, so he would divide his troops and return to Zhu Ran's aid.
This caused a very strange phenomenon - there were wars everywhere in Jingnan, but only Liling County was quiet and peaceful.
There was no movement from either side, and it was so quiet that it didn't look like a battlefield.
The two sides were in a stalemate for about ten days. Shi Bao couldn't bear it anymore.
He has superior military strength. If he remains stationary in Liling County for a long time, it will inevitably arouse the suspicion of the defenders.
Secondly, Shi Bao couldn't really just stop advancing. His purpose was to create enough momentum. It was not in line with his own strategic purpose for the main force of Zhang Xi's army, which was coordinating the frontal attack, to stay quietly in Liling County.
For this reason, Shi Bao is considering whether to divide his troops to fight and attack the enemy to save it.
For example, attack Yichun County.
Shi Bao has actually considered this matter a long time ago, but has never made up his mind to do it.
The reason is simple. Shi Bao is worried that attacking Yichun County will trigger a strong backlash from Soochow and increase troops in Yuzhang County, which may have an impact on the war in Jingnan.
But now that I think about it, it seems I was a little too worried.
In fact, the crisis in Changsha was enough for Yuzhang County to increase its troops and prepare for war. Whether Shi Bao went to attack Yichun County did not seem to have much impact.
In addition, if you want to better respond to the frontal battlefield, Shi Bao must create enough threats in Liling County. Thirty thousand troops fight against 15,000 defenders. With a two-to-one military strength comparison, the defenders are indeed able to hold on. Capital that cannot be spent.
In this case, divide the troops.
Not only did they divide their troops to attack Yichun County, they also divided their troops up the Xiang River to attack Changsha County.
But...not really an offense.
Shibao divided the 30,000 people into three parts, 10,000 people continued to besiege Liling County, 10,000 people went east, towards Yichun, 10,000 people went west, straight towards the Xiang River, and made plans to move along the Xiang River. situation.
However, after each marching fifty miles, they returned with their troops.
A march of fifty miles should be enough to avoid the detection range of the Liling County garrison's scouts.
Shi Bao's purpose was to make the defenders of Liling County mistakenly think that they were dividing their forces to attack other counties, thereby attracting the defenders in the city to take the initiative to attack themselves.
In this way, Shi Bao can use field battles to consume the defenders' strength, and then wait for the 20,000 soldiers he sent to return to the army, and then encircle and suppress these Liling County defenders who left the city in one fell swoop.
This was the tactic Shi Bao had devised for himself. Although it was a bit risky, Shi Bao felt that he could still do it if his 10,000 people faced Liling County's 15,000 defenders and held out for a day, waiting for reinforcements.
We are not afraid that the Liling County garrison will leave the city, but we are afraid that the Liling County garrison will not leave the city.
As for Zhang Cheng, Zhang Cheng is really hesitant now.
Shi Bao's division of troops was completed under his own eyes. Ten thousand people went east, obviously towards the Russian direction of Yuzhang County.
Zhang Cheng is actually not worried about this direction.
Yuzhang County is not completely defenseless. If Shi Bao directly abandoned Liling County and took 30,000 soldiers to attack Yichun County in Yuzhang County, then Zhang Cheng would be a little more impatient. But Shi Bao only divided his troops to attack with 10,000 soldiers. Zhang Cheng is really not worried about Yuzhang County.
Even if Shi Bao can really capture Yichun County, with such a small number of troops, he probably won't be able to penetrate too deeply into Yuzhang County.
Once you get deep into Yuzhang County, it will not be so easy to figure it out.
But Zhang Cheng was really worried about the division of troops heading west towards the Xiang River and north along the Xiang River to attack Changsha County.
There were people guarding Changsha County. After Lu Zhi came north from Guiyang County, Zhu Ran arranged for him to be guarded in Changsha County.
But the problem is that there are only less than 3,000 defenders in Changsha County, and Lu Zheng himself is not a general good at military affairs. If Changsha County cannot be defended, it will be too much fun.
Whether it is Zhu Ran's 20,000 soldiers in Luo County or Zhang Cheng's 15,000 soldiers in Liling County, all logistics and food are provided by Changsha County.
Once Lu Zhi cannot hold Changsha County, Zhu Ran and Zhang Cheng will face the risk of running out of food.
Therefore, no matter what, Zhang Cheng could never let the Shu army along the Xiang River go north.
However, the morale of Zhang Cheng's soldiers is low. Although they have recovered a little after about ten days of rest, they are still far from being able to take the initiative.
Of the 30,000 Shu troops in front of him, after division, only 10,000 Shu troops were left. This was indeed an opportunity to attack, but Zhang Cheng really did not have the confidence to defeat the army in front of him with the help of these low-morale county soldiers. The Shu army.
After repeated considerations, Zhang Cheng decided to divide his troops into five thousand, quickly return to Changsha to support Changsha, and put them under the command of Lu Ju.
I don't have the confidence to take the initiative, but the problem of defending the city should not be big. There are nearly 8,000 people in Changsha. No matter how incompetent Lu Zheng is, he can't be easily defeated by the Shu army of only 10,000 people, right? !
Zhang Cheng's response made Shi Bao dumbfounded.
No, you didn't send reinforcements to Yichun to the east, nor did you seek opportunities to defeat yourself head-on. Why did you instead send reinforcements to Changsha County behind you? !
Is there anything in this Changsha County that deserves your help? It’s a mistake! ! !
Zhang Cheng's strange return action made Shi Bao finally understand what he had misjudged.
The one who regretted it almost made his intestines turn green.
Shi Bao had always thought that since Zhu Ran's main army was in Luo County, Luo County must be the place where Changsha County soldiers gathered grain. Changsha County, apart from being a county government and having some political significance, actually had no strategic value.
But now, through Zhang Cheng's reaction, Shi Bao discovered in hindsight that Changsha County was probably the food station of the Soochow Army in Changsha! ! !
If he had known that this was the case, he should not have sent troops from Chong'an. Instead, he should have sent troops from Xiangxiang, bypassed Hengshan Mountain directly, attacked southern Hunan, and then pushed the troops directly towards Changsha.
As long as Changsha County is conquered, his title will probably be promoted from rural marquis to county marquis.
Unfortunately, it was too late, too late.
(End of chapter)
