On the other side of Changsha Mansion, the State of Chu deployed 20,000 forbidden troops and 70,000 civilians to garrison, totaling 90,000 soldiers and horses.
Among these 90,000 people, 1,000 forbidden troops and 9,000 civilian warriors, totaling an army of 10,000 people, were deployed at the junction of Chu and Ning in Changsha Prefecture as a peripheral security guard.
Of course, such a ragtag security regiment cannot stop a hundred thousand elites led by an innate master.
The 10,000 soldiers and horses on the Changsha border were defeated in less than half a day when faced with Ning Guo's surprise attack.
In two days, Ning's army reached Changsha City.
Fortunately, in Changsha City, including the civilians, there were 80,000 defenders. Then he urgently recruited some strong men in the city and managed to draw out an army of 100,000.
Such a strong force finally blocked Xiang Duan's fierce offensive and prevented the city from falling.
Sun Siwen, who is currently in Baling, heard the news and rushed to Changsha City overnight to fight against Xiang Duan, the innate master, as a top expert.
However, even if Sun Siwen blocks Changsha City, there is no danger.
But in the Hengyang and Luyang mansions in the south, there was no second innate master who rushed to support them.
Therefore, Sun Siwen urgently sent the news to Lu Yuan for him, the King of Chu, to make a decision.
'Ning Guo was just as he had guessed before. When he couldn't make any progress on the frontal battlefield, he thought of breaking through from the side. '
After Lu Yuan read the letter, he couldn't help but secretly thought.
In the past month, the frontal battlefield in Jiangxia City has hit a wall one after another. Ning's army suffered heavy setbacks one after another, whether on the water or on land.
After careful calculation, the navy suffered more than 30,000 casualties and 40,000 soldiers were killed and wounded. Ning Guo's losses in Jiangxia City exceeded 70,000.
This is not a small amount.
You must know that Ning Guo's troops and horses in Jiangxia City, including the land and water armies, only amount to 230,000.
At this time, the loss was 70,000 yuan, which was a third of the loss.
With such heavy casualties, Ning Guo's troops in Jiangxia City only had 160,000 left.
Although these soldiers and horses are still huge, they no longer have an absolute numerical advantage compared to the Chu State.
Although the losses suffered by the Chu army in these battles were not small, they only scratched the surface and the main force was not damaged at all.
To this day, Chu's main imperial army still has 90,000 people in the city. There are still as many as 40,000 naval forces outside the city.
The total number of soldiers and horses in the two groups was 130,000.
With 130,000 people versus 160,000 people, one side's morale is at its peak, while the other side is retreating continuously and losing troops and generals. If the two sides really fight, even if Ning Guo has 30,000 more troops, they will basically not get much advantage.
'After a month of confrontation and consumption, Ning Guo's military advantage has been minimal. Next, as Chu Wei said, Ning Guo will withdraw its troops and the Echo Camp licks its wounds after another day or two of fighting.
The new recruits of the Forbidden Army in the city also gradually grew up after being tempered by the fire of war, and began to transform into veterans.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, he might be able to take the initiative to leave the city and seek a fight with Ning Guo.
If you can defeat Ning Guo's main force in one fell swoop on the frontal battlefield.
Maybe I don't need to wait for the other three flank battlefields to win. I can take advantage of the victory and pursue it, all the way into the Ning Kingdom, go straight to Jinling, and attack and destroy this country first. '
Lu Yuan's eyes couldn't help but flicker when he thought of this.
After a lot of effort and exertion, at the level of the bottom soldiers, relying on high morale and gradually honed experience.
The Chu army had a good chance of winning against the Ning army, which had a slight advantage in troops and horses but low morale. It was at least 50-50.
As for the innate combat power at the top level, Chu State has Lu Yuan and Ling Nu on Jiangxia City.
Needless to say, Lu Yuan among them, after those Jiuzhou monks left, he was truly the number one master in the world.
The "Secret Technique of Moring Borrowing Life to Cultivation" practiced by the spirit girl is not the true essence possessed by the martial arts master, but the same high-level power and divine power as mana.
With this magical power, the spirit girl can live for two hundred years, and her strength is stronger than the average martial arts master, enough to reach the second level of innate combat power.
With the couple here, even if there are ten innates, they can only lose one round.
Lu Yuan has not yet figured out how many Xiantian Grandmasters are in the Ning camp opposite.
However, after these days of investigation, it can be generally determined that Ning Emperor Shen Qiu, Wu'an Marquis Bai Yi'an, and Wuyang Marquis Li Dao are definitely here in Jiangxia.
In addition, there is Xiang Duan, the Marquis of Wuxin, over there in Changsha City.
At this point, the locations of four of the six innate masters in Ning Guo's main army have been exposed.
There are still two innate masters left, who have not shown any traces and don't know where they are hidden.
But even if these two people were also in the Ning army camp outside the city, there were only five innate masters, even if Shen Qiu, the second level innate master, was among them, Lu Yuan was not afraid at all.
'So, after careful calculation, the winning rate among the lower-level soldiers is a 50-50 chance of winning between Dachu and Ningguo. In terms of the innate combat power of the top leaders, they only have an absolute advantage.
If we fight this battle, we will win.
However, Ning Jun has suffered a loss these days, and he knows that my side is not that easy to fight, so he has hit a hard nail.
Now I am uncharacteristically taking the initiative to invite a fight, and that guy Shen Qiu doesn't know if he dares to accept the challenge.
If he followed my example a few days ago and huddled in the camp, guarding the main camp and not leaving, then I would have to chew the turtle shell. '
Lu Yuan's head ached when he thought of the Ning Army camps spread over twenty miles outside the city.
Although the Ning Army's camp was not as strong as Jiangxia City, it was set up according to the formal military drills. There was no shortage of various traps, fences, antlers, arrow towers, camp strongholds and other defensive facilities.
Moreover, there are a large number of trebuchets, ballistae, wells... and other powerful war equipment in the camp.
With these defenses in place, it would definitely be a big project for the Chu army to break through the company camp that was more than twenty miles away, and it would definitely be a frightening millstone of flesh and blood.
If they really want to attack each camp, even if Lu Yuan and Ling Nu take action, they will definitely not be able to take down the Ning Army camp without a hundred thousand people dying within a few months.
And what's even more despairing is.
The Ning army outside the city is only part of it.
Except for the soldiers and horses in Jiangxia City and the soldiers and horses in Changsha City, Ningguo's main force of about 100,000 was still in Yuzhang County.
These 100,000 people are stationed in the Pengli Camp. They can be mobilized at any time and rush to various places for support whenever necessary.
If these 100,000 people were transferred to the Jiangxia battlefield and followed to defend the camp, I am afraid that all Lu Yuan's troops in Jiangxia would be completely killed and they would not be able to defeat the Ning Army camp.
'When Ning's army retreats in two days and has not attacked the city, it may be possible to send someone to invite a battle. But regardless of whether it works or not, there is nothing wrong with trying it first. Maybe Shen Qiu is really stupid and wants to have a decisive battle with me? '
Lu Yuan made a decision in his heart.
First think of a way to deal with the main force of Ning's army in front of you, and see if you can do it once and for all. If Shen Qiu doesn't take the bait, it won't be too late to deal with other battlefields.
Over in Changsha City, there is Sun Siwen.
Although Brother Sun was born as a scholar and was not very good at fighting with others, he was innate after all. With the city defense, there was no problem in blocking Xiang Duan.
As for the other two prefectures of Luyang and Hengyang, there is no need to worry too much whether they will be attacked by the remaining 100,000 troops left by Ning Guo in Yuzhang County, as well as the two hidden innates.
After all, there are nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses stationed in these two mansions. If they don't take the initiative to attack Langzhan, but just defend the city.
Even if the Xiantian Grand Master led his army to attack, he would never be able to break through the city in a hurry.
The fact that Changsha City could survive in the hands of Xiang Duan is the best proof.
When these two mansions are really attacked by Ning Guo, Lu Yuan can just dispatch the Xiantian Grandmaster and rush to support them. Nothing will happen.
Moreover, it is already November, and under the influence of the cold wave in the North, the wind and snow have become increasingly severe.
Even here in Jiangxia City, the snow on the ground has covered the soles of the feet and is thickening rapidly.
Although Luyang and Hengyang in the south are a little better, they are probably still covered in heavy snow.
After a while, the roads were almost blocked by heavy snow, and the sky and the earth became completely white.
Faced with this kind of celestial phenomenon, it is simply difficult for humans to resist.
If Ning Jun wants to send troops under this kind of wind and snow, he should be prepared to go all the way and kill more than half of his people first.
And even if more than half of them died, when they arrived at the city, they would still face a garrison that relied on city defense, had enough supplies to keep out the cold, and was recharged.
With these many advantages, Lu Yuan really couldn't imagine how Ning's army could attack the city.
Therefore, except for Changsha Prefecture, which is currently fighting, it should be impossible for the Ning army to invade the remaining Luyang and Hengyang Prefectures this winter.
The remaining 100,000 troops of the Ning Army will probably only huddle in the Pengli Camp this winter, and will no longer be able to brave the wind and snow to rush to various battlefields.
The current situation on the Dongting battlefield is probably to maintain the current stalemate, and then see which side can't help it first, and will make mistakes.
After Lu Yuan analyzed this in his heart, he already had some confidence, but he no longer worried too much.
Then he looked at the generals in the camp, gave them a few instructions, and then let them go back to work.
Even if it was only the last few days, Ning Ren's final madness was not something he could get through easily.
If you don't take careful precautions, and Ning Ren finally finds an opportunity and takes advantage of the situation to break the city, it will be funny.
Lu Yuan didn't want to end up with such a misfortune when he was sure of everything.
You still have to be careful where you should be.
…
After making the decision, Lu Yuan began to make arrangements according to his plan.
The Ning army outside the city, as expected, attacked fiercely for three days, then abandoned more than 7,000 corpses, and chose to retreat and call a truce.
For two days in a row, Ning's army retreated to their camp and stayed behind closed doors.
Even the routine battles between the two armies in the past have become much smaller in frequency as the Ning army has shrunk.
Seeing this situation, everyone didn't know that Ning Ren couldn't bear the loss and was afraid of being beaten.
The soldiers in the city immediately cheered and cheered, all thankful that they had survived the disaster and could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
However, compared to the happy soldiers below, Lu Yuan actually issued the order to go to war when he was happy.
First, they sent out a large number of rangers, divided into dozens of cavalry teams, and took the initiative to go deep into the vicinity of Ningguo's camp, or even behind the camp, to spy on the news, and proactively hunted and killed the soldiers of Ningguo's army who left the camp, trying to attract Ningguo's soldiers and horses to leave the camp.
However, in response to Chu's provocation, Ning Jun sent out cavalry to expel it at first.
However, under the siege of the more powerful Chu cavalry and the larger number of cavalry, more than a thousand corpses were left behind, and then they retreated back to the camp and stopped leaving the station.
Seeing this situation, Lu Yuan sent another 10,000 infantry troops, took the initiative to leave the city, and invited Ning Guo to engage in battle.
But the Ning army on the opposite side saw the Chu army showing off its power outside the camp, but still made up its mind and refused to come out despite the provocation.
Later, Lu Yuan sent Chu Wei to lead the navy to find the Ning Kingdom Navy on the river for a decisive battle. However, except at the beginning, some Ning Kingdom Navy were unprepared and dozens of ships were destroyed.
After receiving the news, the rest of the Ning Army navy returned to the nearby Xiakou stronghold, huddled there and refused to go out.
Faced with the invitation of the Chu army in Jiangxia, Ning Jun adopted an extremely cautious strategy and did not attack rashly, but chose to defend.
It seems that Ning State also knows that in the Jiangxia region, its own strength is already at a disadvantage, and there is already a gap compared with Chu State.
If you attack rashly at this time, you are likely to be severely defeated.
As for Ning Guo, there are still many trump cards that have not been revealed, and there are still a large number of troops and manpower that can be mobilized in the rear.
There is no need to commit the crime now. Before the strength is fully gathered, they rush to the Chu Kingdom for a decisive battle.
on the contrary.
In Shen Qiu's view, the Chu army had a slight advantage at this time and rushed to send troops, which in turn proved the weakness of the Chu state.
Knowing this, he could no longer easily send troops to fulfill Chu's wishes.
The Ning army just closed the camp and couldn't get out. On the Chu army's side, Lu Yuan looked at Ning Ren who was acting like a coward, and there was nothing he could do.
Attacking each camp one by one will not only take a long time, but also cause great losses.
Even if the Chu State has a rich family, it cannot withstand such consumption.
So after tentatively attacking one or two Chu army camps and confirming that the enemy was well-defended and could not be easily defeated, Lu Yuan threw away more than a thousand corpses and chose to withdraw his troops and return to the city without further trouble.
After these days of commotion, it was early December in the blink of an eye, and the heavy snowfall between heaven and earth became heavier and heavier.
The snow not only covered the soles of my feet, but also reached halfway up my calves. It felt like it might reach the level of an adult’s knees soon.
With such heavy snow, let alone going out to fight, even if you want to go out for action in the city, you will risk being frozen to death outside the house.
Faced with this terrible natural disaster, neither the Chu army nor the Ning army dared to, nor could they continue to suffer.
And with the silence of the main forces of the two armies in Jiangxia, the first confrontation between Chu State and the Four Kingdoms of Jiangdong and Lingnan slowly came to an end.
Taking advantage of the snow and ice that froze the land, news from battlefields in Jiangbei and Lingnan gradually reached Jiangxia City.
The first place that spread the fastest was naturally Xiangyang County, which was only separated by a river.
As early as when Lu Yuan sent troops out of the city to find Ning Jun to invite a battle.
Further north, in Xiangyang County, where the cold wave, ice and snow came faster, the first confrontation between Chu and Ning had already concluded.
When the 30,000 navy troops originally stationed in Xiangyang County of Ning State were transferred to Jiangxia to participate in the main battle, their own surface power was greatly reduced and could no longer threaten the waterways of Xiangyang County of Chu State.
Zhou Qing took the opportunity to seize the opportunity and left 30,000 county troops in Xiangyang County to station in various cities and Shuijin strategic roads to guard against possible changes by Ningguo's 20,000 navy and Jiangbei Zhou Dynasty.
He himself led four troops from the county with 80,000 troops and took the initiative to attack. Before Ning Guo came to attack, he killed Jingmen Mansion in Xiangyang County of Ning Guo first.
The military strength of Ningguo's Xiangyang County, excluding the 20,000 naval troops who were unable to go ashore, was only 50,000 on land.
Originally relying on 50,000 naval troops, the Ning army relied on its ability to pass through the Han River at any time and attack the Chu army's fortresses along the river. It can be said that it greatly restrained a large number of soldiers and horses in Xiangyang County of Chu State.
As a result, even though the Chu army in Xiangyang County clearly had more troops than the Ning army, due to the need to divide the troops to garrison in various places, the number of soldiers and horses that could be mobilized in the end was actually fewer than the Ning army.
But now, with the defeat of the Ning Navy on the front battlefield in Jiangxia, the original control of the Yangtze and Han River waterways also fell into the hands of the Chu Navy.
The navy of Ning State also retreated to Xiakou Village in Xiangyang County of Ning State. They were blocked by the navy of Chu Army and could not get out.
At this point, the threat of Ning's navy has completely disappeared, and it can no longer threaten Xiangyang County of Chu State.
Under this situation, Zhou Qing only needed to leave some local soldiers and horses to assist the Chu navy to block the river, so as to completely isolate the threat from the northern Zhou Dynasty.
With their worries relieved, the Chu army troops and horses in Xiangyang County can naturally be mobilized to participate in the frontal battle.
So after one party was mobilized, Zhou Qing finally gathered 80,000 forbidden troops and marched into Xiangyang County of Ning State in a mighty manner.
The only opponent facing him was the 50,000 Ningguo defenders led by Yang Jing, Marquis of Wuxuan of Ningguo. The offensive and defensive momentum was completely transformed.
At the same time, at the innate level, Zhou Qing, with the help of Hanhua, is also not afraid of Yang Jing joining forces with another Wuhou, and has no disadvantage in terms of top-level combat power.
Therefore, as soon as the Chu State's Xiangyang army set out for battle, they won consecutive battles. Not only did they defeat the Ning Army's main force of 10,000 people in the early battles.
When the Ning army began to defend the city, Han Hua, in cooperation with the Chu navy that had taken control of the waterway, led a partial division to transport troops from the waterway and raided the empty Anlu Mansion behind Ningguo's Xiangyang County. , captured the city in one fell swoop.
So far, in addition to Jingmen Mansion and Jingling Mansion, which were guarded by two innate guards respectively, one of the three prefectures in Xiangyang County of Ning State had been captured by Chu State.
Moreover, the remaining two prefectures in Xiangyang County of Ning State only had more than 30,000 soldiers and horses left. Even if civilians were temporarily recruited, the number of troops would not exceed 100,000.
On Zhou Qing's side, the strength of the 80,000-strong main force was not lost. Some casualties and missing men were quickly replenished from the rear county soldiers.
At the same time, the remaining 40,000 naval forces of the Chu State, while keeping a close eye on the Ning State Navy in the Xiakou stronghold of Jingling Prefecture, could occasionally pull out a partial army to participate in the joint battle.
In Jiangbei, because Lu Yuan gained a battlefield advantage in Jiangxia City, the Xiangyang battlefield was also affected, and the Chu army's situation became much better.
