Chapter 202 A battle of wits and courage with Lu Su
Jinxian Mountain, time is passing minute by minute.
It was getting late, and Jiangdong's army launched an attack on Huang Zu after noon. They arrived at Guanting an hour and a half later, and they didn't know what the situation was like on the Xunyang side.
The light rain was still pouring down. Shen Chen and Liu Qi led four thousand troops and crouched in the forest near Jinxian Mountain, waiting for news.
I don’t know how long it took, maybe half an hour, maybe an hour.
When it got a little darker and the wind and rain became lighter, someone suddenly shouted from the outskirts of the forest: "It's coming, it's coming."
I saw two soldiers outside running towards them like flying, shouting: "Elder Master, General Shen, it's done, we have captured four large boats and occupied the river!"
"Walk!"
Shen Chen perked up and immediately ordered: "Blow the whistle!"
"Beep beep beep beep!"
Suddenly the sky was full of whistles, and four thousand people and horses came out of the surrounding woods.
Four thousand people sounds like a lot, but it's actually very few. Only two or three basketball courts can be filled if they stand together, so it was a little sparse for a while.
These Jiangxia naval forces may be better than the army on the water, but they are far inferior to the soldiers from the north in terms of warrior quality and gathering speed, let alone compared with the Huangmenting soldiers who have been trained all year round and are off the job.
"Quick, quick, quick."
"They are all dead, walk faster!"
"A bunch of pigs, are you going to chop off your heads again?"
Seemingly noticing the increasingly darker expressions on Shen Chen and Liu Qi's faces, another deputy general, Liu Nan, quickly asked middle and lower-level officers to urge the soldiers.
After a chaotic scene, the soldiers gathered together and headed towards the official pavilion.
Shen Chen stepped on the mud with one foot deep and the other shallow. The soldiers all wore straw sandals and raincoats, and hemp shoes were put on inside the shoes. It was not cold in this season, but water easily got in in the rain, which made people very uncomfortable.
He raised his head and looked at the sky. The wind and rain had weakened a lot at this time. Maybe it would stop raining in the past two days. For Jiangdong and Jingzhou, this may also mean that the war is about to begin.
Soon the army arrived at Guanting. At this time, the Guanting Lake was already in chaos. Qu Gan led his troops into the water, captured several dinghys and fighting ships, and then rushed towards the large boats like flying. .
The huge hull of the boat was used to block the lake surface. Although the surrounding yachts, scouts and other small boats discovered the clues, there were very few pilots on these boats and they were unable to form a counterattack at all.
After the opening from the lake to the Yangtze River was blocked by several large boats, the remaining small boats could only bump around like headless flies in the lake, turning it into a situation of catching turtles in a urn.
Seeing this scene, Liu Qi immediately ordered happily: "Send the order and attack!"
"Wait a minute!"
Shen Chen quickly stopped the messenger who was about to blow the horn, and instead looked at Liu Nan and said: "Liu Sima, blow the horn and call on Qu Sima to send a warship to pick you up. You lead a thousand men, and then use the enemy's warship." , fighting ships came to encircle and suppress them."
"only!"
Liu Nan was a Navy Sima, so he naturally knew that Shen Chen's tactical arrangement was right, so he quickly led the soldiers over.
Shen Chen and Liu Qi led the remaining 3,000 people to surround the enemy on the shore.
Dayuan Lake is actually very wide, with several kilometers of coastline on the left and right, and countless hills and hills as shelters, so it is impossible to capture the enemy by swimming across it.
The best way is naturally to use stern fighting ships to encircle and suppress the enemy while the opening is blocked.
But this method is not safe either.
Because the river bank is extremely long, people can escape on land by abandoning their boats on both sides of the river. There are forests and hills on both sides of the river, and the mountains overlap, so you can naturally escape by getting in.
Therefore, Shen Chen and Liu Qi had to spread the remaining people along the coast and surround the enemy.
The horn sounded a long time.
Qu Gan soon heard the call in the distance and sent soldiers driving four stern battleships to come flying towards him.
At this moment, the more than two to three hundred small boats such as tuts, sailing boats, cruisers, scouts, flying boats, and yachts floating on the lake naturally knew what the other party was planning. They suddenly panicked and drove towards the shore one by one like flying boats. .
Although Shen Chen had made arrangements in advance, the river bank was too long, and the jungles and hills were very dense. Once they got into the woods, all these people were gone, so very few Jiangdong soldiers were captured.
"Walk!"
Seeing this scene, Shen Chen ignored the escaping Jiangdong soldiers. After clearing the lake, he let the army drive the abandoned ships to start approaching the big boat.
By the time it was getting darker and darker, the original five thousand Xunyang defenders had already captured four large boats, four sterns, and fighting ships, a total of eight ships, and countless other small boats. The boats were of no use and were dragged into the Yangtze River.
On land, these Xunyang defenders were just second- and third-line troops, but when they arrived in the water, they suddenly became elite first-line troops. Under Shen Chen's command, while it was still dark, the sails were opened and they sailed in mightily. to the Yangtze River.
In fact, it cannot be said to be the Yangtze River, but Longgan Lake. Although it is now called Penglize and is connected to the Yangtze River, the water flow speed and river water temperature here are better than those of the Yangtze River.
Because the water flow was too gentle, the soldiers had to start rowing desperately, and it took them half an hour to get close to the Yangtze River.
The lookout on the mast watched from a distance and suddenly shouted down: "General, there are many ships in the south!"
"oh?"
Shen Chen immediately walked to the edge of the deck and looked at the ship.
They saw that in the south, close to the southwest, that is, to the right in front of them, there were countless ships on the river.
They were two groups of people. Because they were too far away, it was not clear who was exactly who. I only knew that the two sides were fighting.
At that time, the war on the river was actually very simple. The main weapons of both sides were bows and arrows.
The second step is to use ships used for charging, such as sterns, battleships, surreptitious battles, running boats, and barges, to reach the vicinity of the enemy ship, and then use ladders or jumping gangs to get to the enemy ship and fight at close range.
At this time, the two groups of men and horses in the distance were now entangled and intertwined. The two sides were raining arrows, and they had a fierce battle on the rippling Yangtze River.
"General, Liu Sima and Qu Sima asked us what to do?"
The lookout shouted down.
The big boats on the left and right are asking questions in flag language, which has been recorded in Jiang Ziya's "Six Tao".
But at that time, the flag language was not too complicated, and there were only a few communication words, such as simple instructions such as charging, retreating, outflanking, and asking the general for his opinion.
Shen Chen pondered for a moment and said: "Let them ignore it. Let's go our own way, avoid those ships and go directly to Anqing."
"only!"
The lookout responded by signaling.
After the order was issued, the eight ships sailed to the southwest, slightly away from the battlefield.
When they got closer, about three or four kilometers away, they vaguely saw the war flags of the two sides. One was a yellow background with red border and black characters, and the other was a red background with black characters and white borders.
"It's General Su and General Deng!"
The lookout's eyes were like eagle eyes. At this time, there was no fog on the river, and his field of vision was extremely wide. He saw the flags of "Su" and "Deng" on those ships, which were obviously Su Fei and Deng Long, the generals under Huang Zu's command. .
Shen Chen looked over from a distance and saw that Su Fei and Deng Long's ships were larger than Jiangdong's ships, and they obviously had more people. They seemed to have the upper hand at the moment and were overwhelming Jiangdong's army.
If this was the case, it seemed that Huang Zu had listened and sent two troops to cover his retreat. However, he did not expect that the enemy did not fight him on the river, but went to intercept him on land, so The people from these two schools seemed to have done a useless job.
But I don’t know why Su Fei and Deng Long fought with a small number of Jiangdong Navy. Maybe it was Jiangdong Navy who came to lure their men, or maybe it was the fleet that came to meet the land interception force, but at least they were a big help. .
"Let's go our own way!"
Shen Chen shouted.
"yes."
The lookout signaled again.
In this way, the eight ships entered the Yangtze River several kilometers away from the battlefield.
When the sky got darker and darker, around five or six o'clock in the evening, the fleet was already heading downstream along the river mouth.
Entering the Yangtze River, the speed is much faster, the water flow speed increases rapidly, and it is the flood season again, and the ships seem to be flying.
At this time, there were many Jiangxin Islands on the Yangtze River. Fortunately, the soldiers manning the ships were all experienced veterans, and the river was wide, so there was no chance of running aground on the rocks, and the journey was uneventful.
After an hour and a half, the sky had completely darkened and the rain had stopped. Although the clouds had not cleared and the rain had stopped, it was still a good thing.
With favorable winds and favorable currents, the fleet sailed a hundred kilometers and arrived in Anqing.
In the Han Dynasty, this place was not actually called Anqing, but Wankou. Because the Wan River connected Wan County, its geographical location was as important as Xiakou, as it was the intersection of the Yangtze River and other rivers.
However, there is a dock outside Wankou City, called Anqing Pavilion. Although it is a pavilion, a large dock has been built, so Anqing has now become a military location.
At this time, a huge tower was built on the pier, and billowing flames were lit on the tower, like lights in the dark, guiding the ships to sail here.
Navigating at night in ancient times was quite dangerous. Few people would choose to engage in water battles with the enemy at night. If you were not familiar with the routes on the Yangtze River, you would accidentally run aground on the rocks or hit the central island of the Yangtze River.
They came here because the sky was not dark at all, but now that it was completely dark, the lighthouse became an important reference point, and they arrived at the pier stumblingly along the way.
Naturally, there were soldiers left behind on the pier. They were extremely surprised to see a ship coming in the middle of the night. The horn sounded "woo woo woo" for a long time, which alerted the defenders of Wankou City in the distance. The city suddenly fell into chaos.
"What's going on?"
In Wankou City, Lu Su, who was looking at a map in his mansion, suddenly heard the sound of a horn outside the city and quickly got up and went out.
This horn sound is not a warning horn of enemy attack, nor is it a rapid attack horn, but a longer sound, which often means that an unknown army is approaching.
"There are people coming from outside the city."
Han Dang, who was also awakened by the sound of the horn, also went out wearing a single coat.
Both of them lived in the county government office. When they met in the outer court of the county government office, Lu Su said, "General Han, let's go out and take a look."
"Walk."
The two of them went out.
The Jiangdong Army is now in full swing. On the Yangtze River, Cheng Pu, Ling Cao, Dong Xi and others are in charge of the navy, with about 7,000 or 8,000 men entangled with Su Fei and Deng Long.
Zhou Yu, Zhou Tai, Ling Tong, Lu Meng, Xu Sheng, Hu Zong and others led the main force to attack Xunyang from land.
Therefore, the garrison strength in Wankou City at this moment is less than 2,000, and the only garrison generals are Lu Su and Han Dang.
When they heard that someone was approaching suddenly, and they didn't know whether it was an enemy or a friend, the two of them did not act rashly, but immediately urged the soldiers to rush to the city wall and wait for them seriously.
This move apparently saved their lives.
Because at this moment, the hundreds of Jiangdong troops guarding the dock in Anqing Pavilion were still looking at the river on the shore. With a little light, they could vaguely see Jiangdong's ship, so they shouted: "It's our ship."
Then when they came to greet them happily, countless Jiangxia navy soldiers rushed from the boat and swarmed up. Soon, there were all kinds of screams and wails.
Lu Su and Han Dang were very vigilant. They not only asked the soldiers to go up to the city wall immediately to prepare, but also sent a team of scouts to quickly rush to Anqing Pavilion to check.
Anqing Pavilion is not very far from Wankou, about two or three kilometers. The scouts rode over there. Through the large number of torches lit on the pier, they saw from a distance that the Jiangxia navy was disembarking and massacring the defenders on the river bank. They were so frightened that they hurried back.
General knowledge.
When they learned that a Jiangxia naval force had arrived at Wankou, Lu Su and Han Dang were shocked and immediately mobilized a large number of bows and arrows to the top of the city.
At this time, after Shen Chen took control of the dock, he immediately ordered an attack on Wankou City.
Unexpectedly, the enemy's response was very fast. When the army arrived outside the city, they tried to use the prisoners to trick them into opening the city gate, but what greeted them was a shower of arrows. Shen Chen immediately knew that the matter had been exposed, so he ordered a storm.
There is a natural reason for a strong attack.
If people were to be transferred between ancient fleets, planks and ladders were often needed, so these items were available on the eight large ships and were easily available.
Wankou is just a small city. The city is only about two feet high, about four or five meters. You can easily climb up with a ladder.
At that moment, five thousand troops carrying hundreds of ladders wanted to rush directly outside the city.
But as the army rushed forward, they heard shouts from the city wall: "Set the arrows, shoot the arrows, shoot the arrows!"
In an instant, countless arrows rained out, and screams could be heard outside the city.
Immediately afterwards, the Jiangxia navy collapsed and retreated.
Shen Chen looked at this scene with a really ugly expression. The soldiers under Huang Zu could only fight with water. No wonder in history, he was beaten repeatedly by Sun Ce and Sun Quan, and the land battle was really defeated.
Only one or two hundred people were shot to death and wounded, and most of them didn't even hit the target, but just cried out for their parents and retreated. This quality is really worrying.
Fortunately, Shen Chen also knew that not all soldiers were carefully trained Huangmenting soldiers, so he didn't have high expectations.
He ordered Qu Gan and Liu Nan to gather the scattered soldiers, and he personally went outside the city to look at the small town of Wankou.
I saw that this city is located in the northeast of Wanshui River, with Wanshui River to the west and south, and to the north is backed by a hilly mountain range, which is the Lion Rock area of Anqing City in later generations. The only direction of attack is from the east, which can be said to be easy to defend but difficult to attack. Important place.
But it's not completely without flaws.
That is, the west side of Wankou is closer to the river, and the south side has a gentle slope due to the bend of the river. If we can pretend to attack the east side, but actually sneak through the south gentle slope, we may be able to open up the situation.
So Shen Chen summoned Qu Gan and Liu Nan, pointed to the south direction of the city and said: "The enemy has enough arrows and it will be difficult to attack by force. You can pretend to attack the east gate, but actually attack the south gate. You two will lead the army outside the east gate later." To stir up noise, I personally led the troops to attack the south gate."
"only!"
The two men quickly took orders.
Although Shen Chen has now resigned from the post of Zhonglang General, his reputation is so great that no one in Jingzhou is dissatisfied.
In addition, everyone knows that Shen Chen is a popular person in the eyes of King Chu and a good friend of the eldest son.
Therefore, even if they have no positions, the two of them are willing to be commanded.
After receiving the tactical arrangements, Qu Gan and Liu Nan immediately followed Shen Chen's instructions, lit up torches, and began to make noise outside the east gate.
At the same time, Shen Chen led five hundred people, quietly walking around the Wanshui River and climbing towards the gentle slope of the south gate.
At the gate of Wankou City, Han Dang looked from afar and said: "They are attacking again."
"I'm afraid it's a scam."
Lu Su raised his eyebrows, feeling that things were not that simple.
Han Dang was surprised and said: "Where is the fraud?"
Lu Su laughed and said: "If I were an enemy general and wanted to attack, I would definitely rush to the city in the dark and then attack suddenly. How can I make such a noise? This must be a plan to attack the east and attack the west."
"oh?"
Han Dang thought for a moment and suddenly opened his eyes wide: "South Gate!"
"I'll take them there!"
Lu Su immediately led 200 people and rushed to the south gate.
There were actually some defenders at the south gate, but they were less than a hundred people. At this time, they didn't even realize that there were enemies outside the dark city. They were all looking in the distance in the direction of the east gate.
Suddenly seeing Lu Su leading people over, the guard guard came up to him in confusion and asked: "Captain Lu, what's the matter?"
"The enemy is preparing to attack the south gate, so proceed with caution."
Lu Su said to him: "Take your men and go immediately to carry the arrows."
"only."
The sentry commander hurriedly carried out the order.
Lu Su led 200 soldiers to the top of the city and took control of the south gate.
After a while, a loud horn sound suddenly came from the east gate, followed by a shocking cry of death.
The soldiers quickly looked toward the east gate.
Lu Su scolded: "Please keep an eye on the south gate and leave it alone."
After the rain stopped, many torches were lit on the towers of Wankou, but there were no torches outside the city. It was so dark that nothing could be seen.
Lu Su did not order the soldiers to peek out from the city wall, but only arranged for dozens of soldiers to patrol the city tower, while the rest of the soldiers squatted under the female wall.
At this moment, ladders were suddenly placed on top of the city, and the soldiers could obviously hear rustling sounds coming from outside the city.
"Fire the arrow!"
Lu Su suddenly stood up from under the female wall, drew his bow and arrow, and shot towards the bottom of the ladder.
You must know that he is a man who can shoot through a shield with one arrow. His archery skills are extraordinary, accurate and fast. When the arrow hits the ground, screams are heard from the city.
"Fire the arrow!"
At this time, Shen Chen, who was outside the city, also realized that the people in the city had seen through his plan, so he also ordered the arrows to be fired.
The two sides shot at each other under the city, but there was a parapet and there was no bunker on their side. Naturally, they suffered a big loss, and soon they could only abandon dozens of corpses and retreat in a hurry.
When Shen Chen returned to the army, Qu Gan and Liu Nan's feint attack troops there were also shot back by the enemy. The navy's main method of combat was bows and arrows. There were a huge number of bows and arrows in Wankou City, and they were completely unable to attack by force.
Under this situation, Shen Chen could only gather all his soldiers and retreat to Anqing Pavilion. He first took control of the dock, ordered the soldiers to destroy the ships on the dock, and then found a way to capture Wankou City.
The reason why he wanted to capture Wankou was because Wankou was an important offensive outpost in Jiangdong. If Wankou could be captured, the main force of the Jiangdong Army in front would inevitably withdraw.
This is a tactical switch.
The difference is that they now have a ship and can advance or retreat.
But he didn't expect that the small Wankou City would be so difficult to attack, which temporarily put Shen Chen in trouble.
Fortunately, there is still plenty of time.
Although they lost hundreds of people, they still had a numerical advantage.
Shen Chen ordered the soldiers to rest first, and then he would think of other ways to capture Wankou City.
"Ah Chen, this Anhui mouth is difficult to attack."
Liu Qi and Shen Chen were discussing in the dock building of Anqing Pavilion.
Shen Chen nodded and said: "Yes, I don't know who this Wankou guard is, but he is really powerful. He saw through my plan of seizing the east and attacking the west."
"Is there any other way to be trapped?"
Liu Qi asked.
Shen Chen thought for a while and said: "There are two ways, one is to tire the enemy, and the other is to make a surprise attack."
"How to say?"
Liu Qi asked curiously.
"It's very simple."
Shen Chen said: "The strategy to tire out the enemy is that we send people to harass the defenders in the city every half hour so that they cannot rest. After daybreak, we launch a general attack. They have not rested all night, so they must be exhausted. Maybe by tomorrow We can capture Wankou before dark."
"What about the surprise attack plan?"
"The surprise attack plan is even simpler. If we don't do anything, the people in the city must be very afraid of our night attack, so they will be ready to fight at all times. But we just need to have a good rest and wait until dawn, when the enemy relaxes their vigilance the most. A sudden attack might help us conquer it."
"Which strategy would be better?"
Liu Qi didn't know much about tactics and just found them incomprehensible.
Shen Chen smiled and said: "There is no good strategy, only the most suitable strategy. It depends on whether the people in the city will be fooled. I'm afraid they will see through our strategy again."
In the final analysis, tactics are about playing with psychology.
If he chooses the strategy of tiring the enemy and is discovered by others, and they don't take them seriously and continue to choose to sleep, then there will be no point in launching an attack during the day.
If he chooses a surprise attack and is discovered by others, but remains vigilant when he is most relaxed, he will still be beaten back by the enemy.
In the final analysis, it lies in the choice of both parties.
Liu Qi thought for a moment and said, "Can these two strategies be used together?"
“Good idea.”
Shen Chen gave a thumbs up and praised: "I think so too."
"Hahahahaha."
After receiving Shen Chen's encouragement, Liu Qi suddenly became happy.
Shen Chen went to give orders.
Both strategies can indeed be used at the same time because there are many of them.
There is a story in later generations called "The Wolf is Coming".
Another saying about lies is that nine out of ten sentences are true, with one lie mixed in.
This is the easiest way to deceive others.
So Shen Chen felt that he would send a few hundred people each time to make noise, while the rest would rest.
In the middle of the night, everyone in the city thought this was a ploy to tire out the enemy. While they were resting, a real surprise attack suddenly came, and the people in the city couldn't react.
At that moment, he immediately arranged for Qu Gan and Liu Nan to make such an arrangement.