In July, Guan Yu built a pontoon bridge on the upper reaches of Ruxu River and began to prepare to cross the river.
Sun Quan's military camp at Ruxukou could only watch and let the Jiangdong Army generals go out to fight the enemy. Let's not talk about whether they have the courage. Even if they have the courage, they don't have extra troops.
Therefore, the process of building pontoon bridges was extremely smooth. In just seven or eight days, they built several pontoon bridges for 50,000 troops to cross the river.
Liu Bei and Shen Chen from the rear also arrived at the front line of Anhui to arrange food and fodder for Guan Yu and personally supervise the battle.
By August, after more than a month of preparation, Guan Yu's army had built more than ten cloud towers, countless other types of nest vehicles, ram vehicles, wooden curtains, etc., and even built more than 20 catapults.
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The army's craftsmen, civilians, auxiliaries, plus 80,000 soldiers, there must be 178,000 people, working at full capacity to build forts and siege equipment, and there was a lot of excitement outside the Ruxukou North Camp.
On August 7, Guan Yu officially launched his first fierce attack. Under the cover of wooden curtains, more than twenty catapults arrived outside the Beiying camp and began to smash stones inside.
At the same time, the mighty fleet on the river also began to move. The Jiangxia navy's sails covered the sky and the sun. After approaching Ruxukou, they used the parapets and wooden boards on the ship as cover, using crossbows, bows and arrows to attack Ruxukou.
Jiangdong's army fired at each other.
Ma Chao and other troops attacked from the north, while Guan Yu's navy attacked from Ruxushui in the west and the Yangtze River in the south. The 80,000-strong army dealt a crushing blow to a mere 30,000 troops in Ruxukou.
Under the strong attack of catapults and crossbows, Jiangdong's army suffered terribly. Many high oars, docks, water towers, and earthen hills on the periphery were broken by catapults, and the village walls were also in danger.
In this case, Jiangdong's army could only parry, but not fight back. In the most difficult time, if Jiangdong's army wanted to defend on the outer wall, they would have to appear on the wall with shields and crossbows.
However, catapults are not just for nothing. Under day and night bombing, some wooden fence walls collapsed, the forts were damaged, and the Jiangdong Army suffered heavy losses.
If the generals of the Jiangdong Army are also mixed, with Zhou Tai, Lu Meng, Sun Jiao, Sun Huan, Cheng Pu, Song Qian, Quan Zong, Zhu Cai killed, Xu Sheng, Ding Feng, and Jiang Qin captured, now only He Qi
, Pan Zhang, Zhu Ran, Zhu Huan, and Lu Fan are relatively reliable.
But it was also a struggle to support, and it was extremely hard. Because under Liu Bei's army's fierce attack, the originally low morale had dropped to the bottom, and there had even been several small-scale defections, which made the army even more restless.
"boom!"
After a tower in the northwest corner was destroyed by a catapult, Pan Zhang came down from the wall in disgrace. The tower was destroyed next to him and was almost buried by the collapsed wooden frame.
The dust brought by the rolling boulders filled the sky, making Pan Zhang almost unable to see his surroundings. Fortunately, beside him was his general Sima Zhong, who helped him to the rear.
"When will this day end?"
"Yes, a fellow villager of mine was stoned to death before. He died without a complete body. I'm afraid if it continues like this."
"I would rather the enemy broke the camp and surrendered."
"I heard that Uncle Liu treated the prisoners well and was very kind to the people. Last year we in Jiangdong captured so many people, but I didn't hear that he killed them. He was just farming in Jiangxia, and some people sent letters home."
"Shh, stop talking."
Several Jiangdong soldiers nearby were chatting when they suddenly saw Pan Zhang wiping his eyes behind a wall of the village. They immediately fell silent and hurried away elsewhere.
Ma Zhong was furious and was about to summon them to punish them for disturbing the morale of the army. Pan Zhang stopped him and said, "Forget it, even we are in danger now, let alone the soldiers."
"General, continuing like this is not an option."
Ma Zhong said: "The enemy uses stone carts and crossbows outside the stronghold to throw stones and shoot crossbows into the camp every day. The morale of the soldiers is declining. If we can't come up with countermeasures, we may not be able to hold on for long."
Pan Zhang thought for a while and said, "I'll go to the South Camp to discuss it with General He and the others."
As he spoke, he shook his head and shook his head.
Although the catapult didn't hit him just now, the shock was still considerable, and his head is still buzzing.
"Report!"
At this time, the soldiers came to report: "General, the northeast corner of our camp has been breached."
Pan Zhang was shocked and said: "Did they come in?"
"not yet."
"Quick, take me there."
"yes."
The soldiers took him towards the gap in the northeast corner.
Over there, Pan Zhang's general Sima Yang Can had already led his soldiers to ambush in the wall of Wubao behind the camp.
Now the fence wall outside has been broken down, and only a circle of rammed earth walls inside is still barely holding on. It is the rammed earth wall in the northeast corner that has collapsed.
There are not any defensive facilities behind the wall. There are some forts, inner walls, high-rise buildings and other buildings. The soldiers are hiding behind and waiting carefully.
Anyway, they did not dare to approach the fence wall and rammed earth wall in front of them. The bloody corpses on the ground and the collapsed walls told the Jiangdong soldiers one thing - whoever went to defend outside would be dead.
"how's it going?"
When Pan Zhang came over, he saw that the sky outside was so dusty and gray that he couldn't see anything clearly.
Yang Can said: "I don't know, there's nothing happening outside."
"Send a dead soldier to take a look?"
Ma Zhong said.
"I'll go."
Pan Zhang still had some courage, so he rushed out of the rear dock and ran behind the gap in the rammed earth wall.
Then he hid behind the wall, stretched out his head and took a look outside the wall.
Just this glance made him feel a deep-seated fear.
I saw the sky filled with dust outside, and through the dust mist, I could vaguely see the vast plain outside the rammed earth wall.
Rows of burly Han soldiers wearing red military uniforms and armor lined up in several square formations, holding shields and spears, and slowly walked toward the gap in neat steps.
In the dust and mist, their figures were like ghosts, and the queue was endless, as if a rolling torrent was sweeping over everything on the earth, which was chilling!
"Enemy attack!"
Pan Zhang let out a shrill scream, then turned around and ran back to the rear dock.
Since the enemy has chosen to launch a strong attack from the gap, a bloody battle is inevitable...
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At noon, at the beginning of the day, in Zheqi City, Sun Quan walked up and down the city wall anxiously.
Last month, Zhang Liao wrote back saying that the King of Wei was reorganizing his troops, and that he had sent General Cao Chun to bring some troops to help and asked them to hold on for a month.
As a result, now a month and a half has passed, reinforcements have not yet arrived, Zhang Liao's attitude has become more and more perfunctory, and there has been almost no news from Cao's army.
This made Sun Quan as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.
Because the situation on the front line is already very bad, battle reports are sent from the north bank every day, including how many people were killed or injured today and which camps will be broken tomorrow. Bad news almost comes one after another.
What made Sun Quan even more impatient was the southern line. In order to pacify Shanyue, Sun Quan set up several captains' divisions. Among them, the southern captain's division was in Changshan County, Kuaiji County.
Now he no longer has the ability to deploy troops and horses in the mountains of the southeastern hills, but he still has some spies and scouts stationed in the south.
According to reports from the southern captain's scouts located in Changshan County, Liu Bei's army's spies have appeared in Dingyang and Xin'an. Although no large-scale troops have been seen yet, this shows that the enemy is not far away.
And that's not all.
The western captaincy of Xinshi County was also defeated by the Shanyue people, and now his forces in Yishan (Huangshan) were completely eliminated. This made Sun Quan suspect that the Shanyue people had colluded with Liu Bei's army.
A series of news made Sun Quan very anxious, and what worried him the most was the situation on the southern front.
Because Changshan County is the later Jinhua City of Zhejiang Province, and Dingyang County and Xin'an County are the later Quzhou City of Zhejiang Province.
People in Zhejiang in later generations should all know that it is only 200 kilometers from Quzhou to Hangzhou. Even if you walk 20 kilometers a day, it will only take ten days.
Such a close distance, coupled with the rebellious Shanyue people, and the 8,000 defenders in Qiantang District on the southern front, really made Sun Quan feel worried, worried that Qiantang would be defeated and the rear area east of the Yangtze River would not be protected.
So in the past few days, he kept urging messengers to go to Hefei to ask for help. Unfortunately, the letters fell into the sea, and Zhang Liao just ignored the messenger, saying that the king of Wei was making preparations and asked Wu Hou to wait patiently. The reinforcements would arrive soon.
"well!"
Sun Quan looked at Guan Yu's army attacking Ruxukou in full swing on the river in the distance. He couldn't help but slap the city wall hard and sighed: "You shouldn't place all your hopes on Cao Pi!"
Zhuge Jin, Kan Ze, Gu Yong and others next to him had their hands in their sleeves, and their faces were full of sorrow. No one dared to offend Sun Quan at this time.
It was Yan Zhen who said: "Don't be discouraged, Marquis Wu. It is said that after the death of King Wu of Wei, the Qingzhou soldiers launched a rebellion. The new king has just stabilized the domestic situation. It is not easy. Maybe reinforcements are already on the way.
Just wait patiently."
"etc."
Sun Quan sighed and said, "How long will it take to wait?"
"Report!"
Just at this time.
A messenger hurriedly ran up from the bottom of the city and reported to Sun Quan: "Marquis Wu, Zhang Liao has replied."
"Quick, take it and take a look."
Sun Quan quickly ignored the messenger and walked up to receive the letter.
He couldn't wait to unfold it, and then his heart was lifted, and his face was overjoyed and he said: "Good news, Cao Chun has arrived in Hefei, and will rush to help us soon. Zhang Liao said that the king of Wei from behind is still on the way, and hopes that we can hold on for another month.
.”
"If Cao Chun can come, we should be able to hold on for a month, but I don't know how many people Cao Chun will bring this time."
Zhuge Jin stroked his beard and thought.
Sun Quan said: "Since we are a front-line army, there are always 20,000 to 30,000 men. As long as our defensive pressure can be relieved, we can definitely wait until King Wei's reinforcements arrive in person!"
After saying that, he looked to the north with hopeful eyes. It was already extremely slim to win this war by relying on his own strength.
But if Cao Pi could arrive in time, the winning rate would be greatly increased.
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"Ah sneeze!"
At the Wei Palace in Yecheng, Cao Pi sneezed.
He wiped his nose, naturally not knowing that someone was thinking of him at this moment.
"I sent the general of the Protectorate to lead 3,000 tiger and leopard cavalry, plus 5,000 infantry, a total of 8,000 people to Hefei, pretending to be an advance army. This should be able to scare Liu Bei."
After Cao Pi finished sneezing, he said to Sima Yi and others around him.
Sima Yi smiled and said: "The King of Wei also sent tiger and leopard cavalry over. As long as the General Protector can show up in front of Liu Bei's army with the tiger and leopard cavalry, Liu Bei will naturally be worried about our arrival."
"Um."
Cao Pi nodded: "This can be considered as buying some time for Sun Quan. I heard that the enemy in Nanyang also made some changes?"
Chen Qun said: "It is impossible for Liu Bei not to threaten us in Henan, but now that the south is exhausted, it is no longer easy to send out a large army to attack Jiangdong. The army in Nanyang is probably just to deter us and not dare to invade."
“So best.”
Cao Pi said: "Let General Wei be careful and don't rush into battle with the enemies of Nanyang."
"yes."
The attendant next to him wrote down this order and prepared to send it to Yingchuan.
There are very few generals that Cao Pi can rely on now.
General Cao Chun, the Protector General, died in the 15th year of Jian'an due to the plague.
But now in the fifteenth year of Jian'an, he followed Cao Cao to attack the high officials in Bingzhou, and did not return to Qiaojun to get sick and die like in history.
So he escaped a disaster. He is now fifty years old and one of the few veterans in Cao's army.
Then there is Xia Houyuan.
With the deaths of Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and Xiahou Dun, he was the only one of Cao Cao's original four veterans.
Therefore, he was entrusted with an important task by Cao Pi and given the position of General Wei, replacing Cao Hong's historical position, guarding Henan and guarding against Liu Bei's army in Nanyang.
As for the Guanzhong area, it was under the control of Anxi general Xiahou Mao. Xiahou Mao was the son of Xiahou Dun. Xiahou Dun had a close relationship with Cao Cao, and this relationship naturally continued to the next generation.
Since Cao Pi and Xia Houmao grew up together and had a very close relationship, they placed high hopes on him and asked him to guard Guanzhong.
It's a pity that he doesn't know that this guy is a idiot, he is greedy for money and lustful, and his personality is relatively low-key and cowardly. He is good at collecting money, so it is really difficult for him to lead the army.
However, there is currently no war in Guanzhong and Yizhou is still recuperating. It is already difficult for Liu Bei to occupy Xiliang and he is really unable to send troops to attack Chang'an.
Therefore, Xia Houmao's luck was good and he could live his small life in Chang'an peacefully.
The rest are Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xia Houshang and others.
At present, they are either stationed around Yecheng or deployed in the north. The territory is too big and there are enemies on all sides. There are really too many places to guard, which makes people exhausted and makes it impossible for Cao Pi to rescue Sun Quan.
After giving an order to Xia Houyuan to be careful of the enemies in Nanyang, Cao Pi said to Sima Yi: "Now Liu Bei has conquered Wu. Judging from the current situation, Sun Quan may not be able to hold on for long. Our progress needs to be accelerated."
Sima Yi said: "The persuasion table has been prepared, and the altar has been almost built. Let's wait for Hua Xin to get the jade seal. Then King Wei can go to Chao Ge in person to accept the emperor's concession."