Zhou Ping never thought that he could command an army. Although there were only 10,000 troops, it was not a small number for him who had never truly commanded an army.
But now that he was going to confront Sun Ce, Liu Bei was obviously worried about letting Zhang Fei lead the army.
Liu Bei believed that Zhou Ping had this ability, and Zhou Ping now also felt that he had the ability to command troops.
Sun Ce came west from Qiantang and had to cross mountains and ridges, but he didn't go very fast.
Zhou Ping originally wanted to lead his troops into Songyang to resist, but Songyang was a bit far away from Juchao, and he only had 10,000 troops, while Sun Ce had 30,000 troops. If there was a disadvantage, Liu Bei's reinforcements would be slower to arrive.
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Therefore, he led his troops and set up camp on an important road thirty miles east of Juchao, blocking Sun Ce's way to Juchao.
Sun Ce wanted to cross the river, either from Chungu or Songyang. Going to Chungu would be a long detour, so Zhou Ping expected that he would cross the river from Songyang.
"My eldest brother just can't trust me. Sir, you don't have to come. I can stop Sun Ce by leading the troops, and I can even behead him and go back to claim the merit."
Along the way, Zhang Fei complained about Liu Bei making Zhou Ping the general, but he didn't have any resentment towards Zhou Ping, he was just complaining.
Zhou Ping was wearing heavy armor, which made him feel a little uncomfortable, but he was used to dressing lightly.
However, he is now the commander of the army and must wear armor to show his majesty.
Zhou Ping smiled and said: "Yide, if you hadn't said that, the lord might have asked you to lead the troops. If you say this, it seems that you underestimate the enemy, which is a taboo for the general. No wonder the lord has arranged it like this."
Zhang Fei was dissatisfied: "I am not underestimating the enemy, so why should Sun Ce's son be afraid? Ziwei can shoot his generals at will, and Taishi Ziyi and Xu Zhongkang can kill their generals at will. It shows that Sun Ce's military force is not very good, why?
You don’t believe that I can take his head.”
"Sun Ce is indeed not very good. Of course you can defeat him, but he has won consecutive victories when attacking Liu Zhengli and is at the peak of his strength. Moreover, he has 30,000 soldiers and horses, so we should not underestimate him. Our purpose this time is to block him and defeat him.
Spirituality can be easily obtained by living in Chao and Lujiang."
"Hey, sir, you said I can beat him, then you have to remember that when Sun Ce arrives, you have to let me go out and fight with him."
"Of course, I asked you to come here because I think you can defeat him. However, you must follow my orders when to go to battle."
"Sir's orders are just like elder brother's orders, of course I must listen."
After Zhou Ping'an set up camp, his cavalry reported that Sun Ce still had ten days to reach the riverside.
At this time, Zhou Ping just let his troops rest and wait for work.
He is just waiting for Sun Ce to come all the way, and when the time comes, he will attack with his own troops and horses, and he will definitely win the battle.
Sun Ce did not arrive, but Jiang Qin, who was stationed at Spring Valley, had already received military orders to cross the river and capture Xiang'an.
After receiving the military order, Jiang Qin immediately prepared his troops to cross the river, but at this time Xiang'an had been occupied by Li Jia.
He had heard that Li Jia used the empty city strategy when he was in Huailing to prevent Ji Ling from entering the city.
This was just a little cleverness, and Jiang Qin didn't take Li Jia seriously. The ones he feared were Guan Yu, Zhang Fei's bravery and Zhou Ping's schemes. Others had nothing to fear.
Jiang Qin led three thousand soldiers to cross the river easily, arrived at the gate of Xiang'an City, and challenged Li Jia to fight.
"General guard in the city, please come out quickly to save you from death."
"Li Sima, do we want to go to war?"
The military lord asked Li Jia.
Li Jia stood on the city gate tower, looking at the enemy soldiers outside the city, and said with a smile: "There are only three thousand enemy soldiers, why do we need to fight? I will let them put their heads in and chop them off."
"I heard that the enemy general Jiang Qin was very brave. How could he put his head out and chop it off for us?"
The military prince didn't understand what Li Sima meant, but he knew that his Sima was quite resourceful. If he said he could, maybe he could really do it.
Seeing that there was no answer from the city, Jiang Qin knew that he was unwilling to come out and surrender, so he shouted again: "If you don't want to surrender, do you have the guts to go out of the city and fight?"
Li Jia replied loudly: "Why do you have to go out of the city to fight? If you are asked to enter the city to fight, will you have the courage?"
Jiang Qin laughed and said: "Hahaha, why don't I dare? If you dare to open the city gate, of course I dare to enter."
"Have you not heard about what happened in Huai Ling? I opened the city gate to separate the city head, but Ji Ling did not dare to enter the city. I think you are just like that Ji Ling, you have no courage."
"Hmph, your empty city plan can fool others, but it can't fool me. Stop talking nonsense and open the city gate quickly."
"Okay, you wait."
Jiang Qin waited until the sun set, but did not see the city gate open. Li Jia on the city was nowhere to be seen, but the guards on the city were still there.
He had no choice but to camp outside the city, but felt something was not right in his heart.
Li Jia did not dare to go out of the city to fight, nor did he dare to open the city gate to let his troops enter the city. It seemed that he was afraid of himself.
Maybe he wanted to abandon the city and escape.
Jiang Qin sent people to investigate in all directions outside the city.
Sure enough, dozens of people were found hanging ropes out of the city that night.
Jiang Qin was so happy that he thought Li Jia had escaped, so he could only wait until daybreak to enter the city and occupy Xiang'an.
But after dawn, when he led his troops to the city again, he saw Li Jia standing on the city gate tower again.
"Li Jia, I heard that someone escaped across the city last night. I thought you ran away, but I didn't expect you were still there." Jiang Qin shouted to the city.
"Hahaha... Everything is fine in my city. Why would someone escape across the city? You must be dreaming." Li Jia laughed and responded.
"How about it? Do you dare to go out of the city to fight today?"
"If you want to fight, I will open the city gate and you can lead the troops into the city to fight with me."
Jiang Qin looked at Li Jia on the city in confusion, wondering why he kept asking him to enter the city to fight with him, but he did not dare to open the city gate.
"As long as you open the city gate, I will lead the troops into the city immediately."
Li Jia hurriedly asked: "Is this true?"
Jiang Qin replied firmly: "Of course it is true."
Having said that, if the city gate is really opened now, Jiang Qin may not dare to enter. If he wants to enter, he will send people in to investigate first.
After Li Jia finished speaking, he disappeared again.
Jiang Qin led his troops and waited outside the city for another half day, but did not see the city gate open. Knowing that he had been deceived again, he had to lead his troops back to the camp.
However, that night, the detectives reported that there were another two to three hundred people in the city who had escaped from the city on ropes, and judging from their clothes, they were all city guards.
After hearing the news, Jiang Qin became even more confused.
I have no idea what Li Jia is doing. The only thing that is certain is that Li Jia dare not go out of the city to fight with him.
Perhaps he was among the people who escaped from the city last night.
At dawn, Jiang Qin led his troops to the city again and called for battle.
What he didn't expect was that Li Jia was standing on the city again, and he didn't run away.
"Jiang Qin, did you dream again last night that I abandoned the city and ran away?" Before Jiang Qin could call out, Li Jia shouted to him.
"Will you abandon the city and run away?" Jiang Qin shouted.
"of course not."
"Then why don't you dare to lead the troops out of the city to fight?"
"Tomorrow, I can go out of the city to fight with you tomorrow."
Jiang Qin was overjoyed when he heard this, but thought that this must be Li Jia's lie again: "You are an untrustworthy person, how can I trust you again?"
"Haha, what I said this time must be true. Just go back to the camp and treat me. Tomorrow I will lead my troops out of the city to fight with you to determine the outcome." Li Jia said very seriously.
Jiang Qin couldn't help it if he didn't believe it.
Now I only have 3,000 soldiers, and there are 3,000 enemy soldiers in the city. It is definitely not possible to attack the city by force. I can only hope that the opponent will come out of the city to fight with me.
If the opponent insists on not going to fight, he has no choice but to stay under the city and wait for Sun Ce to send troops again, or for the enemy soldiers in the city to retreat, or for him to retreat to Spring Valley.
Jiang Qin had no choice but to lead his troops back to the camp.
But he felt that someone would definitely escape in the city tonight.
If there are more people running away, it means that the enemy soldiers in the city are afraid of you and they have begun to chaos.
He sent people to carefully watch the movements in all directions outside the city.
That night, in the city.
Li Jia recruited more than a thousand people in the city and gave them soldiers' uniforms to wear.
"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. You only need to walk a dozen miles outside the city and come back after dawn." Li Jia said to the people.
"General, why do you want us to do this?" some people asked.
These people did not know Li Jia's specific military position. They only knew that he commanded the soldiers in the city, so they called him general.
"Don't ask any questions. You must obey orders after leaving the city. If someone leaves the team without permission, they will never be able to go home again."
Li Jia spoke very seriously, and these people did not dare to ask any more questions.
At midnight, the southern city gate of Xiang'an opened. Five hundred soldiers and more than a thousand people in military uniforms quietly left the city and walked south.
Li Jia led more than 2,000 soldiers to hide in alleys and houses in the city, and the soldiers on the city walls also crouched low to hide.
He also ordered all the gates on all sides of Xiang'an City to be opened.
Jiang Qin was woken up again in his sleep. This was already the third night that he could not sleep well.
"Has someone left the city again?"
Jiang Qin had already guessed the result without waiting for the detective to report, but this result surprised him greatly.
"Yes, there are a lot of people leaving tonight." Tanzu replied.
"There are four to five hundred people? Are so many people hanging ropes out of the city?"
The detective shook his head and said: "Sima, there are more than four or five hundred people, there are estimated to be two or three thousand people. They opened the city gate and left. They were all wearing military uniforms. They walked in a panic. They may be all the enemy soldiers in the city.
He ran away. Jiang Sima, should we lead troops to chase him?"
Jiang Qin also shook his head and said: "No, if we don't chase the enemy at night, we might be ambushed. We just need to capture Xiang'an."
"Also, the enemy soldiers in the city have opened all the gates on all sides." The detective added.
Jiang Qin was delighted when he heard this: "Haha, Li Jia is treating me as General Ji Ling, thinking that I will fall into his empty city plan again. It seems that the enemy soldiers in the city must be afraid of us. There were soldiers one after another in the past two nights.
Fleeing out of the city, Li Jia knew that Xiang'an could no longer be defended, so he fled overnight. He was afraid that we would pursue him, so he repeated his old tricks and blocked me with an empty city. Hahaha, let alone there were no enemy soldiers in the city. Even if there were, I would dare
Enter the city."
"Sima, do we want to enter the city overnight?" asked a military lord next to him.
Jiang Qin pondered for a moment and said, "No, let's go in after dawn."
He ordered the entire battalion of soldiers to get ready and wait until daybreak before entering the city.
After finally waiting until daybreak, Jiang Qin led 3,000 soldiers and horses to the outside of Xiang'an City. Sure enough, he saw the city gate wide open and there were no guards on the city.
It seemed that the enemy soldiers in the city had indeed escaped.
"Enter the city."
Jiang Qin waved his hand and walked towards the city with his big sword in hand.
The military prince hurriedly asked: "Sima, is there any fraud?"
"What kind of fraud can there be?"
"Perhaps the enemy soldiers in the city have not left."
"Then who left last night? Did the enemy soldiers leave and open the city gate again, so that we don't even dare to enter the city?" Jiang Qin seemed a little angry.
"Sima, let's send someone in first to take a look."
The military lord advised again.
Jiang Qin thought for a while. Although he was not afraid, it would be better to send someone in first to take a look.
He sent two men into the city to investigate the situation.
There was no one at the city gate. When they entered the city, the two men saw three common people gathered around and talking.
They walked over and asked, "Where are the soldiers and horses in the city? Are they all gone?"
One of the people replied: "Everyone left last night. I heard that some people left in the previous two nights."
The other two just smiled and nodded without saying anything.
"Are you sure they're all gone?"
"If they don't leave, the city gate won't open."
The two men sent by Jiang Qin to investigate the city stopped asking any more questions and walked down another street. They saw some scattered civilians, but not a single enemy soldier.
After confirming that there were no enemy soldiers in the city, they quickly left the city to report back to Jiang Qin.
The common people they questioned before were soldiers disguised as common people that Li Jia had arranged before. If Jiang Qin sent people into the city to investigate, they would answer the question.
Most of the soldiers led by Li Jia were from Danyang, and their accents were similar, and Jiang Qin's people couldn't understand them.
Jiang Qin laughed proudly: "Hahaha... How can we not dare to enter, go, enter the city even when someone opens the city gate?"
He led his troops and horses slowly into the city.
When we entered the city, there were some common people on the street. After seeing them, they fled one after another.
Jiang Qin suddenly felt that the city was eerily quiet.
The always suspicious military lord next to him also felt it and said: "Sima, something seems not right in this city. Why is it so quiet?"
"You mean, the enemy soldiers haven't left yet?" Jiang Qin also had some doubts at this moment.
"It's possible that if the enemy soldiers had left, why didn't the county officials and people come out to greet them?"
Just when Jiang Qin was about to say something else, there was a sudden loud blast of drums, and many enemy soldiers rushed out from all over the streets and houses, shouting to kill, and charging at them with swords and spears.
The soldiers hiding on the city wall also stood up at this moment, raised their crossbows and fired at the enemy soldiers outside the city who had not yet entered the city.
Just as Jiang Qin's troops were halfway into the city, they were suddenly attacked by enemy soldiers. They could not figure out how many enemy soldiers were ambushed in the city.
Some people raised their swords and spears to attack, while others turned around and ran away, trying to get out of the city.
However, the city gate had long been blocked by their people. People outside the city were shot by enemy soldiers on the city wall. Those behind could run away, but those who had already reached the city gate were trying their best to squeeze into the city.
As a result, people in the city wanted to go out, and people at the city gate wanted to squeeze in, so they immediately blocked the city gate themselves.
"Quick, come with me, hold on, and slowly exit the city."
Jiang Qin shouted urgently, raised his sword and charged forward to kill.
Now they can only withstand the sudden attack of enemy soldiers and then slowly withdraw from the city. Otherwise, they may all die in the city.
Even though Jiang Qin was fierce enough and led the soldiers and horses around him to kill and retreat at the same time, he was not immediately overwhelmed.
After the soldiers and horses blocking the city gate calmed down a little, they knew that there was only one way to survive and ran out of the city one after another.
However, many people were shot dead by the enemy soldiers in the city as soon as they ran out. The enemy soldiers in the city were also pressing closer. Although Jiang Qin was brave, his own people were in chaos. It was impossible to win now.
It's good enough to escape the city and survive.
Li Jia held the handle of the knife in his hand. He did not rush forward, but only urged the soldiers from behind to fight forward.
Because hundreds of soldiers had already left the city, his troops and horses were somewhat short. He did not wait for all of Jiang Qin's troops to enter the city before taking action, but took advantage of half of Jiang Qin's troops to enter the city.
Jiang Qin fought hard for a while and was injured in many places before retreating to the city gate. His military lords were also scarred.
"Jiang Sima, leave quickly, I will lead someone to stop them."
The military lord shouted to Jiang Qin.
Jiang Qin no longer thought about it. He raised his sword and hacked to death an enemy soldier who was approaching. He glanced at the military commander again, turned around and ran out of the city.
The military lord led dozens of soldiers to block the city gate. Facing the hundreds of enemy soldiers charging towards them, they were completely fearless and rushed forward with roars.
But soon, they were all killed and fell into a pool of blood.
Li Jia led his soldiers to chase him out of the city, and chased him for three or four miles before withdrawing his troops and returning to the city.