During the day, Xu Kun had already sent people to explore the road leading to the river and back to Spring Valley. It seemed that there was an ambush by enemy soldiers.
Now that we were escaping at night, we also thought that the other party would definitely block the road to Spring Valley and wait for an ambush, so we did not dare to flee to Spring Valley again, but went directly north to Liyang.
This was slightly beyond Tai Shici's expectation.
Originally thinking that Xu Kun would flee to Spring Valley, he sent 2,000 men to ambush on the road. He would wait for the enemy soldiers to arrive and chase them behind him. When the time came, they would attack from both front and back, and Xu Kun's entire army would be annihilated.
But now that he had led two thousand people to follow him four or five miles away, Xu Kun had no intention of turning eastward.
Taishi Cicai knew that Xu Kun was not retreating to Spring Valley, but was fleeing to Liyang to join Sun Ce.
There is no need to wait any longer, it will be dawn soon.
"The enemy soldiers are fleeing to Liyang. Hurry, let's catch up. Don't let them escape."
Taishi Ci ordered him to go down and lead his soldiers to pursue them quickly.
When they were only one mile away from the enemy soldiers, Taishi Ci asked all the soldiers to light torches and rush forward with shouts.
Logically speaking, one should not pursue the enemy at night, but Taishi Ci had already sent people to follow Xu Kun's troops and knew that they did not have an ambush, so he boldly pursued them.
However, Xu Kun escaped at night. He was afraid of being discovered by Tai Shici and did not dare to light a fire. He only moved forward by the faint moonlight, so he did not walk very fast.
I had been worried before, worried that the enemy soldiers would find me and pursue me. It was not until I had gone four or five miles that I felt a little relieved, thinking that I had left without being discovered by the enemy soldiers.
However, just when he was moving forward with peace of mind, he suddenly heard loud shouts of killing from behind, and the soldiers hurriedly ran to report that the enemy soldiers were chasing him.
"Run!"
Xu Kun panicked. He didn't know how many enemy soldiers were chasing him. Moreover, his own soldiers were already afraid of Liu Bei's soldiers and horses. They dared not stop and resist, so they could only run away.
In fact, there was no need for him to give orders. There were shouts of killing from behind, and there were many torches illuminating them. When many enemy soldiers came after them with weapons, Xu Kun's soldiers were so frightened that they all ran forward.
The people in front were rushed by those behind, and many people were pushed to the ground. Those who were not trampled to death were chopped to death by the enemy soldiers who had already chased them as soon as they got up.
Xu Kun ran for two or three miles, and when he looked back, he found that the enemy soldiers holding torches were getting closer and closer, and there were only a few hundred soldiers following him.
They had to identify the road in front and could not run very fast. The people chasing after them had torches in their hands and were running with them. They did not need to identify the road so much, so they chased faster.
Xu Kun's soldiers were not killed because they ran too slowly. They also dropped their weapons and knelt down to beg for surrender. They were almost completely defenseless.
"General, go into the woods quickly."
The military marquis following Xu Kun saw a forest in front of him and shouted hurriedly.
Without him shouting, Xu Kun had already thought of running into the woods.
After entering the woods, it was night again, and it would be difficult for the enemy soldiers to catch up with him.
If you keep running along the road, you will definitely be caught up.
After running for more than a mile, Xu Kun led the military lord and two to three hundred soldiers into the woods.
"Stop chasing."
Taishi Ci kept chasing in front. Seeing the enemy soldiers running into the woods, he quickly gave orders.
If you chase into the woods, the people will be scattered, and you will be in the light with the torch, while the enemy soldiers are hiding in the dark, and they will be easily attacked by the enemy soldiers.
Taishi Ci led his men to count, and they killed more than 600 enemies, captured more than 1,100 people, and had more than 100 carts of money and baggage.
After daybreak, the bodies were cleaned up and all the prisoners and baggage were escorted back to the camp.
When the captives heard that Liu Bei returned all the looted things to the people in Shucheng, and because of Liu Bei's current reputation, they all expressed their willingness to surrender and follow Liu Bei.
Taishi Ci was overjoyed and organized them into his camp.
Xu Kun left, the city gates were opened wide, and Taishi Ci and Gao Shun led their troops into the city.
Unlike Gan Ning, both of them strictly ordered their soldiers not to rob the people in the city, and posted notices to calm the people, saying that General Liu was a benevolent and righteous army who came to save the people and would not harm them.
While in Liyang, Sun Ce received news that Liu Bei had abandoned Shucheng and turned his troops eastward.
"Gong Jin, Liu Bei raised his troops to attack Shucheng, but now he gives up. What is his intention? Could it be that... he wants to cross the river?"
Sun Ce was a little confused and couldn't figure out Liu Bei's intention for a while.
Zhou Yu thought for a moment and replied: "It should be, otherwise what would he want to do if he raises his troops to the east? He can only cross the river, want to get behind us, and attack with the troops from Hefei front and back. Hum, Liu Bei will not attack Juchao and Anhui
City, but came to attack Danyang, which shows that the general is more important in his heart than General Yuan."
"If this is true, Xiang'an will definitely not be able to be defended. Even Spring Valley will be difficult to defend." Sun Ce said worriedly.
"The Jiangxia navy is stationed on the river. I expect that Liu Bei will join forces with them to cross the river easily. If Spring Valley is lost, Liu Bei's troops will be able to march across Danyang. Bo Fu, we should have a countermeasure."
Zhou Yu and Sun Ce were as close as brothers. Sometimes they called them generals to show their respect, and sometimes they called them cousins to show their closeness.
Sun Ce sighed slightly: "I had never expected that Liu Bei would cross the river to capture Spring Valley. If we want to send troops to defend Spring Valley at this time, I am afraid it is too late. We can only hope that General Xu can retreat to Spring Valley in time. However, we also
We need to send troops to Spring Valley to guard together."
He didn't know that Xiang'an had been surrounded, let alone that Xu Kun had been chased and defeated miserably, with only a few hundred soldiers left to escape.
"Even if General Xu retreats to Spring Valley, if Liu Bei and Huang Zu join forces, it will be difficult to defend Spring Valley. Troops must be sent as soon as possible to join them."
"Well, you can first send Zu Lang to lead 3,000 people to Spring Valley and guard it together with Jiang Sima. If there are 9,000 people to guard Spring Valley, it will be difficult for Liu Bei to capture it."
Sun Ce immediately sent Zu Lang to lead 3,000 people to leave Liyang, cross the river and cross Danyang, and rush to Spring Valley by land.
Zulang was originally a bandit commander in Danyang and had defeated Sun Ce before. Later, after Taishi Ci left Danyang, he was defeated by Sun Ce and surrendered to him.
Now that Sun Ce had lost Han Dang, Chen Wu Lingcao and others, he had a serious shortage of generals, so he could only let Zu Lang lead the troops to help defend Spring Valley.
In addition, Zulang is from Danyang, so letting him go can also recruit more soldiers to guard Spring Valley together.
After Zu Lang left with his troops, Sun Ce sent people to recall Zhou Tai.
Now that Liu Bei has given up on Shucheng, there is no need to transport grain from Hefei to the south for the time being. It is useless for Zhou Tai to stay in Chaohu. He can only let him lead the cavalry back to see what the situation is like in Xiang'an and Chungu before making further decisions.
In Xiang'an, Liu Bei led the army and entered the city. He saw that Taishi Ci and Gao Shun were handling everything in the city very well. No soldiers robbed the people. There were even many famous scholars in the city who came to see and praise them.
Liu Bei's benevolence.
This made Liu Bei very happy.
Taishi Ci pursued Xu Kun again and won a great victory. It can be said that it was very easy to capture Xiang'an. This also made Liu Bei think that Spring Valley could also be captured easily.
He originally thought it would take some time to capture Xiang'an, but he didn't expect it to be done so quickly. Huang She's navy hadn't arrived yet, so Liu Bei could only stay in Xiang'an for the time being, waiting for Huang She and sending people there.
Collect boats along the river and prepare to cross the river.
Regarding the question of who should be left to guard Xiang'an, Liu Bei listened to Zhou Ping's opinion and asked Lu Su, the captain of Lujiang, to command 3,000 men to garrison.
Lu Su was also confident that he could defend Xiang'an.
As Zhou Ping said before, Yuan Shu only wants to defend Wan City now and is unlikely to send troops to attack Xiang'an. Moreover, if Liu Bei's army crosses the river, it seems that their attack on Xiang'an will not be of much use.
Sun Jing may want to recapture Xiang'an, but he only has 5,000 troops and cannot attack even if he comes to attack. It is impossible for Lu Su to abandon the city and escape like Xu Kun.
