Liu Bei led his army across the river and entered Spring Valley City.
After capturing Spring Valley City, Liu Bei finally felt relieved and no longer doubted whether the strategy of crossing the river was correct. Now, all that was left was to face Sun Ce head-on.
He appeased the people in the city. Regardless of whether they had assisted Jiang Qin in defending the city, they were not to be harmed. This earned Liu Bei some praise.
The people in the city also truly believed that Liu Bei was indeed a benevolent man as people said.
Liu Bei rested in Spring Valley for a day, and asked Gao Shun to lead 5,000 men to go ahead and occupy Wuhu. He left Mi Fang to lead 2,000 men to garrison in Spring Valley, and then set off to the north with 20,000 horses.
Zhou Tai originally led 2,000 men to follow Zulang to aid Spring Valley. Not far from Wuhu, the scouts suddenly reported that Zulang had been ambushed and his entire army was annihilated. The city of Spring Valley was immediately breached, and Zulang and Jiang
Qindu was killed in the battle, and now Liu Bei has occupied Spring Valley.
After hearing the news, Zhou Tai did not dare to go any further. He only had 2,000 people, and there was no point in going to Spring Valley. He would only risk death.
He immediately led his troops to guard Wuhu, and at the same time sent fast horses back to report to Sun Ce.
"Chungu was captured by Liu Bei! Jiang Qin and Zu Lang are both dead!"
Sun Ce couldn't believe that Liu Bei would conquer Spring Valley so quickly and even kill two of his own generals.
At this time, they were still two days away from Wuhu.
"After Liu Bei captures Spring Valley, he will immediately raise his troops to the north. His power is at its peak. Why don't we retreat to Danyang City and bring in troops from Qu'a to attack Liu Bei together." Zhou Yu advised.
Sun Ce currently has only 17,000 troops. Adding in the 2,000 troops commanded by Zhou Tai, there are only 19,000 troops.
The scouting horses reported that Liu Bei had twenty to thirty thousand troops and horses. It was necessary to transfer troops and horses from Qu'a in order to fight Liu Bei.
Qu'a is now garrisoned by Sun Fu, Lu Fan, Zhang Zhao and five thousand soldiers and horses, and Dantu is garrisoned by Cheng Pu's three thousand soldiers.
Sun Ce thought for a while and said: "How can we retreat at this time? Retreating will show weakness and lower morale. Since Zhou Youping has occupied Wuhu, we might as well march into Wuhu and let General Yuan send troops to attack behind it, attacking from both sides, so that the head and tail cannot look at each other.
, we will win."
"General Yuan is often afraid of defeats. He is so fashionable and has no time to take care of himself. I am afraid that he will not send troops to attack."
"My uncle's Youtai is in Shu, and he can attack Xiang'an."
Sun Ce did not listen to Zhou Yu's advice and urged his troops to rush into Wuhu.
He also sent people to see Yuan Shu and Sun Jing and persuaded them to send troops to attack Xiang'an. This would allow Liu Bei to divide his troops to rescue him, and it would be easier for him to defeat Liu Bei.
Zhou Yu had no choice but to follow Sun Ce into Wuhu.
As soon as their troops entered Wuhu, Gao Shun led 5,000 troops and horses, and they set up camp ten miles away from the city, waiting for Liu Bei.
"General, Liu Bei's army has not arrived yet. Let me lead my troops out to fight with his vanguard to weaken his spirit."
Zhou Tai asked Sun Ce for advice.
"Okay, how many troops do you want?"
Sun Ce also wanted to destroy Liu Bei's prestige first.
"The enemy's vanguard only has 5,000 troops. If he leads more troops, he may not dare to fight. Just give me 5,000 troops."
"I will give you 8,000 men. If the enemy general does not dare to fight, I can destroy his morale."
Regarding Gao Shun, Sun Ce only knew that he had been Lu Bu's general before, but he didn't know much about his achievements, and he had never heard of any special achievements he had.
If the enemy's vanguard is Zhang Fei or Tai Shi Ci, Sun Ce will not let Zhou Tai lead the army into battle.
Zhou Tai was a fierce general, but unlike Jiang Qin, he was not good at commanding troops. Sun Ce would not have agreed to Zhou Tai's participation in the battle if he had not had any generals at his disposal.
"promise."
Zhou Tai accepted his promise and led eight thousand soldiers and horses out of the city to ask for battle outside the Gaoshun camp.
The soldiers reported to the camp. After Gao Shun heard about it, he sneered and said: "Sun Ce is eager to fight, but I refuse to fight with him. I send an order to the whole camp to stand by and not to fight. When the lord's troops arrive, I will fight with the enemy."
, when the time comes, you will have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds."
All the military commanders agreed in unison and led their troops and horses to guard the camp under strict security to prevent enemy troops from attacking the camp.
Zhou Tai asked his soldiers to curse outside the camp for a long time, but saw no intention of fighting in the camp, so he had no choice but to lead his troops back to the city.
When Liu Bei heard that Sun Ce was advancing to defend Wuhu, he led his troops and horses in a hurry. Two days later, he arrived outside Wuhu City and set up camp five miles away from the city.
All along, what Liu Bei and Zhou Ping wanted most was to have a big battle with Sun Ce and decide the outcome in one battle.
Now, this wish is finally coming true.
After resting in the camp for two days, Liu Bei personally led his army to the outside of the city, formed a formation, and asked Sun Ce to fight.
Take the trapped camp led by Gan Ning as the front formation, Gao Shun leading 5,000 people behind him as the front formation, Zhang Fei and Tai Shici each leading 5,000 people as the left and right formations, Liu Bei himself led 10,000 people as the central formation, and Cao Cheng
Lead four thousand people into the rear formation.
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu stood on the city gate tower, looking at the military formation outside the city, especially when they saw the front line of the enemy camp. Although there were not many in number, they were all wearing armor and holding shields and weapons, which made them look very majestic.
The commander of the army is also majestic, with two feathers standing on his back, which is impressive.
The rest of the military formations were also neat and majestic, and even Liu Bei looked particularly majestic.
Only the person next to him with a wine gourd hanging from his waist did not have a majestic air, but he was quite free and easy.
Sun Ce met Zhou Ping and knew that Liu Bei was able to be where he is today mainly because of Zhou Ping's help.
"General, let's not go to war today."
Zhou Yu was intimidated by the enemy formation outside the city. From what he knew, it would be difficult for Sun Ce to win if he went to fight today.
"If we don't fight, we will lose morale."
Sun Ce did not have the confidence to win, but the enemy troops came to the city to ask for a fight, but he did not dare to fight, which would inevitably make the soldiers discouraged.
"The general can tell the sergeants clearly that General Yuan is about to lead 20,000 troops to attack Xiang'an. When the time comes, Liu Bei will divide his troops to rescue him. We are going to wait for him to divide his troops before going out to fight. We will definitely gain a big harvest by then.
Complete victory."
"Gong Jin's intention is to wait for Liu Bei to divide his troops before fighting? Didn't you say before that General Yuan would not send troops to attack Xiang'an?"
"It doesn't matter whether General Yuan will send troops to attack Xiang'an, as long as Liu Bei believes it. If he believes it, he will definitely send his troops back to defend Xiang'an."
"In this way, it is still a plan. We will wait for them to divide their forces and fight again."
Sun Ce sent a message to all the troops in the city, saying that General Yuan Gongluo was about to lead his troops to attack Xiang'an. When the time came, Liu Bei would definitely divide his troops to rescue him, and he might even retreat. When he divided his troops or retreated, he would go out of the city to fight, and he would surely win.
The soldiers and horses in the city had no confidence in winning this battle, but now listening to what Sun Ce said, if Liu Bei divided his troops and went out to fight on his own, he would indeed have a better chance of winning.
Liu Bei could not wait for Sun Ce to fight outside the city, so he had to retreat back to the camp. Then he heard the order from Sun Ce, saying that Yuan Shu was going to lead his troops to attack Xiang'an.
This news made Liu Bei a little worried.
"There are only three thousand soldiers stationed in Xiang'an. If Yuan Shu leads his troops to attack, I'm afraid it will be difficult to defend it!"
Zhou Ping said with a smile: "Haha, my lord, don't you know Yuan Shu? I don't expect him to lead his troops to attack Xiang'an. Moreover, even so, Huang She's navy garrisoned on the river can echo and frighten Yuan Shu's soldiers."
horse."
"Yuan Shu may not attack, but Sun Jing will definitely listen to Sun Ce's wishes and raise his troops to attack."
"Sun Jing only has a few thousand soldiers and horses. He can't capture Xiang'an. My lord, you can rest assured."
Liu Bei thought about it again and felt that Zhou Ping was right. With Sun Jing's troops and horses, it was impossible to capture Xiang'an.
At this time, in Wancheng, Yuan Shu received a request from Sun Ce, asking him to send troops to attack Xiang'an in order to divide Liu Bei's troops. He gathered the generals to discuss this.
