Although Jiangdong's insidious attack was concealed and swift, it could not be hidden from Wei for too long.
When the two armies of Zhuge Ke and Chen Biao who passed through Lu'an County marched to Shaopei and began to attack the Wei army's water stronghold, whether it was Wang Ling, the general who conquered the east in Shouchun City, and Sun Li, the governor of Yangzhou, or Manchong, the Taiwei who was far away in Yuzhou, all
Got the news.
Among them, Shouchun learned the news faster.
Shaopi and Chengde County are almost next to each other.
Seeing that Shaopi was raided by the Wu army, the Chengde County garrison immediately sent a messenger to Shouchun and led troops out of the city, intending to defeat the enemy together with the Wei army in the water village. Unexpectedly, as soon as he left the city gate, he was intercepted by Ding Feng, who had been dormant beside him.
The cavalry defeated them in one fell swoop, allowing the military intelligence message and the defeated troops to enter Shouchun City almost at the same time.
Wang Ling and Sun Li were shocked when they got the reward.
It's not that there are no soldiers available in Shouchun City today.
As an important rear town in the Huainan battlefield, Shouchun City had sufficient food supplies and more than 10,000 elite soldiers stationed there, and there were also 2,000 cavalry stationed on the north bank of the Huai River.
What really upset them was the fall of Chengde County.
The Chengde garrison and the Shaopishui military camp are interdependent and have a horn-like relationship with each other.
If one of them is lost, the other will be attacked from both sides.
From a geographical point of view, Wei State's Huainan front cannot lose Shaopi!
First, many military camps had been opened along the Shaopei area when Xiahou Dun was in charge of Huainan, and nearly half of the food and fodder for the Huainan garrison depended on them.
On the other hand, Shaopi can accommodate many warships and is connected to the Huai River.
Once Shaopi was captured by Jiangdong and became the base of the Wu Navy, the elite navy could move freely across the Huai River, cutting across the north and south, and blocking the reinforcements from Luoyang and Yanyu Prefectures in Huaibei.
There is no need to question whether the Jiangdong navy can transfer from the river to Shaopi in a short time.
Because after the Wei State began to operate Huainan, Wei Wu and Cao Cao dug a canal along the East Feishui River Valley to connect Nan Feishui in order to connect Shouchun and Hefei for defense, so that the troops stationed in the two places could be transported within a very short period of time.
Smooth communication. When the Wei State opened Shaopi to train its navy, it not only diverted the Huai River but also the Dong Fei River.
What made Wang Ling and Sun Li even more helpless was that it was the autumn harvest at this time, and nearly half of the soldiers in the city were on rotation or going out to transport grain.
Moreover, the two thousand cavalrymen from Huaibei could not be mobilized in time.
The area outside Shouchun City is densely covered with water nets and swamps are everywhere. Now that it is the rainy season, the roads are muddy and the cavalry cannot march quickly.
In other words, Jiangdong's timing of this insidious attack was so well controlled!
However, no matter what, Wang Ling will not sit back and watch Shaopei fall.
After the two discussed it, they sent all the five thousand elite soldiers in the city to Sun Li, the governor, to rush to rescue Shaopi. Wang Ling then sent an order to all parties to recall the soldiers scattered outside the city and prepare to defend the city.
As for the safety of Hefei City, they did not take it into consideration.
Since the Jiangdong soldiers and horses have reached the Chengde garrison point, Hefei City must have been besieged and attacked long ago.
The city of Hefei is small and strong. If the garrison can defend it properly, it can easily hold on for more than a month, and there is no need for them to go to the rescue. But if the garrison is not properly defended and is breached, it will be useless for them to send troops at this time.
No coincidence.
Man Chong, who learned about the military situation later, also made the same arrangements as them.
Man Chong, who had always concluded that the defense line in Huainan could not be relaxed, although he was ordered to move to Ancheng in Runan County, he also paid close attention to the military situation in Yangzhou and prepared many boats so that he could arrive in time in case of changes in Huainan.
.
Therefore, when the news came from the Wei army who was on alert in Lu'an County, he immediately led his three thousand elite troops as the vanguard, led the army behind, and rushed along the Ru River and the Huai River to help Shaopei.
Before leaving, he also threatened and lured the Yamen general who was in charge of the advance.
say:
"You are here to supervise the soldiers. If you try your best to keep Shaopei from being lost, I will personally go to Luoyang to ask for credit for you! But if Shaopei is lost, I will hold him accountable for the ineffective rescue and your previous crimes, and kill him according to the law!"
Even the merits of your fathers cannot save you!"
Yes, that Yamen general has violated military discipline and has been summoned. He will be dismissed from his post and sent back to Luoyang.
As for the favor he has from his fathers?
This is because he is Wen Qin, the son of Wen Ji, the early general of Wei Wu Cao Cao.
Named Zhongruo, he was brave, courageous, and courageous, but he was also violent, rude, arrogant, and repeatedly violated military discipline.
Man Chong is a well-known cruel official in the world. Even Yang Biao, who was born in the fourth generation and the third prince, was imprisoned and tortured by him. Now he claims that he will be executed if he fails to rescue him, which makes Wen Qin tremble. Moreover, in his early years, he was implicated in the "Wei Xi case"
"When he was sentenced to death, Wei Wu and Cao Cao remembered that Wen Ji had pardoned him once for his past merits, and the kindness of his father's generation was gone.
It's a matter of future and life, and he doesn't dare to ignore it.
After receiving the order, regardless of the fact that the Ru River and Huai River had already swollen and the currents were turbulent, he ordered the boats to move forward at full speed. After overturning four small boats and ordering nearly 500 soldiers to feed the fish and turtles, it took only one day and night to defecate.
Arriving at Shaopei.
Although he was suspected of treating the lives of his soldiers as nothing, considering the Huainan war situation, his move was no less timely.
However, it is said that after Zhuge Ke and Chen Biao moved diagonally from Lu'an County to Shaopei, they followed the essence of the military strategy of "covering one's unpreparedness" and immediately launched an attack on the Wei army's navy camp.
It went quite smoothly at first.
Although the Wei Shuijun had seen the Wu army's attack from a distance, they were unable to gather their soldiers in a hurry to do their own thing. Moreover, because Hefei City was in front of the defense, the water stronghold was not heavily guarded, so it was unable to prevent the Wu army from charging into the water.
The warships were set on fire everywhere in the village.
But the navy commander was also very decisive.
Immediately, the soldiers were ordered to light some walking boats and crowd the entrance of the water village to slow down the Wu army's intrusion.
This move not only bought time for the soldiers to line up to meet the enemy, but also allowed the large ships, stern ships, large boats and fighting ships in the rear to take the opportunity to move to Huaikou to avoid being affected by the war.
Moreover, the muddy road by the water also slightly restricted the speed of the Wu army's attack, buying the Wei army a lot of time.
After the Wei army sacrificed 34 out of 10 warships and burned them down, and destroyed all the surrounding areas of the water stronghold, they finally stabilized their position and defended the inner camp where the grain and supplies were stored, fighting fiercely with the Wu army without giving an inch.
After fighting for less than half an hour, the two sides were still evenly matched, and the outcome was unclear.
Even if Ding Feng came to help in the battle after defeating the Wei army at Chengde garrison, he could not make the victory or defeat clear.
There was no way, the cavalry could not attack the water stronghold, and Ding Feng's arrival was just to boost the morale of the Wu army.
Just at this time, Wen Qin also arrived.
Seeing the flames of Shaopi Water Village soaring into the sky from a distance, he ordered half of the soldiers to abandon their boats and go ashore, marching both by land and water. They all marched forward with loud drums and noise, pretending that reinforcements from Yuzhou and Shouchun were arriving.
Therefore, when Zhuge Ke, who was appointed as the general, saw this, he wanted to retreat.
Either he was stingy about the loss of his soldiers, or he was timid when he saw that Wei had reinforcements.
But the soldiers could not bear to fight for a long time.
Although the Danyang soldiers were known for their bravery, and the Jiefan soldiers directly under Sun Quan were also well-armed and had superior combat power, they had come all the way, and exhaustion was inevitable.
Even when there is a close encounter, he can still move forward bravely and with full determination.
However, as the war reaches a stalemate, the disadvantage of tired soldiers will gradually increase, and it can even determine the outcome.
Since reinforcements from the Wei army have arrived, it is useless to fight any more, so it is better to stop fighting for the time being.
Especially since the strategic purpose of his ordered attack has been achieved!
In the strategy discussed by Sun Quan and Lu Xun, his and Chen Biao's duties were only to arrive at Shaopi, prevent the Wei navy from going south to rescue Hefei City, and work together with Ding Feng's troops to guard the mouth of the East Fei River entering Shaopi, so that Lu Xun and the whole army could
Cong's follow-up army could reach Shouchun City via the waterway without any obstruction.
The situation is already settled, so why engage in a useless war?
With this thought in mind, Zhuge Ke ordered the money to withdraw his troops, and slowly retreated to Chengde County to set up camp and defend it.
They also carefully asked Ding Feng's cavalry and Chen Bing to guard and coordinate on the side to prevent the Wei army from pursuing them.
Naturally, he did it redundantly.
How could the Wei army come to pursue him?
There were only a few soldiers from the Wenqin tribe rushing to help, and they had been bumping on the boats all day and night. Not only were they more exhausted than the Wu soldiers, but they also had very little combat power left.
The boat in the south and the horse in the north is not an empty statement.
At least, more than half of the more than two thousand Wei soldiers who rushed to Shaopi from Ancheng, Runan County, were vomiting all kinds of meat and vegetables, and their hands and feet were weak.
As for the Wei naval forces who were stuck in the inner camp, many of them were sent to move the warships, so there were not many soldiers left to fight fiercely. After experiencing the panic of being suddenly attacked and fighting to the death for less than half an hour, they had already reached the end of their strength.
If Zhuge Ke had been more decisive and allowed Ding Feng to lead the cavalry around to attack the noisy Wenqin tribe, and let the resisting navy see that the reinforcements were blocked or repelled, their morale would collapse and they would have no intention of fighting anymore.
Alas, what a pity.
Sometimes when you play it safe, you lose a great opportunity.
Zhuge Ke, who did not know that he had missed the opportunity, did not dare to waste a moment to build defensive fortifications after supervising his troops to camp in Chengde County, so that the Northern Wei army could recapture the mouth of the river!
At that time, the five battalions sent by Zhu Huan arrived, led by Qin Huang.
After hearing what happened, he invited Zhuge Ke, Chen Biao and other troops to march to Shouchun together.
But was rejected.
The reasons are very good, there are two.
First, it is the responsibility of Zhuge Ke and other troops. They dare not act rashly, lest they miss the success of the follow-up army commanded by Lu Xun and Quan Cong.
On the other hand, they had just experienced a war and were exhausted.
Moreover, reinforcements from the Wei army had just arrived at Shaopei. How could Shouchun be unprepared?
Further marching towards Shouchun would be in vain.
However, what they did not expect was that this statement would make Qin Huang more determined to drive to Shouchun City.
He felt that since the Wei army had already rushed to Shaopei, there would be very few soldiers and horses left in Shouchun City. If he rushed to the city and set up camp first, blocking off the Wei army who rushed to Shaopei and returning to the defense, Zhu Huan would wait for him later.
When we arrived, Shouchun City had become an isolated city with few defenders!
In other words, once he and Quan Cong persist until Lu Xun and Quan Cong arrive, the capture of Shouchun City will be a foregone conclusion!
With hopes for success, he sent a messenger back to tell Zhu Huan his thoughts, asked him to speed up his march as backup, and then drove north with his three thousand troops.
Information asymmetry leads to wrong decisions, and his outcome is predictable.
