Xuande

Chapter 541 Cheng Pu Vs Sun Jian

When Liu Bei marched into Pingyu County, the armies of the other seven counties were not idle.

Yangxu, the governor of Nanyang County, deeply hated Yuan Shu's arrogance and domineering. After receiving the order from the court, he rushed into the battlefield of Runan County with a newly formed [-] troops. In the first battle, he successfully defeated Wufang County and won Good start.

The second battle was a bit difficult, and the resistance in Xunyang County was relatively fierce. Yang Xu led troops to surround the county, cut off the internal and external water sources, and forced the defenders in the city to surrender.

In this way, the defenders in the city persisted for three to five days, but couldn't persist, killed the county magistrate who was a disciple of Yuan's family, and surrendered in Kaesong.

The third battle was even more difficult. In Shangcai County, there were five thousand soldiers led by Yuan's department, Qiao Rui. The goal was to cover the flanks of Pingyu County. Continued failure to win, so the pace of attack was delayed.

On the other hand, the armies of Jiujiang County and Lujiang County united together, with a force of 1 people. With Lu Kang, the governor of Lujiang County, as the main commander, he followed the order of the court and marched northward along the Yingshui River to attack Shen County. Break through Shen County, and then attack Ruyin County.

Ruyin County is a relatively important county. Yuan Shu’s subordinate Zhonglang General Liang Gang was stationed in Ruyin County. The [-] troops gathered in the county and Jiujiang county are somewhat difficult.

So he could only defend the city, refusing to fight, while asking Yuan Shu for reinforcements, desperately resisting and buying time.

In the other direction, 1 allied forces from Xiapi State and Pengcheng State invaded Pei State from two directions, and fought with Zhang Xun and Ji Ling, generals of Yuan Shu's department. It became a stalemate.

But overall, Yuan Shu's troops are not dominant.

Because they did not manage the country well after they conquered it, but continued to plunder the materials and properties of the country, and plundered the local people, so the people of Pei country were not willing to support Yuan Shu's rule.

So when the official army attacked, they mostly provided support for the armies of Pengcheng and Xiapi, and even formed a team of village warriors to help the official army destroy the logistics route of Yuan Shu's army, so that Yuan Shu's army lacked military supplies.

Seeing that the army lacked supplies and could not fight for a long time, Zhang Xun and Ji Ling were very worried. They wanted to retreat, and the retreat was very dangerous. They could only send people to Yuan Shu for help, hoping to get reinforcements to respond.

Otherwise, they would not even have the confidence to escape.

On several major battlefields, Yuan Shu's army was in a state of being suppressed and beaten. Only in the battlefield of Chen State, Yuan Shu's army was rarely branched out, and the two sides were evenly matched.

The reason is very simple, Sun Jian is the person who dominates the military on the battlefield of Chen State.

And his opponent is Cheng Pu.

His former subordinates.

But now, the two positions are equivalent.

Before the army left Luoyang, Cheng Pu was still a captain of Wuyang. After the Luoyang military reform, Liu Bei promoted Cheng Pu to the position of General Tianxing Zhonglang.

And Sun Jian is now also a Zhonglang general——Polu Zhonglang general.

The battlefield where the two Zhonglang will face off is quite interesting.

Cheng Pu was originally still in Luoyang participating in military training, and he was very busy. After he suddenly received the appointment, because the army had not been reorganized, he had to take a battalion that had been reorganized and went to Chenliu County to help Zhang Miao, who was not familiar with military affairs. soldier.

This time, the armies of Chenliu Commandery and Liang State both have a mission, which is to recover the fallen Chen State. So when Liang Guoxiang saw Cheng Pu coming, he simply handed over his army to Cheng Pu, hoping that Cheng Pu could complete this task. .

Cheng Pu also took over the command of the army without hesitation.

And Sun Jian has not left since he broke through Chen Guo, and has been guarding here, plundering resources to meet his and Yuan Shu's needs.

It's not that he has any greedy thoughts, it's purely to obtain more resources to strengthen his army and make himself a more powerful faction.

Yuan Shu promised that if he captured Chen Guo, he would be Chen Guoxiang, and if he won a few more battles, he would promote Sun Jian to be the governor of Yuzhou and let him be the governor of a state.

So Sun Jian worked very hard.

This time, he went to his hometown and Huaisi area to recruit soldiers. He recruited many soldiers and brought some trustworthy people with him. After Han Dang and Cheng Pu left, Sun Jian could not trust outsiders more and more. He felt that only himself People and hometown people are trustworthy.

He brought his younger brother Sun Jing and his eldest son Sun Ce to serve in the army.

This time Sun Jian commanded more than [-] troops. In addition to the troops originally entrusted to him by Yuan Shu, there were also troops recruited by him himself, as well as soldiers who were captured and surrendered after the fall of Chen Guo, as well as soldiers recruited by force. Chen country local soldiers.

Sun Jian didn't think there was anything wrong with killing an opposing Zongwang. Anyway, there were so many Zongwangs in the Han Empire, and it was not a big deal to die one or two. Coupled with his hatred for Liu Bei, his brain twitched. Kill Liu Chong.

After killing Liu Chong, he immediately began to expand his army and prepare for war, but he just felt that from a military point of view, this would definitely attract attacks from the imperial court and other places, so he needed to take precautions in advance, and it was impossible to have enough troops.

And in the army of more than ten thousand people, the most elite and most worthy of his trust are the Huaisi and Jiangdong soldiers.

The number of this group is not large, less than 2000, but they have received the best equipment and food treatment. They are led by Sun Jing and his son Sun Ce personally, as the absolute elite and vanguard soldiers under his command. In terms of equipment and treatment, they are not as good as his own soldiers.

And this time the main force against Cheng Pu is his disciples.

To be honest, Cheng Pu had imagined a reunion with Sun Jian countless times, but he never thought that he would be able to fully and face-to-face confront Sun Jian on the battlefield so soon.

Both Chenliu's prefect and Liang Guoxiang handed over the army to Cheng Pu's command, and they retreated to the second line to support Cheng Pu's logistics. They did not intervene in the military at all, and did not want to assume any military responsibilities.

Before, Cheng Pu was worried about whether he could deal with Sun Jian, because he knew more about the military capabilities of Sun Jian, the old master, but this time, Liu Bei seemed to entrust him with this task intentionally, and did not give him too much. Send soldiers.

He knew that this was Liu Bei's test for him.

In the past, his future must be a general. If he can't make it through, he may stop as a general of Zhonglang.

Sun Jian, the person he once admired and trusted but ultimately made him feel disillusioned and hated, he must overcome the past no matter what, if he cannot overcome it, he will have no future.

This is the task Liu Bei assigned him, and it is also the task he assigned himself.

After the joint military operation of the eight counties was launched, Cheng Pu's troops crossed the county boundary of Chenliu County and entered the border of Chen State, confronting the army sent by Sun Jian across the waves.

Opposite Langshui is Yangxia County, which is the northern barrier of Chen County and Sun Jian's headquarters.

Breaking through here, Cheng Pu can lead his troops directly to Yangxia County, and Langshui itself does not have any strong blocking ability, so Cheng Pu is not too worried about the existence of Langshui.

He knew that Sun Jian grew up in the east of the river and was good at water warfare, but he also heard Sun Jian say that the water in the north of the river is very different from the water in the south of the Yangtze River. Water warfare skills cannot be used in Jiangbei.

But even so, Cheng Pu also knew that even if Sun Jian didn't fight water battles, he was capable of serious field battles and city offensive and defensive battles.

Therefore, he carefully planned the crossing operation plan, scouted in all directions, and after confirming that there was no ambush, he ordered a commando team composed of soldiers familiar with water skills to start crossing the river and confront the enemy on the south bank of Langshui on the water.

The two sides fought fiercely. After some fighting, Cheng Pu's troops gained the upper hand because of their large numbers.

On the opposite side, his opponent, Sun Jing, retreated a little due to lack of troops, giving way to this meaningless water defense line, and instead entered Yangxia County to conduct city defense operations.

More than half a month ago, after Sun Jian learned that an army from Chenliu County had arrived at the border, he began to plan a defensive operation, vigorously managed Yangxia County, and strengthened the county wall.

After Cheng Pu led his troops through the waves, he discovered that although Yangxia County is not a big city, it is not easy to break through it easily.

Fortunately, before departure, Liu Bei equipped Cheng Pu with three catapults, so Cheng Pu set up three catapults outside the city, and blasted the city wall with fierce fire oil cans and stones, causing damage to the defenders on the city. A certain blow and deterrence.

However, because the elite main force has only one battalion, most of the troops are temporarily recruited by Chenliu County and Liang State. They are far inferior to the Central Han Army carefully prepared by Liu Bei in terms of combat effectiveness and quality. The efficiency is relatively low.

Moreover, in terms of specific military operations, due to insufficient training, there was no mutual trust between the top and bottom of the Central Han Army, so that after Cheng Pu got used to the internal command system of the Central Han Army, he still had trouble commanding the new army. Strong unaccustomed.

After an order was given, the anxiety and uncertainty of not being able to confirm whether the army would be able to execute the order immediately swept Cheng Pu's heart and made him uneasy.

All kinds of awkwardness and unaccustomedness made him deeply feel the huge difference between Liu Bei's army and other armies, and it also made him, who is used to playing high-end games, realize the gap in the world.

Not all armies are the Central Han Army, and not all officers are willing to invest so much resources in the army.

However, relying on the good military quality cultivated by further study in the Liu Bei Group, Cheng Pu, a half-way monk and a half-launched academic faction, barely controlled this temporary motley army, led them to the battlefield, and defeated Sun Jing.

The method is also very simple - big coins.

Anyway, there is only one good way to deal with these undisciplined soldiers, without enough training, to make them obey orders and work hard, and that is to give money.

Promises before the war, payment of deposits, fulfillment of promises after the war, and rewards. After a few back and forth, the basic mutual trust between the upper and lower levels was established, and the soldiers' sense of belonging to the officers was initially established.

We are all ordinary people in the world of flamboyance, don't mention those elegant things, talk about money first, if the money is in place, then talk about other things, if the money is not in place, then there is no need to talk about other things, we don't care.

If the money is not in place, the crossbowmen will shoot three arrows before the battle, and there will be no fourth arrow, and they will shout three times with Daliu, and then wait for the enemy to rush over, they will turn around and run away. Such armies also exist widely. .

The same is true for technical arms, and the same is true for hand-to-hand troops. If they are not given enough money, they will really turn around and run in the face of a powerful enemy. In the end, the general will have to race against them to see who is faster and can survive.

The survival wisdom of the big soldiers is sometimes the death omen of the generals. Cheng Pu, who grew up from the bottom, can distinguish which is more important.

So in Yangxia County, Cheng Pu basically fought against Sun Jing. The fledgling Sun Jing with no combat experience was not Cheng Pu's opponent. He faced danger several times, and it was Jiang Dong who he desperately brought along with his cronies. The soldiers were saved by the disciples.

After several days of fighting, Sun Jing was wounded in three places, half of Jiangdong's soldiers were killed, and the rest were wounded. Sun Jing believed that one day, he would not be able to defend the city.

Fortunately, after holding on for five days, Sun Jian finally arrived with reinforcements.

(End of this chapter)