Jiuxi

Chapter 907 Chapter 905 [Fangs]

Compared with the step-by-step retreat of the defenders on the western front, Teng County has been firmly in the hands of the Qi army. For more than half a month, the Jing army launched continuous and tidal offensives, but was unable to break through the defense line of the Guangling army.

The closest to success was nine days ago, when Qielie, a general under Shuhu, led his troops to forcibly climb the northern city wall of Teng County. At the same time, they also gained certain advantages on the east and west sides. Finally, Liu Tongzhao was forced to send out 3,000 elite soldiers who had been hiding in the city, and finally repelled the offensive of Jing army, but also exposed his last trump card.

The strategy adopted by Jing's army this time was very prudent. From beginning to end, they never put all their eggs in one basket. Instead, they used gradual tactics to tire out the Qi army's soldiers and kept their own losses to a very low level.

"Now it seems that the other party should have no hidden means."

Inside the camp's commander's tent, Shuhu was holding a teacup and speaking with a smile on his face.

Gulijia put down his bowl of rice, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and said with deep approval: "There are still 3,000 people hiding in Teng County. If you are not careful enough, you might be bitten back by the enemy, but that's it. Our next enemy will not be the defenders in the city, but the ambush troops of the Qi army hiding behind."

Shu Hu took a sip of strong tea and pondered, "According to the information gathered by our scouts during this period, the enemy should be the Guangling Army, Panlong Army, Qingxu Army, plus the more than 20,000 Beijing Army brought by Zhang Xu, and the Feiyu Army whose whereabouts have not yet been found. There are a total of 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers and horses, and they are all elite soldiers who have been on the battlefield for a long time. It will not be so easy to deal with them."

"The enemy is certainly not weak, but should we be afraid?"

Gulijia counted on his fingers and said, "Except for the more than 2,000 infantrymen who were killed in the siege, we still have nearly 30,000 troops. Xi Lie leads 15,000 infantrymen in the north, Wu Yanxiong leads 20,000 light cavalrymen, and the commander-in-chief has asked Chelimu to lead 15,000 cavalrymen to come to support us. In total, there are 80,000 troops. Even if another 10,000 or 20,000 people appear out of thin air in the south, our army can still complete the task assigned by the commander-in-chief. It will only be a fight that will result in both sides being injured. Our army can afford such a loss, but what about the Qi army? When Your Majesty leads the main force to arrive, will the Qi army still have the strength to resist?"

From the very beginning, Wu Yanshu was not in a hurry to capture cities. He fully learned the lesson two years ago when he insisted on attacking Taikang and was finally played around by Lu Chen. This time, he learned from his mistakes and took great pains to make all kinds of plans just to lure out the Qi army.

Shuhu smiled slightly when he heard this, and said leisurely: "I knew that the Marshal's strategy would definitely work."

Gulijia asked with interest: "Why?"

"Have you not discovered that Nanqi Lu Chen never likes to be passive? He will definitely find ways to turn passivity into initiative. This is his deep-rooted habit, so he will definitely not be content with loneliness. The Marshal took advantage of his psychology and set up this game on the Eastern Front."

Shu Hu looked calm and said slowly: "The most important thing is that our army doesn't seem to be able to weave a trap that gives us an absolute advantage. At most, we are evenly matched. How can Lu Chen not join the game?"

"Yes, the Marshal has good intentions, and we cannot let him down."

Gulijia took a deep breath and asked, "Shall I attack the city tomorrow?"

"I'd better go."

Shu Hu drank the tea in the cup and said sincerely: "The defenders of Teng County have no trump cards. The enemy's reinforcements should have arrived. I think the next siege will be surrounded by the enemy. You are more stable than me. You lead half of the infantry to support us, and then we will retreat to the plains east of Qifeng Mountain."

Gulijia said seriously: "Take care."

Shuhu said casually: "It's nothing but death."

The next morning, the Jing army, which had rested for several days, made a comeback. More than 10,000 elite soldiers, under the command of Shuhu, launched a fierce attack on the city wall of Teng County.

This time, it was hard to see the previous calmness and composure on the faces of the defending soldiers, and the city defense was in a shaky state for a time.

At about 2:45 pm, when the defenders were about to give up, two reinforcements finally arrived.

Zhang Xu, Marquis of Yongding, personally led 20,000 Beijing troops from the southwest, while reinforcements consisting of the Qingxu Army, part of the Panlong Army and part of the Guangling Army appeared in the southeast of Teng County.

Faced with tens of thousands of reinforcements from the Qi army, Shuhu was not panicked at all. On the contrary, he felt an indescribable sense of ease and relief.

He immediately led his troops to fight and retreat, while Gulijia, who stayed behind, led his troops out of the camp to provide support.

Because both sides were infantry, their marching speed was relatively slow and the distance between them was difficult to shorten quickly.

Jing's army decisively abandoned the empty camp where they had been stationed for more than a month and retreated to the northeast.

“Stop retreating!”

In the afternoon, Gulijia's military order quickly spread throughout the army.

Shu Hu, who was standing next to him, frowned, stared at the scout with his hawk-like eyes, and said coldly, "What did you say? Say it again!"

The scout replied tremblingly: "General, the Qi army did not catch up with us. They stopped at our camp!"

A sharp light flashed in Shuhu's eyes.

Gulijia said solemnly: "General, calm down. It seems that Zhang Xu is very cautious. He must be worried that our army has an ambush."

"wrong."

Shu Hu's mind raced, and he said in a deep voice, "If the enemy only wanted to defend Teng County, there would be no need to go to such great lengths. We have previously confirmed that the enemy has deployed tens of thousands of reinforcements. Could it be that they just want to scare our army away? Under normal circumstances, the enemy should entangle our army as quickly as possible and strive to eat up our 30,000 people. In order to prevent the enemy from noticing the clues, the commander deliberately let the ambush troops stay at a relatively far position. Zhang Xu could not find it, so why bother to look ahead and behind?"

Gulijia also came to his senses. Apart from the initial entanglement between the two sides outside Teng County, the subsequent pursuit by the Qi army was not resolute, which was obviously not a sign of the other side's long-term planning.

He frowned and asked, "General, what decision should our army make?"

Shu Hu thought for a moment and said decisively: "You and I will lead the troops back and try to tie up the enemy reinforcements. At the same time, send a message to the three reinforcements and ask them to come immediately. Even if the infantry under Xi Lie is a little slower, the two cavalry will not delay for too long. The enemy has now exposed its tracks. If they are unwilling to fight, at most they will defend the city with their backs. This will make it more difficult for our army to attack, but it is better than letting the Marshal's plan fail completely!"

Gulijia no longer hesitated and said hurriedly: "Okay!"

Several messengers quickly took the order and left, and the Jing army turned around and returned the way they came.

Although the two generals reacted quickly enough, at this moment they were shrouded in heavy dark clouds.

What exactly does the Qi army want to do?

...To the north of Taikang City, the main camp of the Jing army is located.

Wu Yanshu needed to maintain pressure on Taikang City and Yongqiu City in the south. In addition, he could not risk an empty city plan. Therefore, in addition to the troops sent to the east and west fronts, this camp still had nearly 40,000 troops.

Although this force does not seem to be large, most of them are the core members of Wu Yanshu's side, but there are not many cavalry.

Except for the heavy cavalry Tiger and Leopard Battalion that stayed with Wuyan Shu, the rest were infantry.

Inside the general's tent, Wu Yanshu was eating breakfast.

These days he tried his best to remain calm and indifferent so as not to affect the morale of the troops, but in fact he couldn't help feeling uneasy.

The situation on the Western Front should be fine. Now he just wants to receive the battle report from the Eastern Front as soon as possible.

Out of respect for Lu Chen and the combat effectiveness of the Qi army, Wu Yanshu did not expect the five generals including Shu Hu to lead their troops to defeat the Qi army. As long as the number of casualties on both sides was similar, even if his own losses were slightly greater, Wu Yanshu would be happy to accept this result.

This was what he had been planning for over a month.

"Marshal! Marshal!"

A young general staggered into the tent.

His name was Wu Yanhai, the nephew of Wu Yanshu and also a young military talent that the Wu Yan family had finally produced in recent years.

Wu Yanshu subconsciously put down the bowl, stood up and asked, "Did the war report from the Eastern Front arrive?"

"No."

Wu Yanhai swallowed hard, denied it, and said nervously, "General, the Qi army in Taikang City has marched out of the city and is marching towards our camp!"

"What did you say?"

Wu Yanshu was totally unaware that his hands were shaking inexplicably at this moment.

Wu Yanhai repeated it again.

Wu Yanshu looked solemn, but he did not lose his mind because of this sudden news. He said decisively: "Order the whole army to prepare to meet the enemy. In addition, you go to Namoulu in person and ask his Tiger and Leopard Battalion to prepare for the battle."

"The general will obey the order!"

Wu Yanhai turned and left.

A magnificent trumpet sounded soon in the Jing army camp.

Less than half an hour later, more than 20,000 elite Jing troops lined up in the open space in front of the camp, and the Da Qi Jingzhou Guangji Army, which was supposed to guard Taikang City, gradually appeared in their sight, with the flag of the Anping Army on their left.

Wu Yanshu looked solemn and felt even more upset.

The adjustments he made could not completely deceive the enemy after all. If he had not sent out all the cavalry, how could the enemy dare to advance so leisurely?
The Jing army's light cavalry is fully capable of launching a surprise attack when the Qi army's infantry is advancing!
Even so, Wu Yanshu was still not too panicked, because he had 40,000 elite troops, while the Qi army on the opposite side had only more than 20,000 people at most.

If it weren't for his usual caution, if someone else was the commander-in-chief, he might have waved the flag at this time and the Jing army would have rushed directly to the opposite side.

"Marshal——"

A scout came on horseback.

"No need to say it."

Wu Yanshu frowned and said, "I saw it."

From the southwest, another large group of Qi army infantry came around from the side of Taikang City.

As the enemy continued to approach, Wu Yanshu's eyes gradually narrowed. He saw that on the big flag in the distance, it was written "Liu, the Grand Commander of Jingzhou of the Great Qi".

Is Liu Shouguang going to take a gamble?
Wu Yanshu soon received more accurate news.

In addition to the Guangji Army and Anping Army of the Southern Qi Dynasty directly opposite them, to the right front were the 30,000 troops of Jingzhou led by Liu Shouguang himself, among whom were the flags of the Linghuai Army.

Hearing the army's banner, Wu Yanshu suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "Guiyou, this idiot!"

According to the intelligence previously gathered by the scouts, the Linghuai Army of Southern Qi was responsible for guarding some cities on the western front of Jingzhou together with the Ningcheng Army.

In other words, the Qi army repeatedly retreated on the western front in order to survive. On the surface, it did not want to lose troops, but in fact it was secretly making roundabout maneuvers and transferred the Linghuai army that was originally on the western front to the central battlefield.

While Wu Yanshu was scolding his subordinates, Liu Shouguang raised his right arm high in the center of the positions of the several armies of the Great Qi that had already merged, and shouted sternly: "Beat the drum! March!"

The majestic drumbeats resounded between heaven and earth.

"kill!"

The men of the Great Qi held their spears and marched forward in formation, taking extremely resolute and courageous steps towards the Jing army's positions in the distance.

Without any unnecessary probing, they forcefully started the fight as if they had reached the limit of their patience!
(End of this chapter)