Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

For some reason, the ships that originally had flat bows now have a thick layer of rounded wood on the bows. From a distance, they look like rhino horns.

The ship was long and narrow, and was already flying very fast. With its speed and the ramming angle of its bow, it collided head-on with the Wei army's pontoon bridge, instantly scattering the ropes of the bridge and the boats under the wooden planks.

Then, more than a dozen shirtless sailors in calf-nose pants jumped off the boat. In the cold winter water, they started slashing at the ropes on the pontoon with knives and axes in their hands!
The Wu army on the boat was beating drums and shouting strange slogans that were difficult to understand, which was very frightening.

After the four ships successively crashed into the first pontoon bridge, they immediately made way for it, and four more ships poured in from the gap in the middle, and were about to rush to the second pontoon bridge.

"How could this happen?"

Le Chen was shocked. Although he had often served as a general in Yangzhou, his knowledge of naval forces was acquired on Chaohu Lake and the Huai River. He had never seen warships used in this way. The water in Ruxu was shallow in winter, and the tower ships could not enter. The floating bridge was destroyed so easily.

Le Chen was stunned for only a moment, but his instinct as a general for many years made him quickly realize the abnormality in Wu Jun's deployment of troops.

If the pontoon bridge is washed away, what actions will Wu Jun take?
Seeing the Wu army continue to rush inward in the Ruxu River, the Sima in charge of the archers in the camp quickly ran to Le Chen and asked anxiously: "General, the Wu dog boats are flying in the water. Let me lead the archers to shoot for a while!"

"Archery?" Le Chen looked at the man coldly: "It's already this time, and you're going to shoot at a boat?"

Le Chen immediately drew his sword from his waist and shouted, "Pass my order, hurry out of the camp and form a battle line! Hurry out of the camp and form a battle line!"

Le Chen was not the only Wei army general who had this awareness.

As soon as the gongs and drums sounded, all the camps would be informed of the situation in an instant. As the generals of each unit organized their troops to march out of the camp and line up, the Wu army on the east side of the Ruxu River also began to march northward with flags and gongs and drums.

For a moment, Wu Jun used the advantage of using warships to block the pontoon bridge and divided the battlefield into two!
I have to say that Quan Cong chose a good time.

As early as last night, Quan Cong personally selected brave men from the army and put them on the warships, and even personally offered a reward to the soldiers. When the battle started today, they really took advantage of their bravery and caught the Wei army off guard.

Line up, advance, and fight.

The 25,000 Wu soldiers, except for one who engaged the enemy, were able to rely on their advantage of being the first to attack and temporarily pushed back the Wei army.

Looking at the endless stream of Wu troops coming from the south, Le Chen, who was in the front with only 5,000 men, had already made up his mind to fight to the end.

"Tell all the Sima officers." Le Chen called the messenger to him, "Hold on for a quarter of an hour, and General Zhang's troops will be able to attack from the side. Hold on for an hour, and Chen Situ from the west bank will arrive with reinforcements."

"In today's battle, I, Le Chen, will lead my troops to the front! If I take a step back, they can all kill me. If they retreat, I will let General Zhang kill them!"

Zhang Cheng's 7,000 soldiers were the elite troops of Yangzhou. They collided heavily with Le Chen's troops, and the battle line became tense in an instant.

Quan Cong, who was in command of the overall situation, was delighted to see this. He hurriedly ordered his troops to attack the camp outside Le Chen's camp, and ordered more than 10,000 soldiers of Lu Dai's army to advance from the side.

Two miles further ahead is where the Wei people have built a fort. If the Wu army were to rush there, the consequences would be disastrous.

While Le Chen was fighting in the front, Zhang Hu also commanded the army to form a battle array and rushed towards Lu Dai's troops.

However, although the ten warships of the Wu army could break through the pontoon bridge, they could not block the Rushu River for a long time and prevent the Wei army from traveling east and west.

Following Chen Qun's order, the Wei army west of Ruxu River pinned down the Wu army's ships with bows and crossbows, and ordered nearly a thousand soldiers to move towards the extra small boats on the shore and towards the warships, intending to engage in close combat.

The soldiers connected the boats carrying wood together to temporarily form a new floating bridge.

As one pontoon bridge after another was built, a large group of Wei army soldiers ran along the newly built pontoon bridges to the east bank. Under the command of their respective generals, they gathered behind the four generals Le Chen, Zhang Hu, He Tai, and Linghu Yun who had been fighting for nearly half an hour.

Ten warships gave the Wu army on the east coast half an hour of fighting time. Unfortunately, although the Wei army soldiers seemed to be hasty in the beginning, they relied on their good quality and the organization of the grassroots officers to go from being slightly behind at the beginning, to gradually stalemate, and finally to being slightly ahead.

"Withdraw your troops."

Quan Cong learned from the messenger that all ten warships in the Rushu River were destroyed and the reinforcements of the Wei army had arrived at the east bank. He sighed and gave this order to the messenger beside him.

In just a moment, the energy in Quan Cong's face seemed to be drained of half, and he looked much older and haggard.

Is the Ruxu water blocked?
It was blocked, but only for half an hour.

Was there a surprise attack on the Wei army?
The attack was a surprise attack, and the Wei army was caught off guard.

Quan Cong achieved both, but the slight success still could not offset the superiority of the Wei army in terms of manpower and stronger combat power. Seeing the Wu army's formation retreating in good order, the Wei army cheered loudly.

However, the two main generals of Wei and Wu, Chen Qun, the prime minister of Wei and the supervisor of the military affairs of Yangzhou, and Quan Cong, the left general and general of Sui Nan of Wu, were both worried and none of them had an easy time.

Quan Cong's predicament is that by advancing today, it will be difficult to stop the Wei army from building a city in the north, and he can only choose to rely on Ruxuwu to defend it.

Chen Qun's dark face was filled with anger and worry.

What makes people angry is that if it weren't for Le Chen, Zhang Hu and other generals who fought bravely, the situation here would have been very bad, and the strategy of building a city in Ruxu would have ended in failure.

What worries us is that the Wu army's warships are so powerful! If we fight with the Wu army again in the future, I wonder what new tricks the Wu army will play with the warships? If we encounter the Wu navy on the river in the future, can we really defeat them? How can we cross the river?

……

On the day when the armies of Wei and Wu were fighting at Ruxu, a battle was also going on in Wudu County of Qinzhou, thousands of miles away, but one of the sides had changed from Wu to Shu Han.

On the 13th, Cao Zhen personally led the cavalry to investigate under the city of Xiabian.

Zhuge Liang was not happy about the fact that a small group of Wei army's light cavalry took a detour and broke into the city. He took the opportunity to order Wang Ping to lead 10,000 soldiers to advance eastward.

The Shu Han army was at Xiabian, occupying the west side.

Cao Zhen's army was stationed on the east side, twenty miles east of Xiabian.

In this twenty-li area, except for a mountain road that can be considered "wide", the rest is hilly.

This kind of terrain is perfect for using infantry against cavalry.

Wang Ping's 10,000 men gradually moved eastward. Cao Zhen was unwilling to order the Yulin Right Army to abandon their horses and dismount to fight on foot, so he set up camp and held the position in accordance with the principle of stalemate with the Shu army.

On the 14th and 15th, the Shu army fought small-scale battles with Cao Zhen's troops for two consecutive days. The Shu army abandoned two small camps and retreated four or five miles. Cao Zhen also led his army to follow.

At this time, the news that the Shu army was besieging Wudu City also reached the ears of General Zhang He, who was in Qishan City, the capital of Qinzhou.

"Is there any news about the general?" Zhang He asked Chen Ping, the military officer beside him.

Chen Ping said, "Mr. Zhang, there is no new information. The last time the general sent a letter was when he arrived in Hechi and sent it via the narrow road along the Wei River."

Zhang He sat in the tent, looking at the map on the table, stroking his beard and saying nothing.

Chen Ping asked, "Mr. Zhang, all the cavalry guarding Wudu City have returned. But the city has been captured by the Shu army, so we should rescue it quickly."

"Rescue quickly? How?" Zhang He asked back.

Chen Ping said: "From Qishan to Wudu, the distance is 120 miles, and the army can reach it in two to three days. If we arrive earlier, the Shu army's defense will not be so tight, and we should be able to fight for it."

Zhang He sighed softly: "You said it already, I should be able to fight for it, but I'm not sure."

Chen Ping nodded: "Mr. Zhang is right. Who can be sure of such a thing?"

Zhang He looked at Chen Ping and said, "The empty city of Wudu is not of much concern to me. What I am worried about is that the Shu army should be attacking through Wujie and Wudu this time. If so, how will the general deploy troops in Hechi? Is Xiabian City still there?"

"This……"

Chen Ping thought for a few moments, and then responded: "I understand that Mr. Zhang is cautious, but the current situation is like this. Instead of waiting here for the general's order, it is better to lead the troops south in advance, even if it is only forty miles a day."

Zhang He sighed and said, "Well, I'll do as you ask."

"Pass the order down. In addition to the 5,000 Qiang soldiers guarding the city, the remaining 15,000 infantry will all follow me south. As for the news of the general, we will wait while marching."

"I obey your orders!" Chen Ping replied with a folded hand, then turned around and strode out of the hall. (End of this chapter)