The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 441: Jiangbei is completely lost
"kill!!"

Shi Ji, wearing armor, shouted angrily and led the army out.

The Cao army in the distance suddenly made way, as if they had no intention of becoming their enemy.

Shi Ji gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with grief.

But he did not hesitate, and led the army to continue the charge, quickly breaking through and rushing out of the encirclement of Wang Ji's army.

On the high platform in the distance, Wang Ji stared at Shi Ji's army in the distance, watching them break through his defense line, but there was not a ripple on his face.

Shi Ji took the initiative to give up Jiangling.

Their warships came to pick them up on the water, and they prepared to retreat to Lexiang.

Lexiang is just opposite Jiangling, separated by a river.

Wang Ji's fighting style is so disgusting. Even though you know you are falling into his trap, you still have to jump in.

Jiangling is almost unable to be defended.

If Shi Ji died in Jiangling, the entire Jingzhou would lose its commander, and even the entire Wu State would lose its commander!
The Wu Kingdom has no commander now!
Lu Kang is still very young. Even if the emperor of Wu recognizes his talent and promotes him, the generals from all over the country may not obey him.

The only one who was barely qualified was veteran General Ding Feng, but Ding Feng had always led a single army and had no experience in commanding multiple armies.

Shi Ji knew that he could not continue to waste time, so he had no choice but to abandon Jiangling and retreat to Lexiang. He had to make full use of his naval advantage, re-establish contact with various places, and repel the enemy's offensive.

This is also what Wang Ji wanted. Wang Ji paid a lot of price for attacking Jiangling. His army was limited in number and was on the attacking side. He did not want to consume his soldiers in the offensive and defensive battles. His strategy was to recapture Jiangling, Xiling, Xiakou and other areas north of the Yangtze River.

If Shi Ji retreated voluntarily, he could take Jiangling without paying too much cost, which would be beneficial for him to take Xiling and Xiakou in the future.

As Shi Ji led his army to retreat via warships, Jiangling immediately fell into Wang Ji's hands.

Wang Ji was indescribably excited.

Although it is just a city, it is related to the Wu State's Jiangbei defense line and is the absolute core of the Wu State's Jiangbei defense line.

After taking this place, Wang Ji directly tore apart Wu's Jiangbei defense line. No matter how powerful Wu's navy was, it could no longer take Jiangling back from him.

When the flag of Cao Wei was raised on the city wall of Jiangling, all the soldiers could not help but cheer.

Wang Ji smiled and decided to give his army a small reward.

At this moment, Shi Ji was sitting on the warship, listening to the loud shouts coming from afar, feeling distraught.

Jiangling was lost just like that, so what should we do with Xiling?

With his current strength, there is no way for him to continue fighting with Wang Ji. Even Wang Ji's troops are still receiving various supplies and reinforcements.

Their strength is still growing.

Shi Ji frowned and began to ponder.

He must defend the remaining areas and not lose the entire Jiangbei defense line.

The first is Xiling. After losing Jiangling, the situation here will become extremely dangerous. If you want to defend it, you must get help from Shu. If the Shu army can be stationed not far from Xiling, and form a corner with Xiling, so that the Cao Wei army cannot attack the city with peace of mind, there is still hope of defending it.

Moreover, he could summon the troops from Nanjun while in Lexiang and rescue Xiling by water.

As for the direction of Xiakou, Shi Ji was not worried with Ding Feng there. It would be best to get help from Jianye and let Jianye send a large army to attack Xiakou and conquer it.

If this strategy succeeds, that is, to surround Jiangling with a large army on three sides, Wang Ji will probably have to withdraw his troops.

However, it may not be easy to implement this strategy.

Wang Ji probably knew what he wanted to do.
At this moment, in Jiangling City, Wang Ji was sitting in the county governor's mansion, seriously giving instructions to the generals under his command.

"Shi Ji's retreat this time is to preserve his strength and attack us from three sides."

"Therefore, we must fight quickly and decisively. Now that Jiangling has been captured, Shi Ji will not be able to launch a counterattack in a short period of time. Therefore, we must seize Xiling without stopping."

"There aren't many defenders in Xiling, but it's too close to Shu."

Wang Ji analyzed, "Yan Yu of Shu is rumored to be sending troops to aid Wu, but his army is very small. He has been traveling at the slowest pace these days, waiting to see how the situation develops."

"If we were to attack Xiling, Yan Yu would definitely come to harass us."

"Therefore, I decided to bypass Xiling first and use my elite troops to attack Yan Yu fiercely, pretending to continue the attack on Yong'an. This will definitely prevent Shu from interfering in Jingzhou's affairs again."

"Once we defeat Yan Yu, we can turn around and take Xiling."

"If these two cities fall into our hands, we can gather a large army and go straight to Ding Feng. If we defeat Ding Feng, all of Jiangbei will fall into our hands."

"Reinforcements from the imperial court are constantly arriving. General Zhendong and General Chariot Cavalry have already sent more troops, and even several battalions from the central army are coming. When the time comes, we will defend these three cities and prevent the enemy from taking them."

Listening to Wang Ji's strategy, Jiang Ban couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed. "General, we have the upper hand now. Why not just take over the entire Jingnan region? Jingnan can't withstand the chaos of war. As soon as our troops arrive, they will definitely surrender."

"If we can take Jingnan, Jiaozhou will be left undefended. Taking it will be easy. Finally, we can use our navy to go down the river and destroy the Wu Kingdom directly."

Jiang Ban became more and more excited as he spoke.

Wang Ji was very calm.

"In today's world, it is my Great Wei that holds the upper hand. In the long run, the Great Wei will become stronger and stronger, while Shu and Wu will become weaker and weaker."

"Under such circumstances, it is Shu and Wu who should be anxious, not us."

"We only need to follow the steps and we can destroy Shu and Wu and unify the world. Why are we so impatient? If we rush to attack them and try to destroy Wu, we might not even be able to hold on to our current achievements."

Jiang Ban didn't quite understand what Wang Ji said, but he didn't dare to refute it.

Wang Ji immediately issued an order, asking Wen Yang and Ma Long to lead the army to the west, bypass Xiling, and attack Yan Yu directly.

If Xiling is attacked, Yan Yu will definitely take action, but if Yan Yu is attacked, the defenders of Xiling will definitely not dare to come out. This is not because the generals of Wu are incompetent, but because the original commander of Xiling, Liu Xian, was killed by Wen Yang.

He himself summoned troops to resist Ding Feng.

When Ma Long and Wen Yang arrived in Xiling, the local defenders were in chaos and hurriedly began to prepare to fight Cao Wei. As a result, the army passed by them.

Seeing this scene, the defenders were also stunned.

What does it mean? ?

But they definitely didn't have the courage to send people to investigate. There were only a few thousand people in the city, so they could only hide in the city and defend it with all their strength.

This elite central army soon encountered Yan Yu halfway.

At this moment, Yan Yu was stunned. He didn't understand why he encountered Cao Wei's army here. Fortunately, Yan Yu was not an incompetent person. He quickly adjusted his mentality and the two sides fought.

Ma Long commanded properly and took advantage of the favorable terrain to force Yan Yu to constantly adjust his formation, while Wen Yang became a sharp knife in Ma Long's hand, hitting wherever he pointed, making Yan Yu miserable.

With the cooperation of the two, Yan Yu was no match for them at all. Although neither of them had reached their peak, when the two of them joined forces, ordinary generals could not withstand it.

Especially Wen Yang. After Guan Yu's death, who had ever seen such a ruthless man who could kill the enemy general in battle? Seeing him leading a cavalry to rush towards the general's flag, Yan Yu was scared and broke out in a cold sweat.

Yan Yu immediately decided to evacuate. He kept retreating, and after leaving some people behind to cover his retreat, he began to retreat towards Yong'an, while informing the other side to be prepared for support.

But these two people had no intention of going back and kept chasing us all the way.

Yan Yu felt that there might be something wrong with the intelligence.

These people are not going to destroy Wu, they are going to destroy Shu, right?!

When his news reached Yong'an and then Chengdu, it caused chaos in Chengdu. People hurriedly began to give orders to Jiang Wei, asking him to prepare to go south to resist the main force of Cao's bandits.

After repelling the small army of Shu, Ma Long and Wen Yang suddenly turned back. This time, their target was Xiling.

When Jiang Ban, Ma Long, Wen Yang and others began to besiege Xiling from both sides, Xiling was unable to hold on at all. With low morale and no commander, Xiling fell within three days.

Xiling and Jiangling both fell into Wang Ji's hands. Wang Ji began to summon troops from all over the country and marched towards Ding Feng with his absolute main force.

At this moment, Ding Feng was sweating profusely.

He knew Wang Ji's plan, but he had no choice but to retreat to Ba Qiu.

With Ding Feng's current troop size and morale, he has no way of fighting against an enemy that is four times his size!

They even have to fight a wild battle. If they don't withdraw, they will die here.

After Ding Feng withdrew his troops, Wang Ji successfully joined forces with Sun En and others in Xiakou.

Wang Ji also took the opportunity to accept the surrendered soldiers from the State of Wu under his command.

This also means that the Jiangbei defense line that the Wu State had managed for many years fell completely into the hands of Cao Wei.

When this news reached Jianye, Emperor Sun Xiu, who had just been overjoyed at pacifying the powerful minister, felt dizzy and collapsed.

Shi Ji's strategy was shattered by Wang Ji before he could even take a single step forward.

Just as Du Yu said, in this situation, even if the Marquis of Huaiyin came, it would be useless. No one from top to bottom had the will to fight, and the generals took the lead in surrendering. How much of a role could Shi Ji play alone?

After achieving the strategic goal, although he still had strong strength, Wang Ji did not choose to continue attacking. He began to build city defenses, stabilize the exchanges between various places, and stabilize his own logistical supplies.

Steady as an old dog!!!

(End of this chapter)