Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 112 Guangde
Under Zhu Zhi's strict orders, the 4,200 soldiers were divided into three groups according to their marching speed, and arrived at Shanyin Pavilion one after another. They quickly seized important roads and mountain passes, and firmly controlled the favorable terrain around the pavilion.

Shanyin Pavilion is located more than 30 miles northeast of Yong'an. Although it is closer to Rencheng, it is actually under the jurisdiction of Yong'an Ling Han You.

Faced with the sudden war, the more than 300 households in the pavilion were trembling in fear. They closed their doors tightly and hid in their houses, not daring to go out.

The pavilion chief Gao Xuan, wearing a washed-out straight-hem robe and holding a scroll of appointment bamboo slips representing his status, led the pavilion father, Qiu Dao and two pavilion guards, and stood respectfully at the pavilion door to welcome Zhu Zhi.

Zhu Zhi held the horse whip in his hand, but did not even look at him. He stood on the official road in front of the house, looking around and observing the terrain.

Seeing that the surrounding important roads and mountain passes were all under his control, he nodded with satisfaction. Then he glanced at Gao Xuan and asked, "Is there a road through the nearby mountains?"

Gao Xuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said respectfully, "General, there is no main road. There are only a few small paths that hunters in the village often use when they go into the mountains to hunt."

Zhu Zhi nodded slightly, felt relieved, turned around and walked towards the warhorse.

This battle must be fought quickly and decisively. A few small paths are insignificant. As long as Xu Sheng's troops cannot quickly reinforce Yan Yu, it will be fine.

Gao Xuan looked at Zhu Zhi's departing back in awe.

For him, the name of Zhu Zhi was well-known, especially in the past few days, when people from the village who had fled to other counties with their families could often be seen on the official road, all saying that Zhu Zhi was about to lead his troops to attack Yong'an.

Originally he was still a little skeptical, but now that he saw Zhu Zhi leading his troops to appear at Shanyin Pavilion with his own eyes, he could not help but believe it.

That was why he was so anxious that he even took out the letter of appointment, as if he had already regarded Zhu Zhi as his new object of service.

In fact, it’s no wonder that Gao Xuan did such a thing. It’s because Han You makes people feel too insecure.

Han You was appointed as the Yong'an magistrate during the reign of Sheng Xian. After Sheng Xian resigned due to illness, Han You lost his backing. Xu Gong disliked him, and the Yan family was someone he could not afford to offend.

Although Han You is the lord of a city, he has to consider other people's faces everywhere. He is really walking on thin ice and is in a dilemma.

In addition, Yong'an is located at the junction of Danyang, Wujun and Kuaiji counties, so it is not difficult to imagine this person's embarrassing situation.

Especially recently Wu Jing led his troops south with great force, and even Han You himself didn't know how many days he could stay in the position of the Lord of Yong'an.

The change of the lord of Yong'an seems to be an inevitable trend.

At least for Zhu Zhi, Yong'an was a target he had to capture.

However, before capturing Yong'an, he still needed to swallow these pieces of fat meat from the Yan family.

Zhu Zhi jumped on his horse and looked towards the distant mountain pass, as if he had already seen the scene of the destruction of Yan Yu's tribe.

He gently squeezed his legs on the horse's belly, and the warhorse under his crotch galloped out towards the mountain pass ahead.

In the vast countryside outside the mountain pass, three thousand troops have been lined up, including five hundred cavalrymen from Chen Xian's army.

The remaining 1,200 soldiers were to guard the key roads to prevent Xu Sheng's and Chen Gan's troops from supporting Yan Yu.

Zhu Zhi had absolute confidence in defeating Yan Yu. In the brief engagement yesterday, Yan Yu's vanguard faced the surprise attack of Chen Xian's troops and had almost no ability to fight back. If Yan Yu had not led his troops to support in time, the vanguard would have been destroyed.

What he was thinking about now was how to use Yan Yu to lure out Chen Gan's troops so that they could be defeated one by one.

This seems to be a foregone conclusion. If it were him, he would not stand by and watch his friendly forces die.

Once these two enemy forces are defeated, he can leave at ease, and this trip can be considered a gain.

Zhu Zhi gathered his thoughts in his mind, then rode up to the front of the battle formation and asked, "How far away is Yan Yu's army?"

Zhu Hai said quickly, "It's less than three miles, we'll be there in a moment." Zhu Zhi nodded slightly, put his hand on the hilt of his sword, looked ahead, and waited patiently for Yan Yu's troops to appear.

Just as Zhu Zhi and Yan Yu were about to go to war, Guangde City, far away in Danyang, was also surrounded by Wu Jing's army.

Guangde City is strong, with walls as high as nine meters, which is incomparable to Yongping.

However, Wu Jing's army had already replenished a batch of siege equipment in Yongping, with well-trained soldiers and sufficient food. A mere isolated city occupied by bandits was nothing to Wu Jing.

All he was thinking about was how to capture the city at the lowest cost and prevent unnecessary losses of his elite troops in the siege.

After all, after conquering Guangde, only Guzhuang and Yong'an were left ahead.

Guzhang is Zhu Zhi's hometown. Zhu Zhi had already arranged everything in the city. Once he arrived at the city, the insiders in the city would cooperate with him to capture the city.

Therefore, Guzhang was almost within Wu Jing's reach.

After capturing Guzhang, they will face Wucheng directly. Wu Jing needs to retain a sufficient number of elite troops to deal with the Yan family.

Sun Ben came over with a gloomy face and said in a deep voice: "The defenders refuse to surrender, uncle, attack the city!"

Wu Jing nodded grimly and gave the order to attack the city to the generals beside him.

The sound of the war drums spread throughout the city in an instant, and three thousand soldiers of the "Vanguard Army" rushed towards the city wall shouting at the command of the supervising team.

The brutal siege began again.

Just like when he conquered Yongping, Wu Jing once again captured more than 10,000 civilians to enrich the "Vanguard Army" that suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Yongping. These civilians who had no combat experience would become cannon fodder in the early stages of the siege to consume the strength of the defenders.

Huang Gai clenched his fists, his heart filled with anger. He was extremely dissatisfied with Wu Jing's action of driving the people to attack the city.

However, this was also a helpless move. Zhu Zhi had already written many letters urging Wu Jingjun to arrive in Wucheng as soon as possible. Time was pressing and no delay was allowed.

If we use our own soldiers to attack the city, I am afraid that before we reach Wucheng, five of the ten elite troops will have been lost. How can we then have the strength to attack Wujun?

The first round of siege ended after an hour, and the city walls were filled with corpses.

Wu Jing's face was as gloomy as water. He discussed the flaws exposed by the defenders with Huang Gai, made targeted deployments, and then issued new siege orders.

The second batch of "Vanguard Army" soldiers were driven towards the city wall.

Unlike the first siege, this time the soldiers participating in the siege showed strong resistance. If Wu Jing had not commanded the elite troops to support them from behind, I am afraid that they would have turned against their own side in the battle.

Wu Jing felt more and more pressured, and gradually became dissatisfied with Zhu Zhi's plan. He had been driving the people to attack the city repeatedly, and his reputation had become completely ruined. The people of Jiangdong all regarded him as a devil.

But at this point, there is no point in saying more, and we can only go down this path to the end.

He sacrificed too much for the Sun family.

Wu Jing had already vaguely felt that it would not be long before his position as the main general would be replaced by other veteran generals of the Sun family in order to calm the anger of the people and save the reputation of the Sun family.

By then, he can also 'retire with success'.

Amidst Wu Jing's complicated mood, Guangde City fell into the hands of the Sun family in a strange atmosphere.

No one cheered. Everyone walked into the city with heavy hearts, stepping on the corpses on the ground.

(End of this chapter)