Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 130: Fortress
Pan Zhi's troops on the periphery seemed to have noticed that Zhu Zhi had been captured, and they immediately became agitated, quickly dispersed, and surrounded Xu Sheng's troops.

The two sides were facing each other, with swords drawn and war imminent at any time. The atmosphere was extremely tense.

Pan Zhi held his halberd horizontally and shouted angrily, "Xu Sheng, leave Zhu Zhi behind and I'll let you go!"

Xu Sheng looked back and saw that the soldiers behind him were ready. He calmed down a little, raised his iron spear, and shouted, "If I want to leave, I will leave. If I want to stay, I will stay. Why should I care about your face? Get out of the way immediately. If the two families come to blows, you can't afford it!"

After saying this, he ordered the cavalry to form a line and advance forward.

The soldiers of Pan Zhi's army were forced to retreat step by step. They looked at each other and at Pan Zhi.

Pan Zhi's face turned pale, he was in a dilemma. If he let Xu Sheng go, he would have a hard time explaining to Han You. If a war started, the situation in Yong'an that had been stabilized with great difficulty would collapse immediately, and who knew how many people would die.

Xu Sheng observed his expression and knew that he was indecisive. If he wanted to leave, now was the best time. If he delayed, something might happen. He immediately shouted, "Anyone who blocks me will die!", swung his spear to push away several iron spears in front of him, sped up his horse, and charged forward.

More than 400 cavalrymen behind him shouted together: "Anyone who blocks me will die!" and rode their horses forward.

Pan Zhi's army consisted of only 400 soldiers, sparsely surrounding Xu Sheng's army. As they were hesitant, Xu Sheng broke through a gap in their way in an instant.

Soldiers on both sides pushed and shoved each other, their armor rubbing against each other, making a harsh metal collision sound, and people fell off their horses from time to time.

Finally, someone couldn't help but use weapons, and screams were heard from both sides.

Seeing that a big battle was about to break out, Pan Zhi finally became timid and shouted, "Stop!"

Xu Sheng felt a little relieved, but he didn't dare to be careless at all, and urged his soldiers to speed up.

When the last cavalryman broke out of the encirclement, the two cavalry armies began to quickly distance themselves from each other.

The soldiers of Pan Zhi's army clenched their fists and looked at the backs of their "friendly forces" who were gradually moving away with resentment on their faces.

At this moment, a cavalryman galloped over, pulled the reins in front of Pan Zhi, and said with a fist: "Sima, the Lord has ordered you to lead your troops to hold back Xu Sheng, but do not use force rashly. He will lead his troops to follow immediately."

Pan Zhi suddenly took off his helmet and roared in anger, "Drag? Xu Sheng, that lunatic! I don't even have as many people as him, what can I use to drag him?"

At this time, his heart was still beating violently, and he felt very clearly that if he did not speak out to stop it, the two armies would immediately go to war!
Pan Zhi really couldn't understand why Xu Sheng was so unscrupulous. Wasn't he worried that the two families would start a war and cause a disaster?
Of course Xu Sheng was not worried.

Yan Yi agreed to a one-year truce between the two families just to take advantage of Han You's concession to stop Zhu Zhi. Now that he has taken advantage of him, he naturally doesn't care about Han You's attitude anymore.

If the two families go to war, it will certainly add some pressure to Yan Yi, but Yan Yi doesn't mind destroying Han You a year in advance.

He coveted the Yong'an porcelain kiln very much!
Now that Zhu Zhi has been eliminated, Wu Jing alone can no longer pose a fatal threat to Yan Yi, because he has Xu Gong behind him for support.

As Yan Yi's confidant, Xu Sheng naturally knew Yan Yi's attitude.

If the two armies went to war, he was confident that he could defeat Pan Zhi's troops, but after a series of fierce battles, his own troops would also suffer heavy casualties.

Now that nearly one-third of his troops have been killed, it would be best if war could be avoided. But if war is necessary, he is not afraid.

Xu Sheng led his troops to evacuate Yong'an quickly. After walking for a few miles, he happened to pass by Han Youjun. The two looked at each other with very different moods.

Han You's eyes first showed surprise, then turned to anger, and finally turned into a deep sense of resentment. "You bastard, you're going too far! You're going too far!"

Han You looked at Xu Sheng's receding back, his beard trembling with anger and his speech incoherent.

He lost 3,500 soldiers and only gained some supplies, and even his beloved Zhu Zhi was kidnapped.

Han You was completely furious!

However, no matter how angry he was, in this chaotic world where the strong preyed on the weak, those without strength were not even qualified to be angry. His anger was ultimately just impotent rage.

A great war came to an end, the benefits were divided up among various factions, and in the end it was the soldiers and civilians who suffered.

Thousands of corpses were lying around Yongan, most of them were those who died with their eyes open. Their empty eyes stared at the night sky, as if silently accusing something, or as if they were relieved.
The night wind howled, stirring up waves of bloody air, as if the heaven and earth were mourning for the massacre.

Just as Xu Sheng led his troops to rush towards Yan Yi's army, Si Qing was leading two thousand soldiers on a night march towards Meiqing River.

The area of ​​dozens of miles south of the Lion Mountain Range and north of Qiantang is all plains, with a crisscross network of rivers crisscrossing each other like beautiful silk threads woven on cloth.

Although extremely beautiful, these rivers can pose a great obstacle to marching because there are often forts or camps built at dangerous places on the rivers and at both ends of the bridges, guarding the main transportation routes.

Si Qing must take advantage of the weakness of the Qiantang garrison and seize the opportunity before the news of Zhu Zhi's defeat is transmitted back to Qiantang, quickly occupy various important roads and pave the way for the army behind.

If the battle is delayed for too long, the Qiantang defenders will react and improve their fragile defense line after the army sets out.

With Qiantang's foundation, it is not too difficult to recruit thousands of troops or even more in a short period of time.

Si Qing was well aware of the pros and cons, so he did not dare to delay for a moment. Although the soldiers were very tired, he still urged the troops to march all night.

At 11 p.m. in the evening, the Meiqing River was visible from afar. No fields could be seen along the way. All that could be seen were endless reeds.

A wooden bridge two meters long and one meter wide spans the river. The bridge body is made of thick wooden boards, and the piers are deeply embedded in the riverbed, making it appear stable and solid.

At either end of the wooden bridge, more than twenty low houses were arranged in an orderly fashion. A few hundred steps to the south, a fortress covering over ten acres stood majestically, its high walls thick and its corner towers towering like a sleeping beast, guarding the land.

The fort originated in the Western Han Dynasty. It is a military defense building with both defensive and residential functions, and is widely found in areas where wars are frequent.

Although there were fewer wars in Jiangdong than in the Central Plains, there were still many. In particular, the bandits spread across the counties of Jiangdong hid in the mountains and forests when they were scattered, and gathered in hundreds or thousands, posing a huge threat to the public security of the counties.

The fort is the most effective military facility to deal with these bandits.

There are roughly three types of forts. One type is built by local wealthy families to protect their clansmen and wealth. They are usually large in scale and have strong military defense capabilities.

The second type is built by groups of refugees, mainly for the purpose of ensuring survival. They are generally small in scale and only have certain self-defense capabilities.

The last type is a purely military fortress, which is mostly built by local government organizations and temples, and is garrisoned by soldiers. When war breaks out, this type of fortress will become a military stronghold or temporary camp.

What Si Qing saw in front of him at this moment was a purely military fort built by the Qiantang government.

(End of this chapter)