Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 57 Reinforcements
What made Qian Tong even more angry was that he had already set the net and laid the bait, and all he had to do was wait for Yan's troops to enter Haiyan and fight against Wu Jing, so that he could join forces with Zou Ta to take advantage of the situation and reap the benefits.

Now that Yan Yi has interfered, things are suddenly full of variables.

Thinking that the opportunity he had waited so hard for might turn into nothing, Qian Tong was filled with such rage that even if all the water in the three rivers were poured out, it would be difficult to extinguish it.

He walked back and forth in the meeting hall with his hands behind his back, his feet making crackling sounds on the broken porcelain pieces on the floor.

"General, the military advisor and generals have arrived." A steward stood on the steps outside the house and reported respectfully.

Qian Tong suppressed his anger and said urgently, "Let them in!"

Wan Bing and several armored generals filed in. On their way, they had already heard the sound of gongs and drums resounding throughout the city. This was a warning signal issued when encountering urgent military situations or when the enemy was attacking the city.

Everyone felt confused and uneasy.

Qian Tong handed the bamboo slips to everyone to read one by one, then pointed to the secretary and the military marquis who came to report the news and said, "You two, tell me the details."

The secretary and the general looked at each other. The former recounted the incident of the attack on Qian Gonglei in detail, and the general added some information.

When Wan Bing heard this, his face turned pale. He realized that he had been teased by Yan.

Qian Tong observed everyone's expressions and said in a deep voice, "Zhou Yu wrote to ask for help. What do you think?"

In fact, everyone present knew what was going on. Qian Tong had sounded the alarm throughout the city and summoned his troops. His intention to send troops was obvious. However, this person was always indecisive, so he asked about it.

No one wanted to offend him at this moment. Fan Yi had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Last month, he had been repeatedly driven around like a straw dog by Yan Baihu after several fake defeats in Wucheng. This had already made him furious. He immediately stepped forward and said, "I am willing to lead the troops to rescue Qian Gong's camp and take Yan Yi's head to present to the commander!"

Qian Tong nodded with satisfaction: "Zhong Xiao is truly a fierce general of our army."

Another general named Shang Fu shouted, "The enemy army only has a thousand men. Why should we personally lead the vanguard? General, just give me a thousand men. Within three hours, I will capture the Yan family's child and make him kneel before you and apologize!"

Qian Tong's gloomy expression relaxed a bit. This time, without questioning Wan Bing, he said murderously, "Since that's the case, Generals Fan and Shang will lead 1,500 troops to Qian Gong Fort to kill the bandits. If you can take Yan Yi's head, you'll be rewarded with 500,000 coins and 300 slaves. If you can capture Yan Yi alive, you'll be rewarded with 1,000,000 coins and 500 slaves!"

Fan Yi and Shang Fu were overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately accepted the order.

When the other generals heard about such a huge reward, they regretted it so much that their intestines turned green. Qian Gonglei had 2,000 defenders inside and 1,500 reinforcements outside. With the joint attack from both inside and outside, defeating Yan Yi's mere 1,000 troops would be as easy as killing chickens and dogs.

The great achievement that was within my grasp was wasted. It’s too late to regret!
Amid the envious gazes of several generals, Fan Yi and Shang Fu strode out of the conference hall and went to the military camp to check the 1,500 soldiers.

These two people really didn't know how to be polite. Among the 3,000 defenders in Yuncheng, there were about 500 miscellaneous soldiers. The two of them never liked miscellaneous soldiers, so they didn't bring any with them. They only selected the soldiers who often followed them out of the city to plunder the people, who were quite brave.

These 1,500 soldiers were all infantry, with spearmen being the majority and archers being the least. There was no cavalry at all, only more than 20 mounted scouts.

It’s not that Fan Yi and Shang Fu were unwilling to bring cavalry, but they really didn’t have any!

The entire Qian Tong army had only 150 cavalrymen, all of whom were Qian Tong's personal guards, and no general had the authority to mobilize them.

After the 1,500 soldiers lined up in the military camp, they hurried out of the city and headed straight for Qian Gong Lei.

The distance between Yuncheng and Qian Gong Lei was about five miles. Under normal circumstances, it would take half an hour to reach there, but it would take longer in rainy days. Shortly after leaving the city, we saw defeated soldiers heading towards Yuncheng along the way.

Fan Yi killed several defeated soldiers to boost their morale, and then ordered his men to capture several more defeated soldiers and inquire about the situation at Qian Gonglei.

These defeated soldiers had fled the city before Qian Gong Lei fell, and their understanding of the situation was not as good as that of the messengers sent by Zhou Yu.

Fan Yi didn't care about the details. All he cared about was whether Qian Gong Lei had been captured.

When he heard that only the south gate of Qian Gonglei had been lost and that fighting was still going on in the city, he immediately became spirited and loudly urged his soldiers to speed up their march.

Fan Yi made a mistake at this time. He only asked the defeated soldiers when he left the city, and then rushed to Qian Gonglei for support, without asking the defeated soldiers he met later.

Fortunately, Shang Fu was more careful than him. When he was near Qian Gonglei, he sent people to capture two defeated soldiers.

Of these two defeated soldiers, one was a real defeated soldier, and the other was someone sent by Yan Yi to pretend to be a defeated soldier. He deliberately wandered along the way to attract the attention of the reinforcements.

As a result, one of them said that the city had fallen, and the other said that the city had not fallen yet. Hearing this, Fan Yi and Shang Fu looked at each other and stood there in a daze.

Who should I believe?

Looking at Fan Yi's murderous gaze and the fake deserter's confident expression, the real deserter was frightened and fell into self-doubt. He trembled and changed his words: "It was still dark at that time, and I couldn't see clearly. It seemed that we hadn't fallen yet."

Shang Fu frowned and was about to grab two more defeated soldiers to question them, but Fan Yi said impatiently, "Three or four people said the city hasn't been captured. Why bother asking again? Are we going to let the army wait here forever?"

At this time, two scouts came galloping one after the other.

"General, the East Gate is still there!"

"General, General Zhou has led his men to recapture the South Gate, and the enemy troops are trapped inside the city."

After thinking for a moment, Fan Yi shouted, "Hurry to the South Gate!"

The 1,500 soldiers immediately rushed to the south gate. When they were a few hundred steps away, they saw that the gate was closed, there was no one outside the city, and faint shouts of killing could be heard from inside the city.

"Someone come! Go and take a look at the city." Fan Yi shouted.

A group of soldiers carefully crossed the drawbridge and came to the foot of the city. After saying a few words to the guards on the city gate, they hurried back.

The captain came over excitedly and reported, "General, our army has indeed recaptured the South Gate. General Zhou is on the city wall right now!"

Fan Yi and Shang Fu looked at each other and saw a hint of joy in each other's eyes. When they led the troops to the foot of the city, they saw Zhou Yu's familiar handsome face.

Zhou Yu, clad in Mingguang armor and a Liangguan helmet, stood atop the city wall, holding a sword. He looked very imposing. Seeing Fan Yi, he leaned out from behind the parapet and said, "Mr. Fan, the enemy has been trapped inside the city. We are short of manpower and cannot yet eliminate them. Please, Mr. Fan, enter the city quickly and help me crush the enemy!"

As he finished speaking, the city gate creaked and slowly opened, revealing a deep doorway.

(End of this chapter)