Chapter 717 Transfer

However, fortunately, although Xu Rong is strong, Zhao Yun is not bad either. The two of them are matched in chess and will meet good talents. Often when Xu Rong had just discovered a defensive flaw and sent out his soldiers, Zhao Yun would have already made up for it with subsequent soldiers and horses, strengthening the defense at this position.

From this aspect, Zhao Yun is still slightly inferior to Xu Rong due to his lack of experience in fighting. However, Huangfu Chaobo was full of confidence in Zhao Yun. He believed that with Zhao Yun's ability, given time, he would definitely become a better general than Xu Rong. After all, Xu Rong still had a shortcoming in terms of force, but Zhao Yun's force value ranked among the top three in the entire Han Dynasty.

It just so happened that this time, Xu Ronglai was allowed to sharpen Zhao Yun. Huangfu Chaobo believed that with Pang Tong by his side, there would be no problem.

After a day's battle, although it was quite fierce, there were no dangers. Several times the Hedong Army attacked the wall, but Zhao Yun easily resolved it.

However, the losses of the army were not small. There were a thousand soldiers killed in the battle alone, and as many as two thousand injured. The Hedong Army did not seek any benefits. There were as many as 5,000 corpses thrown under the stronghold wall alone, and there were thousands of injured soldiers who retreated to Anyi.

However, such casualties were not in the eyes of Xu Rong and Jiang Pei. After discussing and arranging the battle for the second day, the two ordered the army to rest. Of course, Xu Rong still arranged for soldiers and horses to go to the Sizhou Army camp at night to harass them. As for how useful they could be, Xu Rong didn't care much.

For Huangfu Chaobo, in addition to the loss of soldiers and horses, there is still two better news. One is that Su Zhibu's infantry who broke out of the encirclement have been successfully returned. There are a total of 6,000 soldiers and 1,000 prisoners. This made all the Sizhou generals breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Another good news is that in the afternoon, Yang Feng finally came back and brought good news. That is, he has found a suitable place to cross the river. It is in a small town called Gengxiang on the south bank of the Fen River. The main reason why he chose this place is because the Fen River here is relatively slow and the water surface is lower than the surrounding areas. Other places within ten miles are several feet narrower. If we build a pontoon bridge to cross the river from here, it would be relatively the best.

Moreover, opposite here is also a small town-level territory called Donghuang Town. More than 20 miles west of Donghuang Town along the Fen River is Pishi County. If you want to evacuate from the river, you must occupy Pishi and Hejin Port. Therefore, after crossing the Fen River, Pishi and Hejin must be captured as soon as possible so that the Sizhou navy can come to respond.

After discussing with Pang Tong and others, Huangfu Chaobo decided to send a group of Longxiang camp soldiers and a thousand strong craftsmen to quietly occupy Gengxiang, and then prepare to cross the river, waiting for the arrival of the army. Build a pontoon bridge to cross the river.

After the group of people discussed it, Huangfu Chaobo ordered Yang Feng to prepare overnight and set off early tomorrow morning. In order to arrive as soon as possible, Huangfu Chaobo also decided to send a thousand cavalry to send the two thousand people on horses until they were captured. After Gengxiang, the cavalry brought the war horses to the camp. After all, the number of war horses in the army was too few.

There was no talking all night, and the fighting continued on the next day. However, at noon, Jiang Pei suddenly received news that the Sizhou Army had forcibly purchased a large amount of grain and grass around Wenxi. At the same time, it was making every effort to strengthen Wenxi's defense and seemed to be preparing to defend to the death.

Not only that, the Wenxi defenders were also preparing to build a bridge on the Sushui River. A large amount of materials had been piled on the riverside, and many people were using rafts to build pontoon bridges from the riverside to the middle of the river.

After seeing the two pieces of information, Jiang Pei was stunned and quickly asked Xu Rong how to act. After looking at it, Xu Rong chuckled and said: "General Pingdong is making preparations on both sides. While raising food and grass, he is also preparing to attack Lengkou."

"Then what should we do?"

"Ignore him, continue to attack the camp, attack the camp at all costs." Xu Rong waved his hand;

"But the Sizhou soldiers who collected food and grass around Wenxi just ignored him?"

"How to manage,

Send cavalry? Xu Rong sneered and said: "Our army only has more than 20,000 cavalry, while the Sizhou army has 10,000 cavalry. If I send more cavalry, the Sizhou cavalry in the camp will rush out of the camp to attack my siege army." If the cavalry is sent less and the cavalry arrives, is it not like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth? "

When the generals heard this, they all nodded. The attack in the afternoon became more intense, but Zhao Yun became more and more skillful in dealing with Xu Rong's attack. However, even so, the casualties of the soldiers continued to increase throughout the day.

At night, when we counted the casualties of the soldiers, we found that today's casualties were almost twice those of yesterday. However, the casualties of the Hedong Army were also greater.

During the military meeting, someone suddenly mentioned that the cavalry of the Xiliang Army showed no signs of dividing their forces. On the contrary, they increased their intensity in attacking the camp. It seemed that Xu Rong was determined to break the camp. .

Pang Tong was reminded of what he said in the past, and he quickly stood up and said: "General, since Xu Rong is not willing to divide his troops to come to hear the news, then we can take advantage of this. General Yang should have already occupied Gengxiang. In this case, it's just right, we can take advantage of the situation in the camp." The extra horses sent some of the injured soldiers to Gengxiang overnight so that they could retreat more quickly without worrying that the injured soldiers would hinder the army's journey. "

The problem of the speed of the troops and horses during the retreat has always been the biggest headache for Huangfu Chaobo. At that time, there will definitely be a large number of wounded soldiers and civilian craftsmen. The speed of these people will definitely not be as fast as ordinary soldiers. Then, once these people are caught up by Jiang Pei Army and Dong Zhuo Army, they will either be killed or captured.

It is more than a hundred miles from Wenxi to Gengxiang next to Fenshui River. The fastest march of infantry will take one day and one night. If the wounded soldiers are included, it may not reach Gengxiang in two or three days. Once it is discovered that the army has retreated, the cavalry under Xu Rong can catch up with the army in more than two hours. At that time, fighting with most of the cavalry in the field is simply courting death.

Now that Xu Rong is unwilling to divide his troops to take care of Wenxi, it is indeed as Pang Tong said, just take this opportunity to slowly transfer these wounded soldiers and craftsmen to Gengxiang. At that time, the army will travel light and fast, and only need to buy one day, and the army will have enough time to reach Gengxiang. At that time, even if Xu Rong's 20,000 cavalry arrives, what can they do to me?

"Yes, Shi Yuan, this plan is feasible. Chen Jing, send the 7,000 wounded soldiers in the camp to Wenxi overnight. Then, discuss with Su Zhi to send away the 15,000 wounded soldiers and more than 20,000 civilians in Wenxi City in the next few days. Only one school of soldiers will be left to guard the city. The rest of the soldiers will be sent to the camp. It seems that the camp will need to hold on for a few more days."