Chapter 830: Retreat to Jiangdu
In Sun Ce's camp, all troops and horses had successfully withdrawn from the camp. However, when 40,000 troops came to attack Guangling, only a little over 20,000 were left. Huang Gai's 10,000-strong army had only a few hundred defeated soldiers to protect Huang Gai and fled back in embarrassment.
Han Dang's troops returned with more than 6,000 troops, plus Sun Ce's 14,000 troops. Of course, there are also the six thousand troops of Jiangdu and Yuguo. Calculated in this way, more than half of the 50,000 troops who crossed the river to fight have been lost by now.
At this time, more than 50,000 Yuan Shu's elite troops were watching outside the camp, and they might launch an attack on the camp at any time.
In a moment, the offensive and defensive positions changed. This change made the morale of Sun Ce's soldiers very low. Seeing this situation, Sun Ce knew that if he didn't think of a way, he didn't know how many of the 50,000 Jiangdong elites could be brought back.
Thinking of this, Sun Ce raised his ancient ingot sword and shouted to his guards: "Take my general's horse and follow me out of camp to meet the enemy!"
The expressions of Zhu Zhi and others changed greatly. Now Yuan Shu's army outside the camp was more than twice that of his family. It would be very dangerous to leave the camp at this time. . . Thinking of this, several people looked at each other and were about to speak to stop him.
"Dong dong dong..."
At this moment, a loud drumbeat suddenly came from outside the camp, and soon the guards reported outside the tent: "Report, General, Yuan Shu's army has begun to attack!"
When several people heard this, their expressions changed at the same time. Ji Ling didn't even give him any time to breathe. As soon as everyone was in formation, the whole army was escorted. You must know that although Sun Cejun's camp is also very strong, it is far from comparable to the city. Moreover, once Sun Cejun, who has just experienced a major defeat, gets the news about Hailing City and Donglingtingdu, the army will collapse in an instant.
Outside Sun Cejun's camp, Ji Ling was behind the army. Just as Sun Cejun's generals thought, he didn't want to give Sun Cejun too much time, because he didn't have much time himself. Now Xuzhou and Yuzhou are facing two strong forces. No matter which army is attacking, it cannot be easily defeated, so he must destroy Sun Ce's army as soon as possible, and then quickly lead troops to return for reinforcements.
After the army was arrayed, Ji Ling ordered the entire army to attack. He wanted to wipe out Sun Ce's army with a thunderous force.
Accompanied by the rumbling of war drums, nearly 60,000 Yuan Shu's troops rushed towards Sun Ce's army camp from the northeast and two directions. Seeing this situation, Sun Ce said to the generals: "Follow me to the camp and wall to meet the enemy!"
Everyone agreed, and then hurried to the wall of the stronghold to meet the enemy, following Sun Ce. As soon as they climbed the wall, they could see that tens of thousands of Yuan Shu's troops were divided into neat square formations and attacked their camp.
Seeing this situation, Sun Ce also knew that nothing could be done, so he turned to the generals Han Dang beside him and said: "General Han, leave the wall on the wall to me. You return to the camp and assist General Huang in gathering the injured soldiers and soldiers." The important craftsmen of the rear camp are preparing to retreat. Our stronghold walls cannot stop Yuan Shu's army for long. The army only needs to retreat to Jiangdu, otherwise we will die without a burial place."
Han Dang was shocked and said: "Young General, it is better for Old Han to stay on the wall. You can lead the army to retreat first. The Sun Army can do without Han Dang, but it cannot lose the Young General!"
"Old general, there is no need to say more. Ce is the commander-in-chief of the army. Qi Ke will retreat first. Besides, although Ji Ling's army is large, if he wants to stop me, Sun Ce, Ji Ling alone is not qualified." Sun Ce flatly refused;
Han Dang also understood that Sun Ce had made up his mind and would not change it, so he had to accept the order and return to the camp. He also knew that his young master was so brave that no ordinary person could withstand him, and Sun Ce had a guard camp of 500 people around him, who were elite soldiers carefully selected from Danyang's 100,000-strong army. Although it cannot be said that one can defeat a hundred, there is no problem in defeating one against ten.
Not long after Han Dang descended the wall, Yuan Shu's army attacked the wall, and the bloody battle between the two armies began again. Faced with Yuan Shujun's crazy attack, Sun Cejun's soldiers also fought desperately to resist. But it was already afternoon. Sun Ce's army had been attacking the city since the morning. They had not eaten yet and were exhausted by now.
Under Yuan Shu's army's tidal attack, Sun Ce's camp only lasted less than an hour before being breached.
Seeing that things were serious, Sun Ce ordered the army to retreat, and he personally led the 500-guard battalion to break up the rear.
The little tiger's display of power really caused Yuan Shu's army to suffer a lot. It was not until the sky turned dark that Yuan Shu's army was able to occupy the entire Sun Ce army's camp. At this time, most of Sun Ce's army had already retreated several miles away. outside.
After capturing Sun Ce's army camp, Ji Ling immediately divided the army into two, with 20,000 people under his own command and carrying dry food to pursue Sun Ce's army first. The other 20,000 troops were led by deputy general Lei Bo and rested in the camp for half a day. The pursuit continued after an hour, replacing his own 20,000-strong army.
In this way, the two armies fled and pursued each other until the morning and afternoon of the next day, when the remaining soldiers of Sun Ce's army fled into Jiangdu County. At this time, there were only 10,000 soldiers of more than 20,000 Sun Ce troops who had fled into Jiangdu City. In addition to the 3,000 soldiers originally in Jiangdu City and the more than 1,000 remnant soldiers led by Lu Dai who retreated into Jiangdu City, as well as the soldiers in Yuguo County. Of the 3,000 troops and 50,000 Sun Ce troops who crossed the river, only 17,000 or 8,000 soldiers were left.
This result made Sun Ce almost faint. Fortunately, after Lu Dai entered Jiangdu, he actively strengthened the defense and sent people to Yuguo to prepare him. Therefore, the soldiers and horses of the two cities arrived one day before Sun Ce's order. Preparations have already begun.
Soon after Sun Ce's army entered Jiangdu, Ji Ling's army also arrived in Jiangdu. However, the army had been fighting for a day and a night, and it was impossible to attack Jiangdu immediately, so Ji Ling ordered the army to camp a few miles north of Jiangdu, and to rest for two days before attacking Jiangdu. At the same time, he ordered a large number of siege equipment to be sent from Guangling for use in the war two days later.
Standing on the city wall, Sun Ce looked at the busy Yuan Shu army outside the city with a frosty face. Although he was unwilling in his heart, he had to admit that he had completely failed in this crossing of the river to the north. Now he needed to consider how to smoothly withdraw the remaining troops and horses back to Jiangdong.
Since entering the city, Sun Ce has been standing on the city wall to observe the movements of Yuan Shu's army, and the rest of the generals are arranging soldiers and defenses in the city. An hour later, Lu Dai, who entered Jiangdu first, climbed the city wall, walked slowly to Sun Ce, and quietly watched the movements of the army outside the city.
Lu Dai was a general who joined Sun Ce's army after Sun Ce took control of Jiangdong. It can be said that like Quan Rou, he was Sun Ce's true confidant, and not like several veteran generals of the Sun family who were generals left behind by Sun Jian. Therefore, there were some things that other generals could not say, but Lu Dai had no such concerns.