Chapter 952: Invading the Inner City of Shouchun
Huangfu Chaobo's words made the other two people nod in agreement, so the three of them returned to their own armies and ordered the soldiers to attack the city again. However, each of the three sent people back to the camp and ordered the gates to be closed inside the camp to prevent Yuan Shu's army from coming around behind them to attack the camp. Huangfu Chaobo even ordered Hu Yandu to personally lead a thousand cavalry across the Feishui River and monitor the whereabouts of the army from a distance.
The war in the city was still going on. Ji Ling led the fleet into Feishui, then turned eastward. After traveling a few miles, he disembarked at the corner of Feishui. Ten thousand troops escorted five thousand family members and headed towards Go south-southeast toward Fuling.
Cao Cao, who returned to the central army, soon received Ji Ling's army and moved towards his camp. At first, Cao Cao thought that Ji Ling was trying to steal his retreat, so he immediately ordered Cao Xiu, who was left behind to guard the camp, to transfer five troops from the west bank camp. Thousands of soldiers retreated to the east bank of Fei River, preparing to defend the camp.
However, the thoughtful Sima Yi quickly thought of a problem. Ji Ling should go to Fuling to join Yuan Shu's pseudo-prince Yuan Yao. In this case, it is very likely that Ji Ling has a valuable treasure in his body, which makes sense. Yuan Shu did not retreat with the army but defended Shouchun City.
Sima Yi's words were like a drum in the evening and a bell in the morning, which suddenly cleared up the doubts in Cao Cao's mind. So, Cao Cao used the excuse that Ji Ling's army was attacking his camp and urgently mobilized 10,000 troops from the attacking army in the city and returned to the east bank of Fei River. , while the army returned, Cao Cao quickly led Cao Xiu's army to hold back Ji Ling's army regardless of casualties, preparing to surround and annihilate Ji Ling's army on the east bank of Fei River.
In Cao Cao's view, he has a total of 15,000 soldiers and horses left in his camp. Plus his 10,000 reinforcements, he is fully capable of swallowing up this army. In this way, the Jade Seal will really fall. into his own hands.
In order to stop Ji Ling's army, Cao Cao ordered Cao Xiu to dispatch all the 15,000 troops and horses in the camp, leaving only thousands of wounded soldiers and more than 10,000 civilians to guard the camp. Unfortunately, Cao Cao still underestimated the combat power of the army led by Ji Ling. By the time he led 10,000 reinforcements to the east bank of Fei River, Ji Ling had already led his army to break through Cao Xiu's interception, leaving more than 5,000 troops behind. After six thousand soldiers were killed and wounded, they walked away, leaving Cao Cao sighing and regretting. If he had known it, he would have talked to Huangfu Chaobo and others and borrowed Huangfu Chaobo's thousands of cavalry. .
But now that the matter has come to this, it is useless to think too much. In desperation, Cao Cao had no choice but to order Cao Xiu to clean up the mess, and he led an army of 10,000 back to Shouchun City again.
After a lot of fussing, the day has passed. The civil war in the city was over, and the three armies were ultimately unable to invade the inner city within one day. In desperation, they retreated and prepared to fight again tomorrow.
After learning that Ji Ling's army had broken through the defenses of Cao Cao's army and moved south, Sun Ce quickly sent orders to the garrison guards of the cities he occupied in southern Jiujiang. Regardless of the fact that the army had just occupied them, each city immediately recruited thousands of troops, plus the soldiers who had stayed to defend the cities. , so that the number of garrison troops in each city ranged from 8,000 to 10,000 people. At the same time, he warned Lu Dai of Fuling, drawing attention to the fact that after Ji Ling's army joined Yuan Yao in Fuling, the number would reach nearly 30,000 people. It was a considerable threat to Lu Dai's army, but Sun Ce could not let Lu Dai withdraw his troops. If Ji Ling joined Yuan Yao's army and sent troops to Guangling, then the newly occupied Guangling might not be safe.
It's just that everyone has forgotten that in the east city of Guangling County, there is also an army of 10,000 soldiers from Yuan Shu's army Chen Lan. After Ji Ling broke through, Chen Lan sent an order to him to lead all the 15,000 soldiers from Dongcheng County. Rushed to the north of Fuling to join him. At this time, although Ji Ling had only less than 5,000 soldiers and horses, if he added Chen Lan's 15,000 troops, and Yuan Yao's 10,000 Imperial Forest Army and 5,000 troops in Fuling, If there are 10,000 imperial guards and 5,000 defenders from Quanjiao Li Ling's tribe, there will be a total of 50,000 troops.
As a result, for Sun Ce's army and Lu Dai's troops, it was no longer a small threat, but a question of how many soldiers and horses could escape. But at this time, whether it was Sun Ce or Lu Dai,
They didn't even know that they would face an army of 50,000 instead of more than 30,000.
The battle in Shouchun was going on like a raging fire. Whether it was Yuan Shu or the remaining generals, they all knew that they would die, but they all hoped to buy more time for Ji Ling's breakout army to give the three attacking princes The army caused considerable losses.
Four days later, the three-pronged army finally invaded the inner city of Shouchun. The price paid was that each family lost more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and Yuan Shu also suffered huge losses. The 40,000 defenders, excluding the 10,000 people who broke through under Ji Ling's leadership, suffered casualties. Ten thousand people were captured, and more than ten thousand were captured. Only less than ten thousand people followed Yuan Shu and retreated into the imperial city to defend themselves.
At this time, Ji Ling had joined Chen Lan's army and arrived less than a hundred miles northwest of Fuling. After the two armies merged, Ji Ling did not immediately send troops to Fuling to join Yuan Yao. Instead, he reorganized the army and took a short rest; at the same time, he sent people into Fuling to collude with Yuan Yao and prepare to attack. Lu Dai's army launched an attack.
Ji Ling knew that no matter where his army went, Lu Dai's army of 30,000 must be annihilated, otherwise there would be no way to safely evacuate.
Regarding the issue of the movement of the army, Ji Ling was discussing the matter with Shu Shao and Yan Xiang along the way. By the way, another military advisor under Yuan Shu, Yang Hong, was discussing with most of the army when the army broke through the obstruction of Cao Xiu's army. It is unclear whether they were separated intentionally or whether they were actually separated in the chaos, whether they were alive or dead.
In terms of the direction of the army's breakout, if they could break through the territory of Cao Cao and Huangfu Chaobo to the north, they could smoothly enter Yuan Shao's territory, which would be the most ideal. After all, they were blood relatives of the same clan and clan. However, they had been marching in the hinterland of the two families all the way. Ji Ling thought that he did not have the ability to lead tens of thousands of troops to march hundreds of thousands of miles and arrive in Jizhou safely, so they broke through to the north.
In fact, in history, Yuan Shu tried to go north to Jizhou, but failed several times.
There is also the east. To the east is Guangling, which has now been occupied by Sun Ce's army, and to the north is Cao Cao's territory. Guangling is not dangerous. Even if they take all the territory of Guangling later, they can only survive, so the three of them also rejected this plan.
To the south, they must cross the river, which is basically impossible with the current strength of Yuan Shu's army.
Then there is only one way to go, to the west. I believe that many people are familiar with several names - Dabie Mountains and Tiantangzhai. Yes, Ji Ling and his men chose the Dabie Mountains in the west of Lujiang. Although the mountains here are high and the forests are dense, it is the only way to survive for Yuan Shu's army.