Chapter 987: Zang Ba's Forces Are Destroyed
On the top of Kaiyang City, Ye Lai Xiang and Xi Zhicai stood on the top of the city wall, watching the second batch of 10,000 elite soldiers marching towards Jiqiu in the south, and they were all silent.
After a long time, Xi Zhicai said: "My lord, the troops are gradually in place, the 1,000 crossbows of the Eastern Expedition Army have been distributed, and the crossbowmen have been selected from the troops."
"Well, how long will it take to train?"
"General Xu said that it will take at least two months. If time permits, it is best to give him another half a year."
Ye Lai Xiang smiled bitterly: "Half a year, where can I get half a year?" Thinking of this, he turned his head and looked in the direction where the army outside the city left: "Tell Xu Sheng not to force it, these 1,000 crossbowmen can only Use them as surprise troops. Also, military advisor, have all the troops been prepared? "
"My lord, don't worry, everything is going according to our agreed plan."
"Okay, I hope we can get as much benefit as possible this time, this is our only chance!"
In Jiangdong, Jianye City, Wucheng Marquis Mansion, Sun Ce was also discussing the matter of sending troops with Zhou Yu. Since Zhou Yu joined, the situation of Sun Ce's army has been much better than before. First, they captured several cities in the north of Wu County, then captured Guangling, and then controlled more than half of the cities in Jiujiang County.
The current Sun Ce army is no longer the wandering army that borrowed troops to settle Jiangdong. Nearly four counties, dozens of cities, and more than one million people have made Sun Ce daring. It's just that the battle in Huainan failed to take back the jade seal that belonged to their Sun family, so after hearing Huangfu Chaobo's suggestion to jointly attack Cao Cao, Sun Ce agreed without hesitation.
Cao Cao is now strong and powerful, and Sun Ce cannot shake him. It would be best if Huangfu Chaobo came forward. Once the Eastern Expedition Army goes out, the Yuzhou Army will definitely go out as well. Although everyone despises the weakness of the Yuzhou Army, after all, Yuzhou has a large territory and a large population, and sufficient manpower, so it is good to use them to attract the attention of Cao Cao's army.
Now that the New Year has passed, Sun Ce can't wait to call Zhou Yu to discuss the matter of sending troops.
He has already begun to prepare for the expedition, but for some reason, there is still no news from the Eastern Expedition Army, so Sun Ce had to suppress the impulse to send troops and first called Zhou Yu to discuss the matter of sending troops.
The two discussed for nearly half a day and basically decided on the strategy of sending troops. First of all, the Eastern Expedition Army must go out first, that is, only when the Eastern Expedition Army and Cao Cao's army have started fighting, Sun Ce's army will send troops. Moreover, Zhou Yu's idea was to divide the troops into two groups, one starting from Guangling and heading to the East China Sea, and the other starting from Jiujiang, first annihilating all Cao Cao's troops in Jiujiang, and then crossing the river to the north to attack Xiapi.
After the two agreed, they began to gather officers and generals to discuss matters, and then decided to send troops, and then the mobilization of troops and supplies.
The flood season of the big river is different from that of the big river. It is basically concentrated in July and August every year, and there is no ice in winter. Therefore, in the big river, except for the flood season, it is dangerous to sail, and it can be sailed all year round. Therefore, Zhou Yu almost soaked in the navy and trained the navy throughout the winter; and the materials and personnel of Jiangdong have been transported to Jiangbei since they occupied Shouchun last year.
The movements of the princes of the world are collected by the shadow guards distributed everywhere every day, and then transmitted to Luoyang by pigeon letter, and then arranged by Shi A to organize them, and then handed them to Guo Jia, who is in charge of intelligence, for analysis, and finally handed the final result to Huangfu Chaobo.
The movements of Cao Cao's army, Sun Ce's army and Langya's army were all within everyone's expectations, but Taishan Governor Cao Chali made a move that surprised everyone. On the night of the second day of the Lunar New Year, Cao Chali ordered Xu Zhu to lead 5,000 Tiger Guards and Cao Anmin's 5,000 Qingzhou soldiers to set off overnight.
Three days later, 10,000 elite Cao troops appeared outside Mou County without anyone noticing, and then launched an attack on Mou County. Zang Ba was caught off guard and defeated by 10,000 Cao troops. In the end, there were less than 2,000 Taishan soldiers and more than 1,000 personal guards of the 10,000 defenders,
escorting Zang Ba and his party to escape from Mou County in a panic and flee towards Laiwu County, the last city of Zang Ba's army.
At this time, Laiwu County was also in the midst of war. Zang Ba's Taishan County was divided up by Cao Charlie and Ye Lai Xiang, leaving only Mou County and Laiwu, with a force of more than 10,000 people, including Zang Ba's most elite 5,000 Taishan bandits (also known as Taishan soldiers), Zang Ba's brother Zang Quan's 3,000 people, Zang Ba's eldest son Zang Ai's 2,000 people, and Yin Li's 3,000 people, and Sun Kang and Sun Guan's 3,000 people.
After retreating to the two cities, Zang Ba ordered his brother and son to lead 5,000 troops to garrison Laiwu, and he personally led 5,000 elite troops and 6,000 soldiers from the rest of the people, a total of 11,000 people to garrison Mou County, but he did not expect Cao Charlie to once again use the heavy snow in winter as a cover to raid Mou County.
Caught off guard, Zang Ba's army lasted less than two hours before being attacked by the Qingzhou soldiers. If Zang Ba's Taishan soldiers were not also a special type of soldiers, they would have been evenly matched with the Qingzhou soldiers in the main battle. In the end, Zang Ba led Yin Li and the Sun brothers to break through the attack of more than 3,000 remnants. However, they also suffered heavy losses. The elite Taishan army that Zang Ba relied on for survival was almost wiped out in one battle. Only 1,672 of the 5,000 soldiers escaped. And of the 6,000 troops of Yin and Sun, only more than 1,000 personal guards survived.
Zang Ba led 3,000 remnants of soldiers and rushed to Laiwu in a hurry. In his opinion, Cao Cao's army would either not send troops or, if they did, they would definitely annihilate Zang Ba completely before they would stop. Now that Mou County had been lost, if Laiwu could not be saved, Zang Ba would become a dog without a home.
Unfortunately, God seemed to be against him. When Zang Ba led 3,000 remnants of soldiers to 20 miles southwest of Laiwu City, he met hundreds of soldiers and families of Zang Quan and Zang Ai who had retreated from the county and broke out. Zang Ba was shocked by the news of the loss of the county, and was stunned for a long time.
After a long time, Zang Ba woke up from the shock. He was indeed a decisive general. After quickly analyzing the situation of the enemy and our forces, Zang Ba led more than 3,000 remnants of soldiers to escort hundreds of families, bypassed Laiwu County, and headed southeast towards the direction of Qingzhou Beihai State. With the Taishan Army, who were extremely familiar with Taishan County, leading the way, Zang Ba and his party quickly disappeared among the vast mountains.