Chapter 557 Western Forces!

Because he had to guard against Cao Cao in Yizhou and Sun Jian in Yangzhou, and prepare for the war in Jiaozhou, he really didn't have the extra energy to manage such a large area.

The most important thing is that the city defense construction of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions was completely substandard. The city walls were not as high as a county town in the Han Dynasty. If troops were stationed in such places, there would be no defense capability at all.

In order to defend these places, the city walls must be reinforced. Such an investment is also too much for Gu Rubing.

The continuous wars have long made Gu Rubing unable to make ends meet. The fine salt business can't support such consumption.

"What are this Parthian Empire and the Roman Empire? Small countries in the Western Regions?"

Zhang Fei looked at the information in his hand with some curiosity and asked in a low voice.

Gu Rubing didn't know how to explain it after hearing it. According to the standards of the Han Dynasty, as long as it was a foreign country, it was a small country, but he knew in his heart that the Parthian Empire and the Roman Empire were both powerful countries that were not much weaker than the Han Dynasty.

Although it is one of the four great empires, the Kushan Empire is surrounded by small countries and has no ambition to conquer. As a result, its domestic strength has weakened a lot, and the generals are not of high rank. There are even only two famous generals in the country. However, Parthia and Rome are different. According to intelligence, they have been fighting and annexing many countries, including Athens and Greece.

And because of the disorder of the timeline, many powerful generals of the two empires have appeared together. Now, even Gu Rubing has to pay attention to the two empires.

In terms of intelligence, Zhuge Liang is also asking whether it is necessary to send reinforcements to Taishi Ci.

Gu Rubing looked at the people he could use, plus the troops he had, and the consumption of the battles was too great. Taishi Ci had no extra troops to send.

The only way at present is to ease the situation when meeting with Cao Cao and others, so that he can have more time to recover.

"Come to the old general."

Guan Yu nodded.

Not long after, Huang Zhong walked in and looked at the four legendary generals in the tent.

Even though Huang Zhong had lived for many years and was indifferent to everything, he couldn't help but feel a little envious. He had imagined countless times that he could become a legendary general and fight for Gu Rubing, but he had made no progress. Every time he was the commander of the central army, he had few opportunities to play.

"My lord, what do you want?"

"I just heard you say that Guangxin County is within your reach?"

Huang Zhong nodded. It was just a county, Huang Zhong didn't care about it. He thought Gu Rubing wouldn't care either, but at this time, being mentioned by Gu Rubing made Huang Zhong a little curious.

"My lord, are you going to attack Guangxin County? I'll go now. Just give me half an hour!"

After saying that, Huang Zhong was ready to turn around and leave.

"No hurry, send a message to Cao Cao, saying that we will meet in Nanhai County in three days!"

Huang Zhong nodded, but his face changed soon.

"My Lord, this Nanhai County is Sun Jian's territory. If we go there like this, isn't it a bit..."

"It belongs to Sun Jian now, but it may not be the case in three days. Let's start the fire in Guangxin County."

Huang Zhong immediately understood what Gu Rubing meant and nodded hurriedly.

Night fell!

In order to prevent Sun Ce from taking action, Gu Rubing deliberately did not bring Guan Yu and his men. He only brought Zhao Yun, a legendary general, and followed far behind to prevent accidents.

Huang Zhong and Wei Yan followed behind Gu Rubing. The two of them also led 50,000 troops and rushed directly to Guangxin County.

The last time Guangxin County was attacked, Zhou Yu learned the news and immediately ordered people to strengthen the city defense. The number of people stationed in a county now has reached 5,000, and Xu Sheng is stationed there in person.

This time, the 50,000-man army came to Guangxin County in a mighty manner. With so many people, they were discovered by Sun Jian's spies at the first time and the news was told to Xu Sheng.

Xu Sheng was also well prepared.

A large number of defensive equipment were moved onto the city wall, and 5,000 Yangzhou troops were also on the city wall, ready for battle. At the same time, Xu Sheng sent someone to tell Zhou Yu about the situation here, asking Zhou Yu to be ready to support at any time.

When Gu Rubing and his men rushed to the outside of the city, he saw the heavily defended county town, and even saw Xu Sheng's figure. He smiled and nodded to Huang Zhong who was standing beside him.

Huang Zhong immediately understood and walked out of the crowd with two hundred white feather light cavalry.

"Huang Zhong, have you forgotten that we are in a truce period now? Do you want to destroy our peace? Last time you attacked Guangxin County, our Grand Commander did not cause you any trouble because everyone was in a truce. You dared to come again. What happened? Can you afford it?"

In the dark, Xu Sheng could only see Huang Zhong coming out, and could not see Gu Rubing in the crowd in the dark.

However, Huang Zhong sneered at Xu Sheng's words, did not reply, but waved directly.

Two hundred white feather light cavalrymen directly pulled the fire arrows and shot them towards the city.

Seeing this, Xu Sheng quickly hid himself, only to find that the arrows seemed to have been shot off target, not damaging any part of the city wall, but falling into the city instead.

"Haha, Huang Zhong, you are really old, you can't even shoot arrows accurately."

"What's the hurry? Let the arrows fly for a while!"

Gu Rubing's voice followed.

"Fly for a while? What do you mean fly for a while?"

Xu Sheng was a little surprised to see Gu Rubing appear, but now he had no extra time to think about what to do.

Xu Sheng obviously did not understand what Gu Rubing meant.

Xu Sheng soon discovered that it was so late at night and there were only a few torches around him. Why did it feel like it was already dawn?

"No, general, there's a fire in the city."

"You fart, Huang Zhong just shot it. Two hundred arrows can set the city on fire. How big does it take to start a fire?"

Xu Sheng cursed and looked in the direction of the city.

This time he finally knew why the city wall was so bright.

At this time, the entire city was covered in fire, especially the location of the warehouse, which was directly ignited.

how so?

Xu Rong looked confused. It was not that he had never let go of rockets. To be precise, he fired them often. But no matter how he fired them, more than two hundred rockets would definitely not have the same effect as now.

"Fire...the God of Fire is here?"

After several soldiers saw this situation, their eyes widened and they kept shouting.

The appearance of these voices directly alarmed other people. The people here believed very much and were very afraid of gods. Once they were related to gods, they would not even have the slightest intention to fight.

Soon, more and more people knew about the God of Fire, and eventually the entire 5,000 Yangzhou Army was in chaos.

"Fart, what Vulcan?"

Seeing that the army was somewhat out of control, Xu Sheng immediately retorted.

"General, what do you mean? How could two hundred rockets have such an effect?"

A centurion pointed excitedly at the sea of ​​fire below. Under the threat of the so-called Fire God, these people had given up their respect for Xu Sheng.

When Xu Sheng heard this, he swung his sword and killed the centurion in front of him.

This move really calmed down the panicked people.

Soon, Xu Sheng smelled the smell of kerosene in the air and understood immediately.

At first, Zhou Yu was a little curious about Huang Zhong's departure after the sneak attack. He originally wanted to come over to check it out in person, but was stopped by something, so he just asked Xu Sheng to come over and take charge.

After Xu Sheng arrived, he simply checked the city walls, city gate materials, etc., without any detailed inspection. After all, it was just a county town. Who would care about those things, but this time he suffered a loss.

"This is not Vulcan, this is fire oil, get out!"

Seeing his men, Xu Sheng had no intention of fighting anymore. Although he already knew it was kerosene, the city was already a sea of ​​fire. The few defensive equipment in his hands were not enough at all, and everything in the warehouse was also destroyed. Burned, now besides retreating, there is no other way in front of an army of 50,000 people.

As Xu Rong retreated, Gu Rubing led the army into the city smoothly.

"Lord, where shall we attack next?"

"We're not going anywhere, just wait here and put out the fire first!"

Huang Zhong and Wei Yan immediately organized people to put out the fire. At the same time, they began to place the defensive equipment they brought over, and dispatched reinforcements from the camp to support them.

When Zhou Yu learned that Xu Sheng had been defeated, he was also very surprised. He had already prepared everything, so that when Xu Sheng needed support, he could immediately support him. But what was waiting for him was Xu Sheng with five thousand people. The people came back and the city was lost?

It seems that after Xu Sheng, Zhou Yu shouted directly: "Come here, pull Xu Sheng down for me, fight forty!"

Soon, soldiers came forward and pulled Xu Sheng down who was kneeling in front of him.

"The Commander-in-Chief, the general will not accept it!"

Xu Sheng stood up directly, pushed aside the soldiers beside him, and looked at Zhou Yu unwillingly.

"Don't accept it? Five thousand people are defending a county town. Even if the enemy attacks the city and you can't defend it, I won't say anything to you. Now that the city has been lost, the five thousand people have not suffered any losses. Aren't you running away from the battle? Those who run away from the battle, according to the military I will kill you according to the regulations, but because Xu Sheng has many years of military service, I will spare you the death penalty, but you will not escape the punishment of living. Fighting forty is a warning to you, and it is also a warning to everyone! "

After hearing this, everyone looked at each other, and suppressed their original intention to plead for Xu Sheng.

"Grand Governor, I did not run away from the battle."

Then Xu Sheng told the story.

"Kerosene?"

Zhou Yu immediately reacted after hearing this. Huang Zhong must have been prepared when he left.

At this time, Zhou Yu also regretted why he didn't go and take a look. If he had gone, he would definitely have discovered the loopholes in the kerosene.

"This kerosene must have been deliberately placed by Huang Zhong when he left. If you are punished for lax supervision, will you have nothing to say? Come here, give me twenty."

Xu Sheng really had nothing to say this time. He had lost the battle and lost so cowardly, so he naturally needed some punishment.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Sheng's screams rang out outside.

The people in the tent frowned secretly when they heard this voice.

This time it was a losing situation. It was just a small county town, so why should the punishment be so severe? It took a lot of strength for a tough-minded man to scream in agony after being beaten.

"Grand Governor, is that all right? It was originally a warning, why bother? In addition, Guangxin City itself cannot be defended. Doesn't the Grand Governor know this?"

Han Dang was quite dissatisfied with Zhou Yu's behavior. In addition, he had followed Sun Jian in his early years, so he was naturally not afraid of gossip from people around him.

"Hmph, today I want to give you all a warning. Anyone who dares to plead for mercy will be guilty of the same crime as Xu Sheng."

As soon as this sentence came out, everyone was silent. Everyone could see that Zhou Yu was angry. After all, Zhou Yu was also the Grand Commander. His prestige in the army for many years was not even as high as that of Sun Jian. Everyone present was convinced by Zhou Yu, so everyone could only endure it.

Not long after, the screams outside stopped, and Xu Sheng was dragged in by two soldiers.

Seeing Xu Sheng being beaten and bleeding, everyone frowned slightly.

"Grand Commander, you are too much. I will definitely report to the lord and let the lord make a fair judgment."

Han Dang has always regarded Xu Sheng as a junior. In addition, the relationship between the two is quite good in private. Xu Sheng also regards Han Dang as his elder. Whenever they have time, they will get together to drink. Now seeing Xu Sheng like this, Han Dang finally couldn't help it.

"If you want to go, go. Okay, send General Xu back to heal his wounds. Let's disperse."

After that, everyone left the tent. Han Dang pulled his mount and wanted to leave the camp to complain to Sun Jian.

But just as he was about to mount his horse, a soldier came to Han Dang.

"General, the Grand Commander invites you!"

"Invite me? What? Do you want to imprison me? Zhou Yu has some prestige, but he is not qualified. If he attacks me and loses the battle, he will be beaten with a stick. Then Zhou Yu has lost fewer battles? I haven't seen how the lord treats him? He can be so cruel to his own brothers. He is too cruel."

Han Dang deliberately raised his voice to attract the soldiers around to watch. This was also Han Dang's strategy.

The more people knew that he was leaving, Zhou Yu would not have the courage to attack him even if he wanted to.

After all, the news could not be covered up. Sooner or later, Sun Jian would find Zhou Yu and ask him for people.

The army was indeed handed over to Zhou Yu, but no one knew how many of Sun Jian's spies there were in secret.

Of course, there were not only Sun Jian's spies in the camp, but also Gu Rubing's.

Not long after, Gu Rubing received information from Zhou Yu's camp, including Xu Sheng who was beaten by Zhou Yu, and the angry Han Dang.

"What's wrong with Zhou Yu? Why is he so cruel?"

Gu Rubing muttered in a low voice.

Zhang Fei, who was standing by, heard Gu Rubing's words and waved his hand indifferently, saying, "Brother, you should be punished for being defeated and deserting the battlefield! Why bother!"

Gu Rubing nodded and didn't care about it.

Just as Han Dang was shouting, another soldier came to Han Dang and whispered in his ear.