Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 202 Fighting wits and courage with Lu Su

Jinxian Mountain, the time is passing by every minute.

It was getting late, the Jiangdong army launched an attack on Huang Zu after noon, and they arrived at Guanting after an hour and a half, and they didn't know what was going on in Xunyang.

The light rain was still pattering down, Shen Chen and Liu Qi led 4000 troops, crouching in the forest around Jinxian Mountain, waiting for news.

I don't know how long it took, maybe half an hour, maybe an hour.

When the sky was getting darker and the wind and rain were getting lighter, someone outside the forest suddenly shouted, "Here we come."

I saw two soldiers running towards them like flying outside, shouting: "Young Master, General Shen, it's done, we captured four large boats and seized the river channel!"

"go!"

Shen Chen cheered up, and immediately ordered: "Blow the whistle!"

"Beep beep!"

Immediately, the whistle sounded all over the sky, and 4000 people rushed out of the surrounding woods.

4000 people sounds like a lot, but in fact it is very small. Standing together, only two or three basketball courts can be filled, so it is a bit sparse for a while.

These Jiangxia naval forces may be stronger than the army on the water, but they are far inferior to the soldiers in the north in terms of soldier quality and assembly speed, let alone compared with the Huangmenting soldiers who have been training all year round and are out of production.

"Hurry up."

"They're all dead, hurry up!"

"A group of pigs, will you stop and chop off your heads?"

Seemingly noticing Shen Chen and Liu Qi's increasingly dark faces, another lieutenant Liu Nan hurriedly asked the middle and lower rank officers to urge the soldiers.

After a chaotic scene, the soldiers gathered together and headed towards the official pavilion.

Shen Chen stepped on the mud with one deep foot and one shallow foot. The soldiers were all wearing straw sandals and cloaks, and hemp shoes were put on inside the shoes. This season is not cold, but it is easy to get water in the rain, which makes people very uncomfortable.

Looking up at the sky, the wind and rain have become much lighter at this time, and maybe the rain will stop in the past two days. For Jiangdong and Jingzhou, this may also mean that the war is about to begin.

Soon the army arrived at Guanting. At this time, the surface of Guanting Lake was already in a mess. Qu Gan led his troops into the water, captured several warships and battleships, and then rushed towards those large boats like flying. .

The huge hull of the big boat was used to block the lake surface. Although the surrounding yachts, scouts and other small boats had discovered the clues, there were very few pilots on these boats, and it was impossible to form a counterattack.

After the mouth of the lake leading to the Yangtze River was blocked by several large ships, the remaining small boats could only slam into the lake like chickens without heads, and it became a situation of catching a turtle in a urn.

Seeing this scene, Liu Qi immediately ordered happily: "Send the order, attack!"

"Wait!"

Shen Chen hurriedly stopped the messenger who was about to blow the horn, but looked at Liu Nan and said, "Liu Sima, blow the horn and call Qu Sima to send a warship to pick you up. You lead 1000 people, and then use the enemy's warship, Battleships came to encircle them."

"only!"

Liu Nan was the commander of the navy, so he naturally knew that Shen Chen's tactics were correct, so he quickly led the soldiers over.

Shen Chen and Liu Qi led the remaining 3000 men to surround the enemy on the shore.

Dayuan Lake is actually very wide, with several kilometers along the left and right sides, and there are countless hills and hills as shelters, so it is impossible to capture the enemy by swimming there.

And the best way, of course, is to use warships to encircle and suppress when the opening is blocked.

It's just that this method is not safe.

Because the river bank line is so long, people can abandon their boats on the left and right banks and escape on land. The forests and hills on both sides of the bank are full of overlapping mountains, so it is natural to escape by drilling in.

Therefore, Shen Chen and Liu Qi had to spread the remaining people along the coast to surround the enemy.

The woo-woo horn sounded for a long time.

Soon Qu Gan in the distance heard the call, and sent soldiers to drive four warships to come flying like flying.

At this moment, more than 300 small boats such as Maudu, Walker, Luna, Scout, Flying Boat, Yacht and other small boats floating on the lake naturally knew the other party's plan, and suddenly panicked, flying towards the shore one by one.

Although Shen Chen had made arrangements in advance, the river bank line was too long, and the jungles and hills were also very dense. Once you drilled into the forest, all these people disappeared, so very few Jiangdong soldiers were caught.

"go!"

Seeing this scene, Shen Chen didn't care about the fleeing Jiangdong soldiers. After clearing the lake, he let the army drive the abandoned boats to start approaching the big ship.

When the sky was getting darker and getting closer to dark, the original [-] Xunyang garrison had seized four large boats, four boats, and fighting boats, a total of eight ships, and countless small boats, but those The boats were useless and were all dragged into the Yangtze River by them.

These Xunyang defenders on land were only second- and third-line troops, but in the water, they suddenly became first-line elites.Under Shen Chen's command, before it was dark, the sails were unfurled, and they sailed into the Yangtze River in a mighty manner.

In fact, it cannot be called the Yangtze River, but Longgan Lake. Although it is now called Peng Lize and is connected to the Yangtze River, the water flow speed and temperature here are better than those of the Yangtze River.

Because the current was too gentle, the soldiers had to start rowing desperately, and it took half an hour to get close to the surface of the Yangtze River.

The watchman on the mast watched from a distance, and suddenly shouted down: "General, there are many ships in the south!"

"Oh?"

Shen Chen immediately walked to the edge of the ship's gunwale and looked out.

I saw that in the south, near the southwest, that is, in the direction of their right hand in front, there were countless mighty ships on the river.

Those were two groups of people, and because the distance was too far, it was hard to see exactly who was there, only that the two sides were fighting.

At that time, the battle on the river was actually very simple. The main weapons of both sides were bows and arrows.

The second is to use the boats used for charging such as 艨艟, Doujian, Maotu, Zouge, Lunao, etc. to reach the vicinity of the enemy's ship, and then use ladders or jump gangs to kill the enemy's ship and fight at close range.

At this time, the two groups of people in the distance are now entangled and intertwined, and the two sides are raining arrows, and they have a fierce confrontation on the rippling Yangtze River.

"General, Liu Sima and Qu Sima asked us what to do?"

The lookout shouted down.

The big boats on the left and right are using semaphore to ask questions. The semaphore has been recorded in Jiang Ziya's "Six Secret Teachings".

But the semaphore was not too complicated at that time, and there were only a few communication vocabulary, such as charge, retreat, outflank the two wings, and ask the commander's opinion and other simple instructions.

Shen Chen pondered for a moment, then said: "Let them not worry about it, let's go our way, avoid those ships, and go directly to Anqing."

"only!"

The watchman responded with a semaphore.

After the order was issued, the eight ships sailed southwest, a little away from the battlefield.

When they got closer, about three or four kilometers away, they vaguely saw the warring flags of the two sides, one with black characters on a yellow background and red border, and the other with black characters on a red background and a white border.

"It's General Su and General Deng!"

The watchman's eyes were like eagle's eyes. There was no fog on the river at this time, and his field of vision was extremely wide. He saw the flags of "Su" and "Deng" on those boats. They were obviously Su Fei and Deng Long, the generals under Huang Zu's command. .

Looking over from a distance, Shen Chen saw that Su Fei and Deng Long had more ships than Jiangdong's ships, and they obviously had more people. They seemed to have the upper hand at the moment, suppressing Jiangdong's army.

If this is the case, it seems that Huang Zu has listened to the words and sent two schools to cover his retreat, but he did not expect that the enemy did not fight him on the river, but went to land to intercept him, so The two schools seem to have done nothing.

It’s just that I don’t know why Su Fei and Deng Long fought with a small part of the Jiangdong navy. Maybe it was the Jiangdong navy who came to lure them, or maybe it was the fleet that came to meet the land interception forces, but at least they helped a lot .

"Let's go our way!"

Shen Chen shouted.

"Yes."

The lookout signaled again.

In this way, the eight ships entered the Yangtze River a few kilometers away from the battlefield.

When the sky was getting darker and darker, around five or six o'clock in the evening, the fleet had already headed downstream along the river mouth.

After entering the Yangtze River, the speed is much faster, the water flow speeds up rapidly, and it is the flood season again, and the boats seem to be flying.

At this time, there are many Jiangxinzhou on the surface of the Yangtze River. Fortunately, the soldiers manipulating the ships are all veterans, and the river is wide, so they will not hit the rocks at all, and the journey is safe and sound.

After an hour and a half, the sky had completely darkened, and the rain had stopped. Although there was no cloud opening and rain closing, it was still a good thing.

With the wind going smoothly, the fleet sailed [-] kilometers and arrived in Anqing.

In the Han Dynasty, this place was actually not called Anqing, but Wankou, because the Wanshui River connected Wan County, so the geographical location was as important as Xiakou, and it was the confluence of the Yangtze River and other rivers.

But there is a wharf outside the city of Wankou, called Anqing Pavilion. Although it is a pavilion, a large dock has been built, so Anqing has now become an important military site.

At this time, a huge tower was built on the pier, and billowing flames were lit on the tower, like lights in the dark night, guiding the ships to sail here.

Sailing at night in ancient times was relatively dangerous. Few people would choose to have a water battle with the enemy at night. If they were not familiar with the route on the Yangtze River, they would run aground or crash into Jiangxinzhou if they were not careful.

Before they came here, they relied on the fact that the sky was not dark at all. Now that the sky has completely darkened, the lighthouse has become an important reference point, and they arrived at the pier stumbling along the way.

Naturally, there were soldiers left behind on the pier, and they were very surprised to see a ship approaching in the middle of the night. The horns of "Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" alarmed the defenders of Wankou City in the distance, and there was a sudden chaos in the city.

"what happened?"

In Wankou City, Lu Su, who was looking at the map in the mansion, suddenly heard the sound of horns outside the city, and got up and went out.

This horn sound is not a warning horn for enemy attack, nor is it a rush horn for attack, but a relatively long sound, which often means that an unknown army is approaching.

"There are people from outside the city."

Cheng Pu, who was also awakened by the sound of the horn, also went out in a single shirt.

Both of them lived in the county government office. When they met outside the county government office, Lu Su said, "General Cheng, go out and have a look."

"Walk."

The two went out.

The Jiangdong army is now in full swing. On the Yangtze River, Han Dang, Ling Cao, Dong Xi and others are in charge of the navy, and about 8000 people are entangled with Su Fei and Deng Long.

Zhou Yu, Zhou Tai, Ling Tong, Lu Meng, Xu Sheng, Hu Zong and others led the main force to attack Xunyang from land.

So at this moment, the defenders in Wankou City are less than two thousand, and the only defenders are Lu Su and Cheng Pu.

Hearing that someone was approaching suddenly, because they didn't know whether it was an enemy or a friend, the two of them did not act recklessly, but immediately urged the soldiers to rush to the city wall, and treated them seriously.

This move apparently saved their lives.

Because at this moment, the hundreds of Jiangdong soldiers guarding the wharf in Anqingting were still looking at the river from the bank, and they could vaguely see Jiangdong's boat through a little light, so they shouted: "It's our boat."

Then when they came to greet them happily, countless soldiers of the Jiangxia Navy rushed down from the boat and rushed up, and soon there were all kinds of screams and wailing.

Lu Su and Han Dang were very vigilant, not only ordered the soldiers to go to the city wall to prepare, but also sent a team of scouts to Anqing Pavilion to check.

Anqing Pavilion is not too far away from Wankou, about two or three kilometers. The scouts rode over there, and through the large number of torches lit on the pier, they saw the Jiangxia navy disembarking from the boat and massacring the defenders on the river bank. They were so frightened that they hurried back General report.

Knowing that there was actually a Jiangxia navy attacking Wankou, Lu Su and Han Dang were shocked, and immediately mobilized a large number of bows and arrows to the top of the city.

At this time, after Shen Chen took control of the pier, he immediately ordered to attack Wankou City.

Unexpectedly, the enemy's reaction was very fast. When the army arrived outside the city, they wanted to use the captives to trick them into opening the city gate, but they were greeted by a rain of arrows, which immediately let Shen Chen know that the matter had been revealed, so he ordered a strong attack.

There is a reason for a strong attack.

If people were to be transferred between ancient fleets, planks and ladders were often needed, so these things were available on the eight large ships, and they were easily available.

But Wankou is just a small city, and the city is only two feet high, about four or five meters high, and it can be easily climbed up with a ladder.

At present, the [-] troops are carrying hundreds of ladders and want to rush directly out of the city.

But when the army rushed forward, they heard shouts on the city wall: "Let the arrows, let the arrows, let the arrows!"

In an instant, countless arrows rained out, and the screams outside the city were endless.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Xia's navy collapsed and retreated.

Shen Chen looked at this scene, his face was really ugly, the soldiers under Huang Zu's command could only fight in the water, no wonder he was beaten repeatedly by Sun Ce and Sun Quan in history, and Lu Zhan really broke down.

Only one or two hundred people were shot to death and injured, and even most of them didn't even hit the front of the arrow, so they backed away crying and crying. This quality is really worrying.

Fortunately, Shen Chen also knew that not all soldiers were well-trained Huangmenting soldiers, so he didn't have too much expectation.

He ordered Qu Gan and Liu Nan to gather up the scattered soldiers, while he himself went outside the city to look at the small city in Wankou.

I saw that this city is located in the northeast of Wanshui. The west and south are Wanshui, and the north is backed by a hilly mountain. It is the Lion Mountain area of ​​Anqing City in later generations. The only direction of attack is the east. It can be said that it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. important place.

But it's not completely flawless.

That is, the west side of Wankou is closer to the river, and the south side has a gentle slope due to the bend of the river. If you can pretend to attack the east side, you can actually sneak past the gentle slope from the south, which may open up the situation.

So Shen Chen summoned Qu Gan and Liu Nan, pointed to the south of the city and said, "The enemy has plenty of arrows, and it's not easy to attack by force. You can pretend to attack the east gate, but actually attack the south gate. Later, you two will lead an army to make noise outside the east gate. , I personally lead the troops to attack towards the south gate."

"only!"

The two quickly took orders.

Although Shen Chen has now resigned from the position of General Zhonglang, his reputation is too great, and no one in Jingzhou refuses to accept it.

In addition, everyone knew that Shen Chen was the celebrity in front of the King of Chu, and also the eldest son's friend.

So even if there is no position, the two are willing to be commanded.

After getting the tactical arrangement, Qu Gan and Liu Nan immediately followed Shen Chen's instructions, lit up torches, and began to make noise outside the east gate.

At the same time, Shen Chen led 500 people and quietly walked around the Wanshui River, climbing towards the gentle slope of the south gate.

On the Wankou city gate, Han Dang looked out and said, "They are attacking again."

"I'm afraid it's a fraud."

Lu Su frowned, feeling that things were not that simple.

Han Dang asked in surprise, "Where is the fraud?"

Lu Su laughed and said: "If I were an enemy general, if I wanted to attack, I would definitely rush to the top of the city in the dark, and then attack suddenly. How can there be such a loud noise? This must be a tactic of attacking east and west."

"Oh?"

Han Dang thought for a while, then suddenly opened his eyes wide: "South Gate!"

"I'll lead them there!"

Lu Su immediately rushed to the south gate with 200 people.

In fact, there are some defenders at the south gate, but there are less than 100 people. At this time, they don't realize that the enemy is coming from outside the dark city, and they are all looking at the direction of the east gate.

Suddenly seeing Lu Su leading the people over, the guard at the gate greeted him rather puzzled, and asked, "Lieutenant Lu, what's the matter?"

"The enemy is preparing to attack the south gate, so be careful."

Lu Su said to him: "Take your people and go immediately to carry the arrows."

"only."

The whistle chief hurried to carry out the order.

Lu Su led two hundred soldiers to the top of the city and took control of the south gate.

After a while, a high-pitched horn sounded suddenly from the east gate, followed by a terrifying cry of killing.

The soldiers hurriedly looked in the direction of the east gate.

Lu Su scolded: "Everyone, keep an eye on the south gate, don't worry about it."

After the rain stopped, many torches were lit on the towers of Wankou, but there were none outside the city, and it was so dark that it was impossible to see anything.

Lu Su did not order the soldiers to peek out from the edge of the city wall, but only arranged dozens of soldiers to patrol the tower, and the rest of the soldiers squatted under the female wall.

At this moment, a ladder was suddenly placed on the top of the city, and the soldiers could obviously hear rustling noises coming from outside the city.

"Fire arrows!"

Lu Su suddenly stood up from under the parapet, drew his bow and set an arrow, and shot down the ladder.

You must know that he is a person who can shoot through a shield with an arrow, and his archery skills are extraordinary, accurate and fast, and when the arrow goes down, there are screams from the city.

"Fire arrows!"

At this time, Shen Chen who was outside the city also realized that the people in the city had seen through his strategy, so he also ordered to shoot arrows.

The two sides shot at each other under the city, but there was a parapet, and they had no shelter on their side. Naturally, they suffered a big loss, and soon they could only leave dozens of corpses and retreat in a hurry.

When Shen Chen returned to the army, Qu Gan and Liu Nan's feigned attacking troops were also shot back by the enemy. The navy's main combat method was bows and arrows. The number of bows and arrows in Wankou City was huge, and they had no way to attack by force.

Under such circumstances, Shen Chen could only gather all the soldiers and retreat to Anqing Pavilion, first took control of the pier, ordered the soldiers to destroy the ships on the pier, and then tried to take down Wankou City.

The reason why he wanted to take Wankou down was because Wankou was an important offensive outpost in Jiangdong. If Wankou could be taken down, the main force of the Jiangdong Army ahead would inevitably withdraw.

This is a tactical swap.

The difference is that they have a boat now, and they can advance or retreat.

But I didn't expect that the small Wankou City would be so difficult to attack, and it made Shen Chen difficult for a while.

Fortunately, there is still plenty of time.

Although they lost hundreds of people, they still had a numerical advantage.

Shen Chen ordered the soldiers to rest first, and then think of other ways to capture Wankou City.

"Ah Chen, this Wankou is difficult to attack."

Liu Qi and Shen Chen were discussing in the dock house in Anqingting.

Shen Chen nodded and said: "That's right, I don't know who this Wankou guard is, but he is really powerful, and he has seen through my tricks."

"Is there any other way to get caught?"

Liu Qi asked.

Shen Chen thought for a while and said, "There are two ways, one is the strategy of exhausting the enemy, and the other is the strategy of surprise attack."

"How to say?"

Liu Qi asked curiously.

"It's simple."

Shen Chen said: "The strategy for exhausting the enemy is that we send people to harass the defenders in the city every half an hour, so that they cannot rest. After dawn, we will launch a general attack. If they have not rested all night, they must be exhausted. Maybe tomorrow Wankou can be captured before dark."

"What about the surprise attack?"

"A surprise attack is even simpler. If we don't do anything, the people in the city must be very afraid of our night attack, so they will always be ready to fight. But we just need to rest well. Before dawn, that's when the enemy relaxes their vigilance the most. A sudden attack may be able to conquer."

"Which strategy is better?"

Liu Qi doesn't know much about tactics, he just finds it unpredictable.

Shen Chen smiled and said: "There is no good strategy, only the most suitable one. It depends on whether the people in the city will be fooled. I'm afraid they will see through our strategy again."

In the final analysis, tactics are playing psychology.

If he chooses the strategy of exhausting the enemy and is seen through by others, they don't take them seriously and continue to choose to sleep, then there is no point in launching an attack during the day.

If he chooses a surprise attack and is seen through by others, but remains vigilant when he is most relaxed, he will still be beaten back by the enemy.

In the final analysis, it is the choice of both parties.

Liu Qi thought for a while and said, "Can these two strategies be used together?"

"good idea."

Shen Chen gave a thumbs up and praised: "I think so too."

"Hahahahaha."

With Shen Chen's encouragement, Liu Qi suddenly became happy.

Shen Chen went to give the order.

The two strategies can indeed be used at the same time, because they have a large number of people.

There is a story in later generations called "the wolf is coming".

There is another way of saying a lie is that nine out of ten sentences are true, and one sentence is false.

This is the easiest way to deceive others.

So Shen Chen felt that every time he sent hundreds of people to make noise, the rest went to rest.

In the middle of the night, the people in the city thought it was a ploy to exhaust the enemy. When they were resting, a real surprise attack suddenly came, and the people in the city couldn't react if they said it was bad.

Immediately, he immediately arranged for Qu Gan and Liu Nan to make such an arrangement.

(End of this chapter)