Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 215 Pincer Offensive
As night fell, the sky completely darkened.

Shen Chen looked at the heroic figure of the old soldier on the hill not far away, and suddenly felt that there was nothing more to pursue in life than this.

Even at the age of 60, he is still the rooster on the battlefield, looking down upon him, who can be that?
This demeanor can be said to be the dream of every general.

"General!"

Zhang Nan noticed that Shen Chen was looking at Huang Zhong's direction in a daze, so he called out to him, "The enemy has already withdrawn."

"Ok, I know."

Shen Chen came back to his senses, nodded and said, "Follow me to meet that old general."

"only."

Zhang Nan followed behind him.

When the two came down the hillside, Huang Zhong had already come down. Seeing Shen Chen and Zhang Nan approaching, he looked at Shen Chen and said, "Are you Shen Chen?"

Shen Chen is still relatively easy to guess. At the age of 19, his face is relatively small, with a green beard growing between his chin and lips, and he is also wearing armor that can only be worn by generals. Naturally, he will not admit his mistake.

"Is it General Huang from Nanyang? I've heard of the general's name a long time ago."

Shen Chen bowed his hands in salute.

Huang Zhong didn't make excuses, but bowed his hands back and said: "Shen Xiaolang, the eldest son asked me to come here to meet you."

"Everything is thanks to you, General."

Shen Chen was polite and flattering, not arrogant because Liu Biao and Liu Qi valued him.

In the Jingzhou army sequence, it is divided into three grades, among which Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, and Huang Zu have the most power, followed by Liu Pan, Han Xi, Wenpin, Lu Jie, etc., and finally a series of mid-level generals such as Huang Zhong.

Strictly speaking, Shen Chen's General Zhong Lang is on the same level as Huang Zhong.Because Huang Zhong's rank is also Zhonglang General, before Shen Chen left his post, they were at the same rank.

But everyone knows that Shen Chen is young and has a promising future, so everyone regards him as Liu Biao's future confidant and dare not underestimate him.

On the other hand, Huang Zhong didn't become a general of Zhonglang until he was 60 years old. Obviously, he will be far behind in the future.

But now Shen Chen has resigned, and is currently serving as Liu Qi's entourage, so in a sense, the two parties are no longer colleagues.

Shen Chen's rank was much lower than Huang Zhong's, but Liu Qi ordered the soldiers to obey him, and Zhang Nanqu dared to wait for others to obey.

Of course, even so, because of Liu Qi's relationship, even Liu Pan would not despise Shen Chen much.

Huang Zhong said: "I hope the old man will come in time, so that you don't lose many people."

"The general came just in time."

Shen Chen smiled and said, "I don't know how the eldest son is doing?"

"It's all arranged."

"That would be the best. I expect the Jiangdong army will come in a day or two. We must control the Shiling, Wuling and other places on both sides of the river along the way, so as not to let their scouts notice."

"it is good."

Huang Zhong nodded and said: "You lead the troops back to Wuling to rest first, and I will make arrangements here first."

"Then there is General Lao!"

Shen Chen thanked Huang Zhong, and didn't make any excuses. The soldiers under him walked and fought for a long time, they were really tired, they should take a good rest.

Now he escorted Zhang Hong, took more than 2000 Jiangxia remnants, and headed south towards Wuling.

After seeing Liu Qi at the Jingzhou military camp in Wuling, Shen Chen ordered Zhang Nan to take the soldiers to rest, and discussed some things with Liu Qi, and finally he was able to sleep well.

On the second day, Shen Chen held a small meeting with Liu Qi and Huang Zhong.

At the meeting, Shen Chen made arrangements to reorganize the various ministries, and at the same time asked the soldiers to control the entire area on both sides of the Shushui River from Shiling to Wuling in order to deal with the sudden attack of the Jiangdong Army.

So Jiangxia's navy made the following deployments based on the terrain he had observed before; Huang Zhong's department stationed 1000 people led by Yang Ling in Nanwu opposite Shiling, and Liu Qi's department stationed 600 people led by Zhang Nan in Shiling.

Then Shen Chen personally led 5000 people to station in the forest between Wuling and Shiling, which was the place where he fought Lu Meng yesterday.

Liu Qi led the remaining 5000 people to scatter on both sides of Wuling.

And the most important thing is that Liu Pan's army has arrived in Yi County, which is less than 2 to [-] kilometers away, and they can come to support at any time. In this way, their total strength has reached [-].

Therefore, to a certain extent, since the Jiangdong Army still had to deploy a line of defense along the Yangtze River, the number of troops to encircle and suppress them did not exceed [-], and Shen Chen's army was already invincible.

.

.

Two days later, on July [-]th of the tenth year of Jian'an, Jiangdong's fleet also entered Shushui in mighty strength, heading towards Wuling.

At this moment, inside the main ship, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, Lu Su and others are discussing matters.

The three looked at the map above, and Lu Su said in a deep voice: "Shen Chen has achieved his goal, it seems that he finally wants to transfer Lu Meng and Xu Sheng from Yi County to facilitate Liu Pan's support, and now they have You can retreat or advance.”

"Ah."

Zhou Yu nodded, but pointed to Yangxi and said: "The rivers around Jinghu Lake extend in all directions, and this river can also lead to Shushui, which happens to reach Wuling."

Lu Su asked: "Gongjin still wants to send people to pass through other small rivers?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yu smiled wryly and said, "This time I'm completely passive. I'm afraid it will be difficult to annihilate Shen Chen in this battle."

Lu Su looked at Sun Quan and said, "Marquis Wu, if it's better to exchange the hostages with Shen Chen, how about we each stop fighting? If we continue to fight, we may not be able to make good."

Sun Quan clenched his fists, looked at the two of them with red eyes, and said, "Are you going to let me endure this humiliation? Lord Dongfang wants to get it back, and Shen Chen's head must also be taken!"

"only."

Both of them were helpless.

Lu Su looked at Zhou Yu again and said, "Gong Jin, the so-called knowing ourselves and the enemy is invincible. We must figure out what Shen Chen wants to do, so as not to be controlled by others."

Zhou Yu thought about it: "It's nothing more than two purposes. One, to evacuate safely after exchanging protons. Two, set an ambush!"

"I think the same as you."

Lu Su pointed to the map and thought: "There are two ways to set up an ambush. One is to lie in ambush between two mountains and shoot them with bows and arrows. The other is to build a dam to intercept the flow of water and attack them with water."

Zhou Yu said with a smile: "I have thought about these two issues too, but I think it is not easy to build a dam. First, they are short of manpower. Second, I have been to that mountain before. It is difficult to build a dam, and even if it can be built , you only need to look at the amount of water, and send someone to investigate at night to find out whether it is true or not, Shen Chen should not be so stupid."

It is very easy to build a dam in modern times, you only need to pour it with reinforced concrete, but it was very difficult in ancient times, requiring great manpower and material support.

For Cao Cao's several water attacks, it took a long time and a lot of manpower to finally succeed, which was very difficult.

Not to mention Shen Chen's lack of manpower, just to say that building a dam between lofty mountains requires extremely high architectural skills and abilities. Such skilled craftsmen are very rare in the army, let alone going on expeditions to fight, and it is impossible to bring them.

Therefore, both Lu Su and Zhou Yu believed that the strategy of building a dam to intercept the water flow and attack by water was almost impossible to realize. Even if they had such an idea, they did not have the ability and manpower to implement it.

"Yes."

Lu Su nodded, pointed to the map and said, "Then they will definitely choose to attack us with bows and arrows between the two mountains. The area from Shiling to Wuling is the best ambush point."

Zhou Yu stroked his chin and beard and said, "If we enter this place directly from Shushui, we will suffer heavy losses. We must find other ways."

"That's why Gong Jin proposed to go around from the left wing?"

Lu Su asked.

Zhou Yu nodded: "Yes, it's a pity that these creeks are too narrow for large troops to pass through."

There are several small rivers that communicate with each other between the Yangxi River and the Shu River. The small stream next to the hill where Shen Chen and Lu Meng fought before is one of them.

It's just that this kind of creek is only seven or eight meters wide and has different depths. It is very difficult to use flying boats, scouts, and yachts, which are similar to fishing boats, let alone troop carriers such as Maotu and Lunao.

Therefore, it is impossible to transport a large number of soldiers in a short period of time. Even if it can be transported, it is impossible to march on a large scale due to narrow roads and dense forests, so only small groups of troops can be sent.

"It's okay."

Sun Quan waved his hand at this moment and said: "If they are ambushing archers on both sides of the strait, even a small group of soldiers raiding their rear is enough. Gongjin and Zijing, let's do as you want."

"only!"

The two bowed their hands in salute.

At this moment, a scout suddenly came to report.

"Report!"

"Come in!"

"Lieutenant Lu and Captain Xu pursued the enemy to Shiling, where they were ambushed. Lieutenant Lu was seriously injured by an arrow."

The scouts told them that Lu Meng and Xu Sheng were repelled by Huang Zhong's reinforcements the night before yesterday.

Because the entrance of Jinghu Lake is [-] to [-] kilometers away from Shiling, although Sun Quan just came here today, they didn't know about it.

"what?"

Sun Quan was shocked and said, "How is Lu Meng now?"

The scout said: "I was shot in the chest by an arrow. Fortunately, Lieutenant Lu was wearing armor at that time, so he missed the heart, but pierced the collarbone."

"Send him back to Jiangdong for treatment."

Sun Quan quickly ordered.

He still attaches great importance to Lu Meng, because although Lu Meng also joined the army during Sun Ce's period, he was not reused by Sun Ce.

At that time, he was just a general under Sun Ce, and his brother-in-law Deng was a low-level junior officer, who was later promoted by Sun Quan, so he planned to be a confidant general, so he was naturally very caring.

After the scouts got the order to leave, Lu Su looked at Zhou Yu with a solemn expression and said, "Gong Jin, Shen Chen really set up an ambush in the mountains."

"Ah."

Zhou Yu nodded and said, "Send someone up the water tonight to see if he has set up a dam, and then see how the water volume is."

"Marquis Wu."

Lu Su said to Sun Quan, "I'm afraid we won't be able to attack tonight. We will attack tomorrow."

"Well, I see."

Sun Quan is not the type to act recklessly out of hatred.

Although he hated Huang Zu deeply in history, he was extremely cautious every time, attacked three times, and finally killed Huang Zu.

So he obediently listened to what the two said, and decided to act according to Zhou Yu and Lu Su's plan.

present.

Zhou Yu first entered the entrances of Jinghu and Shushui, and sent a large number of scouts south to investigate the situation.

At the same time, a number of small groups of troops were dispatched, and they were ordered to start moving towards Shiling from some small rivers such as Yangxi River, Puxi River, Machuan River, and Wuxi River, and arranged for them to prepare for the attack at a specific time.

In fact, the Shanyue people in the Han Dynasty were not only descendants of the Yue Kingdom, but also included a large number of powerful Han people and Han people who lost their land.

Through clans, township parties, marriages, etc., they formed a power group with thousands or even tens of thousands of people, occupying a dangerous position, self-sufficient, and even smelting iron to make weapons and armor by themselves. This force ran through the entire Han Dynasty and even the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It was not until the Sui and Tang Dynasties that it gradually disintegrated until the Song Dynasty.

The relationship between these people and Jiangdong is close, and they are in a state of hostility most of the time, but since there are hostile people, there are naturally people who want to take refuge, so these Shanyue people will also help Jiangdong Army, lead the way or inform Jiangdong Army.

It's just that the Shanyue people have different territories. The Shanyue forces around Yi County are composed of Chen Pu and Zu Shan. They have a hostile relationship with Jiangdong. In history, the two sides often fought, and He Qi finally settled down.

Therefore, although the Jiangdong Army also has Shanyue people to help, they can only explore the periphery of Yixian County, which is extremely complex in terrain, and it is difficult to go deep into Shiling and Wuling.

But even that is enough.

On July [-]th, Zhou Yu and the others got the news. The soldiers went south in a small boat at night and searched all the way, but found no trace of digging and building a dam, and the water volume did not decrease. It can be seen that Jiang Xia's army did not plan to attack with water. .

In addition, the scouts discovered that a large number of arrow towers and tall buildings were built on the hills on both sides of the section from Shiling to Wuling, which also confirmed Zhou Yu and Lu Su's conjecture.

So after knowing Shen Chen's hole cards, Zhou Yu and Lu Su also made arrangements.

The number of troops on Shen Chen's side is about 1000, and half of them are Liu Pan's troops in Yi County. It will take some time to rush over, and there are only [-] troops on the front line.

On Sun Quan's side, the total force is about 3 people. First, there are 2 to 5000 Lu Meng Xu Sheng's troops, followed by the main force of about [-] people, and then about [-] people temporarily drawn from various places in Jiangdong.

The deployment of these troops is also very simple. The main force of 2 troops from Shushui used small troop carriers such as Maotu, Zouge, and Lunao to raid Shiling.

Lu Meng was seriously injured, and the six or seven thousand troops led by Xu Sheng still started from Yunxi, entered the upper reaches of Shushui from Qingxi, and arrived at the northwest of Shiling, which is the left bank of Shushui, where Xu Sheng went north by land.

Then the remaining 5000 people, led by Han Dang, went down from Jinghu Lake, took Yangxi River, Puxi River, Machuan River, Wuxi River and other small rivers, and raided the northeast of Shiling, which is the right bank of Shushui.

Looking at the map, Shen Chen's army is deployed along the coast, with the main force concentrated along the line from Shiling to Wuling, and Liu Pan's troops are also in the rear to support them.

Zhou Yu and Lu Su's arrangement is a perfect pincer attack, the main force is attacking from the front, while Xu Sheng and Han Dang divide their forces from the creeks and rivers on the two wings to go around to both sides of Shushui, and attack Jiangxiashui who is lying in an ambush with bows and arrows from behind. military.

In this way, from the perspective of the entire battle situation, once the fight starts, although the main force of the Jiangdong army will be more difficult to attack, but when the troops surrounded by the left and right wings are in place, it will be a disaster for the Jiangxia navy.

Two days later, on July [-], the main force of the Jiangdong water army officially marched towards Wuling, the upper reaches of Shushui.

(End of this chapter)