Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 183
After Bai Tu "willfully" invaded Runan, he found that the KPI for grain transportation in the rear dropped, and the state of the army also declined. Fortunately, he discovered it in time and recovered after some rescue measures.

If it was a [-]% discount before, now it has recovered at least half of it. It may seem like a small recovery, but in fact the biggest effect is to stop the deterioration!

Otherwise, under Guo Jia's "general trend", once a collapse is formed, the effect will continue to expand, and the "luck" lost by Bai Tu will be passed on to Cao Jun.

For example, Cao Chun recently felt that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was a bit easier to use...

But now Bai Tu and Cao Cao are not facing each other head-on, but are attacking Yuan Shu together!
Compared with Cao Cao, Bai Tu's biggest "weakness" was that he explicitly stated that the participants in the Shouchun tragedy would not be spared. Therefore... Yuan Shu became embarrassed as soon as the war started.

Facing Baitu who came from the south, his subordinates who were usually brave enough to fight for merit were very fearful. However, facing Cao Cao who came from the north, everyone was very active, but... they were even more active in surrendering!
In the end, Yuan Shu decided to send Ji Ling to lead [-] elite troops, and Qiao Rui as the supervisor of the other troops, to Ruyin to attack Bai Tu, while he himself would sit in Pingyu, the administrative seat of Runan, to guard against Cao Cao.

Ji Ling was not directly involved in the Shouchun incident, but Yuan Shu believed that he would not surrender, and... just in case, Yuan Shu also sent Qiao Rui to supervise the army - Qiao Rui was the one who took the lead in rushing into the inner city, and he himself He also knew that losing to Bai Tu would lead to death.

Ruyin County is close to Yingshui, but Baitu has not crossed Yingshui for the time being, to stimulate Cao Cao's desire. However, Yingshang, located south of Yingshui, has been captured and garrisoned by Baitu.

On the other hand, Sun Ce had already captured Yiyang County, which although it was within the scope of Yuzhou, but geographically belonged to Huainan. He then crossed the Huaihe River and headed northeast, capturing Qisi, Yuanlu, Fubo and other counties along the way.

But for Yuan Shu, this is all a small problem. Anyway, Runan County is very fat...

Although they are called counties, there are two special counties in the world. One is Nanyang and the other is Runan. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, one had a population of 240 million and the other 210 million. Together, they had a population greater than that of most states. many!
That's why Yuan Shu, who was born in the Yuan family in Runan and served as the governor of Nanyang in the early stages of development, was so "strong".

In just a few counties, as long as Yuan Shu holds Ruyin and Xincai, he can block Bai Tu's army in the southeast of Runan.

Moreover, when Ji Ling was in Ruyin, he did not just stick to it, but fought back and forth with Bai Tu...

Bai Tu's army has undergone perfect training and has complete equipment, which is something that most of the armies of the princes currently do not have, but...it is undeniable that the Jiangdong Army has seen too little blood and lacks actual combat experience.

On the other hand, Ji Ling led the elite Nanyang army. The foundation was laid when Yuan Shu was still the governor of Nanyang. They followed Yuan Shu in his expeditions south and north. They can be said to be an army capable of hundreds of battles.

Coupled with the Founding Buff, Ji Ling is fully qualified to fight Bai Tu head-on. Ji Ling did fight fiercely. In more than a month, he fought with Bai Tu several times and won and lost, but never defeated the opponent. At most, the outcome is determined by who suffers greater losses.

Mainly because Lu Bu was active in Funan at this time - that is, to support Sun Ce's troops.

As long as Sun Ce penetrates the north bank of the Huaihe River from "Honghe River" to "Yingshui River", he can join up with Baitu and then attack Ruyin. It's no problem.

In this way, the only people with surnames under Bai Tu were Jiang Qin and Lu Xun.

Bai Tu can definitely pat his chest and say that the reason why he can command an army of [-] people now is thanks to his high prestige as a lord!

Otherwise, Jiang Qin's personal strength and commanding ability would be far inferior to those of Gan Ning and Zhou Tai who were equally famous with him when he was in the Yangtze River.

And Lu Xun... after all, he is only a 15-year-old boy now. It is okay to come up with some weird ideas when he has an idea, but if he is asked to command the army alone, he is overthinking it!
After a small victory, Bai Tu took advantage of the victory to pursue the opponent's camp.

This was considered a relatively big "big victory" in more than a month. Although no one side was defeated, the result was destined not to be great, but at least it forced Ji Ling to retreat a little.

"The strength of the Nanyang army is much weaker. Could it be that Cao Cao took the lead?" Bai Tu asked doubtfully.

"Probably not. Although Pingyu is closer to Cao Cao, Cao Cao didn't even reach Ruyang before, not to mention that Pingyu is not that easy to defeat." Lu Xun expressed his opinion.

As the governing place of Runan, Pingyu City can also be called "Runan City". Runan City that was conquered in one month?

Even if Cao Cao wants to send troops to Pingyu in the north of Runan, which is much closer than Baitu, but... Yuan Shu still has at least [-] troops in Pingyu, and Cao Cao doesn't just go to sign in, he doesn't just arrive!
However, Jiang Qin soon came to report that there was something wrong with Ji Ling's camp - some of the stove pits had not been used for two days.

At this time, it is not about making a surprise attack outside and hiding their tracks. In the camp, the army will also bury pots to make rice, so there will be pits for cooking stoves. Using the pits to estimate the number of the opponent's troops should be regarded as a basic skill for generals.

Of course, whether it is increasing troops and reducing the number of troops, or reducing troops and increasing the number of stoves, it can be used as a means to confuse the enemy.

"Are you trying to make things mysterious? Or is it really because of some reason that Ji Ling is dividing his troops?" Bai Tu asked doubtfully.

"Lord, give the order to pursue! There are only two places in front suitable for ambush. Just be careful not to get close." Lu Xun said.

If every time you discover the enemy's conspiracy, you suspect it is fishing, then there is no need to do anything!

In fact, Bai Tu really wanted to do nothing, quietly develop technology, and then crush everything...

But now Bai Tu still accepted Lu Xun's opinion and sent the front army to continue the pursuit, chasing Ji Ling all the way.

As a result, Jiang Qin discovered this time that the number of stove pits was more than expected...

If there were some stove pits in the previous camp that seemed to have been abandoned for two days, then now... it is obvious that they are "reducing troops and increasing stoves" and deliberately digging out more stove pits!

It’s just that I don’t know if it was Ji Ling’s mistake or someone under his command to handle the errands. The traces of burning in these fake pits are obviously much lighter...

"Reduce the number of troops and increase the number of troops? Ji Ling is indeed dividing his troops? But what does he want to do...scare us off? But he has no reinforcements, how can he scare us?" Bai Tu asked doubtfully.

"I don't think it's for intimidation, but now Ji Ling seems to be leading us to continue chasing. Wait! My lord, hasn't Ji Ling appeared for a long time?" Lu Xun suddenly reacted.

"Didn't we just meet yesterday?" Bai Tu looked at Lu Xun in surprise.

"No, what we saw yesterday was just a guy wearing armor and a purple mask, standing under the handsome flag!" Lu Xun said.

When Lu Xun said this, Bai Tu also reacted somewhat. Although Ji Ling likes to wear silver-gray armor every day when he is not wearing armor, but... the mask is only worn when wearing armor, right?
Just because Ji Ling's armor image was wearing a purple mask, no one had doubted before that that guy was not Ji Ling.

And... Ever since Jiang Qin lost after more than 20 rounds under Ji Ling in their first fight, no one has gone out to call the battle generals!
But now that I think about it, with Ji Ling's reckless character, it is indeed strange that he did not take advantage of his "highest force" in the vicinity and take the lead during the battle to boost morale.

"Could it be that...the soldiers who were separated were still led by Ji Ling?" Bai Tu's face looked a little bad.

Originally, he thought... the one he fought against recently was Ji Ling. Thinking about it this way, Bai Tu was a military prodigy who could (with the assistance of Lu Xun and Jiang Qin) fight against Ji Ling, who was barely considered a world-famous general.

"Are they trying to ambush us? Lord, let's... stabilize our position first!" Jiang Qin said.

Although Jiang Qin is usually steady, he is not timid. After all, he is a water thief, but now that Bai Tu is here, Jiang Qin feels that it is better not to take risks.

"No, Ji Ling's goal should not be to ambush us, otherwise he would not have divided his troops when they were stationed in the previous camp." Lu Xun said.

"Yingshang?" Bai Tu also reacted under Lu Xun's reminder.

"That's right, lord, let's return for reinforcements!" Lu Xun asked.

Jiang Qin did not recommend betting on whether Lu Xun's judgment was correct. If he was the only one, he would be willing to fight with the Lu family boys, but now Baitu is still there.

It's just that... "returning aid" is almost the same as "retreating", so Jiang Qin didn't raise any objections. Even if Lu Xun guessed wrong, he could withdraw along the way.

If Ji Ling really went around and attacked Yingshang, Bai Tu would really be in some trouble.

After all, that is Bai Tu's retreat - of course, since Sun Ce has already invaded Runan, it is impossible to prevent Bai Tu from going back. Even if Ji Ling can defend Yingshang, the most he can do is detour Bai Tu. Shucheng is just returning to Huainan.

However, Yingshang is Baitu's bridgehead in Runan. It is not only related to the food route, but also... it also stores a lot of relief food. If it is destroyed, there will still be some minor troubles.

Therefore, apart from leaving behind a small number of scouts and the army in the rear, Bai Tu quickly led people back... No, it was back to Yingshang!

Facts have proved that Lu Xun's guess was completely correct.

The day after Bai Tu rushed back, he received a report from the scouts. They discovered Ji Ling's move to separate his troops and rush to Yingshang a day ago.

Originally, Bai Tu had even prepared the preparations for "Changing the King's Flag on the City Wall" in Yingshang. Even if it lasted less than a day, it should be enough for Ji Ling to capture Yingshang.

However, when Bai Tu returned to Yingshang, he found that Ji Ling was attacking the city. Ji Ling, who had been so majestic in front of Jiang Qin before, was now being blocked by a silver-armored general who was unfamiliar to Bai Tu...

Bai Tu was sure that he didn't know this person, but... he was wearing a battle armor of gold and jade level, which showed that the person who came was definitely not an unknown person!
This made Bai Tu even more confused - no matter how confused he was, he wouldn't have failed to recognize his golden generals, but if they weren't his subordinates, why were they here now?
Even if it is Cao Cao's reinforcements and the county magistrate left behind in Yingshang, they will not allow them to enter the city!
(End of this chapter)