My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 312 Wu Jing's Response

Sun's army originally intended to abandon Qu'a and Dantu, but they were reluctant to give up the autumn harvest and wanted to delay the situation a little longer, so they left Wu Pan's troops behind.

Liu Feng saw this clearly: if you don't want to leave, then don't leave. That's why Jia Kui suddenly mobilized, marched rapidly to the city of Qu'a, and used the tactic of trapping and beating the dog.

Now that a portion of them has been systematically wiped out, Wu Jing must be feeling quite heartbroken when the news gets back.

This force of three thousand men, even after expansion, should have reached more than thirty percent of his total strength. The price Liu Feng paid was merely six or seven hundred casualties among the former troops of Zuo Rong and Xue Li.

In essence, Liu Feng still made a huge profit, just not as much as before.

"Mr. Wenrong".

Teng Zhou, courtesy name Wenrong, was the younger brother of Teng Dan.

Liu Feng then instructed Teng Zhou: "Please contact the surviving officials in the city, restore the city's administration, post notices to reassure the people, and cooperate with Mr. Boqin to organize the autumn harvest."

"Yes, General."

After receiving the order, Teng Zhou left with his elder brother Teng Dan to carry it out.

After walking outside the hall, Teng Zhou suddenly heard his elder brother Teng Dan sigh deeply and exclaim, "Zheng Nan is only thirteen years old, yet he can fight on all sides. Moreover, he is kind and compassionate, showing mercy to his soldiers. It seems that he is truly a gift from heaven."

Teng Zhou glanced at his elder brother Teng Dan, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.

My elder brother is good in every way, except that he is too kind and a little foolish.

Liu Feng was indeed a young hero with astonishing talent, but to say that he was benevolent would seem like a joke to Teng Zhou.

Teng Dan only saw Liu Feng's kindness to the wounded soldiers, but he couldn't see Liu Feng's ruthlessness during the war.

The fact that Liu Feng ordered the four gates to be blocked shows that he didn't care about the casualties of Zuo Rong and Xue Li's former subordinates.

If the city is surrounded on three sides but one side is left open, it can indeed reduce some casualties, but it will also allow some of Sun's troops to escape outside the city.

Only by blocking all four gates can we annihilate Sun's army without any survivors, since the main force attacking the city is not our own troops.

Even if there were more casualties among Zuo Rong and Xue Li's former subordinates, Liu Feng wouldn't be bothered.

It can only be said that Liu Feng may have great love, but he is by no means a kind person. Just look at this scheme of driving one wolf to devour another, it is a vicious plan that even Liu Yao could not pull off.

However, Teng Zhou did not tell his elder brother any of this. In his mind, perhaps his brother's simple and kind nature would be more appreciated by those in power.

If that's the case, why should he bother to expose these things?
In fact, Teng Zhou had indeed guessed Liu Feng's thoughts.

Although Liu Feng sympathized with the wounded soldiers and couldn't bear to see them suffer, he was indeed deliberately wearing them down and maximizing their value.

This group of people, following Zuo Rong and Xue Li, really did nothing good. They burned, killed, and looted countless times, and their military discipline was extremely poor.

Zuo Rong and Xue Li had as many as 13,000 to 14,000 followers. For Liu Feng to reform them all would require too much effort and energy, and it wouldn't be worth it.

In that case, let them pay for it with their lives.

It would be much more cost-effective to redistribute the surviving elites.

Liu Feng swiftly captured Qu'a, and when the news reached Wu County, Wu Jing was quite shocked.

Wu Pan's complete annihilation not only resulted in a significant loss of troops for Wu Jing, but also completely disrupted Wu Jing's defense plans.

The forces in Piling numbered only one thousand men. They were originally intended to join Wu Pan's three thousand men to defend Piling together.

Now that Wu Pan's three thousand men have been wiped out, an important choice immediately lies before Wu Jing.

Either abandon Piling and withdraw the thousand people from Piling directly back to Wuxi.

Either send reinforcements to Piling immediately, with at least three thousand troops.

Unlike Qu'a, Piling was part of Sun's army's defense plan, so Piling city had prepared a lot of defensive supplies. It would be a real pity if it were abandoned due to insufficient troops.

But if we send reinforcements, will it be too late?
Even disregarding the time it takes for messages to travel back, the distance from Qu'a to Piling is actually shorter than the distance from Wuxian to Piling.

If the reinforcements I send arrive later than the Southern Expeditionary Army, then things will get really messed up.

If the Southern Expeditionary Army isn't stupid, they will definitely take advantage of the situation to launch a surprise attack. The reinforcements will not only be unable to reinforce Piling, but they will probably not even be able to protect themselves.

Moreover, Wu Pan died in battle, and Wu Jing was short of men. An army of several thousand men cannot be commanded by just anyone. Wu Jing only had two or three capable men under his command.

After much hesitation, Wu Jing still couldn't make a decision, so he could only convene a meeting of his generals to discuss the matter.

After Wu Jing finished speaking, the hall fell into a deathly silence.

Wu Jing's generals were caught off guard. Wu Pan and his three thousand men were gone just like that?
Zhu Chao, Wu Jing's top general from outside the Wu clan, couldn't help but ask doubtfully, "General, is the information reliable?"

Zhu Chao was also from Wu County in Jiangdong. He was from a branch of the Zhu family and had followed Wu Jing in battles from an early age. He was three times more senior than Wu Pan.

Although Wu Pan and Zhu Chao were both Wu Jing's right-hand men, if Wu Pan's Wu family identity were removed, his military achievements and seniority would still be inferior to Zhu Chao's.

Even Wu Jing respected Zhu Chao greatly, and Zhu Chao always served as Wu Jing's deputy general in battle.

Therefore, although Zhu Chao's question was quite embarrassing, Wu Jing suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at him and nodded silently.

Zhu Chao's heart sank, and his face turned grim. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "General, the best course of action now is not to send troops to reinforce Piling, but to quickly withdraw the troops from Piling and Wuxi!"

Wu Jing was taken aback, not expecting his trusted general to be so pessimistic.

"This...it can't be that bad, can it?"

It turned out that Wu Jing, Zhu Chao, Wu Pan, and others had already planned to use the cities in northern Wu to set up defenses layer by layer, and wear down the enemy city by city.

Therefore, they prepared a large amount of city defense materials in Piling, Wuxi and Wuxian, with Wuxian being a key target for development.

The plan had already been finalized, but now Zhu Chao suddenly wanted to give it up, which naturally puzzled Wu Jing.

Wu Jing's current military strength is approximately 22,000 men, of which 11,000 are Wu Jing's own troops, another 11,000 are Xu Kun's 6,000 men, Sun Ben's younger brother Sun Fu's 3,000 men, and Sun Xiang's son Sun Xiu's 2,000 men.

However, these troops were not all concentrated in Wu County.

Of these, Wu Pan's three thousand men had already been wiped out in Qu'a, Wu Jing had placed one thousand men in Piling, Xu Kun was in charge of his main force in Wuxi, and the remaining men, Sun Fu and Sun Xiu, were in Lou County and Youquan respectively.

In Wu Jing's view, although Wu Pan's troops had suffered losses, his own forces were still considerable, so he did not understand why Zhu Chao suddenly wanted to change the entire plan.

It's important to know that Xu Kun and his generals were also involved in formulating this plan; it wasn't something that could be changed by one person alone.

Zhu Chao, however, said anxiously, "General, the biggest problem for Brother Wu right now is not that he was trapped in Qu'a because he couldn't retreat in time, but that the Southern Expeditionary Army captured Qu'a in just half a day."

Upon hearing this, Wu Jing's heart stirred: "Go on!"

Zhu Chao continued, “Our previous strategy of setting up layers of defenses and blocking each city was intended to rely on the strong cities to buy time for General Sun to march south. However, the Southern Expeditionary Army’s ability to capture cities and fortresses has far exceeded our expectations. Although Brother Wu’s troops are not all old brothers, he is very strict in disciplining his troops and has won their hearts. Although Qu’a is not a large city, it is quite sturdy and the city walls are intact.”

"Even with General Sun's abilities, it took him many days to besiege the city before he broke through, but Brother Wu couldn't even hold it for a day."

Zhu Chao's face showed shock and a hint of fear: "Given the Southern Expeditionary Army's ability to conquer cities and seize strongholds, if we continue to set up defenses in Piling and Wuxi with three to five thousand men, wouldn't that be tantamount to cutting off our own flesh to feed the enemy?"

Wu Jing suddenly realized and wholeheartedly agreed.

Wu Pan's three thousand men defended Qu'a and it was over in half a day. So even if four thousand men defended Piling, how many days could they hold out?
How many days can Xu Kun's 6,000 men hold out in Wuxi?

Will it be taken down in a day or two?

Zhu Chao's suggestion was indeed good, but it was too conservative.

Having made up his mind, Wu Jing stood up and ordered, "My mind is made up. Abandon Piling and order the Piling garrison to retreat to Wuxi. Transport all military equipment, supplies, wealth, and provisions that can be transported. Burn everything that cannot be transported. At the same time, inform Wuxi and convey my decision to General Xu, and tell him to prepare to meet the enemy."

"Issue the order that Sun Xiu and Sun Fu's troops return to Wu County immediately without delay."

Wu Jing then turned his gaze to Zhu Chao: "Commander Zhu, I'll trouble you to take your troops to Wuxi to provide support and follow General Xu's orders."

Zhu Chao understood as well.

Retreating all the way to Wu County was indeed too conservative. We had to test the enemy again, otherwise, if they suddenly used some trump card in Wu County, we would be finished. Wuxi is a high-lying city with deep moats and strong walls. Xu Kun has 6,000 men, plus our own 3,000 and the 1,000 from Piling, totaling more than 10,000. With Wu County behind us, Wu Jing still has 4,000 of his own troops, plus Sun Fu and Sun Xiu's 5,000 men, which means we have nearly 10,000 troops ready to support Wuxi at any time. We are ready to fight.

In addition, the road between Piling and Wuxi is muddy and narrow, with water everywhere, making it even more difficult to travel than the road from Qu'a to Piling.

On the contrary, after passing Wuxi, the road to Wuxian is quite smooth and the area is relatively well-developed.

The army marched swiftly and would arrive in just two or three days.

In this way, we can confront the enemy in Wuxi and hopefully stop the Southern Expeditionary Army.

If that's not possible, we must force the Southern Expeditionary Army to breach the city so that Wu County can defend against them.

After the discussion was completed, Wu Jing immediately issued an order to all counties and towns.

Zhu Chao also prepared his troops and was ready to depart for Wuxi.

********
After capturing Qu'a, Liu Feng summoned his generals to summarize the victory and was not in a hurry to send troops again.

On the one hand, they were waiting for the subsequent transport of grain. At present, there were less than two thousand shi of grain in Qu'a City, which was not enough for the Southern Expeditionary Army to meet its needs for a day. Naturally, they still needed to continue to speed up the transport of grain.

This task was assigned to Pan Zhang, while Zhuge Liang also led a group of clerks to help with the process.

The journey from Jurong to Qu'a takes only three to five days, and the daily grain transport is only four thousand shi. With Pan Zhang's troops escorting them along the way, it is a fairly simple task, a good opportunity for Zhuge Liang to test his skills.

After discussing the gains and losses in the siege of Qu'a, the generals began to discuss preparations for the next phase of the war.

The next target is definitely Piling. In the later world, Jiangsu is a vast plain, but that won't work now. We can only honestly follow the roads through the marshes.

Although the road from Qu'a to Piling is difficult, it is much easier than the road from Piling to Wuxi.

Moreover, Piling cannot compare with Wuxi and Wuxian, especially the latter, which was once known as the second largest city in the country, and that's no exaggeration.

However, at that time, the upper limit of the South was far lower than that of the North. After the peace of the Han Dynasty, Wu County was quickly left far behind by the major cities in the Central Plains.

Not to mention Chang'an, even Luoyang's population far exceeds that of Wu County.

Even so, Wu County remained the premier city in the south, the epicenter of the entire Kuaiji and Wu regions. As for Wuxi, it was once the capital of the Wu Kingdom, making it naturally a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Therefore, Liu Feng's focus was actually on how to attack Wuxi and Wu County after taking Piling.

Currently, there are two feasible routes. One is to transport grain from Guangling, enter the Hangou Canal from Dantu, continue south, pass through Qu'a, Piling, Wuxi, and directly reach Wuxian.

The Han Canal was built by the State of Wu during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. It underwent large-scale repairs and use during the Qin and Han dynasties, making it a relatively mature water transport project. Although by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, many sections of the Han Canal had fallen into disrepair or become silted up, making it impassable for large ships, it was still able to accommodate small boats.

The second route involves transporting grain from Niuzhu and Liyang, traveling upstream along the Yangtze River for over a hundred li, then turning at Wukou into Lishui, and finally heading north into Taihu Lake, eventually reaching the city of Wuxi.

The problem with this route lies in Yangxian, a key point in Lishui at the mouth of Taihu Lake.

Yangxian, which is the later Yixing, belonged to Wu County at this time, but its actual location was closer to Danyang.

This city directly guards the entrance to Taihu Lake from Lishui. Ships traveling between Lishui and Taihu Lake all had to pass through Yangxian, making it an important city in the south throughout history. Later, as the area of ​​Taihu Lake continued to shrink, Yangxian was no longer situated by the water, but this did not diminish its important position.

Yangxian did not surrender to the Sun family at this time, and the Sun family did not have time to deal with this isolated county on the other side of Taihu Lake. Their energy was focused on Wu County and Yuhang.

However, this does not mean that Yangxian will necessarily support the Southern Expeditionary Army. If the grain transport fleet is blocked in Yangxian, the troops at the front line will go hungry.

However, this route has another advantage: Wanling can also travel north along Lengshui, smoothly down to Lishui, and transport grain.

Wanling is the seat of Danyang Prefecture. Zhou Shang has been operating here for several years and has accumulated a lot of grain. Now that it is autumn harvest time, he can easily produce at least 200,000 to 300,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

After Sun Shao recounted the details, Liu Feng's gaze swept over everyone: "Gentlemen, please feel free to speak your minds if you have any good ideas."

As soon as Liu Feng finished speaking, the hall fell silent.

This scene was quite rare under Liu Feng's command.

However, considering the people in the hall, many of them were newcomers, such as Fan Neng, Sun Shao, the Teng brothers, and Zhao Fan.

Although Gao Shun was no longer a newcomer, he was later put in charge of guarding Guangling, and he hadn't seen Liu Feng for several months.

Only Xu Sheng can be considered a true follower of Liu Feng, but he was also more composed and, frankly speaking, more suited to be a general than a commander.

Seeing that no one spoke, Zhao Fan showed a hint of eagerness, as if he wanted to try speaking up.

Liu Feng happened to see this expression, so he simply called out, "Gangyi, what's your opinion? Tell me!"

Upon being singled out by Liu Feng, Zhao Fan's spirits lifted, and he stood up, saying, "General, I am unworthy, but I am willing to serve as the vanguard and capture Piling for you!"

Good guy.

Liu Feng wanted everyone to offer suggestions on how to fight in the next phase, not for you to volunteer as the vanguard.

As expected, Zhao Fan's words caused an uproar among the generals present. Apart from Gao Shun and Jia Kui, even Xu Sheng showed anger on his face.

"General, I am also willing to be the vanguard. I will definitely take Piling for you within ten days."

"General, I only need eight days! I am willing to uphold military law."

Well, as soon as Zhao Fan said that, a group of generals all vied to be the vanguard, which made Liu Feng both laugh and cry.

Zhao Fan really doesn't know when to advance or retreat. Is being a vanguard something you can even think about?

Even Jia Kui looked somewhat displeased. It wasn't just because Zhao Fan volunteered to be the vanguard, but because he felt that Zhao Fan had disrupted the military council.

"And all of you, shut up."

Liu Feng waved his hand dismissively: "Piling Vanguard, I have my own decision to make. You don't need to be so enthusiastic."

Just then, news came from outside the hall that the scouts at the front had sent back intelligence.

Liu Feng frowned, and Xu Chu strode out of the hall behind him, took the silk scroll, and returned it to Liu Feng.

Liu Feng took the silk scroll, opened it, and was shocked.

"The enemy of Piling has actually escaped."

This……

Liu Feng was somewhat surprised, and as he revealed the news, the generals in the hall were in an uproar.

Just now, everyone summarized a lot of experiences from this siege of Qu'a, and there were quite a few mistakes.

Despite the fact that Wu Pan's troops were able to breach the city in half a day, it was because Wu Pan's troops were neither strong nor skilled. In addition, Qu'a was not an easy city to defend. Furthermore, Wu Pan's troops had already planned to flee, but were caught in a surprise attack by Jia Kui and trapped inside the city, which greatly damaged their morale.

This outcome is due to so many factors.

If Wu Pan were determined to hold Qu'a, although he still wouldn't be able to hold it, he could at least hold out for a few more days, and it would inevitably cause greater casualties to the Southern Expeditionary Army.

Wasn't this precisely why Liu Feng brought along Zuo Rong and Xue Li's former subordinates?

It's much more worthwhile to let them suffer casualties than to let our own troops suffer casualties.

As for Zuo Rong and Xue Li's former subordinates, they didn't harbor much resentment at being used in this way, since this was how things were in this era.

Some even went so far as to massacre 80,000 surrendered soldiers in one fell swoop due to insufficient military rations.

Another important point is that although neither Zuo Rong nor Xue Li were from Xuzhou, most of the people they captured were from Xuzhou.

Because one of these two men served as the Chancellor of Pengcheng State in Xuzhou, and the other served as the Chancellor of Xiapi State in Xuzhou, and were simultaneously responsible for transporting taxes from Guangling, Xiapi, and Pengcheng State.

Therefore, Zuo Rong and Xue Li's former subordinates actually had a relatively high degree of approval and obedience towards Liu Feng.

Upon hearing that Sun Jun had abandoned Piling, Jia Kui couldn't help but ask suspiciously, "General, could there be a trap hidden there?"

(End of this chapter)