Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 97: Troops Arrive at Chuzhou

When the defeated government troops reached Shahe, Wu Yuan ordered the soldiers in ambush to charge out from both sides of the river, divided into three teams: blue, red, and black; with shield soldiers, archers, and spearmen, they surrounded and annihilated the defeated army.

The government troops were ambushed three times in one day and their morale collapsed. With ambushes in front and cavalry behind them, they had no way to retreat and so they knelt and surrendered.

On the other hand,
Ma Laohei led his troops to attack the city, and the two armies fought fiercely.

At the end of the day, both sides sounded the call for the troops to retreat, and the soldiers on the city walls sat down and panted.

"We have managed to hold out for another day. I don't know when the reinforcements will arrive."

At that time, the general of Xuzhou was staying at home, drinking hot soup to ward off the cold.

Suddenly, someone wrote to me, saying:
"General, someone claims to be under the command of General Pei of Kaifeng Prefecture and has sent a letter here!"

The general of Xuzhou was startled and quickly stood up to invite him.

But after taking a step, he stopped again and asked cautiously:
"Which direction did that person come from?"

The subordinate said, "From the north."

The general of Xuzhou felt relieved after hearing this.

The enemy troops surrounded three places with one gap left, except for the north. The messenger came from the north, so we can trust him.

So he asked the messenger to come.

The messenger came in, dressed in cloth.

The general of Xuzhou asked him why.

The messenger said: The enemy soldiers will check along the way and we cannot disguise ourselves.

Xuzhou General believed it a little more

The messenger took out the seal.

The general of Xuzhou examined it carefully and found that everything was correct.

Looking at the letter again, it roughly reads:
Our army has already taken a small road to Chengjia Temple, 30 miles away from Xuzhou. We will wait until three o'clock tonight to attack the enemy's camp from the rear, and the enemy will surely be in chaos. But when we see the enemy's camp on fire, the city of Xuzhou can take the opportunity to go out of the city and attack the enemy, attacking from both sides and annihilate the enemy!

After reading the letter, the general of Xuzhou was overjoyed.

He then took out the map and found the location of Cheng Family Temple. He saw that it was located behind the enemy army and was very suitable for a surprise attack.

The enemy army has been attacking the city for a whole day tonight and must be exhausted.

After repeated consideration, I felt that the plan could be accomplished.

The general of Xuzhou was overjoyed.

He then ordered his men to add more food and wait to leave the city and defeat the enemy at night.

At three o'clock in the night, the general of Xuzhou stood on the city wall and looked at the enemy camp from afar with a telescope. Soon, he saw a raging fire.

Scouts were sent to investigate, and they saw that the enemy camp was in chaos and a fierce battle was taking place between the government troops and the enemy.

Upon hearing this, the general of Xuzhou was overjoyed, so he summoned his soldiers, assembled 10,000 troops, left only a thousand defenders in the city, and then rode out of the city.

It's time to make achievements!
If we can capture the enemy general alive this time, he will be granted the title of lord!

The general of Xuzhou led his troops to attack the enemy's camp. When they got close to the camp, they saw flames inside and the sounds of fighting.

The general of Xuzhou then led his men into the camp.

When the "government troops" and the bandit troops who were fighting saw the Xuzhou general and his men arriving, they stopped fighting and smiled.

"We've fallen into a trap, retreat quickly!"

The general of Xuzhou realized something instantly and immediately led his men to retreat, but it was too late.

Thousands of arrows were shot from all directions, and artillery roared, opening up bloody paths among the government troops.

The government troops suffered countless casualties and were thrown into chaos in an instant.

The general of Xuzhou retreated desperately, and finally broke out of the camp, but was surrounded and killed by two waves of ambushes from the left and right.

The general of Xuzhou fought desperately to escape again.

After struggling to break out of the encirclement, the ground shook in the night, and a group of heavy cavalry rumbled towards them.

The government troops, which had already collapsed, no longer had the will to resist.

Ma Laohei, wearing heavy armor and lying on his horse, drew his bow and shot an arrow from a distance, hitting the Xuzhou general in the thigh and knocking him off his horse.

Then Ma Laohei rode his horse forward and stomped his hoof hard. The Xuzhou general's sternum collapsed immediately, blood spurted out of his mouth, and he died.

Not long after, the Huaiyin army arrived at the city. The head of the Xuzhou general was hanging high. The defenders in the city had only a thousand soldiers. Seeing this situation, they dared not resist and surrendered.

Ma Laohei quickly sent troops to control the city and then launched a cleansing operation.

All the stubborn elements in the city were cleared out and heavily guarded.

Xuzhou is the gateway to Lianghuai and a key transportation hub connecting to the Central Plains. If the imperial court wants to send troops to Lianghuai, it must pass through Xuzhou. Therefore, this place has extremely important strategic significance to the Huaiyin Army and must not be lost.

After taking control of Xuzhou, Ma Laohei, thinking of reuniting with Fang Yong as soon as possible, quickly marched south and attacked Huizhou.

After conquering Xuzhou, the remaining places were mostly flat. Although there were cities, they were not heavily guarded. Under the trampling of iron hooves, the enemy was unstoppable all the way. The government troops were completely defeated and had no intention of resisting at all.

Their troops successively occupied Huaibei, Zhuxian, Fengyang and other places, and approached Chuzhou step by step.

The Huizhou governor naturally also received the news of the fall of various places, but now he is too busy to take care of himself.

At that time, Fang Yong had already arrived at Chuzhou and stationed troops outside Chuzhou. Although he surrounded the city but did not attack, he was still watching the city covetously. The governor of Huizhou did not dare to be careless at all. The troops under his command were not enough to defend Chuzhou, let alone transfer troops to rescue other locations.

All he could do was to keep asking the imperial court for help and secretly transfer his assets...

Let’s not talk about the crisis in Huizhou for now, and let’s go back to the situation in Zhending.

After Chen Zhengdu took command of the troops, he defended Zhending for two months.

The Jin bandits surrounded Zhending and attacked it day and night, but Chen Zhengdu was well versed in the art of warfare of the Duke of Shanguo, and he defended the city tightly. No matter how many tricks the Jin bandits used, they were unable to shake the city of Zhending.

Although Chen Zhengdu had already held out to the limit at this time, and all the mansions in the city had been demolished by his troops, and he was almost out of ammunition and food, but compared to the Jin bandits, Chen Zhengdu was still one step ahead.

The Jin bandits had no stable source of logistics and relied entirely on looting to sustain their troops. Now that they were stopped by Zhending, the Jin bandits' million-strong army had no food or fodder to rely on, and they almost faced collapse in the first month.

Fortunately, Wu Sheng ordered his men to besiege Zhending and sent part of the troops to plunder the areas around Zhending, which was how they were able to barely maintain military supplies.

But this is not a long-term solution.

As the Jin bandits repeatedly looted, the towns and counties near Zhending were emptied of people, and the houses were empty for thousands of miles, as silent as a dead place.

No matter how cruel the Jin bandits are, they cannot squeeze any oil out of a deadly place.

By the second month, the Jin bandits could no longer maintain military supplies, and Wu Sheng had to choose to give up attacking Zhending.

The Jin thieves at that time had two choices: one was to retreat back to Shanxi and then make a good plan.

The second is to go south to capture Handan and further strengthen the army.

Both have their pros and cons, it all depends on how Wu Sheng chooses.

Then, faced with these two choices, Wu Sheng resolutely chose to attack the capital!
If we can’t take Zhending, then don’t fight, just go around and attack the capital directly!
Most of Wu Sheng's generals were ignorant and did not know the serious consequences of bypassing the city.

Only a few people with some insight advised Wu Sheng against it. If he bypassed the city, the government soldiers in the city would come out and cut off the food supply, or he would be attacked from the front and back by other government troops, and he would surely be defeated.

Wu Sheng didn't care about this.

To cut off the food supply, we need food.

"Our army relies on looting for food and fodder, so how can we talk about food routes?"

Afterwards, Wu Sheng insisted on his own way and led his army to bypass Zhending, looting along the way and attacking the capital.

What Wu Sheng didn't know was that Wang Ziteng's army was stationed in Hejian at that time.

However, Wang Ziteng came to support the situation in Zhili under the order of the emperor. However, when he heard that the Jin bandits had a million people, he became afraid and did not dare to fight with them.

Wang Ziteng then bribed the military supervisor privately, secretly brought his legitimate son over, and hid in Hejian with his army.

With troops in hand, once the situation becomes clear, you can choose a wise leader.

then……

(End of this chapter)