On the tenth day, Zhang Xiu, who had a premonition that Wanling City was not good, greatly slowed down the pace of his march.

Danyang County is mountainous, except for Moling and other places in the northeast, which are still plains, the rest of the prefectures and counties, including Wanling, are all mountains and rivers near the steep places, and the vegetation is flourishing in summer and autumn, which is extremely conducive to ambushes.

However, at this time, Zhang Xiu was not far from Wanling, and the 40,000 Huainan troops of the Ji Ling Department had basically crossed the river. General Ji Lingqin led 20,000 former troops to the Wuhu area, and the remaining 20,000 rear troops are preparing in Niuzhu under the command of General Qiao Rui.

Although Wanling was lost, Zhang Xiu could still intercept Sun Cejun in Danyang County.

In the evening of the next day, Zhang Xiu's headquarters rushed to the vicinity of Wanling City.

It was almost dusk, even if Sun Ce wanted to attack Zhang Xiu at this time, it was unlikely. After all, night blindness was quite common in ancient times, and even if the Jiangdong soldiers ate more fish and meat, the night blindness was milder than that of the northern soldiers, but it did not meet the standard of large-scale battles at night.

Not to mention, the strength of the Jiangdong Army lies in bow shooting, while the Western Liang soldiers are good at field melee, and if Sun Ce insists on fighting at night, it is tantamount to a short blow and a long blow.

Of course, it is not ruled out that Sun Ce will attack Zhang Xiu to frustrate the spirit of the Xiliang army. A decisive battle with the whole army at night is impossible, but it is entirely possible to send elite people to launch a night attack.

In addition, Zhang Xiu deliberately delayed the arrival of Wanling until the evening, which also facilitated the Xiliang soldiers who had been marching for days to recover some physical strength.

When Zhang Xiu walked one step at a time and looked at three places cautiously, and finally walked to the bottom of Wanling City before it was dark, he was surprised to find that what was planted on Wanling City was not Sun Ce's "Sun" character green background flag, but still Zu Xun's "Zu" character general flag and his own "Zhang" character Daxu!

Zhang Xiu's first reaction was fraud!

If you can't work at ease, do you want to trick me into entering the city?

The soldiers at the head of the city saw Zhang Xiujun and shouted for joy. However, the cheers in the city were so reluctant and insincere to Zhang Xiu's ears.

Zhang Xiu secretly gestured, beckoned Tai Shici and Cao Xuan to his side, and commanded in a low voice: "Ziyi, you have fought with the generals under Sun Ce in the Shenting Pavilion, wait until you recognize it clearly, see which one is the Jiangdong general, Cao Xing, you will order the crossbowmen to shoot it!" ”

Tai Shici and Cao Xing's faces were all solemn, and they just nodded towards Zhang Xiu. Afraid of attracting the attention of the people in the city, but he didn't bow down as usual.

Next, Zhang Xiu approached the city gate with the vanguard soldiers as if nothing happened, and secretly ordered the dispatch of all generals. When he approached the city, Zhang Xiu's palms were already sweating.

Zhang Xiujun flashed out with his first horse, and while riding straight to the bottom of the city tower, he shouted at the city head: "General Pingkou has personally led the army to help, why has the city gate not been opened, and why hasn't the drawbridge fallen yet?" ”

As soon as this horse finished shouting, the battlement at the head of the city revealed a big man dressed as a captain, with a smile on his face: "There are not enough people in the city, the general and the brothers will wait, I will go to open the city gate immediately!" ”

As he spoke, the gate at the head of the city finally moved, and the drawbridge of the moat was slowly lowered. But the gates were never opened.

After half a ring, the lieutenant poked his head out of the battlement with a red face: "Forgive me, the general and all the brothers, the city gate is too heavy, and I and dozens of brothers under him can not open it for a long time from one side, and I hope that the general will send a strong man to help on the side of the city gate, and both sides will make efforts to open the city gate." ”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiu finally couldn't help it, and shouted at the lieutenant at the top of his voice: "I have a strong man under me, named Hu Che'er, who can make five or six hundred catties, don't you want him to go to Yongdao to push the door?" ”

The distance could be seventy or eighty meters, and Zhang Xiu and the others could still see clearly that the captain at the head of the city had a happy face after hearing Hu Che'er's name. I only heard the captain shouting: "I have long wanted to see the prestige of General Hu, and today I can see General Hu show his divine power, and this life is in vain!" ”

Zhang Xiu snorted coldly, and scolded in a low voice: "Sun Ce is so shameless, I just sent an assassin to assassinate him, and now he is going to kill one of my personal generals, and he is good at his wishful thinking!" ”

After scolding, Zhang Xiu asked Tai Shici: "Ziyi, have you ever seen the general of Eastern Wu?" ”

Tai Shi Ci shook his head and replied: "There are more than ten people standing at the battlement, and the last general has never seen a familiar face, I am afraid that the Jiangdong generals are hiding behind the battlements, holding strong bows and crossbows in their hands and preparing to ambush our army. ”

Zhang Xiu thought so, and immediately prepared to give Cao Xing an order to let him strike first. But at this moment, a face was revealed on the city tower that Zhang Xiu and Tai Shi Ci both knew each other.

But it was Zu Xun, the governor of Danyang appointed by Zhang Xiu.

Everyone, including Zhang Xiu, was stunned. But after a while, Tai Shi Ci was the first to react, and opened his mouth towards the city and scolded: "Zu Xun, you thief, actually voted for Sun Ce, in vain, I still regarded you as a brother, don't think of looking away!" ”

Although Cao Xuan had not yet received Zhang Xiu's order at this time, as soon as he heard Tai Shici's angry words, Cao Xuan hurriedly opened his mouth to shout the word "release arrows".

At the last moment, Zhang Xiu raised his decibels to the highest: "Withdraw!" ”

There are two reasons why Zhang Xiu didn't let Cao Xing release the arrow. First, because there were more than a dozen people at the head of the city showing their faces, there was no need to waste arrows. Second, if Zu Yang surrendered to Sun Ce, then there would inevitably be a part of the Danyang soldiers who would be used by Zu Yang to defend the city, so Sun Ce would be completely free to lead the main force of the Jiangdong Army to outflank and attack Zhang Xiu's army.

So if you don't run away now, when will you wait?

Waiting for Zhang Xiu's front team to change to the back team, and the back team to the front team to run five hundred meters away, Zu Xun stood on the battlement in a daze, still maintaining an open expression.

The previous captain who guarded the city came to Zu Xun's side, looked at Zhang Xiujun who was far away with dust, and not only wondered: "General, it's just for them to push the door with a handle, as for hiding so far?" ”

Zu Yan, who was confused, was also stunned, and said in a daze for a long time: "Maybe." However, every gate has been thickened and strengthened by me, and they can't open the other gates even when they go to them! ”

……

After clearing up the misunderstanding, Zhang Xiu and his soldiers stepped into Wanling City and witnessed the corpses that had not been cleaned by the three gates except the West Gate, and then they felt the tragedy of the Battle of Wanling.

Sun Ce's attack on Wanling City was the most direct effect, the same costly and bloodiest ant-attached siege. There are many mountains and forests near Wanling, and Sun Cejun arrived at Wanling City on the same day as he directly took materials from the place to build an escalator, and launched an attack on the next day.

Of the more than 60,000 main forces in Jiangdong, about half of them were warriors who had followed Sun Ceping in Jiangdong, and the other half were also young and strong people among Sun Ce's children in Jiangdong, and their combat power should not be underestimated.

And the more than 10,000 soldiers under Zu Xun can only be said to be a rabble of temporary patchwork compared to Sun Ce's main force. Of course, this rabble is not those powerful forces that defend Wu County, once defeated and defeated, although the troops under Zu Yang are complex, their combat power is usable.

First of all, there are nearly 10,000 thieves under Zu Hao's command who used to be on the side of Kou. After Zhang Xiu accepted Zu Xun, he selected 4,000 of his good fighters to be incorporated into the Danyang County Army. The remaining four or five thousand old and weak were set up as the Danyang Tuntian Army.

The 4,000 descendants under Zu Xun are not inferior to the Jiangdong Army in terms of formation and organization and coordination, but in fact, the individual combat power is not inferior to Sun Ce's main force in Jiangdong. After all, Zu Xun came out earlier than Sun Ce, and he was able to live so nourishingly between the cracks of several forces such as Yuan Shu, Liu Xuan, Rong and Lu Kang, and Zu Xun, the marshal of Jing County, who had changed several Taishou in Danyang County but grew stronger and stronger, naturally had his extraordinary ability and a group of reliable and capable soldiers under his hands.

Sun Ce, who made his debut as a teenager, has experienced this point himself.

In addition to Zu Xun, these 4,000 soldiers who have been fighting in Danyang for many years, there are also soldiers under Tai Shici.

Tai Shi Ci was not convinced after being defeated at the hands of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu in the Battle of Shenting. Not only was he not convinced by Sun Ce, but he was also unconvinced by his fellow countryman and boss Liu Xuan. No, stay in Danyang in a fit of anger and don't leave.

Relying on the courage and fame of the Battle of Shenting, Tai Shi Ci recruited the stragglers after Liu Xian's army was defeated, called himself Danyang Taishou, recruited local Zhuang men in Danyang to train, befriended the Shanyue tribe, and opened a capital in Jing County. By the time Zhang Xiu came to recruit Tai Shi Ci, Tai Shi Ci had already garrisoned nearly 5,000 soldiers.

These five thousand are not inferior to the carefully selected Jiangdong disciples under Sun Ce. After all, the land of Danyang is prolific and elite. Zhang Xiu has personally experienced this.

In addition, there are more than 4,000 Danyang soldiers under Yuan Yin, the former Danyang Taishou. There is nothing remarkable about this part of the soldiers. Lack of enterprising, there is still more than enough to "defend the city".

In the end, there were more than 2,000 "prisoners" under Zu Yan. They are all prison criminals who were "liberated" by the way when Zu Xun washed the six cities of Moling with blood. Most of these people were wicked people who were guilty of Jiangdong in the past, and they had been detained and guarded by Sun Ce for less than a year. Now he also participated in the bloody operation of Zu Hao to clean up the wealthy families of the six cities of Moling, and was the hardest working group of people in the battle against Sun Cejun.

With such a group of soldiers who are not weak in individual combat strength and will to fight, it is actually not inconceivable that Zu Yang can defend Wanling in Sun Ce's more than ten heavenly ant attached to the rapid attack at any cost.

Of course, the failure of the little overlord Sun Ce in this battle to take the lead in the previous battle is also an important reason why Wanling failed to lose.

Sun Ce's siege is the best way to besiege Sanqueyi. The side of Que is the west side. This is the reason why Zhang Xiu led the army to the west gate of Wanling but did not see any traces of battle.

But near the other three gates, until Zhang Xiu entered the city, there were still corpses all over the field.

This is not that Zu Xun specially asked Zhang Xiu for credit. In fact, just as the captain said, there are very few able-bodied people who survived the Wanling offensive and defensive battles.

Remove three or four thousand Danyang soldiers who guard other cities, and there are more than 10,000 soldiers guarding Wanling. But after more than ten days of siege battles, only 5,000 people survived, and most of them were wounded!

Because Ximen didn't need to be defended, there weren't many soldiers left behind by Zu Ying. When Zhang Xiu came, only one or two hundred of the six or seven hundred soldiers were considered to be able-bodied. There are only fifty or sixty young people in the main tower of the city gate, and it is true that the city gate cannot be opened for a while.

This is also to blame Zu Hao, in order to defend Wanling, the means are to do everything. Before Sun Cejun came, he had already demolished the gates of the mansions of all the big families in Wanling City, and nailed them to the original city gate with an oversized "iron nail" made of pig iron comparable to a short spear. In the end, the gates were each at least half a meter thick! As for the weight, not to mention!

In comparison, Sun Cejun's door-smashing logs made from centuries-old giant trees cut down in the mountains are too pediatric.