Chapter 640: Zhu Yuanzhang VS Sun Wu (II)

After receiving the news that Tao Qian led nearly 40,000 troops south and had captured Xuzhou, the morale of the Ming army in Shouchun City was inevitably affected.

After all, after he conquered the counties of Jianghuai, how long could a lonely city in Shouchun be defended?

Faced with such a situation, Zhu Yuanzhang stood up to refute the rumors at the first time, saying that this was a trick by the Han army to break the morale of its own army.

The soldiers of the Ming army were naturally skeptical of this, but most of them were willing to believe Zhu Yuanzhang, so the internal turmoil was reluctantly resolved, but if the external threat was not solved one day, the crisis in Shouchun could not be resolved.

"Li Wenzhong, can you stop going back and forth? I'm almost dizzy. Zhu Wenzheng shouted with a dissatisfied face.

"I'm not in a hurry."

Li Wenzhong, who was anxious, kept pacing back and forth, and then said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Lord, if you continue to be so indifferent, Tao Qian will really hit Jianghuai?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and said lightly: "Steady, don't panic, the more critical the moment, the more we have to act calmly." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang was actually very anxious in his heart, but he knew that he must not panic, because he was the backbone of Shouchun, and once he panicked, this battle would be lost.

Zhu Yuanzhang's calmness also infected the generals, Li Wenzhong forcibly suppressed the anxiety in his heart, and said in a deep voice: "Lord, why don't we give up Shouchun and retreat to other places?" If you go on like this, you won't even have to retreat......"

Li Wenzhong didn't finish speaking, but was interrupted by Zhu Wenzheng.

"Shouchun must not be given up."

Zhu Wenzheng glared at Li Wenzhong, and said solemnly: "The Yangzhou coalition army is eyeing outside, they are waiting for our army to break through, once we abandon Shouchun and lose the protection of the city wall, our army will be annihilated." ”

"So what do you say? If it goes on like this, Shouchun will definitely become a lonely city, and it will be a matter of time before it is lost. ”

Zhu Wenzheng was speechless, but he still insisted on his own point of view.

"In short, Shouchun must not be abandoned, as long as Shouchun is here, the Yangzhou coalition army will not be able to enter the Central Plains, and once Shouchun is lost, the southern front will be defeated, and the 100,000 Yangzhou coalition troops will directly attack the Central Plains, and then threaten Chen Liu."

"Then you're going to come up with a solution?"

“…… In short, you can't give up Shouchun. ”

"What's the difference between what you say and what you don't say?"

"It's better than your bad idea."

"Who do you say is a bad idea?"

"You ......"

Zhu Yuanzhang was so distraught by the quarrel of the generals under his command that he couldn't bear it anymore, and finally shouted angrily: "Shut up Lao Tzu." ”

Seeing that the lord was angry, the two generals did not dare to be presumptuous anymore, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly when he saw this: "Shouchun must not give up, and Tao Qian must also solve it." ”

"But how?"

"I can only divide the army into two ways."

A hint of determination flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, and he said in a deep voice: "Zhu Wenzheng, you will guard Shouchun for Ben General." ”

"No."

Zhu Wenzheng knelt down on one knee and said, "The last general will live up to the trust of the lord." ”

"Li Wenzhong, you will go with the general to solve Tao Qian."

"Okay." Li Wenzhong grinned, and then asked, "Lord, how many soldiers and horses are we bringing to meet the enemy on this trip?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and said lightly: "One thousand." ”

Li Wenzhong's eyes widened, and he even thought that he had heard it wrong, and after asking again, he realized that he had indeed heard it correctly, so he said with a broken face:

"Lord, Tao Qian has an army of thirty or forty thousand, and we only bring a thousand people, do you dare to go over and send them to death?"

"Shouchun's soldiers and horses should not be moved lightly, once they are mobilized too much, it is difficult to keep Shouchun unstable."

"But a thousand is too little, isn't it?"

A sneer flashed at the corner of Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth, and he said lightly: "Although the Xuzhou army has a large number, the main general Tao Qian is not mediocre. Tao Qian lost 37 battles of our army in a row, and he had long been afraid of our army like a tiger, and to deal with the Xuzhou army, a thousand yellow turban wrestlers were enough. ”

Hearing that what the lord said was a thousand Yellow Turban Warriors, Li Wenzhong's heart also settled down a little, after all, it was the most elite Yellow Turban Warrior in the Ming Dynasty, and it should not be a problem to deal with the famous Xuzhou Army.

Xuzhou originally had Danyang elite soldiers, but with most of the Danyang soldiers in the army killed, Danyang was captured by Xiang Yu, and the battle with the Yellow Turban was repeatedly defeated, the combat power of the Xuzhou army has become weaker and weaker, so Li Wenzhong looks down on the Xuzhou army so much.

Zhu Wenzheng is not as optimistic as Li Wenzhong, after all, there are 30,000 or 40,000 people in Xuzhou, how can a thousand Yellow Turban wrestlers win?

Zhu Yuanzhang saw Zhu Wenzheng's concern at a glance, and immediately explained: "Don't worry, Ben will never fight an uncertain battle." A thousand Yellow Turban wrestlers were indeed not enough to deal with the Xuzhou army, so the general was also prepared to transfer troops from Chenliu and the Eastern Front. ”

"Lord, Chen's left-behind army is already insufficient, how can he transfer soldiers and horses? The eastern line is nearly a thousand miles away from Jianghuai, and it is difficult to quench the thirst of distant water? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled indifferently and said softly: "Chen's remaining garrison is indeed insufficient, but sending three thousand soldiers and horses to support will not affect Chenliu's defense." The eastern front is thousands of miles away from Jianghuai, and it is indeed difficult to quench the thirst of the near water, but what if the cavalry comes to support? ”

Zhu Wenzheng's eyes widened, looking at his lord in disbelief, while Zhu Yuanzhang looked up at the sky, feeling apprehensive and confused.

Xiang Yu, now is not the time for infighting, you must lend me the overlord ride!

——————

In the fourth year of Zhongping, March 1, night.

Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of the night to lead a thousand yellow turban wrestlers to leave Shouchun, and went north to Jianghuai to face Tao Qian, no, it should be Sun Wu.

Tao Qian didn't know that Zhu Yuanzhang had left Shouchun, and he was making every effort to attack Jianghuai with the assistance of Sun Wu, and when he found out about Zhu Yuanzhang, it was already too late.

On the night of March 10, Zhu Yuanzhang personally led a thousand elite night attacks on the Tao army.

There were no loopholes in the camp arranged by Sun Wu, but most of the sentry posts were still seen through by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the army only found out when they touched the camp thousands of kilometers away, but it was too late.

After a night attack, the Tao army suffered thousands of casualties, if it weren't for Sun Wu's quick response, I'm afraid that even the granary would have been burned by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately fled after the blow, and secretly lurked, preparing for the next night attack.

On the night of March 16, Zhu Yuanzhang once again prepared to attack the pottery camp at night.

The moon is dark and the wind is high, which is a good time to kill people and set fires, but before the action, the strong wind blows off the banner of Zhu Zi.

Seeing this ominous omen, Zhu Yuanzhang's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly ordered a retreat.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang did not enter the ambush circle, Sun Wu could only order the ambush soldiers to be killed in advance, so that although it could not be completely annihilated, it could also be severely damaged.

After a major battle, more than half of Zhu Yuanzhang's Yellow Turban wrestlers suffered casualties, while the casualties of the Xuzhou army were even greater.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who suffered a big loss, did not take risks, but harassed the Xuzhou army while waiting for the arrival of reinforcements.

On March 26, Chen Liu's 3,000 reinforcements arrived on the battlefield.

On 29 March, 3,000 tigers and leopards on the Eastern Front arrived on the battlefield.

On April 5, Zhu Yuanzhang and Sun Wu fought to the death.