Sun Jian led his troops to attack Lujiang, and the progress was very smooth, and the Lujiang soldiers led by Chen Deng were not his opponents at all. The next battle was not smooth, Chen Deng retreated to the city, Sun Jian built siege engines, stone throwers, and attacked continuously, but the effect was not good, and the losses were not small.

Attacking a city has never been easy, even if you are as good at fighting as Sun Jian, there is no good way, you can only surround Shucheng and gnaw slowly.

If the war is not going well, the mood will be bad, especially when the war on the northern front is going well, Sun Ben and Xu Kun have repelled Zhu Ling and Cheng Yu successively, and stabilized the battle line. If this is not the case, the generals have their own tasks, how can there be such leisure and leisure. If it weren't for Hongzi's repeated reminders and kind words and persuasion, Sun Jian would have gone to attack the city by himself.

Hearing Hongzi's generals and fighting generals, Sun Jian was embarrassed to go down and compete with a guard, and the distress of the war not going well came to his heart again. "Boxia, this Shu County has been delayed for a long time, what can you do?"

Hongzhi smiled wryly. "General, it is well known that it is difficult to siege a city. Chen Deng was well prepared, and he was afraid that he would not be able to overcome it in a hurry. In my opinion, it is better to withdraw the troops temporarily. ”

Sun Jian sighed. "This shaft ran too fast to inflict heavy damage on it in the field, allowing him to flee into the city, which is why he is in trouble today. It's better to send Guo Wu to Wancheng, you write a letter and ask him to bring it, tell Bo Fu about the situation here, and ask him to arrange more grain and grass. Not for three or four months, I'm afraid it will be broken. ”

Hongzhi was also like a mirror in his heart, Sun Jian refused to retreat, and he couldn't break the city, so he had to use this obscure method to ask Sun Ce for help. Sun Ce knew that his attack was blocked, and he would definitely send people to help, and it was by no means as simple as arranging more food. Hongzi hurriedly agreed. Sun Jian sighed helplessly and stopped Han Dang and Guo Wu. The outcome has already been decided, and it's no fun to fight any longer.

Han Dang was stunned, but he was helpless. Although he did not distinguish the winner on the spot, Guo Wu fought with Huang Gai and others many times, and his physical exertion was not small, but he was waiting for work, and he still couldn't win, he had already lost, and he didn't have the face to mention going to Wancheng to participate in the competition.

Sun Jian announced that Guo Wu would go to Wancheng to compete. Hongzi immediately wrote a letter, which was looked at by Sun Jian and asked Guo Wu to take it to Wancheng. He took care of Guo Wu in private, and no matter what, he had to ask Sun Ce to send someone to assist, the sooner the better. Sun Jian's siege of the city was blocked, and he breathed another sigh in his heart, and he soon couldn't persuade him. If Sun Jian personally went to the city to attack, if something happened, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Guo Wu received the order and set off immediately.

——

On the city wall, Chen Deng held on to the city wall, looked at the big camp in the distance, and his eyebrows were unconsciously frowned.

The sound of war drums in Sun Jian's camp started for some reason, and he didn't know why he stopped, and everything returned to calm, which made him a little confused. He walked slowly along the city wall. Zuo Ci followed him, following in his footsteps.

"Zuo Yuanfang, don't you know the Dao? You calculate, why Sun Jian was able to endure it for so long this time, and why he didn't fight once, and why Zhou Jiujiang hadn't cut off his grain channel until now. ”

Zuo Ci said solemnly: "Fujun, the Taoism is complicated, there are thousands of categories, and it is impossible to do both, I am studying the Dan method, not divination." However, the prince of the mansion does not have to worry too much, whether Sun Jian ascends the city or not does not affect the result, he goes deep into the Lujiang River, it is difficult to transfer, and sooner or later he will retreat, and the monarch of the mansion can sit back and relax. ”

Chen Deng laughed, a little disapproving. Zuo Ci is a famous Taoist priest in Lujiang, and he took a lot of effort to invite him, but he didn't expect that Zuo Ci had no use except for saying some seemingly mysterious words. is another vain person, just like Zhou Ang, he is also a celebrity, shouting every day to kill the Sun family father and son, to avenge his younger brother Zhou Yu, and now he lured Sun Jian to the hinterland of the Lujiang River, hoping that Zhou Ang can lead troops into the Lujiang River, cut off Sun Jian's grain route, and then attack Sun Jian back and forth with him, but he can't wait, and he can't wait, and there is no news at all. Now I can only count on the support of Yangzhou Assassin Shi Chen Wen. However, Chen Wen himself has no soldiers, and he still has to go to the counties in the south of the Yangtze River to recruit soldiers, and no one knows when he will be able to arrive.

How do I always work with some trash? Chen Deng was disappointed.

The ally is stupid, but the opponent is more shrewd than he expected. According to his understanding of Sun Jian, he originally thought that Sun Jian would be impetuous, would attack the city at any cost, and would even fight in person. For this reason, he not only strengthened the city defense early, but also selected 300 warriors from the troops he brought, trained carefully, and prepared to block Sun Jian when he landed in the city. However, although Sun Jian's siege of the city did not go well, he was not in a hurry or impatient, patiently deployed the battle, and he was even far away from the front line of the battle, commanding with peace of mind, so that all his preparations were in vain.

Lujiang is a small county, and Shu County has limited grain storage, if Sun Jian has been besieging the city, the food in the city will not last long. There are 10,000 people in the city, but most of them are recruits, and they can barely cope with the defense of the city.

I thought it would be an easy battle, but I didn't expect it to be a stalemate.

Chen Deng caressed the city wall, sighed for a long time, and a trace of regret rose in his heart. Knowing that this was the situation, he should not have accepted Yuan Shao's appointment and seized Lujiang from Lu Kang in the first place. Lujiang is a quagmire, it is easy to step in with one foot, and it is difficult to pull out the legs.

In the world, those who are not satisfactory are often eight or nine.

——

Ma Chao, Yan Xing and others met Guo Jia who came to greet them in Xi County, and they were flattered. They didn't expect that Sun Ce not only was not hostile to them, but instead sent people to greet them, and the specifications were so high and the courtesy was so high. Guo Jia is Sun Ce's cronies, second only to Sun Ce's personal welcome. Of course, they wouldn't think that Sun Ce was afraid of them. Sun Ce once duel with Zhang Liao in front of the battle, the two sides won or lost, their martial arts were comparable to Zhang Liao, Sun Ce had no reason to be afraid of them.

Guo Jia was very enthusiastic and asked them to rest in Xixian County, they must be tired after such a long journey. Second, he prepared some gifts for them, which would take a little time. Xixian produces high-grade bows and arrows, especially white feather arrows, Ma Chao and Yan Xing are all young warriors who are good at riding and archery, and they have no ability to resist these things, so they happily obey their fate.

Anyway, the imperial court sent them to compete in martial arts to delay time, and there was no itinerary at all.

Accompanied by Tian Hongcheng, the governor of Xixian County, Ma Chao and his entourage not only visited the Xie family's workshop, but also went hunting outside the city with the Xie family's archers to compare archery. The Xie family's archers were not as good as them, but their infantry shooting ability was quite good, better than those retinues they brought. This made Ma Chao and the others very surprised, there were so many good archers in a small county, if the imperial court attacked Nanyang, these archers would definitely become their nightmare.

In addition to the Xie family's archers, the soldiers led by Tian Hongcheng also opened the eyes of Ma Chao and others. Tian Hongcheng was just an ordinary captain, but his five hundred soldiers were well-trained and elite, and they were not much weaker than the two hundred warriors they brought. Ma Chao estimated that if they fought in formation, if they wanted to completely annihilate these 500 people, the loss of 200 knights might be more than half.

Ma Chao felt that this was the elite deliberately arranged by Sun Ce, pretending to be an ordinary soldier to scare them. He quietly consulted with Pound, the general of the tribe, and Pound also felt that this was possible. Yan Xing didn't think so, although they didn't see Xu Shu training people when they passed through Wuguan, the spirit and spirit of the Wuguan guards were not weak. At that time, he inquired and learned that most of the officers above the captain level had the experience of training in the martial arts hall, and how to train non-commissioned officers was a compulsory subject. This Tian Hongcheng is also from the martial arts hall, and it is normal for him to be able to take charge of himself and serve as the governor of Xixian County, which is a little stronger than the commander under Xu Shu, so there is nothing strange about it.

Ma Chao will be skeptical.