Sun Wu was ordered by the king of Wu to lead an army to attack Xu and Zhongwu. Now the Wu army in Sun Wu's hands mainly has three teams, one is the 3,000 sinners death squad led by Gongzishan, and the other is the 300 cavalry responsible for raids and sentry horses; The total number of chariots in 500 was about 50,000 people.

Sun Wu knew that Wu Ji, the mother of Zhang Yu, the monarch of Xu State, was the eldest sister of the prince, and Bao Yu was the uncle of Xu Guojun, which was also an important reason why Shen Yu fled to Xu State in the first place. Therefore, if King Wu wants to move a soldier and let Xu Guo send a cover to the door, the possibility is extremely small. Therefore, Sun Wu had already made preparations with both hands, and asked the general Zhuan Yi to divide half of his troops, go west to Zhongli and Chao County, and garrison troops on the border of Xu State. First, it can form a high-pressure trend against Xu Guo, and second, it can drive straight into Xu State at any time and attack Xu Guo.

After receiving the order of King Wu to send troops, Sun Wu decided to let Wu Yuan lead the remaining half of the Wu army to garrison the Wu-Chu border, in case Chu sent troops to rescue Xu, and also to prevent Chu from taking the opportunity to attack Wu.

The entire operation formulated by Sun Wu was to lead 25,000 soldiers and horses to intercept the Chu rescue troops in the middle, monitor the border of the Chu State, and suppress the use of troops by the Chu State in this campaign. Zhuan Yi led the other half of the soldiers and horses of 25,000 men to destroy the Xu State first; Taking advantage of the strength of the army, he went all the way west to destroy Zhong Wu, and then waved his army south to attack Shucheng in Chu State, exterminated the Cover Yu and Zhu Yong, and then returned to China.

This is a beautiful strategy of picking grass and beating rabbits, like a farmer harvesting crops with a sickle, Sun Wu is preparing to draw a beautiful strategic arc with thousands of troops and horses in the southwest direction of Wu.

After making all the relevant arrangements for the entire strategy, Sun Wu rode a fast horse and hurried to the Zhuan Yi barracks to personally command the Pizhou campaign against Xu.

Xu was also a large country among the princes before, once covering an area of 500 li, reaching its peak in the Western Zhou Dynasty, becoming the leader among the princes. Later, it declined into a small country in the continuous conquest of the vassal states, and the capital moved many times, and now the capital is Pizhou. The location is in the northwest of the state of Wu, sandwiched between Wu and Chu. Because Chu has been in a strategic upper hand for a long time, and its national strength is much stronger than that of Wu, even if Wu occasionally has the upper hand, these small countries will not be on which side it is, and they generally play some Tai Chi double-sided methods, seeking balance between the two big powers of Wu and Chu, and achieving the purpose of self-preservation.

So this time, Xu Guo and Zhong Wu were also ready to use their previous tricks, and when they saw the Wu army coming, they both asked Chu for help. In the past, this method was very effective, and the state of Chu would generally send troops to help.

Let's say that Sun Wu arrived at the camp of the Wu army, and saw that Zhuan Yi camped and set up defense, which won the gist of the soldiers, and he praised it very much. He ordered the whole army to pull out the camp early tomorrow morning and lead the troops only to Pizhou.

Zhang Yu, the monarch of Xu State, sent envoys to ask the King of Chu for help, and at the same time worshiped Ziteng as a general, raised troops to defend Pizhou. He also ordered all the generals of the border pass to lead the troops to withdraw to Pizhou to garrison and defend the national capital.

Sleeping all the way, Sun Wu's 25,000 army was like entering a no-man's land, and it had already rushed to the city of Pizhou for a few days.

This Xu State's general Ziteng gathered 10,000 soldiers from all over the country. Besides, Xu was originally a small country, and for many years it relied on political insight to keep the rudder alive, and there were few opportunities to use soldiers. Therefore, the soldiers lacked training and had no combat experience, and they were in danger in front of the Wu army, which had been fighting like wolves and tigers for a long time.

Zito saw that the city of Pizhou was small and could not accommodate such a large number of people, so he first asked the border guards to set up two camps on the left and right outside the city of Pizhou, as the first echelon to defend the city. He led the main force of 6,000 men and horses to retreat in the city, as long as the Wu soldiers attacked, the main force in the city would be used as a reserve Liliang out of the city to support.

Zito wanted to use a war of attrition and a protracted war to hold the city of Pizhou. The Wu soldiers attacked thousands of miles and could only fight quickly, and they could rely on Pizhou to defend and wait for the arrival of Chu reinforcements. And if the Wu army can't attack for a long time, it will naturally run out of food and grass, and morale will be low.

When he arrived at the city of Pizhou, Sun Wu ordered him to set up camp.

There are three gates in this Pizhou city, south, east and west, and the south gate is the main gate, and the north is just a small gate, which is not opened on weekdays. The two barracks outside the Xu army were entrenched on both sides of the main gate, and the other gates had been closed, and the drawbridge over the moat had been pulled.

Sun Wu, Zhuan Yi, and Gongzi Shan rode horses and saw the Xu army camp, and Sun Wu had a way to break the enemy. When they arrived at the big tent of the Chinese army, General Zhao Er secretly discussed: "Let's first pull out the two barracks outside the city, and first knock on the mountain and shake the tiger, and destroy their morale." It is now early autumn, the weather is hot and dry, Ben Shuai has observed the wind direction here, and the wind is mostly westerly at night. I have a plan, when the moon is dark and the wind is high, to clash with the two enemy camps outside Pizhou City, the soldiers are not about how many enemies they kill, but mainly about arson, burning down the two camps outside the enemy city, and the defenders in the city will be terrified. ”

On the second day, there was no movement of Wu's army. Xu Jun calmed down a little, and his tense nerves calmed down a little. During the day of the third day, there was still no movement of the Wu army, and the garrison of the Xu army was slightly relaxed.

On the night of the third day when the Wu army arrived in Pizhou, Sun Wu ordered: Zhuanyi and Gongzishan each led 1,000 soldiers to assault the two battalions of the Xu army, and led the army to kill the scattered enemy

These 2,000 soldiers, all of whom were foot soldiers, shouted before they reached the enemy camp in the dark, and only when they were hundreds of paces away, they raised fire together to illuminate the night as if it were day. Those Xu troops have not seen the movement of Wu soldiers for the past few days, but they have only set up sentry posts, and there are no other preparations. At this time, when the Wu soldiers attacked the camp, the Xu army fled in panic.

I saw that the soldiers of Wu rushed to kill and set fire to the Xu army camp. Those Xu troops were unprepared, and either fled during the night, some were scorched by the fire, and some were hacked to death with random knives. The second battalion of the Xu Army outside Pizhou City turned into ashes in a blink of an eye.

The main force of the Xu army in the city saw the second battalion in flames, and there were countless soldiers crying and fleeing. Knowing that he had fallen for the Wu army's attack, but he was afraid that the Wu army outside the city would be deceitful, he did not dare to act rashly.

Sun Wu wiped out the second battalion outside the city, surrounded the lonely city of Pizhou, and prepared siege equipment to attack the city on a certain day.

Xu Jun Zhang Yu saw that Wu Jun had destroyed the second battalion outside the city without much effort, and he was terrified in his heart, and summoned the master general Zito to ask for advice:

"The widow heard that the second battalion outside the city was wiped out by Sun Wu, and the small soldiers of our country are small, which is the opponent of the Wu army, and now the reinforcements of the Chu State are not coming, so what can I do?"

Zito knelt down and kowtowed, with a look of shame on his face: "The young general's horse exploration report shows that the Wu army has stationed tens of thousands of troops between Wu and Chu, and the soldiers are guarding it to intercept the Chu soldiers on the way north to rescue." ”

Zhang Yu was a little angry and asked, "The widow wants to know if the King of Chu has sent reinforcements?" Or were the reinforcements sent intercepted by the legionmen on the way? ”

"The spies inquired really, the king of Chu was ready to send troops to rescue him, but the state of Chu did not comply, saying that the Wu army had long been ready to intercept and kill the Chu army halfway, and it was not worth taking such a risk for a Xu country, so the king of Chu would no longer send troops to save my Xu country."

When the ministers above the court saw that the Chu State did not send troops to rescue them, they all looked at each other. Now the soldiers outside the city are pressing, and they have to find a way to escape.

Zito played: "The young general suggested that the king go to Jing'an. Jing'an was an important town in the state of Xu, with well-developed agriculture and commerce, and could be self-sufficient. Moreover, it is very close to the state of Chu, in case the Wu army chases, the king can run to the state of Chu. ”

"There are many enemy troops outside the city, how can the few people get out of the city?"

"When the Wu army was unprepared at night, the young general first sent troops to attack the Wu camp, and when the chaos occurred, the king clashed out again. I will send some highly skilled generals to escort the king out of the Wu camp. ”

Although this plan is a bit risky, there are only two ways now, one is to raise the white flag and surrender; The second is to sacrifice oneself to break through the camp and leave a fire for Xu Guo.

On this day, the Wu army began to attack the city. At this time, Sun Wu mainly had two siege weapons in his hands, one was of course the commonly used bow and arrow, and the other was to throw the car. This throwing cart is a simple stone throwing machine, which is to set a wooden post on the wooden frame as the axis, and in the middle of the shaft is a long wooden pole, on one side is a leather bag, containing stones or other weapons, and on the other side is a few cowhide ropes for people to pull together.

Sun Wu instructed his soldiers, led by archers, to wrap twine around the arrowheads, soak them in grease, and shoot 10,000 rockets into the city of Pizhou. The cart is not thrown stones or anything like that, but it is a ball of fire. There was a fire in this attack range near and far, which burned Pizhou into a sea of fire.

At this time, the main gate of Pizhou City was wide open. General Xu Ziteng took the lead and led the generals to break through.

It's really a dog jumping off the wall, and the trapped beast is still fighting. The thousands of Xu troops were like a surging river, hitting the embankment.

Sun Wu ordered the siege to be stopped, and when he saw the Xu army charging into battle, he had the intention of breaking through. He gathered the siege troops and assembled at the main gate of Pizhou City.

However, Pizhou City has a back gate for the north gate, and at this time, Zhang Yu rushed out of the north gate surrounded by several soldiers with strong martial arts.

The back gate is the defense area of Wu Jun Gongzi Mountain, at this time, seeing that the main general ordered the south gate of Pizhou City to be encircled, only a few soldiers were left to guard the back gate.

After a bloody battle, the city of Pizhou was broken. Sun Wu ordered the sergeants to enter the city to extinguish the fire and clean up the battlefield. The main general of the Xu army, Ziteng, was killed in battle, and the Xu army was scattered and fled by thousands, and countless people were killed in the battle. It's just that Zhang Yu, the monarch of Xu State, escorted by several confidant generals, broke through the north gate, passed through Jing'an, and fled to Chu State.

Sun Wu divided his troops into two routes, and asked Gongzishan to lead 10,000 troops, pursue Xu Jun, and cut off the remnants of Jing'an. then occupy the entire territory of the state of Xu; Ling Zhuan Yi ordered an army of 10,000 to continue westward to destroy Zhongwu.