In fact, Pang Tong never thought about how he could be so coincidental that he could encounter a large-scale attack by Soochow when patrolling the river.

This is really not what Pang Tong expected.

But the problem is that when you suddenly encounter it on a wide river, there is no place to hide at this time.

This is not a small boat, you can find cover in the reeds to hide when the situation is not right. This is two fleets meeting on the river, and as long as they see it, there is nowhere to hide.

And as far as the size of the fleet of the Eastern Wu Army, which is not visible at a glance, the other party came in the direction of public security, and it was definitely not a friendly visit with gifts.

Therefore, in this case, Pang Tong thought about it for a while and directly ordered to launch an attack on the vanguard fleet of Eastern Wu.

The general of the Eastern Wu Pioneer Fleet, called Quan Duan, is Quan Cong's clan brother and a good general.

It's just that, compared to Quan Cong's civil and military skills, Quan Duan is actually more inclined to traditional generals, and his water and land combat capabilities are quite good, but in terms of command operations, he is still a little less strain than Quan Cong.

Suddenly encountering a large fleet of the opponent, Pang Tong only thought about it for a while, and then ordered to take the initiative to attack, without thinking about the result at all. It's also something to think about after you've finished playing.

And Quan Duan suddenly found that his unexpected naval fleet appeared, but fell into a moment of hesitation.

If he is a simple fierce general, it is not impossible to be reckless at this time, but Quan Duan thinks that his ability is no worse than Quan Cong, and he really thinks about it, what does the appearance of this fleet mean? !

Is it that the Shu thief has already taken precautions?! Where did this fleet come from?! Why did you block the road so coincidentally on the day you launched your attack?! Do you need to inform the coach behind you, General Zhu Ran, in time?!

He thought about it so much, but found that the other party launched an attack without any hesitation, and it was not until Pang Tong's Yizhou naval army completely accelerated that Quan Duan reacted.

And then it's a bit too late to deal with it.

Pang Tong's Yizhou naval army naturally occupied the favorable conditions of the upper reaches and went down the river, which was originally a great advantage in the water war, and also allowed Pang Tong to attack in advance. If the Soochow Navy wants to adjust the formation and position and seize the advantageous position, it is too late.

In this way, the vanguard naval division of the Eastern Wu Army at the full end was at a comprehensive disadvantage in the first engagement of this campaign.

But fortunately, there are 5,000 vanguard sailors brought by Quanduan, the number of people is superior, and the number of warships is also superior, plus the vanguard army of Quanduan is not very far from Zhu Ran's commander's flagship, Zhu Ran immediately brought troops to help after getting the military report.

As for Pang Tong, he didn't want his 3,000 naval army to fall into the encirclement of the superior naval army of Eastern Wu, so he decisively ordered a retreat, which ended the first battle between the two sides.

As a result of this engagement, the Eastern Wu naval army suffered a slight setback, but the Han army had to retreat to the public security.

For the Han army, it was not an unacceptable result, but for Eastern Wu, Zhu Ran was quite unacceptable.

Before, under the pretext of training the navy, he kept wandering back and forth on the Yangtze River, thinking that he could relax the vigilance of the public security defenders, but now it seems that it is completely useless.

The most hopeful sneak attack is impossible, and it must be a strong attack.

And what made Zhu Ran most uneasy was the appearance of the Yizhou Army and Pang Tong, does it mean that the soldiers and horses of Yizhou have been stationed in the public security in advance, and even Jiangling? !

So, who is the enemy that the 50,000 people I brought this time really have to face, and how many soldiers and horses are there?!

This lack of intelligence is the most fatal of a battle. If you don't even know the basic situation of your opponent, how can you have a chance to win?!

For a moment, Zhu Ran thought about whether he should simply excuse himself as just training troops, hold the Han army accountable for the rude sneak attack, and then withdraw directly. But alas, this is not possible.

Let's not say that the emperor's edict must be completed, let's just say that it took so much military food to prepare for war and gathered so many soldiers to go to war. If you retreat like this, won't it become a public trip to the river?!

War is not a child's play, this kind of reason is really not convincing to the public, and he Zhu Ran will not have the opportunity to lead the troops alone in the future.

Therefore, no matter whether the Yizhou soldiers arrived at the public security or Jiangling in advance, the battle that should be fought still has to be fought.

Besides, if you don't fight, you can't know whether this is whether the enemy army has been prepared for a long time or is bluffing. You will only know if you hit it.

Therefore, Zhu Ran quickly led the navy to keep up with the forward troops at the whole end, and occupied the ferry at the first time, blocked the naval army camp brought by Pang Tong, and prevented the Yizhou naval army from fighting in the village again.

At the same time, Zhu Ran did not forget to send a vigilant scout force to Jiangbei to prevent the Han army from coming to Jiangling to help him and attack him back and forth.

Although there is the protection of the navy and the Yangtze River, it should not be caught off guard by the Han army, but the place to be guarded against is still to be guarded.

After making these preparations, Zhu Ran led the army ashore, went down to the village ten miles outside the public security city, and began to carry the siege equipment he brought.

Different from the previous sieges, this time, in order to pursue the speed of siege, the siege equipment was built by Zhu Ran directly at the mouth of the city, and it was possible to transport it to the fleet and assemble it, and it did not need to be built by cutting down trees locally.

That is, it is convenient to take the Yangtze River for water transportation, and the public security is just on the edge of the Yangtze River, otherwise it will not be possible to achieve this thing if it is a little farther away. The siege equipment was too bulky and could not go too long with wheels.

This time, Zhu Ran really learned too many lessons from Lu Meng, and he didn't expect to go down to the public security without a fight, and prepared for a strong attack in advance.

And in the face of such an enemy, Pang Tong also had to praise. It's a real talent.

Praise is admiration, whether the enemy is still the enemy or the enemy hurriedly found Li Qiu, who was stationed in the public security, to arrange the defense of the city.

The current situation is very unfavorable to the public security.

Don't look at Pang Tong with 3,000 Yizhou Navy troops to the public security in advance, but in fact, once these 3,000 sailors go ashore, it is impossible to continue to fight in Hong Kong under the blockade of the Dongwu Navy and people will not give you this opportunity.

Therefore, after Pang Tong led the troops ashore, he basically abandoned the possibility of fighting by warship, and led the navy straight to the public security city to fight as the army defending the city.

Fortunately, in these years, the difference between the naval army and the army is not too big, it is nothing more than a question of the strength of the land combat capability, and in the defense of the city, this problem will be reduced by the protection of the city wall to the extent that the difference is not too big.

But the problem is that when Pang Tong led the troops into the public security, he did not see the public security guard Zhang Ren at the first time, what he saw was Li Qiu, the commander of Wuling.

Li Qiu's appearance here is not surprising, after all, before the Northern Expedition, in order to send Jingzhou soldiers to participate in the war as much as possible, Pan Jun, Li Qiu and others were ordered to lead their troops north to increase the defense force of public security and Jiangling.

But. What about Zhang Ren, the official guard of the public security?!

"The righteous general has been sick in bed since the beginning of the year, and now. I'm afraid time is running out! ”

This is the answer given by Li Qiu.

After asking carefully, Pang Tong understood all the causes and consequences.

Since Liu Zhang's death in the public security three years ago, Zhang Ren's spirit has become worse and worse.

In addition, Zhang Ren is fifty-six years old this year, and in this era, he can be regarded as a veteran. At this age, when encountering spiritual sustenance and death, Zhang Ren's aging and limitation are basically inevitable.

Since Li Qiu led the troops to the public security in April, Zhang Ren began to hand over military affairs to Li Qiu one after another, and he could not recuperate at home all the year round, and occasionally appeared, just to calm the morale of the army and help Li Qiu master the public security military affairs.

In the past month, Zhang Ren's physical condition has been getting worse and worse, and according to Zhang Ren's eldest son, Zhang Lin, the old man may not survive this winter.

In this case, even Pang Tong is not good to bother this old general again.

This famous general in Sichuan, whether he is taking care of Liu Zhang or Dahan, he has been guarding the public security for nearly ten years after all.

In the past ten years, Zhang Ren has not had no opportunities for promotion, nor has he no possibility of becoming a marquis, but these opportunities and possibilities have all been rejected by Zhang Ren one by one.

It's hard to say whether he refused to be promoted and marquis because he had the old lord in mind, but even if it was, because of his loyalty to the lord, the court couldn't have to respect him.

No emperor wants his subordinates to be disloyal, so even if Zhang Renzhong's person is not the emperor or the court, the respect he deserves still has to be given to him.

What's more, people have really guarded the public security city for you for ten years and refused the prying eyes of Eastern Wu, which is already very worthy of the Han Dynasty and the imperial court.

Therefore, Pang Tong still went to visit Zhang Ren on behalf of the imperial court, expressed his condolences, and privately promised Zhang Lin that even if Zhang Ren was unwilling to accept the court's reward, this title was always owed by the imperial court to the Zhang family.

This promise, Pang Tong is eight points true, two points false. The promise should be given, this is a reward for Zhang Ren's meritorious service, but at this time, Pang Tong also has the intention of stabilizing Zhang Lin.

After all, Zhang Ren has been guarding the public security for ten years, and the public security defenders admire Zhang Ren's personality very much, at this time, if Zhang Lin does something in the name of Zhang Ren, Pang Tong and Li Qiu, two outsiders, will definitely not be able to compare with Zhang Ren in terms of prestige.

Only by stabilizing the interior can it be possible to defend the outside.

After all, in the public security city, plus the 3,000 people brought by Pang Tong, there are only 8,000 defenders.

For reinforcements, Pang Tong has already sent people to urge, but whether it is Zong Yu of Yidu County or Chen Dao of Badong County, he will lead his troops to arrive at the public security, which will be as short as ten days, as long as fifteen or even twenty days.

During this time, it was necessary to rely on the 8,000 defenders of the public security to hold on to the attack of tens of thousands of people of the Eastern Wu Army.

It is very necessary to stabilize the morale of the military.

(End of chapter)