Zhang Cheng fell into blood mold, really.

Since he was pitted by Zhuge Ke, changed from the commander of the navy to the army general, and entered Jingnan with 15,000 soldiers, Zhang Cheng has not had a few days of peace.

Before, I was constantly being transferred to and from all over the country to support, running back and forth between Wuling and Changsha counties.

After that, he was finally transferred to Liling County to block the Shu army, and after a little peace, he lived for less than a month, and his opponent was a moth again.

The Shu army divided its troops once, which made Zhang Cheng mistakenly think that the Shu army was going to divide troops to attack Changsha County, and had to send 5,000 soldiers back to Changsha to help Changsha, reducing the number of defenders in Liling County.

But then, Zhang Cheng found out that he had been fooled, and Shi Bao, the main general of the Shu army on the opposite side, was just a false shot, and the 20,000 soldiers sent out came back again, besieging 10,000 of his 10,000 with 30,000 people.

Originally, Zhang Cheng thought that he was careless, and he divided his troops in vain, and he might not be able to hold Liling County, but in the subsequent battle to defend the city, Zhang Cheng found that the siege of the original Shu army was so crotch-pulling.

With a one-to-three comparison of troops, it is not impossible to hold Liling County.

Now that he was good, Zhang Cheng felt that he could hold Liling County, and it was even possible to repel the attack of the Shu army.

However, that is, after guarding for less than half a month, the main general on the opposite side, Shi Bao, he has a moth again.

He retreated.

This is not a situation where the army has to retreat after a long attack, which Zhang Cheng can still see.

However, in less than half a month of fighting, Shi Bao still has at least 25,000 troops in his hands. It would be child's play to withdraw the troops like this.

Anyway, in Zhang Cheng's opinion, Shi Bao must be playing some trick to lure the snake out of the hole again, this time, he can't be fooled as easily as last time.

For this reason, Zhang Cheng did not relax any vigilance, and still insisted on preparing for war in Liling County, and at the same time sent his own scouts to investigate the traces of the Shu army within a radius of fifty miles around Liling County.

In the end, Zhang Cheng found that Shi Bao led the troops and retreated in the direction of Xiangshui.

Xiangshui is at least 80 miles away from Liling County, and retreating to such a distance is really a retreat? !

Zhang Cheng always felt that something was wrong, and after empathy, he really didn't think that Shi Bao had a reason to withdraw his troops.

There is no reason for 25,000 soldiers to withdraw in front of a city guarded by only more than 8,000 people.

So. Xiangshui?!

Going up the Xiangshui River, it seems to be Xiangnan, right?!

And after the distance of less than eighty miles in southern Xiangnan, it is Changsha County, huh?! County?!

Zhang Cheng suddenly sensed that something was wrong, and immediately asked his scouts to set off as soon as possible to find out if a large number of ferries had suddenly appeared in the Xiangshui Basin.

Now what Zhang Cheng is most afraid of is that Shibao will give up attacking Liling County, go against the Hunan River, and attack Xiangnan County.

On the side of Shonan County, there is no defense of Soochow County, and the strength of 25,000 people can almost be said to be able to capture Shonan without bloodshed.

Once Shibao captures southern Hunan, he will inevitably turn his head and march eastward, attacking Changsha County, which is the grain and grass hoarding place of the Eastern Wu army in Jingnan.

Although Changsha County is garrisoned by Lu Ju, and at the same time, after Zhang Cheng's division of troops and rescue, he also has the military ability of 8,000 troops to guard Ke Lu Ju, Zhang Cheng is really not at ease.

Once Shi Bao really gave up attacking Liling County and turned to attack Changsha County, it would be impossible for Zhang Cheng not to be in a hurry.

Even, if Shi Bao attacks Changsha County, he doesn't even need to think about the problem of logistics supply, Xiangxiang County in Lingling County and Xiangnan County in Changsha County are only separated by a Xiangshui River, and if he wants to transport supplies from this route, it may be a little shorter than the logistics supply route for Shi Bao to attack Liling County now.

No matter what Zhang Cheng thought, he felt that Shi Bao was going north to attack Changsha County, so now. Do you want to go back to Changsha County?!

According to common sense, he should indeed return to Changsha County immediately, but the last encounter made Zhang Cheng a little jealous.

Last time, Shi Bao was a simple division of troops, so he let himself separate 5,000 soldiers from Liling County, what if Shi Bao repeats his old skills this time?!

Pretending to withdraw from Liling County, posing to go north in Xiangshui, and waiting until he really withdrew his troops to save Changsha, he will lead his troops back, then he can occupy the traffic artery of Liling without bloodshed? !

He still has 25,000 soldiers in his hand, if these soldiers ignore Changsha County, directly lead troops to attack Yichun County and break into Yuzhang County. Even if Yuzhang County can hold it in the end, he Zhang Cheng will inevitably be held accountable after the war.

Although he is covered by his father, he will not die, but Zhang Cheng's military career and career are estimated to end here. In the future, I can only stay at home and be a second generation of nobles who eat and wait for death.

So Zhang Cheng is really hesitant, do you want to return to the army?!

Zhang Cheng hesitated like this, Shi Bao didn't understand this Zhang Cheng, but he was calm.

Shi Bao chose to withdraw from Liling County, in fact, half of it was because he really couldn't fight.

There's no way, what kind of goods are in your hands, Shibud knows it very well.

There are only 10,000 Dahan soldiers who can really be used, and the remaining 20,000 Wuxi barbarian soldiers can also be used in field battles, and the siege is to add to the chaos.

Just counting on the siege ability and fighting will of these people, Shi Bao fought for three days, and found that he thought too well.

It is true that the Eastern Wu army on the opposite side is not a strong army, and the performance of defending the city is also a mess. But I can't stand it, and I'm just as confused on my side.

It is not impossible to capture Liling County, but it is estimated that after the battle, the 10,000 county soldiers under his command should have almost suffered casualties.

At that time, these Wuxi barbarians broke away from Wuling County and Lingling County to fight, and they had no scruples, and whether the stone buds that did not have enough county soldiers in their hands could be suppressed, it was difficult to say.

Therefore, Shi Bao didn't want to fight so hard for casualties in Liling County, so he still had to find a way to let the defenders of Liling County divide his troops again.

Last time, Shi Bao used a trick to feint to attack Changsha, which led to Liling County dividing 5,000 soldiers to rescue Changsha, so this time the old trick was repeated, making it more realistic, will it lead to the defenders of Liling County directly retreating to Changsha? !

The distance between Liling County and Changsha is still a bit far, at least two or three hundred miles away, there is enough space for Shi Bao to set up an ambush halfway, ambush this retreat to Changsha as long as the defenders do not fight siege battles, but field battles, then the Wuxi barbarians in Shi Bao's hands can come in handy enough.

This was Shi Bao's plan, for this reason, he wrote a letter to Pan Jun in Quanling in advance, hoping that Pan Jun would collect a large number of ferries and go north along the Xiangshui River, making an illusion that he would make a detour north to attack Changsha.

And Shi Bao himself, after continuing to besiege Liling County for more than ten days, chose to withdraw from the siege and retreat to the direction of Xiangshui.

On the one hand, it is to give Zhang Cheng enough space to give him the opportunity to evacuate Liling County as a whole, and on the other hand, Shibao does need to be transported quickly by waterway, before Zhang Cheng, in the middle of Liling County and Changsha, choose a suitable ambush location to ambush Zhang Cheng's returning army.

But Zhang Cheng has been standing still in Liling County during this time, and Shi Bao is a little hesitant in his heart. This Zhang Cheng, could it be that he saw through his own strategy, or he didn't care about the gains and losses of Changsha County at all, and he just didn't plan to come back to help, right? !

If this continues, it will not be easy to fight.

But fortunately, after hesitating for five days, Zhang Cheng finally decided to withdraw the army in the direction of Changsha County.

And then bar. The two fought an encounter.

Yes, no one expected that the two would encounter each other in a place that was not the site of the ambush.

Zhang Cheng was actually still hesitating to withdraw the army, he was really worried that Shi Bao would repeat his old tricks, and after he withdrew his army, he would seize Liling County.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng chose a rather strange approach, he made a posture of withdrawing the army and leaving Liling County, but after traveling less than fifty miles to the north, Zhang Cheng immediately chose to return to the army and make a detour from the shore of Xiangshui and withdraw to Liling County.

But if Shi Bao chooses to repeat the old trick, Zhang Cheng's hand can be completely rushed before Shi Bao and return to Liling County to hold on.

And even if Shi Bao really chooses to go north, Zhang Cheng will delay for two more days at most, even if he Lu Ji is incompetent, he can always hold it for two days, right?!

As for why he made a detour to Xiangshui, in fact, Zhang Cheng also hoped to get close to Xiangshui to investigate the situation and see if Shibao really went north along Xiangshui.

And the stone bud is here. Shibud is not a choice.

From Xiangshui to the north, it is about less than a hundred miles to enter the range of Hengshan. It is necessary to disembark in advance before entering the west of Hengshan, otherwise if you want to set up an ambush, you will have to cross Hengshan, or occupy southern Hunan first, and then make a detour to the south.

In doing so, the distance is too far, and it may not be able to stop Zhang Cheng.

Therefore, Shi Bao could only choose to lead his troops to disembark from the ship about sixty miles north of Liling County, and then go north by land to reach the predetermined ambush site.

And then bar. The two scouts met directly not far from the shore of Xiangshui.

If the scouts have met each other, it means that the distance between the two armies is not far, and it will not exceed twenty miles in an encounter, and it will have to be fought if it is not fought.

Fortunately, there are many people on Shibao's side, and the combat effectiveness of the Wuxi barbarians is still okay when they are fighting in the flat field, and they can help a lot, while Zhang Cheng's side has only more than 8,000 people in total, and it is impossible to withstand the attack of more than 25,000 people.

After experiencing a fierce battle, Zhang Cheng finally failed to hold on, and could only lead his troops to retreat.

But at this time, it was impossible for Zhang Cheng to withdraw to Liling County, so he had no choice but to lead the remnants of the army all the way north, intending to withdraw to Changsha County and assist Lü Yi in defending Changsha.

Then just outside Changsha City, he was blocked by Jiang Wei.

In the end, the remaining 5,000 soldiers were completely defeated and fled, and Zhang Cheng himself was unfortunately captured.

(End of chapter)