"Less than six thousand!"

Zhang Zhao, who heard the news, also began to frown.

"The lord summoned more than 10,000 men and horses to quell the rebellion, and later, because of the affairs of Danyang County, he only brought 4,000 soldiers and horses to Danyang County to help."

"Being able to gather 6,000 people is already the limit, after all, Yan Baihu of Wucheng County is not a vegetarian, and the thousands of people under him are making trouble at any time, if there are not enough troops to defend it."

"I'm afraid that even if we solve the problem of Dantu County, the backyard of Wucheng County will catch fire again."

Zhang Hong also quickly showed a wry smile, and first explained why he could only have less than 6,000 soldiers and horses now.

In fact, Zhang Zhao also understands this, after all, although Sun Ce's every move, although he will not inform Zhang Zhao immediately, these things will be revealed in the future correspondence exchange.

Zhang Zhao also knew that Sun Ce had taken his men and horses to Danyang, but now that Yuan Shu's army was attacking, he could only send the defenders of Wu County to resist.

After some consideration, Zhang Zhao still said his thoughts to Zhang Hong.

"Lord, I am in Danyang, I don't know what the situation in Danyang is at the moment, and the top priority is to block those enemy troops in Dantu County."

"Yan Baihu is just a thief, so don't worry. Zigang, I think it's important to block the army of Dantu County first. ”

Zhang Zhao wanted Zhang Hong to directly transfer troops to resist, but he was not the commander on the battlefield, this kind of thing, there was no power transfer, he could only suggest Zhang Hong.

Whether to transfer troops and horses or not, it has to be Zhang Hong's own decision.

Zhang Hong's face was gloomy, and he also knew the seriousness of the matter, but he hesitated slightly, and then replied.

"Brother Zibu, I understand, you are right, the top priority is not Yan Baihu, but the Yuan Shu army of Dantu County."

"If you can't stop Yuan Shu, everything will be in vain."

"However, my ability, relying only on six thousand people, may not really be able to block Yuan Shu, I can only promise you that I will hold on for half a month."

"Half a month later, Yuan Shu's army is very likely to hit Wu County, I think it is better to inform the lord of this matter as soon as possible."

Zhang Hong opened his mouth to suggest a sentence, making Zhang Zhao nod again and again.

"What I'm saying is that I'm going to send someone to inform the lord, don't be idle, those enemy troops of the Dantu can attack Wu County at any time, you better gather troops and horses early and go to resist."

Zhang Zhao didn't care so much, he was worried that the enemy army on the side of Dantu County would kill him, so he could only let Zhang Hong lead his men and horses to resist.

Zhang Hong had Zhang Zhao's suggestion, so he didn't dare to slack off, so he returned to Wucheng non-stop, and then talked to Han Dang of Wucheng about this matter.

When Han Dang heard this, he was naturally shocked, and just wanted to follow Zhang Hong to Dantu to resist Yuan's army.

But Wucheng's Yan Baihu is still in chaos right now, and generals are indispensable to guard here, and Han Dang can only lead more than 1,000 people to guard here.

Originally, 6,000 people could suppress Yan Baihu and did not dare to leave the cottage, so he could only retreat in the mountains and forests.

But once Zhang Hong left with his men and horses, leaving only more than 1,000 people, Yan Baihu's courage could be increased, but there were more than 1,000 people stationed in the county, and Yan Baihu's men and horses couldn't do anything about Han Dang.

With more than 1,000 soldiers and horses, it is impossible to defeat Yan Baihu if they rely on the city, but as long as they defend the city, there is still no problem.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhang Hong set off with his soldiers and horses and went straight to the direction of Dantu County.

And Yuan Yao of Dantu County, after defeating Dantu, he did not take advantage of the situation to continue the pursuit, and attacked in the direction of Wu County in one fell swoop.

For there are now two paths before him.

One is that in the southeast direction, about 300 miles, you can attack Wu County in just ten days.

Once Wu County is captured, most of the entire territory of Wu County will fall into the hands of Yuan Yao, and Sun Ce's men and horses can only be forced to move south.

However, if you do this, it will not be easy to rely on the more than 10,000 people under Yuan Yao now, and it will not be easy to fight to Wu County.

Although Sun Ce was not there, Sun Ce had occupied Jiangdong for such a long time, and he already had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, even if he was frustrated for a while, when Sun Ce reacted, he gave up guarding the counties and towns.

In a short period of time, he can gather more than 30,000 people, and when the time comes, he will come to attack Yuan Yao with all his might, and with Yuan Yao's more than 10,000 men and horses, he will fight Sun Ce on the territory of Wu County, and the odds of winning can be said to be not ideal.

Even if he really occupies half of the territory of Wu County, he will only be able to spit out a little bit at that time.

Therefore, after taking Dantu County, Yuan Yao began to consider another path.

That is to take advantage of this time to march to the southwest.

To the southwest, it is the junction of Danyang County and Wu County.

As long as Yuan Yao can take Liyang County in a short period of time, and then send troops to take Changxing County, it is equivalent to cutting off the connection between Danyang County and Wu County.

The biggest advantage of doing this is that it can completely block the thousands of soldiers and horses in Danyang County in Danyang.

Wu County's reinforcements could not reach Danyang County, and even if Sun Ce wanted to retreat from Danyang County and was blocked by Yuan Yao's more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, he would not be able to retreat with his whole body, unless they chose to bypass Changxing County.

But in this case, it will take them at least another month to march south, and they will be able to return to Wu County.

A month is enough for Yuan Yao's men to pacify Danyang, and even defeat half of Wu County.

After considering this, Yuan Yao didn't even hesitate more, so he directly gave up attacking Wu County, and directly took his men and horses, set off from Dantu County, and went straight to Liyang.

Liyang is directly south of Dantu County, less than 200 miles from Dantu County.

Although Liyang is located around Taihu Lake and the surrounding water systems are well developed and there are many lakes, Liyang is not a direct beneficiary of the waters of Taihu Lake, so these water systems cannot form an effective shipping channel.

Yuan Yao's army could only dock the ships in Dantu County, and let Gong Du lead 2,000 soldiers and horses to camp behind Dantu County.

Yuan Yao took his battalion of 3,000 warriors and 8,000 Runan soldiers, as well as more than 1,000 soldiers recruited along the road, gathered 12,000 soldiers and horses, and went straight to Liyang County.

Liyang County, although close to Wu County, is actually under the jurisdiction of Danyang County.

Because of its proximity to Danyang County, there are actually a small number of garrisons here.

However, the last time Sun Ce suffered a loss in Wanling County, recruited soldiers and horses nearby, and also recruited some people in Liyang County.

Originally, there were six or seven hundred soldiers and horses stationed in Liyang County, most of which were requisitioned and transferred, and now there are only three hundred defenders stationed in Liyang County.

Yuan Yao took advantage of the fact that the news of Dantu County had not yet spread, so he asked his warrior battalion to march in a hurry, and it only took three days to rush more than 100 miles and blockade Liyang County first.