Chapter 192: Battle in Hefei (I)

In Shouchun City, the prefect's office conference hall.

After a long period of discussion, Zhou Ang and others finally agreed to borrow 50,000 troops from the back general and Nanyang prefect Yuan Shu to join forces to attack Zhou Yu, with the goal of Lujiang and Danyang counties. After the success, the two sides divided Zhou Yu's territory evenly.

Afterwards, Zhou Ang sent an envoy to Nanyang with gold and silver goods overnight in order to successfully join forces with Yuan Shu. Then, Zhou Ang ordered the general Li Shu as the head commander, Zhang Tong and Ma Dan as the deputy general, to raise 20,000 troops, and set off immediately after tomorrow and rushed to Hefei. Zhou Ang gave Li Shu a death order, and must hold on until Yuan Shu's reinforcements arrived.

At this time, Zhou Yu's army was already at the city of Hefei.

Hefei is named after the convergence of the East Fei River and the South Fei River. It is famous for its "Hangxi right collar, lips and teeth in the south of the Yangtze River". The name of Hefei first appeared in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian. Biography of Merchants": "Hefei was subject to the northern and southern tides, leather, abalone, and wood."

Hefei County was officially established at the junction of Qin and Han dynasties. In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu of Han Liu Xiu promoted it to the Marquis State. Hefei has always been an important transportation location and a military center in the Jianghuai region. In Jiujiang County, Hefei is as important as Shouchun. The city is high and the pool is deep. Zhou Ang stationed 5,000 troops here, and was guarded by Zhu Zhi, the magistrate of Hefei County.

This time, Zhou Yu did not use the method of division of troops when attacking Danyang County, but instead concentrated all his troops and advanced water and land, with the goal of Shouchun, the heart of Jiujiang County. The road was unstoppable, with only more than a thousand defenders in Yicheng and Quanjiao counties, and they were all captured by Zhou Yu's army without any effort.

With the remnant power of victory, Zhou Yu's army surrounded Hefei City in a mighty way. Because the east gate and south gate of Hefei were both water gates, Zhou Yu ordered Gan Ning to lead a part of Jinfan Army to surround the south gate, Ding Feng led a part of Jinfan Army to surround the east gate, Zang Ba led the scout camp and Xu Sheng's Niuzhu Camp to surround the north gate, and Zhou Yu himself led the remaining troops to surround the west gate of Hefei City.

Zhu Zhi, the magistrate of Hefei County, closed the city gates tightly, raised the suspension bridge, hung high the battle-free signs, allowing Zhou Yu's soldiers to curse and challenge under the city, but they just huddled in the city and didn't leave.

On the second day, Chen Wu's baggage battalion sent the catapult cart and the siege tower. Zhou Yu learned that Li Shu led 20,000 troops to aid Hefei and was on the way. Zhou Yu also received a secret letter from Jingwuwei, which reported the secret talks between Zhou Ang's envoy and Yuan Shu, and that Yuan Shu was about to send troops to Jiujiang.

Zhou Yu immediately summoned Chen Gong, Zhang Hong, Gan Ning, Zang Ba and other military generals to discuss countermeasures.

Before sending troops to Jiujiang, Zhou Yu was worried that Zhou Ang would ask Yuan Shu for help. In this case, Zhou Yu would face the powerful force of Zhou Ang and Yuan Shu at the same time. Yuan Shu was no better than Liu Yao. With the reputation of the Yuan family, he won many literati and military generals, including Kong You, Yan Xiang, Yang Hong, Li Feng, Yuan Yin, Han Yin and others, and Ji Ling, Zhang Xun, Qiao Rui, Chen Ji, Lei Bo, Han Xian, Chen Lan, Le Ju, Han Hao and other generals.

Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang and Runan again, and the two largest counties in the country were large and abundant. Now Yuan Shu is ready to move. On the one hand, he is guarding against Sun Jian in Yuzhou and preventing Sun Jian from continuing to expand his territory. On the other hand, he is staring at Jiujiang County. At the same time, he is also eyeing Xuzhou and Jingzhou in the surrounding areas. For Yuan Shu, these are all big fat meat, and he wants to pounce on him and take a bite at any time.

Zhou Yu thought Zhou Ang would see Yuan Shu clearly and would not be so urgent to ask Yuan Shu for help, so that he could lead his troops to quickly and go straight to Shouchun, using the tactic of the Black Tiger to get his heart out. But he didn't expect that Zhou Ang would take a desperate bet and would rather be annexed Jiujiang County by Yuan Shu than be captured by Zhou Yu. This caused great trouble to Zhou Yu's battle, and Zhou Yu had to adjust his combat plan.

In the central army's tent, Zhou Yu ordered his personal soldiers to lay a silk map on the table, analyzed the current situation in detail, and asked: "What are your opinions?"

Chen Gong looked at the map carefully and said, "According to information analysis, Li Shu's 20,000 troops were traveling day and night, and he was very quick and should be here tomorrow. If Yuan Shu had arriving from Nanyang, no matter how fast he was, he would have to arrive in Hefei. We must occupy Hefei before Yuan Shu's army arrived, and then take the funeral."

Xu Sheng stood up and folded his fists, frowned and said, "I was going to attack Hefei City today. In the eyes of the general, Hefei City is tall and faces water. Only two sides can be attacked with infantry. If the defenders and three armies use their lives, it will be quite difficult for us to capture Hefei within five days."

Zhou Yu nodded to Xu Sheng and agreed to his words.

Gan Ning also stood up and said, "Brother, judging from the reconnaissance of our naval army, the two water gates in Hefei City are very solid, with many sharp wooden stakes inserted under the water, and the big ship cannot get close to it, and the defense is quite tight. If we attack hard, we are not sure."

Zhou Yu said: "I agree with Uncle Chen's statement that we don't have much time and we must conquer Hefei City within five days, and then defend the city to resist Yuan Shu's army. The original combat plan must be completely modified, and there are still many new recruits in our army and their combat effectiveness is not high. Danyang is at its peak. It is not the time for us and Yuan Shu to fight. This time we can defend Hefei and maintain the three counties in the southern part of Jiujiang that we have captured, which is victory!"

Zhang Hong said from the side: "Lord, if you want to seize Hefei within five days, you must not let Li Shu's 20,000 people into the city. There were originally 5,000 defenders in Hefei. Once they entered the city, there would be 25,000 defenders in the city, and there were still many young and strong people among the civilians who could help defend the city. Then it would be difficult for us to attack."

Zhou Yu nodded and said, "Mr. Zigang said very well. I have an idea that the battle in Hefei will be divided into two stages."

Then, Zhou Yu said his ideas in a lot and everyone agreed. After the meeting ended, everyone returned to the camp to prepare.

Since Li Shu led 20,000 troops out of Shouchun, he has been traveling all the way, only resting for two or three hours at night, and is rushing for other times. Although there are only 5,000 people in Hefei City, it is still fine to stay for five or six days with the tall city wall. Li Shu was worried that Hefei County Magistrate Zhu Zhi would not use troops, and was hit by Zhou Yu's trick. Once Hefei is lost, Zhou Yu's army may fight to Shouchun before Yuan Shu's troops arrive, and the situation will be very ugly.
Chapter completed!