Chapter 131 Heading East
In May of the seventh year of Jianxing, at the end of the spring plowing in Shu, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, swore in Chengdu to attack Wu.
Zhuge Liang left Jiang Wan behind in Chengdu, Xiang Chong went to Zhennanzhong, and Zhao Yun took charge of Hanzhong. Afterwards, he personally led an army of 50,000 Shu soldiers, setting out from Chengdu and marching by land and water.
Ma Su's statement is correct, because the expedition to Wu was much easier than the Northern Expedition.
Because Tianchi Daze was destroyed by an earthquake, transportation in Shu was very inconvenient. The Shu army's Northern Expedition basically had to station supplies in Hanzhong first, and then transport them to Longyou via the Shu Road.
The losses involved were not ordinary. In history, the prime minister was almost bald due to this road.
But fighting Soochow is not that simple.
The prime minister and his troops set out at the beginning of the month and arrived in Yong'an in less than seven days. In less than ten days, the vanguard Wu Ban had already arrived at Yiling City.
This speed is all about efficiency.
Yiling was the gateway for the Shu Han Dynasty to advance eastward, and also the most critical pass into Sichuan. This place is located at the mouth of the Three Gorges and is an extremely important military stronghold.
Soochow has already been prepared for the arrival of the Shu army. Sun Huan, the guard general of Yiling, had already led his troops to guard the city and had been waiting for a long time.
"I am Wu Banye, the general of the Han Dynasty. Jiangdong rats should quickly open the door and surrender!"
Wu Ban looked at the familiar city in front of him, and his teeth were chattering.
Back then, he followed the late emperor from here to attack Soochow's treachery.
At that time, he was accompanied by several friends, including Zhang Nan, Feng Xi, Fu Wei and others. In the end, only he was left alive and ran back alive, while the others died in the battle.
When it comes to hatred towards Soochow, Wu Ban is no less than Ma Di. Many of his loyal troops died in that battle, and he almost became a bare commander when he returned to Chengdu.
Fortunately, now the prime minister has come to an end in person, and Soochow's good days have come to an end!
"Hey, isn't this the Wu Rabbit from back then?" Sun Huan glanced at Wu Ban and recognized his identity, and couldn't help saying angrily.
"If you hadn't run so fast back then, you would have been killed by Naigong's sword."
"What? You have become bolder again today. Do you dare to attack?"
"Haha..." Wu Ban glanced at Sun Huan coldly, waved his hand and ordered the generals to set up camp and prepare to lead the troops to attack the city.
Sun Huan was not afraid of Wu Ban's actions. You must know that Yiling is located at the mouth of the Three Gorges. The terrain is high and easy to defend but difficult to attack. And after repelling Liu Bei, Soochow carried out reinforcements and built twin cities to defend against the enemy.
The most useful city in the Three Kingdoms era was the Twin Cities. Building another city on the basis of the old city can not only divide the enemy's forces, but also stabilize the front line.
Even if the old city is lost, you can still retreat to the new city to defend it.
Liu Bei sent out troops in July and fought with his main force for nearly half a year before defeating them. Sun Huan is now sitting in a fortified city, and he does not believe that the Shu army can defeat it.
For Sun Huan, it would not even take half a year, but only three months, before Lu Xun would bring his army to support him.
At that time, no matter how clever your plan is, Zhuge Liang will only be able to look at the city and sigh.
If you can capture Yiling City, I, Sun Huan, will eat this sword on the spot!
Sun Huan's ideals were full, but he was still shocked when the main force of the Shu army led by Zhuge Liang arrived.
The neat appearance of the Shu army, the strong morale, and the military flags stretching for hundreds of miles all indicate that the Shu army has long since recovered from the tragic defeat in Yiling. Not only are they not the defeated army now, but judging from their military appearance alone, they are even stronger than Cao Wei.
Of course, the surprise is yet to come, because the prime minister brought a lot of siege equipment this time, specially coming to Yiling to popularize science in Soochow.
In just a few days, the Shu army laid out a large number of weapons at the foot of Yiling City.
Cloud ladders, rams, catapults, wooden donkeys, arrow towers... The Shu army deployed siege equipment one after another on the narrow Three Gorges Road. Basically, every one of them was improved by Prime Minister Zhuge and Huang Yueying.
I can't beat Hao Zhao, but I can't beat you Sun Huan?
"What the hell are all these things? How many things have the Shu people messed with?" Sun Huan was so frightened that he almost fell down from the city. This turn of events was something he didn't expect at all.
Then the Shu army, led by Wu Ban, launched a fierce attack on Yiling.
Wu Ban hated Sun Huan deeply, and it was very spicy when he attacked the city. As if Ma Su was possessed, as the rear general he personally led the troops to attack the city first.
First, the aerial ladders rushed forward, and behind them were built a large number of powerful crossbowmen on arrow towers, sniping and shooting at the city. Basically from the sky to the ground, the Shu army attacked in all directions, giving Wu Bing the most perfect battlefield experience.
The Wu army guarding Yiling was also elite, but it still had a close encounter with the Shu army.
Sun Huan was stunned by this blow. In just one hour, hundreds of Wu soldiers were killed, and the ladders reached the edge of the city.
"Quick! Hold on!!" Sun Huan was shocked. He personally led his bodyguards to fight against him, and killed several deserters on the spot.
Sun Huan killed the deserters and finally saved the situation. The Wu soldiers held the powerful crossbows of the Shu army and set fire to the ladder. It took a long time to barely block the Shu army's offensive.
On the first day alone, the battle was so intense that the division commander personally led the guard company out. The unprecedented offensive of the Shu army suddenly shattered Sun Huan's self-confidence, and he never regained his previous pride.
"Quick! Go to Jiangling and ask the governor for help!" Sun Huan wiped the blood from his head and shouted hysterically.
"If we don't send reinforcements as soon as possible, Yiling may not be able to hold off the Shu army for half a month!"
…………
…………
…………
While the prime minister was demonstrating his inventions under Yiling City, the Wu army in Xiaoting was enjoying some peace and quiet.
This place is more than a hundred miles away from Yiling, but there is no fighting. This place is only responsible for supplying grain and weapons to Yiling, so there are not many troops stationed here.
There are only four thousand soldiers, and the garrison can only hold one captain.
"Why are those barbarians in Shu crazy? They have been peaceful for a few days and are going to war again."
A guard soldier looked in the direction of Yiling and complained dissatisfiedly.
"Didn't you say that we are already allies? Why do we have to fight again?"
"Allies? When Governor Lu attacked Jiangling, we were also allies." A local soldier from Jingzhou snorted, disdainful of Soochow's actions above.
"Hey, hey, you can't talk about this." A fellow villager next to him quickly covered his mouth, looked around and then breathed a sigh of relief.
"You still say you don't want to die!"
"Originally, we were so majestic when we went on the Northern Expedition with General Guan. But it's not like now. I feel like a mouse."
This Jingzhou veteran muttered something dissatisfied, but he didn't dare to say it loudly.
If the officers from Yangzhou heard this, they would all be beheaded.
When Guan Yu died before, all the Jingzhou soldiers under his command were accepted by Soochow. But after arriving in Soochow, this thirty thousand to one hundred thousand elite suddenly turned into a soft-footed shrimp.
This made many veterans who fought with Guan Yu very dissatisfied and felt that they had been insulted.
While they were discussing, a soldier and horse had been ambushing them in the mountains to the west of Xiaoting for a long time.