Chapter 671 The Vanguard Arrives

Not only "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but also the official history of "Three Kingdoms" has records. Generally speaking, generals are called "skilled in bows and horses." However, when describing Taishi Ci's shooting skills, a large amount of description is used. He told how Taishi Ci broke through the siege of Beihai and his arrows were all fired.

Before Li Shu raised his troops to rebel, he deliberately used excuses to drive Cheng Pu, Tai Shi Ci and others away. Therefore, when the two men reacted, they had less than 3,000 troops and horses in their hands, while Li Shu had 5,000 troops in the city and attacked. City battles have always required the siege party to have a large number of troops. It is rare to capture a heavily garrisoned city with a small number of troops.

After Taishi Ci had some discussions with Cheng Pu, Cheng Pu led most of the infantry to station outside the city, while he himself led a few hundred cavalry to provoke outside Shu County.

The rebels in Shu County were naturally furious when they saw Taishi Ci being so bold. They fired at Taishi Ci one after another. However, Taishi Ci avoided them one by one. He held the long bow in his hand and fired in rapid succession. Four or five people fell, and he had sharp eyesight and quick hands, and could catch arrows with his hands. Therefore, although there were many archers in the city, they could not do anything to Tai Shi Ci.

Taishi Ci rode alone out of the camp for several days in a row. Whenever he saw anyone who dared to show his head above the city, he opened his bow and shot without saying a word. In the past three days, he had shot down more than 40 people. Therefore, the Lujiang rebels can be described as " His expression changed when he talked about Taishi, and he didn't dare to show his face.

Taishi Ci led more than a hundred cavalry around the city walls of Shu County for a while. Under the curse, no one dared to show his head again, so he had to curse loudly and then led more than a hundred cavalry back to the camp.

"Huh!" Tai Shici took off his helmet, with steam rising from his head, and rushed into the tent angrily.

"Ziyi, what's wrong?"

Sitting on the main seat was a veteran with black and white beard and hair, and an iron-spine snake spear beside him. He was one of the four generals who had followed Sun Jian for a long time, Cheng Pu, also known as Demou.

"General Cheng, these rebels in the city are really courageless!"

Taishi Ci sat down holding his helmet and said coldly: "A certain man led his cavalry to surround the city and yell at them, but no one in the city dared to raise their head. Finally, one man showed his head and was shot to death by a certain arrow. The rest became A shrunken turtle."

"It's a pity that our army does not have enough troops, otherwise we would attack the city directly!" Taishi Ci confidently said: "I am willing to be the first to capture and kill the dog thief Li Shu."

Cheng Pu smiled: "Ziyi is in high spirits, which is a good thing. But don't worry, someone has already sent someone to inform the lord. Reinforcements will surely arrive soon."

Lujiang County is located in the north of the Yangtze River, and its information is not as convenient as Wu County in the middle. Therefore, it did not know about the Shanyue rebellion and Sun Yi's murder.

Taishi Ci's face turned slightly gloomy: "Alas, Duke Bofu!"

If Zhou Yu is the Jiangdong general that Sun Ce values ​​the most, then Taishi Ci must be ranked closely behind Zhou Yu. Sun Ce and Taishi Ci can be said to be a typical example of a monarch and his ministers getting along well with each other. After hearing that Sun Ce died of illness, Taishi Ci was silent for a long time.

Cheng Pu comforted him and said: "Ziyi, Duke Bofu has passed away. The most important thing now is to protect the Jiangdong inheritance he left behind."

Taishi Ci nodded, clenched his fist and said, "Well, if I catch the dog thief Li Shu, I will use his head to pay homage to Lord Bo Fugong."

At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps. Cheng Pu and Tai Shici turned to look, and a dusty Jiangdong Army scout rushed in.

"My subordinate, Zhang Feng, is meeting with General Cheng and Lieutenant Taishi."

Cheng Pu asked: "Why are you here? Could it be that my Jiangdong reinforcements have arrived?"

"Yes, General Cheng, General Zhou led troops from Chaisang to Wu County. He has been appointed as the Commander-in-Chief by the lord. He led his troops to the aid of Lujiang in the starry night. His subordinates are the scouts under Xu Xiaowei, who came here specifically to report."

Taishi Ci was overjoyed when he heard this: "General Zhou, no! How many soldiers and horses did Governor Zhou bring here?"

"The governor has a total of 22,000 troops, with Captain Xu leading 3,000 troops as the vanguard. They have now crossed the Yangtze River and reached the north bank. They will arrive within half an hour."

Cheng Pu and Tai Shi Ci looked at each other with joy on their faces.

"Ziyi, come out of the camp quickly to meet Wen Xiang, haha."

Taishi Ci ordered the scout Zhang Feng to go down and rest, then followed Cheng Pu out and looked out together.

Not long after, thousands of Jiangdong troops were seen galloping in, carrying a large flag with the word "Xu" on their shoulders. Although the number of soldiers and horses was not large, the formation was as usual during the march, and almost no one was left behind. It was obviously an army. Elite soldiers who have experienced battles for a long time are very tough both in physical strength and will.

To measure the combat effectiveness of an army, not only the fighting in battle formations, but also the marching is also very important. If an army marches in an orderly manner and can still maintain its formation after a long period of rapid march, it is naturally an elite army. However, if it drags its feet after a rapid march, it is naturally a straggler.

For example, at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Song Taizong was determined to recapture the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun. The infantry of the Song Army set a record for the rapid march of ancient armies. They traveled 1,200 miles in six days, with an average speed of 200 miles a day, and they arrived at After that, they engaged in eight consecutive days of siege operations, which shows the elite of the Song Army's infantry.

On the other hand, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Jurchen Eight Banners invaded and invaded, Lu Xiangsheng was appointed as the superintendent and summoned all the armies from the nine sides to come for reinforcements. Many generals and generals had seven to eight thousand or four to five thousand soldiers and horses. As a result, they arrived on the first day. Only one-half or even one-quarter of the troops were left behind due to the hasty march. They did not arrive until two or three days later. Some people simply became deserters. It is naturally wishful thinking to expect such an army to win the battle. .

"The last general, Xu Sheng, meets the old general Cheng, the lieutenant of Taishi!"

Among the reinforcements, a horse galloped out. It was Xu Sheng.

"Hahaha, Wen Xiang came at the right time, hurry up and enter the camp."

Taishi Ci stepped forward and hugged Xu Sheng, while Cheng Pu also smiled.

Xu Sheng arranged for three thousand troops and horses under his command to be stationed in the camp, and followed Tai Shici to the Chinese army's tent.

As soon as he sat down, Cheng Pu couldn't wait to ask: "Wen Xiang, where are the Zhou Governor's troops and how long will it take to arrive?"

Xu Sheng thought for a while and replied: "The army of Governor Zhou is following our army and has probably reached the north bank of the Yangtze River at this moment. As long as General Jiang Lang can handle it well, if nothing unexpected happens, the 19,000-strong army will be able to reach Shu in one or two days." Below the county seat.”

General Jiang Lang was also known as Jiang Qin. He and Zhou Tai were both water thieves traveling between the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers. Later, when Sun Ce crossed the river to attack Liu Yao, he came to seek refuge. Jiang Qin was proficient in commanding water battles, so he was appointed by Sun Ce as General Hengjiang Zhonglang, and was called General Jiang Lang in the army.

"Okay!" Cheng Pu said with a smile: "In this case, my 25,000 troops will gather under the city of Shu County and the city will be destroyed!"

"By the way, brother Ziyi." Xu Sheng suddenly remembered Zhou Yu's instructions, looked at Taishi Ci, and said: "The governor of Zhou once ordered someone to send sentries to search the territory of Lujiang County to see if there are any traces of Cao's army. , but there are few scouting posts in a certain army, so we have to trouble my sworn brother for help."

To the south of the Yangtze River, war horses are not produced and can only be traded from the north. Therefore, the army is mostly infantry and navy, while the cavalry strength is basically zero. Only Taishi Ci in the north has more than a hundred cavalry, which is extremely precious.

Taishi Cihao said cheerfully: "It's easy to say, so and so will send out the detective sentry right away."