Chapter 1021 Hu Bing Tang

Chapter 1021 Hu Bing Tang

Chapter 1021 Hu Bing Tang

After receiving the message, Lu Wan immediately returned to the boat.

They arrived three days ago, but were delayed a little while waiting for supplies and gathering troops. Otherwise, they would have already entered Shouchun and Huaishui and launched a large-scale "Northern Expedition".

The speed of marching by boat is far from comparable to that of land. In open waters, if the wind and the current are favorable, the cavalry will be left far behind by them, which can be said to save time and effort and have super mobility.

The only downside is that boats can’t go ashore.

"What is the name of this place?" he asked those around him.

"Hu Bing Tang."

"Why is it called this?"

"The Hubingtang was dug by Cao Cao during the late Han Dynasty when he was cultivating land. It was originally named 'Liangbingtang' because the soldiers stationed there were actually grain soldiers. Over the past hundred years, due to rumors, it was first named 'Liangbingtang', and then some people took the name literally and named it 'Hubingtang'."

"But this pond?" Lu Wan asked, pointing to a pond not far from the east bank of the river.

"No," the guest replied, "The Hubing Pond is to the west of the Shishui River (Nanfei River), and this pond has no name."

"I was just thinking about this pond." Lu Wan put his hands on the pergola, looked ahead carefully, and said, "Whose soldiers are those? Why are they arrayed with their backs to the pond? If they win, it's fine, but if they lose, they have nowhere to retreat."

"Those are the Jiangzhou soldiers who were deceived by Zu Yue. Their commander is Lei Shuang from Nanchang," the guest replied.

"Oh? But is he the son of Lei Huan who gave the sword to Zhang Hua and Zhang Maoxian?" Lu Wan asked.

"It is this man." The guest replied, "Zu Yue transferred him to Chaohu Lake and guarded it with his own troops. Shuang was very angry and just now he made a blood oath with his soldiers that he would not return until the bandits were defeated."

Lu joked but said nothing.

He knew this person so he remembered him when the guests mentioned him.

There was no other reason. Prime Minister Wang Dao had a concubine who was from this family. She was "quite involved in political affairs" and "accepted money" and was nicknamed "Minister Lei".

"How strong are the Lei family's soldiers?" Lu Wan asked again.

The guest was at a loss for words, so he could only clasp his hands and say, "At the end of the Han Dynasty, they were also very powerful, but now they have only fought against the mountain barbarians. A fight between two or three thousand men should be more than acceptable."

"The end of the Han Dynasty?" Lu Wan was stunned.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, Lei Bo was a general under Yuan Shu. After Yuan Shu was defeated, he refused to flee. There was also Lei Xu from Lujiang who led tens of thousands of troops to travel between the Yangtze River and the Huai River. Neither of them was very good! Moreover, they were too far apart, and their previous abilities might not be passed down. After all, not all families can be called "generals' families."

"Has Lei Shuang ever fought in a war?" Lu Wan asked.

The guest was silent for a moment, then said, "I have only fought against barbarians and river bandits, so I guess I have seen blood."

Lu Wan frowned. He needed to quickly understand the situation of each department. Now he was simply a general without any knowledge of the military.

After calming himself down, he was about to order the Lei troops to retreat to the pond, but he realized it might be a little late, so he gave up.

The formation of the Jin army is a bit strange now.

The whole army relied on the navy. After the infantrymen got off the boats, they lined up on the river bank.

A small number of cavalry were deployed in the distance, but considering the current weather, the cavalry would probably be of no use.

Because they were in the middle of the Nanfei River, the navy was lined up in a row, so the land army was also lined up in a row.

Once the enemy defeated the land division and rushed close, the crossbows with longer range on the ship would fire continuously, killing a large number of enemy troops and allowing the defeated soldiers to escape back to the navy ships.

At the same time, new forces can be sent ashore from inside the ship to provide support.

This was proposed by Ji Zhan (deceased), who had fought with Shao's troops on the Huai River for many years and gradually summed up this style of fighting that played to his own advantages.

But the disadvantages are also obvious. It cannot leave the navy too far, and the navy cannot go ashore. It has great limitations and is only suitable for the terrain in the south.

Lu Wan looked at the overall troop deployment again.

In front of the pond were two thousand Jiangzhou soldiers led by the veteran general Lei Shuang. On the south side were about fifteen hundred people who had just disembarked and formed a team. They were the Zhou family troops from Xunyang County, led by Zhou Guang. They were originally stationed in Lujiang and were transferred here this time.

There were about two thousand people deployed on the north side of the Lei Division. They were the troops of the Xie family from Shanyin, Kuaiji. They were originally stationed at the East Gate and were gathered together by Lu Wan.

Seeing this, Lu Wan felt a little helpless.

They are all private troops of around 2,000 people. Maybe they have been together for a long time, have a very tacit understanding and good combat effectiveness, but what if they need to fight a big battle involving tens of thousands of people?
The only ones in Jiangnan who can fight large-scale troops are the Lu family, who are proficient in both civil and military affairs, and the Yixing Zhou family, Wuxing Shen family and other powerful families known for their military power who have been trained in actual combat. The others are not very good and still need training.

Fortunately, there is no need to worry too much at the moment.

The invading enemy should be the vanguard of the bandit army, which is only about 2,000. They are about a hundred steps away from them and are gathering in battle array.

Behind the enemy camp, there were more than a thousand young men who were conscripted from nowhere. When they saw the power of the royal army, they just ran away.

This enemy is not difficult to deal with.

"Come here..." Lu Wan ordered, "Send someone to the front of the battle to persuade the bandits to surrender."

The order was quickly passed down.

After a while, a rider stepped forward and shouted, "The emperor has ordered you to return home and not to be recruited again within a year. All officers and soldiers have been rewarded. Why are you gathering troops to cause chaos? Why not - ah!"

An arrow flew out and hit the messenger in the face. He screamed and fell off his horse.

"Boom boom boom..." The drums sounded.

The two thousand men on the opposite side lined up in neat rows, pressing forward like a mountain, and the target they chose was none other than the Jiangzhou soldiers who were leaning against the pond.

Lei Shuang widened his eyes in extreme anger, and with a swish he drew out the Moye Sword (imitation) - it was rumored that when he was in Yanpingjin, the real sword jumped out from his waist and fell into the water, and could not be found. As for whether it was true or not, those who knew knew it, but it did not stop the people in the Lei family from telling it as a joke to others.

The enemy is still advancing.

Wherever it passed, mud and water splashed.

Under the scorching sun, the weapons flashed with cold light.

The Thunder Corps soldiers were slightly agitated, but they were still able to stand.

Lei Shuang also felt a little nervous. Beads of sweat the size of beans flowed down from his forehead, making his entire neck itchy.

A gust of wind blew, bringing with it a fishy smell, and seemingly a smell of blood.

The enemies were getting closer and closer, and Lei Shuang could almost see the ferocious looks on their faces.

He had been in contact with the Zuyue tribe for three or four months and had a little understanding of the situation, but he did not expect that they would actually fight each other today...

"Commander-in-Chief." Someone called softly.

Lei Shuang came to his senses and saw that it was his nephew Lei Dian. He immediately reacted and said, "Shoot!" Lei Dian took the order and left.

A moment later, the sword and shield soldiers stepped forward quickly, followed closely by the archers, who moved out from both wings.

Xu Liu's troops were deployed in a sharp arrow formation, and the archers were originally deployed on both sides. As soon as the command flag was sent, they quickly trotted to the front.

For a moment, arrows flew back and forth between the two armies and screams rang out one after another.

"Bang!" Lu Wan punched the side of the boat, somewhat dissatisfied.

It was a simple order to mobilize the archers. Xu Liu's troops relied on the command flags. The archer lieutenant kept an eye on the position of the commander as they advanced. After seeing the flag, he immediately led his men forward to shoot.

On the other hand, Lei Shuang's troops are mainly composed of his own troops and private soldiers, but they rely on word of mouth to give orders, which is a bad habit!

These unruly local tyrants gained most of their battle experience from attacking barbarian strongholds, and relied entirely on their own experience gained in wars. Although they cannot be considered bad, and some of them are even very suitable for their own unique fighting style, they have too many bad habits after all.

If no one guides you or if you suffer a great loss on the battlefield, some bad habits may never be changed.

But - forget it.

Lu Wan sighed. A battle of two or three thousand people was a small scale. Their bad habits were not fatal. They could be rectified when there was a chance in the future if they were willing to send their private soldiers out for formal training.

Arrows were flying across the battlefield.

Lei Shuang stood on a mound of earth, and heard a whistling sound above and around him.

Screams, curses, and shouts continued to ring in his ears, making his head buzz.

Shiyilang Lei Ming was calling out to him from not far ahead, but Lei Shuang could hardly hear it clearly.

It's over. The passion I had when I swore an oath before the battle had long since faded away. Now fear welled up in my heart and I almost wanted to give up.

But he looked at the people in front, behind, and around him. They were all men from the Lei family. How could they run away?
They are my sons, nephews, cousins, cousins, and nephews...

He started practicing martial arts when he was seven or eight years old, and never gave up despite enduring a lot of hardships.

Their parents handed the children over to him, hoping earnestly that they could bring wealth to their children.

If I flee from the battlefield, how will I face my family in the future? That would be more painful than dying on the battlefield!
It would even make this branch of the family the target of criticism, insults, and ridicule from the clan members and in-laws, and the descendants would never be able to hold their heads up high...

"Kill!" The fighting has already started in front.

After just one encounter, Lei's troops were forced to retreat step by step, and countless of them fell to the ground screaming in pain.

Lei Shuang sighed secretly and stood there quietly without retreating.

Seeing that his uncle did not give the order, Shiyilang Lei Ming gritted his teeth and led more than a hundred soldiers wearing iron armor to the right wing of his own square formation, preparing to attack Xu Liu's soldiers from the flank.

Xu Liu didn't care about the flanks at all and led his troops forward.

The sharp arrows wedged deeply into the enemy's formation and became a little blunt, but subsequent troops continued to be deployed.

Both sides roared in unison, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and the battle was fierce.

Lu Wan stared closely at the battlefield ahead.

The situation of the Lei family army was not good. The square army formation was depressed. The soldiers seemed to be unable to adapt to such a bloody and fierce fight. They fell down in groups, and some people at the edge even began to disintegrate.

But it is not without its merits.

Lei Shuang still stood under the flag of the central army. He did not run away or retreat. Therefore, although the Lei family army was beaten dizzy and suffered heavy casualties, it did not collapse as a whole.

On the contrary, young military cadets wearing iron armor and their troops kept moving closer to Lei Shuang, trying to delay the defeat.

Another person led more than a hundred soldiers and went forward to attack the flank.

Xu Liu ignored it at first and only attacked the central army, but after getting close, he separated a part of the army and kept the enemy out.

Lu Wan called someone over and gave him some instructions in a low voice.

Soon, two flags were raised on the mast.

The troops of Xunyang Zhou and Shanyin Xie deployed on both sides of Lei's army began to move, intending to encircle Xu Liu from both sides and use their advantage in numbers to defeat this rebel army.

The battle is not over yet, it's still early.

Lu Wan watched calmly, without any psychological fluctuations caused by the soldiers of the Thunder Department falling down in large numbers.

"Bang!" Just as Zhou and Xie's troops moved forward and were about to turn around, Lei Shuang's general flag fell to the ground on the front battlefield.

The clan loyalty and youthful passion were finally exhausted at this moment.

The Lei family member burst into tears, picked up Lei Shuang who had fallen down after being shot by an arrow, and retreated away.

Without a commander, Lei's troops no longer had the courage to hold on and retreated in disorder.

Countless people dropped everything they could, jumped into the pond, and swam to the other side.

The Lei family members were soon caught up by Xu's soldiers.

Some people gritted their teeth and charged back, trying to cover their retreat, but they only managed to hold the line for a short while before being defeated again soon.

The defeated soldiers of Lei's army cried and screamed and scattered everywhere.

The soldiers of Xu's army chased and killed for a while, but soon they heard the call to retreat. This was because there were three to four thousand enemy troops coming at them from their left and right wings, and their own formation was a little messy, and they had been fighting for a long time before, so their physical strength was greatly reduced.

The process of withdrawing the troops was a bit chaotic, and they were even bitten by the outflanking Zhou and Xie troops. However, Xu Liu was very decisive and gave up the pursuit and continued to fight while retreating.

"The enemy soldiers are about to retreat. Order them to pursue and kill them. Make sure they are not allowed to escape." Lu Wan issued the third order of the day.

Shortly after the order was issued, someone hurried in and reported that Lei Shuang had died in the chaos.

Lu Wan sighed and didn't say much.

On that day, Xu Liu, the vanguard of Zu Yue's troops, encountered the enemy on the road. He was not afraid at all and attacked the main camp of the Jin army directly. He killed the Jin general Lei Shuang and returned with a thousand victorious soldiers.

The Jin army also thought they had won.

They cut off the heads of all the Xu soldiers who died in the battle and hung them on the outside of the ship.

The army continued to move forward, along the Nanfei River, heading straight for Chengde County.

On the second day of June, the Jin army encountered Zu Yue's 10,000-man army west of Chengde County. The two sides won and lost, and thus a standoff ensued.

(End of this chapter)