Chapter 1024 Ending without a cure

Chapter 1024 Ending without a cure

Chapter 1024 Ending without a cure
On the tenth day of June, the situation outside Chengde City suddenly became tense.

Lei Ming stood at the bow of the boat, carefully observing the Liang army's camp.

Chengde is low-lying (now at the bottom of Wubu Lake) and can be considered a smaller version of Xia Pi.

The latter was surrounded by water on all sides, like an isolated island in the water, so Li Chong of Xuzhou gave up on it for a time.

Chengde is surrounded by water on two sides, namely the west and south of the city.

To the west of the city is the Fei River, and because of the low terrain, the river here is extremely wide.

A small lake has formed in the south of the city. Especially in the rainy summer and autumn, the reeds are densely packed and small boats crisscross the lake, making it very convenient for sneak attacks.

Therefore, Zu Yue's more than 10,000 people were divided into two groups, one in the city and the other in the east of the city.

The Jin army's land and water camps were located in the south and west of the city.

When attacking a city, soldiers would go out from the land camp - unless there was really no space, the city wall would not be located close to the water, which would be easily damaged by floods, and would generally be at least two miles away.

When defending, they relied on bows and crossbows on camps and naval ships to kill and injure the enemy.

If the location of the land and water camps is chosen well, for example, the land camp is located on a protrusion extending into the water, then the navy can even sail to the front of the land camp, making the land camp difficult to capture. This is because when the enemy attacks the camp, they not only face attacks from the front, but also are covered by bows and crossbows on the flanks, which will greatly increase casualties.

The newly arrived Liang army naturally could not set up camp in the west or south of the city, so they chose the north.

As the night deepened, the Liang army camp was still brightly lit.

The young men worked all night long, digging trenches, building earth walls and erecting fences, as busy as if they were tending to their own fields.

There was a gentle paddling sound coming from the reeds ahead.

If you listen carefully, you can hear some nervous breathing.

The nights in June were still very hot, the air was stuffy, and it felt like it was about to rain, which was very uncomfortable.

The chirping of insects and the croaking of frogs disappeared, and the only sound left around was the sound of wood oars stirring the water and the occasional sound of weapons clashing - very slight, but so harsh in the silent night.

Lei Ming had a white cloth tied around his head and was dressed in mourning.

The same was true for the soldiers behind him and on the dozen or so nearby ships.

It might be a little conspicuous in the black, but he didn't care.

My uncle died in battle and the whole army was defeated. In order to give an explanation when they return, they need a decent record of victory, otherwise no one will be able to hold their heads up.

The boat glided gently, as light as a fallen leaf on the water.

When driving into the reed marsh, everyone crouched down and the crackling sound continued.

Suddenly, the ship slowed down.

The boatman used a wooden oar to paddle into the mud at the bottom of the river until the boat came to rest in a calm pool of water.

Bubbles overflowed from the bottom of the river, making gurgling sounds, and a bad smell filled the air, but no one cared about it. Everyone was waiting for the signal.

The waiting process is anxious and even frightening.

The sky was overcast and thunder was roaring, but not a drop of rain fell. My clothes were wet and stuck to my body, and it was pitch dark around me...

All of this makes people feel irritated and even want to yell to vent.

But no one dared to move.

This kind of small-scale raid had been practiced many times in previous battles against river bandits and barbarians. They knew the key points and even understood how to better disguise themselves, so they tried to remain calm as much as possible and wait for orders.

"Kill..." A burst of clamor suddenly came into the silent night.

There was a slight commotion in the fleet, which was quickly suppressed.

"Kill the bandits..." The shouts became more and more intense, mixed with the rhythmic sound of drums and the whistling of crossbow arrows cutting through the night sky.

Still no orders came.

Lei Ming's breathing became heavier, and his hand gripping the knife handle was so slippery that water could almost be squeezed out of it.

Not far away, from a tree growing on a sandbar in the river, came the sound of cicadas chirping recklessly. After the increasingly fierce shouts and screams were heard, the cicadas suddenly stopped chirping.

The young men who were working on the shore seemed to have received an order. They stopped their work one after another and began to line up.

This seemed to be a signal, and suddenly, the sound of drums resounded across the entire river.

"Splash..." Hundreds of boats were competing in the pool. Under the dim light of the fire, the silhouettes of the boats were instantly shattered.

Tall reeds fell down one after another, and countless arrows flew out from the reeds, knocking down all the Liang soldiers standing on guard on the shore.

"Kill the bandits!" The boatman rowed the boat with all his might. When it was about to reach the shore, he pushed with the oars and exerted force with his feet. The boat turned sideways and gently hit the mud bank.

The loud shouts of killing instantly resounded through the night sky, and the dark scattered troops rushed to the shore like a tide.
There was the brightly lit camp of the Liang army. They had come from a long way and had not yet established a firm foothold, not even having had time to set up camp. This was the perfect opportunity to attack them at night and dampen their spirit.

******
Qin San, the commander of the Onobuqu, had just laid down with his clothes on when he was soon called out.

Under the guidance of his subordinates, he soon saw the enemy troops heading towards the shore.

Outside the shallow trench, hundreds of militiamen were running around like wolves and pigs, crying for their parents as they were chased.

Under the illumination of the brazier, the sword light like a streak of silk kept slashing down, and every time it fell, someone would fall to the ground.

The soldiers of the government who were supervising the militia to work were also caught off guard by the surprise attack.

Some people just turned around and ran away.

Someone shouted to stop the militia from attacking their own camp.

Some people called for their companions and tried to form a formation to resist the enemy.

But it was all useless. The slight resistance, caught in the overall defeat, did not play the slightest role.

"Waste!" Qin San cursed angrily and asked someone to put armor on him.

Amid the clanking sounds of his clothes, his eyes were still fixed on the battlefield.

The sound of orderly footsteps was heard behind the trench.

It only took the three hundred soldiers a few breaths to go from sitting on the ground to standing up and lining up. When they arrived at the east side of the trench like a moving city wall, the rioters on the west side had already rushed over.

With almost no hesitation, the swordsman stepped forward to block, and the sound of bowstrings rang out behind him.

The confused and dazed mobs were first hit by shields and chopped by swords, and then killed by dense arrows, and were soon killed.

The remaining people did not dare to move forward and fled to both sides.

The Jin soldiers who came ashore were in high spirits and chased after them, hacking and killing them repeatedly, which was extremely enjoyable.

"Kill the bandits!" This time it was the Liang army that shouted.

After the first group of people finished shooting arrows, they hung their bows at their waists and drew their long swords from their backs.

"Boom!" A loud thunder struck, instantly illuminating half of the night sky.

Three hundred Zuo Feilong guards jumped into the shallow ditch together and advanced in a wall.

On the west side of the trench, groups of Jin soldiers had already jumped into the trench.

"Puff!" The heavy sword swiftly slashed on the unstable Jin soldier, and his screams were extremely shrill, adding more cruel elements to this chaotic night.

"Dang!" The machete hit the armor, almost splashing sparks.

The soldier who was hit by the sword staggered, but quickly turned around and slashed with the heavy sword, whistling as it struck the enemy's shoulder blade.

The sound of the sword entering the flesh and the sound of bones breaking rang out almost at the same time. The man kicked the enemy in front of him and kicked him away.

In the thick darkness of the night, one could still seem to see the blood gushing out of the enemy soldier's neck like a fountain.

"Boom!" The second thunder fell, and the trench was almost full of soldiers.

Their faces were indifferent, with obvious bloodstains on their sword blades and armor plates, and under their feet were warm corpses that were still twitching.

More Jin soldiers rushed forward.

They didn't know what was happening ahead. The darkness provided them with cover. They were night attackers and had a psychological advantage. The enemy must have panicked and fled at the sight of them.

A more violent collision broke out at the edge of the trench.

Liu Ang, the leader of the palace army and the son of Liu Ling, swung his sword horizontally. The sword tip with great force cut into the enemy's legs and feet. He almost felt the enemy's shin bone breaking.

The enemy screamed and fell into the trench.

Liu Ang moved aside, but unexpectedly another body fell in front of him and knocked him to the ground.

In the chaos, someone stepped over and he was so angry that he started cursing, but no one paid any attention to him.

The sound of screams and bodies falling to the ground was endless, and the corpses fell one after another, almost filling up the western half of the trench.

Liu Ang struggled to stand up and rushed forward, stepping on the corpse.

"Boom!" The third thunder fell.

The armored warriors were already standing on the western edge of the trench.

Some raised their heavy swords high, completely ignoring the wide-open middle gate, fighting with their lives, their blades covered with notches and blood. Some mercilessly stabbed the fallen enemy soldiers to death, their armor covered with blood, and it seemed that a piece of intestine was hanging from it.

There were many figures in the trench, and the swords and armor plates were shining brightly under the lightning.

The armored warriors almost subconsciously adjusted their formation and lined up in a row.

The lightning disappeared, and raindrops as big as beans fell, extinguishing the remaining torches and all light.

Amid the crackling sound of the rain, the only sounds were the orderly footsteps and the screams that came one after another.

Lei Ming stumbled and was driven back.

The blood was fading, the body was getting colder, and fear was welling up in my heart.

All I could hear were the sounds of chaotic footsteps, panicked shouts, and the screams of weapons piercing my body.

His body was bumped around and he almost fell to the ground.

The sound of life-threatening footsteps sounded behind him, getting closer and closer.

He drew his weapon, chopped down the man in front of him, then ran as fast as he could, rushing towards the river bank.

A faint light was lit up in the reed marsh, flickering in the wind and rain, and it seemed that it would soon go out.

He laughed nervously.

She grabbed the mourning cloth on her body with one hand, wiped the rain off her face, and ran towards the reed marsh with her eyes wide open.

The rain was getting heavier, hitting the surface of the river hard, making a crisp sound.

But no matter how heavy the rain was, it seemed unable to cover up the roar that resounded throughout the world: "Kill!"

"Splash!" One of his feet was already in the mud and water. Lei Ming was delighted, finally he had escaped.

"Splash!" The sound of wooden oars stirring the river water was heard, and the boat slowly left the river bank and drifted away into the distance.

The wind blew sideways and the rain became heavier.

The lights on the boat went out, and nothing could be seen in the rain. There was only deep darkness, just like his state of mind.

More people rushed to the shore and into the reeds, crying and shouting in the direction of the sailing ship.

It's no use, no one will turn back, no one will come to rescue them.

Lei Ming was so angry that he cut the water surface with a knife.

"Kill!" A loud roar came from the shore.

The sound of "puff puff" of corpses entering flesh continued as one corpse after another fell into the river, and there was no sound anymore.

Lei Ming threw away everything he could throw away, dived into the water, and his figure quickly disappeared under the rain.

Almost in an instant, dense arrows were shot out.

From among the reeds, there were screams one after another, and more sounds of splashing into the water.

Fortunately, the rain is getting heavier.

Arrows were no longer shot, the sounds of killing were no longer heard, and the entire world was shrouded in the power of nature.

The battle is over.

******
The rain continued all night and did not stop during the day on the 11th.

Shan Xia walked in the water fort, stepping on the creaking wooden boards.

The big flag with the words "Supervise the Military Affairs of Yangzhou and Jiangbei" was soaked through and was wrapped around the flagpole in a dejected manner, just like his mood at the moment.

In a night attack yesterday, a total of 3,000 naval and land soldiers were dispatched, with 1,500 each in the west and south of the city.

They came back one after another in the second half of the night, but the result was not very good.

At one o'clock in the morning, less than five hundred soldiers returned from the west of the city, most of them were navy. Another hundred or so people swam to the other side and were picked up after dawn.

The battle in the south of the city was not going well, but the retreat was relatively orderly, with a total of a thousand people returning.

After listening to the battle process, he was silent for a long time.

The Liang people had just arrived and were unfamiliar with the terrain and their fighting style. When they were suddenly attacked, they were a little confused at first, but they quickly organized a counterattack and drove all the Jin soldiers who had come ashore to attack back into the river.

This reaction and this fighting power made him quite frightened.

There is no other choice but to hold on.

After the patrol, Shan Xia met Lu Wan. They looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

"Sit for a while." Shan Xia asked his personal soldiers to bring two couches and place them in a corner of the camp.

Amid the continuous rain, a forest of masts can be vaguely seen.

Hundreds of boats of all sizes were moored in the pool, one after another, crowded together.

Occasionally, a few ships would set out to patrol and explore along the river.

Most of them stood there lifelessly, as if waiting for the order to withdraw.

"The commander-in-chief doesn't need to worry." Lu Wan said, "It's a heavy rain, and I don't know how long it will last. I just went to Luzhai and saw that the trenches are full of water. By night, both sides of the trenches will be flooded. In this situation, the battle cannot be fought. Even if the rain stops, the Liang people will not be able to attack for a while."

Shan Xia nodded silently.

There was a depression of about a mile between Luzhai and the city wall, which would be flooded sooner or later. Even if the water receded, it would still be a muddy place, and the Liang army would only become a sitting duck if they attacked.

Even if the sun comes out later and dries up the muddy ground, we can only dig deep trenches and build high fortifications to defend the camp.

Even if the Liang army could defeat ten with one man in the field, it would be impossible for them to break through the land and water camp without suffering heavy casualties under the flanking attack of the navy.

Of course, from this plot, it can be seen that Shan Xia has officially admitted that the Jin Dynasty's land army cannot defeat the Liang army in a field battle, and now it can only rely on fortifications and cities to defend, and naval sneak attacks to barely hold on.

This battle ends like this.

"Grand Commander, don't think that this battle is useless." Lu Wan added, "The more than 30,000 soldiers and marines we brought here can be considered as training. Next time, if tens of thousands of people go out to fight, there will be less chaos. Jianye is a peaceful and military man, and it has been many years since we fought this kind of battle. Shao the thief is helping you train your soldiers, why do you think so much? No matter how many bad battles you fight, you can't train them. Even if you lose more battles like this, as long as you don't hurt your bones, take most of the soldiers back, add new soldiers, and train them well, you will definitely be able to fight better next time."

"The most feared thing is that we will be defeated in one battle, not only failing to train soldiers, but also losing all the capital. We can only recruit new soldiers and train them from scratch. Before they are trained, they will go to the battlefield again and be defeated miserably, with most of them killed or wounded. The current plan is to take all the Jiangdong men back and leave the remaining supplies to Hefei."

"The local soldiers from Lujiang, Huainan, Anfeng, Guangling and other counties are actually not bad. To put it bluntly, they may be better at fighting than the imperial guards brought by the Grand Commander. Every Jiangbei Commander would recruit these local soldiers to go north and fight with the Shao soldiers from Yuzhou. They may not be good at field battles, but they are good at defending cities. The Shao bandits' silver spears and black daggers are famous all over the world, but how long can they be used to attack cities? With tens of thousands of local soldiers and half a year's worth of food and grass, Hefei City is high and the moat is deep, so it is not difficult to defend. What we are most afraid of is actually a reckless battle."

"Alas!" Shan Xia suddenly stood up, looked at the duckweed floating in the pond, and said with a wry smile: "If Shi Yao had said this before the battle, I would definitely not have listened to him. Perhaps, for now, we can only hold on and wait for a turnaround."

What was the turning point? He couldn't explain it clearly, but he had a vague idea: to accumulate war experience through defense, train new troops, clarify the military system, and gradually narrow the gap with Shao's troops. As long as the land division no longer collapsed after a battle and had a certain field combat capability, then it would be possible to hold on to this half of the country by cooperating with the navy.

According to Shao Ze's military book, the fastest stage of improvement is from new recruits to veterans, and combat power soars, but it is much slower to go from veterans to strong soldiers. He does not expect to train very strong soldiers, but now these rabble under his command do have great potential for improvement. Even if the military system is changed and they are properly trained for more than a year, they can make a lot of progress.

No one is born knowing how to fight, and no one is born strong. Just practice and fight slowly, and if you can get through the most powerful phase of Shao the thief, maybe there will be a turning point.

"After returning, there will probably be a big dispute in the court." Shan Xia said again.

This time Lu Wan didn't say much.

He did not want to get involved in the dispute between Zhuge Hui and Shan Xia. He just hoped that the two would not fight to the death and thus ruin the overall situation.

"Shiyao, tomorrow you will lead a navy south to Yangyuan." Shanxia said, "Take the new 8,000 soldiers back to Hefei."

"Yes, sir." Lu Wan replied.

Starting from the 12th, the rain started to come on and off, almost raining every day.

The water levels of rivers and lakes near the low-lying Chengde County have all risen sharply.

The Jin army even withdrew part of its Lu camp, and the Liang army also moved its camp to a higher place, but far away from the front line of the battlefield.

On the 15th, Shan Xia received good news: a part of the Liang cavalry was found in the northeast of Hefei City. They were suffering from epidemics, hunger and hardship, and many horses had died on the road. Due to continuous rain, it was difficult to gallop, so they were looting food and fodder in the villages.

The defending army advanced both by land and sea and defeated them severely, beheaded Liang Jiangxu and eliminated Yi Yu, and the rest of the troops fled in disarray.

But Shan Xia no longer wanted to fight because an epidemic had also broken out in his army.

He believed that the situation in the Liang army camp opposite was not much better, because the northerners found it more difficult to adapt to the weather in Huainan than they did.

On the 20th, the rain finally stopped.

At this time, news came from the north: the navy had removed the wooden stakes set up by the Liang people outside Feikou and destroyed a pontoon bridge. They were preparing to continue to remove the second obstacle and completely destroy the two pontoon bridges between the two Xishi Mountains, cut off the Liang army's food supply, and find an opportunity to annihilate its navy.

This news made Shan Xia a little shaken, because it seemed that there was an opportunity to completely wipe out the Liang Army’s soldiers and the Silver Spear Army.

Epidemics, food shortages, rainy weather...

If we could bring the families of Zu Yue's soldiers from Xuzhou here and act out a "Besieged on All Sides" drama, it would seem that we would have a better chance of success.

But almost at the same time, news came that Shao the bandit had pacified Liangzhou.

Deputy Secretary Xu fell ill and died a few days later. The epidemic in the army was getting worse and worse. If we waited any longer, the army might be wiped out.

In such a difficult situation, Shan Xia finally gave up and issued an order to withdraw.

(End of this chapter)