After hearing this information, Zheng Yu finally relaxed. After struggling with Qiu Yizi for half a year, he could finally spend the New Year in peace. But he thought again, he wanted to celebrate the New Year, and Qiu Yizi also wanted to celebrate the New Year. Wasn't it because his soldiers' morale was declining that he was gathering the army now
You must know that Zheng Yu is the illegitimate son of King of Lingnan Zheng Gui. He has been obese since childhood and his talents are very ordinary. Therefore, he has always lived in the shadow of his brother Zheng Nuo. From the very beginning, he has no share in the throne of King of Lingnan.
Now his father, King Lingnan Zheng Gui, has finally made up his mind to rebel, and after a few months he has indeed gained the upper hand over the court. His elder brother Zheng Nuo has been captured and placed under house arrest by the court, and is in danger of death - this way, not only will his chances of becoming the Prince of Lingnan be greatly increased, but he will also be very likely to be named the Crown Prince and ascend the throne to become emperor in the future.
But things did not go as smoothly as Zheng Yu had imagined.
After his father Zheng Gui handed over the military and political power of Jiangnan Road to Zheng Yu, Zheng Yu not only failed to capture the important city of Jinling, but was controlled by Qiu Yizhi, a petty thief. Originally, Lingnan King Zheng Gui wanted to rely on the money and food of Jiangnan Road to support his ambitions, but the situation in Jiangnan was deteriorating under Zheng Yu's leadership. Not only did he lose soldiers and generals, but he also lost more and more money every day, and needed support and supplies from other places.
Such a development of the situation would undoubtedly leave a bad impression of Zheng Yu in Zheng Gui's mind.
In recent days, some bad news from Lingnan King Zheng Gui reached Zheng Yu's ears.
It is said that the Lingnan army has not been making good progress recently, and several advisers before the King of Lingnan suggested that King Zheng Gui of Lingnan negotiate peace with the emperor - on the one hand, the King of Lingnan should stop attacking and continue to be a vassal to show weakness; on the other hand, the court should demarcate the Yunnan-Guizhou Road under the jurisdiction of the Lingnan Palace and return the detained Prince Zheng Nuo of Lingnan.
Regardless of whether King of Lingnan Zheng Gui or Emperor Zheng Rong would agree to such a proposal, the emergence of such noise is always extremely bad news for Zheng Yu.
Therefore, when Zheng Yu heard the news that Qiu Yizi was hiding in Shanyin County, he immediately thought that his great opportunity had come - as long as he could rely on his advantage in numbers to encircle and annihilate Qiu Yizi's troops, the problem in Jiangnan would be completely solved, and he would also have a heavy weight in his father's heart.
He estimated that although the opponent had only more than 20,000 people, the commander Qiu Yizi was cunning and strange in using his troops. If he wanted to attack the city defended by him, he must have a troop advantage of more than three times.
So Zheng Yu gritted his teeth and mobilized a large amount of grain from several charity granaries and Changping granaries in the south of the Yangtze River that were set up to prepare for disasters and famines. He also assembled 30,000 elite soldiers from all over the country. Together with the 30,000 soldiers in his own hands, a total of more than 60,000 people, he bluffed that he had an army of 200,000, and then he rushed towards Shanyin County in a mighty force.
Shanyin County is a remote town in Yuezhou Prefecture. Because it is located in the mountains, there is no wide road, and there are only three winding paths in the mountains to connect with the outside world. The path in the west leads directly to Huguang Road; the path in the south leads to Yuezhou Prefecture; and the path in the north leads to Jinling City.
If we follow the art of war and attack such a small town, and we have three times as many troops as our opponent, we should divide our troops and advance from three different routes to surround the small Shanyin County town. At this time, even if we surround the town without attacking, we can still starve or trap the defenders in the city to death.
However, at present, Huguang Road to the west of Shanyin County is still in the hands of the right general Wei Hu; although Zheng Yu recovered the Yuezhou City in the south, he did not have many troops available. If he sent troops to bypass this place and sent Mi Shi on an expedition, the logistics would be difficult to keep up; only the passage to Jinling City in the north was convenient for marching and transportation.
Therefore, Zheng Yu had no better solution, so he could only lead the 60,000 elite troops gathered from various places, set out from the camp that besieged Jinling, and marched towards Shanyin County along a winding road. Zheng Yu's army was not slow, but the official road leading to Shanyin County was still narrow and winding, which was not conducive to the army's movement. The 60,000 troops were squeezed into a long snake formation, and the team was more than ten miles long.
Zheng Yu claimed to be the representative of the King of Lingnan in Jiangnan Road. He was proud of his status and was afraid of being attacked by Qiu Yizi. Therefore, although he personally led the army, he did not walk at the front of the team, but sat in the center of the army. He appointed a veteran general named Sun Hao from the Lingnan army as the vanguard officer.
Sun Hao is nearly fifty years old this year. He has been with Zheng Gui since the time when King Lingnan was still a prince, and has watched Zheng Yu grow up. Although he does not pay attention to any clever strategies and good plans in using troops, he values the word "stable". Even if the two armies cannot win in a battle, they will not suffer a major defeat, and they often play the role of a mainstay. King Lingnan Zheng Gui kept Sun Hao by Zheng Yu's side because of his qualifications, prestige and calmness, in order to stabilize the situation in Jiangnan Road.
For this reason, Sun Hao, who was experienced in combat, was very frightened when he saw that his army was marching for more than ten miles. He was afraid that the enemy had set up ambushes on both sides of the path and could easily separate and disperse his army. If he was not careful, it was very likely that he would not even reach the city wall of Shanyin County and would have to retreat hastily.
Therefore, Sun Hao was extremely cautious when commanding the army to march. He would always send out several groups of spies to investigate ahead. Only after he was sure that no enemy ambush was found would he dare to order the army to move forward. When the army was moving, each part of the army had to cooperate closely, and it would be better to move slowly than to leave any gaps for the enemy.
Therefore, the Lingnan army took five or six days to walk the 500-600-li road from the Jinling camp to Shanyin County, and they had only covered half of it.
Zheng Yu, who was commanding the central army, began to lose his temper.
Firstly, he was eager to make a contribution and was afraid that Qiu Yizi, whom he had finally caught, would move away again and he would lose the chance to fight; secondly, he had been raised in the palace since he was a child and was delicate and could not endure the hardship of long-distance marches on mountain roads in winter, so he wanted to reach his destination as soon as possible.
So he repeatedly urged Sun Hao to speed up the march and try to capture Shanyin County and capture or kill Qiu Yizi alive before the New Year's Eve. Even if he didn't have time to return to the Jinling camp to eat dumplings, he could not celebrate the New Year in Shanyin County.
At first, Sun Hao was able to defy Zheng Yu's orders based on his seniority, but later Zheng Yu's pressure became more and more urgent, and Sun Hao could no longer bear it, so he had to let the scouts in front do a simple reconnaissance before ordering the army to march forward at full speed.
Sun Hao walked in fear for three days and finally got out of the endless mountains and hills and arrived at the foot of Shanyin County.
Sun Hao lived up to his reputation of being "calm and steady". Seeing that Shanyin County was right at the mouth of his army, he was not in a hurry to attack. Instead, he ordered the troops that arrived first to set up camp one mile away from the county town and wait for the army to arrive. He personally led his personal soldiers and entourage and rode around Shanyin County to test the enemy's strength.
However, the situation in Shanyin County was very strange.
Although the enemy might have been prepared after hearing that their army was approaching, there was no military force deployed outside the city wall, and even the clearing of the countryside was done in a perfunctory manner, and some food and supplies could still be found.
But it is not entirely true to say that the enemy was completely unprepared. The city wall of Shanyin County was indeed raised and reinforced. Compared with the height of 22 feet mentioned in the previous intelligence, it seems to be raised by another 10 feet. Moreover, it is built with top-grade bricks and stones, which makes it look extremely solid. On the city wall, flags are flying, which is very bright. Groups of soldiers are constantly patrolling and guarding. Several officers are pointing at the enemy troops under the city, as if they are studying strategies to resist the enemy. Obviously, they should not be underestimated.
Seeing this, Sun Hao already had an idea in his mind - it turned out that the enemy knew that he was attacking in full force, and thought it would be difficult to defeat them head-on, so they simply retreated back into the fortified city, intending to resist stubbornly from there, and would naturally retreat after the attacking army's food and grass were consumed.
Although this deployment was a bit passive, it was very appropriate, and Sun Hao couldn't help but exclaimed: "What a Qiu Yizi, she is worthy of being praised by the Prince of Lingnan in person!"
Therefore, Sun Hao knew that Qiu Yizi was prepared and did not dare to take it lightly. He strictly ordered his soldiers to guard the camp strictly and prohibited any attack on the city without authorization. He also reported to Zheng Yu, who was still marching on a small road, and asked him to quickly lead all his troops to the foot of Shanyin County and capture the city in one go.
However, after Zheng Yu's urging, the Lingnan Army's already very long team became even more sparse and elongated. Although the vanguard arrived at Shanyin County ahead of schedule, the main army was still traveling on the mountain trails. If the entire army had to gather, it would take at least three days.
Zheng Yu couldn't even wait for these three days.
After listening to the news sent by Sun Hao from the front, he thought that Qiu Yizi was frightened by the news that a large army was approaching, and that it would not be difficult to take down a small Shanyin County. So he ordered Sun Hao not to wait for the entire army to gather, but to launch an attack on the enemy's city immediately.
When Sun Hao saw Zheng Yu's handwritten order, he knew that there was no guarantee of success in the current attack, so he sent his troops back to explain the pros and cons - but he also did not forget to order his troops to prepare ladders and other siege equipment, so that he could make sense in front of His Royal Highness, the second son of the King of Lingnan.
As expected, after hearing Sun Nuo's request to postpone the attack, Zheng Yu not only did not agree, but instead urged him more sternly to launch the attack immediately, otherwise he would have to replace Sun Hao, the general appointed by the King of Lingnan himself.
When Sun Hao saw Zheng Yu's order, he was immediately shocked. He didn't expect that Zheng Yu, who he had seen since childhood and was always honest and a little cowardly, would be so stubborn. Fortunately, he had argued with Zheng Yu for a whole day, and he had gathered a lot of troops. Now he had 30,000 troops and was still increasing, which had formed a numerical advantage over the 20,000 defenders in the city.
So Sun Hao gritted his teeth, ordered all his men and soldiers to assemble out of the camp, and personally took command. He selected a slightly lower wall to the west of Shanyin County and launched a concentrated attack. In order to boost morale, he also offered a reward, saying that the first soldier to climb the wall would be immediately promoted to general, and the general would be immediately promoted three levels.
When there is a big reward, there will always be brave men.
The offensive of the Lingnan Army was indeed fierce. In just a short while, they had set up four or five ladders on the west wall of Shanyin County. The soldiers rushed to climb the ladders and speed up their ascent to the city wall.
Although the city wall of Shanyin County was raised, it was difficult to thicken it for the time being, and a large number of defenders could not be stored on the wall; the Lingnan army attacking the city was in high spirits, and in a blink of an eye, more than a dozen Lingnan soldiers climbed onto the city wall.
Fortunately, the defenders had received strict training from Qiu Yizi before, and they had been well-rested in recent days, so their fighting power was quite strong. In a short moment, they attacked from both sides of the wall, killing all the enemy troops who barely climbed onto the city wall, and overturned the ladders set up on the wall.
Sun Hao had been through many battles and already knew that with his current military strength, it was within his expectations that the attack would not go smoothly for a while.