After only two months of marching south, the army reached the gates of Jiangling City. It can be said that the two wars fought smoothly by the Shao rebels since they used their troops - the other one was obviously the westward expedition to Liangzhou.

Jiang Ke, the commander-in-chief of the West Route Army, counted the troops on hand and found that there were already more than 70,000 auxiliary troops, and more than 40,000 had arrived at the front line.

It’s not that we don’t want to bring all the troops to the front line, but firstly, the logistics pressure is too great, and secondly, the terrain is like that, and we can’t fully deploy it.

For example, he wanted to fill in the swamps and lakes in the northwest and northeast of Jiangling City.

According to "Endemic Diseases", the ponds so close to the city attract mosquitoes, which can easily cause malaria. Of course, this will happen in the future.

The first step he dealt with was not Jiangling, but Ji Nancheng.

The prefect Tao Zhen did not squeeze into the same city as Tao Kan, but chose Ji'nan, the old city of Jiangling, as the seat of Nanjun.

There were three thousand soldiers in the city, and it seemed that some of the child servants were temporarily recruited. They gathered together and refused to attack.

On the 22nd, Jiang Ke climbed up to survey the cities of Jinan and Jiangling, and finally decided to attack Jinan City further north first.

His style is different from Shao Shen.

Shao Shen had been trying to lure Xiangfan to defend the city, so he did not dig a long trench to siege it at first.

Jiang Ke didn't seem to expect the defenders to come out and kill people, so the first thing he did was to dig trenches outside the city and tamp the excavated soil into a wall.

After seeing Liang Ren do this, Tao Zhen at the top of Ji Nan City was a little panicked.

They want to surround you and then slowly rectify it.

In such a situation, if there are no external reinforcements, it is really difficult to break through the siege by relying solely on internal force.

However, he is the commander-in-chief and cannot convey his inner worries to others.

"Don't worry, gentlemen." Tao Zhen looked at the generals and scholars who were following him, and said with a forced smile: "The thieves and soldiers have come from afar, and it costs a lot of money. They will not last long. From today on, we only need to work together as one , we will definitely be able to defend this city."

"I will obey the order of the Lord." Everyone looked at each other first, and then someone responded loudly.

After the first person jumped out, the others stopped saying anything and expressed their opinions one after another.

Tao Zhen was very satisfied.

However, he was very sober. The enemy army had just arrived and had not yet made any real move. Everyone in the city had not had time to reveal their thoughts, so they could only follow the crowd and express their position.

As time goes by, there will inevitably be differentiation, and at that time it will be more complicated.

This battle is all about who can persevere better.

It is true that they cannot defeat Liang Bing, but there are things that can destroy them, such as acclimatization.

Tao Zhen's eyes were on the children of the Ma family and the Xiang family. They were the two fastest people who had just shown their stance.

Before the enemy army arrived, servants of the Ma family from Yicheng came to express their condolences, saying that Shao's soldiers had extremely poor military discipline. After conquering Yicheng County, they asked for food and grass. The Ma family members resisted for a while, and then the thieves broke into the manor.

Unfortunately, the Ma family was already weak. Jin Dynasty once struggled a lot, but now they have all been destroyed. The Xiang family is both a wealthy family in Yicheng County, Xiangyang County. The former produced Ma Liang and Ma, and the latter produced Xiang Lang. ,

Xiang pet.

I don't know if it was because of Liu Bei. Ma, mixed with the two in the Jin Dynasty, is not as good as the Pang family.

The grandfather of Tao Zhen was General Soochow Yangwu, Tao, Ma, and the three houses gathered together, making people feel emotional. In the past for so many years, in the end, there are still so many people confront the "New Cao Thief".

Tao Zhen quickly got out of the city.

Before leaving, don't forget to emphasize a sentence: no wave war.

Everyone knows, and even more happy.

******

Compared to Tao Zhen, the shogunate taught Tao Bin is more cautious.

The three hundred cavalry sent out a few days ago returned half of the cavalry, which made him regret it.

Jiangnan is less horses, and the cavalry tradition is weaker. It loses hundreds of 50 riders at once. It really hurts.

There are also some cavalry in Wuchang, but their horses are obtained from Ningzhou. They are relatively short, not very easy to use, and have no momentum when they are rushing. They are only suitable for chasing the soldiers.

On the 22nd, a group of water division ships drove into the water village in the south of Jiangling City.

After the night, the Shogunate chief of Shiwan stroked into the city.

"Daoming, to be honest, I really don't want to enter this city." After entering the Tao House, Zhou Fu said.

"Do you think this is a Longtan Tiger Cave?" Tao Bin patted his hands with a smile, let the servant come and eat, and enjoyed it with Zhou Fu.

Ah, I caught all my people. Ji Nancheng should be surrounded. "

Zhou Fu Zheng wanted to say this, and said, "Why doesn't Yan Sha (Tao Zhen) give up Ji Nan and withdraw Jiangling?"

"Do you want to do it?" Tao Bin helplessly: "Ji Nan Nainan County Governance Institute, how can I abandon it? Yan Sanda is unwilling to go, it is also unusual."

"This must also be guarded, that must be guarded, and the equipment is everywhere, then there is no need to be everywhere." Zhou Fu sighed: "If I am in Ji Nan, I will bring troops to withdraw back. Isn't it better to keep Jiangling Jiancheng together?

"

"This is the end, what do you say." Tao Bin shook his head.

The servant brought alcohol and food, and Tao Bin directly greeted the meal.

The two had a heavy mind, and they ate silently.

"My father is here?" After packing, Tao Bin asked.

"Ming Gong is still in Huarong." Zhou Fu said: "I brought 3,000 Yiling Soldiers to see if I could help it. The sailor has also been in the village, or it can be used."

"It's useless." Tao Bin said directly: "If the thief is based on the river embankment, you might break through the obstruction? To be speaking, my father did not expect Shao thieves to fight Jiangling, right?"

"There are some speculation." Zhou Fu said: "But there are so many troops at hand, what is the use of guessing right? Shao thief showed that there are more soldiers and less soldiers, and Minggong can only see the tricks.

"So, what is it now?" Tao Bin asked.

‘At least for a few months, after the beginning of the spring next year, the thief’ s army is uncomfortable. ”Zhou Fu said.

"The court side, can there be a saying?"

"There was a big fight in Huainan. My brother (Zhou) Guanggang led the Xunyang soldiers into Shaopei and defeated the Liang navy. However, it was freezing cold and he withdrew again because he was afraid that Shaopei would freeze." Zhou Fu said, "

Xu

Fighting also broke out on the other side of the state. The bandit general Li Chong led his troops southward and besieged the city for more than a month before breaking through Beiling. The people of the Chen family in Huaipu were lured by them and surrendered in large numbers. At this time, Shao soldiers were probably cleaning up the city in Huaibei.

.”

"Why did the Chen family of Huaipu surrender?" Tao Bin asked in surprise.

"The Huai River has been tug-of-war between the north and the south for so many years. The Chen family has been beaten from a wealthy family on one side and has suffered heavy losses in their family property. Is it strange to surrender?" Zhou Fu said: "Perhaps the late emperor was kind to the Chen family, but isn't the late emperor gone?

Chen doesn’t want to fight, that’s all.”

Tao Bin seemed to hear the sigh in his heart.

Why did so many people surrender? It was like Cao Mengde went south to Jingzhou.

If another member of the Navy surrenders, how can the battle be fought?

"Don't say these depressing words." Tao Bin said helplessly: "My Tao family's property is here, so I have to defend it no matter what. Shao's thieves can't do anything wrong. They have to target my house. It's really unlucky. If the army goes straight to Hefei

, wouldn’t it be better to leave Shan Yanlin in a hurry?”

What he said actually meant that Jingzhou was regarded as his own territory.

This is not surprising, because Jingzhou is far away from Jianye, unlike Liyang, Jingkou or even Huankou (Jiujiang).

Wait until Fang Zhen is under control.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, Jingzhou had nothing to do with Jianye, and even had some hatred. If Soochow had not sent troops to attack, this place would have been the territory of Shu.

Once Wang Dun and others came here, they felt a little bit alienated from Jianye. In fact, they felt the same at home.

Once after drinking, Tao Bin asked his father if he would lead an army to rescue him if someone rebelled in the east.

The father was obviously hesitant, but in the end he still nodded and said he would lead the army to serve the king.

The Shao thieves marched south in a large scale. Even if their efforts were in vain and they were forced to retreat, Jingzhou would still suffer. It was normal for Tao Bin to be unhappy.

"You can keep the Yiling barbarians." Tao Bin calmed down and said, "It's more effective outside the city than inside.

It may make Shao's soldiers feel like thorns on their backs, unable to attack the city with all their strength."

"Okay." Zhou Fu thought to himself that this was fine, so he agreed.

The next step is actually nothing but a stalemate.

****

While the construction work was being carried out outside Ji'nan City, a group of Jingzhou rich people came from the area north of Dangyang.

Outside a certain manor, hundreds of horses were riding one after another.

After a while, more than a thousand soldiers arrived.

They set up a long ladder and were extremely ferocious.

In Xi's eyes, these soldiers from the north are very skilled.

After quickly climbing to the top of the wall, several manor tribesmen shouted and rushed over with swords, shields, and spears.
To be continued...