jdhmnovel Chapter 457 Guan Xing rushes to Jiangling
Chapter 457 Guan Xing rushes to Jiangling
Seeing Guan Xing getting more and more excited as he fought, walking towards him with a wicked grin on his face, Zhu Yi was truly afraid.
He originally intended to beat Guan Xing up and then give up, but Guan Xing turned out to be such a beast. Guan Xing used all sorts of tricky grappling techniques to easily block all of his offensive moves. No matter which direction he attacked from, Guan Xing could find an opening, grab him on the spot, and throw him away forcefully.
Faced with Guan Xing's relentless attacks, Zhu Yi couldn't even manage basic defense or beg for mercy, let alone hold back; the two were simply not in the same league.
Fortunately, he was thrown far enough in the last throw that Guan Xing needed time to catch up. Zhu Yi then desperately suppressed the dizziness in his head and the churning in his stomach and hurriedly begged for mercy, afraid that if he called out too late, Guan Xing would pounce on him again and throw him away.
Upon hearing this, Guan Xing decisively slowed down, quickly withdrawing his hand that was about to grab Zhu Yi's collar, and smoothly transformed his attack into a helping gesture, saying with a smile, "Brother Zhu, you're too kind. Did I hurt you just now?"
What do you say?
Zhu Yi forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, preparing to retort with a question, but the words that came out were, "General Guan, what are you saying? These are all loving touches from you."
After chatting for a while, Guan Xing asked, "Where's Huang Yi? Didn't he come with you? Why haven't I seen him?"
Guan Xing knew many people in Jingzhou, including Huang Yi. They had fought a lot when they were young, but upon scanning the area, he found that all of Huang Yi's personal guards had gone ashore, but Huang Yi himself was nowhere to be seen.
Zhu Yi asked in surprise, "I don't know, didn't they go ashore?"
Just as they were wondering what was going on, they suddenly heard Bu Zhi shout, "Huang Yi is over there! Give him the chase!"
Guan Xing and Zhu Yi quickly turned around to look at Bu Zhi, and then, following the direction Bu Zhi was pointing with his sword, they were shocked to find a dark figure struggling to swim in the river near the east bank. It had already swum to where Guan Xing had jumped in. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than Huang Yi.
It turned out that after Huang Yi jumped into the river, he did not swim to the other side but instead desperately dived deep and fled north along the riverbank from the bottom of the river. However, at that time, everyone's attention was on Zhu Yi, and with thousands of people in the river struggling to move forward, no one really noticed this little fish that suddenly changed direction.
Zhu Yi was furious upon seeing this and angrily cursed, "Damn Huang Yi, he actually used me as a target, making me draw attention to cover his escape. I'll go after him."
As he was about to jump into the water to chase after Huang Yi, Guan Xing stopped him and said, "It's too far away to catch up. Let's hand him over to the soldiers on the other side. It doesn't matter if we can't catch up, we still need to leave one to go back and report."
At the same time, Huang Yi, who heard the shouts, decisively went ashore and quickly disappeared into the grass, relying on his familiarity with the terrain. Bu Zhi was unable to catch up and had to go to meet Zhu Chao's army, who was still swimming in the river, and then order the bamboo raft to meet Guan Xing, Zhu Yi and others.
Led by Guan Xing and Zhu Yi, thousands of drenched men boarded bamboo rafts and headed for the east bank. Upon arrival, they were surprised to find that Zhu Yi's more than two hundred rear guards, who had been reduced to half by Sun Huan, were still putting up a fight and had Sun Huan firmly pinned down in place, unable to advance an inch.
The fighting strength of the personal guards trained by these aristocratic families from childhood is truly formidable.
At Zhu Yi's command, the resisting Zhu family guards immediately surrendered. Sun Huan, now free, rushed to Guan Xing, stared at Guan Xing for a moment, and said with a complicated expression, "This humble general, Sun Huan, greets General Guan."
Back when he crossed the river in white robes, Sun Huan was ordered to seize Yidao City and block the Guan family's return route to Shu. At that time, the two sides were mortal enemies. Now, only a few days later, he has become Guan Xing's subordinate.
He's finding it hard to adapt to how fast the world is changing.
Guan Xing also looked at Sun Huan with curiosity. This was a famous general from the Eastern Wu royal family, the third son of Sun Jian's clansman Sun He. In history, during the Battle of Yiling, he blocked Liu Bei in Yidao City for nearly a year. During the decisive battle, he was ordered by Lu Xun to infiltrate and intercept Liu Bei and almost captured him alive. Poor Liu Bei was chased by this kid for hundreds of miles in the Yiling Mountains and almost ran to his death.
Guan Xing bent down to help Sun Huan up and said with a warm smile, "Brother Shuwu, we've finally met."
As the two exchanged pleasantries, Bu Zhi arrived. Upon seeing everyone present, Guan Xing immediately ordered the battlefield to be cleaned up. At the same time, he asked Zhu Yi, "Brother Yanhe, tell me about the situation in Jiangling."
Zhu Yi replied, "The Wei army arrived three hours ago, led by Jiang Ji and Yu Jin, and commanded 30,000 Wei soldiers captured by General Guan Yu when he flooded the Seven Armies. As soon as they entered the city, they launched a fierce attack on the Wu lord. At the same time, they ordered Liu Chan and me to lead the Jingzhou army out of the city to block the Wu reinforcements from Yidao City and Gong'an. As a result, we encountered General Sun Huan as soon as we left the city, and with our superior forces, we blocked General Sun Huan at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Nanzhang River. You know what happened next."
"Currently, the Wei army has occupied the northwest and southwest gates of Jiangling City with 30,000 troops, while the Wu lord has occupied the southeast and southwest gates with more than 10,000 troops. The Wu lord has a considerable force, so it won't fall so quickly. At the very least, he can hold one gate so that we can enter the city smoothly."
Guan Xing, Bu Zhi, and Sun Huan breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. What they feared most was that Jiangling had completely fallen. If it had fallen, given Jiangling's city defenses, it would have been extremely difficult to retake the city.
Guan Xing pondered, "It seems we need to hurry over to support Lord Wu, otherwise things might change if we're too late."
Sun Huan frowned and said, "Should we use Zhu Yi's name to enter the city through the west gate and attack the Wei army from the rear, giving them a hard blow?"
Guan Xing shook his head and said, "This tactic might have worked before, but now that Huang Yi has escaped, Jiang Ji and Yu Jin, who learned about our army's situation from Huang Yi, will definitely not give us a chance to launch a sneak attack."
"But it doesn't matter. With our help, holding half the city won't be a problem. If His Majesty can send troops from Hanzhong to cut off Yu Jin's retreat in the three eastern counties, then defeating Jiang Ji and Yu Jin's 30,000-strong army again won't be a problem. By the way, General Sun Huan, you are closest to Bashu. Have you heard any news about His Majesty recently? How is His Majesty's northern expedition going?"
Sun Huan shook his head and said, "Yidao City is on the banks of the Yangtze River, separated from Hanzhong by the Daba Mountains. I really don't know."
They ambushed and entangled Jiang Ji and Yu Jin at Jiangling. Liu Bei then launched a counterattack from the three eastern commanderies to cut off Jiang Ji's retreat, which indeed had a high probability of capturing Yu Jin again. But unfortunately...
In an era without radios, where communication relied mainly on shouting, it was extremely difficult for two large armies to coordinate their operations.
How can we cooperate if we can't even communicate with each other in a timely manner?
Guan Xing smiled wryly and said, "Then forget it. Let's go to Jiangling and meet up with Lord Wu first."
The generals nodded in agreement and, following Guan Xing's orders, assembled the army. Half an hour later, Guan Xing ordered Sun Huan to act as a messenger and personally go to Jiangling to report the situation to Sun Quan. He then led the assembled army of over ten thousand men to Jiangling.
When Guan Xing and Bu Zhi came from Gong'an, they had a total of 5,000 troops. With Sun Huan's 3,000 and Zhu Yi and Liu Chan's 10,000, minus the wounded and disabled, Guan Xing now had a force of 15,000 to 16,000.
Although it was a hastily assembled hodgepodge and would need a period of adjustment before it could form a fighting force, its numbers were considerable. Combined with Sun Quan's troops, their total strength was no less than that of Jiang Ji and Yu Jin.
The Guan family has a strong base of support in Jingzhou. If they can't reclaim the half of Jiangling City that was occupied by Jiang Ji and Yu Jin, Guan Xing will be finished.
Guan Xing led his army on a slow and dawdling journey, while Sun Huan, acting as a messenger, led dozens of his personal guards on a mad dash and quickly arrived at the south gate of Jiangling. After announcing his identity and explaining the situation, he was pulled up onto the city wall in a basket by Zhang Zhao, who was stationed at the south gate.
Sun Huan stepped out of the basket and immediately bowed, saying, "This humble general greets the military advisor. Military advisor, Guan Xing has arrived and will be at the city gates soon."
Zhang Zhao exclaimed in surprise, "What? Guan Xing is here? How could he have arrived so quickly?"
He understood what was going on as soon as he finished speaking, and his eyes revealed a complex mix of emotions, three parts surprise, three parts anger, and four parts indescribable complexity. He cursed, "He came to launch a sneak attack, didn't he? This bastard got a taste of success by sneaking into Jianye, didn't he?"