Zhu Huan had 5,000 soldiers from the central army in the headquarters, and took over the surrendered soldiers of Changsha County and State, Chen Mi, Li Yi and others. The total strength was more than 12,000, which was roughly the same as the strength of the Shu army defending on the ridge.

Lou Fa was captured in the Battle of Niumaling, and his life and death were unknown. Chen Mi was implicated by Sun Quan and died unexpectedly. Li Yi was the only one left of several surrendered generals, and he was somewhat uneasy. After Zhu Huan took office, he exchanged views with Li Yi and asked him to temporarily withdraw to Niumaling to rest.

As for the soldiers of Chen Mi's remnants and the Changsha County and State left by Sun Quan, Zhu Huan rectified them. He picked up more than 100 people from his own guard camp and served as commanders of each battalion, Qu Junhou and other middle and lower-level officers. Based on the previous military merit records, he adjusted the generals who had made military achievements but had not received any time to commend them. He promoted them and commend them.

Kou Ying is a typical example. He was originally just a lieutenant of the tower ship, commanding two trench ships to fight. During the water battle a few months ago, he led his troops to defeat Li Yi and Xie Jing, but he paid a considerable price and failed to win. He also annoyed Sun Quan because of his rude words. After Sun Quan was barely angry, he only rewarded him with some property, but did not promote him. Half a month ago, he was ordered to abandon his boat and land. After rushing to Niumaling, he restrained Huang Quan's troops, but he did not have the merit of beheading and was also unable to be promoted.

Zhu Huan combined his previous and subsequent military achievements, promoted him to the lieutenant, and commanded a battalion of thousands of people to fight.

Kou Ying was overjoyed, his morale was high, and he actively offered advice.

After some rectification, Zhu Huan cleaned up the mess left by Sun Quan, divided it into five units in units of thousands of people, each responsible for one point, and conducted a tentative attack. Two battalions were drawn from the Central Army, two left and right departments, one unit responsible for two or three points, and replaced them in turn. Once a fighter plane appeared on a battlefield, the responsible Central Army soldiers immediately rushed to reinforce and seek breakthroughs.

Zhu Huan and several lieutenants repeatedly explained to clarify their tactical goals and to maintain restraint. When they are not sure, they would rather misuse the opportunity than underestimate the enemy to advance rashly. Without the reinforcements of the central army, no one will fight against the Shu army that exceeds the number of troops in the headquarters, otherwise they will have no contribution even if they win, and they will have to bear the responsibility if they lose.

It would be fine if Chen Mi and Lou Fa's remnants, but the Changsha County and State soldiers were somewhat dissatisfied. They felt that the defeat of Dashuling was the problem of the Changsha King alone, not the responsibility of the Changsha County and State soldiers. Doing so underestimated them too much, and they treated them as waste like surrendered soldiers.

Zhu Huan knew what they were thinking, but did not say it out loud. He just instructed the Central Army Captain who was connected with them to be careful and not let them do whatever they wanted.

The battle begins.

In the first few days, the Wu army's attack was not fierce, but only approached the Shu army's front and checked the terrain. Most of the time, they were outside the range. Occasionally, they entered the Shu army's range, and they just shot a few arrows before they left. But they came very frequently, and they came during the day and at night. Sometimes the front had not left, and the back came again.

The Shu army was so upset that they were vigilant and strengthened their defense, while reporting to Cao Cao.

However, most people didn't take it seriously, and the report was just a routine matter and did not mean to ask for reinforcements. In their opinion, these were just scouts of the Shu army, and at most they were suspected of soldiers. After Huang Quan defeated the main force led by Sun Quan, their fear of the Wu army was greatly reduced. Many people even hoped that the Wu army would launch a real attack so that they could show their strength.

They soon got what they wanted.

After familiarizing himself with the terrain, Kou Ying commanded the Wu army to launch a tentative attack on a battlefield. Although the attack was not fierce, it lasted for a long time. Just when the Shu army thought it was another harassment, the Wu army suddenly launched a large-scale attack. Hundreds of fully armed Wu army crossbowmen rushed out of their hiding place and forced them to reach the range of the Shu army. The bows and crossbows were fired at the same time, suppressing the Shu army, including two Class A archers holding six-stone crossbows.

The Shu army was caught off guard, and Qu Junhou, who was commanding in the battle, was shot seriously injured immediately and fell in a pool of blood. Two Du Bosses were killed and injured. The soldiers of the Shu army were suddenly attacked and lost command again. They were in a panic and could only fight for their own battles and fight back desperately.

Kou Ying seized the opportunity, and the entire army pressed over and quickly broke through the first position of the Shu army.

When the Shu army received the alarm, they immediately sent troops to reinforce and counterattack. The two sides fought repeatedly on the battlefield less than 200 steps, and no one could achieve a decisive victory. The Shu army could not drive Kou Ying and others down the ridge and recover their positions, and Kou Ying could not continue to advance and seize the high ground. Seeing the reinforcements of the Shu army constantly arrived and his casualties increased sharply, Kou Ying was in a dilemma. After hesitation, the Shu army seized the retreat.

Just as Kou Ying regretted, the reinforcements of the Central Army arrived in time, tore open the encirclement of the Shu army, and surrounded the soldiers of Qu Shu army. Before the reinforcements of the Shu army arrived, they defeated Qu Shu army, cut down their battle flags, and killed Qu Junhou.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Wu army seized another position and successfully wedged into the Shu army's defense line, gained a firm foothold, and quickly turned into the defense.

Kou Ying, who had always been very arrogant, looked at the Central Army soldiers who were cutting melons and vegetables, and made a breakthrough like a rock. He then turned off the attack into defense like a flowing water, and organized the defense line, and was stunned.

He had seen the soldiers of the personal guard camp led by Wu Fen, and knew that they were well equipped, trained, and had strong combat power. But after all, it was the Changsha King's personal guard team. Perhaps only Xu Chu, who was stronger than them, led by Dian Wei, Wuwei and Wumeng Camp, and ordinary middle-level soldiers should not be that strong.

But when he saw the soldiers who came to help the army to fight, he realized that he was very wrong. In terms of equipment, the Changsha King's army was indeed better. In terms of combat effectiveness, the central army soldiers absolutely crushed the Changsha King's army.

Both sides are not on the same level at all.

Cao Cao climbed up the mountain and looked at the position ahead.

Within three days, the Wu army made breakthroughs on two battlefields in succession and successfully wedged into the Shu army's defense line. Both sides were already in a state of intertwined shape. The soldiers of both sides who were closest to the nearest could almost see each other's faces, and they didn't even dare to stand up straight when walking, for fear of being attacked by the other party's hidden arrows.

This put great psychological pressure on the Shu army soldiers.

This kind of tiger feels so uncomfortable that it doesn't dare to close its eyes when sleeping at night, for fear that the other party will touch it in the dark and cut off its head.

The Shu army launched a large-scale counterattack to regain the position. However, their combat effectiveness was too weak. Not only did they fail, they were hit hard by the Wu army, losing hundreds of people, and even the existing defense was short of troops. Once the Wu army attacked, no one could guarantee whether they could defend the position.

In desperation, the general in charge of command asked Cao Cao for help and asked the central army to attack.

After checking the Wu army's position, Cao Cao was also very troubled. The Wu army's position was very standardized and rigorous, and he could hardly find any obvious weaknesses. If you want to take such a position, there is no shortcut to take besides using enough troops to attack.

He had both military strength and certainty against such a small position with less than 500 defenders. But he was worried that this was just the beginning, not the end, and the recapture of this position was only temporary.

He will run away from this until he dies of exhaustion.

Knowing this, Cao Cao had no choice but to deploy an attack.

When he learned that Cao Cao had arrived in person, he commanded the heavy troops to counterattack and planned to regain the position, Zhu Huan also personally rushed to the front to check the situation. After communicating with the captain who was in charge of the front, he ordered people to send enough food and arrows for a month for the defenders, and then retreated from the position and plundered the land on the nearby ridges. At the same time, he ordered other troops to step up attacks and seek new breakthroughs.

When the two sides fought, Cao Cao encountered a difficult bone. Although there were only 500 people on the ridge, the defense was extremely tight. The swords, shields, spears, archers, and crossbowmen cooperated with each other. A few people could form formations, and more than a dozen people could form formations, changing with the terrain, which was extremely flexible. The Shu army did not have such ability. Even the most elite central army could not achieve close cooperation in units of the unit. Most of the time, they could only rely on the central army's flagship command, and they could not respond well, and they were always a little bit short of each time.

Although the Shu army had a large number of troops, the attack was slow to succeed. Even if it was repeatedly used to use hard bows and crossbows to perform cover shooting, it would be useless. The Wu army could always find cover in time and always launch an attack first after the attack of the crossbows.

After several consecutive days of attack, the Shu army lost more than 2,000 people and consumed nearly 100,000 arrows, but still could not regain the position.

Taking advantage of Cao Cao's opportunity to command the central army to attack the position, Zhu Huan made a breakthrough in other locations, and then concentrated his troops and forcibly attacked, threatening Cao Cao's flanks, which had the possibility of putting the entire Motianling defense line into two.

Cao Cao did not dare to be careless, so he had to mobilize troops and strengthen defense.

The two sides fought repeatedly, and it was difficult to decide the outcome.

The Motianling was fighting fiercely, and Cao Hong, who was north of the slope, heard another alarm. Lou Gui arrived at the battlefield and was about to launch an attack.

Cao Cao knew very well that this old friend's method was not comparable to Cao Hong, so he sent Zhang Ren to lead his troops to reinforce.

Sun Ce received war reports every day. Most of his time was also spent analyzing and discussing these war reports.

The one who cares most was Ji Ling, who brought a few trusted lieutenants and generals, stayed at the military advisor every day and wanted to set up a marching bed at the military advisor.

According to the plan, Zhu Huan will command a month of battle in Motianling. A month later, Ji Ling will replace Zhu Huan and become a front-line general. This is a rare opportunity. If he doesn't want to show off his bad luck, he must prepare more in advance and not miss any opportunity to be familiar with the battlefield.

He listened to Ju Su discussing military situations with his military advisors, analyzing possible developments, and then verifying them based on the actual battlefield situation. Sometimes he could hear Sun Ce's opinions. He gained a lot and felt like he had entered the elite class of the martial arts lecture hall and had been refining it.

The January period is approaching, Ji Ling applied a few days in advance and rushed to the front line with some of his personal guards, fighting side by side with Zhu Huan, preparing for handover.

Sun Ce agreed.

Judging from the battle reports sent back every day, Zhu Huan has become much more stable and his record is remarkable. He can fight Cao Cao without any decision, at least he has not revealed any obvious flaws. He is already a qualified general.

Ji Ling is older than Zhu Huan, and what he lacks is not steadyness, but systematic strategic and tactical thinking training. His progress can be seen for most half a month in the military advisor. When he goes to the battlefield to experience it, he believes that his grades will not be bad either.

With the assistance of Chen Jiao and Liu Ye, Mi Fang's attack on Qutang Gorge also maintained a good pace. Although there has not been substantial progress, the soldiers have become familiar with the water situation and consumed a lot of arrows and energy from the Shu army. At present, they are only waiting for one opportunity. Once the Shu army reveals its flaws, they may make breakthrough progress.

There are no good news on other battlefields yet, but the situation is similar to here. Both sides are fighting in full swing, not only the troops or the ability of the generals, but all-round strength, whether the generals are qualified, whether the soldiers are refined, and whether the economy can support them are all tests.

The left guardian Sun Shangxiang entered the battlefield in Hanzhong and surrounded Le Jin in Nanzheng, where he was clearing the periphery.

The right guardian Sun Yi entered Jianwei, Guizhou, captured Zhuti, the county governor, and was advancing towards the Path.

The Great Governor of India, Zhou Yu, completed the attack on Nanzhong, returned to Jingke County, and was attacking Louguan fiercely.

Huang Zhong, the central leader, led his troops to fight with Cao Ang, restraining most of Cao Ang's troops. Once Sun Shangxiang captured Nanzheng and led his troops to cross Daba Mountain, Cao Ang was about to face a pincer attack, and the collapse of the northern defense line was almost inevitable.

The only bad news is that Sun Quan's legs were not saved. Even Hua Tuo, the world's number one surgeon, could only express helplessness when facing the kneecap that was broken into several pieces. Sun Quan was destined to be with a crutch and a wheelchair in his life.

What is surprising is that the goddess of Wushan has never left her, stayed by Sun Quan's side, praying for Sun Quan every day.

As the New Year approaches, officials and representatives of the county and county counties gather together with Yuelu Academy to discuss this year's fiscal revenue and expenditure, as well as the logistics supply for this war. Although the final result has not yet come out, Prime Minister Zhang Hong was still calm as usual, Sun Ce could still feel the fierce debate and the huge consumption represented by the numbers, and the surge in public opinion.

The manpower, material resources and financial resources used in this battle exceeded the ability of many people, especially the Jingchu clan. They were eager to know whether this battle could be won and when.

In order to answer this question, Sun Ce discussed with Ju Su, Guo Jia and others, and finally decided that Zhu Yan, the Privy Council priest, would take the lead and formulate a six-month combat plan. If Yizhou cannot be pacified within half a year, the personal expedition will come to an end temporarily and maintain the confrontation.

However, the supplies and money and grain must be guaranteed within the past six months, and no one grain of grain or five zhu coins can be left behind.

War is not about playing house. You can fight if you want, and stop if you want. Whether it is started or stopped, it requires a buffer period.

After roughly estimating the required supplies, Sun Ce believed that not only the Jingchu clan would cry when he saw these numbers, but other states would also take a breath of air conditioning.

The consumption of nearly 200,000 troops is just a black hole, enough to devour countless people, and even the entire world.

Even after two five-year plans, the Wu Kingdom made amazing progress and accumulated strong strength, but could not withstand such long-term consumption. Half a year is not only a necessary time for combat, but also a limit that the people can bear. I believe that after this battle, no one dares to talk about the war easily. Before starting the war, we must first consider whether there is enough profit.
Chapter completed!