Sun Jian led his troops to attack Lujiang and began to make progress very smoothly. The Lujiang County soldiers led by Chen Deng were no match for him at all. They lost consecutive battles, retreated again and again, and retreated to Shu County. The subsequent battle was not going smoothly. Chen Deng retreated to the city, and Sun Jian built siege cars and stone throwing machines, and attacked continuously, but the effect was not good, but the loss was not small.

Siege is never easy. Even if you are as good as Sun Jian, there is no good way to fight. You can only surround Shucheng and chew slowly.

If the war is not going well, the mood will be bad, especially if the battle on the northern front is going smoothly. Sun Ben and Xu Kun defeated Zhu Ling and Cheng Yu one after another, and stabilized the front line, they would have gathered together to compete. If it weren't for this, the generals had their own tasks, so how could they have such leisure and leisure aspirations? If Hongzi hadn't reminded him many times and persuaded him with kind words, Sun Jian would have gone to attack the city himself.

Hearing Hongzi's general and the argument of fighting generals, Sun Jian was embarrassed to come to compete with a guard, and the trouble of the unsuccessful war came to his heart again. "Boxia, Shu County has been delayed, what are you good solutions?"

Hongzi smiled bitterly. "General, the difficulty of siege is something that everyone knows. Chen Deng is well prepared and is afraid that he will not be able to conquer it in a hurry. In my opinion, it is better to withdraw the troops temporarily."

Sun Jian sighed with gratitude. "This man ran too fast and failed to hurt him in the field. He let him escape into the city, which is why he is today. Why not send Guo Wu to Wancheng? You write a letter for him to take it here and tell Bo Fu the situation here and ask him to arrange more food and grass. In less than three or four months, I am afraid that the city will be destroyed."

Hongzi felt a clear mirror in his heart. Sun Jian refused to retreat and could not break the city, so he had to ask Sun Ce for help in this obscure way. Sun Ce knew that his attack was blocked, so he would definitely send someone to help, and it was not as simple as arranging more food. Hongzi quickly agreed. Sun Jian sighed helplessly and stopped Han Dang and Guo Wu. The victory and defeat were already determined, and it would be meaningless to continue to fight.

Han Dang was disappointed, but he had no choice but to do anything. Although he did not decide the winner on the spot, Guo Wu fought with Huang Gai and others for many times and consumed a lot of energy. He was waiting for his work and still couldn't win. He lost and had no shame to mention going to Wancheng to participate in the competition.

Sun Jian announced that Guo Wu would go to Wancheng to compete. Hongzi immediately wrote a letter, and after Sun Jian took Guo Wu to Wancheng. He took Guo Wu privately and asked Sun Ce to send someone to help no matter what, the faster the better. Sun Jian was blocked from siege, and he quickly couldn't persuade him. If Sun Jian climbed the city to attack, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Guo Wu received the order and set off immediately.

——

On the city wall, Chen Deng held the city wall and looked at the camp in the distance, his eyebrows frowned unconsciously.

The sound of war drums in Sun Jian's camp rose for some reason, and they stopped for some reason. Everything returned to peace, which made him a little confused. He walked slowly along the city wall. Zuo Ci followed him, following him step by step.

"Zuo Yuanfang, aren't you good at teaching? Do you think about it, why did Sun Jian endure so long this time, but he didn't fight once, why didn't Zhou Jiujiang cut off his food route yet?"

Zuo Ci said seriously: "Mr. The Taoist Dharma is complex, and there are thousands of different kinds of things, and I cannot understand them. What I am studying is the alchemy method, not the divination. But Mr. Fu doesn't have to worry too much. Whether Sun Jian climbs the city will not affect the result. He goes deep into Lujiang and has difficulty in transferring. He will retreat sooner or later. Mr. Fu can rest assured."

Chen Deng laughed, disagreed. Zuo Ci was a famous Taoist priest in Lujiang. He took a lot of effort to invite him. Unexpectedly, Zuo Ci had no use except saying some seemingly mysterious words. He was also a famous man, just like Zhou Ang, and he was also a famous scholar. He shouted every day to kill the Sun family father and son and avenge his younger brother Zhou Yu. Now he lured Sun Jian to the hinterland of Lujiang, hoping that Zhou Ang could lead troops into Lujiang, cut off Sun Jian's food route, and then attack Sun Jian with him. As a result, he couldn't wait and could not come yet, and there was no news. Now he could only rely on the support of Yangzhou Governor Chen Wen. However, Chen Wen himself had no soldiers, and he had to go to various counties in the south of the Yangtze River to recruit soldiers. No one knew when he would arrive.

Why do I always work with some waste? Chen Deng was very disappointed.

The allies were stupid, but the opponent was smarter than he expected. Based on his understanding of Sun Jian, he originally thought that Sun Jian would be impatient and would attack the city at any cost, and would even go on battle to fight in person. For this reason, he not only strengthened the city defense early, but also selected 300 warriors from the team he brought, trained carefully, and prepared to block when Sun Jian climbed the city. However, although Sun Jian's siege was not smooth, he was not impatient and patiently deployed the war. He was even far away from the front line of the battle and commanded with peace of mind, making all his preparations go out.

Lujiang is a small county, and Shu County has limited grain storage. If Sun Jian has been besieging the city, the food in the city will not last long. There are 10,000 people in the city, but most of them are new recruits, and they can barely deal with the defense of the city. The battle outside the city will undoubtedly hit Sun Jian's thoughts.

I originally thought it was an easy battle, but I didn't expect it to be a deadlock.

Chen Deng stroked the city wall, sighed, and felt a little regret. If he had known this was the situation, he would not have accepted Yuan Shao's appointment at the beginning and seized Lujiang from Lu Kang. Lujiang was a quagmire. It was easy to step in with one foot, but it would be difficult to pull it out again.

There are eight or nine things in the world that are not satisfactory.

——

Ma Chao, Yan Xing and others met Guo Jia who came to greet him in Xi County and were flattered. They did not expect that Sun Ce not only did not hostile to them, but instead sent people to greet them. Their specifications were so high and their courtesy was so high. Guo Jia was Sun Ce's confidant, second only to Sun Ce's ceremonials. Of course, they would not think that Sun Ce was afraid of them. Sun Ce once duel with Zhang Liao in front of the formation, and both sides did not decide the outcome. Their martial arts skills were comparable to Zhang Liao, and Sun Ce had no reason to be afraid of them.

Guo Jia was very enthusiastic and asked them to rest in Xi County. First, he would definitely be tired after rushing so far. Second, he prepared some gifts for them, which took some time. Xi County produced high-quality bows and arrows, especially Baiyu Arrows, Ma Chao, and Yan Xing, all young warriors who were good at riding and shooting. They had no ability to resist these things and readily obeyed.

Anyway, the imperial court sent them to the competition to delay time and there was no schedule specified at all.

Accompanied by Tian Hongcheng, the commander of Xi County, Ma Chao and his party not only visited the workshop of the Xie family, but also went out of the city with the Xie family archers to hunt. The archers of the Xie family were not as good as theirs, but their step shooting ability was quite good, which was stronger than the entourage they brought. This surprised Ma Chao and others. There were so many good archers in a small county. If the imperial court attacked Nanyang, these archers would definitely become their nightmare.

In addition to the archers of the Xie family, the soldiers led by Tian Hongcheng also opened their eyes to Ma Chao and others. Tian Hongcheng was just an ordinary commander, but the 500 soldiers under his command were well-trained and could be called elite, no less weak than the 200 warriors they brought. Ma Chao estimated that if he was in a formation and fought, if he wanted to wipe out these 500 people, the 200 knights would suffer more than half of the losses.

Ma Chao felt that this was the elite troops that Sun Ce deliberately arranged, pretending to be ordinary soldiers to scare them. He quietly discussed with the general Pang De of the army, and Pang De also felt that there was a possibility. Yan Xing did not think so. Although they did not see Xu Shu trained his troops when they passed Wuguan, the guards of Wuguan were not weak in spirit. At that time, he inquired and learned that most of the officers above the captain had the experience of studying in the martial arts hall, and how to train soldiers was a compulsory subject. Tian Hongcheng was also from the martial arts hall, and he could stand alone and serve as the commander of Xixian County. It was normal that he was stronger than the commander under Xu Shu. There was nothing strange about it.

Ma Chao is skeptical.
Chapter completed!