Zhou Xin fainted after falling down. Gan Yan asked someone to carry him back to the camp and rushed to the doctor to rescue him. After a long time of hard work, Zhou Xin finally woke him up.

"God is so unfair!" Zhou Xin howled, burst into tears, and tears fell like rain.

Gan Yan was speechless. He was a little confused, not knowing how things turned out like this. But he was not as rude as Zhou Xin. If he had a little brain, he knew that he would lose this time. They were too careless and thought that Niuzhu Mountain was behind him, which was a wild land on the river bank that was inconvenient to march. Sun Ce was not familiar with the terrain and could not attack from here.

They forgot that Sun Ce is different from them. Sun Ce is a frivolous person, brave and ruthless, and greedy for profit and risk. During the battle between Junyi, he once rushed behind Yuan Tan, but was blocked by Yuan Tan. The two sides fought fiercely. Although they were seriously injured and suffered heavy losses, his risk-taking character was undoubtedly exposed. They only care about jokes about Sun Ce and took it upon themselves, but they did not attract a lesson. Now Sun Ce has seized the opportunity and cut off the way out.

No wonder he didn't attack today, so he originally went to take a chance.

Gan Yan is not Zhou Xin. He has no deep hatred with Sun Ce, he does not have the desire to kill Sun Ce, and he is not worried that Sun Ce will take his life. He is from Danyang, and he can serve anyone who is the prefect of Danyang. Even if Sun Ce is unwilling to eliminate him, he can return to the county to be a minor official and will not have any worries about his life. So he is more calmer than Zhou Xin.

"It's a pity that the Duke, Shen Fang and others died in battle, but now it's not the time to be sad. I'd better think about how to deal with it. There are not many crossbowmen in Shicheng, and the strength to defend the city has been greatly reduced. Our army will be attacked from both sides and cannot last long."

Zhou Xin swept Gan Yan like that, his eyes were cold. "Do you advise me to escape, or to surrender?"

Gan Yan was expressed in one sentence by Zhou Xin, and she was very embarrassed and laughed awkwardly. "The Lord of the Mansion is so serious. I just suggest it. How to decide is to make a decision."

Zhou Xin sat up slowly and rubbed his face carefully. The fall was so bad that his whole face was swollen, and it hurt so much when he touched it. Without the use of bronze critics, he also knew that his image was not good now. However, compared to being tricked by Sun Ce, the fall was less important. The three brothers who were well-read in poetry and books not only did not gain any advantage against the Sun family father and son who were born in merchants, but instead suffered again and again. Before, he thought Zhou Yu and Zhou Ang were too careless. Now that he was plotted against by Sun Ce, his face was hot and even more uncomfortable than being swollen.

Before deciding to block Sun Ce, he praised Haikou in front of Gan Yan and others in front of Yuan Shao's envoy. He still heard that he suffered such a big loss. If he could not turn defeat into victory, it would not only be the reputation of the Zhou family in Kuaiji, but also affect the strategy of the leader of the Yuan Dynasty and the great cause of the party members.

You can't escape, let alone escape, you can only fight.

Zhou Xin weighed the pros and consented for a while and gritted his teeth. "Although Shen Fang died in the battle, there were more than 2,000 people in Shicheng, while Sun Ce had only five or six thousand troops, and his troops were insufficient to attack the city. He walked behind me and still could not break through our army's position head-on, so he had to do this worst. There was still a lot of food in the Ishangdi Pavilion, which was enough for half a month. We had more than 6,000 troops to defend and wait for assistance."

"Who are you asking for help? Chen Jun is in Jiangbei, and it is difficult to cross the river without warships. Wujun and Yuzhang are so far away. Even if you send people now, you will not be able to come back in half a month. When they arrive, they are afraid that the food in the palace has been eaten up."

Zhou Xin raised his head and sneered: "No need for Wujun, Yuzhang is so far away, there is a ready-made candidate, and you can arrive in at most ten days."

"Who?"

"Zhulang."

Gan Yan frowned. "Fujun, Zulang is a thief. Is this appropriate?"

"Zulang is just a bandit, but the Sun family and his son are traitors. Those who do major things do not care about minor matters and follow their power in a hurry, and don't care about so much." Zhou Xin turned over and sat up and said loudly: "Come here, I'll send me the order, oh..." When he spoke, he opened his mouth a little wider, pulled his face, and immediately took in the air conditioner in pain. Gan Yan saw it in his eyes, shook his head secretly, but he couldn't say anything.

Zhou Xin beat the drum and gathered the generals, ordered the camp to be moved immediately, abandoned the Niuzhu camp, and retreated to Niuzhu rock to defend. At the same time, he sent his confidants to Jingxian to contact Zulang and others.

——

Sun Ce received the news soon.

When Sun Dai didn't believe it when he learned that Zhou Xin had retreated to Niuzhuji. He rushed to the foot of Niuzhu Mountain to check the situation and confirmed it was correct, and couldn't help but laugh.

It is no problem for Zhou Xin to defend Niuzhuji, but he should not give up Niuzhu Camp. The camp and Niuzhuji are mutually supportive. Without sufficient superior troops, he really dare not act rashly. Now Zhou Xin takes the initiative to abandon Niuzhujian. He just needs to send some people to cut off Niuzhuji's exit. The main force can be transferred to attack Shicheng, and Ganning's navy can be used to block the wharf of Niuzhuji.

Zhou Xin had no way to escape and had become a turtle in a jar.

Sun Ce immediately arranged for the personal guard camp Li Shu to lead a thousand people to set up a formation on the south side of Niuzhuji to block Zhou Xin's road to retreat south, and sent someone to inform Gan Ning to let him enter the Niuzhu camp. At the same time, some warships were sent to block the dock on the east side of Niuzhuji to prevent Zhou Xin from escaping with the merchant ship. In front of the warship, the merchant ship had no strength to fight back. Cheng Pu immediately surrounded Shicheng and seized the time to prepare for the siege.

While arranging to encircle Zhou Xin, Sun Ce discussed Zhou Xin's possible plan with Guo Jia, Chen Duan and others. With the information Jiao Zhongqing collected before, it is not difficult to guess what Zhou Xin might have. Soon, Chen Duan proposed a possibility: Zhou Xin is so decisive, probably because he thinks that we cannot break through the Shicheng and will only attack him. Then he made a quick decision and quickly retreated to Niuzhu Rock without giving us a chance. From a defensive perspective, Niuzhu Camp has an advantage in water-proof attack. When Niuzhu Mountain is occupied, it is easy to be attacked on both sides. It is indeed better to retreat to Niuzhu Rock, condescendingly, easy to defend but difficult to attack, and you can concentrate on defense.

The military strategy says: no support is not defended. Zhou Xin doesn't want to break through. With such a decisive defense, there are naturally reinforcements. When Chen Wen and others are trapped in Jiangbei and they have no warships, Zhou Xin should not expect Chen Wen. The reinforcements he can count on should be the county soldiers of Wujun and Yuzhang, but more likely they are local bandits in Danyang.

There are many hills in Jiangdong and many bandits. These bandits are not entirely thieves. Many have close contacts with local tyrants, or even the forces controlled by local tyrants. Due to the difficulties in expedition and suppression, the prefects of Kuaiji, Wujun, Danyang and Yuzhang usually do not take the initiative to use troops, and try their best to adopt Huairou politics, and agree that they exist and have peace. Zhou Xin has been the prefect of Danyang for several years, and it is impossible for him to have no contact with the bandits. He may not look down on them in normal times, but now he is in trouble, so it is completely possible to ask for help from the bandits.

According to the information collected by Jiao Zhongqing and others, the county closest to Wanling, Danyang County is Jing County. There is a group of strong bandits in Jing County, named Zulang. Jing County is about 200 miles from Niuzhuji, with waterways accessible to most of them. Most of them are plains, with only a small part of the mountain roads. If it is fast, five or six days, or ten days later, these people will arrive. Zhou Xin gave up the Niuzhu camp and focused on defending Niuzhuji. He should have wanted to hold on for a few more days to ensure that reinforcements could arrive.
Chapter completed!