On November 15th, tribes such as Yifu Xianbei, Zheju Xianbei and Wuwei Lushuihu from Xihai County took turns to attack. Each tribe would only attack once. After the attack, they would retreat and another tribe would attack.

After such a round of fighting, the defenders, who had lost more than half of their troops, sent envoys to negotiate for surrender.

Shao Shen originally did not want to surrender, but Yang Jiezhi repeatedly persuaded him, and finally agreed that the remaining thousand defenders put down their weapons and marched down the mountain in formation.

However, when they got off the mountain, Shao Shen immediately changed his face and wanted to kill him, but he was caught by someone.

However, death penalty can be avoided, but living crime cannot be avoided.

Sending criminals to the frontier was a common wisdom of past dynasties. The final destination of this group of people was Hehui City. There were a thousand families in total, and all of them were exiled.

And when Shao Shen planted the flag on the top of Xian Mountain, Xiangyang and Fancheng were shaken.

That night, another cavalryman sent a letter urging surrender into the city, but there was no response for a while.

A careful calculation of the garrison revealed that there were still more than 5,000 defenders in Xiangyang City. If Deng Yue had not recruited servants from wealthy families or city residents, this would of course be impossible.

There are less than four thousand defenders in Fancheng.

The overall situation is extremely dangerous and looks precarious.

On the 16th, after waiting for sufficient food and grass, Huang Biao led his army directly outside Shicheng.

His troops along the way have been greatly reduced.

The Luoyan Army and half of the Daiguo cavalry have been transferred westward and merged into the West Route Army, under the command of Jiang Ke. The only ones left in Huang Biao's hands are the Youjinwu Guards, the Heishao Left Camp and more than 4,000 Tuoba Xianbei cavalry and war soldiers. There are less than 15,000, including about 29,000 auxiliary troops.

Obviously, Shao Shen adjusted his deployment, increased troops on the western front and attacked Jiangling directly, while the eastern front was in an "offensive defense" state.

However, Huang Biao is obviously not satisfied with defense.

When he learned that there was a Prussian water camp and two thousand army troops in Shicheng, he immediately ordered a fierce attack.

This city is near Zhongxiang in later generations.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan built a fort here and sent a member of Yamen to guard it, hence the name "Yamencheng".

Wei and Wu repeatedly fought back and forth. In the Pu Dynasty, Yang Hu became the governor of Jingzhou and captured this place. He also chose a place with mountains and rivers to build a stone city as a frontline fortress against Soochow.

In the late Jin Dynasty, Du was forced to rebel by Wang Cheng and Shicheng fell.

Tao Kan led an army to attack and was defeated by Du Zeng here.

Shicheng is actually the boundary of Jingling County, but there are not many people there, and I don't know if they have been moved or they have escaped.

Huang Biao didn't care where the people in Jingling went. He just wanted to take over the city, so he went out immediately.

"Dong dong dong—" While looking around, the sound of marching drums sounded nearby.

The generals from the left camp formed a neat formation and launched an attack on the Prussian water stronghold.

When the navy marches, there must be a resting point in the middle, which is the water village.

Such a stronghold is needed to repair ships, store supplies, place the wounded and sick, and even serve as a launching point for attacks.

Huang Biao made a rough observation and found that city walls were built on the east, south and north sides of Shicheng using the natural terrain. On the west side was a cliff with Mianshui River below. In other words, the connection between the water village and the city could be artificially cut off.

No, Tuoba Daiguo's cavalry only charged once and lost a few men. They tried out where the soft river beach was and where the relatively solid ground was. Then they launched a resolute attack and tried to get to and from Shicheng.

It was separated from the Prussian troops in the water village and cut into two sections.

At present, the attack on Shuizhai has been launched, but Shicheng ignores it and only sends Youjinwu Guards and Xianbei Cavalry to monitor them. As soon as the enemy troops leave the city, they will fight in the field.

And behind them, an even more astonishing scene appeared: 1,200 soldiers with troops, 2,000 men, and 1,000 cavalry were pulling up the ox carts, and the donkeys were rushing south, heading towards Jingling County City.

There were only a few thousand men, and they could only defeat half of them, but they dared to head south brazenly with only half a month's worth of food and grass. Their advance was extremely ferocious.

"Send someone to inform Anlu and ask Zuo Feilongwei how long they will delay." Huang Biao summoned the messenger and ordered.

The messenger turned and left.

Huang Biao turned to look at Shuizhai.

The navy of the Jin Army guarding the camp was shooting at each other with the Heishaozuo camp on the top of the wall. The battlefield was filled with arrows and rocks, and it became intense from the beginning.

Huang Biao remembered that the Xianbei general had advised him yesterday that if the cities he encountered along the way could not be defeated at once, he should bypass them all without attacking them and just send people to monitor them. The main force would move south in large numbers to drink from the Yangtze River.

Huang Biao was a little surprised by this. Do the Xianbei people like to fight like this?

If the main force going south is cavalry, it is indeed possible to send some fine cavalry to monitor the defenders in the city, then go around the city and march south in a big way, but that would be too risky.

If you can't see it when attacking, and if all the troops have no fighting spirit when retreating, then you will suffer - don't take it for granted.

Horses are more delicate animals than humans and more sensitive to the environment. When they get sick in areas with dense water networks in the south, you can experience the feeling of running on two legs and being chased by people.

Huang Biao did not dare to let go of these cities along the way. After his attempts to persuade them to surrender failed, he began to attack.

He didn't dare to say when Shicheng would be captured, but there weren't many navy troops in the water village, and the fortress wasn't strong, so it wouldn't be difficult to capture it.

There is already a Xiangyang siege in the north but you don't attack it. In the south you don't attack Shicheng, Jingling and Yangkou?

There is no other way, if you need to be ruthless, you have to be ruthless.

****

In the Yangkou camp, Tao Kan was seeing Cai Mo off.

"Shi Heng, I still feel a little uneasy." Cai Mo had already boarded the boat, looked at Tao Kan on the shore, and couldn't help but say.

Tao Kan laughed heartily and said, "Now that things have come to this, there is no point in regretting."

While the two were talking, troops and horses drawn from various places were boarding the ship in batches. Tao Kan had recently adjusted his deployment. Troops and horses were dispatched from Wuchang and Xiakou, and he gathered 15,000 infantry troops and more than 10,000 troops on hand.

Division, this is the most powerful mobile corps in Jingzhou, and it is also the only mobile corps.

The defense of Jingling, Yangkou and nearby areas was basically entrusted to the 10,000 Jiangzhou land and water troops brought by Cai Mo, and they were strictly ordered not to fight in vain, but to cooperate with the water and land forces and to stick to it.

He has 20,000 to 30,000 people, and he can use Yangshui, Xiashui, and even the incoming water that is not easy to move to reinforce various places.

Four words: wait for change.

This dragged on until Liang Jun couldn't stand the casualties during the siege, couldn't stand the endless rivers and muddy fields, couldn't stand the frequent delays in food and grass supplies, and even after the spring of next year, more and more Northern soldiers were acclimatized, and the war horses,

Draft animals died in large numbers and they were forced to retreat.

Forced retreat and active retreat are two different things.

He didn't believe that Liang Jun could still escape the pursuit at that time. If he failed, it would be very likely that he would be defeated. By then, not only would the siege of Jiangling be lifted, but Xiangyang might even have to vomit it out.

The most regretful thing in his heart was that the imperial court gave random orders at the beginning, which forced him to lose more than 10,000 troops in Xiangfan.

If he could have more than 10,000 more elite troops on hand at this time, bringing the main force of the infantry capable of array field operations to 27,000, he could even march to the north of Jiangling, conduct a large-scale relocation, and completely cut off the troops gathering towards Jiangling.

Liang Jun's main force retreats.

But now there are only more than 15,000 troops, but there are more risks, because Liang Jun has probably adjusted his deployment, and it is not enough under the attack from both sides.

But these words can only be kept in my heart, even Cai Mo can't say them more.

You can't blame the emperor, the prime minister and the princes in the court, right?

Cai Mo didn't know what Tao Kan was thinking, but seeing Tao Kan laughing, he said helplessly: "Shiheng!"

Tao Kan put away his smile, raised his hand towards Cai Mo, and said: "If you are willing, why not help me find some more soldiers and horses? They don't need to be powerful, they can just defend the city. It is best to be Xiangzhou soldiers, they are close to each other."

. Don’t use barbarians, they can’t defend the city well. If there are only barbarians, it’s best to have them trained and able to defend the city. In this way, I can deploy troops from Wuchang and Xiakou to garrison, which will greatly increase my confidence.”

After saying that, he sighed again and said: "If it doesn't work, barbarians can do it. I just need to take them with me to fight."

"This——" Cai Mo thought for a while and said, "I will go back to the capital right now, and Shi Heng will just wait for the good news."

Tao Kan bowed his hands and got on the boat.

The imperial court was really obsessed with guarding Fang Zhen. It had been so long and they still refused to hand over Xiangzhou to him.

Tao Kan's ship gradually moved away. The sound of drums continued on the river, and orange oars were like a forest.

On the post road near the river, a large group of infantry troops were also on their way, heading straight for Huarong.

There is a naval force gathered in the south of Huarong City. You can take a boat to Yunmengze and then go to Jiangling via Xia River.

Cai Mo couldn't understand these military deployments and movements. He only knew that Tao Kan was struggling to survive under the massive invasion of Liang Jun from the "Eighty Directions" and waiting hard for the right time.

After shaking his head, he ordered the boat to sail with worry and fear.

It was very fast to go down the Yangtze River from Yangkou and back to Jianye. He wanted to discuss it with the important officials of the DPRK as soon as possible.

On the way here, I vaguely heard that Liang Jun was going south from the direction of Huainan and besieged Hefei New City, but I didn't know what happened.

It should be done over Xuzhou, right?

This full invasion is huge, and Shao thief is not so easy to close. Now it depends on who can persist.

******

On November 20th, Jiang Ke, the capital of the West Army, had already taken the sun and began to mobilize the soldiers frequently.

When the sun is north and south, the car and horse can't see it all the way.

The southern water network is densely distributed, even if it is a well -developed area, the river is one by one.

The Someda Team is often accumulated in front of the only few wooden bridges, waiting in line.

What is even more helpless is that many bridges have been destroyed, which greatly delays the speed of entering the soldiers.
To be continued...