The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 272 Attack Lu Xun First, Then Xu Sheng

Although the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Corridor is a corridor, it is a natural formation rather than an artificial one.

Natural formations tend to be more unpredictable, unlike man-made structures which are more orderly. As a result, some sections of the corridor are wide enough to build a city, while others are so narrow that only a few vehicles can pass side by side.

Yushan County is located in the very center of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi corridor. Its broad terrain and backing onto the valley make it suitable for urban development and survival.

However, the county town was located in a corridor, and its small size could not accommodate too many people. The county had a population of less than 20,000, and the city walls were less than two meters high, serving more as a defense against wild animals than against people.

Lu Ju personally went to the city to investigate, and returned to Xu Sheng's side half an hour later to report: "General, you have found out that the Han army in the city only has half a battalion of troops, and they are not well prepared. They can attack at any time."

Xu Sheng snapped his fingers and rubbed his hands together, saying, "Then there's no need to wait until dark. Let's just start fighting. Let's finish this quickly so we can get into the city and sleep."

Xu Sheng currently has only 3,500 men, but they are all elite troops, enough to attack the small Yushan County.

With Xu Sheng's order, three thousand Wu soldiers, carrying bamboo rafts, charged towards the county town like tigers descending a mountain. Although such a large-scale attack was not enough to cause an earthquake, it was certainly impossible to do so silently. The huge commotion quickly attracted the attention of the Han army inside the town.

Upon hearing the commotion, the Han army battalion commander who was left to guard the county town rushed up the city wall. He found that the Wu army was numerous and coming with great force. With the county town's two-meter-high city wall and his own two troop strength, it was impossible to stop them. So he simply retreated without putting up a fight. General Guan Xing had said that if you can't beat them, you should run away.

However, the battalion commander did not run around aimlessly. He ordered one detachment of soldiers to leave the city and head west to return to Damu to report the situation to Guan Xing, while he personally led another detachment of soldiers east to meet up with Shen Yi.

He had abandoned the city and fled, so how could he dare to go back to see Guan Xing? He should ask Shen Yi for help first.

As the Han army fled, Xu Sheng captured the county town without lifting a finger. After entering the city, he ordered his army to attack again, driving all the people to the middle of the road, confiscating all the surplus grain from the people's homes and distributing it uniformly, and dividing the people into several groups, ordering them to go up the mountain to cut down trees and dig pits outside the city, to strengthen the city's defenses as quickly as possible, in preparation for dealing with the Han army's pincer attack.

Xu Sheng's tyrannical actions aroused widespread resentment among the people in the city. Some people tried to escape as soon as they left the city, but were caught and brought back by Wu's army. Xu Sheng then publicly executed them in front of everyone as a warning to others.

Now the people were obedient and dared not run away anymore. They could only work diligently, but they silently prayed that the Han army would arrive as soon as possible and defeat all these demons.

Meanwhile, the Han army battalion commander who abandoned the city and fled did not dare to delay and ran at full speed. He even traveled through the night without rest and finally caught up with the Han army at noon the next day. After reporting to Shen Yi, he was brought before him.

After hearing the report, Shen Yi looked at the dejected battalion commander and said incredulously, "What? Yushan County is lost?"

The battalion commander secretly observed his expression and said nervously, "Yes, they are carrying the banner of Xu and have a large number of men. This general really can't stop them. General, come with me to fight back. Wu's army has just arrived in the county and has not yet established a firm foothold. If we fight back, we may be able to take it back. If we are late, the hope of taking back the county will be slim."

It's obvious to anyone with a brain that Wu's army wouldn't be able to sleep soundly after capturing the county town; they would definitely seize the time to strengthen the city's defenses. The longer the Han army dragged things out, the more perfect Wu's city defenses would become.

Shen Yi's head was buzzing. Only then did he realize what he had overlooked, and he finally understood why Wu Jun's attack on the camp that night was so hasty. It turned out that his real intention was not what he intended to do.

Knowing that Xu Sheng had tricked him, Shen Yi gritted his teeth in anger. After hearing the report, he instinctively wanted to follow the battalion commander back to Yushan, but just as he was about to give the order, a thought flashed through his mind, and he muttered to himself, "No, no, no, that's not right. We can't go back."

The battalion commander was dumbfounded and said, "What else can we do if we don't fight our way back? Our retreat has been cut off, General."

Shen Yi ignored the battalion commander's worries and paced back and forth, muttering to himself, "General Guan once said that the more dangerous the situation, the more calmly we should analyze and look for opportunities, because danger and opportunity are intertwined and often coexist. For example, when the old general was defeated at Maicheng, he seemed to be in a desperate situation, but a change of perspective turned out to be a golden opportunity."

"General Guan also said that when you encounter a problem you can't figure out, try to think from the enemy's perspective. What would the enemy do if they had the advantage? What do you think Xu Sheng will do next?"

"Uh..." the battalion commander said in astonishment, "Naturally, it's to reinforce the city's defenses and prevent you from joining forces with General Guan, and then..."

Then I don't know. Shen Yi said for him, "Then they will definitely hold out until Lu Xun arrives with his army and crushes me, Shen Yi, in the corridor. That's what we did when we captured Zhang Cheng for the second time. In other words, Xu Sheng's current goal is to hold the line and wait for reinforcements, and wait for Lu Xun to arrive. So where is Lu Xun?"

The battalion commander instinctively replied, "Then we must speed up our journey to Yushan. After all, Xu Sheng has few troops and little food. On the surface, it seems he can't hold out for long. The sooner Lu Xun arrives, the sooner he can join forces with Xu Sheng to crush you, General. If he arrives a day later, Xu Sheng might starve to death."

Shen Yi snapped his fingers and said, "That's right, so we must not do as Xu Sheng wishes and be led by the nose by him. Instead, we should stay where we are and fight Lu Xun. After we defeat Lu Xun, we can go back and counterattack the county town."

"Lu Xun is definitely eager to join forces with Xu Sheng right now. Under these circumstances, he will inevitably choose to speed up his march. If he moves faster, his ability to adapt to changing circumstances will be weakened. If we can choose the right location and time, we can definitely give Lu Xun a hard blow, at least enough to make him afraid to march quickly anymore. This will slow down the time it takes for Lu Xun to join forces with Xu Sheng."

"As for Xu Sheng, he's probably thinking about how to defend against our attack from both sides with General Guan, so he'll just stay in Yushan and won't take the initiative to attack. Let Xu Sheng wait in the city. Every day he waits is another day of wasted food and supplies. Let's see who can afford to wait longer."

battalion commander:"……"

Now it was his turn to have his head buzzing, and he couldn't quite process what was happening.

Shen Yi didn't expect him to answer. Instead, he called Li Gousheng over and instructed him, "Gousheng, take the scouts and continue to scout eastward to find out about Lu Xun's situation. Also, use the scouts' eyes to find an ambush site for me. We'll intercept Lu Xun first and then deal with Xu Sheng."

"Lu Xun will definitely think that after receiving the news of the fall of Yushan, I will rush back to Yushan County to attack Xu Sheng. Therefore, he will definitely not guard against us and will march at full speed. This will give us the opportunity to ambush him. This time, we must give Lu Xun a hard time and let this acting Grand Commander know how powerful I, Shen Yi, am."

“Yes…” Li Gousheng called for the scouts to set off quickly, and skillfully divided them into two groups. One group went into the mountains and headed west to Yiyang to investigate, while the other group, led by him personally, stepped on the traps and headed west along the corridor.

Shen Yi was not idle either. He ordered the army to quickly go into the mountains to quarry stones and cut down trees to make rolling logs and stones. At the same time, he ordered them to find dry firewood or pine and cypress trees to make straw bundles for setting fires. If all these things were thrown at the Wu army, they would definitely be in for a lot of trouble.

After two or three hours of this busy work, the scout who had gone into the mountains hurriedly returned and reported: "General, a Wu army of about three thousand men has been discovered in the mountains. They are all carrying food sacks and are heading this way."

Shen Yi pondered, "If they're carrying grain sacks, they're not coming for us. They're probably going to Yushan to support Xu Sheng. They're calling all the brothers back to continue digging traps, creating the illusion that they haven't received news of Yushan's fall yet."

After saying that, he called over the battalion commander who was withdrawing from Yushan and instructed him: "You must return to Yushan immediately. You don't need to rush to Yushan City. Run thirty or fifty miles and then turn back. Make it look like you are fleeing from Yushan in a panic to this Wu army. I will send a scout to assist you."

Turning back also requires skill. It can only be done when the Wu army is on its way to Yushan after crossing Shenyi in the mountains. You can't turn back before the Wu army has arrived at Shenyi, otherwise you'll have made a wasted trip.

The audience doesn't even know who the performance is for, right?

Under Shen Yi's command, the army split up and put on a show for the Wu army in the mountains.

The Wu army in the mountains was the support army led by Ding Feng. While Ding Feng was on his way, he also sent out scouts to investigate. He learned that the Han army was still digging traps and guessed that Shen Yi might not have received the news of the fall of Yushan. Therefore, he ignored them and continued on his way.

After passing Shenyi, they traveled another twenty or thirty li. A scout reported that a Han army was running wildly towards Shenyi from the direction of Yushan, and they were running in a rather disheveled state.

Ding Feng breathed a sigh of relief, roughly estimated the time it would take for Shen Yi to receive the news and arrive at Yushan, and then leisurely made his way to Yushan.

He doesn't need to be in too much of a hurry; he just needs to get to Yushan before Shen Yi.