Xu Sheng's first reaction was that Deng Ai led troops from the Public Security City to rescue Jiangling.

But it's impossible to think about it. Not to mention that his secret attack on Jiangling was very secretive. In order to cooperate with the secret attack here, Lu Su also mobilized a large army to storm the Public Security City. Where would the Public Security City have the opportunity to send reinforcements to Jiangling?

It’s just that I don’t want to think too much now. Let’s stabilize our position and face Deng Ai.

The Jiangdong soldiers were in poor mental and physical condition because they had been traveling all night. They had killed and injured more than a thousand people when they attacked the city, and their morale was very low. Now they are relaxing and setting up camp, ready to take a good rest. They don't even have weapons in their hands. How can they wait for work?

Deng Ai's opponent.

The Jiangdong soldiers abandoned the camp that had not yet been properly settled, fought and fled, and were forced to move more than ten miles away.

Xu Sheng raised his spear and used his horse to attack Deng Ai. When the two spears met, Xu Sheng realized that the stuttering young man in front of him should not be underestimated.

I saw Deng Ai thrust his spear straight, and the spear shaft vibrated with a "buzz" sound. Xu Sheng could not dodge, and hurriedly raised the spear in his hand to block it. There was a crisp "dang" sound. Although Xu Sheng changed Deng Ai's spear

direction, but his own spear almost missed.

In terms of water warfare, Xu Sheng was considered a leader in this era, and his defensive and command capabilities were also very strong. Sun Quan once used Xu Sheng to resist Cao Cao's attacks again and again on the Yangtze River defense line, which can be said to be a remarkable achievement. But on land

In the horse battle, Xu Sheng was only second-rate, comparable to the young Deng Ai.

However, Xu Sheng's physical strength at this moment and Jiang Dongbing's declining strength were simply not enough to withstand Deng Ai's attack.

The two fought for more than ten rounds. Xu Sheng looked back at the Jiangdong soldiers beside him who were dying and scattered. They had long since lost their organization. So he made a feint and took advantage of Deng Ai's dodge to pull his horse and turn around, heading towards the forest not far away.

Run away.

Deng Ai was in high spirits, so he sent his troops to pursue him, and slaughtered the Jiangdong soldiers who were originally following Xu Sheng.

Afterwards, Xu Sheng used the mountain terrain to escape Deng Ai's pursuit. When he gathered the remaining soldiers, there were only a thousand people left.

Not only were these more than a thousand men lacking in physical strength, but they had also lost all their tents and siege equipment. It was no longer realistic to attack Jiangling City. Xu Sheng had no choice but to lead his team to detour to the east of Jiangling City, planning to join Ding Feng's team.

Compare again.

Because in Xu Sheng's view, Jiangling City had been hollowed out, and it was unexpected to be able to organize resistance on the city tower and an ambush by Deng Ai's troops outside the city. It was impossible for there to be troops to attack Ding Feng's team.

Team Ding Feng should be safe, Xu Sheng thought.

Of course he didn't know that with the support of Liu Xian and Han Kui of the Jiangling family, Jiangling's regrouped troops had reached 8,000 men, which was not much less than the troops Xu Sheng and Ding Feng came to attack Jiangling this time.

Deng Ai was originally helping Gan Ning in Gong'an City. However, after Jiangling gathered enough troops, Jia Xu secretly sent a message and transferred Deng Ai back. When he transferred Deng Ai back, in order not to leak the news, Jia Xu

A special campaign was carried out to clear out the Jiangdong outposts outside Jiangling City, and Deng Ai had already returned to Jiangling before the new Jiangdong outposts arrived.

When Lu Su learned that the sentinels outside Jiangling City had been wiped out, he sent new sentinels out and continued to monitor every move in Jiangling City.

This new sentinel happened to see Liao Hua leading 2,000 troops out of the city to help the police. So Xu Sheng and Ding Feng had the opportunity to secretly attack Jiangling.

Unexpectedly, Jiangling City had already made various preparations to defend the city, and sent Deng Ai to lurk outside the city, waiting for opportunities to attack Jiangdong soldiers.

As for the two thousand troops that Liao Hua took away, they were originally meant to be shown to Lu Su.

After Liao Hua wandered around outside, he returned to the outside of Jiangling City and was also prepared for an ambush.

Ding Feng happened to fall into Liao Hua's ambush.

However, Ding Feng's situation was better than Xu Sheng's. Ding Feng was ambushed on the march, and Jiang Dong's soldiers still had weapons in their hands that could resist.

After Liao Hua finished shooting all his crossbows and bows, he led his troops out and met Ding Feng's team in close combat, each suffering casualties.

Although Liao Hua had the advantage of the ambush, the soldiers he led were all private soldiers of aristocratic families, and their combat effectiveness could not be compared with the regular Jiangdong soldiers. Therefore, after a battle, the number of casualties on both sides was almost 50:50.

Ding Feng originally did not have many men and horses. With Liao Hua interfering with him, how could he still have the strength to attack the city? He only led the remaining troops back, intending to join Xu Sheng's team before making a fuss.

Half a day later, Ding Feng and Xu Sheng met again.

The two of them glanced at each other's backs, feeling already half-hearted.

Police City.

Gan Ning once again repelled Jiangdong's attack.

However, Lou Fa died in the battle, Shen Mi was injured, and even Gan Ning himself was shot in the arm by a stray arrow and was being bandaged in the city.

Almost none of the flags on the tower were intact, and there was a faint green smoke rising from the soil that was blackened by kerosene. The corpses of soldiers from both sides were lying on the ground or leaning against the walls, and no one paid attention to them.

tidy.

"If there are no more reinforcements, I'm afraid we will have to abandon Gong'an City and retreat to Jiangling." Ma Di looked at Gan Ning and said in a low voice.

"Ning served as a soldier for half his life and never gave up." Gan Ning moved his body, trying to give his injured arm a place to lean on.

"I deeply admire General Gan's bravery. However, from the overall perspective, the current Gong'an City has almost lost its geographical advantage for defense. Only by combining our existing military strength with Jiangling's city defense can it be possible to withstand Jiangdong.

Otherwise, the public security city will be destroyed and the defenders will die in battle. If Jiangling has an empty city defense but insufficient defenders, how can we resist it?" Ma Su advised.

"Where Jiangling came to rule is, if Jiangdong soldiers are allowed to approach Jiangling City, it will seriously damage the morale of our army, and it will also affect the confidence of the aristocratic families in Jiangling City in our army. If the aristocratic families in Jiangling City become restless

, then Jiangling will be much more dangerous than it is now. So we are guarding the public security now to maintain the confidence of the local forces in Jingzhou in our army, and we must not retreat easily." Gan Ning said.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "But..."

"enough!"

Ma Di wanted to say something else, but Gan Ning interrupted him forcefully.

Gan Ning said: "You Chang did provide our army with many valuable strategies in this defensive battle. But your responsibility is nothing more than that."

The implication is that you should think carefully about how to defend and defeat the enemy, and stop talking about the general direction of advance or retreat.

Ma Di said: "Then let me go and direct the sergeants to build the earth wall first."

Gan Ning nodded.

After watching Ma Su leave, Gan Ning squinted at Li Fu beside him.

Li Fu claimed that the reinforcements sent from Yizhou actually only had a thousand cavalry. Neither the strength nor the types of troops were suitable for this defensive battle, which made Gan Ning very angry.

It's like when you are so hungry that someone tells you that steak and seafood will be served soon, but after waiting for a long time, the waiter brings you a piece of French fries to satisfy your stomach first.

"When will Meng Ziqing arrive at Gong'an City?" Gan Ning asked Li Fudao.

"It should be... it should be soon." Li Fu himself was not sure.

Logically speaking, Meng Da's troops should have arrived a long time ago, but they have yet to be seen. Who knows if something happened to them on the way? Who can say for sure what happened?

"Hey." Gan Ning sighed.

Although Jiangling was the seat of Li Qi's rule, those who had the power to dispatch troops except himself were all dragged to Chang'an. Otherwise, just sending a general with a tiger talisman to take over Meng Da's military power would not have delayed so long.

Now the only person with military power to control Mengda is Gan Ning himself, but Gan Ning cannot leave the Public Security City alone and take over Mengda's troops.

Hey, right.

Gan Ning suddenly remembered something.

In order to delegate power to Jia Xu, Li Qi allowed Jia Xu to carry out "external transfer" to the aristocratic families in Jingzhou, and gave Jia Xu certain personnel appointment rights.

Although the official position that can be appointed with this authority is not too high, Meng Da's official position is not high either.

As long as we can seize Mengda's military power in an honest and fair manner, it will be enough.

However, Gan Ning later thought that when Li Qi entered Shu, in order to win over the generals in Shu, the official position given to Meng Da was not too low, and it exceeded the highest position that Jia Xu could appoint now.

It is easy for a high-level general to take over the military power of a low-level general. But to let a low-level general take over the military power of a high-level general is a crime committed by the following. Maybe the military power is not taken over, and Meng Da wants to kill the low-level general.

It's also natural.

So this idea was temporarily given up by Gan Ning.

The current situation is not optimistic, so much so that I can't bear to eat it, so I used a little bit of preserved pork and then stopped eating it.

Ma Di knew that Gan Ning was worried about the war, so he persuaded Gan Ning that only if he had enough food could he have the strength to fight.

Gan Ning said: "There are now less than 20,000 troops in the public security city, and the city tower has long been in pieces. I don't know when Meng Da will arrive, so I am upset."

Ma Su said: "Mengda had a high self-esteem, but he was left idle in Yizhou for many years, so he was dissatisfied. Li Sunde also considered that Mengda was in Brazil and relatively close to Jiangling, so he gave him this opportunity.

I don’t want this person to ignore good and evil and delay his trip. When we see him someday, the general must punish him properly."

Gan Ning said: "I originally wanted to send someone to replace Meng Da, but unfortunately the other generals' positions are not high. Liao Hua is only at the same level as Meng Da. What can I do?"

Ma Su said: "Didn't the lord give Jia Changshi the temporary authority to appoint officials?"

Gan Ning said: "They all deal with the personnel power of the children of the Jingzhou family, and the official position is not high."

Ma Di said: "General Gan knows this because General Gan has read the Lord's letter. But Meng Da has not read it. How does he know how much authority the Lord has given Jia Changshi?"

Gan Ning was shocked: "You Chang means...but what about the seal? We can't make a fake seal, right?"

Ma Su said: "General Gan's silver seal and green ribbon may come in handy."

Gan Ning had lived in Jiangling for a long time, and everyone in the Jiangling garrison knew him.

If you are raising an army or announcing something important, you need a silver seal.

But now when fighting in the public security system, the situation is urgent. As long as the generals above have no objections, no soldier will insist on seeing Gan Ning's seal ribbon or tiger talisman before carrying out the order.

Therefore, what Ma Su meant was to forge the appointment letter, use Gan Ning's seal and ribbon, and send someone to seize Meng Da's military power.

To do this, the most suitable candidate is Liao Hua.

Liao Hua originally had the same military position as Meng Da. This time he followed Li Qi to attack Chang'an and helped Jia Xu defend Jiangling. He made a lot of contributions. He was the one who should be promoted but had not yet had the chance to be promoted.
To be continued...