Chapter 247: Defeating the enemy in the rain, people's hearts are scattered It rains a lot in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in autumn, when the rain is continuous and piercing to the bone. As the rain began to fall, the fire inside the stronghold was extinguished, but the defeat of the Jiangdong Army was already difficult to stop. Thanks to the heroic efforts of Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng, the Jiangdong army camp was thrown into chaos. After Han Dang's death, the front camp was broken. Zhang Fei, Chen Dao and other generals led their troops into the camp, shouting that those who surrendered would not be killed. As a result, the troops in Jiangdong began to surrender on a large scale. After breaking into the camp, Zhang Fei assigned Chen Dao and others to guard the surrendered soldiers in the camp. Then he personally led 6,000 soldiers and horses, and together with Wei Yan, they hurried towards the northeast. This was the whole plan of Qin Zhen's strategy. He would first bluff in the mountains of Xizhai, and then use thousands of soldiers and horses to create the posture of an all-out attack. Lure the reinforcements from the Jiangdong army's main camp to reinforce the western camp, so as to seize Sun Ce's main camp first. After capturing the main camp, they went around the main road to the rear of the Jiangdong Army's western camp.

As mentioned earlier, Sun Ce’s small camp was located in a valley with dangerous terrain and a narrow and difficult mountain path. Therefore, as long as they took a detour to the rear of his small camp, they could block Sun Ce's troops firmly in the valley and then completely annihilate Sun Ce's troops of more than 10,000. So even though it was drizzling at this time, Zhang Fei still led his troops forward. At the same time, Huang Gai, who was going to reinforce from the west, finally arrived at the West Camp and met the commander of the West Camp, Sun Fu. But as soon as he arrived at the West Camp, he saw Sun Fu directing the troops in defense, and there was no sign of chaos at all. Seeing this, Huang Gai was suddenly surprised, thinking that Sun Fu did not look like he could not resist. When he went up to ask, he saw Sun Fu sighing with fear on his face: "General, you may not know that the enemy's attack was indeed fierce and they almost attacked our camp several times." "But after I asked for help, the enemy just shouted in the mountains without attacking." "I don't know what's going on, so I can only prepare my arrow defense here!" Huang Gai realized something was wrong when he heard this, and he quickly climbed up to the gate to take a look. He was horrified and said: "This is bad, the enemy is just bluffing!" It turned out that the reason why he resolutely came here just now was because he saw many torches on the mountain and could not see how many soldiers and horses there were. But now, with the rain falling, a large number of torches were extinguished, leaving only thousands of torches on the road. From this appearance, it was obvious that Liu Bei's army did not have many soldiers, so they used torches to pretend that a large army had arrived. If there are fewer soldiers in the west camp, it proves that the main force of the enemy is attacking the big camp in the east with all their strength! Liu Bei had more than 30,000 soldiers and horses. If he launched an all-out attack, even if he only sent out 20,000 men, he would still have twice as many as them. With a troop strength ratio of three to one, not only a camp, but even a city could be captured in one fell swoop! Realizing this, Huang Gai hurriedly led his troops out of the camp. After walking for half a minute, they saw a soldier running towards them and saying that the camp was under fierce attack by the enemy and asked Huang Gai to send reinforcements as soon as possible. At this time, the rain gradually got heavier and the cold wind blew on his body, making Huang Gai feel cold in his heart. He couldn't help shouting and urging the troops to come to the east for reinforcement. Unexpectedly, as soon as they reached the mountain path, they saw Lu Meng rushing towards them with a remnant of his army. They were covered in blood, and it was obvious that they had been through a fierce battle. Huang Gai saw this and asked hurriedly, and saw Lü Meng was stunned for a while, and then burst into tears:

"General Huang Gai, retreat quickly! Don't go forward! Our main camp has been breached by the enemy!" "General Han Dang and his men have all died in battle. The enemy is coming after us. Retreat quickly, retreat quickly!" But Huang Gai was stunned when he heard this. He looked at Lu Meng in disbelief and said: "What did you just say? You said that Brother Yigong had died in battle?" "Why is it so? Tell me why it is so?" As he spoke, he suddenly reacted, grabbed Lu Meng and shouted: "Our army has nearly 7,000 people in the main camp. Even if we are defeated, will the whole camp fall into the hands of the enemy in an instant?" Being caught by him, Lü Meng also burst into tears and cried: "After the general left, the enemy attacked the front camp fiercely. Our army was unable to resist, so we dispatched troops from the rear camp to reinforce them!" "Unexpectedly, the enemy dispatched a troop to our rear camp at some point." "The enemy took our rear camp, which was empty. Once the rear gate was broken, the enemy rushed into the camp. We were no match for them, so we had to fight our way out." "I hope the general will withdraw his troops quickly, otherwise the enemy will pursue us here!" He cried for a while, tears streaming down his face, which made Huang Gai very sad. He wanted to ask where Zhang Hong and others were. But after looking around, I didn’t even see Deng Dang! Since the night attack, Deng Dang has been bedridden. His wounds have gradually worsened and started to ooze pus, and he has been taken care of by Lu Meng the entire time. Now that even Deng Dang is not here, it is obvious that Zhang Hong and others are in great danger! Thinking of this, he grabbed Lu Meng's shoulders and gritted his teeth and said: "How can a man behave like a little girl?" "Since we have been defeated here, follow me and retreat quickly. We will defend the mountain and wait for the lord to come to our aid!" But when Lü Meng heard this, he hurriedly shook his head and cried: "General, you can't do that. Now that the East Camp has been lost, it will be difficult to hold the West Camp." "We should quickly persuade General Sun Fu to withdraw his troops, otherwise both routes of our army will be defeated here." "Our army is already short of troops. If we get stuck here again, how can we deal with Liu Bei's troops in the future?" Huang Gai reacted immediately after hearing his words, and hurriedly grabbed Lü Meng and said: "In that case, follow me and persuade General Sun Fu to break out!" After saying this, he reunited with Lu Meng and headed towards the west camp. After entering the camp, he talked about everything and persuaded Sun Fu to withdraw his troops. Sun Fu was hesitant for a moment after hearing what the two said. Looking at the heavy rain in the sky, he could not help but say: "The rain is getting heavier tonight. If we leave, we will have no troops left. How can we break through?" "How about waiting until the rain stops before withdrawing?" Although he is also a member of the Sun family, he is far inferior to his brothers Sun Ben and Sun He. Although what the two said was true at this time, he did not dare to make this decision.

When Huang Gai saw this, he immediately became angry and pointed to the east and shouted: "Liu Bei's army has already broken through the East Camp, and even though it's raining, they are still mobilizing troops everywhere." "General, how can you hesitate and let us die here?" "If the general really does not want to leave, don't blame me for leaving him here." Sun Fu was originally a junior, and seeing that he was angry, he did not dare to refute, so he could only lower his head and say: "Well, I'll follow your advice, but I don't know where to break out?" Huang Gai asked this question again. He looked at Lu Meng. Lu Meng heard it and said hurriedly: "The south and the east are all occupied by Liu Bei, so we should break out to the north!" As soon as he finished speaking, Huang Gai nodded, and Sun Fu had no objection. The three of them abandoned the camp and headed north. After walking for about half an hour, they suddenly heard shouting and killing from behind. Everyone was shocked and hurriedly urged the soldiers to speed up. The mountain path was slippery in the rain and there were gusts of cold wind. When the soldiers saw this, they broke up and fled. The number of nearly 5,000 people was constantly reduced, and a large number of soldiers began to flee towards the rainy mountains. Seeing this, Lu Meng felt bad and said to the two of them: "If this continues, our army will be in chaos, we must gather them together quickly!" "You two generals, lead the troops here. I will go to the rear to intercept the deserters!" After saying this, he rode his horse back to the rear. Seeing this, Sun Fu narrowed his eyes and said: "The enemy is chasing us from behind, and he is going to the rear. Could it be that he is intentionally surrendering to the enemy?" When Huang Gai heard this, he stared at Sun Fu with a look of surprise. He never thought that Sun Fu would say such words! You must know that the life and death of Lu Meng's brother-in-law Deng Dang is uncertain, and he is under tremendous psychological pressure. In this case, we must take the initiative to intercept the deserters for them. As a member of the Sun family, Sun Fu not only did not express his gratitude, but even doubted Lu Meng's loyalty? "How can you say that, General? Don't you know that Ziming is loyal?" "If Ziming heard such words, he would be so disappointed!" But when Sun Fu heard this, he insisted on his own opinion and said: "It is true that human hearts are hard to predict. Although the East Village has been captured, we do not know the details. We have to rely on this person to tell us." "Who knows if the enemy really has troops on the retreat route?" "The general and I have known each other for a long time, so we can be very open with each other, but this person is an outsider!" "General, continue to lead the troops here. I will go and see what he does!" After saying this he also headed towards the rear, leaving Huang Gai alone to lead the troops, feeling sad. Once upon a time, when Sun Ce raised his army, his men were united as one, and nothing like this had ever happened before. Now that he had just been defeated, instead of thinking about how to escape, he was on guard against his own generals! Thinking of this, he thought of Han Dang who had died in the battle, and couldn't help but burst into tears, saying: "My dear brother left first, leaving me alone here. What should I do?"

Don’t underestimate the fact that Han Dang, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu and Zhu Zhi are all veteran generals under Sun Jian. But Cheng Pu was the oldest, and although he had a good relationship with them, he was not close. Zhu Zhize was purely honest and diligent, unlike the northerners, and he did not have close friendships with them. Only he and Han Dang, although from the south and the north, were close friends. Huang Gai was heartbroken upon hearing the news of Han Dang's death, but he could not cry like Lu Meng, so he could only feel sad in secret. Seeing Sun Fu's suspicion at this moment, he was so sad that he could hardly stop himself from feeling sad. Just when I was feeling sad, I heard a sudden commotion from behind. I hurriedly asked for directions and saw a scout running towards me, saying: "Report, General, they have already caught up with us, less than two miles away!" Huang Gai wiped away his tears when he heard this, then turned around and shouted: "All troops, speed up! The enemy is approaching. If you don't flee, you will die here!" As soon as the voice came out, the soldiers under his command fled for their lives. When they finally saw an open area at the mouth of the valley, they suddenly heard a loud shout: "Zhang Yide from Yan is here, who dares to fight me?" Hearing the sound and looking towards the distance, he saw two generals standing at the entrance of the road, with thousands of soldiers and horses lined up behind them waiting for him. Seeing this, Huang Gai felt very disappointed and shouted to the sky: "Sad cry, the true heaven wants to destroy our army!" With a loud shout, he howled and rushed towards Zhang Fei and others. The soldiers behind him were terrified when they saw that there were more troops ahead, and they all stopped. For a moment, the front stopped while the back was still moving forward. The two sides collided and more than a hundred people were trampled to death. Sun Fu and Lu Meng were behind, rushing to stabilize the situation in the rear. But then he heard the sound of galloping horses from behind, and saw that they were about to attack him. Seeing this, Sun Fu's face turned pale and he murmured: "There is no way to go left or right, and there are soldiers in front and behind. What should we do?" As he was speaking, he saw Lü Meng standing by the road, shouting: "My men, do not stop here, follow me up the mountain!" At the command, thousands of soldiers and horses rushed towards the mountain road. When Sun Fu saw this, he gritted his teeth and rode his horse up the mountain. After a while, they heard shouting and killing behind them, and saw Liu Bei had arrived and was surrounding the enemy along the mountain road. For a moment, the soldiers were scattered in all directions, in chaos, with no formation at all. Sun Fu was climbing the mountain, but because the path was slippery, he lost his horse and fell off, hitting his knee and unable to get up. Seeing Liu Bei's pursuers approaching, he shouted: "Sun Fu is here, who can save me?" But when he shouted again and again, he saw deserters everywhere and no one came to help.

Seeing Liu Bei's troops getting closer, he thought to himself that his life was over. At this moment, a man stopped beside him, pulled him up, carried him on his back, and ran up the mountain. Sun Fu was about to thank him when he saw that the man was Lu Meng, whom he had just questioned. Seeing Lu Meng like this, he wanted to thank him, but he couldn't say the words. As the two were running away, they suddenly heard a cry of grief from the bottom of the mountain, and then heard a loud shout: "Enemy General Huang Gai is dead. Surrender and we will spare your life!" Hearing this sound, Sun Fu was suddenly filled with grief and cried out loudly. Only Lu Meng seemed not to hear anything and ran quickly towards the mountain. (End of this chapter)