Sun Ce's life is much better now, in fact, the most important thing for Sun Ce now is time, time can eliminate all anxiety and doubt, time can calm down the surging things again, time can make all the unreasonable become a matter of course.

For example, the existence of a fifteen-year-old Yangzhou assassin!?

Cao Cao's sudden U-turn and expedition north to attack Xuzhou was undoubtedly a huge benefit to Sun Ce, which bought Sun Ce the most critical time, and at the same time, the pressure brought by Cao Cao also made Sun Ce's subordinates more cohesive.

However, in Zhang Hong's view, this is far from enough, the newly ascended Sun Ce still needs to be powerful, and this prestige cannot be achieved only by suppressing his opponents, but also by defeating powerful enemies.

Therefore, Zhang Hong and Sun Ce are actively studying the possibility of counterattacking Huainan, and want to counterattack Huainan, now is undoubtedly a very good time, Cao Cao is fighting with Fang Zhiwen around Xiapi, and there is no time to take care of anything else, especially now Chen Deng, who is holding high the 'banner of righteousness', was beaten by Fang Zhiwen like a lost dog trapped in Ling County, thus forcing Cao Cao into a very embarrassing corner, Cao Cao and Fang Zhiwen must have a fight in Ling County, this opportunity, if you can't make full use of it, Zhang Hong's great name is really not worthy of the name.

"My lord, please see, Ling County is more than two hundred miles away from Xia Xiang and Yu County, and the best way Cao Cao can choose is to use cavalry to raid. But in terms of cavalry, there is no doubt that General Zhenbei is stronger. The complete destruction of Xu Chu's cavalry is a clear proof of this. Therefore, Cao Cao may have to use infantry and cavalry to unite and gather a large army and slowly advance towards Ling County, so that the battle in Ling County will be protracted. ”

Sun Ce's eyes lit up: "What does Mr. Zigang mean that we can take advantage of Cao Cao's lack of time to look south and make a counterattack in the south?" ”

Zhang Hong smiled and stroked his beard and nodded: "That's exactly what I mean." Xun You has given up the Huoshan Fortress, and now Xiahoudun is stationed in the Shucheng Fortress, which is the situation of being alone, if we besiege Shucheng now, it is the best time. ”

Sun Ce thought for a while and said, "Mr. Zigang wants to surround the point and send reinforcements?" ”

"Hehe, I have this idea, but Xun You is not easy to follow. In fact, the subordinates wanted to take down the Shucheng fortress, so that the gate of Lujiang would be closed, and the lord could rest assured that he would move his army south to defeat Liu Xuan, after all, Liu Xuan was our biggest enemy. Cao Cao is not for the time being. In addition, after Cao Cao won Xuzhou, his strength has improved considerably, if we can't improve our strength as soon as possible, this Lujiang will not be able to be kept sooner or later1

Zhang Hong's words made Sun Ce feel a sense of crisis in his heart. His brows couldn't help frowning, and now Cao Cao has half of Yuzhou in his hands. Now that he has won Xuzhou again, the improvement of strength is definitely not a little bit, now Cao Cao has no energy to look south, but sooner or later, Cao Cao will free his hands, if he is not ready at that time, it will be a disaster!

"Mr. Zigang, let's send troops! Now that we are in a situation where we either advance or retreat, and there is no way back, it is better to fight hard1

Looking at Sun Ce's resolute face, Zhang Hong nodded secretly: "The lord is wise, but before sending troops, let's contact General Zhenbei first, if we have an elite cavalry to assist, Shucheng Fortress will be undoubted!" Moreover, there is still a chance to eat Xun You's reinforcements 1

Sun Ce understood Zhang Hong's plan after a little thought.

Zhang Hong can only be regarded as a second-rate, close to first-class strategist at most, so his judgment will inevitably be wrong, when Sun Ce's army marched for three days, and finally rushed to the Shucheng fortress, ready to attack the Shucheng fortress, the news of the end of the Lingxian battle came, this result naturally surprised Sun Ce and Zhang Hong.

However, fortunately, Cao Cao folded another 20,000 cavalry in the battle of Lingxian, that is to say, the number of elite cavalry under Cao Cao's command is already stretched, and Fang Zhiwen seems to be not satisfied with the battle situation in Lingxian, and he is still wandering in the northwest of Guangling County, waiting for an opportunity to give Cao Cao another heavy blow, so Cao Cao is still unable to draw troops south.

"It's all a mistake by the subordinates, and I almost missed the lord's major event, so please punish the lord 1

Zhang Hong felt a little embarrassed, although the final result did not deviate much from his original prediction, but the process was completely different from his own guess.

"Mr. Zigang doesn't need to be like this, when the manpower is finally exhausted, it is impossible to accurately predict everything, and now Cao Cao is still entangled in Xuzhou, which has no impact on our actions, so why should Mr. Zigang blame himself! Let's see how we fight this battle.1

Zhang Hong sighed, although Sun Ce said that he would not be punished, but the warning in his tone was also obvious, this time it had no impact on the operation, what if it caused a bad impact? Zhang Hong's back couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, this child with a cold face sitting on the top was no longer a child in Zhang Hong's eyes, but the lord who held the power of life and death.

"No1

Zhang Hong restrained the chaotic thoughts in his heart and responded respectfully.

Early the next morning, Sun Cejun went out of the camp early with dinner and set up a large formation under the Shucheng fortress.

Xiahoudun is not stupid, if he wins heads-up, he will bully children, and if he loses, he will be embarrassed, and it will become a stepping stone for Sun Ce to become famous, so Xiahoudun refused to go heads-up very simply, so the two sides officially went to war.

Sun Ce's start was decent, mobilizing a large number of long-range troops to bombard the fortress, and then the attack of the infantry, Xiahou Dun, who was defending the city, found that the attribute bonus of the opponent's soldiers was even higher than that of his own troops! Fortunately, Xiahoudun is the defensive side with a tall and solid city wall, fortunately, Xiahoudun did not go out stupidly to fight Sun Ce, it seems that Sun Ce is really You Sheng's father!

Sun Ce was very calm, he did not rush to the city, let alone try to show his bravery like Sun Jian, but was very patient in consuming the defender's equipment and soldiers, more often, the infantry just escorted the crossbowmen to the city wall, and the defenders on the city wall launched a counterfire, or from time to time pretended to go to the city, tricking the defenders into throwing rolling wood and stones.

Xiahoudun has been standing firmly on the head of the city, the terrain of Shucheng fortress is not very good for the defenders, although one side is adjacent to the water, but now it is the dry period, there is no water in the river, there is water and frozen, so it can not be an obstacle, the other three sides have slopes, but can not block the enemy's attack, so Xiahoudun is now surrounded by the enemy on three sides, the last side, or Sun Ce deliberately left, surrounded by three missing one.

Watching Sun Ce's unhurried siege of the city, Xiahoudun's brows became tighter and tighter, not afraid of the enemy's bravery, but afraid of the enemy's calmness, which was summed up by Xiahoudun, who had experienced a hundred battles.

The enemy's bravery will reveal flaws, and perhaps the pressure on them will increase greatly, but once the flaws are exposed, Xiahoudun is confident that he will be able to win in one fell swoop, just like the battle of Hefei that year.

However, if the enemy's character is calm and steady, the two sides are competing for the basic strength, and Xiahoudun, who is now hanging alone, is obviously inferior to Sun Ce, who has smooth logistics. If you only rely on the reserves in the fortress, according to today's level of consumption, it will take about fifteen days at most, and Xiahoudun can only rely on hand-to-hand combat.

Nearly an hour after the battle began, Sun Ce's horn sounded, and the infantry began to rotate, it seems that Sun Ce has made up his mind to slowly consume Xiahoudun.

The first day's attack ended like this, and the losses on both sides were not large, and Xiahoudun's losses were even smaller, but the consumption of materials was amazing.

At night, Xiahoudun tried to sneak attack, who knew that Sun Ce had already prepared, with the assistance of Zhang Hong, he let go of the 2,000 cavalry in front and ambushed the 4,000 infantry behind, and finally Xiahoudun threw 4,000 infantry in vain, and did not get any benefit.

In the next two days, Sun Ce still attacked the fortress of Shucheng unhurriedly, but the situation in Shucheng became worse and worse.

Xun You naturally knew that relying on Xiahoudun's troops alone was not enough to resist Sun Ce for a long time, after thinking twice, Xun You still sent Li Dian to support Xiahoudun, after receiving the order, Li Dian led 10,000 heavy infantry, 20,000 infantry set off from Hefei, and rushed to Shucheng County overnight.

Xun You didn't expect that Li Dian might be ambushed by the opponent, but there were 10,000 heavy infantry, which was enough for the opponent to suffer heavy losses, and Sun Ce's strength was not unlimited, if he divided his troops to go out to help, Xiahoudun would definitely be able to seize the opportunity to counterattack.

Xun You carefully informed Li Dian and Xiahoudun of his plan, so that the two of them could maintain close contact, grasp the movements of Sun Cejun's mobilized army at any time, seize this favorable opportunity, and try to turn defeat into victory and defeat Sun Ce.

For the sake of safety, Xun You sent a letter to Cheng Yu, asking him to report the surrounding military intelligence in a timely manner, and grasp the movements of Sun Ce, Huang Zu and Fang Zhiwen's troops at any time, so as to be able to adjust their strategies and judge the situation in time.

Speaking of which, Xun You has been very careful, and he has done everything he can, based on the current intelligence and situation, the countermeasures he took are undoubtedly the most appropriate, but he ignores one thing, that is, the effectiveness of the intelligence, and some of these intelligences are likely to be deliberately given by the enemy.

For example, Yuexi's troops are still stationed in Yancheng, what is the point of Yuexi continuing to be stationed in Yancheng now? Moreover, Yancheng is already a military fortress, and there are thousands of miles west of Yancheng, how did this news come back?

Perhaps, Cheng Yu was also skeptical when he received and analyzed this information, but he didn't realize what the relationship between this Yancheng, thousands of miles away, and Shucheng, which was now in a fierce battle, because he didn't have a clear understanding of the speed of Fang Zhiwen's troops using the naval army to project troops on a large scale. To be continued...