Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3421 Success and Failure

The night is deep.

Xiangyang City.

Pang Shanmin and Huang Zhong marched to Pangcheng...er, outside Wancheng, preparing to launch a battle to seize the city.

At this time, Cao Jun's scouts reported to Cao Ren urgently, and also brought news of Wenpin's surrender.

Cao Ren was shocked and summoned the generals to discuss the matter.

When the generals heard the news, they were very angry and accused Pang Shanmin and Huang Zhong of not following the rules. Since they had seen the angel, why didn't they stop and attack Wancheng? How would this put the emperor's face?

Kuai Liang stood aside with an expressionless face, but in fact he was secretly feeling happy.

Should! Cao Ren ignored the advice before and insisted on marching to attack Guanzhong. Today's predicament is entirely his own fault!

Of course, as Kuai Liang, he would not say that he considers issues from Cao Cao's perspective. They are just Jingxiang nobles and will remain Jingxiang nobles their entire lives.

With the current strength of Wancheng's troops, there should be no problem in breaking through and retreating, but it was obvious that Cao Ren was unwilling to do so.

"Everyone! Everyone! Cao Ren said in a deep voice, "Now that Wancheng is in urgent need, what should we do?" ! 』

The people who were originally chattering suddenly became quiet.

Just like the students in class who hear the teacher asking questions.

I don't know how, I don't understand, I don't know, don't ask me...

Kuai Liang was silently reciting "Three Bu Yi Farewell" when he heard Cao Ren's voice, "Zi Rou, what can you do?" 』

Kuai Liang took a breath and said silently three times not to be angry, and then said slowly: "General, someone has a better plan..."

Cao Ren coughed and said, "Say the right strategy." 』

Kuai Liang paused again, and then said in an even calmer voice: "Withdraw troops." 』

"Why?" ” asked Cao Ren.

"Guest general." ” Kuai Liang replied.

Cao Ren nodded, remained silent for a moment, and then asked Cai Hao, "Degui, do you have any countermeasures?" 』

Cai Mao was stunned for a moment, "General...but you want to use a car?" I only have one car. If the general wants to use it, I will just have it delivered. 』

"Countermeasures!" Policy! ” Cao Ren also held back his anger.

Who the hell wants your crappy car? !

Cai Mao seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief, "Ah, thank you General for your tolerance... Now that I am getting older, not only my eyes and ears are dim, but also my legs and feet are inconvenient. If it were not for this car... Well, there would be so many people at home." A car, now... Oh, the general is asking about this countermeasure... Let me think about it later, the general can ask others first..."

Cao Ren smiled with narrowed eyes and nodded.

They are all foxes, why are they pretending to be fairies?

Of Kuai Liang's so-called three strategies of upper, middle and lower, only the middle strategy is definitely feasible.

Moreover, this strategy is also conservative, and can even be said to be a relatively poor strategy, but it is indeed feasible and there is no fault to be found. Just like when Cao Ren questioned, Kuai Liang's answer was only two words "guest general".

Pangshanmin Huang Zhong can only be regarded as a guest general of Hussar, so it is impossible to use any edict to restrain Pangshanmin from attacking Wancheng...

And in the current situation, if Wancheng's soldiers are not withdrawn to Xiangyang, they will be beaten in vain, and it is hard to fight back!

Because guest generals are also considered hussars!

The emperor had an edict to mediate the fight between Fei Qian and Cao Cao. As a result, before the edict was handed over to Fei Qian, Cao Ren took action first...

This will inevitably lead to Cao Jun losing his moral position.

They were already at a disadvantage in the battle, and if they lost their reputation as a righteous person, they would really be digging their own dead ends.

Cao Ren summoned the Jingxiang disciples, not to ask for specific countermeasures, but to hope that among the Jingxiang disciples, they would have some friendship with Pangshan people, especially Cai Mao.

But Cai Mao pretended to be dumbfounded.

Withdrawal is certain, but how?

How to retreat to ensure the safety of troops and horses to the greatest extent and avoid greater losses?

When Wancheng was in the hands of Pang Shanmin, it was a commercial and trading city, but in the hands of Cao Jun, it became a warehouse for picking up goods, and it was a place that only picked up goods and did not replenish them.

Cao Ren had no choice but to force Cai Mao to go to Wancheng immediately to send Pangshan people's army as an envoy. He must prevent Pangshan people from attacking Wancheng...

…

…

The night is chaotic.

Zhou Yu looked at the river.

The scenery that was still somewhat bright during the day was now completely chaotic under the darkness of night.

Although Zhou Yu comforted Jiang Qin, he was actually worried.

The original plan obviously failed.

The speed of change of the Sichuan-Sichuan navy was obviously far beyond Zhou Yu's understanding.

Zhou Yu even wondered if this was the same army.

But now, Zhou Yu had to adopt a backup plan...

Zhou Yu looked at the mountains and waters in the distance, pondering and planning.

"Captain..."

The guard behind Zhou Yu whispered, "The wind on the river is strong at night..."

Zhou Yu looked into the distance and said, "It doesn't matter. 』

Is it really okay?

Not necessarily, but as long as you win this battle, even if you die here, what does it matter?

He is waiting.

Wait for a fire.

Either reduced to ashes in the fire, or reborn in nirvana in the flames.

…

…

Zhou Yu focused on the ships of Sichuan and Shu, and Zhuge Liang also understood the importance of ships.

If there are not enough ships on this river, it is almost an empty talk to want to cross those mountains and attack the downstream areas. Without enough warships, it is impossible to control the river, let alone transport enough soldiers and supplies, and of course it is impossible to pose any threat to Jiangdong.

It is like Liu Bei's last battle in history.

Liu Bei, who has been biting hard bones all his life, finally broke his teeth. The reason is that Sichuan and Shu have no navy and cannot control the river surface, while Jiangdong can use the navy to transport and transfer soldiers and supplies. This is almost fighting with Jiangdong with one hand tied. If Guan Yu's Jingzhou navy was still there at that time, then there would be Liu Bei and Zhang Fei on the land, and Guan Yu on the water, then Jiangdong...

In this way, Sun Shiwan's historical backstab was indeed because he was afraid.

Considering that Zhou Yu might come to sneak attack, especially to destroy Sichuan and Shu's warships, Zhuge Liang placed all the ships inside the water fort and arranged heavy guards. The number of soldiers guarding the ships even exceeded the number of soldiers guarding the camps on the shore, which is enough to prove his importance to these ships.

Don't think that only the cavalry army can attack at night.

Zhuge Liang felt that Zhou Yu was also good at sneak attacks.

Zhou Yu didn't know much about Zhuge Liang, but on the contrary, Zhuge Liang knew a lot about Zhou Yu.

Thanks to the powerful intelligence system of the cavalry general, Zhuge Liang had obtained relevant information about Zhou Yu before the war...

And these materials were basically not kept secret in Jiangdong.

For example, Zhou Yu's life, family, county, and the process of getting rich and starting a war.

Of course, Zhou Yu not only represents himself, but also represents the interests of the Lujiang Zhou family.

However, the perceptive Zhuge Liang found some interesting problems when examining and studying Zhou Yu's life.

For example, the object of Zhou's family's choice of attachment was not Sun Ce at the beginning, and even the Sun family didn't even have a face...

You should know that the Zhou family in Shu County, Lujiang County, is also a royal family of the court and has a prominent status.

For example, Zhou Zhong followed the emperor, and perhaps because they saw that there was no future in following the emperor, the Zhou family looked for another way and chose Yuan Shu...

This has nothing to do with Zhou Yu's vision, because it is likely that Zhou Yu was not the one who spoke in the Zhou family at that time.

After all, the two Yuans dominated the world at that time. If the two Yuans joined forces, the Han Dynasty would have changed its surname directly!

So from the Zhou family's point of view at that time, the emperor was no longer good, so of course they had to turn to the Yuan family, which had the most "emperor's spirit". This was also normal, but it was a pity that they made the wrong bet.

However, in this process, Zhou Yu betrayed Liu Yao in the first battle.

Liu Yao was a relative of the Han Dynasty. If the Zhou family wanted to change camps, they would have to stab Liu Yao in the back.

The one who performed the backstab mission was Zhou Yu. He showed outstanding military talent and successfully became the spokesperson of the Zhou family in the future.

Sun Ce was able to successfully cross the river and gain a foothold in Jiangdong. Zhou Yu can be said to have made the first contribution, and Danyang prefect Zhou Shang also made an indispensable contribution.

However, Sun Ce was a guest general under Yuan Shu.

Guest generals can be regarded as a special product of the era when the loyalty of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was still there, and the loyalty of Confucius and Mencius was not so strong. When Confucianism reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, it was "the king ordered the minister to die, and the minister had to die". How could they "come and go freely" like the guest generals of the Three Kingdoms?

The two typical guest generals in the history of the Three Kingdoms were Lu Bu and Liu Bei.

Sun Ce was not even ranked.

When a person or a group led the army to surrender to another person or group, there were usually three situations. The first situation was to hand over all rights and unconditionally accept the other party's transformation. The final result was the separation of soldiers and generals, but their vested interests were usually respected. For example, Xu Chu and Lu Su in history.

The second situation was to retain the independence of the army, but be willing to accept constraints in other aspects. The final result was that a certain degree of independence could be guaranteed, but the power would be greatly reduced, just like Li Dian.

The third situation was the guest general. Liu Bei had surrendered to various warlords many times, but his generals were always directly under Liu Bei, and no one could dispatch these people without Liu Bei's consent.

This was not without cost. Because Liu Bei wanted to maintain his independence, and the conditions he proposed were so harsh, he had to help Cao Cao and others to bite the hard bones. Otherwise, Cao Cao and others were not fools, so why would they accept him?

So in order to shape Zhuge, Mr. Luo severely blackened Liu Bei. Liu Bei was able to turn the tables in the Three Kingdoms and surrender to various princes, but retained his independence. The most critical point was that Liu Bei often took on the most dangerous tasks of these princes. It was also for similar reasons that although Liu Bei and others often lost battles, no one would doubt their military talents. When Liu Bei negotiated with Sun Quan of Jiangdong, it was not entirely because of Zhuge's verbal skills, but also because Liu Bei had indeed earned his reputation...

Because the battles fought by Liu Bei and others were all gnawed hard bones, if it were someone else, most of them would have already gnawed their teeth.

Therefore, in the Three Kingdoms, no matter who Liu Bei joined, he always maintained his independent status. However, those who accepted Liu Bei's joining would feel that it was worth it. As long as they paid some money and food, they could get a free thug with outstanding ability. Why not?

Yuan Shu treated Sun Ce in the same way. He originally thought that it would not be easy for Sun Ce to defeat Liu Yao. It would be thankless to lose troops and generals. It was a strategy to drive away tigers and devour wolves. However, he did not expect that Sun Ce defeated Liu Yao so smoothly, which also led Yuan Shu to take measures against Sun Ce. In order to implement the containment strategy, we began to pick peaches and mix them with sand...

So Zhou Yu and Sun Ce stabbed Yuan Shu in the back again.

Of course, when the order of the Han Dynasty collapsed, the original rules were broken first by the leaders in the palaces and palaces at the top. Under the circumstances of the destruction, the people below were asked to predict what they should follow three seconds in advance, and they must observe etiquette and abide by the rules. A huge joke for sure.

Especially when the person who tells such jokes can get promoted among the big men, then betrayal becomes a skill, an ability, and a heroic deed that can be talked about and praised by others.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang judged that Zhou Yu would definitely come for a sneak attack.

By coincidence, Zhuge Liang was also preparing to attack Zhou Yu...

However, Zhuge Liang forgot one thing.

He focused on Zhou Yu's character, but ignored how Zhou Yu defeated Liu Yao...

…

…

Jiang Qin is not a guest general.

He has deeply tied everything he has to the Sun family in exchange for those generous treatment.

If you take people's money, you have to sacrifice your life for them.

Even though he was injured, even if he failed on the water during the day, Jiang Qin still had to lead his soldiers to the shore in the middle of the night and quietly go to the land camp of the Sichuan and Shu Army.

The jar filled with kerosene was lifted up, bringing with it a faint sound of water.

"According to the plan, go to the mound, first lay a trap, then attack with rockets, and finally evacuate...are you clear? ” Jiang Qin emphasized again with his soldiers.

Zhou Yu is good at water fighting. He is not born with a shining halo that flashes like a breathing lamp when he reaches the water, but he has gone through a lot of preliminary preparations.

Just like when Zhou Yu led Sun Ce to sneak attack Liu Yao by waterway, the key point of victory was not how brave and elite the soldiers under Zhou Yu and Sun Ce were, but that Zhou Yu already had a deep understanding of the hydrology and geography up and down the river...

This time, it's the same.

The Jiangdong Army and the Sichuan and Shu Army were fighting upstream and downstream, but there were not many places that could accommodate large armies to camp.

Therefore, Zhou Yu easily deduced the approximate location where the Sichuan-Shu Army might camp, and made some targeted plans.

For example, on the mound where Jiang Qin is going this time, there is a high probability that he can use rockets to remotely attack a piece of grass behind the Sichuan-Sichuan camp...

That's right, not a direct shot at the camp.

Because there must be soldiers on duty within a stone's throw around the camp. If you want to get close to the camp and shoot the rocket into it, you will definitely alert the soldiers on duty.

This is also a fundamental reason why Jiang Qin and others are willing to come.

Death squads can be used once or twice. If you need to fight with death squads every time, either the entire country cannot raise a decent army, or the generals fighting are really incompetent.

It's not a head-on fight, it's just a mission of sneaking up to the hill and then shooting some rockets. It's undoubtedly not a dare to die. You just need to be careful when you touch it to avoid being discovered.

…

…

On the other side, Zhuge Liang is also preparing for a night attack.

But unlike Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang did not dispatch any generals.

It's not because God is helping him, but because Zhuge Liang and the others are upstream.

If this advantage is not used properly, it is simply a waste...

Zhuge Liang's sneak attack method did not even require the deployment of many soldiers. It was just a few low fighting ships that took advantage of the cover of night to quietly slide out of the water stronghold and go downstream.

…

…

Jiang Qin and his men slowly moved forward in the shadows, half-bent.

This was undoubtedly a painful torture for the injured Jiang Qin.

But physical pain is not the most helpless, mental pain is the most unbearable.

Will the battle with the Sichuan and Shu armies be successful this time?

Before Zhou Yu came, everyone thought that as long as Zhou Yu came, they would definitely win.

But now that Zhou Yu is here, Jiang Qin feels vaguely worried, especially after seeing Zhou Yu's physical condition...

…

…

The Sichuan-Sichuan navy on the other side seemed a little comfortable and relaxed.

Although they couldn't straighten up in the cabin, they only needed to paddle and row, and they could half lie down and half sit, which was relatively comfortable.

The key is that they are in a happy mood, and they will whisper a few times in the cabin and tell a joke or two.

As for the pressure of the current war, there is, but not much.

Because they know that even if they die on the battlefield, their families will receive full pensions, and if there is any good work in the county, their families will be given priority.

This is not just words, but actually implemented.

This is the first time for the big man in so many years!

So, what's there to worry about?

Haosheng just follows Zhuge's instructions!

…

…

Jiang Qin led his men to the hill, where the Sichuan-Shu Army camp in the distance was brightly lit.

On the tall sentry tower, a figure shakes from time to time, indicating that the soldiers on duty are looking around.

When they reached the mound, Jiang Qin couldn't help but admire Zhou Yu's clever plan.

Not far from the mound is a low-lying grassland.

In late autumn, the weather is dry and the vegetation is dry and yellow.

If a fire breaks out, it may extend along the grassland into the Sichuan-Sichuan camp!

Jiang Qin put his fingers into his mouth, soaked them with some saliva, then stretched them out in the air to test the speed and direction of Night Breeze...

The night wind is neither urgent nor slow.

"Everything is ready..."

…

…

"Everything is ready..."

The other side also said the same thing.

The gift Zhuge Liang prepared to give to the Jiangdong Navy was also a fire.

In fact, it has been used once in the previous battle.

The kerosene is put in the jars and flows down the river in the direction of Jiangdong Water Village. It will most likely crash into some facilities in Jiangdong Water Village. Then the kerosene will spread out, and then some fires will be lit in the second batch of jars. , you can let the water flow bring the gift of love and give the Jiangdong navy a warm embrace.

Simple and practical.

The only drawback is that it's a bit wasteful.

After all, jars are money, and so much kerosene floating around is also money.

However, for the Hussars, things that can be solved with money are basically not big things.

…

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Sparks rose into the sky little by little.

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Hidden murderous intent flows downstream.

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"It's done?" ! 』

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