The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 617 The army presses the territory
Lu Su never thought of directly instigating Deva to rebel.

This is not his style, and it is not appropriate to do so in the current situation.

All you need to do is plant a seed.

When the time is ripe in the future, Liu Bei and others will naturally find a way to catalyze this seed.

After all, the conflict between Deva and Kumar is irreconcilable, and a little planning would be enough to force Deva into desperate situations.

In terms of strategy, the Kushans were far inferior to them.

When Liu Bei and others studied the history of political struggles in the other three empires, they felt that it was too hasty.

The so-called political intrigues all seem so ridiculous.

Not to mention operations like the Hongmen Banquet, which have some value, even the basic political tactics are lacking.

The most commonly used method is direct confrontation with military force, or relying on theocracy, and if that doesn't work, assassination.

The various operations that Kumar performed when he arrived in the southern Kushan Empire were already high-end strategies adopted after joint deductions by many ministers of the Kushan royal court.

And only a rare and steady talent like Kumar can use it.

If it was a normal Kushan general like Singh, he would probably not say a word after arriving and would just ask for soldiers directly, and would kill people if they were not given.

So Lu Su didn't care about Deva's current thoughts.

When they planned for Kumar to put a knife on Deva's neck, he would naturally make the right choice.

After Lu Su left, Deva once again summoned his confidant Tian Gui and asked for his opinion.

What can Tian Gui say?
He and Lu Su were together from the beginning, so naturally he would not refute.

On the surface, he pretended to let Deva beware of the Han people, but in fact, he quietly made Deva more cautious about Kumar and realize the situation.

Deva's plan was implemented smoothly.

Condon was far easier to deal with than Kumar.

A banquet, some flattery and a few beautiful girls made the southern governor, who had been feeling aggrieved for a long time, feel elated.

He took over 50,000 "miscellaneous soldiers" from Condon without any preparation.

While Kumar was organizing and dispatching his troops, this army caused a lot of trouble to Condon and even caused a riot.

If Kumar had not personally sent troops to suppress the rebellion, it is hard to say whether Condon could survive.

Kumar was also extremely helpless about this.

He didn't expect Deva to have this trick, nor did he expect Condon to be so stupid.

But due to the situation, he could only grit his teeth and swallow the bitter fruit temporarily.

He had already pushed too aggressively before, and if he did it again, it would probably backfire.

After all, Deva was acting strictly in accordance with his orders, and Condon could only blame himself for his incompetence for being cheated.

After a brief integration and training, the army marched towards the Satpura Mountains with great fanfare.

When Liu Bei and others learned of the enemy's massive invasion, they had already made adequate preparations.

The dividing line between Sindhu and Kushan was the Satpura Mountains.

This northeast-southwest-trending mountain range is extremely steep, rugged and densely forested.

The army could not be deployed at all and marching was difficult.

The defenders can use the terrain to ambush and resist.

There are only three important routes that can be easily passed, namely the Tapti River Pass, the Narmada River Valley and the connection with the Jodhanapura Plateau in the east, and all of them are easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The eastern part of the valley is far from the southern part of Kushan, so Kumar would not take a detour. The Narmada River valley is very narrow, and the defenders can set up defense lines on the mountains on both sides to easily block the attackers, which has the advantage of "one man guarding the pass, ten thousand men cannot open it".

Therefore, Kumar's main target could only be the Tapti River Pass.

Liu Bei knew the Kushan style of warfare, so he stationed heavy troops here, but he did not neglect the defense of other places.

It’s better to be prepared, what if the other party gets the idea?
The Han people's way of fighting has always been "asymmetric warfare" dominated by strategy.

The focus is on "the art of illusion and reality" and "the art of the positive and the strange", especially psychological warfare and intelligence warfare, and the linkage between diplomacy and the military.

Other empires, including the Kushans, were accustomed to "linear warfare" that relied on military advantages.

To put it bluntly, it means to face the front head on.

The focus is on the army's discipline, organization and use of terrain.

Although there are some deviations in the details, the general direction is the same.

The special thing about the Kushan Empire is that it was influenced by Sindhu and its surrounding areas, attached great importance to elephant soldiers and mountain warfare, and was more inclined to defense rather than offense in strategy.

The only strategy Kumar could think of to attack the Han army was a head-on confrontation.

However, he put a lot of effort into the configuration and combination of troops.

Eight thousand elephant soldiers and a large number of mountain soldiers were formed. After all, the terrain of the Tapti River Pass was indeed difficult for ordinary infantry to deploy.

After the 200,000-strong army arrived near the Tapti River Pass, they found that the three countries had already stationed 150,000 troops there, so Kumar began to order the army to set up camp.

Inside Kumar's tent, a sheepskin map was spread out. The candlelight danced on the rough surface, casting his frowning brows on the location marked on the Tapti River Pass.

"The Han army of 150,000 is defending the dangerous position... but our army has war elephants to clear the way. At dawn tomorrow, the whole army will attack!"

Kumar is in high spirits and full of confidence.

On the other side, Liu Bei and the other three kings were having a headache.

"With me here to guard this place, our defense will be as solid as a rock." Yan Yan said without hesitation.

"If I were to garrison here, the enemy would surely be defeated and flee." Zhu Zhi said in an equally unyielding manner.

"If I come, I will make sure that the enemy will not return!" Wei Yan said with a defiant look on his face.

As soon as the three men finished speaking, arguments broke out in the tent. The generals took sides, each holding their own opinions, and strongly recommended their own commander.

When Liu Bei, Sun Ce and Liu Fan saw this scene, they looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.

I knew this would happen.

To be honest, this battle shouldn't be difficult.

Rather than an enemy force of 200,000, it would be more accurate to say that it was 30,000.

The remaining 170,000 was simply used to make up the numbers.

The troops composed of these local tyrants are not very powerful in themselves.

If we refer to the situation when the Eastern Wu fought foreign wars during the Three Kingdoms period in history, it will become clear.

In addition, Deva has reached a secret alliance with them, so there is nothing to worry about.

Looking at the generals in front of them, the three of them thought and discussed for a moment, then all turned their eyes to Yan Yan.

Yan Yan was overjoyed when he saw this, but Li Yan and others looked a little embarrassed.

They are not as simple-minded as Yan Yan and other generals. They know very well the thoughts of Liu Bei and other three kings. The reason they chose Yan Yan is because Yan Yan is weak!
They needed to give the Kushans a worthy opponent.

(End of this chapter)