The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 678 Breaking Through Northeast China
All the strategies in warfare, in essence, are about having more of your own soldiers attack fewer of the enemy's soldiers, thus creating a local advantage at the point of engagement.

From this perspective, a pincer movement is indeed a good choice, as it can effectively restrain the opponent and expand the offensive scope.

However, the pincer movement is ultimately a matter of dividing forces, making it easy to be defeated one by one, and in most cases it is not a good strategy.

Everyone knows that it hurts the most to punch someone with a fist made of five fingers. Dividing your forces is definitely not a good strategy, as it makes you vulnerable to being defeated one by one.

Although Suriya did not understand the military strategy of the Han Dynasty, he was clear about the principles behind it, which is why he chose to take the initiative to attack.

However, he did not expect the Han people to be so strong; they managed to pierce his fist with a single finger.

Anyone would be stunned in this situation.

I've searched through all the military books, but who has ever seen such a fighting method?
The enemy split into three groups, and each group was still much stronger than us.

How is this fight going?
Surya was completely stunned by the attack.

The same applies to his soldiers.

After two consecutive defeats, morale plummeted, and they naturally and instinctively chose to cease hostilities and take a short break.

This gave the three kings the opportunity to set up camp and surround Surya.

Surrey has now come to his senses, but it's too late.

The Han army had a large number of cavalry and an exceptionally powerful engineering corps. Not only did they establish their camps as solid as a mountain, but they also quickly built several simple fortified villages in the strategic locations between the three camps to house their elite troops.

This division of forces undoubtedly gave Surya another opportunity.

But would Surya dare to fight?

The cement-built fortress could easily hold out for at least a day, enough time for reinforcements to arrive.

Moreover, with the three kings now fully in a pincer movement, Surya dares not make any rash moves.

Sending too few troops makes it easy for the enemy to take advantage of the situation and swallow them up.

If we send out too many troops, the enemy can easily entangle us with two routes while launching a direct attack on our rear camps from another route, and we will surely be defeated.

Squatting by the campfire, Suriya poked at the burning horse bones with the tip of his knife.

Sparks landed on the cracked back of his hand, but he felt no pain whatsoever.

At this moment, he deeply felt the helplessness Zhao Kuo felt when he was ambushed during the Battle of Changping.

There were no reinforcements, no logistics, and no hope.

It seems we can only wait to die.

Surrey plunged the tip of his knife into the sand, then abruptly stood up: "Pass on my orders!"

"Get the troops ready. At dawn tomorrow, we will launch a surprise attack on the Han army's northeastern camp. I will lead the charge!"

In the current situation, the only options are to wait for death or launch a surprise attack, and Surrey is well aware of this.

But he still hadn't figured out how to launch a surprise attack.

Whether to split up forces for a surprise attack and cover, or to concentrate all forces, and which side to attack, are all extremely crucial.

He wanted to spend more time thinking, but the army's provisions were running low.

Therefore, he had no choice but to make a decisive decision.

In terms of strategy, he was no match for the Han army, a fact he had come to understand deeply since their first encounter.

The more you think, the worse you'll lose.

Rather than that, we might as well risk our lives and take a gamble.

As for the direction of the attack, he had already decided.

The three warlords were Liu Bei in the south, Sun Ce in the northwest, and Liu Fan in the northeast.

During this period, he also sent scouts to probe the area. The first two were the main forces, to prevent him from harassing the southern border and running back to his base.

Only Liu Fan from the Northeast showed slightly less strength.

Suliye, having been hit repeatedly, could only pick on the weakest link. As for what to do after breaking through, that was no longer something he could think about at the moment.

Let's escape first. The northeast direction should be where General Hussein's troops are. If the two of them join forces and General Hussein is in charge, they will definitely be able to fight against the Han army.

As for winning, he no longer dared to even dream of it.

The strength of the Han people was truly hidden far too well.

The next morning, the Kushan army of tens of thousands had assembled.

Clad in blood-stained armor, Suliye mounted his warhorse and shouted, "Brothers! We have no way out! Today's battle is either life or death! As long as we break through the Han army's defenses and join General Hussein, we can regroup!"

The soldiers' shouts echoed through the sky, their voices filled with a resolute determination to burn their boats.

At Surya's command, the Kushan army surged northeastward like a tidal wave.

The three kings naturally noticed the movements of the Surya army very quickly.

However, it would take them time to learn the news, make decisions, issue orders, and reorganize their troops, while Suliye had already taken the opportunity to break into the vicinity of Liu Fan's army camp.

However, when they were still a hundred paces from the camp, they suddenly heard a rapid clapping of gongs. The Han army's camp gates swung open, unleashing a dense rain of arrows.

Meanwhile, chevaux-de-frise and deer antlers were raised in the moats on both sides of the camp, forming a solid barrier.

Surya brandished his scimitar and led his elite soldiers to break through the rain of arrows.

Just as they were about to reach the camp, Liu Fan's central army suddenly attacked, and the neat array of spearmen blocked their path like an impregnable wall.

On the arrow tower in the camp, Liu Fan looked at Suliye's army with a slightly unpleasant expression.

"What I hate most is being treated like a pushover!" Liu Fan said viciously.

At this moment, he was completely devoid of his usual gentleness, resembling a complete old rogue.

Huang Quan, standing to the side, stroked his long beard with satisfaction, thinking to himself: "My lord is becoming more and more like Emperor Gaozu. This carefree attitude is clearly that of a descendant of the Liu family."

"Zhang Ren, shoot these bastards hard!" Liu Fan roared.

At the camp gate, Zhang Ren and his three thousand elephant cavalry, who were waiting in full battle formation behind the shield bearers, gripped their crossbows tightly upon hearing the news.

At Zhang Ren's command, countless crossbow bolts were fired.

Sensing Liu Fan's anger, Zhang Ren dared not hold back this time, disregarding the damage to the crossbows and the consumption of bolts, and launched a continuous barrage of shots.

Meanwhile, the small ballistae and catapults on the camp also began to prove their worth.

The dense crossbow bolts swept through like locusts, turning the front-line Kushan soldiers into pincushions, their corpses piling up into small mountains.

Suriya looked at Liu Fan's camp, which was like a hedgehog, impossible to attack, and his face was extremely ugly.

He hadn't expected that Liu Fan, who was supposed to be "slacking off," would be so difficult to deal with.

However, there was no turning back once the arrow was released; he could only grit his teeth and roar, "Shieldbearers, advance! Charge into the camp!"

Liu Fan's open camp, while facilitating shooting, was also a huge weakness in Suliye's eyes.

Faced with the camp built of concrete, he was indeed at a loss for the time being, since siege equipment could not be carried in order to make a rapid advance.

However, the other side opened the city gates on their own initiative, which undoubtedly gave him hope.

Little did they know that Liu Fan, atop the arrow tower, thought the same thing.

"You really think I'm just here to 'make up the numbers'? I've opened the gates of hell for you, so I'll accept the credit for defeating over 100,000 Kushan troops."

(End of this chapter)