Three Kingdoms: I, Liu Feng, do not want to die

Chapter 116: Attack and Defense of Jiangling, Liu Feng and Guan Yu's Trick (Attached with Military Strength Map of Jingzhou)

"The military advisor knows my heart!"

What Zhuge Liang said in the letter made Liu Bei very happy.

As Zhuge Liang was planning to send an envoy to Wuling County to appease the barbarians, he sent Ma Liang, who was friendly with the barbarians in southern Jing, to Zigui.

This is a pillow for you when you feel sleepy!

After discussing the details with Fa Zheng, Liu Bei issued a series of military orders.

For example: Order Liao Hua to go to Fangling to assist Guan Ping in guarding the three counties of Shangyong, and he must not leave his post without permission if any rumors spread.

For example: He ordered Ma Liang to bring the imperial seal and go to Wuling County with Kou Anguo, a captain under Liu Feng, to pacify the barbarians.

For example: he ordered Wenbu and Deng Kai, two of the great families of Zigui, to advance step by step, and led their Yi soldiers to set up a camp every ten miles, and set up twelve camps between Zigui and Yiling.

For example: Order Meng Da to lead 3,000 Han soldiers to guard Wen Bu and Deng Kai and set up camp.

For example: Order Zhang Fei in Baidi City to lead 3,000 soldiers into Zigui.

For example: Order the envoy to go to Yiling to deliver a letter to Lu Xun.

The situation in Jingzhou today is gradually becoming complicated.

If you look down, you can see:
The strategically located mountains and rivers of Yiling, Yidao and Jishan counties were controlled by Lu Xun, and Jiangling City was controlled by Sun Quan.

Although Liu Bei came to Zigui, he did not have effective information communication with Guan Yu at Jiangjinkou, and was unable to form a pincer attack on the three counties of Yiling, Yidao and Jishan.

Although Jiang Qin was dead, Sun Quan still had more than 10,000 troops stationed in Lukou and Xiakou.

Cao Ren, Man Chong, Xu Huang, Zhao Yan, Lu Chang, Yu Jin in Xiangyang, Wen Pin in Shangchang City, and Xiahou Shang in Nanxiang were all watching covetously.

Cao Cao's army was also ready to move in Luoyang, seemingly intending to move south.

Upon learning that Liu Bei had the intention to attack, Lu Xun did not dare to be careless. He only ordered officers such as Xie Jing and Li Yi to cut off the dangerous water and land routes and not to send troops without orders.

Regarding the envoys sent by Liu Bei, Lu Xun also adopted the strategy of delaying and showing weakness. No matter who came, he would say he would consider it and praised Liu Bei as a hero of the time.

Liu Bei was not in a hurry either.

They only advanced thirty miles a day, and after pushing their camp to Ma'anshan, west of Yiling City, they set up a camp on the mountain, and still did not send troops to attack the city.

Both sides seem to be trying their best to achieve "peace".

And in Jiangling.

The two sides were no longer so friendly.

First, Xu Sheng and Ma Zhong fled back to Jiangling City in panic and reported that they were ambushed by Liu Feng; later, Guan Yu hung the captured flags of Jiang Qin and Sun Jiao outside Jiangling City.

The intention is self-evident: the ten-day deadline has passed, Jiangling has become an isolated city, Sun Quan, will you surrender or not?

Looking at Guan Yu's army showing off their might under the city, Sun Quan was so angry that his face turned blue. After ordering all the soldiers to defend the city strictly, he returned to his mansion with a cold face and summoned everyone to discuss countermeasures.

Sun Quan is not having a good time nowadays.

After losing Jiangjinkou, Sun Quan’s food and grass could no longer be transported from Jiangdong.

Sun Quan had only two choices:

One is to reduce the distribution of military rations, for example, replacing large hu with small hu, which would result in the army's morale being disrupted.

One is to cancel the ban that does not harm the people, or to levy taxes or openly rob, which will result in public unrest.

In fact, before this, Sun Quan secretly instructed his officers to borrow money and food from the wealthy families in the city in order to test their reactions.

The result is obvious: for the wealthy, money and food are life! Some wealthy people even clamored to see Lu Meng, which gave Sun Quan a headache.

Discussion room.

Zhu Ran offered a suggestion: "There is a wealthy family in the city named Chao, with more than a thousand servants. They are a wealthy family in Nanjun. They are originally from Nanyang. It is said that when Liu Bei was in Xinye, Chao was the first to lend military funds to Liu Bei.

It would be better to ban his family and have Chao secretly send someone to Guan Yu's camp to write a letter saying, "Your Majesty is cruel and inhumane, the people are resentful, the surrendered soldiers in the city are causing chaos, and the city is poorly prepared. You can advance overnight and I will be the internal support."

If Guan Yu came, we would lure him into the city, set fire to block his way back, and then set up an ambush. Even if Guan Yu had the courage to fight against ten thousand enemies, he would have little chance of survival.

If Chao is unwilling or deliberately leaks the secret, causing the ambush to fail, the Supreme can take this opportunity to punish Chao and confiscate his property for military use. "

Sun Quan was moved when he heard this.

The government treasury is short of food, but the wealthy families have plenty of food.

Because of the ban that Lu Meng had issued in advance not to harm the people, Sun Quan was unable to use tough measures to levy taxes or rob people.

Zhu Ran's strategy gave Sun Quan a new idea for raising grain.

If one is unwilling to cooperate or deliberately leaks secrets, then he is secretly communicating with Guan Yu.

If the wealthy family is unkind first, Sun Quan will be unjust later.

It can also serve as a warning to others and let the wealthy people in the city see the situation clearly and know who is the king of Jiangling now.

Before he could open his mouth, Yu Fan shouted at him, "General Lu once issued an order not to harm the people of Jiangling, how could he come up with such an evil plan to ruin the reputation of the Supreme Lord? Such behavior is no different from that of a villain."

After being scolded by Yu Penzi, Zhu Ran suddenly became unhappy: "Yu Zhongxiang, if you think I am a villain, then you should think of a way to raise food for the Supreme.

Gong'an was lost, Jiangjinkou was seized, Jiang Qin and Sun Jiao were defeated again. If there is no food, will the 40,000 soldiers in the city just starve to death?"

Yu Fan shouted, "This is just sophistry! If you use this vicious plan, the Supreme Lord will lose the support of the people. If the people lose their support, how can Jiangling be defended?"

Zhu Ran wanted to say something but stopped himself, snorted, and turned his head away without arguing with Yu Fan.

Sun Quan looked at Pan Jun again and said, "Chengming, what do you think of Yifeng's proposal?"

Pan Jun glanced at Yu Fan and chose his words carefully: "I think General Zhu's plan is feasible. The details can be changed. If Chao is unwilling or deliberately leaks the secret, Your Majesty can allow her to pay for her crime with her family property, but don't confiscate it recklessly and ruin the people's hearts."

Compared to Zhu Ran's directness, Pan Jun's words were more tactful and cunning.

It clearly means the same thing, but in Pan Jun's mouth it sounds like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Yu Fan moved his lips, but ultimately did not say anything to Pan Jun.

Then he sighed and stopped talking.

Ever since Liu Feng schemed to alienate him last time, Sun Quan ignored Yu Fan and did not allow him to attend any important meetings. He only let Yu Fan take charge of miscellaneous matters.

The reason why he was able to attend the meeting today was not because Sun Quan changed his attitude, but because Lu Meng asked Yu Fan to pass a message to Sun Quan, and Yu Fan refused to leave.

It was not easy for Sun Quan to directly expel Yu Fan, so he had to allow Yu Fan to attend the meeting.

Seeing that Pan Jun also agreed to Zhu Ran's proposal, Sun Quan adopted Zhu Ran's plan. Fearing that Yu Fan would secretly inform Lu Meng, Sun Quan asked his attendant Gu Li to escort Yu Fan back home.

Although Yu Fan was angry, he could do nothing about it.

Zhu Ran was right: Yu Fan had no way to raise food, so someone had to be the bad guy.

Zhu Ran was very efficient and "convinced" Chao in just half an hour.

Although extremely reluctant, Chao finally agreed to send someone to deliver the letter to Guan Yu.

In order to prevent Chao from revealing anything that should not be disclosed in the letter, Zhu Ran checked it over and over again and threatened Chao's servants before allowing Chao's servants to follow the people who were chopping wood out of the city.

Every day in Jiangling City, people who came to chop wood and registered their identities would leave the city within the specified time, which also gave Chao's servants a legitimate reason to leave the city.

However, when Chao's servant delivered the secret letter to Guan Yu, Liu Feng's expression in the big tent became strange.

"Chao? An insider?"

Liu Feng also knew about the Chao family in Jiangling City.

The first thing Zhuge Liang did when he came out of seclusion was to act as a guarantor for Liu Bei and borrow a large amount of military supplies from the wealthy Chao family in Nanyang. This incident was also recorded in "Yi Bu Tan Zi".

Later, when Jingzhou was in turmoil, Liu Bei returned the favor by allowing the Chao family to gain a foothold in Nanjun.

The reason why Liu Feng had a strange expression on his face was that he thought of the Battle of Puyang between Cao Cao and Lu Bu as recorded in "Spring and Autumn Annals of Emperor Xian". Lu Bu once threatened the wealthy Tian family in Puyang city, pretending to surrender as an insider to lure Cao Cao into the city, and almost captured Cao Cao alive.

The reasons for each other are not much different.

They all claimed that Sun Quan was cruel and inhumane.

Seeing Guan Yu slamming the table and standing up with a look of joy on his face, he shouted, "God helps Guan to get Jiangling," and "Chao has an old friendship with the king, and today he has received new favors. He will surely repay you handsomely in the future."

Then he rewarded Chao's servant handsomely and personally escorted him out of the tent.

Liu Feng couldn't help but grin.

Guan Yu turned around, the joy on his face still not fading: "Gong Zhong, what are you laughing at?"

Liu Feng's smile did not diminish: "Whatever your Excellency is laughing at, I am laughing at the same thing."

Guan Yu laughed loudly: "Sun Quan wants Chao to pretend to surrender and become an accomplice. This trick is ridiculous. He is so impatient. Something must have happened in the city."

Although he was happy, Guan Yu did not become careless.

Since Sun Quan sent Chao to pretend to surrender as an internal response, there must be a large army lying in ambush in the city.

If you want to capture a city, you can't follow Sun Quan's thinking.

Liu Feng suggested, “We can divide the troops into three groups. I will lead one group into the city, and you will lead the other two groups to ambush outside the city. After entering the city, I will line up at the city gate to force Sun Quan’s ambush troops to appear and lure him out of the city.

At the same time, send spies to sneak into the city at night and contact the insiders I deployed earlier in the city. If we fail tonight, we can attack again tomorrow night."

For Liu Feng, even if he wanted to use the strategy of internal and external cooperation, he would take the initiative to arrange the internal support rather than the internal support coming to him.

Too many cases have proved that ninety-nine out of a hundred insiders who come to you on their own initiative are baits deliberately released by the enemy.

Guan Yu agreed to Liu Feng's proposal.

Sun Quan has more soldiers, so even if his combat power is inferior to theirs, he can narrow the gap by relying on the geographical advantage.

Lure them out of the city and it will be easier to annihilate them.

After the discussion was complete, Guan Yu and Liu Feng went to prepare.

At night.

Liu Feng led his troops and sneaked to the city gate.

He ordered the soldiers to blow the low sound of a conch shell, and the "insiders" on the city wall also responded with the sound of a conch shell.

Not long after.

The city gates opened and the drawbridge dropped.

There were also torches at the city gate to greet people.

Liu Feng instructed Pei Qing, "After entering the city, immediately lie in ambush. I will wait outside the city at the beginning of tomorrow night. If the city gates do not open, I will lead my troops to retreat."

Pei Qing patted his chest and assured: "General, rest assured, I will complete the task!"

Looking at the open city gate.

Liu Feng rode his horse in first and shouted, "Here comes the great man Liu Feng!"

Behind him, Han soldiers swarmed in.

After entering the city, Liu Feng did not rush into the city, but directly lined up his troops at the city gate, allowing Pei Qing to find a place to hide in the dark.

This scene stunned Zhu Ran, Ding Feng and others who were lying in ambush in the city.

The city gates are open, shouldn't you go straight to the Supreme Palace to capture the king first?

What are you doing at the city gate?
With just a few hundred men like you, can you still guard the city gate?

Where is your army?
It was discovered that Liu Feng had deployed deer horns and fences fortifications at the city gate, and Zhu Ran, Ding Feng and others who were in ambush could no longer hide.

If they really waited for Liu Feng to deploy fortifications at the city gate, this strategy of luring the enemy would become a wolf entering the house.

Seeing the ambushes coming from both sides, Liu Feng was not afraid at all. He shouted and laughed: "You rats are really ridiculous. You think you can lure the prince into the city with such a petty trick?
Come! Come! Come! Who will fight me to the death? "

Seeing Liu Feng being so rampant, Zhu Ran, Ding Feng and others were very angry. More than 10,000 troops formed a semicircle and rushed towards the city gate.

Liu Feng sneered, blocked the arrow with his shield, and then fought back with the bow and arrow.

When the Wu soldiers approached, Liu Feng called on all the troops to withdraw from the city gates, and did not forget to have them shout and mock, "Sun Quan's clever plan brought peace to the world, and all the ambushes in the city were destroyed."

Looking at Liu Feng leaving calmly, Zhu Ran, Ding Feng and others were so angry that their faces turned green.

After deploying for a day and lurking for half the night, they ended up not leaving even a single Han soldier behind!

Zhu Ran, who offered the suggestion, was especially annoyed: Since you have seen through my plan, why did you pretend to fall into it?
Ding Feng said angrily: "General Zhu, Liu Feng doesn't have many soldiers with him, why don't we go out of the city and chase him down!"

Zhu Ran glanced outside the city and suppressed his anger: "No! Liu Feng must have hidden an ambush outside the city. He is deliberately luring us out of the city."

Ding Feng stabbed his spear into the ground, even more furious: "Liu Feng, the villain, dared to risk his life in the snow when he attacked Jiangjinkou, but he is so cautious tonight! If it were me, I would definitely defend the city gate and wait for Guan Yu's army to arrive and fight to seize the gate."

(End of this chapter)