My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 144: Liu Ye surrendered before even fighting

With Master Bu Lian's careful care, Zhuge Jin rested well and woke up the next morning feeling refreshed.

After washing, changing clothes and having a meal, Bu Lianshi helped him put on chain mail, a civil servant's robe, a silver seal and a green ribbon around his waist, and a sword. Then he went to the parade ground leisurely, selected the soldiers and boarded the ship to go to war.

The Han Dynasty ribbon was very long, with both the gold and purple and silver ribbons being 17 feet long, which is equivalent to 4 meters. If it is folded only once, it will definitely drag on the ground. Therefore, normal people will fold it at least three times, and divide it by eight to get half a meter long to hang it around the waist.

The chain mail worn by Zhuge Jin puts a lot of weight on the waist compared to the black armor and lamellar armor worn by ordinary generals.

The weight of the black armor worn by others is supported by the shoulders, while the chain mail only has the upper body supported by the shoulders, while the lower body is completely tied to the waist.

Zhuge Jin had to hang a sword on his belt, as well as a four-meter-long folded ribbon, and a pair of 15-jin (30 Han jin) iron-ring soft pants that could not fall down, making it a bit inconvenient for him to walk.

Zhuge Jin was exhausted during the military parade and the oath-taking ceremony. However, he still pretended to be dignified and stood very straight, with the aura of General Fu Bo. He persisted until he saw Gan Ning and Taishi Ci all board the warships, and then he boarded the ship last.

……

"It seems that I need to learn from Aliang and keep fit. I should wear chain mail to work every day, just as weight training. I can practice archery and swordsmanship when I have time. Anyway, I don't have to beat anyone, I just want to keep fit."

Back in the cabin of the fighting ship, Zhuge Jin finally began to reflect while lying on the hard wooden bed and gasping for breath.

This body in history seemed to have lived to the age of 68, which shows that the Zhuge family has a good gene for longevity. The second brother only lived to the age of 54, which was because he did not take good care of his liver. However, if I don't pay attention to exercise, it is hard to say whether I can live to the age of 68 with the medical conditions of the Han Dynasty.

Zhuge Jin didn't like sports in his previous life, after all, he was just a teacher. But he always believed in interest. Even if he didn't like sports, he could choose some interesting sports to play, so it would be easier to stick to it.

Horse riding, archery, and swimming are the best choices as they require some equipment and space and are fun.

Kendo is a bit boring in comparison, after all, it is just empty swings without actual combat, which can easily get boring. However, you can also practice with some livestock that need to be slaughtered.

Zhuge Jin was unknowingly being changed by the efforts of his second brother Zhuge Liang. As the eldest brother, he could not fall behind obviously.

After lying on the bed and catching his breath for a while, Gan Ning and Taishi Ci came to the cabin door together and asked for advice on military matters.

Zhuge Jin also quickly put away his decadent attitude, shook his chain mail again, sat down in front of the commander's desk with pretended dignity, cleared his throat, and then let the two generals in.

Taishi Ci and Gan Ning filed in. After paying their respects, Gan Ning was the first to ask for instructions:
"General! Our army has been sailing for half a day and has sent out scouts. We have found that the north bank of the Great Lake is even more empty than usual. If our army changes the plan and launches a surprise attack on Xunyang, we may be able to take the victory in one fell swoop!

Why not adapt to the situation and change the strategy? I am willing to be the vanguard!"

The Xunyang mentioned by Gan Ning is the Huangmei County of Anhui Province in later generations and the Xunyang County during the time of Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty.

The Pengli Lake in the Han Dynasty was much larger than the later Poyang Lake. The Longgan Lake and Daguan Lake located on the north bank of the Yangtze River in Huangmei County, Anhui Province were still connected to the main body of the Pengli Lake during the Han Dynasty. Later, the lake surface was silted up and the water level dropped, and it was separated from the Poyang Lake.

Therefore, Xunyang County in the Han Dynasty was directly adjacent to Pengli Lake, located on the north bank of the lake. The three counties of Xunyang, Chaisang and Pengze formed a tripod, each guarding one side of the T-shaped estuary formed by Pengli Lake and the Yangtze River and Ganjiang River.

When Zhuge Jin led his troops from Chaisang, the first enemy stronghold on the north bank he encountered was Xunyang. After sailing out of Pengli Lake, he sailed downstream for more than a day before reaching Wankou, or Anqing in later generations.

When Gan Ning was conducting reconnaissance a month ago, he also discovered that Xunyang was heavily guarded. After all, this was the front line of Liu Xun's fight against Zhuge Jin, and it had to be guarded against.

When he came again this time, he found that the number of enemy troops had suddenly decreased. It should be the offensive of Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei that temporarily forced Yuan Shu to transfer many defenders of Lujiang. This state of emptiness could not but make a warmonger like Gan Ning jealous.

He has reached the "great perfection state of a commander", and is just a little bit away from being promoted to a colonel and catching up with Taishi Ci. How can he not be anxious?

It was a good thing that his subordinates were belligerent, but Zhuge Jin had his own plans, which could not be disrupted casually. So he just calmly asked Taishi Ci what he thought.

Taishi Ci thought for a moment and said pertinently: "I also feel that if we don't take Xunyang first, it will be like a bone stuck in our throat. If our army passes Xunyang and attacks Wankou first, we will always feel that the retreat is blocked. But the general has newly developed a powerful siege weapon, and the first attack will surely catch Liu Xun off guard.

It would be a waste if this kind of surprise attack was wasted on the small county of Xunyang and not used in Wancheng."

Taishi Ci didn't think Xunyang shouldn't be attacked, he just believed that the new killer weapon that Zhuge Brothers had created would definitely win a huge victory in the first battle. This limited opportunity should not be wasted in a small place.

Zhuge Jin smiled slightly. Although Taishi Ci also supported him in not creating too many complications, their ideas were not consistent. In this case, Zhuge Jin did not hesitate to express his own understanding:

"I also don't suggest changing the attack to Xunyang, but my reason is different from Ziyi's. You are all worried that if we don't take Xunyang, it will threaten our army's retreat.

But Liu Xun's navy had already been beaten by our army and retreated into the Wan River, not daring to show its head. Along the Yangtze River, not a single Yuan army warship could be found. So, what should we worry about?
What's more, the south bank is where our troops are stationed. Even if it is inconvenient to return to Chaisang, we can dock at Hulin and other places on the south bank and get supplies nearby. This makes us invincible.

As for Xunyang, Qichun and other places, once we take Wankou and Wancheng, we will have full control of the Wanshui River. These remaining counties in the southwest corner of Lujiang County will be blocked by the Wanshui River and Huoshan (Dabie Mountains), becoming an enclave, unable to communicate with the Lujiang hinterland controlled by Liu Xun. At that time, we can just issue an order to conquer them, and there will be no need to fight. "

In the game "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there is a design in several generations: if the territory is broken into two by the enemy and there is an enclave that cannot be connected to the one where the monarch is, the morale and loyalty will plummet.

Although the real world cannot rigidly copy the settings in the game, given Yuan Shu's current identity as a traitor who usurped the Han Dynasty, the officials and soldiers under his rule will definitely have this tendency.

Zhuge Jin thought that "as long as this piece of land is cut off, it will collapse by itself even without fighting", so he wanted to save trouble.

After listening to the analysis, Gan Ning and Taishi Ci were impressed. They thought that General Fu Bo was a far-sighted person and they were the ones who were greedy for credit.

Zhuge Jin also knew how to relax and tighten his belt. After demonstrating his foresight and absolute authority, he also tried to appease Gan Ning's eagerness to make achievements. He ordered:

"Xingba, don't worry. If you want to make achievements, there are plenty of achievements for you this time. Your troops can lead the attack in both the battles of Wankou and Wancheng.

Ziyi, don't worry. I have found out that Liu Xun himself is not in Wankou. He seems to have gone north to Lu'an and Shucheng before the battle. It should be that Liu Xun didn't know whether our army would attack from Wankou or Ruxukou, and wanted to take into account both Wancheng and Hefei, so he personally guarded the center and stationed troops in Lu'an.

Therefore, after the battle of Wancheng, if we want to fight against Lu'an and Shucheng, you can be the main force and let Xingba rest."

Zhuge Jin simply drew a line on the map and clearly divided the "sphere of influence" for the two's mission. In his eyes, Liu Xun's territory was as easy as pie.

Liu Xun's plan of "coordinating from the center and providing reinforcements to whichever side Liu Bei attacks" was obviously completely ineffective.

Because Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin would launch attacks at Ruxukou and Wankou at the same time. Unless Liu Xun dared to divide his troops equally to rescue them, the result of doing so would be that no one would be rescued.

Generals Gan and Taishi each had something to look forward to, so they were in high spirits and said no more.

……

The army marched downstream for a day and arrived at the river surface at Wankou early the next morning.

The 15,000-man Yuzhang army, with more than 500 warships, marched to the river mouth, which really frightened the navy left by Liu Xun at Wankou. The chief commander of the navy left by Liu Xun at Wankou was Zhang Duo, a Chaohu thief recruited by Liu Ye the year before. The chief commander of the navy at Ruxukou was Xu Qian, a Chaohu thief recruited just last year.

Of course, in addition to Zhang Duo and Xu Qian, two former bandits from Danyang, Liu Xun also had regular naval forces of clean origins under his command, as well as auxiliary troops who had just been recruited from civilian fishermen and sailors. The total number of people stationed in each place was still nearly 10,000.

However, the quality of these 10,000 people is completely different from that of a year ago. The veterans from a year ago only accounted for 3,000 to 4,000 of them at most.

The rest were newly recruited militiamen. Yuan Shu's rule was also dominated by this route of forced conscription, so the number of soldiers always seemed large.

The troops in front of Zhang Duo consisted of about two thousand old thieves from Danyang, two thousand veterans of Yuan’s army, and more than four thousand able-bodied men, totaling more than nine thousand people.

Seeing Zhuge Jin's army, Zhang Duo was so frightened that he trembled with fear and did not dare to go into battle. He just closed the gate of the water fort and even went so far as to build dams to create dangerous shoals and reefs to block the mouth of the Wanshui River, preparing to defend it to the death.

However, Gan Ning was not afraid of such a desperate defense. He only spent one or two days landing on the north bank, cutting down trees and building a batch of large rafts with very deep draft. If they were not deep enough, he could pile stones on top to make the draft deeper.

Then these large rafts were used to impact dangerous shoals and reefs. Most of the dangerous shoals that Zhang Duo worked on were originally made of sand and floating mud, with few large rocks used. It was easy to break through them without fear of hitting the reefs.

Gan Ning then loaded these rafts with flammable materials and used them to directly attack the gate and wall of the water fort and set them on fire.

Several large iron spikes with barbs were tied to the top of the raft with thick hemp ropes, just like the barbs on a crossbow arrow. After they pierced into the wood by the impact force, they could not be pulled out with a slight turn.

Yuan's army also thought about sending archers and crossbowmen to the water stronghold wall to shoot at the Han army, but unfortunately the quality of the soldiers was too poor, and there were too few skilled archers. They were no match for the Han army and were suppressed to the point that they dared not raise their heads.

After the gate and several walls along the river were breached, Yuan's army's morale plummeted, and Zhang Duo had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat to the second-line land camp, abandoning all positions along the river. During the retreat, at least one or two thousand remaining soldiers were captured by the swarming Han army because they were too slow.

……

After Zhang Duo suffered such a crushing defeat, he had to discuss countermeasures with his deputy general Zhu Jun, who was in charge of supervising the army, and Liu Ye, the strategist sent by Liu Xun, after returning to the camp.

"Mr. Zi Yang, what should we do now? The enemy's attack is swift and fierce. Please teach me!"

The person Zhang Duo relied on the most was naturally Liu Ye. It was Liu Ye who persuaded him to accept Liu Xun's edict of amnesty.

However, at this moment, Liu Ye's right to speak was not absolute. Because Liu Xun also knew that Zhang Duo was a thief from Danyang and his loyalty was questionable, he did not dare to let him take charge alone, so he sent a deputy general to supervise the army.

Liu Xun used the same method at Ruxukou. He was also worried about Xu Qian, who was born a bandit from Danyang, so he also sent a deputy general to supervise the army to Xu Qian.

Although these deputy military supervisors did not directly lead a large number of troops, they all came from Yuan Shu's direct troops and enjoyed a level of trust that was far beyond the reach of the incorporated bandits.

Liu Ye also knew the current situation, and just pondered and said: "The enemy's warships are sharp, and the river mouth water fort cannot be defended. It is better to bluff and pretend to defend to the end, and actually retreat to Wancheng at night. After all, Wancheng still has the city wall to rely on, and the food and grass are more abundant than here."

However, the deputy military supervisor Zhu Jun disagreed: "We haven't even defended the Wankou stronghold for a day, and you're giving up so easily. How can we explain to General Chen (Chen Lan) when we return?"

Liu Ye's face was not looking good: "We have been forced to the point where we only have the position on the Wanshui River. The other side has given up. If we don't leave now, we will not be able to leave.

Shouchun has been urging reinforcements to go north in the past few days. We are all forced laborers here, who is willing to fight to the death? A good cook cannot cook without rice, there is nothing we can do about it. "

Zhu Jun was afraid that Chen Lan would punish him, saying that he was not a good supervisor of the army and could not dissuade the commander from escaping. He insisted that the situation was not that critical and that they could hold on for a few more days.

Liu Ye sighed and said nothing more.

In the next two days, Zhang Duo and Zhu Jun managed to hold on, but this was only because Zhuge Jin did not want to expose his ultimate weapon or suffer too many casualties, so he temporarily suspended the attack.

Then, while besieging the city, they bypassed Luzhai in Wankou and infiltrated upstream of the Wanshui River, surrounding Wankou and setting up camp on the shore in all directions, completely cutting off the retreat route of Yuan’s army in Wankou.

When Liu Ye saw this was about to happen, he knew that the army was doomed, so he had to find Zhang Duo privately and told him that it would be better to talk to the military supervisor Zhu Jun tomorrow about the preparations for the breakout.

Zhang Duo nodded repeatedly after hearing this. He just wanted Liu Ye to show him a way out.

Liu Ye said that he hadn't finished speaking yet, and whispered: "Why not, let's reenact the scene of killing Zheng Bao and asking Liu Xun for amnesty two years ago, and change the master. Anyway, I heard that Zhuge Jin doesn't dislike the Danyang bandits very much. Zu Lang, Mao Gan, Jin Qi and others have all received military positions, so that their clansmen can serve Zhuge Jin as Danyang soldiers."

Zhang Duo thought for a moment and said, "Are you sure? If I do the same thing twice, won't Zhu Jun be on guard?"

Liu Ye: "We have to do it even if we are not sure. Otherwise, you and I will die here. We surrendered to Liu Xun in order to get an imperial edict and live a safe life. However, you should be prepared. People like us who surrender to the enemy repeatedly may be deprived of our military power when we go to Zhuge Jin. We can only be rich men."

Zhang Duo thought for a moment and said, "Well, in such a chaotic world, it would be great if I could be a stable and wealthy man. If I follow Liu Xun, I won't even get that."

There is no need to go into details about the secret discussions and actions that followed, as Liu Ye has done it all.

……

On April 26, the fourth day after Zhuge Jin landed in Wankou and the second day after he completed the encirclement and siege, he was thinking about how to undermine the enemy's morale and take down this desperate enemy force at the smallest possible cost.

As a result, he hadn't even gotten up in the morning when he was suddenly awakened by Gan Ning's urgent report.

Gan Ning rushed into the central army tent with a sigh and asked bitterly, "General! The enemy killed the military supervisor and surrendered. Can this be counted as my victory? Can it be counted?"

Zhuge Jin jumped up from the bed and said, "This time the enemy is quite smart and has foresight. Is it that Danyang thief who is fickle?"

Gan Ning: "Those Danyang bandits are indeed fickle, and the enemy's strategist is also spineless."

Zhuge Jin raised his eyebrows: "That's Liu Ye, Liu Ziyang, who was arranged by Liu Xun to stay in Wankou Water Fort? What a pity, why didn't he arrange that guy in Wancheng, so that we can directly make an emergency landing in Wancheng!"

Gan Ning's eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost: "General, how do you know that Liu Ye is also in Zhang Duo's army? But Liu Ye has never raised a flag."

Zhuge Jin scratched his ears and said, "Do you think there is any other strategist under Liu Xun who is so cautious and self-protective? Such a spineless person cannot be entrusted with important tasks. He can only be given some power of consultation."

　I feel like the last two chapters aren't very well written, although the perspective has returned to the protagonist, there's still less conflict than with Zhao Yun.

　　Maybe the strategy was successful in the early stage, which resulted in the enemies here being too weak, with no conflicts, and it was difficult to force the difficulty. I had to push the map at a fast pace, please forgive me.

　　I try to speed up the harvesting of the parts where the conflicts are not strong enough.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)