My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 18: Hundred Miles Attack
Even if the incident between Zhang Fei and Zhuge Jin had not happened, Liu Bei had already made preparations to retake Guangling.

Now we can travel light and don't need to bring extra food, so naturally we can react faster.
Following Liu Bei's order, the troops almost immediately left the city and headed straight for Guangling.

The total distance is 260 miles, which would take normal infantry at least five days to walk. However, if we take a boat along the canal, we can travel day and night. At night, half of the people can sleep and the other half can drive the boat.

Liu Xun's defeated troops certainly had no ships to use, and their speed of returning to Guangling would probably be slower than theirs.

……

After all, Liu Bei was a hundred miles farther from Guangling County than Zhang Fei.

Moreover, one is cavalry and the other is infantry.

When we finally arrived at the city of Guangling, we could probably save at least a day and a half, and if we were slow, it might take two days.

When Liu Bei started his forced march, Zhang Fei had also set off, and he did not dare to rest his horse too much and went slowly along the way.

Although he did not need to rush for time, before the attack, Zhuge Jin told him a bottom line: he must make sure he ran faster than Chen Lan, one of the fleeing soldiers of Liu Xun's army.

Because Chen Lan's troops were also cavalry, Zhang Fei wanted to disguise himself as Chen Lan's defeated cavalry and go to Guangling to trick the enemy.

If the real Chen Lan arrives before the fake Chen Lan, then everything will be over and it will become a case of the fake Chen Lan fighting the real one.

Zhang Fei maintained a pace of marching a hundred miles a day, resting properly at night, and leaving appropriate time for the soldiers to eat and take naps during the day to ensure that the war horses would not be too tired.

After a day and a half of marching and half an afternoon of rest, on the evening of the tenth day of August, Zhang Fei's thousand cavalry finally arrived at the northeast of Guangling County and headed south along the west bank of the Hang Canal.

The troops' clothes were deliberately made tattered, but at least they were all the uniforms of Yuan Shu's army and there were no flaws in appearance.

In order to ensure that there would be no confusion between friend and foe after the battle began, Zhuge Jin also taught Zhang Fei to do some preliminary preparations and asked all soldiers to carry two pieces of white cloth with them.

Once the fight starts, wrap white cloth around your forehead and arms. Anyone holding the white cloth is a member of the group. Don't kill each other.

Taking two pieces is also for insurance purposes. In case one piece falls, there is still one piece left, so you won’t get hurt by mistake.

Moreover, they planned to start the battle at dusk. Considering that it would be night soon and it would be difficult to see clearly in the dark, they used white cloth.

At this moment, looking at the city wall of Guangling County appearing on the horizon, Zhang Fei stroked the white cloth in his arms and felt relieved.

Zi Yu is really a fortune teller. He has thought of all these details. Along the way of more than a hundred miles, no one doubted their identities, and they got here safely. It can be seen that they will be able to win this battle!

Zhang Fei finally calmed himself down and controlled the speed, allowing the cavalry to approach the Guangling city wall at a rapid speed like deserters.

The team cannot be too neat, nor can it be gathered into a group.
The vanguard should be scattered, with only a few dozen riders. It must be small enough to let the defenders relax their vigilance and give them the illusion that "it's okay to let so few people in." After the first few dozen people enter the city, it will still be in time for the subsequent scattered troops to rush in.

Of course, Zhang Fei had to lead the first few dozen cavalrymen. In this team, there were also a dozen Yuan army prisoners who had just been reformed and won over. They were originally officers and soldiers under Lei Bo, and some of them were familiar to the officers who stayed in Guangling.

These people will play an important role in deceiving the city today.

The idea of letting the reformed prisoners of war answer questions and deceive the enemy into falling into the city was also proposed by Zhuge Jin seven days ago.

It sounded very risky at first, and Zhang Fei himself also thought it was risky, but Zhuge Jin taught him the specific operation method: he must pick out those soldiers whose fathers, sons, and brothers were all in the army and were captured together from the former captives of Yuan army under Lei Bo's command, and make them the key targets for development and struggle.

The proportion of such people was very small, but Zhang Fei captured more than 600 soldiers of the Lei Bo army that day. In the end, he spent a lot of effort and still picked out a dozen of them, including three officers.

Yuan Shu claimed to have sufficient soldiers and food supplies, and he had more than 100,000 soldiers in the small area of Huainan. There were cases where fathers, sons and brothers were forcibly conscripted together. Especially officers, who could protect their sons' safety, liked to bring their sons under their command.

To prevent these people from betraying us again, we need to take multiple measures. First of all, it is best to make sure that they have nothing to worry about, and give priority to those who have nothing to worry about.

If it is really difficult to choose, then the captives will be fed with gold and silver rewards, and they will be promised to be retained in their original positions or even promoted.

The last rule is that if a father and son are captured together, the father should be detained. The same procedure should be followed if brothers are captured together.

Unless the father is an officer, then the son can be detained, after all, an officer's presence is more valuable in deceiving the city.

After doing so much homework and detailed work, it would be a shame to Zhuge Jin's mental effort if he failed to make the final move.

Seeing that the city wall was already a hundred steps away, Zhang Fei calmed himself and asked one of his subordinates, the commander of the Yuan army, who had just been completely reformed with gold and silver rewards and whose only son was still detained in Haixi County, to go in front to answer the call and knock on the gate.

Zhang Fei himself held his weapon tightly and stood on guard behind the opponent. As long as the opponent made any unusual movement, he could kill him immediately.

You know what, this guy is quite unlucky. He was the one who took the initiative to confess when Zhang Fei discovered Shi Ren was murdered while cleaning the battlefield eight days ago after Lei Bo was destroyed and wanted to interrogate the murderer. His only son was also serving in the Lei Bo army.

Because of his confession, Zhang Fei killed Lei Junhou, the murderer of Shi Ren, with one sword. In this way, he had no way out.

His comrades all saw that his confession led to the killing of his superiors. If such a person wanted to return to Yuan Shu's camp, it would be tantamount to seeking death. He could only follow Zhang Fei to the end. It can be said that this kind of traitor candidate, who is one in a thousand, is as rare as Chen Peisi, and is very rare.

Zhang Fei's group of "fleeing cavalry" approached the northern gate of Guangling East City, which of course attracted the attention of the Guangling County garrison. The gate had already begun to close, and the archers on the top of the city were also on guard with their bows and arrows drawn.

"Who are these troops coming? Stop immediately and you are not allowed to enter the city without permission." A Qujun general on the top of the city wall shouted sternly.

"Lord Xu, don't you recognize me? Captain Lei died in battle a few days ago, and now we are all under the command of Captain Chen!" The traitor stepped forward to answer, and immediately called out the other party's identity, and then said,
"The Lord was hijacked by Liu Bei, and Commander Chen was unable to rescue him and fled in defeat. He was afraid that Guangling would be lost, so he asked us to run back for two days to report the news. Why are you making things difficult for us? Commander Chen will be here soon!"

Zhang Fei, who was listening nearby, thought that the traitorous captain was quite talented, and he played the role of an officer who was "assigned to another post after the death of his leading general in battle" vividly.

He almost said to Xu Junhou, "When you were under Captain Lei, you had a high status. Now everyone is under the command of Captain Chen. If you offend Captain Chen right from the start, you may not have a good time in the future."

Most of the military officers under Yuan Shu had this kind of character. When Marquis Xu heard that his former master Lei Bo had died and his troops had been transferred, if he didn't prepare some welcoming food and wine at this critical moment, wouldn't he blame them for failing to provide adequate support when Chen Lan arrived, looking dusty and hungry?
Thinking of this, Xu Junhou gave up the attempt to close the city gates immediately. Instead, he opened them a little and let the cavalry enter the city so that he could learn more about the situation.

However, during the delay in replying, two small groups of defeated soldiers rushed over one after another, and the number of cavalry assembled at the city gate exceeded one hundred.

Xu Junhou had already formed a preconceived idea and was not alerted by the change in the number of people.

Zhang Fei, who was mixed in the crowd, could already feel himself sweating slightly, but the city gate was right in front of them, allowing them to finally enter safely.

After the first few dozen riders entered the city, Xu Junhou sent people to stop them and question them, and asked the traitorous captain to go up to the wall to answer.

Zhang Fei, hunched over, wrapped in a tattered robe to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, followed the traitorous captain up the city wall with a dozen men.

When he reached the wall, Zhang Fei looked up and noticed an officer in the crowd with relatively good armor. It was Xu Junhou, whom he had just seen across the battlements.

Xu Junhou didn't know that his death was approaching, so he called the traitorous captain to come forward and answer: "Where is Captain Chen? Is he doing well? Do you need to send him food and medicine?"

After being asked to this point, the traitorous captain was no longer able to come up with any words to say. He just glanced at Zhang Fei anxiously with his eyes wide open.

Fortunately, Zhang Fei did not disappoint everyone. He quickly made Xu Junhou stop asking unnecessary questions.

"Here is Chen Lan's head! He has been killed by Nai Weng!"

Zhang Fei shouted loudly, and taking advantage of the other party's shock, he drew out his spear and stabbed Xu Junhou directly in the heart.

"Don't take action, boys!"

Zhang Fei brought more than a hundred cavalrymen into the city and immediately began to kill indiscriminately, seize doors and buildings, and try to snatch torches and throw them around.

Yuan's army had no idea what was happening and was caught off guard. Many soldiers didn't even have their weapons in their hands, and hundreds of them were killed in a short period of time.

The "cavalry defeated soldiers" under Zhang Fei's command who had been arriving from outside the city one after another also accelerated madly after hearing the noise, and rushed straight to the city gate, trying to gain time and get in as many people as possible.

By the time Yuan's army finally reacted, at least two or three hundred cavalrymen had already entered the city.

"Cut the noose quickly! Release the brake!"

At least the guards of Yuan army were not too stupid. Several captains in charge of the city gate fought desperately and briefly held the stone chamber that controlled the noose. They chopped with sharp axes and finally cut the bowl-thick cable that suspended the gate. The gate weighing thousands of pounds fell down, blocking the enemies outside the city.

Xu Junhou dared to be so arrogant just now, and this gate of Guangling City Gate was also their main psychological support. No normal person would think that a sneak attack on the city without controlling the gate stone chamber would be successful.

Seeing the gates fall, the morale of Yuan's army, which had been in chaos, finally calmed down a little. Under the stern orders of the officers, they organized a resistance and tried to counterattack and push Zhang Fei's smaller troops off the city wall.

However, they did not notice that although the troops of Zhang Fei's army could not enter the city directly due to the downed gate, they managed to get ladders and battering rams, and even many barrels of tung oil, in just one or two cups of tea...

Outside the northeast gate, some merchant ships passed by the Han River and forced their way to a place where there was no berth. Some white-clothed merchant servants carried ladders and ramming wood to unload the oil on the shore, which was then taken away by Zhang Fei's cavalry.

Some ladders were placed directly on the section of the city wall controlled by Zhang Fei's army, so that the rear army outside could climb directly onto the city wall.

In addition, because Zhang Fei captured the city tower, no defenders could throw logs and rocks into the gate below to kill the soldiers who were destroying the city gate.

The soldiers of Zhang Fei's army who were transporting tung oil could leisurely pour barrels of tung oil on the fallen sluice gate, set it on fire, and then ram the burning wooden gate with battering rams wrapped with iron heads.

Seven or eight miles downstream from the battlefield, on the east bank where the Hang Canal meets the Yangtze River, there were several merchant ships docked.

In the largest ship, there was a scholar eight feet tall with a palm-leaf fan and a silk scarf, and it was Zhuge Jin.

At this moment, he was covering his eyebrows with a palm-leaf fan to block out the setting sun, watching the fire in Guangling City on the west bank from across the river.

"It seems that Zhang Fei is quite teachable, especially when he has suffered a setback. This fire should be successful, and it is worth my personal supervision of tung oil and siege weapons. It's time to consider the next plan."

(End of this chapter)