My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 270 Xing Daorong: If Gan Ning dares to block my way, I will slide and tackle him!
Xu Shu and Li Yan helped Zhang Fei to arrange the next action plan clearly, and Zhang Fei only had to carry it out.

This feeling of leading troops to fight without having to think was exactly what Zhang Fei wanted.

In the next two days, operations on the north and south fronts proceeded in parallel in an orderly manner according to plan.

Zhang Fei himself will lead 3,000 cavalrymen on the northern line. They will travel day and night despite the wind and rain, and are expected to arrive in Yidao County on April 23.

Li Yan, regardless of his poor horsemanship, tied himself to the horse's back and barely kept up with the troops to avoid falling off the horse.

He was tasked with persuading Dong He, so he had to move with the army and must not fall behind.

It was God's help for Liu Bei's camp that Zhang Fei encountered a group of reconnaissance scouts sent by Xing Daorong on his way to Yidao County.

It should be that after Xing Daorong knew that Liu Bei had sent troops to quell Zhang Xian's rebellion, he was deployed on the south bank to search and cover the army's flank during the urgent retreat - the retreat of an army is a very complicated task, and when retreating by water, one cannot just sail downstream on the Yangtze River.

To ensure the safety of the army's marching route, cavalry scouts must be sent out to search both sides of the Yangtze River to ensure that there are no enemy troops nearby, especially in the small tributaries of the Yangtze River, to ensure that there are no enemy fleets lying in ambush.

The scout Zhang Fei encountered obviously had the same attribute.

Zhang Fei was very excited at that time. He took the lead and led his personal cavalry to charge all over the mountains and plains.

The other side was just a reconnaissance force, with no more than a hundred cavalry in total. Of course, they were defeated at the first blow to Zhang Fei. Dozens of their cavalry were killed and dozens were captured.

There were more than a dozen other riders fleeing along the river, hiding in the muddy riverbed and the dense jungle on the shore. It was impossible for Zhang Fei to kill them all.

But it didn't matter anymore. Leaving a few of them to escape and report back to Xing Daorong would just be enough to remind Xing Daorong "don't expect to retreat through Yidao County, as this road has been blocked by the army trying to suppress the rebellion."

If all these scouts had been captured just now, Zhang Fei would have had a headache about how to act and deliberately let a few of them go back to report the news. The current situation is just right.

Moreover, when the scouts and defeated soldiers were fleeing, it was impossible for them to all run in the same direction, and it was even more impossible for all of them to be loyal enough to risk their own lives to go back and report to the commander-in-chief.

Zhang Fei was marching from southeast to northwest, upstream along the Yangtze River. Most of the defeated enemy scouts and deserters fled toward the northwest, and these people could be driven by Zhang Fei to Yidao County.

Even if their numbers were too small to attack Yidao County, as long as they appeared in the countryside of Yidao County and disturbed the local people, they would inevitably cause the villagers outside the city to rush back to the city, making Dong He feel threatened by the rebels.

In this way, when Zhang Fei arrived in Yidao County later, it would be easier to persuade Dong He to surrender - if it were not for Zhang Xian's rebels, Dong He could also say that he was not threatened and did not need help from others, and that he was loyal to Liu Biao.

But now that the rebels have arrived, it means that it is very likely that Xing Daorong's main force will retreat via Yidao in the future. Dong He's desire to be loyal to Liu Biao and stop Xing Daorong by his own strength is no longer possible, and he will only be crushed.

At this time, he surrendered to Zhang Fei reluctantly, which was really a helpless move.

For example, this is like Huang Quan's surrender to Wei after the Battle of Yiling in history. Huang Quan also had reasons to say: I didn't want to surrender to Wei, but it was Wu who blocked my way back to Han. I couldn't return to Han and had to surrender to Wei.

Dong He was also about to be cut off from returning to Liu Biao by Xing Daorong, but this time he was in Yidao on the south bank of the Yangtze River instead of Yiling on the north bank, and the person he had to be loyal to was in Yiling on the north bank, which was exactly the opposite of the situation Huang Quan encountered later in history.

Dong He couldn't defeat him on his own, and Liu Bei and Liu Biao were allies after all, and they were all fighting against the enemy, so it was not shameful.

……

The villains cooperated so well that Zhang Fei's persuasion to surrender went smoothly. The next day, when he arrived at Yidao on time, everything went as expected and the cooperation was perfect.

An hour or two before Zhang Fei arrived, the scattered scouts of Xing Daorong's army, who were being chased by Zhang Fei, robbed several villages around the county town and replenished some food supplies and clothes. Then they did not dare to go to the county town, but just robbed things and ran away.

The robbed people fled into the county town like frightened birds, and brought the news of Xing Daorong's approaching rebellious troops to Dong He, which made Dong He frown for a while. He ordered all the city gates to be closed and prohibited entry and exit for the next few days.

Just when Dong He was in a panic, Zhang Fei arrived. He pretended to walk around the city shouting and killing for a while, and finally captured dozens of Xing Daorong's scouts and cavalry prisoners and took them to the city gate. He told Dong He, "This is Xing Daorong's unit of Zhang Xian's rebel army that we chased and intercepted near Yidao County."

These words were conveyed by Li Yan. When Dong He saw that the man was someone he knew and a colleague from a neighboring county, he naturally did not suspect anything and was very grateful to Zhang Fei.

Li Yan repeated the words that Xu Shu had said three days ago when he had tried to persuade him to surrender, with a slight adjustment. Adding the irrefutable evidence of the rebels, Dong He immediately opened the city gate and surrendered.

There is no need to go into detail about the specific lines, as the changes are really minor.

Dong He went out to greet them sincerely and had cattle and wine prepared as a reward for the troops:

"I heard two days ago that rebels were wreaking havoc in Jiangbei and seemed to have surrounded Jiangling. Thanks to General Zhang for coming here from hundreds of miles away to save our Yidao soldiers and civilians!"

Zhang Fei was so flattered by Dong He that he felt a little embarrassed. He thought to himself, we came here for a forced landing, why did the people who surrendered in the end seem so grateful? Zhang Fei almost let the cat out of the bag while responding, but luckily he managed to hold it back.

He didn't even dare drink too much that day, for fear of talking nonsense after drinking too much. His state was completely different from when he made an emergency landing in Chanling a few days ago.

……

After Zhang Fei entered the city, he roughly inspected the city defense and left a few cavalrymen to take charge of various places, responsible for helping Dong He clear the surrounding areas and strengthen the defense line.

Zhang Fei also thought quickly and told Dong He to raise his own flag in Yidao. This would force Xing Daorong to move as much as possible and make him dare not retreat through Yidao County.

When Dong He heard this, he thought it made sense, so he immediately did as he was told. He asked people to find a lot of flags with Chinese characters on them, and also accepted the flag of the general brought by Zhang Fei. He then put all of them on the top of Yidao City to pretend that the city had a strong military force.

In fact, Zhang Fei's sudden inspiration has another wonderful use:
After Xing Daorong retreated, if Liu Biao's army reacted and reinforcements arrived and crossed the river to pursue, once they saw that Yidao County was under Dong He's banner, the generals of Liu Biao's army might come to take over the city.

However, if they saw Zhang Fei's flag flying on the city wall of Yidao County, confirming that it was Zhang Fei's troops guarding the city and that Dong He no longer had military command, then the generals of Liu Biao's army would worry about a direct conflict and friction with Liu Bei's army and would not dare to take the risk of taking over.

In this way, Zhang Fei relied on his thick-skinned and ignorant personality to secure this territory.

After finishing all this, Zhang Fei did not stay in Yidao for long. He knew that after the smoke bomb was released, Xing Daorong would not be able to really retreat via Yidao. This move was only used to block Xing Daorong's movement options.

So Zhang Fei did not dare to stop for long. After only resting for one night, he started his "return journey" and led the cavalry back to Chanling.

But this time he did not dare to walk too fast on the road, because according to Xu Shu's pre-war expectations, when he arrived in Chanling, he would most likely be directly involved in a battle with Xing Daorong.

Those who travel a hundred miles and seek profit can become generals. Zhang Fei did not want to be hit by Xing Daorong and capsize in a ditch when he was exhausted. He would rather walk a little slower on the way back for a day, so that the soldiers could rest and recuperate before meeting the enemy.

Moreover, his 5,000 infantrymen were all left in Chanling City to wait for the opportunity, with Xu Shu leading the troops. It was absolutely possible for Xu Shu to defend the city or go out of the city to stop Xing Daorong for a day or two.

……

The words are divided into three parts.

Zhang Fei had just sent his troops to Yidao County, and Xu Shu was guarding the city of Chanling.

On the Yangtze River more than a hundred miles downstream of Chanling County, Gan Ning, who had been sailing upstream along the Yangtze River waterway in the past few days, also encountered a friendly patrol boat that was sailing downstream from Chanling to report the news.

The patrol boat brought Zhang Fei's letter, and the messenger was specially sent by someone Gan Ning knew. After Gan Ning confirmed that the person and the letter were correct, he thought about it for a while and decided to follow Zhang Fei's advice and ordered the fleet to slow down.

"Order to the entire army! All warships stop rowing, let the soldiers rest and recuperate, and sail only with the sails. Starting tomorrow, rowing will also be done during the day, and at night, except for those who take turns to man the sails, steer, and keep watch, the rest of the people will sleep and rest!"

Gan Ning's order was quickly carried out, but the generals around him were still confused and couldn't help asking:

"General, the river section near Jiangling and Chanling is winding and tortuous. If we sail upstream without oars, relying only on the power of the sails, we may not be able to travel even thirty miles in one night. Wouldn't that delay our work? By now, Xing Daorong must have known about our army. If we slow down further, we may not be able to stop Xing Daorong from crossing the Yangtze River to the south."

Upon hearing this, Gan Ning simply smiled complacently and confidently explained the purpose of this plan to his subordinates:
"It doesn't matter. What I want is for Xing Daorong to cross the Yangtze River safely to the south, and it would be best if he was intimidated by our army's might and hid in Youjiangkou to avoid fighting. Then our army would catch up with him and seal Youjiangkou. After Xing Daorong abandons his ship and goes ashore, the fleet will be captured by our army. Why not?
As for Xing Daorong, there is no need to worry about him getting away after he gets ashore. County Magistrate Xu will guard the city of Chanling carefully to prevent Xing Daorong from sneaking through. If he gives up the main road and takes a detour, Yide will also make him suffer."

After the subordinates heard about this dragnet plan, they all praised it and called it a brilliant idea.

Gan Ning was very proud, and for more than a day he acted exactly as planned.

However, things did not seem to develop exactly as predicted - Zhang Fei and Gan Ning could only predict their own responses, but did not anticipate the enemy's reaction.

Just when Gan Ning thought he was sailing slowly enough to give Xing Daorong a chance to get into Youjiangkou, Xing Daorong did not go in.

Early that morning, Gan Ning was having breakfast on the boat when his patrol boat suddenly reported:

"General! We discovered that a fleet of Changsha rebels is speeding down the river dozens of miles upstream. They have already passed Youjiangkou, but they did not turn into Youjiangkou and are heading straight for us!"

Gan Ning couldn't believe his ears. "What? Is Xing Daorong crazy? He knew I was here, but he still came straight at me? Is he trying to have a fair naval battle with me on the Yangtze River and defeat me head-on?"

Gan Ning suddenly had a sense of déjà vu that "I was clearly following the script of the eagle catching the chicken, and wanted to use the eagle's power to force the opponent to move. But I didn't expect the chicken on the opposite side to rush straight towards the eagle, trying to kill the eagle head-on."

Although I don't know how strong Xing Daorong is, he is really brave.

What's the difference between this and an antelope sliding towards a tiger?
(End of this chapter)