My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 287 Sun Ce's Jedi Counterattack

If a novelist were asked to design the final battle between Liu Bei and Sun Ce, it would definitely be full of twists and turns, and climaxes.

But real history often does not satisfy novelists' wishes.

Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu had been besieging Moling for four or five months. They had been in a stalemate, cutting off food supplies, and exhausting the enemy, all for the last moment, to prevent Sun Ce from being able to hold his position and forcing him to fight outside the city after his food ran out.

After so much preparation and spending so much time, if the plan cannot be achieved in the end and has to have some twists, surprises and drama, it can only mean that Zhuge Jin's strategy and IQ are not enough, and his character collapses.

Those who are good at fighting do not have glorious achievements. They fight to the point of wearing down the enemy and finally destroy them. The real history of war is so plain and simple.

After Zhao Yun first arrived at the city of Moling in early November to show off his might and undermine the enemy's morale, he would humiliate Sun Ce in various ways every few days for more than ten days.
Then they showed off in various ways, "Our army is not in a panic, our army can afford the consumption, we have enough military rations, and can survive only on the new rice harvested in autumn by the people of Danyang County, and General Yuan is about to destroy Cao's bandits in Guandu."

Sun Ce still had the energy to dispel rumors and cover up lies once or twice, but later he became tired and didn't care anymore.

Huang Gai and other trusted veteran generals also repeatedly urged him to make a decision. In the end, even Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin, who were born as thieves and had no strategy, began to sigh and feel that their lord was feeling aggrieved.

The counselors Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Qin Song and others who stayed with Sun Ce were also at a loss. They were even more cowardly than the generals and had already thought of persuading Sun Ce to surrender.

But he also knew that Sun Ce had resisted to this point, and had bet everything on the "Sun-Cao alliance turning the tables." If he surrendered at this moment, the best he could do was to survive, but he would definitely be deprived of all his power and status by Liu Bei.

His title would not necessarily be stripped by Liu Bei, but he would definitely be imprisoned and guarded, or even exiled to a cold and bitter place - this was also the political norm in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong knew Sun Ce too well. They knew that Sun Ce was young and full of vigor and would not tolerate such a humiliating way of life. He would rather live a life of glory and glory.

……

Time passed quickly and it was already late November. Sun Ce realized that this situation could not continue. The food reserves in the city were getting less and less, and the soldiers were becoming more and more panicked. He could not really wait until the day when the food ran out before making the final decision.

Although Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong did not persuade him to surrender, they also reported the food inventory to him every day to let him know how long the food in Moling City would last. Sun Ce was very clear about the subtext of these two people. These people had already become surrenderists and were completely unreliable. It was impossible to discuss strategies to repel the enemy with them.

Sun Ce, who was on the verge of being deserted by his friends and relatives, could only make his final plans with Huang Gai and Han Dang, the two trusted veteran generals left by his father, and Lu Fan and other old strategists who had followed him all the way from Yuan Shu and were unable to jump ship.

On this day, perhaps Lu Fan was forced to use some intelligence due to the desperate situation, and he helped Sun Ce to come up with a bad trick out of desperation.

He found Sun Ce privately and offered his advice quietly: "My lord, Zhao Yun is showing off his military might every day, and the morale of the army is low. The food in Moling City is only enough to support it for more than a month. Sooner or later, we will run out of food.

If you insist on betting that Cao Cao can defeat Yuan Shao, and then return to attack Liu Bei and rescue our army, then you should give up Moling and choose another place with abundant food and grass for long-term planning. Although Moling is stronger than other places, it has been besieged for half a year, which has achieved the goal of delaying the lord. You have to find another place to trade territory for time. "

Seeing that there was no one around, Sun Ce did not hesitate to express his worry and frustration, and sighed softly: "I know this truth. Although the enemy did not surround us tightly, they also deliberately left Jurong County southeast of Moling unattacked.

But with Zhao Yun leading thousands of cavalrymen, Zhuge Jin clearly wanted to lure me out of the city, then use Zhao Yun's fast marching speed to entangle me, and then use Guan Yu and Taishi Ci's heavy troops to chase and surround me and annihilate me! Even if I break out now and get out of the city, I can't reach Jurong."

Lu Fan suggested, "I have also thought of this, so I have been working hard these days to come up with a plan. Why don't we make two preparations? First, under the pretext of insufficient food and grass in Moling City, we will drive the people out of the city and drive them to Zhuge Jin's occupied area, but we will not allow them to take the food with them.

In this way, the rate of food consumption in our city will slow down, and the remaining food can be fed to the soldiers, so the time of holding out can be extended several times. On the other hand, driving the people to Zhuge Jin's side can also speed up the food consumption in his jurisdiction, and make him a burden.

Of course, this move would have a huge adverse effect, which would cause the lord to completely lose the support of the people of Danyang. If Zhuge Jin did not care about Liu Bei's reputation and the people's support in the future, he could have refused to accept these people. But Liu Bei has always been kind and righteous, and Zhuge Jin must have some concerns. He also hopes to rule Danyang more smoothly in the future, so he should not hinder it. "

When Sun Ce heard this, his heart couldn't help but beat violently a few times. He knew that this would completely lose the hearts of the people in Danyang County and push the common people to the enemy side.

But after calming down and thinking about it for a while, he still felt that this trick was not helpful enough. He had acted like a villain in vain, and it would only allow the remaining food in Moling City to last for two more months.

Even if Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao within two months, since he had lost the support of the people in Danyang County, he would not be able to turn the tables on the spot when Cao's army arrived. Moreover, it was impossible for Cao Cao to quickly kill his way through Huainan controlled by Liu Bei.

“Although this method can make the grain last longer for a period of time, the benefits are too small compared to the loss of people’s hearts. I don’t think it’s worth it.” Sun Ce finally made a judgment.

But Lu Fan did not give up, and continued to describe his change of tactics in a persuasive manner: "This is just one of the plans I have in mind. If the lord thinks it doesn't work, there are still other options." Sun Ce raised his eyebrows: "How do you change the tactics?"

Lu Fan: "We can test the waters first to see if Zhuge Jin is willing to accept the people. For example, we can release 20,000 to 30,000 people and drive them to the other side. If Zhuge Jin fails to stop the people and send troops to kill and drive them away, we can release more people next time.

Once the enemy gets used to what we do, they won't think too much. If you want to continue to defend Moling, that's fine. But if you don't want to live and die with Moling, you can break out to Jurong, then slowly retreat to Wuxian or Qiantang to intercept Guan Yu and Zhao Yun, that's also fine.

As long as our army took advantage of the civilians leaving the city, and used the civilians as cover, they could sneak out quietly. Moling to Jurong is only 80 miles, and normal infantry can definitely reach it in a full day of forced march. If it is done covertly and suddenly enough, even if the enemy is only discovered a few hours later, it is enough to make a quick escape of dozens of miles.

Even if Zhao Yun pursues us, unless he dares to massacre the fleeing civilians, the civilians will be able to hold us back. This time is enough for us to get to Jurong. It will be easy to move to other places later.

Although Wuxian and Qiantang are not as strong as Moling and have no depth, they are rich in grain. This year's autumn grain has been stored smoothly. It may be feasible to delay for another half a year. If it is really impossible to delay, there is still a way to escape to the sea, which is more flexible than staying in Moling. "

After hearing this, Sun Ce finally became serious.

Indeed, if Lu Fan asked him to break out and give up Moling right from the start, he would always feel that "I have persisted for so long, but in the end I failed." He would feel very uncomfortable and always want to die heroically.

But Lu Fan gave him a step-by-step strategy of slicing the sausage, which lowered Sun Ce's psychological threshold of resistance.

Driving the people out first will help you hold out for a longer period of time, regardless of whether you abandon the city and break out in the end. So no matter what the future holds, this first step can be taken first.

All things are difficult at the beginning. Once you make up your mind and lower your bottom line, it will become easier and easier to adapt later.

Sun Ce thought about it and suddenly had an idea. He decided to use this bait to test Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong.

He already knew that these two people could be said to be capable ministers in normal times, but at this moment, they were no longer willing to work for the Sun family. So he decided to see who was more unreliable and throw them out as bait to deceive Zhuge Jin.

……

The next day, Sun Ce called Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong and Qin Song together, and then told them about Lu Fan's plan yesterday, after slightly modifying it - that is, he omitted the point of "using the civilians leaving the city as cover, and our army will break out in the chaos", and only told them the first half.

Sun Ce no longer trusted the two Zhangs. He had to deceive his own people in order to deceive the enemy.

"…That's roughly what I mean. Right now, there is a shortage of food and grass in Moling City. If we don't drive the people out of the city, the food won't last for even a month. If we let the people out and don't allow them to carry food with them, and leave the food for the soldiers, we can have two more months of food.

Mr. Zhang, I also know that at this point, you may not be willing to fight to the death with me. So, who is willing to negotiate with Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu, lead the people out of the city, and surrender to the enemy. This is also to avoid harming innocent people in the subsequent battle. If Liu Bei is kind and righteous, he should accept this condition. "

Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong were too embarrassed to directly say that they wanted to betray, but in the end Zhang Zhao still put on an attitude of "I am doing this to save the people" and after repeated hesitations, he stated:
"Even so, I am willing to bear the infamy for my lord and the sin of driving the people out of the city, but at least I can save the lives of the people of Danyang."

Zhang Zhao did not doubt the truth of this strategy. In fact, during the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, it was true that the defenders allowed the people to surrender first to reduce food consumption because they ran out of food.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" wrote that later when Yuan Shang and Shen Pei were besieged in Yecheng by Cao Cao, the siege lasted too long and there was not enough food, so he asked the people of Yecheng to surrender and wanted to "follow them with troops and kill them in the chaos", but Cao Cao saw through Yuan Shang's intention. In addition, Cao Cao did not have to care about the lives of the people, so when he found out that Yuan's army was moving, he directly killed through the formation of the surrendered people of Yecheng and drove the people to disrupt Yuan Shang's troops, killing Yuan Shang.

This matter was not accepted or recorded in the main text of "Records of the Three Kingdoms", but there are some clues in other works such as "Records of Heroes" and "Wei Lue".

However, all this has not happened yet, so if Sun Ce in this time and space used this trick, it would definitely be considered his original creation.

Liu Bei's army certainly couldn't follow Cao Cao's example and use the people as human shields. After all, in history, when Liu Bei carried the people across the river, he didn't abandon the people and escape in the chaos. Moreover, now, it is even more impossible to drive and kill the people to disrupt Sun Ce.

Therefore, if this trick was used to morally blackmail Liu Bei, it might actually work, allowing Sun Ce to break out of the siege in the chaos, or at least take advantage of the opportunity when the enemy's reconnaissance is difficult and quickly march dozens of miles in the chaos.

Moling to Jurong is only 80 li in total. Zhao Yun's cavalry will be slow to start and may not be able to catch up with Sun Ce and kill him before he arrives in Jurong. Guan Yu's infantry will be even slower to react and pursue.

As long as Sun Ce killed Zhang Liao who was patrolling between Moling and Jurong, he could escape.

He heard that Zhang Liao was a surrendered general and did not have much military power. Zhuge Jin usually only gave him less than one or two thousand cavalry to patrol and intercept the grain road between Jurong and Moling, which was a drain on Sun Ce's army. If Sun Ce used the main force of the army to kill Zhang Liao, he thought it would be easy to capture him!
Unless Zhang Liao can hold back the main force of Sun Ce's army for half a day with just a thousand cavalrymen, buying time for Zhao Yun to catch up, Sun Ce cannot lose! He is sure to break through this encirclement!
(End of this chapter)