My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 370: A series of conspiracy, unavoidable

After hearing Zhou Yu's plan, Taishi Ci thought it was very feasible and was overjoyed.

Given his decisive personality, he would naturally adjust the deployment overnight and execute it step by step the next day.

Before noon the next day, Zhou Yu led the fleet upstream of the Zhang River again, showing an attitude of "not giving up until the grain fleet is sent to Nanpi", and attacked the siege camps and river corridors of Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang by water.

Zhou Yu's tactics, compared with yesterday, are generally similar, the main aspects are the same, but there are some small changes in the tactical details, to show that "after the defeat last night, he also learned lessons and made adjustments."
This way, the acting will be more realistic, and Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang will not be suspicious: "This guy was clearly defeated yesterday, why would he use the same trick again today? Is there a trick?"

There is no need to elaborate on the specific details, in short, the main theme is "much ado about nothing", and the tactical changes are supposed to be harmless yet obvious, but in fact they are all empty moves.

With Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang's intelligence, they fell into the trap and were fooled by Zhou Yu's tricks, which attracted a large number of troops. The two sides fought until the evening, when Zhou Yu pretended to fail again and gradually withdrew his troops.

The reason why Zhou Yu chose to send out his troops before noon instead of early in the morning was also for this purpose. He wanted to wait until dark to create an opportunity for Taishi Ci to fight.

If the troops are dispatched in the forenoon, they only need to perform for an afternoon. If they are dispatched early in the morning, it will be too tiring. The soldiers may not have the physical strength to perform for a whole day.

Seeing Zhou Yu gradually retreating, Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang's morale was boosted, and they even tried to give him a brief chase to test the waters.

In order to avoid being tricked, the two men also agreed that no matter whether the enemy was feigning defeat or not, and whether the pursuit was successful or not, they must make sure to return to the camp before it was completely dark to avoid an ambush after dark.

However, just after Zhou Yu had attracted most of Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang's mobile forces, just south of Nanpi City, before dark in the evening of that day, Taishi Ci's troops suddenly took advantage of the dim sky, detoured to the outside of the siege camp, and launched a breakthrough attack against Lu Kuang's camp south of the city.

Because in the past few days, Lu Kuang has been defending the enemy in the northeast of the city and the lower reaches of the Zhang River.

They felt that the south of the city was upstream and close to their attack base, Dongguan County, and posed no threat, so their troops were already insufficient.

Today, Zhou Yu got involved and a large number of reserve troops were transferred away. Therefore, when Taishi Ci came to kill, there were very few archers in the camp south of the city, and only some auxiliary soldiers, mainly civilians who transported grain, defended.

As a result, even though Yuan Shang's army had complete camp fortifications to rely on, they still could not withstand Taishi Ci's desperate attack and their camp was broken by Taishi Ci.

Fortunately, several generals of Lu Kuang's army who remained in the camp south of the city also observed that Taishi Ci's troops were just pure cavalry, unable to carry food and supplies, and posed no other threats.

Even if he was placed outside the south gate of Nanpi City, it would not matter. The Nanpi defenders did not dare to open the gate to let Taishi Ci in, as that would only lead to Yuan Shang's army following and swarming in. Moreover, Nanpi City was not short of defenders, but of food and grass. It had been under siege for half a year.

If Taishi Ci's 3,000 cavalry entered the city, they would only be feeding 3,000 mouths to feed. Even because his troops were cavalry, the appetite of war horses was much greater than that of humans, and there was not enough fodder in the city. Once other substances were used to supplement the nutritional consumption of the horses, the defenders would definitely collapse in a short period of time.

Moreover, when defending a city, cavalry is not stronger than infantry, so it is a pure waste. Unless the Nanpi defenders dare to kill the horses directly, it would be a pure loss to let Taishi Ci enter the city.

Based on this consideration, the generals of Lü Kuang's army who were guarding the camp naturally chose to abandon part of the camp and cut off their arms to protect themselves. Before several sections of the camp were lost, they set fire to delay the enemy, and then fled to other camps on the east and west sides to continue to defend.

After breaking through a section of the camp, Taishi Ci did not linger in the battle, nor did he try to expand his victory. Instead, he broke through and rushed to the city of Nanpi as planned. Then he shouted to identify himself to ensure that the defenders would not get nervous and shoot arrows, and warned them to find cover.

Afterwards, Taishi Ci selected a small team of elite archers to shoot dozens of arrows with letters tied to them at the top of the city to ensure that the defenders could receive them. At the same time, he also asked the cavalrymen with loud voices to temporarily shout out some enemy information to boost the morale of the defenders on the city, letting them know that as long as they held on for a while longer, Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang would definitely retreat.

The morale of the defenders on the city wall was indeed boosted. That night someone sent an arrow letter to the city defender's commander Guan Tong. After reading the letter, Guan Tong felt relieved. But that's a story for later.

……

Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang fought fiercely with Zhou Yu who came from the lower reaches of the Zhang River on the battlefield in the northeast of Nanpi until evening. After Zhou Yu retreated, it was completely dark and they did not dare to pursue him any further.

About an incense stick of time passed before an express horse from the south of the city brought urgent news, and Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang learned that Taishi Ci's cavalry had detoured to the rear, broke through the camp's defenses, and attacked the city.

After all, Nanpi City is not small. It is the largest city in Bohai County and one of the top three cities in Jizhou. It is only slightly smaller than Yecheng. Lu Kuang's troops have to bypass most of the city to notify them, so half an hour is necessary.

Upon hearing this, Lü Kuang was shocked and immediately led his garrison troops back to provide support. However, when the main force arrived, Taishi Ci had already withdrawn his troops and left.

"Why were they so careless? They only sent people to warn the enemy when Taishi Ci attacked their camp. What were the lookouts and scout patrols doing?" Seeing his men neglecting their duties, Lu Kuang was furious and whipped several officers who were responsible with his whip. The officers who were beaten did not dare to shirk their responsibilities, but explained reluctantly: "General, please forgive me! We are short of troops and we don't have enough experienced veterans to form patrols. You know this. All the troops have been withdrawn!
Although there were lookouts, most of them were new soldiers. In addition, Taishi Ci approached the camp at dusk. It was dark and the sight was not far away. The sentinels were a little slack, and they didn't notice until they were two or three miles in front of the formation. The cavalry rushed over at once.

After hearing this, Lu Xiang also grabbed Lu Kuang and told him to stop fighting: "It's useless to blame them now. Our forces are indeed too concentrated and Zhou Yu has attracted too much attention. The discipline of these new recruits is lax, and we should rectify it. However, the most urgent task now is to find out what Taishi Ci's intentions are this time."

Lu Kuang also realized the priorities, so he let his subordinates go and began to inquire about other situations.

After asking, he found out what Taishi Ci had done.

At that time, Taishi Ci's troops ordered the scolds to shout to the people on the city wall. Although some of Yuan Shang's soldiers were hundreds of steps away, some of them with good hearing could still vaguely hear what the other side was shouting.

Moreover, there were several arrows that were shot off target, as well as arrows that were left behind by the injured and dead cavalrymen of Taishi Ci's army, which were directly picked up or seized by the soldiers of Yuan Shang's army.

This is also very reasonable. Taishi Ci's troops broke through a point in Yuan Shang's camp and then rushed to the city to shoot arrows. Who can guarantee that all the horse archers who were assigned arrow books before the battle can survive and fight to the city and then fight back safely?

Whenever there is a war there will be casualties. A brave general like Taishi Ci can escape unscathed as if he were in an empty space, but not all of his mounted archers can do the same.

Lu Kuang had no doubt at all and read the archery book with Lu Xiang, and then he was shocked.

"They are trying to trick us, right? They want to use the fact that Cao's army has already entered the country to attack Weijun to trick us into withdrawing our troops? It's too obvious. We must not fall for their trick!" After reading it, Lu Kuang broke out in a cold sweat.

Lu Xiang also thought of a possibility: "Even if it's a lie, Cao Cao is likely to do it sooner or later. What if his soldiers believe it? We should quickly block the news.

Soldiers are not allowed to spread the words related to Taishi Ci's sudden attack today, and they are not allowed to discuss the shouts they heard or the arrows they found. Those who disobey the order will be punished for shaking the morale of the army and will be executed without mercy! "

Lü Kuang glanced around and waved away the others, leaving only Lü Xiang. Then he lowered his voice to discuss: "Should we prepare to retreat? If Guan Tong's morale is boosted by this, he can indeed hold out for quite a while. I'm afraid that Guan Tong's food has not been exhausted yet. We should... Alas, is there any point in continuing to besiege like this?"

Lu Xiang: "It is better to make some preparations in secret. From now on, we should stop transporting food and military equipment from Dongguang County to the Nanpi front line so frequently. Otherwise, if something unexpected happens, it will be difficult to adjust. If the camp is lost or something has to be given up, it will be a burden to Taishi Ci and Zhou Yu.

In addition, we can also deploy the infantry and cavalry separately, and make some plans to let the infantry retreat by water against the Zhang River in case of any unexpected events. The cavalry can stay for a while as a decoy to avoid being pursued by the enemy.

In addition, we had already piled up so many sandbanks and reefs in the Zhangshui River downstream of Nanpi, so Zhou Yu's warships could not pass through in a hurry. Once our army withdrew and Zhou Yu occupied the camp, he would have to spend more time dredging the waterway before he could catch up with us by boat.

In this way, we can delay enough time to ensure that the troops retreating by water will not be pursued by Zhou Yu. Even if Taishi Ci chases us, his cavalry cannot go down the river, and it is impossible for him to fill the river with cavalry to block our retreat route, so the division can be preserved."

Lu Kuang thought about it and felt that Lu Xiang's suggestion was very prudent and in line with the conventional military tactics. There was no flaw in it, so he asked him to leave secretly as a precaution.

……

For the next ten days, Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang were indecisive. They continued to besiege the city while keeping some preparations for their future plans, but they did not dare to retreat directly.

However, what they did not expect was that Zhou Yu's strategy was to deceive and spread rumors on both sides.

It didn't matter that the rumors spread on the main battlefield of Nanpi didn't have a direct effect. There were still spies going west up the Yellow River to infiltrate the counties on the border between Cao and Yuan and spread rumors. They spread the news that "Yuan Shang realized that Cao Cao was going to launch a surprise attack on Wei County, so he asked Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang to withdraw their troops to defend Yecheng and gave up the task of besieging Nanpi" on the front line of Cao's army.

At this moment, Cao Cao himself had already left Xudu and headed north again to the Yanjin and Baima areas on the south bank of the Yellow River. On the other side was Liyang, the gateway to Yecheng controlled by Yuan Shang and the Yellow River crossing of Weijun.

Cao Cao was indeed almost ready to attack Yuan Shang again, but he just wanted to wait for a better time, until Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan had fought each other and shed more blood, and until Yuan Shang became the weakest, and then suddenly strike back.

As a result, after hearing the news, Cao's army could no longer sit still.

At this time, how could Cao Cao have time to confirm the authenticity of the information? If he confirmed again and again that Yuan Shang's army was marching in the interior of the country, maybe Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang's troops who withdrew from Bohai County would return to Wei County.

How much more difficult would the Liyang siege and even the Yecheng siege be? How much more would the city defense force be?
Cao Cao acted decisively. Just two days after receiving the news, he finally made the final decision and had his entire army cross the Yellow River to attack Qinghe and Wei counties again!
(End of this chapter)