My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 389 Thank you General Zhang for selling out your teammates
The details of what Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu talked about were naturally considered extremely confidential in Guan Yu's army, and even his own generals were not aware of it for a while.

After all, when it comes to things like alienation, confidentiality is the most important thing.

Once the people who are cooperating with the execution of the plan also know the inside story, even if they do not leak the information to others, it may cause the execution to be distorted and ultimately lead to failure.

The best acting effect can only be achieved when one deceives one's own people as well.

Chen Dao, a general under Guan Yu, was one of those who was kept in the dark.

In recent days, the latest order Chen Dao received was to lead the grain transport fleet on the Sui River, pretending to travel back and forth between Suiling and Fuli, and transport military rations to the main force on the front line that was besieging Fuli and Zhuyi.

The reason why the adjective "still" is added is naturally because Chen Dao had already been doing this long before Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu formed the latest round of conspiracy, but he only recently fine-tuned the details.

Since it was a "pretend" grain transport, the amount of grain transported in the fleet would obviously not be much. Instead, there would be more soldiers escorting it. It was obvious that they were on high alert, just waiting to lure the enemy to rob the grain, and then counterattack and kill them.

Moreover, the extra load brought by transporting more soldiers is definitely not as heavy as filling the cabin with food - when transporting food, the food bags can be stacked up one by one, fitting tightly without leaving any gaps.

You can't transport people like this. People need to breathe, and they can't be crowded without considering comfort. From Suiling via Quliu and then via Gaixia to Fuli, it's at least 200 miles. If it's really crammed like sardines in a can, the soldiers will definitely complain and their morale will plummet.

Therefore, in order to conceal his tracks, Zhuge Jin specifically instructed that the difference in weight should be accounted for by placing a few more ballast stones on the bottom of the ship to ensure that every time the ship set sail, the draft would be as deep as a ship fully loaded with military supplies, and the error could not exceed a few inches.

Zhuge Jin is so rigorous in his work.

The ordinary soldiers under Chen Dao's command did not understand at first, but fortunately Chen Dao carried out his orders resolutely.

Once, a military commander and two captains did not do their job properly. Fortunately, Chen Dao personally inspected the draft of the ship before sailing, discovered the problem, and then strictly corrected it by adding ballast stones and adjusting the draft depth.

Those careless military commanders and music captains were also fined some money and received twenty strokes of the military stick in accordance with military law. After that, no one dared to be negligent anymore.

However, there is still a problem for Chen Dao to carry out such a mission - Guan Yu's army is actually now gradually withdrawing from the Fuli front line, because Fuli is just a bait to lure Cao Ren to send reinforcements to Fuli, in exchange for the vacancy of troops in Pengcheng and Runan.

Guan Yu's own troops were about to launch an attack on Pengcheng, so in the siege camp on the Fuli front, Guan Yu only "reduced the number of soldiers but not the number of stoves". He also did not dare to reduce the smoke from cooking every day, so that Cao Ren in Fuli City would see that there was no sign of any reduction in Guan Yu and Zhao Yun's troops.

In fact, Guan Yu's army was constantly retreating and withdrawing from the front line to Suiling County and Xiapi County in preparation for organizing a new offensive.

This is similar to what Zhang He and Guo Jia did in Pengcheng.

Zhang He also strictly followed Guo Jia's request. He did not dare to reduce the flags, patrols, and cooking smoke every day, and would never let the spies of Guan Yu's army who infiltrated outside the city see any signs that the number of Pengcheng defenders was decreasing.

It can only be said that wise men think alike. Zhuge Jin and Guo Jia were both cautious enough to notice the details at this level.

When Guan Yu needed to withdraw troops from the front line, Chen Dao had to pretend to escort food to the front line and transport more escort soldiers every time, which seemed to go against the purpose.

Therefore, Chen Dao once requested Zhuge Jin's consent: whether it is possible to use the returning grain fleet to transport the retreating troops back by water.

Of course, this request was directly rejected by Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Jin said to Chen Dao in a decisive tone: "Let them walk back on their own! And they must hide during the day and move out at night! The wild land on the south bank of the Sui River is controlled by our army, and the defenders of Gaixia and Quli are also surrounded by us. If they march along the land route south of Sui at night, they will not be noticed by the enemy, and this way our retreat will be secretive enough!"

In order to deceive the Luoyang garrison into surrendering to him out of fear, Dong Zhuo used the strategy of "letting the Xiliang army march into Luoyang with great fanfare during the day, then quietly marching out of the city at night, and re-entering the city the next day." With Zhuge Jin's wisdom, how could he not notice these details?

After all, Chen Dao did not have such wisdom. He did not understand at first and thought that this would make the soldiers too tired. There were empty boats going downstream that they could take and they could arrive after a few sleeps. Why did they have to walk a distance of one or two hundred miles on foot?

Zhuge Jin also knew that Chen Dao was not good at making changes, so he patiently explained to him: "In the future, when deploying troops and transporting food, you must think more comprehensively. I have done so much just to let Guo Jia and Zhang He see that we are still transporting a large amount of food to the front line. How can we fail in one mistake?
Which fleet that transports grain is also heavily loaded when returning? Wouldn't anyone with a discerning eye see that you are not an empty ship, but are transporting troops back? They would also think that you are actually running on empty, or tempting the other side to rob grain! There are countless scouts and spies from Zhang He's army in Qulu City and the Suibei Defense Zone on the other side of Qulu, so you must be careful. "

Chen Dao felt ashamed when he thought of this. He was indeed a brave man. In the future, he must pay close attention to every detail of the princes' instructions and follow them even if he did not understand them!
Every detail of the princes' plan makes sense! And it is definitely well thought out!

……

After Chen Dao performed several times in strict accordance with the acting requirements, he was naturally noticed by the resourceful Guo Jia. One night, after Guo Jia sorted out the above intelligence analysis conclusions, he could not help but discuss with Zhang He:
"Could it be that I am seeing things wrong? Guan Yu really regards annihilating General Zixiao's main force as his top priority. Is he planning to take advantage of the few months of the Yecheng battle to annihilate General Zixiao? Judging from the two recent trips that Chen Dao has made to transport grain to the Fuli front, he should still be doing his best to increase the grain reserves at the front."

Zhang He's thoughts were naturally not as far-sighted as Guo Jia's, so he humbly asked for advice: "I wonder how did you see that, sir?"

Guo Jia stroked his goatee and said with great wisdom: "Every time Chen Dao went west, his fleet was heavily loaded, but when he returned, it was light and swift. According to the speed and draft of the enemy ships reported by the spies, I am afraid that a warship could carry less than 20 people on the return journey. It can be seen that the remaining load was used to transport food.

Since Zhuge Jin used a huge raft to clear the reefs and shallows that I had set up in the Suishui River in the north of Quli County, our army has not tried to intercept Guan Yu's military supplies. I was also afraid that Zhuge Jin had other tricks and ambushes, so that he would transport food to the front of the army several times without spending much money.

Judging from the current situation, their escort alert consumes very little transport capacity, and most of the transport capacity can be used to transport food. This must be because they have calculated that our army will be discouraged and dare not rob food and destroy it, so the escort is becoming more and more lax.

I have observed the descriptions reported by the scouts. The most recent ship that returned was lighter and faster than the previous one. This shows that the amount of food carried by the fleet is increasing, but the number of people is decreasing..."

Zhang He felt a little embarrassed when he heard this.

Recently, he always felt that less trouble was better than more trouble, especially since Chang Xi, although he was given a new official title and ordered to reinforce Pengcheng, actually did not follow orders. Not only did Chang Xi drag his feet in the march, he also wrote letters to him along the way, expressing his willingness to station troops in Fuyang, Yinping and other counties in the northernmost part of Pengcheng County, and "form a pincer attack" with Zhang He's troops in Pengcheng.

(Note: There were several counties named "Yinping" in the Han Dynasty. The Yinping here has nothing to do with Deng Ai's later sneaking across Yinping in history)
However, Chang Xi's new official position and title were higher in rank than Zhang He's. Zhang He could not do anything about him for a while, as he did not have the authority to command him completely.

At this time, Zhang He really didn't want to cause any trouble.

But Guo Jia helped to find out such important information. If he did not say anything, it would be a bit of "slacking off", which was also a taboo behavior for a surrendered general.

It is really difficult to be a surrendered general. If you lose the battle, Cao Gong will doubt your loyalty. If you do nothing, Cao Gong will still doubt your loyalty.

Is it true that the only way to avoid being suspected of loyalty by Cao Gong is to win the battle? What kind of world is this!
After being depressed for a while, Zhang He had to continue the conversation: "Sir, you have seen the big picture from the small details. You have observed such a rare opportunity for our army. You are worthy of being the right-hand man of Sikong! Then, according to your opinion, should I try to send troops to rob food?"

Zhang He first flattered Guo Jia, and then pushed the decision-making responsibility to Guo Jia without any trace: "Whether to rob grain or not, just tell me clearly! I am just following orders."

It's done. When I go before Lord Cao, I will not miss the credit for your decision. If something goes wrong, I will send troops only after listening to your advice.

Guo Jia was slightly stunned, and then he realized Zhang He's concerns, so he could only sigh: "Junyi is also a pillar of the country, with a heavy responsibility to protect Xuzhou, how can he go out lightly?
As for the grain robbery, we can choose another general to try. Wang Zhong is guarding Qulu, Lu Zhao and Feng Kai have been sent to reinforce General Zixiao, so why not let General Zhu Lingzhu try to rob the grain? "

Guo Jia also took on a little more responsibility. He knew that Zhang He was unwilling to take responsibility, so he gritted his teeth and gave more detailed instructions.

With Cao Cao's trust in him, it was fine for Guo Jia to take on more responsibilities, and there would be no problem of taking credit and shirking responsibility. At times like this, Cao Cao needed a confidant like him to take on more responsibilities.

Zhu Ling, Lu Zhao, Feng Kai, Wang Zhong and others were all generals sent by Cao Cao to guard Xuzhou in history. Some of them followed Liu Bei to kill Yuan Shu after the event of discussing heroes over wine, while others were sent by Cao Cao to attack Liu Bei after Liu Bei killed Che Zhou.

None of these things happened in this time and space, so Zhu Linglu recruited four generals, Feng Kai, Wang Zhong, and they are all alive and well, working in the Pengcheng army. Zhu Ling's rank is relatively high, and Zhang He may not be able to command him normally, so he can only discuss with him. The other three generals are of lower status and must obey Zhang He.

Guo Jia directly mentioned Zhu Ling's name to help Zhang He clear some obstacles in command authority to prevent the other party from shirking his responsibilities.

The next morning, Guo Jia personally found Zhu Ling and helped Zhang He kill this evil man.

Guo Jia got straight to the point and invited him directly: "General Zhu, I have a mission that needs your help. Chen Dao has been helping Guan Yu's main force in front of Fuli Army to transport military rations recently. I noticed that his escort is getting more and more lax. It should be that Zhuge Jin knows that we have lost our courage, so the soldiers below are deceiving their superiors and are therefore lax.

Junyi is responsible for guarding Pengcheng, so he must not leave lightly. You can go on his behalf. When Chendao passes by again to transport grain, go south to Lu, and intercept and burn the grain ships by the Sui River with rockets. If you can cut off Guanyu's grain and make him waver, it will be a great achievement.

I will send someone to teach you how to temporarily build reefs in the river to block enemy ships. Although this method was broken by Zhuge Jin once, if we build it again temporarily, we can at least delay him for a long time. "

Zhu Ling respected Guo Jia's opinion very much, and agreed readily without any questioning.

Two days later, scouts learned that Chen Dao was coming to transport grain again, so Zhu Ling led several thousand elite soldiers out of the city and headed south to Quliu, preparing to burn and kill Chen Dao who lacked escort forces.

(End of this chapter)