My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 455 Gongsun Du Takes the Bait

Zhao Yun has decided to create a situation where "if our army wants to obtain enough supplies and reinforcements for the winter, we must capture Tuhe County, seize the port at the mouth of the Yu Shui River, and bring Zhou Yu ashore within ten days."

This is equivalent to actively showing one's "vital point" to Gongsun Du.

As for whether Gongsun Du follows or raises the bet, it depends on whether Gongsun Du himself has the courage to do so.

After sorting out the plan, Zhao Yun decisively gave the order to execute it.

The next morning, he ordered Zhang Zhu to "reduce the number of soldiers and increase the number of stoves" in the Changli siege camp. He had obviously withdrawn part of the troops to Tuhe County, but asked Zhang Zhu to pretend that the fighting power of Changli had not weakened at all.

There are still many stoves for cooking every day. Even if there is no rice to cook, more firewood will be burned in vain to create the illusion of a strong army. Of course, since the purpose of burning firewood is not to cook, but to produce more smoke, then careful work needs to be done when choosing firewood.

For example, Zhao Yun told Zhang Zhao to choose firewood and straw that had not been completely dried. This kind of fuel is very humid, and it produces a lot of black smoke, and the color of the smoke is darker than normal.

An inexperienced enemy, looking at the siege camp from afar on the tower, may not see anything wrong at first glance, but after watching carefully for a few days, an experienced veteran may be able to spot the flaws.

This kind of false and half-concealed action can make the enemy take it seriously and dare not underestimate it.

While Zhang Zhuo stayed in Changli to forge the plan, Zhao Yun led several thousand cavalrymen and quickly headed south that day, ready to launch a fierce attack on Tuhe County immediately. He was determined to take Tuhe County at all costs.

Tuhe County is only 40 miles away from Changli County. It is not a fortress and is much smaller than Changli County. There are also very few defenders. It was not taken seriously by Gongsun Du's army, and there were no famous generals guarding the city.

Zhao Yun has not been idle in the past few days. During the siege of Changli, he has been cutting wood to process siege weapon parts for assembling Ge Gongche and battering rams.

With these siege equipment, the small county of Tuhe could really be quickly conquered by Zhao Yun's troops, who were "temporarily transferred from cavalry to infantry."

……

The news that Zhao Yun suddenly shifted his strategic focus and divided his troops to the south to attack Tuhe naturally reached Gongsun Du at Liaosui Camp a hundred miles to the east within just one day.

Gongsun Du had people keep an eye on Zhao Yun every day. The two places were a hundred miles apart, and the cavalry scouts could run back and report any new situation in half a day if they saw it.

Upon hearing about this new situation, Gongsun Du naturally took it very seriously.

He immediately called two generals and staff members at the Liaosui front line to discuss countermeasures.

Previously, when in Xiangping, Gongsun Du mainly relied on Wang Lie and Bing Yuan for advice, but these people were not good at military affairs, and Gongsun Du also needed them to stay in Xiangping to assist his son Gongsun Kang in handling internal affairs, so they were not brought with the army.

Now, the only confidants he had in front of the Liaosui Army were Captain Liu Yi and County Magistrate Yang Yi.

These two men had followed Gongsun Du for more than ten years. After the Dong Zhuo Rebellion and before Yuan Tan took control of Qingzhou, Gongsun Du sent Liu Yi and Yang Yi across the Bohai Strait to occupy Donglai County on the Shandong Peninsula and manage the territory.

In addition, the part of Qingzhou territory conquered on the Shandong Peninsula was used to set up a separate state-level administrative unit called "Yingzhou", and Liu Yi and Yang Yi were appointed as the governor and colonel of Yingzhou respectively.

However, in history, as the Yuan family expanded in Qingzhou, Gongsun Du's forces on the other side of the strait gradually withdrew. In this life, because of the butterfly effect of Liu Bei's camp in Qingxu, Gongsun Du's forces were driven out of Shandong by Taishi Ci earlier.

But Gongsun Du withdrew, but he refused to lose his pomp and circumstance. Even though he had already lost the land of "Yingzhou", he still let Liu Yi and Yang Yi stationed at the mouth of Liaohe River all year round and set up Yingzhou government offices there. Therefore, Liaodong had place names such as "Yingzhou" and "Yingkou" in later generations.

From this perspective, Liu Yi and Yang Yi are considered to be the two generals in Liaodong who are more hawkish towards Liu Bei's forces. After all, they were driven back by Taishi Ci, and although there was no fierce battle at the beginning, resentment was inevitable.

Gongsun Du also took this into consideration and felt that the military morale could be mobilized, so he asked these two to help lead the troops.

At this moment, Gongsun Du didn't waste any words and directly asked Liu Yi and Yang Yi how to deal with Zhao Yun's change of tactics.

After a brief discussion, the two men both felt that they could not just sit back and watch, so they advised: "My lord! Zhao Yun's sudden southward attack on Tuhe must be a conspiracy! In any case, we cannot let Zhao Yun succeed! Why don't we immediately mobilize the troops in the Liaosui camp and march west with all our strength to fight Zhao Yun?"

Gongsun Du was so angry that he almost fell ill. He thought to himself that these two guys had a deep grudge against Liu Bei's camp, but why didn't they use their brains? They just shouted for war and didn't do any serious analysis?

But Gongsun Du also knew that it was rare for him to have such a courageous general, so he should not suppress his confidence, so he ordered: "You should go back and prepare for battle immediately, but don't be impatient. Liu Yi, you should take several thousand light cavalry first, and be sure to select those with light equipment and fast horses, to harass Tuhe.

Remember, don't underestimate the enemy and rush in. If Zhao Yun comes to chase you, you should flee back immediately and don't fight. Just take advantage of Zhao Yun's unpreparedness, attack his outer scouts, capture some officers and bring them back for interrogation, and see what Zhao Yun is up to. It won't be too late for us to fight again!
"Yang Yi, mobilize the remaining troops and be ready to attack at any time. Once the news is confirmed and Zhao Yun has a reason to attack, then we will attack with all our forces. We must not let Zhao Yun succeed!"

Liu Yi and Yang Yi agreed in unison and went to prepare without further ado. …

Half a day later, at dusk that day, Liu Yi led more than a thousand Liaodong light cavalry and quietly arrived at the east of Tuhe County, but did not cross the mouth of the Yu Shui River.

The county seat of Tuhe County is west of the mouth of the Yushui River, so Zhao Yun's main siege force was also deployed on the west bank, and there were only a small number of scouts for reconnaissance and surveillance on the east bank of the river mouth.

Although Liu Yi was not a famous general, his forces were much larger than Zhao Yun's cavalry on the east bank of the Yu Shui River estuary, and they approached at high speed in the evening. Because of their poor vision, Zhao Yun's scouts were actually sneaked up on.

When the enemy was discovered, the two sides had to engage in a fierce and short fight. Zhao Yun's cavalry broke through with more than a hundred riders, but dozens of riders were still killed or captured.

Liu Yi's cavalry had an overwhelming numerical advantage in this local battlefield, but because of their poor equipment, the casualty exchange ratio between the two sides was only comparable in the end, which was not worth bragging about.

This battle also made Liu Yi secretly astonished, and he was impressed by the strong armor and powerful weapons of Zhao Yun's cavalry.

However, Liu Yi did not know that the cavalrymen under Zhao Yun that he had killed, wounded and captured were not yet in their "complete" form.

Zhao Yun seemed to have estimated that the troops crossing the east of the Yushui River would face a higher risk in carrying out their missions. Therefore, during this attack, he strictly ordered the troops going east of the river to remove the wooden stirrups on both sides and were not allowed to bring other sensitive new equipment that had just been invented.

It’s not that Zhao Yun didn’t care about his soldiers, but that the order he gave to them at the beginning was to conduct reconnaissance rather than combat.

Zhao Yun had made it clear that once encountering the enemy, he should retreat immediately and report the enemy situation, and never fight to the end.

……

After Liu Yi captured the prisoner, he of course immediately interrogated him personally, but he also did not forget to send the prisoner back to the rear to report to his lord.

The confessions obtained through torture indeed showed that "Zhao Nan went south to attack Tuhe County in order to seize a landing port for Zhou Yu who might arrive by sea in a few days."

Moreover, "Zhou Yu in the rear has sent a light boat to report an emergency situation. The surface of the sea along the Liaoxi Corridor is frozen, but not completely frozen, and there is no other place to dock to load and unload reinforcements and food."

After confirming the news, Liu Yi was of course overjoyed. He directly delivered the good news to his lord, telling him not to miss this golden opportunity.

The next morning, Gongsun Du, who was in the Liaosui camp, naturally saw all the intelligence intercepted by the front line. He simply sorted out the clues and felt that this matter was very likely to be true.

He was quite familiar with the geography and weather of western Liaoning, and he also knew that at this time of year, thin ice had already formed in many places along the coast of Bohai Bay in western Liaoning, but the bottom had not yet frozen.

If even the bottom of the ice is frozen, the ship can at least drive to the edge of the ice, and then unload people and goods directly onto the ice, allowing people to find a way to get ashore by themselves. Although it is also difficult, there is still hope.

This half-frozen situation is the most embarrassing. If the boat is not careful and gets close to the shore, it is easy to hit the ice and make a hole. Even if people step on it, they may not be able to get ashore safely. They may fall into the sea and drown when the ice cracks.

Zhou Yu actually brought such bad news to Zhao Yun and explained the changes to him. No wonder Zhao Yun was anxious!

"These southerners have only arrived in Youzhou for the first year, and they dare to talk about invading Liaodong! They are indeed unfamiliar with astronomy and geography, and underestimated the bitter cold of Liaodong in winter! It is really a punishment from heaven for Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu. If this is the case, how can I refuse to take what heaven has given me!"

Gongsun Du strengthened himself in his heart and finally made up his mind to find Yang Yi and order the troops to go.

But at this moment, he felt dizzy again, so he had to hold on to the armrest of the bed and sit quietly for a while.

"It seems that after traveling all the way to Liaosui, his condition has worsened... It may not be easy for me to personally lead the army. Let Liu Yi and Yang Yi lead the troops, and I will stay in the Liaosui camp..."

After struggling for a while, Gongsun Du, knowing that his health condition could not hold up any longer, finally had to accept his fate.

He had no choice but to call Yang Yi and ask him to lead his troops to chase Liu Yi immediately, with Liu Yi as the commander-in-chief and Yang Yi as the deputy, and they would advance by water and land, and head straight for Tu River from Liaosui.

We must stop Zhao Yun from breaking through Tuhe County and seizing the port at the mouth of Yushui River. And we must annihilate Zhao Yun before Zhou Yu arrives, or at least severely injure him and drive him back.

After hearing this, Yang Yi immediately accepted the order: "I will obey the order of the lord! I will work together with General Liu to encircle and annihilate Zhao Yun! Let the world know the reputation of our Liaodong warriors!"

(End of this chapter)