My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 499: It doesn't matter if there is not enough food, just lose a few more mouths to eat
As Lu Zhao died in battle and Zhang Xiu was shot by an arrow.

Within one day, Cao's army lost several thousand men on both the front and rear routes, and their morale was further hit.

The whole army was already in a state of fear of the enemy. When they heard that General Xiahou was going to urge them to attack the city, deserters would appear at night and quietly leave the camp, not wanting to die in vain for the Cao family.

Even though Xiahou Yuan sent people to strengthen the night patrols, dozens of them would still escape every night, and sometimes hundreds of them would escape.

Faced with such a situation, what else could Xiahou Yuan do? Of the five methods of breaking the city, the first four were defeated by Wei Yan and Zhuge Liang, who was in charge of advising him behind the scenes, so the only option left was a long-term siege and a lack of food.

A few days later, as another patrol fleet of Cao's army was intercepted and repelled by Gan Ning's troops coming from the south on the river, suffering a disastrous defeat and heavy losses, Xiahou Yuan finally learned his lesson, recognized the situation, and made a firm decision.

The wheel of history entered the twelfth month of the tenth year of Jian'an. As the winter grew colder, the attacking side suffered more and more disadvantages.

Finally, on the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Xiahou Yuan announced in front of all the soldiers that he would not organize another strong attack this year, and from then on he would only firmly implement the tactics of besieging the city and cutting off food supplies in order to exhaust Wei Yan's defenders.

After hearing this public statement, the anxious hearts of the Cao army finally calmed down.

That evening, the number of deserters dropped to about thirty, and after another two or three days, the desertion problem was finally solved.

After just two or three months of turmoil, nearly one-third of the 70,000 to 80,000 Cao troops brought by Xiahou Yuan, including the former surrendered troops of Zhang Lu, had been consumed.

In the initial battle of Dianjiang County, one or two thousand men were killed. Later, when Xiahou Shang was surrounded during the attack, more than four thousand men were killed at once.

After that, they made a good move and attacked several times step by step, and thousands of people were killed. Lu Zhao was killed in the battle, and Zhang Xiu was shot and retreated, each time thousands of people were killed.

If we take into account the part of the troops who were annihilated by Gan Ning during the voyage by water, the total loss would be no less than 20,000 or 30,000.

There were 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers, but by the twelfth month, only 50,000 were left. The difference in the strength of the two sides also dropped from 7 or 8 times at the beginning to about 6 times now (Wei Yan also suffered some casualties).

The only good news in this series of misfortunes is that Xiahou Yuan's military rations may be able to last for a while longer - his military rations were originally intended to be distributed to 70,000 to 80,000 people, but now there are only 50,000 left. With one-third of the mouths to feed gone, the durability of the siege can be extended accordingly.

It doesn’t matter if there is not enough food. Just let Liu Bei’s army help him annihilate some troops, and there will be enough food.

……

While one family is happy, another is sad. While Xiahou Yuan ended up in a miserable way, the morale of Liu Bei's army in Diaoyu City was extremely high.

On the night of Zhang Xiu's defeat, the defending soldiers and generals surrounded Wei Yan and Zhuo Ying and partied all night long.

"General Wei is really young and promising, and he is an extraordinary general! He is so young, but he has defeated Xiahou Yuan repeatedly. In the future, he will surely become the lord's right-hand man!"

Wei Yan was still young and full of vigor after all, and he felt a little flattered by his subordinates. However, he still knew how to maintain military discipline. He stroked his stubble and smiled smugly, while also politely thanking them for setting the rules:
"Well, the key to our victory in this battle is that Zhuge Military Advisor thought of all the possible countermeasures of the enemy. I just copied him. It's no big deal!
The enemy has just retreated, so we can’t drink too much! Only three bowls per person! Military law cannot be abolished! "

Wei Yan suppressed his upward smile, pretending to be modest and giving credit to Zhuge Liang. He also stopped his subordinates from toasting him and ordered them to drink together. Anyway, no matter how many people toasted him, he could only drink three bowls.

After drinking, Wei Yan felt a little proud, so he arranged to keep watch at night and went back to rest early - he was not drunk, but was quite intoxicated by today's military exploits.

After a sound night's sleep and waking up the next morning, Wei Yan washed himself with porridge water, put on his casual battle clothes and no armor, and walked to the battlefield on the north bank sandbar where Zhuo Ying had repelled Cao's sneak attack with falling rocks and rain of arrows the night before.

Now that it was daybreak, the situation below could be seen clearly. After confirming that there were no remnants of Cao's army hiding, Wei Yan waved his hand to signal to lower the ropes and hanging basket, and asked a captain to lead a team of Danyang soldiers who were good at climbing to clean up the battlefield and count the results of the battle.

When they reached the bottom of the cliff, Captain Qu saw that there were actually some lightly wounded Cao army soldiers hiding in the depressions of the stone wall, bleeding and groaning.

The Danyang soldier next to him was about to go up and finish him off, but the commander Qu was quite decent and waved his hand to stop him temporarily:
"If we see someone who can't be saved or who is beyond medical help, we'll give him a quick death. As for those with minor injuries who can walk on their own, as long as they are willing to drop their weapons and be tied up, we'll hand them over to the captain for torture and calculation of their merits."

He thought clearly: last night Sima Zhuo did not allow them to pursue in the dark, and after a night, even if some enemy generals were killed in battle, their bodies would most likely have been dragged away by the defeated troops.

Our side is besieged in an isolated city. If we don't capture a few prisoners and interrogate them, how can we know who led the team last night, how many troops came, and how many were wiped out?

So leaving them alive was not entirely out of mercy, but to fully reward their own merits, so that the killing would not be in vain and the superiors would not know about it. After capturing several lightly wounded enemy officers, the commander of the Naqu army pulled them together, tortured them for a few questions, and then hoisted them.

The question was also very simple, that is, how many Cao troops launched the sneak attack last night, who was the general who led the troops, how much the losses were, etc.

The captured Cao army officers each reported their numbers, and Liu Bei's army commander pointed his sword at the one with the lowest number and said, "I think I saw it wrong just now. This guy is seriously injured. He needs medicine."

Kill him with one knife.

Diaoyucheng is still under siege, supplies are scarce, and medicine is very precious. Rescuing the lightly wounded enemy soldiers must be selective.

The few who survived shuddered, and the smart ones among them said quickly: "I remember! General Lu led his troops to attack last night, and it seems that he was also killed by stones! In the chaos, I heard his guards screaming and dragging his body away!"

……

Half an hour later, the wounded and the soldiers cleaning the battlefield were transported back to the top of the cliff.

The seized and recovered weapons and supplies were also gathered together, and the bloodstained weapons and armor were specially dragged to the riverside and briefly rinsed in the river water before being put back into the hanging basket. Diaoyucheng is located in a high and steep area, and the fresh water resources on the mountain are still very precious. The cleaning work was done as much as possible by the river.

After Wei Yan asked the captives, he was overjoyed. He immediately joked to his deputy general Zhuo Ying:
"Lu Zhao was actually crushed to death? Brother Zhuo, you were lucky last night! It seems that after the battle here is over, you will at least be a captain, and you may even get another big reward."

Zhuo Ying declined the offer repeatedly: "It was the captain who gave me the chance to take the credit. The battle at the North Cliff last night was not fierce at all. We won by throwing stones. It was nothing like the battlefield at the East Wall. It was a life-and-death fight with swords and guns."

Wei Yan also laughed: "Why should we distinguish between them? We are all killing enemies for the lord. The lord trusts his men, and the military advisor is very observant. They will know what is going on."

The two of them laughed and talked about the future in a harmonious atmosphere for a while, and the topic naturally turned to the defensive tactical arrangements for the next stage.

Zhuo Ying was worried that the enemy might have some more plots, but Wei Yan was very sure about this:
"Don't worry. The order that the military advisor gave me earlier was very detailed. We have tried our best to deduce any possible tricks that the counselors around Xiahou Yuan might have. Since ancient times, there have been so many ways to break a city. Now that all the other tricks have been broken, Xiahou Yuan can only lay siege to the city and cut off its food supply."

Zhuo Ying: "So we just keep fighting them like this? Until the lord and the military advisor decide to launch a full-scale counterattack? Actually, I would say that in the middle of winter, it is certainly disadvantageous to attack.

But if we wait until the beginning of February next year, when the spring has warmed up and the snow has melted, we can definitely counterattack. Xiahou Yuan has been defeated in succession and his morale is low. When the time comes, our army will be able to defeat Xiahou Yuan with one blow! If we want to delay any longer, I am afraid Xiahou Yuan will withdraw on his own.”

Wei Yan waved his hands with a smug smile: "You don't understand this. February is still a little early. I don't know why, but if the military advisor says it's early, then it must be early. As for your worry about not being able to hold back Xiahou Yuan, that's not a problem.

As long as we are not in a hurry to repair the downhill slope on the edge of the North Mountain Cliff and do not build a trestle or a dock on the North Cliff Sandbar, Xiahou Yuan will not think that we can replenish military supplies through river transportation and delay him for a while longer.

Although the climate in Banan is warm and spring ploughing may begin in February, the ice and snow in the Qinling Mountains to the north will not melt until at least April of next year, and the Cao army will not be able to provide new reinforcements to Xiahou Yuan.

Therefore, the military advisor said that the best time for a decisive battle is the end of March or the beginning of April. By then, Xiahou Yuan will have just consumed the entire winter and has not yet been replenished, and the spring plowing in Ba County has ended. A decisive battle will not disturb the people and delay the busy farming season. Anyway, we don't manage or understand, we just execute. "

Wei Yan's words were actually slightly reserved, and even Zhuge Liang's original letter to him also had some reservations. It is not surprising that Zhuo Ying could not see the overall situation and could not fully understand the considerations.

In Zhuge Liang's view, keeping Xiahou Yuan on the Diaoyucheng front for a few more months to maintain pressure would bring the greatest benefit to Liu Bei's camp, not to Cao Cao, but to Liu Zhang.

Of course, delaying Xiahou Yuan for two more months will definitely be beneficial militarily. By then, Xiahou Yuan will only become weaker and weaker, and the decisive battle will become easier and easier to fight. Time is on the side of Liu Bei's camp.

This is a double harvest both politically and militarily, the best of both worlds.

It's just that some things are easy to say but difficult to hear, so there's no need to let the generals below know too clearly. These pure military talents only need to consider and execute from a military perspective.

Wei Yan strictly followed Zhuge Liang's previous instructions and did not even risk asking for subsequent countermeasures.

He just followed Zhuge Liang's instructions last time, carved a batch of wooden signs, put them into the river downstream, and let them float downstream to Jiangzhou to report the victory. Tell the lord and the military advisor that he had won another battle and crushed Xiahou Yuan's sneak attack. If there were no other instructions, there was no need to reply.

Even if these wooden signs were intercepted by Xiahou Yuan, it didn't matter. There were no secrets on them, and there were even some misleading information.

(End of this chapter)