My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 507: Mental Explosion

No matter how unreliable and impossible Jia Xu thought that "Wei Yan wanted to build a pier on the sandbar under the northern cliff of Diaoyucheng".

But the facts proved that Wei Yan did just that.

He insisted on building a pier on dry land, which was unreasonable. He also took the opportunity to move the construction site back dozens of feet, avoiding the crossbow fire from Cao's army on the opposite bank.

At the same time, this could also prevent Cao's army from using fireboats to go directly downstream and crash into the dock to cause damage - Wei Yan didn't repair anything in the river at all, and Cao's army's fireboats couldn't run aground and rush ashore to hit the enemy, right?
After being reminded of the reasons put forward by Jia Xu, Xiahou Yuan realized how unreasonable all this was.

"Is Wei Yan a fool? Even if there are many advantages to building a pier in this way, he can't use it without launching it into the water! Wei Yan dared to do this, so he must have something to rely on! Wenhe, why don't you think about it quickly?"

Xiahou Yuan couldn't understand these unreasonable things and could only continue to pick on Jia Xu anxiously.

Jia Xu was so nervous that sweat broke out on his forehead. Finally, he thought, "Oh no! I understand! Wei Yan is taking advantage of the winter when there is little rain in the mountainous areas and the three rivers are dry, and is building a wharf on the exposed river beach in the dry season!"

He built this pier, but he didn't expect to use it immediately! He wanted to wait until after April, when the snow on the mountain melted, the spring rain increased, and the river water rose sharply, so that these piers could be used!

Wei Yan must have lied to us by reporting two or three months less food reserves on the wooden sign used to convey military intelligence. His remaining food could at least last until April or May!
Then, taking advantage of the difference in water levels between summer and winter, they took advantage of the low water levels in winter to rush to build the pier, so that we couldn't destroy it when it was halfway done! Before the river rose, these days were enough for him to build the pier very well, and he could also arrange underwater reef antlers next to it, leaving only the inlet and outlet channels that only they knew about.

Even if the water level rises by then, our fire ships will probably crash into the hidden reefs under the water. Combined with other water fort defense facilities and Gan Ning's navy that may appear at any time, we may have no chance to stop Wei Yan from getting supplies... This must be a trick that Zhuge Liang taught Wei Yan a long time ago! He deliberately used this trick to delay us and made us besiege for several months in vain!"

As Jia Xu spoke, he actually began to feel some regret and hesitation.

Because he realized that if he didn't say some things, Xiahou Yuan might not be so frustrated.

But the more he spoke, the clearer his mind became, and the more he sorted out his ideas, the clearer they became. In addition, Jia Xu wanted to absolve himself of the blame for his misjudgment, so he had to explain everything clearly.

The more clearly you describe the enemy's strength and cunning, the less stupid your own traps and misjudgments will seem.

If he didn't tell her, Xiahou Yuan would think: The other party doesn't seem to be a big deal. How can you, Jia Xu, be so incompetent that you can't even see through such a trick?
Jia Xu had to make Xiahou Yuan understand: what Zhuge Liang used was not some small trick, but an extremely sophisticated chain of traps, one link after another, and it was not unfair that he did not see through it.

Anyway, with Jia Xu as the narrator, Xiahou Yuan finally understood the situation. At least he knew how he was tricked, and he knew exactly what happened.

Of course, there must be a lot of details behind this that even Jia Xu, the "commentator", cannot figure out.

For example, why Wei Yan was able to build stone steps on the cliff so quickly, effortlessly and safely. There must be some construction technology details and engineering management details that Jia Xu could not understand.

It is probably the unique secret technique of the Zhuge family, which was the result of Zhuge Liang giving Wei Yan special advice in advance.

Anyway, no matter what, things have come to this, and people can do it.

After sorting out all of this, Xiahou Yuan was still very unwilling to give up. He paced back and forth like an angry beast, thinking, and finally decided to give it one more try:
"Even if Wei Yan is building a dock on dry land and hoping to use it after the river water rises in two months, we will do our best to destroy it! It's just that the fire ships can't hit them directly! It's no big deal. We will send another elite force to sail over in the middle of the night to launch a surprise attack, land and set fire!
This stretch of the river is less than a hundred feet wide, and it's not a big river. Even if Gan Ning's navy appears from time to time, we can always find a chance to sneak past.

At that time, Wei Yan will either let us burn his half-built things, or send troops to the sandbar at the bottom of the cliff to fight us in the field!"

Xiahou Yuan himself felt that this decision was definitely the best solution that could be found under the current circumstances. In this way, he at least didn't have to forcefully attack the natural barrier of Diaoyucheng, and he could also force Wei Yan to fight him.

His military strength is at least five times that of Wei Yan, so he is not afraid of consumption in a field battle!

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Jia Xu, Zhang Xiu and Feng Kai. These staff members and generals did not dare to raise any major objections.

Jia Xu was just a little worried, so he reminded him of some details: "Please think twice before you act, General. I'm afraid things are not that simple. Even if there are no water forts and other defensive facilities on the dock sandbar at the bottom of the cliff, the enemy can still rely on the support of the friendly forces on the top of the cliff.

Moreover, even if Gan Ning cannot stop us from crossing the river and landing, once our army has landed, what should we do if Gan Ning's navy gets the news and suddenly rushes out to cut off our retreat?"

After being poured so much cold water, Xiahou Yuan realized that this matter was indeed dangerous.

But he had no other choice. He couldn't just do nothing and watch Wei Yan repair the dock and the stone steps leading to the top of the cliff, and then wait for the flood season to transport food into the besieged city?
If that happened, all his efforts in the previous six months would have been wasted.

People are loss-averse, and they are always reluctant to let go of the sunk costs they have already invested. Xiahou Yuan is not a wise man, so how could he know the economic principle that "sunk costs cannot participate in and influence major decisions"?

From the perspective of character, Xiahou Yuan can only be considered a gambler at best.

So, he finally decided to give it a try.

If you are afraid that Gan Ning will come to reinforce and cut off your retreat route, then make sure to give early warning and retreat in advance when you know Gan Ning is coming.

If they were afraid of the enemy's firepower support on the top of the cliff, then they would let the soldiers carry more large shields. Anyway, Xiahou Yuan estimated that if the two armies really got into close combat and fought for the dock area on the sandbar, the soldiers of Wei Yan's army on the top of the cliff would definitely not dare to throw large stones at will.

By that time, the battle lines will be intertwined, and both sides will be intertwined. Large-scale indiscriminate attacks such as throwing stones and rolling logs will have no accuracy at all. Wouldn't they even kill their own people?

The most you have to do is to guard against the enemy soldiers on the top of the cliff aiming and shooting at you.

Thinking he had figured out the risks and gains, Xiahou Yuan immediately ordered a counterattack.

That day he mobilized several thousand soldiers and gathered some boats, preparing to cross the river to the other side to seize the dock area. If possible, he also hoped to occupy the area along the river at the bottom of the cliff and directly seize the water fortress.

As long as there are enough wooden shelters there and they can avoid being shot by arrows from the enemy on the top of the cliff, the soldiers will be able to gain a foothold for a long time, and the dock that Wei Yan is counting on will be shattered forever, unless Wei Yan sends melee troops down the mountain to fight hand-to-hand in the field to retake it.

In the afternoon, Feng Kai, who received instructions from Xiahou Yuan, urged several thousand infantrymen to rush to the other side.

Wei Yan's troops maintained thousands of soldiers working on the construction site at the bottom of the cliff. When they saw Cao's army trying to land and set fire, they immediately put down their tools, picked up their weapons, and prepared for battle, and then pushed back to the riverside.

The vanguard of Cao's army could only land in waist-deep river water. Before they could gain a firm foothold and form a battle array, they were attacked by Wei Yan's men halfway across the river and driven directly into the river.

Cao's army could only suppress the enemy soldiers on the shore with bows and arrows on the warships, and Wei Yan's soldiers quickly retreated to the bottom of the cliff, out of the reach of an arrow from the shore, and re-formed their battle array. After some of Cao's soldiers got ashore with the help of bows and arrows, they pushed back and pushed Cao's army into the river again.

Xiahou Yuan and Feng Kai found that this hastily decided strategy was indeed a big taboo in military strategy, so they had to give up the daytime attack and switch to a night attack.

Unfortunately, the subsequent attempts were still unsuccessful.

Firstly, Wei Yan's soldiers were also very alert at night. They could even light a bunch of fires on the top of the cliff, and then use huge metal mirrors to reflect the light onto the river surface, illuminating the river surface slightly. At least they could see if there were any warships passing by trying to cross the river at night.

By doing this, the time window left for Xiahou Yuan to launch a sneak attack was very short.

Secondly, it seemed that Liu Bei's army was able to transmit information very quickly. After Wei Yan observed Xiahou Yuan's unusual movements, Gan Ning's warships appeared more frequently in just one day, repeatedly patrolling back and forth at the confluence of the Jialing River, Qu River, and Fu River. Whenever Cao's army showed up, they were beaten back by Gan Ning.

There is not much to say about the process of this one-sided, small-scale crushing battle.

In any case, within less than half a month, all of Xiahou Yuan's attempts to seize the dock area failed.

Not only did they do so much useless work, but everyone in Cao's army understood one thing: the reason why the commander was so anxious was because he discovered that the army's siege and attack on the city for nearly half a year might be completely in vain!

The enemy defenders have mastered a new channel that can be used to transport military rations. The commander wants to cut off this channel by all means, so he leads everyone to fight again and again despite repeated defeats!

The morale of Cao's army was quite high in early February. Everyone felt that although they had endured for several months, there was still hope for the future. If they persisted a little longer and starved Wei Yan to death, they would be able to succeed.

But now, the carrot that has been dangling in front of the donkey for months has been suddenly removed. How can the Cao army still have the energy and spirit to spare?

It's like when you take a physical exam in middle school, you can't even do a pull-up, so you can only do bent-arm hangs to hold your breath for a few seconds. The physical education teacher used to count down for you with a stopwatch, but just when the countdown was about to end, the physical education teacher took the stopwatch away and told you that this one didn't count.

At this critical moment, wouldn't the mentality of this weakling who is hanging on by his last breath and whose chin is almost suffocated by the horizontal bar explode instantly?
This is the true reflection of the mentality of Cao’s soldiers at this moment.

(End of this chapter)