My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 534: Breaking Langzhong with Coaxing and Deception - Part (-word chapter)
Faced with Feng Kai's concern of "how to guarantee that Liu Bei will let me retreat when the time comes", Li Hui was obviously well prepared.

So he answered without hesitation:

"It's not difficult. So far, our army has only besieged the southeastern route and the lower valley of Langzhong County, and has opened the retreat route to the northwest and upper reaches. As long as you withdraw within ten days, you will not be surrounded by us.

In ten days, our army will completely surround Langzhong. The mountains and rivers near Langzhong are narrow and there is no way to bypass it. You can observe from the top of the city to see if our army is bypassing the city and encircling the whole city. "

Feng Kai thought it made sense. The reason why Langzhong County became the seat of Baxi County was closely related to the dangerous geographical environment. The Jialing River passed by the city, and there was only a small basin plain around the county, which was occupied by the county.

There were no plains further upstream and downstream, and both sides were mountainous. The defenders of Langzhong County were looking down from a high position, and the surrounding roads were under surveillance. Under normal circumstances, Feng Kai could indeed find out whether Liu Bei had bypassed and surrounded the entire city.

Since Liu Bei took the initiative to show goodwill and offered a price, not encircling the entire city within ten days and leaving him a way out, it could be considered a display of sincerity.

Whether or not to accept this sincerity of letting him live depends on Feng Kai's own decision.

Li Hui had already conveyed his message, so there was no need to waste time, so he immediately said goodbye. Feng Kai did not dare to make things difficult for him, and asked someone to escort him out of the city.

……

After returning to Liu Bei's camp, Li Hui told Liu Bei and Pang Tong about the situation. After a brief discussion, they knew what to do.

"So Xiahou Yuan asked him to hold the pass for so long? It seems that this was not only to delay Xiahou Yuan's return to Yangping Pass, but it was also possible that this was to delay Cao Cao's army from entering Sichuan through Chencang Road and then reaching Yangping Pass. After all, Xiahou Yuan asked him to hold the pass for a month, but how could it take a month to withdraw to Yangping Pass? Ten days at most would be enough. The extra twenty days must have been to wait for Cao Cao.

Judging from the intelligence sent by Ziyu and Kongming, Cao Cao would have crossed the Qinling Mountains around that time if nothing unexpected happened. However, Ziyu has sent spies to Guandong to spread rumors against Ma Teng in various places under Cao Cao's rule, which may delay Cao Cao's actions if all goes well. "

Pang Tong quickly determined this from the length of the hold order Feng Kai revealed at the beginning - of course, he also knew that Feng Kai might not tell the truth and might report more in order to bargain. But at least the order of magnitude was not wrong, and from this, he could roughly guess the other party's mentality.

Since he had roughly deduced the timetable for Cao Cao to cross the Qinling Mountains, Pang Tong could also roughly deduced how much time Wu Yi would have to be safe.

Pang Tong compared and sorted out the information, and finally advised Liu Bei: "My lord, you can immediately let Wang Ping send the Bantun Barbarians to cross the mountains to find Wu Yi, boost his morale, and let him hold out for 20 days to wait for reinforcements. Say that our army is attacking Langzhong fiercely, but the city is strong and the siege weapons must be prepared temporarily, so it will take 15 days to break the city, and you can rush to Yangping Pass to rescue him after 20 days.

To make it more serious, the lord could also write down these deadlines in a letter and seal it with the seal of the General of Chariots and Cavalry. After sending it to Wu Yi, Wu Yi could also show the letter to his generals to strengthen their morale.

At the same time, it also shows that our rescue is extremely precious. It took a lot of effort to break through Xiahou Yuan's blocking enemies and arrive here. We paid a lot of price to save him. Don't let them think that the rescue came too easily and be ungrateful. "

When Pang Tong spoke, he also anticipated the enemy's leniency and added an extra five days to Li Hui's plan. He knew that sometimes it was better to say ugly things in advance and then exceed the target at the end to stabilize people's hearts.

Otherwise, if they said at the beginning that it would take ten days, but failed to do so in the end, Wu Yi might have lost his mindset on the eleventh or twelfth day and would not have been able to hold on any longer.

Liu Bei nodded and immediately accepted this suggestion, but he couldn't help but add a question: "What if Cao Cao was not delayed, and even entered Sichuan earlier? Or maybe we misjudged the time when Cao Cao would go south from the beginning?"

Pang Tong was not worried at all: "When did my lord stop trusting Zi Yu? Since Brother Zi Yu dared to say that he sent spies to spread rumors and sow discord, it must have worked. It's just a matter of how much and how fast it works, but it will definitely work in vain.

Moreover, we can always keep scouts and investigate the movements behind the enemy lines. Originally, we did not have Wang Ping's Bantun Man troops who could freely cross mountains and ridges in Shu, and we might not be able to find out the movements in the direction of Chencang Road, nor would it be easy to cross Daba Mountain to the north and contact Liu Qi and General Huang Zhong in Shangyong.

Now that we have mastered the art of infiltration and how to use the Bantun Barbarians to cross the mountains and gather intelligence, as long as we use this to the fullest, we will be able to grasp the enemy's movements earlier than the enemy and remain invincible."

Liu Bei finally felt relieved: "That's right. How has Ziyu ever let me down in all these years? I have entrusted all the affairs of Guandong to him. I haven't seen him for a year or two, and I feel a little guilty.

As for Wang Ping, if his Bandun Man can really penetrate so far into the enemy's rear mountainous area and find out the enemy's rear army intelligence and latest movements, then their contribution is not small. After this battle, I will definitely reward them heavily."

Liu Bei made up his mind and called Wang Ping to tell him the task. Wang Ping heard that he was asked to send some men to infiltrate and contact the besieged friendly troops, so he did not refuse.

Wang Ping only euphemistically said that this kind of infiltration behind enemy lines required the preparation of light and durable dry food in advance, as well as sufficient salt. Because there was no logistical support for crossing mountains and ridges, all food had to be carried with them.

Liu Bei certainly was not vague about this request. He immediately transferred most of the salted fish, dried meat, and even canned sugared cheese that the army brought with them to Wang Ping.

Wang Ping's soldiers were also required to carry a kind of hard and solid wheat cake made by drying a mixture of refined wheat flour, sugar, lard and salt as a supplement to their staple food. This thing was also developed by the Zhuge brothers in recent years based on the original high-density military rations. Its function is similar to that of compressed biscuits in later generations, but it is not as compressed. It can be made entirely using the cooking, baking and drying technology of the third century.

The disadvantage is that it tastes harder and worse than the compressed biscuits of later generations.

However, the soldiers at the end of the Han Dynasty were not so particular. Those barbarians had never eaten any good food in their lives. When they saw this kind of junk food with refined flour, high sugar, oil and salt, they didn't care whether it was hard or not. They just soaked it in water to soften it a little and ate it.

For a while, when they heard that as long as they carried out reconnaissance and liaison missions behind enemy lines, they would be able to eat this kind of delicious food every day, the Bandunman soldiers under Wang Ping signed up enthusiastically, and the number of people required for the liaison team and the reconnaissance team was quickly filled.

……

After Wang Ping organized the liaison team and the reconnaissance team, he certainly could not carry out such a task personally. After all, he was still shouldering the mission of helping Liu Bei continue to eliminate the remnants of Cao's bandits in the southern part of the Daba Mountains. He still had to distinguish between the more important and the less important.

For the infiltration of a small force of only dozens or hundreds of people, it would be enough to send a few Quchang or even Tunchang to lead the team.

Therefore, the person who was ultimately responsible for contacting Wu Yi was just a Quchang named Pu Hu, who was from the same tribe as Wang Ping. He brought a hundred elite mountain soldiers, equipped with the most sophisticated weapons, the most suitable leather and rattan armor, and high-calorie dry food.

Normal people can only carry half a month's worth of food when they march with food bags on their backs. But since Liu Bei's army has refined dry food, it would not be too heavy for one person to carry a month's worth of food at a time.

After receiving the order, Pu Hu crossed the mountains and rivers that day, bypassing Langzhong and heading north.

If you can avoid the enemy's eyes and ears and take the main road along the Jialing River, then give priority to taking the main road.

If they spotted enemy cavalry scouts patrolling, they would hide in the mountains on the east side.

The first two hundred miles were covered in less than two days, and we successfully arrived outside Jiameng Pass.

It must be admitted that these Bantun barbarians, who later became the "Wu Dang Flying Army", were really fast at lightly armed marches in the mountainous areas. Along the way, they even ambushed and killed two Cao army patrols that were not very vigilant.

Of course, those Cao army patrols only had a dozen to thirty people, and compared to Park Hu's infiltration troops, they were definitely outnumbered. Park Hu waited until the enemy completely entered the pocket formation before suddenly launching a surprise attack, and it was hard not to win a complete victory.

After passing Jiameng Pass, the mountain road became more and more difficult because they were getting closer to Xiahou Yuan's main force and there was no Jialing River valley to follow. But even so, Pu Hu only took more than three days to find Wu Yi's location.

This speed was definitely enough to amaze people at the time. Because Pu Hu did not know Wu Yi's location in advance and then rushed over. He had to search along Jinniu Road and Chencang Road while rushing along.

Finally, when they suddenly descended from the sky and appeared behind Wu Yi's camp, indicating that they had no ill intentions and were here to make contact, Wu Yi was also greatly surprised. He tested and was on guard for a long time before allowing Pu Hu to enter the camp.

Wu Yi first carefully read the document with Liu Bei's seal, and then asked some additional questions. Finally, he was sure that Pu Hu was sent by friendly forces, so he treated him with courtesy.

However, Wu Yi still couldn't believe it. After three rounds of drinking, he couldn't help but confirm: "I didn't expect that Cao Cao had appointed Ma Teng as the General of Cavalry, but when he finally needed Ma Teng to send troops to help him march south to Sichuan, there would be a back and forth? Are these Xiliang people really so hard to tame?"

How could Pu Hu answer such a complicated question? So he just pushed it all to his superiors, letting Wu Yi read the explanation in Liu Bei's letter himself, and at the same time gave him a reassurance:
“General Wu, please don’t blame me. I don’t know the reason why Ma Teng rebelled, but it is a fact that Cao Cao has not been able to march south because of Ma Teng.

Before I left, my military advisor told me that if General Wu didn't believe it, he should just wait and see. My soldiers are good at crossing mountains and ridges. As long as General Wu provides us with food, we can cross Hechi County and go out to Chencang to scout.

In this way, if there is any movement of Cao's army in Chencang, we will know it immediately and come back to inform the general. As long as Chencang can be stabilized, there is no need to worry about being attacked by Cao's army for a while. General, you can hold on here for 20 days, and you will definitely be able to wait until my lord first breaks through Langzhong and comes here to respond. By then, your army will be able to turn danger into safety. "Wu Yi was reminded by these words and finally felt relieved.

This is indeed the case. Although he led the army from Shu, Liu Zhang was weak and incompetent and never managed to gain control of the Bantun Man. The army, which was mainly composed of Han soldiers from Shu and Guanghan counties, was not very good at crossing mountains and ridges.

Now they had retreated to Chencang Road, and Hechi County ahead was still in the hands of Cao's army. Even if Wu Yi wanted to know what was happening north of the Qinling Mountains, he couldn't find out.

Now with the help of friendly forces who can cross mountains and rivers as if walking on flat ground to gather information, we can at least get some advance information and the morale of the troops can be stabilized.

No matter why Cao Cao came late, as long as he knew that Cao Cao was indeed late and it would take many days for him to arrive, Wu Yi would have the confidence to hold on and stabilize the people under him.

After thinking this through, Wu Yi no longer bothered about the principles and details. He only cared about the results.

He just used Liu Beijun's reminder and the wake-up call as a "black box" to boost morale and maintain the morale of the army. As for the principle inside the "black box", what does it have to do with him?

After suddenly realizing the situation, Wu Yi, of course, announced all the good news that should be announced to the soldiers that day, asking everyone to cheer up, not to worry, and to wait quietly for Liu Bei's reinforcements.

In order to enhance his persuasiveness, he also showed the seal of Liu Bei's secret letter to several generals, and asked the friendly troops of Bandunman such as Pu Hu who came to contact him to show up and have a few drinks with other officers in the army.

Seeing that Liu Bei was able to cross mountains and ridges to make contact, everyone's morale was naturally high, and they believed that Liu Bei could rescue them soon. They believed that everything was under the control of Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.

In this way, the morale of the Yizhou army was stabilized, and all of Jia Xu's cunning tricks of cutting off food supplies and attacking the hearts of the people were in vain.

For more than ten days thereafter, Wu Yi remained steadfast and just kept strengthening his own camp. He did not worry about the pincer attack from Xiahou Yuan and Cao Cao, and the two sides were stuck in the northern battlefield.

Xiahou Yuan lost his patience and tried some strong attacks, but this only exposed his own lack of confidence and he was actually repelled by Wu Yi.

Wu Yi won several small victories in defending the camp, and his confidence grew stronger. As long as the military rations were not finished, he had no fear of losing the camp.

……

On the other hand, ten days passed in a flash after Liu Bei sent Li Hui to threaten Feng Kai.

Liu Bei kept his word. He said he would give Feng Kai ten days to escape and not to surround his retreat route, and he really gave him ten days.

During this period, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan only focused on the direction of the lower reaches of the Jialing River, that is, the southeast side of Langzhong County, and did not touch the northwest side.

Time passed quickly and it was already the middle of May. Thirteen or fourteen days had passed as Liu Bei had promised Feng Kai the ten days.

The reason why Feng Kai didn't leave was because he found that Liu Bei seemed to have tolerated her again and again. It was agreed that they would completely encircle the enemy in ten days, but on the tenth day, they didn't.

In the end, Liu Bei spared Feng Kai for three more days. It was not until the thirteenth day that he finally gave Feng Kai no more chances and began to make a big move to the northwest of Langzhong, allowing Gan Ning's fleet to sail upstream along the Jialing River and bypass Feng Kai's retreat.

Feng Kai actually didn't have much fighting spirit these days. He just thought it would be foolish not to take advantage of the enemy. Seeing that the enemy was slow, he took advantage of them for as long as he could. Now that Liu Bei was serious, he knew the situation very well and abandoned the city and broke out in the evening of that day.

However, just after leaving Langzhong County and walking thirty miles northwest, around 12:00 p.m., Feng Kai was marching in the valley along the river when suddenly there was a loud shout of killing from the mountains in the east. It turned out that Wei Yan had received orders from Pang Tong in advance and led his troops to ambush there.

The troops led by Wei Yan were actually the Bandunman mountain soldiers of Wang Ping's army. Wei Yan was in charge of the overall command, and the officers of the Bandunman troops under him were responsible for the grassroots command.

These troops crossed mountains and rivers without anyone noticing, and took a small path to the north to bypass Feng Kai's retreat. There was no need for them to take the Jialing River valley or rely on river transportation, so they had been circumventing Feng Kai for several days without Feng Kai noticing. He thought that Liu Bei's army had not been able to cut off their retreat.

The reason why Liu Bei waited until the thirteenth day before launching the attack was because he did not want to ruin his reputation after listening to Pang Tong's plan.

Pang Tong said to give the enemy ten days. If the enemy withdrew within ten days, but his side went back on its word and ambushed them halfway to cut off their return, it would somewhat damage the diplomatic credibility of Liu Bei's camp.

Liu Bei waited until the thirteenth day before openly encircling the enemy. This cannot be blamed on Liu Bei's breaking of his promise. It was Feng Kai's own greed - if he had escaped before the tenth day, Liu Bei might not have stopped him. He himself exceeded the deadline by three days, and Liu Bei did not promise not to stop him even if the deadline was exceeded.

However, Liu Bei's interception was rather covert, and Feng Kai, who was on the lookout in the city or sent out scouts, could not detect it.

At this moment, Feng Kai had just abandoned the city and broke out. He was tired and hungry halfway through the journey. Wei Yan suddenly attacked from the side and cut off his team from a high position. Naturally, Feng Kai's several thousand men were immediately defeated.

Fortunately, in the dark, Wei Yan could only cut off the enemy in the middle, rather than directly blocking the front. Feng Kai himself was able to break out in the dark with a few hundred cavalrymen.

But the main force of the infantry that followed was completely hopeless. While being beaten in the waist by Wei Yan, shouts of killing soon came from behind.

It turned out that after Zhang Fei confirmed that Feng Kai's main force had broken out of the city, he immediately launched an attack on Langzhong County.

The hundreds of militiamen left behind by Feng Kai certainly had no will to resist. When they saw Zhang Fei launching a general attack, the county town was captured in less than half an hour.

Zhang Fei was not satisfied after easily capturing the county. He thought the enemy did not put up any resistance at all, so he continued to lead his troops upstream along the Jialing River valley to pursue them.

Late in the night at 11:00 p.m., Zhang Fei chased to the battlefield where Wei Yan intercepted the remnants of Feng Kai and launched a general attack from the rear.

After holding back for so long, it was rare to have a good fight, so Zhang Fei certainly would not be polite. He led the charge on horseback, shouting loudly and calling on his men to charge together.

The remnants of Feng Kai's troops, which were already in disarray, were blocked by Wei Yan and attacked from the rear by Zhang Fei. Of course, they collapsed instantly.

Zhang Fei charged left and right, stabbing to death countless Cao soldiers and generals in the dark. As the shouting and killing gradually died down, all of Cao's 4,000-strong army was annihilated in an organized manner, except for a few who jumped into the Jialing River to escape.

However, fighting in the dark was bound to cause injuries. Zhang Fei killed so many enemy soldiers that he himself was inevitably hit by a few arrows. Most of them hit his steel armor and could not penetrate it. One arrow was particularly lucky and barely shot through the gap, causing some minor injuries.

After the battle, Liu Bei personally encouraged his soldiers and inspected the results of the battle. When he heard from his subordinates that Zhang Fei was injured, Liu Bei of course took it very seriously and hurried over to see him in person.

Zhang Fei didn't care at all. He even wanted Liu Bei to take advantage of the victory tonight so that he didn't have to be vigilant anymore and give him a few more jars of wine.

But Liu Bei's face turned serious, and he grabbed Zhang Fei's hands and shook them solemnly: "Don't be so irritable! Let me see!"

Zhang Fei was reluctant, so he had to go back to the tent to take a breath, drink some water, and wait until it was not so hot, and then slowly take off his armor (taking off the armor too quickly will cause armor to fall off easily).
Liu Bei checked it himself and found that it was only a minor flesh wound.

But Liu Bei was very good at taking advantage of it, and quickly ordered: "Quick, clean and bandage the wound!"

Zhang Fei was puzzled: "Brother, what can be done about this minor injury?"

Liu Bei: "Of course we have to deal with it quickly! If we don't deal with it, it will heal on its own. Not only do we have to deal with the wound and bandage it, but we also have to make it known to the whole army!

Then we hurried to rescue Wu Yi and let him know that we had fought hard against Langzhong! Even you, the third brother, were injured in order to save him!"

-

PS: Although there are only two updates today, it’s a long chapter of 5,000 words!
(End of this chapter)