My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 6: First Battle
Three hours later, it was the early morning of August 2nd.

While Zhuge Jin was still sleeping soundly in his home in Huaiyin City, in the camp of Yuan Shu's army in the west of the city, the commander Ji Ling had just finished his breakfast. He was leaning on the tiger-skin couch in the central army tent with a greasy face, picking his teeth fiercely with a sharpened willow branch.

Ji Ling was obviously not in a good mood. Since arriving in Huaiyin yesterday, he had suffered two minor setbacks.

First, a small group of elite spies he sent to take advantage of the situation were discovered and eliminated by Guan Yu.

Guan Yu also took advantage of the situation by setting fire to the north gate, luring Ji Ling into thinking that there was a chance of spies taking the gate. He underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, killing and wounding many cavalrymen with hidden crossbows. Even Ji Ling himself was injured by stray arrows.

Fortunately, he was wearing double armor, and the stray arrow was deflected by the iron rod and penetrated the rhino skin at a time when its strength was already at the end of its strength and failed to break his ribs.

This flesh wound will probably heal in ten days or half a month, but it has a significant impact on morale.

"We can't just sit there and wait. We have to find a way to win a small victory. Otherwise, the morale that was boosted with great difficulty after conquering Xuyi will probably drop again."

Ji Ling was picking his teeth while thinking in his mind.

Six days ago, he had just captured Xuyi, which was located further upstream on the Huai River, and was able to go downstream to Huaiyin.

But Ji Ling knew the actual situation very well: when Liu Bei gave up Xuyi, he retreated with his entire army in an orderly manner and did not leave any food in the warehouse for him.

Obviously, Liu Bei felt that Xuyi was dilapidated and not suitable for long-term defense. So after fully exhausting the enemy, he took the initiative to retreat to Huaiyin City, which was taller, stronger and more convenient for transportation, to defend it.

At present, everything is still under Liu Bei's control, and this battle is not easy to fight.

However, just when Ji Ling was frowning and could not think of a solution, a general suddenly stumbled into the central army tent.

Ji Ling looked up and saw that it was the deputy general Liang Gang.

Liang Gang didn't waste any words and just shouted:
"General! God is helping me! Our scouts have captured some fleeing soldiers heading south along the Si River!
After torture, we learned that Lu Bu had attacked Xiapi! Liu Bei had lost his home base and was cut off from his support. He was doomed to die!"

"What? It's not a trick?" Ji Ling couldn't help but feel ecstatic when he heard that. At the same time, he couldn't believe it, fearing that it was Liu Bei's trick to lure the enemy.

Ji Ling suppressed his impulse and asked Liang Gang to send more scouts to investigate.

Another hour or two passed, until noon of the same day, after careful verification from multiple sources, Ji Ling felt that the information was most likely true.

In this case, Ji Ling finally couldn't help but ponder:
"Why did Liu Bei not react when his old nest was stolen? Could it be that no one informed him? It's unlikely. Huaiyin City is surrounded by water on several sides. Outside the north gate is the Huai River, and the east water gate leads directly to the Han Canal. Our army has not been able to surround those two sides so far.

As long as the Xiapi defenders upstream can seize the boats and go downstream along the Sishui River into the Huai River, they can bypass our army's blockade. Unless Liu Bei himself strictly ordered the city gates to be closed in advance and not to open the gates even when his own people knocked, it would be possible to cut off the news..."

Ji Ling thought for a long time, but couldn't figure out why Liu Bei didn't react. But as he continued to think along this line of thought, he suddenly had an idea:
"How could I be so stupid! I don't care why he didn't react!
Anyway, as long as this news spreads among the defenders, Huaiyin will be in panic and will collapse!
Since he doesn't know yet, I will find a way to help him know!"

After making up his mind, Ji Ling's response plan became obvious.

He quickly ordered Liang Gang: "Quickly gather a battalion of soldiers and divide them into several teams to go to each gate to curse and shout in unison that Xia Pi has been lost, so as to shake Liu Bei's army's morale."

Liang Gang immediately took the order and quickly assembled three thousand troops, dividing them into three groups to challenge the enemy outside the southwest, south and north gates. Ji Ling and Liang Gangle each led a team.

Unfortunately, after the troops deployed their troops outside the west and north gates, the city walls were silent and there was no sign of reaction at all.

Seeing this, Ji Ling and Liang Gang had no choice but to each select a hundred scolds, line up in a horizontal line with swords and shields, and approach within a hundred steps of the door, ready to yell in unison.

However, before they could open their mouths, crossbows hidden on the top of the city wall fired arrows at once, instantly shooting down more than a dozen of the cursing fighters. The rest dropped their weapons and fled madly, and Ji Ling and Liang Gang each spent a lot of effort to restrain them.

But the cursers dared not move forward no matter what, and in the end they could only shout from an absolutely safe distance.

Unfortunately, they had no loudspeakers and no one in the city could hear them.

After cursing for a while without any effect, Ji Lingliang Gang had to withdraw his troops and return to the camp. He decided to make more thorough preparations tomorrow, make some simple siege weapons like flying ladders, and build more large shields and wooden barriers. If all else failed, he would just shout while attacking the city.

After returning to the camp, Ji Ling was shocked to find that the experience of the two groups of people who had made the announcement was relatively good.

Le, who went to the South Gate to challenge the enemy, was even more miserable than them. He even lost his helmet, and his soldiers were scattered and many were killed or injured.

Ji Ling was surprised and asked the reason. Le Jucai explained in a sad tone: "I was 200 steps outside the city, and Liu Bei's army dared to open the gate. I thought I had a good plan and could talk to the enemy general. But the enemy only had more than 200 cavalrymen out of the city, and they dared to launch a surprise attack on me, and Guan Yu was also mixed in. I was not prepared for the moment, and Guan Yu killed dozens of people in a row. The formation was in chaos, so I had to order a retreat."

"Useless! He is afraid of fighting. Drag him out and bring him to justice!"

Ji Ling was furious when he heard this. One thousand cavalrymen were chased and hacked by Guan Yu's two hundred cavalrymen, but they didn't even dare to fight and just fled. How could such a useless person have the nerve to come back alive?
Upon hearing this, Le immediately knelt down and begged for mercy. Liang Gang beside him also spoke in a good way:
"General! The battle is imminent, and beheading the general will be disadvantageous to the army! Give General Le a chance to atone for his crime!
"It is true that our army was not well prepared today, and we had agreed to go only to challenge the enemy, so the soldiers certainly had no intention of fighting. Who would have expected that the enemy would dare to counterattack?"

After listening to the advice, Ji Ling calmed down a little and had to admit that there was some truth in it.

Because they were really rushed when they hastily called the troops out of the camp just now, and they also explained the purpose of this trip to the soldiers so that everyone would not worry.

Otherwise, they would have to prepare for at least half an hour more, such as letting the soldiers eat enough and taking some heavy shields that could cover the whole body before setting off.

Ultimately, the coach is also responsible for pushing the team too hard.

Ji Ling had no choice but to order his troops to speed up the preparation of siege weapons, hoping to find another way to spread the bad news to the enemy the next day.

He felt so aggrieved: Liu Bei's side had clearly suffered a serious disadvantage, but why did he have to pay such a high price to remind Liu Bei to synchronize the information? Is this still fair?
……

By the time Ji Ling completely gave up his struggle that day, it was already 3 p.m.

In Huaiyin City, Zhuge Jin, who had gone to bed early in the morning, slept until this time before finally getting up, washing, dressing, and having breakfast and lunch.

Then, when he had nothing to do, he asked Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, who were sent by Liu Bei to protect him, to lead the way to the treasury.

Just think of it as a check before leaving to see if there is anything missing or not, or to give a reminder and do you a favor.

Fan Jiang and Zhang Da had escaped from Xia Pi with Zhang Fei, and like Shi Ren who was guarding the north gate last night, they were also people who needed to be isolated. Liu Bei sent them to protect Zhuge Jin.

Along the way, they all wore conical hats, which they pulled down very low, for fear of being recognized by their comrades passing by on the street.

When Zhuge Jin arrived at the treasury, Liu Bei was indeed there. As soon as he saw Zhuge Jin, he was pleased to pull him aside to a quiet place and reported in a low voice:
"Sir, your prediction is correct. Ji Ling must have known that something happened in Xia Pi. Just now, people from all three gates were sent to challenge and provoke a fight. Most likely, they wanted to spread rumors and shake the morale of our army.

Fortunately, our army used hidden crossbows to repel the enemy, and Yunchang at the south gate opened the gate to attack the enemy when they were not prepared. He used the 200 cavalrymen who knew the inside story of Xia Pi, and captured a lot of people. After this setback, Ji Ling must be quiet for a day or two.

I have already arranged for the sand to be measured, and the soldiers in charge of digging the sand will finish digging and isolate before dawn. At present, these soldiers who are counting the sand are all unaware of the inside story. At the latest tomorrow, our army will know that there is enough food. Even if Ji Ling spreads the news again, I am sure that he will be dismissed as false news. "

Zhuge Jin felt a little comforted when he heard this, and he also had a full understanding of Liu Bei's basic skills in commanding troops.

It seems that Liu Bei's command ability is still strong, and his daily basic operations are quite solid, but he lacks unexpected strategies and the ability to respond to major sudden changes.

After hearing about Ji Ling's face, Zhuge Jin was also temporarily inspired, and gave Liu Bei a piece of advice:
"If I had spread rumors like Ji Ling when I was at war and failed, I would have carved more wooden tablets and thrown them into the Huai River and the Han Canal, so that the water would carry the news of Xia Pi's fall to the east water gate of the city. If any soldiers drew water from the canal, they might have seen..."

Huaiyin County is surrounded by rivers and has a very rich water system.

Zhuge Jin had two thousand years of experience in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad, and had seen all kinds of conspiracies and tricks. Of course, it was easy for him to think of the trick of throwing a drifting bottle into the water connecting to the moat to undermine the morale of the enemy.

Later, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed the Mingxia regime in Sichuan, Fu Youde of the North had already sneaked through Yinping and captured Chengdu, but Dai Shou, the prime minister of the Mingxia in the East, was still fighting to the death in Chongqing and refused to surrender. Fu Youde threw a large number of wooden signs with the words "Chengdu has fallen" into the Minjiang River.

Finally, it drifted downstream for thousands of miles to Qu Tang Gorge and was salvaged, causing the morale of the Xia army that was defending the Three Gorges in the east to collapse. However, the morale of Tang He, who was responsible for the water attack on Baidi City, was boosted, and he broke through Qu Tang Gorge in one fell swoop.

When Liu Bei heard this plan, he was so happy just now that he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and kept repeating: "I will immediately issue an order to prohibit drawing water from the sluice gate! And make sure to strictly investigate and prohibit the soldiers from salvaging foreign objects in the moat!"

As he spoke, Liu Bei secretly thanked his luck: Fortunately, Ziyu was on our side. If he was on the enemy's side, it would be unimaginable...

It is estimated that this move was probably in vain. With Ji Ling's brain, he should not be able to think of such a detailed and vicious trick.

But it’s better to be cautious. It doesn’t cost anything to prohibit soldiers from fishing.

After Liu Bei broke out in a cold sweat, he naturally looked up to Zhuge Jin even more and asked him about many details of the measures.

Zhuge Jin answered every question and responded to every move. Based on Ji Ling's latest movements, he gave some targeted advice, which Liu Bei deeply agreed with.

　Please vote for the new book and collect it, thank you
　　
　
(End of this chapter)