My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 617: Let the Enemy Battle the Air
After deciding on the strategy of besieging Luo City without attacking it and directly going around the city to the south to threaten Chengdu.

The thorny problems that had originally troubled the generals, such as "Luo City is strong, the garrison is large, Zhang Ren is good at defending, and Wang Lei is unyielding", also disappeared.

Zhang Fei, Wei Yan and others felt that the view before their eyes suddenly opened up and they could suddenly see an unusual road.

However, it will take a lot of time to implement all this.

Not only did it take time to dispatch Ma Chao from the rear, but it also took time for Zhang Fei's main force to split up and march south from Mianzhu, first preparing to storm Luocheng, but actually encircling it without attacking.

Therefore, all of Fa Zheng's plans should not be communicated immediately to the lower levels, so as to avoid leaks and delays. This plan to intimidate the enemy will not work if the enemy knows that you are just bluffing.

After weighing the pros and cons overnight, Zhang Fei decided to temporarily keep the plan secret to a level that only himself, Wei Yan, Fa Zheng, Wu Yi and a few others knew about it. At most, he would send a trusted person to deliver a secret letter to contact Pang Tong in the rear and have Pang Tong go through the process to transfer Ma Chao for reinforcement.

Even for Ma Chao, we don't need to say too much for the time being. Just let him go to the front line to reinforce Zhang Fei. After he arrives, he will follow Zhang Fei's instructions on how to provide the reinforcement.

The orders that ordinary officers under Zhang Fei received the next day were: "After our army has rested for a few days in Mianzhu and restored order in Mianzhu, we will slowly move south and prepare to attack Luocheng."

All preparations before the assault will be deployed as if a real assault were to take place, without any fancy moves.

At the same time, Zhang Fei also put on a full show, sending the news of his upcoming siege of Luocheng to Gan Ning on the southern front through a messenger, and contacting Gan Ning, hoping that Gan Ning would cooperate after he surrounded Luocheng.

As mentioned above, Gan Ning on the southern front had two choices after breaking through Jiangyang and besieging Baidao.

One is to go north along the Minjiang River from Baidao and Nan'an, break through these counties, and then go straight to the southern suburbs of Chengdu.

The other was to go north along the Luo River from Jiangyang, break through Han'an (Zigong, Neijiang), Zizhong, Niubei and other counties, and finally cross Longquan Mountain along the Luo River Valley near Luocheng to join forces with Zhang Fei's troops, attack Luocheng from the north and south, and then attack Chengdu by land from Luocheng.

(Note: "鞞" is pronounced as "pi" with the second tone, which is the same as "鼙". So Niubi County is pronounced as "Niupi", which is now Jianyang)
Now Zhang Fei's speed of breaking through Mianzhu on the northern line is much faster than expected. He will soon be able to approach or even surround Luocheng, and then he can join Gan Ning's army on the southern line to open up all the routes along the Luo River.

Even if Luocheng could not be taken for the time being, at least the troops besieging Luocheng and the military rations needed for a long-term siege could be supplied through shipping on the Luo River.

In this way, Zhang Fei's food supply route will no longer rely on land transportation in the north, but directly rely on river transportation in the south, which is equivalent to sharing the food supply route with Gan Ning. From Jiangzhou, go upstream along the Yangtze River to Jiangyang, and then turn into Luoshui from Jiangyang to reach Luocheng directly.

As long as Zhuge Liang had enough stored grain in Jiangzhou (Chongqing) and enough large ships for shipping on the Yangtze River, Zhang Fei and Gan Ning would not be short of food on the front line no matter how long they fought in Luocheng.

This would also be an additional blow to the morale of the defenders, because as long as the defenders knew this situation, they would despair and realize that it was impossible to defeat Zhang Fei by delaying time, consuming food and wasting time. Pure delaying would become meaningless.

……

After completing all these deployments, Zhang Fei let the troops rest for a few more days as planned, and celebrated the New Year under the city of Mianzhu before leisurely heading south again.

After all, it was already the end of the year when Mianzhu was captured. A bloody battle that lasted for more than a month, both sides suffered heavy casualties, and the soldiers were exhausted and really needed to recover. Nothing could be rushed.

During the rest period, the only actual combat deployment Zhang Fei made was to deploy a group of cavalry to the south every day to patrol and investigate the main roads between Luocheng and Chengdu, in order to prevent the enemy forces between the two cities from communicating with each other.

However, these troops also got good rest rotations, and every time they were on duty, Zhang Fei gave them rewards five times the usual amount, and also ensured that every soldier on a mission had enough meat to eat every day.

It was already the coldest time of the year, and the war had just ended when the soldiers were exhausted. It was also the New Year. With these multiple factors combined, the soldiers had to be fed meat every day in order for them to carry out their mission diligently.

The army officially set out again on the eighth day of the first lunar month. After three days of steady march, advancing only thirty miles southward each day, three days later, on the eleventh day of the first lunar month, the troops finally arrived at Luocheng.

Luocheng is located on the north bank of Luoshui River, so it is not necessary to cross the river to besiege this city. You only need to surround the east, west and north sides, leaving the south side facing the river.

Zhang Fei did not want to expose his true intentions too quickly, so he did not immediately set up camp on the south bank, but occasionally sent scouts to cross the river to patrol the south bank. On the surface, it was still the classic "surround three and lack one" layout.

In the next five or six days, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan dug long trenches outside the east gate, west gate and north gate of Luo City, and built rammed earth walls with the excavated soil. They also planned to build simple corridors connecting the various villages in the future.

……

Of course, Zhang Fei's every move was also observed by Wang Lei and Zhang Ren who were trapped in the city. Wang Lei didn't know much about military affairs, so after observing for a while, he consulted with Zhang Ren: "How exactly is Zhang Fei planning to attack?"

Zhang Ren had just suffered a crushing defeat ten days ago, and on the way back to Luo City, he suffered some minor injuries. He ran wildly in the cold winter and did not dare to stop for a moment. He also fell ill and has not recovered yet.

He was still frightened by Zhang Fei's offensive. After a brief observation, he made a judgment: "It's still a three-sided encirclement with one missing. This is clearly a threat to win a great victory. Continue to use the same old tricks and suppress the morale of our army.

The soldiers didn't understand and might think, "The enemy used this tactic to capture Mianzhu so quickly and fiercely, and now Luocheng will be difficult to defend." Once this idea spread in the army, his posture of surrounding the city on three sides and leaving one side open and deliberately leaving a way out might cause the soldiers to lose their determination to defend to the death.

Moreover, Luocheng is not like Mianzhu. The previous Mianzhu was on the south bank of the Mianshui River and adjacent to the river on the north. When the enemy surrounded us on three sides and left the south side open, our army would be defeated and would have to take the land route to flee to the south, and would be pursued by the enemy.

Luocheng is located on the north bank of the river, and the river is on the south side. Our army has the advantage of shipping on the Luo River, so we can leave at any time if we want, and the enemy will not be able to pursue us. This is certainly a good thing for the defenders to escape in the future, but it also makes it easier for the troops to escape easily when their morale is unstable. We have to guard against this."

Zhang Ren thought he had very keenly grasped a certain vicious plot of Zhang Fei and Wei Yan, but he had no idea that this was not what the other party cared about at all. But what could he do?

It can be considered as a frightened bird, fighting wits and courage with the air.

Wang Lei, who knew little about military affairs, found Zhang Ren's analysis very reasonable. His focus of thinking was immediately drawn to "how to prevent Zhang Fei from shaking the morale of our army", and he ignored other greater risks.

Wang Lei could not help but worry and humbly ask for advice: "I didn't expect Zhang Fei and Wei Yan to be so good at attacking people's hearts. They have come up with the idea of 'implying to our soldiers that Mianzhu cannot be defended, and if they use the same tactics to attack Luocheng, Luocheng will also not be defended', which has made our army waver. But I don't know whether their idea itself is right or not? Can we hold it with the old method?"

Wang Lei was afraid that the other party would attack his heart, but he was also afraid that the other party would not only attack his heart, but also had the strength to do so. So he had to confirm this point.

Fortunately, facing this additional question, Zhang Ren was very confident and quickly answered: "Don't worry about this! When Zhang Fei attacked Mianzhu, he took advantage of the shallow and narrow trenches in Mianzhu and the lack of water, so he filled up a large section of the river and then attacked the corner to break the city.

The moat of Luocheng was much wider and deeper, and the water volume of Luoshui was far greater than that of Mianshui. It was impossible for Zhang Fei to fill the river with a large section of cofferdam. He could only use traditional trench bridge vehicles and a small amount of rammed earth to build a bridge, and then use ladders and Gegong vehicles.

After the defeat in Mianzhu, I also summarized a new tactic of using crossbows to break the Ge Gongche. If Zhang Fei still dares to use the Ge Gongche to attack the city head-on, I might try to shoot giant arrows from the crossbows on both sides of the horse, drag thick hemp ropes and boulders at the tail, add pulleys, and use huge force to pull down the Ge Gongche!"

Zhang Ren boasted to Wang Lei about the specific city defense tactics he had polished and optimized, which boosted Wang Lei's confidence.

After Wang Lei confirmed that "as long as our army's morale remains stable, it is possible to hold the position," he made a new decision in his mind.

He twirled his beard and said something ruthless: "Since we can hold on if we work together and focus on defending, the key is how to prevent the army's morale from being shaken like it was in Mianzhu. I think it would be better to pretend to play a desperate play -

Well, this is just a description. We don't need to break the cauldron, we just need to sink the boats, and we will selectively choose some broken civilian ships to sink, to show our army's determination to fight the enemy to the death on the north bank of Luoshui and never retreat!"

Zhang Ren was shocked when he heard this and couldn't help asking, "Burning the boats? What do you mean by sinking the boats?"

Wang Lei: "In the next few days, we will collect all the old and broken ships from the people and deploy them all. Three days later, we will hold a parade and drill at the South City Water Gate to swear to defend the city to the death, and gather the soldiers to watch the ceremony.

At that time, we picked out some old and broken boats and burned them in public, and told the soldiers that all the boats were burned. Our army gave up the opportunity to escape southward through the Luoshui River, and let the generals unite as one and defend this city with one heart.

Don't worry, I said I would only burn some of the ships to show the soldiers. In fact, the good ships and warships will of course be kept privately, but they will be managed by a separate team of the army and will not be used unless it is absolutely necessary. "

After Wang Lei finished speaking, he thought for a moment and added that the remaining elite warships and troop transport ships that were hidden should be handed over to Zhang Ren for command.

After all, Zhang Ren was defeated in the Battle of Mianzhu but still fought hard to break through and continue to serve Liu Zhang. This was enough to prove his loyalty. Wang Lei felt very relieved to hand over the secret of the fleet to him.

When Zhang Ren heard that not all the ships were really burned but it was just a show to discourage the soldiers from escaping, he did not say anything more and just obeyed the order.

They didn't know that while they were focusing on how to prevent the army from wavering and how to "burn their boats" to defend the city, the enemy on the other side was not focusing on "how to storm and break through Luo City".

King Zhang Ren had wasted so much energy in vain, fighting wits and courage with the air, but he had failed to guard against the truly fatal danger.

(End of this chapter)