My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 618: Troops Arrive at Chengdu
Wang Lei and Zhang Ren were deceived by Fa Zheng's plan of "pretending to surround Luocheng on three sides and leaving one side open", and focused their attention on trivial issues such as "how to prevent the troops from wavering in morale and being unwilling to defend to the end".

We spent time and energy on a desperate tactic to inspire encouragement, but in the end we were just fighting wits with the air and missed the opportunity to contact and coordinate with Chengdu.

During the ten days when Wang Lei was preparing to defend the city to the death, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan were not idle.

They built the siege camp step by step to make it more solid, and made the antler fortifications blocking the city gates on the northeast and west sides of Luo City extremely solid. They also built a long trench wall connecting the three camps to form a corridor.

In this way, Zhang Fei could use fewer troops to completely blockade Luo City, prevent the enemy from breaking through, and ensure that not even a bird could enter or leave.

At the same time, while Zhang Fei was deploying the blockade on the north bank, one day in the middle of the first lunar month, scouts under Zhang Fei were scouting the enemy when they suddenly discovered thick smoke rising from the southern part of Luo City, near the water gate.

Although he didn't know what happened in the city, Zhang Fei quickly sent out the only patrol boat and ventured along the Luo River to approach the southern part of Luo City for reconnaissance. (Most of the boats on the Luo River had been searched and stored in the city by Wang Lei in advance. After Zhang Fei's army arrived at the bank of the Luo River, they were unable to dispatch a large number of boats to allow the army to cross the river. They could only search for a few small boats for reconnaissance.)
After some reconnaissance, although the scouts still could not see everything that happened with their own eyes, they could still hear the shouting, roaring, and vows of bloody battle from inside the city hundreds of steps away from the city wall.

After receiving the report, Zhang Fei was confused for a moment and had to ask Fa Zheng for advice.

Fa Zheng knew his former colleagues too well. After a brief analysis, he actually guessed almost everything:

"The south gate of Luocheng is a water gate, directly adjacent to the Luo River. The black smoke here is rising to the sky, it seems that a lot of wood is being burned, and it is wet wood, otherwise the smoke would not be so black. Maybe they are burning ships to show their determination to die.

Especially according to the scouts' reports, the city was in a state of panic after the fire. If it was a bad thing, it would definitely cause chaos and panic, and there wouldn't be such a united front. Setting fire in the city could be considered a good thing, and it could also motivate the soldiers. Most of them were desperate.

Wang Lei is a real military scholar, and he has helped us a lot. General, you can take this opportunity to collect wood and build a raft, and quickly cross the Luo River to the south, and set up a camp downstream on the other side, so as to speed up the complete encirclement of Luo City. Now that the enemy is burning the ships, even if they haven't burned them all, they won't send out the navy in a short time, which is just right for us to act."

Fa Zheng understood this very well. He felt that even if Wang Lei burned the ships, he would not really burn them all like Xiang Yu did. He would probably just do it for show and burn some old and broken ships to trick the ordinary soldiers and force them to defend their positions.

But in fact, Wang Lei would definitely leave behind relatively sophisticated warships to ensure his "right to control the Luo River". Otherwise, wouldn't Zhang Fei be able to transport grain through the lower reaches of the Luo River unscrupulously in the future? How could Wang Lei send ships out of the river to rob grain and destroy it?

However, since Wang Lei has just performed such a drama, he certainly dare not use the hidden fleet so quickly. Even if he wants to use it, he will have to do it suddenly when the storm has passed and he is forced to use it when he encounters a dangerous situation.

Otherwise, what would his soldiers think if the fire on this side just ended and another ship appeared on the other side? They would definitely think that "Wang Lei is trying to force us to die for Liu Zhang and deliberately deceived us into pretending that we have no way out." If this kind of deception between one's own people became a big deal, the morale of the army would be completely destroyed.

Fa Zheng explained this clearly, and Zhang Fei also agreed with it. He no longer worried about being intercepted by the enemy's navy when crossing the river in batches on makeshift rafts. Then, within a few days, he tentatively ferried several groups of soldiers to the south bank of the Luo River and continued to set up camp to block the river.

By the end of January, Luo City was basically completely besieged by Zhang Fei, with the enemy surrounding it from all sides without leaving any loopholes.

Wang Lei and Zhang Ren did not pay much attention to the situation on the south bank at first. But after being besieged for more than ten days, Zhang Ren became more and more suspicious when he saw that Zhang Fei and Wei Yanzhan had not really launched a strong attack and only added wooden battle houses, anti-arrow rattan shields, and slowly transported soil to fill the trenches with carts every day in front of the city.

Later, he finally discovered that Zhang Fei had set up camp on the south bank of Luo River and surrounded it. He finally realized that something was wrong.

Wang Lei also noticed this, and discussed with Zhang Ren: "Zhang Fei has also set up camp on the south bank. This is not a siege on three sides with one missing, but a siege on all four sides. What does he mean by this? Isn't he afraid that we will fight to the death? If this is true, our previous desperate efforts to boost morale are in vain."

Zhang Ren also frowned, not knowing what to say: "Zhang Fei's move is indeed inconsistent and not in line with the art of war. I can't tell whether he wants to break the city by force or to break the city by long-term siege and starving it of food.

If he intends to siege the city for a long time and cut off its food supply, Luocheng is also an important city in the heart of Shu, with a lot of food stored. He may not be able to siege it even if he sieges it for a year. How could Cao Cao in Guandong give Liu Bei a year? But if he intends to attack by force, his current actions also force us to unite as one and fight to the death.

Could it be that... he has a third plan? Oh no! Could it be that Zhang Fei wants to attack Chengdu without attacking Luocheng and ignore the food supply route?"

As he spoke, Zhang Ren eliminated two options that seemed reasonable but were inconsistent with the current situation. In the end, there was only one option left that seemed unreasonable, but he had no choice but to choose this one.

Wang Lei was also shocked when he was reminded of this by these words.

He knew better than Zhang Ren how weak his lord Liu Zhang was. Especially when he asked to be the military supervisor, he discussed the plan with Liu Zhang in advance: even if they had to delay the war, they should try to delay it in the outer Mianzhu and Luocheng, and not let the prosperous Chengdu fall into the flames of war.

If Zhang Fei really went around the city and headed straight for Chengdu, would the lord be scared into surrendering?

What's the point of continuing to stay here?
"Is it really so? If so, can our army leave the city by water and pursue the detachment Zhang Fei sent to Chengdu?" Wang Lei asked in panic, even disregarding the taboos in military tactics.

Zhang Ren's face turned pale after hearing Wang Lei's nonsense. He had to remind him: "Please be patient, military supervisor! Zhang Fei really wants to bypass the city, but it's not that easy. Even if he bypasses, they don't have a fleet on the Luo River. How can they ensure the food and grass for the soldiers?
Our army is simply no match for Zhang Fei in a field battle. If we insist on going to battle, we might just fall into the enemy's trap! Even if that day really comes, all we can hope for is a naval battle on the Luo River.

We can take advantage of the fact that the enemy has no warships and only has makeshift rafts or small boats collected sporadically. We can attack Zhang Fei's food supply route!
As for crossing to the south bank of the river, going deep into the land to pursue Zhang Fei's possible detachment, and defeating the enemy in a field battle, this is simply wishful thinking. After the battles of Mianzhu and other places, the difference in strength between the enemy and our army in field battles has been seen by the military supervisor, hasn't he?"

Zhang Ren's attitude seemed very firm: even if that day came, he could only fight two kinds of battles, either a battle to defend the city, or a battle to defend the camp, or taking advantage of the enemy's lack of warships and fighting a naval battle with the enemy on rafts or small fishing boats.

He dared not even touch any land battle or naval battle where the enemy had regular warships.

The weakness of Liu Zhang's army's military strength and quality had become very obvious after the previous battles. The gap between them and Liu Bei's army was so huge that it was almost to the point of crushing them.

Zhang Ren was very clear about what he could and could not do, and he would never do anything that would cause his comrades to die in vain.

Wang Lei was so firmly rejected by Zhang Ren that he did not dare to make any rash suggestions. Although he was the military supervisor, he did not have the power to directly take over the command. Moreover, the situation was so critical that he had to find a way to appease Zhang Ren and let him do his best.

After calming down and thinking it over again and again, Wang Lei felt that the danger of Zhang Fei bypassing the city and attacking Chengdu directly was not so urgent at the moment, and even if a small force went there, it would not pose a threat to Chengdu. How could such a small number of people attack the city?

Even if the lord is cowardly, he still has normal intelligence and should be able to distinguish whether it is a large army approaching Chengdu or a small deterrent force coming to harass. If the lord knew that Luocheng was still holding out and the enemies who arrived in Chengdu were just bluffing, he would not surrender so easily.

In this case, in order to preserve his strength and to avoid being lured out of the city by the enemy to die in a field battle, Wang Lei could only listen to Zhang Ren and continue to endure it.

……

Zhang Ren's avoidance of war and Wang Lei's vacillation, lack of opinion and ignorance of military affairs made it possible for Fa Zheng's plan to be implemented more smoothly.

By the end of January, Zhang Fei had completely surrounded Luocheng's land access and was able to ensure that only a small number of troops were needed to guard the camp and repel any possible breakout by Zhang Ren.

If Zhang Ren wanted to leave the city again, he could only take a boat through the Luo River, travel upstream or downstream for dozens or even hundreds of miles, and then find a location outside the encirclement where the defense was not tight and abandon the boat and go ashore.

At the same time, Pang Tong in the rear also praised Zhang Fei and Fa Zheng's plan after receiving it, so as early as early January, he began to dispatch Ma Chao to the south.

After half a month of preparation, marching, and rest, Ma Chao successfully arrived at the Luocheng battlefield at the end of January, and brought with him 8,000 cavalrymen. Before the Battle of Hanzhong last year, when Ma Chao had just fled from Tianshui to Dazhong via Qishan Road, he only had more than 4,000 elite cavalrymen from Xiliang. But later during the Battle of Hanzhong, Zhang Fei defeated Pang De's 20,000 Xiliang vassal troops in the battle on Chencang Road, and captured more than 10,000.

Because the captured soldiers were all from Xiliang, Liu Bei's army considered recruiting them directly. But later, considering that the military discipline and customs of these soldiers were very different from those of other generals in Liu Bei's camp, in order to treat people with sincerity, Liu Bei generously separated the cavalry unit from them and returned it to Ma Chao's command.

Therefore, on the basis of his own 4,000 cavalry, Ma Chao added the 3,000 to 4,000 cavalry that had previously surrendered to Pang De and then returned again, and the total number was restored to 8,000 elite cavalry.

Ma Chao was grateful for Liu Bei's trust and was willing to hand over the Xiliang prisoners captured on the battlefield to his command again, and also made some goodwill gestures.

For example, when Ma Chao stationed his troops in Dazhong, he allowed Liu Bei to appoint local officials and logistics officers in charge of finance, military supplies, etc., to show that he had no intention of controlling the local area and living behind closed doors. Over the past year or so, Ma Chao gradually evolved into a pure military general and no longer had his own territory.

As a result of his cooperative attitude, the size of the cavalry under his direct command doubled, and the weapons and equipment of these 8,000 cavalry were also upgraded to the same level as Liu Bei's original cavalry.

Double-sided metal stirrups, high-bridge saddles, steel-filled horse-cutting swords and sabers, lances with steel-filled spearheads, and steel-filled breastplates and helmets. From weapons to armor to horse harnesses, everything was much better than when they were in Xiliang.

This time Zhang Fei wanted Ma Chao to help, so Ma Chao naturally did not refuse. Especially since the three or four thousand cavalrymen he recruited later were all captured by Zhang Fei when he defeated Pang De at Chencang Road last year, so it can be said that he owed a favor to Ma Chao.

Now, in the entire Liu Bei army, apart from Liu Bei, Ma Chao respects Zhang Fei and the Zhuge brothers the most, and at most half of Pang Tong. He has little interaction with other generals.

After arriving at Luo City, Zhang Fei ordered Ma Chao to prepare enough dried meat and dry food, as well as some money, so that they could cross the river to the south.

During this period of time, Zhang Fei had his soldiers cut down trees to prepare the rafts that Ma Chao needed to cross the river. It could be said that everything was ready.

After Ma Chao made some final preparations, he headed south and quietly crossed the Luo River, preparing to threaten the counties around Chengdu.

……

While Ma Chao was heading south to threaten Chengdu, Gan Ning, Han Dang and Yan Yan were also making smooth progress on Liu Bei's army's southern battlefield.

Gan Ning initially planned to storm Bodao, but Lei Tong and Wu Lan were still defending tightly. Although the city of Bodao was not very strong, the terrain was easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was located at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Minjiang River, and several sides could not be attacked. The front that Lei Tong and others needed to defend was very narrow, so there were enough reserve troops.

After nearly half a month of tentative attacks and failure to break the city, Gan Ning began to think of other ideas. For example, he wanted to bypass the city and ignore the food supply, and then find an opportunity to lure the enemy army out of the city to rob food, and then annihilate the enemy navy on the river to weaken the defending enemy.

While Gan Ning was pondering these strategies, Zhang Fei broke through Mianzhu on the northern front, approached and surrounded Luocheng, and sent people to contact Gan Ning.

Gan Ning learned of the great victory on the northern front, and that the progress was faster than his, and he also felt a sense of crisis. So he quickly discussed it with Zhang Song and other military advisers.

Although Zhang Song was not very good at military strategies, he was very familiar with the people in Shu and was also very knowledgeable about the advantages and disadvantages of Shu's geographical situation - after all, in history, it was he who presented the "Topographic Map of Western Shu" to Liu Bei.

So when Zhang Song heard that Zhang Fei had succeeded in Mianzhu and was approaching Luocheng, he immediately suggested to Gan Ning: "General Gan! I think our army should not put too much effort in Baidao. We should immediately change our strategy and advance along Han'an County and Niubi County, open up the entire Luo River, and deliver military rations to General Zhang's camp east of Luocheng by water.

Anyway, our army originally had two routes to choose from: either go north along the Minjiang River to threaten Chengdu, or go north along the Luoshui River to threaten Luocheng and then Chengdu. Now the Luoshui route is easy to attack, so we'll just pick the weak one."

Gan Ning was a little unwilling to accept this. "But if we follow the Luo River, even if we finally reach Chengdu, the credit will go to Zhang Fei. Our army has occupied so many territories along the way, but they are all peripheral territories, not Liu Zhang's confidants. The soldiers will not get much credit or promotion if they follow me, so how can we convince them?"

Zhang Song quickly advised: "The Lord is very good at employing people and is very observant. How can the general delay important matters because of competing for merit? On the contrary, if the general is willing to adapt to circumstances and change plans to cooperate with friendly forces, the Lord will definitely take this into consideration when evaluating merits and demerits.

What's more, if our army plans properly, while changing the combat plan, adjusting the strategic focus and cooperating with General Zhang, it is possible to break the situation in Baidao.

Please think about this, General. If we really penetrate along Han'an and Niubi and threaten Luocheng, and leak the news of the crisis on the northern line to Lei Tong and Wu Lan in Baidao, will they continue to hold on in Baidao? Will they not find an opportunity to retreat and defend?
If we pretend that "the northern army has approached Chengdu, we need to rush in to join forces with light equipment, and don't worry about the grain route", and then bypass the city directly, then when our follow-up grain ships pass by, will Lei Tong and others go out of the city to rob grain and destroy it because our rear escort forces are empty?
As long as the general seizes an opportunity for a naval battle, even if our army is far weaker than the enemy, the general should be able to defeat an enemy several times his size with his superb naval warfare skills and sophisticated warships and equipment, right?"

Gan Ning thought about it along this line of thought and it indeed made sense.

It would indeed be a bit more troublesome to let him attack the city by force, but as long as he could lure the enemy out or force them to retreat to defend, then even if his own troops were only a tenth of the enemy's, he would be able to defeat the enemy with his rich battlefield experience, elite personnel quality, and weapons and equipment!

Gan Ning and Zhang Fei are both typical people who are not afraid of not being able to defeat the enemy in field battles or naval battles, but are afraid that the enemy will not dare to come out to fight and will insist on defending the city, leaving them no room for maneuver.

"In this case, I will follow your advice and move our army to the direction of Duke Yi, dig along the Luo River and advance northwards. Then, we will spread the word to the defenders of Baidao, so that they will feel that it is useless to hold on any longer."

After making the plan, Gan Ning followed it and dug through all the counties along the Luo River in just over ten days. He was too lazy to deal with those who refused to fight and just rowed his boat across the river to join Zhang Fei.

A few county defenders did not believe this. They saw that Gan Ning did not defend the retreat route at all and drove the fleet past the city so carelessly. There was no escort for the subsequent grain transportation, which showed no respect for the fighting power of the defenders.

So some people took advantage of the fact that Gan Ning's grain fleet seemed to be on low alert and went out of the city to intercept and harass them.

As a result, all the troops that left the city were defeated by Gan Ning's elite sailors who ambushed the grain fleet. The Shu sailors who had never experienced a battle before realized how big the gap between the two sides was, and in turn, Gan Ning used both kindness and force to capture several small counties.

As for the Baidao garrisoned by Lei Tong and other generals, the final fate was similar. Lei Tong and Wu Lan were not wise men to begin with, and they fell into Zhang Song's psychological scheme. After only half a month, they really thought that their continued defense was worthless. They also saw that Gan Ning's main naval force seemed to have withdrawn to the Luoshui direction, and there were not many surveillance troops on the Minjiang River.

Lei Tong discussed with Wu Lan that they would break out by going upstream along the Minjiang River and retreat to Nan'an so that they could act accordingly in case their lord needed them to return to rescue Chengdu.

As a result, Gan Ning ambushed only dozens of warships and thousands of sailors in a river branch dozens of miles upstream of the Minjiang River in Baidao, and suddenly attacked when Lei Tong was retreating.

Lei Tong did not expect that Gan Ning would dare to ambush with such a small number of troops in such an inconspicuous river bay and intercept him.

Unfortunately, after the two sides engaged in battle, Lei Tong quickly discovered that his own troops marching along the Minjiang River, although they had a three or four times numerical advantage, were still no match for Gan Ning's navy.

The retreating part of the Baidao defenders was defeated by Gan Ning on the Minjiang River. About two to three thousand people fell into the river or died in the battle. The rest either abandoned their boats and fled ashore or were captured as a whole.

Lei Tong was also rescued and captured by Gan Ning's troops after he fell into the water. Gan Ning took him back to Baidao, hit the morale of the remaining defenders, and took advantage of the situation to intensify the attack. Wu Lan was unable to hold out alone, and the city was broken by a single blow, so he had to surrender.

After clearing the obstacles in the rear, Gan Ning continued to divide his troops into two groups. One group approached Nan'an along the Minjiang River to confront Zheng Du. The other group, led by Han Dang and Yan Yan, went along the Luoshui River to completely open up contact with Zhang Fei.

While Han Dang and Yan Yan were delivering military rations to Zhang Fei's army, Ma Chao's cavalry finally reached the city of Chengdu.

(End of this chapter)