My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 726: Kill Yong Kai first, then kill Shi Xie
After Zhuge Liang personally led the army to capture Qin Zang County, he only took a brief rest before continuing to advance step by step.

Seven days later, as time entered the late twelfth lunar month, Zhuge Liang's army approached Lianran, the last gateway to Dianchi County.

Lianran was a county town that was smaller than Qinzang County and more difficult to defend. At the same time, Yong Kai's troops were not as determined to defend Lianran as they were to defend Qinzang County.

Because Qinzang County was at least close to a tributary of the Pushui River, and had a big river to rely on. The Pushui River was the Red River in later generations, and it could flow all the way to Longbian County, the capital of Jiaozhi County (now Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam) downstream.

Therefore, if Yong Kai had held on to Qinzang County before, he would have had a chance to delay Shi Xie's reinforcements from going upstream along the Pu River and then turning into a tributary to join him by water.

The loss of Qinzang County meant that although Shi Xie's reinforcements could still arrive, they could not travel by water. In the end, before approaching the Dianchi Lake Basin, they would be forced to abandon their ships and go ashore, climb over several mountains to the Dianchi Lake Basin, and meet up with Yong Kai. Otherwise, Yong Kai and Shi Xie would have to fight on their own, and the risk of being defeated separately would increase greatly.

Since the city was more difficult to defend, the soldiers' will and determination to fight were not as strong, and the time that Lianran County could hold back Zhuge Liang's army was naturally shorter.

After marching and resting, it took only five days for Zhuge Liang to break through Lianran again and annihilate thousands of enemies. There is nothing much to say about the whole process. The difference in strength between the enemy and us is too great, and it is not worth mentioning.

On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhuge Liang conquered Lianran, and then continued to advance non-stop. On the 29th day, he arrived at Yong Kai's old nest, Dianchi County.

Yong Kai did not flee this time, but personally led his army to defend Dianchi County, determined to fight to the death here - although in theory, he still had a way out as long as he continued to flee to the mountains in the east. But if he retreated further east, he would not be able to wait for Shi Xie's reinforcements to join him.

Shi Xie's reinforcements abandoned their ships and crossed the mountains to take the land route, but they could not go far in Jianning County. Crossing two mountains to meet up at the Dianchi Basin was already the limit of Shi's army. If Yong Kai ran away again, Shi Xie would not play with him.

Yong Kai could only hope to defend the city to the death and consume Zhuge Liang's energy for a while. By the time Zhuge Liang's soldiers became tired and discouraged, and their fighting spirit had been slightly dampened, he could just hold on until the spring when the weather warmed up and the meteorological environment became unfavorable for the soldiers coming from the north.

Then, as soon as Shi Xie's reinforcements arrived, he joined forces with Shi Xie to launch a decisive counterattack and repel Zhuge Liang.

After arriving at Dianchi County, Zhuge Liang confirmed that Yong Kai had no intention of continuing to escape, but chose to defend the city to the death, so he was no longer in a hurry.

Anyway, Zhuge Liang came from a thousand miles away, and there were a lot of mountain roads along the way. It was impossible for him to carry siege weapons with the army, not even prefabricated parts.

All siege equipment had to be built on site by felling trees and cutting bamboo. As Yong Kai's old nest, Dianchi County had the strongest defense among all the cities in South China.

There is at least one moat here, formed by diverting water from Dianchi Lake. If the attackers want to attack the city, they must first arrange bulldozers to fill the moat, which takes a lot of time.

In addition, additional traps were deployed in front and behind the moat, and the height of the city wall was rarely more than two zhang - in the Central Plains, a city wall more than two zhang high was nothing at all. Fortresses like Chang'an, Luoyang, and Meiwu had walls that were more than seven zhang high and thick.

But in Nanzhong, a city wall of two to three meters is already at the county level.

In the past, the cities could be conquered with flying ladders and battering rams, but here, we have to use cloud ladders and battering rams. If we want to ensure that everything is foolproof, it is not impossible to spend more than half a month to build the Ge Gongche.

Considering that this battle could not be completed before the end of the year, Zhuge Liang was not in a hurry.

He simply ordered his soldiers to completely surround the north of the city first, and also sent troops to block several valley entrances leading from Dianchi County to the northern counties, to ensure that Yong Kai's communication with the northern tribes was completely cut off.

It took at least two days to complete these two steps in a hurry. Counting the days, it was already the first month of the 16th year of Jian'an.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang kindly announced that the soldiers would have extra meals and relaxed the daily workload of cutting bamboo and wood, building ladders and Ge buses, so that the soldiers could rest for a few days and have a good New Year.

When Zhang Ren and Zhou Tai heard this order, they could not believe their ears and went to Zhuge Liang for confirmation.

"Why did your Lord allow the soldiers to be so lax? With a great war on the way, how could they care about giving the soldiers a break during the New Year?"

Zhuge Liang insisted: "Of course we have to rest, and we have to rest in a big way so that Yong Kai in the city will also know that we have rested.

Before announcing this order, you should first make some noise and then have people spread the news that some soldiers are homesick and have difficulty acclimatizing to the climate here and there, so there is noise in the army.

We had to give in and agree to slow down the progress in order to take care of the morale of the army. In the final analysis, this was part of the strategy of luring the enemy and making them proud, so that Yong Kai would see the hope of waiting for reinforcements and attacking from both sides."

Zhang Ren and Zhou Tai then suddenly realized and accepted the order.

Before leaving, Zhang Ren suddenly had an idea and thought of a change of tactics. He took the initiative to ask, "Sir, since you are pretending that the soldiers are tired and lazy and have to rest because of the unfamiliar climate and water, why don't we continue to relax the outside of the camp and tighten the inside and set up guards every day?

If Yong Kai is so arrogant that he dares to take advantage of our army's laziness and sends troops out of the city to rob the camp, we can take advantage of the situation to strike back!"

Zhuge Liang immediately stopped Zhang Ren from making a big mistake: "Hey! Don't act on your own! Even if Yong Kai sends troops out of the city to raid the camp at night, how many people can he send?
Even if we set up an ambush and annihilate this army, we cannot seize Dianchi County. It may even scare Yong Kai so much that he will not dare to go out to fight in the future. Even if Shi Xie arrives, he will not dare to go out. It is also possible that Shi Xie's troops will also get the news halfway and be afraid to move forward.

Therefore, the outer camp should be completely relaxed, and the inner camp should be on guard. If Yong Kai really comes to rob the camp, let him destroy one of the outer camps, and the disorderly soldiers just need to gather back to the second inner camp, and it will be counted as a credit to you. "

Zhang Ren was very depressed when he heard this, but after thinking about it carefully, he admitted that what Ling Jun said was right. His own self-willed decision might have scared away the big fish, so he strictly followed his instructions.

Therefore, from New Year's Eve to the fifth day of the first lunar month, the Han army camps greatly reduced the intensity of their preparations for war, and the time and labor spent on felling trees and bamboo and building siege weapons every day were also greatly reduced.

A batch of flying ladders, trench bridges and battering rams were built only after the Chinese New Year, but there was no sign of the ladder truck, let alone the Ge bus.

From the sixth to the eighth day of the first lunar month, the soldiers' labor intensity was slightly restored. After all, they were in the army, and Zhuge Liang could not really let the soldiers celebrate the New Year until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. That would be too fake.

Yong Kai did not notice the Han army's lax actions in the first few days. But after the fifth day of the first lunar month, even though Yong Kai was slow to react, he gradually discovered that something was wrong.

After all, Zhuge Liang did not completely surround Dianchi County. Even on the fifth day of the first lunar month, the South Gate was still open for Yong Kai's scouts to enter and exit, but the communication route between Yong Kai and the northern territories was cut off.

Therefore, Yong Kai relied on the scouts entering and exiting the south gate to conduct patrols every day, and finally discovered the important military intelligence that "the Han army was resting and slacking because of the New Year."

After confirming this, Yong Kai immediately summoned his brothers, nephews, and barbarian kings such as Meng Huo who came to help in the battle, as well as generals such as E Huan.

After a brief discussion, Yong Kai made a very decisive suggestion: "I want to take advantage of the enemy's slackness and send out assassins at night to escape from the city and rob the camp. What do you think?"

The generals and the barbarian kings and barbarian commanders who came to help looked at each other in bewilderment. Even though these people were relatively reckless, some still pointed out:
"What kind of person is Zhuge Liang? No one in the world has ever heard of a person who could make Zhuge Liang fall into a trap. Our army thought of raiding the enemy camp when they were not prepared. How could Zhuge Liang not have thought of it? Maybe the enemy army is relaxed on the outside but tight on the inside, and they are actually hiding an ambush in the camp, waiting for us to take the bait."

But Yong Kai felt that waiting to die was not a solution, and finally slammed the table: "You are so cowardly, can you outlast Zhuge Liang by waiting? Our army has been defeated repeatedly, and Zhuge Liang has already killed us, and the tip of the knife of the siege is at our throat.

Zhuge Liang is in high spirits right now, and our army is in a state of panic and cannot work together. We need a small victory to rally the people and defeat the Han army! I have made up my mind. If you are worried about an ambush, the worst that can happen is that we can just send a few more people to try!
I will send out a thousand elite soldiers, and without opening the city gates, I will directly use ropes to descend into the city in the dark, rob a few camps and leave, and take as much as I can. If I encounter a tough enemy, I will retreat. Even if I fail, I won’t lose many, and I won’t affect the main force defending the city.”

When the generals and the Barbarian King Yi Shuai heard that their lord had set a "stop-loss line", they knew that even if they fell into the trap, the losses would not be expanded to an uncontrollable level. Moreover, Yong Kai had said that he would use his own elite troops to do this, so they no longer objected.

Yong Kai succeeded in overcoming all objections, and his prestige recovered a little. I believe that the next time a decision is made, the voices of those who dare to oppose or question him will be smaller as a result.

……

After Yong Kai made the decision, he sent out a thousand elite soldiers that night, led by his general E Huan, who climbed down the city wall with ropes and raided the camp in the dark.

These elite troops came out from the northwest corner of the city, and after a brief assembly, they headed straight for the nearest outer camp of the Han army.

When E Huan got closer, he could vaguely hear noisy sounds coming from the Han army's outer camp, as well as the sounds of drinking and eating meat. The military discipline seemed to be lax.

Although we didn't catch up with the time when all the enemy troops were asleep, this was still a good time to raid the camp. The enemy troops had chaotic schedules and were busy with their own things, and the noise they made could also cover up the movement of some surprise attack troops approaching.

E Huan tried to sneak up as quietly as possible until he was discovered by the Han army, which had begun to hastily shoot arrows to defend themselves. Then he shouted loudly, swung his sword, and rushed forward with thousands of warriors.

Thousands of elite barbarian soldiers suddenly attacked, and the Han army in the outer camp was caught off guard. They soon collapsed in chaos and fled to the rear.

When E Huan rushed into the enemy camp, he set fire everywhere, burning a lot of baggage carts, tents, fences, and some unfinished siege weapons, creating great chaos.

It’s a pity that the Han army fled very quickly, and E Huan didn’t kill many people.

After he broke into this camp, he spread out to the left and right to kill, but the enemy troops in the camps on both sides seemed to have discovered something unusual and fled to the deeper camps in the rear. E Huan still didn't kill many people and could only continue setting fires.

When he mustered up the courage to charge deeper into the enemy camp, he soon discovered that the Han army had been thoroughly organized. Before his men even got close to the camp wall, they were shot by the crossfire of the strong bows and crossbows, and had to retreat quickly.

Even so, there were still many casualties.

E Huan knew that he had no chance to expand his victory, so he retreated decisively. The Han army could not tell how many enemies were coming in the dark, and did not dare to pursue them. E Huan fled back to the northwest corner of the city wall, and according to the signal, ropes and ladders were lowered from the city wall to help them climb back up the wall. The first batch of soldiers who escaped, including generals like E Huan, of course still had to rely on ropes to pull them up the wall, and Yong Kai's guards did not dare to lower the ladders directly.

They would only lower the ladder after confirming that they were their own people and that their identities were not a problem. Ladders were much easier to pass than ropes, and many people could be evacuated in a short period of time, thus avoiding being hunted down by the Han army.

That night, E Huan didn't know how many Han soldiers he killed or wounded, and his elite troops also suffered heavy casualties, but it seemed that he fought well.
Flames shot up into the sky in the dark night. Hundreds of tents in the three camps were burned, as well as a batch of semi-finished and even finished siege weapons and baggage vehicles.

E Huan returned to the city and reported the results of the battle to Yong Kai. Yong Kai was very proud and saw more hope of joining forces with Shi Xie to defeat Zhuge Liang.

"Haha, Zhuge Liang has such a great reputation, but it turns out he is just like this. The northern soldiers came to the south and really couldn't adapt to the local climate and water, and they got sick a lot.

Even a man like Zhuge Liang couldn't suppress the morale of the army and had to give the soldiers a rest and reward. He was clearly thinking about letting the soldiers celebrate the New Year during the war! It is fitting that Zhuge Liang's reputation was ruined in our Jianning County!"

Yong Kai's words were not necessarily what he really thought in his heart, but he said them more to boost morale.

But now that he had solid results to back him up, the previous voices of doubt almost completely disappeared, and everyone could only go along with what he said.

……

Yong Kai was thus supported by Zhuge Liang's strategy of making his soldiers arrogant. More than ten days passed and it was already the end of the first lunar month.

Zhuge Liang's siege ladders were finally built, and there were also several Ge Gong vehicles, which could be completed within ten days.

Other trench bridges, battering rams, and even a few ramps for observation and suppression purposes were also built.

During these days, with the help of a bulldozer equipped with an anti-arrow shield, Zhuge Liang filled several gaps in the moat in the north of Dianchi County, enough for the ladder to pass directly through the solid ground and be pushed to the base of the city wall.

On the 20th day of the first lunar month, after making sufficient preparations, Zhuge Liang first launched a tentative siege on Dianchi County.

Yong Kai had never seen many of the siege weapons Zhuge Liang used before. Even if he had, he had never seen such large ones. For example, the two watchtowers and the ladders were taller than anything Yong Kai had seen before.

This technical offensive instantly put Yong Kai under great pressure. On the first day of defending the city, he had to send all his elite troops to the city walls to block the entrances and fight fiercely with the Han army before he could barely hold on.

But the price of doing so is also very heavy, because as long as Yong Kai does not send his own trusted subordinates, and only relies on Meng Huo and other barbarian kings who are coerced by him to go into battle, then Meng Huo may not be able to plug the hole.

The final result was that the soldiers who were loyal to Yong Kai lost more quickly than the barbarian leaders. After a day of fighting, Yong Kai's control over the tribes had been reduced.

Yong Kai was also a smart man. He knew that it would not work if they continued fighting like this. He had to think of a way to let the troops of the barbarian kings and Yi generals serve as vanguards and cannon fodder to consume Zhuge Liang's energy, and then his own main force would be responsible for picking the fruits of the battle.

Otherwise, even if he defeated Zhuge Liang, he would only be serving as a scapegoat and benefiting Meng Huo and others. By then, the remaining direct military force he had would not be enough to completely control Jianning County.

Fortunately, Zhuge Liang's first siege seemed to be just a tentative one.

Zhuge Liang was too "pursuing perfection" and found some problems after the first attack on the city. He thought that he could launch a subsequent full-scale attack after being more fully prepared.

For this reason, Zhuge Liang secretly let people know that he would wait for a few more days until Ge Gongche was completed before fighting again. By then, he would surely be able to capture Dianchi County in one battle!
When Yong Kai heard the news, he became more and more anxious. He was like an ant on hot pan, at a loss as to what to do.

At this moment, good news came from the south.

One day in the last ten days of the first lunar month, a messenger rushed to the city through the South Gate, which was left open by the Han army, and reported the news. Yong Kai immediately sent someone to meet him up in the city, and after repeated confirmation, he finally learned that it was Shi Xie's reinforcements that had arrived.

"Master! The reinforcements from Master Shi of Jiaozhi have arrived! They are Master Shi's two younger brothers, Shi Yi and Shi Tong, who have gathered a total of 20,000 main forces from Jiaozhi County to come to our aid! There are also countless barbarian soldiers who have been coerced and persuaded along the way!"

For a vassal from a remote area like Shi Xie, he had done his best to call on 20,000 men to help. Shi Xie was also very clear that if he could not help Yong Kai defeat Zhuge Liang this time, he would also be killed slowly.

Moreover, if Yong Kai could be rescued this time, and if Yong Kai's own strength was greatly damaged, and he and Zhuge Liang were both defeated, then Shi Xie might even be able to puppet Yong Kai, at least that's what he thought.

After comprehensive consideration of various factors, Shi Xie made this all-out effort to provide reinforcements.

Anyway, even if he held back, he would be defeated one by one by Zhuge Liang in the future. Why not take advantage of this rare opportunity and concentrate all his superior forces to give it a try?

When you are poor, you should be arrogant; when you are rich, you should be steady; when you are in desperate situation, you should take a risk.

After confirming that Shi Yi and Shi Yi had finally arrived with their troops, Yong Kai was like a long-awaited rain. He immediately sent someone to reply and agreed on a date for a decisive battle with Zhuge Liang with internal and external support.

After receiving Yong Kai's reply, Shi Yi also expressed that he would advance as scheduled.

……

Shi Yi and Shi Xie's reinforcements were getting closer and closer, and this move certainly could not be hidden from Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang was so cautious that he sent out scouts at least a hundred miles away to learn about the enemy reinforcements in advance. So when Shi Yi was at least two or three days away from Dianchi County, Zhuge Liang's scouts discovered the enemy.

Of course, it takes time for the scouts to come back and report the news. Even if the scouts can run much faster than the army can march, Zhuge Liang still has at least one day to spare when he learns that the Shijia reinforcements are about to arrive.

Zhang Ren and Zhou Tai naturally requested to fight, hoping to attack immediately and defeat the enemies one by one.

Not only did these two generals earnestly request to fight, but another general, General Gan Ning, who had just arrived in Dianchi County, also eagerly requested to fight.

Gan Ning had just arrived at Dianchi County a few days ago. His troops had traveled south from Zangke County and the Zhuti area of Jianwei, and it took them a month or so to kill their way through Weixian, Tonglao, Muma, Guchang and other places in Jianning County before they arrived at the battlefield in the Dianchi Basin.

In other words, it was roughly equivalent to sending troops from the Yunnan-Guizhou border, conquering Zhaotong and Qujing in Yunnan in later generations, and finally approaching Kunming.

Gan Ning also took over Yong Kai's northern territories. However, Yong Kai was unaware of this because Zhuge Liang had divided his troops to cut off the mountain roads in the northern valleys of the Dianchi Lake Basin.

Facing Gan Ning's request for battle, Zhuge Liang remained calm: "We can still fight with the time difference. We can concentrate our superior forces and defeat the enemies one by one. How can I deliberately miss such a good opportunity?

However, a day and a half in advance is too long a time difference. If we gather our troops and march south now to defeat Shi Xie's reinforcements, Yong Kai will be frightened and will not dare to leave the city to fight in the field to cooperate with Shi Xie.

Let's rest for another day. Tomorrow morning, the whole army will march south to fight Shi Xie. The battlefield doesn't need to be too far from Dianchi County. It would be best if Yong Kai's scouts and soldiers on lookout knew that our army had engaged Shi Xie. Then we can see if he will come out of the city to help the reinforcements.

At most I will give you half a day, or even only two or three hours. Will you have enough time to defeat Shi Xie first and then turn around to deal with Yong Kai?"

Zhuge Liang was very good at grasping the rhythm. He wanted to neither scare the enemy away nor make them take the bait, leaving them with an uncomfortable feeling of being unable to swallow or spit out.

Gan Ning, Zhang Ren, Zhou Tai and others looked at each other and gritted their teeth: "If our army is united, the number of soldiers may exceed Shi Xie's, or at least be equal. But how can the elite level of our army be compared with those Jiaozhi soldiers of Shi Xie?
They had previously relied on the remoteness, high mountains, dense forests, and scorching heat and miasma to repeatedly resist the imperial army. Now that they have taken the initiative to deliver themselves to the door, two hours is enough!

At that time, I will attack together with Generals Zhang and Zhou, break through the center, and outflank the left and right wings, just for a quick victory! We must let Shi Xie, that old man who has never seen the world, know how powerful the imperial army is now! "

Zhuge Liang was very satisfied with the morale and condition of the troops. He patted the three generals on the arm, encouraged them with a few words, and asked them to arrange for the soldiers to have a good rest as soon as possible and recuperate, so that they could be ready to have a meal and get dressed before dawn tomorrow morning before setting out.

The generals received the order and went back to prepare.

At three o'clock in the morning of the next day, the Han army began to cook. At four o'clock in the morning, the troops got up and assembled, had a snack, and got ready. At five o'clock in the morning, they had already lined up and marched out of the camp, heading south to meet Shi Xie.

The Han army did not deliberately keep its move to counterattack low-key and concealed, so Yong Kai in the city soon learned about it.

He was filled with doubt and confusion and hurried up to the city wall to look around, but it was still dark and he could not see clearly for a moment.

After it was completely light, he could see from afar a large group of Han troops marching southward in the distance, and only then was he basically confirmed that the enemy was going to attack Shi Xie's reinforcements first.

Yong Kai certainly knew the importance of the matter and knew that he could not let Zhuge Liang defeat them one by one, so he immediately ordered the troops inside the city to have a snack, and after they were full, they put on their armor and marched out of the city.

But he was already a shift behind, and it would take almost another shift to assemble the troops and prepare for battle.

So the Han army actually created a time difference of nearly two hours.

(End of this chapter)