My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 96: Hit with one punch to avoid hundreds of punches
Having more soldiers has its advantages, but it can also lead to slow troop dispatch and procrastination in operations.

Zu Lang brought more than 40,000 people to fight against Guan Yu. To be honest, this was the first time he had gathered so many troops in a battle since he became the King of Shanyue. The Han people and the Shanyue people had been fighting each other in small areas for so many years, and there was no such big battle.

With Zu Lang's experience in commanding troops, he had to respond to many situations and learn on the spot.

The "flat management" ruling structure of the Shanyue people is not really suitable for such large-scale dispatch, which is obviously something the Han people's "bureaucratic organization" is better at.

During the march, it was common for various units to fall out of sync and fail to keep up.

Especially at the beginning, Zu Lang ordered several tribes close to Yi County to cross the mountains and gather in Yi County on their own. However, they were blocked by Gan Ning's tribe who took the initiative to expand the search range.

The isolated Shanyue tribes, which had no military advantage, inevitably suffered losses of hundreds or thousands of people.

Although the absolute number was not large, the two consecutive small defeats before the decisive battle were very damaging to morale. For a time, the chiefs of various tribes complained one after another, and messengers were sent back and forth, forcing Zu Lang to adjust his strategy.

Instead, he asked all the troops to act together and not arrive at the Yixian battlefield in advance, so as to avoid the time difference caused by the marching speed and give Guan Yu the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

But after all the tribes took unified action, they had to first gather in Lingyang County, and then go upstream along the Jing River.

Lingyang is further upstream of Jing County and is also the uppermost county along the Jingshui River. From Lingyang further upstream, you will go completely deep into the Huangshan Mountain area and there will be no more counties or towns.

Lingyang is not big to begin with, and the gathering of 40,000 people immediately made the small mountainous county overcrowded, and logistics became more difficult to coordinate than when each unit was fighting on its own.

As they continued to move upstream southward from Lingyang, the Jingshui River valley became increasingly narrow, unable to accommodate tens of thousands of troops marching in formation. In the end, the team formed a long snake formation, and the further they went, the longer it became.

Zu Lang saw these unfavorable factors and was secretly worried. After all, he was still knowledgeable about military affairs and knew that he was accumulating more and more military taboos, but there was nothing he could do.

……

Time quickly came to the end of April, and it was already five days since Zu Lang sent his troops south.

Zu Lang's main force still had two days' journey to Yi County, but the scouts suddenly reported that Guan Yu's troops were found in the important valley of Jingshuiyuan in the south.

Guan Yu actually crossed the watershed between Poshui and Jingshui and took the initiative to go north to meet the enemy.

Of course, the news of Guan Yu's appearance immediately made the chiefs of the Shanyue tribes nervous, and they began to discuss strategies for a decisive battle.

Zu Lang still had some prestige. When he heard about this, he immediately asked, "Did you find out how many troops the enemy had? Only Guan Yu's banner? No Gan Ning's?"

The scout reported back: "Guan Yu is camping in the valley. We can't see the number of soldiers in the rear from afar. It could be as few as 6,000 or 7,000, or as many as 10,000. We haven't seen Gan Ning's flag."

The other brainless tribal chieftains immediately urged: "My king, let's fight! There are no more than 10,000 people at most. Let's rush forward and annihilate Guan Yu!"

Zu Lang rolled his eyes at them, not bothering to scold them for being stupid, and just said calmly: "Although I don't understand the art of war, I know how to play to one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses. The Han people are good at fighting in battle formations, and we Shanyue are good at crossing mountains and ridges and making detours.

Now that Guan Yu has occupied the relatively open terrain of the Jingyuan River Valley, he can engage us in a large-scale battle. How can I let him do this? To utilize the strengths of our Shanyue warriors, we must, of course, make a circuitous move, encircle them, and cross the mountains that the Han people consider impossible to cross, cut off their food supply and their routes back home, and then harass them from all sides to achieve complete victory!

Zu Lang was very familiar with the characteristics of his own army.

The Han people like to use long spears to form a spear formation, which puts them at a disadvantage in an open battle. The Shanyue soldiers' ring-handled swords, short spears, and maces (Tribulus terrestris) are not superior in length. Moreover, the Han people have an advantage in long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows. The Shanyue long-range weapons are more suitable for fighting in complex terrain.

After hearing what Zu Lang said, the other chiefs couldn't help but fall into deep thought, realizing that rushing in directly might not be the best option.

However, at this moment, Zu Lang's cousin Zu Shan, who had suffered a loss once, seemed to have learned a lesson this time and suddenly said, "My king, what if Guan Yu also anticipated this and waited for you to go around the mountain and then let Gan Ning ambush us on the road we had to take?"

Zu Lang's eyes rolled back, "We have so many options, how could Guan Yu possibly have predicted this?"

After being taught a lesson, Zu Shan did not dare to insist, and only said weakly: "I don't know either... I only know that Chen Pu and I were ambushed last time. Besides, didn't the scout report that they didn't see Gan Ning's flag? So where did he go?"

When Zu Lang heard this, he felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head and he calmed down a little.

Indeed, Guan Yu should not be familiar with the terrain around Huangshan, but Zushan was ambushed just a dozen days ago, and this previous lesson is too recent...

Besides, where is Gan Ning?

Zu Lang hesitated for a long time and decided to give up the risk.

In the final analysis, if they cannot win in a fair and square battle, then the blame will be shared by all the tribes. If he decides to take risks and fails in the end, then all the responsibility will be borne by him as the leader of all the tribes, and those tribes that are jealous of his status will jump out at that time.

After all, the loose tribal alliance organization of the Shanyue did not allow the leader to take risks.

Just like the Peloponnesian War in the West hundreds of years ago, Athens' organizational form was definitely inferior to the centralized Sparta in decision-making, and it was bound to lose to Sparta in the end.

Athens even allowed the citizens' assembly to vote to execute a general if he fought poorly. How could the general then let go and command freely?

Guan Yu on the other side told Gan Ning not to rush to appear, and to give the enemy some hidden and unknown threats. This was also the deployment idea taught to him by Zhuge brothers. Although the final implementation was detailed by Guan Yu himself.

Zhuge Jin's idea is like a famous saying in later games: The jungler in quantum superposition state is the most deterrent jungler. As long as I don't appear in any line, I may appear in any line.

Zu Lang was eventually forced to choose to fight Guan Yu head-on.

……

One day later, it was May 2nd.

The two sides were finally forced into a fight, pressing each other along the Jing River and entering a state of war.

Guan Yu deployed his main force of 6,000 men on the plains in the river valley on both sides of the Jing River, and ordered Gan Ning's troops to hide and set up ambushes on the hillsides on both wings.

Zu Lang on the opposite side also came to meet the enemy with tens of thousands of men, but because the valley was narrow, Zu Lang's troops were dragged out for a long time, and the number of troops he could deploy on the front line of the battle was not much more than Guan Yu's.

Zu Lang could only let the light troops spread as far as possible to the hillsides on both wings to encircle Guan Yu, trying to form a three-sided attack posture and make the most of his own numerical advantage.

Soon the two armies faced each other, and Guan Yu personally came out with dozens of cavalry swordsmen and some scolds, who cursed at Zu Lang to dampen his morale:

"Zu Lang! I am following the emperor's clear edict to fight against the enemy! How dare you still be stubborn! The emperor has appointed Zhuge Jin as the governor of Danyang, and Liu Yangzhou has also sent the Danyang commander Taishi Ci to help fight and suppress the enemy.

"Taishi Ci has now taken over the entire Chungu area. If you still hold out against me here, within a few days, when Taishi Ci takes Wuhu first and then Jingxian, you will be homeless!"

"What? Liu Yangzhou has also been a puppet of the Zhuge family? And they sent Taishi Ci to help in the battle?" When the Shanyue tribes on the opposite side heard this news before the battle, their morale was weakened.

Although Taishi Ci was not a high-ranking official, the generals in Danyang who had licked blood on their swords generally knew what was good and knew Taishi Ci's reputation. When they suddenly heard that the enemy army had more helpers, they were inevitably shaken.

As for the imperial edict to punish the rebels, they didn't necessarily believe it completely. But regardless, they were unaware of the bad news. When Chen Pu and Zu Shan were defeated by Guan Yu, the Han army had not yet received the edict.

Zu Lang couldn't help but feel a little exasperated when he saw that Guan Yu had come up with a new argument in public to undermine his morale. He knew that he couldn't let Guan Yu continue talking at this time, so he decided to start fighting quickly.

Otherwise, you will have no excuse to refute, and the other side will just throw out bad news one after another. If you continue to argue for a quarter of an hour, the battle will be impossible to win.

"Wanling and Guzhang tribes will be the vanguard. Quickly charge with me to kill Guan Yu's central army! Don't listen to his nonsense!" Zu Lang gave an order and ordered the two most aggressive tribes under his command to charge first.

The Shanyue warriors surged out like a tide and charged towards Guan Yu's army.

Guan Yu's army on the opposite side seemed very quiet compared to the noisy Shanyue.

The archers lined up first, and when the Shanyue people came into range, they immediately shot arrows as ordered.

All archers are also equipped with swords and shields so that they can fight and retreat in close combat when approached.

The pikemen phalanx was placed at the very back of the formation, but a passage was left between the formations for the front-row archers to retreat to the back.

Such deployment is relatively rare in the battles between Han and Han. Han often use the long spear phalanx as the backbone and arrange it more forward. There is no need to leave too many corridors between the long spear formations. Soldiers who shoot arrows in battle can retreat to the two wings, and there are cavalry protection in the distance to prevent the enemy from outflanking. It is only because of the relatively narrow river valley in this mountainous terrain and Guan Yu has no cavalry that he temporarily changed the formation to use corridors for archers to retreat.

"Fire arrows!"

Following rounds of orders from Guan Yu's officers, the crossbowmen in the front row aimed and shot horizontally in a crouching position, the crossbowmen in the back row shot horizontally in a standing position, and the archers shot while standing. The gradient of firepower was very strict.

Bows and arrows require higher sustained arm strength, and it is difficult to exert force in a squatting position, so Guan Yu does not have any special requirements.

A crossbowman needs a certain amount of physical strength when drawing the string, but it is very labor-saving when the string is ready to be fired, and shooting in a squatting position does not affect the effect at all.

Before the battle, Guan Yu noticed that the Shanyue soldiers generally did not have armor, but only had round shields made of hard wood to block arrows and stones, so he specially added temporary training and required the crossbowmen to squat and shoot horizontally.

In any case, the fact that the crossbowmen were able to squat and shoot calmly was itself a reflection of the quality of the troops' training. Crouching soldiers were at a height disadvantage when facing an enemy charge, and it would be very dangerous if they were caught in close combat.

Guan Yu trained the soldiers for several months. Like Li Guang, he shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and was very empathetic and able to help the soldiers solve their problems. He also had the ability to clearly distinguish rewards and punishments like Wei Huo. With these two approaches, he was able to train the only crossbowmen in the army to such a high level of psychological quality in such a short period of time.

This kind of tactics is difficult for others to imitate.

For a moment, arrows flew like a mountain of rain, shooting wildly at the Shanyue people's thighs, which were only covered by coarse linen skirts and pants, and knocked down countless Shanyue warriors on their way to the charge.

Moreover, because there are layers of soldiers in the back row on the aiming axis, the hit rate is extremely high. Even if the soldiers in the front row dodge, they will still hit the calf of a comrade in the back.

The Shanyue people's charge formation was suddenly in chaos. Many Shanyue soldiers who were shot in the legs immediately fell to the ground, rolling on the ground wailing, and were then trampled to death by the soldiers behind them. It was a horrible sight.

Although the crossbowman only had the opportunity to fire three arrows in battle, he still caused chaos in the front row of enemy troops.

Seeing the enemy rushing towards them, the crossbowmen, at the command of the officers, hung their bows and crossbows on their backs, then drew their ring-handled swords, raised their shields and fought, fighting and retreating in an orderly manner.

The archers of Guan Yu's army are no better than those militia archers. They have strong arms and strong psychological qualities, and can also engage in brief hand-to-hand combat with swords and shields.

The two sides fought for less than a cup of tea before Guan Yu's crossbowmen successfully retreated through the corridor between the spear phalanxes. The Shanyue soldiers pursued them relentlessly and finally ran directly into the spear phalanxes.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The spearmen shouted in unison, and the spears came out like a forest. The situation on the front line was reversed in an instant. The Shanyue soldiers had a significant disadvantage in the length of their weapons. Even though they had several times the number of troops, they could not force back the Han army's spear formation, and were stabbed down row by row.

Zu Lang in the rear observed this and immediately became anxious, knowing that his subordinates were fighting too recklessly and had completely failed to take advantage of the Shanyue people.

“Zushan, you bring two battalions of troops to me, go around the hillsides on both sides, and then rush down to attack the flank of Guan Yu’s spear formation! How can we deal with the spear formation by just attacking from the front? Besides, this river valley is not wide enough!”

Upon receiving the order, Zu Shan and another Shanyue general immediately led a battalion each to attack from the hillsides on both sides.

However, as the order was carried out, they soon realized that Zu Lang's request was not easy to achieve.

Guan Yu's army placed the spear formation far back. As the archers retreated, the center of Guan Yu's army had sunken in, forming a "U"-shaped formation with both wings protruding forward, making it very difficult to go around the back.

Just as Zushan and his men were trying, more flags were suddenly raised on the hillside. It turned out that the two wings of the Han army were already covered, and it was Gan Ning's Jinfan Battalion and Danyang soldiers who rushed out. They directly defended the hillside and took advantage of their rest to kill Zushan, who was attacking from a detour, by surprise.

"Why would Gan Ning be lying in ambush here?"

"How come the Han people are so good at climbing mountains! Why are there so many Danyang soldiers?! Wasn't it agreed that they were all Han soldiers?"

A series of unexpected bad news further undermined the morale of the Shanyue people.

As the possibility of detour was temporarily blocked, the Shanyue people could only rely on short weapons to confront the Han army's spear formation head-on. The Shanyue people's flexible characteristics could not be brought into play for the time being. What's more, the narrow valley could not deploy too many troops, and even a large number of people could not be deployed all at once.

After a quarter of an hour of bloody fighting between the two sides, with casualties reaching thousands, Zu Lang realized that he had been dragged into a quagmire that was disadvantageous to him in every way.

He had no choice but to order the rear troops that had not yet entered the battle to retreat quickly in order to stop the losses in an orderly manner.

As for the front army that was engaged in hand-to-hand combat, they had no choice but to hold on for a while longer to buy enough time for the central and rear armies to create more distance.

However, Guan Yu would not give him this opportunity. Shortly after Zu Lang began to retreat, Guan Yu ordered his troops to push forward while shouting in unison.

"Zu Lang lost! Zu Lang lost!"

"You have fallen into a trap! You have been abandoned by Zu Lang! Surrender immediately! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

The Shanyue front army that was blocking the attack soon collapsed. Guan Yu crushed them with great force and expanded the victory, chasing them for more than ten miles before stopping.

Gan Ning wanted to pursue them again, but Guan Yu stopped him, saying, "It is easy to be ambushed in the mountains. Zu Lang's troops are not weak. If he retreats and leads us into a battlefield where it is not suitable to form a battle array, and then turns around to fight, our army will suffer heavy casualties."

This battlefield was carefully selected before the battle, as our army was well-rested. How could we find such a good battlefield in such a hurry? If the Shanyue soldiers on the hillsides on both sides had not retreated far, we would be surrounded on three sides and would surely suffer a crushing defeat.

Gan Ning thought about it and found it made sense, so he gave up the idea of seeking credit.

After all, the Shanyue people had much more troops than them. If the spearmen wanted to gain an advantage, they would have very high requirements on formation and terrain. If they caught up with them and their formation became scattered, they would definitely suffer a great loss.

The two men went back to clean up the battlefield and eliminate the remaining enemies. Finally, they discovered that in today's battle, they had captured and killed at least 4,000 Shanyue people and captured more than 7,000 people.

Guan Yu decided to stop while he was ahead and turned his army around overnight, crossed the Huangshan watershed again and returned to Yi County to set up camp.

During Guan Yu's withdrawal, some Shanyue people on Linli Mountain took the opportunity to break through and escape down the mountain, taking refuge in She County and other places. It was obvious that they did not want to follow Chen Pu to the end.

Guan Yu ignored the deserters and resumed the siege of Linlishan. He sent people to persuade them to surrender and spread the bad news that "your reinforcements have been repelled" to the soldiers defending the mountain. As expected, the morale of Chen Pu's troops was greatly reduced again.

Meanwhile, Guan Yu, victorious in this battle, sent another messenger to Zu Lang, urging him to surrender. He also explained that on the battlefield, swords speak no words. Today, Zu Shan led his troops on a circuitous attack on the mountain, but was killed by Gan Ning. He hoped Zu Lang would not bear a grudge and, as long as he surrendered and accepted the imperial command, he would be forgiven.

When Zu Lang received the letter, he didn't have much hatred in his heart. Zu Shan, that idiot, had harmed him like this. He really didn't mind Gan Ning killing that guy.

Besides, Guan Yu had already released Zushan once before, so what else is there to say?

The real world cannot be like the novel where Meng Huo was captured seven times, where people were released seven times in a row. If they were given a chance and didn't catch him, they would be killed the second time. This is the norm.

However, Zu Lang did not want to surrender directly, so he chose to withdraw his troops to Jing County and wait and see. At the same time, he also wrote a letter to Guan Yu, hoping that the two would not offend each other and that he would not take hostile actions in the future.

After reading the letter, Guan Yu pondered it for a while and roughly understood Zu Lang's mentality.

"It seems that Zu Lang also knows that our Han army is not the same as before, and he is unwilling to fight. But he still feels that the mountains are steep and dangerous. If he defends himself in a dangerous place, we will not be able to defeat him.

It seems that the battle at Linli Mountain still needs a strong attack. Breaking through Linli Mountain and killing Chen Pu will also serve as a deterrent to the other Shanyue tribes. Let them know that if even a mountain as dangerous as Linli Mountain can be broken by force, then the smaller hills they rely on will also be no problem!

Gan Ning also felt that General Guan's prediction was correct; the enemy likely shared this mentality. It was impossible not to fight a single offensive. The court had to demonstrate its offensive capabilities. Otherwise, who would be willing to contribute to the court if they were given the opportunity to become free citizens?

However, a protracted siege would require supplies and preparations that were not comparable to those required for a quick field battle. Guan Yu had no choice but to continue writing to Zhuge Jin, asking him to raise more food and military supplies, and to see if there was any equipment that could be built to attack dangerous passes.

After receiving the letter, Zhuge Jin immediately expressed his full support.

He knew that this battle was a matter of "one strike to open the door, to prevent a hundred blows". If he did not take down a dangerous mountain to show off his muscles, the Shanyue people would never be truly convinced. They would always hold on to this glimmer of hope.

Since that’s the case, we might as well get it done in one go and completely eliminate this glimmer of hope.

　Recommend a book: Mi Han

　　The story begins on the eve of Guan Yu's Jingzhou being stolen, and begins with saving Guan Yu from danger.

(End of this chapter)