Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 150: "Three-Piece Checkmate" in the Game

At the end of the last year of the Heavenly Calendar, in Hucheng, Wu Fei returned to the city, munching on a cornbread, looking at the map of the northern border and the defense map of Gushou Pass hanging high on the earthen wall.

From the end of 36 to 37, for more than a year, Wu Fei and Zhao Cheng were locked in a fierce battle, neither giving an inch. Therefore, Wu Fei had already discovered that Zhao Cheng had left Gushou Pass.

First, the Dragon Descendants pulled down Zhao Cheng's flag; second, after the peddlers and woodcutters bribed by Wu Fei entered the pass, the soldiers in the city changed their original level of discipline.

In the old military system, there were no standard operating procedures, and many orders would not be effectively communicated after a general was replaced.

Zhao Cheng and the Dragon Descendants gradually drifted apart, while Zhao Cheng progressed alongside Wu Fei's officer system.

In other words, the Hao army now has two systems. And the gap will widen in the future, because whatever Zhao Cheng wants to change, the Hao Kingdom's dragon descendant elders will oppose it on the grounds of defending "ancestral rules".

Therefore, Wu Fei began to probe further, continuously transporting food to the forward fortresses. If Zhao Cheng were still alive, there would definitely be a response from the rear.

However, Gu Shouguan did not capture any crucial information about the mobilization of supplies from the south.

Therefore, in December, Wu Fei issued a general mobilization order, beginning to concentrate the remaining grain from Huangyu City into the three fortresses. He also attempted to organize military settlements to the north. During this process, if Zhao Cheng were still alive, he would undoubtedly have reacted.

After all, the two sides had engaged in numerous battles over the past year. To prevent Wu Fei from launching surprise attacks by sea, Zhao Cheng set up a series of supply depots, similar to the Chilian Mountain supply depot when Wu Fei first joined the army. These supply depots were fortified with earthen walls, and Wu Fei's subsequent small-scale harassment attacks from the sea were all blocked by these supply depot defenses.

Of course, Zhao Cheng also lost a lot of laborers conscripted from Yan in order to build these grain depots.

The land of Yan already lacked sufficient food and resources, but neglecting to repair it was not an option. Otherwise, Wu Fei would bleed them dry.

In this stakeout, Zhao Cheng maintained the stability of the grain station and gave Hao Jun a lot of trouble.

The Hao army personnel guarding the military depots along the Yan front line worked through the night each day. Three procedures were required to retrieve any supplies. After all, Wu Fei was adept at deceiving the city and infiltrating.

However, this was an extremely high management cost in feudal times. It couldn't be sustained in the long run. As soon as Zhao Cheng left, everyone relaxed their guard.

Wu Fei suffered many losses at Zhao Cheng's hands that year. For example, in August, when the troops transporting supplies to the stronghold were confident of success, their supplies were intercepted, and four of their wooden oxen and flowing horses were stolen. The damage was minimal, but the humiliation was immense.

After Wu Fei investigated, he determined that the secret had been leaked by spies along the way based on his grain transport patterns. From then on, Wu Fei began to add a random variable to the "departure time" of his grain transport.

The specific operation was as follows: When the supply wagons arrived at each stronghold and were preparing for the next leg of their journey, they would stop intermittently for several hours before moving on, making it uncertain for Zhao Cheng about the exact time the supplies would arrive. This, in turn, affected the planning costs for the raiders.

After all, the attackers arrived early, risking being discovered by the patrol team.

In the case of a sneak attack, the specific execution requires a high level of planning ability. If the attacker can determine the exact schedule and time of the target, the success rate is extremely high.

Wu Fei made a small change to the grain transportation system, completely eliminating the possibility of Zhao Cheng using this trick again.

Every time Wu Fei and Zhao Cheng made their move, they could almost feel the seriousness or playful smile on each other's faces as they placed their pieces.

On December 12th, Wu Fei made a final test of Gu Shouguan.

In the morning, Wu Fei dispatched a troop of dragon-horse soldiers to make a show of force around Fei Guo Gu Shou Pass, and at the same time sent southern spices such as scallions and ginger, placing them at the foot of the city wall. He also left a letter saying: "The north is bitterly cold, and eating hot pot in winter is truly one of life's great pleasures. I miss you, brother, so I sent you these spicy and fragrant things."

The letter sent by Master Wu Fei appeared to be a correspondence between gourmets, but it was actually just platitudes.

According to Wu Fei's understanding, those dragon descendants differ culturally from the traditional northern barbarians of Da Yao. To reduce unnecessary impurities in their bodies, they rarely eat beef or mutton, instead consuming seafood such as fish, shrimp, and clams, as well as birds and other birds.

However, live fish and shrimp are difficult to preserve and require ice, making this type of aristocratic diet unsuitable for the army. Live poultry like chickens and ducks are also unsuitable for supplying a large army due to transportation and processing issues; the army's meat supply must consist of pork and mutton.

Spices pair well with mutton, but mutton can cause soldiers to have a strong body odor. This is what Da Yao meant by the pungent smell of the northern barbarians. In those days, there was no such thing as shower gel; even northern soap was a rare commodity. Now it's certain that there are dragon descendants at Gu Shou Pass. If Zhao Cheng were still alive, he would definitely explain these details of their lives because they clash with the dragon descendants' habits, and he would certainly offer some criticism.

But what if the reply is evasive and doesn't address the underlying issue?
Soon, Wu Fei received a reply. Zhao Cheng expressed his gratitude for Wu Fei's concern, but said that his child had recently been born and he needed to go home to visit. He would be back in a few days.

Inside the camp, Wu Fei held the (human-machine reply) letter and looked at it repeatedly, even examining the letter paper and the oxidation level of the ink.

This is a response that can be interpreted as "protesting too much."

On the front line of confrontation, Wu Fei looked at the checkpoint where "the man is gone" with a very emotional expression.

Wu Fei knew that Zhao Cheng on the other side was also waiting for the new ruler of Da Yao to strike him down, but the small country of Hao had struck first. As a military strategist, Wu Fei felt a sense of shared vulnerability.

I didn't defeat him on the battlefield, but I took care of him by waiting for a long time.

…The major hexagram changes the era name…

On January 25th of the Tianyou calendar, the Eastern City Army launched an attack, with the army divided into three routes.

The right flank force consisted of 3,000 elite troops brought by Wu Hengyu from the northern army. In order to ensure the smooth integration of command in the future, many officers and generals from the Eastern City Army were also included.

Wu Fei's idea regarding this allocation: This battle was to let these arrogant officers know what true bravery is, so that Wu Hengyu could take over the military affairs of Bohai.

On the left flank, Wu Fei led 5,000 elite men selected during the siege of Huangyu City. They would simultaneously surround Liugangtai, a high ground west of Gushou Pass, to prevent flank attacks after Wu Hengyu scaled the walls first.

The final route was a flanking maneuver, with the main force consisting of two thousand soldiers reorganized by Zhao Xianzhong. Their mission was to cross the sea with the help of Yu Li, a descendant of the dragon.

...The dawn at Gushou Pass was quiet...

The day before the troops were to be dispatched, Huang Tao, a descendant of the dragon who was guarding the pass, refuted the advice of the officials from Zhao Cheng's faction who were stationed at the pass: "We should store water and build ice to reinforce the city's defenses."

Huang Tao flicked his mustache slightly: "It's the dry season now, and the water in the well is only enough for the needs of carriages and horses. How can we drain the well?"

The accompanying officials who remained behind wanted to persuade them further.
Huang Tao then expelled him from Gushou Pass and sent him west to follow Zhao Cheng.

Facing the other officers who had come with him, Huang Tao said with an air of authority, "Anyone else who doesn't want to serve under me, please resign."

However, a few hours after Huang Tao made this show of force, the rear of Gushou Pass was suddenly attacked; Liu Yangtong, also a descendant of the Dragon and Huang Tao's friend, was killed in battle by the Yao army.

…The escape route is cut off first…

The first to engage the defending forces were Yu Li's troops. However, when she appeared on the battlefield, the psychological blow to the Dragonborn was greater than the blow to their military strategy.

Yu Li transformed into a dragon, creating waves in the sea to make the ships sail very steadily, compared to the fast ships of about a hundred tons that Zhao Cheng used for the sneak attack. The heavy ships that Yu Li escorted with the water waves were all five hundred tons each. Their huge sails could be seen from the coastline from afar.

These large ships surged ashore amidst the towering waves, showing no fear of running aground, because the Yu Li would use the same method to gather water and send these ships back into the sea.

Thousands of Yao soldiers landed in a flurry. Liu Yang, the general defending the Hao Kingdom, had originally planned a surprise attack with his dragon-horse cavalry. However, upon seeing the massive ships surging and a large number of people disembarking, he immediately returned to defend his stronghold. Therefore, he didn't immediately spot the Yu Li lurking in the sea.

Yu Li transformed from her dragon form into human form and leaped onto the celestial vessel, commanding the army to march towards the earthen fortress where the Dragon Descendant Hao Army was stationed.

A row of three-tiered balloons, carrying Tianzhou rocket launchers, suspended thirty zhang in the air, unleashing a salvo that blasted numerous breaches in the wall.

After the bombing ended, Yu Li jumped directly off the Sky Ship, and then, in full view of everyone, amidst flashes of lightning in the sky, transformed from human form into a huge carp dragon. For a moment, the many Dragonborn legions thought it was their own garrison arriving, until the landing force had all arrived and flanked them from both sides, they realized it was the enemy.

Liu Yangtong's troops launched a counterattack in a daze. When Yu Li charged over, the two groups of 64 musket battalions fired round after round of blanks, unsure whether to attack this dragon descendant who could take shape. However, when the three-zhang-long water sphere gathered above their heads and continuously transformed into a torrent sweeping away the troops within a hundred paces, they had no chance.

After the water sphere broke through the formation, the cavalry charged in. Zhao Xianzhong also descended from the sky and swung his sword at Liu Yangtong. When this descendant of the dragon was finally killed, he stared at Yu Li with his eyes wide open.

…and as powerful as thunder…

That day, Wu Fei led his troops to Liugangtai first, and was looking through binoculars at the hastily constructed fortifications in the distance. Facing the enemy on the high platform, Wu Fei had brought a large number of artillery shells this time. The Dongshi army brought out cannons pulled by oxcarts, and as the cannons roared, the Hao army troops piled up on the platform scattered in panic under the shelling. The shells also easily blasted breaches into the fortifications.

After assessing the enemy's situation, Wu Fei raised the flag and began the normal siege procedure, with musketeers advancing.

On the high platform, the Haotian garrison could only get up at the command of their commander, raise their swords and shields, and form a human wall to block the way at the gap.

However, the Dongshi army did not advance directly. Instead, they fired a volley of muskets from fifty paces away. After the volley, the Hao soldiers blocking the breach suffered heavy casualties and retreated back into their fortifications. Wu Fei confirmed that these were conscripted peasant soldiers, but he had no intention of letting them go. He ordered the artillery to prepare and then mobilized his armored soldiers to advance.

The Hao army general guarding the platform urged his soldiers to be on their toes, but just as they were clad in armor and lying in ambush near the breach in the platform's defenses, waiting from their elevated position for the Yao army's armored soldiers, their shields clustered together, to climb up, they were caught off guard.

Upon hearing the signals of drums and fireworks, the soldiers on Yaojun's side immediately detoured and retreated.

At the same time, the Yao army's cannons roared again, and one after another, exploding shells were fired directly at the breach. The shells exploded continuously at the breach, and the metal fragments washed over the ambushing men like a storm.

At the breach, the Hao soldiers suffered heavy casualties from the explosive shells. They pushed and shoved each other, trying to hide in the pit, but the corpses of the Hao soldiers who did not have time to escape piled up in layers outside the bunker.

If the Hao army generals were to look at the Yao army's formation, they would find that the Yao army's flags and commands were so frequent that only Zhao Cheng's command could match them!
When the cannon fire stopped, Wu Fei once again used micro-management to push his troops forward. At this point, Hao Jun had no choice but to send more men to the breach, only to be toyed with like monkeys.

Clearly, Hao Jun was afraid of artillery fire, and this time he sent a few men to observe, but as soon as they peeked out, they were killed by bullets. This time, it was Yao Jun's matchlock musketeers who opened fire.

After being repeatedly attacked, Hao's army could only fill their chariots with earth to block the gaps. However, these chariots were immediately destroyed by artillery shells after being filled with earth, and were obviously no longer usable. This greatly reduced their ability to move the ballistae in the city.

At this moment, Wu Fei was not in a hurry, because he knew that there were many traps in this Liugang Plateau. The cost of breaking in would be too high. He had more troops, so he took turns making offensive postures in front of the plateau to lure them into exposing their projectiles and to deplete the defenders' limited energy.

Wu Fei is still waiting for Wu Hengyu. The plateau is already half-destroyed, and the Hao army inside is unable to support Gu Shou Pass.

As long as Wu Hengyu breaks through Gu Shou Pass and enters the pass to control the feng shui of the mountain range, the Liugang Plateau will be cut off from water and become a dead zone.

The general guarding the platform was one of Zhao Cheng's men, who dispatched several groups of messengers to seek help from Gu Shou Pass, three miles away.

The garrison commander's face was now ashen. Of the three waves of messengers he had sent out to request reinforcements, one had finally returned. The messenger, wounded and bleeding profusely from a bullet, brought only one message: "The general (Gu Shouguan and Huang Tao) ordered us to hold firm."

Looking towards the western plateau, Huang Tao sighed and said to his soldiers, "My lords, we must fight with all our might."

…The sunset was filled with a magnificent, blood-red hue. …

Inside the military camp surrounding the plateau, Wu Fei was looking at the situation on the sand table. The sand table was no longer a simple map drawn on the ground by the commander with a sword, but was made by the staff after integrating the observation and survey information of "various scouts".

Wu Fei picked up Wu Hengyu's letter. Wu Hengyu said he would arrive in two days with ladders and other equipment, so Wu Fei nodded.

Wu Fei's army began setting up camp, a process divided into four major steps, with each step's squads following orders. Over a year, Wu Fei led his army in eight drills of this procedure, including simulations of unforeseen circumstances.

This is based on modern fire drills. No matter how well you memorize the theory, people will panic during a fire and may cause herds to crowd together, congesting towards places that seem safe and fire-free but are actually dead ends.

Xuan Chong's modern experience: No one is an expert from the start, especially in large-scale operations. Without practice, in the face of war, it's just a makeshift team.

Wu Fei read the message coming from the inner room of Gu Shou Pass: a large number of small strips of cloth were sent to the horse stable, and some cavalrymen began to blacken their knives with charcoal.

Wu Fei also looked up at the sunset and slowly said: "Stealth camp? I've also prepared for this question."

If Zhao Cheng were here, seeing Wu Fei's camp layout, he wouldn't have bothered to steal it at all, but Zhao Cheng isn't here.

Wu Fei conducted his last patrol in the evening to check on the field team on duty and make up for any omissions. The fence was just a few steps away from where the field team was crouching.

The counter-night raid teams marked their positions every few steps on the ground, each operating independently without interfering with the others.

As Wu Fei had predicted, that very night, enemy cavalry from Gushou Pass came out and began to attempt to raid Wu Fei's camp before it was fully set up.

Without drills, if the camp were to encounter cavalry at night, the soldiers in each tent would be filled with panic, waiting for an "unknown number" of enemy cavalry.

However, after the drills, Wu Fei divided the group into three teams to receive the group. These three teams also had a well-established communication system in place for the night.

At midnight, as the Yao army scouts rushed over, they struck the wooden clappers left outside the camp three times rapidly. After a ten-breath interval, they struck the clappers three times again. The camp immediately responded by striking the same wooden clappers three times. After two responses,

Once the location of the camp and its surroundings is determined, the number of people who sneaked out of Gushou Pass at night should not exceed two or three hundred.

A hidden door was left on the side of the Yao Army camp, which was prepared for the entry and exit of several battalions on night duty.

When the enemy cavalry arrived in front of the camp, the guards quickly marched in secret and ambushed them on the only road behind the camp.

These elite cavalrymen selected by Huang Tao circled the camp at night without finding any weaknesses, only to be met with a barrage of crossbow bolts from the first group outside the camp. In the ensuing chaos, more than thirty riders fell from their horses and fled back in panic.

However, when they reached a point less than a hundred paces from the gate of the first pass, they were intercepted by another group of Yao soldiers. Why didn't this group attack when the Hao army was leaving the city? Because the Hao army's night raiding force had high morale when they left the city. Furthermore, being close to the city gate and shouting loudly would attract reinforcements from within the city.

On their way back to the city, they were ambushed outside Wu Fei's camp and returned dejected and empty-handed. Now, they were in a hurry to get home at night, and it was clear that they had made a mess of things in their haste.

As the tripwires were pulled up one by one, the raiding cavalrymen, filled with fear, assumed they were surrounded by soldiers and fled in panic toward Gushou Pass, where lanterns were lit on the city walls.

Upon hearing the sounds from their own troops, the defenders on the high platform lit up their lamps in preparation for a rescue.

Meanwhile, the third squad of crossbowmen from the Yao Army, who were lying in ambush below the city wall, fired indiscriminately at the shadows cast by the firelight at the Hao Army's city gate, extinguishing the flames.

So, in the pitch black, the group of raiders who had lost their horses trampled each other to death at their own pass.

If Huang Tao and the garrison at Liugangtai coordinate well, this raiding force can head directly to the plateau without looking back at the main pass. Of course, Wu Fei has other options on the plateau side.

…Xuan Chong's assessment of Hao Jun's night raid: "Commendable courage, come again next time…"

After Wu Fei inspected the raiding soldiers during the day, he was astonished to find that all thirty-one of them were clad in triple-layered armor: leather inner armor, chainmail, and lamellar armor outer armor, all wearing iron helmets. The ambush troops had used powerful crossbows; the three squads had fired over five hundred arrows the previous night, and each of the corpses had an average of seven or eight arrows embedded in them.

The sergeant in charge of the ambush excitedly recounted, "Actually, if it weren't for the darkness, and these armored soldiers had found their ambush direction and charged up, my crossbowmen really wouldn't have been able to defeat them."

Unfortunately, it was too dark last night, and these Hao soldiers couldn't see where the enemy was. Moreover, the city gate was right in front of them, and they received orders to return to the city, so they dared not linger in battle. That's why so many unfortunate men were hit by arrows.

Wu Fei pulled out an arrowhead, smelled it, and then abruptly pulled it away. He then asked the battalion on night watch, "Did you put any medicine on the arrowheads?"

The battalion commander laughed and said, "Yes, Commander, the arrows the brothers use are soaked in molten gold."

Wu Fei patted him on the shoulder and asked, "The rules for night duty are that you have to sleep with your quiver under your pillow. It must smell really bad there right now, right?" (Wu Fei knew that the entire barracks smelled just like a cowshed.)

The battalion commander said smugly, "The brothers who were taking over the shift later are cursing it out."

Wu Fei laughed and scolded, "You deserve to be scolded. Now, we've set a new rule: from now on, the quiver under your pillow can only contain regular arrows. Quivers with quivers must be hung five paces to the left outside the tent. When we assemble at night, you'll take turns taking your respective quivers. Everyone will have to practice blindfolded a few times during the day to familiarize themselves with the location of each other's quivers."

In response to such a patient act, Wu Fei, in addition to the merit points awarded tonight, will give each of the 1 people who participated in the ambush an extra merit point on top of their existing merit rewards.

One merit point is equivalent to the merit of taking down an enemy's fully armored soldier. It's similar to the merit of an infantry squad destroying a tank in the 21st century. In Wu Fei's case, one merit point allows three generations to enjoy thirty acres of military land, with five slots available within those three generations. These slots can add twenty points to a descendant's performance evaluation for county officials and five points for a prefectural official.

Wu Fei said to his staff officers: "Although tonight's counter-ambush resulted in the elimination of fewer than seventy enemy soldiers, their spirit of innovation and daring experimentation in field combat deserves a generous reward!"

Having overheard Wu Fei offering an extra reward, the soldiers who had been sleeping soundly were immediately overjoyed and shouted, "General, you are wise!"

(End of this chapter)