Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 117 Strategy: I will raise the banner for my adoptive father!
“I will give my adoptive father three thousand soldiers as the vanguard, and we will surely defeat the enemy's 130,000 troops. We will not return until we have defeated them.”

Zhou Yu/Yuan Shu: "."

Zhou Yu and Yuan Shu looked at each other in bewilderment after hearing his words, and remained silent for a long time.

But for Sun Ce, who cares? As long as he has the chance to take his men and run away, he'll do whatever it takes.

Although the entire Sun family resided in Shouchun, Sun himself was also entangled with Yuan Shu, making it difficult for him to shake off the Yuan family label.

But he's not going to rebel just because he's gone out!
He can still be a "filial" adopted son outside, and live up to his identity as a minister of the Yuan family, right?

He didn't go out to establish himself independently; he went to defeat 130,000 enemy troops for his adoptive father.

What? Then why didn't you come back?
Didn't we agree on that?
No return until it's broken!

With 130,000 enemy troops still at large and the formidable foe yet to be defeated, how can we think of a home?
Ce'er decided that her adoptive father should annihilate these 130,000 enemy troops, otherwise she would have no face to return.

In his view, breaking away from Yuan Shu and establishing himself as an independent entity was already a long-term, difficult, and ambitious goal.

Since that's the case, why not accomplish a small goal first, and get away from Yuan Shu's watchful eye? That way, we'll have much more freedom.

Sun Ce's ulterior motives were completely exposed to Yuan Shu, who claimed that 3,000 men could defeat an enemy army of 130,000.
Why don't you do what Lei Bu and Chen Lan did a few days ago, boasting that you can break through the enemy camp with just 28 riders?
His gaze darkened slightly, but his smile remained unchanged, and the answer was obvious: No!

"Bo Fu's bravery is well known to his father."

However, it was still too risky for him to serve as the vanguard and defeat an enemy force of 130,000 with only 3,000 men.

As the saying goes, a wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall. Bo Fu is my beloved son. If something were to happen to him, how could I possibly see Lady Wu again in Shouchun?

The so-called nation and state should be inherited by the lineage. Bo Fu is the one who is to inherit my great cause. How can he use military force to take risks and fight for power?
"Now I urge you on, and I entrust you with this entire army of 70,000 as a test of your mettle."

What? ? ?
Sun Ce was shocked!

I only need 3,000 people, and you give me 70,000?

Is Yuan Shu finally going to make his move and kill me?

"Is Godfather telling the truth?"

Yuan Shu smiled meaningfully, "My youngest son is often ill; you must strive to improve him and not disappoint my expectations."

Sun Ce: "!!!"

In a daze, Sun Ce was placed in the position of commander-in-chief, as if in a dream.

With 70,000 troops under his command, what was his adoptive father compared to him? And what was the Yuan family compared to him?
From now on, if anyone calls me Sun Lang again, I'll get angry with them. They'll all have to call me Lord Wu!

However, Sun Ce's excitement vanished instantly once he truly took command of the 70,000-strong army.

He stood on the six-horse carriage, carefully positioned to the side behind Yuan Shu, and personally held up the banner representing the commander-in-chief, commanding the entire army, none of whom dared to disobey.
Sun Ce: "."

Godfather, are you sure I am the commander-in-chief of the three armies?

Why do I feel like I'm carrying a flag?

Of course, besides carrying the flag, he, as the commander-in-chief, also had other tasks.

That is, after Yuan Shu, who was standing at the front of the chariot, and Zhou Yu, who was also accompanying him, agreed on the method of troop deployment, and after Yuan Shu gave his approval, he would be responsible for signaling with flags to command the three armies.

Sun Ce: "."

Isn't he still just a flag bearer?
Meanwhile, Sun Ce was carrying the flag behind the scenes, while Zhou Yu, standing beside Yuan Shu, offered his advice with clasped hands.

"Although the enemy's advance is fierce, they are actually a motley crew that will collapse at the first touch. We should start with the easy ones and then move on to the difficult ones."

Yuan Gongke first defeated the 100,000 Black Mountain bandits, whose forces scattered to various places and caused the most harm.

If we annihilate them completely, we can first shock the world, second, intimidate the enemy, and third, win back the hearts of the Liang people.

Furthermore, once the 100,000 Black Mountain bandits have all left, their military strength will be less than half that of ours, and they will no longer be a threat.

"What Gongjin says is exactly what I was thinking. However, although the Black Mountain bandits are a motley crew, they still number 100,000 and are scattered in various places. How can we defeat them?" Zhou Yu lightly waved his feather fan and said to him:

"It's nothing more than dividing and breaking them, gathering and annihilating them, using the strong to bully the weak, and using the many to defeat the few."

The Black Mountain bandits now number over 100,000, with one chief leader, Sun Qing, who commands less than 20,000 men, and twelve junior chiefs, each commanding approximately 7,000 to 8,000 men.

Although their people were scattered in various places, when one place was in trouble, help came from all directions.

Yuan Gongke first divided his troops into twelve divisions, each with three thousand men, for a total of thirty-six thousand men.

Whenever a small force under Sun Qing's command arrived, one side would meet them and delay them.

Of the remaining 34,000 men, 20,000 will be set aside as reserves. If any of the 3,000 men in each region are lost, they will be replaced immediately. We will make sure they are mired in a quagmire and cannot extricate themselves.

Besides the four thousand personal guard cavalry to defend against the Xiongnu, Yuan Gong could lead another ten thousand troops, along with the delaying forces on each side, and like a snowball rolling downhill, one small commander after another would charge forward.

By using strength to attack the weak and numbers to overwhelm the few, the army's power will grow stronger and stronger. What enemy cannot be defeated? What city cannot be destroyed?
As for Sun Qing's main force, and even the likes of Cao Chun, Xu Huang, and Mao Jie, if reinforcements arrive, then Yu will deal with them for Yuan Shao.

A piecemeal tactic?

To be honest, when Yuan Shu first heard about it, he almost thought that Zhou Yu was deliberately trying to trick him.

In reality, this tactic truly tests the ability to command and control a large army with perfect ease.

By employing piecemeal tactics, the battle situation was stabilized in twelve directions without breaking down, dragging the enemy into a quagmire.

Our forces will then gather superior strength and defeat them one by one.

This is precisely the method to annihilate the enemy to the greatest extent possible when our forces are few and the enemy's forces are numerous, our forces are elite and the enemy's forces are disorganized.

Zhou Yu's goal was not simply to defeat these Black Mountain bandits, but rather to force them to flee and continue to wreak havoc on the local area.

It was a complete annihilation!

After confirming the feasibility of Zhou Yu's tactics, Sun Ce, the eldest son, raised various flags and signaled a series of flag messages.

The 70,000 Yuan troops broke into smaller groups and marched towards the areas ravaged by the various Black Mountain tribal leaders.

Not long after, Wang Yan, the minor leader of the Black Mountain bandits, ran into trouble.

He was plundering and enjoying himself with beautiful women and fine wine in Liang Kingdom when suddenly a Yuan army appeared.

He was initially wary, but upon seeing that the enemy had two or three thousand soldiers while his own army numbered seven or eight thousand!

You must know that they came here on the emperor's orders to punish the traitor Yuan. If they kill Yuan's army, the court will reward them accordingly.

These two or three thousand men in front of us are practically a freebie, aren't they? What's there to be afraid of? Let's fight!
You don't know how troublesome this army is until you fight them.

Despite having only 2,003 men, they seemed inexhaustible, with small groups always arriving to provide support whenever there were losses.

He was currently bogged down here, his troops were constantly being lost, while Yuan's army was pouring in, and he didn't even know how many there were.

Wang Yan could no longer sit still and hurriedly sent a message to Li Cen, the chieftain she was on good terms with.

He didn't ask for help, after all, they were all bandits from the Black Mountain, and everyone knew each other.

If Li Cen heard that the enemy was tough to crack, a hard nut to crack, and would suffer heavy losses, he definitely wouldn't come.

Therefore, Wang Yan only said that there were 2,300 Yuan soldiers here, and invited him to come over and share the credit.

When Li Cen heard about this good news, how could he not come?

But who would have thought that Li Cen had only just set off, and hadn't even seen Wang Yan yet?

Turning around, they encountered another army, also bearing the banner with the character "Yuan" on it, numbering two or three thousand.

(End of this chapter)