On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 427 Searching for traces

Something was fishy, ​​so Cui Che quickly called for Wei Zheng, who was in charge of military logistics. Naturally, he followed Cui Che to Henan.

With Fang Xuanling staying in Jinyang and Li Jing leading a partial army in Zhengzhou, Wei Zheng undoubtedly acted as Cui Che's mastermind.

After Cui Che’s brief introduction, Wei Zheng analyzed:

"As the king said, Yu Zhongwen sent out a large number of sentries last night, which must be to cover up something.

"According to what I see, there are simply reinforcements coming northward, but Yu Zhongwen kept it secret and did not announce it, hoping to use it as a surprise force.

"Perhaps some troops are out of camp at night and don't want the king to notice their movements."

Cui Che muttered:

"The army will definitely leave the camp. If there are reinforcements going north, both Luoyang and Jinyong City can be used to station troops. As long as the city is under martial law and no people are allowed to enter or leave, it can cover the eyes of others.

"And martial law during wartime is a common occurrence and will not arouse the alertness of others. It is better than last night's abnormal behavior."

Jinyong City is located in the northwest of Luoyang. It was once a corner of Luoyang City in the Han and Wei Dynasties. Emperor Cao Rui of the Wei and Ming Dynasties expanded it into a military fortress. The city is small but solid, with Mang Mountain to the north and Luoyang to the south.

Cui Che's view also won the support of Wei Zheng, who guessed:

"Since the troops are divided at night, there must be a plan. Today Yu Zhongwen invites the king to a decisive battle tomorrow. Is his intention to attack our army camp at night when the king relaxes his vigilance and concentrates on the decisive battle?"

But Cui Che felt that this was not Yu Zhongwen's purpose. Over the years, it was not that no one wanted to attack his camp at night, but neither Dulan Khan, Datou Khan, nor Eulji Mundeok, Exceptions are all met with failure.

After the Battle of Hedong, Yang Su returned to Kansai, which also temporarily ended the dispute between the so-called best generals in the world.

Cui Che didn't believe that with such a great reputation, Yu Zhongwen would still hope that he would let down his guard and make such a small mistake on the eve of the decisive battle.

Having ruled out the possibility of a night attack, Yu Zhongwen’s plan must have fallen on tomorrow’s decisive battle. Cui Che speculated:

"Could it be that Yu Zhongwen is hiding his troops in Mang Mountain right now, waiting for our army to come down from the mountain for a decisive battle tomorrow, and then come out from behind when the two armies are anxious?"

When Wei Zheng heard this, he suddenly broke into a cold sweat.

If the two armies were to engage in a fierce battle, an ambush force would appear from behind and be attacked from both front and rear, which would undoubtedly cause chaos among the Eastern Sui soldiers.

Wei Zheng further said:

"This matter is of great importance. Please send sentries to search the mountain as soon as possible."

Cui Che shook his head and said:

"Don't alert the enemy. I should accept Yu Zhongwen's invitation, but the time for the decisive battle is not tomorrow, but three days later."

Wei Zheng knew it all, he smiled and said:

"It turns out that the king wants to destroy Yu Zhongwen's ambush first, and then fight him decisively."

Mang Mountain is low and there are not many places to get water. Therefore, during the battle between the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty at Mang Mountain, Gao Huan exclaimed that when Yu Wentai abandoned his baggage and led his troops up the mountain, he exclaimed that the opponent wanted to die of thirst on the mountain.

Since Yu Zhongwen wanted to fight tomorrow, the fresh water carried by the ambush troops could only last until tomorrow at most. If they brought more, it would inevitably be inconvenient to move.

Cui Che agreed to the decisive battle but wanted to postpone the time. Yu Zhongwen would definitely not let this opportunity pass and would definitely agree to Cui Che's request.

After all, the decisive battle in the camp cannot be a one-sided affair. Both sides need to deploy their troops together, otherwise it will be a forced attack on the other side's camp.

Seeing that the decisive battle was imminent, Yu Zhongwen was worried that the news would be leaked, so naturally he would not let the ambush troops come out.

The ambushes in Mang Mountain had no choice but to look for water sources and take risks to get water.

Cui Che, who occupies most of the water sources in Mang Mountain, does not need to send sentries to search the mountain. He only needs to have people check the water intake points outside his control at night to see if there are a lot of footsteps. Then he can follow the clues and find the Yu Zhongwen hidden. Ambush troops.

Seeing Wei Zheng point out his thoughts, Cui Che smiled and said:

"Yu Zhongwen himself sent the ambush troops in front of Gu, how could Gu refuse politely?"

At dusk, Cui Che sent an envoy to the Western Sui Army camp to inform Yu Zhongwen that he was willing to fight with him, but the time would be delayed for three days.

Yu Zhongwen said doubtfully:

"Why does it have to be three days later?"

The messenger replied:

"My king asked the divination, and it will be an auspicious day after three days.

"The king has a message, if you are willing to obey it, you can choose the place for me.

"If Mr. Yu doesn't want to, don't force him. He can lead his troops to attack the mountain. My king is waiting for you in the camp."

The messenger's answer did not arouse Yu Zhongwen's suspicion.

After all, before Cui Che raised his troops, he did divination and asked fortune-telling to predict good or bad luck, but Fang Xuanling snatched the turtle shell away. Yu Zhongwen also heard about it.

Because of this incident, Cui Che's character as a superstitious divination was established.

In fact, in this era, there were many people who were superstitious in divination, such as Er Zhurong, a lover of gold castings, and Chen Baxian, the founding emperor of Nanchen, himself was proficient in the art of divination.

Seeing that Cui Che allowed himself to decide the place, Yu Zhongwen stood up and agreed:

"Okay! You go back and tell Cui Che that in three days, I will be waiting for you at the foot of Jinyong City, behind the city!"

When the envoy came back and informed Cui Che of the matter, Cui Che and Wei Zheng looked at each other and smiled.

When Yu Zhongwen's messenger found Duan Wenzhen, the old general was not in as good a mood as Cui Che.

The time for the decisive battle was changed to three days later, but the army only had enough fresh water until noon tomorrow, and Yu Zhongwen, as Cui Che had expected, did not allow Duan Wenzhen to lead his troops to withdraw from Mang Mountain to prevent the news from leaking.

If the soldiers are really thirsty for several days, how can they still have the strength to fight?

Duan Wenzhen had no choice but to send his soldiers to fetch water at night and hide during the day for fear of being noticed by the Eastern Sui sentries.

Although Cui Che guessed that Yu Zhongwen had hidden an ambush and planned to launch a sneak attack on him from behind during the decisive battle, he still did not take it lightly tonight and still arranged for various soldiers to take turns guarding the camp.

The next day, June 29, the first year of Yongchang (AD 605), Cui Che sent a small number of scouts to search the east and west sides.

At dusk, the scouts sent to the east reported that they found many recent footprints in a mountain stream thirty miles away from the camp.

The stone in Cui Che's heart finally fell to the ground. No matter how sure he was before, it was just a guess. Now he has verified his guess.

In the early morning of June 30th, the scout who had been left lurking in the mountain stream reported that in the middle of the night last night, many Western Sui soldiers came to fetch water. He followed these people and found their hiding place.

It's a valley.

I was just worried about being discovered by the enemy, so I never carefully counted the number of enemy soldiers in the valley.

When Cui Che learned about this, he was overjoyed. He immediately summoned his generals and informed everyone about the incident.

All the generals were surprised and asked for battle one after another.

Cui Che finally found this ambush, and of course he would not let it go easily. He immediately ordered generals in the tent and prepared to leave the camp at night.

Have a healthy Dragon Boat Festival, everyone. It’s still early in the morning. Yesterday when I was running, I dropped my hand and broke my breath. I’ll take it easy first, and I’ll probably get it around one o’clock in the morning.

(End of chapter)