On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 603: Suspicious tactics

Zhang Xutuo was not just perfunctory with his colleagues. On the day he received his high education, he resigned like Yang Guang and went to Jiujiang County.

When Zhang Xutuo came to Huancheng County, the naval forces of the Yan and Sui Dynasties were confronting each other in Dongchi Lake. During this period, the two sides continued to have small-scale water conflicts. Generally speaking, the Jiangling navy of the Sui Dynasty occupied the

Advantage.

Zhang Xutuo paid close attention to the news on Dongchi Lake. Because he was worried that Cui Che would attack from the east to the west and abandon Jiangling, he would instead attack Handong, Jiujiang and other places. Even if Zhang Xutuo wanted to rescue Jiangling, he could only stop and watch.

The situation in Jiangling is currently very optimistic for the Sui Dynasty. Cui Che stopped on the north bank of Dongchi Lake and did not approach Jiangling.

He also knew that if he could not severely damage Jiangling Navy and gain control of Yangshui, he would not be able to defeat Jiangling City.

Yang Guang can continuously transport garrison troops and food to Jiangling via the inner city river.

On the north bank of Dongchi Lake, ten miles west of Nanyang Shuijun Water Village, is where the Sui Army's camp is located.

The navy army suffered repeated defeats, which affected the morale of the Yan army's infantry and cavalry in the camp. What made them even more confused was that the climate had now entered the rainy season.

Most of the Yan troops who went south came from Hebei and Hedong, including 20,000 Khitan Pishi troops. They had never experienced plum rain.

For more than ten consecutive days, it rained continuously and the air was filled with a musty smell, which made the Yan army soldiers very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Cui Che attaches great importance to epidemic prevention, so there has been no large-scale epidemic in the military.

But with the navy powerless, Cui Che seemed to have plans to retreat.

After another water battle, Zhou Fashang learned from the prisoners that the Yan army was currently arguing among themselves about whether to withdraw troops, which made him very excited.

Zhou Fashang had no doubt that the news was true or false. He interrogated many prisoners and confirmed that there was indeed a dispute within the Yan army over whether to stay or leave.

It's right to think about it. If you can't control the rising water, you can't cut off the connection between Jiangling City and the outside world. Even if you take human lives to fill it, you may not be able to take the city.

During several battles between the Yan and Sui armies, Jiangling's navy had the upper hand, and the strength of the two was not at the same level.

Under this situation, Zhou Fashang felt that if he were Cui Che, he would choose to return to Xiangyang, practice the navy for a few more years, and then seek Jiangling.

Zhou Fashang sent this news back to Jiangling City, and at the same time suggested that Zhang Heng wait for an opportunity to attack Changlin and cut off the Yan army's retreat.

After Zhang Heng received the news, he immediately summoned the generals to discuss the matter. Of course, Yu Wenshi and the representatives of Qi Wang Yang Jian had to attend the meeting.

Regarding Zhou Fashang's suggestion to attack the retreat route of the Yan army, the generals each held their own opinions and quarreled endlessly. Zhang Heng had no choice but to suggest a short rest, and then called Murong Sanzang and Yu Wenshiji to the back compartment to listen to their suggestions.

Murong Sanzang said in a deep voice:

"Cui Che is a thief who is accustomed to using tactics. This so-called withdrawal of troops is not Cui Che's attempt to lure us out of the city.

"Master Zhou wanted to cut off Cui Che's retreat, but I was more worried that the army going north would be ambushed by Cui Che.

"I dare to ask Chang Shi, if our army encounters Yan thieves in the wild, what are the chances of winning?"

Zhang Heng was silent after hearing this. Although he didn't want to admit it, if there really was a decisive battle in the wild, his side would have no chance of winning.

Upon seeing this, Yu Wenshi also guessed that Zhang Heng had been persuaded by Murong Sanzang. He did not refute what Murong Sanzang said, but agreed:

"Zhang Changshi and his subordinates also thought that what Mr. Murong Mansion said was reasonable.

"The mission of Chang Shi and Lord Murong is to rescue Jiangling, not to recover Xiangyang.

"Now that Cui Che wants to withdraw from the army, this is a great achievement, so why bother to seek full merit without having to complete it in one battle.
"Once caught in Cui Che's ambush, not to mention that the success of repelling the enemy will be in vain, the hearts of the people in Jiangling City will also be shaken."

Zhang Heng and Murong Sanzang looked at the young Yuwen Shiji and felt that what he said was quite reasonable.

Finally, with the support of Yu Wenshi and Murong Sanzang, Zhang Heng rejected Zhou Fashang's proposal to attack Changlin and cut off the enemy's retreat at the military meeting.

After this incident, Yu Wenshi was completely recognized by Zhang Heng and Murong Sanzang.

That night, Yuwen Shiji's confidant appeared at the Yan army camp and sent Cui Che the news that Zhou Fashang believed that the Yan army was about to retreat and proposed to attack Changlin, but Zhang Heng refused.

Cui Che was both happy and quite regretful about this.

The regret is that he is not afraid of the Jiangling garrison attacking Changlin at all. He has left thousands of soldiers in Changlin County, and Dou Jiande leads 20,000 infantry and cavalry in Ziling, who can support him at any time. The opponent cannot attack at all.

Changlin County.

On the contrary, when the Jiangling defenders leave the city, they can mobilize their troops and annihilate them, thereby reducing the number of defenders in the city.

And he was happy because Zhou Fashang believed that he was about to withdraw his troops and would definitely relax his guard. This was also the opportunity that Cui Che had been waiting for.

Cui Che specifically asked the visitor whether there were any changes in the Sui army's water fortifications. The visitor swore that Zhang Heng and Zhou Fashang had not made any adjustments to the water fortifications.

After receiving a positive answer, Cui Che finally decided to send troops immediately.

However, this time Cui Che did not personally lead the attack. Instead, he led the heavy-eyed general Yu Juluo as his general and Xu Shiji as his deputy. He led 30,000 infantrymen out of the camp in the dark, detoured eastward, crossed Yangshui at night, and came to

South bank of Dongchi Lake.

He himself led 70,000 cavalry in the camp and pretended to evacuate at night to attract Zhou Fashang's attention.

Sure enough, when Zhou Fashang learned that the Yan army was pulling out of camp and might have to evacuate overnight, he had no doubt that this was Cui Che's plan to deceive the enemy. He immediately sent a large number of scouts to the north bank to monitor the Yan army's movements.

However, the south bank of Dongchi Lake where the water village was located was in darkness. Zhou Fashang did not know that 30,000 cavalry were marching along the south bank of Dongchi Lake towards the water village of Jiangling Navy.

Zhou Fashang did not expect that the Yan army would attack the water village on the south bank of Dongchi Lake.

After all, in his opinion, the Yan army did not know the layout of the water stronghold, so it would be very difficult to attack at night.

At the same time, if they fail to succeed, it will be easy for the Yan army to cross the river and go south, but it will be difficult to leave.

The Nanyang Navy was no match for the Jiangling Navy. The Jiangling Navy could easily block the Han River and prevent them from returning to the north bank.

If there are more Yan troops moving south and the north bank is empty, the camp may be captured by the Sui army. As long as the Sui army burns their supplies, the Yan army will be defeated.

However, there were fewer Yan troops heading south, and they could not play much of a role without knowing the strength of the water stronghold.

But Zhou Fashang didn't know that the situation of the Sui army's water stronghold had been grasped by Cui Che, and naturally he also knew the weaknesses of the Sui army's water stronghold defense.

The reason why we waited until today was that through the small defeats of the Nanyang naval forces, Zhou Fashang was able to take his guard down and was convinced that he was preparing to retreat. He was attracted by the north bank of Dongchi Lake and completely ignored the threat from the south bank.

Something happened. Please take a day off tonight.

(End of chapter)