amaotonovel Chapter 216 Zhuge Liang Prepares for an Early Attack
Chapter 216 Zhuge Liang Prepares for an Early Attack
Nothing in life matters except death.
When you feel desperate and have nowhere else to turn, don't forget that there is still one dead end.
Sima Yi's current mindset is this: since those damned big-eared scoundrels and Zhuge Liang are making things difficult for them, they might as well fight to the death.
We'll deliver a fatal blow to the big-eared traitor at the cost of total annihilation, and then wait for Cao Cao to come and clean up the mess.
The role of a strategist is to devise plans and help the lord use strategies to achieve great results with small investments. However, Sima Yi intends to do the opposite, using a large force to fight against a small one, exchanging one or even two for one with the Shu army, killing all of the Shu army's elite troops, and striving to leave Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang with no troops available. In that case, even if the Wei army loses, it will still be considered a victory.
The idea was good, but it was not easy to implement. The first problem was the retreat. They were 180 li away from Jieting. How could they retreat to Jieting without alerting the Shu army?
Secondly, withdrawing now would be tantamount to handing Ji County over to the Shu army. Ji County is the seat of Tianshui Commandery, with a permanent population of around 100,000 and countless grain supplies. Zhang He was unwilling to give these things away to the Shu army and wanted to pack them up and take them with him.
The problem is that they had not made a contingency plan for evacuating Ji County. If they rashly enter the city to loot property now, it will definitely attract the attention of the Shu army, which goes against their original intention of not disturbing the Shu army and quietly withdrawing.
Sima Yi was also unwilling to give up the supplies in the city. After thinking it over, he suggested that Zhang He send Xiahou Ba with 5,000 infantrymen to Jieting under the pretext of strengthening the Jieting defense line. Then, he suggested that they build a camp in front of Jieting for the main army, since the main army would need a place to stay after they arrived.
Secondly, Cao Zhen was ordered to enter Ji County and guard all the city gates to prevent the people inside the city from secretly leaving the city to report to the Shu army. After ensuring safety, the grain and fodder inside the city were secretly moved out under the cover of night.
As for what the people in the city would eat after he took away the grain, Sima Yi no longer cared.
Under Zhang He's command and Sima Yi's deployment, the Wei army appeared to be operating normally on the surface, but in private they were moving quickly. But could all of this escape Zhuge Liang's notice?
Shehu Valley, the main camp of the Han army.
In addition to the elite Han army, Zhuge Liang also had a large army under his command, namely the reinforcements sent by Ma Zun, the governor of Tianshui, to support Lucheng, as well as the garrison of Lucheng.
On that day, Guan Ping ambushed and killed Ma Zun on the way, and then accepted the surrender of Shangguan Zixiu and Jiang Wei. He then captured Lucheng and accepted the surrender of Han and his son.
Although Zhuge Liang did not give important positions to many people, he incorporated all the troops under their command into his own army and selected a group of elites to be incorporated into the scout camp.
It should be noted that most of these surrendered soldiers were locals from Tianshui, very familiar with the terrain and customs of Tianshui. Moreover, scouts traveled in units of five, with at least five people on each mission. A single surrendered soldier could not cause any trouble in a group of five, so they could be used with complete confidence.
Zhuge Liang incorporated the surrendered soldiers into the scout camp, which was tantamount to giving the Han army scouts a navigation system. Subsequently, Zhuge Liang sent out all the scouts, weaving them into a net and spreading them around the Wei army. They fought against the Wei army scouts every day, and the battles were fierce and bloody.
That morning, just as Zhuge Liang got up, four scouts covered in blood rushed back to the camp with the bodies of two of their companions, requesting an audience. Zhuge Liang dared not delay and immediately invited them into his tent.
The scout captain entered the tent and bowed, saying, "Strategist, I have been patrolling around Ji City these past few days. There has been nothing unusual, but last night Ji City suddenly strengthened its defenses. The number of soldiers on the city walls was more than three times the usual number. Out of curiosity, I went closer to investigate and discovered that the Wei army was secretly transporting supplies out of the city, that is, taking the supplies out of the city."
"I wanted to get a closer look, but the Wei army was very alert. As soon as I got close, they attacked. I lost two brothers before I managed to escape. On the way back to camp, I found that there were many more Wei scouts on the road from Ji County to Shehu Valley than usual."
This intelligence alerted Zhuge Liang, who inquired about some details, dismissed the scout squad leader, and got up to rush towards Liu Bei's command tent.
Zhuge Liang could enter Liu Bei's command tent without announcing himself; he could simply lift the tent flap and go in.
Liu Bei had just gotten up and was washing his face when he saw Zhuge Liang enter. He asked in surprise, "Strategist, why are you here so early today?"
Zhuge Liang explained, "Yesterday, Xiahou Ba led 5,000 troops to support Jieting. At night, the Wei army secretly transported supplies to Jicheng. In addition, the number of Wei scouts near Shehu Valley suddenly increased. All of these indicate that the Wei army may be making a move."
Yesterday, Xiahou Ba made a grand entrance at Jieting, without any attempt to conceal his intentions, which naturally caught Zhuge Liang's attention.
Liu Bei's smile faded as he wiped his hands with a towel and said, "The fact that they're smuggling supplies from the city means the Wei army is abandoning Ji City. Zhang He is preparing to retreat, and Xiahou Ba went to Jieting ahead of time, which means the Wei army is retreating towards Jieting?"
Zhuge Liang waved his fan and said, "That's right, but Jieting is small and the Longshan Road is narrow, so it can't possibly accommodate 50,000 Wei troops. Even if Zhang He wanted to enter the Longshan Road to fight the three generals head-on, he wouldn't need to bring so many people. It's really strange that he's retreating to Jieting at this time."
"Therefore, I suspect that Zhang He and Sima Yi intended to retreat to Jieting first, and then use Jieting as a base to fight a decisive battle with our army."
The saying "Jieting has no water, only mountains" is more aptly described as "a battle fought with its back to the mountains."
Liu Bei frowned and said, "That would be troublesome. The terrain around Jieting is flat, which is very conducive to the movement of cavalry. If Zhang He and Sima Yi fight us with their backs to Jieting, even if we win, our casualties will be heavy."
People aren't afraid of being poor, they're afraid of being compared. Whether you're poor or not depends on who you compare yourself to. Compared to Cao Cao, Liu Bei was a penniless man with only a few tens of thousands of assets. If he suffered too many casualties, he wouldn't be able to cope with Cao Cao's counterattack.
Zhuge Liang said, "Therefore, we can no longer wait for news from the Third General. We must launch an attack ahead of schedule. I have roughly calculated that although Zhang He nominally has 50,000 troops, in reality..."
"Before Zhang He arrived in Ji County, he left some troops to guard Jieting. When he received Hao Zhao's message, he sent another 5,000 to support them. Yesterday, he sent another 5,000. In other words, the Wei army in Ji County is less than 40,000, which is about the same as our strength. We can definitely fight them."
During the standoff, scouts from both the Han and Wei armies were spread all around each other, so the movement of more than a thousand troops on both sides could not be hidden from each other's eyes. Zhuge Liang saw Zhang He's two separate troop deployments to support Jieting.
Zhuge Liang continued, "Another point is that when people are busy with important things, they will inevitably neglect some minor things. In the past, Zhang He and Sima Yi's most important thing was to guard against us. Now that Zhang He has decided to retreat to Jieting, he will definitely focus his main energy on the retreat. As a result, his defenses against us will be relaxed."
"Zhang He and Sima Yi may not have realized this, but if other generals or ordinary officers knew that they were going to retreat to Jieting, they would instinctively assume that they would not be fighting our army for the time being, and thus lower their guard."
"Therefore, Your Majesty, I suggest that we launch a general offensive tonight. First, send an elite force to launch a surprise attack in the middle of the night. Then, regardless of whether it succeeds or not, we should send the entire army to engage the Wei army in a decisive battle at Ji County."
Liu Bei said, "That's possible, but what about my third brother..."
Zhuge Liang continued, "Zhang He has already sent troops to strengthen the defense of Jieting. Even if the three generals arrive at Jieting, they will not be able to break through in a short time. But even without Jieting, the three generals can still block Zhang He's retreat route in the Longshan Road, preventing him from returning to Guanzhong."
"In other words, the role of the three generals is to block the Longshan Road to prevent the Wei army from escaping. That is to say, the mission is completed as long as the three generals enter the Longshan Road. Whether or not we can capture Jieting is not important. What is important is whether we can defeat the main force of the Wei army in front of us."