Liu Fan came to his senses and said, "Just let me lead the vanguard, which is my headquarters of 7,000 people, and follow the monster thieves all the time to search and move forward, right?"
Liu Yi nodded: "Exactly, keep a distance of thirty to fifty miles from the army of demon thieves. If they turn back to fight, just retreat a little. My army is fifty miles away from you and will come to meet up with the enemy.
Before the army arrives, repair the fortifications, establish positions, and wait for the demon thieves."
Liu Fan curled his lips and said, "What about the waterway? What if the demon thief's fleet suddenly carries a large number of troops and inserts directly into our rear, cutting off our food route and return route?"
Liu Yi smiled and said: "Don't worry about this. If the army marches from land, I will definitely send naval warships to follow along the river and search the river. If the enemy has a large fleet coming from the river, it will be impossible to hide it.
We will find out. We can depend on the situation at that time. If the demon thieves attack with a large fleet, it means that they want to lure our main land force to attack, and then use the navy to rush forward and cut off my return route. This
I have to consider this possibility. So, you said we can still advance with little force and hope for the result of annihilating the enemy?"
Liu Fan suddenly realized: "It's the eldest brother who thought it through, but the younger brother was just abrupt."
Liu Yi put away his smile and said seriously: "In land battles, I have never been afraid of what the demon thieves can do. The most they can do is lay an ambush and fight head-on with our elite soldiers of Beifu. When have they defeated us even once in the past ten years? And?
This time, the demon thief first withdrew the naval fleet, threatened to attack Jiangling and capture Jingzhou, and then secretly withdrew the main force of the army. Whether this is true retreat or luring the enemy, I can't judge now."
Liu Fan nodded: "Indeed, Xu Daofu used his troops in many ways. It's hard to guess his true intentions. It's better to stick to the key points. As you said, Jiangling is a strong city in the world. Even if the demon thieves attack Jiangling on both land and water, it's hard to guess."
, it can’t be done in ten months, we have time to observe their intentions while moving forward.”
Liu Yi shook his head: "But if it is another situation, that is, the monster thieves do not attack Jiangling, but rush back to Jingnan, or even Lingnan, to reorganize the defense line along the river and block the mountains, then we cannot let the tiger go back to the mountain. We must
Attack quickly. This time the demon thieves rebelled and swept through most of Jingzhou and the entire Jiangzhou within a year, allowing them to seize a large amount of military supplies and baggage. This was completely different from the embarrassing look when Liu Yu drove them to the sea.
If they were allowed to retreat with hundreds of thousands of men and women, He Wuji, Liu Daogui, and their several years of reserves used to attack Lingnan, I am afraid that our army would not be able to attack Guangzhou within five years.
"
Liu Fan opened his eyes wide: "In this case, we have to attack quickly to pursue the demon thieves, right? Then how can we judge whether they are going to return to Guangzhou?"
Liu Yi pointed to the camp in front: "Have you seen the enemy camp in front? The main force of the monster thieves retreated and used the new attached troops to guard the camp here to delay, but these newly attached rebel thieves are not fools, they are mostly bandits from nearby.
The grass bandits just want to occupy the mountain and become kings. They only want to take refuge in the demon thieves to take advantage of them. If they see the demon thieves retreat and leave themselves here to die, they will become like birds and beasts. However, these people alone cannot see
Is the demon thief really retreating, or is he pretending to lure the enemy?"
Liu Fan laughed: "So, only by looking at those who have been following the demon bandits for more than a year, preferably the Dong barbarians from Lingnan, and see if these people are also on the run, can we know whether they are really defeated or not.
Fake collapse.”
Liu Yi's eyes flashed coldly: "Yes, all the deceptions can deceive us, but they cannot deceive their own people. The two thieves Lu and Xu can abandon the rabble they have gained over the past year, but they have been fighting against them for many years."
The elite soldiers, including the barbarians recruited and trained in Guangzhou, will never give up. As you move forward, you must pay attention to search for the fleeing soldiers. If a large number of Lingnan boxing barbarians also start to break up and flee, it means that
The demon thieves are really anxious to return to their hometown. At this time, the enemy's troops have lost their morale and are vulnerable. We have to pursue them and seek an opportunity to fight them before they escape back to Wuling."
At this point, Liu Yi paused: "There is another thing. If the demon thief abandons a large number of baggage, or even abandons the captured women, this will be a repeat of Sun En's old plan during the rebellion in Wudi. In order to get rid of Liu
He was chasing the prisoners, and dropped some of the stolen money, food, and women to tempt our soldiers to fight for it. On this point, you must restrain your subordinates. The reason why I let you be the vanguard is not to let my own troops be the vanguard.
, do you know why?"
Liu Fan laughed: "Because I have been following Liu Yu to fight Nanyan for more than a year, the soldiers are used to listening to Liu Yu's tactics. Private plundering is strictly prohibited, and it is even more strictly forbidden to miss the opportunity due to plundering and mess up the formation. To be honest, because
For these military disciplines, I have killed hundreds of sergeants and even junior colonels here."
"But brother, the situation here is different. Your military orders do not prohibit privateering. Many of the elite soldiers who came to join you were also because they were under too strict control at Liu Yu's place and there was not much benefit after the war.
As for those who defect to you, after all, if you risk your life to fight, if there is not enough reward, then why fight? Liu Jinu said that he wanted to fight for a peaceful world and for the people to live and work in peace and contentment. If this is his sincerity, then it is true.
Noble and respectable, but what good does this do to ordinary soldiers? He shed his blood and sacrificed himself in exchange for a good life for others. Unless you are a person who is completely convinced by Liu Yu, it will be difficult to accept his tactics."
Liu Yi sneered: "He is just pretending to be benevolent and righteous to trick others into giving up their lives. It's a pity that he has done ten good things, but he can't help Liu Daolian being greedy in Xuzhou for three months. We old brothers joined Beifu together and know each other's ins and outs."
, everyone came here to seek wealth and honor, why did he, Liu Yu, get the wealth in the end, while others could only pick up what he had left? This is true for all of us brothers who joined the army in the uprising, not to mention ordinary soldiers.
That’s why I’m here to show you that after the battle, as long as you win, the things will belong to the brothers, and I won’t make it easier for outsiders. As for the honors and titles, how many soldiers can get them?”
Liu Fan said sternly: "So, brother, you are afraid that your subordinates will miss something because they want to grab something, or even give the enemy temptation to suffer another defeat at Wuqiao Ze, so you want my subordinates to be in front, just to chase and follow the enemy."
, no private looting on one side, right?"
Liu Yi's eyes flashed coldly: "Yes, if the enemy army really dropped money and food all the way, woman, there would be no warships on the water going down the river, and the troops recruited in Guangzhou would collapse in large numbers during this dispatch.
That means the demon thief is really eager to go back. At this time, we have to pursue him immediately. Fan, I leave this judgment to you!"