"The son of a rich man cannot sit in court. As a commander, how can he go into danger in person?" It was too risky to launch a surprise attack behind enemy lines, so Xi Zhi began to advise him.
"I have led troops for many years, and have always advanced and retreated together with the soldiers. With them by my side, I can fight through mountains of swords and seas of fire."
It was dangerous to lead the soldiers of the Anping Army to raid the enemy's rear. Isn't it not dangerous to stay with the Gongqiu soldiers who had just surrendered?
How to choose, do you need to say?
Liu Xiang preferred to be with the soldiers of the Chinese army.
Besides, if all his cavalrymen really want to run away, who can stop him? In the great plain of Xuzhou, there is no terrain to trap the cavalry.
"Zhicai need not worry. The raid on Pengcheng is just a plan. Whether we go or not is a matter of choice."
The topic was dropped here, and Xi Zhi realized that he could not be persuaded and stopped talking.
Now we need to wait for Ke Bineng's return before we can judge Chunyu Qiong's movements.
The shore of Zhaoyang Lake was more than forty miles away from the enemy's camp. Two thousand cavalry from the Hu Cavalry Camp set out in the morning, marched thirty miles at noon, crossed the Surabaya River, repaired for an hour, and continued to approach the enemy camp on the south bank of the lake.
Chunyu Qiong's 25,000 men set up three camps in a Z-shaped layout, with the main camp at the back and the two front camps close to the river bank, one or two miles away from the main camp.
Ke Bi was able to think for a moment and felt that the two front camps were both small villages. He had to directly face the threat of Liu Chong's troops on the bank and it was difficult to cheat, so he led his troops straight to the main camp.
At this time, it was time to eat and feed. Smoke from the cooking stoves in the camp gathered and filled the air like thick clouds, making a huge noise.
The Hu cavalry circled the camp. There were many watchtowers in the camp, and there were countless flags like vines in the wasteland. Bugles warned, drums gathered the troops, and a huge crowd rushed to the wall to defend themselves.
"There are quite a number of people. If there are not 18000, there must be 150000." Kebineng muttered and led the troops to stop outside the east gate.
He wanted to see if any enemy would come out of camp to challenge him and test the opponent's fighting power.
He was observing the movement in the camp, and Chunyu Qiong was also observing the cavalry outside the camp.
"Two thousand cavalry and three or four thousand horses are just for testing. There are so many war horses in the north." He turned to look at the one thousand cavalry under his command. He was envious and fearful of the enemy's cavalry because Yuan Shao
The total number of cavalry and soldiers is only over 2,000.
The sale of war horses is prohibited in You and Bin states. The number of horses that their whole army can go into battle is not as many as other people's test troops.
"General, we are willing to lead the troops into battle and drive away the enemy's cavalry." Brothers Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang offered their orders.
Chunyu Qiong waved his hand to stop the cavalry. How could the infantry drive away the cavalry? What would happen if they were driven away temporarily? It would be a waste of effort.
He was reluctant to send cavalry out, as it was obvious that they could not defeat him. Not only did the number of Hu cavalry outside the camp double, there were also thousands of armored cavalry.
"Defend the camp well and the enemy will not dare to attack by force." He did not want to use cavalry in field battles, which would definitely result in losses.
Kebineng really had no intention of attacking the camp. He had too many bows and crossbows at the watchtower, and the casualties would be huge if he charged forward. Seeing that the enemy had no intention of fighting, he divided his light cavalry to the two front camps for reconnaissance. He brought a thousand armored assault cavalry with him.
Call the formation at the main camp.
But until the sky dimmed and the Golden Crow sank in the west, no one responded. In order to prevent night attacks, I could only lead the team to withdraw through Surabaya. I sent people to report back in angrily, and barely completed the task of observing the camp. I didn't know the specific combat strength of the enemy, so I waited.
The Lord's subsequent orders.
Based on the scouts' inquiries and Hu Qi's close-up investigation, Liu Xiang concluded that Chunyu Qiong had not divided his troops for the time being, nor had he made any attempt to forcibly cross the water.
This is very strange. Yuan Shao should know that confrontation is not good for him.
"What is he thinking?" Liu Xiang frowned and muttered softly, there must be a monster when something goes wrong.
"Lord, Yuan Shao must have a conspiracy." Xi Zhicai judged.
"Zhicai, please tell me in detail."
"Xiaopei was lost, and 30,000 troops marched north, but in a defensive manner. On the border between East China Sea and Pengcheng State, 20,000 troops were sent to confront our army. They had no intention of making progress and were suspected of delaying time.
His intention is not to achieve a decisive victory on the battlefield, he must have other plans. The influence of the Yuan family in Runan among the scholars is too great. The lord needs to be careful of any changes in the rear. He should send an order to Langya to closely monitor the movements of the scholars in the territory for fear of rebellion. "
Xi Zhicai deduced that Yuan Shao wanted to cause chaos in Langya.
Liu Xiang felt that this was reasonable, and immediately sent an order to Xun Yu and Zhao Yun to be on guard. After thinking about it, he sent a message to Guo Dian and Liu Yu. There were also many scholars in Qingzhou and Jizhou, and ordered them to carefully investigate the big gentry families in the territory.
But rebellion can't be discovered by looking at it. It can only be monitored secretly, and you can't search door to door, right? Then you don't have to wait for others to rebel, you can cause chaos first.
I just hope that by allocating fields to the people at the bottom and establishing militia groups, they will not be incited or coerced by the rebels. In this case, even if someone causes rebellion, the scale will not be too large.
If Yuan Shao, like Xi Zhicai, had inferred that his intention was to provoke chaos in the rear, he really had no good way to deal with it in advance.
Waiting, alerting, and confronting, time passed day by day, Zhang Liao made little progress in Tan County, but Guan Yu recovered five counties in the west of Donghai County, and his troops were directed towards Pengcheng Kingdom.
Yuan Shao remained unmoved and continued to station troops at the border for confrontation.
Chunyu Qiong from Peixian County stood motionless on the south bank of the water, standing at an angle to Guangqi's defenders, as if he only wanted to defend.
Liu Xiang moved his troops forward and set up a new camp ten miles north of Guangqi, showing that he wanted to attack the city.
The enemy didn't respond at all, so Liu Chong ran over in person.
"Liu Qiaoqi is willing to send troops to entangle the enemy on the south bank. Gu wants to cross the water, annihilate the rebel Yuan Shao's troops, and recover Pei and Pengcheng."
The desire to fight was very strong. Liu Xiang was very pleased, but doubted the old man's mind.
"Which section of the river is King Chen planning to forcibly cross?"
"Thirty miles upstream."
"Why not cross the Si River to attack Guangqi? If the city is attacked, Chunyu Qiong will definitely rescue him, and he can be lured out of the camp."
Liu Chong had his own reasons, stroking his gray beard and said: "Guangqi is far away and the enemy camp is close. Our army marches far to attack the city. If the enemy forces cross the water, they may not be able to rescue them. Naturally, we must first attack the enemy camp, and then
Then take Guangqi."
Okay, this one is a conservative and likes to chew bones.
Liu Xiang didn't want to waste his time changing his mind. It was too difficult, so he compromised:
"King Chen, please give me 5,000 infantry and 15,000 civilians. In addition to the 5,000 infantry here, we can make up 25,000 people. We can pretend to attack Guangqi and mobilize Chunyu Qiong. If he comes out to rescue,
, our cavalry can naturally entangle him, and you can take the opportunity to forcibly cross the water, how about it?"
Liu Chong has 33,000 infantry and 46,000 civilians in Pei County. If he mobilizes these men, he will have enough combat power to cross the river to attack the camp, and it will not affect the transportation of grain and grass.
He thought for a while and agreed to this strategy: "Okay, I will order the troops to be mobilized now, but I still need to borrow some cavalry from Liu Qiaoqi to deal with the enemy's cavalry."
"How many people does King Chen need?"
"One thousand is enough."
Of course there is no problem in borrowing troops, but I am afraid that the meat bun will beat the dog and there will be no return. If the old man Liu Chong cheats, I can't kill him just because of a thousand cavalry and turn my allies into enemies.
You have to send someone who can withstand the pressure and temptation and bring back the troops.
"Yan Gang."
"The end will be here."
"You will lead a thousand Yue cavalry to assist King Chen in the battle."
"The general will obey the order!"
Liu Xiang was relieved when he sent Yan Gang over. He turned to Liu Chong and said, "This is Yan Gang, the commander of Yueqi Camp. He is my guerrilla general. He is brave in battle and has made many meritorious deeds. He is my favorite general.
I will definitely be able to assist King Chen in attacking the enemy and destroying the stronghold."
Liu Chong understood the real meaning of this sentence and said with a smile: "Then we will rely on General Yan to defeat the enemy."