(There are incorrect titles in previous chapters. Yuan Yin is Yuan Shu’s younger brother, that is, his cousin, not his nephew)
Fifty miles outside Xiaxiang City, in an unknown valley.
Shortly after nightfall, Wu Sheng summoned Li Ren, Yuan Yin and other generals who had joined Yuan's army.
Yuan Yin naturally spoke at the beginning of this military meeting. After all, it was Yuan Yin who led the army to station the minister for many days before.
After listening to Yuan Yin's feeble words, he didn't say much about the truth, but mostly made excuses to cover up his defeat. Wu Sheng glanced at him sideways, with disdain in his heart. After hearing this, he rarely had the patience to listen.
He directly bowed his head and said: "Master Yuan has finished speaking. I have decided to send out the army early tomorrow morning. We will recapture the prime minister and avenge Master Yuan's murder. What do you think?"
Suspecting him to be incompetent and irresponsible, Wu Sheng didn't even bother to call him an official. If it weren't for Yuan Jun's leadership this time and the royal government's grand scheme, I'm afraid something even worse would have come out.
"It doesn't matter when you leave the city." Li Ren pondered for a while and said: "It's just that the two armies are facing each other at this time, and the three parties are hunting. No matter whether they are Xiapi or Xiaxiang, there must be sentries and cavalry everywhere. This distance of fifty miles is not good.
Cover it up."
Glancing at Yuan Yin, Li Ren continued: "What's more, Captain Yuan was unexpectedly attacked by the enemy at night and lost his position. Now if we want to repeat the same trick, it will be difficult!"
"That's right." The adjutant next to Yuan Yin also added: "If we can't cover our tracks and are caught by surprise, we won't be able to achieve the effect of a surprise attack. It will not be easy to fight, and there will be heavy casualties."
"What's more, once we attack the city, if we can't attack quickly, there will definitely be reinforcements from Xiapi, and we will be in danger!"
"Reinforcements in Xiapi?" Wu Sheng said, "General Tiangong has now led a hundred thousand heavenly troops to surround Xiapi. Liu Xuande himself can't protect himself, so he dares to come to rescue the prime minister? Ridiculous!"
"Besides, if he, Liu Bei, led his troops to help, how could the general just sit back and ignore it?"
Having said this, Wu Sheng waved his hand and said with a heroic voice: "What do the defeated soldiers of Xuzhou mean? How can they be compared with the fierceness of our heavenly army?"
"Wu...Major's words are wrong!"
While secretly scolding Wang Zheng for his unorthodox official position, Yuan Yin couldn't help but retort: "If the governor Wang cannot come to the rescue in time, we will face a double attack from the two armies, and we will die without a burial."
Hey, you loser, you still have the nerve to talk?
Wu Sheng almost couldn't hold back and got angry. Fortunately, he finally grasped the balance at the critical moment and understood that if he wanted to capture Xiangxiang, he would now completely rely on Yuan Shu and the defeated army. Although most of the defeated soldiers here were gathered by Li Ren, they could be attacked from
From the first moment Yuan Yin arrived, everyone would only follow his lead!
Because his surname is Yuan!
Even more because he is Yuan Shu’s cousin!
"Master Yuan, what you said is wrong." Wu Sheng snorted and said, "Liu Bei is blocking the road ahead. If you can't repel him and clear the obstacles, how can you return to Yangzhou?"
"To put it bluntly, you, Mr. Yuan, may not have an advantage if you go back, but others..." Wu Sheng sneered: "No matter how good-tempered Yangzhou Mu is, it's impossible for such a big defeat to happen without incident, right?"
Hearing this, Yuan Shu was startled, and Li Ren and other generals felt secretly in their hearts, knowing that although Wu Sheng's words were straightforward, they were quite reasonable.
He mobilized 30,000 troops, but ended up in such a disastrous defeat. Not to mention that Yuan Shu was not a broad-minded hero in the first place, but he had the capacity to accommodate others, to reassure the troops, and to extinguish those relatives and friends.
The noble families who died in this battle were inevitably criticized by the people, and it was inevitable that they would have their heads chopped off.
Yuan Yin is naturally not among them, but what about the others?
If one is cut off, who will be unlucky? How about half of it?
It's not even possible to cut them all off.
This was also one of the reasons why Li Ren gathered everyone. To put it bluntly, everyone knew that if they didn't find a way to get rid of Wang Zheng's army while they were raiding the formation, even if Liu Bei opened the way, they might not dare to return to Yangzhou.
.
Wu Sheng added: "Why should we attack Xiaxiang? It's because if we lose Xiaxiang again, Xiapi will become an isolated city!"
"And now that Liu Bei has lost Tancheng, he already lacks logistics." As he said that, Wu Sheng pointed at Yuan Yin: "Master Yuan also knows that the Prime Minister is an important logistics place for your army to store supplies. If you don't take it back as soon as possible, let the Prime Minister
The prime minister's guard sent these things to Xiapi, hey..."
"I'm afraid Xiapi can continue to hold on for a long time." Wu Sheng threatened: "If other forces get involved, some of the advantages that the general has planned for a long time will be lost!"
"But if you can't make a surprise attack, how can you get a prime minister?" Li Ren asked again.
"That's a good question." Wu Sheng turned around and smiled: "Let me ask you, if we capture the prime minister, will Liu Bei come to our aid?"
"This is inevitable!" Everyone said in unison.
"The reason why I want to go to Xiangxiang is to pretend that our army is in a dead end and lure Liu Bei from Xiapi to send troops to rescue the city. Then our army will surround the point to reinforce and annihilate them first. Then before Liu Bei has received the news, the general's
The main force will attack at the same time. Let's join the two groups and attack with all our strength. We will fight for a decisive battle and leave Liu Bei alone and helpless, waiting for death!"
The generals looked at each other in shock, and Yuan Yin couldn't help but ask: "Fake intention?"
"What kind of pretense?"
"Didn't Liu Bei pretend to be defeated to lure you in?" Wu Sheng said with a smile: "We are about to return the original amount!"
"Come and see." Wu Sheng spread out the map and pointed out the road to the country: "Xiapi is more than two hundred miles away from Xiapi. It will take time to rush to rescue. And Xia is next to the Huaihe River, negative to Si Zhenshan, Si
Zhenshan is twenty miles long from east to west and more than ten miles wide from north to south. If you come from Xiapi to help the Prime Minister, you will definitely pass by this mountain!"
"Hey, I was a mountain dweller before I joined the army. Now in the summer, the mountains are lush with lush forests and weeds, which literally block out the sky!"
"This place is an excellent place to set up an ambush!"
He turned to look at everyone and said: "What we need to do well is to deliberately set up a defeat when Liu Bei's reinforcements come..."
As he said this, thinking of Yuan Jun's current virtue, he burst into laughter: "It's not necessary to do it intentionally, it's all natural."
Hearing this, everyone was secretly ashamed and couldn't help but remain silent.
This is called a defeat plan, and it is not difficult to implement. Li Ren asked: "It is not difficult to lure Pi Liu Bei's reinforcements into an ambush. But Major Wu, with the current morale and morale of our soldiers, even if the enemy enters an ambush, ahem, it may not be possible."
It’s a sure win.”
"If the enemy enters the mountains and ambush in the forest, do you still need your soldiers to kill the enemy?" Wu Sheng shook his head: "It is midsummer and the weather is dry. Let's set it up with rockets when the time comes. Hey..."
Fire attack?
Hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.
Seeing the sudden change in the expressions of the generals, Wu Sheng pointed to the sky with a smile: "These people who rebel against heaven should just ask Huang Tian to rain down fire from the sky to annihilate them all!"
"Gentlemen, is this plan feasible?"
Everyone nodded. Upon seeing this, Wu Sheng directly dispatched troops and generals and assigned tasks.
"Li Ren, it's up to you to wear the uniform of Liu Bei's army and go to the city gate to deceive the prime minister first."
Li Ren frowned when he heard this: "Major Wu, the general guarding the city gate is very strict, how can he be easily deceived into opening it?"
"I don't need you to trick me." Wu Sheng said with a smile: "Just make it look good. Well, just pretend to be a defeated soldier who came from Xiangben."
It just so happened that not long after Yu Jin had captured Xiangben, a lot of Liu Bei's armor had been captured recently. Wu Sheng had notified Wang Zheng in advance and had just arranged for the elites of the Hundred Days Execution Camp to be sent over. Five hundred sets were not many, and the movement would not be too big.
.
At that time, let the people from the Tianzhu camp mix among them, and if something really happens, they can rise up and start an attack.
After listening to Wu Sheng's explanation, Li Ren nodded and accepted the order.
"Young Master Yuan, you and I will lead a thousand men, advance into the mountains first, choose a place for an ambush, silence all the flags and drums, and wait for Liu Bei's reinforcements to arrive in Xiapi."
"Once the ambush has been decided, without military orders, any general who leaves his post without authorization will be beheaded; any soldier who makes a noise and exposes himself will be beheaded."
Although he was dissatisfied with Wu Sheng's bossy character, after hearing this, Yuan Yin also felt that this plan had a good chance of winning, and reluctantly nodded, preparing to cooperate first.
If he could really turn defeat into victory and regain a victory, he could return to Yangzhou with his head held high.
"Captain Jia, lead a thousand men and set up an ambush on the mountain. All the horses we have now will be given to you. When the time comes, each of you will ride two horses. Don't go into the mountain. Find a place in the valley beside the mountain and wait. When my order comes, you
Just fight out." Wu Sheng lowered his voice again and whispered a few words to him.
The captain obeyed the order.
"Captain Yi, you have the remaining 2,000 troops and more siege equipment to follow Li Ren. Regardless of whether the city gate is opened by trickery or not, when you hear three drums, you will rush out together."
After the distribution was completed, Wu Sheng raised his eyes with anger and said every word: "Tonight, we will bury the pot at the first watch, make rice at the second watch, and set off at the third watch!"
"Gentlemen, if you want to return Liu Bei's favor and let him know that there are no brave men in the east of Erjiang, then look no further than this!"
.....
Where the night ends, dawn breaks.
Summer dawns early, weeds grow on the roadside, rivers rush in the distance, insects chirp and birds chirp, and the quiet sound of hooves keeps ringing, slowly approaching the area between Xiangxiang and Xiapi.
Along the way, Wu Sheng captured and beheaded all Liu Bei's army sentries, even ordinary people and mountain people.
This kind of reasonable and necessary killing is what he likes to see the most.
By noon the next day, this group of people had arrived at Sizhen Mountain, stationed at the foot of the nearby mountain, and set up camp.
After resting at midnight that night, another early morning came, and a group of people and horses were separated and stopped twenty miles outside Xiangxiang City. Li Ren led 500 troops and horses to gallop out, discarded their helmets and armor, rebelled against the flag, and pretended to be defeated again, or
He said he should return to his original appearance and went straight to the city gate.
...
At the top of Xiaxiang City, there are many military flags, and soldiers with swords and guns on their backs are patrolling back and forth.
Before Li Ren could rush to the city, arrows were fired at him. He reined in his mount, raised his head and shouted: "I am the subordinate of the horse captain of Xiangben, Uncle Du. Not long ago, the Langya Yellow Turban attacked Xiangben.
We went out to fight, only to be surrounded. We fought our way out bravely. We were about to return to the city, but we unexpectedly were cut off by the Yellow Turban bandits."
"Later I learned that Xiangben had been lost, and there were thieves in the north of Xiapi to intercept us. I couldn't get past, so I simply ran away and came here. I begged the captain to let us enter the city for the sake of fellow military commander Ze Ze."
The guard at the head of the city looked over, turned around and left without saying a word.
"Brother, don't leave!" Li Ren shouted: "Open the city gate for me quickly, I want to see the county king and county captain of this city!"
"It's just that you don't care about your comrades." He looked sad and angry and kept shouting: "I don't believe that these venerables don't care about them at all!"
The soldiers behind them made a noise together and shouted:
"Open the city gate quickly!"
"Let us in!"
Soon, the guard turned back, and there was another person accompanying him. He was about forty years old, with a white face and a long beard. Although he was wearing ordinary clothes and did not wear a general's armor, the toughness on his face could be seen at a glance.
The man looked up and down, stared at Li Ren for a long time, and then asked: "What is your name?"
Li Ren guessed that this person must be the current guard of the Prime Minister, so he stopped shouting and bowed his body and replied: "General, my surname is Mu, my name is Zi Li, and I am Du Bo under the command of Colonel Ma Xiaowei of Xiangben."
"Captain Ma?" the guard asked, "Has the arrow sore on his back gotten better?"
Li Ren was startled. Captain Ma sent a letter to Wu Sheng from the ban. Wu Sheng told him again, but he didn't know if the other party had arrow wounds. He was stunned for a while, secretly gritting his teeth, thinking that anyway, Wu Sheng
Even if you can’t be fooled, it doesn’t matter, give it a try!
He looked like he was frowning and thinking hard, and after a while he replied: "General, I have never heard that Shangguan had arrow sores on his back. Later, Xiangben fell, but I don't know his whereabouts, let alone whether he was injured.
"
The guard general nodded and said with a smile: "There was no war in the three years before Xiangben. How could Lieutenant Ma be hit by an arrow? How could he talk about arrow sores? This is because I don't know the authenticity of you, so I lied to you."
..."
"Come here, open the city gate, prepare leeks, and invite friendly troops to enter the city!"
Taking advantage of the opening of the city gate, the guard asked again, "The Yellow Turban bandits captured Xiangben? I have heard about this. By the way, how many troops will Langya send? Who will lead the army? Will they continue to go south? I will go down."
Pi?"
"The Yellow Turban bandits have no less than 50,000 troops, led by Na Langya Jinyu himself."
"Is it Jin Yu who resisted the ghost Wen Chou?" The guard was startled, then nodded and sighed: "Brother Ma didn't lose unjustly."
Soon after, with a creaking sound, the city gate slowly opened, and the city walls suddenly became quiet.
The guard smiled and said: "Let the brothers come in quickly."
At this time, Li Ren was a little stunned.
He had no expectations at first, but unexpectedly, the city gate opened as soon as it was opened. Instead, he was surprised and became a little distracted.
Looking at the dark city gate, Li Ren looked up at the guard again and thought: "When Wu Sheng let us deceive him before, he didn't have much self-confidence. I also thought it was a waste of time, but I didn't expect it to be like this."
."
After a second thought, he became suspicious again: "Could it be that this guy has seen through the reality of my journey and guessed that he is an enemy? Now he has set up an ambush behind the city gate and is going to close the door and beat the dog?"
He couldn't help but glance behind him. It was a real Uncle Dub, from Tianzhu Camp.
To enter or not to enter?
Li Ren asked calmly.
Uncle Dub nodded slightly and seemed to reply silently, "Of course I want to go in!"
Since he has opened it, why doesn't he enter? Let's seize the city gate first!
He immediately made sign language to a colleague behind him and asked him to ride back immediately to report that Yuan Jun, who was twenty miles away, and Wu Sheng, who was further away, were coming with the army!
If the opponent falls into the trap, then after seizing the city gate, they will immediately cover it up!
If the opponent resorted to a trick, Du Bo, who was in charge of the camp that day, also believed that with one hundred of his own men, guarding the city gate and the main road, he would definitely be able to support Yuan Jun to come for reinforcements, and make the lie come true!