The large army that Sun Jianjun saw outside Xuchang City was naturally the five thousand reinforcements brought by Gao Shun.
As for why an army of 5,000 looks like an army of 40,000 or 50,000, the answer is actually very simple. It is nothing more than tying branches and other objects to the legs of the war horses so that they can raise endless dust as they advance.
When people look far away, they may mistakenly think that there is an approaching army or something like this.
This was Guo Jia's strategy - the strategy of suspecting soldiers, to make Sun Jian's army think that there were a lot of reinforcements and make him worry, so that he could successfully delay his attack on the city.
For this reason, Guo Jia also suggested that Cao Cao ask Gao Shun to take away all the cavalry. After all, only a small half of the thousand cavalry brought to Guandu were left, and they were of little use on the Guandu battlefield. It was better to work elsewhere.
Use it - even if it's just tying branches to the horse's legs to make a mock-up.
An excellent cavalry team usually consists of one person and three horses. Cao Cao's conditions were not so sufficient at this time, but one person and two horses were absolutely guaranteed. Therefore, Gao Shun brought more than 800 horses back to Xuchang. Of these 800
The horse's legs were all tied with branches, and the smoke it could raise was already quite powerful.
In another time and space, Zhang Fei had used this strategy in front of the Changban Bridge. At that time, he just asked his subordinates to raise smoke and dust with more than a dozen horses. As a result, Cao Cao mistakenly thought that there was an ambush and did not dare to enter.
If Cao Cao knew that there were really only Zhang Fei and his dozen or so men on the other side of Changban Bridge, no matter how loud Zhang Fei's voice was, it was of no use, Cao Cao's army would have crushed you into pieces when they swarmed up.
As for the reason why the support army chose to camp outside the city instead of entering the city to help defend, the reason is also very simple. If they choose to camp, they can be arranged in many ways, allowing Sun Jianjun to continue to misunderstand, thinking that the number of reinforcements is large. But once the army is deployed
If they enter the city, their movements may be noticed by Sun Jian's army, who can learn the details of the number of reinforcements through scouts and other means.
Even if there are five thousand more people, Xuchang's protective power is still insufficient. If Sun Jianjun discovers the truth, the other side will attack the city unscrupulously.
In this way, when setting up camp, Gao Shun followed Guo Jia's instructions and deliberately set up many empty tents. Then during dinner time in the evening, Gao Shun deliberately set up more camp stoves. Zhou Yu and Sun Jian followed the instructions of Cao Jia from the scouts.
Analysis of the number of tents and smoke conditions in the camp suggests that the number of support troops is at least 40,000.
———————————————————————————————— In Sun Jian’s army camp, Zhou Yu looked solemn and was thinking about some issues.
"Gong Jin, tell me, why didn't Cao Cao's reinforcements enter the city?" Sun Jian sat in the main seat and asked Zhou Yu, his expression also very serious.
"Cao Mengde is a treacherous man. This may be his plan." Zhou Yu was also very puzzled by this point. It stands to reason that when reinforcements arrive, they should enter the city to help the defenders with their defense. But why did the reinforcements set up camp outside the city?
After much thought, Zhou Yu thought he had come up with an answer that should be correct.
"I'm afraid Cao Cao wants to contain our army." Zhou Yu slowly expressed his thoughts, "Cao Cao chose to camp outside the city instead of entering the city. He probably wanted to launch an attack while our army was attacking the city, so that our army could not look at each other.
, and its power collapsed on its own.”
In Cao's camp, the flag with the word "Cao" was hung high, so both Zhou Yu and Sun Jian thought that Cao Cao had come in person.
After all, they have an army of 40,000. No matter what unknown changes have taken place in Guandu in the north, since so many people have returned, it means that the war in Guandu must have come to an end.
Therefore, Cao Cao must be among the reinforcements and his commander. Both Sun Jian and Zhou Yu were convinced of this.
If Gao Shun knew what Zhou Yu and others were thinking, he would definitely roll on the ground laughing.
However, now Zhou Yu and Sun Jian really feel very embarrassed.
"They launched an attack as soon as we attacked the city. Aren't we extremely passive?" Sun Jian frowned heavily and said in a deep voice.
Zhou Yu didn't say anything, Cao Cao's 40,000 troops arrived, and his army was indeed very passive now.
Sun Ce, Taishi Ci, Zhou Tai and others on the side looked at Zhou Yu who was silent and secretly worried in their hearts.
Even Zhou Yu remained silent, which shows how troublesome the situation is.
"What's there to hesitate about? If we're afraid that Cao's army will stab us in the back, then just get rid of them all first and then attack the city." Zhou Tai, who has the most carefree personality, muttered directly.
Sun Ce and Tai Shici were shocked when they heard this. Forty thousand Cao's troops. Although our army is still slightly larger in terms of numbers, if we really fight, our army may not be able to defeat the opponent. Besides, since I said it,
The reinforcements may launch an attack during the siege, so why don't you think about it: when we attack the reinforcements, can't the defenders in the city still come to cut off our retreat?
We warriors can all think of this, but we don’t expect that there are people who are more stupid and naive than us.
Zhou Yu explained the principle to Zhou Tai in general. Zhou Tai laughed a few times and then fell silent.
According to Zhou Yu's current intention, he wanted to persuade Sun Jian to withdraw his troops. After all, if Cao Cao really led his troops back in person, then there would no longer be any possibility of Xuchang City being captured by his own army.
But in the end, he did not say any words of persuasion. He knew that Sun Jian would definitely not be willing to withdraw his troops.
As long as he can enter Xuchang City, then Sun Jian will truly have the capital to conquer the world.
And if Sun Jian wants to conquer the world, he must enter Xuchang City.
Sitting in Jiangdong, no matter how well Jiangdong is developed, it will only be a prince in the end. Only by controlling the emperor and connecting Jiangdong with the Central Plains can we have the strength to expand to the entire world.
Just during the day, our army was only a hair away from taking over Xuchang City. If we could have stepped up our efforts, perhaps Sun Jian would have already entered Xuchang City to "greet" the emperor.
What a pity indeed!
Cao Ren, it was because of Cao Ren's desperate resistance that all this ended in vain.
Now Zhou Yu regrets that when he set the east gate as his target, he was a little careless. If he had known that Cao Ren was so difficult to deal with, he should have investigated it carefully and chosen a city gate whose guarding ability was not so good.
plan.
But in fact there is no regret medicine, things have evolved to this situation, and what we need to consider now is how to deal with the current situation.
Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Zhou Tai, and Taishi Ci all looked at Zhou Yu, expecting him to come up with some good strategies to defeat Cao's army in one fell swoop and capture Xuchang.
If Zhou Yu knew that they had such high expectations for him, he would probably have to smile bitterly. I am just Zhou Yu and Zhou Gongjin, not some god in the sky.
Although Zhou Yu came up with some strategies, they were quickly rejected by himself.
In his opinion, since Cao Cao is in the reinforcements, there must be many capable people and strangers around him. The strategies he has come up with before are not without flaws, and some wise man may see through them.
If Zhou Yu had known that there was only one Gao Shun among the reinforcements and there were no advisers to assist him, then he would definitely slap his thighs while hastily asking people to implement the strategies he had thought of earlier.
"Let's just wait and see what happens." After a long time, Zhou Yu said something that made everyone present slightly disappointed.
But no one would blame Zhou Yu, because they all knew that Zhou Yu had done his best.