Three Kingdoms: I switched to Liu Bei, why are you crying, Cao Cao?

Chapter 55: Conspiracy against the enemy, competition between counselors

Faced with Qin Zhen's proposal, although Liu Bei was worried, he still acted according to the plan!
He immediately led his troops and marched towards Lu County.

After another two days of marching, they finally arrived at the outskirts of Lu County and set up camp.

Before the camp was built, Liu Bei called Qin Zhen into the tent to ask him:
"Military Advisor, although our army has set up camp here, we have lost track of the enemy!"

"Now that the enemy's whereabouts are unknown, what should we do?"

In ancient times, it was not possible to spy on military intelligence just by wanting to!

By extending out from one's own army, it may be possible to conduct a fixed-point exploration within a radius of dozens of miles. If there are enemy troops, one can even chase them.

But you can't chase forever. If you chase too far, the message will not be delivered in time.

Moreover, the spies may be discovered and killed by the enemy.

Therefore, once they exceed a certain range, the spies must be recalled.

Otherwise the spies themselves would be in danger.

Each of these spies is extremely important, and the loss of one is one less.

Now they are in this situation. They only know that Lu Bu’s army is moving westward, but they don’t know where they are going.

And they had to travel along the main road with their food and baggage.

If the enemy wanted to find out about them, they only needed to explore along the main road.

This is also the reason why Chen Gong said that the enemy is in the light and we are in the dark.

At this time, the fog of war is completely opened, which puts the commander's ability to respond to the situation to the greatest extent.

This is also the reason why Liu Bei sought advice again.

Because from then on, every day they walked, they would face the threat of the enemy.

Qin Zhen responded to Lao Liu's question with a smile:

"Don't worry, my lord. Our army is here and we are sure to win!"

"I think you didn't realize that the enemy army has a fatal flaw, which has now been discovered by our army!"

"Oh? What's the enemy's fatal flaw?"

Liu Bei was stunned for a while and didn't react.

Then Qin Zhen smiled and said:

"What you are worried about is that the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light. But think about it, why is the enemy in the dark?"

When Liu Bei heard this, he said in a deep voice:

"The enemy is coming lightly, marching along the path!"

"Our army is marching with baggage and moving along the main road. The enemy can detect our military situation, but we don't know where the enemy is. This is called the enemy in the dark!"

As he said this, he suddenly realized:
"Military Advisor, are you saying that the enemy army is short of food and fodder?"

"exactly!"

Qin Zhen nodded and said with a relaxed look:

"As the saying goes, before the army moves, food and fodder must go first!"

"Chen Gong set up this plan to lure our army into a trap, but he never thought about what would happen to his army if our army did not move."

"Now his army is rushing here, and the food and fodder they carry can only last for ten days at most!"

"And our army now has as much as 70,000 stones of food and fodder, including the food and fodder that Lu Bu gave us before!"

"Let alone ten days, our army can afford even half a year!"

"As long as our army remains inactive, what can they do to us?"

Hearing this, Liu Bei suddenly realized!
He had been so focused on taking Xiang County that he only considered the money, food and supplies as a burden.

But now he thought that the money, food and baggage would slow down his speed.

But with these things in hand, he can fight a war of attrition!
Compared with them, the troops sent by Lu Bu were just an isolated force without any money or food support. As long as they didn't move, the other side would be the one that would be anxious!
Thinking of this, Liu Bei smiled and said:

"Thanks to the military advisor's reminder, if not for this, I would have almost forgotten about this matter!"

"It now appears that the enemy is in the dark, but they may not have the advantage over our army!"

Then he hurriedly said:
"But we have to take Xiang County, how can we delay here?"

The reason why he was impatient was that there was a time limit for taking Xiang County, just like Lu Bu was in a hurry to go south to plunder. They also took advantage of the time difference to take Xiang County. It would take ten days like this. Lu Bu's army would no longer be afraid, but Qiao Rui and others would be in danger!
As soon as he asked, Qin Zhen smiled and said:

"So my army needs to lure the snake out of its hole!"

"Since the enemy is in the dark, our army will lure them out and take the initiative to engage in battle with our army!"

Seeing that Qin Zhen still had a solution, Lao Liu hurriedly asked:
"How should our army lure the snake out of its hole?"

Qin Zhen smiled leisurely and stood up:

"If you want to lure the snake out of its hole, you must know what the enemy cares about!"

"The enemy's advantage right now is nothing more than our army has a lot of food and supplies."

"The enemy's mission, in addition to defeating our army, is to take back our money and food."

"So our army can start with money and food!"

"The reason why our army is currently marching slowly is simply because we have too much food and fodder!"

"Our army can sell these grains!"

"Our army is not far from Lu County now. We can transport food and grass into the city and sell them, and then exchange them for money to carry with us."

"I have already checked before coming here. The current market price of one stone of corn in Xuzhou is 340 coins!"

"We can reduce the price by 40 coins."

"In this way, 10,000 dan of grain and grass can be sold for 3 million coins."

"If we only need to sell half of the money and food, we can speed up our march a lot!"

"In contrast, the enemy would lose 400,000 coins if they took it back."

"All the generals under Lu Bu, whether it's Yang Feng and others or Wei Xu and others, who doesn't regard money as their life?"

"How can the enemy army sit still when they see our army selling grain?"

"Besides, they came here for money and food. If we don't have the food to burden us, they will return empty-handed!"

"So no matter what, they have to hold back our army!"

"Our army only needs to sell food while investigating the enemy's movements around us and setting up an ambush in the camp!"

"If you spot the enemy, wait for the right moment to strike."

"If we don't find any enemy troops, we can just keep 20 days' worth of food and fodder and sell the rest!"

"If they take the small road, we can take the small road as well. When the time comes, the enemy will be in the dark and we will be in the dark. We have more soldiers, so why should we be afraid of them?"

Qin Zhen told Lao Liu about his plan, which stunned him immediately.

He also explained why Qin Zhen wanted to set up camp in Lu County.

It turns out that from the beginning, they had not planned to take all the food and supplies with them!
As long as they can exchange food for money, their biggest disadvantage will turn into an advantage!
You know, they had nearly two thousand horse-drawn carriages transporting food and fodder!

As long as these carts are unloaded and the horses are freed up, their travel speed can be greatly increased.

Although they suffered some losses by exchanging the grain for money, as long as they could take it back, they could buy it back from somewhere else at a lower price.

As for whether these 60,000 to 70,000 shi of grain could be sold, that was not even considered.

Lu County is a big county in Pengcheng. Small families cannot afford it, but those big families can consume thousands or tens of thousands of stones without any effort.

It’s forty coins lower than the market price. Even if the rich can’t buy it all, a large number of ordinary people will also buy it!
After figuring out this key point, Liu Bei clapped his hands and laughed:

"What a great way to lure the snake out of its hole! This plan of the military advisor is really brilliant!" "No wonder the military advisor said that an open conspiracy must be defeated with an open conspiracy. With this open conspiracy, I want to see how the enemy will respond!"

After hearing this, Qin Zhen came to Liu Bei and said:

"I predict that within three days, the enemy will surely launch a night attack on our main camp. We should make good preparations so that the enemy will not return!"

"Of course! Our army should be well deployed!"

There was a little more light in Liu Bei's eyes.

Lao Liu might not be good at fighting large-scale battles, but he has a lot of experience in small-scale combats!

It would be fine if he didn't know the enemy's movements, but now that he knew the enemy's movements, he naturally had confidence.

"But I don't know how our army should be deployed!"

Qin Zhen thought for a while and said:
"Now that we know the enemy is coming, we can set up an ambush here. Although our army has many soldiers, we have a large number of prisoners."

"I intend to use fire attack as the main method!"

"Your Excellency, you can have Fu Shiren and Xiahou Bo lead a thousand soldiers each to ambush the side camp."

"Let General Zhang lead the soldiers and urge the prisoners to cut wood outside and pile the wood at the north and south gates."

"After finding the enemy's whereabouts, Ming Gong and Yi De will lead their own troops to ambush outside the camp, creating the illusion that our camp is empty."

"When the enemy arrives, they will see that our camp is empty and will definitely enter through the east and west gates."

"Our army will take advantage of the situation to set fire to the north and south gates, and use the ambushes in the camp to intercept the enemy's troops. Then, you can attack from both sides and block the east and west gates. The captives will shout outside to boost our morale, so that the enemy will not be able to figure out our main force!"

"In this case, all four gates are blocked by our army, and the enemy is trapped in a sea of ​​fire. With enemies on all sides, how can they not be defeated?"

As the saying goes, water and fire are merciless. When Liu Bei heard this plan, he felt a chill in his heart.

If Qin Zhen's plan is followed, once the fire starts, the enemy will have no way to escape!

I have heard that Qin Zhen is a great military commander, and now I see that it is indeed true.

With just this fire attack strategy, as long as the enemy breaks into the camp, it will be impossible to survive.

However, although he was kind and righteous, he never showed mercy to his enemies. He nodded immediately and said:

"Let's follow the military advisor's plan!"

After saying this, Liu Bei stood up and walked out to issue orders.

At the same time, on the west side of Lu County, in the southeast corner of Pengcheng, in a dense forest.

An army was resting in the forest.

They were Wei Xu, Han Xian and others who were lost by Liu Bei's army.

However, after leaving Xia Pi, the two of them headed north. Before leaving, Chen Gong specifically warned them that the enemy might have scouts outside to investigate.

Therefore, after the two men left the city, they scattered the scouts in all directions to prevent the enemy from following them.

In this way, they traveled more than 200 miles in two days before completely bypassing Liu Bei's army.

But after they went around, they did not move forward, but covered their tracks and camped at the foot of Luliang Mountain.

This place is different from the Luliang in Shanxi. From Sishui to Lu County, the piled stones form a beam, hence the name Luliang.

The mountain is not high, but the forest is dense, enough to cover the whereabouts of more than 8,000 soldiers.

Chen Gong also instructed them to go here, because he knew that this strategist under Liu Bei was insidious, and when he saw them heading west, he would guess that they were ambushing in Pengcheng.

But in fact, they were lying in ambush on the west side of Lu County!
As long as Liu Bei's army passed through Lu County, they would appear quietly behind Liu Bei's army.

This move can be considered a calculated move, with a roundabout way of doing things, just to make Liu Bei's army unable to figure out their position and catch them by surprise!

At this time, the soldiers were resting in the forest.

Although Han Xian and Wei Xu were the main generals, they were not treated very well and could only eat wheat cakes and drink meat soup.

After walking for several days, both of them were exhausted.

Han Xian bit the wheat cake, tore off a piece, and said to Wei Xu:

"General Wei, if our army has reached this point, Liu Bei's army will definitely not be able to figure out our movements!"

"They certainly didn't expect that our army would ambush here, but I wonder if Mr. Chen gave any instructions before they left, about when our army should move?"

Although Han Xian has a large number of troops, the main general this time is actually Wei Xu.

This was also Lu Bu's little idea. He wanted his own people to be the main generals. Han Xian was unaware of their plans and could only obey their orders!
Listening to Han Xian's question, Wei Xu smiled complacently and said:

"I wonder, according to General Han, when should we take action?"

Han Xian thought for a moment after hearing this and said:

"If we follow Mr. Chen's plan, we have already taken a detour here, which should make it difficult for the enemy to figure out where our army is."

"If Liu Bei wants to go west through Lu County, he must pass through here!"

"We can ambush the enemy here and kill them as soon as they arrive!"

But as soon as he finished speaking, Wei Xu shook his head and smiled:

"To be honest, General, I think the same way!"

"The enemy doesn't know where we are right now. We should be able to defeat them by taking advantage of the situation!"

"But before we left, Chen Gongtai repeatedly warned us not to take action here!"

"We must wait until the enemy reaches Pengcheng before we can send out our troops!"

"Otherwise, even if our army can win, it will be difficult to achieve complete victory!"

Like Xia Pi, Pengcheng is both the name of a county and the name of a government seat.

In fact, they are now within the territory of Pengcheng State, but the Pengcheng that Wei Xu mentioned is still on the west side of Lu County.

When Han Xian heard this, he was immediately puzzled:
"Why is that?"

Seeing this, Wei Xu smiled and replied:

"Because Liu Bei's advisers are difficult to deal with, they will definitely send spies everywhere to investigate when they see that our army has lost its trace."

"If our army shows up, it won't be hidden from the eyes and ears of Liu Bei's army."

"So it's not possible now, but as Liu Bei's army moves forward, they will be on the alert for our army's ambush in the west, and they will definitely do their best to explore the west."

"At that time, our army was in the east, and they were exploring the west, which was exactly what we wanted. Once our army sent out, Liu Bei's army would be unprepared in the rear and would be defeated by our army!"

Listening to Wei Xu's words, Han Xian felt a headache.

War is simple in itself, but once counselors are involved, the complexity rises dramatically.

For example, now, on the surface, it is a fight between two armies, but in reality it is a contest between strategists.

Just these twists and turns made his scalp tingle, and he couldn't help but praise:
"I see, Mr. Chen is indeed a good planner!"

As Wei Xu listened, he looked up at the tree behind him and said:
"So now, we just have to wait for the news!"

"I have sent out spies to investigate the enemy's movements. When the enemy passes by here, our army will have to move again!"

Han Xian nodded, thinking to himself how miserable it was. If he acted in this way, he would get money and food. He didn't know how much effort it would take!
While I was thinking, I saw a soldier coming through the forest and said:
"General, have we found Liu Bei's army?"

Hearing this, Wei Xu said leisurely:
"Where is Liu Bei's army now?"

Han Xian also pricked up his ears.

But under the gazes of the two, the soldier bowed and said:
"General, the enemy set up camp 20 miles east of Lu County this morning and did not continue to advance!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Wei Xu stood up suddenly:

"Liu Bei's army has set up camp in Lu County? They're not leaving?"

As he spoke, a hint of surprise appeared on his face. They were waiting for Liu Bei to come over, but Liu Bei didn't move?

(End of this chapter)