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

Chapter 56: Attacking the Camp and Leading the Enemy into a Trap

"Have you looked carefully? The enemy has really set foot on the camp?"

After a brief surprise, Wei Xu's first reaction was disbelief!
You have to know that Liu Bei’s army’s march in the past few days can be called a forced march!
There was almost no rest!

The continuous journey made them very tired.

Such a rapid march shows how anxious Liu Bei's army was.

As a result, we are now halfway through the journey. There is no reason to stop and rest!

The soldier didn't know this, so he just told the truth:

"General, the enemy has indeed set up camp and is cutting down trees everywhere. I'm afraid they want to set up camp here!"

After hearing about the two people setting up the camp, Wei Xu became more confused.

If we set up camp, it means we are taking a rest, but if we set up a camp, it means we are preparing to stay there permanently!
Chen Gong didn't say anything about this situation!

For a moment he turned to Han Xian and asked:

"General Han, do you know why the enemy is doing this?"

Han Xian was also confused when he saw this. You ask me? How would I know?

He was just a bandit chieftain, so how could he understand these military strategies? But after thinking for a while, he still answered:
"Perhaps the enemy has discovered our army's tracks!"

"That shouldn't be the case. If the enemy finds our army, they can just come and fight. Why would we need to set up camp?"

When Wei Xu heard this, he shook his head to deny this guess.

You have to know that Liu Bei’s army is not much weaker than theirs.

Although there are prisoners, if we really find out their whereabouts, we can attack!
They are now in the forest, and as long as the enemy sets fire along the mountain, their advantage will turn into a disadvantage.

However, this action of Liu Bei's army was not the correct response after discovering their tracks.

Seeing that his guess was rejected, Han Xian shook his head and said:
"Then I don't know why the enemy is doing this!"

"But now the enemy has set up camp. If we attack them, it will be disadvantageous to us!"

Wei Xu certainly knew all these things. When he saw Han Xian's reply, he knew that Han Xian could not be relied on and he had to think for himself.

But he thought about it and couldn't figure out the plan, so he stepped forward and said to the soldier:
"Go and investigate again quickly. Report back if you find anything unusual!"

The soldier took the order and left, but Han Xian stepped forward and said:
"Since the enemy is doing this, they must have a plan. Our army cannot find out clearly. Why not send someone back to Xia Pi to ask Mr. Chen?"

When Wei Xu heard this, he also felt that it made sense, but after thinking about it, he shook his head and said:
"This place is far from Xia Pi. Even with a fast horse it would take two days to go back and forth."

"If the enemy leaves tonight, even if Chen Gongtai knows about this, can he still offer advice?"

The art of war is ever-changing, and it is basically unrealistic to command it remotely.

Thinking of this, he said in a deep voice:
"Let's wait one more day and see how the enemy moves!"

"Perhaps the enemy is just bluffing and trying to disrupt our formation!"

Upon hearing this, Han Xian thought silently for a while, but couldn't think of a good solution, so he had to agree.

So the two men stayed in the forest with their troops for another night.

It was almost May at this time, and mosquitoes began to appear in the forest. They had traveled light and did not bring any tents or supplies, so they had to spend the night harassed by mosquitoes.

The next morning, Wei Xu called the scout again and asked:

"After a night, is there anything unusual happening in Liu Bei's army?"

The scout heard this and shook his head:

"Since yesterday's felling, the enemy has not made any moves. We have been monitoring them all night and have seen nothing unusual from them."

Upon hearing this news, Wei Xu was stunned and looked at Han Xian and said:

"With the enemy's strength like this, do you really not want to leave?"

Han Xian was naturally very troubled and thought to himself that if he had known this would happen, he would have let Yang Fengqian come.

He originally wanted to take advantage of Liu Bei's army's unpreparedness to launch a surprise attack, seize the food and grass, take some prisoners, and strengthen his own strength.

And with this achievement, Lu Bu will definitely get a larger share when the spoils are divided in the future.

But now it turns out that Liu Bei's army is not taking the usual route at all. How could they stop marching halfway?
This place is still under Lu Bu's rule. Aren't you afraid that Lu Bu will take action personally?
After thinking for a long time, he suddenly remembered something and said hurriedly:

"Not good! If the enemy army doesn't move like this, our army will have no food to sustain itself!"

They had only brought ten days' worth of dry food, and now it was almost halfway through!
If they delayed for another two or three days, they would probably have to return to Xia Pi hungry.

As soon as he said this, Wei Xu's face changed, and he suddenly reacted:

"I know it! I know it! The enemy is doing this because they want to wait until our army runs out of food and supplies!"

"They have more food now. If they continue like this, they will have the upper hand. Our army doesn't have much food. They only need to wait for a few days. Not to mention chasing us, even we will have to speed up our march to return to Xia Pi!"

An army without food is fatal!
Han Xian also became anxious for a moment and said hurriedly:
"The enemy army is behaving like this, what should our army do?"

Wei Xu was not a strategic general, but he had fought with Lu Bu for more than ten years. He did not have many strategies, but he had a lot of experience. He thought for a while and said in a deep voice:

"In the current situation, we cannot cause chaos. We must quickly inform the lord of this matter!"

"As long as our army asks for help, the lord will send troops, and they will arrive in four days at most!"

"Our army still has enough food and grass to sustain itself, so we just need to rely on Liu Bei!"

He thought that it took them two and a half days to get here, so it would take one day to send the messenger and three days for Lu Bu to come. It should be enough!
Since we can’t get the money and food back by using underhanded tricks, it’s better to just take direct action!
When Han Xian saw that he asked for help from Lu Bu, he nodded quickly.

In the current situation, only Lu Bu can make the decision personally.

At that moment, Wei Xu hurriedly wrote a letter, briefly describing the situation, and sent it towards Xia Pi.

As the messenger had just left, a sentry came galloping over on horseback, shouting:

"General, something terrible has happened. Liu Bei's army is now selling military rations outside of Lu County!"

"What? The enemy is selling rations?"

This time it was Han Xian's turn to be confused. What was Liu Bei's army doing?
Wei Xu calmed down and stepped forward to ask:
"How did the enemy sell their food? How much did they sell?"

The scout replied hurriedly:
"Liu Bei's army pulled grain outside the city and sold it for 300 coins per stone, which was several dozen coins lower than in the city. When the people heard about it, they rushed to buy it and praised Liu Bei's virtue!"

"In addition, it can be exchanged for cloth, ironware, and swords."

"Thousands of stones have been sold in just one morning!"

In years of war, who doesn’t lack food?
When people heard that there was cheap food and fodder for sale, they would squeeze out money even if it meant squeezing through.

Even if you are poor, everyone has some cloth and ironware, so you can make money by bartering.

But hearing this, Han Xian felt a pang of pain:
"How dare you, little Liu Bei!"

Logically speaking, these food and fodder should all belong to them.

Even if you want to sell it, you shouldn't lower the price of the grain!
When Wei Xu heard this, his face turned pale and he said, "Oh no! Liu Bei's army is trying to escape!"

He suddenly realized that changes were happening much faster than they thought!

If Liu Bei just set up a camp here, they could still wait for Lu Bu to come.

But if Liu Bei sold all the extra food and grass, he could run away. He didn't need to sell all of it. Just half of it would be impossible for Lu Bu to catch up with him!
By then, they would have no food to sustain themselves, and even if they followed, they could only chase for two or three days.

Moreover, without the burden of food and supplies, they might not succeed even if they wanted to launch a surprise attack.

Han Xian also thought of this problem and immediately exclaimed:
"So, how should we make it?"

The change in the situation suddenly made their situation extremely passive.

Now the problem is no longer how they should rob money and food, but how to keep Liu Bei's army!

Wei Xu also started to use his brain for a moment, racking his brain to find a way to deal with the situation.

After thinking for a while, he paused, looked at Han Xian and said:

"General Han, let's attack the camp tonight!"

When Han Xian heard this, his eyes widened and he said:

"We're going to attack the camp tonight? The enemy is camped in front of us, how can our army succeed?"

"Otherwise, attacking the camp tonight will surely be effective!"

Wei Xu's face was full of confidence and he said:
"General, have you forgotten that the enemy doesn't know where our army is?"

"They dare to sell food so boldly, most likely because they guessed that our army had already gone far away, and were ready to sell all the food and grass and change the route."

"Although we have set up a camp now, the defense may not be strict."

"Besides, although the enemy has started to sell food, they still have a lot of food and supplies. Even if we take precautions, we will only take precautions against food and supplies!"

"They didn't expect our army to arrive so quickly!"

"Our army can go tonight and kill the main camp directly!"

"My troops are always victorious in the battle. The enemy has captured many prisoners and cannot fight. As long as we can capture and kill Liu Bei, our army will have nothing to worry about!"

"On the contrary, the enemy's actions are so unpredictable. It's like this now, and we don't know what will happen next."

"We don't have much food supplies. If we delay for a few more days, we may not be able to cope with it!"

"If we want to keep Liu Bei and seize his money and food, we can only do it tonight!"

I have to say that Wei Xu's words really took some thought.

He knew that their only advantage now was that Liu Bei's army had not yet discovered their trace.

If we act now, it may still be in time.

If they delay for a few more days, they will have no chance!

Han Xian thought about it for a moment and felt that this made sense. Now they were more or less caught off guard.

Wait for two days, who knows what the enemy will do?

Thinking of this, Han Xian continued to say to Wei:

"Tonight, General, you will lead the way in front, and I will follow from behind to capture Liu Bei!"

After the two men reached an agreement, they immediately ordered the soldiers to prepare.

But they didn't know that their actions had already been discovered by Liu Bei's army spies.

Because Qin Zhen planned to lure the enemy out of their hole, before carrying out the plan, he naturally had to deploy spies at various important roads to find out the movements of the enemy.

As a result, the spies originally intended to set up a sentry post here in Luliang Mountain, but they accidentally discovered the enemy troops hidden there.

So they reported the news to the camp. Because Qin Zhen deliberately lured the enemy to attack, they did not alarm them, but only sent spies to monitor any abnormal behavior of the enemy.

At this time, the spy learned of the actions of Wei Xu and others and reported immediately.

Qin Zhen knew the details of the enemy army, so he asked Liu Bei and others to prepare for an ambush, while he went out of the camp and waited quietly for the result.

After going back and forth like this, the time came to four o'clock in the morning.

In ancient times, people believed in working at sunrise and resting at sunset, and the fourth watch was the time for a deep sleep.

Wei Xu and his men were preparing for a night battle, so they simply went out in full force. He led the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp in the front and made their way to the outside of Liu Bei's camp.

When he came here and took a look, Wei Xu immediately laughed;

"The enemy's defenses are so lax, it's really God's help!"

In the camp, only the torches along the camp road were lit; the lights in the tents were off, and even the soldiers looking for the camp were sparsely populated.

Seeing this, Wei Xu led his troops all the way to the entrance of the camp, quietly moved away the barricades, and went straight to the camp gate.

At this moment, a loud shout was heard:

"who is it?"

I saw a man on the camp's arrow platform sticking his head out, and the next second a cry of surprise rang out:

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Xu knew he could no longer hide it, and immediately raised his gun and shouted:

"All troops, listen up! Follow me into the camp and capture and kill Liu Bei!"

The soldiers behind him were all veterans of many battles. When they heard the voice, they raised their swords and shouted, and rushed directly into the camp.

The trap camp entered one after another, and suddenly screams were heard everywhere.

Seeing this, Wei Xu thought he had a good plan and shouted:
"Follow me and charge into the main camp!"

He fought his way into the camp as if there was no one there, and soon he had rushed into the center of the army.

But at this moment, there was a sudden silence in Liu Bei's military camp, where exclamations should have been heard.

A soldier from the Xianzhen Camp saw that something was wrong, opened the tent next to him, and suddenly exclaimed:
"Oh no, General, there's no one in the camp!"

"What? No one in the camp?"

When Wei Xu heard this, his heart trembled, and he hurriedly opened a tent, but saw that it was empty. There was no one there!
He was also a veteran of many battles, and his heart immediately dropped to the bottom of the valley. He felt a chill on his back and shouted hurriedly:
"Oh no, we've fallen into a trap, retreat quickly, retreat quickly!"

As he shouted, he saw torches thrown out from the camps on the north and south sides.

As soon as the torches came out, the central army camp was set on fire in an instant.

At the same time, flames rose in front of them, instantly blocking their way forward.

(End of this chapter)