The World of Yellow Sky

Lu Bu and Gan Ning didn't wait long, and soon, a fast horse flew to and rushed into the water village. It was the Ti cavalry that Deng Ling had sent out to get the defense map.

Lu Bu and Gan Ning had already moved to the camp of the water village, and at the same time, all the soldiers were urgently called up. When the fast horse entered the camp, all the Ming troops who had landed had already assembled.

In the camp at this time, not only Lu Bu and Gan Ning were here, but General Yan Liang and Wen Chou were also in the same building.

The deployment map sent by the eagle wolf guards was spread on the table, and there was a roll of bamboo slips with it.

Lu Bu picked up the bamboo slips on it and weighed it. He hadn't seen this kind of bamboo slips for a long time. Paper was always used in Ming court.

And it's not limited to the original 'yellow sky paper', on the paper, the time has also been updated over the years.

A lot of new paper has been made, and there is even a paper as white as jade, which is called 'jade paper'. It is the most respected and sold to the Western Regions. gold.

At this time, the Han court was still using the heavy bamboo slips, looking around at the familiar furnishings in front of him, Lu Bu suddenly realized that the Ming court was different from the Han court.

In the Ming Court, everything is full of vigor and vitality, and everything seems to be brand new. Even the old palaces and quaint buildings can smell the thriving atmosphere.

But looking back at the Hanting, it is becoming more and more decayed and destroyed, just like this water village.

On the bamboo slips, the movements of the Xuzhou Army were written in great detail.

It is even specific to the number and movement of the army, where it has arrived, and where it will arrive in a few days.

The logistics of the army are extremely important. The soldiers and horses are not moved, and the food and grass go first. This is a necessary condition for war.

Lu Bu passed the bamboo slips in his hand to Gan Ning who was beside him.

"The situation in Xuzhou is exactly as Duke Ming expected. There are only a few old and weak soldiers left behind and some village braves."

The bamboo slips were passed among the hands of the remaining three, and finally placed on the table again.

"Most of the Xuzhou Han army is now moving towards the counties and Pingchang cities, and Xuzhou has also recruited a lot of civilians to serve as auxiliary soldiers, and they are all attracted by the army led by Duke Ming."

"Now the situation is clear, and the interior of Xuzhou is extremely empty."

Lu Bu briefly introduced the current situation, and finally pointed the whip in his hand to a point in the center of the map. Gan Ning and the others followed the direction pointed by Lu Bu's whip.

When they saw the place name there, the three looked up at Lu Bu almost at the same time.

At this time, Lu Bu was confident, his eyes swept across the faces of Gan Ning, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou, and he said with a calm smile.

"Attacking it because of its emptiness, this battle can easily defeat the enemy."

"What Fengxian meant, could it be..."

Yan Liang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he thought of a rather crazy possibility.

"Zhitan County of Xuzhou Prefecture is only three or four hundred miles away from here. The garrison in the city has left for a long time and has arrived at Kaiyang City in Langya County. Now there are only about a thousand soldiers left around it. Law and order, stable situation."

"If you march in a hurry, you can reach the distance of more than three hundred miles in four days."

"Our army now has 2000 soldiers, all of whom are elites in the army, and the thousand soldiers in Tancheng are all newly recruited soldiers..."

Lu Bu's words stopped short, and the hearts of Gan Ning, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou jumped wildly.

They were all shocked by Lu Bu's risky plan.

Their original task was to capture Qu County, then go south to approach the Huaihe River, set a nail in Xuzhou, and then advance steadily to approach Tan County to cooperate with the attack.

Its main purpose is actually to hit the morale of the Xuzhou army.

Fighting on two fronts, facing the threat of being surrounded and annihilated, the morale of the Han army in Xuzhou will completely drop to the bottom.

However, Lu Bu's plan was directly modified to attack Tan County.

Once they invaded Tan County and beheaded Xuzhou state Mu Lukang, it would undoubtedly be a devastating blow to Xuzhou.

"There is not enough food and grass in Xuzhou, that's why Lu Kang asked Mi's to raise food and grass."

"Mi's grain and grass are all transported from Yangzhou and Yuzhou, and the grain and grass of Xuzhou's Han army and Zhu Zhi's army are now being supplied by Mi's."

"Nowadays, the grain in the north is only stored for about ten days, and the rest of the grain is being transferred. As long as our army captures Tan County and cuts off the supply of grain and grass for the Mi family, it will cost nothing at that time. Counties, In Pingchang, [-] Han troops starved to death in the city..."

Chapter 875 Killing Intent

Most of Xuzhou's terrain is quite flat, with hills in the north and plains in the south, which belongs to the North China Plain geographically.

In Qu County, Lv Bu learned that Tan County in Xuzhou was extremely empty because of the information from the Eagle Wolf Guard.

However, Lu Kang asked the Mi family to prepare military rations, so that the Mi family finally made up their minds to switch to Mingting, and also allowed Lu Bu to get the specific situation of the armies in various places.

This time, there were 2000 soldiers who came across the sea with Lu Bu, counting the number of soldiers who could fight in the navy.

After all, the sailors of the Han army were completely wiped out, and there was no need to worry about the dangers at sea. The sailors who were originally in the melee sequence were also liberated. This is why this time crossing the sea, they were able to transport so many soldiers.

Lu Bu's decision was finally agreed by Gan Ning, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou. After repeated deduction, he also received the support of the military staff office.

Now that the Ming army has begun to implement the staff system in an all-round way, a new division has been established under the Privy Council, called the "General Staff Division".

Its responsibilities can be divided into four.

First, collect and sort out relevant information and provide information about foreign troops.

Second, collect and provide information on the situation of domestic military regions, battalions, ministries, military forces and resources.

Third, collect and organize all materials within its scope of responsibility, comment on past wars, manage war archives and the library of the General Staff.

Fourth, collect military geographic data from all areas important to combat, and compile geographic and statistical data necessary for the work of the General Staff, and manage maps drawn within the division.

The surveying and mapping work originally undertaken by the Eagle Guards with the army was also assigned to the Staff Division. Therefore, part of the Eagle Guards was also transferred to work in the Staff Division.

In addition to the staff department directly under the Privy Council, there are also upper and lower staff offices in each army and ministry, and the staff office is under the jurisdiction of the ministry and battalion level.

All staff officers graduated from the Taipingdao Army Military Academy and took up their posts after a one-year staff training in the lecture hall.

These staff officers are either officers with combat experience, or Yingwei Tiqi who accompany the army in surveying and mapping and serve as scouts. Basically, they all have extremely rich theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

The responsibilities of these staff officers are actually the responsibilities of military divisions in this era.

It's just that Ming Ting's staff system now implements a more detailed division of labor, so that the original work of one person becomes several people.

The Ming Court has no shortage of generals, but it is extremely short of counselors. For more than ten years, Xu An's subordinates have only Yan Zhong, Xu You, and Jia Xu to advise him.

Although Shen Pei and others surrendered, because of their identities, it was not their original intention to join, but was forced by the situation, so Xu An could not entrust them with important tasks.

Even when the general trend of the world has been determined, there are no more counselors who are willing to take the initiative to join the Taiping Dao.

For this situation, Xu An has always been very clear, so he started to implement the staff system.

The staff system was originally implemented, but it was impossible to implement it because there were very few people who could serve as staff officers at that time.

But it is different now. The literacy rate in the army is constantly improving, and a large number of officers with both civil and military skills have emerged. After these officers entered the lecture hall and completed staff training, they were finally assigned to serve as staff officers in various armies and ministries.

Of course, the staff officer is only an assistant left, and is only responsible for providing advice.It is the leader of the army who makes the final decision.

Lu Bu's plan was being deduced and perfected by the Army Staff Office.

The best route is also determined by the staff.

In the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (197), December [-]th.

On the second day after the Ming army landed in Qu County, Lu Bu led [-] soldiers who had recovered from a short rest and recovered, and marched from Qu County to the west with light clothes.

It is said to be light and simple, but it refers to the soldiers in the army, and their luggage is escorted by the carriage of the Mi's caravan.

The structure of the four-wheeled carriage is not a secret, so it has already been implemented in various places. Nowadays, most of the carriages in the Mi's caravan are four-wheeled carriages with a large cargo capacity.

The terrain in Xuzhou is flat, although the weather is cold, but there is no snow, and the road is dry, which also increases the speed of the march.

Lü Bu led the army to rush all the way. After two days in a row, there were not a few merchants and passers-by on the official road, not even a single checkpoint.

After a large number of scouts were sent out to investigate, it once again confirmed the previous report of the Eagle Wolf Guard.

In today's Xuzhou, most of the powerful families have fled to the south, sending all the important members of the clan to the safer south.

And in the township pavilions everywhere, a large number of civilian husbands were recruited, all gathered in Tan County, and then followed the army all the way to the north.

As for why there are no merchants, it is also because most of them were recruited by Lu Kang and asked them to deliver military supplies for the army.

December [-]th, the third day of the march.

Finally encountered the checkpoint of the Han army.

These Han troops didn't have time to react at all. They didn't figure out what happened at all, and they were directly defeated by the scout cavalry as the vanguard.

In the hinterland of Xuzhou, the military equipment is slack, and the quality of these soldiers is even more speechless.

The checkpoints are heavy, and they are not even prepared for the smoke of the whistle, and there are no clear or dark whistles.

The soldiers of the Han army guarding the checkpoints did not realize that what they encountered was the Ming army until they were tied up. They thought they were some kind of daring bandits.

And when they knelt down on the side of the road and watched a group of soldiers of the Ming army who were advancing quickly from the official road, they fell into a complete stupor.

They couldn't understand how it was possible for the Ming army to appear around Tan County?

Could it be that the Ming army was blocked in Pingchang and the counties in the north, and the officials above told them this way, and they also saw with their own eyes that the brigade was transferred to the north.

Could it be that the north was defeated again, and the Ming army invaded Xuzhou?

But this doesn't make sense either. The checkpoint they were guarding was the checkpoint in the east of Tan County. There was no reason for the Ming army to make such a big detour.

But it doesn't matter what they think.

The most important thing is that because of the slack in armaments, a large number of civilians, soldiers, and merchants were recruited to the north. The soldiers guarding the checkpoints and other places were seriously lacking in vigilance. It was never expected that the Ming army would appear from the east.

The checkpoints in the east of Tan County were pulled out one by one, without causing any commotion or reaction.

The most outrageous thing is that when the guards of the Han army at a checkpoint saw the scout cavalry of the Ming army galloping on horses, they opened the checkpoint and took the initiative to let it go, taking it as their own messenger.

Under such circumstances, the Ming army quickly advanced towards Tan County, but it was strange that they were not discovered by Xuzhou.

Everything went so smoothly that even Lu Bu was a little terrified.

He was always worried about whether there was an ambush ahead, and even thought that all this might be a trap specially set up for him by the Mi family of Lukang Unicom.

However, Lu Bu also knew that it was a secret that they had traveled across the ocean, and it was impossible for the Han court to know about it.

But once bitten by a snake, I am afraid of well ropes for ten years.

Ever since he was ambushed by Xu An on the mountain road in Hedong County, Lu Bu became more cautious.

This cautious habit also allowed him to avoid many risks.

After sending out a large number of scouts and receiving positive news, Lu Bu gave the order to march again, and he was already sure.

The Xuzhou army was even more useless than he had imagined. These so-called soldiers were simply a group of farmers who had just taken up arms.

But even Lu Bu was still cautious, and did not carry all the arrangements, including the front army that opened the way, the rear army behind the rear, and even two groups of scout cavalry took turns searching for suspicious situations around them.

Under such circumstances, the Ming army marched rapidly all the way.

It wasn't until eight thousand Ming troops appeared less than a few miles east of Tan County that the defenders of Tan County reacted as if they had just woken up from a dream.

At this time, the news that the Ming army had advanced finally reached Tan County and into Lu Kang's ears.

"Can you say that again?!"

Lu Kang looked terrified, and stood up suddenly, and the table that was originally placed in front of him was also overturned on the ground.

Lu Kang stared at the messenger who came to report in front of him, his tone serious.

When the news first came, Lu Kang thought it was something wrong with his ears.

But after confirming the news again, great fear instantly filled his heart.

Lu Kang's figure flickered, and he felt the world spinning for a while. If Mi Zhu hadn't reacted in time, he would have almost fallen to the ground.

"Close the gates of the Sifang city, and order Chen Deng to lead his troops to the wall to defend the city immediately..."

Lu Kang is not a person who does not know how to fight, and he has regained some sense at this time.

Any emotion is useless at this time, and the most urgent task right now is to block the first wave of the Ming army's offensive.

Although Lu Kang didn't know where the Ming army came from, he didn't see the specific situation of the Ming army, and he didn't know why the Ming army approached such a close distance before someone came to report the news.

But Lu Kang knows one thing, Xu An is good at using strange soldiers.

The most famous battle was when Xu An led troops to smuggle to Yinping and defeated Yizhou in the first battle.

At that time, both sides in the war in Yizhou thought it was a divine soldier descending from the sky. In the battle of Qingzhou, Cao Cao led troops to ambush the vanguard of the Ming army, and Xu An also led troops to suddenly appear behind him. military.

The Han army that suddenly appeared in Tan County right now is also a surprise soldier. It does not know how to sneak into the east of Tan County, but there should be a high probability that it does not have heavy siege weapons.

As the state government of Xuzhou, Tan County is considered one of the best in Xuzhou. At the beginning of the large-scale reinforcement of the city, Tan County was also in the ranks of reinforcement.

As long as the city gates are closed in time, they should be able to hold on for a while relying on the fortified city, and then recruit strong men in the city, and maybe they can survive until they come back.