Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 47: Battle
After a morning of tentative attacks, Zhang Xun discovered that although the defenders of Qu'a City were weak, their defense equipment was quite sophisticated, and it would be difficult to achieve results by brute force...
This also put an end to Zhang Xun's thoughts of a quick victory. After all, if it was a battle with ladders, considering the time it would take to collect materials and build ladders, it would be considered good if he could capture Qu'a within a month.
After all, it was impossible to cover all the ladders when retreating every time. Even with the craftsmanship of the soldiers in Zhang Xun's army who had only received "conventional siege training", it would be good if the ladders could be pushed to the bottom of the city without breaking. Most of them were disposable!
Thinking of the problem of military rations consumption, Zhang Xun also had a headache - Yuan Shu's prosperity seemed beautiful and powerful, but in fact, he knew that he was under a lot of pressure. Before Zhang Xun left, Yuan Shu had discussed with him in secret, striving for a quick victory. If a stalemate occurred, he could plunder civilians outside the city to replenish military supplies if necessary...
Once the army moves, the consumption of military rations will at least double. How can Yuan Shu not be under great pressure? He even turned against Lu Kang of the Lu family for 30,000 hu of rice!
But at this moment, an unexpected "letter" came from Qu'a City - it turned out to be a declaration of war.
Seven or eight riders passed the outpost and shot at the entrance of the military camp. Each of them shot four or five arrows. Thirty or forty identical letters were shot in...
"How ridiculous! Chen Gong is such a loser, he is really going too far!" After reading the letter, Zhang Xun slammed it on the table, then huffed twice and said, "Confiscate it, and do not circulate it in the army!"
"General... apart from the slanderous words against you, what else is written in the letter?" Li Feng asked with a stiff face.
At this time, there were still seven or eight middle-level generals in the tent. They also needed to know the conditions of the declaration of war before they could make a judgment. However... Zhang Xun looked very angry, so they were a little afraid to ask.
Since it was a challenge, it must be an invitation to fight in formation or a duel of generals - a duel of generals was basically impossible, so asking Zhang Xun to fight Lu Bu in a one-on-one duel? Zhang Xu would not dare to do that no matter how bad his temper was!
As for a battle, it was actually unlikely, because a battle was usually a battle between equal numbers of troops. Now that my side had such a huge advantage, why would I want to fight? Even if it was a provocation, I couldn't be fooled...
Seeing Zhang Xun's expression, the generals thought: Could it be that Chen Gong had cursed his father and mother in the letter? That's not possible, is it? Chen Gong is also a scholar, and it is said that he is quite honest.
"Read it yourself!" Zhang Xun thought about it and handed the letter over.
After reading the first few lines, Li Feng's expression became strange, and he thought to himself: Chen Gong is indeed a scholar!
At the beginning, they praised Zhang Xun, who was also well-versed in the art of war, as if they were going to brag about military affairs...
However, the topic then changed and he suddenly mentioned, "The Art of War says: If your number is ten, surround them; if your number is five, attack them; if your number is twice as many, divide them."
Li Feng knew that this was a passage from the offensive strategy section of Sun Tzu's Art of War, which meant to surround the enemy when your strength is ten times greater than the enemy's, to launch a head-on attack on the enemy when your strength is five times greater than the enemy's, and to find a way to divide the enemy's strength when your strength is only twice that of the enemy's.
This seemingly cowardly statement actually has context. The core of the entire "Art of Offensive Strategy" is the idea of "subduing the enemy without fighting" rather than a military strategy.
There is another more famous saying in it: The best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the next best is to attack their troops, and the worst is to attack their cities.
In short, it is a warning to people not to fight wars that result in too many casualties. This was also determined by the historical background of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Although the nobles at that time did not regard the common people as equal "people", wars had no business for the common people. Instead, they were fought among the aristocratic class, and they emphasized righteous wars. Even if they won, they could not destroy the ancestral temples and the country.
In this world, it is said that the city girls in the Western Zhou Dynasty could not be trained for "military service", and it was the nobles and their servants who went into battle themselves.
But as we all know, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, there was no longer so much talk. The common people were not only not human, but also cannon fodder...
What Sun Tzu advocated at the time was that if a war really broke out, winning the battle was not a skill, and it would be best if you could capture all the enemy troops. If you killed the enemy's soldiers and crippled their organization, it meant you were a loser!
The premise of the phrase "if the enemy is ten times stronger than you, surround them" is exactly this - surround them with ten times the force and attack them with five times the force... According to the war philosophy at the time, this usually meant accepting surrender without having to fight.
However, after Chen Gong suddenly mentioned this, he wrote: I heard that the general is so powerful and powerful, and he is coming with the force of a mountain crushing an egg. I am still very cautious, even more cautious than Sun Tzu, so as to avoid sharing the spoils with me. This time, I am willing to lead 3,000 soldiers to fight against the general's 15,000, and use all the general's military strategies...
Li Feng's mouth trembled as he watched, thinking: He is indeed worthy of being a scholar!
The subtext is simply: look at how big an advantage you have, yet you're still as cowardly as a grandson. I know you're afraid of me, so let's do it according to the Art of War. I'll use three thousand to defeat your fifteen thousand!
"General, there may be something fishy going on here." Li Feng said stiffly.
"Nonsense! If I'm telling the truth, does Chen Gong really dare to go against my 1,500 troops with only 1,000 elite cavalry and 2,000 new soldiers?" Zhang Xun said, glaring at him.
"The general is wise." Li Feng flattered.
"But... since we know he's cheating, we can still take advantage of it! No matter what he wants to do, our military strength... and this general's ability, definitely have an absolute advantage. We can see it during the siege today. They just have some strange tricks.
In other words, no matter what conspiracy he has, as long as he pulls the army out of the city, it will be beneficial to us, we just need to be careful!" Zhang Xun said.
"General... wise." Li Feng thought about it and it seemed to be the case.
If today's siege had not failed, Zhang Xun might have been more cautious. But now, after seeing the "Wolf Fang Counterattack" and realizing that he could only slowly build up morale, Zhang Xun became a little anxious. At the same time, the siege in the morning also gave Zhang Xun a more favorable impression of the city's diplomatic war.
"And we can't let Chen Gong look down on us! I'll write him a reply right now. He doesn't need two thousand. No matter how many people he brings... I'll only command ten thousand!" Zhang Xun said viciously.
Li Feng: …
After all this talk, it turns out that they still have to rely on at least twice as many people - the troops in Qu'a City. They can also estimate that even if all the manpower in Danyang is conscripted, there will only be 4,000 new recruits.
"He chose the location and asked me to set the time? Then let's do it tomorrow. Don't give him any more time to delay!" Zhang Xun said as he began to write a letter of acceptance.
When Bai Tu, Chen Gong and others saw Zhang Xun's reply and watched his army retreat as promised, they couldn't help but smile...
