Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 48: Taking Advantage of the Situation
After Chen Gong saw from afar that Zhang Xun's army was retreating in an orderly manner outside the city, he immediately sent someone to report the good news to Bai Tu.
At the same time, it can be clearly seen that the enemy also left troops behind to prevent sneak attacks...
Chen Gong wrote in the declaration of war that if Zhang Xun agreed, his troops would have to retreat twenty miles - otherwise it would be too close and the defenders would not dare to leave the city.
Since Zhang Xun was retreating, it seemed that he had accepted the declaration of war.
Sure enough, not long after, Chen Gong received a reply from Zhang Xun. He came alone on horseback, shot arrows directly at the city wall, and then left.
"Tomorrow? He's really anxious... Afraid that I'll cheat? That'll be disappointing." Chen Gong muttered after reading the letter.
Not long after, Bai Tu also came to the tower, read Zhang Xun's letter, and then his eyes lit up and said, "Haha, this Zhang Xun is just as Gongtai expected. So tomorrow Gongtai will bring 4,000 Qu'a spearmen, and my adoptive father will bring 1,000 wolf riders, to show Zhang Xun how powerful we are!"
"Gong only needs three thousand new troops, and the remaining one thousand will be sent to Lord Bai to lead Qu'a." Chen Gong said.
He also predicted that Zhang Xun would never have the nerve to really "attack from five angles", and would most likely choose to pull more people out of the city!
At this time, Chen Gong suddenly saw that in a forest ten miles west of the city, away from the agreed battle site, birds were startled but did not land. Suddenly seemed to understand something and asked Bai Tu, "Mr. Bai, are those workers cutting wood over there?"
"That's right, you figured it out? Do you want to..." Bai Tu was also shocked.
Because at this time, each workshop was still continuously producing city defense equipment - the number of wolf-fang spears was not enough to equip all the city walls at the same time, and there were other equipment as well.
So Bai Tu did not stop cutting trees. In order to avoid being attacked by Zhang Xun's army, he sent workers with some food and fodder to cut trees in the mountains ten miles away. He also instructed the real supervisor to tell him that if he was discovered again, he could just surrender.
Now it seems that Chen Gong discovered it at a glance?
"Mr. Bai is wise!" said Chen Gong.
White picture: ???
Bai Tu was also puzzled. How could he still be so smart after he was discovered?
Forget it. Bai Tu is an easy-going person. Since Chen Gong insisted on saying so, Bai Tu just smiled and nodded.
Zhang Xun did not worry that the retreat of 20 miles was a delaying tactic. After all, he had directly agreed to retreat to tomorrow. No matter what reason Chen Gong used to refuse, Zhang Xun was determined not to delay for more than three days.
Even though the battle was delayed for three days, Zhang Xun was not worried. After all, according to the current situation, it would take more than a few days to attack the city.
The opponent's delaying tactic of "breaking promise to fight" dealt a blow to the army's morale that was no less severe than Zhang Xun's three-day fierce attack!
In cold weapon warfare, morale is the key. Once the morale collapses, even a million-strong army will be in a state of panic, with enemies appearing everywhere.
And when retreating and setting up camp, Zhang Xun suddenly observed that the birds in the western woods were startled but did not land, and were hovering over the woods!
"Huh? Bring me the map!" Zhang Xun said hurriedly.
After that, he spent a long time looking at the rough map of the Qu'a area, comparing and comparing, and finally came to a conclusion - the other end of the forest is near the place where the battle is scheduled to take place tomorrow morning. If the troops at the place where the birds were startled fly away, they can reach the plain where the battle is scheduled to take place tomorrow morning if they hurry on their way at night...
"It is indeed a trick... Call all the generals above the rank of colonel to discuss the matter!" Zhang Xun said.
When the generals entered the tent, they saw Zhang Xun acting as if he had mastered the plan. He looked at the map in front of him with deep eyes. It seemed that he had been posing in this position for a long time.
"Chen Gong is as cunning as his reputation says! If it weren't for my quick wit, I would have almost been fooled by him." Zhang Xun said as he pointed to the direction of the woods where he spotted someone.
"Just now I saw birds flying here, circling above the forest. There must be a large group of soldiers passing by. And the place where I will fight with Chen Gong tomorrow may also be passing through the forest!
Chen Gong’s plan is to bluff in the battle tomorrow, and while my army is attacking his main formation, he will rush out from the forest and attack the general platform where I am commanding...” Zhang Xun’s tone and eyes showed that he had seen through everything.
Li Feng, Liang Gang and other generals followed Zhang Xun's idea, looked at the map, and found that it was indeed the case!
In addition, Chen Gong's challenge was indeed inexplicable. Three thousand against fifteen thousand? The generals present did not believe that there was no calculation in it.
The ambush was discovered at this time, which made everyone feel relieved.
"General, you are wise! Then let's just ignore his challenge and go back to the city to yell and curse!"
"Wait, before that, we can go and hunt down those guys who are lying in ambush outside the city..."
The generals were giving advice, but Zhang Xun acted like a man who was disappointed with his opponent. He said with regret, "In this way, we are back to square one. What's the harm in killing a few soldiers? As long as they have enough people to defend the city, even I, the general, will have to spend a lot of money and food to capture Qu'a."
"General, what you mean is... to use the opponent's trick against us?" Liang Gang followed Zhang Xun's words.
"Yes, if they want to ambush, then let's ambush! Look here... there is also a place with lush vegetation. I can just deploy my elite troops here, and when the enemy ambush and charge, I can immediately attack from the flank and catch them off guard!" Zhang Xun said.
"General, that fighting formation..." Li Feng seemed a little hesitant.
"Oh, we only need 6,000 elite soldiers for the ambush. Then I will fill the main formation with 5,000 new soldiers, and then raise more flags and make more noises in the camp behind. How can they find out?" Zhang Xun said confidently.
Finally, Zhang Xun decided to send 5,000 new soldiers, 3,000 elite soldiers and 2,000 cavalry to fight Chen Gong head-on tomorrow, and then ambush 6,000 elite soldiers on the route that the enemy must take. The remaining 4,000 people would either guard the general's platform or bluff in the camp to pretend to have a large number of people.
Zhang Xun was not afraid that Chen Gong would cheat, he was only afraid that he would not come out!
"General, do you want to first investigate how many ambushes there are in the forest?" Li Feng suggested.
"No need! The other party came here under the cover of darkness, so they must be very cautious. If they alert the enemy, I'm afraid Chen Gong won't dare to come out." Zhang Xun refused.
Li Feng was a little hesitant when he heard this, but he thought that the soldiers in Qu'a City were no more than 5,000. Even if Zhang Xun made a mistake in judgment, he was sure to win the battle, whether it was the main force or the elite troops in ambush , so he did not speak again...
Especially that night, Chen Gong's reply arrived, in which he directly agreed to fight the next day. This made Zhang Xun even more convinced that the enemy was using an ambush and decapitation tactic.
Zhang Xun had already written the "script" for tomorrow in his mind, and even had in mind most of the words of thanks that he would say when Yuan Shu later appointed him as the governor of Yangzhou and the commander-in-chief!
The next morning, when Zhang Xun's army was building a high platform, scouts came to report that the Qu'a army had also appeared...
