Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 182: Reducing Troops and Increasing Fire Stations
After Bai Tu "willfully" attacked Runan, he found that the KPI of grain transportation in the rear had dropped and the army's condition had also declined. Fortunately, he discovered it in time and after some rescue measures, the situation recovered.
If the disease was treated at a 20% discount before, it has now at least recovered halfway. It may seem like the recovery is not much, but in fact the biggest effect is that it has stopped the disease from getting worse!
Otherwise, under Guo Jia's "general trend", once a collapse of evil is formed, the effect will continue to expand, and Bai Tu's lost "luck" will be transferred to Cao's army.
For example, Cao Chun recently felt that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was more convenient to use...
However, now Bai Tu and Cao Cao are not in direct confrontation, but are attacking Yuan Shu together!
Compared with Cao Cao, Bai Tu’s biggest “weakness” was that he clearly stated that he would not pardon the participants of the Shouchun Tragedy if they surrendered, so... as soon as the war broke out, Yuan Shu became embarrassed.
Facing Bai Tu coming from the south, the subordinates who were usually brave enough to compete for merit were very fearful. However, facing Cao Cao coming from the north, everyone was very active, but... those who surrendered were even more active!
Finally, Yuan Shu decided to send Ji Ling to lead 30,000 elite troops, and Qiao Rui as the military supervisor of another unit, to Ruyin to fight against Bai Tu, while he himself stayed in Pingyu, the seat of Runan, to guard against Cao Cao.
Ji Ling was not directly involved in the Shouchun incident, but Yuan Shu believed that he would not surrender, and... just in case, Yuan Shu also sent Qiao Rui to supervise the army - Qiao Rui was the one who took the lead in rushing into the inner city at that time, and he himself knew that if he was defeated by Bai Tu, he would only die.
Ruyin County is close to the Yingshui River, but Bai Tu has not crossed the Yingshui River for the time being, intending to provoke Cao Cao. However, Yingshang, located south of the Yingshui River, has been captured by Bai Tu and stationed.
On the other hand, Sun Ce had already taken over Yiyang County, which was within the scope of Yuzhou but geographically belonged to Huainan. He then crossed the Huai River and headed northeast, capturing Qisi, Yuanlu, Fubo and other counties along the way.
But for Yuan Shu, these are minor issues, since Runan County is very rich anyway...
Although they are called counties, there are two special counties in the world, one is Nanyang and the other is Runan. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the populations of the two counties were 2.4 million and 2.1 million respectively, which together were more than the population of most states!
That is why Yuan Shu, who came from the Yuan family of Runan and served as the prefect of Nanyang in the early stages of development, was so strong.
With just a few counties, as long as Yuan Shu could hold Ruyin and Xincai, he could block Bai Tu's army in the southeast of Runan.
Moreover, Ji Ling was not just defending in Ruyin, but fighting back and forth with Bai Tu...
Bai Tu's army has undergone comprehensive training and has complete equipment, which is something that most of the princes' armies do not have now. However... it is undeniable that the Jiangdong army has seen too little blood and lacks practical combat experience.
On the other hand, the elite Nanyang Army led by Ji Ling had its foundation laid when Yuan Shu was still the prefect of Nanyang. They followed Yuan Shu in his conquests and could be described as a veteran army.
Coupled with the founding buff, Ji Ling was fully qualified to fight Bai Tu head-on. Ji Ling did fight fiercely. In more than a month, he fought with Bai Tu several times and both sides won and lost, but none of them were the kind of victory or defeat that defeated the opponent. At most, it was just a matter of who suffered greater losses.
This was mainly because Lu Bu was currently active in the Funan area at the time - that is, he was going to support Sun Ce's troops.
As long as Sun Ce broke through the north bank of the Huai River between "Honghe" and "Yingshui", he would be able to meet up with Bai Tu, and then attack Ruyin without any problem.
As a result, the only people with names and surnames under Bai Tu were Jiang Qin and Lu Xun.
Bai Tu can confidently say that the reason he can now command an army of 30,000 is thanks to his high prestige as a lord!
Otherwise, Jiang Qin would be inferior to Gan Ning and Zhou Tai, who were as famous as him in the Yangtze River, in terms of personal martial arts and command ability.
And Lu Xun... after all, he is only a fifteen-year-old boy. He can come up with some clever ideas, but asking him to command the army alone is a bit too much!
After a small victory, Bai Tu took advantage of the victory to pursue and capture the enemy's camp.
This was considered a relatively big "victory" in more than a month. Although neither side was defeated and the results were destined not to be great, it at least forced Ji Ling to retreat a little.
"The strength of the Nanyang army has weakened a lot. Could it be that Cao Cao took the lead?" Bai Tu asked doubtfully.
"It shouldn't happen. Although Pingyu, the capital, is closer to Cao Cao, Cao Cao didn't even reach Ruyang before. Besides, Pingyu is not so easy to capture." Lu Xun expressed his opinion.
As the seat of Runan, Pingyu City can also be called "Runan City". Runan City was captured in just one month?
Even if Cao Cao wanted to send troops to Pingyu in the northern part of Runan, which is much closer than Baitu, but... Yuan Shu still has at least 50,000 troops in Pingyu, and Cao Cao is not going to sign in or just arrive!
However, Jiang Qin soon came to report that there was a problem with Ji Ling's camp - some stoves had not been used for two days.
At this time, they are not launching a surprise attack outside and need to hide their tracks. The army will also cook in the camp, so they will leave stoves. Using the stoves to estimate the number of enemy troops should be considered a basic skill for a general.
Of course, whether increasing troops and reducing stoves or reducing troops and increasing stoves can be used as a means to confuse the enemy.
"Are you trying to be mysterious? Or is Ji Ling really dividing his troops for some reason?" Bai Tu asked puzzledly.
"My lord, give the order to pursue! There are only two places ahead that are suitable for ambush. Just be careful not to get too close." Lu Xun said.
If you suspect every enemy plot is a tactic, then there is no need to do anything!
In fact, Bai Tu really wanted to do nothing, quietly develop technology, and then crush everything...
However, Bai Tu now accepted Lu Xun's advice and sent the vanguard to continue the pursuit, chasing Ji Ling all the way.
As a result, Jiang Qin discovered that there were more stove pits than he had imagined...
If some of the stoves in the previous camp seemed to have been abandoned for two days, then now... it was obvious that they were "reducing soldiers and increasing stoves", and they were deliberately digging more stoves!
I just don’t know if it was Ji Ling’s mistake or if someone under his command was just trying to get by, but the burning marks in these fake pits are obviously much lighter…
"Reduce the troops and increase the stoves? Ji Ling is indeed dividing the troops? But what does he want to do...scare us away? But he has no reinforcements, how can he scare us?" Bai Tu asked puzzledly.
"I don't think it's for intimidation. Instead, Ji Ling seems to be leading us to continue chasing. Wait! My lord, has Ji Ling not appeared for a long time?" Lu Xun suddenly reacted.
"Didn't we just meet yesterday?" Bai Tu looked at Lu Xun in surprise.
"No, what we saw yesterday was just a guy wearing armor and a purple mask, standing under the general's flag!" Lu Xun said.
After Lu Xun said this, Bai Tu also reacted. Although Ji Ling liked to wear silver-gray armor on a daily basis when he was not wearing armor, but... the mask would only be worn when wearing armor, right?
Just because Ji Ling's armor image was wearing a purple mask, no one suspected that the guy was not Ji Ling.
Moreover... ever since the first fight, when Jiang Qin was defeated by Ji Ling after only lasting more than twenty rounds, no one has specifically challenged him to a duel!
But now think about it, with Ji Ling's rough character, it is indeed a strange thing that he did not use his advantage of being the "most powerful fighter" nearby to lead the charge in battle to boost morale.
"Could it be...that those soldiers who were separated were still led by Ji Ling?" Bai Tu's face looked a little bad.
Originally, he thought... the person he had fought against recently was Ji Ling. Thinking about it this way, Bai Tu was also a military genius who was able to fight against Ji Ling, who was barely considered a famous general of the time (with the assistance of Lu Xun and Jiang Qin).
"Are they planning to ambush us? My lord, let's... hold our ground first!" Jiang Qin said.
Although Jiang Qin is usually steady, he is not timid. After all, he is a pirate. But now that Bai Tu is here, Jiang Qin thinks it is better not to take any risks.
"No, Ji Ling's goal should not be to ambush us, otherwise he would not have divided his troops when we were stationed in the previous camp." Lu Xun said.
"Yingshang?" Bai Tu also reacted at this time after Lu Xun's reminder.
"That's right, lord, let's go back to provide support!" Lu Xun requested.
Jiang Qin did not recommend betting on whether Lu Xun's judgment was correct. If he was alone, he would be willing to fight with the boy from the Lu family, but the white map was still there.
But... "returning to support" is almost the same as "retreating", so Jiang Qin did not raise any objections. Even if Lu Xun guessed wrong, he could still withdraw along the way.
If Ji Ling really launches a surprise attack on Yingshang from behind, Bai Tu will be in some trouble.
After all, that was Bai Tu's retreat route - of course, because Sun Ce had already invaded Runan, it was impossible to prevent Bai Tu from returning. Even if Ji Ling could defend Yingshang, at most he could only force Bai Tu to take a detour through Shucheng and return to Huainan.
However, Yingshang is Bai Tu's bridgehead in Runan. It is not only related to the grain route, but also... a lot of relief grain is stored there. If it is destroyed, there will still be some minor troubles.
So, except for leaving behind a small number of scouts and troops to guard the rear, Bai Tu quickly led his men to retreat... no, to retreat to support Yingshang!
As it turned out, Lu Xun's guess was exactly right.
The next day when Bai Tu rushed back, he received a report from the scouts that they had discovered Ji Ling's move of dividing his troops and rushing to Yingshang a day ago.
Originally, the white map had even been prepared, and Yingshang was already prepared for "changing the flags on the city walls". Even if it was less than a day, it should be enough for Ji Ling to capture Yingshang.
However, when Bai Tu returned to Yingshang, he found that Ji Ling was the city. Ji Ling, who had been very impressive in front of Jiang Qin before, was now being blocked by a silver-armored warrior who was unfamiliar to Bai Tu...
Bai Tu was sure that he didn't know this person, but... his armor was obviously of gold and jade level, which showed that the visitor was definitely not an unknown person!
This made Bai Tu even more confused - no matter how foolish he was, he would not fail to recognize his own generals, but if they were not his subordinates, why were they here now?
Even if it was Cao Cao's reinforcements, the county magistrate left behind in Yingshang would not allow them to enter the city!
