Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 238: Changshan Zhao Zilong
"You are just a woodcutter, you don't know the hard work on the front line, you are full of tricks, go back to your hut! Yo!" Ni Heng's emotions became more and more excited.
Under the continuous attacks of Ni Heng's tongue sword, he could "see" that the fog around the woodcutter became a little thinner, and still... it was accompanied by the sound of something shattering .
"Ahem, Mr. Ni, this... Mr. Wuming is not just an ordinary woodcutter, but... a great general who is better than me. And he is both a teacher and a friend to General Chen Dao. I believe that General Chen Dao will humbly accept Mr. Wuming's comments." Taishi Ci interrupted.
Although the woodcutter usually doesn't like others to mention his other identities, but... Taishi Ci is also afraid that Ni Heng will continue to talk nonsense and the woodcutter may not be able to control himself, so he wants to stop him.
However, Taishi Ci still underestimated Ni Heng - after "absorbing" the mental power several times, Ni Heng discovered that the mental power of this woodcutter looked unremarkable, but was very... pure?
In short, Ni Heng is now excited. Even if Taishi Ci mentioned that the woodcutter was once a powerful general, it still cannot dampen his enthusiasm.
"You used to be strong and powerful, but now you are far away from the bow and arrows. You have made no contribution to the people and are willing to be a caged bird. Why are you raising the war cry and making people laugh? Wow!" Ni Heng's neck seemed to have grown a little longer.
It's nothing more than blaming the woodcutter. No matter how brave he was before, his role now is just that of a woodcutter. What qualifications does he have to stop him from criticizing?
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, "Xuanwu" absorbed the woodcutter's mist while attacking with his tongue sword...
Under Ni Heng's strong ridicule, finally... a sound like striking gold and jade exploded!
…
At the same time, the banquet in the general's mansion had ended. Even though Bai Tu did not behave unusually, the war report that came in the middle of the banquet made everyone tacitly speed up the process of the banquet.
The real core members of the General's Mansion, such as Lu Bu, Lu Su, and Lu Kang, all stayed behind...
The location was changed to the central hall indoors, and Bai Tu told the content of Yi Yang's previous urgent report.
After the decisive battle of Yijing, Qu Yi regained Yuan Shao's trust. Not only were the number of his halberd soldiers increased to 800, but they were also sent to Min County alone to join Yuan Shu's old troops.
Moreover, Chen Dao mentioned that when he wanted to fight the generals, he saw Wen Chou was there too - Chen Dao was naturally very familiar with the warriors under Yuan Shao... His strength was even greater than that of Ji Ling, a general in Yuan Shu's army, so even he could only force a 50-50 tie.
Since Yuan Shu was defeated and his main force was dispersed, and Bai Tu took over the position of general, the main dispute in the world has changed from "Shao Alliance VS Shu Alliance" to "Yuan Shao + Liu Biao VS Bai Tu + Cao Cao + Liu Bei".
It was also expected that Yuan Shao, the strongest man, would choose to slow down Bai Tu's attack on Jingzhou while attacking the Central Plains.
After all, the disparity in strength between the two sides of the Yellow River at this time is even greater than in history without the White Rabbit Effect - Cao Cao is a little weaker than in history, and Yuan Shao is a little stronger than in history...
With a flying dragon on his face, it would be strange if Yuan Shao didn’t become arrogant!
As for why Qu Yi was able to come to Jingbei "silently", there is no need to ask too much.
After all, all of Qu Yi's halberd soldiers were generals, without Ji Zao's soldiers. If they were disguised as a caravan, as long as they didn't go to the areas that would be subject to key inspections, it would not be impossible for them to cross the Central Plains in small groups. What's more, there was the Guanzhong Road - Cao Cao would never admit that he had deliberately indulged them.
It doesn’t matter how this “tiger” came out. What is more important now is how to solve the obstacles in front of us.
"The Great Halberd Soldiers first became famous during the Battle of Jie Bridge. They were a phalanx of elite soldiers composed entirely of generals. Initially, they had 800 men. They suffered the most casualties during the Battle of Jie Bridge. Afterwards, they were unable to replenish their ranks due to a crisis of trust in their leader...
In the Battle of Yijing, among the five hundred halberd warriors, one third were gilded generals.
Judging from the battle report, the number of Great Halberd Soldiers at the Dark Pass has been increased to 800, of which no less than 200 are Gilded Warriors. "Lu Su summarized the strength of the Great Halberd Soldiers.
"Given the narrowness of the Three Passes, it is difficult for such elite troops to deal with them. Can we recall General Gao?" Lu Kang asked in a mature and steady manner.
If we clash head-on with this kind of elite troops in a narrow terrain, the damage will be great, so it is a conservative idea for the elite to fight against the elite.
"No, Gongtai has just persuaded the Shanyue to form a coalition army to march westward to Lingling and Wuling. If there is no Boda's trap camp to support them, I'm afraid the Shanyue people will be unstable." Bai Tu said.
"My lord, has Wenhe reported anything?" Lu Su asked.
Although Jia Xu had just joined the General's Mansion not long ago, Lu Su had a deep impression of him. At this time, Jia Xu was also on the battlefield in Min County.
"Wenhe said... forget it, we don't need to consider Wenhe's method for the time being. However, with Wenhe here, it will not be so easy for the other party to counterattack and expand the results of the battle." Bai Tu said after hesitating.
Jia Xu did mention a method, which was to use the captured Yuan Shu's remaining troops from the victories at Xiyang and Jiguo...
The narrow pass is indeed conducive to the use of elite troops such as the Halberd Soldiers, but it also has its limitations!
When the time comes, we will put the prisoners in front and set up a fire bull formation in the back...
The fire bull formation means that blades are tied to the bodies of the bulls and bundles of straw are tied to their tails, which are set on fire when charging. In other places, there is also the problem of the fire bulls charging around. However, in the Mingyan Pass, as long as there is a fire at the back, the only way is to charge forward!
The captives rushed to the front of the Halberd Soldiers' formation. If they gave way, the formation would be dispersed. The Fire Bull Formation behind them would then cause chaos in the Halberd Soldiers' formation, and then the Yiyang Light Cavalry would have a chance to take revenge.
No matter how elite they are, they cannot resist the charge of an equal or even larger number of cavalry if their formation is scattered...
Of course, it is more likely that the Halberdiers would not disperse their formation for the sake of prisoners from the beginning.
Driven by the fire bull formation, the captives will certainly attack the halberd soldiers' formation first - due to the narrow terrain, there is no possibility of going around the formation.
In this way, the halberd soldiers could easily kill the captives, including the fire bull formation behind them, which would be difficult to defeat head-on.
However, there was no loss for the Northern Army. It simply consumed the physical strength of the halberd soldiers, and killed the captives who were the remnants of Yuan Shu. Outside the battlefield, it also played a role in provoking the relationship between the remnants of Yuan Shu and the "outsider" Qu Yi.
All that was paid was some prisoners and oxen, and of course... the oxen had to be "requisitioned" from the local area.
If we organize more people to attack from behind the Fire Bull Formation, we can save a lot of energy. Even if we fail, we can continue to look for internal discord outside the battlefield and sow the seeds of internal discord for the enemy.
Jia Xu also hinted that if Bai Tu acquiesced, he would order the Northern Army to execute this order in his own name!
But in his reply, Bai Tu had already stopped Jia Xu and told him to be careful of the enemy's counterattack. There was no need to tell him Jia Xu's solution now...
"I'll go and see what's so great about the halberd warrior." Lu Bu said at this time.
Because the southern army had to march through mountains and swamps, most of the wolf cavalry remained in Jinling.
Although like the Baima Yicong, the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry is also a light cavalry, but... in comparison, the Wolf Cavalry is better at charging and cutting through the battlefield, while the Baima Yicong is better at mounted shooting and fighting.
This was also determined by the different tactics of the Xiongnu and Qiang people who wreaked havoc in Bingzhou, and the Wuhuan and Xianbei people who invaded Youzhou.
More importantly... even though the halberd warriors had achieved remarkable results against the light cavalry, Lu Bu did not believe that anyone could restrain the light cavalry "led by him". As for Wen Chou... Lu Bu just pretended not to hear it.
There was obviously some coldness and dissatisfaction in Lu Bu's tone. The coldness was directed at the enemy, but the dissatisfaction was directed at Chen Dao and the remaining generals on Bai Ma!
Lu Su pondered for a moment and said, "If Marquis Wen were to take action, I think we could defeat them. However... I think the new army that Gong Yi (Jiang Qin) trained in Xunyang is worth using at this time."
Although Lu Bu has not had much presence recently, he has always served as the Privy Councilor, which is the head of the Privy Council.
In theory, Lu Bu is the "trump card" of the General's Mansion and will not be deployed easily.
Most of the others didn't know the whole story, but Lu Su and Lu Bu knew clearly that the General's Mansion actually had several elite soldiers in training, with a total of less than 10,000 people. However, they were all trained in the new military formation created by Bai Tu and used all kinds of novel equipment from the Ministry of Works to deal with various situations!
Although he had never actually seen the Halberd Soldiers, based on various battlefield intelligence, Lu Su felt that there was an elite force that could just counter the Halberd Soldiers, who were a type of elite force that used swords and axes to chop.
Lu Bu was about to refute Lu Su, but at this moment he seemed to suddenly feel something. He turned his head and looked at the empty door of the central hall, and his vision seemed to see through it.
"It seems... a more suitable candidate is coming." Lu Bu said in a confusing manner.
Lu Su didn't understand either, so he had to ask, "Wen Hou, who are you talking about?"
"He's almost here, let him speak for himself." After Lu Bu finished speaking, he sat back in his seat with an indescribable smile on his face.
The smile was not kind. Instead, it made the people around him feel depressed. It seemed that there was a terrifying fighting spirit brewing and suppressing in Lu Bu.
Soon, a voice was heard outside the door.
"This...woodcutter, the master is discussing matters with the elders, you..."
The guard was also helpless. If it was an ordinary woodcutter, he would have been driven away as soon as he approached. But the problem was... this ordinary woodcutter usually treated even their former superior with great caution, and the lord also specially allowed him to meet with him at any time.
Although they didn't know the other party's specific identity, the guards were very polite to him, which led to this strange scene.
"I'm going to discuss something serious. Please let me know," the woodcutter said firmly.
Before Bai Tu could hear what was being said outside, Lu Bu had already turned his head and looked towards the gate and said, "That woodcutter seems to want to say something..."
"Oh? Please come in!" Bai Tu was naturally referring to the woodcutter.
The woodcutter came in at this time, ignoring the surprised looks of others, came to Bai Tu, bowed and said: "I am willing to help Mr. Bai relieve his worries!"
"Mr. Wuming wants to lead troops to Jingbei?" Bai Tu asked with a flash in his eyes.
He also noticed that Wuming's spirit and energy were completely different from before.
Although he was still dressed mostly like a woodcutter, he was like a sharp blade drawn from its sheath, and his eyes were not only bright, but... sharp!
Wuming was about to speak, but Lu Su interrupted him and said, "Wait a minute. Let me ask, in what capacity do you want to go to Jingbei, Mr. Wuming?"
"I am willing to be the vanguard for Mr. Bai." Wuming gave a different answer from before.
Bai Tu also quickly stood up, helped Wuming up and said, "Okay, with Wuming's help..."
Perhaps because he felt it was awkward to be called "Wuming", Bai Tu looked at the woodcutter.
"I am Zhao Yun from Changshan, courtesy name Zilong..."
