Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 485: Mountain Road
Zhao Yun was not stubborn, and he also guessed that the opponent's army's combat skills should only be effective in defense. In the past few days, he also played a lot of fancy spears to lure Yan Yan to attack actively, but Yan Yan didn't fall for it at all...
With the effect of "refusing to fight", the morale of the defenders in Linjiang will not be affected even if they keep shrinking.
Of course, in essence this is not a magical thing like mental interference. It’s just that Yan Yan can train special Ji-zao soldiers, and mix them among ordinary Ji-zao soldiers to have an additional soothing effect.
Gan Mao returned to the Gan family, hoping to instigate a rebellion, but was rejected by the family...
Linjiang is Gan’s hometown.
Although the investment of "Hui Ji Gan Family" made Gan Family very happy, Linjiang Gan Family had no intention of moving the entire family and joining the State of Chu.
After all, for the aristocratic families, migration is a big event - when the Hu people moved south in later generations, there were many aristocratic families. As for ordinary families, they took root in the north, relying on Wu Fort for self-protection, and were unwilling to move south.
Even though the Chu army was already right before their eyes, the Gan family, as a typical conservative local aristocratic family, was unwilling to take the risk.
After all, with Gan Ning around, if Ba County or Yizhou were to be annexed by the Chu State in the future, even if Gan had not made any contributions during that period, as long as he expressed his submission, he could be safe and happy...
In this generation of Gan family, there is no other outstanding person except Gan Ning, and Gan Ning's character has great flaws. The Gan family had already determined that in the face of this chaotic world, they could only lie dormant.
It was already beyond expectations that Gan Ning could be reused in the State of Chu, and the Gan family had no further ideas.
Because if you gamble once, even if you win, the credit and income will be limited. If you lose the gamble, and the State of Chu has to retreat back to Jingzhou, then no matter whether you can fight back in the future, the Gan family will be punished by the Marquis of Shu!
Even if he linked up with several other great noble families in Linjiang and directly turned against the Chu army, Yan Yan was not without defense. The military affairs of Linjiang City had already been taken over by him a long time ago, and the local nobles had no say at all.
Even if the nobles in various parts of Linjiang County are really willing to turn against the Chu army, Yan Yan's defenders can still set up camps along the Yangtze River. As long as the food route is unobstructed and they can continue to confront the Chu army in Linjiang City, the pressure of logistics transportation will still exist, and the Chu army may not be able to hold on and withdraw at any time.
It is equivalent to that only the grain taxes of Quren and Yufu counties can be used to subsidize military expenses. As for Linjiang... As long as Linjiang City is under the control of Yan Yan, it will be difficult to counterattack the Chu army, but it will not be too easy to destroy the fields in other parts of the county.
Now other noble families including the Gan family still stand on the side of Yizhou Prefecture and can check and balance Yan Yan, making him dare not to clear the countryside. However, once they surrender to Chu, Yan Yan will no longer need to worry about them.
As for Ganmao...
Since he had chosen to surrender to Chu, Gan did not stop him, and even supported him in taking away some clansmen who were willing to follow him.
Except for some close relatives, there isn't really anyone else.
After all, if you really want to go to the State of Chu, wouldn't it be good to rely on the surname "Gan" to follow the Admiral of the Navy?
…
"It's understandable that Gan has such concerns. Captain Gan doesn't need to blame himself." Zhao Yun comforted Gan Mao, who looked very depressed.
Of course, Gan Mao did not return empty-handed. Gan also gave him some hints, such as asking him to bring a message to the Chu army...
"General... Commander, my clan has also hinted to me that if there is anything I need help with regarding military rations, I can contact them privately. Not only the Gan family, but many other noble families are also willing to help... Even if they can't play a key role, it's still okay to lend a hand." Gan Mao specifically said to Zhao Yun.
"Oh? If so, that's great. Gan and other righteous people won't suffer any loss. We can exchange them with our reserves of dried meat and Chu salt, or we can buy them with gold, silver or Chu coins according to the market price in Yizhou." Zhao Yun said gratefully.
Of course, Zhao Yun could vaguely guess that Gan’s intention was not only to tell him that the gentry in Linjiang were “willing to help”, but also to tell him that they “could not play a key role”.
In other words, it was to prevent the Chu army from looting on the spot.
But Zhao Yun had no such intention. When he was in Youzhou, Zhao Yun was dissatisfied because Gongsun Zan began to rob the people. The military regulations of the Chu army did not allow this...
What’s more, there is the relationship with Gan Ning!
Counting from the time Wen Pin arrived with the vanguard, on the tenth day since the Chu army was blocked in Linjiang, the two regiments and Fa Zheng at the rear finally arrived - the road in Ba County was difficult to march on, and it was impossible to coordinate a large-scale march, so the team could only be stretched out.
In the past ten days, the expenses of the two divisions were enough to keep the troops stationed there for two or three months. Even Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong felt a little distressed.
However, Ba County is a mountainous area, and not only are the roads rugged, but it is also easy to get lost. Zhao Yun did not dare to bypass Linjiang easily, for fear of being attacked from both sides - the Chu army did not have as many people as the enemy!
"Confronting the Shu army here is not a long-term solution. Do you have any good strategies to defeat the enemy?" Zhao Yun asked the staff headed by Fa Zheng for advice.
"Can we find some locals to see if there is any small road that can lead us westward? Yan Yan has concentrated most of Ba County's military forces in Linjiang. If we can attack Jiangzhou in one go, the enemy will surely be defeated without a fight, and Ba County can be conquered in one battle!" said a young scholar.
This scholar was also the one who scored "A" in the military category during the imperial examination.
Unfortunately, after hearing this, Zhao Yun shook his head and said, "I have thought of this plan before, but even the locals only know some small mountain trails and it is difficult for them to march on a large scale. In addition, Ba County is full of mountains and rivers, and the local Shu army is much better at fighting and marching in the mountains than we are.
If we rush into the mountains rashly, we will not only fail to shake off the Shu army who are good at marching in the mountains, but we will also be more likely to be besieged from multiple sides on unfamiliar mountain roads. "
Fa Zheng frowned at this time and began to think of a solution...
I was distracted just now, mainly cursing Zhang Song in my heart - you don't want the picture for me! You sent the picture but not the seed, and you burned it?
Fa Zheng was from Fufeng, not from Yizhou, otherwise he would not have done so badly before.
Moreover, Yizhou is a mountainous area with complicated mountain roads. Even locals may not know how to get to a road ten miles away!
Even maps are unreliable in Yizhou, especially in Ba County - after all, the roads here are three-dimensional!
It was Zhang Song's photographic memory that allowed him to compile a topographic map of Xichuan that no one else could understand except himself...
Whether there is a hidden path or not is something that the "outsider" Fa Zheng would not know, and even Yan Yan...
kindness?
Fa Zheng suddenly thought of something, and smiled confidently but provocatively, then said, "Master Zhao, in my opinion, if we want to defeat Yan Yan quickly, we should do this and that, and this and that..."
After listening to Fa Zheng's explanation of his plan, Zhao Yun showed a look of enlightenment, but he still said with some worry: "Chief of Staff Fa's plan is very good, but...is it too dangerous? Why not wait for Commander Huang to come and join us, and then..."
Upon hearing this, Fa Zheng interrupted him and said, "No! If the two divisions of our Chu army are united, Yan Yan will be more cautious. This plan is based on suspicion, otherwise it will be difficult to implement."
The Xinye 1st Division is arranging its defense, and the main force will arrive later.
After taking a few cautious steps, Zhao Yun finally nodded and agreed to Fa Zheng's plan and began to make arrangements.
That night, Yan Yan found that the Chu army camp was too quiet, so he sent scouts to the front to sound the gong and then retreated. Sure enough... there were no pursuers!
During further exploration, they discovered traces of an army on the road in the forest on the north side.
"To the north is Junma Mountain, which looks like a horse drinking water. The southern slope is like a horse's low neck. The mountain is densely forested and the slope is steep. Although there are streams, the steepness is definitely not suitable for camping... What are they doing over there?" Yan Yan wondered.
For this purpose, Yan Yan specially consulted local woodcutters and hunters, and they all said that there was no road for marching in the mountains.
But when I think of Gan Ning of Chu State, Gan Mao who had previously confirmed his surrender to the Chu army, and... the Gan family in Linjiang County!
Yan Yan felt uneasy - could it be that Gan knew some secret method?
The Linjiang Gan family originated from the Huainan Xiacai Gan family. Their ancestor was Gan Mao, the prime minister of Qin during the pre-Qin period, who was also Gan Luo's grandfather. When Shu rebelled, Gan Mao took command to quell the rebellion. After the war, some members of the Gan family stayed in Shu, thus forming the Linjiang Gan family.
The Gan family has been rooted in Ba County for a longer time than the history of the Han Dynasty. It’s no wonder that they know all the secret paths in the mountains and forests!
Thinking of this, Yan Yan could no longer remain calm. After confirming that there were only a small number of soldiers in the Chu army camp who were just pretending, he immediately ordered 5,000 people to move forward. The remaining Chu army soldiers retreated to the northeast after being found out.
Yan Yan ordered the Chu army's camp to be burned down first - if it had not been late spring and the grass and trees were lush, Yan Yan would have even intended to set fire to the mountain!
After the camp was burned, the Chu army still showed no intention of returning, which made Yan Yan even more worried.
However... Yan Yan still did not forget to guard against the Chu army's strategy of confusing the enemy with a single attack. More importantly, he discovered signs of frightened birds on Junma Mountain - flocks of birds flew around the forest during the day, as if there were people in the mountain!
This also made Yan Yan feel that it was very likely that the other party was lying in ambush in the forest and there was no real way out.
However, after this situation lasted for two days, Yan Yan felt something was not right - the Chu army should have only brought the food and fodder they had with them, could they really hold out for so long?
So they sent people to investigate again, but this time... the scouts found several civilian horses, cattle, sheep, and even a captured wolf tied in the woods. They were howling from hunger and restlessness, or had become weak.
Upon learning that the birds were startled by livestock left behind by the Chu army, Yan Yan could no longer remain calm...
Although he didn't know the "secret route" of the Chu army's march, he could roughly guess that the Chu army would continue westward after passing through Junma Mountain. Yan Yan hurriedly gathered his troops, took the main road westward, and inquired about the Chu army's whereabouts along the way!
