flstandardbreds Chapter 735 Blooming Everywhere, All Reversed
Chapter 735 Blooming Everywhere, All Reversed
"What? Zhaoling has fallen too?"
The news of Xihua's fall hit Tian Yu like a heavy hammer, leaving him dazed. Before he could recover, he received news of Zhaoling's fall as well.
This is like being hit by a heavy hammer blow and not having recovered yet, then being hit by another one. Anyone would be stunned in that situation.
Tian Yu was completely stunned by the two messages. He stood there, pale-faced, with a hint of confusion in his eyes.
They've been working so hard to besiege Sun Lang at the foot of Queshan, and now their home has been stolen?
Gao Rou was also stunned, but since the disaster did not affect his jurisdiction, he appeared much calmer than Tian Yu. He quickly regained his senses and shook Tian Yu awake, asking, "General, what are you planning to do next? Continue to besiege Sun Lang or go back to reinforce the counties?"
After pondering for a moment, Tian Yu gritted his teeth and said, "The reason why this group of pseudo-Han spies chose to attack various county towns at this time is definitely to force me to go back to rescue them and relieve Sun Lang's siege. This general naturally cannot do as they wish. We should continue to besiege and kill Sun Lang first. It is not too late to deal with this group of rebels after we have killed Sun Lang."
The purpose of the pseudo-Han spy was very clear: to rescue Sun Lang by using the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao." If Tian Yu couldn't even see through this simple scheme, he might as well give up his job.
Gao Rou frowned and said, "That's true, but if we let this group of rebels continue to grow and eventually join forces, who knows how far they'll go in ten days or half a month? I'm afraid that when we wipe out Sun Lang, the entire Runan region will rebel!"
The words "Runan has rebelled" startled Tian Yu. Runan was the second largest prefecture in the country after Nanyang, and it was located in the heart of Cao Wei, very close to Xuchang. If it rebelled, the trouble would be huge.
But after thinking it over, Tian Yu still decided to deal with Sun Lang first. He said to Gao Rou, "We can't let the enemy lead us by the nose. We still have to eliminate Sun Lang first. After all, it's better to break one finger than to injure all ten of his fingers!"
"Besides, the fall of just two counties is far from the point of total devastation. We can afford to wait ten days."
That's true, but it was said too early.
No sooner had he finished speaking than another messenger rushed over and said, "General, something terrible has happened! The Hu brothers have breached Shenyang County and looted all the supplies in the county."
"General, something terrible has happened! Ancheng, Yang'an, and Shangcai have all fallen. The rebel army of the pseudo-Han is advancing like a whirlwind, and the counties are simply unable to resist."
Tian Yu's expression froze instantly, and after standing there in a daze for a long time, he suddenly fell straight down.
So many counties have fallen in just a few days, that's just too much...
More importantly, news from many counties hasn't even arrived yet. Who knows what the situation is in the more distant counties, or if they've already fallen?
And what about Pingyu, the county seat? Could Pingyu have fallen as well?
Even if it hadn't fallen, there was no way to explain it. He had only been in Runan for a few days and had already lost most of Runan. This made Cao Pi not know how to speak up for him.
Tian Yu was truly stunned by this series of news and fainted on the spot.
Seeing him fall, Gao Rou quickly stepped forward to help him up, secretly relieved that she had drawn the fighting to Runan. If she had stayed in Yingchuan, she, the governor of Yingchuan, would have been the one to receive the bad news.
Before the relief could be felt, a messenger rushed in and reported: "Prefect Gao, the spies of the Han have rebelled, and Ye County, Wuyang, and Dingling have all fallen..."
"Uh..." Gao Rou couldn't catch her breath and fainted in an even more exaggerated way than Tian Yu.
The fact that both prefects fainted at the same time terrified their personal guards, who rushed over and pressed their chests and pinched their philtrums, finally managing to wake them up with great effort.
The two were still confused after waking up. They looked at each other in silence for a long time before Gao Rou sighed dejectedly, "Raising troops at the same time and launching a full-scale attack, this leader of the pseudo-Han spy group hiding in Yuzhou is really good at this."
With so many counties rising up at the same time, he would never believe it if you said there was no unified command.
Unfortunately, this fake Han spy was too deeply hidden, and the fake Han spies communicated with each other using code names, which meant that they still hadn't figured out each other's identities, and didn't even know how old the other person was.
Upon hearing this, Tian Yu's eyes instantly turned red, and he said fiercely like a tiger that had been provoked, "There's no time to dawdle. Launch the attack immediately. We must reach the top of the mountain and wipe out Sun Lang before nightfall tomorrow, and then recover all the counties."
The situation was far more serious than he had imagined. He no longer had ten days to slowly wear down Sun Lang. He had to deal with Sun Lang as soon as possible and then free up his hands to deal with the rebels in various places.
Gao Rou shook her head and said, "I'm afraid that's not a good idea. We've been here for more than twenty days, and our morale has dropped to rock bottom. Sun Lang has the advantage of terrain. Even if we manage to break through, we will suffer heavy casualties. By then, our army will be exhausted and depleted. How will we deal with the ferocious rebels?"
"Moreover, the rebels are playing guerrilla warfare, operating in towns and villages. When they see us, they run away or even split up and flee. We can only concentrate our forces and run around. If this continues, we will probably exhaust ourselves before we catch the rebels."
"So my suggestion is to besiege the point and attack the reinforcements. Since we know that their rebellion was launched to rescue Sun Lang, they cannot sit idly by and watch Sun Lang be annihilated. Seeing that we are not withdrawing our troops for a long time, they will definitely come to our rescue. We should concentrate our forces when they come to our rescue and annihilate them all at the foot of Queshan Mountain."
The other side is playing guerrilla warfare. The problem with this kind of tactics is not that you can't beat them, but that you can't find them. You can't be fully armed all day long and search for them all over the mountains and fields, can you?
Therefore, the best way to break guerrilla warfare is to use bait to lure out guerrillas hiding in the shadows, and then concentrate forces to annihilate them.
Sun Lang is currently the bait; if used properly, it can bring about a permanent victory and determine the fate of the world in one battle.
Tian Yu pondered, "Good idea, but we obviously don't have enough manpower. We need to find a way to transfer some more from other places, or ask the Jiangxia garrison to send some troops to support us."
Jiangxia is directly opposite Chaisang, a key town of the puppet Han regime. Therefore, Jiangxia is heavily fortified with troops, and they can transfer troops from Jiangxia in critical moments.
Gao Rou shook her head and said, "That's not appropriate. Jiangxia needs to be wary of Chaisang. The general stationed in Chaisang is Shen Yi, a strategist from the pseudo-Han regime promoted by Guan Xing. If Shen Yi seizes the opportunity to attack Jiangbei because of our actions, we will be in big trouble. So we should ask General Xiahou Chong of Xudu for help."
Tian Yu pondered, "That works too. I'll write to General Xiahou Chong right now and ask him to send troops to support us."
After the plan was agreed upon, Tian Yu got busy again, mobilizing troops to continue besieging the mountaintop to prevent Sun Lang from suddenly attacking, while also sending out a large number of scouts. He also asked the Military Affairs Office to cooperate in gathering information from various counties to determine the strength and direction of the rebel army.
There are many rebels within the territory, but they are all small in scale, with each rebel group consisting of at least a few hundred and at most a thousand people. This amount of troops poses no threat to Tian Yu. Therefore, in order to rescue Sun Lang, they must join forces. What Tian Yu needs to do now is to find out where the rebels are gathering and what their total strength will be after they gather. Only in this way can he know himself and his enemy and take the right measures.
After making the arrangements, watching the soldiers busily at work, Tian Yu felt as cold as the coldest winter frost.
Although the leader of this rebel army was a spy for the Han dynasty, the main force of the rebels were the people of Runan, who were subjects of Cao Wei.
The fact that Cao Wei soldiers were fighting against Cao Wei citizens was a clear case of internal strife. It was as if the pseudo-Han dynasty hadn't even launched its northern expedition yet, and Cao Wei was already fighting amongst itself. If Cao Wei's territory was still in this state when the pseudo-Han dynasty attacked, would the war still be able to continue?