flstandardbreds Chapter 297 Lu Xun Receives Devastating News of Defeat
Chapter 297 Lu Xun Receives Devastating News of Defeat
Know yourself and the enemy, a hundred battles will never end.
The best way to quickly ascertain the enemy's operational intentions is to plant spies in the enemy's command headquarters, bribe and turn high-ranking enemy generals, and obtain the desired intelligence from them.
Therefore, the intelligence war has always existed, and it reached an unprecedented peak during World War II.
Having finally captured a general of Lu Ju's caliber, Guan Xing naturally wanted to learn from him about Lu Xun's movements and his plans against him.
Unfortunately, he miscalculated. Upon hearing this, Lü Ju's face turned cold, and he said in an unfriendly tone, "General Guan, I was captured, not surrendered. Moreover, I am not Xu You and would never buy my way out of trouble. You may kill me or torture me as you please, but please do not insult me."
Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion began, the greatest traitor to emerge has been Xu You.
As is well known, Cao Cao was able to win the Battle of Guandu because Xu You surrendered to Cao Cao and betrayed Yuan Shao's grain storage location at Wuchao.
But the truth is not so simple. Intelligence is paramount in battle. As the founder of the School of State Affairs, how could Cao Cao not know that Yuan's army's supplies were piled up at Wuchao?
What Cao Cao needed was not the name of Wuchao, but the details of the troop deployment in Wuchao, the patrol signals, the number of nearby garrison troops, and how long it would take for them to arrive.
Without knowing these details, it would be impossible to launch a surprise attack on Wuchao. First of all, the number of troops to bring was a problem. If there were too few troops, they would not be able to defeat the Wuchao garrison. If there were too many troops, their own camp would be vulnerable to Yuan's army. Therefore, Cao Cao did not dare to take action until Xu You arrived and revealed all the details of the Wuchao garrison. Only then did Cao Cao successfully launch a surprise attack and lay the foundation for victory.
Now Guan Xing actually wants Lü Ju to become the second Xu You. Lü Ju would never agree to that, for he has not forgotten what happened to Xu You.
Guan Xing wasn't annoyed. He smiled gently and said, "Since Brother Lü doesn't want to say more, then I will. Brother Lü, listen to whether what I say is right or wrong."
"First of all, Grand Commander Lu knows I'm good at infiltration. To prevent me from bypassing the Poyang Lake Plain and attacking Yu Han, thus blocking him in the corridor, he must have hidden an ambush waiting for me on the Poyang Lake Plain, right?"
As he spoke, Guan Xing stared intently at Lü Ju's facial expression. When he saw the muscles on Lü Ju's face twitch slightly and the pupils of his eyes shrink at the same time, Guan Xing knew that he had guessed correctly.
Then he continued, "But that's not enough. Grand Commander Lu should know that the terrain of the corridor is unfavorable to him, and the possibility of taking Da Mo by a fierce attack is extremely slim. He will definitely try to break the deadlock from the outside. At present, the only troops he can use besides his main force are Governor Lü Dai, who is far away in Jiaozhou. If I'm not mistaken, Governor Lü must have already led the Jiaozhou troops north by boat, preparing to attack our rear, right?"
Lu Ju's facial muscles twitched more and more violently, but he wisely kept quiet and didn't say anything more, fearing that saying too much would lead to mistakes.
Guan Xing continued, "Furthermore, the gentry of Eastern Wu are in power, and the various gentry have intermarried with each other, forming a complex web of relationships over generations. Moreover, your gentry are very confident in their own foundation, firmly believing that my efforts over a few months cannot compare to your efforts over several generations. They believe that as long as you return to Jiangdong, you can easily rally a hundred people and uproot my power."
"So I guess Grand Commander Lu wouldn't give up the influence of the gentry, which is a great asset. He must have already sent people back to Shanyin to cause trouble in my rear. Who could it be?"
"The most powerful clan in Kuaiji is the He family of Shanyin, so the first choice for this mission would naturally be the He family. He Qi should be arriving in Shanyin soon, right?"
Lu Ju could no longer hold back and suddenly widened his eyes, looking at Guan Xing as if he were looking at a ghost.
This kid guessed Grand Commander Lu's plans perfectly, even guessing the names of the people involved. Is he even human?
No wonder Han Dang and Xu Sheng suffered defeats at his hands one after another; now it seems their losses were not unjust. However…
Lu Ju quickly composed himself and returned Guan Xing an awkward yet polite smile.
So what if you guessed it? Do you know how many troops the Grand Commander left at Poyang Lake?
Do you know how many warships and how many troops Lü Dai brought, and when he would arrive in Kuaiji?
Do you know where He Qi is now? After returning to Shanyin, who will he contact and what actions will he take?
What's the use of knowing only the general situation if you don't know any of these details?
Just like in the Battle of Guandu, without Xu You revealing crucial intelligence, Cao Cao wouldn't have dared to go to Wuchao even though he knew the Yuan army's supplies were all there.
Guan Xing had already confirmed his guess from Lü Ju's reaction. Seeing that Lü Ju remained silent, he was too lazy to say anything more and ordered someone to take Lü Ju away to rest, while waiting for Zhu Chao to return.
Around 9 PM, Zhu Chao returned and bowed before Guan Xing, saying, "General, I failed to complete my mission. Ding Feng escaped. That bastard ran too fast; I couldn't catch him at all."
At this point, Zhu Chao suddenly felt a huge mistake. He was so close to catching Ding Feng, but Ding Feng managed to escape. The more he thought about it, the more painful it was.
Zhu Chao felt he wouldn't be able to sleep well for the next few months. Thinking about Ding Feng's great achievements slipping through his fingers, it would be a miracle if he could fall asleep.
Guan Xing laughed indifferently, "Let them run away. Someone has to go back and report to Lu Xun, right?"
Among the Twelve Tiger Generals of Jiangdong, Ding Feng is the lowest-ranking. Since joining the army, he has long served as the deputy general of Gan Ning, Pan Zhang, and others, and his current status in the Wu army is not very high.
Ding Feng was included among the Twelve Tiger Generals of Jiangdong not because of his military achievements, but because of his long life. He lived until the seventh year of the Tai Shi era of Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan. Such a long-lived person is not so easy to catch.
Guan Xing continued to persuade him, "Don't be discouraged. Go back and get a good night's sleep. We'll go to Linru tomorrow morning to meet up with Deng Hong."
His original plan was to infiltrate behind Lu Xun's lines to carry out guerrilla warfare and sabotage, and he had even sent the Xuanjia Army led by Deng Hong ahead of time for this purpose.
Now that Han Dang and Xu Sheng are dead, and Lu Xun has also penetrated deep into the corridor, the battle is developing in the direction I expected, and I should go and meet up with Deng Hong as originally planned.
"Yes..." Zhu Chao knew about the plan, and without saying anything more, he bowed and took his leave.
Guan Xing then ordered Wang Tao to keep watch at night, while the rest of the army set up camp in an open area to rest and recover their strength.
At daybreak, Guan Xing handed over the army to Wang Tao, instructing him to retreat in batches along the mountain road back to Damo to be under Shen Yi's command. He himself, along with Zhu Chao and his eight hundred personal guards, led by scouts, crossed mountains and valleys to Linru to find Deng Hong.
……
Go back a few days.
The road to simplicity, return to nature.
Countless practices have proven that fancy tricks are useless; the simplest methods are the most effective.
Lu Xun understood this deeply, and after seeing Han Dang off, he began the long process of filling in the pit.
There were too many traps along the way, several pits at every step. It was impossible to move forward without clearing them away. Moreover, this work was like a tedious assembly line with no shortcuts. We could only fill them one by one.
Lu Xun spent two days cleaning up only half of it. He wanted to continue, but the weather turned bad and a sudden downpour forced him to stop and wait for the rain to stop before continuing.
Looking at the sudden downpour, Lu Xun felt more agitated than ever before. The situation was extremely unfavorable for him, and things were getting too passive if things continued like this.
But what can be done? Even if you are a military genius like Han Xin, you still have to take things one step at a time. Moreover, the terrain of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Corridor is too unfriendly to the attacker, making him feel like he is crossing a swamp with every step.
The rainstorm stopped abruptly, but the roads wouldn't dry quickly. Lu Xun was anxious but helpless with the muddy roads, so he could only wait and pray that everything went smoothly for Han Dang.
General Han, please don't let anything happen to you.
As it turns out, what you fear most is what happens. Almost as soon as Lu Xun finished speaking, the five personal guards sent by Han Dang emerged from the mountains and were brought before Lu Xun.
The five men saw Lu Xun as if he were a relative, and knelt on the ground at the same time, wailing in anguish, "Grand Commander, our General Han is surrounded by the Han army. Our young master and five hundred troops have all died in battle. Please save our General Han!"