flstandardbreds Chapter 264 Lu Xun wanted to defeat Guan Xing using Guan Xing's tactics?
Chapter 264 Lu Xun wanted to defeat Guan Xing using Guan Xing's tactics?
You can only defeat your opponent if you understand them. How can you defeat your opponent if you don't even understand their basic situation?
Therefore, gathering relevant intelligence on opponents, analyzing their abilities and personalities, and thereby finding their weaknesses became an essential course for generals.
As a qualified general, Lu Xun would naturally not slack off on such a crucial matter as studying his opponents. After Lü Meng retreated to Jiangling, he began to collect relevant intelligence on Guan Xing. Although he dared not say that he had completely figured out Guan Xing, he had at least figured out about 70 or 80 percent of him.
During his time away from Jiangling, he had been thinking about how to use his knowledge of Guan Xing to defeat him. His conclusion was to use Guan Xing's own tactics against him.
First of all, Guan Xing will definitely infiltrate behind him to cause trouble. In front of him is the strategically important and easily defensible Zhejiang-Jiangxi corridor, and behind him is Guan Xing, who is skilled at infiltration and appears and disappears unpredictably. The situation is extremely unfavorable to him.
In this situation, if we don't try to break the deadlock, but instead rush into the corridor as Guan Xing expected, we might as well just surrender without fighting.
Fortunately, although Guan Xing was cunning, he was also prone to making mistakes. As the saying goes, "He who walks by the river will eventually get his shoes wet," and "He who dances on the edge of a cliff will eventually fall into the ditch." Guan Xing's practice of constantly standing under dangerous walls could cost him his life if he made a single mistake.
Based on this, Lu Xun found Guan Xing's weakness: it was easy for Guan Xing to lead his troops to infiltrate behind him, but it would be difficult for him to avoid him and return to the Jinqu Basin.
Without Guan Xing in charge of the Jinqu Basin, who else in the entire Kuaiji region could stand up and stop He Qi's rebellion?
Moreover, he had prepared Lü Dai as a trump card. Some time ago, Guan Ping and Zhao Lei caused trouble in Jingnan. Sun Quan was forced to send Lü Dai's Jiaozhou troops north to quell the rebellion. Later, Guan Ping and Zhao Lei withdrew to Yiling to follow Liu Bei on his northern expedition, and Lü Dai returned to Jiaozhou.
This is easy to understand. After all, Old Man Lü was the governor of Jiaozhou. What would it mean if he stayed in Jingzhou all the time?
Unfortunately, even after returning to Jiaozhou, Old Man Lü was still restless, and now Lu Xun has dragged him out again.
Therefore, Lu Xun's plan was to enter the corridor and block Guan Xing in the Poyang Lake Plain, thus drawing the main force of the Han army led by Guan Xing to the vicinity of Da Mo. In this way, the coastal counties and even the prefecture city of Shanyin behind Guan Xing would be left undefended.
When Lü Dai, this powerful dragon crossing the river, lands from the sea, and He Qi, this local snake, receives him from within, wouldn't it be a piece of cake to deal with the coastal counties that are not under Guan Xing's command and are not guarded by a large army?
Once Lü Dai and He Qi have recovered Shanyin and captured Zhuji, they will enter the Jinqu Basin and attack the Han army from behind, forming a pincer movement from the east and west. Let's see how those few country bumpkin generals temporarily promoted by Guan Xing can resist them.
After capturing Damo and joining forces with Lü Dai, we will turn around and surround the Poyang Lake Plain. Together with Yu Fan, we will dig three feet into the ground and still be able to block Guan Xing, who is hiding in the mountains.
Crisis is always an opportunity, and Lu Xun was also very curious about who would emerge victorious in this battle.
Han Dang asked with displeasure, "Commander Lu actually ordered Lü Dai to attack from the sea. How come I didn't know about such a big thing?"
Damn Lu Xun, you have a plan but you don't tell us. Do you even care about us veterans?
Lu Xun said with a smile, "General, you should know the principle that things are accomplished by secrecy and ruined by leaks. Jiangling is now a mixed bag, and it is inevitable that people like Mi Fang and Fu Shiren will inform the Guan family. Therefore, the news that you asked Lord Lü to go north along the coast is currently known only to my lord and me."
He had another unspoken reason for inviting Lü Dai north: in case of defeat, it would be easier to shift the blame. If Sun Quan asked, he could confidently say that the defeat was due to Lü Dai's failure to arrive at the designated location on time and complete the assigned task, and that it wasn't his fault.
It's about considering defeat before even thinking about victory!
Lu Xun's explanation only made Han Dang angrier.
What do you mean by calling us Mi Fang and Fu Shiren? Isn't it a bit too insulting for you, Grand Commander Lu?
Although Han Dang was angry, he understood the bigger picture and suppressed his anger, saying, "I admire Governor Lu's foresight. So what do we do now?"
Lu Xun sensed the sarcasm in his tone but remained noncommittal, smiling as he said, "Naturally, we'll enter the corridor as Guan Xing hopes. Let's go."
With Lu Xun's order, the army proceeded in an orderly fashion along the official road toward Yuhan.
Meanwhile, Xu Sheng led 5,000 elite soldiers, abandoning their baggage, and sped up their journey, successfully arriving at Yuhan City before nightfall.
Upon arriving and discovering that Yu Han had not yet been captured by the Han army, he breathed a sigh of relief. While leading his troops into the city to rest, he ordered scouts to continue eastward to investigate the situation of the Han army.
At daybreak, Xu Sheng left a thousand men to guard the city and led four thousand troops eastward to Damo. His purpose was simple: to penetrate as deep into the corridor as possible and not give the Han army the opportunity to set traps there. If he could not completely occupy the corridor before the Han army, he would occupy as much as possible to reduce the space for the Han army to maneuver.
Assuming the corridor is 100 li long, with Yu Han and Da Mo at its two ends, if the Wu army and the Han army start from both ends at the same speed, they will definitely collide in the middle of the corridor, meaning each side will have seized 50 li.
However, if Xu Sheng were to move faster and seize an additional ten li, the Han army would only have forty li left, and the Han army would then have no choice but to set traps within their own forty li.
Similarly, if Xu Sheng were to seize another ten li, reaching a total of seventy li, then the Han army would only have thirty li left to maneuver.
And so on, the more territory Wu's army seizes, the more advantageous it is for them.
With this in mind, Xu Sheng sent scouts ahead to scout for cover and to prevent an ambush, while simultaneously speeding up and almost catching up with the scouts.
Sadly, the Han army shared the same idea as Xu Sheng. At dusk, Wu scouts and Han scouts met in Yiyang and started fighting without saying a word. During the fight, something interesting happened.
Li Gousheng was an elite veteran who had served for eight years. He had fought against the Wei army with Lü Meng and crossed the mountains with Zhang Chengping. He was captured when Guan Xing captured Zhang Chengping. After passing the assessment, he was transferred by Ning Huan to the scout camp as a platoon leader.
This time, Li Gousheng was ordered by Shen Yi to go deep into the Zhejiang-Jiangxi corridor to scout out the Wu army's situation. He ran into Wu army scouts in Yiyang and decisively ordered an attack without hesitation.
Wu's scouts were not to be outdone and decisively charged forward. It was already evening and the sun had set, so visibility was poor. Therefore, both sides' scouts only recognized clothes and not people, and they fought to the death with their swords.
The Han army's scout battalion was equipped with high-quality weapons manufactured by the Wushang Steel Plant, making them far better equipped than the Wu army, and they easily repelled the Wu army.
Li Gousheng slashed the blade of the enemy in front of him, knocking him to the ground. Then he swung his broadsword down at the enemy's head, determined to kill him on the spot. But just as he swung his sword, he heard the enemy beneath him shout, "Brother?"
The familiar voice startled Li Gousheng, who abruptly stopped his knife and looked down. He squinted and recognized the person's face, trembling violently. His lips quivered as he said, his face filled with lingering fear, "Gouyan, how could it be you?"
The person killed was none other than his own younger brother, Li Gouyan.
Seeing that his blade was less than half an inch from his brother's forehead, Li Gousheng turned pale with fright. If he were to strike, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Li Gouyan was equally terrified, his face turning deathly pale, and his legs trembling as he said, "Put the knife away first, you scared me to death."
Li Gousheng quickly sheathed his sword and pulled him up. Without asking Li Gouyan why he was there, he arrogantly said in the name of his elder brother, "Come on, come back with me to see General Shen. From now on, you will follow the Han army."
Li Gouyan said in astonishment, "Isn't this inappropriate? I am now a soldier under General Xu Sheng."
Li Gousheng cursed, "I forgot to tell you that General Guan just allocated land to our family, and it was allocated two mu per person. Your wife and your two-year-old son both got some. Our family of nine has a total of eighteen mu. Tell me yourself, how long would it take to earn eighteen mu of land by working with Xu Sheng?"
Li Gouyan asked in astonishment, "Even my wife and son have them? Really?"
Li Gousheng slapped him on the forehead and cursed, "I'm your own brother, would I lie to you? Hurry up and come with me, or I'll slap you."
After saying that, he dragged Li Gouyan back to his camp without further ado. Turning around, he found that the Wu army scouts had been driven back, so he did not pursue them. He then told everyone to go back and report the situation to Ning Huan and Shen Yi.