mtl008 Chapter 367 is all about taking the unconventional path.
Chapter 367 is all about taking the unconventional path.
Thinking of Liu Zan's glorious deeds, Guan Xing put aside his contempt and frowned in thought, "If I were Liu Zan, knowing that Zhuge Jin had returned ahead of time and that Yu Han was safe, I certainly wouldn't have taken the Gongbei route, right?"
"Moreover, he should be able to guess that the Ning Huan bandit army will surround him from three sides with the intention of annihilating him. In addition, we have run ahead of him. Continuing to take the back road will not only be difficult and thankless, but also risk being surrounded and annihilated. Therefore, he will definitely try to find a way to break the deadlock."
"The best way to deal with our multi-pronged encirclement tactics is to concentrate our forces and break through one point, choose one route and attack it relentlessly. Old Deng, which route do you think Liu Zan will choose?"
Instead of answering, Deng Hong asked, "If you were Liu Zan, which path would you choose?"
Guan Xing replied, "Naturally, we should choose the official road. After defeating the bandits on the official road, we can continue towards Yuhan, catch up with us, and defeat them. Once we are defeated, the so-called encirclement will become a joke, and Liu Zan can return to Yuhan at his leisure, or..."
Thinking of this, Guan Xing's expression changed slightly, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Compared to chasing us, Liu Zan seems to have a better option, which is to turn west after defeating the bandits on the official road, and then attack Pan Zhang's camp from behind the bandits."
"The camp is now full of Wu soldiers who have surrendered but haven't been reformed yet. If Liu Zan really attacks Pan Zhang's camp, those surrendered soldiers will open the camp gates and give him a warm welcome on the spot. With these surrendered soldiers and the camp's food supplies, Liu Zan can finally turn the tables and sing songs of liberation."
There are seven or eight thousand surrendered Wu soldiers in the camp. If these people are taken in by Liu Zan, together with Zhuge Jin's troops, Liu Zan will have tens of thousands of soldiers. At that time, let alone annihilating Liu Zan, it will be a question whether we can even remain undefeated.
Upon hearing this, Deng Hong's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly asked, "Then what should we do? Should we stay here and rest until we recover our strength before dealing with Liu Zan, or should we turn around immediately?"
They now have two choices: one is to set up camp on the spot to recover their strength and then attack Liuzan to defeat him in one fell swoop; the other is to turn back and drag their exhausted bodies to fight Liuzan immediately.
Without hesitation, Guan Xing chose the latter, firmly stating, "Immediately turn back and join up with the bandits on the official road. Send out all scouts to warn the bandits on the official road to be on high alert while also gathering intelligence on Liu Zan's situation. I need to know Liu Zan's location at all times."
"I told the brothers not to be afraid of being tired, because Liu Zan is more tired than us. If we can't annihilate him when he's exhausted and let him break through, we don't know how much effort we'll have to put in later. So we must wipe him out in one go."
Now that he had guessed that Liu Zan might target the bandits on the official road, Guan Xing absolutely could not rest on the spot because of exhaustion and watch the bandits on the official road be wiped out, after all, the bandits were also his own troops.
With Guan Xing's order, the army turned back along the same route and, dragging their weary bodies, charged toward Pan Zhang's camp.
Many soldiers were cursing under their breath, thinking, "Are they just playing around with us like this?"
This is Guan Xing; if it were someone else, they would definitely rebel.
Although Guan Xing chose to turn back, he did not dare to run too fast. Firstly, his soldiers were too tired and needed to rest, and secondly, he was afraid that Liu Zan would guess his intentions and ambush him halfway after defeating the bandits on the official road.
While Guan Xing was on his way, Liu Zan was resting, or rather, lying in ambush.
Not long after parting ways with Zhuge Jin, Liu Zan received news from scouts that a bandit army of about 5,000 men was marching on the official road, led by Bi Kui, the fourth leader of the bandits. At the same time, bandit forces were spotted directly behind and to the right of them, but they were still far away. If they were fast enough, they could definitely defeat Bi Kui before the two bandit armies could catch up and surround them.
Therefore, Liu Zan chose to ambush by the roadside, drinking water and resting while waiting for Bi Kui to pass by. They had traveled more than a hundred li from Yu Han, and they were even more tired than the Han army. They really couldn't go on without resting.
Around 5 PM, the scout returned and came to Liu Zan's side, saying, "Captain, Bi Kui is only seven or eight li away from us. Moreover, this Bi Kui is too arrogant. He led his troops in a wild rush without any formation and didn't even send out any scouts. He's as anxious as if he's rushing to be reborn."
Liu Zan sneered, "That's normal. Their mountain bandit army doesn't have the discipline of officers and soldiers, so it's understandable that they're a bit lax. Where is Ning Huan? Have you heard anything from Guan Xing?"
The most common thing on the battlefield is to capture prisoners to extract intelligence. The Han army can capture Wu army scouts, and the Wu army can naturally capture Han army scouts as well.
Therefore, Liu Zan had already learned about the bandit army's deployment from the captured prisoners: Bi Kui was in the north, Ning Huan in the middle, and You Chong in the south. You Chong was still far away and could be ignored for the time being. The one he should be most wary of right now was Ning Huan, who was following closely behind him.
Moreover, based on known intelligence analysis, Ning Huan, the newly appointed second-in-command of the bandit army, is very likely a man of Guan Xing, and is different from the bandits under Peng Qi's command.
The scout replied, "Ning Huan is still more than 20 li away from us. It will take at least an hour for him to arrive. As for Guan Xing, I don't know."
After pondering for a moment, Liu Zan summoned the two battalion commanders and instructed them: "Guan Xing is very likely aware of our movements, and this man is cunning and we must be wary of him. Liu Sheng, you take five hundred men and stay behind. When the fighting starts, do not join the battle. Find a place on the main road to set up camp and block Guan Xing, so as to buy me time to deal with Bi Kui."
"Wang Shu, take five hundred men and make it look like you have five thousand to launch a feigned attack on Ning Huan. You don't need to achieve any results, just slow down Ning Huan's march so that he can't get here quickly."
"Yes..." The two clasped their hands in greeting and left at the same time.
Liu Zan lay on the ground, munching on dry rations and waiting, while mentally simulating tactics and thinking about how to defeat Bi Kui as quickly as possible.
Bi Kui was a careless man who was too lazy to even send out scouts and only knew how to charge recklessly. Ning Huan, on the other hand, would send out scouts for dozens of miles while marching, as if he wanted to send them right under the enemy's nose.
This time was no different. While Ning Huan was chasing after Zhuge Jin, he also sent out a large number of scouts. During the march, the scouts hurriedly returned to report: "Second Master, the Wu army has deviated from its original route and headed north. Their target seems to be Bi Kui, the leader of the Bi Kui tribe on the official road. In addition, we learned from the captured prisoners that Zhuge Jin has left the army and returned to Yu Han. The current commander of the troops is Liu Zan, the Colonel of the Tunqi Cavalry."
Ning Huan's expression changed slightly, and he immediately said, "Liu Zan is trying to break through Bi Kui's defenses and get around to our rear. Tell Bi Kui to hold on. Even if he can't stop him, he should keep Liu Zan occupied by fighting and retreating. Tell him I'll be there soon. If he holds on until I arrive with my army, it will be a great achievement."
"Inform You Chong that he doesn't need to take a detour anymore. He should immediately press towards us and surround Liu Zan with all his might. The rest of you should turn around and head to the official road to meet up with the Sifang family. If you encounter Wu troops on the way, don't hesitate to charge directly. Since Liu Zan's target is Bi Kui, he can't possibly send a large force to block us. He can only send a feint attack force to slow us down."
After saying this, he took the lead and charged out, leading his army to turn around and head towards the official road. Not long after, they suddenly saw dust rising ahead, and a Wu army was charging towards them with all its might. The figures were moving and the flags were waving, and it looked like there were four or five thousand soldiers.
Ning Huan snorted coldly and decisively ordered, "The entire army will advance and crush this Wu army!"
Having guessed that the enemy was feigning an attack, Ning Huan naturally wouldn't hesitate because of the Wu army's feint and waste precious rescue time.
The one charging towards Ning Huan was none other than Wu Jun's battalion commander, Wang Shu. Seeing the Ning Huan bandit army charging towards him without the slightest hesitation, Wang Shu was completely dumbfounded.
That's not right. Shouldn't we first launch a feint attack to test the waters and find out the enemy's strength before ordering an attack? Why did you charge straight in without even checking? Aren't you afraid of an ambush?
Damn Ning Huan, why aren't you playing by the rules? What am I supposed to do with this mess?
Although Wu Jun was not afraid of the Yue bandits, that was only when their forces were evenly matched. Now the bandits had tens of thousands of men, while Wu Jun only had five hundred, a difference of several times. It was no exaggeration to say that each of the bandits could drown Wu Jun with a single spit. How could Wu Jun possibly fight them?
However, Wang Shu was a ruthless man. After struggling for a moment, he chose to charge instead of retreat. His mission was to block Ning Huan and buy time for Liu Zan. Retreating now would be tantamount to betraying Liu Zan, which was absolutely unacceptable.
Therefore, Wang Shu launched a charge against Ning Huan without hesitation, and soon led five hundred Wu soldiers to Ning Huan's front, crashing into Ning Huan's army like a mad beast.