The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 344 Only Failure is Allowed, Success is Not an Option

War is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. The purpose of war is to solve problems and gain benefits, not to vent emotions or create new problems.

Anyone with a basic understanding of tactics knows that annihilation battles are the most difficult to fight. So difficult that throughout history, only a handful of people, such as Bai Qi and Han Xin, have been able to achieve them. However, annihilation battles also yield the highest returns, as success can have a decisive effect on the outcome of a single battle.

Therefore, Guan Xing never intended to gain a small advantage from Pan Zhang from the beginning. Instead, he wanted to completely annihilate Pan Zhang's army on the Poyang Lake Plain. If possible, he even wanted to use Pan Zhang to lure out Zhuge Jin and kill Yu Han, so that he could easily take down Yu Han, block Lu Xun's retreat, and annihilate Lu Xun in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Corridor, thus completely stabilizing Jiangdong.

Otherwise, if Pan Zhang were to escape into Yuhan and join forces with Zhuge Jin, the time it would take me to deal with them would increase exponentially.

Although that would sever the connection between Nanchang and Yu Han and cut off Lu Xun's supply lines, Yu Han's grain reserves could sustain Lu Xun for two or three months. Who knows what changes might occur during such a long period?

Putting aside other issues, if the supply lines were truly cut off, Yu Fan, the prefect of Yuzhang, would definitely not sit idly by. If he led a large army to attack from Nanchang, and Pan Zhang and Zhuge Jin then attacked from Yuhan, he would very likely end up like Xu Sheng.

Therefore, we must not force Pan Zhang into Yuhan, but must annihilate him outside Yuhan City. To achieve this goal, we cannot beat Pan Zhang too badly. On the contrary, we must let Pan Zhang gain some advantages from time to time to make him lower his guard.

You need heavy bait to catch big fish!

With that in mind, Guan Xing decisively rejected Geng Shang's proposal.

Geng Shang was stunned by his analysis. "You're not a general. You only have four or five thousand men. Even with You Chong's bandit army, you only have a little over six thousand. Pan Zhang has tens of thousands of troops. How can you annihilate them all?"

Wait a minute, Ma Zhong surrendered with two thousand men. If we calculate it this way, both sides have eight thousand troops, which is exactly equal. But even so, it won't be easy to completely annihilate Pan Zhang.

Although Geng Shang felt that Guan Xing's goal was too outrageous and that he didn't take Pan Zhang seriously enough, he knew that Guan Xing was a professional when it came to fighting, and that he, a mere merchant, was just meddling. So he didn't say much and bowed, saying, "General, you are wise."

Guan Xing nodded and said, "Keep an eye on Pan Zhang's movements and report to me immediately if there are any unusual occurrences."

Geng Shang bowed and took his leave. No sooner had he left than Ning Huan's messenger returned, reporting the situation to Guan Xing and handing over Ning Huan's letter.

Guan Xing was delighted when he saw the document. Ning Huan had successfully infiltrated Peng Qi's bandit army as instructed. He had also persuaded Peng Qi to train his troops and dispersed the elite scouts into the bandit army to serve as instructors. Once they were familiar with each other for a while, Ning Huan would easily seduce tens of thousands of bandits, leaving Peng Qi as a commander without troops.

Ning Huan's idea coincided with Guan Xing's. In his letter, while reporting the situation, he requested that Guan Xing lead his troops to attack the Riyue Lake camp, but not to break through it. He wanted to give Pan Zhang time to lead his troops back to reinforce the camp, thus keeping Pan Zhang busy and ultimately wearing him down.

At the same time, Ning Huan also needs time to train his troops. Ning Huan hopes that Guan Xing can help him gain half a month of training time while making a feigned attack on the Riyue Lake camp.

Guan Xing readily agreed, and then pondered in his mind the plan to deal with Pan Zhang and subdue Peng Qi. He simulated the possible variables several times before convening a meeting of the generals.

The generals quickly arrived. After Guan Xing handed them Ning Huan's letter and informed them of the situation, he immediately ordered, "You Chong, from now on you are the commander of the Han army. For a long time to come, we will be acting under your banner. No objections?"

This move is aimed at Peng Qi, not Pan Zhang. Peng Qi must not be informed of the existence of the Han army for the time being, otherwise he might act rashly and defect to Cao Ren.

You Chong bowed and said, "I am willing to obey the general's orders."

Guan Xing continued, "Deng Hong, organize the troops and prepare to set off. We will launch a night raid on the Riyue Lake camp, but this attack must fail. Tell the soldiers to hold back their strength."

Deng Hong clasped his hands in a respectful bow and said, "Yes..."

After a quick preparation, Guan Xing led 3,000 troops and You Chong's 2,000 bandits, a total of 5,000 men, toward Riyue Lake, intending to give Pan Zhang a tough fight.

Meanwhile, Ning Huan, who was far away on Nanji Island, Peng Qi's stronghold, also received news that Pan Zhang was leading his army to attack, and advised Peng Qi to retreat immediately to avoid the enemy's advance.

Peng Qi agreed without hesitation. The Yue bandits had an instinctive fear of the Wu army and always relied on guerrilla warfare when facing them, never engaging in direct confrontation unless absolutely necessary.

Thus, Peng Qi led 20,000 bandits in batches by boat to quickly leave the island and retreat to Pengze.

Pan Zhang landed on Nanji Island just 15 minutes after the retreat, but naturally found nothing. Unwilling to give up, Pan Zhang continued to pursue, while Peng Qining and Huan continued to retreat. The two sides chased and fled, making quite a scene.

After two or three days of this ordeal, having chased Peng Qi for over a hundred miles without finding any trace, Pan Zhang was furious and was about to give it his all when a messenger from the Riyue Lake camp rushed over and said, "General, something terrible has happened! Commander Ma Zhong and his two thousand troops have all been captured by You Chong. You Chong is leading his army to attack the Riyue Lake camp. Please return to their aid immediately."

Pan Zhang's expression changed drastically, and he instinctively wanted to retreat. The order was on the tip of his tongue when he suddenly remembered something and quickly changed his words: "It was not You Chong who annihilated Ma Zhong. You Chong does not have that ability. It must have been the Han army's infiltration force."

"The Han army's infiltration force is not large, as it has crossed the Wuyi Mountains. Our camp is well-fortified, and we have three thousand garrison troops inside. The Han army cannot break through it in the short term."

"The Han army is short of troops. If they want to deal with me, Pan Zhang, they will definitely have to unite with other forces. At present, the only one in Yuzhang that the Han army can unite with is Peng Qi. In other words, the Han army has most likely already established contact with Peng Qi or even reached a cooperation agreement. So, as soon as I left the camp to pursue Peng Qi, the Han army came running to attack my Riyue Lake camp?"

"The Han army's purpose is obvious: they want to wear me down by pulling me back and forth, forcing me to exhaust myself. In other words, as soon as we go back to rescue the Riyue Lake camp, Peng Qi will immediately lead his troops to attack us from both sides. If I then pursue Peng Qi, he will turn around and retreat, and the Han army will continue to attack the camp to force me to return. If I fight the Han army, they will retreat. Damn Han army, damn Peng Qi, do you think I, Pan Wengui, am a fool?"

The messenger asked anxiously, "What should we do then?"

Pan Zhang snorted coldly, "Do you even need to ask? Since you guessed that Peng Qi would turn around and pursue us on our way back to reinforce, we should give Peng Qi a hard time. You return to the camp immediately and order the garrison to hold the camp and block the Han army. Buy me at least five days."

"The rest of us will retreat in a grand and ostentatious manner, letting Peng Qi know that we've returned to reinforce the main camp. Then we'll find a place to ambush him, and when Peng Qi comes over, we'll give that bastard a good beating, making him completely give up any thought of pursuing us."

The enemy's tactics of coordinating attacks from both sides and harassing the enemy are quite disgusting. There is only one way to avoid being led by the nose: to eliminate one of the enemy's forces first and then turn around and attack the other force with all our might. Naturally, the first enemy Pan Zhang should eliminate is Peng Qi, who is closest to him and has the weakest combat strength.

After making the decision, Pan Zhang ordered a retreat. After retreating twenty miles, he decisively stopped and sent five hundred men to create the appearance of five thousand men to continue to the Riyue Lake camp in a grand manner. He himself led the rest of the troops to lie in ambush and wait for Peng Qi to pursue them.

Meanwhile, Peng Qi, who had been keeping a distance of twenty or thirty miles from Pan Zhang, also received news that You Chong had attacked the Riyue Lake camp and that Pan Zhang had been forced to withdraw his troops to reinforce it.