Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3401 Strange

Zhou Yu fought against the Sichuan-Shu army not because he was eager to fight, but because he was very wary of Zhu Zhi and others.

Only if Zhou Yu himself goes into battle can he understand the actual situation firsthand, instead of waiting for Zhu Zhi or someone else to rush out with confidence and then run back with confidence.

Moreover, the anti-war voices in Jiangdong are getting louder and louder.

These guys' reasons seemed to be very sufficient. Jiangdong could not maintain a two-front war...

Don't get me wrong, these guys are not arrogant enough to think they can fight Fei Qian and Cao Cao at the same time. Zhu Zhi attacked Jiangling before, not to go to war with Cao Cao, but to whitewash himself and share some of the profits to shut up the Jiangdong gentry.

Obviously, Zhu Zhi's approach was effective to some extent. He failed, but he succeeded. He was guilty, but he did not seem to be primarily responsible...

  So who should bear the main responsibility?

The sons of the Jiangdong noble families glanced at Sun Quan, and then pretended to start a discussion.

  Anyway, according to Jiang Dong, we can't fight any further now. No one can withstand fighting on two fronts!

That’s right, the double line they mentioned, the other line is Shanyue.

The Shanyue people are invincible, and the Nanman people are impossible to wipe out.

This rebellion by Shanyue did surprise Zhou Yu.

This time, Shanyue seemed a little different.

If it were before, Zhou Yu would probably have studied the changes in Shanyue carefully, but now he no longer has the body or energy of his youth.

Sometimes, he would notice a noticeable decline in his energy and memory.

I clearly remembered something in the last second, but forgot it in the next second. I couldn’t remember it at all. Then it took a long time before I suddenly remembered it. Oh, it turned out to be this thing...

Not only that, my physical strength has also decreased a lot.

It's not just about being sick, it's more about aging.

Or it could be accelerated aging caused by illness, or some other reason.

Before, let alone sitting on a boat, even if I stood for a whole day, I wouldn’t feel tired when I was young. After waking up from a sleep, or even just taking a nap for an hour or two, I would be full of energy again, with endless energy to use.

But now, even if I just sit for a little while, I will feel soreness and swelling in the joints all over my body, as if there are millions of insects crawling and gnawing on my body.

In this battle with the Sichuan Army, Zhou Yu's combat focus was very clear, which was to destroy the Sichuan Army's warships.

It is not easy to build a warship. If we just repel them, the Sichuan and Shu troops will definitely choose to come back at another time, and by that time Zhou Yu may not be able to fight again...

As long as the warships of the Sichuan Army were destroyed, even if there were towering trees in Sichuan, they might not be suitable materials for warships, and it would take a long time from drying to building a ship. Even if there were so many shipyards and shipbuilding craftsmen in Jiangdong, it would still take three to five years to build a warship from scratch.

With a buffer period of three to five years, Jiangdong may have new opportunities.

Maybe there is still no...

Perhaps this is all he can do.

As for the future...

Zhou Yu curled the corner of his mouth.

Zhou Yu looked up at the sky.

White clouds linger.

The river water gurgles.

The thousand-year-old white clouds are still floating leisurely.

The river water still gurgles for thousands of years.

And people...

"call……"

Zhou Yu let out a long breath.

……

……

"The first suitable place for fighting around Gangneung is here..."

Zhuge Liang held a gold-painted fan and pointed to a point on the map.

The gold-painted fan was a reward from Fei Qian. It was made of bamboo and inlaid with a little gold thread. It was of suitable weight and convenient to carry.

In order to show off their wealth, some people specifically order jade as the frame and gold and silver inlays. It does look shiny and noble, but its practicality is compromised.

Everyone has a different position and makes different choices.

Position, this is very important.

This is one of the many things Zhuge Liang learned from Fei Qian.

"We have a wide expanse of water here, while the enemy is in a relatively small area," Zhuge Liang said with a smile, "so the Jiangdong Army will definitely not wait for us to arrive here before going out to fight with us... The location chosen by the Jiangdong Army should be here..."

Zhuge Liang's fan moved back a little and then pointed at a certain point.

"The location here is not as good as before," Zhuge Liang said, "maybe it will be more favorable to Jiangdong... There are hills and lush vegetation here, which is suitable for fire attack... I mean, it is suitable for our fire attack and also for Jiangdong's fire attack."

Xu Huang and Gan Ning listened very carefully.

"Among our soldiers, only half have been trained for more than a year," Zhuge Liang opened his fan and shook it twice, "The rest of the soldiers have been trained for three to six months. Sichuan and Shu are mountainous, and mountain soldiers who cross mountains and ridges can be trained without much training. But as for the navy... compared to Jiangdong, our soldiers are much less trained and proactive."

"This difference is not obvious in the rigid training, but once entering the battle situation, due to the frequent and sudden changes in the battle situation, these inexperienced and untrained soldiers will be in a panic..." Zhuge Liang continued, "So our tactical arrangements must be as simple as possible. The more complex the battle mode, the more likely it is that we will do poorly, causing panic and ultimately leading to overall failure."

Xu Huang nodded, "That's right. Zhuge's words are pertinent. The Jiangdong navy soldiers are well-trained and can handle battlefield changes on their own without the need for orders from their generals, while our soldiers are relatively inferior."

On the battlefield, sometimes a slight difference can lead to a different outcome. Xu Huang has a deep understanding of this. When he fought against the Jiangdong navy before, he felt that he had no power to use.

"So we are going to fight the Jiangdong Army here?" Gan Ning asked.

Zhuge Liang nodded, "Yes and no."

"What do you mean?" Gan Ning asked without hesitation because Zhuge was present.

Xu Huang did not stare at Zhuge Liang, but continued to look at the map, pondering the two locations pointed out by Zhuge Liang, and then looked slightly thoughtful.

Zhuge Liang smiled slightly, "General Xu must have thought about this..."

"I've only guessed part of it..." Xu Huang pointed at a point on the map, "This is a good place for a fire attack, and the whole thing about a fire attack is actually about who starts the fire first and who is in which position... The autumn wind is blowing, so it's very important to seize this piece of open space in the north of the river, and this piece of open space... There is a hill here, and if archers or crossbow carts are deployed on it, they can directly threaten this piece of open space... So if we fight in this place, the focus is not in the river, but here, on this hill!"

Zhuge Liang clapped softly.

"But..." Xu Huang waved his hand, "I always feel that there is something you haven't said yet, Kong Ming..."

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly.

"Anything else?" Gan Ning felt his brain itchy and couldn't help scratching the back of his head.

……

……

Some people can still fight, no matter it is the last fight or the dying struggle, but some people are not even qualified to have this final battle.

Wuguan Road.

With no reinforcements coming, Wen Pin was almost at the end of his rope from the very beginning.

Since Huang Zhong led his army to attack Wuguan Road, or to recapture Wuguan Road, Wen Pin has been losing ground. The Battle of Shiqiao was like a greeting, but also like the last battle, until Wen Pin had nowhere to retreat and was trapped in a military fort by Huang Zhong's troops.

Normally, they would surround the enemy with ten times the number of troops. Obviously, Huang Zhong's troops were not ten times the number of Wen Pin's troops, but the morale of Wen Pin's soldiers was too low, and they did not dare to go out and fight Huang Zhong's soldiers in the field, so being surrounded seemed to be inevitable.

This military stone fortress was obviously carefully selected by Wen Pin.

The stone wall was very strong. Even when Huang Zhong sent people to use gunpowder, they only blew away some rubble but failed to blow it down.

The amount of gunpowder that can be carried is limited and cannot be reused indefinitely, but the stone fort also has a fatal flaw.

The stone fortress has limited space. Even if Wen Pin stored some food and grass in it beforehand, it would still be insufficient. Problems would inevitably arise over time...

Huang Zhong made two or three tentative attacks, losing some men, and then stopped attacking and just surrounded the enemy. Wen Pin was very worried, but he still persisted.

As the commander-in-chief, he patrolled three times a day, doing all of his work personally. He did not become lazy or intoxicated just because he was trapped in the stone fortress.

Wen Ping and his guards walked to the corner, and heard soldiers talking in front of them...

"No reinforcements are coming, definitely not."

"How do you know?"

"Is there any need to say this? Look at the situation now..."

Wen Pin slowed down his pace.

Wen Pin's guards saw this and were about to step forward to stop him, but were stopped by Wen Pin. He wanted to listen.

"You may feel disappointed after hearing this, but I am also very disappointed. However, in the current situation, there is really no reinforcement..."

"Bullshit! General Wen said reinforcements will come!"

"General Wen, oh, General Wen also hoped for reinforcements... I'm afraid General Wen is disappointed now! How much food is left in this stone fort? Even if we keep reducing our rations, how many days can we last? Indeed, I don't want to say anything final. If reinforcements come, we can all be saved... But these reinforcements... Hey! General Wen has sent out at least five or six groups for help. Calculating the time, they should have reached Xiangyang. And from Xiangyang to here, even if it's slow, we should have crawled there... And now there are still no reinforcements, which means only one thing..."

When Wen Pin heard this, he frowned and stepped forward.

The noise caused by the big strides frightened the soldiers who were talking, and they jumped up from the ground one after another.

"General!"

"Greetings, General..."

"General Wen."

The messy titles are like the messy people’s hearts today.

Wen Pin walked up to the man who had just spoken and looked at the soldier who had spoken.

The man was not tall, and although he knew that what he said might have been heard by Wen Pin, he remained calm and said, "Greetings, General Wen."

"Were you the one who spoke just now?" Wen Pin asked.

"Yes," the soldier replied.

Wen Pin nodded, "You think it's impossible for reinforcements to arrive?"

"…" The soldier remained silent.

"Why, you dared to say it just now, but you don't dare to say it now?" Wen Pin asked.

The soldier gritted his teeth and said, "Yes! I think it's impossible! I'm telling the truth. If reinforcements could come, they would have come a long time ago! If reinforcements can't come now, they won't come in the future!"

Wen Pin listened, then said nothing, "Anything else? Do you have any solution?"

The soldier opened his mouth, as if he was stuck, and said after a while: "No... there is no way..."

"Really? Any method is fine." Wen Pin asked.

The soldier grunted, "I... I can't do anything."

"Alas!" Wen Pin sighed, his eyes turned cold, "What a pity..."

"What?" Before the soldier could react, Wen Pin drew his sword and chopped him down!

"Ahhhh..."

The soldier was chopped down immediately and lay in a pool of blood.

The rest of the soldiers were startled and huddled back, while others were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground.

Wen Pin shook off the blood on his sword, "Those who cause chaos in the army will be killed!"

Naturally, the other soldiers didn't dare to say anything.

Wen Pin put away his sword and walked out. After walking a distance, he said to the guard, "I remember that man... He is also from Nanyang, and he is from a good family..."

The guard glanced at Wen Pin, not knowing how to respond.

Wen Pin obviously had no intention of asking the guard to say anything. "He was brave, smart, and had strategies... I originally wanted to promote him to be the leader of the song after the war... Do you know why I killed him?"

The guard shook his head.

"It's not just because he told the truth." Wen Pin sighed, "He told the truth, which is nothing... but sometimes, the truth should not be told... and the most important thing is that he said it, but he didn't know what to do..."

Some people boast that they only tell the truth, but in fact, knowing what to say and when is not a cunning attitude but a rule of life.

Just like now, don’t the other soldiers feel that they may not be able to get reinforcements?

In fact, most people knew it, so why didn't others say anything, and only he said that he was telling the truth?

When Wen Pin questioned the soldier, he hoped that he could come up with some specific solutions besides saying that there were no reinforcements. Even if those solutions were not feasible or were simplified, it would be fine.

It's a pity that there is no...

  At this point in time, what should we do if the military morale is still in chaos?

Haven't you thought about this?

If I hadn't thought about anything, I wouldn't have said there was no reinforcement.

  If you have considered it, but still intentionally tell the "truth", what do you want to do?

Everyone can break something, but being able to fix it up after breaking it takes skill.

You don’t have the ability to repair the sky, but you want to create a huge hole in the sky?

"People from Nanyang are all very smart..." Wen Pin shook his head, "Nanyang has indeed produced a lot of talents... He is also very smart... It's just a pity that he is not used properly. He wants to show his intelligence but is afraid to take responsibility. This kind of person is fine under normal circumstances, but now..."

"Lord, we are now..."

Wen Pin walked to the top of the stone fort, looked at Huang Zhong's troops outside the stone fort, and said after a long silence: "If my prediction is correct, Huang will attack tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow is the deadline... Either surrender or die..."

During the days Huang Zhong was surrounding the stone fort, it was certainly impossible for him to just sit there drinking and eating meat and do nothing.

It will definitely take some time to build siege equipment, and Wen Pin estimates that it should be almost finished by tomorrow.

Once it is built, we will definitely attack.

In this attack, if Wen Pin refuses to surrender and puts up a desperate resistance, there will definitely be casualties on both sides.

Once casualties occur, many things become difficult to say.

Although Wen Pin and Huang Zhong had some friendship, this friendship was not enough to stop the war and negotiate peace. Wen Pin did not deliberately set fire at the stone bridge, and Huang Zhong also deliberately controlled himself and did not pursue and kill them when he recovered the pass along the way.

Although Wen Pin really wanted to tell Huang Zhong, "Go ahead and fight, I won't do anything," the problem was, who would believe him?

Just when Wen Pin was about to make his final choice, the soldier on guard at the top of the stone fort shouted in joy: "People are coming from Jingxiang! People are coming from Jingxiang! Reinforcements! It's reinforcements! Reinforcements are coming!"

When Wen Pin heard this, he was stunned and then wondered, how could this be possible?

Wen Pin naturally understood the situation in Jingxiang.

Wen Pin is a general of a different surname in Cao's army. Don't listen to Cao Cao's constant talk of treating everyone equally, but in fact his specific treatment and benefits are much different from those of the generals of the Cao and Xiahou families!

If it was Cao Zhen who was besieged and Wen Pin was in Xiangyang City, Cao Ren would definitely send Wen Pin to rescue Cao Zhen.

Moreover, even if Cao Ren was really that magnanimous, or if he really valued the friendship between Jing and Xiang, if he wanted to rescue Wen Pin, he should have come earlier, instead of coming now when the Wuguan Road was almost completely lost...

Upon hearing the news, the remaining soldiers in the stone fort stretched their heads to look into the distance and cheered.

Wen Pin did not show any happy smile, because he had a feeling that these people did come from Jingxiang, but they might not be the "reinforcements" they were expecting...

Sure enough, the team of "reinforcements" gradually approached along the mountain path, and the cheers of the people in the stone fortress also subsided as the group approached.

Even the lowest-ranking soldiers knew that with a team of less than a hundred people, unless everyone in the team was a powerful general, how could they possibly break through Huang Zhong's encirclement and rescue them?

"Huh..." Wen Pin stared at the group of people, looking at the staff held high in front of them, with a somewhat painful look on his face, "It's troublesome... This is really troublesome..."

"General? What are you doing..." Wen Pin's guards were puzzled.

Wen Pin pointed at the soldiers who were extremely happy and sad, and finally he could only shake his head and let out a long sigh.