Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3422 Advance and Retreat
"call……"

The rocket falls.

The alarm in Xu Huang's camp sounded almost at the moment the rocket appeared.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

"Pick up your weapons! Prepare to meet the enemy!"

The cadet on duty shouted loudly.

Although some Sichuan soldiers were a little panicked, they quickly came out of the tent and lined up in armor under the command of the military academy.

In the center of the camp, Xu Huang did not take off his armor at all. He just loosened his belt and half-lying and half-leaning to rest.

This is the norm for generals in war. Although they have guards and duties, many times good generals are not concerned about how to enjoy themselves or how to rest. Instead, they need the guards to persuade them to take a short rest.

So was Xu Huang, and so was Zhuge Liang.

I didn't rest at night. Even with my eyes closed, my mind was still thinking about the battle situation.

When Xu Huang heard the alarm, he opened his eyes without waiting for the guards to remind him. After confirming that it was not an illusion, he grabbed the helmet beside him and put it on his head. He stood up, tightened the silk ribbon of his armor, and walked out.

"Raise the flag! Beat the drum!"

Xu Huang gave the order in a deep voice.

The guard immediately responded and left.

Once the flag was raised, the entire camp felt at ease.

From time to time, military students would come to Xu Huang to report the situation and ask for instructions.

Xu Huang also dealt with it immediately without any delay, and he didn't get upset because he was disturbed in the middle of his sleep.

As the saying goes, the less capable a person is, the worse his temper is. This may be true to some extent. A bad temper does not mean that one is capable, but often because one cannot solve the difficulties in front of him, he will get angry.

However, when the Hussars lined up to fight, they found that the Jiangdong Army did not make any follow-up moves...

Xu Huang frowned, turned around and climbed onto the platform. He looked around and immediately cried out something was wrong!

The flames spread across the grass and gradually moved towards the camp with the night wind!

"Prepare to put out the fire!"

Xu Huang pointed in the direction of the burning grass and shouted to his soldiers.

……

……

In the Jiangdong water fort, Zhou Yu also had trouble sleeping.

Zhou Yu was originally in poor health, and due to his deep worries, he couldn't get a good rest every day. This vicious cycle became more and more difficult to recover.

Zhou Yu himself was aware of this.

But he had no choice unless he let go of all his obsessions.

The reason why obsession is called obsession is that you pick it up and can't put it down.

When Zhuge Liang's technique of flowing with the water reached the Jiangdong water fort, some Jiangdong soldiers discovered something was wrong, but unlike the Sichuan and Shu troops, they did not raise the alarm immediately.

Perhaps because they did not see any open flames, the sound of the earthen jars flowing down from upstream and the cracking sounds that hit the water fence outside the water fort did not immediately alert these Jiangdong soldiers.

Even though some people have already suffered this kind of attack last time...

The so-called not being knocked down twice by the same move is not the exclusive right of the Saint Seiya, but the level of elementary school students in later generations.

Primary school students all know that when solving a question with the same shape, you should not make the same mistake again and again.

It’s just that many times, some people are not even as good as elementary school students.

Jiangdong does not have any special cultural heritage or experience teachings, so the lessons learned from the last battle cannot serve as nutrients for growth in the next battle.

It was not until the second wave of earthenware jars, some with open flames, came down that the Jiangdong soldiers felt something was wrong.

"What are those?"

"Stop! Stop those things!"

"Someone come quickly! Keep those fires away!"

There is nothing wrong with what they are shouting, but what is wrong is that there is no direction.

It's like shouting for help on the street. Passersby may want to save you but don't know what to do. After all, not everyone can be Conan, and seeing blood and casualties is as common as seeing classmates and teachers every day, so directional instructions are needed so that others can know clearly what to do.

The Jiangdong soldiers shouted in confusion, but few people moved. They watched helplessly as the open flame cans ignited the kerosene on the water fence, and then the flames spread across the water and shot up into the sky!

……

……

Water overcomes fire.

"Open the gate quickly!"

"Bring the river water here!"

The floodgates were opened.

The river water gurgled along the shallow trench!

A group of soldiers in the camp were running along with the water flow.

If you see that the water flow is blocked by some stones and soil, someone will immediately jump into the trench and dig open the places blocking the water!

A good habit is difficult to develop, but a bad habit can often destroy something within a few days...

Even though Xu Huang's camp on land was a temporary one and he would not live there for a long time, no details were spared.

There is a special "method" in the Military Academy regarding the selection of a campsite, called "the method of setting up camp".

Fei Qian did not deliberately come up with any numbers like seven, eight, or nine to show how many ways the word "camp" can be written. He simply divided it according to time and purpose, including temporary camping during short-term marches, as well as military camps that might require medium- to long-term garrisons for more than a month.

For short-term stationing, there are four options: standing guns, lances, chariot camps and chevaux de frise.

For medium to long term stationing, you can choose Chaiying, Jueying, Zuying, etc.

As for the layout of the camp, there is generally a conventional configuration, and then some additional defensive fortifications are added as needed.

The "Rules for Camping" of the Military Academy were even distributed to the rank of captain, and after the captain received the Military Academy's bulletin, many middle and lower-level officers would come to borrow it. Therefore, some people in Shandong who used military knowledge as a stepping stone for promotion hated Fei Qian's approach and felt that they were insulted by Fei Qian.

These Shandong people swore that they would let their descendants carry forward the spirit of Yugong. As long as they regained the power of education, they would do their best to delete, cut, and adjust these knowledge systems, and call it "optimization". The purpose is very simple...

Therefore, after the Song Dynasty, in the dynasties when Confucianism flourished, ordinary people could not even think of being "enlightened" if they did not have a teacher!
Keeping the people stupid is certainly beneficial to governance, but when faced with emergencies, people with knowledge and ability will naturally have better ways to deal with danger instead of just screaming in place.

Xu Huang's camp was built in accordance with the standards for setting up camps. It had a camp gate, wooden fences, trenches and earthen walls. Although it was not as solid as a permanent military camp, it had everything it needed.

Of course, in war, one certainly will not let the other side wait until they have set up camp before engaging in combat, so normally, building and reinforcing the camp while fighting becomes a common choice.

However, if all knowledge and ability are in the hands of the upper echelons, then once the upper echelons are negligent, the consequences will be devastating. For example, some generals understand, but they are immersed in the battle situation and forget the daily task of building camps, and then they remember it when the enemy launches a surprise attack...

Of course, it was impossible to build a stable military camp in Xu Huang's camp in an instant, but all the infrastructure was under construction, and the soldiers who did not go to the battlefield that day would be assigned some of these tasks.

Therefore, there were trenches around Xu Huang's camp, but they were not fully completed, so the sluice gates had not yet released water. Now, seeing the flames in the distant wastelands gradually spreading into the camp, the simplest and most effective way was certainly not to rush out and use sand, stones, or wooden rakes and clothes to put out the flames, but to directly divert river water into the trenches to isolate the flames. If something in the camp was really ignited by sparks, water could be easily obtained to put out the fire.

……

……

On the other side, water is helping fire.

The reason why water can help fire is that oil is lighter than water, and the reason why it can be lighter than water is that Fei Qian knows some knowledge about the principles of refining crude oil. Although Fei Qian does not understand it very well, let alone master it, it doesn't matter. As long as Fei Qian knows the direction, his subordinates can do the right thing. The ignition point of crude oil is relatively high and it is also relatively heavy, but after being refined, kerosene can float on the water.

This caused some ignorant Jiangdong soldiers to panic, thinking that the entire river was on fire!
"The river is burning!"

"Witchcraft! Witchcraft!"

"They have the Taoist magic of the Heavenly Master! They are performing a ritual today!"

"There are wronged souls under the river! There are wronged souls!"

The reason why Zhang Jue's Taiping Dao was able to develop rapidly was that, in addition to the corruption of the imperial court and the bribery and abuse of power of local officials who oppressed the people, this primitive belief was still very common, especially the Five Directions Gods Sect in Jiangdong, which almost squeezed out a lot of living space for foreign Buddhism, and made many people in Jiangdong believe in Taoism.

Buddhism emphasizes detachment from the world, emptiness, destruction, and reincarnation. However, the Five Gods Sect, which was reformed by Fei Qian and Zuo Ci, did not compete with Buddhism for "emptiness" but sought "reality". From detachment from the world to involvement in the world, it was an important transformation of the Five Gods Sect.

This change caused many Jiangdong people to immediately change their "beliefs" and become "believers" of the Five Directions God Religion.

It's simple, the elderly in my family is sick.

I turned to Buddhism, and the bald man said that this was karma, retribution, and original sin. You have to see through the world, understand that life is empty, let go of everything, and you will naturally be free of illness and pain. Ami tofu...

Then he went to the Five Directions Gods Sect for help. Changmao said, "This is a disease. I have some herbs. Take them. I'm not sure about their efficacy. The most important thing is to replenish the vital energy and eliminate the evil spirits. Don't let the old man get too tired..."

So, which one would people prefer to believe?
Of course, most of these "believers" should be shallow believers, or even believers of a transactional nature, but this does not hinder the development of the Five Gods Church in Jiangdong, the entire Han Dynasty, and even in foreign regions.

With more development, sometimes some unexpected effects will appear.

Some people in Jiangdong knew that their Five Directions God Religion came from Guanzhong, from the Cavalry, so they were going to fight the Cavalry, and they felt a little uncomfortable. This emotion was usually not too obvious, but it broke out in the current situation that they could not understand.

The most critical point, of course, is Jiangdong's method of keeping the people stupid. Although Jiangdong did not deliberately make the people and soldiers stupid, the Han Dynasty's long-standing practice also made many Jiangdong nobles, generals and military academies enjoy the stupidity of the people and soldiers, and even use it as a joke after dinner.

Now these generals could no longer laugh. When they shouted to put out the fire and stop the kerosene, saying that it was just an ordinary fire, some Jiangdong soldiers were shouting "demon fire"...

……

……

Zhuge Liang calculated correctly, but he also calculated incorrectly.

He expected Zhou Yu to launch a surprise attack, but he didn't expect Zhou Yu to use the grass outside the camp to set fire instead of going over the water...

If it weren't for the military regulations of the Cavalry Corps and Xu Huang's cautious character at the time, the camp would have been burned and destroyed to some extent.

When daybreak came, black smoke filled the air and the flames burned everything that could be burned. As the fire gradually died down, everyone looked at the embers on the field in the distance with lingering fears.

There are losses, but they are not big.

The soldiers in the camp were sorting out their belongings.

Zhuge Liang and Xu Huang stood on a high platform and looked into the distance.

"It's my fault," Zhuge Liang said with emotion, "I didn't expect this... I was careless!"

Xu Huang waved his hand, "Why should Kong Ming blame himself? There are many reeds on both sides of this river. We see them every day and think they are ordinary things..."

The weeds along the river are lush because of the geographical location. After all, the silt carried by the river water provides a lot of nutrients to these reeds. And because these areas along the river are similar to swamps and wetlands, there are few large herbivores coming to forage, so these reeds can grow almost unrestrainedly.

These things may seem surprising and strange at first, but as you go down the river, you will find them everywhere, so you will naturally not pay special attention to them. Your brain may even subconsciously exclude these things from your thinking.

Just like a pile of sand, everyone is familiar with it, but who would have thought that a pile of sand could kill people?
Under certain conditions.

Everyone knows that sand cannot be piled high. Once it is piled high, it will inevitably collapse. However, in construction sites, you can often see piles of sand. Sometimes, the sand is not piled on an open space, but for the convenience of management, it is piled against a simple wall outside the construction site. Then, one day it rained, the sand absorbed water and became heavier, the wall collapsed, and buried the people who happened to pass by...

The same thing happened when Xu Huang and Zhuge Liang set up camp here.

I originally thought it was convenient to use these thatches here, but I didn’t expect that these thatches could also kill people!
If the trench hadn't been dug...

Even a half-dug trench that was not very deep could serve as a firebreak and save the camp from fire.

"But..." Zhuge Liang frowned and thought, "Should I take this opportunity to pretend to be defeated and retreat?"

"Fake defeat?"

Xu Huang repeated.

Zhuge Liang nodded.

……

……

Zhou Yu's calculation was correct, but he was also wrong.

As for Zhou Yu, he was familiar with the geographical environment along the Yangtze River, but he was not familiar with what was in the minds of these ordinary soldiers from Jiangdong under his command.

He dispatched Jiang Qin, which indeed ensured the success rate of the sneak attack. However, due to the lack of Jiang Qin's connection in the main camp, some obstacles occurred in the operation at the critical moment.

Although Zhou Yu realized something was wrong almost immediately and dispatched his own guards to act as the front-line commander and coordinator, these guards were still separated by a layer and the process was not so smooth.

The water booms do block most of the oil tanks flowing down from upstream.

But blocking the can does not mean blocking the kerosene as well.

By the time Zhou Yu ordered the use of denser fishing nets to intercept the kerosene, some boats outside the water fort had already been contaminated with a lot of kerosene and then set on fire.

Fortunately, Zhou Yu immediately gave the order to abandon the ship and push the burning hull out, otherwise the connected hulls would have ignited each other...

Because the tower ship was located in the center of the water fort and was protected by small boats on the periphery, it suffered no damage.

However, several fighting ships on the periphery were lost.

This kind of loss made Zhou Yu very uncomfortable.

Because precautions had been taken and fishing nets and forked hooks were installed on the outer ships, as long as the Jiangdong soldiers could give timely warnings and use the fishing nets to intercept the kerosene and ignite it directly, the ship itself would basically not be burned, not to mention the meaningless damage to the fighting ships.

What kind of opponents did the Jiangdong Army face in the past?
Car bandits and road bullies.

Uh, wrong, it’s the South Vietnamese barbarians in the mountains.

The battle with Cao Cao had already revealed some problems. The reason why Zhu Zhi was able to capture Jiangling before was not because of how powerful Zhu Zhi was, but because the main force of Cao's army in Jingzhou was all on the northern front!
Cao Ren only used the temporarily mobilized local militia to push Zhu Zhi back to Jiangling City. Even when Cao Ren further mobilized some genuine Cao army troops, Zhu Zhi could no longer hold on and was ready to give up...

It is true that Jiangdong’s navy is strong, but once they reach land or their ships stop, problems arise…

It's the same as when a cavalryman dismounts or stops his horse.

"Calm down... don't be angry..." Zhou Yu closed his eyes, trying his best not to think about how "stupid" these Jiangdong soldiers were, and instead refocused his attention on the battle situation in front of him.

The loss of some fighting ships is indeed a problem, but it is not a big problem.

There are still quite a lot of boats in Jiangdong, which is barely enough.

Morale is a little low, but it's not a big problem either.

At dawn today, Zhou Yu had already ordered the execution of the military school who had failed to guard the place, severely punished the soldiers who had been on duty last night, and also rewarded the soldiers who bravely put out the fire and were gloriously wounded, successfully diverting the attention of the Jiangdong soldiers...

After dealing with these things, Zhou Yu was extremely exhausted.

"Go get the golden elixir," Zhou Yu ordered the guards.

The guard hesitated a little, "Commander... it's better to use less of this golden elixir... Commander, why don't you go to the camp on land and have a good rest..."

"Go ahead." Zhou Yu said, "I can't rest now... Jiangdong, we can't retreat... Go and get it, it's okay..."

The guard had no choice but to take out the golden elixir, and then some water and let Zhou Yu take it.

The burning sensation in his abdomen gradually spread, and Zhou Yu's face became slightly redder.

"Report!" A Jiangdong navy scout came to report, "Commander-in-chief! The Sichuan army is retreating!"

"What?!" Zhou Yu stood up and took a step forward, but stopped. He frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly sneered and said, "Are you going to fake defeat again?"