Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3449 Advantages and Disadvantages
"This is impossible!"

Zhou Tai’s eyes widened.

Early in the morning, Zhou Tai ordered the Jiangdong soldiers to search everywhere, especially in the woods where no sound was made last night, and those areas that seemed normal.

There were no Sichuan soldiers and no ferocious wild beasts were found.

But I couldn't find anything.

The Jiangdong soldiers were very confused. Although they didn't say anything, the look in their eyes when they looked at Zhou Tai revealed something strange.

After all, no one wants to follow a neurotic leader.

Even if Zhou Tai might be a newly born neurotic, it would still be inappropriate.

The Jiangdong soldiers avoided Zhou Tai and gathered together secretly, whispering to each other.

Zhou Tai's guards heard something, but they couldn't scold him, so they could only pretend not to hear it. After all, they were woken up by Zhou Tai early in the morning, and then climbed up and down to search everywhere. If they found something, it would be fine, but there was nothing, which was a bit embarrassing.

"General..." the guard whispered, "What on earth did you notice? If you keep searching like this without thinking... Even if the soldiers don't mind, it will consume a lot of energy. We will have to fight a war... Besides, it will make a lot of noise. If other places notice it, won't it cause a big mistake?"

Zhou Tai scratched his head.

What could he say?
Say he has a feeling?

Wouldn't a general who fought based on his feelings make the Jiangdong soldiers even more panicked?
Zhou Tai didn't believe in evil, he felt that his intuition was correct!
So he took his guards and went there in person...

He found footprints in some places along the way!

But this is not very convincing.

Because it might have been trampled out by the Jiangdong soldiers themselves, it cannot be counted.

The bushes also showed signs of being trampled and broken!
But looking at the broken ends, most of them look very fresh, so it is also possible that they were stepped on by the Jiangdong soldiers during the search process, which does not count.

Zhou Tai and other Jiangdong soldiers believed that the only way to confirm that there was an ambush by the enemy nearby was to see whether there was a campfire.

Only humans use campfires.

And after using the bonfire, there will definitely be traces left on the ground!

Therefore, the main sign Zhou Tai was looking for was to see if there were any bonfire ashes!
Even after cleaning, the fine ashes are not easy to remove, even if covered with leaves and soil.

The color of freshly turned soil is different.

But Zhou Tai wandered around the bushes, rocks and earth slopes for most of the day, especially the place where he felt like something was watching him last night. He walked around carefully, lowered his head, and tried very hard to find various traces on the ground bit by bit...

Still found nothing.

In other words, no traces were found to prove that anyone had actually been there.

The scratches on the ground, the marks in the bushes, and even some random strips and threads of cloth did not explain anything at all.

The armor of the Han soldiers was all of standard style, made of coarse linen, yellow-grey, red and black.

The Three Kingdoms have not yet been officially separated, and no one has deliberately changed the color of the soldiers' robes...

Oh, it’s not that there was none, it’s just that Yuan Shao fell before he could completely complete this task.

So Zhou Tai found some suspected traces of human activities, but the most important traces of campfire were not found at all.

The absence of a bonfire on the ground cannot prove that anyone has been there, nor can it prove that Zhou Tai's "feeling" is correct.

If this cannot prove that Zhou Tai's feeling is correct, then it can only prove that Zhou Tai is crazy.

Zhou Tai bulged his eyes, trying to show that he was not crazy, nor was he nervous before the war, but he had no choice.

Even if he explained to the soldiers around him that his intuition had always been accurate, it was of no use.

The Jiangdong soldiers would only think that Zhou Tai was trying to save face, and at most they would just laugh a few times, still not taking it seriously.

"Could it be that I am just overthinking it?"

Zhou Tai was very annoyed. He took off his helmet and scratched his head.

"General..." the guard whispered, "Not finding it... isn't that a good thing? This shows that you are cautious, and it also shows that we are safe here... It's a good thing..."

"..." Zhou Tai was silent for a moment and waved his hand helplessly.

In the end, he still had to accept the result and ordered the Jiangdong soldiers to withdraw and rest.

Although there were guards to cover them, this could not satisfy the Jiangdong soldiers.

No one likes a general who is doing nothing.

Zhou Tai's intuition is his advantage. From childhood to adulthood, he has used his intuition to avoid many murderous intentions.

But now, this "advantage" of his has become a "joke" for him.

In places where Zhou Tai couldn't see, the murmurs were like crickets in the grass. When someone walked by, there was no sound, but as soon as the patrolman walked away, the faint sound would start again.

……

……

"General! How did you know that the Jiangdong soldiers would come to search?"

On the other side, Gan Ning was surrounded by other Hussars, enjoying their admiring and respectful looks.

"Hahaha……"

Gan Ning smiled so hard that his teeth were showing.

If Gan Ning had not been worried that his laughter was too loud and would alert the Jiangdong Army, he would have wanted to stand up, put his hands on his hips, and laugh out loud.

"You don't understand this..." Gan Ning's guards hurriedly praised their general, "Our general, you should work hard in your spare time! You are familiar with the art of war, and you know astronomy and the world..."

"Bang!" Gan Ning gently fanned the guard's helmet. "If you don't know anything, stop talking nonsense!"

The guard chuckled.

Gan Ning said to the other cavalry soldiers, "This is all from the Military Academy Bulletin... Do you understand the art of war? Yesterday, that guy, yes, that scout Wang Erlang, said he was going to catch some insects and snakes far away to add some food to the Jiangdong soldiers. I just remembered that because we were in that forest, the insects, snakes, birds and beasts all ran away..."

Moreover, most of the people from Sichuan and Shu, even the navy, had mountain experience and carried some insect repellents. How could ordinary insects and snakes get close to them? The insects and snakes fled, and the trees were occupied by these Sichuan and Shu soldiers, so naturally the birds and animals also ran away.

The herbivores all ran away, and most of the predators in the forest had never seen so many people, so without knowing the strength of these people, they would not deliberately conflict with humans. They tacitly accepted that this piece of forest belonged to humans and would not easily come to human territory...

So the whole forest seems unusually quiet.

Gan Ning didn't think of this matter at first, but Gan Ning had a shortcoming, which was his impatient temper, so once he thought of it, he wanted to do it immediately. As a result, because of this character trait of Gan Ning, the Cavalry Army took the lead.

Gan Ning didn't expect that the Jiangdong soldiers would really come to search.

But in this way, after the Jiangdong army failed, Gan Ning seemed particularly powerful. Didn’t he anticipate the enemy’s moves?

Of course, Gan Ning and his men were not professional special forces, so there would definitely be some traces left behind. But at the same time, Jiangdong soldiers were not all experienced hunters who could tell whether it was human or animal urine from the urine stains on the bark...

The bonfire that the Jiangdong army had been looking for was of no use to Gan Ning and others!

The fixed mindset and cognitive differences make us turn a blind eye to some things even if we see them.

On the one hand, Gan Ning and his companions carried dry food supplies for the Cavalry Army, which they could eat without cooking. On the other hand, Gan Ning and his companions were resting on tree branches, so there was no need to make a fire on the ground to avoid and drive away wild beasts that might attack at night.

The Jiangdong soldiers obviously had no idea that Gan Ning and the others would rest in the tree, because they were either on the boat or on land, and had no such concept at all, so they naturally would not climb up the tree to check if there were any traces left by people. "There are ways to get around in the mountains..."

Gan Ning laughed and shared this knowledge with other hussars.

Gan Ning himself had a carefree personality and had no intention of hiding this knowledge. At the same time, Gan Ning knew that his knowledge came from the Military Academy Bulletin, which meant that other people also knew these things. So even if he was deliberately mysterious and kept it secret, it would not make much sense, and it might even turn the original goodwill into contempt.

"The Military Academy Bulletin? Is it so accurate?"

"Of course, that was written by the General of Cavalry himself!"

"I also heard that if we collect 81 chapters of court reports, we can compile a set of military tactics books!"

"Is this true?"

A group of Sichuan soldiers were chattering.

"Can I take a look at that newspaper?"

Some people also came up to Gan Ning and asked.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Gan Ning didn't care that the person asking the question was just a squad leader. "Sure, but... can you read?"

The captain was stunned for a moment, "You still need to learn words? I... can probably recognize a few hundred..."

"Ah, ha! That's all I can do. It's not that I won't show it to you, but you won't understand it even if I show it to you." Gan Ning waved his hand, "If you want to understand it, you need to learn more characters... Well, at least, I think, five... two or three thousand characters... Aren't there clerks in the army? You can continue learning characters by sending them a piece of bacon..."

Gan Ning actually didn't know how many characters he needed to know, and subconsciously wanted to say five thousand, but then he thought that five thousand might be too many as he himself might not know all five thousand characters, so he changed his words and said two or three thousand.

"Two or three thousand..." The chief was a little confused, "So much?"

"Is that too much?" Gan Ning laughed. "If you can learn five characters a day, or three if you can't, you can learn nearly a thousand characters a year! Everything needs to be accumulated and tempered. Don't you need to practice martial arts every day in the army to build up your strength? If you don't endure hardships, how can you fight the enemy? It's almost the same as others killing you! The same is true for learning characters and reading. If you don't work hard, these characters will bully you! I tell you, this is what Zhuge Congshi said! Think about it, isn't it true? It's no problem for a squad leader to know a few dozen characters, but if you want to be a team leader, a few dozen characters are not enough! You don't just want to be a squad leader all your life, right?"

Not only the squad leader, but also the other hussar soldiers around him felt touched after hearing Gan Ning's words.

But people are like this, feelings are feelings, actions are actions.

No matter how many feelings you have, they will only be useful if you take concrete actions...

Perhaps one day, some of these people in front of Gan Ning will grow up and become independent, but there are also many who will continue to muddle through until they die in battle or die of old age.

……

……

The sun was hanging high in the blue sky, and occasionally it would play a role as a soft little cloud beauty, making the cloud's little face look golden and rosy. As for the big river on the ground, as well as the boats and people on the river, to the sun, none of them were as beautiful as the cloud little sister's face.

This is the difference between heaven and earth.

Why do we say “One day in heaven is one year on earth”?
It’s not because Newton’s coffin could not close, but because of the difference in people’s hearts.

Haven’t you seen that in the high and mighty Yunxiao Palace, all the gods, when making their reports, always say "Time flies like an arrow, the days and months pass by like a shuttle, and before we know it, another year has passed."

As for the people in the world, after today, they worry about tomorrow, and every day feels like a year.

To the sun, everything on the ground is like ants and grass, there is no difference at all.

Whether it is a three-colored ant or a red and black ant.

Under Xu Huang's command, the Sichuan navy sailed out of the water fort and went downstream.

The tricolor flag flutters in the wind.

The boats adjusted their bows to the sound of horns, raised their sails halfway, and turned the crossbars of the sails. With the help of water and wind power, the boats suddenly became powerful and full of fighting spirit.

The sound of war drums echoed on the waves.

In the naval battles of this era, the tower ships were still the main force, and the fighting ships were the auxiliary force, which was quite similar to the battle mode of the later giant warships and cannons. The tower ships were responsible for dealing the main damage, while the fighting ships were responsible for finishing off the enemy and intercepting the enemy's small boats approaching the tower ships' blind spots. The other ships were generally used to transport supplies or personnel, and they also participated in the battle, but they were not the most important part of the combat force.

The Sichuan-Shu navy formed a crescent-shaped team with the tower ships as the center and the other ships as the two wings, and moved towards the Jiangdong navy's fleet.

It was quite comfortable to go downstream, but if we failed to defeat the Jiangdong navy and had to go back, then it would become going upstream...

The Sichuan Navy was very powerful, but the Jiangdong Navy did not send out more naval forces, but only sent out less than 80% of the ships of the Sichuan Navy. However, it can be clearly felt that the ships of the Jiangdong Navy are more flexible on the water.

Soon, the two sides were entangled again on the river.

Unlike the last time when both sides were somewhat "perfunctory" in their fight and wanted to win by trickery, this time both sides were much more serious, impacting each other and trying to gain advantageous positions on the surface of the river.

Jiangdong’s strategy is very obvious.

It's like a chess piece that has already fallen on the board, placed there so both sides can see it.

Generally speaking, only a tower ship can deal with a tower ship. If an ordinary fighting ship is targeted by a tower ship, even if it dodges the catapult, it may not be able to dodge the crossbow. Even if it finally gets close to the tower ship, perhaps a pole that falls from the sky can directly break the fighting ship's deck and keel.

However, the Jiangdong navy wanted to use their sophisticated boat handling technology and proficiency in naval warfare to use small boats to defeat large ships. Especially after seeing that the Sichuan navy had improved the ramming system of fighting ships, the Jiangdong navy also urgently pretended to have some fighting ships, trying to "give someone a taste of their own medicine" and forcibly prepare to exchange small ships for large ones.

For the Jiangdong navy, even if their boat broke and they fell into the water, they were not too scared, not only because they were good at swimming, but more importantly, they were located downstream, so they only needed to follow the water flow to the water fort downstream, and they would naturally be rescued. It was just like taking a bath in the river, which was not a big deal.

In this way, the original geographical disadvantage of the Jiangdong navy was transformed into an advantage to some extent.

This is the strategy of General Zhou. It is very simple and practical. But before it is used and before it falls on the chessboard, how many people can think of it in advance?
Zhuge Liang thought of it.

He ordered the kerosene cans to be thrown out.

The kerosene tank floated down the river.

This was during the day and visible to almost everyone.

The floating kerosene tank could not use its propeller to draw a white line under the water with a puffing sound like the torpedoes of later generations. It could only lie flat, sway left and right as it pleased, and then move downstream.

The kerosene tank is too slow.

The navy soldiers in the Jiangdong Army were also well trained. With clear vision and everyone on guard during a battle, the archers on the ship immediately picked up their bows and arrows and shot the kerosene tanks to pieces midway.

However, this was exactly what Zhuge Liang intended.

Zhou Yu's order was then passed on, "Don't shoot at the oil tanks!"

It’s not that Zhou Yu’s reaction was slow, but that the Jiangdong navy soldiers reacted quickly.

After seeing the kerosene cans appear, Zhou Yu immediately figured out what was going on and immediately ordered the soldiers not to shoot at the kerosene cans.

These kerosene tanks might be a good weapon to kill people from the water at night, but now that it was bright outside, the navy had too many ways to avoid the attack of these kerosene tanks. Shooting them to pieces was indeed the simplest and most direct way, so the Jiangdong navy soldiers shot almost instinctively...

Just like their daily archery training.

But unfortunately, because the Jiangdong navy soldiers were well trained, this advantage was exploited by Zhuge Liang.

After the Jiangdong navy shot up some kerosene tanks, the rockets that had been prepared in advance were fired down on them!
In the area where the kerosene was scattered on the river, a huge fire suddenly broke out!
The fire would not last long, after all, the kerosene tanks were not the gasoline bombs of later generations, but it was enough to force back the Jiangdong warships that were trying to attack the Sichuan fleet. Those that were slow were also contaminated by some kerosene, and they screamed and jumped into the river.

Advantages, disadvantages.

Sichuan, Jiangdong.

Zhuge Liang gently tapped the gilded fan in his palm; his robe was blown up by the river breeze and his silk scarf also fluttered in the wind.

Zhou Yu placed his hands on the railing, the long fur of his fur coat trembling in the wind.

For a moment, on both sides of the river, the commanders of both sides seemed to be staring at each other from afar across water and fire.