Dahan: A 100-year-old veteran, I will build the strongest family

Chapter 114: The best strategy is to attack the enemy's strategy. The difference between Li Hong's perspective and that of the generals

Hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban soldiers were overwhelming, but facing the torrent of 90,000 Beiwei cavalry, they were like chased ducks at this moment.

On the city wall, Huangfu Song and Cao Cao saw clearly that the Yellow Turbans collapsed at the first touch and the Beiwei Army was extremely powerful.

This made Huangfu Song and Cao Cao gasp in amazement.

The Beiwei cavalry did not show off their power for long. After suffering many casualties, the Yellow Turban Army retreated into the mountains and forests.

It was difficult for the cavalry to enter the mountains and forests. In addition, the horses were exhausted after rushing all the way and it was not suitable for them to fight any further. Li Hong ordered to stop the attack, collect the baggage and clean up the battlefield.

Li Hong saw clearly along the way that the Yellow Turbans fled into the mountains and forests, but they left behind a lot of baggage.

"The Yellow Turbans have been defeated. Meng De, you guys quickly follow me to open the city gates and welcome General Li into the city!" On the city wall, Huangfu Song looked at the Beiwei cavalry retreating to the Xu County gate, and said excitedly to Cao Cao and others beside him.

"Yes!" Cao Cao heard Huangfu Song's words, looking down from a high place, and saw Li Hong riding a war horse from afar.

"Kakaka~"

The tightly closed gate of Xu County opened, and Huangfu Song, Cao Cao and others poured out.

"Drive, drive~"

Li Hong brought Dian Wei, Jia Xu, young Guo Jia, Xun You, Xi Zhicai, Zhang Fei, Yan Liang and Pan Feng to the city gate.

Huangfu Song, covered in blood and wounds, immediately came forward, bowed to Li Hong and cried out in grief:
"This general pays homage to General Li. If it weren't for General Li, this general... this general would have to live and die with Xu County. This general is guilty of leading the army to defeat. Please let General Li judge him by military law!"

Huangfu Song cried out in grief and knelt down to beg for military punishment, which shocked Guo Jia, Xun You, Xi Zhicai, Zhang Fei, Yan Liang, Pan Feng and others behind Li Hong.

Cao Cao also knelt down and bowed to Li Hong with complicated and sad eyes, begging for punishment.

Li Hong, who was sitting on his warhorse, saw Huangfu Song and Cao Cao kneeling on the ground in a miserable state, snorted coldly and said:
"As a general, I suffered a defeat and almost my entire army was wiped out. It is only right that I should be punished by military law."

After a pause, Li Hong continued:
"This crime will be recorded. We will settle the accounts after we pacify the Yellow Turbans. Everyone, stand up."

Huangfu Song was slightly startled, took a deep breath, and bowed to Li Hong and said, "Thank you, old general!"

Cao Cao had no chance to speak. Huangfu Song stood up and Cao Cao followed suit.

However, Cao Cao understood that although the crime was recorded, Li Hong's intention was to let them atone for their sins and then settle the accounts.

"Old general, there are less than 500 soldiers in the city, and the people of Xu County are very worried. Now that General Li has led his troops here, the people of Xu County will surely be overjoyed." Huangfu Song said to Li Hong.

"Well, Zhang Fei and Yan Liang arrange the army to set up camp outside the city. Do not disturb the civilians, otherwise they will be killed without mercy!" Li Hong nodded lightly and gave instructions to Zhang Fei, Pan Feng and other generals behind him.

"Yes!" Zhang Fei, Pan Feng and other generals hurriedly bowed and went to arrange the troops.

Seeing Li Hong's serious military discipline, Huangfu Song and Cao Cao could not help but admire him.

Then, Huangfu Song welcomed Li Hong and others into Xu County.

Li Hong and others entered the city and first washed up at the county magistrate's mansion.

As Li Hong arrived with his army and defeated the Yellow Turbans, the people of Xu County, who had been living in constant fear, became excited and cheered.

……

Xu County, the county magistrate's residence.

In the hall.

Li Hong sat in the main seat.

Jian Shuo, Jia Xu, young Guo Jia, Xun You, Xi Zhicai, Zhang Fei, Yan Liang, Pan Feng, Huangfu Song, Cao Cao and others gathered together.

"Although we defeated Bo Cai's Yellow Turbans in one battle today, the Beiwei Army came from a long distance and everyone was exhausted. In addition, the Yellow Turbans fled into the forests to avoid the attack, so the Yellow Turbans did not suffer heavy casualties. We just received news that the Yellow Turbans split into two, one continued to stay in the forests, and the other retreated to Changsha in the north. This group of people wants to challenge us. How do you think we can quickly wipe out this group of Yellow Turbans under Bo Cai's command?"

After washing up, Li Hong, feeling refreshed, looked at everyone in the hall, stroked his gray beard and asked everyone.

Hearing Li Hong's question, the hall immediately fell silent. Huangfu Song also frowned and began to ponder.

He had already learned from Jian Shuo that Li Hong had won another great victory on the grassland. After returning to Luoyang, Li Hong was fully authorized by Emperor Liu Hong to conquer the Yellow Turbans. At this time, Li Hong was the Marshal of the Army of the World to conquer the Yellow Turbans.

With the intention of redeeming his sins, Huangfu Song stood up after a moment's hesitation and bowed to Li Hong, saying:
"Old General, Bo Cai has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses under his command. He left some of them in the mountains and forests. I'm afraid he wants to divert our army's attention. Most of the Yellow Turbans probably want to capture Changsha City. Changsha City is strong. If it is captured by the Yellow Turbans, they may rely on the city walls to fight us."

"However, I also know something about Changshe. It is said that this Changshe is related to the local temple and the lush growth of trees, hence the name 'Changshe'. Now, the grass and trees are growing vigorously, and it is a good season for lighting fires. Why not ignite the grass and trees around Changshe and burn the Yellow Turbans to death in one fell swoop!"

Everything Huangfu Song said was filled with murderous intent. He was really humiliated by being defeated by the Yellow Turbans, and everyone in the world knew about it. He not only wanted to atone for his sins, but also to regain his face.

During the long period of being besieged by the Yellow Turbans, Huangfu Song actually deduced many times the reasons why the expedition had led to the current situation.

The Yellow Turbans had a large number of people, and the human wave tactic was one of the reasons.

The second reason is that the Yellow Turbans were ready to die, like crazy, and were willing to fight to the death.

The third reason was that the court officials and soldiers were careless, arrogant, and did not take the Yellow Turban refugees seriously.

Huangfu Song accepted all this with all his heart and accepted his defeat.

However, Huangfu Song also concluded that he actually had the opportunity to change, but he did not realize it.

Xu County and Changsha County are adjacent counties, standing in the south and north.

But they fled and chose Xu County, which had stronger city walls and more people.

It directly lost an opportunity to turn defeat into victory.

That is to take advantage of the lush vegetation in Changsha and burn the hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans that had just arrived.

"Take advantage of the lush vegetation in Changsha to burn this wave of Yellow Turbans?" Li Hong, who was sitting in the main seat, raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard this, and then slowly shook his head.

Seeing Li Hong shaking his head, Huangfu Song, Cao Cao, young Guo Jia, Xi Zhicai and Xun You in the hall were all puzzled.

As soon as Huangfu Song said this, their eyes lit up. They felt that this strategy would be very easy to defeat Bo Cai's Yellow Turbans.

But, Li Hong feels something is wrong?
"Old general, Bo Cai must be attacking Changsha now. Exposing them in the wild and burning them, is there anything wrong with that?" Huangfu Song frowned and asked Li Hong.

Li Hong listened to Huangfu Song's question, looked at him, then glanced at the other puzzled people, and said:

"Yizhen, if you were in my position, how would you wipe out the millions of Yellow Turbans in this world?"

As soon as Li Hong finished speaking, everyone in the hall was slightly agitated.

Huangfu Song was even more surprised and doubtful. He hesitated for a moment, bowed to Li Hong, and said:

"This... please enlighten me, old general!"

Li Hongdao said without hesitation:
"Sun Tzu's Art of War once said that the best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the next best is to attack their troops, and the worst is to attack their cities. The Yellow Turbans have a million men, and their range is all over the world. They have occupied strong cities such as Wancheng, Julu, and Pengcheng. Even if the Beiwei Army is brave and good at fighting, it is not easy to conquer all these strong cities. Moreover, even if the Beiwei Army can conquer Wancheng, Julu, Pengcheng and other Yellow Turbans, how many casualties will the Beiwei Army suffer? How many will be left?"

"The Beiwei Army was established by me to help the Han Dynasty expand its territory.

"Therefore, fighting a deadly battle with the Yellow Turbans is not what I wish, and it is not in line with the principles of military tactics and battle formations."

"If we can defeat the enemy without fighting and the Yellow Turbans are convinced, then I will consider the expedition against the Yellow Turbans a complete success!"

"Therefore, setting fire to Changsha and killing more than 100,000 Yellow Turbans in one battle will only make the Yellow Turbans all over the world more angry at the officers and soldiers, and will not make the Yellow Turbans all over the world surrender. On the contrary, if the Yellow Turban leader Bo Cai surrenders with more than 100,000 Yellow Turbans, this will be the biggest blow to the morale of the Yellow Turbans!"

In the hall, Li Hong stroked his gray beard and spoke in a deep voice.

"This... How is it possible that the Yellow Turbans surrendered with more than 100,000 Yellow Turbans? How is it possible that the Yellow Turbans surrendered?"

Everyone in the hall became agitated when they heard Li Hong's words. They knew what Li Hong meant by what he said before. Indeed, from the perspective of Li Hong's position as the Marshal of the Yellow Turbans who was in charge of conquering the world, he and Huangfu Song looked at the issue from a different perspective.

However, they found it unbelievable to hear that Li Hong wanted to win without fighting and made the Yellow Turban leader Bo Cai surrender with more than 100,000 Yellow Turbans.

ps: I am working hard on typing. The protagonist will soon defeat the Yellow Turbans and the Li family's reputation will soar.
(End of this chapter)