Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 159 The World is a Game
Lu Jin said that if they wanted to completely wipe out this cavalry, it would be best to make full use of the terrain. Upon hearing this, everyone immediately started thinking about it.

In a place like Haozhou, it is not difficult to restrict the actions of cavalry. The Huai River is not far from the north wall of Haozhou City, and the entire city is built on the south bank of the Huai River.

The Huai River is not a small river. It has a large flow rate, which is enough to resist the enemy cavalry. It is impossible to cross it without building a bridge. The Shengwu Army can completely imitate the battle between Feng Sheng and Wang Baobao, drive the enemy to the riverside, and then drive the enemy into the river, but this goes against their original intention of seizing horses.

In addition to rivers, Haozhou also has mountains. You can find a forest to set up an ambush, pretend to be defeated to lure the enemy over, then set up ambushes from all sides and surround and annihilate them.

Seeing that everyone was in deep thought, Lu Jin asked a few people, "Where is the map? What's the point of just staring and thinking? Bring the map over."

"Yes."

Yu Tongyuan immediately found the map, which was the one that Lu Jin had distributed to them. But it was a modern map after all. The world has changed a lot in the past three hundred years, not to mention that this was a map from more than six hundred years ago, so there were still big discrepancies.

Fortunately, before they attacked Haozhou, Zhu Liangzu had already sent people to scout and correct the errors on the map.

Several people immediately stood in a circle around the map, and Lu Jin stretched out his hand and pointed in the direction of Wuhe County.

"Wuhe County is located north of the Huai River and south of the Hui River. There is an angle where the two rivers meet, and it is surrounded by water on three sides. If we can force the enemy into this place, they will have no way to escape."

Zheng Yong's eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly, "It's indeed a good place."

But then Lu Jin stood up and spoke again.

"Whether it is a good place or not, just looking at the map is not enough. You have to go there and scout it yourself to know how to fight and where to set up an ambush. Don't be lazy. Remember the essentials of being a general written in the military book I gave you."

"Yes." Several people nodded repeatedly upon hearing this. Although most of the generals above the battalion level in the Shengwu Army were literate, not many of them had ever read military books seriously. Most of them were children of farmers and boatmen and fishermen. The military book written in plain language by Lu Jinfa was indeed of great help to them.

When they heard Lu Jin reminding them to go and see the terrain in person, they all thought of the book.

Lu Jin then said, "I am not responsible for the specific planning and command of this operation. How to fight on the front line is entirely up to you. I will only tell you the requirements of this operation.

"It would be best if we could completely wipe out this vanguard army and seize some war horses. This would be a great achievement, but we must be flexible and adaptable when marching and fighting, and not act dogmatically. Even if we have made a plan in advance, we must be prepared to change it temporarily.

"Civil policy cannot be changed from day to day, but the military is different. The military is more about dealing with situations on the spot and being able to adapt to changes. Don't think you will not fight when there are changes on the battlefield. You must be prepared.

"The result of this battle is to at least completely annihilate this vanguard army. It doesn't matter how we fight, the key is to kill them. In this way, when Dong Tuanxiao's large army arrives, there will be no cavalry to support them, and no civilians to help them fill the ditches. Even if he comes, he will have to prepare from scratch. This will delay a lot of time. Moreover, without cavalry, the enemy's strategies will be limited, so it will not be difficult to deal with them.

“As for whether we can capture horses, it would be the best if we can, but it doesn’t matter if we can’t. The overall situation is the most important thing. We should not be obsessed with some captures and merits. If we lose two battalions for one or two thousand war horses, then even if we win, it will be considered a defeat!

“After defeating this vanguard of the Heel Army and Dong Tuanxiao’s main force arrives, you should stay indoors. Strategically, you should defend but not attack. As for the specific details, you can send small groups of troops to launch surprise attacks and harass in turns, using fighting as training.

"Be careful, when you are attacking or harassing, don't be greedy for credit. Even if you don't kill a few people or seize any spoils, as long as you can make the enemy army tense and tired and unable to rest, it will be enough.

"Always remember that the enemy is not stupid. The benefits and achievements you have seen may be baits prepared by the enemy for you. They will put out a bait to attract your small group of elite troops, and then surround them and deliberately send them to ask for help. Will you rescue them or not? If you rescue them, you may be surrounded and attacked by the enemy. If you don't rescue them, you will lose morale and make friendly troops afraid to go forward to fight in the future.

"So when it comes to raiding, we should try to harass and mobilize the enemy, rather than kill, wound, or capture. Even if we send troops to harass, we must make plans for support in advance. Do you understand?"

"Yes! I understand." Several people stood up again and clasped their fists in response.

Zheng Yong even said, "Don't worry, Marshal. We will take the risk."

Lu Jin said helplessly, "I am relieved about you, but I am afraid that Zhu Liangzu will be impulsive and reckless. He has martial arts and strategies, but he is very brave and warlike, and easily impulsive.

“When he comes, you must pay attention to advising him. If Zhu Liangzu decides to take any risky actions, you can say that I said it myself. We don’t seek merit in this battle, but we do seek to avoid mistakes. As long as we can defend Haozhou and stop the enemy army to the north of Dingyuan, I will give you a great achievement.

"If he insists on taking the risk, send a fast horse to deliver the message to me."

Upon hearing this, everyone agreed again and kept in mind the precautions that Lu Jin had just mentioned.

Now that the plan has grown bigger, the Shengwu Army is huge, and the entire army is divided into multiple directions to fight. It is almost impossible for Lu Jin, the main general, to charge into battle except in major battles or at life-and-death moments. Even for the front-line command, he can only propose some general strategies. The specific way to fight depends on the on-the-spot command of the front-line generals.

After all, micromanagement is not a good habit, and current communication technology does not allow him to do so.

All Lu Jin needs to do now is to grasp the overall rhythm of the battle, select generals according to their different characteristics, and pay attention to some general directions. There is no need for him to take care of the rest personally.

Seeing that everyone understood, Lu Jin then continued, "This vanguard of 3,000 cavalrymen should attack or ambush. If it is an ambush, where should we choose and how many troops should we use? Zheng Yong, you and Tong Yuan should discuss it first. When Zhu Liangzu comes, you can tell him the plan. If there is any disagreement, we should reach an agreement as soon as possible.

"There is still at least a month before the enemy arrives. You have plenty of time to survey the terrain. There is no need to panic."

"Yes." Zheng Yong and Yu Tongyuan both nodded, but Feng Sheng was a little helpless. All his men were new recruits, and they would definitely not be able to make it in time for this battle. He could only be transferred back to Dingyuan to train the troops well.

Seeing that the generals understood the intention of the battle, Lu Jin looked at the only civil servant at the scene, Ji Guozhang, the magistrate of Haozhou.

Lu Jin instructed again, "Guo Zhang, you also have to complete the construction of fortifications and clearing of the fields as soon as possible. If you really cannot complete it, you should focus on moving the people in the areas north of the Huai River to the south bank at least first. Take as many as you can from Dingyuan, and if you cannot resettle them, you can resettle them in the south." In the southern part of Haozhou, if there are conditions for spring ploughing, try to cultivate some land to reduce the burden on the rear.

"But all of the above still requires the war to be the priority."

Ji Guozhang quickly stood up and bowed, "I understand, Marshal, please rest assured."

Lu Jin nodded and said, "Then you should go ahead and get busy. Hurry up and do your work."

"Yes."

After Ji Guozhang retreated, looking at the generals on the field, Lu Jin whispered another thing. It was about defending the city and fighting, so it was okay to let Ji Guozhang know, but what he was going to say next should not be known to more people.

"There is one more thing. Do you know why I said that we should only defend and not attack in this battle, and try to delay the enemy as much as possible? Logically speaking, Dong Tuanxiao cannot bring a hundred thousand troops. At most, he can have thirty thousand soldiers, not much more than Kang Maocai did back then. The strength of my Shengwu Army is even greater than before. Why would I be afraid of him?"

When Lu Jin mentioned this at this time, several people were really puzzled. They thought that Lu Jin was afraid that they had no experience and would suffer too many casualties. In case they lost Haozhou, Dingyuan would only be the barrier to the north of Luzhou. Without Haozhou, it was possible that the enemy could use a small number of troops to contain the enemy, while the main force could go straight to the city of Luzhou.

They thought Lu Jin was worried about the defense line, but they didn't know that the overall situation in Lu Jin's eyes was bigger, not just the city or one place in Luzhou Road, but the overall situation of the world.

Without waiting for them to guess, Lu Jin directly talked about what he had said to Zhu Liangzu in Dingyuan before, especially the fact that the envoy from Xu Song asked him to surrender, but Lu Jin found reasons to refuse and delay time, and that the strategy of only defending but not attacking the northern line this time was actually for future layout in Jiangnan.

Among the three people present, Yu Tongyuan was a veteran of Chaohu, and Zheng Yong joined during his first battle against Zuo Junbi. At that time, Lu Jin was only a battalion officer of a thousand households and did not even have a formal organization, so Zheng Yong was also considered a veteran.

Feng Sheng was considered a core figure of the Dingyuan sect. He and his brother were both Confucian scholars and looked down upon Xu Song's evil cult stuff.

The three of them were considered core members and had nothing to do with Xu Song, so Lu Jin was not afraid to tell them.

When the three heard that Xu Song proclaimed himself emperor without setting up three provinces and instead created a "Lotus Platform Province" that combined politics and religion, Feng Sheng sneered at this and felt that Xu Song would not be able to achieve great things. Since ancient times, there has never been any report of a cult that could take over the world, not even Zhang Jue in the late Han Dynasty.

Lu Jin said, "Although Xu Song founded the country with Maitreya religion, although it was not established correctly, its military should not be underestimated. They are located in Huguang, where there is sufficient food in the Dongting Lake area, the population is large, and there is no strong army of the Yuan bandits. It is only a matter of time for Xu Song to take over Huguang. As long as they can swallow up Huguang, they will become the overlord.

"And the foundation of our business is in Jiangdong, so Jiangdong cannot be handed over to Xu Song in any case. Dong Tuanxiao is the former deputy marshal of Zhejiang East, familiar with Jiangdong's military affairs, and his battlefield is closest to Jiangdong, just across the river. Once Jiangdong is lost, the Yuan court will definitely send him back to help.

“If we desperately try to kill Dong Tuanxiao now, it will not only be detrimental to our accumulation of strength, but will also draw the attention of the Yuan court army to this place, which will then backfire on us. The Xu Song army that broke into Jiangdong will no longer be able to be stopped by the Yuan court’s strong army. Wouldn’t we be shedding blood and selling our lives to make wedding clothes for Xu Song’s evil cult demon army in vain? It will be too late to regret then.

"So we can only defend in this battle and cannot kill the enemy at will, especially not Dong Tuanxiao himself."

The three of them suddenly realized that Lu Jin was playing with the whole world in his plan, and the chess pieces he placed in Haozhou were actually laying out plans for Jiangdong.

Lu Jin reminded him again, "This matter is confidential. It concerns our future and destiny. You are all veterans of the Shengwu Army. You only need to know about it. I have already told Zhu Liangzu about this. Your regiment commanders know about it, but there is no need to let the battalion commanders know about it."

The three of them nodded quickly, "Don't worry, Marshal, we'll save it."

Yu Tongyuan scratched his head after he finished speaking. He did not quite understand Lu Jin's analysis of the general situation in the world. There were no heavy troops from the court in Huguang, which was easy to say. There were no rebel forces active in Jiangsu and Zhejiang now. There was only one Fang Guozhen, who relied on his large number of ships to operate along the coast. For the time being, he did not have the power to annex Jiangdong and compete for hegemony over the world.

But in the north, Lu Jin only said that he had received intelligence that there would be 3,000 cavalry and tens of thousands of Dong Tuanxiao's troops, but wouldn't the Yuan court central government send a large army over?
So I heard him ask.

"General, you only counted the Jining Road General Dong Tuanxiao, but if the Yuan court's central army attacks, how can we resist it?"

Hearing this, Lu Jin immediately laughed and said, "If Prime Minister Tuotuo personally led a hundred thousand central troops to come, would you be afraid?"

Yu Tongyuan hesitated for a moment, but still gritted his teeth and said, "What's there to be afraid of? We still have at least ten regiments behind us. At worst, we can all come and fight the Yuan bandits. We are in rebellion in the first place. Since the day we started the rebellion, living one more day is a blessing."

Upon hearing this, several people immediately looked up to him. They didn't expect that Yu Tongyuan would have such an idea.

But then he added, "Besides, in my opinion, the Yuan bandits may not be able to provide so many soldiers. Now our Shengwu Army has a lot of soldiers. The total number of soldiers is at least 70,000. I don't believe that the Yuan bandits can still have so many soldiers left after fighting from Xuzhou to us."

There is nothing wrong with what he said. There is really nothing to be afraid of in this battle in the 12th year of Zhizheng. Lu Jin also nodded in affirmation.

"That's right, you don't have to worry too much. First of all, the Yuan court is not clear about the strength of the rebels yet, so they will definitely underestimate them and will not mobilize too many troops right away.

"Secondly, Liu Futong and Du Zundao were the first to rebel. Even if the Yuan court had a large army, they would definitely deal with them first. The Yuan court's eastern troop strength would definitely not be more than Liu Futong's western troop strength.

"Plus, there is Xuzhou Zhima Li in front of us. By the time the Yuan army defeats Zhima Li and then comes to us, it will be exhausted. It will take at least half a year. For the time being, even if you want to fight the Yuan thieves to death, I'm afraid they won't even look at us."

At this point, Lu Jin smiled mysteriously again, "As long as you hold Haozhou and Dingyuan here, buy me half a year, I will train 10,000 troops from the Imperial Guards. By then, even if we fight a decisive battle with the Yuan bandits, 10,000 will be no problem against 40,000 or 50,000."

Several people were shocked when they heard this. What kind of army would be able to fight one against four or five?
The three of them looked at Lu Jin's confident look and looked at each other in surprise.

(End of this chapter)