My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 396: The Art of Military Operations: Drawing Inferences from Similar Cases

As Zhuge Jin and Gao Shun temporarily retreated, the Cao army soldiers defending Pengcheng also breathed a sigh of relief.

The ordinary soldiers, who had originally been quite confused about Zhu Ling's decision to insist on defending the city, also regained a little confidence.

Zhu Ling also struck while the iron was hot. After the enemy retreated, he personally inspected the city's defenses and repeatedly told the soldiers: "All of you follow me and defend the city to the death. The court has seen it and will surely reward you handsomely in the future!
I have good news for you all. In Hebei, I heard that the walls of Yecheng have collapsed in several places due to the flooding of the Zhang River. Zhongshan and Changshan counties have already submitted to the imperial court, and Jiao Chu of Dai County has also surrendered! Yecheng can be captured any day!
Once Yecheng is captured, Sikong will bring hundreds of thousands of troops back to help. By then, Liu Bei will be easily defeated! We only need to hold out for a month, at most two months, and the imperial army will arrive! This is a feat of supporting the sky and the sea, and everyone will be rewarded!"

The ordinary soldiers who did not know the truth were encouraged by Zhu Ling, a "die-hard fan of Cao Cao", and believed it to be true.

Some junior officers couldn't help but think to themselves, "It turns out that as long as we hold on for a month or two, we can achieve great success. From this point of view, there is still hope. After all, Pengcheng is strong and it is said that it was the former capital of the King of Chu."

Even if some of the troops were taken by General Zhang to rescue Chang Xi, it would take Liu Bei a month to fill the moat, and then he would gradually destroy the outer defenses and finally break into the city. We will definitely be able to hold out..."

Little did they know that just as everyone's morale was slightly rising, Zhu Ling himself felt a trace of sadness in his heart.

At this moment, in Pengcheng, he was the only one who knew that he was lying.

Five days ago, Guo Jia realized that Pengcheng could not be defended, and tried to withdraw these thousands of veteran soldiers from Pengcheng to avoid being surrounded.

At most, one or two thousand veterans would be left behind as the backbone to command the local men and women who were difficult to evacuate to defend the city and buy time.

At that time, Guo Jia hoped that Zhu Ling would go with him.

But Zhu Ling, as a die-hard fan of Cao Cao, was unwilling to leave. His idea was: if Pengcheng fled without a fight, then Peixian, Xiaoxian and other places in Pei County would be more difficult to defend.

The strength of the city defense fortifications in those places is much weaker than that of Pengcheng.

Cao Gong is in Hebei, and it is said that Yecheng will not be captured in the short term. If Pengcheng is lost too quickly, Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin will have enough time to continue westward, and Xiaopei and other places will also be lost.

Not to mention the fall of the entire Pei County in Yuzhou, but at least the part west of Mangdang Mountain is likely to be lost.

Even if Cao Gong returned, he would have to confront Liu Bei's army at the border of Xuzhou and Yuzhou, with Mangdang Mountain as the boundary. Wouldn't that be a return to the situation ten years ago, when Tao Qian was still alive and Liu Bei first entered Xuzhou?
When Liu Bei came from Gongsun Zan to rescue Tao Qian and repel Cao's army, and before Tao Qian died of illness, Liu Bei stationed his troops in Xiaopei during the few months. Later, when Liu Bei took over Xuzhou and made Lü Bu a guest general, Lü Bu also stationed his troops in Xiaopei.

It can be seen that Xiaopei is still of great value to the integrity of Xuzhou’s western defense line.

Based on these considerations, Zhu Ling decided to take the risk and go against Guo Jia's advice to hold out in Pengcheng for a while.

If we can hold off until Cao Cao's main force returns, that would be the best. Even if Yecheng cannot be taken for the time being, if the rest of Hebei has been secured, then it would also be good to send some troops back.

If the battle cannot be delayed any longer and Pengcheng eventually falls, Zhu Ling can use this opportunity to ensure that Xiaopei will not be lost again.

When Guo Jia heard about Zhu Ling's plan, he was also very moved, and said to Zhu Ling in private: "Brother Wenbo, if Guan Yu's army is about to break into the city, you must keep yourself useful and surrender to Guan Yu openly.

Guan Yu is always proud, and he will not kill those who surrender even if they are desperate. I will make a private statement to the Minister of State, and let him know that you have done great service to the country by delaying the enemy. Even if you surrender to Guan Yu, I will ensure that your family will be rich and prosperous, and you can surrender to the court again when you find an opportunity in the future."

Zhu Ling originally wanted to act like he would rather die than surrender, but Guo Jia persuaded him hard before leaving and gave him enough face, so Zhu Ling softened.

After all, if he could let his lord know that he was a die-hard loyalist, there would be no need for him to sacrifice his life. Under the premise of not bringing disgrace to his reputation and not bringing trouble to his family, who wouldn't want to live?

With this thought in mind, Zhu Ling became more confident in deceiving his subordinates and defending Pengcheng to delay time. After all, when the time came, he could still surrender secretly as ordered and save his life.

……

Zhu Ling was there thinking about his own little schemes, buying time for Cao Cao and reducing the loss of territory.

After Zhuge Jin and Gao Shun returned to the camp, they naturally analyzed Zhu Ling's mentality.

With Zhuge Jin's intelligence, he quickly figured out Zhu Ling's possible mentality, and analyzed it with his three most trusted generals:

"…So, I guess what Zhu Ling did this time was to trade his life for time. He wanted Cao Cao to lose less territory, or even lose it later.

Moreover, he tried every possible means to delay in order to prevent us from pushing the defense line of the western border of Xuzhou to the Mangdang Mountain area of Xiaopei. He hoped to leave Cao Cao a springboard for counterattack in the future, forcing us to station heavy troops in Pengcheng in the future, delaying and consuming our strength, and not allowing the western side of Xuzhou to rely on the mountains. Since we have calculated the enemy's plot, we must find a way to break it. Moreover, for a diehard like Zhu Ling, we must not give him the opportunity to surrender and save his life. Because even if he surrenders in the end, it is not sincere, but because he has bought enough time for Cao thieves and wants to survive.

Of course, killing a surrendered soldier is unjust, so we should let him die gloriously on the battlefield, and we must not call on him to make an emergency landing."

Gao Shun and Zhou Tai did not think it was inappropriate after hearing this, but Chen Dao, who had a heavy moral burden, was a little hesitant.

Zhuge Jin saw through it, so he patted Chen Dao on the shoulder and gave him a thorough advice: "Shuzhi, I know you are all loyal and kind people. But for someone like Zhu Ling, even if he surrendered, it was a false surrender. What's wrong with us not accepting a false surrender from the beginning?"

When Zhuge Jin said this, he couldn't help but think of the case recorded in history books that happened to his son Zhuge Ke decades later.

Historically, fifty years later, when Sun Quan had died, Zhuge Ke, who was in power in the Eastern Wu, organized a northern expedition. In that campaign, Zhuge Ke first won a great victory at the Dongxing Dam at Ruxukou, and then went further north across Chaohu Lake to attack the new city of Hefei.

Finally, when Zhang Te, the defender of Hefei New City, was unable to hold out, he pretended to send an envoy to Zhuge Ke and said, "According to the law of Wei State, if one surrenders after defending the city for a hundred days without help, his family members will not be implicated. Please suspend the offensive and let me wait a hundred days before surrendering."

Zhuge Ke actually fell into the trap, giving Zhang Te time to repair and reinforce the city defenses. After the deadline, Zhang Te regretted his decision and did not surrender. When Zhuge Ke wanted to attack again, the city defenses had already been repaired and were difficult to break through.

This example is what happened to Zhuge Jin's own son later in history. How could Zhuge Jin not take it as a warning?

Therefore, this kind of false surrender that is only a way to delay time must never be treated as a real surrender. You must not give them a chance to surrender from the beginning, and kill them directly when fighting.

This will prevent Cao's generals from stalling for time and then pretending to surrender after stalling for enough time. At the same time, it will not dampen the enthusiasm of those who truly surrender, and can achieve the greatest common denominator of undermining the enemy's morale.

The specific scale needs to be mastered precisely and must be accompanied by a certain level of acting skills.

After several generals reached a consensus, Gao Shun asked again: "We have no objection to killing Zhu Ling, but how can we quickly break into the city? If we can't use flying ladders and trench bridge vehicles, we have to fill the moat.

Without a month, I'm afraid it would be impossible to fill enough river sections for heavy siege vehicles to pass through and reach the city wall. As for assembling the ladders and siege vehicles, it won't take that long, and it will be faster than filling the river. These two steps can be carried out in parallel without delay. "

This question really stumped Zhuge Jin for a while.

He is not a real god. How can he give an answer instantly when faced with such a new problem?
Zhuge Jin stroked his mustache and said carefully: "It is difficult to come up with a surprise plan for this matter. If there is really no other way, we can only prepare for the enemy and prepare for a month or even longer.

However, we can also brainstorm and think of a different strategy - think about it, have our army ever had any examples of quickly filling up the moat and launching a quick attack when attacking a city? "

When Gao Shun and other three generals heard that Zhuge Jin actually wanted them to help think about it together, they immediately looked bitter.

Isn't this asking too much? It is well known that the Zhuge brothers' wisdom is unmatched in the world. Zhuge Jin is in charge of the army. What other ideas can the people below help with? Everyone is used to direct execution.

Fortunately, after a little thought, they were guided onto the right path and began to use their respective strengths and try their best to recall - this was also thanks to Zhuge Jin's good questions. He was good at inspiring everyone, finding directions for people's thinking, and guiding everyone to find inspiration in previous historical battles.

Brainstorming is not a random process. It requires an organizer who can give everyone guidance and ideas so that the people below can tap their brainpower and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

After being guided in his thinking, Gao Shun, the most skilled in attacking the enemy among the three generals, was the first to come up with an idea:
“I remember that when General Guan and the other princes joined forces to attack the two cities of Xiakou and Shaxian that were defended by Grandfather Huang and his descendants, didn’t they use the ingenious method of quickly filling the river to allow Ge Gongche to reach the city?
I remember very clearly that it was several months after Huang Zu was defeated that I crossed the Tongbai Mountains from Runan to Jiangxia and surrendered to my lord. At that time, I also studied the miraculous battles between General Guan and the princes in depth, and was quite amazed. "

After being reminded of this, Zhuge Jin remembered some things. That happened more than four years ago. At that time, it was also Guan Yu and he who attacked Shaxian.

Taking advantage of the fact that Shaxian's moat was connected to the external river, he flattened the tops of several abandoned ships and drove them into the moat to sink them, thus completing at least 70% to 80% of the work of filling the river. All that was left was to make some repairs and level the surface, and then the Ge bus could drive through.

After Zhuge Jin recalled clearly, he commented impartially: "That method is quite inspiring. Letting the boat sink directly at the location where the river is to be filled can indeed save most of the work of filling the river...

But that was in the south. Jiangxia is close to the Yangtze and Han Rivers, and there are big rivers for big ships to pass. Now Pengcheng is in the north, and the water system is not as developed as in the south. Although it is close to the Sishui River, the moat is not directly connected to the Sishui River, and ships cannot come in..."

When Zhuge Jin said this, Zhou Tai, who was born as a pirate, immediately volunteered: "Why don't I lead some warships to dig a dam that blocks the connection between Pengcheng moat and Sishui, let Sishui flow into the moat, and then drive the ships directly to the bottom of the city wall and sink them to provide stepping stones for crossing the river. Wouldn't this imitate the battle of Jiangxia killing Huang Zu?"

Zhuge Jin raised his eyebrows and tried to dissuade him: "Don't be reckless! The hydrology of the north and south is different. If Pengcheng is flooded directly, it will not only harm the people in the city, but also slow down the offensive. This will be a double-edged sword.

Cao Cao is now attacking Yecheng by water, causing the people of Jizhou to complain. He can ignore the lives of the people. My lord is a benevolent and righteous lord, so he must do the opposite of Cao Cao to show his righteousness. Fortunately, what Zhongda said is quite inspiring. I can definitely think of other ways to achieve the best of both worlds, so don't worry. "

(End of this chapter)