Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 31 Military Discussion
The four people in the barracks had different expressions.

Zhao Cuo's facial expressions were the most varied. When he learned that Yan Yi planned to raid Qian Tong, who had an army of 5,000, with a force of less than a thousand men, he was first stunned, then showed a hint of fear, then his body trembled with excitement, and finally turned into a sad face.

Zhao Cuo was not good at military affairs and had no idea about military equipment, training, morale, and tactics. What kept echoing in his mind was that the young prince actually dared to use an army of 1,000 to attack an army of 5,000. Was he crazy?

The battle at the Taoist temple was still vivid in his mind, and he could never forget it.

Si Qing led him and attacked thirty people with only ten people, which left him with an unforgettable memory.

In that battle, he lost his brother Shen Lian, with whom he grew up.

What kind of concept would it be for a thousand men to attack five thousand? What kind of scene would it be like? He couldn't imagine it.

Xu Sheng lowered his head in deep thought, his brows revealing an unprecedented solemnity, as well as a hint of excitement and excitement. It seemed as if the more passive the situation, the more it could inspire the passion that flowed in his blood.

He was well versed in military tactics, and the conception of this surprise attack was quite familiar with the essence of military tactics. It was like a difficult problem, full of temptation to him, making him eager to solve it.

Defeating the enemy with fewer troops is a label that only belongs to famous generals.

Han Xin defeated the Zhao army, which was said to have 200,000 soldiers, in a battle with his 30,000 troops. Xiang Yu defeated Liu Bang's 560,000 soldiers with his 30,000 troops. These legendary battles deeply attracted the young Xu Sheng.

If he could complete such a battle, he would die without regrets.

Si Qing's thoughts were much simpler. His face was full of worry, and he had only one thought in his mind, which was to help Yan Yi win this surprise attack no matter what.

Yan Yi's victory is his victory, and Yan Yi's defeat is his defeat. In addition, he is also worried about Yan Yi's safety on the battlefield.

Yan Yi's expression was the calmest among the four, but the desire for victory that flickered in his eyes was the strongest among the four. This desire had even become an obsession.

He must win! Defeating Qian Tong was only the first insignificant step. In the future, he would have to face Sun Ce. If he was lucky enough to defeat Sun Ce, he wouldn't want to take the position of Lord of Jiangdong!
"Young Master," Si Qing spoke slowly, breaking the brief silence in the barracks. "In my opinion, to carry out this raid, we need at least a thousand troops, and they must be elite. However, we only have five hundred troops now, which leaves a significant gap."

"I can ask my father for another hundred men, making up the six hundred in Sanqu." Yan Yi began to piece together the numbers. "Add the eighty cavalrymen I have with me, and that'll make seven hundred. I'll figure out the rest. We can also select the elite troops from the eight hundred recruited from Fan Yan and add them to the battle."

Si Qing nodded slightly, and suddenly felt strange in his heart. He didn't expect that in such a short time, Yan Yi already had so many troops under his command.

After thinking for a while, he continued, "It would also cost a large sum of money to bribe Wan Bing and eliminate Qian Tong's vigilance."

"I'll figure it out."

Yan Yi felt a little headache. Wan Bing was greedy for money and could not be appeased by a small amount of money.

Historically, in order to get rid of Li Mu, the Qin State spent 10,000 gold to bribe Guo Kai.

Although Wan Bing was far inferior to Guo Kai, if Yan Yi wanted to bribe him, even if he emptied his own treasury, it would still not be enough. He needed to find another way. "Just think of it as a loan. Once I conquer Qiantong, I'll get it back with interest!" He silently comforted himself.

"Young Master has recruited 400 more people this time. The food, fodder and weapons for these 400 people also cost a lot of money." Si Qing said again.

"I'll find a way." Yan Yi, like a gambler with all his chips in his hand, was not afraid of being tickled by lice. "Where will the raid be located? Tell me your ideas."

"Young Master, I don't think we need to consider this issue. We can only attack Qian Gong Fort. The strength of Yuncheng's walls is incomparable to Qian Gong Fort, and the defenders are larger than Qian Gong Fort. Our army lacks siege equipment, and since it's a night attack, the march alone will take a considerable amount of time, leaving very little time for a siege."

Xu Sheng had clearly given this question some thought and immediately stood up and said, "In a siege, we must never rely on the defenders' negligence to capture a city. If we attack Yuncheng first, not only will our chances of capturing the city be slim, but we'll also be in danger of being completely annihilated."

Yan Yi felt that this made sense, but he had other considerations. He couldn't help but ask, "We only have one chance. If we attack Qian Gong's fort first, how can we capture Yuncheng?"

"A skilled warrior seeks to establish himself in an invincible position while not risking the enemy's defeat. In this battle, our army faces many disadvantages. We must aim for victory while also considering our own survival. We cannot rashly place ourselves in danger. If we can first capture Qian Gong Fort, even if we ultimately fail to capture Yuncheng, at least the young prince's troops will be safe, and we will also have captured a certain number of prisoners."

Xu Sheng had a trace of reluctance on his face, and smiled bitterly: "As for Yuncheng, if we can lure out some of the defenders in the city and annihilate them in a field battle first, then we still have a chance to capture it. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to retreat."

Everyone fell silent.

Yan Yi realized that his greed for Yuncheng had caused him to lose some rationality in his decision-making.

It would be great if we could capture Yuncheng and Qiangonglei at the same time. If we could only capture Qiangonglei, the results would actually be quite significant. After cutting off Qian Tong's arm, perhaps we could encourage Yan Baihu to take advantage of the situation and send troops to attack Yuncheng.

After some thought, he said, "Since that's the case, let's formulate a battle plan based on a surprise attack on Qian Gong Lei. The key to a surprise attack on Qian Gong Lei is crossing the river. Do you have any good suggestions?"

Xu Sheng confidently said, "The river crossing problem is actually quite easy to solve." Seeing the puzzled looks from the crowd, he smiled slightly and said, "Young Master, do you know anything about Han Xin's victory over Wei?"

Yan Yi nodded. The battle in which Han Xin defeated Wei was later known as the Battle of Anyi, which was very famous. He naturally knew about it, but he was not very familiar with some of the details.

In this battle, Han Xin adopted the tactic of feinting to the east and attacking in the west. He first set up decoy troops in Linjin, pretending to cross the river from Linjin to attract the main force of Wei Wang Bao. Then he secretly crossed the river from Xiayang, launched a surprise attack on Anyi, and defeated the Wei army in one battle.

Thinking of this, he vaguely guessed something and asked anxiously, "How did Han Xin cross the river at that time?"

Xu Sheng seemed to be a bit of a Han Xin fanboy, well-versed in all the details of his battles. He smiled and said, "Han Xin used ropes and wooden strips to tie wooden rafts together, making them into rafts for crossing the river. Wooden rafts are easy to carry. Young Master, you could have each soldier carry one, and then make a raft at the crossing point. It wouldn't take long."

A jar is a wooden container used by people of this era to hold liquids such as water or wine.

Yan Yi laughed, the problem of crossing the river was solved.

(End of this chapter)