The Three Kingdoms Voyage

Chapter 251
The team that was burying their heads was suddenly in chaos. The people behind looked in horror at a big hole that suddenly appeared on the ground, and saw the elephant struggling in it, howling and screaming, but the people in front were baffled. They didn't know why. What happened, but the people in the distance couldn't see the situation here, and they were very dissatisfied with the companions who stopped and didn't leave, and cursed angrily.

No one noticed the ferocious faces of nearly a thousand crossbows in the woods next to them. A loud drum beat suppressed all the shouting and cursing. The fly-like Funan soldiers shot a deadly rain of arrows.

The slow-moving team became an excellent target. The crossbowmen easily pulled the crossbow trigger, and the long arrows roared out, flying between the old or young tree trunks and lush branches and leaves, and accurately pierced into each one. In Funan Bing's body, the sharp wind of the arrow drives the leaves to dance.Most of the Funan soldiers wore simple leather armor, and they had no resistance at all in front of the iron arrows. When the long arrows entered their bodies, blood burst out, and screams kept coming and going. The exciting journey home turned into death in an instant. the road.

Of course, the soldiers on the backs of the war elephants received the most attention. At least two-thirds of the more than 1000 crossbows were there to take care of them. Just a few times after the first drum beat, the ten war elephants lost control. Roaring, he trampled on the soldiers beside him randomly. His heavy hoofs crushed the muscles and bones of each Funan soldier, making them bloody and bloody.

Fan Zhan sat on the back of the elephant, his eyes widened in terror, but he had already lost his luster, his mouth was wide open, but he didn't make a sound. In the first time, he received a fatal blow. The crossbow arrows shot at him at the same time.Although he was wearing a crocodile skin armor, two crossbow arrows passed through his throat and took his life mercilessly.

Fan Zhan died very unwillingly. He never thought that the Han people would dare to set up an ambush on his way home. He paid the price with his life for his arrogance—the Han people had changed, but he couldn’t use this The experience gained in exchange for life was conveyed to King Funan, and when his head was delivered to King Funan, he still maintained a shocked expression, which made Fan Man, King of Funan, feel chills for a while.

Along with Fan Zhan's head came a neatly written note with Chinese characters on it. Fan Man has a good level of Sinology and recognized these words.The words are written very gently, but the meaning is very arrogant.

"Anyone who offends my strong Han will be punished even if he is far away!" The inscription on the back reads: "Sun Deng, Prince Wu of the Great Han Dynasty, respectfully inform King Funan."

Fan Man's eyes were shattered. Fan Zhan was not only his general, but also his nephew. Not only did the [-] soldiers not survive, but he was also beheaded. For peace talks between Wu and Yue, let's focus on dealing with Yue first. Now it seems that there is no need for this. He must face Wu and Yue at the same time.

"Assemble the army and attack Rinan again!" Fan Man's beard was furious, he grabbed the piece of paper and tore it to shreds, and yelled, "Chop off the head of this bastard prince and avenge Fan Zhan!"

Soon, several messengers rushed out of the special pastoral city, either on horseback or by boat, and rushed in all directions.

……

In fact, Fan Man wronged Sun Deng. He didn't fight that battle, and he didn't write that note. It's all Zhuge Ke's credit.Zhuge Ke was very enthusiastic. Before all the reinforcements arrived, he took a batch of grain and grass on the road. When he arrived at Xijuan City by sea, Chen Shi just came back from Linyi.As soon as Chen Shi relayed the opinion, Zhuge Ke agreed, so Lu Dai allocated 2000 men to him, and even the [-] county soldiers he brought rushed to Changshan to set up an ambush. I tried my best to walk around several nearby hills in the shortest time, and dug holes where Fan Zhan might pass by.The county soldiers he brought may be a bit novice in fighting, but they are experts in digging pits. They worked together to figure out what might happen after the war elephant was frightened, and finally came up with the immoral and smoky pit of the plum blossom pit. The idea made Zhuge Ke applaud.

As a result, none of the ten war elephants was spared. Except two war elephants were shot to death on the spot, the other eight war elephants all fell into the pit. The trouble was that it took a lot of money to get these war elephants out of the pit strength.

Sun Deng was very satisfied with the results of the battle. Anyway, Zhuge Ke gave him face in the first battle when he came out of the mountain. His record of killing more than 1000 people on the spot, capturing more than [-] people alive and eight war elephants was brilliant. Sun Deng The only thing I feel uneasy is whether the sentence Zhuge Ke wrote in his name was too much, to relieve the anger is to relieve the anger, if King Funan is angered, he will attack with a large army, wouldn't it be self-defeating?

Zhuge Ke's answer to this was that there were two reasons why he had to do this: first, King Funan invaded Nichinan outrageously. If he didn't hit his arrogance, he would take Wu Guo even less seriously. What benevolence and righteousness do these barbarians know?If you don't beat him up, he won't listen to your benevolence and righteousness.Second, the King of Yue sent troops to attack Funan for the sake of a few merchants. The matter has become so big, if we don’t show the thunderous tricks, will the State of Wu still want to be on an equal footing with the State of Yue in the future?Who would put Wu Guo in their eyes?Probably even Fan Man would underestimate the Wu country, so he must know that not only the Yue country can't be messed with, but the Wu country can't be messed with, in other words, the Han people can't be messed with.

Although Sun Deng disagreed with Zhuge Ke's explanation, the matter has come to this point, and he can't take it back anyway. The current task is to solve the district company in Xijuan City. The king of Linyi who no longer has Linyi Kingdom doesn't know the situation yet.Sun Deng left this opportunity to Lu Dai, and asked him to drive the eight war elephants out of the city. Qu Lian immediately knew that the situation was over, and angrily committed suicide at the top of the city, ending his glorious and tragic life.

Xijuancheng Kaesong surrendered and Rinan County was recovered. Sun Deng immediately sent [-] li to report to Jianye urgently, and at the same time made preparations for the battle. Anyone with a brain knows that the next big battle is inevitable.In order to avoid fighting alone, Sun Deng sent Zhuge Ke to Linyi to meet Sun Shao, hoping that everyone would act in unison.

Sun Shao smiled when he saw the proud Zhuge Ke: "Yuan Xun, you dug the hole well."

Zhuge Ke said modestly: "It's all under the guidance of His Highness."

Then the two looked at each other heartlessly and laughed.

After laughing for a while, the two sat down, Sun Shao invited him to drink tea, Zhuge Ke took a sip, and immediately made a bitter face, he looked at the dark brown liquid in the cup and said: "Your Highness, what is this, so bitter?"

"Xiyi calls this the source of strength, and it is said that drinking this will make you energetic." Sun Shao fiddled with what later generations called coffee in the cup, with a calm smile: "I was not very used to it at first, But slowly you may like it."

"Really?" Zhuge Ke looked at the source of power he had taken a sip of and frowned: "I think tea is better."

"Yuan Xun, you are not yet 20 years old, so you can't accept new things?" Sun Shao twitched his lips and smiled: "There are still many novel things you will see in the future, you can't be like those old scholars, always Confine your eyes to the part you are familiar with." He put down the spoon, took a big sip from the cup, smacked his lips and took a sip, and said: "Curiosity is the most important weapon for people to explore the world. I see you have Courage, daring to act, I invite you to try it, but I didn't expect you to not like it."

Hearing this, Zhuge Ke immediately felt that he would be sorry for King Yue's appreciation if he didn't drink this cup of something bitter like medicine. Word: "Bitter!"

Sun Shao couldn't help laughing, and burst out laughing.

"Yuan Xun, Zigao sent you here, isn't it just to joke with me?" Sun Shao smiled for a while, put away his smile and said: "You have recovered Rinan, and the task has been completed, why didn't he go back? Wouldn't it be better to pay?"

Zhuge Ke lowered his head and pondered for a moment. Sun Deng had expressed such thoughts before, but was persuaded by him.It is of course good for Sun Deng to leave now, and he will retire after he has completed his career, and it has nothing to do with him in the future.But Zhuge Ke saw a chance to fight. If Fan Man couldn't swallow this breath, there must be a big battle in Rinan. Such an opportunity is very rare in Wu Guo. He has just tasted the sweetness, so why is he willing to leave Rinan at this time, so he Sun Deng was persuaded by various reasons.

But it is very dangerous to keep Sun Deng in Rinan. Zhuge Ke knew that it would not be easy to deal with the army of Funan with the strength in his and Lu Dai's hands alone. This is why he took the initiative to meet with Sun Shao The reason is that he needs Sun Shao's help.

"Your Highness, the battle with Funan has just begun. Half of Fan Zhan's [-] troops were lost by His Highness, and half by my Wu army. To Fan Man, this is just a warning." Zhuge Ke said carefully: "But Fan Man is a barbarian, he may not be able to understand my good intentions of Wu Yue. It is said that he knows the situation of my big man, but he probably has not read the Taishi Gongshu, and he may not be wiser than King Yelang. He wants to be higher than me It is also possible to come down. Your Highness has come here all over the country, so we must guard against it."

Sun Shao didn't speak all the time, but just listened to what Zhuge Ke said, drinking coffee slowly.Generally speaking, although he felt that Zhuge Ke was not like his father, Zhuge Jinsheng, nor his younger brother Zhuge Qiao who was adopted by his uncle. That bookworm Sun Deng is more to his liking.

To start a full-scale war with Funan, it is of course good to have one more ally. With Wu on land to hold him back, it is of course better for him to attack at sea than to deal with it alone.Zhuge Ke had this thought, and it fell into Sun Shao's arms. He used deceit to force Sun Deng to send troops, so he couldn't negotiate with Fan Man. Wasn't it just for this purpose?

Seeing that Sun Shao didn't speak, Zhuge Ke knew that he was waiting for him to make an offer, but he didn't have much choice.Sun Shao's army is a navy, and he has the upper hand at sea. He has created a brilliant record of easily annihilating the opponent's 3000 navy—the more than [-] Funan navy are still working as coolies in the cabin—he can Fight if you can win, and leave if you can't win. Wu Guo is not the same. This time he won the battle because he was prepared, and Fan Zhan cooperated very well, so he ran into the ambush circle without any defense ——Zhuge Ke is still a little puzzled. It is said that Fan Zhan is also a battle-tested person. How could he be so careless?He didn't know that Fan Zhan had been exhausted by Sun Shao's headhunting conference, and he was in a trance, so he broke into his ambush circle ignorantly. Of course, this had something to do with Fan Zhan's mental habits. Thinking that the Han people would wipe him out completely, this is not very humane.

"This time we won the battle mainly because we restrained the opponent's war elephants very well. The forest was narrow and the war elephants were attacked in a hurry. We treated Fan Zhan and the soldiers on the ten war elephants as soldiers in the first blow." As the target of the attack, it can be said that Funan people have no time to react at all, and the first contribution is those pits, and those pits took a lot of energy from site selection to covering up." Zhuge Ke sighed, and said with a serious expression: "In the future When the two armies confront each other, it is impossible for the opponent to give us such ample time to dig a hole, we must find a good way to deal with the war elephants between the two armies, otherwise, this will still be our nightmare."

"Yuan Xun, win without being arrogant. It's not easy to cultivate your state of mind." Sun Shao sighed, half-seriously and half-jokingly said: "Wu Guo has you, if you can cooperate, then you are a good ally, if you can't, you It is my strong enemy. Should I think about it, or should I take precautions."

Zhuge Ke's face tightened, and he looked at Sun Shao subconsciously. Sun Shao's expression was serious, and he didn't seem to be joking, but seemed to be really thinking about this issue.No matter how smart Zhuge Ke was, after all, he was just 20 years old. In addition, he was familiar with the events in history that were hated because of his cleverness.

Sun Shao looked at Zhuge Ke without saying a word, and saw that Zhuge Ke was fidgeting, and then he suddenly laughed with a "chi", this smile, like a spring breeze breaking the ice, blows away the dark clouds that are getting heavier and heavier in Zhuge Ke's heart See you when the clouds clear.Zhuge Ke said with a smile: "Your Highness is just joking. Your Highness himself uses soldiers like a god, and has more capable generals under his tent. Among other things, Zhou Boying is the son of the governor, and his ability to use troops is not inferior to mine. If there is a day when Wu Guo wants to fight , I am afraid that without His Highness going to battle, he will make me helpless."

Sun Shao couldn't help laughing out loud. He pointed at Zhuge Ke in an old-fashioned way and said, "Yuan Xun, you are so quick-spoken. Not only do you want to help yourself out of trouble, but you also want to help Zhou Boying. Besides Zhou Boying, do I have to find someone else?" Can't reach your opponent? Xiao Zhuzi, you seem so proud."

Zhuge Ke blushed, and he didn't hide his little thoughts from Sun Shao.

"However, don't worry, not to mention that I have never thought of fighting Wu Guo on the battlefield from the beginning to the end. Even if I did, I would not be such a villain. I would rather compete with you in a dignified battle." Sun Shao said with emotion: "You don't know, it's not easy to find a close friend, but it's even more difficult to find a suitable opponent. Meng Degong and Yun Changgong are old, and the heroes of the world belong to you and me. Yuan Xun, we are now A close friend, even if you will become an opponent in the future, you will still be an opponent who cherishes each other. Even if I have all kinds of tricks, I will not use them on you. Of course, I hope that we can always be friends, otherwise I will not always deliberately ignore you is you."

Zhuge Ke was inexplicably grateful. Just as Sun Shao said, from the very beginning of their acquaintance, Sun Shao tortured him intentionally or unintentionally. On the one hand, he tempered his character. Shao is a loyal minister who can't take the bait. Now that Sun Shao regards him as the king of Yue and his achievements in the world, he gives him such a high evaluation. How can he not make Sun Shao his confidant?
"Your Highness, if Ke is not talented, how dare you confront His Highness." Zhuge Ke bowed and bowed: "Ke is willing to work together with Your Highness to defeat Funan and spread my might as a great man thousands of miles away."

"Very good." Sun Shao nodded: "Wei has Cao Ziwen, and Wu has Zhuge Yuanxun. They are all heroes of the younger generation. I don't know what kind of people from the Shu Kingdom can compete with you. I am really looking forward to it." He paused for a moment, and then said: "The capital city of Funan, Temucheng, is far away from Rinan. It is not easy for Fan Man to gather a large army, and it is not easy to rush to Rinan. Moreover, it will take a long time for the army to move, and it will consume a lot of money. If he only uses his own soldiers, he must guard against the rebellion of the subordinate country, and the troops will be scattered. If he recruits the soldiers of the subordinate country, it will not last long, otherwise the hearts of the people will fluctuate, and he will collapse without fighting. I personally think that he should seek Make quick decisions, rely on the tyranny of war elephants to tear through your defenses, and directly defeat your army. There are two strategies at the moment. One, you stick to Xijuan City and attack the city. That is my specialty in the Central Plains, Funan people If you attack the city, even with the help of war elephants, you can only hold your troops under the fortified city, as long as you defend the city, you can win without fighting."

Zhuge Ke pondered for a moment, but shook his head, expressing his disapproval.Sun Shao looked at him encouragingly, and Zhuge Ke said: "If you are trapped in Xijuan, you will be slaughtered by him outside the city. The people will be restless. If there is no success in one year, you will fall into famine next year. It is dilapidated, and letting the King of Funan drive straight in will inevitably affect morale and is not good for the defenders. Besides, this time Fan Zhan invaded Funan and we completely wiped it out. If the King of Funan enters Funan, we must at least severely injure him. , but we don’t have that strength.”

"Then, I have another way." Sun Shao was not angry at all, on the contrary he seemed very happy. Zhuge Ke had already considered it thoroughly, which showed that he had already made plans.He went on to talk about his plan: "There is another way, which is to fortify Changshan. This has the advantage that it will not affect Nichinan's cultivation, at least the grain is guaranteed. Rinan is hot and ripe, Three crops of rice a year are enough to supply the army. Moreover," Sun Shao twitched the corner of his mouth, revealing a smirk: "The army is fighting fiercely on Changshan, and the battlefield is your choice, so you can dig holes calmly."

Zhuge Ke smiled, but was still a little worried: "Although there are dense forests in Changshan, there are no barriers. I have also noticed that Changshan is not very tall, and the waves on both sides are gentle, so it is not a suitable place to block. , If it is just an ambush, it is still possible, but it will be used as a defensive position for a long time, it seems that the location is not good enough. Moreover, the Changshan Mountain is nearly a hundred miles from the north to the south, and we have insufficient troops to defend against it."

Sun Shao rolled his eyes, thought for a while, and asked, "Then how did you plan?"

Zhuge Ke cupped his hands and gave a salute: "Ke has an opinion, and I want to discuss it with Your Highness."

"It's okay for Yuan Xun to be blunt."

"His Royal Highness is in the navy, and our army is in the land battle. It's just that the number is too small, so we are stretched. The county soldiers are still recruiting, and the crown prince has already asked the king for help. If the king agrees, he may transfer the Guiyang area." The large army entered Jiaozhou to participate in the war, but firstly, it is not certain, and secondly, the time is too late. In addition, the long-distance travel makes it difficult to transport the luggage. Ke is bold and wants to ask His Highness to help, firstly, to help our army transport food and troops, and secondly I would like to ask His Highness to send someone to help us garrison Changshan. With His Highness's help, we can drag King Funan to Changshan. At that time, His Highness will use the navy to attack the coastal areas, making him difficult to look at, exhausted, and not within three months. , Funan will be exhausted, and I, Wuyue, will be victorious, so he can't help but stop fighting and negotiate peace."

"Do you want me to send people to assist you in fighting?" Sun Shao's smile became a little weird: "Is this your idea, or Zigao's idea? You were reluctant to ask me to send troops into Nichinan earlier."

Zhuge Ke smiled: "It's my idea. After weighing it over and over on the way here, I feel that we, Wu and Yue, should fight side by side and make unified arrangements, so that we can block the revenge of King Funan and protect the results of the battle. This idea has not yet been released." If you have time to explain to the crown prince, don’t be foolish, first ask His Highness for advice, if His Highness thinks it is useful, I will go back and report to the crown prince, the crown prince is wise, I think he can see the situation clearly."

Sun Shao secretly laughed, Zhuge Ke really has the qualifications to be a powerful minister, and he is bold enough to talk about cooperation with him on his own initiative without Sun Deng's consent.He nodded calmly, "It's not a problem to transport troops and food. I can send some merchant ships there. The sporadic pirates along the way don't think they have the courage to use the military food. As for the matter of sending troops to cooperate, I can promise you that as long as Zigao doesn't object, I can send 1 people there to help people guard Changshan, but let's put it bluntly, you will be responsible for the supply of food, grass and ordnance for my 1 people."

Zhuge Ke smiled faintly, "Your Highness, 1 people are too many, and five thousand is enough."

Sun Shao turned his head and looked at him: "You are sure!"

Zhuge Ke nodded solemnly: "I'm sure! Your Highness is an elite and brave soldier. One is worth ten, and five thousand soldiers are enough to be fifty thousand."

Sun Shao snorted, Zhuge Ke said it seriously, but in fact he was still thinking about it.If the army of Yue State is really 5000, I am afraid that the dominance of the battlefield is not in Wu but in Yue. Zhuge Ke is unwilling to be controlled by others, so he wants to keep the number to a minimum. His biggest purpose may be to create the impression that Wu and Yue are one. , Let Funan King have some scruples, and then use these [-] people to contain him, and then let him send money and food, so he can't easily get out of the matter.

At such a young age, his calculation speed is really good. This person is like a sharp dagger. After this time of tempering, his sharpness has been revealed.

"Five thousand? OK!" Sun Shao pondered for a moment, then nodded affirmatively: "In principle, I agree with your suggestion, but you'd better discuss the details with Zigao before deciding. A few words from you. Although Zigao is lenient, my uncle is a very guarded person. You are a newly developed sharp sword, and if it is sharp, it will be beneficial, but you are still a little old-fashioned. Don't be kind and make it happen Bad thing." He smiled, and patted Zhuge Ke's shoulder meaningfully: "I don't want such a good friend and opponent to hide the treasure box for some inexplicable reasons just after showing their due light."

Zhuge Ke was grateful and bowed to pay tribute.

(End of this chapter)