The Three Kingdoms Voyage

Chapter 264 Pirate Empire Digging Pit
Under the guidance of Zhuge Ke, Guan Feng inspected the Wu army's positions in Changshan. Looking at the deep ditches, Guan Feng smiled and said to Zhuge Ke, who was in color on the opposite side: "My king has always praised you for digging holes. Some people don't believe it, but looking at it now, it is indeed true. You dug the pit well, and you can persist until now. These pits are the first achievement of yours."

The corner of Zhuge Ke's mouth twitched: "This is also a blessing in disguise. The three to four thousand soldiers we recruited who are capable of fighting have all been added to General Lu's battalion. The rest are not very good at fighting, but only digging holes."

Although Jiaozhou has been merged into the border of the Han Dynasty for a long time, the management mode has always been different from that of the mainland. Jiaozhou is far away, the people are tough, easy to chaos and difficult to govern, and there are many indigenous people. Management, that is, the power is exercised by local powerful tribal leaders. The court only collects a symbolic tax. In name, the prefecture belongs to the big Han. Guiliu canceled the privileges of Luo Jiang and Luo Hou, and implemented the same taxation as the mainland, which aroused the resistance of the natives. The sisters led the rebellion, which lasted three years before being suppressed by General Fubo Ma Yuan.In order to ease the conflict, Ma Yuan partially restored the Luo Jiang system as a compromise.

Because of this, the soldiers in Jiaozhou did not practice martial arts as often as those in the Central Plains. Of course, after Emperor Guangwu abolished the capital test system, the people and soldiers of the Han Dynasty were basically separated. The people of the Eastern Han Dynasty were far inferior to those of the Western Han Dynasty. civilians are as familiar with the military.This is the case in the Central Plains, and Jiaozhou is even worse.In the past 30 years, the Central Plains has been in turmoil, and the boundaries between the people and the soldiers have been reduced. Wei, Shu and Wu have successively established the military system, and the elite soldiers in the hands of the generals are not comparable to ordinary county soldiers.Zhuge Ke said that these county soldiers can only dig holes and can't fight, which is basically not an exaggeration.

"In this way, the two sides are fighting to waste." Guan Feng said with a smile: "With the national strength of Wu, the people of Funan are not opponents, right?"

Zhuge Ke smiled wryly: "The queen doesn't know something. Now we are not using the power of Wu to deal with Funan, but the power of Jiaozhou to deal with Funan. The seven counties of Jiaozhou, the richest Nanhai is already the land of your country, and the remaining six counties Among them, Nichinan suffered a lot last year. If it can hold the front line of Changshan this year, it would be good if Nichinan can complete the food supply. Other materials need to be transported from Hepu and Jiaozhi, and they are all rented from Yueguo The merchant ship, the Queen is also clear about it. The strength of Funan Kingdom should not be underestimated. It has been very difficult for us to support it until now. The casualties of soldiers are not small, and the consumption of arrows and firelights is also very alarming. I hope your country can Provide more support."

Guan Feng smiled and said nothing, and Shi Bao on the side curled his lips: "The supplies from my country of Yue didn't fall from the sky, so how can I give them to you for free, let you think about it, if you pay a little money, you all seem to eat it." It seems like a big loss. Even if you want to buy it now, we may not be able to sell it to you. We keep it for our own use, and after defeating the Funan people, we can share more of the spoils."

Zhuge Ke stroked the beard that had just sprouted from his lips, and smiled awkwardly: "Now Wu Yue is an allied army, so it should be reasonable to communicate with each other. Isn't it too much for Zhong Rong to ask for money at every turn?" Tiny?"

"I'm just a petty person." Shi Bao rolled his eyes and said shamelessly: "It's not like you don't know that we are going to Funan this time to seek justice for businessmen. You guys Dafang, didn’t we also ask for money to subsidize our food?”

Guan Feng coughed, interrupting Shi Bao's crying.Shi Bao is used to taking advantage of Sun Shao, and has reached the point where he is not ashamed, and he doesn't know how such a handsome young man who pays great attention to his appearance was nurtured by Sun Shao into such a virtue.

"Yuan Xun, what is your prince's plan?" Guan Feng said to Zhuge Ke very seriously: "Is he planning to continue to stick to the front line of Changshan to ensure the safety of Nichinan, or is he planning to fight a big victory?"

"A big victory?" Zhuge Ke was very surprised. He touched his chin and thought for a while, then winked at the guards around him. The guards understood, and immediately led people to guard around.Zhuge Ke cupped his hands at Guan Feng, and said sincerely: "Dare to ask the queen, can we still win a big battle?"

Guan Feng didn't answer him directly, but smiled meaningfully: "Yuan Xun, Shuai is the courage of the three armies, if the crown prince just wants to defend Nichinan and stop the Funan people from attacking this time, then all he can do is It is impossible to win big battles. If the crown prince has the courage and courage to conquer Nichinan in one battle, severely injure the people of Funan, and never have the strength to attack Nichinan within ten years, then he must first If you have the guts and want to make this contribution, you can think in that direction. Don’t you think so?”

Zhuge Ke's heart skipped a beat.To be honest, don't talk about Sun Deng, let's just say that he himself only wants to defend the Changshan defense line, and he doesn't want to further injure the Funan people. After all, the strength of both sides is there. Whether they can withstand the impact of the Funan people is a question.However, what Guan Feng said is right, if you don't even dare to think about it, what is the possibility?If Rinan is to be stable for a long time, it is obviously the best way to severely injure the Funan people and hurt them.Zhuge Ke remembered the battle of Daibei, where the famous general Li Mu became famous. He did not fight for several years, and the Huns dared not invade the border for ten years in the first battle. This kind of battle is the battle of fame.

"Queen, could it be that His Royal Highness King Yue conquered Temu City by himself, and couldn't severely injure the Funan people?" Zhuge Ke said lightly, suppressing the excitement in his heart.He was very worried that Guan Feng was using Rinan as a bait to keep the main force of Funan in Funan to relieve Sun Shao's pressure. In that case, Wu Guo would really be making wedding clothes for Yue Guo.

"He wants to hit the Funan people hard, but as you know, he only has more than 1 people. If there are no accidents, it is basically impossible to attack the special pastoral city. The best result is to cut down the elephant of the Funan country. Nose, get the power in the sea." Guan Feng didn't hide anything, and explained Sun Shao's basic plan.What she said was indeed Sun Shao's idea, Zhuge Ke is not an idiot, he knew that this battle plan is more realistic, and there is not too much whimsy. The city was indeed too difficult, so after thinking about it for a while, he believed in Guan Feng's sincerity.

"Queen, if we can win a big battle, it is of course a dream." Zhuge Ke said cautiously: "However, the Funan people have twice as many troops as me, and with the help of war elephants, it is not a problem for us to hit them hard." It's easy. If you are not talented, do you dare to ask the queen if she has any plans?"

Guan Feng smiled confidently: "Yuan Xun is cautious, I can understand that. Yuan Xun, although there are more than 3 Funan people, they are not scary. You have also seen that the fighting power of the Funan people is not as good as our Yue-Wu coalition army." Far away, the main reason why they are strong is because of those war elephants, if there is no way to restrain these war elephants, then of course the Funan people will have the upper hand, but if they can restrain these war elephants, what else will the Funan people have?"

"What method does the queen plan to use to restrain these war elephants?" Zhuge Ke asked.

Guan Feng raised three fingers: "Lure the enemy to go deep, use fast to attack slow, and use heavy artillery."

Zhuge Ke pondered for a moment, his eyes gradually brightened.He saluted Guan Feng: "The queen, please enter the camp to rest first, and I will immediately report the queen's three strategies to the prince." After obtaining Guan Feng's consent, he left the Vietnamese army camp in a hurry and went straight to Sun Deng's camp. residence.

"Hit the Funan people hard?" Sun Deng was stunned for a moment, as if he heard something funny, he couldn't help laughing. "is it possible?"

"Possible." Zhuge Ke explained the three countermeasures proposed by Guan Feng in detail, and finally said: "Prince, if you can severely injure the people of Funan, then Rinan will be able to enjoy long-term peace and stability, and the reputation of the prince will spread throughout Jiaozhou. Doubt the prince's ability to use troops? Prince, if the Funan people cannot be severely injured, then even if this battle can be won, it will only be temporary. "

Sun Deng remained silent. Of course he knew that Rinan was in trouble, otherwise he wouldn't have appeared here. This is a trap.

"Prince, Yuan Xun is right." Xie Jing said slowly: "Jiaozhou is already recruiting soldiers for the second time. If the problem cannot be solved this time, then there will be no third time. Something unexpected, I'm afraid..."

Sun Deng glanced at Xie Jing, put down the book in his hand, and looked at Zhuge Ke in a daze: "Yuan Xun, tell me the truth, are you sure?"

Zhuge Ke was taken aback for a moment, raised his head to meet Sun Deng's gaze, thought for a while, nodded heavily, and said, "I'm... sure."

"Well, this matter... I will leave it to you." Sun Deng pointed at Zhuge Ke: "General Lu is injured and cannot command the battle. I will let you take full charge of this battle with the Vietnamese army. You But don’t be careless.”

Zhuge Ke took a step back, prostrated himself on the ground, and replied loudly: "Here."

Sun Deng hosted a banquet to welcome Guan Feng, Sun Shangxiang and others, and then handed over the general power to Zhuge Ke on the grounds of poor health, and Zhuge Ke was fully responsible for cooperating with Guan Feng.Guan Feng knew that Sun Deng did this because on the one hand, he was unwilling to fight side by side with her female class as a prince, and on the other hand, he could not bear the serious consequences of defeat, so he had to find a way out in advance.If he wins, Zhuge Ke deserves credit, and so does he. If he loses, of course he still cannot escape responsibility, but the main responsibility will be borne by Zhuge Ke. At most, he is at fault for employing unknown people, and the consequences of direct command failure are still different. of.

Guan Feng could understand Sun Deng's approach at this time, and she agreed. Besides, she also felt that it would be more refreshing to cooperate with Zhuge Ke.On the contrary, Sun Luban was very dissatisfied with Sun Deng's cowardice, and muttered something secretly.She had always hoped that Sun Deng could take the lead and go to the front line like Sun Shao, but Sun Deng was really incomparable with Sun Shao in this aspect.

According to Guan Feng's plan, Wu Jun will still fight on the main battlefield, but she supported Zhuge Ke with many arrows and crossbows.The two sides fought in Changshan for another half a month. The Wu army still used strong crossbows and fire attacks to deal with the elephant soldiers of the Funan people, and Fan Chang also patiently used the war elephants to continuously test and consume the elite strength of the Wu army.Zhuge Ke asked the soldiers of the Yue army brought by Guan Feng to replace those county soldiers who could only help and help defend, and at the same time withdrew those county soldiers who were good at digging pits and short of fighting to the rear, and started the big battle at the chosen place. After a large-scale digging movement, after everything was ready, the Wu army in Changshan slowly showed an unsustainable decline. Finally, after a fierce attack, Fan Chang's war elephants broke through the formation and fell thousands of miles away.

Looking at Wu Jun who was rushing like a wolf, Fan Chang was not in a hurry to pursue him. He first sent scouts to inquire about the news in Rinan.One day later, the scouts reported that the rice fields in Nichinan had just been harvested, and the people had already evacuated. The reason why the Wu army persisted until now was to cover the people from harvesting, and the Wu army was retreating rapidly. They ran nearly a hundred miles in one day. A lot of ordnance and banners were left behind on the road, and it was obvious that their morale had collapsed and they were unable to fight any more.

Fan Chang looked up to the sky and laughed loudly. While ordering people to hunt in all directions, he led the army across the Changshan Mountain and chased after him. His speed was not fast, and it didn't matter how far the Wu army ran. His purpose was not to kill or wound these already defeated troops Wu Jun, but the whole of Rinan, he will keep driving Wu Jun away, drive Wu Jun out of Rinan, and even drive out Jiuzhen.

In the next ten days, the Wu army organized several ambushes and counterattacks. However, in front of the Funan Army led by more than 100 war elephants, their counterattacks were very weak, and they were often defeated at the first touch. However, Wu Jun is only responsible for his duty, and he has to make an all-out resistance, but he has no fighting spirit in essence.

After more than half a month of cautious marching, Fan Chang walked out of the jungle of Changshan, only a hundred miles away from Xijuan City.Sitting on the back of the war elephant, Fan Chang looked at the endless plains and smelled the hot wind that already smelled a little like the sea. He was in a very good mood. The mission of attacking Nichinan was more than half completed, and Wu Jun was driven by him. Run, it is no longer possible to be his opponent.As long as Xijuan City is conquered, Rinan County will be his.

Fan Chang began to think about how to conquer Xijuan City.War elephants are very useful in field battles, but their power is greatly affected during siege. In addition to impacting the city gates, the huge size of war elephants will become the key target of the defensive crossbows erected at the top of the city.Unlike ordinary hand-held crossbows and kicking crossbows, city defense crossbows are very powerful. As long as one or two arrows are shot, a war elephant will be sacrificed.It was not easy to train a war elephant. He didn't want to waste the war elephant under Xijuan City, so he had to think of other ways.

Fan Chang was very attentive and discussed the plan of attacking the city with his generals in the camp until late at night.When it comes to siege and defense, they know that they are no match for the Han people, and how to restrain the defensive crossbows makes them troubled. Not to mention the leather armor they are using now, it is like the iron armor worn by the Han people. The front of the crossbow is also vulnerable, not to mention the size of the war elephants, it is not unrealistic to put a layer of iron armor on them.

At the end of the discussion, they decided to adopt the method of besieging the city. Now that their troops have an absolute advantage, it is not a problem to surround Xijuan City. If the Wu army has reinforcements coming, it will save them walking and kill them directly under Xijuan City. .

The generals dispersed. Although Fan Chang was very tired, he still couldn't sleep. Seeing that he could enter Xijuan City and complete the task his father had given him, he was a little inexplicably excited.He sat up, carefully wrote a letter of victory, and planned to send it out the next day.After finishing the paperwork, it was already midnight. He opened his mouth wide, yawned, and fell down on the camp couch. Just as he closed his eyes, there was a rush of footsteps outside.Startled, Fan Chang turned over and sat up, looking energetically at the captain of the supply battalion who walked in.

"what's up?"

"Prince." Seeing that Fan Zhang hadn't slept, the captain of the supply battalion was relieved. He stepped forward to salute, and then said hastily: "The subordinates just counted the number of people and found that there are fewer soldiers outside collecting firewood and water. 53, and several wounded soldiers who escaped said that they were attacked by people of unknown origin."

Fan Chang frowned, thought for a moment and asked, "Are they on orders?"

"It's still the same as usual, all in groups of five and ten."

"No." Fan Chang waved his hand, "Now that we have reached the territory of Nichinan, and we are about to approach Xijuan City, those cunning Wu people can't be in a hurry. They will definitely send people to intercept and kill our soldiers and interfere with our army's morale. .From tomorrow, 50 people in each group, no single action is allowed."

"Yes." The captain of the supply battalion responded, turned around and left the tent.Fan Chang sat there and thought carefully, then suddenly smiled.He remembered that when Fan Xun went to Xijuan City to negotiate, he once visited the captured soldiers of Fan Zhan's tribe. Some soldiers once said that the reason why Fan Zhan withdrew from Xijuan hastily and was ambushed by the Wu army at night was because he was attacked by the Wu army at night. The attack was launched, and hundreds of people died within three or four days, which made things messy.Now Wu Jun has come to repeat the old trick again, trying to scare Fan Chang away, is it that easy?
Fan Chang fell asleep with a disdainful smile.In the dream, he broke through the city of Xijuan. The princes of Wu and the king of Yue all knelt down in front of him and bowed their heads to him. In the smile, there was the frustrated face of his brother Fan Jinsheng.His father patted him on the shoulder, smiling all over his face, and seemed to want to say a few words of comfort, but suddenly, his expression changed, he raised his head to look at the sky suddenly covered by dark clouds, and shouted:
"The big thing is bad!"

Fan Chang was startled, and sat up abruptly, seeing the startled bodyguard, the bodyguard showed a frightened expression: "Prince, Lord Wu, please see me."

Fan Chang rubbed his eyes, glanced at the outside of the tent that had just seen the morning light, and waved his hand: "Let him in."

Early in the morning, the personal guard startled Fan Chang's dream. Seeing that Fan Chang's expression was not good, he didn't dare to stay longer, so he hurried out.Immediately afterwards, General Wu from the scout battalion came in, looked at Fan Chang's face, and said apologetically, "Prince, I interrupted your rest."

"Hey, it's okay. You must have something important to see me right now?" Fan Chang smiled tolerantly.

"Yes." General Wu's expression tightened, "Of the twelve teams of scouts we sent out yesterday, only five teams came back, and they are the latest five teams."

Fan Chang understood as soon as he heard it, and smiled lightly: "You still follow the previous habit, five people in a team?"

General Wu was taken aback, and nodded quickly.

"Now that we have arrived in Rinan, it is the plain familiar to Wu people, not the jungle we are familiar with, why are you still in a team of five?" Fan Chang lowered his face, "From now on, a team of 20 people, don't give An opportunity for the Wu people to sneak attack."

General Wu suddenly realized that he admired Fan Chang so much that he turned around and left.Fan Chang snorted coldly. Most of these people used to follow Fan Jinsheng to counter the rebellion in Funan. They were still not prepared enough for going abroad. I blame myself. I was only thinking about attacking Xijuan City yesterday and forgot to tell them. .But then again, if it wasn't for the supply battalion to report first, and he knew the news from Fan Xun, he would never have imagined that the Wu people would make such a trick.When a large army is fighting, it is normal for the scouts of both sides to attack and kill each other, but it is still rare to specially organize manpower to attack the single scouts and soldiers of the supply camp.

This method is somewhat unreasonable.

Of course, the current Wu Jun is no longer on the table. They were driven by him for hundreds of miles in one breath, going deep into the territory of Nichinan, and they were about to hit Xijuancheng, the county government.

"Come on, let's see if these little tricks of yours can stop my majestic formation." Fan Chang sneered.

……

In Meng'ang Bay, three hundred miles away from Jinchen Kingdom, Fan Man sat on a boulder covered with moss, staring at the foam-covered coast in the distance and remained silent.The sky is shrouded in dark clouds, low enough to be almost connected to the sea. A gust of sea wind blows the waves, beats the woodcutters on the shore, and smashes pieces of seawater like emerald jade into foam. The big trees around are torn by the wind. There was a rattling sound, the thick tree body shook and groaned.

Fan Man turned a deaf ear, her sharp eyes fixed on the distant sea.Sun Shao has been walking with him for more than a month, and his ghost has been haunting him. Every night, the shadows of Yue scouts will appear around his camp. More than once, he has seen the boats of Yue scouts passing by the sea in a majestic manner. , and Sun Shao's sailors often appeared in their field of vision for demonstrations. The arrogance revealed from the bones made the soldiers' anger accumulate to the verge of explosion, but Fan Man remained silent. , just headed towards Jin Chen and marched in a hurry.

The Funan people have no navy, and they can only vent their anger on the innocent woods beside the road for the provocation of the Yue navy.

Two days ago, Fan Man left the army and rushed over 100 miles a day and night to arrive here. He wanted to set a trap here, and the prey was the ecstatic king of Yue and his sailors.Meng Ang Bay is an inconspicuous small harbor, but Fan Man once ambushed a group of pirates here. He knew that Meng Ang Bay looked like a wide outlet, but in fact the water was not deep, and there were many hidden reefs underwater, like There are not many places where large ships like the Yue State Navy can pass.He has been controlling the speed of the march, just hoping to lead the Yue Kingdom Navy here, when the big storm is coming.

Everything is going according to his plan, a big storm is coming, and the navy of the Yue Kingdom, which has been accompanied by a large army, is at sea. They have nowhere else to go but venture into Meng'ang Bay.Entering Meng Ang Bay, those tall warships will suffer a lot of losses, and entering Meng Ang Bay does not mean that they are safe. On the contrary, Fan Man prepared a big gift for them.

An army of [-] and a dozen large cargo ships filled with boulders—made in Yue State.

(End of this chapter)