(All rights reserved. Reproduction is prohibited!) First published in Adventurer's Paradise.ezla.com.tw)
When the Yellow Turban Army arrived at the place where the Han Army was originally stationed, it was already close to dusk. Just as their troops were about to give the order to set up camp, a soldier under Cheng Yuanzhi's command arrived at the front line with Cheng Yuanzhi's military order, requesting that the entire army not build a resting place at the original location of the Han Army's camp, but instead set up camp in a nearby empty space.
Although the troops who received the order were filled with doubts, they did not dare to ask. They only nodded and said yes to convey the order to the soldiers who were camping.
Rebuilding a camp in the wilderness that could only stay for one night before setting off immediately could be said to be very expensive, because the construction foundation of the camp was mainly trees, and there was a lot of wood. Thus, Cheng Yuanzhi's order undoubtedly confused the entire army. They even needed to use more manpower to cut down wood to supply the composition of the camp. Moreover, if the Yellow Turban army could borrow the equipment left behind by the Han army, it would save a lot of time, manpower, and money.
Very quickly, Cheng Yuanzhi's abnormal behavior entered Ma Yuanyi's ears. As Cheng Yuanzhi was one of the two generals in the army, even though Ma Yuanyi was puzzled by his order, he could not refute it. He only first appeased his close subordinates and responded by asking Cheng Yuanzhi why he did this. However, after Ma Yuanyi sent away several generals who did not know what Cheng Yuanzhi was up to, he did not immediately go to find Cheng Yuanzhi. He only continued to pace back and forth in the temporary tent.
"Brother Ma seems to have something on your mind?"
Perhaps Ma Yuanyi had been thinking about why he didn't set up camp at the original Han Army camp, so he didn't notice that Cheng Yuanzhi was already leisurely sitting on the soft mat that was temporarily arranged.
"Ah... Yuan Zhi is you…That camp…"
"Brother Ma, do you want to ask why I insist on the Yellow Turban Army encampment outside the camp of the Han Army?”
"Yes... I know that you are more resourceful, Yuan Zhi, but after thinking about it, I really don't understand why we need to spend so much manpower and money. Moreover, tomorrow morning, the two armies will fight immediately. If our army goes smoothly, we can pass through the 'black forest' and directly reach Luoyang City. Why do we need to work here? There's no need for that!"
Cheng Yuanzhi seemed to carefully ponder over Ma Yuanyi's words before nodding his head and saying,""Brother Ma is right. Doing this can indeed save a lot of expenses. However, did Big Brother Ma go to the camp where the Han army was stationed and see the current situation in the surroundings?”
"No!" Ma Yuanyi said suspiciously. What was there to see in this wilderness…Eh? Yuan Zhi, isn't there something unusual about you asking this?”
Cheng Yuanzhi pondered for a while before replying,""Yes... After all, Lu Zhi was a famous military general in the Han Dynasty. Moreover, after the unpredictable variables that appeared during the assassination of Lu Zhi last time…Actually, I had thought that this move was unnecessary, but I still made this decision out of caution…Just now I went to the place where the Han army had set up camp and carefully examined the surroundings. As expected, the retreat of the Han army was not as simple as it seemed!”
No matter how ignorant Ma Yuanyi was, he roughly understood what Cheng Yuanzhi meant. When he heard Cheng Yuanzhi's words, he hurriedly asked,""Did Yuan Zhi discover some tricks that could put our army at a disadvantage? Hey! I thought that this old fart Lu Zhi retreated because he knew that it would be difficult for him to contend with my army. I didn't expect that this dog army had secretly set up some shameful little tricks. However, what kind of trick did Yuan Zhi use when he discovered Lu Zhi?”
"We will explain to Big Brother Ma in the tent that it is difficult to know his methods. How about the two of us bring some soldiers to the scene to take a look?”Ma Yuanyi nodded in agreement, and the two of them left the tent and led about a hundred troops to the camp where the Han army was originally stationed.
About a hundred steps away, they arrived at the place where the Han army had set up camp yesterday. The two of them sent their generals to guard the surroundings and went straight to the center of the camp.
Cheng Yuanzhi pointed at the few intact stoves around him and said,""Brother Ma, look! This is also why I asked Brother Ma if he had seen any traces of the Han army encampment. I came here to observe for a few moments and vaguely felt that the Yellow Turban Army should not have been able to gain the upper hand and force the Han army to retreat so smoothly. As expected, I discovered that the Han army had increased a lot. There were at least 30,000 of them…Moreover, they were the best equipped heavy infantry.”
Ma Yuanyi scratched his head and asked,""Yuanzhi, I feel that what you are saying now is too profound. How can these broken stoves be related to the increase in the strength of the Han army?”
Cheng Yuanzhi pointed at the stove and said,""When marching, a stove can be used by about a hundred people. Therefore, if this army has ten thousand soldiers, the stove will be about a hundred. I had carefully calculated that Lu Zhi's current military strength was at most eighty thousand. If one stove was measured by a hundred stoves, the number of stoves in the Han army would definitely not exceed one thousand. However, today, I have re-calculated the number of stoves left by the Han army. There are more than one thousand three hundred stoves. This means that Lu Zhi has somehow transferred about thirty thousand fresh troops, and they are the heavy infantry of the infantry.”
Ma Yuanyi nodded in agreement, but then asked suspiciously,""I see! Yuanzhi, I can understand your deduction of reinforcements, but why are you so sure that it's heavy infantry?”
After hearing Ma Yuanyi's question, Cheng Yuanzhi's expression seemed to have a feeling of "good question" as he continued to answer,"This is what I learned after observing the surroundings. Originally, I thought that the Han army shouldn't have reinforcements and that they were just setting up a trap to lure us in. However, after confirming the surrounding environment, I confirmed that the reinforcements were definitely not fake!”
"Oh! What is it?"
"Yes, although the surroundings are overgrown with weeds, because the fog has been heavy for the past few days, many clues are difficult to hide. I found that the soil in the southeast and southwest directions was filled with footprints of shoes. They were deep and obvious, but there were very few horse hoof prints. I think Lu Zhi must have thought that we didn't notice any reinforcements, which means that the reinforcements are mostly on foot. Because of the heavy equipment on their bodies, it was easy for them to leave footprints in the wet soil when they were marching. Therefore, Yuan Zhi was sure that it was heavy infantry!”
Cheng Yuanzhi's analysis was logical and logical, which made Ma Yuanyi's suspicions disappear. However, the increase in Han reinforcements was indeed a very troublesome matter. Since Cheng Yuanzhi had such insight into the situation, he definitely had a solution. With this in mind, Ma Yuanyi continued to ask,""The increase in the Han army's strength will definitely affect our plan to invade the south.”
Cheng Yuanzhi walked back and forth a few steps." I don't think much of Lu Zhi's reinforcements. What I'm worried about is that once Lu Zhi enters the Black Forest, there's only one official road in the forest. It's a very suitable place for ambushes. Even though the Han Army's strength is less than half of ours, the art of war is also a trick. As long as they plan it well, perhaps the Yellow Turban Army will be completely wiped out here.”
After understanding the seriousness of the matter, Ma Yuanyi was clearly flustered and didn't know what to do. Seeing this, Cheng Yuanzhi put his hand on his shoulder and smiled.""Brother Ma, don't worry. Lu Zhi thinks highly of himself and will definitely think that this plan is flawless. We just need to beat them at their own game and split the Yellow Turban Army into two. Big Brother will lead half of the soldiers and horses and pretend to be fooled, making them think that we're like turtles in a jar. When the Han army's ambush is out, Yuanzhi will immediately lead his troops to surround us from the front and back. How about it?”
"That's great, I knew Yuan Zhi would have a way! I'll go back and prepare now. I hope we'll be drinking and eating meat in the Black Forest tomorrow night…Hah! Hah! Ha!"
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]