The words are divided into two parts.
Zhuge Jin, Mi Zhu, and Zhang Fei were in Haixi County at the rear, working hard on various plans for the follow-up counterattack.
But for their plan to be implemented, there is a major prerequisite, that is, Liu Bei and Guan Yu must defeat Ji Ling and Liu Xun on the main frontal battlefield, and then Zhang Fei can pursue the victory and expand the results.
Otherwise, even if Zhuge Jin helps Zhang Fei make a plan for the follow-up attack on Guangling, it will be nothing but death.
Fortunately, on the frontal battlefield in Huaiyin County, the day of decisive battle is finally coming. In the past few days, Liu Bei and Guan Yu have done really well.
On the eve of the decisive battle, everything was unusually quiet.
Liu Bei and Guan Yu defended the city tightly, guarding against the enemy's various small moves. At the same time, they also paid their soldiers generously to block news and boost morale.
On the day Zhuge Jin arrived in Haixi, Yuan Jun's Liu Xun troops still had one day's journey to reach Huaiyin County.
Ji Ling, who had been here for four days, finally stopped after the initial fickleness of changing methods and subsequent setbacks.
As mentioned before, on the second day after arriving in Huaiyin, Ji Ling made various propaganda in order to let Liu Beijun know the bad news of "Xiapi was stolen" as soon as possible. In the end, Liu Bei stopped him and lost hundreds of people. , quite damaging to morale.
In the next two days, Ji Ling tried twice more.
One time, they built hundreds of flying ladders and some vine shields and wooden barriers for archers to shield them from the rain of arrows, and conducted a tentative ant attack.
This time, his army succeeded in getting very close to the enemy, and the soldiers also carried out his orders.
While charging and fighting hand-to-hand, they shouted lines to the city such as "Xiapi has been lost! The Xuzhou army should flee back to their hometown!"
It's a pity, because Liu Bei had already completed the trick of singing and measuring sand that Zhuge Jin taught him the day before, and he had also given extra meals to the soldiers for two days.
So when Ji Ling spread it again, no one believed it at all.
Liu Beijun strictly preached to the soldiers, saying that this was all a trick by the enemy to shake the morale of our troops.
There were a few individuals who insisted on spreading rumors, and Liu Bei had no choice but to enforce military law with heavy hands.
We can't blame Liu Bei for being unkind, after all, kindness cannot control troops.
In any ancient dynasty, anyone in the army who dared to spread unfavorable rumors about one's own side and shake the morale of the army would be killed without mercy.
Such careful blocking, combined with kindness and power, and supplemented by deception,
In the end, all Ji Ling's attempts to spread unfavorable information have ended in vain.
During the whole process, Ji Ling lost many people.
In the two days of siege, a total of one to two thousand people were killed and wounded.
And because Ji Lingjun attacked hastily with very crude siege weapons, the casualty exchange ratio between the two sides was very high. The total casualties of Liu Beijun on the opposite side were less than a hundred.
In the case of relying on the defense of the city, this ratio is not exaggerated at all and belongs to Guan Yu's normal performance.
And compared with the casualties of these two thousand people, Yuan Jun's greater loss lies in the invisible level of morale.
When Ji Ling first arrived, Yuan Jun's morale was high when he learned that Xia Pi had been stolen.
Even the sentries responsible for night patrols and preventing camp robberies were wide-eyed and energetic.
In the past few days, the strong attack has produced no results, and the enemy has not been interested in spreading the news.
Instead, Yuan Jun began to suspect that all this was fake news deliberately created by Liu Bei to lure the enemy!
The purpose is to deceive Ji Ling, a fool, into thinking he has an opportunity, and then storm the Huaiyin city wall, wasting the lives of the soldiers on these rammed earth!
In the camp, the wounded soldiers took advantage of the opportunity when there were no outsiders, and they all complained about Ji Ling's nonsense. Even the sentries who patrolled the anti-robbery village at night began to doze off and couldn't cheer up at all - this could be regarded as the first serious loss Ji Ling suffered from Zhuge Jin.
Although when he suffered a loss, the old Yinbi who caused him to suffer a loss was no longer in Huaiyin City.
But who can let someone with a high rank, linger around the city, and continue to shadow you after everyone has left?
At this point, Ji Ling was completely out of options.
I'm tired, don't bother anymore, just be surrounded like this.
…
After Ji Ling stopped, another day passed. On the afternoon of the fifth day of August, Liu Xun's army of 13,000 to 4,000 men finally arrived belatedly.
The reason why there were only 13,000 or 4,000 was of course because the Lei Bo tribe under his command was severely damaged by Zhang Fei, most of them were wiped out, and more than a thousand cavalry were lost.
Ji Ling hastily arranged some water and wine in the Chinese army's tent to greet Liu Xun. After three rounds of drinking, the two of them talked about their experiences in the past few days and couldn't help but feel depressed.
"This battle is not easy to fight. What the hell did Liu Bei do? He sent envoys to Lu Bu, but we haven't heard back yet. We don't see Lu Bu willing to join us in attacking Liu Bei. Could it be that there is really a deceit?"
Ji Ling and Liu Xun quickly unified their thoughts and almost all agreed on this possibility.
They didn't know that the reason why Lu Bu on the Xiapi side did not disclose any accurate information or respond to Ji Ling's sentry was entirely because Lu Bu also hoped that Liu Bei and Yuan Shu could continue to stalemate and both sides would suffer.
This is beneficial to Lu Bu, otherwise historically he would not engage in "shooting halberds at the gate" in the future.
Chen Gong, Lu Bu's chief adviser, also has a wait-and-see attitude towards Liu Bei at this moment. Seeing that Liu Bei was half surrounded by Ji Ling, they were not in a hurry to catalyze Liu Bei's collapse.
As a result, Lu Bu's complete silence made Yuan Shujun fall into even greater suspicion.
The final result of Ji Ling and Liu Xun's discussion was naturally to continue to stand still and watch.
Fortunately, on the first night after Liu Xun arrived, the night patrol troops were still very vigilant.
After all, Liu Xun's troops had not been weakened by siege battles like Ji Ling's troops.
They can only treat losses in the field as accidental, and they can try to block the news to reduce the impact.
However, this kind of vigilance cannot be maintained for a long time.
Nothing happened on the first night, and it was still the same on the second night. Liu Xun's night patrol sentries quickly began to be assimilated by Ji Ling's department and gradually became slack.
If Liu Bei and Guan Yu choose to attack tonight, they already have a considerable chance.
But it's a pity that Liu Bei and Guan Yu can't open their eyes. They don't know how long the other party can be vigilant, so they have to wait a little longer.
Watching the sky in the granary go down day by day, the corn covering the sand on the "Singing Chip Sand" becomes thinner day by day, and the sand will be exposed if you dig deeper.
Liu Bei knew that he only had one chance, and it was a matter of life and death.
Finally, on the fourth night after Liu Xun arrived, Liu Bei made up his mind.
He asked the soldiers to sleep well during the day in advance, and then ordered them to prepare meals at the third watch and attack at the fourth watch.
…
On the eighth day of August, it’s midnight.
Guan Yu, who had been sleeping since the afternoon before, got out of bed full of energy.
Under the service of the attendants, he washed and dressed, had a hearty meal, drank a bowl of ginger and garlic tea to refresh himself, then slowly dressed himself neatly, picked up his knife and mounted his horse.
Liu Bei's army still had a thousand cavalrymen in Huaiyin.
Most of them were the sudden cavalry brought by Liu Bei from his hometown in Youzhou, including the "Wu Wan mixed barbarian cavalry", but the Wu Wan people among them were also completely naturalized as Han Dynasties.
There are also a few who are local to Xuzhou.
But tonight, whether they were Xuzhou cavalry or Wuwan cavalry, these thousand cavalry were all given to Guan Yu's direct command, and Liu Bei did not hold back at all.
Before opening the city gate, Liu Bei personally poured wine for Guan Yu Zhuangxing:
"Second brother, I will leave all these thousand cavalry to you tonight. You first try your best to sneak attack and break through Liu Xun's camp. Brother, I will lead the main force of 10,000 infantry, and then follow up to fight the enemy decisively!"
When fighting at night, if there are too many people, chaos will occur, and if there is too much movement, the probability of being discovered by the enemy in advance will also be greatly increased.
Therefore, since ancient times, the main force of the army has rarely been used to rob camps.
They have to first use a small group of elites to react quickly to confuse the enemy, and then the main force will take advantage of the enemy's chaos and attack it with all their strength when the sky is about to get dark.
Gan Ning's hundred cavalry raiding Cao's camp is a typical example. It didn't use many people at all, but it made the enemies panic and kill each other.
Liu Bei's men are now depleted of talent, and even Zhang Fei has been sent away. He and Guan Yu can only work together to support tonight's event.
Guan Yu also read a hint of sadness in his elder brother's solemnity, but he was not worried.
He just drank three bowls in a row and wiped the wine dripping on his beard with his sleeve:
"Brother, don't worry! Ji Ling and Liu Xun have been exhausted by our army for many days. They suffered several defeats and lost thousands of troops. Although there are many others, there is nothing to fear!
What's more, it has been raining continuously for days, Huaiyin is located in a low-lying area, and the enemy troops stationed outside the city must be miserable. How can the combat power be compared to that of my army's recharged men!
When the fire breaks out in Liu Xun's camp, just go out with all your strength! "
After that, Guan Yu smashed the wine bowl and rode out of the city gate.
…
Guan Yu's one thousand cavalrymen had titles, their horses were restrained, and their hooves were wrapped in torn linen cloth.
Rushing out of the south gate of Huaiyin City, rushing towards Liu Xun's camp seven or eight miles away.
The weather tonight is actually not suitable for setting fire to the camp.
Because the autumn rain has not completely stopped, and there is mud and stagnant water in the low-lying areas, even if you drop the torch, it may not be able to burn immediately.
What's more important is that in this kind of weather, if the cavalry carries a torch with them and marches for more than ten miles in a hidden state with the torch out, if they want to light a temporary fire when using it, it is very likely that it will be damp and unable to light it.
However, although it is not conducive to setting fires, the sound of rain is surprisingly good at concealing the movements of a surprise attack party.
When Guan Yu galloped to the last mile or two outside Liu Xun's camp, there was no movement on the other side, nor did he encounter any night patrol cavalry.
Guan Yu was very puzzled. He felt that even if Liu Xun was incompetent, he should not allow his cavalry to slack off to such an extent.
In siege warfare, the cavalry is very idle, but the infantry has to constantly repair fortifications, build siege weapons, and shoot or attack. The cavalry only needs to supervise the battle during the day and is not tired at all. Shouldn't they patrol the night and provide security for the army at night?
But how did Guan Yu know that just five days ago, nearly 60% of Liu Xun's cavalry strength was given to Lei Bo, the restless Huoshan bandit?
He was killed in an ambush by his third brother Zhang Fei.
At present, Liu Xun couldn't even get a thousand horses together, so he had no choice but to relax his night patrol.
In this case, Guan Yu is not polite.
