Fang La asked:
"Does the military advisor have any strategy to defeat the enemy?"
The lame Taoist said:
"Your Majesty, have you ever heard that Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, fought against the odds, and the hundred and two Qin Passes finally belonged to Chu?"
In 208 BC, after Qin general Zhang Han suppressed the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, he conquered Handan. The anti-Qin armed forces Zhao Wangxie and Zhang Er were forced to retreat to Julu and were besieged by Qin general Wang Li with 200,000 people.
Zhang Han led his 200,000 troops to camp in Jiyuan, a few miles south of Julu, and built a passage with earthen walls on both sides directly to Wangli Camp to provide food and grass.
Zhao general Chen Yu led tens of thousands of troops to camp in Julubei, but he did not dare to rescue because of the small number of soldiers.
King Huai of Chu sent Song Yi as the general and Xiang Yu as the second general, leading 200,000 troops to rescue Zhao.
After Song Yi led his troops to Anyang, he remained stationary for forty-six days.
Very dissatisfied with Xiang Yu, he went to Song Yi and said:
"The Qin army has surrounded Julu. The situation is so urgent. Let's cross the river quickly and attack the Zhao army from both inside and outside. We will definitely defeat the Qin army."
Song Yi said:
"We'd better wait until the decisive battle between Qin Army and Zhao Army."
He said to Xiang Yu again:
"When it comes to fighting the enemy in battle, I can't compare to you; when it comes to sitting in a tent and coming up with strategies, you can't compare to me."
Xiang Yu said:
"There is no food in the military camp, but the general is standing still. He does not care about the country and does not care about the soldiers. How does he look like a general?"
The next day, Xiang Yu took advantage of the court meeting to draw his sword and kill Song Yi.
He raised Song Yi's head and said to the soldiers:
"Song Yi betrayed the king. I have executed him on the king's order."
So the soldiers embraced Xiang Yu as their general. Xiang Yu's killing of Song Yi shocked the country of Chu and became famous among the princes.
Later, he led all his troops across the Yellow River to rescue Zhao State and break the siege of Julu.
After all the Chu troops crossed the Zhang River, Xiang Yu asked the soldiers to have a hearty meal and each man to carry three days of dry food, and then issued an order:
"All ships are sunk and cauldrons are broken."
It means to sink the boat crossing the river into the river, smash the cooking pots to pieces, and set fire to all the nearby houses. This is called burning the cauldron and sinking the boat.
Xiang Yu used this method to express his determination to advance without retreating and to win.
In this way, the soldiers of the Chu army who had no way to retreat were equal to ten, and the sound of killing was earth-shattering.
After nine fierce battles, the Chu army finally defeated the Qin army.
Some of the Qin army's generals were killed, some were taken prisoner, and some surrendered.
This battle not only lifted the siege of Julu, but also defeated the Qin army until it could no longer cheer up. In two years, the Qin Dynasty was destroyed.
The bravery and skill of the Chu army greatly enhanced Xiang Yu's prestige. After the victory, when Xiang Yu met with the princes at the gate, all the princes did not dare to look at Xiang Yu.
Fang La pondered:
"Given the topography of Hangzhou, I'm afraid there won't be a suitable river to fight against."
The lame Taoist said:
"When the war begins, Your Majesty can order people to close the city gate. The city gate is closed, and our army has no way to retreat but to fight to the death."
Deng Yuanjue said:
"Military advisor, our army is not as good as Xiang Yu's army. They lack combat experience. When faced with a desperate situation, they may not want to fight desperately, but surrender to save their lives."
The lame Taoist said:
"General Deng, don't worry. I will send the Taoist soldiers to the front. When the imperial army is defeated in one fell swoop, your people only need to cheer and beat down the drowned dogs."
Everyone is worried that the early fighting will cause the rebels to collapse. Since the Taoist soldiers can defeat the enemy in one battle, the rebels only need to pursue the victory. Children can fight this battle, so Fang La and the generals naturally have no objections.
Fang La said:
"I feel very relieved now that the military advisor has a complete plan in mind. If the military advisor has any requests, just tell me and I will fully cooperate."
The lame Taoist said:
"Pindao needs 200,000 young and strong soldiers, and he also needs tents for 200,000 soldiers."
There are millions of rebels, and it is not difficult to select 200,000 young and strong men from them.
As for the tents for the 200,000-strong army, it is actually difficult to find them. After all, the rebel army is not a regular army and does not need to march long distances. There is no corresponding configuration.
Fortunately, the city of Hangzhou is relatively prosperous and there are many cloth merchants. It is actually very fast to recruit cloth and rush to make tents.
Three days later, everything was ready. The lame Taoist set up a formation outside Hangzhou City, and the gates of Hangzhou City were suddenly closed.
Facing the sudden closing of the city gates of Hangzhou, there was a commotion among the army, and the lame Taoist sent an order:
"The gates of Hangzhou City are closed, and His Majesty has arranged archers on the city walls. Anyone who dares to retreat and try to return to Hangzhou City will be shot to death by random arrows.
We have no retreat. Only by defeating the attacking enemy can we gain a chance of survival.
Your Majesty said that if you kill one enemy, you can get a hundred taels of silver. If you win this battle, everyone will have no worries in the rest of their lives. "
If it is a group of veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time, the lame Taoist's words will definitely arouse everyone's fighting spirit.
However, the rebels were a ragtag group of people. Seeing that there was a dead end in front of them and there was no way out behind them, many people thought about how to surrender in order to save their lives.
Although the morale of the rebels was low, the lame Taoist was not afraid. Even with only 30,000 Taoist soldiers charging into battle, a temporary victory was still possible.
What's more, the lame Taoist has a better strategy.
Since the rebels have little fighting spirit, if Mao launches an attack rashly, except for the Dao soldiers, the other rebels may not charge, and the battle line will be too long, which is detrimental to their own side.
The lame Taoist decided to go on the defensive and separated the 200,000 rebels and let them hide in tents with twenty people in each tent.
Without his orders, the rebels could only hide in their tents, and those who disobeyed orders would be dealt with according to military law.
Thirty thousand Taoist soldiers followed the lame Taoist's orders to patrol between the camps and strictly enforced the lame Taoist's orders.
Hearing the footsteps outside the tent, the rebels in the tent were afraid of being beheaded, so they carefully hid in the tent, not even daring to move for fear of losing their lives.
In order to survive, he temporarily chose to huddle up. He could not decide whether to live or die by himself, but the sense of humiliation spread in his heart.
Despite this, if you open the tent with your own ability, you will definitely die.
If everyone works together to open the camp, they will definitely not be afraid of the Taoist soldiers, but no one knows what others think.
Even if twenty people in a camp can discuss it, everyone will form a rope and move forward and retreat together.
However, the number of people in each camp is limited, and it is impossible to break through the blockade of Tao soldiers.
If they were given another chance to choose, they would definitely choose to fight the enemy bravely.
At this time, Tao soldiers opened some tents and said they would be given another chance to choose.
Rather than hiding in a tent and not being able to decide life or death by themselves, the rebels are still willing to fight bravely to kill the enemy.
The lame Taoist left 20,000 Taoist soldiers to continue to monitor the rebels in other camps, and let the 10,000 Taoist soldiers merge into the 60,000 rebels who left the camp, for a total of 70,000 people.
Tong Guan's first wave of attacks dispatched an army of 50,000, against the lame Taoist's army of 70,000.
In addition to the 10,000 Taoist soldiers controlled by the lame Taoist, the lame Taoist's 70,000 troops can kill the enemy bravely, regardless of their own safety.
The other 60,000 rebels also held it in for a long time, and were infected by the bravery of the Taoist soldiers. They charged one by one without risking their lives.
Tong Guan's first round of arrows killed hundreds of Dao soldiers and thousands of rebels.
Next, the heavy armored cavalry charged and harvested hundreds of Taoist soldiers and tens of thousands of rebels.
In the third round, the shield soldiers charged, and hundreds of Dao soldiers and thousands of rebels were lost.
After three rounds, according to normal circumstances, the remaining rebels should have been defeated.
However, the rebels were fighting with their last resort and had no way out. Tong Guan did not surrender, and there were Taoist soldiers watching eagerly from the side. Coupled with the anger they were holding back in the camp, the rebels inexplicably ignited their fighting spirit and rushed forward regardless of their own safety. enemy.
The archers were killed, the shield soldiers were scattered, the heavy armored cavalry were pulled down by the desperate Taoist soldiers, and the battlefield situation reversed.
The Taoist soldiers and the rebels fought for their lives, and Tong Guan's imperial army was so frightened that they abandoned their helmets and armor and fled for their lives.
In this battle, the Lame Taoist lost more than 5,000 Taoist soldiers and 30,000 rebels, and killed nearly 30,000 enemies.
As agreed, Fang La opened the city gate, welcomed the remaining 4,000 Taoist soldiers and more than 20,000 rebels from the battle into the city, and gave them a large reward.
