They were celebrating a moment ago, but now they saw Li Yuan's face was gloomy. The generals were naturally confused and looked at each other. Liu Jiangsheng seemed to have seen some clues, and suddenly whispered: "Everyone, the Han army outside Tanzhou City is It was led by its commander Pan Chongche himself. If they were defeated by our army, the 30,000 Han troops outside Yiyang City could not remain indifferent and should quickly return south to support their commander..."
Zhu Kuangcong gasped and continued in a deep voice: "What Liu Du said is true! If Pan Chongche is defeated, the Han army outside Yiyang City will become a lone army, and they will have no choice but to withdraw. In this way, Yiyang City will be When it’s time to relieve the siege, the movement of the Guards will be smooth, so why is there no news?”
After hearing this, the generals probably understood about seven or eight points. They all looked nervous and looked at the commander Li Yuan who was contemplating.
After recruiting his own soldiers to spread out the map on the table, Li Yuan immediately summoned the generals to form a circle around him, took a deep breath and muttered: "Liu and Zhu both said it is true! But now There is no news from Yiyang City, which can only mean that the Guards are still under heavy siege by the Han army. If the Han army outside Yiyang City remains unchanged, I am afraid that there will be something fishy in the battle report..."
Xu Kuangheng's eyes were heavy and unwavering. He swallowed and raised his hands and asked: "Is there something fishy in the battle report? Does the commander-in-chief mean that Pan Chongche is pretending to be defeated? But the price of defeat is too high. Not only did he lose three thousand The soldiers even gave up the siege of Tanzhou City for many days! In this case, wouldn't all the previous efforts be wasted?
You must know that Tanzhou was the capital of the Chu Kingdom in the past. Didn’t Liu Cheng, the leader of the Han Dynasty, come to annex the Chu land this time when he went to war..."
Zhu Kuangcong on the side stared at the map for a while, then suddenly slapped his head and shouted: "No! Who said they gave up Tanzhou City? Take a good look, if Pan Chongche is really as the commander-in-chief said, he will be defeated with a sheep." Didn't we fall into a trap by deceiving our army? Just now, the soldiers were informed that Fan Duzhang had led his troops back to the north! Wouldn't there be Wu'an Army left in Tanzhou City now? If Pan Chongche makes a comeback, Tanzhou City is afraid It’s going to be tight again…”
These words seemed to be reasonable. The generals around him were stunned by Zhu Kuangcong's words and could not refute them for a while.
But Li Yuan waved his hand, frowned and said: "What you said makes sense, but if it is true, Pan Chongche's title as the number one general in Han Dynasty is probably just an illusion. He is really stupid. What is a defeat? A loser must win in order to win, and yet Pan Chongche’s main force of 20,000 Han troops has been reduced by 3,000 before victory. This strategy of defeat is too rough!"
Zhu Kuangcong said with some dissatisfaction: "Commander, Fan Dushi's subordinates are all light cavalry. The Han army has always been dominated by infantry. The outside of Tanzhou City is flat and open, which is conducive to the cavalry charge. In addition, the city The Wu'an army cooperated internally and externally, and it is normal for three thousand people to be killed or injured!"
Liu Jiangsheng shook his head and said: "Twenty thousand soldiers and horses are lost to three thousand. That is not a sheep defeat, but a real defeat!"
"True defeat? If it was a true defeat, why is Yiyang City still under siege?"
Seeing everyone arguing among themselves, Li Yuan suddenly choked up, because he was already confused in his heart. He intuitively told himself that there must be a fraud, but he couldn't tell what the mystery was. It was a bit of a headache to deal with Pan Chongche, a military general with a long-lasting name in history. According to records, his tactics were always varied and adapted to local conditions, but the historical records did not describe the battles he participated in in too much detail. .....
"Eternal God Emperor"
After a while, Xu Kuangheng's deep voice was heard to stop the generals' commotion, and he said: "Generals, whether it is a real defeat or a sheep defeat, the fact that the Han army has not withdrawn outside Yiyang City at the moment shows that Pan Chongche's troops are still useful. , we should deduce the direction of their troops, which is the most important thing at the moment!"
As if a flash of lightning flashed in his mind, Li Yuan came to his senses, walked through the crowd and walked to the messenger, and asked anxiously: "Is there any mention in the battle report where Pan Chongche was defeated?"
The messenger had just stepped back to one side knowingly. When he saw the commander personally coming to ask, he quickly put aside his laziness, straightened his chest and cupped his hands and replied: "Come back, commander! How dare a villain neglect such a military aircraft?" ? They reported it to the commander-in-chief verbatim! At that time, the villain listened carefully, and the messenger sent by Fan Dushi only said that the Han army had retreated, and did not mention where they were defeated!"
"That's all!" Li Yuan immediately waved his hand to dismiss the ordering troops, and then without any further thought, he stood back in front of the map, leaned over and raised his hands to fumble for the eye-catching signs above, and murmured to himself: "Tanzhou... .Chenzhou...Yiyang..."
When the generals saw that the commander was thinking seriously, they immediately stopped arguing and did not dare to say anything to disturb him. They all lowered their hands and stared at the map in front of them.
"...If the Han army abandons Tanzhou and goes north to join Yiyang...it is impossible. Both the north and the south are enemy territory, and now they are completely alone...to the east is In the Tang Dynasty, there are also deep valleys and broken walls to the west, so it is impossible..."
When his eyes suddenly moved to the south, Li Yuan frowned and said suspiciously: "Going south means withdrawing troops. Could it be that Pan Chongche really withdrew south and abandoned all the troops and horses outside Yiyang City? This is even more impossible... ....”
Seeing with his own eyes that Li Yuan eliminated one possibility after another, and the generals became more and more confused, Zhu Kuang held a breath in his heart and couldn't help but said: "It's impossible to go anywhere here. Is it possible that the Han army can still be innocent?" Did they disappear for no reason? Maybe the Han army never left at all?"
Xu Kuangheng held his chin and shook his head and said: "Fan Dushi has always been cautious and prudent. If the Han army had not retreated, how could he have sent such a battle report? From what I see below, Fan Dushi is confident that he will lead the army back to the north. There is no doubt that the Han army will go south. Retreating is not mentioned in the battle report, which is normal. Going north and east is an 'advance', not a 'retreat'..."
"I see..." Li Yuan suddenly said in a deep voice, then he tapped his fingers heavily on the map, shook his head and sighed: "Pan Chongche is indeed a famous general!"
The generals looked eager for knowledge and urged eagerly: "What do you mean, Commander? Please give me your instructions!"
At this time, Li Yuan had put aside his worried look, and nodded with bright eyes: "Mr. Xu is right! Fan Dushi has always been cautious. He said that the Han army was defeated and returned to the north. Pan Chongche must have led his army to the north. Retreat south!
Everyone, please see, there is an inclined road heading south to Chenzhou. After walking for thirty miles, you will reach the mouth of the valley. There are two roads here, one going south and one going west. Do you understand? "
Following the direction pointed by Li Yuan, the generals hurriedly looked for it, only to see the winding inclined road going south from Tanzhou on the map. Sure enough, it branched into two roads in a forest sign, one of which was the official road to the south. The outline with a thick brush is very eye-catching, but the other westward path only draws a subtle and frivolous curve. If Li Yuan hadn't reminded it, it would be impossible to distinguish it at first glance.
Xu Kuangheng thought carefully for a while, and suddenly realized, before he could say anything, he saw Liu Jiangsheng shaking his head and frowning: "If you go west, this road is not easy to walk. There are many dense forests in the rugged area along the way, and there are mountains eighty miles away." Water barrier…”
At this point, Liu Jiangsheng gradually showed a horrified look: "This! Crossing the Yuanshui River, isn't it the direction of Dongxi?! Could it be that Pan Chongche wants to cross Dongxi? We have just been teaching..."
