Liu Fan came to his senses and said, "Just let me lead the vanguard, that is, my own 7,000 troops, to follow the demon thief and search forward, right?"
Liu Yi nodded: "Exactly, keep a distance of thirty to fifty miles from the army of monster thieves. If they turn back to fight, just retreat a little. My army is fifty miles away from you and will come to meet up with the enemy. Before the army arrives, repair the fortifications, establish positions, and wait for the demon thieves."
Liu Fan curled his lips: "What about the waterway? What if the demon thief's fleet suddenly carries a large number of troops and inserts directly into our rear, cutting off our food route and return route?"
Liu Yi smiled and said: "Don't worry about this. If the army marches from land, I will definitely send naval warships to follow along the river and search the river. If the enemy has a large fleet coming from the river, it will not be hidden. It will definitely We will find out. We can depend on the situation at that time. If the monster thieves attack in a large fleet, it means that they want to lure our main land force to attack, and then use the navy to rush forward and cut off my return route. This I have to consider this possibility. So, you said we can still advance with little force, do you want the result of annihilating the enemy?"
Liu Fan suddenly realized: "It's the eldest brother who thought it through, but the younger brother was just abrupt."
Liu Yi put away his smile and said seriously: "In land battles, I have never been afraid of what the demon thieves can do. The most they can do is lay an ambush. They fight head-on against our elite soldiers of Beifu. When have they defeated us even once in the past ten years? And? This time, the demon thief first withdrew the navy fleet, threatened to attack Jiangling and capture Jingzhou, and then secretly withdrew the main force of the army. I can't judge now whether they are really retreating or luring the enemy."
Liu Fan nodded: "Indeed, Xu Daofu's tactics are very cunning. It's hard to guess his true intentions. It's better to stick to the key points. As you said, Jiangling is a strong city in the world. Even if the monsters and thieves attack Jiangling on both land and water." , it’s not something we can do in ten months, we have time to observe their intentions while moving forward.”
Liu Yi shook his head: "But if it is another situation, that is, the monster thieves do not attack Jiangling, but rush back to Jingnan, or even Lingnan, to reorganize the defense line along the river and block the mountains, then we cannot let the tiger go back to the mountain. We must Attack quickly. This time the demon thieves rebelled and swept through most of Jingzhou and the entire Jiangzhou within a year, allowing them to seize a large amount of military provisions and baggage. This was completely different from the embarrassing look when Liu Yu drove them to the sea. If they were allowed to retreat with hundreds of thousands of men and women, as well as He Wuji, Liu Daogui and the several years of reserves they had used to attack Lingnan, I am afraid that our army would not be able to attack Guangzhou within five years. "
Liu Fan opened his eyes wide: "In this case, we have to attack quickly to pursue the demon thieves, right? Then how can we judge whether they are going to return to Guangzhou?"
Liu Yi pointed to the camp in front: "Have you seen the enemy camp in front? The main force of the monster thieves retreated, and the new attached troops were guarding the camp here to delay, but these newly attached rebel thieves are not fools, they are mostly bandits from nearby. The grass bandits just want to occupy the mountain and become the king. They only want to take refuge with the demon thieves to take advantage of them. If they see the demon thieves retreating and leaving themselves here to die, they will scatter like birds and beasts. However, these people alone cannot see Is the demon thief really retreating, or is he pretending to lure the enemy?"
Liu Fan laughed: "So, only by looking at those who have been following the demon bandits for more than a year, preferably the Dong barbarians from Lingnan, and see if these people are also on the run, can we know whether they are really defeated or not. Fake collapse.”
Liu Yi's eyes flashed coldly: "Yes, all the tricks can deceive us, but they can't deceive their own people. The two thieves Lu and Xu can abandon the rabble they have gained this year, but they have been fighting against them for many years. The elite soldiers, including the barbarians recruited and trained in Guangzhou, will never give up. As you move forward, you must pay attention to search for the fleeing soldiers. If a large number of Lingnan boxing barbarians also begin to break up and flee, it means that The demon thieves are really eager to return to their hometown. At this time, the enemy's army has lost its morale and is vulnerable. We have to catch up and seek a decisive battle with them before they escape back to Wuling."
Speaking of this, Liu Yi paused: "There is another thing. If the demon thief abandons a large number of baggage and even abandons the captured women, this will be a repeat of Sun En's old plan during the rebellion in Wudi. In order to get rid of Liu In pursuit of the prisoner, he threw down some of the stolen money and food, women, to tempt our soldiers to fight for it. On this point, you must restrain your subordinates. The reason why I let you be the vanguard is not to let my own troops be the vanguard. , do you know why?"
Liu Fan laughed: "Because I have been following Liu Yu to fight Nanyan for more than a year, the soldiers are accustomed to listening to Liu Yu's tactics. Private plundering is strictly prohibited, and it is even more strictly forbidden to miss the opportunity due to plundering and mess up the formation. To be honest, because For these military disciplines, I have killed hundreds of sergeants and even junior colonels here."
"But brother, the situation here is different. Your military orders do not prohibit privateering. Many of the elite soldiers who came to join you were also because they were under too strict control at Liu Yu's place and there was not much benefit after the war. As for those who defect to you, after all, if you risk your life to fight, if there is not enough reward, then why fight? Liu Jinu said that he wanted to fight for a peaceful world and for the people to live and work in peace and contentment. If this is his sincerity, then it is true. Noble and respectable, but what good does this do to ordinary soldiers? He shed his blood and sacrificed himself in exchange for a good life for others. Unless you are a person who is completely convinced by Liu Yu, it will be difficult to accept his tactics."
Liu Yi sneered and said: "He is just pretending to be benevolent and righteous to trick others into giving up their lives. It's a pity that he did ten good things, but he couldn't help Liu Daolian being greedy in Xuzhou for three months. We old brothers joined Beifu together and knew each other well." , everyone came here to seek wealth, why did Liu Yu get the wealth in the end, and others could only pick up the rest? We brothers who joined the army together in the uprising were like this, let alone ordinary soldiers. That’s why I’m here to show you that after the battle, as long as you win, the things will belong to the brothers, and I won’t make it easier for outsiders. As for the fame and title, how many soldiers can get it?”
Liu Fan said sternly: "So, brother, you are afraid that your subordinates will miss something because they want to grab things, and even give temptation to the enemy, leading to another defeat at Wuqiao Ze. Therefore, you want my subordinates to be in front, just to chase and follow the enemy." , no privateering on one side, right?"
Liu Yi's eyes flashed coldly: "Yes, if the enemy army really dropped money and food all the way, woman, there would be no warships on the water going down the river, and the troops recruited in Guangzhou would be greatly dispersed during this dispatch. That means the demon thief is really eager to go back. At this time, we have to pursue him immediately. Fan, I leave this judgment to you!"
(End of chapter)
