The fires on the entire mountain burned all night long, and even after dawn, thick smoke could still be seen rising from the thick trees.
Yuan Tan, who was sitting on the commander's chair in the Chinese military tent, looked depressed, his eyes dull as if he had lost his soul.
In this battle, of the 20,000 people who were burned, only more than 4,000 people came back, and many of those who came back were seriously wounded.
But as for Lu Jun, he lost nothing, not to mention the defenders on the hill, and they didn't even find the troops who went out to rob food. They just set a fire and ran away.
To this day, he still doesn't understand what happened.
How could Lu Jun handle everything perfectly as if he already knew his plan?
"There must be a spy in our army, otherwise Lu Jun on the mountain would not be able to respond like this. Please investigate thoroughly, sir!" Xin Ping said with red eyes and choked with sobs.
Well, there were close to 20,000 people here in one breath, and the opponent had almost zero casualties. This kind of casualty ratio was rare in history. Xin Ping felt that he was going to be nailed to the pillar of shame.
"Zhang Yang and his dozen or so people never left the camp from the beginning to the end. My people were personally monitoring it." Wen Chou said coldly.
If there is an insider, isn't it because he is suspicious of Zhang Yang? Not to mention that he doesn't know about the plan at all. Even if he knows, what's the use? He won't have a chance to go out.
"Zhongzhi didn't say it was Zhang Yang, maybe it was someone else."
Xinpi offered some help, but Wen Chou sneered, "Everyone who knows the plan is here at the Chinese Army Tent. Sir, please keep your eyes peeled to see who it is."
Yuan Tan turned a deaf ear to their arguments, and his whole body was as weak as if his spine had been ripped out.
Twenty thousand troops, that was twenty thousand troops, just gone.
Yan Liang also lost more than 10,000 people in Baima City, but that can be justified. First of all, Yan Liang himself was brave and arrogant, and he did not even go to the stronghold.
Furthermore, after all, Cao Jun sent thousands of elites and even used the tiger and leopard cavalry and the tiger and the brave men.
The most critical point is that it was not directed by Yuan Shao himself.
In this battle, Yuan Tan was the direct commander, and all faults would be recorded on his head. Once this incident spread to the battlefield to the west, even if Yuan Shao could not pursue it, relying on the harmony of the Yuan family brothers and brothers, Relationship, my good brother Yuan Shang will not be a mute.
This fire burned not only the 20,000 troops, but also their own future and life.
He knew very well that once Yuan Shang really became the heir, this brother would definitely not survive, because he also thought so in his heart. As long as he came to power, it would be inappropriate for this brother to stay for a long time.
In fact, this is why Yuan Tan united with Cao Cao to fight Yuan Shang during the civil war in the north, because he felt that he could at least maintain wealth and honor for life under Cao Cao, but if he fell into the hands of Yuan Shang, it would be a dead end.
what to do.
what to do!
Xu was thinking too much, Xu was really sad, Yuan Tan just felt like he had a splitting headache.
"Sir, the current situation is unfavorable, and the terrain is under attack by Lu Bu's army. It's better to retreat to the camp as soon as possible. Our army has 200,000 troops. Even though it has been reduced for a while, the strength is still three times that of Lu Bu. As long as the master can With strong support, the young master must have the last laugh."
Tian Feng gave a serious reminder.
From the beginning, he disapproved of fighting in terrain that was extremely unfavorable to his own side, but things had happened. As a counselor, he wanted to encourage Yuan Tan to cheer up.
After all, the advantage in military strength is still there.
Obviously, Tian Feng's words did have an effect, and Yuan Tan seemed to have reacted. Yes, as long as I achieved the final victory, it would be acceptable to lose some people in front.
It is human nature that people will always remember your most radiant moments and ignore the unhappiness behind them.
Although Tian Feng's military strategy has always been too conservative and stable, which is not useful for Yuan Tan who is eager to make achievements, but reaching this point has at least proved one thing. Tian Feng was right when he said not to compete with Lu Bu here. of.
He took a deep breath and adjusted his mentality. If I hadn't been so eager for success, I shouldn't have suffered such a defeat today. I need to take this as a warning!
Then, he looked around at everyone. The generals were waiting angrily for the Xin brothers, hating that they had framed someone and leaked the news even though their plan failed.
The Xin brothers have been supporting Yuan Tan for many years, so naturally they cannot pursue them because of this matter.
Yuan Tan quickly thought of a way to appease both sides. He stood up and walked to Wen Chou and others, saying solemnly: "This use of troops is my own fault and has nothing to do with anyone else. I hope you generals will not care about it."
As the eldest son of the Yuan family who is in power said this, a few people had to sell themselves to save face even if they were unhappy.
Yuan Tan walked towards the Xin brothers again and sighed, "I heard that Lin Mo's scheming, city planning, and strategies are all rare in a century. Although my master's plan is watertight, Lin Mo is also an extremely cunning person. He will probably be lucky enough to see through it." , we should be cautious in the future.”
"Lin Mo himself is at Qishan, but Dazhu is at the bottom of the mountain. He is really cunning." After finding the steps, Xin Ping hurriedly climbed down.
The burning of the mountain last night seemed crude and simple, but there were several layers of fog in the middle that were all seen through. This technique was so clever that ordinary people couldn't do it. After thinking about it, there was no one else but Lin Mo.
It was understandable for them to think so. The old scumbag was already a bitch, but in front of the dazzling Lin Mo, he seemed even more insignificant.
Who wants to believe that this thing is led by an unknown person.
Even if they knew it, they were more willing to believe that it was taught by Lin Mo.
"After this defeat, our army's morale has been frustrated. In addition, Qishan has been unable to be captured for a long time. I intend to retreat to the rear stronghold to rest and regroup. When the time is right, I will annihilate Lu Bu in one fell swoop!"
At this point, Yuan Tan has realized the harm caused by his greed for power, and he should take the initiative to give up this disadvantageous position.
learn from mistakes.
However, I still have to say this, because Wen Chou has always disagreed with the withdrawal of troops.
That's fine, by taking advantage of this defeat to exit this narrow passage, the advantages of his own army can be brought into play.
Wen Chou hesitated for a moment, unwilling to accept it, but he also knew that the current situation was not easy to be tough, so he could only bow his hands and say, "Here!"
As soon as he spoke, Zhao Rui and others behind him also took orders.
Yuan Tan was a little helpless. If he said it in front of his father, these generals would not dare to say anything, but he did.
In addition to his lack of prestige, Yuan Tan always believed that this had a lot to do with his failure to take over the throne.
But anyway, it's done.
After everyone left, Yuan Tan kept Tian Feng behind.
"Sir, there are only you and me here. Can you tell me what to do next?"
After the soldiers and the Xin brothers left, Yuan Tan shriveled up again and said feebly: "I always feel that as long as Lu Bu does not leave this passage, our military advantage will not be able to be used at all. If this confrontation continues for a long time, when will we be able to capture the Central Plains?" .”
Seeing that Yuan Tan could leave him alone to ask questions, Tian Feng was still very happy.
It was inevitable that he would be a little carried away after a small victory earlier, so this slap would be good to wake him up.
"To be honest, young master, I also feel that the only way to quickly defeat the enemy is to lure Lu Bu out of here."
"Could it be that Sir, you already have a solution?" Yuan Tan asked tentatively, his eyes full of hope.
"Sir, I actually have some guesses about Lin Mo, but I didn't dare to say anything unreasonable at first."
Tian Feng stroked his short beard and analyzed it carefully, "I suspect that the ambush at the beginning was deliberately done by Lin Mo. The purpose was to let us march and camp, so he seized Qishan in advance."
Yuan Tan rolled his eyes, which seemed to make sense.
"So, now that we are defeated and have retreated fifteen miles, Lu Bu may also advance the camp. Even if this geographical advantage is gone, we can use our strength advantage."
Hearing this, Yuan Tan frowned and asked: "But with our past experience, I'm afraid Lin Mo may not be easily fooled. He also understands that once he moves the camp, he will lose the advantage of this location."
Even Yuan Tan knew that Lu Bu would lose the two natural barriers of Juyangshui and Qishan once he pushed forward more than ten miles. In theory, he should not be so stupid.
"What the young master said is absolutely true, so we need to use some bait. This was inspired by Xin Ping." Tian Feng smiled slightly, quite calmly.
"Sir, do you want to expose the location of the grain and grass camp to Lu Bu?"
After a brief thought, Yuan Tan thought of this, "I understand, Xin Ping failed to lure Lin Mo with grain and grass. If he uses grain and grass as bait again, Lin Mo will definitely feel that he will not use it just now." He knows how to use two things at once, but is it easy to be fooled?"
It sounds pretty reliable, but Yuan Tan still doesn't agree.
The Grain and Grass Camp is more than thirty miles away from the Dazhai. The terrain is not steep but there is only one passage. Not to mention a person like Lin Mo who knows military skills, even he will not have rash thoughts about such terrain.
"Letting him find the grain and grass camp is only the first step. The key to the second step depends on one person in the camp."
"who?"
Tian Feng leaned a little closer and whispered: "Zhang Yang."
"Zhang Yang?"
Yuan Tan became more and more confused, "Sir, do you suspect that Zhang Yang is pretending to surrender?"
"To be honest, I really didn't believe Zhang Yang's sincerity at first, but then he dared to face the young master and asked to take back the bodies of Wei Xu and Hou Cheng. It didn't look like he was fake."
Tian Feng let out a long sigh, "But it doesn't matter anymore. Whether it's true or not, I have a way for him to trick Lin Mo into sneaking into our food camp."
"Sir, please tell me!" Yuan Tan immediately became interested. If he could trick Lu Bu's army into sneaking into the grain and grass camp, he would never return.
Tian Feng was still very cautious, saying that he had not forgotten to walk outside the military tent to make sure no one was eavesdropping before turning around and walking up to Yuan Tan, whispering in a voice that only the two of them could hear.
The more Yuan Tan listened, the more excited he became, especially when he heard about the use of Zhang Yang. His pupils suddenly gathered and he clapped his hands repeatedly, "Wonderful, so wonderful! As soon as this letter came out, no matter whether Zhang Yang surrendered for real or was a fake surrender, Lin Mo would definitely If you don’t believe what he said, the plan your husband laid out in the Grain and Grass Camp will naturally work!
Throw the bait first, then feign surrender, and finally close the net. It's a series of tricks! "
Yuan Tan rubbed his hands together excitedly and paced back and forth in the tent. Sure enough, the master could tell if someone was there as soon as he made a move. This was much smarter than Xin Ping's plan.
No wonder my father repeatedly told me to follow Tian Feng's advice before leaving. Although he was a bit pedantic and conservative, he was indeed a good soldier.
Yuan Tan, who was originally desolate because of the defeat, felt that a timely rain had arrived after receiving Tian Feng's guidance.
After a while, he calmed down a little before bowing to Tian Feng.
"Master, why do you do this great gift?" Tian Feng hurriedly helped him.
"Sir, you are a great talent, I should treat you as a scholar of the country!" Just kidding, this is not just as simple as defeating Lu Bu, it simply saved my life.
"Young Master, I have spoken seriously. I have received great kindness from my lord in my lower body, and I will repay it wholeheartedly even if I am heartbroken." Tian Feng was filled with emotions after receiving such a high reputation.
He really hoped that these words could come out of Yuan Shao's mouth, but it was a pity that there were too many villains around Yuan Shao now.
However, Tian Feng is an open-minded person. As long as he can help the Yuan family in the end, he will live up to the kindness of knowing him.
Others are not important.
Yuan Jun withdrew. He was very smart. He withdrew at night. He first took away the wounded soldiers, food and baggage, and left the empty camp guarded by the army.
When the time was almost up, the heavily armored euphorbias, advance campers and infantry were sent to cut off the rear of the three thousand cavalry.
Gao Shun and Zhao Yun who were on Qishan Mountain were the first to notice the situation, but he only had a few hundred Bingzhou wolf cavalry on hand and did not dare to pursue them rashly. He was also worried about fraud, so he could only send fast horses to report to Lu Bu.
When Zhang Xiu, Gan Ning and others came to join with the remaining cavalry, they only killed more than 400 Yuan Jun's cavalry, and hundreds of slower running infantry were also killed.
For tens of thousands of troops to evacuate, and to evacuate after a defeat, this price is already very small.
When he saw them driving their horses back, Lu Bu felt happy and said, "I said, except Jia Wenhe, who in the army can take on this important task? It's amazing."
They killed 20,000 soldiers of the Northern Army in one breath and brought back hundreds of horses, forcing Yuan Tan to retreat to the stronghold. However, Qishan only lost a few hundred soldiers. This was a crushing victory.
Lin Mo looked at all this with his arms folded and couldn't help but sigh, an old bastard is an old bastard, it's really amazing.
After reading the battle report, he also took a breath. Speaking of the fire attack strategy, it was not a very clever method. What Jia Xu showed in this battle was amazing reaction and coping ability.
He judged Yuan Jun's entire plan just through a group of grain trucks, and knew that a large number of Northern Army troops would gather in Qishan at night, so he decisively chose to attack with fire. All of this had extremely high control of timing and judgment of the battle situation. request, but he only completed it in an instant.
This is a ceiling-level strategist.
Chen Gong can't do it.
Lin Mo raised his eyes and looked at the horizon, feeling that he couldn't do it either.
"What about Yunwen? Now that Yuan Tan is forced to retreat, should we attack him in a big way and retaliate?" Lu Bu raised his eyebrows as he looked at Lin Mo, his pride evident in his expression.
Old father-in-law, you really can't win the battle, right? He shook his head in a funny way, "This place has an absolutely advantageous location. Giving up hastily will only make the same mistake as Yuan Tan."
Lin Mo was not anxious at all, because he knew that Yuan Tan was very anxious. As a person who had not been able to successfully compete for the throne in history, at this time, he was only thinking about his heir apparent.
"Aren't I worried that Cao Cao can't withstand Yuan Shao's 400,000 troops? You have to know that once he is defeated, we will have no chance."
Lu Bu's words were not just a matter of stance, but also made Lin Mo realize a problem again.
The current battle of Guandu is completely different from that in history. The possibility of Cao Cao's defeat is actually quite high.
He is always willing to take a prophetic perspective when thinking about problems now. He always feels that the internal conflicts within the Yuan family are the focus of his efforts. However, the reality is that once Cao Cao collapses, as his old father-in-law said, these tens of thousands of people will have no way to survive.
Lin Mo sighed heavily, maybe he should use this advantage to move the camp forward first.
Moving the camp forward is not only to improve morale and suppress the opponent's military morale, but sometimes the application of tactics will be more flexible.
Lin Mo looked at Qishan and Juyangshui, and was still reluctant to give up this natural geographical advantage, "Slow down a little longer."
For a long period of time that followed, both sides entered a period of silence. Except for the scouts who were exploring each other's paths and were accidentally caught by each other, there was almost no contact fighting.
It wasn't until half a month later that a scout hurriedly ran into the Chinese army's tent.
"Marquis Wen, after visiting the camp last night, my subordinates found ruts outside Yuan Camp. Before dawn, they finally saw a grain truck leaving Yuan Camp. After tracking all the way, they finally found Yuan Jun's grain camp!"
The news was like a depth bomb that exploded directly in the Chinese military tent. Everyone stared closely at the scout.
Lu Bu stood up excitedly and pointed at him with trembling fingers, "Tell me where it is!"
(End of chapter)
