Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 467 Xu Huang's Response

In the evening, before it was completely dark, Xu Huang, standing on the tower, saw a new change in the Han army outside.

They were divided into several groups, and surrounded the south city and the north city from the north, south, left and right sides of Puban respectively.

After arriving in Nancheng and Beicheng, they began to cut down forests and trees outside the city, or used the waste fences that Xu Huang had repaired before, and moved them here to set up camp directly.

Generally speaking, when besieging the enemy's city, it is more in line with military common sense to encircle three ques and one.

But "Sun Tzu's Art of War" has another sentence, ten times surrounded!
In other words, when enclosing the enemy, the required troops often have to be several times or even ten times more than the enemy's to be able to do this.

Historically, Yuan Shao's army strength was about three times that of Cao's army during the Battle of Guandu, but even so, he did not completely surround Cao's camp. Cao Cao could still transport food and grass from the rear to Guandu's camp, which shows how difficult it is to siege the city.

Now Shen Chen's troops are far inferior to Yuan Shao's. In doing so, the Han army, who originally only camped outside the west city, turned into dividing troops into the south and north cities, further weakening his own strength.

Seeing this scene, Xu Huang was very puzzled.

The strength of the Han army is only 6 to 10. Although they are not as numerous as the Han army, they are stationed in the city, and even [-] people may not necessarily capture it in a short time.

Why does the other party dare to split up?

Aren't you afraid that after the division of troops, the strength of each city gate will become weaker, and you can concentrate your forces to break through all the way, or break through one by one?
Xu Huang looked at the situation outside with a serious expression.

General Lu Jian said: "General, the enemy has suddenly divided their forces at this time. If we take this opportunity to surprise them, will it have an unexpected effect?"

"Ah."

Xu Huang felt that it made sense, thought for a moment, pointed to the north and said, "Go outside the gate of the north city and take a look, if there is an opportunity, that would be the best."

After saying that, they left the west city gate and headed for the north city gate.

After a while, they arrived at the North City Gate and looked to the north. About [-] Han troops brought a large amount of supplies and began to set up camp on the vast plain four or five miles away from the city gate. It seemed that they were not worried at all that Cao Jun in the city would surprise them.

"They are a bit far away. If we leave the city immediately, Shen Chen's reinforcements outside the west gate may come to reinforce them immediately."

Seeing this scene, Lu Jian knew that it might not be easy to launch a surprise attack.

Although the enemy may not be able to respond to the raid in a short period of time, Shen Chen himself brought about 2 people outside the west city gate to guard against their attack. If they act on one side, they will definitely react on the other side.

Another general, Yang Ping, said in a deep voice: "Shen Chen is not Yi Yu's generation. This is probably his strategy. Once we make a surprise attack, he will rush to help and cut off our retreat."

"Let's take a look first."

Lu Jian thought it made sense, and suggested to wait and see.

"Report!"

At this time, the scouts who were waiting and watching in the west city reported to Xu Huang: "The enemy's soldiers and horses stationed outside the west city have returned to the camp."

"Oh?"

Yang Ping was surprised: "They retreated?"

"Yes."

The scout replied: "I have seen it with my own eyes."

Lu Jianli immediately said to Xu Huang: "General, the soldiers and horses they guarded have retreated to the main camp. Isn't the camp outside the northern city isolated and helpless? At least the Han army outside the western city is assembled again. If they help the northern city, it will take a long time." , not as good as us"

"Well"

Xu Huang hesitated.

Seeing his hesitation, Yang Ping persuaded him, "General, don't miss this opportunity."

"Let me think."

Xu Huang frowned and began to think deeply.

He always felt that something was wrong.

It was mainly because of Shen Chen's military actions that made him feel uneasy. It was unreasonable to besiege the city with few soldiers.

Unless the opponent has a certainty of victory.

Otherwise, if the opposite side does not concentrate its forces to attack the main gate of the city, why dare to divide the troops into three routes to encircle it?

Where does the confidence come from?

Could it be that Zhu Ling in the north was defeated?

Xu Huang unconsciously thought of Zhu Ling's situation.

Cao Zhen had the largest army on the western front, about [-] to [-] people, followed by his side with about [-] people, and Zhu Ling's side had the least number with only [-] people.

This time the Han army launched a sudden attack, Zhao Yun had fewer troops than Cao Zhen, so he was definitely not Cao Zhen's opponent, just wait until Cao Zhen repelled Zhao Yun, and then came to help him.

The only thing to worry about is Zhu Ling's side.

But yesterday he communicated with Zhu Ling yesterday, the situation over there was nothing unusual, and Pound didn't cross the river to attack immediately, it was impossible for him to fall so quickly.

Or there is something wrong on my side.

Xu Huang seriously thought about his own layout. Relying on Puban and Jiecheng, the rear outside Jiucheng provided food and grass, and dragged the Han army by the river.

There is no problem.

The Han army had no cavalry, and their strength was not too crushing, so they couldn't drive straight in. It was incomprehensible that the opponent dared to siege the city so swaggeringly.

After thinking for a while, Xu Huang was still a little confused, but after thinking for a long time, he did not choose to send troops out of caution, and said to the two lieutenants: "Shen Chen is full of tricks, he must set up an ambush, and he must not move lightly."

Yang Ping and Lu Jian were immediately disappointed, and felt that Xu Huang was afraid of Han like a tiger?It will inevitably make them a little unhappy.

However, as the sun was setting, it was going to be dark, but Shen Chen, who had not seen Cao Jun's attack for a long time, was still at the gate of the village looking at Puban City several miles away with regret.

The camp of the Han army behind him has just erected the walls of the camp, and the battalions are setting up tents. As for the fortifications of a series of camps such as trenches, towers, earth hills, pits for sinking horses, and rejecting horses, none of them have been built yet. .

Not only his side, but also the Han army in the north and south cities. Now the Han army is still in the stage of building camps. They just set up fences and tents on the first day. They are extremely weak, and it is the best time to attack.

Unfortunately, Xu Huang was not fooled.

Yes.

Shen Chen was indeed deliberately trying to lure Cao Jun out by using a loophole.

The two sides fought fiercely in the open field, and the Han army would definitely win the battle. Although he withdrew his troops back to the camp, he ordered the soldiers not to take off their armor, and was ready to support the other camp from the north and south gates at any time.

The two camps in the north and the south are relatively far away from the city wall. If Cao Jun fights out, if they want support here, they will arrive at most less than a quarter of an hour slower than Cao Jun.

What's more important is that Cao Jun's cavalry had already been transferred to Yucheng at this time, and it was not so fast to rush back immediately.

So Shen Chen is definitely not afraid of fierce battles in the wild.

In addition to this, there is another point, that is, if the news of the burning of grain and grass in Jiucheng reaches Cao Jun, the morale of Cao Jun who is fighting will inevitably drop, and may even collapse directly.

In this way, he can use the two camps in the north and the south as bait to easily defeat the opponent.

Now that Xu Huang is standing still, then when the cavalry who went to Jiucheng later found out the situation and went back to report to Xu Huang, Xu Huang would have a lot of room to maneuver.

For example, temporarily conceal the information and continue to hold on with the food and grass in the city, or find a way to break through and wait for Cao Zhen's reinforcements to come to the rescue.

No matter what, Xu Huang must have a way to stabilize the situation, and it will be much more difficult to attack the city in the future.

But Shen Chen was not in such a bad mood.

Because even if the opponent is not led out of the city, it doesn't matter. Without follow-up food and grass, the big deal is to continue to surround the city.

If Xu Huang came out, he would die sooner. If he didn't come out and shrink back, when the two camps in the north and the south were built and the encirclement circle formed, he would die slowly.

The final result was nothing more than Shen Chen spending half a year here, and when the food and grass inside ran out, Cao Jun would all starve to death.

of course.

Cao Zhen in the south still needs to be on guard.

He has already sent people to set up an ambush on Leishou Mountain. If Cao Zhen repels Zhao Yun and crosses the river to Fenglingdu, he will definitely have a good fruit for him.

The situation between the two sides passed slowly in such a strange and silent situation.

Xu Huang has not received the news of the fall of Jiucheng until now. After all, when he sent people there, both Deng Ai and Jiang Wei burned, killed, looted and fled. There was a time difference of nearly an hour.

It wasn't until dusk, that is, around eight o'clock in the evening, that there was the sound of galloping horseshoes outside Puban's east city.

Xu Shang hurried back. He didn't bring [-] cavalry into the city, but let all the cavalry go to Zhangyang Ze to rest first, and he brought hundreds of cavalry back.

Zhang Yangze is the lake surnamed Wu of Yongji City in later generations. The reason why Xu Shang did not dare to retreat his army to Puban was because if he came back directly, if the enemy set up an ambush and the horses were exhausted, the entire army would be wiped out. risk.

So he could only come back alone, showing a certain degree of military accomplishment.

At least for now, the military literacy of the generals of Cao Wei and the Han army is relatively high. Except for top commanders such as Shen Chen, Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu, ordinary generals are more than enough to be tribal leaders in any border minority.

This is due to the 40-year continuous war between the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties. From the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 AD to the current AD 228, the 44-year war is enough to train a large number of outstanding generals.

Xu Shang arrived at the base of the city, reported his password to confirm his identity, and then entered the city. He learned that Xu Huang was now on the North Tower, and he was almost galloping all the way to the North Tower.

After a while, Xu Shang ran to the north gate of Puban City, sweating profusely, and shouted to Xu Huang: "General!"

Xu Huang turned his head and saw Xu Shang's panic-stricken face. He was shocked and said quickly, "Xu Shang, I didn't tell you to go to Jiucheng. Why did you come back?"

Xu Shang quickly walked up to Xu Huang, looked around, and whispered something in Xu Huang's ear, causing Xu Huang's expression to change drastically.

In order to prevent the soldiers from panicking, Xu Shang lowered his voice, but Lu Jian and Yang Ping gathered around and heard what he said.He said to Xu Huang: "Jucheng was raided, and millions of stones, grain and grass were burned."

"what happened?"

Xu Huang's eyes were almost red. Why did the Han army just arrive this morning, but at noon, Jiucheng, which was a hundred miles away, was raided. Where did the Han army get the cavalry? Did they fly over?

"The last general encountered fleeing soldiers on the road, and said that the Han army disguised themselves as Huns and approached Yucheng at noon."

Xu Shang said in a low voice: "The defenders of Jiucheng were unprepared and were defeated by a surprise attack. Later, another group of real Huns came to help us, but not long after, more than 1000 Han cavalry arrived again and killed the Huns. , burned the food and grass."

"That's impossible."

Lu Jian couldn't help but said: "When their fleet came down, they didn't have any horses at all. Even if they brought horses with them, they broke through our wall at noon, and they couldn't arrive immediately. What's more, the Han troops who came around from the mountains in the north , also without horses."

Xu Huang said with a serious face: "You have forgotten one thing. There are a large number of Huns living in Dongjie Mountain and Sushan Pavilion from Dongting. If they open a road from the northern mountains in the morning, they will rob When we got some horses, and for some reason, we found out where our grain and grass were stored, and we went straight to Jiucheng, and there was enough time."

"That's right."

Yang Ping said: "Isn't the enemy pretending to be the Huns? They must have robbed the tribe of the Huns and used their horses and clothing to trick the defenders of Jiucheng."

"It's my fault."

Xu Huang glanced at everyone, and said in a deep voice: "I sent someone to inform the soldiers in Jiucheng that the troops of King Zuoguli of the Xiongnu will go to fetch the food and grass they need. I think the soldiers in Jiucheng are not prepared."

Hearing that he did not shirk his responsibility, the three generals admired him.

In fact, they naturally knew this, but if Xu Huang insisted on finding a scapegoat or shifting the responsibility to others, there was nothing they could do.

But now taking the responsibility on himself will make people feel that he is very upright, so they will be more convinced in him.

Xu Huang continued: "Now that the big mistake has been made, it is irreparable. The most important thing is what to do now. If my prediction is correct, Shen Chen probably knew that Jiucheng was raided, so he planned to besiege the city on three sides."

"Then if we took the opportunity to make a surprise attack just now, is there still a chance to break through?"

Lu Jian was shocked.

Xu Huang shook his head: "If we raided just now, I'm afraid I'm dead. Think about it, we raided the camps of the Han army in the north and south, and Shen Chen would definitely lead troops to help. During the battle, Ruojiu City caught fire, and the follow-up food and grass ran out. Spread the word, soldiers and soldiers.”

hiss..

Hearing these words, the three of them gasped, and then only felt Shen Chen's viciousness.

If the news spread at that time, I am afraid that the army will collapse directly.

Xu Huang went on to say: "Now you should understand why I stopped you from going out of the city to make a surprise attack."

"General wise!"

Lu Jian and Yang Ping bowed their hands immediately.

Xu Shang said: "General, what should we do now?"

Xu Huang said: "I never understood why Shen Chen dared to surround us on three sides. Now it seems that he was preparing to besiege us. I am afraid that the Han army will not take the initiative to attack the city in the future, but wait until our food and grass are exhausted. .”

If Shen Chen didn't choose to surround him on three sides, then Xu Huang could retreat and leave.Anyway, Shen Chen's main force was outside the west city, so they just evacuated from the east city.

But now that they are surrounded on three sides, their side retreats. According to the method of encircling San Que Yi, Shen Chen will definitely arrange an ambush outside the east city soon. If he dares to retreat, as long as the ambush entangles them, the three-way army will directly surround them, and it will be a dead end. one.

So now Xu Huang understands that Shen Chen's intentions are sinister, even if there are few soldiers, he will surround you, just to bully you because there is little food and grass in the city, and he has burned the food and grass outside the city. Without follow-up food and grass, he can only sit and wait for death.

"That"

Xu Shang asked again: "Are we going to evacuate at night?"

Xu Huang raised his head and looked at the darkening sky. The deep night covered the earth, the stars were dotted with stars, and the Milky Way hung in the sky like bright bands of light, which made him feel deeply uneasy.

"let me think again."

He supported the city wall with both hands, closed his eyes, and only felt a splitting headache.

The current situation is already very bad for him.

Should we break through, or stick to it?

Xu Huang thought for a long time, but in the end he didn't give an answer immediately.

Xu Huang stayed up all night.

(End of this chapter)