Han Xiang

Chapter 643 Director Dong’s bluff

It was already evening when he arrived in Linxiang. After seeing Han Xuan, Huang Zhong and others, it was already dark. He refused the banquet hosted by Changsha officials and went straight back to the ship to rest.

Long Xiang did not object to welcoming and sending them off, but taking the lead in eating and drinking during the war was not a good example, and emergencies would also affect the battle.

Be careful when sailing the boat of ten thousand years, Sun Ce’s lesson always reminds Long Xiang.

The ship was about to leave early the next morning. Long Xiang had a simple dinner and went back to the cabin to rest. However, before he could close the door, an uninvited guest came to visit.

The person who came was six feet tall, about 40 years old, and well-groomed, but Long Xiang didn't recognize him.

"Your Excellency is"

"I am Lai Gong of Lingling. I was once the governor of Jiaozhou. I was defeated by Sun Quan's troops, so..."

It was not honorable to be driven out of Jiaozhou, so he fled back to his hometown and met Dong Xi again, so he temporarily settled in Changsha and lived under the shelter of others. Long Xiang did not know Lai Gong before crossing over, but he had heard of Lai Gong's deeds when he learned about the world situation in Yangzhou.

Long Xiangxin said, "You are Liu Biao's man. I don't know if you support Liu Qi or Liu Cong. What's your plan for coming to see me at this time?"
With a vigilant heart, Long Xiang asked cautiously: "We don't have a chance to meet in the afternoon. I wonder if Governor Lai is here at night. What's the important matter?"

"Forehead"

Lai Gong hesitated for a while, but then compiled a ceremony to express his feelings: "General Long is deeply favored by Long, and he is supervising Jingnan as Yangzhou Shepherd. Lai has an unkind request."

"Prefect Lai, please speak."

Long Xiang frowned and became more vigilant, thinking that you are really not good at asking for help when you first meet him.

Lai Gong nodded awkwardly and said with a tight smile: "Gong abandoned Jiaozhou and went to Lingling. The past few years have been quite embarrassing. Now he is living in Changsha with nothing to do. He thought of Chang'an and defected to Uncle Liu Huang. I had some friendship with him in Xiangyang in the past."

"Since we have a friendship, Governor Lai can just go directly, why?"

"General Long doesn't know something. There have been constant wars in Jingzhou in the past few years. There are no passenger ships on the waterway. If we take the land route, we are afraid of being trapped in Jiangling, so I have the audacity to ask you for help."

Long Xiang understood now that he dared to use transportation for free and had to let me escort him for a ride. This was indeed a bit thick-skinned.

"Sun Quan is plotting against Jingnan. I'm here to solve the problem. Tomorrow the fleet will leave for Guiyang. I'm afraid there won't be any spare ships to send the governor to death."

"Lai has no intention of leaving immediately. I am very familiar with the situation in Jiaozhou and Lingling. If the general does not dislike it, I am willing to be the one who leads the way."

Facing the polite rejection, Lai Gong came up with a plan that would not involve prostitution in vain. Long Xiang could not find any reason to refuse, so he called Lu Xun to take her to resettle her.

After Lu Xun settled Lai Gong and learned about the situation, he went back to his command and found Long Xiang staring at the map on the wall, seemingly studying a combat plan against Dong Xi.

He wanted to step forward to offer his advice, but was interrupted by the sound of hurried footsteps.

When he turned around, he saw that it was Xu Chu, with two people following behind him.

"General Xu."

"General Lu."

As soon as Long Xiang turned around after hearing the conversation, two people suddenly appeared from behind Xu Chu, then unexpectedly knelt on the deck and bowed his head.

"Zhongkang, they are"

"General Long, thank you for clearing our grievances. We want to return to our hometown to serve you. Please accept us."

"Please accept us!"

The two of them were banging their heads together, making the cabin board bang.

"No. I don't even know him."

"General, they are Gui Lan and Dai Yuan. They were framed by Sun Quan for killing Sun Yi."

"It's them"

After listening to Xu Chu's introduction, Long Xiang suddenly understood.

It's just that Zhuge Jin checked the two people. Although they did not murder Sun Yi, their official reputation in Danyang was not good.

Although the two of them were fighting sincerely at this time, Long Xiang did not want to hire someone with poor character, but it seemed heartless to refuse directly, so he gave the other party a difficult problem to make him retreat. "Ahem, you two were framed by Sun Quan, and I was ordered to attack this person. If you really want to serve me, rush to Xiling, Jiangxia, and invite General Cheng out of the mountain. If you can get this person's help, the attack on Yuzhang will be more effective with half the effort. .”

"We agree."

Gui Lan and Dai Yuan looked at each other and answered in unison.

It was not easy for Lai Gong to live in a foreign country, let alone two strangers from Yangzhou.

When Xu Chu sent the two off the boat, Lu Xun reminded him with a solemn expression:

"General Long, I heard that Cheng Demou was obsessed with spring forest. I'm afraid that the two of them are in vain."

"Haha, I have no hope, but rats have their ways, what if something happens?"

After Long Xiang said this, he smiled knowingly. Lu Xun immediately understood his intention and immediately discussed the battle plan before closing the door and disappearing into the night.

The next day, the fleet sailed southward against the Xiang River and easily recaptured the fallen Leiyang.

By interrogating the prisoners of war and combining it with Lai Gong's analysis, Long Xiang seemed to have discovered the secret of Dong Xi's use of troops.

Summed up in four words: bluff.

Bu Zhi and Dong sent 8000 men to Jiaozhou and were able to quickly defeat Wu Ju and drive away Lai Gong. In addition to secretly joining forces with Shi Xie, the main core of their military strategy was bluffing.

The troops are not enough and the common people make up the numbers to create the appearance of a large number of people. In a place like Lingling with few defenders, seeing a strength gap of more than ten times, the troops are already shaken before the battle begins.

Dong Xi almost took Lingling without a single blow, and Lingling's population ranked second among the four counties in Jingnan, so it was easier to bluff.

The common people brought their own dry food for more than ten days and went on the road. After taking a city and replenishing it in time, they basically did not need to prepare too much food.

Of course, bluffing is useful for bullying the weak, but it will be bad luck if you encounter a tough opponent.

When the Yangzhou soldiers recaptured Bian County and cut off Dong Xi's water retreat, Long Xiang confirmed his previous suspicion and decided to slap Dong Xi in the face.

There is no waterway in Chen County, the seat of Guiyang Government. When the fleet reaches a big turn in Lei River south of Bian County, it needs to disembark and continue its journey by land.

Dong Xi claimed to have 15 troops, but the actual number that could be fought was probably only [-] or [-]. The Sun army was still not proficient in land warfare, so Long Xiang only allowed more than [-] infantry and cavalry to land, leaving the rest of the naval forces under the command of Lu Xun.

In late April, Long Xiang led his troops to Chenxian County. Through the telescope, he could see the besieging soldiers and horses, densely packed like ants coming out of a nest.

Fortunately, Zhao Fan is still holding on.

Dong's attack to seize Guiyang was not just a bluff, but a three-pronged attack.

In addition to Dong Xi's main force taking the water route, Xing Daorong led a partial division to take the Jiuyi Mountain trail, and another infantry team attacked Xiaopu Pass in the south.

Two separate divisions took away most of Guiyang's defenders, leaving Zhao Fan to defend for half a month with only 3000 men.

Hundreds of thousands of "actors" had little food left, and Dong Xi promised not to seal the city for three days after breaking the city. These ordinary people inspired evil thoughts in their hearts, and climbed the wall with the regular army to attack the city.

Seeing that Chen County was about to be defeated, Long Xiang's reinforcements arrived.

So fast?
Sun Quan ordered Dong Xi to fight quickly, believing that Long Xiang was granted the title of Yangzhou Mu by the imperial court, and even if he sent troops, he would have to obtain an imperial edict.

It was thousands of miles from Chang'an to Hefei. When Long Xiang was ordered to lead his troops to support, the day lilies were already cold.

It's a pity that Sun Quan underestimated Long Xiang. The so-called general will not accept the emperor's orders. What's more, Liu Xie is just a mascot, and Long Xiang has not taken the edict seriously.

Seeing that the city was about to be destroyed, Dong Xi didn't want Long Xiang to ruin his good fortune, so he personally led his team to stop it.

The two sides set up their positions. Dong Xi saw that the Yangzhou army was murderous and most of his own troops were just making up numbers. He felt guilty and did not dare to fight directly, so he offered to fight against the generals.

Long Xiang laughed when he heard this. On his left was Xu Chu and on his right was Huang Zhong, so he said calmly: "You are not qualified to fight with me, but don't say that I bully you. You can choose one of them at will."

When Dong Xi followed Sun Quan in the battle at Lishui, he suffered a loss at the hands of the Tiger Guards. He recognized the big man Xu Chu and did not dare to offend him. Finally, his eyes fell on Huang Zhong.

"Old man, come out and die!"

(End of this chapter)