Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 75: Bullying in an empty city
Sun Ce didn't know if he was carried back by Zhou Yu, but the military camp outside Shu City had been removed.

However, three miles away, I saw only three larger military camps stationed here. They were complete and well-organized. Judging from the situation of the camps, it seemed that Sun Cejun had really prepared the plan. Spend several months preparing to capture Shu City!

"Zijing, are you sure Zhou Yu will cooperate with us?" Bai Tu asked.

"Gong Jin will understand our intentions, and General Lu's letter has been delivered. Now we only need to give Gong Jin an 'excuse'." Lu Su said.

"Excuse..." Bai Tu also understood what Lu Su meant.

Even if Zhou Yu wants to let go, he can't go too far. Even if he "let Bai Tu go by negligence", at least it must be reasonable!
Moreover, the news that Bai Tu was in Shucheng should gradually spread out at this time, and the time to escape should not be delayed too long, lest Liu Xun from Wancheng also pounce on him.

"Otherwise... how about our 'empty city plan'?" Bai Tu suggested.

"Empty city plan?" Lu Su was stunned when he heard this.

In the novel, Zhuge Liang staged an empty city plan decades later, and he deceived an old fox like Sima Yi.

Of course, in history, Sima Yi has never been deceived like this.

But the empty city strategy has been around since ancient times. Zheng Guo used it against Chu's attack during the Spring and Autumn Period. Li Guang used it against the Xiongnu during the Western Han Dynasty. Even a few years ago, Sun Jian used it against Dong Zhuo's army!

However, these successful cases are actually fundamentally different from Zhuge's empty city in the novel - the empty city strategy in reality is not useful for suspicious and wise people, but for people who have no brains or no desire to attack. Only strong opponents are useful, and they cannot last long.

The time when Chu State attacked Zheng State, it was because the purpose was not strong. It was just for the commander to pretend to be a "beep" in front of the woman. When he saw that the opponent's door was wide open and received the news that Qi State had come to help, he retreated. .

The time when Li Guang deceived the Xiongnu, it was just a small-scale contact battle, which made the Xiongnu generals feel that there was a Han army behind Li Guang, and he was also bullying the Xiongnu generals...

What Sun Jian faced that time was only an unknown general under Dong Zhuo, and he only ordered him to withdraw to the city in time. The other party saw that Sun Jian was ready to defend the city, so he withdrew his troops.

In other words, the impression that the empty city strategy is "ineffective for ordinary people, only effective for suspicious and wise people" is actually an overly idealistic misunderstanding.

On the contrary, it is only effective for reckless men who have no sense in their hearts - after all, if you can be a general in an army, no matter how straightforward you are, it is impossible to "open the door" to the enemy without any doubts, even if it is the Huns who don't even have words Tiehanhan wouldn't be so reckless.

When facing a real wise man, it doesn't matter whether this kind of psychological tactics will work or not. Even if it doesn't work, it is a basic operation to send people to find out the truth first. It would be too frightening to directly lead the troops back.

Although Lu Su heard the name "Empty City Strategy" for the first time, he immediately understood the meaning of the word.

It's just that... Lu Su felt a little awkward about using the "empty city strategy" against Zhou Yu!

"Anyway, it's just an excuse. I don't expect Zhou Yu to be scared into retreating," Bai Tu said.

Lu Su then nodded and said: "Well, it might be better to be simpler, but... how long it can last depends on Gong Jin's acting skills."

That night, Bai Tu took Lu Su, Lu Kang, and the generals and junior officials who were willing to leave with him, a total of more than 100 people, and left Shucheng through the west gate overnight.

Most of the remaining scribes and primary schools were prepared to surrender in accordance with Lu Kang's instructions because they were unable to leave their homeland.

To prevent Sun Ce from angering others, Lu Kang specially sealed the treasury and kept the accounts in the official office. As long as Sun Ce entered the city, he would receive a big gift.

However, the internal structure of the "Fairy Gourd" has been destroyed, leaving only a shape hanging on it.

Early the next morning, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu received news that Shu Cheng... something was not right!

When Sun Ce and Zhou Yu came to the city, they saw rows of fake scarecrows on the top of the city.

Even if they use dummies to pretend that there are many troops, they should be a mixture of real and fake, but now in Shu City... they are all scarecrows, and they have all fallen into disgrace!
If you take a closer look, you will find that even the city gate is ajar, with a small crack open. It is obvious that the gate gate inside has not been lowered at all.

"Eh? Could it be that Bai Tu and Mr. Lu Kang have escaped? No, if they have escaped, they shouldn't be so fake... Could it be a fraud?" Sun Ce asked in surprise.

But he didn't notice that Zhou Yu beside him was looking at this scene, the corners of his eyes were shaking, and he even had to raise his feather fan to block it, so as not to reveal anything strange.

"Gong Jin, you meet me outside the city. I will lead my troops in to explore. If there is an ambush, I will charge at him first!" Sun Ce suggested.

This is the reaction that a general who is "reckless" but has a "desire to attack" should have.

Sun Ce immediately realized that there was a scam in the city, but he could not give up. He also believed in his own force and Zhou Yu's resourcefulness, so he thought that he would go in to charge and kill, and Zhou Yu would support him from outside. Even if there was an ambush, he would not be afraid!
"Wait! Bo Fu... Look at how fake the arrangement is, there must be an ambush..." Zhou Yu had no choice but to stop him.

"Yes, I know!" Sun Ce said matter-of-factly.

"No, you don't know... Well, I mean this ambush must be very scary, um... Or maybe we don't need to take the risk at all, right?" Zhou Yu began to organize his words.

That's right, Zhou Yu didn't want to tell Sun Ce directly about the secret operation of communicating money with the enemy, lest he get into trouble later - this kind of adult matter is not suitable for Bo Fu now.

"What do you mean?" Sun Ce felt that Gong Jin was acting strange today.

"As the saying goes, what is empty is real, and what is real is empty, so... we just need to follow the steps and use the empty to answer the empty! Don't you like to build siege equipment under the city? Well, today is up to you, just a stone's throw away , build a ladder to rush the car, let's see if they can bear it." Zhou Yu said firmly.

"Is...is that so?" Sun Ce always felt a little awkward.

"Yes, we can attack according to the original pace." Zhou Yu said in a coaxing tone like a child.

In the end, Sun Ce decided to trust Gong Jin, although his instinct told him that he should rush in now...

The whole day, the army remained stationary outside the city, while Sun Ce led thousands of people to build ladders and rush cars under the "watch" of a group of scarecrows!
During this period, Sun Ce had nothing to do but his hands were itchy, and he wanted to go to the city. He wanted to call Taishi Ci to come out to fight, but naturally no one responded...

(End of this chapter)