When the matter of family letters was put on the table, it was like opening Pandora's box, rapidly fermenting in each camp.
Although there was no mutiny in Lu Fan's camp due to family letters, many soldiers went to look for food outside the camp on the pretext of hunger and never came back.
Early the next morning, the army cook once again cooked soup with wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger. Many soldiers escaped during the night. The generals of each battalion counted the number of soldiers before breakfast and found that a total of 5,000 people had escaped.
Lu Fan was shocked when he learned about the situation and thought that at this speed of escape, all these tens of thousands of people would soon be gone.
"Father, please be patient. We will have food when we conquer Yichun. The child is already cold." Lu Zhi personally brought him a bowl of wild vegetable soup.
As soon as the bowl was brought to his mouth, Lu Fan's nose instinctively rejected the taste of wild vegetables. Since he followed Sun Ce to Jiangdong, he had never been in such a bad situation, but his stomach was growling.
Lu Fan frowned and closed his eyes. He raised his head and poured the hot soup down his throat. Two pieces of wild vegetables remained intact in the bowl. He had developed a habit of luxury for a long time and could not swallow these things at all.
"Except for the deserters in each battalion, how is the morale of the soldiers?" Lu Fan handed the bowl back.
Lu Ju shook his head and replied: "I haven't eaten well for two days, and the soldiers are in poor spirits."
"We have to think of a way to encourage them." Lu Fan first said to himself, and then suddenly an idea came to his mind, "Let the soldiers break up their camp after breakfast, and my father will go to the front to encourage them later."
"Wei." Lu Ju held his fists and left.
The soldiers' breakfast was wild vegetable soup, which was eaten quickly. As soon as they assembled in formation, Lu Fan rode to the front of the team.
"General." Zhu Huan and others saluted with clasped fists at the same time.
Lu Fan held the reins of his horse and nodded in response. He scanned the front and found that, as Lu said, the soldiers all looked dishonest.
"Everyone, today's battle is a matter of life and death. I am afraid that such a military appearance will not scare Lan Yuan. You have to encourage me and make some appropriate promises. I will try my best to be satisfied after the victory." Lu Fan's face was serious.
Zhu Huan, Quan Cong and others were silent. Only Sun Song said bluntly, "Everything you say right now is false. The greatest wish of the soldiers now is to have a good meal. No one is interested in the beauties in the fields and houses."
Lu Fan nodded grimly, "What Zi Qiao said is absolutely true. As long as we can capture Yichun, everything can be easily solved."
"If the food stored in Yichun is not enough, the general needs to prepare for the worst. We actually bypass Yichun and go to Xinyu. The city there is low and easy to attack." Liu Dun made another suggestion.
"A detour? What will happen if the Yichun garrison sends out troops to attack?" Lu Fan frowned and asked, thinking that's not what you said yesterday. Aren't you just a dog-headed military advisor who keeps changing?
Liu Dun smiled bitterly: "The soldiers came to cover up the water and the earth. I guess the Yichun soldiers did not dare to attack. Furthermore, the marching battles were carried out in order, either because the terrain restrictions could not detour, or because the supply lines in the rear were unblocked, our army now has no
We have a supply line, so we don’t have to strictly adhere to the art of war. The terrain here is so wide that we can go around it at will."
"This is also a method. The two strategies of intimidation and detours complement each other. Let's see Lan Yuan's courage first. If he doesn't scare us away, we will divert to Xinyu." Lu Fan nodded in confirmation.
"Xinyu is at least a day or two away from here. Even if the soldiers insist on walking in this state, can they really capture that small town to supply supplies? What if Xinyu also has a lot of defenders?" Sun Song frowned.
.
"Xiu Mu (Zhu Huan), your people have gone to find out what is the situation in Xinyu now?" Lu Fan asked.
Zhu Huan clasped his fists and replied: "There shouldn't be too many defenders, but Xinyu itself has few people in the city. I don't know if it will be enough to supply tens of thousands of troops."
Lu Fan nodded happily, "It will be good if we have food. I can also understand Zi Qiao's worries. There are still a few horses in the army. It will be difficult to satisfy the hunger when we arrive in Xinyu. We will kill the horses to satisfy our hunger then. We will not let them go."
The soldiers were hungry and attacked the city."
"This is a good idea." Sun Song was happy at first, but suddenly he looked worried: "It's just that if we lose the war horse, we won't even have any ranger scouts."
Lu Fan said in a deep voice: "We can't control that much anymore. Let's solve the immediate problem first. The generals will quickly convey the order. We will march to Yichun immediately. Remember, we must have enough momentum. When we get to the city, make a noise and shout louder for me."
"Wei." The generals clasped their fists and accepted the order.
The officers and soldiers of Wu Army were inspired, and their mental outlook soon changed. Their eyes were full of hope.
Lu Fan looked back from time to time, secretly praising the generals for being reliable at critical moments, but he had no idea about the methods these people used. In fact, he had revealed Lu Fan's trump card for killing horses.
Lu Fan's camp is only ten miles away from Yichun, and their whereabouts are under the control of the scouts. In addition, many deserters were taken in last night, so Lan Yuan has a better understanding of Lu Fan's situation.
At three o'clock in the morning, Lu Fan led his army and approached Yichun City.
The generals of the Wu army thought that Lan Yuan would defend the city, but when they were approaching, the city was shining with dazzling light?
"What is that reflecting light under the city?" Lu Fan was puzzled.
Not long after, the scouts reported back that they were the troops waiting in formation. Judging from their full armor, it was clear that there were trapped troops standing under the city, and there were as many as five thousand in number.
"Five thousand people? We came out of the city to fight against nearly 50,000 of us. Is Lan Yuan crazy? No matter how strong the trapped army is, it can't be possible, right?" Sun Song looked at the chief secretary Liu Dun doubtfully, thinking to himself, are you guessing how brave this guy is?
Small? It seems that not only is the courage not small, but also a bit bold.
Liu Dun was startled when he heard this. He rolled his eyes and immediately replied: "Maybe Lan Yuan has the same intention as us and deliberately sent troops to the city to scare us away."
Lu Fan looked at Liu Dun with a worried look on his face and asked: "Half of the trapped troops have left the city. I'm afraid we can't go around. What should we do now?"
"It is easier to fight in the field than to attack the city. Half of the trapped troops left the city to seek death. Seeing that there are so many of us, he will not dare to attack. The general can send brave generals out to fight. If he can kill two enemy generals, or he can kill them all
If you kill Lan Yuan and launch another attack, the enemy will be in chaos. We can take advantage of the chaos to attack the city, which is much easier than climbing the city." Liu Dun was very active and immediately came up with a plan.
Lu Fan nodded lightly, looked around at the generals and said: "We have no siege equipment. Mr. Ziren's plan is very good. Now at this time of life and death, you can no longer be secretive, otherwise our army will be destroyed and the entire Jiangdong will be destroyed."
It’s over.”
"General Zi Heng is right. We are the most important force in Jiangdong. We cannot let the Lan family and his son die of starvation and starvation here. I will make a statement to you now. I will confront the enemy in battle later. If Lan Yuan dares to go into battle in person
, I, the general, will take the lead." Sun Song said sonorously and forcefully. On the one hand, he inherited Sun Yi's boldness, and on the other hand, he thought that Liu Dun's analysis yesterday was good, and he felt that Lan Yuan had nothing outstanding.
"Zi Qiao said it well. If anyone else comes, I will be the one to fight." Zhu Huan patted his chest.
Chapter completed!