Wu Ju obviously knew that this was an excellent idea. Therefore, as soon as Li Rangang proposed the idea, Wu Ju immediately agreed after thinking about it briefly.
And the last words he said were also very thought-provoking.
What does it mean to "don't be greedy for merit, your name will be known to all the world?"
It is still a commonplace question. This is obviously to use military merit to directly "force Li Ran to the top of the mountain".
Once Zhu Fan was captured alive due to Li Ran's plan, not only would Wu Ju be able to take advantage of such a miraculous feat, but if it were publicized again, it would be equivalent to tying Li Ran to the Chu State in the same boat.
If you, Li Ran, are not used by the Chu State, where can you go?
When it comes to the Wuju, Li Ranlai's arrangement is unambiguous at all.
So, he quickly allocated another 5,000 elite troops to Sun Wu, and also gave the military talismans to Sun Wu, so that he could control himself and no longer need to report to him for all actions.
After Sun Wu took over the military talisman, he did not leave the camp immediately. Instead, he and Wu Ju further elaborated on a specific strategy to lure the enemy...
After Li Ran and Sun Wu had all withdrawn, Wu Ju immediately summoned the generals to discuss the matter.
"What?! Not only do you want our main force to retreat, but you also want us to give up this hard-won Shujiucheng?!"
"Yes! Not only must we abandon Shu Jiu, but also all the defenders deployed in Qunshu must retreat thirty miles to respond."
"What? Crazy, crazy, how can we fight like this! Since the two of them are not from Chu, they are obviously trying to harm our army! If those Zhufans are not fooled, then we will fall short of our success!"
"Yes! If the king knew about it, he would definitely not be able to forgive me for waiting!"
It turns out that Sun Wu's strategy of luring the enemy was a strange move to mediate between the two sides! On the one hand, it could make the Chu army retreat across the board, and it could also be used as an opportunity to capture Wu King Zhufan alive.
! Let the State of Chu achieve full success and then return with all its troops, and restore peace to both countries.
The Chu army's comprehensive retreat also gave Li Ran enough reasons to prevaricate the crowd:
I, Li Ran, have tried my best to make the Chu army retreat. Now it is Wu Wang Zhufan who does not know what to do, underestimates the enemy and mistakenly falls into the Chu people's trap. This is entirely his own fault.
But obviously, although Sun Wu's move was well-intentioned, the key to this plan still lies in Wu Ju!
It all depends on whether he can suppress the other generals of the Chu State. After all, feigning a complete rout is the most important part of luring the enemy to advance, or even luring Wu King Zhufan to show up.
"I have made up my mind, no need to say any more! Generals, just control your ministries and retreat together, without making any mistakes!"
Wu Ju also knew the key here very well. Therefore, he immediately issued an order to the general, and all the garrison currently in Qunshu retreated thirty miles to respond.
A few days later, the Chu defenders in Shujiu City also received the secret order and all withdrew directly from the city.
The original strength of the Chu army dispersed in Qunshu was not very large, but these days they were fooled around by the Wu army's boat soldiers. Therefore, its morale could be said to have dropped to the extreme.
These Chu soldiers did not want to stay in the right and wrong place, so as soon as they received the military order to retreat across the entire front, they just thought that the Wu people were about to kill them, so they were panicked for a while.
Fortunately, the generals of the Chu army in various places are still able to enforce orders and prohibitions, and exercise restraint. Most of the Chu soldiers are attracted by the prestige of the commanders, and the qualities they have practiced in daily life are quite good.
There was barely any big trouble.
However, the weather was getting colder and colder, and it was New Year's Day soon, and everyone wanted to go back as soon as possible. So although the order was to retreat thirty miles, some troops actually retreated fifty miles directly.
In this way, the Chu army's front seemed more like a real defeat, with no structure at all.
In mid-November, the main force of the Chu army, under the command of Wu Ju, also falsely retreated for more than ten formations. Seeing that the Chu army in the entire Jianghuai area was almost wiped out at the same time.
All of this naturally gave Wu Jun insight into the "opportunity."
Generally speaking, on the battlefield, if one side suddenly retreats in such a hurry, it is either because there is a big trouble in the rear, or because the logistics supply has collapsed.
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Obviously, Wu Wang Zhufan also considered this.
Therefore, the morale of the armies of the two countries suddenly changed drastically. The Wu army began to be ready to take the initiative, frequently taking the initiative to attack, constantly harassing the retreating Chu army, and even blatantly launched attacks on the Chu army's camps.
The Chu army's defense line retreated again and again, and the number of earth stoves dug by the Chinese army camp led by Wu Ju himself continued to decrease every time they cooked.
When the retreat first began, there were still four to five thousand earthen stove pits for making rice in the main camp. However, after more than ten retreats, there were only more than a thousand stoves left in the camp.
Obviously, this was also a strategy laid down by Sun Wu.
Wu Wang Zhufan personally led the army to pursue him, and he naturally observed this phenomenon along the way. Seeing that the number of Chu troops was inexplicably getting smaller and smaller, Wu Wang Zhufan didn't know it was a plan, so he became even more unscrupulous
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At the end of November, when the Chu army once again retreated 20 miles to the rear, King Zhufan of Wu saw this and could no longer hold back. He led ten thousand men and marched forward in high spirits, and actually directly attacked the Chu army at
The last stronghold in the Jianghuai region - under Chaoyi City.
Chao State was originally a vassal of Chu State. After Shu Jiu was destroyed, Chao State became Chu State's only stronghold in the Jianghuai region.
Obviously, as the "Tail of Chu and the head of Wu" in the Jianghuai River Basin, the capture of Chaoyi also has extremely important strategic significance for the Wu State.
When Sun Wu learned that King Zhufan of Wu had personally led the troops all the way to Chao Kingdom, he knew that he had fallen into a hard-to-capture plot. So he led five thousand infantry and rushed to Chao Kingdom at starry night for reinforcements.
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This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Originally, before Sun Wuchi came to Chaoyi to aid, the defenders in Chaoyi were only about 3,000 people, and it was impossible to defend against Zhufan's attack.
When Chao Niuchen, the city guard general of Chao Kingdom, learned that Sun Wu had given Wu Ju the order and specially led troops to rescue him, his confidence doubled.
"Hurry! Open the gate to the outer city tonight! Things will change later!"
Unexpectedly, as soon as Sun Wu arrived at the city tower and met Chao Niuchen, without saying a word, he directly asked Chao Niuchen to open the city gate and let Wu Wang Zhufan enter Wengcheng. When Chao Niuchen heard this, he was immediately confused.
"What? How did this happen?! How can we let the Wu people in? The Wengcheng is low and the gate is small. It can be said to be broken with one attack. This is tantamount to seeking death!"
Chao Niuchen refused Sun Wu's proposal without even thinking about it.
Seeing that Chao Niuchen was so ignorant, Sun Wu hurriedly shouted:
"The King of Wu personally led his troops here, and this man is brave but not wise. If we open the outer city gate, he will definitely think that there is a heresy in Chaoyi. He doesn't know this is a trick, and he will definitely lead his troops in personally!"
"At that time, if we close the city gate and rely on the urn, he will become the thing in the urn!"
"As the saying goes, "Capture the thief and capture the king. As long as Zhufan is captured, what do these Wu troops have to worry about?"
After all, Chaoyi is the capital of Chao State and the largest military stronghold of Chu State in the east. Therefore, the city's defenses are extremely complete, and every gate has an urn.
There was an outer city and an urn city, so Sun Wu just asked Chao Niuchen to open the gate of the outer city. Even if Zhufan entered the inner city, it was obvious that he would not be able to break the urn city in a short time.
And as long as the Wengcheng is not broken, Zhufan, who has the habit of personally charging into battle, will become the meat on Sun Wu's chopping board.
But when Chao Niuchen heard this, he thought it was too unbelievable. After all, Zhufan led more than 10,000 Wu troops with high morale, and the total number of soldiers guarding the city was only 8,000. They had to disperse their troops to deploy defenses in other places.
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With these manpower alone, how could it have been able to withstand the more than 10,000 elite Wu troops in Zhufan's hands, if not for the powerful city fortifications?
Moreover, he has heard about Zhufan's bravery for a long time. The main force of your Chu army was able to withdraw more than ten formations in succession. Now I let him in? Doesn't that mean he was captured without mercy?
"It's necessary. This method is too dangerous. The safety of our entire city now depends on this city. I can never take such risks."
Chao Niuchen thought about it over and over, but finally did not agree to Sun Wu's suggestion.
Although Chao State is a vassal state of Chu State, Chao State is still a country and has certain autonomy. Therefore, if he does not agree to this matter, there is really nothing Sun Wu can do.
Seeing this, Sun Wu had no choice but to take out his trump card.
I saw that he took out another bronze token from his arms, with two bright characters - Wang Ling - engraved on it in Chu script.
"Can the general recognize this object?"
He sent the token to Chao Niuchen.
Chao Niuchen took it with both hands and took a look. His hands suddenly shook and the token almost fell to the ground.
"This is...this is King Chu's token!"
How could Chao Niuchen not recognize this token?
Every year when the Chao State pays tribute to the Chu State, the people who come to receive the tribute hold this token representing the highest royal power of the Chu State!
It turned out that before Li Ran went to Shujiu with Wu Ju, the King of Chu, in order to show his trust in Li Ran, secretly sent someone to give Li Ran a token of the King of Chu.
On the one hand, it is of course to further win over Li Ran. On the other hand, it is also the hope that Li Ran can act according to the situation and that the Chu State can win with clever strategies on his behalf.
How could he not know people when the King of Chu was surrounded by Xiong? He knew very well that although Wu Ju was able to command his troops well and with control, he often lacked ingenuity.
Of course, the King of Chu also knew that the difficulty of this Chu expedition was no less than pulling a tooth out of a tiger's mouth. Without a cunning plan, it would be extremely difficult to win. Therefore, he certainly hoped that with Li Ran's "wonderful ideas", he could win the victory for him.
Come down Shujiu!
After Li Ran and Wu Ju came to the front line, due to the complicated battle situation on the front line and Wu Ju's command, plus Li Ran himself didn't really want to take action, this token has never been useful.
Now that Sun Wu led his army to Chaoyi for rescue, Li Ran expected that the defender of Chaoyi might not listen to Sun Wu, so he directly asked him to bring the token with him, just in case.
As expected, he actually used it at this time.
"Seeing this token is like meeting the King of Chu!"
Sun Wu took the token from Chao Niuchen and turned it around towards the defenders.
Immediately, everyone, including Chao Niuchen, knelt on the ground.
"General, are you willing to open the gate of the outer city now?"
Sun Wu asked Chao Niuchen in a dignified manner.
When Chao Niuchen heard this, he immediately nodded in agreement without any hesitation.
So, under the command of Sun Wu, Chao Niuchen immediately made arrangements. First, he arranged all the city defenders to lie in ambush on the tower of Wengcheng, and then erected a lowering flag on the tower. Finally, he placed all the soldiers in the outer city in ambush.