That night, Liu Yan stayed at Deng Chen's home. The next morning, Zhen Fu wanted to lead his army out, but something went wrong on Liu Yan's side, which disrupted his arrangement.
The more than 700 people Liu Yan brought with him needed armor but not armor, and weapons but not weapons. How could they go to the battlefield to fight, and how could they accompany the county army to suppress the rebellion?
Under the dissatisfied protests of the people, Liu Yan went to Zhen Fu and asked him for armor and weapons.
The county army did bring a lot of baggage with them on this expedition, but even if they had extra armor and weapons, they couldn't be given to Liu Yan's men in vain.
Liu Yan didn't really want a complete set. He settled for the next best thing and said to Zhen Fu: "Sir, even if you don't give your brothers armor, you should at least give them decent clothes, right? Otherwise, brothers and The brothers from the county army are walking together, which is also a loss to your face. People who don't know it would think that your Majesty has been mean to us brothers!"
His words made Zhen Fu speechless. After thinking about it, he finally agreed to distribute new clothes to Liu Yan's subordinates.
This was not the end yet. Then Liu Yan said again: "Sir, brothers, if you want to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, you can't fight the rebels with your bare hands without weapons, right?"
Zhen Fu glared at Liu Yan, "You guys are really making fun of you! I'm done asking for new clothes and weapons. I'm here to ask you to cooperate with the county army in fighting, not to distribute equipment to you!"
But what Liu Yan said was true. Most of his men did not have decent weapons. They only had sticks, and some even had no weapons. How could they go into battle to kill the enemy?
In the end, Zhen Fu could only reluctantly agree to Liu Yan's request and distributed weapons to his brothers.
It is not easy to produce hundreds of sets of clothes. As a result, the whole day passed by due to this delay.
In fact, Liu Yan had no intention of actually helping Zhen Fu fight in the war. He didn't need weapons or new clothes at all, but he felt that since he was here, there was no reason not to let Zhen Fu shed some blood.
Furthermore, delaying one more day is equivalent to buying one more day for the Green Forest Army to evacuate.
As Liu Xiu said, the Green Forest Army is not their enemy. Regardless of whether it is public or private, the Green Forest Army can be regarded as their ally. We should not just watch the Green Forest Army be wiped out by the county army.
It wasn't until the third day that Zhen Fu led the county army and Liu Yan's men to set off from Xinye, all the way south, and attacked Xinshi and Pinglin.
The army marched during the day, and when it got dark, Zhen Fu ordered to set up camp in the wild.
In the Chinese army tent, Zhen Fu was sitting in the middle. On both sides of him were Cen Peng, Lu Zhi and several captains. Liu Yan, Liu Xiu, Deng Feng, Deng Yu and others were also there.
Zhen Fu asked someone to fetch a map and spread it on the commander's desk. He stood up, looked down at the map, and asked, "Tell me, everyone, how will our army fight this battle?"
Everyone gathered around Shuai Ben and looked down at the map. A school captain said: "Sir, our army can be divided into two groups, one to attack Xinshi and the other to Pinglin. A two-pronged approach will make it difficult for the rebels to take care of themselves!"
Zhen Fu nodded while listening. As soon as the captain finished speaking, another captain said sternly: "No! The rebels are many and powerful, but our army is small and alone. The rebels can hold the city and hold on, but our army needs to attack the city." In the stronghold, the rebels are waiting for work, while our army has to travel a long distance. Under such unfavorable circumstances, our army cannot divide its forces to fight. It is necessary to concentrate its forces to be sure of victory!"
After thinking about it carefully, Zhen Fu felt that what the captain said made sense. Several captains expressed their opinions. Some supported the division of troops, while others opposed it. Both sides held their own opinions and couldn't argue.
Zhen Fu was upset by their quarrel. He turned to look at Lu Zhi and asked, "Bowen, what do you think?"
Lu Zhi smiled slightly and said: "Even if the rebels are numerous and powerful, they are just a mob. Even if the enemy has ten thousand and our army has one thousand, our army can easily win!"
When Zhen Fu heard this, he felt happy from the inside out. He smiled and asked: "Bo Wen, tell me, how do you think our army should fight this battle?"
"First of all, our army can use the trick of suspicion to give the illusion that our army is going to attack Xinshi. Next, it is to lure the snake out of its hole. When Xinshi is attacked, the Pinglin rebels will inevitably come to help. Our army can separate a group in advance.
Detach an elite team to ambush between Xinshi and Pinglin. Wait for Pinglin's reinforcements to enter the ambush place. You can surprise them, attack them unprepared, and surround them. However, you must encircle them without annihilating them, and lure the Xinshi rebels out of the city to come to the aid. This is the encirclement point.
Call for reinforcements! The real advantage the rebels have over our army, and the only one, is the geographical advantage. As long as they leave the city and lose the advantage of the geographical advantage, and fight with our army outside the city, even if there are more than ten thousand enemies, in the eyes of the general, they are just nothing.
There are more than ten thousand lambs waiting to be slaughtered, and it is easy to kill them all!"
Lu Zhi talked endlessly about his tactics. Zhen Fu was in high spirits and beaming as he listened. Liu Yan, on the other hand, looked like he was listening carefully on the surface, but in fact he was broken into a cold sweat.
He never knew that a war could be fought like this, using tactics to mislead the enemy, luring snakes out of their holes, and encircling points for reinforcements. So many tactics were completely integrated together, and one link after another made it difficult to guard against.
If I were not in the county army camp at this time, if I were in the rebel camp at this time, I'm afraid I would fall into Lu Zhi's trick!
When he joined the rebel army in Yizhou, Liu Yan didn't feel that there was much difference between himself and the regular army. Only now did he really feel how big the gap was.
After listening to Lu Zhi's tactics, Liu Xiu also nodded secretly. No wonder Lu Zhi became a partial general at a young age. This man's deceitful use of troops is indeed outstanding!
After Lu Zhi finished explaining his tactics, the captains present showed admiration and nodded in agreement. Zhen Fu looked at Cen Peng with a smile on his face and asked: "Jun Ran, what do you think of Bo Wen's plan?"
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No matter how perfect other people's plans are, and how much he agrees with them, in the end, he will definitely seek Cen Peng's opinion. Zhen Fu's personal ability may not be very good, but he does have a good eye for people.
Cen Peng pondered for a moment and said seriously to Zhen Fu: "General Lu's words are very good!" Cen Peng is a very cautious and aloof person, but even so, he can't find anything wrong with Lu Zhi's strategy.
Hearing that Cen Peng also agreed with Lu Zhi's strategy, Zhen Fu laughed loudly, clapped his hands and said, "Okay, very good! We will fight this battle according to Bowen's strategy!"
As he spoke, he couldn't hide his excitement and said: "Bowen, please tell us your plan in detail!"
Lu Zhi bent down and pointed on the map with his fingers while explaining his plan in detail.
There was nothing to say that night. The next day, the army broke out from the stronghold and set off to continue southward.
However, this time their march south was divided into three groups.
The first route was commanded by Lu Zhi, with a force of two thousand. This route was also the real main force of the entire army. The horsemen on this route did not take the main road, but instead took the small road, secretly heading to the area between Xinshi and Pinglin to set up an ambush.
The second line is commanded by Liu Yan, Liu Xiu, Deng Feng and others. The main force is the hundreds of men brought by Liu Yan. Their task is to use their civilian clothes to disguise themselves as ordinary people and sneak in secretly. In Xinshi City, as long as the rebels in the city fell into Lu Zhi's plan and went out to aid the Ping Lin army, they could suddenly launch an attack in the city, kill all the remaining rebels, and capture Xinshi City in one fell swoop.
The third leg, commanded by Zhen Fu and Cen Peng, has a force of one thousand. Their task in this leg is to act as suspects. Although there are only one thousand men, they must have the effect of having three or four thousand men.
In ancient battles, this kind of trick was often used. How to do it? In fact, it is very simple. When the soldiers are marching, the distance can be as wide as possible, and then the soldiers hold flags in their hands. They also have to carry flags behind their backs. Looking around, this team is all covered with flags. It is true that battle flags are fluttering and embroidery ribbons are fluttering. A thousand troops can completely disguise the effect of three or four thousand troops.
Two hundred thousand people, holding flags in their hands and carrying flags on their backs, are often called a million-strong army, and their momentum can greatly intimidate the enemy. This is also a commonly used tactic on the battlefield.
Liu Yan and Liu Xiu's group also included some county troops, but the number was not large, only fifty, and the highest-ranking one was a captain.
This captain had no command over this group of people, but had to obey Liu Yan's orders.
Zhen Fu sent these dozens of county troops to mix with Liu Yan's team, not to supervise them, but to worry that they had no combat experience and would be disadvantaged in fighting in the city, which would affect his overall plan.
Of course, they also have another secret mission, to kill Deng Feng during the chaos.
From the moment Zhen Fu decided to bring Deng Feng to suppress the rebellion, he had no intention of letting Deng Feng return alive.
Let's talk about Liu Yan, Liu Xiu and his party. They couldn't all enter the new city at once. The goal was too big and it would be too easy to arouse suspicion. They broke into pieces, dispersed, and entered the new city in small groups.
Xinshi City is not very big. The original population in the city was only a few thousand people. However, after the Green Forest Army occupied Xinshi City, not only were there more than 3,000 Green Forest Army soldiers in the city, but many refugees also came one after another. The number of people in the city is now close to 20,000.
A small town with only a few thousand people now suddenly grew to 20,000 people. You can imagine how crowded the city is.
Although the city is full of refugees in ragged clothes, no one has been found dead of starvation on the roadside. You must know that even in a big city like Xinye, the bodies of refugees who have starved to death are often seen on the roadside.
Regarding the Green Forest Army's governance in Xinshi City, Liu Yan and Liu Xiu secretly nodded and praised it. However, they were both worried that the Green Forest Army had not yet withdrawn from Xinshi City.
While they were wandering around the city, they happened to catch up with the county government giving porridge.
Many refugees on the street were holding broken bowls and hurried to the county government office, shouting loudly as they ran: "The porridge is here! The Green Forest Army is serving the porridge! Everyone, please hurry up!"
Looking at the crowds running around him and listening to their shouts, Liu Yan touched his belly and said to the people around him: "Let's go over and get a bowl of porridge too!"
The commander of the county army following them hurriedly grabbed Liu Yan and dissuaded him in a low voice: "Absolutely not! Brother Bo Sheng, we cannot eat the food of the rebels!"
Liu Yan curled his lips and asked, "Brother, are you hungry?"
"Uh..." It's strange that they're not hungry! They just had one meal in the morning. It's almost evening now, how could they not be hungry? The commander of the county army couldn't help but swallowed.
"Not eating rebel food? Do we have money to buy food?"
The most expensive thing now is food, especially in Xinshi, an overcrowded place, where food is even more expensive.
The captain of the county army subconsciously touched his pocket and smiled bitterly. He had no idea whether the little money he had was enough to buy a steamed bun!
Liu Yan patted him on the shoulder, shook his head and said: "Let's go, brother, we can't fight on an empty stomach! Besides, if you don't tell, and I don't tell, who will know that we drank the rebels' porridge?"
Zhu You muttered: "If every grain of rice has the word "rebel" engraved on it, I won't drink it!"
"It's rough words but not rough words! Come on, let's go have some porridge!" Liu Yan shook his head to everyone and took the lead in walking towards the county government office.
