Chapter 259 Abnormal behavior, harassment day and night However, four days after Qin Zhen announced that the camp had been broken, he sent 3,000 soldiers to cross the river and head north. This move puzzled Zhang Liao and Gao Shun. The reason is very simple, because crossing the river to the north obviously has no impact on them. After all, Zhongli is located in the northwest of Dongcheng, and after heading north, this group entered the territory of Pei State. Pei State was Liu Bei's own territory, so this army should not be going to cut off Lu Bu's retreat. Although three thousand people are not a small number, there are more than ten thousand soldiers and horses in the direction of Xia Pi. This army will be sending food to Xia Pi if it rushes into Xia Pi. Similarly, if we cross the river in broad daylight and they have discovered it, it would be difficult to launch a surprise attack from behind! After a careful analysis, the two generals' intuition told them that this army was just bluffing. But the problem is that Qin Zhen is a man who likes strange strategies and has extremely high tactical attainments. He obviously won't waste the energy of his soldiers to do such nonsense! Therefore, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun were naturally full of doubts and found it difficult to understand Qin Zhen's tactical intentions. Zhang Liao wanted to discuss the matter with Gao Shun, but was too embarrassed to go because of his face. On the contrary, Gao Shun, upon hearing the news, ignored Zhang Liao's words and took the initiative to come forward and said: "General, do you know that just after we returned, Qin Zhen sent people across the river to the north."

"Now this man said that the camp would be broken in four days, and now he has taken such an unusual action. I wonder how the general will defend it?" Zhang Liao heard this and thought Gao Shun was trying to stir up trouble. He was very angry and said in a deep voice: "No matter how he deploys his troops, our army can just defend here!" Gao Shun saw this and knew that Zhang Liao was still angry, so he tried to persuade him: "I know the general resents what I said just now, but I have no intention of complaining at all." "Because we have been entrusted with this important task by our lord, and our enemy is Qin Zhen, we must not be careless." "My words just now were inappropriate, I hope the general will not take it as an offense!" "I am here not to quarrel with you, General, but to know what you want to do, so that I can cooperate with you in defense!" Seeing that he was sincere in his words, Zhang Liao's anger subsided a lot, but he still maintained the same attitude as before and said: "I am not a narrow-minded person, but when Bo Ping asked me how to defend myself, I still said the same thing." "No matter how he deploys his troops, we will stay in the camp and wait and see how he acts!" Of course, he had thought carefully about the issue of defending against Qin Zhen. In his opinion, Qin Zhen was a man with so many tricks that it was difficult to figure out his purpose. But there is one basic point that cannot be changed, that is, Qin Zhen must take the camp no matter what. If they want to defend the stronghold, the easiest way is to stay in the camp no matter what Qin Zhen does! Gao Shun heard his words and knew that this was his strategy, so he nodded in agreement and said: "My opinion is similar to the general's. We just need to defend the camp and not care what Qin Zhen does!" "However, Qin Zhen said that we must be cautious about the troops. I intend to send a hundred cavalrymen to cross the river and head north, following the army along the way to see what the enemy's situation is like!" There were more than 700 cavalrymen in their army, and a hundred cavalrymen were not considered a lot. Zhang Liao thought for a while and agreed with Gao Shun's opinion. To be honest, although he said that he didn't care about Qin Zhen's actions, he didn't want to ignore the movements of this army. After the two men had discussed this, they immediately sent over a hundred cavalrymen to march out of the camp. After the two of them took this action, Qin Zhen's three thousand soldiers and horses came under surveillance.

To their surprise, after Qin Zhen's troops headed north, they headed westward towards Shouchun. Seeing this, the two were immediately surprised, and then Zhang Liao said in a deep voice: "Not good, this army might be the reinforcements Qin Zhen sent to Shouchun." “He knew that Marquis Wen was advancing around the city, leaving Shouchun empty, so he sent this army back.” "If they go north like this, our army won't pursue them, which means they've fallen into the enemy's trap!" When Gao Shun heard this, he suddenly understood why Qin Zhen sent troops north. Because they had cavalry under their command, if Qin Zhen did not cross the river, he might be pursued by their troops. After crossing the river, they did not understand Qin Zhen's actions, so naturally they did not dare to send troops easily. "If that's the case, it can explain Qin Zhen's unusual behavior today." "But if we infer this way, then Qin Zhen's statement of defeating the enemy in four days could be for the sake of safety reinforcements?" "The uncertainty of this matter is still unknown, we must not let down our guard!" Zhang Liao shook his head, put his hands behind his back, and walked back and forth: "Perhaps this method is Qin Zhen's way of making us underestimate the enemy. We must be concerned!" As he said this, he felt a headache. Before he had any definite news, there were too many possibilities. God knows what tricks Qin Zhen will use this time! Gao Shun saw this and couldn't help rubbing his temples and said: "It could be that the enemy is underestimating us, so why don't we keep watch tonight?" "I will guard the first half of the night. After three o'clock, the general will guard the second half." "We will rotate tomorrow, so that Qin Zhen won't have any chance to take advantage of us!" Zhang Liao nodded upon hearing this and said to Gao Shun: "If there is any news in the first half of the night, General, come and tell me immediately!" After saying this, the two of them divided into two shifts, with one person in charge of one shift to guard the big village. As time passed, it soon became night. After dark, Zhang Liao slept for a while until three o'clock in the morning, when the two of them took over their shifts again. As the time came to the fourth watch, a loud shout was heard from outside the camp: "Enemy attack, enemy attack, quickly get up and meet the enemy!" A loud shout was heard, and the entire camp was suddenly filled with the sound of gongs and drums. Zhang Liao's face suddenly changed and he hurried to the front camp to check. Gao Shun had just fallen asleep, but when he heard the sound, he quickly got up and walked out of the tent and said: "Where are the enemy attacks? Where are the enemy raids?" But as soon as he left the camp, he saw a large number of soldiers coming out of the camp to observe. But there was no sign of the enemy in the camp.

Seeing this situation, Gao Shun came to the front camp and found Zhang Liao and said: "Brother Wenyuan, what happened just now? Where are the enemy troops outside the camp?" After saying this, Zhang Liao said angrily: "There are no enemy troops outside the camp. It is obvious that Qin Zhen has sent people here to deceive us!" Gao Shun heard this and frowned for a moment. "I see. If that's the case, we might as well send more spies outside to prevent the enemy from getting closer!" Zhang Liao felt a little guilty when he saw how exhausted he looked. "I'll take care of this myself, Bo Ping, go and have some rest!" "I'll send 200 soldiers outside this time, if he dares to come, he will never come back!" Seeing his attitude, Gao Shun said no more, nodded, and walked towards the tent again. After finally falling asleep again, I heard the sound of gongs and drums, and the sound of fighting outside the camp. Gao Shun had not slept soundly to begin with, and when he heard the sounds of killing outside the camp, he hurriedly got up and walked outside. When they reached the front camp, they saw Zhang Liao riding a horse back to the camp with an angry look on his face. Seeing Zhang Liao's expression, Gao Shun hurried forward to ask questions, and Zhang Liao said angrily: "Qin Zhen is really cunning. He actually ordered more than a thousand soldiers to sneak into the rear camp. He almost succeeded." "Fortunately, I left some soldiers outside to support them. They were stopped by our army and killed!" "We led our troops to attack, but they immediately retreated. What a scoundrel!" After saying this, perhaps because he saw Gao Shun's bad face, he said: "Bo Ping, go to sleep. No matter how noisy it is outside, I will take care of you!" When Gao Shun asked about the words, a bitter smile appeared on his face: "That being said, Qin Zhen's two attacks were feints. What if the next one is a full-scale attack?" "Well, I won't sleep tonight. General, you guard the front camp, and I will guard the rear camp." "This way, even if Qin Zhen comes again, the general can attack calmly!" Seeing how reluctant he was, Zhang Liao frowned and said: "This is Qin Zhen's plan to tire out the enemy. If we don't get enough rest, won't that be what he wants?" Gao Shun was also a good general and certainly knew this truth. But if he doesn't do this, he won't be able to sleep. After thinking for a moment, he said: "That's fine. I won't sleep at night, so I'll rest during the day." "It is hard to guard against darkness at night, but you can rest during the day!" Zhang Liao also knew that this was a helpless move, and secretly hated Qin Zhen in his heart, so he had to agree to it. So the two of them split into two groups, defending the front and rear camps respectively. In order to prevent Qin Zhen from approaching again, Zhang Liao even placed an ambush outside the camp, waiting for Qin Zhen to send troops. But this time, after the two of them had made thorough preparations, Qin Zhen's troops did not attack again.

By the time the sun rose, Zhang Liao was already quite sleepy, but Gao Shun had stayed up all night and had big dark circles under his eyes. Zhang Liao originally wanted to catch up on some sleep, but seeing Gao Shun in such condition, he had no choice but to let Gao Shun go to rest first. But after breakfast, news came from the west again: "General, the enemy has sent troops out of the city, and they may be coming to challenge us outside the camp!" Zhang Liao had been harassed all night and was full of anger. Upon hearing this, he rode his horse and led his troops to charge out of the camp. Their camp was five miles from Zhongli City. After they had traveled two miles, they heard the spies report: "General, the enemy troops are halfway along the way and have already returned to the city!" When Zhang Liao heard this, he flew into a rage and ordered his troops to: "The little brat Qin Zhen bullied us outside. Come with me to challenge him!" After saying this, he brought his troops to the city wall and started shouting and cursing. However, no matter how he shouted and cursed, there was no response from the city, which made Zhang Liao very angry. He led his troops to charge several times, but was shot back by arrows. Two hours had passed in the round trip, and it was already afternoon when we returned to the camp. As a result, as soon as he entered the camp, he saw Gao Shun sitting in the big tent with a tired look on his face. Zhang Liao saw him like this and was anxious to find out the reason. Before Gao Shun could say anything, his personal guards started to complain: "General, you don't know that after you left, the enemy army came from nowhere." "There was a shout outside the camp, and then they headed south. The general had just fallen asleep, but was woken up by this person!" It turned out that the troops Qin Zhen ordered to leave the city last night never returned. Zhang Liao led the cavalry out of the camp, and these soldiers came outside the camp to challenge him. Gao Shun stood up reluctantly, but the soldiers and horses left again. In other words, when Zhang Liao challenged Gao Shun, Gao Shun also did not get much rest time in the camp. For a moment, the two panda eyes looked at each other, and then looked at each other in surprise. Only one day had passed and they had been tortured like this by Qin Zhen. What would happen if four days had passed? Thinking of this, Zhang Liao stuck his knife into the ground and said in a muffled voice: "Qin Zhen is too cunning. We can no longer respond to him in this way!" "Otherwise, before Qin Zhen arrives, our army will collapse!" Gao Shun looked at Zhang Liao with tired eyes and said: "I am waiting outside the city, and he is inside. What can I do?" The problem now is that Qin Zhen is in the city, while they are outside the city. In terms of defense, they are definitely no match for the enemy. If Qin Zhen was determined to use the strategy of tiring the enemy, they would really have no way to defend against it.

However, although Zhang Liao was a brave general, he was also a good strategist. After careful consideration, he came up with a plan: "Our army is now stationed here, making it easy for the enemy to harass us." "In that case, why not retreat five miles?" "Bo Ping will wait here. I will rest for half a day first." "Wait until night. You sleep in the camp, and I will lie in ambush outside." "If he doesn't leave the city, fine. But if he does, I'll kill as many of them as come!" When Gao Shun heard this plan, he knew there was no other way, so he nodded in agreement and forced Zhang Liao to go to sleep. Qin Zhen obviously did not intend to let the two of them rest. Just as Zhang Liao went to bed, their spies reported again. It is said that after Qin Zhen sent out 3,000 soldiers yesterday, he has now sent another 1,000 soldiers to cross the river and head north. This piece of news confused Gao Shun. He thought that the three thousand soldiers yesterday were reinforcements, so what was the purpose of these one thousand soldiers? (End of this chapter)