Chapter 260: Overwhelmed, Take the Initiative Strictly speaking, this was not the first time that Gao Shun and Zhang Liao fought against Qin Zhen. Long before Qin Zhen belonged to Cao Cao, he had experienced Qin Zhen's methods. At that time, Zhang Miao, Zhang Chao, Chen Gong and others jointly rebelled against Cao. Qin Zhen somehow got to know the news in advance and led his troops to kill them. That battle was their first fight with Qin Zhen, and it was also the most memorable one. Just one battle almost defeated them, and Zhang Chao and others were beheaded. Fortunately, Chen Gong was prepared in advance and led them to fight everywhere, and only then were they able to deal with Qin Zhen. And now, in the absence of any advisers, Gao Shun felt powerless watching Qin Zhen's actions. Qin Zhen was a man of some evil nature, and he never followed any rules when fighting. Now that I haven't seen him for a few years, Qin Zhen's military skills seem to have improved a lot compared to before.

Although Qin Zhen was very intelligent at that time, his strategies were still immature. And now Qin Zhen has evolved again, making it difficult to figure out what he is thinking. The first thing that is certain is that the number of soldiers and horses in the city will definitely not be too many. Qin Zhen first sent three thousand men out of the city, and now he sent another thousand men to head north. The number of defenders in the city is definitely not as large as theirs. Not to mention that they have 700 cavalrymen. These cavalrymen are the hard work of Lu Bu and can be regarded as their elite troops. Qin Zhen continued to send troops northward, making it difficult for the defenders in the city to break through their camps. But from yesterday till now, Qin Zhen has been constantly mobilizing troops, and his intention to tire out the enemy is obvious. If Qin Zhen didn't really want to defeat the enemy, it would never have happened. In other words, Qin Zhen’s method of breaking into the stronghold might still be the troops that marched north yesterday. Even though they don't know the purpose of this army for the time being, only if this army can achieve results will their camp have a chance of being breached by Qin Zhen! But on this basis, Qin Zhen sent out another thousand people. What was the purpose of this move? Gao Shun had not slept well to begin with, and when he thought of this, he felt dizzy and couldn't figure out what trick Qin Zhen was using. However, after thinking about it for a while, he was no longer sleepy and directly ordered the scouts to follow along the way to see how Qin Zhen would use this army! After he gave the order, he received a report soon that the enemy set up camp directly after heading north. Gao Shun saw that it was getting late, so he didn't think much about it and stopped caring about it. This went on for a while until the next night. Zhang Liao slept for two or three hours and regained a lot of energy. As soon as the second watch came, he stood up, packed up his equipment, and came to Gao Shun and said: "General, you may rest tonight. Liao will ambush outside the camp!" "As long as Qin Zhen leads his troops here, he will never return!" Gao Shun had been working for two days and one night and was exhausted. Seeing that he was so confident, he warned him: "I hope the general will win the battle tonight and defeat the enemy!"

"But you must know that Qin Zhen's tactics are cunning, so you must not pursue him carelessly, lest you fall into his trap." Zhang Liao was obviously in a good mood at this time, so he quickly agreed and asked him if there was anything unusual when he slept. Gao Shun thought for a while, and then told Zhang Liao again about Qin Zhen sending troops to cross the river and head north. As Zhang Liao listened, he became as confused as Gao Shun and could not understand what Qin Zhen was thinking. But he was much more straightforward than Gao Shun. After thinking for a while and not being able to figure it out, he said: "Qin Zhen's behavior is strange, don't worry, I will guard outside the camp tonight." "Let alone a thousand soldiers, I won't be afraid even if they have four thousand soldiers!" Having said this, he wanted Gao Shun to have a good sleep and entrusted all the defenses for tonight to him. Gao Shun was already very sleepy, so he returned to the tent to rest upon hearing this. I fell into a deep sleep until three o'clock in the morning, when I heard the sound of gongs and drums coming from outside the camp. Hearing the noise, he wanted to get up, but then he thought that Zhang Liao was outside on guard, so it shouldn't be a big deal. But he slept like this for a long time, and heard the shouting and killing outside the camp becoming more and more intense, and the sound of gongs and drums was endless. In a daze, he thought that even if the enemy attacked the camp, they would retreat after a fight when they saw Zhang Liao blocking them. Why did the noise get louder and louder over time, as if a war was raging? Thinking of this, he suddenly sat up, hurriedly put on his clothes and walked out of the camp. As soon as I walked out of the camp, I saw the soldiers walking out of the camp with sleepy faces. He looked around, but saw no signs of shouting or killing, and the sound seemed to come from the north. After thinking for a while, he had to walk out of the camp again. But as soon as he left the camp, he saw Zhang Liao leading his troops. There was no blood on their bodies, and no fighting had taken place. Seeing this, Gao Shun became more and more puzzled. Hearing the sound of gongs and drums from the north, he hurriedly asked: "General, aren't you lying in ambush outside tonight? Since the enemy is coming to tire them out, why don't you go and attack them?" As soon as he spoke, Zhang Liao became angry and told him the reason. It turns out that the troops beating the drums in the north are the ones Qin Zhen sent to the north today. This troop was not like the previous 3,000 troops. After crossing the river in the afternoon, they directly camped in the north. They rested until three o'clock in the morning, then walked out of the camp, beating drums and gongs and shouting on the north bank. In ancient times, camping required being close to a water source, so their camp was set up on the south bank. Qin Zhen's subordinates were beating gongs and drums in the north, and the sound could be heard in the camp on the south bank. Although Zhang Liao was lying in ambush outside the camp, there was a huge Huai River across the camp with ships traveling on it. Even if Zhang Liao had a large number of troops, he did not dare to cross the river to attack. After explaining this, Zhang Liao was extremely angry: "Qin Zhen is such a shameless brat. If you want to attack the stronghold, just come here openly." "Last night they were beating gongs and drums outside the camp, and tonight they are beating gongs and drums on the other side of the river again. What a scoundrel!" "When tomorrow morning comes, I will build a floating bridge, cross the river and kill you!"

He was naturally angry, but Gao Shun, after hearing this, said with a tired look on his face: "We will talk about defeating this army tomorrow. Now the enemy is beating drums on the north bank, what should we do?" Zhang Liao felt a little guilty when he saw how tired he looked. He had slept a little in the past two days, but Gao Shun did not have much time to rest. "Now I am afraid that the enemy has set up an ambush and it will be difficult to cross the river. We must wait until tomorrow to discuss this matter." "Although the enemy is making a lot of noise now, it will be difficult for them to attack the camp. General, you can go and have a good sleep." "Although it's a little noisy, it's better to get some rest than not sleep at all!" Gao Shun listened and realized that it was too risky to move the camp after dark, so he had no choice but to return to the camp to rest. That night, under Qin Zhen's strategy of tiring the enemy, Gao Shun and Zhang Liao had another sleepless night. Although Zhang Liao told Gao Shun to have a good rest, the sound of gongs and drums could still be heard from the north. It would be fine if they were quarreling all the time, but the soldiers in the north quarreled every half an hour. The soldiers in the south had just fallen asleep when they heard a commotion in the north. These soldiers were not only noisy, they would also try to harass the south by boat, shoot the sentries, or sneak up on the camp, which was very annoying. After a night finally passed, Gao Shun and Zhang Liao were both becoming more and more exhausted. Many of the soldiers under his command also had complaints and were in low spirits. Seeing their subordinates in such a state, both of them knew that they could not continue to confront each other like this. If they continue like this, they will not be able to resist Qin Zhen's head-on attack after four days. But this morning, they received another bad news! The three thousand soldiers sent by Qin Zhen were lost by them. Upon hearing the news, Gao Shun immediately looked at the knight angrily and said: "You have more than a hundred riders. Even if you take turns to guard, you should not lose track of the enemy!" "What happened? Tell me quickly!" When Gao Shun asked him questions, the knight quickly recounted what had happened. It turned out that ever since the other party sent out the troops, these one hundred riders had been following Qin Zhen's troops all the way westward. But just last night, they suddenly discovered that this army was crossing the river and heading south. The cavalrymen were confused when they saw this, because they were cavalrymen and could chase the enemy on the road, but how could they chase the enemy after they crossed the river? So when they saw these soldiers building a pontoon bridge to cross the river to the south, they waited for Qin Zhen's soldiers to move south and then cross the river via the pontoon bridge. Unexpectedly, as soon as they crossed the river, they were ambushed by the enemy and lost half of their troops before they could withdraw. Fearing an ambush, they dared not pursue them any further, and after one night, they lost track of the army. In other words, after two days of fighting, they were not only exhausted, but also lost track of the movements of Qin Zhen's troops! Therefore, after listening to the knight's words, Gao Shun frowned and said: "Qin Zhen is such a cunning kid. He must have known that our army would follow him along the way, so he crossed the river and headed north!"

"Now our troops are exhausted, and we have lost track of the enemy's troops. What should we do?" By now, Qin Zhen’s tactics seemed to be obvious. The troops heading north were not reinforcements, but a real killer! Qin Zhen made a detour and hid this army from their sight! Now they didn't know the location of this army, and their soldiers were exhausted. If Qin Zhen launched a surprise attack, they might not be able to defend the camp, which would just happen to be Qin Zhen's plan to break into the camp in four days. This is not some conspiracy, but an open plot. Unless they withdraw their camp immediately, they will be defeated by Qin Zhen sooner or later! "General, we have lost the enemy's trail now. How about we retreat a little bit?" Gao Shun thought that the most direct solution was to move the camp eastward again. By increasing the distance, the risk of being ambushed by Qin Zhen can be reduced. But Zhang Liao listened to Gao Shun's words, twirling his beard and pondering in silence. They had been retreating again and again before they had a direct battle with Qin Zhen. This way they were safe, but if Qin Zhen made any other move, they would find it difficult to react in time! After thinking about it for a while, he suddenly frowned and said: "Although Qin Zhen's strategy is powerful now, he has an army outside." "In terms of strategy, we are no match for him, but in terms of decisiveness in battle formations, he may not be our opponent." "If we take the initiative to attack and defeat the enemy troops outside the city." "No matter how smart Qin Zhen is, he will never be able to break into our camp!" Zhang Liao's words naturally made Gao Shun react. It seemed that they had been on the passive defense since Qin Zhen declared war the day before yesterday, but in fact their advantage lies in the active attack. If we can give full play to their advantages, perhaps we can break the current situation! "But now our army doesn't know where the enemy is hiding, so how can we attack them?" Although Zhang Liao’s suggestion was good, they had no idea where Qin Zhen’s hidden troops were! If we don’t even know where the enemy is, there’s no way we can defeat them! But when Zhang Liao heard this, he stroked his beard and smiled, saying confidently: "Now our army can confirm that Qin Zhen's special forces are among the 3,000 soldiers and horses that left the city." "Although he has been hiding back and forth, there is no place to hide his troops here." "If he wants to hide his troops, he must choose a dense forest or a mountain. We just need to focus on exploring the surrounding dangerous places, and perhaps we can find traces of the enemy!" "Qin Zhen set a deadline of four days, and only two days have passed. I am sure this man will attack tomorrow night." "If our army knows where the enemy is in advance, we may be able to defeat this enemy force by surprise!" When Gao Shun heard what Zhang Liao said, he nodded repeatedly, thinking that it was exactly as Zhang Liao said. The underlying logic of Qin Zhen's attack on the camp was always to use surprise troops, which had to be hidden in places that were difficult to find. As long as he carefully searches for dangerous places, he may be able to find the location of the enemy troops! After the two of them discussed it, they sent out spies to various places. After some investigation, they confirmed the place where Qin Zhen was most likely to hide his troops - Lishan! This place is about twenty miles away from Zhongli City. The mountains are not high, but it is the only mountain within a hundred miles. If Qin Zhen wanted to hide an army, this would undoubtedly be the most appropriate place! After confirmation, Zhang Liao sent a team of scouts to investigate at the foot of the mountain. It was not until the evening that they discovered the traces of Liu Bei's army. After knowing the news, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun were both overjoyed. Zhang Liao then quietly led 4,000 soldiers and headed towards Lishan.

(End of this chapter)