Chapter 341: Slowly marching and attacking from behind Changsha, southern Hunan, the ambush site of the Jingzhou army, this place was a wasteland in this era. But in later generations it was the densely populated city of Xiangtan, located at the confluence of the Lianshui River and the Xiangshui River. The unique geographical location makes this place a natural ambush site. If Linxiang had not yet been taken, Huang Zhong would have almost wanted to set up camp here to block Qin Zhen's troops. Since Linxiang, the capital of Changsha County, had not fallen, the only thing they could do was to ambush here. Ever since Huang Zhong went south, they took their troops and hid in the dense forest. But such secrecy alone was not a problem, so Huang Zhong sent spies south to gather information. After a day of scouting, when the spies returned, he immediately asked: "Have you found the enemy's tracks? Where are they now?"

But the spy shook his head when he heard this. Yang Ling suggested to Huang Zhong: "General, if we continue searching like this, I don't know how long it will take us to find the answer!" "Since the city has sent out a letter asking for help, we might as well head south first." "Our army will go directly to Hengshan Mountain to set up camp and ambush their troops first. After we win, we will return here to ambush them again!" "This way we can not only block Qin Zhen's troops from heading north, but also harass them along the way and wait for your troops to head south." Their current ambush location is located south of Linxiang, too close to Linxiang City. If they fail to defeat Qin Zhen in this one go, they will have no chance to ambush him again. Therefore, he felt that they should push the front line south to leave room for strategic maneuvering. However, when Huang Zhong heard this, he shook his head and rejected the proposal. "Qin Zhen's military tactics are strange. We have already set up an ambush here. We can't move easily!" "In order to avoid being discovered by Qin Zhen, we changed our route and headed north quietly." Having said this, he ordered the spies to head south, and no matter how far they went, they should report back only when they had spotted Qin Zhen's troops. Once an order was given, his spies headed south. At the same time, the spies sent by Qin Zhen to the south were also heading south to look for the traces of Xu Sheng and others. Before, after Qin Zhen divided his troops, the food and supplies were escorted by Xu Sheng and others. There were a large number of captured barbarians in the team, who served as the manpower for transporting food and fodder. Xu Sheng was seen riding on a horse, his troops were advancing continuously, and a large number of captives were moving food onto bamboo rafts. The reason for this is that there was a heavy snowfall in Jingnan at the end of December. The roads were covered with ice and snow, but with several days of sunny weather, a lot of the ice and snow melted. At this time, the entire main road was muddy and difficult for vehicles to pass.

Fortunately, they have arrived at Moyang, where there is a stream that leads directly to the Xiangjiang River. Once here, their food can be transported directly by water, and the speed can be increased extremely quickly. Looking at the captives with their thumbs cut off carrying food and grass in the distance, Xu Sheng thought to himself: "I wonder where the governor and General Taishi are going. Is the battle going well?" Almost three and a half years have passed since he joined Liu Bei's army. Over the past three years, he has risen from a team leader to his current position as the Tiger and Power Captain, and Qin Zhen's promotion was inevitable. Therefore, he has always been diligent and conscientious, not daring to be careless at all. Even when he is not with the army, he often thinks about the war on the front line. In his opinion, Qin Zhen's light troops marching northward was a very risky move. After all, the news of Zhang Xian’s death could most likely not be concealed from Liu Biao’s army, and the enemy would take measures once they knew about it. In a sense, their march from Jiaozhou to Changsha was an expedition. This would give the enemy an opportunity to allow Liu Biao's army to set up an ambush in a dangerous area in the north. Therefore, it was extremely dangerous for Qin Zhen to go north, and he had to be extremely careful before he could enter Changsha. It’s a pity that he did not follow the army this time and could not remind Qin Zhen to be careful all the time. The only thing that could be done was to lead the troops north as soon as possible to join forces with Qin Zhen. With this in mind, he raised his whip, rode out, and shouted to everyone: "Hurry up and move the things. Don't be lazy. We must reach Ling County before tonight!" Ling County, which is the Hengyang City in later generations, is located south of Hengshan Mountain and is more than 200 miles away from southern Hunan. Even if they marched at full speed, it would take six or seven days to reach Shonan. As he urged, the soldiers shouted at the prisoners to speed up the transportation. But at this moment, Lu Xun came forward with his muddy hem and said: "Captain Xu, the commander-in-chief's troops have arrived at Hengshan, and there is an urgent letter for us!" When Xu Sheng heard this, he rode his horse to Lu Xun's side, dismounted and asked: "The commander-in-chief sent an urgent letter as soon as he reached Hengshan? Could it be that he encountered the enemy in the mountains?" As far as he knew, Hengshan was more than a hundred miles away from Linxiang, so there was no need for Qin Zhen to send a letter suddenly! As soon as he finished asking, Lu Xun handed the letter to him and nodded: "The governor has discovered the enemy's tracks, and Liu Pan has already sent troops to surround Linxiang." "Because the governor doesn't know the situation in the north, he decided to take a detour and told us to be careful!" After hearing his explanation, Xu Sheng waved to the guards beside him and took out the map to look at it. After carefully looking at the map of Guiyang and Changsha, he frowned and said: "If the enemy has an ambush, it is most likely in southern Hunan. The commander-in-chief is heading west, probably towards Wuling County!" "Since the enemy has ambushed troops in the north, how can we go north to join the commander-in-chief?" Qin Zhen asked them to act cautiously, which meant giving them a certain degree of autonomy.

They can all move freely until Qin Zhen's order comes again. But they were carrying food, fodder, and carriages with them, so it was impossible for them to change direction as Qin Zhen did. Therefore, in Xu Sheng's view, Qin Zhen's order actually posed a difficult problem for them. "Bo Yan, what do you think we should do now that the governor has issued this order?" As he said this, he looked at the still young Lu Xun, and then saw Lu Xun smiled and said: "This is easy. The governor told us to be careful, so we can just march slowly!" "Because the governor is taking a detour now, he doesn't know the number of Liu Pan's troops in the north." "Even the governor dares not advance rashly. If we don't know the enemy's situation, bad things will happen." "But the governor is taking a detour now, and we need to provide him with protection, so we cannot stop." "So according to my opinion, our army can slowly move northward to the base camp of Hengshan Mountain." "If we act this way, we can confuse the enemy with the governor, and let him act at his convenience." "After the governor succeeds, most of the enemy troops will retreat, and our army can march north at ease!" When Xu Sheng heard his words, he thought about the logic behind them for a moment and then nodded in agreement. He thought that since they were going to march slowly, there was no need to rush them, so he simply ordered his soldiers to rest. His order naturally puzzled the soldiers who had just sped up. But they are happy and comfortable to be able to rest in the army and will not make themselves unhappy! As Xu Sheng gave this order, his soldiers were naturally happy, but Huang Zhong's scouts suffered. Because the order they received was to continue searching if they could not find Qin Zhen's trace. The distance from Moyang to Xiangnan is more than 280 miles, which would take a whole day for a horse to run! Therefore, it was two days later when Liu Pan’s army scouts discovered the whereabouts of Xu Sheng and others. At the same time, Qin Zhen had already led his troops across Hengshan Mountain and headed north to the north of Shaoshan. Through the investigation of spies on the way, he finally got a clear understanding of the situation of Liu Pan's troops. It turned out that Liu Pan had already arrived at Linxiang City and surrounded the city, but after two days of fierce attack, he stopped the attack. In this situation, the obvious intention was to lure the people in the city to ask for help, and then ambush their troops. Taishi Ci was frightened when he heard the letter, and said to Qin Zhen: "Fortunately, the governor was alert that day, otherwise we would have been defeated by him on the way north." "I thought Liu Pan was just a nobody, but now I see he has some strategy!" Seeing that he looked frightened, Qin Zhen shook his head and said nonchalantly: "General, there is no need to do that. As the saying goes, a lion will use all its strength to fight a rabbit. The reason why our army always wins is that we are always careful in everything we do!" "As the saying goes, caution makes the boat last a thousand years. This is the way to be a general!" Qin Zhen is good at using rhymes. This is almost a consensus among Liu Bei's army. Seeing that he speaks golden sentences, Taishi Ci can't help but stroke his beard and smile: "Being careful is the key to success. The governor is very cautious, and we can see it today!"

"Before, our army had not yet discovered the enemy's movements, so we were not allowed to enter Linxiang City." "Now that we know the enemy is stationed outside the city, how about we go and attack the enemy camp at night?" "Right now the enemy doesn't know our army is here. If we can attack their camp, we will surely defeat them!" In the blink of an eye, he proposed another plan for Qin Zhen to launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp. But Qin Zhen listened with a half-smile on his face and said: "We can certainly win by raiding the enemy camp, but what should we do after we win?" Taishi Ci was surprised when he heard this, and then he said in surprise: "After victory, we can move into Linxiang City and drive Liu Pan out of Changsha!" Qin Zhen smiled and continued to ask Taishi Ci mysteriously: "After expelling Liu Pan, what should our army do?" After expelling Liu Pan, what should they do? This question confused Taishi Ci. Aren’t they heading north to Jingnan this time just to attack Jingzhou? Now that we have gained a firm foothold, the next step is to continue conquering new territories! But when he said this, his body trembled, and he looked at Qin Zhen suddenly and said: "The governor is saying that our army should not enter Linxiang City, but directly capture the enemy city?" "That's right!" Qin Zhen saw that he had reacted and smiled: "This time Liu Pan went south with the intention of taking Linxiang first to block our army's path northward." "But this person misjudged one thing. He thought our army would make entering Linxiang its primary goal." "Now that their main force is heading south, Wuling is empty. Our army can do the opposite!" "First, take Wuling and cut off their retreat. This will cut off Liu Biao's base in southern Jing!" "After taking the four counties in southern Jing, our army will only need to use the navy to open a passage and we can cross the Yangtze River without any worries!" "At that time, even if Liu Biao sent another large army south, how could he contend with our army?" As soon as he finished speaking, Taishi Ci's eyes sparkled and he clapped his hands excitedly: "Yes, I have never thought that now is the opportunity to seize Wuling!" "Instead of entering the city first, why don't we cut off their route of retreat to prevent future trouble?" Thinking of this, he hurriedly asked Qin Zhen for advice, and Qin Zhen immediately gave him his overall plan. After the two of them discussed it, they led their troops northward and headed towards Liu Pan's rear. (End of this chapter)