Chapter 250: Burn the Boats, Kong Ming's Strategies In October of the third year of Jian'an, Liu Bei and Sun Ce fought a fierce battle in Danyang County, and finally defeated Sun Ce's troops according to Qin Zhen's strategy. Faced with the aggressive Liu Bei, Sun Ce decided to shrink his defense line again after careful consideration. As Liu Bei entered the Jiangdong Plain, the original strategy of defending the dangerous area completely became ineffective. Therefore, Sun Ce took the initiative to give up the two cities of Jingxian and Wuhu and regrouped his originally scattered forces. With his 5,000 troops and Sun Ben's 3,000 troops, he retreated to Wanling County, the seat of Danyang Commandery, and held his ground. At the same time, in order to compete with strategic masters like Qin Zhen, he once again decentralized power and appointed Zhou Yu as the Grand Commander of Eastern Wu. The defense line was once reduced to Yuyang on the border of Wujun, forming a new triangular front with Shicheng and Wanling. Although this line of defense was based on the city, it was obvious that Sun Ce, as the lord, had placed himself on the front line this time, firmly guarding the gate of Kuaiji. Therefore, after hearing this strategic deployment, Liu Bei was also surprised:

"Sun Bofu is now defeated and retreating. Why does he want to hold on to Wanling instead of retreating to Kuaiji?" "Isn't this just taking a risk alone, caring about the small and losing the big?" It’s no wonder that Liu Bei was so surprised, because Wanling could not be defended now! With the fall of important cities such as Chungu, Jingxian, and Wuhu, Wanling became an isolated city. Once they surrounded Wanling, Sun Ce would be isolated and in danger of death. This was obviously not a decision a lord should make! As the commander, the most important thing you should do is to stay in the rear and ensure your own safety at all times. Otherwise, once captured by the enemy, the troops under his command will become chaotic! But after hearing this, Qin Zhen gave Liu Bei a reasonable explanation. In his opinion, Sun Ce was not putting himself in danger, but was trying to emulate Xiang Yu's strategy of burning his boats and breaking his cauldrons! Because there is no strategic location to defend in Jiangdong now, once they retreat to Kuaiji, as long as the connection between the two counties is cut off, Wu County will be slowly eroded. Similarly, if they lose contact with Wujun, Kuaiji will be taken over by them sooner or later. Therefore, Sun Ce’s last hope now is to defend Wanling to the death! As long as Wanling does not fall, the Jiangdong army still has a little hope of counterattack. Once Wanling fell, even if Jiangdong was not captured by them this time, Sun Ce would be exhausted to death with the two counties of Yuzhang and Danyang. Sun Ce saw through this and intended to use himself as bait to keep them in Danyang! If they attacked Wanling with all their strength, the weakness in the rear would be exposed to Zhou Yu. On the contrary, if they attacked Luyang with all their strength, Sun Ce could continue to harass them from the rear. It can be said that Sun Ce’s strategy is the best strategy to deal with their military advantage! After hearing this explanation, Liu Bei couldn't help but secretly praise Sun Ce as a real hero. After the defeat, he was able to organize his thoughts so quickly and come up with such a countermeasure. He is truly a qualified commander. But as he admired her, thinking about Sun Ce personally leading more than 8,000 people to defend Wanling, he felt a headache and said:

"Although our army has many soldiers and horses, Sun Ce's ability to lead the army is extraordinary!" "This man is defending this place with 8,000 men. Our army cannot take it unless we attack with all our might!" "In addition, Sun Ce appointed Zhou Yu as the Grand Commander and assembled the troops of Wujun, probably numbering 20,000 to 30,000 men." "If we divide our army, if we have too few troops, it will be hard to resist Sun Ce, and if we have too many, it will be hard to take Wanling. What should we do?" When everyone heard this, they began to think for a while, but Liu Ye stepped out and said with a smile: "Although the enemy has a strong city, our army can also prepare siege weapons to deal with it!" "The concern is that Sun Ce will fortify the city and clear the fields, making it difficult to cut down trees. We can use craftsmen to make ladders, well fences, catapults and other equipment to help build the city." "In this way, we don't need too many soldiers and horses, and we can easily capture the fortified city of Wanling!" In the original process, Liu Ye's tactics have always been flexible and changeable. During the Battle of Guandu, facing the earthen arrow tower built by Yuan Shao, his men suggested using catapults to fight the enemy. Now that he saw that Sun Ce was determined to defend Wanling to the death, he thought of the siege equipment. In fact, most siege weapons were made in a hurry outside the city, which took a long time. In ancient times, sieges would take several months because the troops had to settle down before attempting an attack. After the attack fails, find a way to create siege equipment. After a while, several months passed quietly, a lot of food and grass were consumed, and the siege had just begun. Liu Ye had not yet left the city, so he suggested building siege equipment first, which would naturally save a lot of time. However, the siege equipment of this era was not the assembled type like that of later generations, and was difficult to transport. So when Liu Bei heard this suggestion, he frowned and said: "Although this plan is feasible, the ladder and the well fence can be transported, but the catapult is a heavy object." "Except for going to the city to cut down trees and make them, how else can we make them?" Liu Ye hesitated for a while after hearing this, but Qin Zhen smiled and said: "This is not difficult. I know someone who is proficient in this!" "Our army now wants to make engineering weapons, we can seek help from this man!" When the two heard that Qin Zhen had a way to solve this problem, they asked Qin Zhen who he was talking about. Who else could this person be? Zhuge Liang's father-in-law Huang Chengyan! When Liu Bei heard that Qin Zhen had contacts with the famous scholar Huang Chengyan from Miannan, he was overjoyed and said: "Since there is such a rare person, why not ask him to help?" Upon hearing this, Qin Zhen quickly shook his head to indicate that Huang Chengyan would most likely not come, and he could only write a letter to ask for help. After hearing this, Liu Bei wrote a letter and asked Qin Zhen to send someone to Jingzhou to find Huang Chengyan who designed the catapult.

After some discussion, Liu Bei left Chen Ce to garrison Jing County and marched forward with his troops. As for Wuhu, he joined forces with Taishi Ci and met the general he had been thinking about. When the two armies joined together, they had nearly 50,000 soldiers and horses under their command. If the prisoners and navy were included, the number would be as many as 60,000. With so many troops arriving in Wuhu, it is naturally impossible for a small city to accommodate them. So he set up camp outside the city and asked Taishi Ci and others to go out of the city for the banquet. When the two men saw each other, they were both delighted. Liu Bei held Taishi Ci's hand and walked into the camp together. After entering the tent, the two talked in detail again, and talked about the day they met in Beihai, and they were full of emotion again. Thinking back to the time when Taishi Ci had just escaped and returned home, Liu Bei was also a small follower. But a few years later, Liu Bei had become a local tyrant, and Taishi Ci was no longer as immature as he used to be. Such changes in life circumstances are naturally amazing. After a long conversation, Liu Bei introduced Taishi Ci to Qin Zhen, Liu Ye and others, and asked about the details of the battle to capture Chun Valley. After learning that this capture of Chungu was Zhuge Liang's plan, Liu Bei smiled and said: "Thank goodness we sent Kong Ming south, otherwise our army would have never been able to break through the enemy's stronghold!" Seeing this, Zhuge Liang was unwilling to take credit and said hurriedly: "This battle was entirely thanks to the courage of General Taishi and the others. I only gave a few words of advice and I dare not take credit for it!" Seeing him refuse, Liu Bei pointed at Kong Ming and said with a smile: "So humble, yet in the same vein as a military advisor!" Without waiting for his refusal, he directly appointed him as the Chief Clerk of the General Who Conquers the East. At this point, Zhuge Liang had completely entered the core circle of Liu Bei's army. Such a promotion across levels naturally made lower-level officials other than Qin Zhen and others envious. He was appointed as the Chief Secretary before he even reached adulthood, so he will surely become extremely powerful in the future. At that moment, everyone started to think about it and wanted to curry favor with him. Only Taishi Ci saw this and asked Liu Bei what his next move would be. When Liu Bei heard this, he informed Qin Zhen of Qin Zhen's inference and Liu Ye's suggestion. As they have now entered Jiangdong, it is imperative to divide the troops and garrison them. As a guest general, Taishi Ci is obviously the best candidate for commander. So he did not hide anything and directly informed the general plan and deployment. Taishi Ci listened to the enemy's situation and couldn't help but stroke his beard and smiled: "In my humble opinion, the military advisor's plan to concentrate our forces to defeat Sun Ce is an excellent one." "But now that we have entered Jiangdong and have the three cities of Jingxian, Wuhu and Chungu in our hands, we can already gain a foothold here!" "Since Sun Ce has deployed his troops on the western front, why don't we attack from the northern front?" "You must know that although Wanling is the gateway to Kuaiji, the area east of Wanling is vast and sparsely populated, with mountainous and Yue people living together. Even if we take this place, it will be difficult to go south!"

"It would be better to take Shicheng, Jiangcheng and other places first, and attack along the road from north to south." "If we act this way, we can threaten Wujun and take Sun Ce's retreat!" After listening to Taishi Ci's words, Liu Bei's eyes lit up and he began to think carefully about the feasibility. When Qin Zhen heard this, he frowned and looked at Taishi Ci and said: "Although General Ziyi's proposal is acceptable, it does not conform to our military strategy!" "You must know that the situation in the Central Plains is changing again and again, and Yuan Shao may go south at any time." "Cao Cao and Lu Bu are not people you can easily deal with." "Our army can attack from the north to the south, but once Wu County falls, the enemy will definitely retreat to Kuaiji!" "Kuaiji is located in the southeast, with a vast territory and direct access to Jiaozhou." "If Sun Ce escapes to Jiaozhou, our army will never have peace in the future!" "So our army must first block Sun Ce's way south, so that we can gradually reduce his military strength!" In fact, he had discussed with Liu Ye the strategy of dividing the troops to open a passage from the north, but after the two of them discussed it, they concluded that this plan was absolutely not feasible. Because Sun Ce was not like Yuan Shu. Not only was he extremely capable, he also had a group of wise and brave generals under his command. If we don't kill him all at once and let Sun Ce escape to Jiaozhou, we will be in trouble. After all, Jiaozhou is a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and its population is over two million. If Sun Ce started from Jiaozhou, then Jingzhou, Yangzhou and Yizhou would all be within Sun Ce's attack range. Even if he turns to the outside world to expand his territory, he will become a big problem sooner or later! This obviously does not conform to their idea of ​​seizing a large rear area, so the Sun family must be completely dealt with! His strategic thinking was obviously different from the general thinking of the time. But after thinking about it carefully for a while, Taishi Ci could still understand it. Not to mention the Sun family, even if it was him, he could become a local lord by just finding a place to develop! Although Qin Zhen's strategy was relatively difficult, being able to encircle and destroy Sun Ce in Wujun was obviously beneficial to the long-term situation. Thinking of this, he nodded for a moment and said thoughtfully: "I should not worry too much. From this perspective, it would be best to take Wanling first." But as soon as he finished speaking, Zhuge Liang, who had been silent, laughed and said: "According to what you said, Wanling is not necessary!" "As long as we seize the main road to the south from Kuaiji with a surprise force, we can block Sun Ce's way south." Seeing Zhuge Liang taking the initiative to speak, Qin Zhen nodded and said: "If we can send out a surprise attack to stop Sun Ce from advancing south, then Wanling will not be necessary for our army!" "But now that our army has arrived here, it is difficult to split our forces and move south." "If there are too few, it will be difficult to achieve the effect of a surprise attack on Kuaiji. If there are too many, Sun Ce will be on guard and it will be difficult to carry out the operation!" As he said this, he couldn't help but pause, feeling that something was wrong.

Because Zhuge Liang is the kind of person who would not talk nonsense easily. Since he put forward this point of view, there must be a basis for it! After thinking for a moment, he smiled and looked at Kong Ming and said: "Could it be that Kong Ming has such a special force in his hands?" Zhuge Liang listened, shook his head and smiled, then pointed at Taishi Ci and said: "Of course, I don't have any, but General Taishi's subordinates do!" "In fact, General Taishi not only gathered Liu Yao's former subordinates in Yuzhang, but also conquered the clan members and trained more than 10,000 strong soldiers!" "General, you only used half of your troops this time, and there are still more than 10,000 troops in Yuzhang!" When Liu Bei heard this, he was immediately surprised and looked at Taishi Ci and said: "Ziyi is in Yuzhang, and there are still more than 10,000 soldiers and horses that have not yet moved?" Upon seeing this, Taishi Ci stroked his beard and nodded and smiled, indicating his approval of the matter. Seeing this, Qin Zhen couldn't help but look at Liu Ye, and both of them were surprised. I thought that this kid Zhuge Liang had become a bad boy. Without knowing it, he had secretly hidden a trick! If we don't bring up this topic, then how long will we hide it? (End of this chapter)