The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 392 Lu Xun's Doomsday (1)

Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes treating the root cause of the illness; once the root cause is found, the appropriate medication will naturally be known.

The same applies to warfare. Since we have guessed Lu Xun's actions, dealing with him is simple.

Guan Xing said slowly, "When you have nowhere else to go, remember that you still have one way out: death. You will perish together with the heavens and earth."

"Lu Xun is definitely thinking the same thing right now, so he will surely fight us to the death with all his might, to determine who is better and who will die."

"Therefore, our best course of action is to retreat step by step and block Lu Xun's advances layer by layer, avoiding battle and completely exhausting his morale. But we can't do that this time."

Wu Yue promptly chimed in, "Why?"

Guan Xing replied: "First of all, the essence of mobile warfare is to move the enemy troops around by constantly moving them, and then to find opportunities to strike the enemy troops while they are in motion, and to gradually erode the enemy troops by dividing and encircling them."

"But don't forget, while you are looking for opportunities to fight by moving around, the enemy can also use your movements to seize opportunities. It's more than 200 li from here to Yuhan, and there are countless entrances to the mountains. The terrain in the mountains is also very complicated. What will you do if Lu Xun escapes into the mountains with his personal guards after his defeat?"

"What I want is not to defeat Lu Xun, but to annihilate the Wu army. In particular, we cannot allow Lu Xun to escape, so we must not retreat and give Lu Xun a chance to escape."

"Moreover, if we keep retreating, our morale will be affected. If the Wu army sees us retreating, they will mistakenly think that we are afraid of them. Their already low morale may rebound, which is not good for us."

"Of course, more importantly, we need to fight a tough battle to prove the strength of our Han army to the world. If we continue to retreat and defeat Lu Xun through attrition, Lu Xun, Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao in Jiangling, and even the Cao Wei rulers and ministers will think that we won by trickery. They will only think that Lu Xun made a fatal mistake and that we got lucky. They will think that as long as they don't make Lu Xun's mistake, they will defeat us. Therefore, they will only be jealous of us and not admire or even fear us."

"Therefore, we must fight Lu Xun head-on and use our absolute strength to subdue the hearts of the people, so that those so-called famous generals will tremble at the mere mention of my name, Guan Xing. This will benefit our subsequent land reform and Your Majesty's governance."

This has already transcended the military realm and entered the political realm. Wu Yue didn't quite understand, and said with a pained expression, "You have so many ideas. Lu Xun too. At a time like this, what's the point of struggling? Wouldn't it be better to just lead the troops to surrender?"

Guan Xing laughed and said, "Lu Xun will definitely surrender, but not now. He must surrender after we have fought a battle. The reason is simple: if he surrenders now, how will Sun Quan view him, and how will the world view him?"

"You must understand that there is a world of difference between surrendering without a fight and being forced to surrender after being defeated in a fierce battle. You, Lu Xun, still had the strength to fight, yet you surrendered without a fight. Is such a cowardly act worthy of Sun Quan's trust and the support of your soldiers?"

"What will Sun Quan think of him? What will his colleagues think of him? What will the gentry of the Central Plains think of him? Most importantly, what will his new master, our king, think of him? The king will definitely think that you, Lu Xun, are afraid of death and cannot be entrusted with important responsibilities!"

"But it's different if you fight to the death and are forced to surrender. I, Lu, did my best, but I just couldn't win. The former is a matter of attitude, while the latter is a matter of ability."

"Sun Quan's political career will definitely end after this battle, but Lu Xun's will not. Lu Xun still needs to make a living in the officialdom, and he will definitely use his 20,000 troops to gain some political capital for himself. Do you understand?"

Wu Yue said with a toothache, "There will always be casualties in a battle between two armies. He is risking the lives of his rank-and-file soldiers to advance his own career."

Guan Xing sighed, "There's nothing we can do. This is the reality. Even if you think it's unreasonable or inappropriate, you can't avoid it. The only way is to pay the price and solve the problem once and for all. If you hesitate because you're worried about the cost and keep dragging things out and wasting time, the price you pay will only be higher."

"Therefore, we must deal with Lu Xun as soon as possible in order to end the war completely. This battle with Lu Xun is unavoidable, but how we fight it is up to me."

"First, we need to choose a battlefield that is advantageous to us. Let's set it up in the area where we besieged Han Dang that day. The narrow corridor there is suitable for blocking, and the mountainous terrain is very treacherous. If we can trap Han Dang, we can certainly trap Lu Xun as well."

"You are familiar with the terrain there. Immediately lead your men back to the place where you surrounded and annihilated Han Dang. Guard all the crossroads and station men on the mountaintop to prevent Lu Xun from climbing the cliffs and escaping."

"Send another messenger back to Da Mo immediately to inform Shen Yi that he no longer needs to guard the city. He should immediately lead his troops into the corridor to meet me. But remember, do not underestimate the enemy or advance rashly. Be slow and do not take risks. Overwhelm me with an overwhelming force."

"Order Wang Tao to advance from Wuyi Mountain and block all of Lu Xun's access routes into Wuyi Mountain. Wang Tao doesn't need to be too fast either, but he needs to coordinate well with Shen Yi. Pay special attention to the connection between his army and Shen Yi's army. Don't give Lu Xun a chance to escape through the connection between them. The same goes for your garrison in Huangwu Mountain. Follow Shen Yi to gradually tighten the encirclement and completely block Lu Xun."

"As for me, I will lead the main force back to the corridor where we encircled and annihilated Han Dang. We will set up a fortified camp in the corridor to block Lu Xun. After Shen Yi arrives, we will launch a general attack. This time, we will not play tricks. We will confront Lu Xun head-on."

With Guan Xing's order, the army turned around and returned along the same route. Wu Yue went into the mountains and rushed along the mountain road to the place where Han Dang had been besieged and annihilated that day. The messenger traveled through the Huangwu Mountains and rushed to Damu as quickly as possible to deliver the order to Shen Yi.

Guan Xing led his troops to retreat to the crossroads where Xu Sheng was to be annihilated. He sent 3,000 men into Baopingyu to establish a position and wait for Wang Tao. He also called on You Chong to continue the retreat.

The next day at noon, they arrived at the designated location without incident. After looking around, they decisively ordered: "You Chong, go up the mountain to cut down trees and make deer antlers. Deng Hong, dig a trench here. Dig a deep trench and set up a chevaux-de-frise. Make sure the chevaux-de-frise is at least two meters deep and three meters wide. Fill it with half-meter-long sharpened bamboo poles, the kind that will make Wu soldiers fall in and be immediately turned into hedgehogs."

"After you finish digging this, move back ten meters and dig the second pit. Dig at least five of these chevaux-de-frise for me. I want to make this place an insurmountable barrier for Lu Xun."

"After Liu Zan retreated five miles, he set up camp, erected tents, established a mess hall and a field hospital, and made sure that the soldiers who fought hard could eat in time and that the wounded could receive timely medical treatment."

"Yes..." The men clasped their hands in obeisance and accepted the order. Then Liu Zan asked in confusion, "But General, so many barricades are blocking the Wu army, but they are also blocking us. How are we supposed to fight our way out and fight the Wu army?"

Guan Xing quipped, "Who said we were going to fight our way out? I have no intention of fighting our way out. We just need to hold the camp and prevent Lu Xun from coming over. As for the task of annihilating Lu Xun, that will be Shen Yi's job."

His 20,000 hastily assembled troops are of questionable strength, and when the time comes for them to reveal their true colors and fight desperately, they may not be a match for Lu Xun.

Shen Yi is different. He has 40,000 to 50,000 men under his command, which he mobilized at the beginning of the war. He also took in nearly 10,000 surrendered soldiers from Han Dang, bringing his total strength to nearly 60,000. Moreover, after so much time has passed, Han Dang's tens of thousands of prisoners have probably been reformed. I dare not say how many more Shen Yi has, but he can certainly send 30,000 men into the corridor to encircle and annihilate Lu Xun.

Therefore, Guan Xing decided to let Shen Yi take the lead in attacking, while he would play a supporting role to Shen Yi.

"Yes..." Liu Zan turned and left without further hesitation. Guan Xing was not idle either. After arranging the settlement matters, he led his personal guards into the Huangwu Mountains to survey the terrain.

This was his final and most fatal blow to Lu Xun; he had to block all possibilities and give Lu Xun no chance to break through.