mesbooks Chapter 273 Guan Xing Sees Through Lu Xun's Plot
Chapter 273 Guan Xing Sees Through Lu Xun's Plot
The end.
Ordinary soldiers only need to charge forward desperately, but Guan Xing, as the commander, has many more things to consider.
In this battle, Guan Xing was on the defensive and had the advantage of terrain. Theoretically, as long as he held the corridor and blocked the retreat step by step, he could lure Lu Xun to Damo and then send a detachment to penetrate behind enemy lines to block the exit of the corridor, completely trapping the Wu army in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi corridor, and then just wait for the Wu army to run out of food and surrender.
But Guan Xing knew that Lu Xun was not a reckless man like Han Dang or Xu Sheng, and would never be led by the nose by him. He would definitely take countermeasures before entering the corridor.
Therefore, what countermeasures Lu Xun would take became a pressing issue for Guan Xing to consider.
Guan Xing had no idea what Lu Xun would do, so he could only put himself in Lu Xun's shoes and keep thinking about it, trying to figure it out. He was so anxious that he almost pulled his hair out.
His behavior was interpreted quite differently by Zhu Chao, the commander of the personal guards. In Zhu Chao's view, Guan Xing would sit on one side of the table and mutter to himself, and then sit on the other side of the table and talk to himself in Lu Xun's voice. He seemed to have schizophrenia, which made people extremely worried about his mental state.
After muttering to himself for three to five days, Guan Xing suddenly had a whim and asked a carpenter to make a large wooden box that was ten meters long, eight meters wide, and half a foot high, but without a lid on top. He then made a stand at the bottom of the box and placed it in the center of the county government office.
Then, Guan Xing pulled Zhu Chao to use water and mud to make a topographical map in the box, which he called a sand table.
That day, Guan Xing and Zhu Chao had just finished building the last mountain in the sand table when Wu Yue returned. He walked into the county government hall and was stunned when he saw the sand table.
He was a man who had followed Lü Meng in fighting against the Wei army. He had traveled all over the country and was very knowledgeable. He could tell the terrain and landforms on the sand table at a glance and easily found the location of Da Mo.
A corridor extends westward from Damo, with the familiar Huangwu Mountains to the north, the Wuyi Mountains to the south, the Jinqu Basin to the east, and even Wushang, Zhuji, and the Yuyao Plain visible from there.
Wu Yue exclaimed in shock, "What is this thing? It looks much more detailed than a map, and the area it covers is so vast, it's almost to the seaside!"
“The seaside…the seaside…” Guan Xing’s pupils contracted sharply as if he had grasped something. He frowned and pondered for a moment before slamming his fist on the wooden board at the edge of the sand table and exclaiming, “I finally understand what Lu Xun is going to do!”
These days he has been thinking about what methods Lu Xun would use to deal with him. The sad thing is that the more he thinks, the more he gets caught in a mental loop, as if his mind is always shrouded in a layer of fog, which he can neither see through nor penetrate.
Wu Yue's words were like sunlight piercing through the fog, easily dispelling the mist and making his thoughts incredibly clear.
Guan Xing couldn't help but mutter to himself, "The seaside, yes, the seaside. How could I forget about the sea? Moreover, the Wu army's proudest asset is its navy. Although the navy at Ruxukou surrendered to Cao Ren with Zhu Huan, and we seized the shipyard in Wu County, it doesn't mean that the Wu army's navy was completely wiped out. The Wu army still has a navy in Poyang Lake."
“Not only Poyang Lake, but Wu’s army also has a lot of warships in Jiaozhou. The people of Jiangdong are all good swimmers, so they don’t need any training and can become sailors as soon as they board a warship. If I were Lu Xun, I would definitely not abandon such a force.”
“Sun Quan would not do that either. For Sun Quan, this battle is very likely to be the last battle of his life. If he doesn’t win, he will die. Under such circumstances, he will definitely use all the resources he can to make a final gamble. In that case, there is even less reason for him to abandon his navy, right?”
"Furthermore, Lu Dai, the governor of Jiaozhou, has already pacified Jingnan and returned to Jiaozhou. If Lu Dai takes advantage of our army's confrontation with Lu Xun at Da Mo and leads the navy north to seize the beach, he is very likely to break into the Jinqu Basin and cut off our retreat."
Guan Xing's thoughts became clearer and clearer. After figuring it out, he hugged Wu Yue and kissed him twice, excitedly saying, "Old Wu, you are truly my lucky star."
After saying that, he ran back to his desk, picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Xie Chong, Cheng Li, Ji Jie, Zhou Xun, and even Feng Tiezhu from the steel mill. He handed the letter to Zhu Chao and said, "Send these letters to Xie Chong, Zhou Xun and the others as quickly as possible, and tell them to be wary of Lü Dai's northward march and also to guard against the secret antics of the Kuaiji gentry."
"Tell Xie Chong that during the war, it is urgent to act expediently. I allow him to act on his own initiative and report later. If things get out of hand, I will cover for him."
He did not intend to send troops to support Xie Chong, because Xie Chong still had tens of thousands of county soldiers, and Zhou Xun and Ji Jie had eight thousand naval troops. These troops were enough to resist Lü Dai.
Lü Dai's greatest advantage is his ability to launch surprise attacks. If Guan Xing hadn't realized this, he might have been successfully ambushed by Lü Dai. But now that he has realized it and reminded Xie Chong, Xie Chong will definitely not let the old man Lü get ashore so easily.
Even if Lü Dai manages to land, so what? As long as Xie Chong holds Zhuji and Shan County and prevents Lü Dai from entering the Jinqu Basin, Lü Dai's navy will not pose a significant threat to Guan Xing. In that case, Guan Xing can still easily deal with Lu Xun.
If we wait until we defeat Lu Xun and then lead our troops back to reinforce him, we can keep Lü Dai in Kuaiji forever.
Thinking of this, Guan Xing couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Lu Dai, you'd better stay in Jiaozhou and retire quietly, or don't blame me, Guan Anguo, for disrespecting the elderly."
Once you understand one thing, you understand everything. After making the arrangements, Guan Xing's mind was completely clear. Only then did he look at Wu Yue and ask, "Didn't you go to Huangwu Mountain? Why are you back?"
Wu Yue bowed and said, "Reporting to the general, I have been mainly exploring the mountainous terrain and searching for defensive fortresses these past few days. I have now thoroughly investigated the terrain south of Huangshan Mountain, but after entering Jiuhua Mountain, I encountered Wei scouts. Therefore, I have come back to ask the general whether we should continue to go deeper into Jiuhua Mountain?"
Guan Xing pondered, "It seems that old Cao Ren is also wary of me. This is indeed a bit difficult. If we do nothing, the Wu army is very likely to slip through the gap between us and the Wei army. If we do something, it will be easy to start fighting with the Wei army."
"What's even more troublesome is that the Wei army has a large number of troops and can easily launch multiple attacks from different directions. If they really send 10,000 or 20,000 men south into the Huangwu Mountains to cause trouble, we will be at a disadvantage."
"However, even if Wu Jun wanted to infiltrate, he couldn't possibly go all the way to Jiuhua Mountain. It would be too far and he might even clash with Wei Jun. So don't go deep into Jiuhua Mountain. Just send scouts into the mountain to keep an eye on the movements of Wei and Wu armies. Our primary objective right now is to deal with Wu Jun."
"Yes..." Wu Yue bowed and was about to take his leave when Zhu Chao, who had gone to deliver the message, rushed back and said urgently, "General, something bad has happened! The garrison of Yushan County has returned and said that a Wu army suddenly attacked from the mountains and seized Yushan County."
Wu Yue's expression changed slightly, and he quickly asked, "How did Wu Jun suddenly appear in Yushan? Could it be that General Shen Yi has been completely annihilated?"
Guan Xing calmly shook his head and said, "It's not that bad. Even if Shen Yi couldn't defeat the Wu army, it wouldn't be that his entire army was wiped out and not even a messenger could escape. I guess this Wu army probably came from the mountains. Call the messenger in."
Wu Yue's expression darkened upon hearing this. Huangwu Mountain was his defense zone, and Wu's army had already stormed into Yushan, yet he hadn't received any news.
But this is not his fault. He is currently mainly on guard against the area from Da Mo to Shexian County, and his reach has not yet extended to Yushan.
Soon the messenger was brought in, and Guan Xing hurriedly inquired about the situation before the messenger could even bow.
After finishing his questioning, he chuckled and said, "I didn't expect Xu Sheng to pull the same trick of flanking and ambushing us halfway. He's really courting death."
"Since General Xu is here, he shouldn't go back. Send a scout to Shen Yi as quickly as possible to tell him not to rush back to Yushan and to continue setting traps to ambush Lu Xun. Xu Sheng is up to me."
"Wu Yue, you must immediately return to the Huangwu Mountains and lead the army to penetrate towards Yiyang, blocking Xu Sheng's retreat route."
"Zhu Chao, order Zhou Shan to muster the army and set off in two hours to attack Xu Sheng at Yushan. Come with me to meet this tiger general of Jiangdong."