Zhu Nao

Tao Bei ordered a thorough investigation into who sneaked into the barracks in the middle of the night to make a sneak attack. Unexpectedly, the result was not found yet, and the next day, something happened again.

The next day, as the Central Plains Army continued to move forward, the tail of the army suddenly became disordered.The soldiers ran and shouted: "Rebellion, someone has rebellion!"

The movement spread to the front, and the entire army fell into panic and panic, and the formation began to be chaotic.

Tao Bei immediately ordered to stabilize the army, and sent his generals to the rear to suppress it.After struggling for a while, the "rebellion" was finally suppressed.

Tao Bei didn't know until the officer came back to report that the situation was similar to last night: when they passed a forest, a group of soldiers wearing the same uniforms as them suddenly rushed out of the forest, and after mixing into the army, they chopped down anyone they saw. !The Central Plains soldiers were caught off guard and were killed again, causing chaos.

What is extremely cunning is that the Central Plains soldiers already knew that the enemies who sneaked in last night had white cloth strips tied around their arms, but these people who came today wore green scarves around their necklines to identify each other.The Central Plains soldiers didn't know, and it took them a while to figure out how to identify the enemy in a panic.Naturally, it is inevitable that heavy casualties will be suffered during this time when the enemy and the enemy are unknown.

Having suffered the same loss twice, Tao Bei was furious!

After such a thing happened, continuing to march blindly will definitely make the army more and more suspicious.As a last resort, Tao Bei had no choice but to order the army to station nearby, suspend the march, and call his subordinates to discuss countermeasures.

"Have you found out who sent these people!" Tao Bei asked the officer in charge of the investigation angrily.

The officer was crying, but still couldn't answer.Just like last night, those dead soldiers retreated quickly, and those who did not retreat committed suicide.They did not catch anyone alive, and there was no way to try the matter.

But what is certain is that those people must have been sent by the Shu army.It's just that there is a big difference in which unit of the Shu army it is.

——If it is the defenders near Yunyang, it means that the Yunyang troops have discovered their whereabouts and are using this method to obstruct their progress; if it is the troops chasing from Jingzhou, how many people have chased them?Where is it lurking right now?Is Jingzhou empty because of this?If it was Zhu Nao's army transferred from Hanzhong or Chengdu... then the situation would be much more serious. How many troops does the opponent have?How much do you know about them?Will there be an ambush waiting for them somewhere?

Many people have already thought of these possibilities, and some people panicked: "General, it seems that our marching plan has been known by the people of Shu. The people of Shu must have taken precautions. If we want to surprise Yunyang again, I'm afraid it will not be easy!"

These days, Tao Bei ordered the army to go on their way desperately. Except for the most necessary food and grass, he almost abandoned all the supplies that could be discarded, just to catch the enemy by surprise.But now that the enemy has discovered their whereabouts, the effect of the surprise attack will naturally not be as they expected.

Another person panicked: "General, could it be that the Shu people have sent reinforcements here?"

Tao Bei immediately denied it: "This is impossible! It is absolutely impossible for reinforcements from Chengdu or Hanzhong! How long will it take for the news to reach Hanzhong? How long will it take for Hanzhong to send troops over? There is absolutely no such possibility!"

The reason why he was so sure was because of one sentence: his actions were so sudden and fast, no matter how fast the Shu people passed on the information, it was impossible to reach this level.

The subordinate asked: "General, do we still want to attack Yunyang?"

Tao Bei resolutely said: "Of course! And, you have to act fast! In my opinion, the enemy's pretending to be tricky is to scare us away. Doesn't this just mean that they don't have many troops and dare not fight us head-on? Otherwise, Since they already know our movements, they can ambush us on the road, why use such dirty methods!"

It has to be said that Tao Bei has been on the battlefield for a long time, has rich experience, and knows the art of war and tactics very well.If it were an ordinary general who found that his actions were controlled by the enemy at this moment, he might order to withdraw his troops.Otherwise, the consequences of being ambushed by the enemy will be disastrous.But Tao Bei saw the enemy's intentions from the enemy's actions, and indeed guessed the strength of Xie Wuji's troops in all likelihood.

After Tao Bei finished speaking, his subordinates looked at each other in blank dismay.

Tao Bei's analysis is indeed very reasonable, but the fact that the enemy is in the dark and they are in the light still makes them feel very uneasy.In these two operations, the enemy only dispatched dozens of dead soldiers and killed hundreds of them. Although the casualties were not heavy, the blow to the morale and morale of the army was very serious.

A lieutenant general said: "The general's words are certainly reasonable, but right now the army is in a state of panic. If you force the march, you may lose your mind. It's better to stop and rest for two days, so as to find out who is responsible."

Tao Bei frowned.

He wanted to capture Yunyang as soon as possible, now that the enemy already knew his movements, the longer the delay, the more time the enemy had to prepare.But what the lieutenant general said made sense. As the commander in chief, if he forcibly ordered the march regardless of the morale of the army, it would be very difficult to win the war.And he not only needs to appease the soldiers, he really needs time to investigate where the enemy army is now, and he also needs to rectify his own military discipline to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

"Okay..." Tao Bei took a step back helplessly, and he could only agree to let the army suspend the march and rest in place for two days.

Of course, the soldiers can rest these two days, but the officers must be more busy, investigating what should be investigated, appeasing what should be appeased, and what should be rectified should be rectified...

=====

"General, the Central Plains Army has set up camp at Xikou, and the march has been suspended." After the spies got the information, they immediately came to report to Xie Wuji.

Xie Wuji was standing in the camp, in front of him, the soldiers of the camp were gathering and busy.

The soldiers tied straw to branches and tied them into human shapes, and made many large brooms with hay and sticks, and filled many barrels with sand.These are Xie Wuji's orders.

Xie Wuji ordered in a low voice: "Let everyone speed up. Tao Bei has experience in many battles and is skilled in running the army. I'm afraid they won't stay for long, and we have limited time to prepare."

The messenger took the order and immediately went down to deliver the order.

Xie Wuji narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the hurried soldiers around him.

According to the information obtained by the soldiers who sneaked in before, he knew that the general who led the Central Plains Army this time was none other than Tao Bei himself.Tao Bei didn't go to Changsha, but came to Shu in person!Obviously it was just to attack a small place like Yunyang... It can be seen that Tao Bei attaches great importance to Shu!

Before that, Xie Wuji had never fought against Tao Bei, but he had heard of Tao Bei's name for a long time.He also knew that Tao Bei was the real ruler of Yedu.If Tao Bei can never go back this time, then Henan, Hebei and other places that have just been pacified will surely fall apart again, which will help Zhu Nao unify the country as soon as possible.

Thinking of Zhu Nao, Xie Wuji's solemn expression eased a bit.There was a slight smile on the corner of his mouth, he stood for a while, then turned and went back to the camp.

He still has to write a letter to Junao to report the recent situation.

=====

After a short rest for two days, Tao Bei's army broke out and continued to march towards Yunyang.

On the march, the soldiers were whispering to each other.

"Is it really just the defenders of Yunyang who attacked us two days ago? The Shu army already knows our movements, so they won't set up an ambush to ambush us again?"

In fact, Tao Bei didn't find out who ordered the enemies who sneaked into the army. In order to calm people's hearts, he could only claim that those people were sent by Yunyang, and Yunyang has limited manpower, so there is nothing to worry about.

But this statement, the soldiers will be skeptical.Time was running short, and Tao Bei couldn't completely dispel people's doubts.

"The general said that there are not many defenders near Yunyang, and I don't know if it's true or not..."

"Who knows? I heard that Huang Dongxuan was defeated and captured here..."

Several people were talking in low voices, when the officer who heard the commotion rushed up, he scolded, "What are you talking about?"

Several people quickly fell silent.They don't dare to talk openly about such words that shake the morale of the army.

But not only these soldiers are concerned, but how many people in the whole army are not worried?Now when everyone sees a colleague they don't know, they all feel a little bit in their hearts. After all, it is impossible for everyone to recognize everyone in an army of 8000 people.

Of course Tao Bei was aware of this, he had already ordered to strengthen the defense, and expanded the scouts' detection distance.Therefore, it was impossible for him to march as fast as before, and the speed of the army was forced to slow down a lot.

Yunyang, which could have been reached in two days at most, was forced to travel for four or five days due to the slowdown.

One day on the road again, because the army was well guarded, it was safe and sound, and nothing happened.Early the next morning, the army continued on their way.

……

In the afternoon, the army stopped in front of a valley.Tao Bei looked at the valley ahead with a solemn expression.

The valley is an easier place to set up an ambush, so Tao Bei sent the spies to investigate in advance, while he asked the army to slow down and wait for the spies' reply.

But now that the army has already reached the valley, the spies sent out have not returned for a long time, and even the shadows of them have disappeared.

This is unusual.Could it be that there is an ambush in the valley?The spy has been killed?

Tao Bei turned his head and said, "Send a few more people to look ahead."

Immediately, another group of spies rushed towards the valley ahead.

However, before the spies went deep into the valley, a rain of arrows suddenly shot down from the top of the valley, shooting those spies all on their backs!

The Central Plains army was shocked: "There is an ambush!! There is an ambush ahead!!"

Before the words fell, there was a loud voice on the top of the mountain, and countless military flags were erected all over the top of the mountain!Immediately afterwards, there was a lot of smoke and dust, and the soldiers of the Shu army rushed down from the mountain and rushed towards the Central Plains army!

Tao Bei turned pale with shock.He took a closer look, and saw that the word "Thank you" was impressively written on the military flags planted all over the mountains and plains!And the huge momentum and smoke, it seems that there are at least [-] to [-] troops ambushing here! !

--Thanks? !Could it be Xie Wuji? ? ! !How can it be! ! !

"Xie Wuji, it's Xie Wuji!!!" The soldiers of the Central Plains recognized the banner, and their livers were shattered.

Xie Wuji's illustrious reputation, all the soldiers in the north have heard of it.If it was normal, maybe a word of "thank you" would not scare everyone.But now, after two sneak attacks, the soldiers who were already in fear saw the military flag with the word "Xie" and felt that their worst guess had come true—the Shu army had already known their intentions, and Xie Wuji personally led the army to ambush They are gone! !

"General, hurry up and order to withdraw!!" Tao Bei's personal soldiers said anxiously.

Tao Bei always felt that something was wrong, he stared at the enemy soldiers rushing from a distance, trying to see the clues.

But before waiting for his order, some of the terrified soldiers started to retreat by themselves.When the formation loosened, the morale of the army was instantly chaotic, and a large number of soldiers began to flee backwards!

Even Tao Bei's horse was frightened and kept backing away, regardless of the owner's wishes.

As the enemy army charged closer and closer, Tao Bei's heart sank when he saw his disintegrated army.At this time, even if he didn't order to retreat, it would be impossible. The army had already lost its fighting spirit.He had no choice but to say: "Withdraw! The formation cannot be scattered!! No one is allowed to run around!! Anyone who violates the order will be killed without mercy!!"

The messenger hurriedly rang the gong, and the officers of each battalion hurriedly withdrew while reorganizing their formation.But the Shu army didn't give them a chance. In the blink of an eye, they rushed to the front of the formation, biting at the tail of the Central Plains army that was retreating slowly!

The order that had just been restored by the Central Plains Army was bitten by this, and it suddenly became chaotic again.The soldiers retreated desperately towards the way they had come.

This Central Plains army is obviously an army that has experienced many battles, and it is not usually like this, but the fear accumulated in the bottom of my heart a few days ago was completely stimulated by Xie Wuji's army descended from the sky, and the pursuers behind were chasing too fast. They were crushed like melons and vegetables, so that the Central Plains soldiers could no longer cooperate with each other under the urgency of fleeing for their lives.

At this point, Tao Bei had no choice but to quickly retreat to the rear under the protection of the guards...

……

……

The darkness is all together, and the night wind gradually rises.

In the wilderness, the light of many torches flickered, and the soldiers with dejected faces were setting up camp to enjoy the fire, preparing to survive the night and continue to retreat tomorrow—they were the Central Plains Army who had just withdrawn from the valley.

Encountered an ambush at the mouth of the valley, and after the Central Plains army was driven away by the heroic Shu army for more than two miles, the Shu army withdrew.The Central Plains Army withdrew another four or five miles, and finally came to this wilderness.

Standing on a slightly higher mound, Tao Bei looked at the dejected soldiers below, his brows furrowed enough to kill earthworms.

After a while, a personal soldier ran up and reported to him: "General, all nineteen battalions have been ordered, and the number of casualties is being counted right now."

The Central Plains Army was still well-trained. Although they failed to organize an effective counterattack due to the panic of the army when they retreated, at least the battalions did not run away, and they successfully assembled after two hours.If it is replaced by a mob, I am afraid that the formation will be disordered when retreating, and the army will not be able to reorganize in three to five days or even three to five months.

Tao Bei let out a breath of foul air slowly, and said, "Call all the officers above the school lieutenant."

The messenger was busy calling for someone.

Not long after, several military officers came to Tao Bei's side and saluted him: "General."

Tao Bei turned around and faced the crowd.His face was turned away from the firelight, hidden in the night.People couldn't see his expression clearly, they could only hear his low and hoarse voice: "I suspect that we have been tricked today."

Everyone was startled.They did almost fall into an ambush today, but, fell into the trap?

Tao Bei said slowly: "It seems that there are thousands of troops and horses laying ambushes in the valley today, but I observed the number of pursuers, and the number of people who chased them out of the valley is no more than a thousand. If there is really a large army in the valley, I'm afraid we will die How can you stand here in a different place?"

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Indeed, some people already feel that something is wrong.When they first saw the battle in the valley, they all thought that they would die here today, but when they retreated, the enemy's pursuit was not as many as they expected.

If there were really soldiers led by Xie Wuji in the valley, if there were really so many people, then the ambush this time was undoubtedly a failure.Any one of them is sure to cause greater damage to the enemy when they have mastered the enemy's movements and have such a large force.Is this the only skill Xie Wuji has?

Tao Bei said again: "The Xie flag is even more weird. Xie Wuji is in Hanzhong, how could he fly here? Yunyang is just a mere district, why are there so many defenders here? If the Shu government has a permanent army here, how can he fly here?" To feed such a large army with money and food? If he temporarily transfers troops, can he watch the sky at night and figure out where I will be?"

An officer said: "General, it's getting late now, why don't you send spies to the valley tomorrow to investigate?"

Tao Bei nodded.In fact, he is now very sure that the enemies in the valley today are bluffing.There was such a large enemy army stationed nearby that it was impossible for his spies to fail to detect any signs.

He had already thought of this level when he withdrew his troops, and wanted to fight back immediately, but the situation at that time was too chaotic, and the more people there were, the harder it was to manage, so he could only bite the bullet and continue to retreat to a safe place and reorganize army too.

Tao Beihan said in a loud voice: "When tomorrow is ugly, let the spies set off and go back to the valley to investigate. At the same time, order the whole army to strengthen their vigilance to prevent the enemy from attacking again!"

……

……

It was not yet clear the next day, and a group of people galloped towards the valley.

When the sky was getting darker, a group of spies came back, but they did not go to the valley, but Tao Bei sent to Yunyang two days ago to investigate.

The spies returned to Tao Bei and reported: "General, Yunyang County originally had [-] garrisons. A few days ago, a large number of garrisons left Yunyang, leaving only [-] soldiers to guard Yunyang."

Tao Bei's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "Where did the 600 people go?"

The spy shook his head: "Not yet."

Tao Bei closed his eyes and said nothing.

After waiting for more than an hour, the people who went to the valley came back, and the spies also brought back a few straw men and brooms.

"Report to the general, we found this in the valley! There are a lot of straw figures, ropes, brooms, etc. left in the valley!"

When Tao Bei looked at those things, he immediately understood: just as he expected, there were not so many enemy troops in the valley yesterday!The enemy arranged a large number of straw men to make the army look huge, and then dusted the mountains, creating huge smoke and dust, as if there were thousands of troops and horses running.But actually?That's all there are more than a thousand pursuers!

Now, everything is clear.In the past few days, it must be the defenders of Yunyang who have played tricks and bluffed.I don't know who the general of the defending army is, he is really a capable man.He knew that his troops were insufficient, and the reinforcements would not arrive in time, and he did not want to sit still, so he took the initiative to attack and came up with these means of bluffing to scare off the enemy.Just a little bit, he really succeeded!

It's a pity that what he met was Tao Bei, who was familiar with the art of war, and he had seen many clues from these actions.

If there is a chance, Tao Bei really wants to take this person under his command, and he will definitely become a strong general in the future.

After a while, Tao Bei sneered at first, and then said loudly: "I ordered the whole army to rest for a day today. Slaughter cattle and horses to fill the stomachs of the soldiers. It is good to rest at night. Tomorrow, the army will attack with all its strength and attack the cloud. Positive!"

Yunyang, he is still going to Yunyang!

Whether it was the previous sneak attack or yesterday's Gubu Maze, the situation of the enemy army was already very obvious: they were short of manpower, and they did not dare to confront Tao Bei head-on!

The so-called soldiers never tire of deceit, the more weak the army, the more it needs to bluff to scare off the enemy; the stronger the army, the more it will show weakness to the enemy and lure the enemy to underestimate the enemy.

Therefore, the more the enemy wanted to do something, the more Tao Bei could not let them succeed. Only in this way could they win.

After Tao Bei's order was issued, the soldiers around him thought of the "Xie" flags that were scattered all over the mountains and plains yesterday, and they still had some relatives.

"General," the soldier tentatively half-jokingly said, "Yesterday, the flag of Xie Zi was faked by the defenders of Yunyang to scare people, right? Xie Wuji shouldn't be here, right?"

"Of course." Tao Bei said coldly, "They faked Xie Wuji's banner, but they really revealed a big flaw, which made me more and more sure of their guilt!"

The soldier asked curiously, "Is it because Xie Wuji is in Hanzhong?"

Tao Bei didn't shake his head.This is certainly a reason, but more importantly, it is not.He sneered and said: "If Xie Wuji, he will definitely try his best to annihilate my army here, instead of just using this method to scare me away. This is not his style. That's why I said, this is theirs Big flaw!"

Hearing this, the soldier couldn't help but shuddered.Is Xie Wuji really so scary?It's a good thing he's not here...