Chapter 70 Digging a Pit

Under the guidance of Zhuge Ke, Guan Feng checked the Wu army's position in Changshan and looked at the deep ditches. Zhuge Ke, who was on the opposite side of Guan Feng, smiled and said, "My king has always praised you for digging pits. I didn't believe it, but now I see it's true. You have dug this pit well. You can stick to it until now. Your pits are the first work.

Zhuge Ke picked the corner of his mouth: "This is also a blessing in disguise. The 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers we recruited who can fight have been added to General Lv's camp. The rest are not very good at fighting, but only digging pits."

Although Jiaozhou has been merged into the border of the Han Dynasty for a long time, the management mode has always been different from that of the mainland. Jiaozhou is far away, the people's customs are fierce, easy to deal with chaos and difficult to deal with, and there are many indigenous people. In the past, it has always been managed in the form of generals and Marquis, that is, the local powerful tribal leaders exercise their rights, and the court only symbolizes The surname collects a little tax. In the name of the state, it is the Han Dynasty. In fact, the court did not take much care of it. It was not until the end of the Western Han Dynasty, when the land was changed to the border county area, the privileges such as Lu Jiang and Marquis were abolished, and the tax was levied in line with the mainland. Therefore, it aroused the resistance of the indigenous people. In the 16th year of the reign of the Guangwu Emperor, the Lu generals in Mi Leng County It took three years for the female soldiers to rebel. It took them three years to be suppressed by General Ma Yuan of Fubo. In order to ease the contradictions, Ma Yuan partially restored the system as a compromise.

Because of this, the county soldiers in Jiaozhou do not often practice martial arts as often as the county soldiers in the Central Plains. Of course, after Emperor Guangwu canceled the capital examination system, the people and soldiers of the Han Dynasty were basically separated, and the people of the Eastern Han Dynasty were far less familiar with the military than the people of the Western Han Dynasty. The Central Plains is like this, and Jiaozhou is one level worse. Over the past 30 years, the Central Plains have been in chaos, and the boundary between the people and the soldiers has been less. Wei, Shu and Wu have established the world soldier system one after another, and the elite soldiers in the hands of the generals are not comparable to ordinary county soldiers. Zhuge Ke said that these recruited county soldiers could only dig pits and could not fight, which was basically not an exaggeration.

"In this way, both sides are struggling to consume." Guan Feng smiled and said, "With the national strength of the State of Wu, Funan people are not opponents, right?"

Zhuge Ke smiled bitterly: "The queen doesn't know that we are not dealing with Funan with the power of the State of Wu, but with Funan with the power of Jiaozhou. The seven counties of Jiaozhou, the richest South China Sea, are already the land of your country. Among the remaining six counties, the south suffered great losses last year. If it can guard the first line of the Changshan this year, it will be good to say that the south can complete the food supply. Other materials need to be transported from Hepu and Jiaotan. The rented ones are all merchant ships of Yue, and the queen is also clear. The strength of Funan should not be underestimated. It has been very difficult for us to support it until now. The casualties of soldiers are not small, and the consumption of arrows and sparks is also very amazing. I hope your country can provide more support.

Guan Feng smiled and said nothing, and the stone bud beside him curled his lips: "The supplies of my Yue country did not fall from the sky. How can I give them to you for nothing? Let you pay a little money, and you all seem to have suffered a great loss. Now that you just want to buy it, we may not be able to sell it to you. We keep it for our own use. After defeating the Funan people, we will have more trophy.

Zhuge Ke touched the beard that had just appeared on his lips and smiled awkwardly: "At present, Wu Yue is an allied army. It should be reasonable to communicate with each other. Zhong Rong often asked for money. Isn't it too small?

"I'm a small person." Shi Fu rolled his eyes and said very shamelessly, "It's not that you don't know that we set up the country with merchants. We went to Funan this time just to ask for justice from the merchants. You are generous, don't you also ask for money to fund our food?

Guan Feng coughed and interrupted Shi Fu's crying. Shi Fu was used to taking advantage of Sun Shao. He had reached the point of not being able to face. He didn't know how such a handsome young man who was very attentive to his appearance was influenced by Sun Shao to become this German surname.

"Yuan Xun, what's your prince's plan?" Guan Feng said to Zhuge Ke seriously, "Is he going to continue to stick to the line of Changshan Mountain to ensure the safety of the south, or is he going to fight a big victory?"

"A big victory?" Zhuge Ke was very surprised. He touched his chin and thought for a while. He gave a look at the bodyguards around him. The bodyguard agreed and immediately took people around to warn him. Zhuge Ke arched his hand to Guan Feng and said sincerely, "Do you dare to ask the queen, can we still win a big victory?"

Guan Feng did not answer him directly, but smiled meaningfully: "Juan Xun, the commander is the courage of the three armies. If the prince only wants to defend the south and block the attack of the Funan people, then all he can do is that, and it is impossible to win the battle. If the prince has the courage and courage, if he wants to fight against the south, hit the south hard, and has no strength to attack the south within ten years, then he must first have this courage. If he wants to make this contribution, he can think in that way. Don't you think so?"

Zhuge Ke was moved. To be honest, not to mention Sun Deng, he just wants to defend the Changshan defense line until now, and does not want to further hit the Funan people. After all, the strength of both sides is there. Once they leave the defense line that has been built for more than half a year, it is a question whether they can withstand the impact of the Funan people. However, Guan Feng is right. If you don't dare to think about it, what's the possibility? If you want to say that the south will settle down for a long time, it is obviously the best way to hit the people of Funan and hurt them. Zhuge Ke remembered the famous general Li Mu's battle of Daibei. He did not fight for several years. In the first battle, the Huns did not dare to violate the border for ten years. Such a battle was a battle to promote his reputation.

"Queen, can't His Royal Highness the King of Yue personally conquer the special pastoral city and hit the Funan people seriously?" Zhuge Keqiang suppressed the excitement in his heart and said lightly. He was very worried that Guan Feng was using the south as bait to keep the main force of Funan in Funan to relieve Sun Shao's pressure. In that case, the State of Wu would really make wedding clothes for the State of Yue.

"He wants to hit the people of Funan hard, but you know, he only has more than 10,000 people. If there is no accident, it is basically impossible to attack the special pastoral city. The best result is to cut off the elephant's nose of the elephant in Funan and get the power in the sea." Guan Feng did not hide it and told Sun Shao's basic plan. What she said was indeed Sun Shao's idea, and Zhuge Ke was not a fool. As soon as he heard it, he knew that the battle plan was relatively realistic, and there were not too many whimsical ideas. It was really too difficult for Sun Shao's more than 10,000 sailors to conquer the special pastoral city, so he thought about it a little and believed Guan Feng's sincerity.

"Queen, if you can win a great battle, of course, it's a great thing." Zhuge Ke said cautiously, "However, the strength of the Funan people is twice as strong as mine, and there are war elephants. It is not easy for us to hit them hard. I'm not talented. Do you dare to ask the queen if she has any predetermined plan?

Guan Feng has a confident smile: "Yuan Xun is cautious, I can understand this. Yuan Xun, although there are more than 30,000 people in Funan, it is not terrible. As you can see, the combat strength of the Funan people is far from that of our Yue and Wu allied forces. The reason why they are strong is mainly because of those war elephants. If there is no way to restrain these war elephants, of course, the Funan people will have the upper hand. But if they can restrain these war elephants, what else do the Funan people have?

"What methods is the queen going to use to restrain these war elephants?" Zhuge Ke asked. He asked.

Guan Feng raised three fingers: "Induce the enemy deep, to fight fast and slow, strong crossbow heavy cannon."

Zhuge Ke meditated for a moment, and his eyes gradually lit up. He saluted Guan Feng: "Please enter the camp to rest first, and I will immediately report the queen's three strategies to the prince." After getting Guan Feng's consent, he hurriedly left the Vietnamese camp and went straight to Sun Deng's residence.

"Heavily hit the people of Funan?" Sun Deng was stunned for a moment, as if he heard something funny, and couldn't help laughing. "Is it possible?"

"It's possible." Zhuge Ke explained the three countermeasures put forward by Guan Feng in detail, and finally said, "Prince, if you can hit the people of Funan, then the south can be in peace for a long time. The prince's prestige will spread all over Jiaozhou. Who else can doubt the prince's ability to use troops? Prince, if you can't hit the Funan people hard, then even if this battle can be won, it will only be temporary. If the Funan people take a breath, they will come back again. It is said that Nan will definitely become a thorn in the prince's heart.

Sun Deng was silent. Of course, he knew that Nan was in trouble, otherwise he would not have appeared here. This is a pit.

"Prince, Yuan Xun is reasonable." Xie Jing said slowly, "It's the second conscription in Jiaozhou. If it can't solve the problem this time, it won't be conscripted for the third time. People's grievances are boiling. In case something unexpected happens, I'm afraid..."

Sun Deng glanced at Xie Jing, put down the book in his hand, and looked at Zhuge Ke in a doze: "Yuan Xun, you really told me, are you sure?"

Zhuge Ke was stunned, raised his head to meet Sun Deng's eyes, thought for a while, and nodded heavily, "I'm sure."

"Well, I'll leave this matter to you." Sun Deng pointed to Zhuge Ke: "General Lu is injured and can't command the battle. I let you be fully responsible for this war of cooperation with the Vietnamese army. You must not be careless."

Zhuge Ke took a step back, bowed to the ground, and answered loudly, "Ok."

Sun Deng held a banquet to wash the dust for Guan Feng and Sun Shangxiang. Then, on the grounds of poor health, the general's power was handed over to Zhuge Ke, who was fully responsible for cooperating with Guan Feng. Guan Feng knew that Sun Deng did this. On the one hand, he was unwilling to fight side by side with her as the crown prince, and on the other hand, he could not bear the serious consequences of defeat, so he had to find a way out in advance. If he wins, Zhuge Ke has merit, and he also has merit. If he loses, of course, he still can't escape the responsibility, but the main responsibility will be borne by Zhuge Ke. At most, he only uses unknown faults, which is still different from the consequences of direct command failure.

Guan Feng could understand Sun Deng's behavior at this time. She agreed. Besides, she also felt that it was more refreshing to cooperate with Zhuge Ke. On the contrary, Sun Luban was very dissatisfied with Sun Deng's cowardice and secretly muttered a few words. She has always hoped that Sun Deng can be on the front line like Sun Shao, but Sun Deng can't compare with Sun Shao in this aspect.

According to Guan Feng's plan, the main battlefield is still played by the Wu army, but she supported Zhuge Ke with a lot of arrows and crossbows. After fighting in the Changshan Mountains for another half a month, the Wu army still used the crossbow and fire attack to deal with the elephant soldiers of the Funan people, and Fan Chang also patiently used the war elephant to constantly test and consume the elite power of the Wu army. Zhuge Ke asked the Yue soldiers brought by Guan Feng to replace the county soldiers who could only cheer to help the defense. At the same time, he withdrew the county soldiers who were good at digging pits and shorter than fighting to the rear, and began a large-scale digging movement in a good place. After everything was ready, the Wu army in Changshan slowly revealed that it was unsustainable. The decline, finally, after a fierce attack, was broken through by Fan's war elephant and collapsed thousands of miles.

Looking at Wu Jun running, Fan Chang was not in a hurry to pursue him. He first sent a scout to inquire about the news in the south. A day later, the scout reported that the rice fields in the south had just been harvested and the people had withdrawn. The reason why the Wu army insisted until now should be to cover the people's harvest. Moreover, the Wu army was retreating rapidly and ran nearly a hundred miles in a day. They dropped a lot of ordnance and flags along the way. It can be seen that their morale has been Collapse, unbearable to fight again.

Fan Chang looked up to the sky and laughed. While ordering people to prey, he led the army to cross the Long Mountain and chase him with his tail. His speed was not fast. It didn't matter how far the Wu army ran. His purpose was not to kill and injure the Wu army that had been defeated, but to the whole south. He had to drive the Wu army away and drive the Wu army out. Say Nan, and even drive out Jiu Zhen.

In the next ten days, the Wu army organized several ambush and counterattacks, but in front of the Funan army led by more than 100 war elephants, their counterattacks seemed very weak. They often burst with one touch, and finally flowed to form. Many signs showed that the Wu army was only responsible and had to make every effort to resist. In essence, there is no fighting spirit.

After more than half a month of cautious march, Fan Chang walked out of the jungle of Changshan Mountain, less than a hundred miles away from Xijuan City. Fan Chang sat on the back of the war elephant and looked at the endless plain. He smelled the hot wind with a little smell of the sea. He was in a very comfortable mood. More than half of the task of attacking the south had been completed. Wu Jun was chased by him, and it was impossible for him to be his opponent anymore. As long as he conquers Xijuan City, it is said that Nanjun is his.

Fan Chang began to think about how to conquer Xijuan City. The field battle of war elephants is very useful, but its power is greatly affected when attacking the city. In addition to hitting the gate, the huge volume of war elephants will become the key target of the crossbow set up at the head of the city. Unlike ordinary hand-held crossbows and crossbows, guarding crossbows are very powerful. As long as one or two arrows are shot, a war elephant will be sacrificed. It's not easy to train a war elephant. He doesn't want to spend the war elephant under the West Scroll City. He must think of other ways.

Fan Chang was very attentive. Until late at night, he discussed the plan of attacking the city with his generals in the camp. In terms of attacking and defending the city, they know that they can't compare with the Han people. How to restrain the defense of the city crossbow has hurt their brains. Not to mention the leather armor they are using now, it is like the iron armor worn by the Han people, which is also vulnerable in front of the crossbow defending the city. What's more, the size of the war elephant is so large that it is not impossible to put a layer of iron on them. Realistic things.

In the end of the discussion, they decided to adopt the method of besieging the city. Now their troops have an absolute advantage, and it is not a problem to surround Xijuan City. If the Wu army still has reinforcements, it will save them from walking and kill them directly under Xijuan City.

The generals dispersed. Although Fan Chang was very tired, he still couldn't sleep. He could enter the West Scroll City and complete the task given to him by his father. He was inexplicably excited. He sat up, carefully wrote a victory document, and prepared to send someone to send it out the next day. After writing the paperwork, it was already the middle of the night. He opened his mouth, yawned, and fell on the marching couch. As soon as he narrowed his eyes, there was a rapid sound of footsteps outside. Fan Chang was shocked, turned over and sat up, looking energetically at the captain of the heavy battalion who came in.

"What's the matter?"

"Prince." The captain of the heavy battalion was relieved when he saw that Fan Chang was not asleep. He came forward to salute, and then said anxiously, "My subordinates have just count the number of people and found that there are 53 fewer soldiers who are fighting for firewood and water outside. Several wounded soldiers who escaped back said that they have been attacked by people of unknown origin."

Fan Chang frowned and thought for a moment, "Are they left alone?"

"It's the same as usual, it's all a group of five people and a group of ten people."

"No way." Fan Chang waved his hand and said, "Now that we have arrived in the territory of the south, we are about to approach the West Scroll City. It is impossible for those cunning Wu people not to be in a hurry. They will definitely send someone to intercept our soldiers and interfere with our military hearts. From tomorrow on, 50 people per group are not allowed to act alone.

"Yes." The captain of the heavy battalion answered and turned around to pay the bill. Fan Chang sat there and thought about it carefully, and suddenly smiled. He remembered that when Fan Xun went to the negotiation in Xijuan City, he had visited the captured soldiers of Fan Yan's army. Some soldiers once said that the reason why Fan Qian hurriedly withdrew from Xijuan and was finally ambushed by the Wu army was because of the attack launched by the Wu army at night that hundreds of people died in three or four days, which was in chaos. Now Wu Jun has come to do the old trick again. Is it so easy to scare him away?

Fan Chang fell asleep with a disdainful smile. In the dream, he broke through the West Scroll City. The prince of the State of Wu and the king of the State of Yue all knelt down in front of him and bowed down to him. When he was a triumphant teacher, his father went out of the city to greet him in person. In the smile of the officials, there was his brother Fan Jinsheng's depressed face. His father patted him on the shoulder with a smile on his face. It seemed that he was going to say a few words of comfort, but suddenly, his face changed. He looked up at the sky suddenly shrouded in dark clouds and shouted:

"It's not a big deal!"

Fan Chang was shocked and suddenly sat up. He saw the shocked guard, and the guard's face showed fear: "Prince, Lord Wu, please meet you."

Fan Chang rubbed his eyes, looked outside the tent that had just exposed the morning light, and waved his hand: "Let him in."

Qinwei shocked Fan Chang's dream early in the morning. Seeing that Fan Chang's face was not good, he did not dare to stay longer and hurried out. Then, General Wu from the scout camp came in, looked at Fan Chang's face, and said apologetically, "Prince, I'm sorry to disturb your rest."

"Hey hey, it's okay. If you want to see me at this time, there must be something important, right?" Fan Chang smiled tolerantly.

"Yes." General Wu's face tightened, "The twelve teams sent out yesterday only returned five teams, or the nearest five teams."

Fan Chang understood as soon as he heard it and smiled indifferently: "Do you still follow your previous habits, one team of five people?"

General Wu was stunned and nodded quickly.

"Now we have arrived in the south of the day. It is a plain familiar to the Wu people. It is no longer a jungle that we are familiar with. Why are you still a team of five?" Fan Chang's face sank down, "From then on, there will be a team of twenty people. Don't give Wu people a chance to sneak attack."

General Wu suddenly realized that he admired Fan Chang and turned around and left. Fan Chang snorted coldly. Most of these people used to follow Fan Jinsheng to fight the rebellion in Funan. They were still not prepared enough for the outbound war. They also blamed themselves. Yesterday, they only thought about attacking Xijuan City and forgot to tell them. However, after all, if it hadn't been for the heavy camp to report first, and he knew the news from Fan Xun, he would not have thought that Wu Ren would have made such a trick for a moment. In a large army battle, it is normal for the scouts of the two sides to attack and kill each other, but it is still rare to organize special manpower to attack the scouts and soldiers who are alone.

This method is a little difficult to take the table.

Of course, now Wu Jun can't take the stage anymore. They were kicked out hundreds of miles by him. They went deep into the territory of the south and were about to fight to the county magistrate Xijumaki City. Even if they want to be upright, they don't have that strength.

"Come on, let's see if your little tricks can block my array." Fan Chang sneered.

... Meng'ang Bay, three hundred miles away from Jin Chen, Fan Man sat on a large mossy stone and looked at the foaming coast in the distance. The sky was covered with dark clouds, and it was almost connected to the sea water. A tight sea breeze swept the waves, slapped the woodcutter on the shore, and beat the jade-like sea water into foams one after another. The big trees around them were pulled by the wind, and the thick trees shook and moaned.

Fan Man turned a deaf ear, and his sharp eyes stared at the sea in the distance. Sun Shao has been following him for more than a month, and he has been haunted. Every night, there will be a shadow of the scouts of Yue people around his camp. More than once, he saw the boat taken by the scouts of Yue walking proudly in the sea, and Sun Shao's sailors often appeared in their sight. The arrogance from his bones has accumulated the anger of the soldiers to the edge of the outbreak, but Fan Man has been silent, just marching to Jin Chen.

Funan people have no sailors, and for the provocation of the Yue sailors, they can only vent their anger on the innocent woods beside the road.

Two days ago, Fan Man left the army and rushed here for more than a hundred miles a day and a night. He wanted to set a trap here. The prey was the proud king of Yue and his sailor. Meng'ang Bay is an inconspicuous small harbor, but Fan Man once ambushed a group of pirates here. He knew that the exit of Meng'ang Bay looked very wide, but in fact the water was not deep. There were many reefs underwater, and there were not many places where large ships like the Yue Guoshui Division could pass through. He has been controlling the speed of the march, hoping to lead the Yue sailors here and here when the big storm is coming.

Everything went according to his plan. The big storm was coming, and the Yue sailors, who had been dotling the army, were on the sea. They had nowhere else to go and had to venture into Meng'ang Bay. Entering Mengang Bay, those tall warships will suffer a lot of losses, and entering Mengang Bay does not mean that they are safe. On the contrary, Fan Man prepared a big gift for them.

40,000 troops and more than a dozen large cargo ships full of boulders - made in Vietnam.

(to be continued)