Chapter 265: The Hungry Tiger Catching the Sheep
Although Ling County belonged to Ganling Commandery, it was closer to Qingzhou Pingyuan Commandery and Yanzhou Dong Commandery in the south. A large river flowed through the south of Ling County and split into a tributary named Mingdu River.

Ganling Ling County was renamed Buting during the reign of Wang Mang, but was later changed back by Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu.

Walking northeast, Gaotang County is not far across the river.

During the march, Zhu Ling was afraid that the Qingzhou army that was besieging Du County would ambush him halfway, and he was also afraid that the Gaotang defenders on the river bank would make any unusual movements. The normal marching speed of thirty miles a day was reduced to less than twenty miles a day.

It would take at least five or six days to rescue Xu You, Gao Gan and others, which puzzled the military officers. Wouldn’t this give the enemy an opportunity to ambush?

Moreover, the slower they go, the less they care about the safety of the military inspector and the commander-in-chief in the eyes of outsiders.

What if you happen to meet an official who is easily angry with others, harbors resentment in his heart, and waits for an opportunity to take revenge, wouldn’t that bring disaster upon yourself?
In the early Han Dynasty, Zhang Er and Chen Yu were sworn brothers. However, due to Chen Yu’s failure to provide rescue efforts and the delay in the arrival of reinforcements, Zhang Er became extremely resentful towards him, which led to the breakdown of their decades-long friendship and a life-and-death struggle between them.

If this is the case with their sworn brotherhood, let alone General Zhu, who has no friendship at all with Xu Ziyuan and Gao Yuancai. Wouldn’t he be asking for trouble and bringing disaster upon himself?
Seeing that the officers were confused, Zhu Ling could not help but explain: Our army is divided into two parts, the front and the back, so that we can take into account the combat effectiveness of the whole army and better preserve our physical strength to face the enemy. When the enemy sees that we are well prepared, they will be afraid and dare not attack easily. “

“If we march 50 miles quickly, day and night to rescue, we will be exhausted. The whole army will be exhausted, and the soldiers and horses will be tired. On the other hand, the Qingzhou army has mastered the art of luring the enemy, using leisure to attack the tired, how can our army not be defeated?”

“Therefore, I divided the army into two parts. I expected that the enemy’s 50,000 troops besieging Du County would have at least four surrounding cities, and some troops would have to be drawn to maintain the food supply route. The enemy in ambush would probably be no more than a few thousand. Even if the front army was defeated, my rear army could immediately attack them. This is a way of defeating first and then winning, which is also a way of winning in military strategy.”

Zhu Ling explained patiently to the military officers and officers in the account book.

In war, only when the superiors and the subordinates are of one mind can the enemy be defeated. Moreover, most of the soldiers are ignorant. If I don’t explain as clearly as possible, I’m afraid they won’t understand.

Some military officers and officers are like this, not to mention ordinary soldiers. If you don’t use crude, colloquial and serious words, how can you make them understand and dare not offend?

Zhu Ling looked around at everyone and said solemnly: “The victory of this battle lies in the 3,000 soldiers in the rear army. The reason why you are ordered to march with your mouth shut is to prevent the soldiers from making noise and disrupting the morale of the army.”

“I repeat, in any critical situation in the army, the first thing is not to make noise or talk. Whenever there is movement, there are flags, gongs and drums. If there is no order to talk, anyone who opens his mouth will be severely whipped. Especially at night, it is forbidden to take the wood out of your mouth without permission. Anyone who violates this rule will be killed without mercy!”

“Whenever we give an order, the military commander will pass it on to the military marquis, who will pass it on to the garrison commander, who will pass it on to the squad leader, who will pass it on to the platoon leader, who will pass it on to the squad leader, who will pass it on to the soldiers. If anyone fails to pass on the order, fails to follow the order, or fails to make the order clear, thus causing a major mistake, he will be severely punished according to military law, without mercy.”

Zhu Ling’s murderous words made many military officers and officers shrink their necks.

They knew that Zhu Wenbo was a ruthless man who would not care about the lives of any of his relatives when he was fighting for his life. At that time, Ji Yong, a native of Ganling under Yuan Gong’s command, occupied Di County and rebelled to surrender to Gongsun Clan. It happened that Zhu Ling’s courtyard was in the city, so they wanted to threaten Zhu Ling to surrender to Gongsun Zan.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Ling looked at the city and cried, “Once a man is born, how can he care about his family?”

He remained unmoved and continued to attack Lu County. After conquering the city, his mother and brother were both killed. He captured Ji Yong alive, tied him up and sent him to Yuan Gong.

Who wouldn’t be afraid of a person who is so cruel to his closest relatives, let alone them?

“How dare we not obey the general’s orders?” The military officers and officers bowed and said.

……

While Zhu Ling was slowly advancing towards Yue County again, Liu Bei properly arranged the military camps and ordered Chaiying to dig five trenches every 10 feet wide to encircle Yuan’s army and prevent it from breaking out.

They cut down trees and built a watchtower from a high place, from which they shot arrows into the city. They also selected more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers and craftsmen to build catapults, and sent soldiers to take turns to besiege the defenders of Du County day and night, not giving the enemy any chance to rest.

The bluffing shouts of attacking the city from time to time kept Yuan’s army on edge, and they dared not be careless. Until they got used to it, it was time to attack the city.

“This battle is also about besieging a point and attacking its reinforcements. Our army’s transportation is backed by the river, so we can wait for Yuan Benchu ​​to lead his army and capture him in one battle. Otherwise, the people of Yanzhou will surely suffer from the chaos of the Xianbei.”

Liu Bei couldn’t help but frowned.

He received a secret letter from Jizhou that the Xianbei people had begun to move south to Julu County. Once they reached Wei County, they would be able to use light cavalry to conveniently plunder the people of Yanzhou East County.

Although Lü Fengxian had been supplied with 300 war horses, 600 pack horses, mules and donkeys, as well as a large amount of food, fodder and beans, enabling him to march from Henei County to harass Wei County, it was still unclear whether he could tie down some of the Xianbei cavalry.

According to the secret letter, the number of Xianbei cavalrymen who came to help Yuan Shao was not less than that of the Wuhuan tribe.

Although Lu Bu was good at using cavalry and was familiar with the terrain near Yecheng, the enemy had an advantage in cavalry numbers and launched a long-term counterattack.

If the Xianbei and Wen Chou accidentally seized the opportunity to defeat them, Yunchang’s troops guarding Dongjun would suddenly lose some of their mobility, and the people in Leping, Fagan, Dongwuyang, Yangping, Dunqiu, Weixian, Yin’an, Fanyang and other places would be looted unscrupulously by the Xianbei and Wen Chou.

Yunchang led his troops to station in Yin’an, Fanyang, Dunqiu and Weiguo counties, defending them with chariots and powerful crossbows. Seeing that this place was difficult to attack, the Hu people would surely gather in groups and ride their horses to other places to plunder the people.

Fortunately, Liu Bei had previously written a letter to Guan Yu, telling him that he should advance decisively when necessary, and could also expose flaws to lure the enemy into deep territory. He should discuss all military strategies with Xun Gongda and Lu Zijing before implementing them.

Whenever Liu Bei thought of the large number of cavalry in Hebei, he couldn’t help feeling envious.

When will we be able to mobilize tens of thousands of cavalry at will like Yuan Shao? This is the advantage of having the north as our backing.

After he had given instructions on many matters, he smiled and agreed with the generals and captains that he would return in three days. He also left Guo Fengxiao here to handle military affairs. Then he personally led the infantry and cavalry of the Ruichong Camp, and with 5,000 auxiliary soldiers using pack horses and draft horses to transport food and supplies, a total of more than 7,000 people, they went around to the west and raided the Ling County garrison.

Before leaving, Liu Bei put on his armor and mounted his horse, and said to everyone with a smile: “This battle is like a hungry tiger catching a sheep, it is swift and fierce. I will catch this kid and be back soon.”

(End of this chapter)