On April 6, Lu Zhi led his army across Zhangshui, camped on the north bank of Zhangshui, and confronted the Yellow Turban Army across Zhangshui, facing the Yellow Turban Army camp in the northwest direction.

Beginning on 7 April, the two sides began small-scale exchanges such as crossing the river and spying on them, and fought outpost battles to test the strength of their opponents.

Several successive skirmishes ended in the victory of the Han army, and the Han army killed hundreds of Yellow Turban troops, which slightly dampened the Yellow Turban Army's spirit, but a small defeat did not hinder the overall situation, and Zhang Jiao quickly reinvigorated the army.

And Lu Zhi learned through the outpost battle that the Yellow Turban Army's combat ability was very low, and it all relied on a momentum to move forward bravely, and once it was defeated, it would definitely achieve an unprecedented victory.

Lu Zhi sent people to explore the camp tent of the Yellow Turban Army near Yecheng, and got the fact that the Yellow Turban Army dug more ditches to resist the cavalry, so he knew that the Yellow Turban Army did not have many cavalry, and did not dare to confront the cavalry of the Han Army, and knew a major weakness of the Yellow Turban Army.

At the same time, Lu Zhi also had insight into the current situation of the Yellow Turban Army's eagerness to win.

Guo Peng followed Lu Zhi to observe the battle of the Yellow Turban Army for several days, Lu Zhi asked Guo Peng's opinion, Guo Peng thought about it, and then told Lu Zhi his opinion.

Guo Peng believes that the Yellow Turban Army relies on a momentum to support them, which is equivalent to Zhang Jiao and the Yellow Turban thieves creating an illusion together, making them think that they are extremely powerful, and the Han Army is just a paper tiger.

When Lu Zhi first came, he won the small battle, which did not arouse the fear of the Yellow Turban Army, but made the Yellow Turban Army more and more irritable, and wanted to defeat Lu Zhi immediately to ensure a complete victory.

Zhang Jiao may not have known that this emotion was dangerous, but he didn't dare to suppress it, for fear that the illusion would be punctured, and the Yellow Turban thieves would rerealize the fact that they were just a group of deflated people.

Lu Zhi can target this emotion, deceive and induce the main force of the Yellow Turban Army to dispatch.

"The Yellow Turban thieves have not tasted defeat since they started their army, and the officials fled wherever they went, because they despised our army, why didn't our army take the initiative to attack, and then deceitfully defeated, and induce the Yellow Turban Army to pursue our army, so that it could get out of the ravines and ravines here, and at that time, the cavalry that our army has been preparing for a long time will be dispatched in one fell swoop, and it will be broken!"

Lu Zhi already had such an idea, and asked Guo Peng if he wanted to test Guo Peng's ability, and the result made him very satisfied.

However, there is still a long way to go from the time the strategy is said to be fully implemented.

Guo Peng understands the psychology of the Yellow Turban Army and knows how to use their emotions to defeat them, but how to deploy troops and assign tasks is not a skill he can master.

Lu Zhi taught the method orally, but when it came to the matter, Guo Peng had no idea how to use it.

So Guo Peng paid attention to watching how Lu Zhizhi was dispatching troops and assigning tasks.

Fraud is definitely more than just these two words.

It seems very simple, two armies fight, one army pretends to be defeated and then flees, the other army pursues, and then is led into an ambush, and together the ambush soldiers, the enemy army is defeated.

People are blindly obedient, and on the battlefield of tens of thousands of people, can they inform every soldier of such a scheme as deception?

The soldier will only think that this is really defeated, and he is busy running for his life, so what plan does he care about you?

When the time comes, the army will be in chaos, scattering and fleeing, only thinking about escaping for their lives, who will lead the superior enemy army to the ambush circle?

It's easy to say, but it's too difficult to put into practice.

There are rules for defeat, you can't be too messy to lose control, and you can't lose any sincerity at all, at least let the opposing coach believe that you are really defeated, and you must have more back-hand preparations, several plans, to ensure that you will not get rid of the whole army.

The art of war is the art of war, and the reality is the reality, and copying the art of war will only lead to defeat.

After Lu Zhi taught Guo Peng like this, he asked Guo Peng another question.

"Do you know why the division is encamped on the north bank of Zhangshui and confronted the Yellow Turban Bandits across the bank?"

Guo Peng thought for a while.

"Encamping across Zhangshui can give our army more room to maneuver, if the Yellow Turban Thieves want to attack, they need to cross the river to attack, and we can be prepared during this time."

"So what's the point for me that the Yellow Turban Thief can have the same advantage?"

Lu Zhi smiled slightly and continued to guide Guo Peng.

Guo Peng frowned, recalling Lu Zhi's movements in the past few days.

In addition to inspecting the barracks on a daily basis, he also asked Guo Peng to protect him to inspect the upper reaches of the Zhangshui River, and walked all the way to the west along the bank of the Zhangshui River, walking for a long time, stopping and stopping, I don't know what he was doing, Guo Peng didn't ask, and he didn't say.

"The place where we're camping is on high ground, isn't it?"

Lu Zhi gave another hint, Guo Peng was suddenly stunned, and then had a bold speculation.

"Isn't the teacher planning to use Zhangshui?"

"What's the use?"

"Han Xin?"

Guo Peng asked tentatively, and Lu Zhi nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

Lu Zhi taught Guo Peng the art of war, and often gave practical examples to explain to Guo Peng, and Guo Peng remembered many examples of battles that happened to his predecessors.

In the Han Dynasty, Han Xinbing and Zhang Liang's strategy were highly respected, and the battle examples of Han Xinbing were also the focus of Lu Zhi's storytelling.

Lu Zhi slowly told Guo Peng that before Guo Peng told the story, he had already had a strategy to break the enemy, and told the surrounding counties to immediately organize manpower and material resources to prepare more than 10,000 sandbags, block the river in the upper reaches of the Zhangshui River, and send people to dig up sandbags and release water at the place where the river was blocked.

Flooding the enemy army can't do it, and there's no need for that, what Lu Zhi did was just part of the deception plan.

From fraud to counterattack, you need an opportunity, otherwise defeat is defeat, the soldier doesn't know that you are a fraud, so he thinks that he has failed, and he has to flee, and he is still chasing the momentum of the Yellow Turban Army behind him, what is the counterattack?

However, if the sandbags are dug up and the water is lowered in the process of the opponent's pursuit across the river with the help of Zhangshui, then the swelling river will cut off the enemy's pursuit road in an instant.

The part that has been crossed is separated from the part that has not been crossed, and the part that is being crossed is swept away by the water, and such a huge momentum and reversal of the situation will give the rout the determination to fight back.

This is the opportunity, at that time, as long as the leading general knows how to motivate morale and take the lead, he will be able to defeat the pursuers who have lost their way of retreat, and after the pursuers are eliminated, the tide of the battle will be reversed.

There are no master planners in the Yellow Turban Army who are well versed in strategy and tactics, and Lu Zhi and Guo Peng know this.

Lu Zhi was very happy that Guo Peng saw his intentions, so he asked Guo Peng to accompany him on errands, and asked Guo Peng to join him to lead a large army across the river to attack the Yellow Turban Army, and then defeat him, and then prepare to carry out the plan.

This plan is very important, it needs to be personally led by the main general to carry out the task, otherwise it is not appropriate for anyone to do it, Lu Zhi must take the lead, stay in the army, and always keep abreast of the movements of the army.

There can be no more or less soldiers and horses dispatched, and 10,000 is just right.

And Guo Peng has to lead his cavalry team to follow Lu Zhi closely and protect Lu Zhi, in case of an emergency, he is Lu Zhi's last line of defense.

On 17 April, Lu Zhi led his army across the river, leaving a force in charge of a large number of ferries, and then led his army to line up on the south bank of the Zhangshui River, preparing to attack the Yellow Turban Army.

In terms of the Yellow Turban Army, Zhang Bao stayed in Xiaquyang, Zhang Jiao took his third brother Zhang Liang to lead the main force to attack everywhere, and now saw that Lu Zhi took the initiative to lead the army to attack, so he immediately reorganized his troops and horses and waited for him.

Zhang Jiao learned that Lu Zhi led about 10,000 people to attack him, and after a little thought, he ordered 30,000 soldiers and horses to go out of the camp to meet him.

He wants to win a battle and annihilate Lu Zhi's troops.

At the very least, the formation can still be done more decently, although in Lu Zhi's opinion, this formation is a bit rough, but the morale of the Yellow Turban Army should not be underestimated, and there is still a danger of overturning if you don't pay attention to it, so the tactics continue.

Lu Zhi said to Guo Peng beside him: "Carefully watch the changes in the battle situation, look at any changes on the battlefield, our army's, the enemy's, feel the changes in the momentum of our two armies, this is obvious." ”

Guo Peng nodded, looked around, clenched the long knife in his hand, and tried to control his breathing.