For a whole day, Zhu Youzhen's cavalry troops led Li Zicheng's nose in this way, drilling through the mountains of Tongchuan County. If Li Zicheng chases fiercely, Zhu Youzhen will run violently; If Li Zicheng set up camp, Zhu Youzhen sent more than a dozen people to provoke and shoot a few arrows.

Liu Zongmin, Hao Shaoqi and other generals were so angry with the enemy that they repeatedly asked for a resolute pursuit and would never give up until they caught up. Li Zicheng was shocked, thinking to himself that he had used this trick in the past! first lured with a small group of men and horses, and when the officers and soldiers were fooled and pursued in a big way, they either set up an ambush and ate the officers and soldiers in one bite; Or secretly cross Chen Cang and go straight to the base camp of the official army.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that his opponent was imitating him, and Gao Jie's name couldn't help but come to mind. secretly thought that the official army would never be so cunning, it must be Gao Jie who defected to the enemy, and gave the enemy general such a plan to lure the enemy in. Maybe you've already set a trap in front of you, and you're waiting to drill it yourself.

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng was shocked into a cold sweat, and resolutely set up camp regardless of the opposition of the generals. No matter how provocative the enemy is, it is not a step out of the camp. As for the opponent's longbow shooting at a distance, he had to endure it. Anyway, the opponent doesn't have many arrows, and even if the arrows are not missed, they can kill more than a hundred people at most. As long as the important generals don't die, a few soldiers will die.

By dusk, all the five armies that had broken into the camp arrived and set up camp in the deep mountains. Li Zicheng couldn't help but feel a little remorseful, thinking that if he hadn't been lured here by the enemy, he might have already broken through Sanyuan County, and even entered the territory of Jingyang. He secretly made up his mind to set up camp early tomorrow morning, and still attack Sanyuan as originally planned.

As the night grew darker, Zhu Youzhen's cavalry could finally rest a little in a col a few miles outside the camp. If Li Zicheng was not tossed lightly, then the Qin soldiers were even more tired, because they turned back and forth, and the distance they ran was far greater than that of the thieves. Fortunately, yesterday there were a few victories, and many horses were captured, which can be used in rotation. Otherwise, Li Zicheng would have caught up a long time ago.

And the reason why the Qin soldiers were always a little faster than Li Zicheng's troops was that they went into battle lightly and gave up everything that could be abandoned. For example, armor was originally equipped with a set of heavy armor for each person, and even important parts of the horse were protected. But the weight of this set of armor is at least a dozen catties or more, but in order to reduce the burden of the war horse, Zhu Youzhen ordered all the soldiers to wear cloth clothes only, and the armor taken off was simply not needed.

These armors were actually just made by craftsmen, and they had not been equipped with cavalry for a long time. The soldiers have not yet passed the freshness, and they have to throw away the good things, which is really a little reluctant. Even generals such as Xie Yong and Li Laiheng were a little puzzled, and wanted to discuss with Zhu Youzhen whether they could keep the best-looking helmet.

Zhu Youzhen sank his face and said, "I didn't see that this king and General Qi threw away their armor!" The military order has been issued, and you still dare to disobey it! ”

The generals shrank their necks in fright, and they didn't dare to speak up anymore. But in the ensuing battle, they experienced first-hand the benefits of this order. Anyway, the Qin soldiers don't fight the thieves head-on, and the armor that can only play a protective role is really useless. What's more, Wujia is light, and the burden of more than a dozen catties is missing, and the endurance of the war horses is better than usual, and the thieves really can't catch up with them.

After a few mouthfuls of dry food, Zhu Youzhen gathered the generals and held an emergency combat meeting. He first concluded: "Today's results are very good, I think it will be better than yesterday!" ”

The generals looked at each other, and Xie Yong couldn't help but ask: "Your Highness, we ran away today, but we didn't kill many thieves!" ”

Zhu Youzhen knew that the people would have such doubts, so he patiently explained: "The success or failure of the battle does not depend on how many enemies are killed or wounded, but on whether the strategic goal is achieved. Our current strategic goal is to delay time and try to keep the thieves from attacking Jingyang. Today, the thieves chased us for a day, and they got farther and farther away from Jingyang, and they did not deviate from our strategic goals, so this king said that today's results are good! ”

The generals suddenly realized and nodded yes. Only Li Dingguo said thoughtfully: "Your Highness asked me this morning if you know what the 'mushroom tactic' is." The last general seems to understand a little now! ”

Zhu Youzhen was overjoyed and said: "Then you can talk about it!" ”

"In the eyes of the last general, today's use of troops by His Highness is basically to take advantage of the favorable terrain and avoid fighting the thieves head-on." Li Dingguo said slowly, "Although there are many thieves, their actions are a little slow. Our army used small units to repeatedly harass the enemy. The final effect was that our army mobilized tens of thousands of thieves with only 200 cavalry; The enemy's consumption of physical strength and food and grass is more than 100 times that of our army. ”

"Well said!" Zhu Youzhen clapped his hands and laughed, "Dingguo said the essence of the 'mushroom tactic', that is, to use a small force to mobilize and consume the enemy army, and when they are exhausted and run out of ammunition and food, then gather elite troops to raid, and they will definitely be able to break the enemy in one fell swoop!" ”

"Then why is it called 'mushroom tactics'? Is it to starve the enemy army to eat wild mushrooms? Li Laiheng touched his head and asked.

Everyone couldn't help laughing, and Qi Meifeng also smiled: "This 'mushroom' is not a mushroom to eat, but the meaning of 'procrastination and entanglement'." But Your Highness, you don't seem to have read much of the war book, how can you come up with such a powerful strategy? ”

Zhu Youzhen's face turned red, and he said in his heart that this "mushroom" tactic is a classic of the old man, and he is just a hand-outing party again, and he uses it to learn and use it. I think that the Northwest Field Army was also on this land, relying on a mere 20,000 people, using "mushroom" tactics to skillfully maneuver with Hu Zongnan's army of more than 200,000. In a period of more than a month, while Hu Zongnan's army was dizzy and demoralized, it carried out three successive battles of annihilation, completely smashing the chairman's "key offensive."

Of course, Zhu Youzhen can't tell the generals about this vivid example now. And the current battle situation is not the same, although the Qin soldiers can drag Li Zicheng around, but if they want to annihilate the thieves, it is absolutely impossible.

What he was even more worried about was that if Li Zicheng pursued him desperately, and it was a separate way of pursuit, it would be difficult to deal with. After all, the Qin soldiers were too small, and the six hundred infantry had already been ordered to withdraw to Jingyang, and the only available soldiers in Zhu Youzhen's hands were these two hundred cavalry. If the thieves are blocked, the consequences will be unimaginable.

But that's not what worries him the most. The biggest problem now is that the Qin soldiers are more tired than the thieves, and the military supplies are insufficient. I'm afraid that before the thieves are hungry, Qin Bing will have to eat wild mushrooms first!

So what Zhu Youzhen has to do is to do his best to make good use of this tired army and drag the enemy to the death!