Chapter 4: Poison Schemes

"Well, the first is to cut off people's food routes, so that the enemy's food and grass will not continue, and they will naturally take the initiative to withdraw or rout. Cao Cao liked to use this trick the most, and the burning of the black nest laid the foundation for winning the battle of Guandu. Liu Hou stood up and began to talk.

"The second is fire attack, which leads the enemy into a specific place or a laid out battlefield, and then sets fire to the enemy's army. This move can often defeat the strong with the weak, win more with less, and exchange small losses for huge victories. Zhuge Junshi liked this trick the most. When Bowangpo was burned, Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of pursuers couldn't help his father. There is also the burning of red cliffs, which is also a representative example. ”

(Note: Some people say that the burning of Bowangpo in history was done by Liu Bei, not Zhuge Liang.) ）

"Third, when the enemy is in a specific terrain, he can cut off the river or dig the embankment, release the water to wash away and drown the enemy's army. Second Uncle Guan flooded the Seventh Army some time ago, and he used this trick very well to kill Pang De and capture Yu Ban. Speaking of which, Liu Hou had already come out of the center of the hall and began to pace.

"There is also the use of special terrain to set up an ambush, let the enemy enter the encirclement, and then concentrate forces to encircle and annihilate it. There are so many such cases that I won't list them all. Liu Hou drew a large circle with his hands, and then compared the shape of the mouth of the cloth bag with both hands and said.

"Although these methods are very common, they are not profound, and they seem to be very simple to use, but they have been effective repeatedly. You might as well think in these directions and see if you can come up with any good solutions. ”

Everyone secretly felt frightened when they heard Liu Hou's words, thinking that this little lord should not look at people Although he is small, he already has extraordinary strategies, I heard that he worships Zuo Ci as a teacher, and has been learning the art of war with Zuo Ci since he was a child, and now it seems that he must have learned something. Otherwise, how could you understand so much.

The crowd began to talk again. After discussion, the speakers began. First of all, Fei Yi, just listen to him:

This method of cutting off people's food routes is generally used in wars where two armies have been facing each other for a long time and cannot be won in a short time. At this time, cutting off people's food can be used as a breakthrough. However, this time Dongwu attacked our Jingzhou, it must be with the idea of a quick victory, so as to be sure to hit with one blow, and if one blow is missed, it is estimated that they will retreat immediately.

It is estimated that they will not bring much grain, so there is no question of whether to rob grain and grass. In a hurry, we could not find out where their food was. Therefore, the plan of cutting off food may not be suitable for the current situation. ”

"Yes." Liu Hou nodded to Fei Yi in agreement, and walked back to his seat to sit down.

Then, Guo Youzhi also spoke: "As for the method of water attack, my subordinates also feel that it is inappropriate. After all, this is our home turf, and if we dig the Yangtze River embankment, it is estimated that we will suffer the most. This is a way of playing that belongs to the same end, and it can't be played until the end, and it can't be moved. ”

"That's right, but just in case, this one can be used as an alternative, it is better to break the jade than to be complete, if it really can't stop the attack of the Wu army, even if we flood Nanjun, we must not let it fall into the hands of Eastern Wu." Liu Hou waved his hand and said categorically.

Everyone couldn't help but feel a pang in their hearts, they didn't expect this son of the world to be so decisive and ruthless. After all, Nanjun, as the seat of Shu in Jingzhou, has vigorously developed commerce in recent years, with many merchants and densely populated population, and has gradually developed into a larger city.

If the water is really released to flood this prosperous city, there are hundreds of thousands of people inside and outside the city, and few will be able to escape. It's not something that anyone can do. Doing this kind of thing will be infamous by history every minute, and the names of "devil", "murderer", and "careless of human life" are considered light, and in future generations, it is estimated that they will be convicted of crimes against humanity.

"General Pan, please arrange for people to evacuate the nearby people immediately, even if you don't need this trick in the end, when the Wu army comes to attack, it will be difficult not to affect them. It's also good to let them go for a while. Oh, by the way, the young adults try to stay as long as possible and let them help defend the city. Liu Hou immediately assigned another task, after all, he had too few troops in his hands, and he needed to rely on a large number of people to support the scene.

Pan Jun had no choice but to call the officials of Nanjun and let them start arranging for the evacuation of the people.

Liu Hou also instructed his soldiers to call two soldiers (five in one and 10 in two) and ask them to reconnoiter the terrain along the Yangtze River and find a location conducive to placing explosives to blow up the embankment.

Liu Hou's plan is so crazy that it really scares everyone here. Fei Yi and Guo Youzhi both persuaded Liu Hou not to do this, saying that it would hurt the peace of the heavens.

Liu Hou remembered the death of Guan Gong in history, gritted his teeth with hatred, and said: "We must not let Dongwu succeed, if Nanjun is lost, other cities will also be lost, and when Second Uncle Guan returns to the division, there will be no place to stay, and he will die without a place to be buried, so I would rather fight with Dongwu to lose both sides or even die together than let them succeed." ”

"Don't worry, two gentlemen, this is just an alternative, and I don't want to do this kind of thing that hurts the enemy a thousand times and hurts a thousand myself. Let's work hard to see if there is a better way. ”

After listening to Liu Hou's words, Fei Yi and Guo Youzhi breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately put into two plans: fire attack and ambush and sneak attack on favorable terrain. In order for Liu Hou not to adopt the method of burning jade, this time they tried their best and racked their brains in the hope of coming up with a better way.

Not to mention, after Liu Hou was classified like this, they had a direction, the scope of thinking was narrowed, and their minds were concentrated on a few points, and a poisonous plan was slowly formed.

Because there is finally an eyebrow, everyone's interest is very high, the more they talk, the more excited they are, everyone is gossiping, you say a word to me, and finally improve the plan, and finalize all kinds of details one by one. Unconsciously, the sky has revealed the white of the fish's belly. Everyone was shocked to realize that they had been discussing for a whole night.

Although he didn't sleep all night, Liu Hou didn't let everyone rest, considering that the time was urgent, and immediately began to assign tasks according to the plan that had just been released, so that everyone could arrange manpower to prepare for various battles.

After a night's rest, the 500 Hongjun had recovered their energy and were immediately put into work, and the remaining 1,000 Jingzhou soldiers were also mobilized to work in order. When Liu Hou saw the labor site, he still felt that the progress was too slow and there was a shortage of manpower, so he asked Pan Jun to send officials with soldiers to urgently recruit strong men.

The suffering of the people of this era is simply unimaginable for future generations. When the government needs manpower, it will directly go to levy and issue conscription, and when it is urgent, it doesn't matter if you want to do it or not, if you see a young and strong person, you will be asked to do coolies, if you refuse to go, it is very simple, first beat you, and then arrest you, which later generations called "catching strong men".

Pan Jun, a person with little talent, of course, can't think of any good way to deal with it, so he will only adopt this rough and direct method to catch strong men everywhere. In addition, he was tired and couldn't rest for a night, and he had no place to vent his anger in his heart, so he naturally sprinkled it on the people, so Liu Hou saw that he was really not polite to the people, and he whipped him at every turn.

Liu Hou felt very unbearable when he looked at it, and hurriedly stepped forward to stop it, and Pan Jun relented a little, which made Liu Hou's impression of him extremely bad. Fortunately, although this guy is a little rough, his work efficiency is okay, and he has recruited more than 2,000 young people in a short period of time.

Liu Hou immediately put them into labor, and together with the army, the demolition of houses, the clearing of roads, and the construction of fortifications were carried out in an orderly manner in a race against time.

A few days ago, far away in Lukou of Eastern Wu, Huwei General Lu Meng said that he could not afford to be ill, and Lu Xun was ordered by Wu Hou Sun Quan to visit the patient. It turned out that Lü Meng had earlier persuaded Sun Quan to plot to seize Jingzhou, but Tanma reported that "Jingzhou soldiers and horses were purged, and Guan Gong was up and down the river, or twenty or thirty miles, and there were beacon towers in Gaofu." ”

This time, Lu Meng was sick, because he knew that in this way, it would be impossible for him to quickly take Jingzhou, so he pretended to be sick and refused to send troops. After Sun Quan found out, he was also very anxious, but Lu Xun (Sun Ce's son-in-law), the captain of Dingwei, saw clearly that he was pretending to be sick, so he invited himself to visit him.

Lu Xun came to the Lukou military camp overnight, and when he saw Lu Meng, he saw that his face was very good, and he didn't look sick at all. Lu Xun said: "I was ordered by Wu Hou to come to visit you, Ziming (Lu Meng's character), what happened to your body?" ”

Lu Meng said: "I am a cheap meat, and I occasionally have a minor illness, how dare I bother you to come to visit." ”

Lu Xun said again: "Wu Hou entrusted you with a heavy responsibility, you didn't take the opportunity to attack, but were depressed here in vain, why?" ”

Hearing this, Lu Meng was silent, he looked at Lu Xun and was speechless for a long time.

Lu Xun saw that he didn't speak, and said: "I have a way to cure the general's disease, but I don't know if it's good or not." ”

"Since Bo Yan (Lu Xun's words) has a good way, I hope I can teach it as soon as possible."

Lu Xun said with a smile: "Ziming's illness is just because of the purge of soldiers and horses in Jingzhou and the establishment of beacon towers along the river. Am I right? I have a plan to make the beacon towers along the river not ignite, and the soldiers and horses in Jingzhou can be captured with their hands tied, how about it? Want to hear it? ”

When Lu Meng heard this, he was pleasantly surprised, and he bowed deeply to Lu Xun, and said: "Bo Yan's words are talking about my heart, and I would like to hear good ideas." ”

Lu Xun said: "Yun Chang (Guan Yu's character) thinks he is a hero, he thinks he is invincible in the world, and he is afraid of you, the general." The general can take this opportunity to pretend to be sick and resign, hand over the heavy responsibility of garrisoning Lukou to a person who is not very famous, and then let this person lower his posture, show weakness to Guan Yu, and praise Guan Gong with a servile face, so that Guan Gong is proud.

In this way, he must be wary of everything, and withdraw the soldiers and horses of Jingzhou and take them to Fancheng. At that time, Jingzhou will be defenseless, and then use a brigade of men and horses to surprise and sneak attack, then Jingzhou will be at your fingertips. ”

Meng Daxi said: "What a good strategy!"

Obviously, this Lu Xun knows Guan Gong's character very well, knows that he is very proud and conceited, and successfully used this pride and conceit to carefully design this series of serial poison schemes.

In history, this poisonous plan did succeed, and the "crossing of the river in white" has also become one of the most successful and classic sneak attacks in the history of the Three Kingdoms. It's a pity that this time they met the prophetic Liu Hou, and planned for several years to reverse the outcome of this matter, will the result be different?