My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 350 The Hidden Blade
However, while the plan looks promising, it also carries significant risks.

As a result, Jia Kui's battle formation will become increasingly distorted, naturally revealing its weaknesses.

If Cheng Pu were to exploit a weakness and launch a counterattack, it would obviously be extremely dangerous. For an experienced cavalry general like Cheng Pu to expect the enemy not to discover his weaknesses is simply burying his head in the sand.

Jia Kui hesitated for a full ten breaths before finally deciding to take the gamble.

After all, his own forces outnumbered Song Qian's by 50%, and Jia Kui and Gao Shun were somewhat similar, both placing great emphasis on training troops. During the Cao Wei period, the troops under Jia Kui's command were comparable to the field armies of the four major war zones, demonstrating his ability to train troops.

This is the capital that Jia Kui has to gamble with.

After making the decision, Jia Kui continued to issue orders, boldly drawing troops from the inner line to fill the gaps in the battle line exposed by the bold infiltration of the right flank, while using a 500-man shield and halberd infantry as the core to keep a close watch on Cheng Pu's cavalry in the inner line.

Wherever the enemy moves, they will go to reinforce them.

Infantry can't keep up with cavalry, but shield-bearer infantry travel on the inner line, while Cheng Pu's cavalry not only travels on the outer line but also has to take a longer route to avoid the threat of crossbows. As a result, the infantry actually has the advantage in terms of speed.

Unless Cheng Pu maneuvers at running speed, he might be able to get ahead of the infantry, but such maneuvers are very horsepower-consuming. With the current horsepower of Cheng Pu's cavalry, they can only support it once or twice at most.

This means that Cheng Pu would likely be completely out of combat after just one maneuver, and would need to let his horse rest for at least 15 minutes and replenish it with plenty of water, dry rations, and salt before it could regain some of its strength and rejoin the battle.

Under Jia Kui's command, his troops formed a shape that was long on the outside and hollow on the inside. With the rapid advance of the right wing, a huge salient was formed on the battlefield, and the troops were less than 20 meters away from Gao Shun's troops. They could meet up with the enemy in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

At the same time, this salient also formed a pincer movement against Song Qian's vanguard. If Gao Shun's troops were also included, it would become a three-sided attack, forcing Song Qian's vanguard to begin to hesitate.

Compared to these advantages, Jia Kui's forces were also very weak internally, with a large number of internal soldiers being transferred to the front lines to fill the gaps in the extended battle lines caused by the salient.

If Sun Ce's army is able to break through a gap, the subsequent battle will not be a stalemate as usual, but will be unstoppable.

The problem was that Jia Kui's judgment was correct; Song Qian's troops were constantly being moved towards the vanguard to counter Jia Kui's offensive. As a result, how could Song Qian, whose forces were already half that of Jia Kui, possibly have the spare capacity to open a second front?

As for Cheng Pu's cavalry, they were perfectly protected by the shield and halberd team. Although they caused one or two hundred casualties to Jia Kui's troops, these casualties were undoubtedly meaningless and could not play a decisive role.

When Sun Ce arrived at the battlefield with the vanguard of his main force, the situation clearly displeased him.

This does not mean that Sun Ce's army was at a disadvantage. Although Jia Kui launched a three-sided attack on part of Song Qian's forces in the salient, on a larger scale, Huang Gai, Rui Liang, and Song Qian's three forces still showed an encirclement of Gao Shun and Jia Kui's forces.

Sun Ce's army undoubtedly still holds the upper hand and the initiative.

What displeased Sun Ce was that Jia Kui eventually reunited with Gao Shun, and the two forces were now linked together.

When Jia Kui successfully landed and began to approach Gao Shun, Huang Gai, Song Qian, Rui Liang, and even Cheng Pu failed to decisively separate them, which already displeased Sun Ce.

After giving the order, although they seemed to have done their best, they did not actually go to the point of sparing no expense.

In fact, given Sun Ce's strategic advantage, even if it came at the cost of severely damaging Song Qian's forces, the battle would certainly have been able to divide Gao Shun and Jia Kui, and at the same time, severely damage Gao Shun's forces.

When Sun Ce arrived at the battlefield, he immediately deployed new reinforcements, and Gao Shun's troops were unlikely to be able to hold out.

Once Gao Shun's forces are annihilated, Jia Kui's forces will once again become isolated, and the pressure will fall entirely on the Southern Expeditionary Army.

Are you still going to save Jia Kui or not?

Rescue is a piecemeal tactic; they may have to keep sending reinforcements.

If we don't come to the rescue, not only will we lose over ten thousand elite troops who will be wiped out in an organized manner, but the morale of both sides will also be greatly affected.

Sun Ce sighed, a hint of regret rising in his heart.

He probably shouldn't have been in charge from behind; he should have personally taken the lead and directed operations from the front.

********
Half an hour earlier, on the sea to the flank and rear of Sun Ce's army on the battlefield, a total of five hundred ships of various sizes appeared. These included fifty large warships, one hundred and fifty wide-mouthed plank ships, and three hundred small boats.

Sun Ce's army did not deploy any defensive troops at this location, because it was a three-mile-long stretch of muddy, saline-alkali land.

The soil here is very deep; an ordinary person could sink up to their ankles with one step, and if they were wearing armor, it would sink at least to the middle of their calves.

Landing in such a place, even without armor, would take at least one or two hours to reach flat ground; it was truly no different from suicide.

It was with this understanding that Sun Ce simply deployed a very small number of scouts in this direction, and they were in a very deep inland area, where they could not see any movement at sea.

"General, we can begin."

Yu Fan stood at the bow of the boat, looked at the sky, turned to Zhao Yun, the commander of the army, and cupped his hands, saying, "Now is the perfect time to make our move, so that the army can take advantage of the tide to penetrate as far inland as possible."

Dong Xi nodded in agreement: "Mr. Zhongxiang is right, let's get started."

Zhao Yun remained calm. Seeing that the two assistants Liu Feng had specially assigned to him both agreed that the time was right, he naturally had no other opinions.

"Since both gentlemen feel that the time is right, then I should naturally follow your advice."

Zhao Yun nodded and turned to Dong Xi, saying, "Colonel Dong, you may raise the flag to command the entire army to launch an attack."

Dong Xi was overjoyed and quickly bowed to Zhao Yun. After standing up, he turned around and gestured to the sailor on the mast, who then quickly hung up a specially made flag.

This massive fleet of five hundred ships had arrived at the outer sea an hour ago, but only entered the inner sea half an hour ago, finally waiting for the time to make its move.

This operation actually utilized the principle of tides.

Those muddy, saline-alkali lands are essentially alluvial plains of the Qiantang River. However, due to the lack of seawalls, the seawater floods in large quantities during high tide, eroding the land and turning it into saline-alkali mudflats.

Although these muddy areas are inaccessible to people, boats can take advantage of the high tide to reach the shore and, when the water is deep enough, venture inland.

However, this kind of deep dive is usually short-lived, and unless you are not afraid of your ship running aground, you will always have to return to the sea before the tide goes out.

But Liu Feng and his men didn't need that; what they wanted was to move their troops behind Sun Ce's army.

Liu Feng carefully questioned Yu Fan, He Qi, Dong Xi, and other people from Kuaiji, confirming that the plan was feasible, with the only cost being damage to and scrapping of the ships. Of course, the ships couldn't be too large, otherwise they would easily run aground on the shore and be unable to venture inland.

It is now 15 minutes before the tide reaches its highest point, and the entire army can take advantage of this time to invade the interior and achieve the deepest possible effect.

These ships will all be stranded on the shore, and can only wait for the tide to come in before they can find a way to return to the sea. Even so, the bottoms of many ships will obviously need to be repaired.

However, all of this was worth the price.

Once their elite force of several thousand men appears behind Sun Ce's army at the climax of the battle, it will not be a matter of victory or defeat, but rather whether Sun Ce's army will be completely annihilated.

That's right, Liu Feng's plan was to wipe out Sun Ce's main force in one battle.

Only by annihilating or at least severely damaging the enemy on the banks of the Qiantang River can the subsequent recapture of Kuaiji be as easy as autumn leaves falling.

Liu Feng's personality is such that he plans three steps ahead for every one he takes.

Why was he in such a hurry in previous years, even at the cost of abandoning the foundation of his business, to fight on all sides? First, he recaptured Langya, then fought in Guangling, and after the New Year, he traveled thousands of miles to come to the aid of the emperor and welcome him back to the Eastern Capital.

There's only one reason for all this: you missed that crucial moment. Once you miss it, you can't do these things no matter how much you want to, and you'll have to pay at least several times, or even ten times, the original price.

Take Langya as an example. Yuan Shu had already been secretly trying to win over Zang Ba. After Yuan Tan successfully crossed the Yellow River and occupied Jinan last year, he would inevitably influence Zang Ba of Langya.

By then, if Liu Bei wanted to reclaim control of Langya, he would not only face multiple external forces, but also Zang Ba, who had been recuperating for a year.

The same applies to the recapture of Guangling and the emperor's return to the east; if you miss the opportunity, someone else will do it for you.

Liu Feng's previous "slow" approach in the northern part of Wu Commandery was in preparation for the "fast" approach in the southern part of Wu Commandery.

Taishi Ci and Zhou Yu suddenly appeared from Wucheng and wiped out 20,000 of Sun Ce's troops in one fell swoop. If you calculate the time carefully, Liu Feng only took four months to conquer the entire Wu Commandery, plus half of Danyang Commandery. This was much faster than Sun Ce took half of Wu Commandery in six months.

Therefore, Liu Feng had no intention of getting entangled with Sun Ce on the banks of the Qiantang River. Although the enemy's reinforcements were far inferior to his own, he still wanted to conserve resources like grain.

After all, the Sun family, relying on the prime location of northern Kuaiji, could easily squeeze out one or two million shi of military rations. With Sun Ce's army of over 30,000 but less than 40,000, it would be more than enough to sustain them for a year.

Liu Feng didn't have that much time to waste on the banks of the Qiantang River. This year was the last window of opportunity. Next year would be the fourth year of Jian'an, and Gongsun Zan would be completely destroyed in the middle of that year. Zhang Feiyan would also be defeated by Yuan Shao and go into hiding in the Black Mountain.

Yuan Shao in the north will unify the north, and wherever his gaze falls, that will be the eye of the storm.

Therefore, in Liu Feng's plan, this year he not only had to completely wipe out Sun Ce, but also completely take over Yangzhou, and then expand his army.

Therefore, Liu Feng specially appointed Zhao Yun as the commander of a separate army, leading a thousand elite cavalry reinforced by Xu Huang, to flank and land, attacking from both sides and completely annihilating Sun Ce's forces.

Zhao Yun watched as the fleet rode the tide deeper and deeper into the inland, rushing in for two or three miles before its speed began to slow down.

Gradually, the large ship began to run aground and could no longer move forward. Even though the small boat could continue to move forward, the water was less than a meter deep, so it obviously couldn't go much further.

Fortunately, they were not far from the shore, or rather, they were already on the shore.

Once the tide begins to recede, this will inevitably be the first piece of land to emerge from the sea. As a result, there is the least amount of silt here. Even if armored soldiers step on it, they will at most leave a deep footprint, which is far less frightening than the shore at low tide.

Standing atop the warship, Zhao Yun had a good view and could see far ahead, already able to spot normal land in the distance.

This relieved him greatly. If the plan had failed and the entire fleet had been stuck in the mud, Zhao Yun wouldn't have been afraid to take responsibility, but Liu Feng would have been in big trouble.

"General, we've succeeded!"

Yu Fan bowed to Zhao Yun, and when he raised his head, his tiger-like eyes were already bloodshot.

When Liu Feng mentioned this plan to him, He Qi, Dong Xi, and other people from Kuaiji, they were quite surprised. At the same time, they also lacked confidence in the plan, because no one had ever done anything like it before.

What shocked Yu Fan and his men even more was that Liu Feng not only wanted to transport infantry, but also a thousand elite cavalry.

It is important to know that boats are not very suitable for transporting horses. Horses' attitudes toward water are extremely complex, and this must be considered in detail for each individual horse.

Individual attitudes toward water vary considerably.

Some horses are very averse to water; even a small puddle can make them uncomfortable, let alone the ocean. Others, however, love water and will even actively approach water sources to swim.

Whether horses fear or love water, it's not a good thing for transporting horses.

Small boats offer little shelter, and if used to transport warhorses, they could easily become disoriented on the sea. In that case, not only the horses, but the boat itself would likely capsize.

Therefore, large ships of the Mengchong class were necessary to transport warhorses.

Larger ships obviously have a deeper draft and are more likely to run aground, which is certainly not a good thing.

Liu Feng also attached great importance to this, and specially dispatched elite guards, and had Dong Xi, Yu Fan and He Qi personally lead ships to the coast of Kuaiji to conduct on-site investigation and experimentation, and finally came to a feasible result.

Only then did Liu Feng make the painful decision to wage this battle.

Even so, from Liu Feng to Zhao Yun, then to Dong Xi, Yu Fan, He Qi, and finally down to the soldiers, everyone in the army was actually quite inexperienced.

No one dared to guarantee that the plan would succeed.

But everyone also understands that if this plan succeeds, the benefits will be enormous.

With Guling as a stronghold, Sun Ce's forces would be at a significant disadvantage if they attacked directly from the Qiantang River, and the Southern Expeditionary Army would be conducting a landing operation.

Although the Southern Expeditionary Army was much stronger than Sun Ce's army, Sun Ce's army was also stronger than Wang Lang's army.

Most importantly, even if they win, it is very likely to turn into a rout, and Sun Ce's army can still regroup the defeated troops and retreat, relying on the cities of Kuaiji to resist one by one.

This was the scene Liu Feng least wanted to see, and it was also the fundamental reason why Liu Feng made up his mind to fight this way.

(End of this chapter)