My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 405 Cai Yang: If I can kill Liu Bei, I will be one of the Three Dukes in this life
Outside Yiyang City, all deployments of Liu Bei's army were carried out in accordance with Zhuge Liang's instructions.

In the early morning of the next day, Gan Ning's reinforcements arrived, but they did not cause any disturbance in the camp. Li Tong in Yiyang City could not see any clues.

Gan Ning was a flamboyant and showy person by nature, and this time he had received instructions from his military advisor in advance, so he had to suppress his temper temporarily and be patient.

He met with Liu Bei in private and listened to Zhuge Liang's special instructions. He felt much more relieved knowing that his forbearance could be exchanged for tricking Cai Yang into underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly.

From then on, Gan Ning gathered his strength every day, holding his breath, waiting to let it out on Cai Yang.

……

Cai Yang did not make Gan Ning wait too long, because at the same time Gan Ning arrived, Cai Yang's troops also hurriedly crossed the Ru River to the south near Xincai County, Runan County.

Two days later, Cai Yang arrived in Xinxi County, crossed the Huai River, and walked for another half a day before approaching Yiyang.

In other words, Cai Yang arrived at the Yiyang battlefield just two days later than Gan Ning.

Who made him take a long detour for safety? When Cai Yang took a detour, Gan Ning also received the transfer order from Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang and set out immediately. Although they were both traveling at full speed, Gan Ning's distance was shorter, so it was not surprising that he arrived earlier than Cai Yang.

Cai Yang was out of breath from the rush, but after all, he was a veteran who had fought all his life, and his basic skills were still very solid. Seeing Yiyang in sight, he did not forget to send out scouts to search for the enemy before making a decision. He did not dare to rush in without caring about anything.

Then, when the scout came back to report, he was shocked to find that Liu Bei's army was advancing so quickly in Huainan and had been besieging Yiyang City for several days.

Cai Yang couldn't help but exclaimed: "What? When I asked Qi'er to lead the cavalry to retreat first, I only heard that Liu Bei had conquered Anfeng County. How come he has already conquered Yiyang in such a short period of time?

What are the defenders of Liao County doing? Why didn't they hold out to hold the enemy back? What about the soldiers of Qisi County and Fubo County? Are they all good-for-nothings? How could that unknown young general sent by Liu Bei to lead the troops break through so quickly? "

The scout officer in charge of the investigation replied solemnly: "We just fought with Liu Bei's patrol team when we were scouting. There were casualties on both sides. We also captured two wounded soldiers and tortured them.

The enemy general who had previously captured Anfeng County was named Wei Yan, but he did not lead his troops here. During the Battle of Anfeng, Wei Yan was eager to gain merit and attacked too hastily and fiercely. It is said that he was seriously injured and was sent back by Liu Bei to recuperate. In order to save time, Liu Bei later led the army to supervise the battle in person.

"So Liu Bei came in person? No wonder the enemy's offensive was so swift... This is not surprising. Liu Bei thinks highly of Runan. Could it be that he plans to defeat Runan and then attack Xudu? Otherwise, why would he invest so much money?"

Cai Yang suddenly realized it, and after pondering for a while, he thought he had grasped the truth, and asked again: "Have you found out how many troops Liu Bei has?"

The scout officer answered every question: "About 10,000 people. I have tortured the prisoners, and Liu Bei seems to know that this number of troops is not enough to break through Yiyang, so he ordered them to be surrounded and killed first to prevent our reinforcements from joining. He is also waiting for Zhao Yun and Gan Ning in Qiao to come back to help, so that they can take Runan after joining forces."

Although Cai Yang had rich experience in commanding troops, he was not good at making plans. Seeing that his scout officers were so capable and had learned so much, he thought they were capable.

However, he did not become suspicious or think about why this scout was so efficient, or whether the enemy had deliberately leaked so much military information.

After Cai Yang pondered over all the intelligence, he quickly came to a conclusion: "Time is running out. Liu Bei's current military strength is only enough to besiege the city, not to attack it. If we wait until Zhao Yun and Gan Ning withdraw from the feint attack on the Qiao County battlefield and gather in Runan, I am afraid that I and Lord Li will be powerless to save the situation.

We still have to notify Li Fujun as soon as possible, and attack from both inside and outside to break through Liu Bei's siege camp. Once a hole is opened, I can enter the city and work together with Li Fujun to defend the city. Only then will the situation turn around!
Even if Zhao Yun and Gan Ning arrive by then, we will be able to drag the war in Hebei to an end, Sikong will call back the main force of the imperial army, and Liu Bei will still not be able to break the city!"

Cai Yang had no capable advisers around him, and his deputy generals were not as smart as he was, so no one raised any objections.

Only one general felt that this plan was difficult to implement, so he pointed out in embarrassment: "General, what you said is very true, but now Liu Bei has completely isolated Yiyang from both inside and outside. How can we get in touch with Li Fujun and agree to attack from both inside and outside at the same time?

If we hadn't agreed in advance and only relied on our army to attack with all their might, would Lord Li not know the situation in the city and suspect a fraud, and not dare to open the gate to welcome us? Wouldn't it be up to us to take on the heavy responsibility of fighting Liu Bei alone? Liu Bei has more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and we certainly can't defeat him alone."

Cai Yang waved his hand resolutely, signaling his generals to stay calm: "I will find a way to deal with this. At worst, we can gather the cavalry in the army tonight and try to raid the camp. We don't want to completely destroy Liu Bei's camp, but we can choose one of Liu Bei's camps outside the city gates and break through it in the dark to create chaos. This is also possible.

At that time, the cavalry that can break through will carry arrows and shoot them onto the top of the city wall from outside the city gate, clearly announcing a pincer attack. They will also inform Li Fujun of the situation of Liu Bei's army, so that he will also know that Liu Bei has come in person.

Even if we can't guarantee victory in the final pincer attack, it's Liu Bei after all! If we can find out which camp Liu Bei is in outside the city gate, and then focus on attacking that camp and killing Liu Bei, wouldn't that be a great achievement? When the Han Dynasty returns to stability, it will all be our credit! Your Majesty should be granted the title of Duke!"

After Cai Yang said this, the generals under him who were eager to make achievements also became excited.

Indeed, the person opposite is Liu Bei.

If Liu Bei could be captured alive or killed, the wealth and honor he would receive would be second only to that of Cao Sikong. People like Xun Lingjun in the court would not be able to match General Cai in terms of wealth and power by then.

In the end, it was the unexpected factor that "the enemy commander was actually Liu Bei himself" that unexpectedly attracted Cai Yang to decide to take the risk.

He made some emergency arrangements, ordering the troops to set up camp first, to form a pincer attack with Li Tong in the city and to support each other, and then that night he sent out elite troops to raid the camp and try to get in touch with Li Tong.

The generals under his command also expressed some concerns. They thought that after the camp was breached, if they sent people to shoot arrows to the city to make contact, would it not be kept secret enough?

If there were too many people holding the arrow letter, and the person holding the letter was killed or injured in the fight during the attack on the camp, and the letter was seized by Liu Bei's army, wouldn't the whole plan fail? Instead, the secret would be leaked.

Cai Yang listened and thought carefully, and it made sense. He then fine-tuned the deployment and strictly controlled the number of arrows and letters. He only arranged for himself and two of his most trusted generals who were brave and skilled in archery to hold a letter tied to an arrow and shoot it into the city. If there was no chance to shoot, they had to hand in the arrow letter and burn it after returning. The number was strictly checked to ensure that the secret was not leaked.

……

Cai Yang's deployment was neat and tidy.

Of course, the news that his troops were approaching Yiyang could not be concealed from Liu Bei. After all, the patrol scouts of both sides had already engaged in combat.

In Liu Bei's camp, Zhuge Liang gently waved his feather fan. After listening to the report from his subordinates, he waved his fan to send everyone away, and then said to Liu Bei alone: "My lord, I think Cai Yang will come to raid the camp tonight. If he knows that it is you who is leading the troops, how can he not take a risk? In his opinion, this desperate gamble is absolutely worth it."

After hearing this, Liu Bei also rubbed his hands and was eager to try, "Oh? Then according to the military advisor's suggestion, we should set up an ambush immediately and pretend that Cai Yang succeeded? Once his raiding troops enter the camp, the ambush troops will rush out and annihilate his raiding troops?"

Zhuge Liang waved his fan twice to show his denial: "No, no, no, no, no need to pretend. Let's really be 'careless' and let Cai Yang succeed once. We just want him to get in touch with Li Tong smoothly.

Moreover, we can also leak a message to let the enemy know that the lord is in the camp outside the north gate of the city - but after tonight, for the lord's safety, the lord can move to other camps, but still leave the lord's flag and the central army tent in the north gate camp. This way, the next time Cai Yang and Li Tong come again, the lord will be safe. "

Liu Bei raised his eyebrows. By this time he had figured out that Zhuge Liang was trying to lure Cai Yang and Li Tong into counterattacking, thinking that he could carry out a "decapitation operation" - of course, Zhuge Liang was very cautious, and Liu Bei was definitely not in any danger at all, because by the time the enemy launched a general attack, it would be at least the following night, and Liu Bei would have already moved away.

Besides, Liu Bei was a courageous man. How could he be afraid of Cai Yang and Li Tong coming to attack him from both sides? He was more than happy to do so!
Do you really think that Liu Bei can't fight? There are 20,000 or 30,000 men on our side, and the enemy is less than 20,000 at most. We are defending the camp while the enemy is attacking. This is a sure win no matter how you look at it! If you still hide, it will be too embarrassing.

Liu Bei accepted all of Zhuge Liang's other suggestions, except for the last detail that would have allowed him to avoid the battle:

"Everything else is acceptable, but there's no need for me to move. The commander is the courage of the army. At worst, I'll listen to you. When the time comes, I'll let Xingba ambush wherever you want him to.

With Xingba leading the troops to kill the enemy and protect us, are you still afraid that Cai Yang and Li Tong can break into our central army's tent?"

Zhuge Liang knew that this topic was a bit far-fetched, so he didn't insist on it for the time being. Anyway, even Cai Yang's first raid on the camp and the "leak of secrets" had not been completed yet, so there was no need to dwell on the follow-up measures after the leak.

So, that night when Liu Bei's army besieged the city camp, they strictly followed Zhuge Liang's instructions and pretended to be really lax.

At the beginning of the fourth watch in the middle of the night, Cai Yang indeed launched a raid on the west camp of the Yiyang siege camp.

The soldiers of Liu Bei's army looked panic-stricken. They didn't know how many enemy troops there were in the dark, so they dodged to the sides.

Cai Yang also took advantage of the situation to set fire to create chaos and fought vigorously - but in fact he only burned some tents and fodder, and did not kill many people in the dark.

The breakthrough of the camp was so smooth that Cai Yang rushed to the west gate, shouted to the top of the city wall not to shoot arrows, and shot three arrows upwards. The content of the letter was clearly written, and there were very few letters, so it would definitely not be seized by Liu Bei's army.

After the defenders on the city wall picked it up, they naturally handed it over to Li Tong, the prefect of Runan.

Li Tong unfolded the letter and frowned slightly, then relaxed a little.

"General Cai finally returned to provide assistance. Although it cost him the life of Captain Qin and some of his troops, it seems that Runan can be saved."

"It turns out that Liu Bei is stationed in the camp outside the city. He hasn't fought in person for many years, but he still has such courage... General Cai said that he would find out the exact location of Liu Bei's central army headquarters, and then I would be ready to join the pincer attack...

This matter has caused me to want to reply to General Cai, but it is impossible for the time being. Doesn't this force me to take risks with him? Well, if Liu Bei himself is really here, the garrison of Yiyang City is worth taking a risk.

At worst, I can leave enough troops to defend the city. Even if something unexpected happens to the troops that are leaving the city to support the attack, the city will not be in danger immediately..."

After Li Tong made up his mind, he called a general and told him to be more alert at night in the next few days. It would be best if his troops could hide during the day and move out at night, and make up for the sleep during the day.

He had to be on standby at all times at night. Once Cai Yang made any move, he would need to open the door and send troops to support immediately.

The general had no doubts and immediately took the order and left.

After Li Tong finished his instructions, he called over several other generals guarding the city gates and gave them a few additional instructions: "In the next few days, if our troops come out of the city to launch a surprise attack, immediately and decisively lower the heavy gates to block the gates. Don't worry about whether there are any friendly troops outside the city who haven't returned yet or whether they need to retreat! Just make sure the city gates are not lost! You don't have to worry about anything else!"

The goalkeepers also followed the order.

Li Tong then breathed a sigh of relief and finally dared to let go and take a gamble with Cai Yang.

Even if the bet is lost, the range of the bet is still controllable. At most, the suicide squad sent out of the city will be wiped out, but at least the city gate will not be lost, and the city can continue to be defended.

And if the bet was won and Liu Bei was killed, the prize would be too great.

(End of this chapter)