The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Faced with Guan Xing's question, everyone felt as heavy-hearted as if they were visiting a grave.

If Zhang Chengzhen were to launch a simultaneous attack from multiple armies as they had just described, their reliance on mobility would be instantly lost, leaving them with nowhere to escape.

This is a net of heaven and earth designed specifically for their Han army. Given that their troop strength and combat power are inferior to the enemy's, what can they use to fight?

Gan Xun said worriedly, "It's too difficult. If we could delay it for a year or two until the steel plant is fully operational and everyone is equipped with new weapons and farm tools, it might be possible. But now, time is too tight, and we simply can't develop."

Although Gan Xun had never been to the steel mill, he had read Guan Xing's development plan for Wushang. If the development were to proceed according to Guan Xing's plan, he would be confident that he could confront 100,000 Wu troops head-on within three years at most. The problem was that the Wu army was not giving them time to develop.

Cheng Lining and Huan had no way to defeat the enemy, and they all let out a helpless sigh.

Ugh……

The common problem for most people is that they can only identify problems but cannot solve them.

Although they could guess Zhang Cheng's tactics, they couldn't come up with a way to defeat him. The Wu army was determined to bully them with their absolute strength. What could they do?

Guan Xing smiled confidently and said, "Why are you all so dejected? It's not as serious as you're making it out to be."

Gan Xun's eyes lit up and he quickly asked, "Could it be that General has a plan to defeat the enemy? Please enlighten me, General."

Guan Xing said, "This kind of multi-pronged attack is only intimidating on the surface, but it is actually not very effective. As long as we defeat them one by one before Wu's army arrives, and do not give them the opportunity to meet up in Wushang, we will be fine."

"Old Cheng just said that Wu's army might have five routes: one from Zheshui, one from Zhuji, one from Shanyin, one from Yuzhang, and one from the Yue tribes, right?"

"Let's talk about the situation in the five routes first. According to news from the front, the county troops and private soldiers of the gentry in various counties of Jiangdong have been transferred to Jianye by Lü Meng, leaving Jiangdong extremely vulnerable. In other words, the Yuzhang route can be eliminated because there are no more troops to send to Yuzhang."

"The situation is the same in Shanyin. Meng Jun robbed their grain again, and Shanyin paid most of the ransom for Zhang Cheng and Zhou Xun. Shanyin is now so poor that it can't offer Zhang Cheng much help."

"In other words, Wu Jun's forces are not as strong as we thought. We only need to deal with the three routes of the Zhejiang River, Zhuji, and the Yue Mountains."

He wasn't a teacher in later generations, but Lü Meng wasn't a bald-headed principal either.

Lu Meng's strength is far inferior to that of the principal; he cannot afford to fight a battle as easy as an ambush from all sides.

Gan Xun pondered, "General, you are right. Yuzhang is too far away and there are no troops to be mobilized, so it is indeed unlikely. But Shanyin is still a possibility. Should we strike first and take Shanyin before the Wu army arrives, and then transport all the grain and fodder in the city back to Wushang?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "It's too late to attack Shanyin now. How could Prefect Chunyu Shi not strengthen his defenses when he has to deal with such a wicked neighbor as us every day?"

"Moreover, Shanyin is a prefecture city, which cannot be taken in a short time. If it turns into a war of attrition, it will play right into the hands of the Wu army."

Gan Xun thought about it and agreed, then spread his hands and said, "This humble general will not bother thinking about it and will follow your arrangements."

Guan Xing rolled his eyes as he listened, and continued, "If Wu Jun really advances on three fronts simultaneously, he will face a serious problem: he will be unable to coordinate effectively and communicate in a timely manner, so it will be impossible for him to truly advance in unison."

"To give a simple example, it would take the right flank army ten days to reach Zhuji, but only nine days for the left flank army to reach Damo. The remaining day is the time difference we can take advantage of."

"Moreover, because the two armies cannot communicate in a timely manner, they will not know each other's exact location, let alone understand each other's situation in a timely manner, which gives us more room to maneuver."

In this era, there was no radio for constant communication. Deploying troops was like letting sheep roam freely, as the commander-in-chief could not keep track of the situation at all times and could only rely on the frontline generals to make independent decisions.

Similarly, frontline commanders cannot keep up with their commander's thoughts in time. Without knowing the situation, they will hesitate and miss opportunities.

Therefore, most of the tactics of launching attacks from multiple directions and advancing simultaneously in history have ended in failure.

Guan Xing continued, "Ning Huan and Guan Yan, you two will set off tomorrow morning. Ning Huan will go to Damu to scout along the Zhe River, while Guan Yan will head to Fuchun and Qiantang to gather as much information as possible about the Wu army. I need to know who the commanders of the two Wu armies are, as well as the specific forces they lead. In short, the more detailed the information we gather, the better."

Ning Huan and Guan Yan bowed simultaneously and said, "Yes..."

Guan Xing continued, "There's still the Shanyue tribe along the way. The Shanyue are a real problem. If I'm not mistaken, Zhang Cheng should have already sent someone to contact Pan Lin, the Shanyue chieftain near Kuaiji."

Guan Xing really had a headache when it came to the Yue tribes.

Because the Yue people are not just the Yue people, but a collective term for many ethnic groups including the Han people.

The reason why the Yue people were rampant and could not be eradicated was simple: the terrain of Jiangdong was too damn complicated. Except for Wu County, all other counties were mountainous.

Especially in Kuaiji Commandery, which is seven parts mountains, one part water, and two parts farmland, or eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland, the mountain ranges are connected to the big mountains, and the big mountains are connected to the small mountains, making it a natural stronghold that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The local people live in the narrow gaps between the mountains. The gaps are too small, there is too little arable land, and the population that can be accommodated is naturally not large, forcing the people to live scattered in villages.

The barrier between villages is the mountains; there can be one or even several mountains separating two villages, and it can take up to a month to visit each other.

This peculiar terrain forcibly separated the local people, forming independent primitive tribes, and also provided excellent living conditions for local powerful figures, allowing them to rule the mountains.

Those so-called mountain tribe leaders were less tribal chiefs and more bandits who gathered in the mountains.

Moreover, these leaders were not particularly strong individually, and theoretically they could be easily dealt with by simply sending troops from various prefectures. However, the terrain they occupied was too treacherous, and their distribution was too loose, making it difficult for the imperial court to eliminate them.

Currently, not only in Kuaiji, but also in Danyang, Yuzhang, and even in Jingnan and Jiaozhou, there are mountain tribes entrenched. Each mountain has its own tribe, and they are not under each other's command. They are scattered like stars in the sky. If the imperial court wants to wipe them out, it can only dig them up one by one like digging up bamboo. After digging them up, new bamboo will quickly grow. Therefore, it is impossible to eradicate them.

The history of Eastern Wu is essentially a history of warfare against the Shanyue people. Almost all the famous generals recorded in the historical books of Eastern Wu during its early, middle, and late periods had experience in conquering the Shanyue, and most of them ended in victory.

But such a victory is useless. If you can't beat the mountain people, don't you know how to run away? After the defeat, they will hide in the mountains. Do you chase them or not? If you do, the road is difficult and you are likely to be ambushed.

If you don't chase after them, the mountain bandits will quickly recover and regain their full strength. What will you do then?

Therefore, every time Wu Jun campaigned against the Yue tribes, it turned into a war of attrition, a contest of who could survive the longest.

The mountain tribe leader Pan Lin, whom Guan Xing just mentioned, was beaten by Lu Xun.

Seventeen years ago, in the eighth year of Jian'an, Lu Xun, then serving as the Commandant of the Agricultural Settlements, personally led his troops deep into dangerous territory, defeated the chieftain Pan Lin, and recruited more than two thousand followers, but failed to capture Pan Lin himself.

After being brutally beaten by Lu Xun, Pan Lin learned his lesson and dared not plunder as recklessly as before. In recent years, the number of times he went down the mountain to plunder has decreased significantly, always maintaining a critical point that both troubled the Wu army and prevented the Wu army from sending troops to attack.

After all, it was quite arduous for Wu's army to launch a campaign, consuming a large amount of food and supplies but only achieving minimal results, which was clearly a losing proposition!

Guan Xing rubbed his temples and pondered for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration and quickly asked, "The Wu army has a history of capturing Yue people as soldiers. So here's the question: of the tens of thousands of Wu soldiers we've captured, are there any Yue people among them, or even those who came from Pan Lin's command?"