Three Kingdoms: Rebirth of Liu Bei, the Zhaolie

"This could all be an illusion! It might be something Okurikami is deliberately putting on for us to hide his true intentions!"

Qian Zhao suddenly shouted.

Everyone was astonished.

Liu Bei hurriedly asked:

"Zijing, do you mean that what our scouts have discovered is exactly what Zhijian wants us to see?"

"right."

Qian Zhao nodded. "That's exactly what I mean."

Liu Bei listened and remained silent in thought.

He glanced at the generals.

He saw that all the generals were also frowning and thinking.

So Liu Bei looked at Qian Zhao and asked:

"Zijing, if you were the Xianbei chieftain Zhijian, and you learned that I was leading an army of ten thousand to attack Juyan Lake, what would you do?"

Qian Zhao thought for a moment, then, following his train of thought, pondered and said:

"Your army has just defeated the Yanliyou tribe and is in high spirits. If I were the Xianbei leader Zhijian, I would never fight you head-on in the desert outside Juyan Lake."

"I will leave a strong force of three thousand men around the tribe as bait to lure you to attack, but I will not actually fight you. I will just lure you into the depths of the desert and wear down your army."

"At the same time, I will have a 3,000-strong army from the Luoluo tribe constantly linger on your left or rear flank to contain and disrupt you. If you send troops to attack, I will send this army to the Qilian Mountains or the Helan Mountains, avoiding direct confrontation with you."

"These two armies, each with three thousand men, are positioned to support each other, using their familiarity with the terrain to wear you down."

"When your army is exhausted, these two light cavalry units of three thousand men each will pounce on you like fierce steppe wolves, tearing you apart until they wipe out your army's manpower."

"Of course, if you discover my intentions, I am not afraid. Because I have already led my main force to the foot of Wolf Mountain without making a detour, and ambushed the camp of Yanliyou tribe that you just captured, wiping out the two thousand troops led by Tuoba Qiudun and Tuoba Sihai."

"You want to send troops to your aid, but it's too late. Your army has already penetrated deep into the heart of Juyan Lake and is fighting against my two armies of three thousand men on the desert."

"Once you reveal your intention to withdraw and return to Wolf Mountain, these two armies of three thousand men each will follow you like two vicious wolves, baring their fangs and waiting for the opportunity to devour you."

"And I will also lay two ambushes on your way back, and when the time is right, I will attack your left and right flanks. At the same time, the two large armies following behind you will also launch an attack."

"Your army will be trapped in a desperate situation, surrounded on all sides. And I will just happen to be at this moment, leading my army westward from my camp at Wolf Mountain to attack your front."

"In this way, even if your army is full of brave warriors, you will suffer heavy casualties until you are ultimately defeated..."

The generals were all shocked by Qian Zhao's words.

Fear even showed in the eyes of Tuoba Yizhan and Tuoba Chekun.

Liu Bei couldn't help but frown.

Guan Yu suddenly shouted:

"Zijing, are you saying that we are now stepping into what military strategy calls a 'deadly situation'?!"

Qian Zhao nodded silently:

"Once an army has no way to retreat, no external aid, and no supplies, its morale will be unstable. At this time, commanders will often be eager to find the enemy's main force for a decisive battle, hoping to achieve victory in one battle and then turn the tide."

"But the enemy knows your weakness, so they deliberately avoid a decisive battle, hiding their main force and coldly watching your army gradually fall into a desperate situation before suddenly rushing out to reap heads at will."

"What's there to be afraid of!"

Lu Bu suddenly shouted, "Military strategy dictates that one must be placed in a desperate situation to survive! Besides, we're not completely trapped yet. Even if we were, we could fight to the death, with our backs to the wall. Since we're going to die anyway, we might as well fight our way out!"

After hearing Lü Bu's words, Liu Bei nodded silently and said:

"Fortunately, we didn't rush forward this time on our way to Juyan Lake. Now, our army has been marching for a day and a half, and we are only about 150 li away from the Wolf Mountain stronghold. We are still more than 400 li away from Juyan Lake. We are not truly in a hopeless situation."

"That's true."

Qian Zhao nodded. "Fortunately, the commander-in-chief sent out several waves of scouts to the Juyan Lake and Helan Mountain area the night before last, which allowed us to know the enemy's deployment in advance. Based on our latest assessment of the enemy, we can also make corresponding arrangements in advance."

"This is impressive..."

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, then looked at Tuoba Daxi and muttered, "Zhijian, a mere warrior, has actually come up with such a plan... Could it be that he has a master advisor guiding him?"

Tuoba Daxi knew that Liu Bei wanted to know the answer to his question from him, so he said:

"Zhijian is indeed a warrior, and he must have had someone guiding him this time. It's easy to guess that this person is Yan Liyou's grandson."

Liu Bei nodded:

"In other words, our surprise attack on Yan Liyou's tribe that morning did not kill all of Yan Liyou's grandsons; one or two of them still managed to escape our encirclement with their remaining troops..."

As he spoke, he glanced at Tuoba Yizhan and Tuoba Chekun.

Upon hearing this, Tuoba Yizhan and Tuoba Chekun exchanged a glance.

Their army fought on the outskirts of Yanliyou's territory, but found no fleeing soldiers.

There was no blame in Liu Bei's eyes, but he wanted to remind them to be more careful next time, to protect the defense line well, and especially not to let important high-value targets escape.

He also knew that once the two armies entered a direct confrontation, it would be impossible to be completely foolproof.

Even the most meticulous plans can have oversights.

Military strategy even emphasizes "surrounding three sides and leaving one side open".

The saying goes, "Do not block a retreating army, leave an opening when besieging an army, and do not press a desperate enemy."

It means showing the enemy a way out, so that they have no intention of dying.

People are inherently greedy for life, so the enemy's will to resist will not be strong.

This is completely different from "deliberately letting the enemy go free".

After all, letting the enemy go unchecked for even a day can cause trouble for generations to come.

Tuoba Daxi continued:

"Yan Liyou, the former Xianbei king, had been exposed to military strategy in Han China, and his son and grandson were both known as 'knowledgeable in military affairs'."

"More than a decade ago, when Tan Shihuai led Xianbei cavalry to attack Han territory, one of Yan Liyou's sons served as his chief strategist, offering advice and strategies. As a result, all the tribes knew that Yan Liyou's descendants were well-versed in Han military tactics."

"So that's how it is..."

Liu Bei nodded silently, then said thoughtfully, "So, our real opponent is still the Yan Liyou tribe..."

Guan Yu pondered for a moment and asked:

"Juyan Lake is at least five or six hundred miles away from Langshan. No matter how fast Zhijian's army marches, they couldn't possibly appear behind us, could they?"

Liu Bei silently made his own calculations.

He launched the surprise attack on Yanliyou's tribe at dawn the day before yesterday.

Even if Yan Liyou's grandson fled to Juyan Lake, it would take at least two days to reach the camp where the scythe was placed.

And now, it is noon on the third day.

In other words, even if Zhijian were to send troops, they would at most be a hundred miles away from Juyan Lake, and would definitely not appear behind them, much less in the Langshan area.

If his scouts discovered Zhijian's main force at the foot of Langshan Mountain behind the main army, then there is only one possibility—Zhijian had already set off from Juyan Lake two days ago.

In other words, two days earlier, Yan Liyou's grandson had come to Zhijian's camp as an envoy seeking help, and by leveraging Yan Liyou's former prestige as the Xianbei king, he persuaded Zhijian to send troops to assist him.

Therefore, the army with the quiver was able to appear behind Liu Bei's army, at the foot of Langshan Mountain.

The Luoluo tribe, located at the foot of Helan Mountain, is about 500 to 600 miles away from the foot of Lang Mountain. Naturally, they were persuaded by the envoy of the Yanliyou tribe two days ago to send troops to help.

However, halfway there, they found that Yanliyou's territory had been captured by Liu Bei, so they had no choice but to turn west and head towards Juyan Lake, depending on the changing military situation.

Of course, this was just Liu Bei's personal conjecture, and everything still had to wait for the reports brought back by the scouts he sent to the Langshan area before it could be finally confirmed.

The battlefield is ever-changing, and this was not the first time Liu Bei had experienced this firsthand.

After listening to Guan Yu's words, Qian Zhao also pondered and said:

"If the scouts' reports confirm that the main force of the Zhijian Army appeared at the foot of Langshan Mountain, behind our army, then it means that they set off from Juyan Lake two days ago."

"And Okigan's current deployment, just like ours, is simply a decision made in response to the real-time changes in the battlefield situation."

……

Those who fight swiftly will survive, while those who do not will perish; this is a death trap.

—Sun Tzu's Art of War, Chapter Nine: The Nine Grounds