Military Exercise 2
Yang Zhuo shook his head, “That’s not possible either. We have arranged patrols along the riverbank, and if there’s any movement, there will definitely be smoke signals. Besides, Zhang Yingjie is always full of tricks; he must have other plans. Send the order to closely monitor any activity along the riverbank.”
“Yes!”
“Boom!”
Qin Sanyou’s heavy blow landed on the water, creating waves that soared three feet high. Ah Fei was struck and fell towards the bridge below, causing Jun Xiang’s expression to tense.
However, Ah Fei reached out and grabbed the railing, flipped back up and returned to the bridge with a loud roar. His Flying Shadow Kick caught Qin Sanyou off guard.
Qin Sanyou, being heavy in weight and armed with a heavy weapon, was hit with eighty percent of Ah Fei’s strength. He flipped over the railing, falling into the water with a “boom.”
Ah Fei smiled faintly.
After a moment, a person surfaced from the water. Qin Sanyou glanced at him and said, “Consider yourself the winner.”
After speaking, he submerged into the water again and resurfaced after a while, swimming towards the shore. It seemed that his weapon had fallen to the riverbed and he couldn’t find it at the moment.
The morale of Yang Zhuo’s side soared. The soldiers raised their long spears and shouted in unison. “Roar! Roar! Roar!”
Yang Zhuo asked Jun Xiang, “Is there anything unusual along the riverbank?”
“No,” Jun Xiang replied.
Yang Zhuo turned to leave, and someone rushed out from the opposite side.
“Yang Zhuo! If you have the courage, come out and die!”
“It seems I have to take the field,” Yang Zhuo vaguely understood that the other side was still using the provocation strategy, “Jun Xiang, you go. The rest of you, return to the military tent with me.”
Yan Ge remained in place, rubbing his chin and pondering something. Huangfu Yuchen didn’t ask, standing beside him.
“Yuchen, it seems to me that the other side is using a chain strategy. But I can’t figure out the details for the time being,” Yan Ge said.
Huangfu Yuchen smiled and didn’t answer, “Perhaps.”
After three rounds of competition, Yang Zhuo’s side won two rounds, gaining even greater momentum.
Ah Fei reminded, “Soldiers, it’s highly likely that the enemy intentionally let us win two rounds to try and deceive us. We must not let our guard down!”
“Yes!”
After a day of discussion, Yang Zhuo and the others finally finalized their battle plan and launched an attack after dark.
The campfires were lit before the sun set. Smoke from the opposite side also billowed into the sky.
Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen had a satisfying meal from a large pot, which tasted good.
“Report.”
“What’s the matter?” Yang Zhuo put down his chopsticks.
The messenger said, “Reporting to the General, the enemy has completely withdrawn their forces from the bridgehead position.”
“What?” Yang Zhuo was greatly puzzled, “Are you sure?”
The messenger said, “There are hardly any tall clusters of trees on the opposite side. We can clearly see from here, and indeed, the enemy has withdrawn all their forces.”
Yang Zhuo said, “They withdrew their forces before it was completely dark. It’s obvious that they wanted us to discover this. Could it be that they want to lure us across the bridge and then ambush us? Clever! This must be Zhang Yingjie’s idea. I underestimated this kid!”
Jun Xiang still couldn’t figure it out, “General, what exactly is going on?”
Yang Zhuo didn’t answer but instead asked, “Jun Xiang, do you think it’s better for us to cross the bridge or not?”
Jun Xiang said, “This… it’s difficult to decide. If we cross the bridge, we will undoubtedly suffer heavy losses. But if we don’t cross, it seems a bit of a pity. After all, it’s an opportunity. If we were to cross the river, it would be difficult and slow.”
Suddenly, Ah Fei’s eyes lit up, “I remember now. Perhaps Qin Sanyou deliberately fell into the river earlier, just to tamper with something under the bridge! And the challenges from Er Hu and Ma Biao were just to confuse our vision!”
Yang Zhuo said, “Correct. This is Yingjie’s intention, neither allowing us to cross nor forbidding us. To be on the safe side, we can temporarily refrain from crossing the bridge.”
Everyone suddenly understood.
“General, what should we do now?” Captain Liu asked.
Yang Zhuo smiled confidently, “It’s easy. We’ll use a strategy within a strategy. Send the order to withdraw all our troops.”
Yan Ge was surprised and looked at Huangfu Yuchen.
Huangfu Yuchen shook his head slightly, indicating for him to continue watching.
Captain Liu hesitated, “The terrain on our side of the bridgehead is more open, and there isn’t a suitable place to ambush.”
Yang Zhuo said, “Who said we’re going to ambush? We’re really withdrawing.”
“General!” Jun Xiang, Captain Liu, and Captain Luo were all shocked at the same time.
Yang Zhuo said confidently, “Completely withdraw, immediately. After it’s completely dark, only one person will secretly return and hide in the trees.”
Ah Fei took the order and left.
Jun Xiang asked in confusion, “General, if we withdraw our forces, won’t it leave us vulnerable to a sudden attack?”
Yang Zhuo said, “Zhang Yingjie definitely won’t dare to cross the bridge, at least not for the next two days. Because he will also suspect that I’m imitating his tricks.”
Yan Ge nodded secretly. What a psychological battle!
After dark, Yang Zhuo issued the first command, “Jun Xiang, immediately lead a thousand infantry quietly to the nearest village and buy live fish, at least five hundred. You have one hour.”
“Yes!”
———
Inside the main general’s tent, Sun Yingxiong, Zhang Yingjie, and their four subordinates were all awake. The military exercise only lasted for five days, so the possibility of the enemy launching an attack on the first day was very high.
“Yingjie, do you think there are troops guarding the bridgehead on the opposite side?” Sun Yingxiong asked.
Zhang Yingjie smiled bitterly and shook his head, “Can’t be certain. I didn’t expect such a good plan to end up trapping ourselves.”
Sun Yingxiong said, “What if we send a small squad to probe?”
“Not a good idea,” Zhang Yingjie said, “If we send someone to probe, it’s equivalent to telling the enemy that we haven’t arranged too many troops here. If they have made arrangements on their side, they will immediately launch an attack from the bridge. The current situation is that neither side dares to cross the bridge.”
“Report!”
“How’s the situation?” Sun Yingxiong asked.
The messenger said, “The enemy has just extinguished all their campfires.”
“Oh?” Sun Yingxiong said, “It seems they are preparing to attack. Send the order to prepare for battle!”
“Yes!”
“Wait,” Zhang Yingjie stopped the messenger, “General Sun, I’m afraid we also need to extinguish our campfires. Otherwise, our situation will be completely exposed under the light.”
“That makes sense,” Sun Yingxiong gave the order, and then added, “Fortunately, the moonlight is still good tonight. Send the order to closely monitor the movements of several locations that are most likely to be attacked.”
“Yes.”
After a moment, a report came from outside the tent:
“First attack point report—”
“Speak.” Sun Yingxiong swung on his war robe and spoke in a deep voice.
The messenger said, “Through the Thousand-Mile Eye, we discovered a large number of soldiers approaching from the water.”
“How many of them?” Zhang Yingjie quickly asked.
The messenger replied, “At least a thousand.”
Before Sun Yingxiong could speak, another report came from a distance: “Second attack point report—”
“Speak.”
“There are a large number of soldiers approaching from the water on the opposite side. Roughly estimated to be at least a thousand.”
“Third attack point report—”
On Yang Zhuo’s side, soldiers stood ready in formation, waiting for Yang Zhuo’s command to act.
Yan Ge transmitted a message to Huangfu Yuchen’s consciousness, “As the leader of the Shadow Guard, Yang Zhou deserves a lot of credit. He came up with the idea of wrapping live fish in soldiers’ clothing and using bait to attract the fish to swim across the river, creating the illusion of a thousand soldiers crossing. In reality, there are only four or five men throwing bait ahead. The enemy on the other side must think they want to divide and conquer.”
Huangfu Yuchen nodded, “This diversionary tactic is indeed well-executed. I wonder if the enemy can respond.”
After waiting for a while, Yang Zhuo spoke in a low voice, “Advance swiftly and silently!”
The main force quickly moved in the direction of the bridge.
After crossing the bridge, they found that there were only a hundred soldiers ambushed on the other side. Jun Xiang and A Fei exchanged a smile.
Yang Zhuo continued to give orders, “Continue forward and directly attack the enemy camp!”
Meanwhile, the commotion in the water was getting closer to the defenders’ bank. Sun Yingxiong and Zhang Yingjie realized that they had been deceived this time, as they only captured four or five soaking wet enemy soldiers. The commotion they heard was just the soldiers’ clothing floating in the water! However, at this point, their force of nearly fifteen thousand had dispatched about ten thousand soldiers to eight suspected attack points! In other words, their camp was virtually empty to the enemy!
“Urgent orders! Recall half of the troops sent to the eight teams and rush to the bridge!” Sun Yingxiong shouted.
——-
“Divide the troops into two groups,” Yang Zhuo said, “Military Vice-General and Vice-General Lu, you lead your men to intercept them, while I will lead a breakthrough at the checkpoint!”
“Yes! Archers, release the arrows!” Ah Fei ordered. An arrow whistled through the air and struck one of the tents, causing it to burst into flames. Since this was just an exercise, there was no need to actually burn down all the tents. Burning one tent symbolized the destruction of the enemy camp.
Yang Zhuo led half of the soldiers and charged towards the defenders’ checkpoint.
Everything happened too quickly, and the timing was too precise. By the time the defending forces returned to the camp, Yang Zhuo had already led his troops to the checkpoint, shooting down most of the defenders and breaking through.
At the checkpoint, two groups of soldiers acted as wings, flanking the enemy forces, but they were scattered by the cavalry.
The exercise ended with the failure of the defenders.
Yang Zhuo and Sun Yingxiong consolidated their forces and returned to the defenders’ camp, where they met Huangfu Yuchen.
Huangfu Yuchen’s expression was icy.
Sun Yingxiong and Zhang Yingjie knelt down and pleaded for forgiveness, “We have failed in battle. We beg Your Majesty for punishment!”
Huangfu Yuchen remained silent for a long time. In the darkness, the atmosphere was cold and oppressive, and even the lively croaking of frogs could not dispel the heavy and suffocating pressure.
Military Exercise 2
Yang Zhuo shook his head, “That’s not possible either. We have arranged patrols along the riverbank, and if there’s any movement, there will definitely be smoke signals. Besides, Zhang Yingjie is always full of tricks; he must have other plans. Send the order to closely monitor any activity along the riverbank.”
“Yes!”
“Boom!”
Qin Sanyou’s heavy blow landed on the water, creating waves that soared three feet high. Ah Fei was struck and fell towards the bridge below, causing Jun Xiang’s expression to tense.
However, Ah Fei reached out and grabbed the railing, flipped back up and returned to the bridge with a loud roar. His Flying Shadow Kick caught Qin Sanyou off guard.
Qin Sanyou, being heavy in weight and armed with a heavy weapon, was hit with eighty percent of Ah Fei’s strength. He flipped over the railing, falling into the water with a “boom.”
Ah Fei smiled faintly.
After a moment, a person surfaced from the water. Qin Sanyou glanced at him and said, “Consider yourself the winner.”
After speaking, he submerged into the water again and resurfaced after a while, swimming towards the shore. It seemed that his weapon had fallen to the riverbed and he couldn’t find it at the moment.
The morale of Yang Zhuo’s side soared. The soldiers raised their long spears and shouted in unison. “Roar! Roar! Roar!”
Yang Zhuo asked Jun Xiang, “Is there anything unusual along the riverbank?”
“No,” Jun Xiang replied.
Yang Zhuo turned to leave, and someone rushed out from the opposite side.
“Yang Zhuo! If you have the courage, come out and die!”
“It seems I have to take the field,” Yang Zhuo vaguely understood that the other side was still using the provocation strategy, “Jun Xiang, you go. The rest of you, return to the military tent with me.”
Yan Ge remained in place, rubbing his chin and pondering something. Huangfu Yuchen didn’t ask, standing beside him.
“Yuchen, it seems to me that the other side is using a chain strategy. But I can’t figure out the details for the time being,” Yan Ge said.
Huangfu Yuchen smiled and didn’t answer, “Perhaps.”
After three rounds of competition, Yang Zhuo’s side won two rounds, gaining even greater momentum.
Ah Fei reminded, “Soldiers, it’s highly likely that the enemy intentionally let us win two rounds to try and deceive us. We must not let our guard down!”
“Yes!”
After a day of discussion, Yang Zhuo and the others finally finalized their battle plan and launched an attack after dark.
The campfires were lit before the sun set. Smoke from the opposite side also billowed into the sky.
Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen had a satisfying meal from a large pot, which tasted good.
“Report.”
“What’s the matter?” Yang Zhuo put down his chopsticks.
The messenger said, “Reporting to the General, the enemy has completely withdrawn their forces from the bridgehead position.”
“What?” Yang Zhuo was greatly puzzled, “Are you sure?”
The messenger said, “There are hardly any tall clusters of trees on the opposite side. We can clearly see from here, and indeed, the enemy has withdrawn all their forces.”
Yang Zhuo said, “They withdrew their forces before it was completely dark. It’s obvious that they wanted us to discover this. Could it be that they want to lure us across the bridge and then ambush us? Clever! This must be Zhang Yingjie’s idea. I underestimated this kid!”
Jun Xiang still couldn’t figure it out, “General, what exactly is going on?”
Yang Zhuo didn’t answer but instead asked, “Jun Xiang, do you think it’s better for us to cross the bridge or not?”
Jun Xiang said, “This… it’s difficult to decide. If we cross the bridge, we will undoubtedly suffer heavy losses. But if we don’t cross, it seems a bit of a pity. After all, it’s an opportunity. If we were to cross the river, it would be difficult and slow.”
Suddenly, Ah Fei’s eyes lit up, “I remember now. Perhaps Qin Sanyou deliberately fell into the river earlier, just to tamper with something under the bridge! And the challenges from Er Hu and Ma Biao were just to confuse our vision!”
Yang Zhuo said, “Correct. This is Yingjie’s intention, neither allowing us to cross nor forbidding us. To be on the safe side, we can temporarily refrain from crossing the bridge.”
Everyone suddenly understood.
“General, what should we do now?” Captain Liu asked.
Yang Zhuo smiled confidently, “It’s easy. We’ll use a strategy within a strategy. Send the order to withdraw all our troops.”
Yan Ge was surprised and looked at Huangfu Yuchen.
Huangfu Yuchen shook his head slightly, indicating for him to continue watching.
Captain Liu hesitated, “The terrain on our side of the bridgehead is more open, and there isn’t a suitable place to ambush.”
Yang Zhuo said, “Who said we’re going to ambush? We’re really withdrawing.”
“General!” Jun Xiang, Captain Liu, and Captain Luo were all shocked at the same time.
Yang Zhuo said confidently, “Completely withdraw, immediately. After it’s completely dark, only one person will secretly return and hide in the trees.”
Ah Fei took the order and left.
Jun Xiang asked in confusion, “General, if we withdraw our forces, won’t it leave us vulnerable to a sudden attack?”
Yang Zhuo said, “Zhang Yingjie definitely won’t dare to cross the bridge, at least not for the next two days. Because he will also suspect that I’m imitating his tricks.”
Yan Ge nodded secretly. What a psychological battle!
After dark, Yang Zhuo issued the first command, “Jun Xiang, immediately lead a thousand infantry quietly to the nearest village and buy live fish, at least five hundred. You have one hour.”
“Yes!”
———
Inside the main general’s tent, Sun Yingxiong, Zhang Yingjie, and their four subordinates were all awake. The military exercise only lasted for five days, so the possibility of the enemy launching an attack on the first day was very high.
“Yingjie, do you think there are troops guarding the bridgehead on the opposite side?” Sun Yingxiong asked.
Zhang Yingjie smiled bitterly and shook his head, “Can’t be certain. I didn’t expect such a good plan to end up trapping ourselves.”
Sun Yingxiong said, “What if we send a small squad to probe?”
“Not a good idea,” Zhang Yingjie said, “If we send someone to probe, it’s equivalent to telling the enemy that we haven’t arranged too many troops here. If they have made arrangements on their side, they will immediately launch an attack from the bridge. The current situation is that neither side dares to cross the bridge.”
“Report!”
“How’s the situation?” Sun Yingxiong asked.
The messenger said, “The enemy has just extinguished all their campfires.”
“Oh?” Sun Yingxiong said, “It seems they are preparing to attack. Send the order to prepare for battle!”
“Yes!”
“Wait,” Zhang Yingjie stopped the messenger, “General Sun, I’m afraid we also need to extinguish our campfires. Otherwise, our situation will be completely exposed under the light.”
“That makes sense,” Sun Yingxiong gave the order, and then added, “Fortunately, the moonlight is still good tonight. Send the order to closely monitor the movements of several locations that are most likely to be attacked.”
“Yes.”
After a moment, a report came from outside the tent:
“First attack point report—”
“Speak.” Sun Yingxiong swung on his war robe and spoke in a deep voice.
The messenger said, “Through the Thousand-Mile Eye, we discovered a large number of soldiers approaching from the water.”
“How many of them?” Zhang Yingjie quickly asked.
The messenger replied, “At least a thousand.”
Before Sun Yingxiong could speak, another report came from a distance: “Second attack point report—”
“Speak.”
“There are a large number of soldiers approaching from the water on the opposite side. Roughly estimated to be at least a thousand.”
“Third attack point report—”
On Yang Zhuo’s side, soldiers stood ready in formation, waiting for Yang Zhuo’s command to act.
Yan Ge transmitted a message to Huangfu Yuchen’s consciousness, “As the leader of the Shadow Guard, Yang Zhou deserves a lot of credit. He came up with the idea of wrapping live fish in soldiers’ clothing and using bait to attract the fish to swim across the river, creating the illusion of a thousand soldiers crossing. In reality, there are only four or five men throwing bait ahead. The enemy on the other side must think they want to divide and conquer.”
Huangfu Yuchen nodded, “This diversionary tactic is indeed well-executed. I wonder if the enemy can respond.”
After waiting for a while, Yang Zhuo spoke in a low voice, “Advance swiftly and silently!”
The main force quickly moved in the direction of the bridge.
After crossing the bridge, they found that there were only a hundred soldiers ambushed on the other side. Jun Xiang and A Fei exchanged a smile.
Yang Zhuo continued to give orders, “Continue forward and directly attack the enemy camp!”
Meanwhile, the commotion in the water was getting closer to the defenders’ bank. Sun Yingxiong and Zhang Yingjie realized that they had been deceived this time, as they only captured four or five soaking wet enemy soldiers. The commotion they heard was just the soldiers’ clothing floating in the water! However, at this point, their force of nearly fifteen thousand had dispatched about ten thousand soldiers to eight suspected attack points! In other words, their camp was virtually empty to the enemy!
“Urgent orders! Recall half of the troops sent to the eight teams and rush to the bridge!” Sun Yingxiong shouted.
——-
“Divide the troops into two groups,” Yang Zhuo said, “Military Vice-General and Vice-General Lu, you lead your men to intercept them, while I will lead a breakthrough at the checkpoint!”
“Yes! Archers, release the arrows!” Ah Fei ordered. An arrow whistled through the air and struck one of the tents, causing it to burst into flames. Since this was just an exercise, there was no need to actually burn down all the tents. Burning one tent symbolized the destruction of the enemy camp.
Yang Zhuo led half of the soldiers and charged towards the defenders’ checkpoint.
Everything happened too quickly, and the timing was too precise. By the time the defending forces returned to the camp, Yang Zhuo had already led his troops to the checkpoint, shooting down most of the defenders and breaking through.
At the checkpoint, two groups of soldiers acted as wings, flanking the enemy forces, but they were scattered by the cavalry.
The exercise ended with the failure of the defenders.
Yang Zhuo and Sun Yingxiong consolidated their forces and returned to the defenders’ camp, where they met Huangfu Yuchen.
Huangfu Yuchen’s expression was icy.
Sun Yingxiong and Zhang Yingjie knelt down and pleaded for forgiveness, “We have failed in battle. We beg Your Majesty for punishment!”
Huangfu Yuchen remained silent for a long time. In the darkness, the atmosphere was cold and oppressive, and even the lively croaking of frogs could not dispel the heavy and suffocating pressure.
