Episode 345. Losing the mark (2)
“Since they are hiding in small numbers, they are not noticed by the skirmishers. If they had set the fire all at once as we were passing by, it would have done quite a bit of damage.”
“Although the advance was delayed a bit, the morale of the soldiers increased as the enemy traps were destroyed.”
“Curm! War is not won by just rushing like a wild boar that has been prepaid.”
“It is.”
The generals smiled bitterly when they understood who the boar that had been prepaid by Hansoo was referring to.
Prepaid wild boar was a word that Hansu often used when he rained on horseback.
“I can march now.”
Hansoo moved his troops to cross the mountain, although smoke rose here and there in the forest and the flames had not yet been extinguished.
The soldiers also started climbing the mountain without worrying much because they thought that the 3,000 soldiers who had been put in first could catch enough fire.
Geogaksan Mountain is not a high mountain, and it is not about going over the top, but about 7 ridges, so it took about an hour for the commanders, including Hansu, to cross the mountain.
When the leader who started first crossed the mountain completely and reached the end of the forest, Hansoo patted his beard that had grown to his navel and slightly arrogant.
In the plain area in front of the forest, the fireman’s soldiers who had fled from the forest were running away on horses they had prepared.
The foot soldiers who had searched through the woods were on their way back after giving up chasing the fleeing enemies.
“To say they were preparing their horses to escape, they must have been thoroughly prepared.”
“No matter how thorough our preparations are, we cannot avoid the wisdom of the commander-in-chief. Running away is like a chicken missing its tail.”
“Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh even his wise eyes…..”
Hearing…..
At that moment, Hansoo’s words could not make sense to the end because of the heat he felt all of a sudden.
Not only Hansoo, but the heads of the longevity and the bookkeepers turned backwards like tops.
fire!
Kigaaak …..
I saw a pillar of fire soaring all over the mountain.
Arrows flew from all directions toward the long line of Xianyang troops, and the smell of oil along with the smoke made my nose tingle.
“How did this happen?”
Obviously, 3,000 troops were released to search the mountain like teeth and drive out the hiding enemy soldiers, but where did so many enemies appear again, pouring oil and setting fire to the whole mountain?
“Super General. We have to get out of the forest first.”
“How the hell did this happen?”
Hansoo asked his subordinates with a confused face, but there was no one who could give a cool answer.
* * *
The fireman congratulated Bangtong while looking at the distant burning Mount Geogak.
“A small number of soldiers are deliberately made to run away, and after reassuring them, they cause the same fire. Really… It’s a ploy that makes the victim feel like a thousand dollars inside.”
The painter was genuinely impressed.
This is not simply a triumph of stratagem. Hansoo would receive quite a bit of psychological damage from this, and there would be a considerable blow to his cool-headed judgment afterwards.
“I was lucky. Since Hansu is famous for his stratagems in Xiliang, I thought he would have a higher nose than the others. I thought it would be nice to use the personality that likes to step out, but it seems to have worked well.”
“It was too good a ploy to be considered luck. By the way, I don’t know about infantry at that level, but cavalry must have a lot of trouble?”
“It is animal instinct to hate fire, so at least 10,000 must have escaped.”
The reason why the cavalry of the Xiliang Army is evaluated as stronger than that of other regions is that the horses there are superior to other horses in the Central Plains, and the cavalrymen have been friendly with horses since childhood.
That fire would have broken the morale of those troopers enough.
“Now you will become a wild boar who has already paid for the Korean capital. Are you ready to retreat?”
“Yes, if you give an order right away, you can empty your last name.”
“Luoyang’s contact?”
“In order to lure your enemy, 50,000 soldiers are moving toward Heo-do, and 100,000 soldiers led by Eulji Danju are secretly moving to Hana-gun.”
“If it’s 100,000, no matter how secretly you move, you’ll get caught… I’m worried.”
“Danju Eulji must have foreseen that the governor would be so worried, and he told me to tell him that Ma-deung would not turn toward Hana-gun even if he was found out.”
“Are you going to keep Ma Deng’s line of sight even with the movement of 100,000 troops? ha ha ha! I really can’t beat Eulji Danju’s assurance. How can I fight this fight without trusting him?”
“Yes, you are also a standing bookseller. The stratagem to deceive the opponent in reverse is the one who stands and follows the schemer…”
“The opponent in reverse…”
The fireman smiled gently.
“Right. We can use a tactic of disguising those fleeing to Heo-do as a large army and turning those fleeing to Ha-nae-gun to look like remnants.”
“Maybe it was.”
Pain in the stomach was also the same.
It is actually not as easy as you think to deceive your opponent and move as intended. If the enemies are not affected by the deception, they may take more damage in reverse.
However, both the strategy of broadcasting and the strategy of Seoseo were only mysterious things that the enemy could only know after being attacked.
“Oh…. I’m really lucky to have met you guys.”
“It is fortunate that we met the Duke of Zhou.”
The fireman listened to Bangtong’s words and watched the 5,000 horsemen returning to the castle.
They were the ones who turned Geogak Mountain into a sea of fire.
* * *
Wow.
A grinding sound came from Hansoo’s mouth as he looked at the scorched soldiers and horses.
Compared to other armies, the Xiliang army has a higher cavalry ratio and has excellent capabilities.
Of the 200,000 troops, 70,000 were cavalry, and 20,000 were injured or killed as they lost their horses and fell off horses.
Even those who were hit by fire and arrows were estimated, and in an instant, close to 25,000 troops were killed or wounded.
“Tell everyone to prepare for an all-out attack tonight.”
At Hansoo’s command, Yangchu opened his mouth with a slightly perplexed expression.
“Sir General. The damage inflicted by the enemy’s fire has not yet been recovered. Wouldn’t it be better to launch an all-out attack tomorrow morning?”
“Right now, the fireman must be satisfied with the fact that my plan worked and it paid off. As General Yang thinks, no matter how fast he thinks, he won’t be able to launch an all-out attack until tomorrow. Strategy is all about attacking when the enemy is not expecting it.”
“But it’s a strong castle, so if we attack it, it will react immediately.”
“Why am I attacking at night? Will you only aim when the enemy is off guard? At night we can’t see our enemies, but they can’t see us either. If we put water-soaked mats on top of our shields, even if the enemy shoots flaming arrows, we won’t be able to figure out how many soldiers there are.”
“If you beat the drum and shout, the enemies will be surprised and pour arrows at you.”
“yes. After attacking like that, when the enemy’s arrows run out, then you attack all-out. If we do well, we will be able to enter before dawn.”
“As expected, Commander-in-Chief’s plan is… mysterious.”
Yangchu paused for a while before continuing.
I was going to say that I was the best as usual, but it wasn’t long before I was tricked by the opponent.
“Curm! Anyway, we will attack when the sun goes down, so prepare in advance.”
“All right.”
* * *
The fireman boldly emptied the capital of Hadong-gun when the soldiers who had succeeded in the firework of Geogaksan Mountain returned.
Of course, it wasn’t completely empty, but there were about 10,000 archers left to buy time by shooting arrows when the enemy attacked.
After consuming all the arrows and oil they have at once, they will see the opportunity and flee towards Luoyang on horseback.
Huabu’s strategy was to have Han Su chase the 10,000 soldiers to Luoyang and see the traces of Ma Deng, who had already emptied Luoyang and advanced to Xu.
It was a perfect plan in its own way, and even if the plan failed, I wasn’t worried because I had another plan ready.
The painter rode his horse and turned his head to see the wagons carrying several coffins.
Those coffins contained the bodies of his eldest brother Hwa-bok, Liu Bi, several escorts, and those who barely escaped on the day of the inauguration ceremony, but who died despite receiving treatment in the end.
‘Hyung, be patient. When this is over, I’ll hold your brother’s funeral as grandly as possible!’
I wanted to run to Yeju right away and put everything aside and hold my brother’s funeral, but circumstances prevented me from doing so.
“If I found out that my brother was dead, my mother might collapse. Whoa~ My sister-in-law and my nieces and nephews must also feel like the world is collapsing…”
Families who are so heartbroken that they can’t even say it.
Although the generals and soldiers in the military are all Hwabu people, they cannot be stopped if they say that they raise troops and go to defeat Jojo because they have the position of an older brother.
‘I’ll have to send someone to Boon-hyung to appease him for a moment after he captures Hana-gun.’
I was going to fight Jojo anyway, but at that time, I had to do it when I thought it was the best time after carefully calculating and considering various circumstances. Otherwise, it could be reversed.
“Come to think of it, General Yeopo also went to the underworld and gave General Seongryeom and 30,000 soldiers as gifts, and my brother also went to the underworld and gave Hannaegun and Donggun as gifts.”
The painter knows that his older brother, who is lying in the coffin, cannot hear, but he is talking as if he were talking to a living person.
Hana-gun and Dong-gun were territories ruled by Hwabok for a long time.
The county lords and county guards of the territory heard the news that Hwa-bok died due to Hahu-yeon’s betrayal and rebelled all at once. Only these four prefectures sided with Cao Cao, and the other 14 prefectures all sided with Hwabu.
In addition, the lords of all the counties except for the two prefectures of Suchang-hyeon and Suchang-hyeon turned to the side of Hwabu.
If Cao Cao’s large army had been stationed, it would not have been easy to turn back no matter how much the lords admired Hwa-bok, but now that Cao Cao had left only a minimum of defensive troops, it was possible for the lords to rebel in an instant.
Most of the defending troops left in the two armies were dispatched from Hyeon anyway, so when the Hyeonryeong turned to Hwabok’s side, the Hyeonwi took out their soldiers and returned to the Hyeon.
Because of this, Cao Cao’s soldiers who remained in the two armies collapsed without ever having a chance to fight.
“Looking at the fact that so many prefectures were not afraid of Jojo and rebelled against him, it seems that my brother really governed Hana-gun and Dong-gun well.”
“I’m calling the principal.”
At that time, the fireman, who was half-complaining, was approached at a rapid pace.
“What’s going on?”
“As expected by the main force, there was an attack by the Punghik army all night long.”
The painter gave up his thoughts at Bangtong’s words and turned his head to look behind him.
Since they had already come a considerable distance, the city was nowhere to be seen.
“How much damage did you say your allies did?”
“Approximately 3,000 troops seem to have been hit.”
“What do you mean? I told you to use only your bow and oil as much as possible and focus on escaping…” “I
abandoned the castle and fled to Luoyang, but the enemies noticed and chased me, and the troops in the rear suffered.”
“ah!”
The painter felt sorry for the moment, but all he could do was sigh.
There could be no operation without sacrifice. It was an inevitable sacrifice, but a whopping 3,000 soldiers were killed or captured.
“Right. So, are Han Sui’s soldiers heading toward Luoyang right now?”
“yes. We are marching to Luoyang, leaving some soldiers for Suseong in the castle.”
Hwabu stood for a while, calculated the time to move his troops to empty Luoyang, and then nodded.
“By the time we enter Henaegun’s Huiseong, Luoyang’s soldiers will be leaving.”
“Considering the time our emissary will arrive, it will.”
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