SFS Chapter 585 Yu Ziling's Plot to Attack the Heart
Chapter 585 Yu Ziling's Plot to Attack the Heart
Hearing this, everyone burst into laughter.
Because everyone thinks this is bragging and it is impossible.
Nie Bei shook his head and said,
"It's not very realistic. Yulei Pass is a large and majestic pass, several times larger than Fengling Pass. It can accommodate 500,000 people.
The Qin army is very powerful and united. It is unlikely to destroy their morale by entering the pass and breaking the city.
The final result is that both sides suffer losses.
So I think that although General Guan was able to capture Yulei Pass and drive the enemy out, his own losses were likely not small."
Yu Ziling frowned and said,
"What if we stand on either side of the mountain and set fire to the pass below? Can we destroy the enemy?"
Yu Huatian shook his head and said,
"That's not very realistic. Yulei Pass is seven or eight miles wide from east to west and twenty miles long from north to south. Even if we stand on the mountain and pour kerosene and throw torches, it won't burn much. The Qin people are not fools and will not let the fire spread."
Everyone was discussing this, and suddenly, the Southern King Ma Ling said,
"What if we use water? I remember that some time ago, Guan Shouchang submitted a memorial saying that the heavy rain made it difficult to attack. There seems to be a Han River over there? If it continues to rain, the river will burst its banks and flood Yulei Pass without any difficulty."
Shen Changgong smiled and said,
"Brother Nan Wang has hit the nail on the head. That's right, Guan Shouchang flooded Yulei Pass with water, and it was a brilliantly calculated move. In one night, he wiped out 500,000 Qin troops without causing any casualties to our army."
When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.
Shen Changgong gave the memorial to Gongsun Wan'er and asked her to read it to everyone.
After hearing this, everyone was amazed.
Yuhuatian sighed,
"After this battle, General Guan will be ranked among the world's famous generals, and one of the best.
In comparison, the battles Yu had fought before were simply not worth mentioning. I am unworthy of the title of famous general."
Nie Bei also nodded and said,
"To defeat the many with the few, to defeat the strong with the weak, to annihilate 500,000 enemy troops in one night, the only thing in the world that can make you live longer is your life."
Shen Changgong nodded and said,
"Lao Guan fought brilliantly in this battle, and he must be rewarded handsomely. You all must not slack off.
Lao Guan is now advancing towards Xianyang, but Xianyang is located in the middle of the Guanzhong Plain, not far from Sichuan State. The Sichuan Army may be able to arrive before him. By then, he will have more than 300,000 people, and it will be difficult to fight.
On our side, we must cross the Luo River as soon as possible, capture Luoyang, destroy the State of Wei, and then fight a decisive battle with the Southern Coalition Forces. Time waits for no one.
Let's discuss how to conquer Zhengxiang County."
Zhang Han slammed the table and said,
"Isn't Zhengxiang County difficult to defeat? There are only 2,000 county soldiers and 200,000 able-bodied men in total. We can destroy them in a snap.
Those able-bodied men don't even have weapons or armor. We could just blast the city gates open, charge in, and kill them all."
Shen Changgong shook his head and said,
"That's not good. We have already wiped out 500,000 Wei troops in the north, causing heavy casualties on Wei territory. But they are the enemy, so it doesn't matter how we kill them. No one else can say anything.
But this time the enemy was the civilians. They had no armor, no weapons, and were just temporarily pulled over to defend the city as cannon fodder.
Moreover, they were all natives of Zhengxiang County. If they were all killed, there would be no young and strong men left in the entire Zhengxiang County, and the county would be ruined.
The most important thing is that our Yan army will be branded as a massacrer of the people, and the people will hate us to the core. For the next hundred years, this hatred will not be erased, and they will continue to rebel, which will cause endless troubles.
Even if we seek out scholars to defend us, it would be difficult to find a reason. After all, killing civilians is a fact, and if we are not careful, we might even be branded as a massacrer."
Hearing this, Zhang Han sighed heavily.
"They killed 500,000 elite Wei troops, and now they still care about the civilians. It makes me angry just thinking about it."
"Let's all work together to figure out how to take down Zhengxiang County without harming the people."
Hearing this, everyone began to ponder.
Suddenly, Yu Ziling had a flash of inspiration and said,
"I remember yesterday's intelligence report saying that Wang Kaizhi, the governor of Zhengxiang County, refused to distribute food when he was recruiting young men, and asked them to bring their own food, right?
Not only did they bring food, but they also collected 50% of the taxes, saying that they would use it to fight us.
The common people have to pay 50% tax, rent to the landlords, and provide food to their relatives who are going to war. They shouldn't have much food left, right?
The relatives of these able-bodied men are all in the county, so perhaps we can start with their relatives."
Hearing this, Nie Bei frowned and said,
"General Yu's intention is to capture all the civilians, the elderly, the weak, the women, and the children, and use them as hostages to force the able-bodied men of Zhengxiang County to surrender?"
Yu Ziling immediately shook her head and said,
"No, that would only further arouse the rebelliousness and hatred of the local people. Don't forget that our goal is to appease the local people. If we want to make them hate us, why not just fight them directly?
What I mean is to gather all the people together and bring them to our camp outside the county city.
They didn't have much food at home, so we gave them food.
Didn't we seize a lot of food at Fengling Pass earlier? We can take some of that food and give it to the people.
The Wei army robbed their food, but our Yan army gave them food. It is clear who is good and who is bad.
Then we asked the people to write letters to their relatives, asking them to surrender to the Yan army, and our Yan army promised not to kill any surrenderer. Our Yan army's reputation of not killing prisoners has been very useful over the years.
When those able-bodied men surrender, we will reunite them with their families, give them some food, and send them home together."
Having said that, Yu Ziling paused, drank a sip of water, and continued,
“And don’t forget, Zhengxiang County is a major grain-producing region. The county governor collected 50% of the tax. There’s plenty of grain in the city now, so we’re not losing money.
There must be more food in Luoyang City, we can go and rob them."
Everyone nodded when they heard this, and they all thought it was feasible.
Only the Southern King Ma Ling frowned and said,
"But if that's the case, won't we have to wait a few more days?"
Yu Ziling immediately shook her head and said,
"Our main force will continue its normal march, and we will send cavalry to distant areas and infantry to nearby areas to drive the civilians to the county town. This will only take an extra day or two at most.
Even if we capture the county town, kill all the enemy troops, and clean up the battlefield normally, it will take two days, right?
It will only take three or four days at most for us to persuade them to surrender.
It will only take three or four extra days in total, but it can solve a big problem in the future, so why not do it?
The Chu army in the south isn't moving that fast, we're much faster than them."