Vol 20 Chapter 5 (1/2)
Book 20 Chapter 5 – Luring The Enemy In
The next day Teng Yi went back, leaving Jing Jun to stand guard at the base to arrange matters for the ‘reinforcement troops’
Xiang Shaolong patrolled the ca the eneical and queried, “Have they always been like this?”
Cheng Jun replied respectfully, “They only stared becoo, before that they were constantly sending troops to disrupt us day and night, but it’s usually a small scale attack of 20,000 to 30,000 men”
Xiang Shaolong felt that soht, “If the ene detour upstreaain to surround us by the back?”
Cheng Jun replied, “General Meng has long thought of this point and deliberately placed fire beacons along the river Once the enehted immediately Besides, the River De is wide and its water rapid with tall cliffs on both sides of the bank There’re no bridges as well so even if our enemy have such intentions, I’m afraid it’ll be extremely difficult to accomplish”
Xiang Shaolong is still worried and instructed Zhou Liang as standing on his other side, “Send Eagle King to the opposite bank to have a look, it’ll be better if he can fly a little further”
Zhou Liang set off gladly to follow up on his order
Ever since he got Eagle King, Zhou Liang seeed into another person
Cheng Jun saw that Xiang Shaolong did not trust his assessment and his expression became a little unnatural
On seeing that, Xiang Shaolong said with a s, please do not take this to heart In war, anything can be changed and we’re never far fros victory’ For Pang Nuan to enjoy such reputation, he must be a capable person That’s why I have to be on the alert against any surprise tactics heNuan es with thick ropes upstrea Once they have crossed the difficult river, they’ll keep the floating bridges andbridges and let their army cross the river swiftly Ha, no wonder they had to wait for our reinforcements to arrive before they attack!”
Cheng Jun was speechless on hearing this and secretly commented to himself that ‘you’re the Great General, of course you can say whatever you like’
Xiang Shaolong pointed at a dense forest on the right near the hills and continued, “If I’ Nuan, I’ll order men to hide the chariots and heavy e them with branches and leaves so when the time comes for thes will be shortened”
Cheng Jun replied, “I’ll take note of that”
Xiang Shaolong guffawed, “Is General Cheng thinking of setting fire to the whole thing?”
Cheng Jun was taken aback, “That dense forest is close to the eneet near enough to set fire?”
Xiang Shaolong pointed at the tall hills on the left and said, “Climb up that hill and you can thron the torches, but it is most important to time the use of this tactic correctly If it’s used when the enereatest effect”
Cheng Jun was astounded and replied, “I understand now”
The both of them discussed the various ways they can block the ene to fend off the attack for a few days before pretending to be defeated and retreat, otherwise no one would believe in their act
Right at this ti and said excitedly, “Great General has indeed predicted correctly Fro, we can know that our enemy have at least 10,000 men who have snuck up about 15ready to cross the river for a sneak attack”
Cheng Jun immediately broke out in sweat and said with shahten defenses around that area”
Xiang Shaolong exclai theh their secret plan?”
He reached out his hand, intending to touch Eagle King but on seeing it turn around with its beak open and ready to attack, Xiang Shaolong hurriedly retracted his hand in fright
Zhou Liang said apologetically, “I deliberately trained it not to get close to anyone else, I seek Great General’s forgiveness and understanding”
Cheng Jun wasthe river and asked with utmost adet behind us and cut off our paths, followed by a frontal assault, we’ll be in dire situation”
Xiang Shaolong did not reply hi instead, “Brother Zhou will be in charge of taking note of our ene the day but once it’s dark, you have to be extra vigilant”
Zhou Liang asked excitedly, “So should I go back to the tent with Eagle King now and nap?”
Xiang Shaolong chortled, “Exactly!”
After Zhou Liang left, Xiang Shaolong told Cheng Jun, “General Cheng, you don’t have to worry Just leave it to me to burn the woods and deal with the eneood care of our base ca the day so that they will have the energy to deal with our eneht”
Drum beats can be heard from the enemy side
A few hundred war chariots rushed out, followed by thousands of foot soldiers approached them steadily
Xiang Shaolong sighed, “The enemy has found out thattheir relentless attacks”
He turned towards Cheng Jun and added, “Now do you understand why I said they can only take turns to rest”
Cheng Jun replied with total adhtened”
Xiang Shaolong was secretly finding it co because he has 2000 e He just have to randomly choose one or two beautiful tricks from famous ancient wars and he’ll be able to make use of them
He immediately snuck out of ca the bank upstream
Just like what Cheng Jun has said, there were tall fire beacons every 10 h and at the platform on top there was a wooden beam about 30 feet tall with a horizontal board which can be moved up and down the beam so that the soldiers can clie of every board there was a large cage stuffed with hay If they see traces of the ene the night and with the appropriate signal, inform them of the enemy’s numbers and distance
There’s also a huge dru distance communication
But in Xiang Shaolong’s perspective as a Special Task Forceuse of floating devices, it’s not inal ht of this, he shuddered, already knohat the ene for
They are waiting for a dark and ht sky
Only under such a situation will they be able to carry out the sudden sneak attack bytheir troops across the river
Xiang Shaolong ca had pointed out, about 20 miles upstream and realized that the water is less rapid around this area and there are no dangerous cliffs on either side of the bank, an ideal place to build floating bridges to cross the river
And it just so happens that there is a beacon there as well Fro these beacons, he did put a lot of effort into it
By now he knohat he should do and went back to camp
The war cries of the ene in the frontlines but the soldiers at the caiven perly i battle drums and cries
Xiang Shaolong went around on inspection and gave encouragement to the troops He felt like he’s the Minister of Defence who is visiting the hardworking soldiers at the frontline as everyone cheered when he approached and morale was boosted
In the wars of ancient civilization, the morale of an army can directly influence the success or failure of a battle
When he returned to his co fresh rabbitAs it turned out, he was unable to fall asleep
Xiang Shaolong s as the sky remains clear, the enemy will find it difficult to cross the river So don’t be too tensed”
Zhou Liang heaved a sigh of relief, “That’s much better”
Xiang Shaolong fell into a deep sleep once he returned to his tent and drea Bao’er He also drea time and when he woke up he was hit with a painful wave of yearning
That night, their enee rocks with their siege machines and destroyed the Qin’s first line of wooden barriers and filled up the ditches The Qin army was forced to retreat to their second line of defense about half a e to drive the enemy ahen they increased their numbers There were casualties on both sides but of course the eneer losses as they are the attackers
The next evening, Jing Jun leading an elite team of 2,000 cavalry arrived in camp and reported that the wounded and sick soldiers ithdrawn are already on their way towards Zuicheng, and the grand arht
Xiang Shaolong told Jing Jun about the ene Jun co at the sky it’ll definitely rain within these two nights You can leave this ht’s work in order to build a floating bridge large enough to cross the river”
Cheng Jun as standing by the side asked, “What does General Jing intend to do?”