Chapter 175 Battle of Liyang - Part 5 (1/2)
Chapter 175 – Battle of Liyang - Part 5
Dong Zhuo clicked his tongue. 'This old fox was sharp. He already knew my plans already?'
Li Ru, who was observing the men by the side, stepped into the conversation.
”We have been preparing an alternative way to transport our supplies. Since we have occupied Liyang Port on our way here, we could use the Yellow River water channel for our logistic route. Ships travel faster than carriages, so it will be more efficient if we use the water route instead.”
Huangfu Song glanced at both of them in suspicion. He suspected that Dong Zhuo was plotting something sinister behind their back because he never consulted this plan with them. Furthermore, he did not trust this ugly fat man as they had not settled the issues during Dong Zhuo's sudden invasion of the Capital just yet.
”Since you have been preparing the ships, I have another idea. How about we use our Prime Minister's ships to transport our troops along the river, so we can bypass the forest fire?” Huangfu Song suggested.
”Oh! That's right! Sir Prime Minister, can we borrow your boats? Since the forest is on fire, we can't procure woods at the moment. We will have to ask you for this favor!” Zhu Jun played along. He also suspected that Dong Zhuo was up to something.
”Of course, we will gladly help you.” Li Ru bowed and spoke in the place of Dong Zhuo. He winked to his boss, so this fat warlord could play along with him as well.
Dong Zhuo caught the sign. Although he did not like it, he followed through with Li Ru's gesture.
”Fine! Have it your way!”
...
After the meeting, Dong Zhuo left the tent with an ugly expression. It was not a pleasant feeling being extorted by the two generals. The moment he reached his private resting tent, he looked back at Li Ru, who was following after him, with a fierce glare.
”EXPLAIN!” Roared Dong Zhuo.
”My lord, I haven't told you yet. Lord Hua Xiong has returned and informed me about the changes. He has found the main force.”
Li Ru put a map on the table and pointed at the mountain, northwest of Liyang.
”They are currently disguising themselves as Bao Xin's light cavalry unit, and they are heading toward Henei City as I have predicted. Their target is to isolate both imperial troops of Liu Ping and our three armies.”
Dong Zhuo did not speak and allowed Li Ru to continue explaining.
”Once Henei City falls, both Huangfu Song and his men will lose their logistic supply line. This is where we will work with Zhang Tong and his men.”
”At first, I wanted us to withdraw by crossing the river through our boats. But since our plan is exposed, we can use the plan B. We will allow Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to transport their men using our boats. However, we will not be going with them!”
”Instead, we will reveal our intel about Zhang Tong's movement after the majority of their men have been transported to the other side. Then, we will use the intelligence to give us the excuse to retreat back to Henei!”
The fat tyrant squinted his eyes and frowned. It sounded good, but one factor was not right.
”We retreat to Henei. Then, won't we run into Zhang Tong's main force at Henei?”
Li Ru nodded. ”Yes, we will. My lord, you don't have to worry about this. We will not fight with Zhang Tong at Henei. As the matter of fact, they will be the one that avoids fighting with us! They will let us bypass the city territory in peace.”
”How do you know?”
”They only have 10,000 men, my lord. Will a sane commander pick a fight with an army of 100,000 men with 10,000 troops?”
…
…
October 5th, 11 AM.
The scout team of Liyang stopped their horses in front of the forest fire. They were two kilometers away from the great firewall, but the horses refused to proceed further.
”It's alright. We're moving south toward the Yellow River. Move out!”
Tong ordered the five thousand horsemen behind him. This time, Tong took all of his cavalries along since this was a daytime sortie.
Two hours later, Tong and his men arrived at the river bank, southwestern of Liyang City. The iconic grand Yellow River was before Tong's eyes for the first time in his two lives.
The size of this river was massive. Had it not for the drought and famine this year, the water level would have been higher and the width of the river nearby Liyang would have been over a kilometer!
However, the current water level was low to the point that the width of the river was only 500 meters, but it was still a significant size.
The soldiers looked at Tong and waited for his order. They were confused about what they were doing over here instead of scouting the enemies.
Tong checked the wind and the current forest fire again. They were still heading southwest, which this place was safe from the fire.
”Start constructing ballistae and catapults here! I want them to aim at the river.”
”Sir?” The soldiers still confused. Constructing anything on this plain was like suicide to them as this zone had a high risk of flash flood.
”The Imperial Army will be moving through here with their ships. We will ambush their troops here!”
The soldiers looked at Tong in awe and doubt. Tong rarely deployed scout teams to gather information. They were wondering how he got this intelligence.
Contrary to their suspicion, they complied with the order and started cutting woods and gathering materials from nearby areas.
Tong had this information from his radar map again. Inside his enemy camp, there was an activity at the south of the camp near the Yellow River. With the current forest fire obstructed their path toward Liyang City, they were likely to use the water path to avoid the firewall.
Once he knew their next plan, he made his move and led his fast unit to secure this location first.
In addition to the order of making the weaponry, Tong sent a messenger back to Liyang City. He wanted all of his infantries to station in this area temporary as there would be combat once Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun.
Not all these ballista arrows and catapult stones could sink all of their ships. There would be survivors from the barrages and managed to land.