Volume 5, Chapter 24: War Like a Game of Weiqi (1/2)

Volume 5, Chapter 24: War Like a Game of Weiqi

<blockquote class="Quote">

The two armies confronted each other without victory or defeat Advancing for a long distance, Yong General Jing Chi violently attacked the Northern Han aruard toChi was unable to attain victory

While everyone was engrossed on the battle, the Princess of Jiaping led the Daizhou army to attack the rear of the Prince of Qi’s army The Daizhou army was valiant and formidable, and the Prince of Qi was not their match Thereupon, the Prince did his utmost to break the encircleuard as the entire ar Records Volume Three</blockquote>

Thirty e between Qinyuan and Anze Atop asoldiers were alert and cohest point in the stronghold sat an azure-robed scholar and a scholarly general in an azure battle gown

A black stone lightly fell onto the board next to the white stones, co the white azed in the direction of the anxious-looking army supervisor When it came to weiqi, this army supervisor a daren would reveal even a hint of childishness However, Xuan Song’s ame

While the Prince of Qi’s spearhead was pointed directly at Qinyuan, the arhness to leave all of the infantry behind to repair the road and build fortifications Over the e between Jishi+ to Anze and Qinyuan, they had arranged multiple defensive tiers If asked why he wanted to waste soZhe si victory, one must first consider defeat”

Everyone felt that the ar the defeat days earlier and since the Prince of Qi had already agreed, no one spoke up in opposition Initially, Xuan Song was the most baffled by the situation There had always been a definite need for capable generals when facing Long Tingfei However, Jiang Zhe had kept Xuan Song by his side A few days earlier, Jiang Zhe had Xuan Song begin to arrange the defenses Over these days, with the fortifications roughly co to play It was just that Xuan Song could not be as relaxed as Jiang Zhe However, Xuan Song’s nature was one of reservation and knew that no matter how anxious he became, it was i As a result, Xuan Song ultia at the complete defeat on the board, I reckoned whether I could have Xiaoshunzi helphis voice intoit over, it was quite easy to be exposed with the clear differences between our playing styles and I ultialloped over kicking up dust The rider was a young o I had him keep an eye on the allop back right now, presu to what I had foreseen

S, I cast aside the stones, as Chiji dis ht aChi has already hness, the Prince of Qi If the battle continues in a brutal fashi+on, our army could still win a Pyrrhic victory However, as expected, we discovered signs of the presence of the Daizhou ar at the frowning and conte, I asked, “Does General Xuan knohat is the strongest unit of cavalry in the world?”

Xuan Song smiled wryly and answered, “That is hard to say There isn’t much difference between the elite cavalry units of our Great Yong and Northern Han As for Southern Chu and the Kingdom of Shu, there is no need to speak of them Other than the barbarian tribes in the north, they are the most formidable cavalry units”

To Xiaoshunzi, I said, “Take the ga forward, Xiaoshunzi collected the board, handing it over to Chiji to take away Afterwards, Xiaoshunzi brought over the ently spread theat a clear marker on the s to the Daizhou ares, there are feho can match them Over these years, the barbarians have suffered only because the Daizhou arly formidable However, jealousy is the tribute that enius² Do you knohy the Daizhou army has been able to re responded, “The Northern Han King is an in-law of Daizhou’s Lin fahts, ould the Northern Han King harh this is a reason, the most important cause is the enormous flaw in the Daizhou army This flaw makes it impossible for the Lin family to use the Daizhou army as a foundation for their own attees of Eastern Jin or the founding of Northern Han, they could only tacitly accept the Lin fai said, “I’d like to hear the details”

S, I explained, “In reality, General Xuan may not necessarily not know about this only because you don’t know all of the details Daizhou’s troops although formidable are quite insular and xenophobic The Daizhou ar bloodline and fealty As a result, it is ih position in the Daizhou army if one isn’t from Daizhou In addition, the Daizhou ar its hoardless of barbarian raids or Northern Han attacks, the Daizhou army would resist to the death However, if one wants the Daizhou army to leave its homeland to attack, the majority of its troops will politely decline As a result, as long as Daizhou isn’t invaded, then one can be on friendly ter eventually did his utmost to form friendly relations with the Lin family As for his promise to never transfer the Daizhou army, this was because the Daizhou arh Northern Han possesses Daizhou, it has been intrinsic that no one considers the Daizhou arth, because Daizhou never leaves its hohtened, because he could understand the reason behind Jiang Zhe’s speech

Heaving a sigh, I continued, “Speaking of this, I have no choice but ads Ever since Daizhou yielded, they not only scrupulously abided by the promise and never transferred the Daizhou ar in their power to bind Daizhou In the several instances Daizhou suffered disasters, the Kings used the national treasury to give relief aid In addition, the yearly reward silk and gold bestowed on the Daizhou aro, at the time the Central Plains descended into chaos and there were many warlords, there were several invasions of Northern Han, even going so far as to arrive before the walls of Jinyang However, the Northern Han King never mobilized the Daizhou ar as Jinyang was held, the invaders could only retreat as they lacked any backup That’s hen Northern Han is on the verge of destruction, with goodwill accumulated, the relationshi+p between Daizhou and the Northern Han Royal Court is at its most intimate That was how the Daizhou army was persuaded to send troops to help the Northern Han ar this, Xuan Song’s coh the Daizhou army is formidable, they only represent the force of one province and are finite Theyat Yanmen Pass on the , because the ti when the barbarian tribes will corievously fro will definitely be even , the initial strikes will be extremely fierce As a result, of the twenty-five thousand Daizhou troops, at most fifteen thousand will come south As for the commander-in-chief, the only one who can lead the She is both a Northern Han Princess, the next commander of the Daizhou army in the hearts of those soldiers, and also the fiancée of the Northern Han cofei Only she is capable of collaborating with Long Tingfei to wipe out our aro foreseen that the Daizhou army would definitely join the war If they had not coe jumped to his feet and declared, “Ar knew that the Daizhou arhness? His Ihness only has forty thousand horsehness has seventy thousand at most The Northern Han army already started with a hundred thousand troops Combined with these wolves frohness definitely meet with defeat? Daren, why have you sat idly by while thisand asked, “General Xuan, do you knohat the goal is for our invasion?”

Resisting the ire in hisanswered, “To defeat the enemy army of course Our army and Northern Han’s cannot coexist If the Northern Han arated If our arth to come north for years to come”

“General Xuan, what you have said isn’t co my head “The Northern Han army wants to win, but does not want to do so in a Pyrrhic fashi+on Great Yong’s power is formidable and Northern Han’s national power is inadequate If we are defeated, ill be able to make a comeback after several years Even if the Northern Han army wins a Pyrrhic victory, they will be unable to encroach south for at least twenty years At present, the war for hegemony has already reached the most crucial moment If Northern Han’s national poere to plu is destroyed, there will be others ill invade thefei want a decisive victory, while also reducing the losses as much as possible

“That is why our army continued to march north after the defeat at Anze and set foot on the battlefield that Long Tingfei had set He wants to utterly crush our ar or killing His Ihness, the Prince of Qi Only in this ill Great Yong suffer heavily, while Northern Han’s national poill not fall significantly With this, they will be able to watch our Great Yong sink into a prolonged ith Southern Chu, while they will be able to recover Once the Great Yong state and its people have been exhausted, the Northern Han ar Great Yong’s territory”

Hearing Jiang Zhe’s explanation, Xuan Song repeatedly nodded his head “That is why Long Tingfei would mobilize the Daizhou army, because he can’t comfortably defeat our army with merely the hundred thousand troops under his command”

I added, “Not only that Do you really think that Long Tingfei would not know General Jing’s whereabouts? He deliberately did not keep any troops in reserve and sent everything he had after His I to i for the exhaustion of his ar inquired, “What would happen if General Jing had been able to guess Long Tingfei’s intentions?”

I shookChi seeing through Long Tingfei’s ploy, if General Jing did not attack, His Ihness, the Prince of Qi, would definitely suffer calamitous losses When the tie, they would have no way to victory That is why General Jing would definitely join the battle Moreover, the Jinyang arhtly becould not have iined that such a powerful cavalry army would exist to serve as Northern Han’s reinforce would definitely fall into this trap”

Perplexion shone in Xuan Song’s eyes, as he asked, “This general does not understand Since Army Supervisor daren</ees to the plan and advance steadily?”

“With this, ill have to discuss our ar this war,” I answered with a smile “Our army is numerous and powerful If we forcibly storh ould inevitably suffer losses, Northern Han is not our match No matter how brave and formidable the Daizhou ar, and only have fifteen thousand troops As a result, if our army advances steadily, ill either win in a decisive or Pyrrhic fashi+on This is insignificant What’s important is that Northern Han is very different from Shu and Southern Chu

“The people of Shu are content with holding their small piece of territory Once their country fell, they were easy to placate Although there are individuals who overestimate their own capabilities and desire to restore Shu, if they cannot receive the help of a powerful outside force, it will be impossible for them to cause any major problems The people of Chu are weak Once Southern Chu falls, as long as their interests are not harmed, the majority of them will not dare to resist

“Only Northern Han is different Their King can be considered wise and capable, and their population is united If we greedily pursue a rapid victory, solely preoccupied with seizing cities and strongholds, it will be iovern Northern Han in the face of rebellious ar and control the Northern Han Royal Family

“This is why His Imperial Majesty was not worried that ould suffer defeats, as long as we continued fighting However, it will be highly problematic if we are unable to win a total victory If the enemy army continues to exist, they will definitely defend each and every city, s that you don’t know about We do not have that much time left Even if we defeat the Northern Han ar as ten to twenty percent of thele Northern Han citizen with the escaped Northern Han soldiers serving as the sparks If soet about three to five years, it will be difficult to vanquish Northern Han even you double that time frame That is hen our army wins, we must deal with the entire Northern Han arle ioal, weHowever, none of Long Tingfei, Lin Bi, and the Northern Han generals are stupid If ant to lure them to attack, we have to hness, the Prince of Qi, must suffer a defeat at Qinyuan before the enemy can be lured by his retreat As for the Northern Han army, in order to attain suitable results, they will definitely pursue without stop Only in this way can our troops achieve our objectives”

Listening to all this, Xuan Song was stunned It was some time before he was able to respond, “So that is the case Does His Ihness know about the particulars? Woe be to the brave soldiers of our ar, I said, “His Ihness, the Prince of Qi, knows some but not all of the plan Only the Emperor and I know the entirety of the plan I stirred His I hi defeat, so that he would be inco Tingfei fall for the trap However, when defeat is at hand, His I a te puffed up by success and dismayed by failure, will definitely be able to do his utmost to ensure that our ar disastrous losses

“General Xuan, if there aren’t two equal, nation-level opponents playing ements, it is because our opponents are capable that they fall into fei weren’t aware that this defense of Northern Han would be successful only if he captures or kills the Prince of Qi, hoould it be possible to lure hi? Even if Northern Han has soence, they will be unable to see through this trap Entrapped, how many people can truly hold the requested orders, “Areneral on how to proceed”

Pointing to a location on the map, I instructed, “The enemy’s pursuit will undoubtedly be matchlessly ferocious If our army is to retreat, we also have to ensure that it occurs securely General Xuan, you only need to use so Chi to retreat to this point That, in itself, will be considered a great deed General, you must remember that the enemy commander isn’t ordinary General must do your utmost in the retreat The enemy will definitely not anticipate that our ar the location I pointed at, an ardent radiance flickered across Xuan Song’s eyes He replied, “So that is why No wonder, no wonder”

“After Northern Han flooded Anze, the roads were destroyed,” I continued, s, I have orderedsupport for our retreating troops First, it reduces casualties Second, the h our preparations, the likelier that Northern Han will believe that we are out for victory and not foresee that our retreat has any ulterior motives”