Tang Dynasty Mingyue Song Dynasty Pass

Chapter 860 A plan within a plan

A cunning light flashed through Su Chen's mind. He decided to add another trick to the Song army's plan of sowing discord. On the surface, he dismissed Pan Mei from his position as general and asked him to leave the army, but in fact he secretly stayed in the Wu army to control the overall situation.

In this way, the Song army would be induced to counterattack, distracting their attention and making them have no time to attack Suqian, thus giving Su Chen a precious opportunity to concentrate his forces to block the Song reinforcements coming south.

Thinking of this, Su Chen no longer hesitated. He picked up the pen, dipped it in ink, and began to write a letter to Pan Mei.

At the same time, he also wrote a letter to the old general Lu Jiang, planning to promote Lu Jiang to the front line commander, transferred from Huainan to Huaibei, ostensibly to replace Pan Mei. Of course, all this was done for the Song army to see, secretly Pan Mei would continue to stay in the camp, find a replacement to send away, in order to confuse the Song army's scouts.

After writing the letter, Su Chen immediately ordered someone to send it out urgently. Soon, Pan Mei received Su Chen's letter. He was slightly startled, and then showed an admiring look, secretly praising Su Chen's brilliant strategy.

"Brilliant, really brilliant!" Pan Mei felt a sense of admiration for Su Chen. This plan that came to his mind on a whim was like the finishing touch to a painting, so ingenious and exquisite.

"Let's do it!" Pan Mei gave the order decisively.

He then summoned his three sons and several key generals and informed them of Su Chen's secret order. When they first heard it, they were shocked, but then they were amazed at Su Chen's plan and expressed their approval.

Pan Mei's voice echoed in the tent, his eyes were firm and sharp: "Soon, General Lu Jiang will come to take over my position. Everyone, we have to act out a play together. Wei De, Wei Gu, you two find someone with a similar body shape to me, put on my clothes and armor, dress up as me, and send him out of the camp when the time comes. I will stay here, secretly control the army, cooperate with General Lu Jiang, and attract the Song army to attack."

As soon as Pan Mei finished speaking, everyone felt the unexpectedness of Su Chen's plan, and perhaps it could really deceive Zhao Kuangyin, Cao Bin and others.

A few days later, Lu Jiang arrived at Pan Mei's camp with a team of 1,000 men. In the tent, Lu Jiang and Pan Mei met. They were already familiar with each other, so after a few simple greetings, they quickly got down to business.

"This time, it's a plan within a plan. It's worthy of being thought up by Marshal Su. Perhaps it can really draw the attack of the Song army, tie down the main force of the Song army, and buy more time for Marshal Su to eliminate the reinforcements. Then, it will be the day of our decisive battle with the Song Dynasty." Lu Jiang said with a smile, his eyes flashing with anticipation for the upcoming battle.

Pan Mei also laughed, with a hint of teasing in his voice: "Yes, we will stage another play tomorrow, the play of this general being dismissed!"

"I see. Let's see how we perform!" The other generals laughed. The atmosphere was filled with tension and excitement for the upcoming battle.

The next day, the atmosphere in the tent was tense. General Lu Jiang, holding Marshal Su's handwritten letter and military token, announced in public his decision to replace General Pan Mei.

As soon as the news came out, many Du Yuhou and Lieutenant Generals, who had not known about this in advance, began to talk about it and had different reactions.

"This decision is inappropriate. General Pan recently led our army northward and captured more than ten cities, seized three states, annihilated tens of thousands of enemies, and defeated the Song army. His achievements are outstanding. How can he be doubted!" A Du Yuhou stood up, his tone full of dissatisfaction and doubt.

Another deputy general also echoed: "That's right, only with General Pan in charge can our army compete with Cao Bin. Without him, how can our 100,000-strong army withstand the fierce attack of 150,000 imperial guards?" His words revealed his dependence on General Pan and his concern about the current situation.

Pan Wei De could no longer hold back and stepped forward. His voice was firm and powerful: "Does Marshal Su suspect that my father is collaborating with the enemy? I can swear on behalf of my father that our Pan family has never had any private collusion with the Song Dynasty. General Lu Jiang, please be sure to report this to Marshal Su!" His eyes were full of defense of the family's honor and confusion about Su Chen's decision.

The atmosphere in the tent was extremely tense, with confusion and uneasiness written all over everyone's face.

General Lu Jiang faced these doubts and dissatisfactions. He knew that this play had to be played realistically in order to deceive the eyes and ears of the Song army and buy time for Su Chen's plan. Lu Jiang observed the atmosphere in the tent and felt that the play was almost over, so he smiled and spoke, trying to calm the doubts of the generals: "Don't worry, the marshal has no distrust of General Pan. It's just that General Pan and the Song Dynasty have an old friendship, and the war on the front line is dangerous, so the marshal decided to swap camps with General Pan. It's easy to make merit here, and it also gives Lu a chance to make merit here. I hope everyone can understand. As for General Pan, maybe he will return to the front line soon."

Some generals in the tent who were loyal to the Wu army and Marshal Su were unwavering in their support for Su Chen's orders, and they stood up to express their support, emphasizing that it was a soldier's duty to obey orders.

Pan Mei also stood up at the right time, his voice calm but powerful: "I fully accept Marshal Su's transfer. The Marshal's arrangement is reasonable. The war is imminent, I should avoid suspicion. This is my loyalty to Wu and my responsibility to the frontline army. Maybe in a few days, this general will come back."

After Pan Mei expressed his opinion personally, the other generals and lieutenants no longer insisted on their own opinions. After all, in terms of prestige, Su Chen was at the peak of his career in Wu State, and no one could match him.

So, in front of everyone, Pan Mei solemnly handed over the military command and gave it to Lu Jiang.

The two men made eye contact, understood each other tacitly, and then began to discuss the specific matters of the handover.

This scene is not only a transfer of power, but also a transfer of trust and responsibility. In this carefully planned drama, everyone plays an important role. For the victory of Wu, they are willing to sacrifice their personal reputation and status and work together to weave this carefully designed game.

Half a day later, as the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the tents of the Wu army camp, a simply decorated carriage slowly drove out of the camp gate.

The brothers Pan Wei De and Pan Wei Gu personally led three hundred carefully selected guards to escort the carriage away. Their expressions were solemn and serious, as if they were carrying out an extremely important mission.

However, what no one knew was that the real Pan Mei was not in the carriage. He had cleverly changed into the clothes of a guard and quietly sneaked into the side tent next to Lu Jiang.

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Here, he still controls the lifeblood of the army, and every military order is still carefully planned and issued by him, but now, these orders are announced to the outside through Lu Jiang.

There was a firm gleam in Pan Mei's eyes. He knew that his role had shifted from the front stage to behind the scenes, but his loyalty to the Wu army and his desire for victory in the Northern Expedition had not diminished in the slightest.

The news spread to the Song army camp as quickly as a gust of wind. The news that Pan Mei was stripped of his post, his military region was changed, and he was transferred to the rear of Huainan made Zhao Kuangyin and Cao Bin look relieved.

"It seems that our strategy of sowing discord has worked." Zhao Kuangyin said in a deep voice, with a gleam of success in his eyes.

Dang Jin couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Su Chen, after all, is young and too arrogant. People like him are suspicious and narrow-minded, so they make mistakes like this."

Cao Bin stroked his long beard and agreed with a smile: "As soon as Pan Mei left, the people who were familiar with our Song army's tactics left. Now there is only one old Confucian general from Jiangnan left in the Wu army, and he can't resist the frontal attack of our Song army!"

Zhao Kuangyin nodded, his eyes revealing firmness and determination: "Three days later, we will take this opportunity to attack the Wu army camp. After defeating Lu Jiang's 100,000 troops, we will turn around and attack Su Chen's troops and solve the problem in one fell swoop!"

"Yes!" The atmosphere in the tent suddenly became tense and excited. They felt that the turning point of the war had arrived and the balance of victory was tilting towards them.

Zhao Kuangyin, Cao Bin, Dang Jin and others also showed smiles on their faces, as if they had seen the dawn of victory.