Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 708 The Descendant

Hanzhai, inside the big tent.

Huo Jun and Jiang Ji played chess leisurely, and they were surrounded by civil and military spectators. The spectators looked at the black and white dragons on the chessboard, whispering from time to time, discussing the situation of the chess game.

Seeing Jiang Ji holding his son and reciting a poem, Huo Jun smiled and asked, "How is it?"

After thinking for a while, Jiang Ji placed his chess piece on the board and said, "Commander-in-chief, your chess skills have improved so rapidly that I can hardly keep up."

"hey-hey!"

Huo Jun smiled and said, "Thanks to Jingwen for his guidance in his spare time!"

Jiang Ji looked up at Xue Zong who was watching the game and said with a smile: "The governor is not good at chess and has been defeated by me many times. Now he can defeat me because of Jingwen's guidance in advance."

Xue Zong pretended to be innocent and said, "The governor is very talented, Zong only gave a few pointers."

Playing Go is one of the few games that can be used to kill time in the army. Not only Huo Jun knows how to play it, but also some people in the army, both civil and military, know how to play it. As a staff officer, Jiang Ji often studies Go records when he has little work to do. He is considered the best Go player in the army.

But until Xue Zong joined the army, Jiang Ji was defeated by Xue Zong repeatedly, and he gave up his position as the number one chess player. Huo Jun once asked Xue Zong why he could defeat Jiang Ji repeatedly, and Xue Zong told Huo Jun about Jiang Ji's chess routine. Huo Jun knew the shortcomings of Jiang Ji's chess moves, so he could suppress him.

"Lost!"

Jiang Ji looked at the situation on the chessboard and said helplessly: "This move has been broken, the victory and defeat have been decided, the governor has won!"

"Ha ha!"

Huo Jun raised his eyebrows and said proudly: "Zitong was finally defeated by me!"

Jiang Ji was not discouraged and said, "The move was broken because of my poor chess skills. Let me think about it for a few more days, and I will definitely find a way to counter it."

As he spoke, Jiang Ji looked at Xue Zong and invited him, "I will ask Jingwen for advice then."

"It's my honor!" Xue Zong replied with a smile.

Taking advantage of the free time, Ding Feng asked, "Commander-in-chief, the Wei army has sent people to challenge us. Can we fight them now?"

Huo Jun had his chessboard cleared and asked, "Will any general from Wei surrender?"

"No!" Ding Feng replied.

Huo Jun hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are there any other moves by the Wei army?"

Yu Shao said: "The Wei army sent people to cross the Sishui River and turn to the Dawen River, hoping to draw grain from the Wenshui River to support the army. However, Huoying County has already deployed troops to the Wenshui River, and now has taken over Wenyang, Juping, Chengxian and other cities on the Wenshang River, so most of the bandits will find it difficult to get grain from the Wenshui River."

There are two important rivers in Taishan County, one is Sishui and the other is Wenshui, and there are mountains and hills between the two rivers. Before Huo Jun entered Taishan County from Linqu, he could have directly entered Yanzhou from Wenshui. However, considering the supply problem, he marched to Sishui instead, in order to open up the upper and lower basins of Sishui.

Although Huo Jun moved to Sishui to march, it did not mean that he did not care about Wenshui. In order to pacify the cities of Wenshui, he appointed Yingjun governor, Huo Youzhi.

Huo Jun and Wang Ling confronted each other for several months. Huo Youzhi took the opportunity to lead his troops to attack the cities of Wenshui. He first captured Fenggao, the county seat, and then Liangfu, Boxian, Wenyang, etc. When Huo Jun moved his troops downstream, Huo Youzhi had already pushed the battle line to Jibei County downstream of Wenshui.

If there is a distribution map of the Han and Wei armies, the Wenshui River is controlled by Huo Youzhi, the lower reaches of the Sishui River are cut off by Huo Jun, and Huo Du is stationed on the opposite bank. Wang Ling's food supply has been cut off except for collecting food from the surrounding areas.

"Not urgent!"

Huo Jun calculated the time and said, "In the next few days, the enemy will surely surrender."

"Captain~"

Before Jiang Ji could speak, the attendant hurried into the tent and said, "Report to the Grand Marshal, General Wen Qin of Wei has led his troops to the front of the army to surrender."

Huo Jun looked at the generals and said with a smile, "Just as I said!"

"Come here, bring Wenqin into the tent. I have something to ask you." Huo Jun ordered.

"promise!"

Ding Feng asked curiously, "Why did the commander-in-chief predict that the enemy would surrender in the future?"

Huo Jun stood up from the couch and explained, "Although Wang Ling has many soldiers and horses under his command, their morale is not unified. They have come from afar and gathered under his command, hoping to fight quickly. If they run out of food, their morale will surely be dispersed. Now that the generals of Wei have surrendered, it may be seen that the Wei soldiers have no will to fight to the death."

In order to support Wang Ling, Cao Wei mobilized a large number of troops and horses in an effort to repel Huo Jun. Although the pressure on the Han army increased sharply with the increase of troops and horses, it also had disadvantages for itself. For example, the consumption of food and grass increased, and because most of the troops were powerful, it was difficult to unite the people.

Seeing through this, Huo Jun dared to assert that when the Wei army ran out of food and grass, the enemy would definitely surrender. Now Wen Qin led his troops to surrender, which verified Huo Jun's guess.

As for why it is said that if the enemy surrenders in the future, it is an opportunity to use military force.

The reason is that under normal circumstances, generals will not surrender easily unless the army is facing a desperate situation. Once surrender occurs, it means that the people's hearts are already divided and there will be no desperate fight.

After all, the desire for survival unleashed by a trapped beast is very terrifying, and both the desperate battle and the fight with one's back to the river utilize the tactical idea of ​​risking one's life and then surviving.

After hearing what Huo Jun had been thinking about, everyone in the tent was amazed. Zhou Cang clapped his hands and sighed, saying, "Your Excellency's thorough thinking is beyond my reach. Even though Wang Ling has talent and strategy, he is also deeply trapped in your trap."

Since following Huo Jun into battle, Zhou Cang discovered that fighting was so simple. On the eve of the battle, Huo Jun had already taken into account many factors of victory and defeat, laying the foundation for his side's victory. The battle between the two armies was more like a process than a key point.

Huo Jun paced with his hands behind his back and said, "Sun Tzu said, 'He who plans for victory before the battle has made many plans; he who plans for defeat before the battle has made few plans. A battle without plans means the outcome is unclear, which is the biggest taboo for military strategists. For those who make many plans, the outcome is already decided when the battle begins."

"I hope you will remember that planning before the battle is the key to victory!"

"No!" Everyone responded.

Most people who are not well versed in military affairs believe that victory or defeat is determined by face-to-face combat between two armies, but little do they know that the arrangements before the two armies engage in combat are the key.

As for Qi Jiguang, he personally opposed putting the hope of victory on field battles, because there are too many unexpected events in war. The temple planning before the war is actually very important, because it increases one's hope of winning and reduces the risk of failure in the war.
Huo Jun had always kept in mind the importance of making strategic plans before a battle since he first became a general. Whether it was defeating the coalition forces at the Wan River or taking Jingkou from a thousand miles away, Huo Jun would always reduce his risk of failure before a battle and would not take a gamble easily.

"Grand Marshal, Wenqin is outside the tent." said the attendant.

"Xuan!"

After a while, Wen Qin stepped into the tent and said cautiously, "General Wen Qin pays respect to Lord Jiangling!"

Huo Jun looked up and down at the burly Wen Qin and asked, "General, you are a brave and wise man, famous in both armies. Why do you surrender to the Han Dynasty instead of serving the Wei Kingdom?"

Hearing this, Wen Qin showed resentment on his face and said truthfully: "Linghu Jun and Wang Ling are uncle and nephew. Because I have a rift with Linghu Jun, Wang Ling has been harsh to me. Wang Ling embezzled my military achievements and did not report them. Linghu Jun also withheld a lot of military rations from the camp. How can I work for him when he is close to me but distant from my talents?"

Wen Qin bowed and said respectfully, "Mingsir, you are a man of great power and wisdom, and you are feared by the world. I admire your name, so I come to you. I hope you will be magnanimous and forgive Wen Qin's past sins."

After the defeat at Taocheng, although Wen Qin resented Wang Ling and Linghu Jun, he did not surrender to the Han Dynasty immediately. The reason why he surrendered to the Han Dynasty was that he saw that the Wei camp was short of food and grass, and heard the news of unrest in Hebei.

With no hope of victory and the increasingly acute conflict with Linghu Jun, Wen Qin, under the persuasion of his subordinates, decided to surrender to the Han. Today, Wen Qin used the excuse of leaving the camp to challenge the enemy and led his troops directly to the front of the Han camp to surrender.

Huo Jun said enthusiastically, "General, you are brave and good at fighting. I have been thinking about you day and night. Now that you have surrendered, I am overjoyed. How could I blame you!"

As he was talking, Huo Jun asked Wen Qin to sit down and asked, "Since you have surrendered, could you please tell me the details of the Wei army?"

Seeing Huo Jun's gentle tone, Wen Qin felt relieved and said, "To be honest, my lord, the Wei army is running out of food and grass. Wang Ling has reduced the food rations to save food and supplies, and now the various troops are gradually complaining. In addition, Hebei is in turmoil, and many generals in the army know about it, and everyone is worried."

After a pause, Wen Qin, to show his loyalty, cupped his hands and said, "If you want to defeat the bandits, I am willing to be the vanguard."

Huo Jun hesitated for a moment and asked, "What is the strength of each unit of the Wei army now?"

Wen Qin thought for a moment and replied, "Mingsir, the elite troops of the Wei army are under the command of Wang Ling, Qian Zhao, Linghu Jun, Guanqiu Jian and other generals, with about 30,000 soldiers and horses, and the remaining tens of thousands are all old and weak. If you can defeat their elite troops, the old and weak troops will collapse without a fight!"

"good!"

Huo Jun asked some important military information and asked Wen Qin to leave and rest first.

After Wen Qin left, Huo Jun asked, "What do you think, Zi Tong?"

Jiang Ji stroked his beard and chanted, saying: "From his words and expression, it is not a false surrender. If the governor is worried, he can wait a few days to see if he will surrender. If Wen Qin's words are true, the time to defeat the bandits has come!"

Huo Jun frowned and thought for a moment, then asked, "How many soldiers does Wen Qin have?"

"There are more than 3,000 of them, most of them brave and brave men," the attendant replied.

Huo Jun stood up and paced with deep thoughts in his mind, saying, "Distribute the weapons and armor to Wen Qin's troops, and order them to leave the camp and challenge the enemy the next morning. Gong Li will lead 5,000 infantry and cavalry to follow. If the enemy attacks Wen Qin's troops first, Gong Li will have to wait until Wen Qin is exhausted to provide support."

"Yes!" Yu Shao replied.

"What about the army?" Jiang Ji asked.

Huo Jun narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "The whole army is ready for battle. We must obey my orders. Whether we can defeat the enemy depends on this moment!"

"promise!"

The generals showed joy on their faces and bowed their hands in response to the order.

After the generals withdrew, Jiang Ji was suspicious and asked, "The governor ordered Wen Qin to fight first. Is he trying to test whether it is true or not?"

Huo Jun shook his head and said with a smile, "I am skeptical about Wen Qin's surrender. I am sending him out of the camp to challenge him as bait to lure the Wei army into battle. If what he said is true, Wang Ling and Linghu Jun will hate Wen Qin deeply. Letting Wen Qin and Gong Li fight first is to consume the enemy's energy."

Jiang Ji hesitated for a moment and said worriedly, "There are only 40,000 soldiers in our main camp. To be prepared for any eventuality, should we let General Bo Chong cross the river to help?"

"No need!"

Huo Jun said confidently: "Although Wang Ling has 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, most of them are useless. I can defeat the bandits with only 40,000 elite soldiers. If there are any who escape by crossing the river, I can capture them."

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)