People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 516: A New Trick
More than a month ago, the area above Guangling was still a battlefield where the Wu and Shu navy fought fiercely with the Yellow Turban navy. Now the Yellow Turban navy had already crossed the river to who knows how far upstream, and the Wu and Shu navy could only follow. Logically speaking, this former battlefield should have calmed down by now, but the scene Zhuge Liang saw was different.

Although Zhuge Liang did not catch up with the spectacular scene of the battle between the two sides during his travels, he did not mind finding out the details of the battle afterwards.

After all, he was very interested in the so-called lightning strike and the power of metal and iron. Although he was not sure, he had guessed that it was probably some new weapon. Zhuge Liang, who was already proficient in mechanical fortifications, naturally would not mind learning more about it.

It was still difficult for him to imagine how heavy metal could be fired remotely in a water battle.

In his imagination, this could only be achieved if the Yellow Turbans built siege equipment on giant ships, but even such an idea seemed unrealistic. If he didn't figure it out, it would be difficult for him to think clearly.

When you arrive at the battlefield, you can at least get the most realistic description from the surrounding people, you can also see clues from some battlefield traces, and if possible, you can even visit the wounded camp left by the Yellow Turbans in the local area. If you are lucky, you can even see the specific weapons directly.

It was only when Zhuge Liang was actually at this former battlefield that he suddenly realized that the situation here was not quite what he had imagined.

It was said that the main force of the Yellow Turban Army had already headed west to attack Xiangyang?

What is this army in front of us, which is at least hundreds of thousands in size and covers the entire land?
The Yellow Turban navy was supposed to have all gone upstream along the Yangtze River.
Then why are there still hundreds of large and small ships in the river?

Zhuge Liang clearly saw that the huge military camp in front of him was arranging soldiers to board ships one after another in an orderly manner and then transport them to the other side. The scene of hundreds of ships transporting soldiers on the water looked like an army of ants desperately carrying things from a distance.

The whole process was orderly. The barracks and the fleet cooperated with each other, operating step by step like a machine. The fleets that kept coming and going were efficiently transporting the Yellow Turban soldiers from the north bank to the south bank at every moment.

Zhuge Liang immediately formed a judgment that as long as the Yellow Turban Army that landed first set up camp and defended immediately, it would be enough to resist the attack of the local Wu army on the south bank. In this way, it would only take two or three days at most, and all the hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans could be transferred to the south bank!

"hiss!"

Zhuge Liang couldn't help but gasp.

With the main force of the Wu-Shu coalition army already pulled to Xiangyang, 18,000 miles away, he didn't even dare to imagine what the consequences would be of leaving these hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans standing on the military-deficient land of Wu.

The State of Wu is in danger!
"Sir, what is going on? Are those all Yellow Turbans?" The servant boy was also on the distant mountain road and saw this scene from afar. He was so shocked that he couldn't speak fluently.

Zhuge Liang said solemnly: "Yes, that is the Yellow Turban."

The other servant boy was even more puzzled when he heard this: "But we have clearly seen with our own eyes that hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban main forces were marching towards Xiangyang along the way. So where did these troops come from? Could it be that the Yellow Turbans had two armies in this battle?"

Zhuge Liang just shook his head and said, "No, the Yellow Turbans' military system is already at its limit to be able to build an army of over 100,000. Any more is impossible."

This is not an exaggeration at all. The Yellow Turbans almost spent all their money in this southern expedition.

After all, this expedition was not just about the land army, the navy was also a huge part of the Yellow Turbans' combat power, and the cost of building a large Yellow Turban army was extremely huge, so it was impossible to have more troops. Zhuge Liang could see this through his own research and observation, which was indeed a very sharp and accurate judgment.

But this made the book boy even more confused: "That's even more strange, could Xu Chen also create an army out of thin air by casting beans into soldiers?"

Zhuge Liang was a man of almost magical wisdom. He had actually figured out the reason long ago: "Of course there is no such thing as throwing beans to make soldiers. It's just that one is true and the other is false. The Wu-Shu coalition forces were all fooled."

After hearing these words, the two servants were stunned for a moment, and they finally came to their senses.

Yes, since Xuan Xia cannot have an army of 300,000 or 400,000, then one of these two armies must be fake and the other real. As for which one is the real one, there is no need to say it now.

Zhuge Liang thought of the two battle examples of Xu Chen. After studying Xu Chen for a long time, he almost knew all of Xu Chen's rise to fame.

In fact, this trick of using civilians to pretend to be an army is not the first time that Xu Chen has used it. He had done this before when fighting Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao. However, he did not expect that this trick would still be so useful when fighting Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

"I thought that if Wu and Shu could stop the Yellow Turbans' southern expedition, they might be able to survive for another ten years. Now it seems that ten years is too long. They will perish any day."

Zhuge Liang was filled with emotion. He couldn't help but wonder, if he had accepted Liu Bei's invitation to join Shu Han to lead the country, would the situation be like this today? Could Xu Chen's trick of mixing the real and the fake deceive him?

After thinking for a while, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but shook his head.

In fact, Xu Chen had already deceived himself, otherwise he would not be so surprised by what he saw.

It can only be said that in this era, the boundary between soldiers and civilians was already blurred, and many armies captured civilians and used them as soldiers. Now that the Yellow Turbans were using civilians to pretend to be soldiers, few people could detect it.

The art of employing troops is to use both the real and the fake, and the normal and the unconventional. Xuan Xia staged such a grand drama to deceive the heaven and earth and transferred all the main forces of Wu and Shu, creating nearly perfect conditions for the attack for his real main force of the Yellow Turbans. Even Zhuge Liang had to admit defeat with such a plan.

Even though they had the advantage in strength, Xuan Xia still made a thorough plan, so it was not unfair that Wu and Shu lost to them.

After sighing in his heart, Zhuge Liang shook his head and said, "I can't wait another ten years. Xu Chen has already won, which is not a bad thing. At least the people of the world can finally breathe a sigh of relief."

After saying that, Zhuge Liang walked forward slowly again, but his route avoided the Yellow Turban army in the distance.

The two servants also followed closely on horseback, but this time their eyes became a little confused. The world seemed to be stable, but where should they go?
In fact, it was not just the two servants who were nervous about the upcoming future; even Zhuge Liang had not thought it through.

Can I, a relic of the old era, still find a place in the new era?
After turning the hill, they were about to miss the Yellow Turbans, but Zhuge Liang couldn't help but look back. He knew that Xuan Xia's success was a good thing for the people of the world, but for him personally, he couldn't help feeling lonely.

(End of this chapter)