Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 15. Sandbox Exercise
"...So this is the purpose of the fire isolation belt. After isolating the open flame, as long as we pay attention to protecting the smoke and dust brought by the flame, the actual loss will not be that much. If the enemy takes the opportunity to attack, we may even counterattack."

Feng Xi naturally didn't know the situation in Wei and Wu. At this moment, he was in the tent, using a piece of wood and a charcoal pencil to draw on this temporary blackboard.

What was drawn on the board was the floor plan of their current tent, but Feng Xi used charcoal to draw several black lines inside and outside the tent. These black lines served as fire-prevention isolation zones.

"And don't throw away the soil from digging the isolation ditch. Divide the loose soil into small bags and pile them inside the tent. If you encounter an open flame, you can use the loose soil to put out the fire directly. You can even use it to pile it directly into an isolation belt."

Feng Xi continued to talk, but basically he was talking about the other side's use of fire attacks.

"Xiu Yuan, I've always wanted to ask, why do you focus almost all your training on the situation where 'the enemy uses fire attack'? Logically speaking, shouldn't a night attack be more likely? After all, it's rare for both the time and the terrain to be suitable for a fire attack."

Zhang Nan, Wang Ji and Li Chong understood what Feng Xi was saying, but they still didn't understand the significance of Feng Xi's move.

"Wen Jin is wrong. Looking at the battles that our Han Dynasty has fought since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, almost all of them were won by fire attacks when the weak defeated the strong.

In the Battle of Changsha, General Huangfu Song burned Bo Cai and defeated the larger force with a smaller one. In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao’s bandits burned Yuan Shao’s granary at Wuchao, causing great chaos in Yuan Shao’s army, which was also the result of the fire plan.

As for the Battle of Red Cliff, it goes without saying that Zhou Yu burned Cao Cao's linked warships and attacked them both by sea and land, forcing Cao Cao to abandon his armor and weapons and nearly lose his life. "

Feng Xi had a vision for the future and naturally knew the horror of fire attacks. Countless people throughout history had fallen in a fire and became stepping stones for others. Even if he had followed the original course of history, he would have become a nobody under Lu Xun's feet.

"The scary thing about fire attack is that once it succeeds, the defeated party will have almost no power to fight back. This is also a situation we are very likely to encounter."

Feng Xi also spoke in a serious tone here.

“We are very likely to encounter…”

After hearing what Feng Xi said, Zhang Nan pondered for a moment and seemed to understand something.

"Okay, Wang Ji, Li Chong, you two understand what I mean by firebreak, right? The next exercise will be a real fire. If anyone's troops are burned, they must explain it to their soldiers."

Feng Xi was just trying to scare the two of them. If he really set fire to something, he would, but he wouldn't deliberately aim at the other person's tent and throw the fire at it.

Now his own personal soldiers are specifically responsible for arson.

Wang Ji and Li Chong nodded repeatedly, knowing that General Zhang and General Feng probably had other military matters to discuss and they should not continue listening, so they clasped their fists and bowed before leaving the tent.

"Okay, are you familiar with the shooting skills I taught you these days?"

Feng Xi asked as he looked at Zhang Nan who seemed to have relaxed.

Due to various considerations, Zhang Nan prefers to use a short spear rather than a long-handled spear, so it is less compatible with the Yang Family Spear. However, Feng Xi instantly thought of another set of spear techniques, the Yue Family Spear.

The Yue Family Spear itself also has short-gun techniques. As expected, Zhang Nan was full of praise after practicing it once. He began to try to integrate his family-inherited spear skills with Professor Feng Xi's Yue Family Spear techniques.

"Of course I am familiar with you. I have to say, Xiu Yuan, which immortal did you meet that taught you so many military tactics and martial arts? I want to go and pay my respects to him, hoping that one day this immortal can have mercy on me."

Zhang Nan also spoke with a bit of envy. His friend was originally good at commanding and deploying troops. As a result, not only his methods of commanding and deploying troops have surpassed him, but his martial arts have also improved by leaps and bounds.

Although Zhao Yun was exaggerating and modest at the time, the fact that Feng Xi was able to fight with Zhang Fei for half an hour shows his bravery.

"So I will do my best to help you improve. It's a pity that Yi Zhong can't see us often, otherwise the three of us could practice martial arts and exchange insights like we did in the past."

Feng Xi also felt a little emotional. Back then, he, Zhang Nan and Fu Rong learned from each other and exchanged military strategies every day, which was also a happy time.

"Okay, the things I asked the craftsmen to make a few days ago are just finished, so you can try them out." Feng Xi brought out a large wooden board from the camp. Surprisingly, it was a chessboard made of sawdust, clay and other materials that imitated the terrain. There were many small flags on the chessboard, with numbers such as "five thousand" and "eight thousand" written on them.

"Xiu Yuan, what...what is this?"

Zhang Nan was a little surprised, after all, he had never seen such an object before.

"This is a sand table, which uses materials to replicate the real environment. It is extremely convenient for marching or simulation."

Feng Xi explained as he checked the flags above.

"Then what's the purpose of taking this out now? Judging from the terrain above, it looks like Poyang Lake."

Zhang Nan took a closer look and recognized the long and narrow lake connected to a wide stream as Poyang Lake in the territory of Dongwu. Zhang Nan was puzzled as to why his friend took out the sand table of Poyang Lake at this time.

"Wen Jin has a good eye. This is indeed the terrain of Poyang Lake. Do you see the flags of different colors? They belong to two sides. You are the defender, with the blue flag, and I am the attacker, with the white flag."

Feng Xi pointed to the flags with distinct colors on them and began his explanation.

"Now I am leading my navy down the river, and you must use your pieces on the chessboard to find a way to defeat me."

Feng Xi spread his hands, and Zhang Nan looked over carefully and couldn't help cursing.

His own troops were scattered, and the total number of them was only about 100,000 or 200,000. However, Feng Xi's large group of flags gathered together, and the total number was obviously more than 500,000.

"You only gave me 200,000 troops to stop your 600,000 troops from going down the river? How can I stop them?"

However, despite cursing, Zhang Nan still picked up a small flag with the word "Zhu" written on it. This was obviously an army coming to support from the direction of Jianye City, but it had not yet arrived in Jiujiang.

There were also a few small flags with the word "Zhu" written on them in Yuzhang County, southwest of Poyang Lake, but their total strength was no more than 20,000 people, and they were in great danger facing the 600,000-strong army coming down the river.

"Who is this Zhu and what is his name? Why is your flag Chen?"

Zhang Nan was curious while arranging his troops.

Feng Xi skillfully divided the 600,000 troops into three groups. One group continued to move south along the Yangtze River to blockade Jiujiang, one group went straight to Jianye along the land route from the north of the river, and one group went south to attack Yuzhang.

"Both of them are unknown, so there is no need to worry about them. They are just for easy identification."

Feng Xi's central army delayed Zhang Nan's reinforcements. The strength of the central armies of both sides was almost the same, so Zhang Nan was unable to break through.

At the critical moment, Feng Xi's northern army suddenly took advantage of Zhang Nan's unpreparedness and forced a crossing of the Yangtze River. Under the pincer attack from both sides, Zhang Nan's 200,000 reinforcements were almost completely wiped out, and the 20,000 isolated troops of Yuzhang were eventually surrounded and killed by the 600,000-strong army.

"How can you win this? Are you trying to make fun of me?"

Zhang Nan was a little angry.

"Wen Jin, don't be angry. You should know that the real result of this battle is that these 200,000 people defeated the 600,000 invading troops."

Feng Xi replied with a deep gaze.

(End of this chapter)