The Three Kingdoms: The Cold Gate World

Chapter 316
Meng Da rode his horse all night and night to report to Gan Ning. The large army led by Cheng Gongying was obviously a step slower, because the Xiliang Army not only had iron cavalry, but also infantry.

But when Cheng Gongying failed to pursue Meng Da, he would naturally send cavalry to Wuwei to warn Han Sui non-stop.

As a result, Cheng Gongying did not lead his army back to Wuwei before Gan Ning, but his messenger came to Wuwei before Gan Ning and reported the letter to Han Sui.

Gan Ning led his army to Wuwei, and directly controlled Wuwei without even besieging the city.

Han Sui escaped!

Han Sui fled to the northwest with his recruits, leaving Gan Ning in a dilemma.

The people in the city were furious, and they could no longer be described as unfriendly to the Taiping Army. After Gan Ning led the army into the city, in less than half a day, more than ten incidents of people killing the army occurred.

The whole city was under martial law, and Gan Ning issued the first order after entering Wuwei.

All the people wandering in the streets will be imprisoned, and those who resist and refuse will be killed on the spot.

The weather was hot and irritating, Gan Ning was pacing back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back, Zhang Liao was frowning, the two of them didn't know how to deal with the current situation.

Meng Da walked into the tent cursing, and cupped his hands to Gan Ning angrily, "I'm reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, this dog thief Han Sui distributed all the food that he couldn't transport to the people before he fled, and spread rumors that the Commander-in-Chief led the army to Grabbing food and enslaving the people of Wuwei, now the people in the city don’t listen to our explanation, they seize the opportunity to sneak up on the patrolling defenders, no, just now there was an emergency in the north of the city, the people poured boiling water on the patrolling soldiers , took the opportunity to grab a knife and killed someone, alas, the governor, what to do, you should make up your mind."

Gan Ning and Zhang Liao looked at each other, and both could see the deep helplessness in each other's eyes.

This Han Sui is old and mature, and has his own experience in winning people's hearts. He has been building momentum since last year, but at that time the spearhead was aimed at Ma Chao, and he plundered Ma Chao's territorial resources to enrich himself. On the other hand, it was indeed against the people of Wuwei. Good thing, at least they won't be starving to death.

Han Sui borrowed food from Guo Jia, which was a favor among the princes, and he used food to help the people who were suffering from famine and their lives were in danger, and he would let the people count the favor on Han Sui.

Wuwei was empty, so Han Sui hurriedly recruited [-] desperadoes as a new army, but once Wuwei was besieged, Han Sui knew that there was no place to die, so he fled, and he ran away, but he couldn't make peace. The army successfully took over Wuwei.

"Our army has never committed any crime against the people. This is a military order issued by the lord himself since the establishment of the Taiping Army. The current situation is in a dilemma. It is not good for our army to let the people do anything wrong. If the severe suppression is excessive, it will make the people rise even higher. Great resentment, Wen Yuan, what's your opinion?"

Gan Ning can't be said to be helpless, but facing the common people, if the methods and methods are inaccurate, the consequences will be difficult to predict.

Zhang Liao smiled wryly, now he is considered a famous general under the prestige, but it is a pity that the glory of a famous general is on the battlefield, and treating the people is the embodiment of the ability to govern by the people, so it is difficult for him to make a complete decision.

"Heh, Xingba shouldn't praise me. What can I say? According to my opinion, the most urgent task for our army now is to deploy a horizontal defense centered on Wuwei, and wipe out the main force of Han Sui behind him in the area south of Wuwei. The common people Well, listening to the wind is like rain, and it is the easiest to be deceived. The so-called time sees people's hearts. The Taiping Army abides by military regulations and is strict with self-discipline. People who commit crimes are dealt with according to the law. Our army will wait and see for a while, and there should be people who will continue to recognize the Taiping Army It is definitely not the brutal teacher that Han Sui advocated."

After hearing this, Gan Ning pondered for a while, and agreed with Zhang Liao's remarks.

On the contrary, Meng Da shook his head slightly and was not very optimistic. His hometown is in Guanzhong, and he has a very clear understanding of the folk customs of the Northwest. It can be said that the Northwest has experienced more than 20 years of turmoil. Tend to accept the rule of the dictatorship warlords, if the Taiping Army does not use excessive punishments to severely punish others to imitate others, it is likely to make the people more resistant.

Meng Da didn't say what he was thinking, because he didn't have a plan to deal with it. The top priority right now is to deal with Han Sui's main force behind him, and put other things on hold for the time being, so it's better not to cause extra problems.

Turning over the map, looking down, Gan Ning looked at the regional situation around Wuwei, raised his head and said: "If Zu Li's enemy army did not attack Jincheng, then even if they retreated to the northwest, they must have expected that our army would wait for work in Wuwei. Prepare to ambush and kill them. Two, if we deploy the defense horizontally now, our army will disperse our troops. Even if we really intercept the enemy army, I am afraid it will be difficult to wipe out the enemy army. I think we should take a risk and concentrate our forces. Fight to the death on the road."

The Taiping army has an advantage in strength. If this advantage is not brought into full play, it will be equivalent to giving the enemy a chance to defeat them one by one. The northwest is vast, and the battlefield is mostly plains. The Taiping Army has a strong bow, and I am afraid it will also fall into a passive situation.

Meng Da nodded in agreement, but he looked at the map for a long time, but he had no idea, Wuwei stretched east to west for hundreds of miles, where should he go for defense?Which road will the enemy army have to pass through?You can go anywhere in the northwest plain, how to fight this battle with all one's eggs in one basket is a difficult problem.

After Zhang Liao looked down at the map for a long time, he stretched out his hand and tapped his index finger on a piece of land east of Wuwei.

Seeing this, Gan Ning laughed out loud.

"Heroes see the same thing, what Wen Yuan thinks is also what I think. The only way for the enemy to retreat should be outside the Great Wall."

The Great Wall has existed since the Warring States Period, and the Great Wall of the Qin State is a glorious achievement in history. In the Han Dynasty, the Hexi Corridor also had the Great Wall, but the Great Wall here was built section by section, not connected into one.

In the east of Wuwei, there is the Great Wall. The Great Wall in the Northwest Corridor was built to prevent the invasion of foreign tribes such as Qianghudi.

With this section of the Great Wall in the Hexi Corridor as the boundary point, it is necessary to make a judgment whether the enemy troops will go inside or outside the Great Wall.

"If the enemy army is to rescue Wuwei, then they must take the road inside the Great Wall and come forward. But if the enemy army does not rescue Wuwei, in order to avoid our army's siege and interception, they must take the grassland outside the Great Wall."

Zhang Liao analyzed confidently.

Gan Ning nodded in agreement, but Meng Da was a little puzzled and asked, "Wuwei is in trouble, Han Sui's life is in danger, and the enemy troops in the rear don't care about Han Sui's safety?"

After all, this is an era of slow information transmission. The news of Han Sui's escape may not reach Cheng Gongying's ears immediately. Even if it does, it may be that Cheng Gongying has entered the Taiping Army's defense zone.

Regarding this, Zhang Liao said indifferently: "The lord said that Han Sui has a capable person in his tent, who can draw salary from the bottom of Zu Li's intention to set up troops, so this person must be among Zu Li's enemy troops. Such an extraordinary person, wouldn't he Do you know Han Sui's style? I'm afraid he had expected that Han Sui's reaction to our army's attack would be to flee for his life! In this case, the enemy troops behind our army may not come to rescue Wuwei, they will From outside the Great Wall, bypass Wuwei and head northwest to join Han Sui."

"That's right!" Gan Ning made a final decision, deciding on the location of the decisive battle with Han Sui's main army, outside the Great Wall, on the grassland.

Meng Da bowed his hands to Zhang Liao and Gan Ning with admiration on his face, "The two generals are a little bit superior, but I feel inferior."

Marching and fighting requires risks, and as a commander, you must make judgments, and judgments must have a basis, and deployment cannot be based on preferences and unfounded speculation.

Han Sui retreated decisively after Cheng Gongying sent cavalry to deliver the letter, and asked the messenger to go back to bring the news to Cheng Gongying.

Back and forth, Cheng Gongying returned to the northwest with four of Han Sui's eight generals, and the schedule was deliberately slowed down, just to be cautious and want to get rewards first before making a decision.

If Han Sui was really trapped in Wuwei and his life was in danger, even if Cheng Gongying knew that there was an ambush ahead, he might have to bite the bullet and go to the savior.

After the person who sent the letter told Cheng Gongying that Han Sui led the new army to escape from Wuwei, Cheng Gongying's heart fell, and he recruited four generals, Yang Qiu, Zhang Heng, and Li Kan, to discuss how to escape Wuwei to Wulan and Han. So they converged.

These four generals obviously didn't have any clever strategies, but when they heard that Han Sui was safe, they began to think about how to save their own lives.

Wuwei must have fallen in front, they can't go to Wuwei anymore, can they?

The four generals agreed that they should make a detour.

It is difficult for Cheng Gongying to decide between the left and the right. With the boundary point of the Great Wall to the east of Wuwei, there are two roads to the east and west, which one to take?
The west is to pass through Wuwei, and the east is to go around the grassland.

Cheng Gongying was a little flustered and couldn't calm down for a long time.

To make a decision at this time is a dead-end thinking contest.

If the Taiping Army had behaved properly, they would have set up defenses in the Wuwei area, and if they walked west of the Great Wall, they would be sent to their deaths.

If there are resourceful people in the Taiping Army, if they set up defenses on the east side of the Great Wall, then walking on the grassland would be a trap for themselves.

The consideration of choosing one of the two is based on whether the enemy is accurate. Cheng Gongying racked his brains and finally decided to go to the grassland east of the Great Wall.

Because he thought of Zu Liwai's big victory, judging from that big victory, the Taiping Army's strategy of attacking the Northwest was a bit cautious. From this, it can be inferred that under the strategy of the opponent's step-by-step strategy, they went outside the Great Wall to intercept Wuwei without defense. He seemed too adventurous.

Three days later, on the Great Wall, the sky was bright, Gan Ning and Zhang Liao stood on the beacon tower looking to the east, soldiers came up every half hour to report the situation of the enemy.

"Reporting to the Governor, the enemy army was found forty miles to the south. The cavalry led the infantry and followed. Judging from its size, it is about [-]."

"Explore again! Instruct the horse scouts not to reveal their whereabouts. If they startle the enemy and make the enemy run away, they will be dealt with by military law."

Gan Ning's eyes showed a long-lost fighting spirit. After the soldiers went down to deliver the order, he turned around and looked at Zhang Liao, and said with a smile, "Wen Yuan knows things like a god."

Zhang Liao shook his head with a light smile, "You and I should stop flattering each other here. It's better to hurry up and deploy troops."

After thinking for a while, Gan Ning said: "Ma Chao led the silver-feathered flying cavalry to push the enemy to the northwest from the rear, Meng Da led the archers to push the enemy to the Great Wall from the north, and the main force in the northwest was the crossbowmen. Wen Yuan leads the battle."

Hearing this deployment, Zhang Liao frowned slightly.

What about Wu Yi?
(End of this chapter)