Chapter 335: Heavy Siege
The more ignorant a person is, the more pretentious he becomes.
Zang Ba initially despised the so-called military strategies and army management techniques, thinking that the ones he had developed were enough to stand out from the crowd.
However, after meeting and fighting with many famous generals such as Xu Rong and Guan Yu in person, I realized that I was ultimately a frog in a well.
Not everyone is a champion!
He knew shame and then became brave. He not only began to master the art of war, but also dabbled in political tactics and strategy.
His goal is to become a figure like the five famous generals who can rule a region. In this case, it is not enough to just know how to fight wars.
In this era, it was very normal for civil officials to have military merits and for military generals to govern local areas, and the distinction between civil and military officials was not so clear.
The more he understood, the more difficult it was for Zang Ba to face his past self.
Although he is still arrogant, he actually has his own strategies in mind.
He enjoyed the thrill of being a bandit, but he also knew that it was not the right path, and he had long since given up his dream of becoming the "King of Bandits."
Xu Shu looked at Zang Ba with a little surprise, and couldn't help but feel the same way.
Wasn't he like this before?
As a knight-errant, it seems that he is happy to avenge his enemies and do good deeds, but what is the reality? A knight-errant can save a person, but he cannot save a county or a country.
Moreover, the so-called chivalrous and righteous behavior can hardly save the bullied people fundamentally, and in many cases it will cause greater harm to the people.
After seeing through all this, he resolutely gave up the path of a knight-errant and chose to pursue his studies.
"Yuanzhi, now that Fenggao has been taken, what should we do next?" Zang Ba asked.
Xu Shu looked at the map on the wall and casually marked two locations on the west side of Fenggao.
"If nothing unexpected happens, Xiahou Dun and Jiang Qi's troops should be nearby. It will take more than three days to reach Fenggao at the earliest."
Having advanced deep into the enemy's territory alone and marched at a rapid speed, Zang Ba's army was no longer able to accurately determine the enemy's position. However, Xu Shu, with his keen sense of battlefield, was still able to determine the enemy's approximate position.
"Xuan Gao, secretly leave three thousand troops in Liangfu Mountain. We continue to move eastward and keep them hanging." Xu Shu said in a deep voice.
When Zang Ba heard Xu Shu's arrangement, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Yuanzhi, what do you want?"
"Since we are here, we are here to make a big fuss. The more trouble we make, the less pressure there will be on Zilong. I don't believe Cao Mengde and Yuan Benchu will really ignore us."
Xu Shu did want to make some noise at the beginning, but he didn't want to make it too big. After all, Zang Ba only had 10,000 troops coming for the sneak attack this time, so it would be difficult to make too much waves.
However, after realizing the swift marching speed of Zang Ba's troops, Xu Shu couldn't help but think of a bold tactic.
Zang Ba followed the order and quietly deployed three thousand elite soldiers on Liangfu Mountain. He then personally led the rest of the troops and marched eastward with Xu Shu.
When Xiahou Dun arrived at Fenggao after a long journey, he looked extremely ugly when he saw that Fenggao had no soldiers left and all the money and food had been swept away.
Less than half a day after Xiahou Dun arrived, Jiang Qi also arrived with his troops. The two successfully joined forces, but neither of them showed any joy.
"General Jiang, Zang Xuangao led his troops to Mou County. According to the time calculation, Mou County may have been captured by now." Xiahou Dun told Jiang Qi the information he had obtained.
Mou County is located hundreds of miles east of Fenggao. It is Yuan Shao's territory and is surrounded by mountains. At this time, Xiahou Dun felt that the plan to encircle and annihilate Zang Ba would be difficult.
Jiang Qi looked extremely unhappy, he and Zang Ba almost just passed by each other.
After passing Fenggao, he went south from the north bank of the Wen River, trying to block Zang Ba's way back north.
As a result, right under his nose, Zang Ba secretly moved from the south bank of the Wen River, through Liangfu Mountain, to Fenggao, and now he was heading towards Mou County.
What a shame!
The two people seemed to be being led along the way.
"General Xiahou, don't panic. When I sent out the troops, my master had already sent General Yuan Shu to lead his troops to Mount Tai. Even if Zang Xuangao is good at mountain warfare, we are confident that we can besiege him."
"Oh?" Xiahou Dun was overjoyed when he heard this. Yuan Shu's talent was no longer a secret in the eyes of the heroes of the world.
With him around, not to mention trapping Zang Ba, at least he would be greatly restricted, preventing his power from expanding rapidly in Mount Tai.
After all, there are many bandits in Mount Tai. If these bandits are won over by Zang Ba, there will be endless trouble. But if they can be won over by Yuan Shu, Zang Ba will be constrained in every way.
All the princes in the world are aware of Zang Ba and Gan Ning's ability to lead a team, but compared to them, Yuan Shu, who has great talent, is the real "King of Thieves".
"This matter is a secret, and Zang Xuangao may not know about it yet." Jiang Qi said in a deep voice.
Upon hearing this, Liu Ye looked at Jiang Qi deeply.
It was hidden so well! And the action was so decisive!
"Great! In that case, we should quickly pursue him and force Zang Xuangao into the mountains east of Mou County, and then cut off the road to the north of Mou County that leads to Banyang."
"In this way, Zang Xuangao has become a turtle in a jar!"
"As long as Zang Xuangao is not here, the tens of thousands of elite troops he left near Zhu'a will not be a concern and can be easily destroyed by then."
Xiahou Dun said with a gleam in his eyes.
All military actions that involve risky moves will involve huge risks. Although they were allowed to escape along the way by Zang Ba, if they could seize the opportunity to encircle and annihilate Zang Ba here, it would be a great victory.
Jiang Qi heard this and nodded.
"General Xiahou, to be on the safe side, I will lead the army in pursuit. You will temporarily stay in the vicinity of Fenggao and strengthen the alert to prevent Zang Xuangao from escaping again."
Every failure makes one wiser. After being played the opposite way by Zang Ba, Jiang Qi naturally had to be on guard.
He had an army of tens of thousands under his command, so it was no problem for him to deal with the small group of elite troops led by Zang Ba, and he did not need Xiahou Dun's assistance.
After hearing this, Xiahou Dun thought for a moment and nodded: "In that case, I'll have to trouble General Jiang!"
After Jiang Qi left, Xiahou Dun began to carefully observe the topographic map around Fenggao.
"Zi Yang, where do you think Zang Xuangao will escape to next?" asked Xiahou Dun.
Liu Ye tapped the table lightly, thinking for a moment.
"Mou County is surrounded by mountains, and there are too many directions that Zang Xuangao could flee to. But with Yuan Gonglu here, as long as Zang Xuangao doesn't flee back to Zhu'a County in the northwest to join the main force, there is no need to worry."
"Jiang Qi's arrangement is almost flawless. Zang Xuangao's only way to survive may be to go north and cross the Wenshui River again, then go down to Ying County and then go west into the Taishan Mountains. Therefore, we only need to block the Fenggao and Ying County areas."
"You mean, we should send more troops to garrison Ying County?" Xiahou Dun asked.
When he realized that Zang Ba's troops were limited in strength, he actually left a lot of troops in Sheqiu and Wenxian areas along the way. It can be said that he had deployed troops everywhere just to prevent Zang Ba from coming back.
It is not difficult to win against such a small force, but the difficult part is how to hold on to it.
Now his main force still has more than 70,000 troops, so there is nothing wrong with dividing the troops.
With careful precautions, the 20,000-strong army could hold back Zang Ba until he could come to support them.
Liu Ye nodded.
Then he looked at the map carefully and suddenly said, "There is another possibility, that is, Zang Xuangao went south across Lianhua Mountain, circled around and fought his way back to Liangfu Mountain."
Xiahou Dun heard this and smiled: "Zi Yang, you worry too much. How could they use the same strategy twice? Besides, although Zang Xuangao's troops are good at mountain marches, their speed will definitely be slowed down."
"If they really do this, we will have enough time to send troops from Fenggao after we get the news and intercept them before they reach Liangfu Mountain."
In Xiahou Dun's eyes, Zang Ba had become a turtle in a jar, trapped in this deadly situation.
(End of this chapter)
