Chapter 364: Contention

"Guixiang, conquered!"

"Yichang, conquered!"

Kong Zhangyu had no expression, turned two cups upside down, and the seat was agitated.

Xue Shao discussed in a low voice:

"Wang Yang's soldiers are thin, so he abandoned the defense of the whole gorge, and the decisive battle should be at the mouth of the gorge."

Tao Rui shook his head:

"The mouth of the gorge is narrow and cannot decide the land army, but can decide the water army a little. However, the struggle for victory or defeat is still in the land army. The land army's momentum is not fixed, and the water army dare not decide first."

Chen Qiming said firmly:

"Although Li Jingxuan has broken several cities in a row, Wang Yang must have hidden soldiers in some place in the gorge that is not easy to find, to ambush Li's retreat! The top priority should be to send an army to search the way back!"

When Chen Qiming spoke, he deliberately did not lower his voice, just to let Li Jingxuan hear it and give him a reminder.

But who knew Li Jingxuan acted as if he didn't hear it at all, with no reaction.

Xue Shao, Tao Rui, and others all laughed.

Xue Shao teased:

"Chen thinks that hiding soldiers is like scattering beans, just scattering them into any bush, and you can hide soldiers?"

Tao Rui laughed and said:

"You are indeed a talent for documents!"

Chen Qiming's face changed greatly!

Chen Qiming had experienced being ridiculed by the gentry many times, but this time it was particularly painful! Especially that sentence "talent for documents"! It hurts!!!

Originally, he was in charge of confidential documents, official dispatches, and case files, which was a major matter! But in that situation, Wang Yang's sentence "talent for documents" belittled all his talent. This mouth is really poisonous!!!

Guo Wenyuan explained:

"Brother Chen doesn't know, there is a fixed number of soldiers stationed in the Gorge River Road. Li Jingxuan is advancing by water and land, fighting all the way to the mouth of the gorge, so there is no problem of hiding soldiers. The only thing to guard against is a few key places, which is also the reason why Li Jingxuan hit Zigui, Wucheng, etc. Now that the key places have all been pulled by Li Jingxuan, the retreat is clear."

Chen Qiming was very ashamed. He didn't know geography, so he only understood the general meaning. It belongs to knowing the result but not the reason, but in front of so many colleagues, he didn't ask again, so as not to be ridiculed.

Chen Qiming thought he just didn't know geography, so he made a wrong judgment, but when it comes to the method of using soldiers, whether it is ambush soldiers to cut off food paths or concentrating troops, blocking the gorge, and attacking halfway, he still knows a lot.

It's just that the imagination is full, and the reality is skinny. The real situation is that in terms of military affairs, Chen Qiming belongs to the bottom among the Prince of Badong's confidant advisors, but Chen Qiming himself doesn't know it.

So except for Chen Qiming, no one dared to challenge Wang Yang's discussion of soldiers, because real experts know the depth at a glance. It's like formulating a combat plan in the staff headquarters in modern warfare. Those who understand don't need to look much, just look at the "guidance plan" or "enemy situation judgment" to know the level. But if outsiders look at it, it is inevitable to be confused and not get the point.

Chen Qiming is also like this, having neither the military talent of others, nor having led soldiers to fight like the Prince of Badong, so he gained limited knowledge from Wang Yang's discussion. Although he also thought Wang Yang was powerful, he felt that Wang Yang just said how important the terrain was. Ignorant and fearless, so he dared to question on the spot. This is the truth of the newborn calf not fearing the tiger.

Li Jingxuan broke Zigui and Yichang in a row, but he didn't show any color on his face. After pondering for a while, he said:

"The large army stops, 3,000 people occupy Mount Maan, 3,000 people occupy Mount Tianzhu."

(Not the Mount Maan of Anhui today, the place names written in this book are all ancient place names at that time, just like Yichang in the previous chapter is not Yichang today, belonging to the same name but different places. Of course, there are also cases where ancient and modern place names coincide, such as Zigui, which has the same name and the same place)

Kong Zhangyu said:

"Maan, Tianzhu, are not conquered!"

Everyone was moved!

Li Jingxuan's eyes sank.

Xue Shao muttered to himself:

"Guessed wrong, it turns out he didn't abandon the gorge..."

Guo Wenyuan speculated:

"Perhaps Wang Yang wants to use these mountains to fight a tug-of-war."

Tao Rui looked at the Prince of Badong who was looking at the map, and tentatively asked:

"Prince, the subordinate has unclear points about the terrain here, I don't know if it is convenient..."

The Prince of Badong was bending over to find the location of Mount Tianzhu, and didn't look up, just beckoned.

Tao Rui immediately stepped forward and watched the map with the Prince of Badong.

Xue Shao also deliberated and opened his mouth:

"Prince, can you allow the subordinate to also..."

The Prince of Badong looked up, seeing everyone stretching their necks like cranes, eyes burning, and smiled:

"Forget it, it's not as good as everyone having fun together."

Then he ordered people to move the table to the hall, opposite the long table between Wang Yang and Li Jingxuan. He walked down from the main seat, stood by the table, looked at the map for a few times, raised his eyes puzzledly and said:

"Come over!"

Everyone was like getting an edict, immediately stepped forward and surrounded into a semi-circle.

The Prince of Badong asked:

"Where is Mount Tianzhu?"

Guo Wenyuan took the lead and pointed at the map:

"Here, thirty-five miles northwest of Yiling, west of Xiamabe."

The Prince of Badong asked again:

"Why is it called Mount Tianzhu? Is it very high?"

Guo Wenyuan guessed it was like this, but he didn't know the truth, so he didn't dare to answer rashly.

Xue Shao answered:

"This mountain is not a high mountain among the gorge mountains, but it has three peaks like pillars rushing to the sky, so it is called Tianzhu. After passing this mountain, the mountain situation is slightly slower."

The Prince of Badong nodded, looking at the map:

"Li Jingxuan is preparing to attack Xialao..."

Tao Rui praised:

"Prince is wise! Li Jingxuan is afraid of being lured by Wang Yang, so he is cautious. He also does a long-term momentum, relying on the danger of the two mountains as a fence, so defense has reliance, and fighting has sharpness."

The Prince of Badong was enlightened, looked at the advisors, raised his eyebrows and smiled:

"Watching the battle alone is boring, it's interesting to watch and discuss together!"

Everyone agreed, predicting Li Jingxuan's response, and guessing whether Wang Yang would cross the river with iron chains and chisel rocks to cut off the flow.

Chen Qiming was infected by the atmosphere, and wanted to say several times that Li Jingxuan divided his troops to show weakness, why only send 3,000 people to attack, isn't this adding oil? He should combine the large army together, first attack Mount Maan, then occupy Mount Tianzhu.

However, Chen Qiming finally endured and didn't say it.

First, Wang Yang's "talent for documents" left Chen Qiming with psychological shadows, plus the ridicule of Xue Shao and Tao Rui before, making Chen Qiming's courage not as strong as before. Second, although he didn't realize that he actually didn't know soldiers, he saw such an obvious problem, but no one from the Prince of Badong to his colleagues pointed it out, which likely meant that the problem was not Li Jingxuan, but himself.

However, where is the problem?

In fact, the principle of concentrating troops that Chen Qiming thought of, if used as a general principle of war, was not wrong. Sun Tzu's Art of War says: "I concentrate as one, the enemy divides into ten, so I use ten to attack one." Liddell Hart said: "Almost all war principles—not just one—can be reduced to one term, and that is 'concentration'." (Strategy, Chapter 20)

But whether it is "concentrating as one" or "concentration," it refers to "momentum"—that is, creating a victory of momentum at the strategic level or at a certain tactical point: my strong momentum, hitting the enemy's weak momentum. It does not mean piling everyone together.

When the number of soldiers commanded reaches a certain scale, the practice of piling all soldiers together to take unified action is, in many cases, neither wise nor realistic.

Sometimes terrain conditions make it impossible for a large army to deploy; sometimes the limitation of the contact front makes the extra battle lines useless; sometimes marching must first make probing attacks to clarify the enemy situation; sometimes there are multiple battle lines and tactical points in the same local space, and you must divide your troops to prevent yourself from falling into a disadvantage.

As for luring the enemy to surround and annihilate, containment and surprise attacks, or what Clausewitz called "achieving more results" and "expanding the theater of war" (Chapter 9 of "On War"), etc., it is even more necessary to divide troops and advance. Especially considering the speed of marching, the difficulty of supplies, the state of morale, and the degree of fatigue, dividing troops is in many cases a necessity, not a choice. Tens of thousands of people march together; the front engages in battle, the rear does not know, and those who are lucky know but cannot advance, only waiting in vain, wasting energy. Those who are unlucky spread panic, are counter-attacked by defeated soldiers, and trample on each other.

In the history of war, it is common to see multiple paths advancing together. Those who don't know soldiers think this is the commander's incompetence and stupid division of troops, but they don't know that the large army's action is bloated and sluggish, and it is easy to become an isolated army. One failure, then the big event is gone. And multiple paths advancing together, both dividing the enemy's momentum and creating battle opportunities, if coordinated properly, can achieve strategic effects several times better than a single isolated army.

Therefore, in some cases, dispersion is concentration; and concentration is dispersion.

Li Jingxuan ordered the large army to stop, garrisoned the ramparts on the north and south banks, pondered for a moment, looked at Wang Yang, his eyes scrutinizing:

"I don't believe you dare to put all your soldiers on these few mountains."

Wang Yang held his teacup, looking calm:

"Try it."

Li Jingxuan sneered:

"Bluffing!"

Then he threw six chopsticks, his voice loud:

"3,000 people garrison east of Mount Tianzhu, 5,000 people garrison west of Mount Maan, 3,000 water soldiers enter Xiamabe, 3,000 people attack Mount Shi Bi! 3,000 water soldiers enter the west bank of Mount Duanjiang! 3,000 people attack Mount Duanjiang! 3,000 people enter the south of Mount Duanjiang to set up camp!"

Kong Zhangyu turned three more cups:

"Xiamabe, conquered! Mount Shi Bi, conquered! Mount Duanjiang, conquered!"

Guo Wenyuan blurted out:

"Great courage!"

In this situation, he dared to use 3,000 people to attack Mount Duanjiang! If it were himself using soldiers, he would definitely not dare to do so.

Tao Rui looked at Li Jingxuan, his eyes showing a different color: This person uses soldiers, corresponding to each other, actually without flaws! And so familiar with the terrain, a cold person, where did he get such great ability?

Xue Shao gasped:

"This is blocking reinforcements, dividing, and cutting off the retreat. Wang Yang's soldiers on those two mountains are finished..."

The Prince of Badong also hissed:

"Li Gongyu has a bit of momentum in using soldiers!"

Then he looked at Wang Yang, with a provocative playfulness:

"You are sending heads!"

Wang Yang laughed:

"Even if I want to send them, he must have the ability to take them."

Li Jingxuan raised his eyebrows:

"I'm coming to take them! The first camp of the large army (already stationed, so called the first camp) 3,000 people, combined with the garrison west of Mount Maan, Xiamabe water army, Mount Shi Bi army, attack Mount Maan from four sides! The second camp 3,000, combined with the garrison east of Mount Tianzhu, the water army on the west bank of Mount Duanjiang, the army south of Mount Duanjiang, combine to break Mount Tianzhu!"

The attack is like thunder, the momentum becomes an iron bucket!

Even the direction of the previous advance was set for this step, so it could suddenly become an iron wall without a gap!

Everyone stared, all staring at Kong Zhangyu!

Kong Zhangyu turned two cups upside down:

"Mount Maan, pulled! Mount Tianzhu, pulled!"

Li Jingxuan laughed!

Everyone applauded, including Wang Yang.

Li Jingxuan was proud, and suddenly frowned:

"Both battles have results, why don't you say the number of enemies killed?"

Kong Zhangyu took out several papers of Wang Yang's handwritten strategy from the box, unfolded them and read:

"When they first hit Mount Maan and Mount Tianzhu, they were not conquered. The defenders of the two mountains immediately retreated, leaving only empty camp flags."

Everyone was stunned!

Wang Yang put down his teacup, his expression calm:

"Is there more?"

Kong Zhangyu was stunned, scanned quickly, turned over a page, his gaze suddenly condensed, a bit dazed:

"There is indeed more..."

He paused, didn't read it out immediately, but raised his head, looked at Wang Yang deeply, and then read:

"They should first conquer Mount Duanjiang and Shi Bi, then return to the army, and attack Mount Maan and Mount Tianzhu from four sides. The key point of Mount Duanjiang is in front, they must garrison it. When they gather the crowd to surround the mountain, the defenders of the two mountains will immediately return to attack Mount Duanjiang, taking advantage of their initial occupation, and break the garrison of Mount Duanjiang!"

Kong Zhangyu finished reading, and in the eyes of everyone's shock, he took back the black chopstick that Li Jingxuan had placed on the cup representing Mount Duanjiang, and then turned the cup back upright, tapping the edge of the cup with his knuckles:

"Garrison broken! Mount Duanjiang, restored!" ===== CHAPTER 365 =====