Chapter 211

"First, separate Han Xin's army from Li Yuanba!"

"Our great Xiongnu army will be responsible for surrounding Han Xin's hundred thousand troops, preventing them from supporting Li Yuanba!"

"And you experts from the Central Plains will be responsible for dealing with Li Yuanba, preventing him from supporting Han Xin's army!"

"In the terms of your Central Plains' art of war, this is called dividing and destroying!"

"Of these two methods, which one do you agree with more?"

As he spoke, he posed the question!

The Mohist Master frowned and said, "Based on my understanding of Li Yuanba, this man possesses a strength of forty thousand jin, wields a pair of hammers, and never knows fatigue!"

"Furthermore, what this person excels at most is mass combat; charging and killing through hundreds of thousands of troops is like chopping melons and slicing vegetables for him!"

"Precisely because of this, numbers hold not even the slightest advantage before Li Yuanba; on the contrary, they become a burden!"

"After all... no matter how many of you there are, the ones Li Yuanba actually comes into direct contact with each time number only a few dozen, at most a hundred!"

"Any more than that cannot generate an advantage; on the contrary, due to formation issues, it will cause crushing and trampling, making it impossible to unleash the advantages of a great army!"

"Therefore, rushing up all at once is definitely not feasible; this not only limits the advantages of the great Xiongnu army but also makes it difficult for us to exert our own advantages!"

The Master explained.

Xiang Yu nodded and said, "Correct, too many people will indeed limit our performance; after all, Li Yuanba is just one person, and while we are killing Li Yuanba, we might accidentally injure the great Xiongnu army!"

"Moreover, since these people are cooperating for the first time, a lack of tacit understanding between both sides is inevitable; therefore, I also do not recommend that the great Xiongnu army join forces with us people from the Central Plains!"

"Furthermore, I believe that to kill Li Yuanba, the number of people should not be too large; ten thousand men, fighting in echelons, would be optimal!"

"The more experts, the better!"

The two of them spoke together!

Upon hearing these words, Chanyu Modu Chanyu Chanyu Modu could not help but express his admiration!

Among these experts from the Central Plains, there are indeed formidable figures!

The arguments put forth by the Master and Xiang Yu represent combat experience that our Xiongnu people summarized only after fighting Li Yuanba many times!

As for Xiang Yu, it is understandable, since he has at least crossed blades with Li Yuanba before!

But the Master, merely through understanding the situation, perceived all of this.

At that moment, he could not help but bow and pay respects to the Master:

"Then, according to your words, separating Li Yuanba from Han Xin's hundred thousand troops is the best course?"

The Master pondered and said:

"This is feasible, but the problem is, how should we separate Li Yuanba from Han Xin's great army?"

Xiang Yu said, "The art of war states: 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles.' King of the Xiongnu, our greatest problem now lies not only in not knowing the enemy but even more in not knowing ourselves!"

"Nowadays, among us, whose martial prowess is the highest, what each person specializes in, as well as the terrain of your Xiongnu grasslands—we know nothing about any of this!"

"Under such circumstances, how can we fight?"

"How can we separate Han Xin and Li Yuanba?"

"If we cannot even separate the two of them, how can we execute Li Yuanba?"

"Therefore, the most urgent task right now is to first gain understanding!"

Xiang Yu spoke.

And when these words were uttered, the eyes of the Xiongnu King, Chanyu Modu Chanyu Chanyu Modu, once again sparkled with brilliance!

At this moment, he could not help but begin to regard Xiang Yu with new seriousness!

Previously, he only thought that since Xiang Yu's four hundred thousand troops were defeated by Li Yuanba, this person probably lacked any real ability!

But... after truly encountering Li Yuanba, he felt that Xiang Yu's defeat at Li Yuanba's hands did not seem disgraceful; in fact, he even felt a bit of admiration for Xiang Yu!

After all... not only did Xiang Yu break out by sheer force from the encirclement of Li Yuanba, Meng Wu, Meng Tian, and Wang Ben's three hundred thousand troops, but he also led over ten thousand people out with him!

And now, after hearing Xiang Yu's remarks, he was even more shocked!

This person is absolutely no mediocre talent; he understands the way of leading armies!

Yet equally, he did not hesitate for a moment, immediately ordering someone to present the map of the grasslands.

Furthermore, he arranged for a specialist to explain the current situation of both sides to everyone present!

As well as those important rivers, grasslands, mountain ranges, and herding groups, and so on!

The person he arranged explained all of this with extreme clarity!

And after staring at the map for a while, Xiang Yu directly pointed to a location: "Here, the Chakeqin Pasture!"

"This place is definitely where Han Xin intends to occupy!"

"Because... the slogan Ying Su has raised this time is the extermination of the Xiongnu!"

"And to exterminate the Xiongnu, one must necessarily kill all the Xiongnu people; the Chakeqin Pasture is the largest pasture north of the Guhe River!"

"Here live a full six hundred thousand nomadic people, guarded by two hundred thousand troops!"

"Therefore, if I were Han Xin, my next move would definitely be to attack this place!"

"And to separate Han Xin from Li Yuanba, it must be done here!"

He spoke, and at that moment, his eyes sparkled with light!

Even some Xiongnu Generals, upon hearing these words, felt shocked!

Shocked?

Shocked by what?

Of course, they were shocked that Xiang Yu had actually predicted Han Xin's direction of attack in advance!

Could it be... that during the more than month they fought against Han Xin, they had not made any predictions?

Of course they made predictions, but to tell the truth, they could not predict it!

The reason behind this, when explained, is quite absurd!

Because... for hundreds and thousands of years, although the steppe tribes had fought many battles against the Central Plains people, there were indeed those who had been defeated!

But... being invaded by foreign enemies, having foreign enemies march into the steppe!

This was the first time in history!

All along, it had been them invading the Central Plains lands to carry out plundering.

How could the Central Plains people attack the Xiongnu!

This was simply impossible!

Because the steppe was too vast, and the people were scattered; even if the Central Plains people broke in, there was nothing worth taking!

Therefore, throughout the dynasties of the Central Plains, their approach to the steppe tribes had been primarily defensive, with hardly any proper attacks ever launched!

Yet, by sheer chance, there was such a madman as Ying Su!

He not only wanted to attack the steppe, but to annihilate it!

Wasn't this nonsense?

And facing this unprecedented first time, countless Xiongnu generals were stunned!

At first, they still followed their usual tribal warfare patterns to protect those places rich in water and grass.

But after fighting for nearly two months, they discovered that Han Xin was not fighting for those places at all!

He was fighting for the rivers!

By cutting off the rivers, he forced you to fight on the territory he had already occupied!

There was no way around it.

Regarding where Han Xin intended to attack, there was truly not the slightest predictability!

But now... Xiang Yu had actually deduced it!

"Impressive!"

"Truly impressive!"

Chanyu Modu Chanyu Modu Chanyu, the Xiongnu King, looked at Xiang Yu before him, his eyes truly shining!

At the same time, he could not help but begin to ask Xiang Yu what should be done now!

"Understood!"

"Understand the combat personnel and strength of both sides!"

Xiang Yu spoke, then turned his head and looked directly at everyone present:

"Everyone, introduce your own signature skills!"

He shouted.

However, among the crowd present, not a single person paid him any attention.

Because... in their eyes, Xiang Yu was merely a fallen noble, with absolutely no right to order them!