Chapter 142

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"Admiral, the Cantonese bandits in Lu 'an still haven't come out!" The mounted scout reported to He Chun, the Jiangnan Admiral who was lying in ambush on the road from Lu' an to Mount Huo. R/>

"Continue to scout!" Admiral He Chun ordered. After the scouts left, He Chun furrowed her brows. He was deeply puzzled. Were there really Cantonese bandits in Lu 'an? Were they really the famous Cantonese bandits?

The Cantonese bandits were different from the imperial army. The imperial army always acted on their own. When they encountered a strong enemy, they would shrink back. Even when the enemy retreated, they would prioritize protecting themselves. But the Cantonese bandits were different. Even when facing a strong enemy that they could not defeat, they would choose to attack a weaker enemy. After the enemy retreated, the Cantonese bandits would certainly do their best to chase after them.

Based on this judgment, Admiral He Chun estimated that the Cantonese bandits' reinforcements were about to arrive and used the tactic of luring the enemy out of the city. He Chun had indeed received the news that a group of Cantonese bandits was coming from Mount Huo. Therefore, He Chun pretended to march in the direction of Mount Huo and pretended to attack the reinforcements first.

In He Chun's wishful thinking, after he adopted this seemingly unplanned strategy, the Cantonese bandits in Lu 'an would definitely chase after them. Admiral He Chun, who had made ample preparations for the ambush, seized the opportunity to kill the Cantonese bandits and then returned to attack Lu 'an. He could not guarantee that he would be able to conquer Lu 'an. Even if he couldn't take it down, Admiral Hechun would still have a significant advantage in the following battles.

As for the Cantonese bandits coming from Mount Huo, Admiral He Chun believed that they were the elites of the Cantonese bandits. Without any special reason, Admiral He Chun did not want to immediately engage in a bloody battle with these Cantonese bandits.

Admiral Hechun had put a lot of thought into his enemy. He had made complete preparations in terms of strategy and tactics, but this situation still exceeded Admiral Hechun's imagination. Not only did the Cantonese bandits in Lu 'an not come out, but the Cantonese bandits heading north from Mount Huo were still moving slowly but without stopping. At this time, they were less than 30 miles away from He Chun's ambush. According to the current situation, if He Chun did not come up with a new strategy, he could only pretend to be with the Cantonese bandits heading north and fight them.

"Commander, what should we do with them?" Commander Yindebu asked nervously.

He Chun also frowned. It was a good idea to set up a camp to fight the Cantonese bandits. But whether it was the Cantonese bandits in Lu 'an or the Cantonese bandits in the north, they were moving in the same pace. He Chun felt a great sense of crisis. He frowned and thought hard about how to deal with them.

Thirty miles away from He Chun's troops, Ruan Xihao stared at the map. His burning gaze seemed to burn the map, and when he spoke, his voice trembled. "Chief of General Staff, we can win as long as we charge forward!"

Wei Ze waved his hand. "Don't be in such a hurry. It takes two hands to clap. If we want to rely on our five thousand people to successfully deal with He Chun's ten thousand subordinates, we need to know what He Chun is thinking."

"Tonese," He definitely wants to win. "Ruan Xihao couldn't help but answer anxiously.

"That's right, He Chun doesn't know the difference between us, so he thinks that he might be able to win. In such a situation, how should He Chun fight in order to have the greatest chance of winning? "Wei Ze replied unhurriedly.

Ruan Xihao frowned. Deputy Chief of Staff Ju Junfeng said, "If He Chun wants to win, the best way is to split his army and attack us, or set up a camp to resist us. If he sets up a camp, we only need to temporarily hold He Chun back, then mobilize our troops to surround He Chun, and finally trap him to death. If He Chun divides his army, we can only attack one direction and cut off He Chun's fingers one by one. "

When Ju Junfeng finished, Vézé praised, "Very good. This level of analysis is enough!"

"Hey! Hey! Chief of Staff, what if He Chun doesn't divide his army and attacks us with his whole army? "Ruan Xihao asked incredulously.

"Chief of Staff Ruan, if He Chun is that simple, he would have already attacked us with his whole army! We're only 30 li away from He Chun. No matter how stupid He Chun is, he must know that we're already here. Since he's biding his time, he must be pursuing a strategy that gives him a higher chance of winning. What's the highest level of war? The highest level of war is to fight your own battles and I'll fight mine. We'll fight however we can win! Tell me, Chief of Staff Ruan, how can we win? "

After hearing Vézé's words, Ruan Xihao didn't accept it. Instead, he widened his eyes and shouted, "Chief of Staff! Of course we'll line up and have a field battle with He Chunlai. That way, we'll win. But isn't our strategy to annihilate He Chun?! In order to wipe out He Chun, we've sent all our troops to Yaoli Town. Are we going to fight He Chun with only 5,000 troops between Huo Shan and Lu An? "

"Hmm …" Vézé fell into deep thought with a troubled expression. After a while, Vézé asked, "Chief of Staff Ruan, I want to ask you a question. Which part of my words would make you think that I'm going to fight He Chun here? "

"Ah?" Ruan Xihao was dumbfounded.

Ju Junfeng suddenly laughed, "Chief of Staff, you're talking about wiping out He Chun, but you're still talking about wiping out He Chun. Therefore, it's easy for us to think that since you're going to lead the troops to fight He Chun, you're going to wipe out He Chun here. "

After hearing Ju Junfeng's explanation, Vézé turned to Ruan Xihao, "Chief of Staff Ruan, is Deputy Chief of Staff Ju your opinion?"

Ruan Xihao thought for a while and finally nodded, "That's what I think."

Vézé said seriously, "Then let me tell you, I'm not thinking from the perspective of a Chief of Staff, I'm thinking from the perspective of a commander leading 5,000 troops!"

Ruan Xihao was initially confused by Vézé, but after hearing what Vézé said, it seemed like he was blaming Ruan Xihao for being so useless that he couldn't understand Vézé's words. This made Ruan Xihao very unhappy. Even though Vézé tried his best to explain, Ruan Xihao couldn't bear to listen to him. He kept his mouth shut and did not say a word. He also did not look at Wei Ze.

Vézé continued, "If we send out our 20,000 troops, we won't be able to control the 15,000 troops at all. If we want to continue our original strategy of annihilating He Chun, then we have to complete our mission first. What's our mission? Our mission is to drive He Chun to the outskirts of Liu 'an City, then drive He Chun to the west! Finally, we'll annihilate He Chun in one fell swoop at the encirclement point we set up beforehand! So in this situation, we don't need to know what He Chun is thinking, we just need to beat He Chun back! "

After saying this, Vézé looked at Ruan Xihao. However, Ruan Xihao still lowered his head and didn't say a word, nor did he look at Vézé. Vézé was very disappointed. He knew that Ruan Xihao was emotional, and everyone would be emotional. However, Ruan Xihao's emotions alone couldn't be used as a reason to affect the entire army. "Chief of Staff Ruan, I order you to rest for a day, sleep, and have a good meal. When you recover, we'll talk about the war. "

"Why?" Ruan Xihao was stunned.

Wei Ze replied with a stern expression, "That's because your personal emotions have already taken precedence over your work, and work has brought you more emotional troubles. To put it more clearly, you can't handle the pressure now! So, I want you to relieve the pressure by sleeping, eating, and other activities. Until the pressure on your mental state is reduced to the point where you can continue to work! "

Ruan Xihao's eyes widened. "Chief of General Staff, are you trying to kick me out?"

Vézé tried to use a gentle tone and said, "I'm not driving you away, I'm just telling you to go and rest quickly. Come back to work after you rest. "

"I can still continue to work! I'm not tired! "Ruan Xihao replied stubbornly.

Vézé laughed, "Hehe. Chief of Staff Ruan, you'll be fooled by me once. Go down and have a meal, then sleep. You must eat and sleep well. Come back to work after you've eaten and slept well. You can do it if I say so, right? "

Before Ruan Xihao could say anything, Vézé shouted to the guards outside, "Guards! Send the Chief of Staff to eat and sleep well. If he doesn't eat or pretends to sleep, don't let him go back to work! Do you hear me? "

Under the "escort" of the guards, Ruan Xihao was finally taken away to rest. Deputy Chief of Staff Ju Junfeng said, "Chief of Staff, isn't this inappropriate?"

"What's inappropriate about it? I can't order him to be grounded, can I?" Vézé replied.

"But if we let the Chief of Staff rest now, what will everyone think?" Lei Hu interrupted and asked.

Vézé frowned and said, "If he doesn't go rest now, what will everyone think?"

"This …" Lei Hu didn't know what to say.

Vézé said to the people in the General Staff Department with a straight face, "Chief of Staff Ruan's mind is filled with winning the war and completing the strategy of encircling and annihilating He Chun. We can understand him thinking like this, but it's harmful to think like this. Sun Wu, the great military strategist. Thousands of years ago, people said that victory can be known, but it can't be done. After the war, we'll know whether we win or lose. But we haven't even fought the war, and we're already walking on the path of winning the war. I think that's going down the wrong path. Victory and defeat are things that have already happened. Things that haven't happened can't be evaluated. "

Lei Hu had also learned Sun Tzu's Art of War. Every student would try their best to learn how to win a war. Hearing Vézé's words, he couldn't help but retort, "Isn't Sun Wu's book supposed to teach people how to win a war?"

Vézé replied, "Sun Wu's book teaches people what war is and how to fight a war. He really didn't teach people how to win a war. "

"If you know yourself and your enemy, you can win every battle …" Lei Hu replied.