Chapter Twenty: Deception

  "Please, Lord Lu, convey to Commander Fan that in ten days, the Report National Army will forever be the vanguard of the Eastern Capital's Pacification Army. I, a humble man, will not die on the battlefield, but instead bring back victorious news to Commander Fan."

  This was Chen Yingliang's reply to Fan Zigai's request for him to lead the army into battle, and with this sentence he sent off Lu Chu, then immediately returned to the Baoguo Army troops who were in training, continuing to personally lead the Baoguo Army officers in strict training. His calm and confident demeanor made Lu Chu, who had a certain appreciation for Chen Yingliang, feel both admiration and concern at the same time, as well as a strong sense of anticipation, hoping that the ten days would pass quickly so he could soon witness the performance of the Baoguo Army on the battlefield, and also verify through actual combat whether Chen Yingliang, this young man who had been reused in the fire line of the Eastern Capital's defense, really had any true talent or learning.

  Lu Chuxin was anxious, and Chen Yingliang himself was also anxious. Although the current Baoguo Army had made significant improvements in morale and fighting spirit, and its organizational discipline was perfect among all the defending troops in Luoyang City, it still had a huge gap with the first-line elite Sui army in terms of individual combat effectiveness. Moreover, the number of soldiers was too small, and Chen Yingliang himself had only 423 people in his inner circle, while the latest number of rebel troops had already exceeded 60,000. If Yang Xuangan were to surround and attack the Baoguo Army on the battlefield at all costs, even if the morale of the Baoguo Army was high and their fighting spirit was strong, they would still be annihilated.

  The main reason why Chen Yingliang spoke out of his mind was another message introduced by Lu Chu, that is, the news that Wei Xuan, the commander-in-chief of Daxing, personally led 40,000 troops to advance eastward to reinforce Luoyang. Although Chen Yingliang had forgotten the process and outcome of the battle between Wei Xuan and Yang Xuangan's rebel army, so many Sui troops came to rescue, Yang Xuangan would not ignore it, and would definitely send his main force to fight against Wei Xuan's reinforcement army. The pressure on the eastern capital from the rebel army will be greatly reduced, and Yang Xuangan may even use a small amount of secondary troops to contain the already frightened eastern capital garrison, concentrating all the elite main forces to advance westward to block Wei Xuan. In this case, the Baoguo Army would go out of the city again to fight against the rebels, which would undoubtedly increase many chances of winning.

  Also because of this analysis, Chen Yingliang dared to raise his head and speak wildly to Lu Chuyi, who was sent by Fan Zigai. At the same time, Chen Yingliang couldn't help but secretly pray in his heart that Yang Xuangan would send his main force westward to actively battle Wei Xuan, and not come up with the idea of fighting against the Sui army under the city of Dongdu, otherwise the 400-strong Baoguo army would be doomed.

  Chen Yingliang's good fortune after arriving in Luoyang seemed to have reached its peak. Three days later, with the Sui army's reinforcements gradually closing in, the rebel main force launched another strong attack on the East Capital's Anxi Gate on the fourth day's morning, and even deployed two newly-made large-scale battering rams. The battle was extremely fierce, lasting from dawn to noon, with no signs of retreat from the rebel troops, who even climbed onto the city wall of Anxi Gate at one point. The large battering ram almost broke through the gate, forcing Fan Zigai to personally direct the battle at Anxi Gate and deploy Liu Changgong's reserve troops stationed in Beishi.

  When the shout of killing was heard at Anxi Gate, Chen Yingliang had already organized the Baoguo Army to prepare for battle and reinforce Anxi Gate. However, just in time, cheers erupted from the Anxi Gate side, as the fire torches and oil pots thrown by the Dongdu garrison finally burned down the last siege engine of the rebel army. With morale greatly boosted, Liu Changgong led the reserve troops to drown more than 20 rebel soldiers who had rushed up the city wall with a human wave tactic, retaking the city wall position. Yang Xuangan was forced to order the retreat without being able to prepare many siege weapons, and the Dongdu garrison narrowly regained victory in defending the city. At the same time, the Baoguo Army did not immediately go into battle with the main rebel forces.

  Although once again blocked the rebel army's attack on the city, after the war

  The casualty statistics, however, enraged Fan Zigai and Huang Fuyi, among other high-ranking officials in the Eastern Capital. Despite having absolute geographical advantages, the casualties of the defending troops were almost as many as those of the rebel army. This was partly due to the fact that the rebel army had captured a large number of bows and arrows in the Golden City. However, when more than 20 rebel soldiers rushed up to the city wall and engaged in close combat with the defenders, they inflicted three times or more casualties on the defending troops. Moreover, over 30 deserting soldiers were killed by the disciplinary squad's swords and axes. The lack of courage among the defending officers and men was not only obvious but also extremely severe, causing Fan Zigai and Huang Fuyi to be extremely worried. They feared that if the rebel army managed to build a cloud ladder car, allowing their soldiers to quickly climb up the city wall in large numbers, it would be uncertain whether the defending troops could retake the city wall positions as they had done today.

  At the same time that Fan Zigai and other high-ranking officials in Dongdu were worried, Chen Yingliang was full of doubts in the military camp, really couldn't understand what Yang Xuangan meant by launching an attack on the city today. If Yang Xuangan could build large-scale siege vehicles, why not prepare more heavy-duty siege weapons or even fill up the moat and then launch an attack? Why did he start a fierce battle again when preparations were clearly insufficient? If it was to avenge his previous defeat, Yang Xuangan should have launched a strong attack on the Chunmen Gate. Attacking the Anxi Gate would not wash away the humiliation he suffered at the Chunmen Gate! So Chen Yingliang came up with two conclusions: one is that Yang Xuangan's brain had gone bad and wanted to give the Dongdu defenders experience points to level up, and the other is that Yang Xuangan had ulterior motives for doing so.

  There are still many doubts and conclusions that are useless. With Chen Yingliang's current identity and status, he is not qualified to participate in the decision-making meeting of the Dongdu Guardian Army, nor can he let Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi, the decision-makers of the Dongdu Guardian Army, listen to his words and follow him. Therefore, Chen Yingliang can only do his best to improve the morale and cohesion of the Baoguo Army on the one hand, and try to understand the military situation outside the city through Pei Hongce and Lu Chu's channels on the other hand, so as to analyze and guess the true intentions of the rebel army.

  On the fifth day, in the morning, the rebel army again sent out more than 3,000 troops to come to Anxi Gate and challenge the defenders to battle, using insults and offers of surrender in an attempt to provoke the defending soldiers into coming out of the city to fight.

  The war, the defenders who had already been frightened out of their wits did not dare to respond, hiding on the city wall and trembling with fear. There were only a few soldiers among the defenders who dared to open their mouths to scold the rebels - these defending soldiers were not fools either. The momentum of the rebel army in recent days was so fierce that no one could guarantee that the East Capital City Wall could stop the advance of the rebel army. If they provoked the rebels now, when the time came, there would be no chance for them to surrender and save their lives.

  It may be because of the failure to scold the garrison, in order to further infuriate the garrison troops in Dongdu, the rebel army also greatly strengthened the intensity of the scout battle, sending out a large number of cavalry to crazily kill the scouts sent by the Dongdu garrison to investigate the enemy situation outside the city. In less than a day, more than 20 garrison scouts were killed under the knife of the rebels, and many more garrison scouts were chased back into the city like rabbits being hunted by wolves. For a whole day, not a single scout from Dongdu was able to approach the rebel camp within ten miles.

  On the sixth day, the rebel army repeated its tactics and sent troops to challenge the Eastern Capital again, while continuing to annihilate the scouts sent by the Eastern Capital's garrison. Only one scout managed to get close to the rebel army's main base in Jinyuan City and obtained information that the rebel army was still stationed there. However, this time, Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wei, who had been fooled by false reports before, did not dare to believe it easily. They interrogated the scout severely and also sent scouts out of the city at night to investigate the enemy's situation and monitor the movements of the rebel army's main force.

  On the seventh day, the rebels came to challenge the city again. By noon, several scouts who had gone out of the city the night before returned one after another, bringing news that they had seen Yang Xuangan's commander flag still flying over Jinying City, confirming this information, Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuqi let out a sigh of relief, and hastily sent several messengers to Tongguan in the direction of, contacting Wei Xuan's army which was rushing to Dongdu to reinforce, reporting that the main force of the rebels was still being held back at Dongdu.

  On the eighth day, there were less than three days left before Wei Xuan's relief army arrived in Dongdu. It was also the thirteenth day since the establishment of the Baoguo Army. The rebel troops still came to the outside of Anxi Gate as usual for a skirmish, with a force of about 3,000 people, but they did not carry siege weapons and make a show of strength. After personally inspecting the situation at Anxi Gate, Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi, senior officials of Dongdu, breathed a sigh of relief. They also remembered that in three days' time, they would lead the Baoguo Army out of the city to fight as vanguard. On an impulse, they came together to the camp of the Baoguo Army to inspect their training situation.

  It was unexpected for Fan Zige and Huangfu Wu to see that when they arrived at the military camp of the Report National Army, the army had stopped training, which was rare. More than 400 people sat on the ground in the scorching sun, facing a large blackboard, motionless. Chen Yingliang, wearing full armor, stood in front of the blackboard, using a bamboo stick to point and explain, "The Battle of Jixian fought by Han Xin was able to win with weakness and fewness because of two key tactics: one is to put oneself in a desperate situation and then survive, arraying troops with their backs to the water so that the Han army had no way to retreat and could only fight to the death."

  "The second tactic to capture the heart was set up by Han Xin with these 2,000 ambush troops. I mentioned earlier that the terrain around Jingxing is not suitable for ambushes, and the Zhao army's forces were more than five times that of the Han army. Even if the 2,000 ambush troops attacked the Zhao army's flank, it would be difficult to turn defeat into victory, at most they could only disrupt part of the Zhao army. However, Han Xin had these 2,000 ambush troops sneak into the Zhao army's camp and fill it with Han army red flags, achieving a far better effect than directly attacking the Zhao army! As for why this achieved a better effect, you can think about it: if you were away from home and suddenly saw your village on fire with thick smoke rising, wouldn't you be anxious? Wouldn't you want to rush back home to check the situation? The Zhao army experienced such panic during close combat with the Han army. Han Xin wanted to win without a fight, do you understand?"

  "Understood!" More than 400 soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army replied in unison.

  "I understand." Chen Yingliang nodded in satisfaction and said loudly: "As for Zhao Jun's main general..."

  "What mistakes were made in this great war? Why did the tactic of Ma Chao imitating Han Xin fail miserably? I'll explain it to you later. Now, rise and pay respects to Governor Fan and General Huangfu!"

  "Yes!" More than 400 soldiers of the Reporting Army sang in unison, standing up straight, then knelt down on one knee together towards Fan Ziga and others who had walked to the blackboard, clasped their fists and shouted: "Greetings to Governor Fan! Greetings to General Huangfu!"

  "I pay respects to Governor Fan, I pay respects to General Huangfu, and I pay respects to all the esteemed gentlemen." Chen Yingliang also made a single-knee bow to Fan Zigai and others.

  They looked at the report of the national army, which was still fully armed and moving in an orderly manner under the scorching sun, and then looked at the Han Dynasty's Jixian Great Battle indication map painted by Chen Yingliang on the blackboard. Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi nodded in satisfaction, and then Fan Zigai said, "At ease."

  "Thank you, General!" Chen Yingliang replied loudly, standing up straight.

  "Thank you, Commander!" More than 400 soldiers of the Reporting National Army replied in unison and loudly, like a thunderclap on flat ground. They stood up simultaneously, their movements standard and uniform, as if more than 400 people were one person.

  "In just over a dozen days, he can train an army's formation and discipline to this level. This kid really has his own way." Fan Zigai praised quietly, then smiled and asked Chen Yingliang: "Why didn't you have training today?"

  "Report to General Fan, in three days our army will go out of the city and fight the enemy. In order for the officers and soldiers to get some rest and build up their strength, from today on I have reduced the intensity of training and only did a third of the usual training." Chen Yingliang replied loudly.

  "What does this mean?" Huang Pu asked with a smile, pointing at the blackboard made of wood and painted with earth pigment.

  "Reporting to General Huang Fu, in order for the officers and men to become familiar with the battlefield, to know what is most important on the battlefield, what can be done and what cannot be done, and also to cultivate grassroots talents for the Right Wuwei, I have selected several battles from previous dynasties to give them tactical lectures." Chen Yingliang replied loudly: "The battle explained earlier was the Battle of Jixian, tomorrow we plan to explain the Battle of Feishui, and the day after tomorrow we will explain the defense of Heifei New City by Zhang Te during the Cao Wei period!"

  "Zhang Te's defense of Hefei New City?" Huangfu Wu Yi was somewhat surprised, and laughed: "I wouldn't have thought that a young fellow like you, only seventeen years old, would know about such an obscure battle - you must have read a lot of history books and military texts in your spare time!"

  "Your Majesty, when I was young, my family's situation was still good, and I had read a lot of history books and military books." Chen Yingliang replied.

  Huang Pu's smile was even more relieved, and he wiped away the sweat that had been brought out by the sun. Huang Pu, who was not in good physical condition, found it difficult to endure such a long period of exposure to the sun, so he said: "Since we're letting the soldiers rest, let's not have them continue to bask in the sun. Let them disperse and rest instead. We can find a shady spot to sit down and talk."

  "Thanks, General Huangfu!" Chen Yingliang bowed his hands in gratitude, then turned to the soldiers of the Baoguo Army and shouted: "Disperse, rest."

  "Kill the rebels and pacify the bandits! Loyalty to the country!" More than 400 soldiers of the Reporting Country Army shouted in unison, then saluted Chen Yingliang and Huangfu Wu Yi in unison, before dispersing their formation to rest in a shaded area. Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wu Yi nodded slightly again, extremely satisfied with the organizational discipline displayed by the Reporting Country Army.

  Accompanying the ailing Huangfu Wu Yi and the nearly seventy-year-old Fan Ziga, they arrived at a shaded area near the camp. Chen Yingliang originally wanted to have someone set up seats for Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wu Yi, but Fan Zigai waved his hand to stop him, saying: "No need to sit down, we still have official business, let's just talk for a bit and then leave. I heard that you drove some soldiers out of the Reporting-to-the-Country Army, is this true?"

  "Report to Commander Fan, there is this matter. I have successively expelled eleven people from the Baoguo Army." Chen Yingliang replied: "Some of them could not bear the strict requirements of the Baoguo Army and were lazy in military law. Three of them were dissatisfied with being demoted to soldiers and spoke out of turn, affecting the morale of the troops. I heavily punished each of them with twenty military clubs and drove them out of the Baoguo Army!"

  "Well done! I, the old man, support you. In the future, if there's a similar situation, don't hesitate to follow military law and take action. I'll back you up." Fan Zigai praised him with one sentence, then asked: "Do you want me to supplement some soldiers for you, to fill up two battalions?"

  "Thank you, General Xie," Chen Yingliang said with gratitude. He shook his head and continued, "But it's not necessary, in three days I will lead the army into battle, and the new recruits who have just arrived won't have time to train."

  "Also." Fanzi

  He nodded and said, "Three days later, we'll see about that. Unless something unexpected happens, the reinforcements from the Minister of Justice, Wei Wensheng, will arrive at the East Capital in three days. At that time, we must send troops to respond, and attack Yang's rebels from both inside and outside, and break them together. At that time, I'll say it again, this volunteer army you've trained will definitely be the vanguard."

  "Please rest assured, Lord Fan, I will not let you down." Chen Yingliang replied with a bow and then carefully asked: "I dare to ask the Lord one more question, has Yang's rebel army made any moves to march west to meet the Da Xing reinforcement troops?"

  "What are you asking this for?" Fan Zige was somewhat displeased and said: "Isn't it a crime to pry into military secrets, don't you know that?"

  "You're going to die." Chen Yingliang hastily apologized and said more cautiously: "I just think there's something unusual, Yang's rebel army has been challenging us outside Anxi Gate for four days in a row, our army has always refused to respond, but Yang never gives up this action. I'm worried that Yang's rebel army is playing a trick of 'making a false appearance in the east while attacking in the west', so I couldn't help but ask about the movement of the enemy's main force."

  "Feigning east and striking west?" Fan Zigei slightly paused, then asked on his own initiative: "How did Yang Jisheng play the trick of feigning east and striking west?"

  "Every day, they pretend to fight below the city, creating the illusion that their main force is still on the battlefield in Luoyang. Then, under cover of darkness, they divide their troops and set up ambushes along the route our reinforcements must take, launching a surprise attack on our relief forces." Chen Yingliang explained.

  Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi's faces both changed slightly, Chen Yingliang observed their expressions and continued to say: "Fan Zongguan, Huangfu Jiangjun, I dare to ask another question that is not a military secret. To ask the Minister of Defense Wei to go west to rescue Dongdu, did he take the Heyang Road on the north bank of the Yellow River or the Lingxing Road on the south bank of the Yellow River?"

  "We're taking the Huanhua Road on the south bank." Huangfu Wu Yi replied smoothly.

  "What?! Take the Xuanhuang Road?" Chen Yingliang was shocked, "Why does Wei Shangshu want to take this road? Why not take the Heyang Road on the north bank?"

  "Why take the road to Heyang?" Fan Zigai asked discontentedly, "Taking the road to Heyang not only makes the journey longer, but also requires crossing the Yellow River twice. The bandits can easily guard the river and it's more convenient to take the direct route through Tongguan Pass."

  "But the Mengjin Road is dangerous!" Chen Yingliang explained: "This time, I came from the west to the east and joined the army. I walked on the Mengjin Road and personally witnessed the narrowness and danger of the road. There are many places where ambushes can be set up everywhere. Now our Luoyang army is trapped in the city by the rebels and cannot stop or destroy Yang's rebel army from setting up ambushes. It's even difficult to investigate whether Yang's rebel army has set up an ambush on Mengjin Road. Although it's convenient for Wei Shangshu's reinforcements to take this road, it's extremely dangerous. It's not as safe as taking the Heyang Road on the north bank of the Yellow River. Because both Heyang City and Henan County are under the control of the imperial court, a large rebel army cannot cross the river without being detected by our Henan army. Yang naturally cannot set up an ambush."

  Fan Ziga and Huangfu Wuyi's faces changed again, they looked at each other and Fan Ziga said with some relief: "Fortunately, we can confirm that Yang's main force is still in Jinyong City, and the possibility of Wei Wensheng being ambushed is not great."

  Chen Yingliang, being naturally deceitful and suspicious, did not dare to be careless, and hastily cupped his hands in greeting, solemnly saying: "Fang Zai Shou, Huangfu General, for the sake of the imperial court's 40,000-strong army, I, a humble person, will once again take the risk of asking, how do you confirm that Yang Jiao's main force is still in Jin'gang City?"

  "Of course, it was through scouting." Huangfu Wu Yi replied readily, briefly introducing the situation of the scouts outside the city for the past few days to Chen Ying Liang, and also mentioning that Yang Xuan's commander flag was still fluttering on the head of Jinyong City.

  "So, Lord Fan and General Huangfu, you think that Yang Xuangan's rebel flag is still in Jinyong City, which means the main force of the rebels is also still in Jinyong City." Chen Yingliang's face was extremely solemn as he said: "But, Lord Fan, General Huangfu, have you considered whether that flag might be a deliberate trick by Yang Xuangan to deceive our scouts? I recall that during the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao used a similar tactic, using a fake flag to tie down Yuan Shao's army in Hebei Province, while Cao Cao himself launched a surprise attack on Xuzhou and eliminated Liu Bei as a threat."

  A single word awakened the dreamer, and Fan Zige and Huangfu Wuyi's faces suddenly changed completely. After a slight calculation, yesterday had just sent an envoy to contact Wei

  Fan Zigai, who had sent out unreliable intelligence, turned pale and immediately shouted: "Come on, send more scouts out of the city immediately to investigate Jinyong City and Xifeng Road. No matter what the cost, I want to know the true movement of Yang's main force!"

  "Hold on!" Chen Yingliang loudly stopped, kneeling down on one knee and cupping his hands to Fan Zigai, saying: "Lord Fan, it may already be too late. Not to mention that the rebel cavalry is frantically killing our scouts outside the city, even if our scouts can luckily get close to Jinying City, they cannot enter the city to investigate whether the main force of the rebels has left. Moreover, on the side of Lingfeng Road, the terrain is steep and treacherous, and it is also difficult for our scouts to thoroughly explore in one or two days!"

  "What to do?" Fan Zige was somewhat flustered and anxiously said: "Do you have any way to find out where the main force of the rebels is? Yesterday, I sent a messenger to contact Wei Wensheng and told him that the main force of the rebels was still in Dongdu. If Wei Wensheng falls for this trick, I will be guilty of a crime punishable by death."

  Chen Yingliang's face changed, and he quickly calculated in his mind. Soon, he clasped his fists and said: "Governor Fan, there is only one way left - to launch a reconnaissance-in-force! I beg Governor Fan to grant me permission to lead the Baoguo Army out of the city today to engage in battle with the rebel army that has come to challenge us! We will fight with all our might, capture prisoners and interrogate them!"

  Fan Zige's eyes lit up, and he returned a rough salute to Chen Yingliang, saying: "Chen Jishi, I'll have to trouble you with this!"