Chapter Fifty: The Plan for a Night Raid

  The next morning, Wang Xu's first thing to do was to apply for a guard from Huang Fu, and Huang Fu agreed without any hesitation. The small team led by Gao Shun naturally belonged to Wang Xu temporarily. However, Wang Xu firmly believed that he would soon remove the word "temporary"!

  But Zhou Zhi suddenly became infatuated with learning martial arts from Gao Shun, and as everyone deliberately socialized, their relationships improved. With Wang Xu's relationship added to the mix, Gao Shun finally couldn't resist Zhou Zhi's persistence and accepted him as his apprentice three days later, teaching him all his martial skills!

  However, Gao Shun's training methods were indeed a bit too harsh, and Zhou Zhi looked quite miserable after each day's practice, but he himself was enjoying it!

  Wang Xu has not been idle during this period, quickly grasping the current situation. He also participates in Huang Fu's military council every day, but unfortunately, after more than ten days, they have not discussed even one meaningful tactic to defeat the enemy.

  It turned out that Zhu Jun's side was beyond Wang Xu's expectations, with consecutive victories in all four battles, and even beheading two Yellow Turban generals that Wang Xu had never heard of before, Di Lie Xing Chen Long and Di Gou Xing Yang Bai! At first, it left Wang Xu puzzled, unable to understand why this wave was so willing to sacrifice, feign defeat and continue to take the general to die! Although this would indeed make Zhu Jun completely let his guard down, the loss seemed a bit too great.

  However, when he learned from Huang Fu that these two were actually the confidants of Tang Zhou's ghost, he suddenly felt relieved! Cutting the grass and eliminating the roots, this wave was quite decisive!

  Unconsciously, Wang Xu had been in the military camp for half a month. The Yellow Turban Rebellion was originally scheduled to break out in late October 183 AD, but now it's already late December...

  A person lay quietly in the big tent, Wang Xu's mind thinking about what had happened over the past two months, with a hint of emotion. Calculating the current time, he felt that something big should be happening soon!

  Just as he thought of this, a sudden shout came from outside the account: "Is General Wang there? General Huangfu ordered you to hurry to the central military tent!"

  "Huh?"

  Wang Xu quickly got up, walked out of the tent in confusion, and asked the guard who was guarding Huangfu Song: "Didn't we just have a military meeting two hours ago? Why are you gathering again?"

  "I don't know the specifics either, I just heard that General Huangfu received the latest intelligence and asked all the generals to rush over for a meeting immediately!"

  "Hmm! Good!" He responded with a sound, and Wang Xu also stopped hesitating, immediately rushing to the central military account.

  When he arrived, there were already many people sitting in the account. After Wang Xu found his own position, he quietly sat down. His eyes kept looking at the handsome and calm Huangfu Cheng on the stage.

  Soon, the main tent of the Chinese army was filled with people, and there were many generals that Wang Xu still didn't recognize. This was different from when Wang Xu first arrived, in Huangfu Song's tent where it was a high-level small meeting, but now all the leading figures of the entire army had gathered together.

  Everyone has arrived, Huangfu Song waved his hand to stop the whispers of the crowd. He scanned them sternly and picked up a few silk handkerchiefs on the table: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have just received two pieces of news, one good and one bad! The good news is that General Zhu Jun won again this morning against the Yellow Turbans. The bad news is that Zhang Mancheng, leader of the Yellow Turbans in Nanyang, attacked Governor Chu Gong's troops, and unfortunately, Governor Chu Gong has fallen!"

  "Gathered here today are all of you, to discuss the current war situation. We have been confronting the main force of the Yellow Turbans for over half a month now, and the Yellow Turbans in various places are growing stronger by the day! The Emperor has issued an edict, strictly ordering us to quickly defeat the enemy's main force, and then support the remaining officials and soldiers in other counties! Therefore, I hope that today we must make a decision, and quickly repel the Yellow Turbans!"

  As soon as Huangfu Song finished speaking, the tent fell into a deathly silence...

  It's actually a difficult problem. Now in this situation, even Wang Xu is secretly shaking his head. Even if he puts aside the idea of not wanting to disrupt history, he doesn't have any good solutions.

  After all, we are outnumbered now. Although the imperial court's troops are more elite, their overall strength is not as good as Bo Cai's. Although Zhu Jun has been winning battle after battle, he hasn't made any major breakthroughs so far. Bo Cai, although repeatedly defeated, is extremely resilient and has always stuck to it, and Zhu Jun's forces can't do anything about him.

  But on the other hand, Huangfu Song did not dare to go and reinforce, because once he approached Zhu Jun, the situation of pinning down the corner would no longer exist. At that time, there was no need to worry about his own right wing, Bo Cai, and he could concentrate all his strength to fight with the two men. This is exactly what Huangfu Song and others did not want, the current situation, the court can not afford the loss of a head-on decisive battle, and can only win by strategy.

  As for the local troops in Yingyin City, it's even more hopeless. They can barely hold on to the city, which is already a stroke of luck...

  Everyone remained silent for a long time, and no one spoke. Huang Fu's hopes were dashed as he shook his head. "Since none of you have a better plan, we can only use this unfeasible method."

  At these words, all the generals immediately perked up their ears and waited quietly for what came next.

  "This is General Zhu Jun's proposal, I didn't agree with it at first, but now there's no time for us to waste, so we have to do it!"

  Huang Fu sighed and continued, "In recent days, General Zhu Xu has been engaging in small-scale battles with the Yellow Turbans, although without making any breakthroughs, but it has greatly dampened the morale of the enemy. Therefore, he will launch a surprise attack on Bo Cai's main camp tonight. As for us, we will abandon our heavy equipment and quietly advance westward, keeping our flags unchanged, and lie in ambush at Xiagou Valley, twenty miles away from Bo Cai. When the fire starts in the west, we will immediately take a detour from the small road to attack Bo Cai's rear, aiming to deliver a fatal blow!"

  "This plan is feasible!" The generals heard this and immediately nodded in agreement.

  But Wang Xu shook his head secretly. The plan itself was good, and it might not be impossible to succeed if deployed properly. But how could this night raid be used at a time of stalemate? Without suddenness, how can it be called an ambush? Not to mention that Bo Zhong himself was a decoy to lure the enemy in, even if there was no such thing, this night raid had no other good strategy to assist it, and whether it could succeed was really uncertain. At least luck played a big part.

  Zhu Jun and Huang Fu should have thought of this, otherwise they wouldn't have delayed until now to implement it. I reckon they were also forced by the pressure from the imperial court. Perhaps, in their minds, even if the night raid fails, it's just a direct battle anyway!

  But Wang Xu, who had already guessed the inside story, was very clear in his heart that Bo Zhong must have set an ambush long ago and was waiting for the imperial court to sneak up on him. This time, the imperial court will be defeated miserably...

  "Third brother, no way!"

  What Wang Xu didn't expect was that Wang Fei, who was sitting in the next seat, also sensed something and quietly stuck to his ear.

  "What's wrong?" Wang Xu asked in surprise.

  Wang Fei furrowed his brow, thinking for a moment before saying doubtfully: "This matter is definitely suspicious! Think about it, from the situation over this period of time, that Yellow Turban bandit leader is quite capable of leading troops. Otherwise, General Zhu Xu wouldn't have been unable to obtain significant results despite winning battle after battle. Since that's the case, how could he stubbornly cling to General Zhu and insist on engaging in small-scale skirmishes with him? Doesn't he know that this will cause morale to gradually decline?"

  Moreover, his main force has not moved an inch and is not seeking a breakthrough. It's just consuming resources like this, which is really abnormal! Even if he doesn't want to give up the opportunity to attack Yingyin City, can't he avoid battle? Is it that Lord Zhu Jun's 20,000+ troops dare not launch a frontal assault on his camp of over 100,000 soldiers?