Chapter 64: Sun Tzu's War Strategies

  "Father……! Father……!" Sun Ce pointed to the opposite bank of the Xiang River, shouting loudly: "Huang Zu has occupied Fancheng and is burning our grain and fodder!" Sun Jian chopped down a blind Jingzhou soldier with one sword, turned around and looked. Fancheng was already filled with rolling black smoke, and the dark smoke column rose straight into the clouds.

  "Good! Good! Now this is going to be interesting!" Long Fei laughed: "Sun Jian is now surrounded, let's see how he gets out of this. In front of him, Xiangyang has been under siege for a long time and can't be taken down, behind him, Fan city was broken by Huang Zu, and on the Xiang River, there is still Cai Mao seeking revenge for his previous defeat. Sun Jian has finally reached a desperate situation."

  Fan City was attacked, and the morale of Sun Jian's army plummeted, with no soldiers climbing up the city wall. The Jingzhou army, on the other hand, was exceptionally excited, as the reinforcements had arrived and their lives were saved, so everyone was thrilled. Liu Biao and Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue brothers personally climbed the city wall to inspect, everyone applauded and cheered, thanking heaven for not forgetting Jingzhou. After Sun Jian withdrew his troops, he retreated to Hedong overnight, while sending people to dismantle the built wooden rafts, and also sent people to guard Xiangjiang, preventing the Jingzhou army from launching a sneak attack on their rear.

  "My lord! It's still possible to leave now!" Cheng Pu advised: "Huang Zu has 30,000 elite soldiers, Xiangyang City also has 20,000 elite soldiers, and Cai Mao's naval force of 30,000 is eyeing us covetously. If these three forces join together, we will be in a precarious situation!"

  "It's even more impossible to leave now!" Sun Jian was covered in blood and hadn't even had a chance to wipe it off: "Liu Biao and the others are all watching, if we leave now what face will we have left to see the elders of Changsha?"

  "What does Master mean...?"

  "Even if we can't take down Xiangyang, Fan City must be taken!"

  Long Fei and a few others stayed on the mountain for two whole days, not taking a single step away. He was waiting for an opportunity, a chance to get close to Sun Jian. According to his speculation, something like the Jade Seal, with Sun Jian's personality, would most likely be carried on his person. And it would also be hidden in his own commander's tent, absolutely not entrusted to anyone else, even if it were his son Sun Ce.

  According to their observations over the past few days, Sun Jian was basically active in the central army account, eating, sleeping, and discussing military affairs were all done here. If you want to hide the jade seal, this should be the best place, because the defense is strict, and it's right under your eyelids. Long Fei decided to sneak into Sun Jian's central army account at night. This time he didn't dare to be careless, and brought everyone down from the mountain, letting Huang Zhong and Dian Wei respond outside, while he and Zhao Yun sneaked into Sun Jian's camp.

  As for Sun Jian's military governance, Long Fei really admired it. Although the battle was so arduous and the soldiers were so tired, they still stood guard at midnight without any slackness. Thinking back to when he himself was a soldier, as long as there was an opportunity to be lazy, he would rather rest. His own mechanized infantry division was a top-notch division, every day pushing them to train to death, and the most comfortable time was on the vast Gobi Desert, two people in a scattered pit for collective training. Such leisureliness is rare in the world. And Sun Jian's ability to make his soldiers so loyal and dedicated is also unknown what kind of trick he used.

  They took care of the two outermost patrolling soldiers, and Long Fei and Zhao Yun put on Sun Jian's army uniforms to take their place. They almost made a circle around Sun Jian's large camp, but didn't find any weaknesses, which surprised Long Fei greatly. According to common sense, no matter how tight the defense is, there will always be some blind spots left behind, but Sun Jian's barracks had none.

  From the intelligence gathered, Sun Jian was not a meticulous person. Why were his soldiers different from others? And why didn't his barracks have any blind spots? These questions began to trouble Long Fei. After wandering around for half the night without finding any opportunities, Long Fei and Zhao Yun could only return in disappointment. Huang Zhong and Dian Wei immediately surrounded them, with Dian Wei asking: "How was it? Did you find anything?"

  Long Fei shook his head. Zhao Yun sighed, "Sun Jian's military service is very strange, and there is no way to get in at all. There are soldiers guarding everywhere, without any flaws!"

  Four people fell into contemplation. Suddenly, Huang Zhong said: "I remembered that when I was still a cavalry captain in Jiangxia, Sun Jian was the governor of Changsha, and often heard people say that Sun Jian's ancestors were Wu State General Sun Wu, could it be that Sun Wu had some secret transmission, which has been passed down all the way, so that Sun Jian had such high military strategy?"

  "Exactly!" Zhao Yun slapped his thigh: "This is it, last night I felt that the construction of that barracks was a bit strange, Brother Huang said so and now I remember, when I learned martial arts, my master taught me some battle formations. South is Li, North is Kan, East is Zhen, West is Dui, Qian is in the northwest, Kun is in the southwest, Gen is in the northeast, Xun is in the southeast. These are the Eight Trigrams. Qian represents Heaven, Kun represents Earth, Zhen represents Thunder, Kan represents Water, Gen represents Mountain, Xun represents Wind, Li represents Fire, Dui represents Marsh!"

  Zhao Yun's few words left everyone stunned. Zhao Yun continued to speak to himself, "You see, the south side of Sun Jian's camp is filled with lanterns and torches, the north side has a small stream, the east side has a small hill blocking it, and the west side is a low-lying muddy swamp. This is exactly the Eight Trigrams method, where things are born and overcome each other! Ah!" Zhao Yun took a deep breath: "This Sun Wu is indeed a master, using the Eight Trigrams to deploy troops hundreds of years ago. What a great expert! I admire him!"

  "What gossip is this? I've just heard it, don't understand! Is there or isn't there a broken law?" Long Fei asked.

  Zhoa Yun thought for a moment, then said: "If we want to break through, it's also possible. We can change his setup. The east, west and north sides are all natural barriers that we cannot change. Only the south side uses lanterns and torches. If we extinguish a few of them, there will be an opening!"

  "I didn't expect Second Brother to have studied the Eight Trigrams as well?" Long Fei smiled slightly. Upon thinking about it, it made sense - among Liu Bei's generals, only Zhao Yun and Prime Minister Zhuge Liang were close. Zhuge Liang was an expert in the Eight Trigrams, having used the Eight Trigrams Formation to trap Lu Xun's army of 100,000. Only Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang had some common language, which wasn't surprising after all.

  That night, several people came to the outside of Sun Ce's large camp again. Zhao Yun carefully identified those lanterns and torches, and let Huang Zhong shoot down a few. Indeed, the effect was immediately different. The originally iron-bucket-like military camp suddenly appeared a narrow passage in the southwest corner, where there was no light, nor anyone guarding it. And the extinguishing of these lanterns did not attract the attention of Sun Jian's army.

  Long Fei nodded and continued to let Huang Zhong and Jian Wei stay behind, bringing Zhao Yun into Sun Jian's large camp. The layout of the camp was also very particular. Fortunately, there was Zhao Yun by his side. Following Zhao Yun's directions, the two of them circled around until they saw the main tent. Sun Jian was surrounded by Liu Biao and Huang Zu on both sides, temporarily trapped in this place. In order to retake Fancheng which had been occupied by Huang Zu, Sun Jian did not sleep all night, thinking of a plan. Seeing that their military rations were getting less and less, no matter what, they would have to attack the city tomorrow.

  "Report! General, Huang Zu from Fancheng has come to raid our camp and is already engaged in battle with General Cheng Pu!"

  Sun Jian snorted: "You dare to be so reckless! Hurry and go, let Sun Ce and Han Dang come to assist in the battle. Let Huang Gai lead the archers to garrison the rear camp, preventing Liu Biao of Xiangyang from launching a sneak attack!"

  "Promise!"

  The orderly came out, and Sun Jian put on his armor, holding the precious sword and also ran out. In the northeast direction of the big camp, the sound of killing was deafening, and the flames illuminated the sky. All the soldiers rushed to the northeast. Long Fei smiled: "Heaven helps me, let's go!"

  Sun Jian's large tent was not particularly luxurious, with a simple desk and chair, the chair covered in a whole tiger skin, the huge tiger head trampled underfoot, the black and yellow stripes indicating it might be a South China tiger. On either side of the tent were racks holding long spears, halberds, swords, iron hammers and other types of weapons. On the desk was a square box that quickly caught Long Fei's attention. The box was dark purple in color, with a round lid and gold trim on its four corners, and subtle cloud patterns covered its surface.

  Long Fei took three or two steps to come near the box, and hastily opened it. Indeed, it was a seal. However, it wasn't some jade seal, but just a copper seal. Zhao Yun came over, flipped open the seal, and took a look: "This is Sun Jian's seal, General Sun who broke the barbarians!"

  They put the seal back in place and continued to search inside the large tent. The entire large tent didn't have many pieces of furniture, and a quick glance was enough to see everything. It's indeed difficult to hide something in this kind of place. The large tent was made of cowhide, without any screens or hidden compartments. According to Jia Yu, the jade seal wasn't a small object that could be easily hidden anywhere.

  The two searched the entire tent without gaining anything. Long Fei was slightly annoyed, looked around and said: "It seems it's not here, since we've come all this way, we can't go back empty-handed, this tiger skin is good, let's take it back!"

  He pulled out a dagger and cut off the ropes that tied the tiger skin. Long Fei rolled up the tiger skin from the head of the tiger. He had just moved the tiger skin away from the seat when Zhao Yun exclaimed, "It's here!"

  Long Fei hastily got up. Only to see that in the middle of the wide commander's chair, a hole had been dug out, and an ancient square box was quietly stuck in it. Not too big or too small, just about right. From under the chair, nothing could be seen, and the seat surface was covered with tiger skin so it couldn't be seen either. Sun Jian, that son of a bitch, every day pressing the jade seal under his own ass, truly wasting a national treasure.

  Long Fei's crimson dagger sliced through the iron like mud, and with a light stroke, he dug out the wooden box from the commander's chair. Strangely, this box was not for storing jade seals, as it had a circular hole inside, about one foot long. It looked more like a tea canister. Long Fei opened it lightly, and a faint earthy smell immediately drilled into his nostrils, accompanied by a hint of musty smell. Looking inside, he saw a long, bar-shaped cloth bag.

  Open the cloth bag, it turned out to be a bamboo slip. On the outer skin of the bamboo slip, several words were written in a twisted and curved manner. "What are these?" Long Fei called out to Zhao Yun.

  Zhaoyun looked at it and shook his head slightly: "I don't recognize it, it's not Xiao Zhuan!"

  The two of them were still searching, when the sound of footsteps and armor echoed from outside the big tent. A young voice laughed loudly and said: "This Huang Zu is really an idiot, with this little skill he dares to launch a sneak attack on us, if it were me I should take advantage of the situation and kill my way into Fan City!"

  "You don't know this, Lord, but Huang Zu's strength is far superior to ours. Although his sneak attack failed, we are at a disadvantage in attacking the city at night, which is why our lord ordered us to retreat!"

  Several people entered the main tent and happened to run into Long Fei and Zhao Yun. Everyone on both sides was stunned for a moment. Then they all took up their weapons, ready to fight. Sun Ce angrily rebuked: "Who are you? How did you end up here?"