Chapter 11

Chapter 645: When the World Changes, the Way Must Also Change (世變道異) (3)

--------------

Yuefu prepared a feast. It was as if he was sparing no military rations to feed his soldiers to the fullest before their final battle.

Smoke from the cooking rice rose gently, and the smell of boiling meat soup filled the air.

The old soldiers of Yang Chui’s army could only look on, their mouths watering.

As the food cooked, the atmosphere grew tense. Of course, it was not the atmosphere of a feast. Yuefu’s soldiers still maintained their formation.

"So, this method will work?"

Yuefu was doubtful about the strategy Guo Jia had proposed. Guo Jia, fanning himself leisurely, replied:

"Of course it will. It will definitely work. If Yang Xiao has been spying on us, we have also learned about the situation of Yang Chui’s army through him. If we push Yang Chui hard enough, we can capture the Zhongtian camp by tonight."

"Even so, this seems a bit much. Isn’t it breaking a promise to accept their surrender and then betray them?"

"General, Yang Chui has not yet brought his troops and the flag of surrender to us. The condition for accepting their surrender has not been met yet."

"Even if that’s true, it still feels wrong to lure the enemy with food."

The reason why the cooks of Yuefu’s army, including Xiao Bu, were working hard to prepare the meal was to lure the old soldiers of Guanxi’s army.

"They are not experienced soldiers who have seen many battles."

"How can you know that without fighting them?"

Guo Jia pointed at the enemy soldiers to refute Yuefu’s words.

"The art of war says that attacks rely on the blood of young soldiers, while defense relies on the experience of old soldiers. This is a fundamental principle of military strategy. Why would Huang Bosun send old soldiers into such a battle? Moreover, why would Yang Chui bring so many troops if he intends to surrender?"

Through his conversation with Yang Xiao, Guo Jia had a good idea of Yang Chui’s intentions, which were closely tied to the current situation at the Zhongtian camp.

"Isn’t it because Huang Bosun has no way to deal with me and still orders them to fight?"

"Do you not understand why the Guanxi army is not putting all their efforts into fighting us? Now that their attack on Hedu has failed, their focus is no longer on you. Their target is now Luoyang in the east."

Guo Jia’s words implied that Huang Bosun did not consider Yuefu at all. It was natural for Yuefu to react strongly to this.

"I must make them soil their pants at the mere mention of my name."

"Yes, General. You must do so. Huang Bosun has no intention of defending Guanxi, let alone Zhongtian. By sending Yang Chui to face you first, it means that the main force of the Guanxi army is not in Zhongtian. Giving 20,000 old soldiers to Yang Chui is merely to buy time until Huang Bosun leaves Zhongtian."

If Yang Xiao had not come to Yuefu’s army as an envoy to gauge Yang Chui’s intention to surrender, Guo Jia would not have been able to deduce this fact.

If the old soldiers were hidden behind the regular troops, Yuefu’s army would not have discovered this before the battle began.

* * *

Wei Yue galloped his horse toward Yang Chui’s army with a few soldiers.

They were within range of the enemy’s arrows, but no one showed any fear.

Wei Yue stood before the enemy soldiers and shouted:

"I am Wei Yue, a general of the Yu family and one of the Eight Pillars! Commander Yang Chui, receive the message from General Yu!"

Yang Xiao hurriedly pushed through the soldiers.

"Commander Yang Chui welcomes you, General Wei."

"Cut the nonsense! Welcoming me indeed! Why hasn’t your commander come to bow and surrender to General Yu?"

Wei Yue’s words had a significant impact. As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers of Yang Chui’s army began to murmur.

They did not know that Yang Chui intended to surrender to Yu.

They had come out to fight Yu, so it was strange to hear that their commander wanted to surrender.

The reactions of Yang Chui’s soldiers were mixed. Yang Chui’s soldiers had come to fight Yu on Huang Bosun’s orders, so they were confused by this situation.

On the other hand, the 20,000 old soldiers given to Yang Chui by Huang Bosun secretly welcomed the surrender.

As Guo Jia had predicted, they were not combat troops but merely there to fill numbers. Moreover, they knew that the Guanxi army had repeatedly lost to Yu’s army.

They had been pushed out like livestock being led to slaughter, with no desire to fight Yu.

'I want to tear that mouth of his to shreds!'

Yang Xiao was inwardly annoyed.

Even if the surrender was decided, it should not be revealed until later. This way, they could maintain a connection with both Huang Bosun and Yu until the end.

But Wei Yue had blown the cover.

'It will be troublesome if the news spreads.'

Yang Xiao hurriedly tried to take Wei Yue to Yang Chui.

"Come, follow me. Let’s go see our commander quickly."

"Your commander should come to see General Yu first! General Yu has decided to show mercy and accept your commander’s surrender. Even though your commander has not yet come to bow, General Yu is willing to be generous to you."

Wei Yue raised his voice in front of the old soldiers.

"Your commander has come to request surrender to General Yu. He has prepared a feast for you. If you do not want to risk your lives for Huang Bosun and fight against General Yu, go there and eat and drink to your heart’s content!"

The old soldiers, excited by Wei Yue’s words, dropped their shabby weapons and ran over. They had no desire to fight Yu, and the rations provided by Huang Bosun barely kept them alive. They thought it was for the best.

Moreover, since their commander Yang Chui had requested to surrender to Yu, they felt no hesitation.

The old soldiers ran off to find food and drink, leaving only Yang Chui’s regular soldiers behind.

They also secretly wanted to follow the old soldiers and enjoy the feast. Since Yang Chui had already decided to surrender to Yu, they thought it should be fine. However, they had to consider Yang Xiao’s reaction.

* * *

The old soldiers rushed to the food prepared by Yuefu’s army and ate greedily. They even fought over the few bottles of alcohol.

Guo Jia clasped his hands together and said to Yuefu:

"General, there was a time when it was virtuous to accept and treat surrendering commanders kindly, even if they betrayed others as easily as eating a meal. But since the world has changed, the way we should act must also change. The same applies to the way of a ruler."

"Isn’t that what you said when Yang Xiao came?"

"The same words can have different meanings depending on the time and place. Now is the time for a ruler’s decision. Even those who intend to surrender should be used to gain an advantage. This is the way a ruler should act in today’s world."

Guo Jia’s mention of a ruler’s decision referred to the phrase from the Shang Jun Shu, which can be loosely translated as 'a ruler’s decision.'

"Are you saying that changing my mind after deciding to accept a surrender is a ruler’s decision?"

"Waiting for someone who hasn’t made up their mind is foolish. Even if we are criticized later, we should attack Yang Chui now. If we wait any longer, we will only get an empty shell of Zhongtian."

Yuefu did not understand why he needed to attack Yang Chui first to defeat Huang Bosun.

However, Yuefu trusted Guo Jia.

He admitted that he could not fully understand Guo Jia’s strategy because he lacked the same level of strategic thinking.

"I had a bit of doubt. Since I have entrusted the military strategy to you, tell me how to deal with Yang Chui."

"General, have Jia Wuyan lead the Hedu soldiers to attack Yang Chui’s army."

Jia Wuyan refers to Jia Gui.

Yuefu had never given Jia Gui an official position, but he couldn’t just call him by his name.

After all, Jia Gui was leading the Hedu soldiers. Moreover, Jia Gui came from a renowned martial family in Hedu, so even if he lacked bravery, he was given the title of 'Wuyan' (武?) among the officials.

While Bao Zhan, a loyalist, had joined Yuefu’s army, he had no particular title, so he was called 'Wenyan' (文?), and Jia Gui was called 'Wuyan'.

Jia Gui was delighted, not knowing the true intentions behind his title.

"Commander Jia Gui, give me this chance. I will bring the head of the enemy commander within an hour."

Yuefu did not have high hopes for Jia Gui’s ambitious promise.

"Mr. Guo, it seems you don’t intend to end the battle quickly."

"That’s right. We only need to make them retreat to Zhongtian. After that, we can deploy our main force, conserve our strength, and sweep them away in one go."

Yuefu nodded. Jia Gui, hearing that he was not part of the main force, was disappointed. Bao Zhan then lowered his voice to comfort him.

"Thank Mr. Guo properly later. He is giving you a chance to gain experience."

"Is that so?"

Bao Zhan’s words brought a smile to Jia Gui’s face.

* * *

Apart from Bao Zhan, no one here had high expectations for Jia Gui. However, Jia Gui was a capable individual.

He had memorized thousands of characters of military strategy passed down from his grandfather, Jia Xu. Bao Zhan watched with interest to see how Jia Gui would handle this battle.

Jia Gui confidently assembled the Hedu soldiers.

"Yang Dao, what strategy will you use to attack the enemy?"

Bao Zhan asked, curious about the strategy Jia Gui would employ. Jia Gui smiled.

"I have devised a formation for today, called the 'Gong' formation."

Jia Gui confidently told Bao Zhan and then activated the formation.

From Bao Zhan’s perspective on horseback, the formation of the Hedu soldiers truly resembled the character 'Gong' (工).

The front line was stretched out horizontally, with soldiers holding various types of shields, including round shields, rectangular shields, and even linked shields.

The distance from Hedu to here was not far, but the shield soldiers, carrying more metal than other types of soldiers, could not be many.

It was no exaggeration to say that all the shield soldiers in the Hedu army were gathered in the front line.

The central line, forming the waist, was arranged in five rows, a mixed formation of regular and irregular troops.

The rear line was also stretched out horizontally, but unlike the front line, these were archers.

While they could not compare to Yuefu’s elite soldiers, the Hedu archers were well-trained, and among them were 100 old soldiers holding light crossbows supplied by Yuefu’s army.

The formation of the three lines—front, central, and rear—resembled the character 'Gong' (工) exactly, hence the name 'Gong Formation' (工陣).

Jia Gui’s all-weather formation, the Gong Formation, maximized the strengths of the shield soldiers and archers.

To Yuefu’s army, the Gong Formation was intriguing. However, to Yang Chui’s army, it seemed like a mere show of force.

"Hmm... It seems Yu is getting impatient."

"Commander, it does seem that way. The way they are forming their ranks in front of us suggests they are emphasizing their intention to attack if we do not surrender quickly."

Yang Chui and Yang Xiao interpreted Jia Gui’s formation of the Hedu soldiers this way.

"What should we do?"

"Don’t worry. They are just a motley crew of soldiers gathered from the lower ranks of Yu’s army."

Yang Xiao could say this because he had seen the Hedu soldiers when he visited Yu’s camp. His words were not entirely wrong. However, a formation could turn even a motley crew into regular soldiers in a short time.

Of course, the Gong Formation did not appear particularly threatening to Yang Chui or Yang Xiao.

After all, Jia Gui had only trained the Hedu soldiers in this formation for a few days. This was their first time using it in a real battle, so the outcome was uncertain.

Jia Gui gestured, and a signalman waved the signal flag. The archers in the rear line then advanced and positioned themselves right behind the shield soldiers in the front line.

"Advance!"