Free Web NovelChapter 1226: Chapter 1208: Accurate Divination
Zu Ti is not blind. They hid, he couldn’t catch anyone, so he could only suspect that King Langya had hidden forces but couldn’t speak about it;
But with such loud commotion as they fought, how could he not know?
Zu Ti vaguely realized he misunderstood King Langya, and immediately sent Zuo Min with a troop to check.
Zuo Min took his men to a mountaintop to watch the fight. When the fight was nearly over, then they raised the Zhao Family Army’s flag and the "Zu" flag.
Dai Yuan suddenly saw the "Zhao" flag flying from the mountaintop, was shocked, "When did the Zhao Family Army cross the river?"
Upon seeing Zu Ti’s banner, his face went pale, "Is Zu Ti leading the army?"
Chen Ban, who was almost killed by Dai Yuan’s attack, heard this, his face turned livid, "You actually didn’t know King Langya has already submitted to Zhao Hanzhang?"
Dai Yuan: ...
He really knew nothing.
Like Dai Yuan, Wang Gui and Dai Miao traveled all the way to Yuzhang County, prepared a whole lot of statements to persuade him, but was startled upon hearing the Guard Army’s report, "The General went to Jiankang to serve the king? How come we did not know, there was no message received on the way."
No wonder Yuzhang twice failed in battles against Wang Dun, Dai Yuan wasn’t in the army.
Wang Gui stomped his foot, and said to Dai Miao, "Since General Dai is not here, Little General Dai might as well stay here to command this army."
Dai Miao opened his mouth, lowered his voice and said, "Though we are brothers, my elder brother’s deputy may not obey my orders."
Wang Gui said, "I will persuade them."
He asked the deputy three questions, "Is General Dai loyal to King Langya?"
Deputy: "Yes."
Otherwise, why would he go to Jiankang City to serve the king?
"Has King Langya already submitted to General Zhao, did you receive this order?"
Deputy: "Received."
"Is General Dai at this time accompanying King Langya to submit to General Zhao?"
The deputy hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yes."
Wang Gui immediately pushed Dai Miao forward saying, "Wang Dun is acting against reason, openly plotting rebellion. He originally planned to head to Jiankang, but now turns south. Obviously, knowing he can’t match the imperial army, he wants to seize Guangzhou instead."
"Guangzhou is mountainous and full of miasma. Letting him go there would make suppression of rebellion more difficult. Therefore, holding Yuzhang is crucial. General Dai is not here, better let Little General Dai manage military affairs, to collaborate with Jingzhou’s General Wang Xuan and jointly suppress rebellion."
After a brief hesitation, the deputy bit his teeth and agreed.
Dai Miao is Dai Yuan’s brother; he knows the two brothers are very close and hold similar political views. Turning the army over to Dai Miao is better than being defeated by Wang Dun.
Wang Gui breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn’t accomplish Zhao Hanzhang’s task of persuading Dai Yuan to surrender, letting Dai Miao take command of the Yuzhang Dai Family Army is at least half done, right?
Dai Family Army and Jingzhou Army formally collaborated, two forces merged to resist Wang Dun’s army together.
Wang Dun’s vanguard launched seven attacks in two days, both sides suffered heavy casualties, but couldn’t take Nanchang County of Yuzhang County.
Wang Dun stood silently before the map, Du Hong beside him was reporting in a low voice, "We just received a battle report, Mi Ce and Zhao Ju each leading fifty thousand troops from Yiyang County, attacking Lujiang from two directions, Jingzhou’s Wang Yifeng also dispatched troops, heading towards us. There’s another army, whose leader is unknown, has already taken Xunyang, Linhu, and Xiang’an counties."
Seeing Wang Dun’s silence, Du Hong said, "Zu Ti issued a manifesto, saying they dispatched eight hundred thousand troops to Jiangnan, surrounding them heavily..."
Wang Dun suddenly slammed the table, Du Hong shut his mouth, and said no more.
Wang Bin comforted Wang Dun, "In warfare, the declared number of troops is always multiplied and then adding a hundred thousand before reporting. I say, Zhao Family Army at most dispatched four hundred thousand, maybe only three hundred thousand are usable."
If Zhao Hanzhang was here, she would definitely praise Wang Bin, he guessed accurately.
Du Hong gathered his spirit and said, "Three hundred thousand troops, they’re crossing the river, unfamiliar with the terrain, I don’t believe they can hand-in-hand block every passage. If Yuzhang is unreachable, we’ll bypass some roads. General, better we first head east then south, get into Guangzhou, then they can’t deal with us."
What Wang Bin wanted wasn’t this, he didn’t want to go to Guangzhou, in his eyes that’s a barbaric land, "Since they have only so many men, with my brother’s capability, isn’t it a cinch to hit back?"
Wang Dun glanced at him and said, "Zu Ti isn’t Sima Rui, nor Dai Yuan, equivalent in war strength, hard to gain advantage over him."
Wang Dun also has only three hundred thousand people, with a considerable part working as logistics, those who can be considered combatants are about two hundred forty to fifty thousand.
"Moreover, Zu Ti has Sima Rui’s forces at his disposal." Wang Dun said, "First survive, persevere, then there’s a chance to do other things."
So he took Du Hong’s suggestion, deciding to go east first, then south, but he also didn’t plan to give up the Yuzhang route.
Therefore, he let Wang Bin and Wang Ying go east with Du Hong, while he personally led an army southward to support Yuzhang.
Seriously entrusted to Wang Bin, "I’m entrusting half of myself to you, listen more to Du Hong’s advice, certainly, definitely bring these people and wealth to Guangzhou for me."
These people and wealth are the basis for him to rise again.
Wang Bin solemnly agreed.
Wang Dun personally entering the fight, restored some lost morale.
Additionally, he sent out several armies to block in the rear, preventing Zu Ti, Zhao Ju, Wang Yifeng, and others from heading south.
Wang Dun’s new strategy worked, Zhao Family Army couldn’t pursue him for a while, he fiercely rushed towards Yuzhang County with the army.
While at an unseen rear by Wang Dun, Zhao Shi knew from newly captured foraging teams that a large amount of grain and fodder was being sent east, so he immediately changed direction eastward, "Wang Dun must be trying to escape from the east, we continue to chase!"
Since first capturing a foraging team and finding out he could get Wang Dun’s main force’s movement from them, he especially liked capturing foraging teams.
Zhao Shi jovially chased after Wang Dun’s wealth.
And not far from him, Zhao Shen had just captured a county. Because Zhao Shi roamed everywhere freely, he didn’t know his cousin was close by.
Now, he sat kneeling on the city tower, sincerely prayed all around, then took out tortoise shells, and seriously cast and calculated.
A panting scout running up wanted to report, Zhao Shen raised his hand to stop him, forbidding him to speak, "I calculated Wang Dun is advantageous to the east, he must have fled east, right?"
The scout, who followed him all the way from Luoyang, was no longer surprised, honestly replied, "The General is amazing, to have calculated this. Wang Dun’s main force did head east, but Wang Dun himself took an army southwards, by appearance, heading to Yuzhang."
Zhao Shen put away the tortoise shells, "Then I calculated half correctly. Rounding up, it’s computed right. Alright, organize the army, let’s meet this General Wang!"
