Therefore I Wish to Fight 4

At my words, the audience stirred.

Of course. It’s not like we’ve been pounding on Xiagu Castle all this time for no reason, ignoring the enemy’s reinforcements.

Even Ma Su, who said to leave Xiagu Castle alone, didn’t bring up the opinion to cut off the reinforcements first and come back.

Thinking about it, it would be much more rational and efficient to defeat them in detail before they join with the enemy.

Would famous talents like Jiang Wei, Ma Su, and Guo Yi, who left their names in history, not have known this? Of course not. There was a reason they didn’t argue to attack the reinforcements.

“But General. Aren’t the enemy’s reinforcements a navy?”

Because they are a navy.

Navy (水軍). Army on water. They are on ships.

In other words, the reason we don’t preemptively attack their reinforcements is simply because we don’t have the means to do so.

Of course, it’s not that our Han doesn’t have a navy at all. The Han navy that Guan Yu had diligently built up was stationed not only in Yangping but also partly in the southern commanderies.

However, it was difficult to use them too.

“Didn’t the navy under the General-in-Chief stationed in Qingni go to cut off the rear of Jingling County at your request?”

Ma Su’s question represented the doubts of others. What little navy we had was already deployed in operations.

Jingling County is backed by the Han River, which connects to the Yangtze River. As Yangping and Qingni also border the Han River, Jingling County could be called the front yard, outside the main gate of Han’s navy.

Anyway, because there was no navy, we had no choice but to leave their reinforcements alone like a dog chasing chickens and ending up looking at the roof, but now it’s different.

The missing pieces have come together.

Perhaps realizing my thoughts, Guo Yi nodded and muttered.

“Certainly. The situation has changed.”

“Xiaoxian, what is it?”

As the first generation Ma Chong and Zhang Yi had left, and the mercenary Fei Yi, who could be called 1.5 generation, had also left, the two brain powers of the Nanling Army were now Jiang Wei and Ma Su. But when none other than Guo Yi grasped my intentions first, Ma Dai asked in surprise.

“Although Xiagu is an important place, until now it wasn’t a place that had to be defended at the cost of annihilation.”

It’s clear that Xiagu is a place with special importance as the center of water transport where the Yangtze River and its tributaries gather. But it’s questionable whether it needs to be defended while grinding away Wu’s already scarce human resources.

The profit gained from defending Xiagu while grinding away manpower versus the profit gained from preserving manpower instead of giving up Xiagu.

If we put those two on opposite sides of a scale, it would be difficult to choose one side. Because whichever you choose would be an understandable choice.

But what if we put Sun Deng on top of Xiagu?

Wouldn’t the scale tilt sharply to one side?

“Now Xiagu Castle has become a place they must defend at all costs.”

“I see!”

After hearing Guo Yi’s explanation, Ma Su cheered as if understanding. Then, befitting Ma Su who had the most education, he fluently recited a passage from Sun Tzu’s Art of War.

“Sun Tzu’s Art of War says: ‘Gu wo yu zhan (故我欲戰), di sui gao lei shen gou (敵雖高壘深溝). Bu de bu yu wo zhan zhe (不得不與我戰者). Gong qi suo bi jiu ye (攻其所必救也).'”

To interpret it briefly. It would be something like: ‘If I want to fight, the enemy will have no choice but to fight according to my will, no matter what advantageous environment they are in. Because I am attacking a place they cannot help but save.’

“It’s the content of emptiness and fullness.”

Sun Tzu’s Art of War was such a famous military treatise that none of those gathered here didn’t know it, so which part the quote was from came out immediately.

And that sound soon meant that this was an idea anyone could come up with up to this point. Guo Yi immediately pointed out the flaw that couldn’t be resolved with just this.

“I understand that the enemy now has no choice but to come to Xiagu. But can this really be called a big change? They would have headed for Xiagu anyway.”

Others also nodded and agreed with Guo Yi’s words.

“It’s as Guo Xiaoxian says. The problem is how to deal with their navy. Currently, our army is blocking Xiagu’s escape with small boats and rafts, but that’s only because the enemy navy in Xiagu isn’t that great.”

“It’s unrealistic to block the enemy’s reinforcements from entering Xiagu when they’ll be coming on proper warships.”

While Xiagu is an important point where tributaries gather, the river width isn’t large enough for a fleet to be stationed.

Therefore, the main fleet of Wu’s navy was in a large lake called Paiqu Lake between Lukou and Yiyang.

We might be able to somehow block them from escaping Xiagu Castle, but blocking a proper fleet would truly be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

With Guo Yi, Ma Su, and Shang Cong, who were said to have excellent military strategies, opposing, Ma Dai and Bu Zhan, who were weaker in tactics and strategy than them, couldn’t even refute.

But Jiang Wei was different. He had just been staring intently at the map since Guo Yi first expressed his thoughts. Jiang Wei, who hadn’t paid much attention even when Ma Su was talking about the passage from Sun Tzu’s Art of War, suddenly opened his mouth.

“We can block the river.”

As expected of Jiang Wei.

I smiled slightly and said to Jiang Wei:

“Will you take charge?”

“If you entrust it to me, I will repay that trust with results.”

“Good. You know where?”

“3,000 will be enough.”

“Take my direct troops.”

“Understood.”

As we exchanged what seemed like a Zen dialogue, I felt gazes full of curiosity from others.

Expressions clouded with questions, wanting to ask something but unable to easily do so because I was speaking. Their expressions marred with doubt looked just like seeing Fei Yi.

If it were Fei Yi, he would have jumped in smoothly and asked at a time like this, but this time no such person came forward.

‘Well, people with such affability are rare.’

Although there was no one with the eloquence or affability of Fei Yi, there was someone with no less ability to take action.

“General of the Guards, Assistant Jiang, what on earth are you talking about? Blocking the river?”

Ma Su said plaintively with a face that looked like he was going to die of frustration.

Instead of answering right away, I glanced at Jiang Wei. Noticing the meaning of that gaze, Jiang Wei began to explain instead.

“It’s exactly as I said. We block the river to prevent their navy from reaching Xiagu.”

“…Ah! So that’s why you said earlier it was important that they can’t give up Xiagu.”

“Exactly that.”

Seeing Guo Yi growing vigorously, a pleased smile naturally formed on my face.

Bu Zhi is excellent. If the Yangtze River was blocked and they had to disembark from their ships and use land routes, he would rather give up Xiagu and choose to support Gong’an or Wuling. Because they can’t go to Jingling County unless they pass through Xiagu.

Engaging in battle with us on land when they’re already short on troops? Would Bu Zhi not know that danger?

However, if Sun Deng is there, the story changes.

Bu Zhi must go to Xiagu even at the risk of annihilation.

Giving up Xiagu while clearly knowing the Crown Prince is there? Yeah. If it’s Sun Quan who hasn’t become senile yet, he might forgive them generously with a big-picture judgment rather than personal emotions.

But it might not be so, right? Sun Deng isn’t just an ordinary crown prince. He’s a prepared successor with flawless ability and character.

Would Sun Quan show mercy to those who abandoned such a cherished successor? Maybe not right away, but in the future?

Bu Zhi is criticized for flattering and taking Sun Ba’s side during the Yigong Incident. Why would he, who rose to the position of Prime Minister, act in a way to receive such infamy? It was all from observing Sun Quan’s attitude of favoring Sun Ba more.

‘Bu Zhi absolutely can’t abandon Sun Deng.’

And it wasn’t like Bu Zhi had absolutely no chance of winning. At least from Bu Zhi’s perspective.

“They don’t know much about the current situation. They’ll think only Sun Deng and the Nanling Army are here.”

“Because the Commander of the Central Army arrived after our army blocked Xiagu.”

“N-No way, did you deliberately at that time…”

No, Ma Dai. I know you think I’m a great person, but that’s not it. At that point, I didn’t even know about Sun Deng’s existence.

“That’s an unfounded assumption. It just happened to coincide.”

The current situation was created as a result of the intertwining of Sun Deng’s appearance, Shang Cong’s forced march, Zhou Huan’s performance, and so on.

“If they mistake our troops for 20,000, wouldn’t they think it’s a battle worth trying?”

Assuming we’re tired from the marching and siege warfare so far, minus the troops to surround Xiagu, wouldn’t it look like a somewhat doable fight?

“But is it really possible to block the river?”

“It’s possible.”

Jiang Wei said firmly to this question asking about the most fundamental aspect of defeating these reinforcements.

“Blocking the river isn’t something grand. It’s enough to find a place where the river is narrow, lay iron chains, and plant iron rods where the water is shallow.”

There was someone who actually put Jiang Wei’s words into practice. Later, when Jin raised an army to destroy Shu and then try to destroy Wu, Wu Yan, who was the Governor of Jianping, cut off the waterway by laying iron chains and planting iron stakes just as Jiang Wei said.

‘At that time, Wang Jun broke through because he had plenty of time and abundant resources. But Bu Zhi doesn’t have that luxury.’

When Sun Deng’s safety is at stake right now, when would they have time to break iron stakes and melt iron chains? And if they try to ram with warships, it would be putting the cart before the horse if they sink by chance.

“But we don’t have iron stakes or iron chains, do we?”

“We can make them. It’s entirely possible.”

Then Jiang Wei pointed to one place on the map.

“Because we’ll block here.”