Chapter 416

Chapter 416: Beiping Raid

Is it impossible for a strategist to ascend the throne? Final Volume: The Rise and Fall of Kingdoms, Unification of the World, Chapter 416: Beiping Raid

Sima Yi was really having a headache.

He had been at the border of Ji Province and Youzhou for quite some time, and he had a clear understanding of the temperament and abilities of Gao Shun on the other side.

Among the generals currently favored by Yuan Shao, Gao Shun’s style was particularly unique.

He didn’t drink alcohol, precisely to prevent any delays or misjudgments in battle due to intoxication.

He also didn’t massively expand his troops. The elite soldiers he trained were almost always around seven hundred to a thousand in number.

With such a commander, the discipline of the soldiers under him didn’t need further explanation.

Ju Shou had originally intended to respond to Yuan Shu’s rumors, but unexpectedly gained such a powerful ally. It could be said that misfortune turned into fortune.

Capturing Gao Shun would be no easy task!

“Although General Gao has repeatedly intercepted General Lü, he has never ventured deep into enemy territory even when slightly ahead. Clearly, he understands that even if he can maintain an advantage in Ji Province, he cannot possibly dominate in Youzhou.”

“Moreover, the enemy doesn’t rely solely on personal martial prowess to fight…”

Sima Yi glanced at Lü Bu, his meaning obvious.

Lü Bu might still get carried away in battle and fall for their tactics of luring the enemy deep, but Gao Shun had no such possibility.

“His Majesty’s orders are for you to arrive here, not to formally initiate a campaign against Ji Province. We cannot yet disregard losses and use the encirclement tactic relying on numerical superiority.”

Lü Lingju nodded: “Of course.”

She had no intention of seeking personal glory, nor did she disregard the lives of her own soldiers.

Since she chose to consult Sima Yi instead of directly joining forces with Lü Bu upon her arrival with the Wuhuan cavalry, she naturally sought a more intelligence-based approach to victory.

“With Ju Shou’s insight, there’s no need to consider any divisive tactics. I doubt Yuan Shao would believe such tricks at this point. Feigning defeat or surrender is out of the question.”

Lü Lingju rolled her eyes, “I could think of such methods myself, why would I need your advice? Moreover, our conquest of Ji Province is a natural progression. Using such tactics would not only disgrace us, the students of Leping Academy, but also tarnish His Majesty’s reputation. Of course, we won’t do such things.”

“Alright, let’s focus on tactics.”

Sima Yi found the task headache-inducing, but he had no intention of refusing.

As the unification of the world approached, there were few opportunities left to establish great merits.

He was well aware that his father stepping down from the position of Henan Yin was to make way for him and his elder brother Sima Lang. He couldn’t afford to back down due to his lack of seniority here, with Xun You and Tian Feng above him!

If this plan succeeded and he managed to sever another of Yuan Shao’s arms, it would undoubtedly determine his future promotions.

Lü Lingju might seem carefree, but her ambition for merit was no less than her father Lü Bu’s.

Perhaps it was precisely this ambition that His Majesty admired in her.

Then he certainly couldn’t fall behind!

So when Tian Feng saw Sima Yi in the military camp’s mess hall the next day, he found him looking exhausted from a sleepless night.

“What’s this?”

Sima Yi placed a battle plan in front of Tian Feng, “Since you’re from Ji Province, I wanted to consult you on some minor details.”

Tian Feng stroked his beard, seeing the seriousness in Sima Yi’s eyes, he couldn’t help but marvel at how the strength and demeanor of these young people already showed such a stark contrast to the Han Dynasty.

The confidence in the dynasty’s continuation made one increasingly eager to see what Da Yong would look like after the unification of the world.

But there was no need to say that now.

He casually flipped through the document in front of him, seeing that Sima Yi had chosen the location for the battle on the first page.

“Beiping?”

Sima Yi replied decisively, “Yes, I want to place this battle in Beiping.

Beiping County, not Beiping Commandery.

Although both Beiping County in Zhongshan, Ji Province, and You Beiping Commandery in Youzhou are named Beiping, they are still some distance apart.

However, Beiping is the closest county in Zhongshan, Ji Province, to Youzhou.

In a sense, there’s a subtle connection in the naming.

This city is built near the Xu River, where the Xu River meets the Yi River, forming the second river barrier on the Ji-You front.

“The reason we haven’t considered Beiping as a target before is clear to you. The upper reaches of the Xu River are the Taihang Mountains, with our and Ye City’s spies on either side. Any movement in this direction would be detected faster than if we attacked Yixian as before.”

“I know,” Sima Yi’s expression was still somewhat weary, but his tone was firm when he answered, “Moreover, due to the surrounding mineral veins and rivers, Beiping is also the site of the Han Emperor’s iron official. The iron official’s garrison has always been substantial, so we would inevitably face a situation that’s easy to defend but hard to attack.”

Tian Feng asked, “Then why make this decision?”

Sima Yi replied, “What we want isn’t the iron official’s allegiance, so we don’t need to worry about the size of the garrison. Besides, we have another advantage. We know why His Majesty intends to delay the war until August, but Yuan Shao might not.”

Tian Feng looked at the young man seriously for a while, then flipped through the battle plan twice before replying, “It’s worth a try.”

To sever another strong support for Ye City and allow their army to march south with great momentum, this campaign was indeed worth a try!

When news of the battles in Qingzhou’s Beihai and Donglai reached their ears a few days later, they realized that their chances of success had risen another notch.

Lü Bu picked up two paper balls in front of him, randomly chose one, and upon opening it, saw that it didn’t say to retreat upon being discovered by the enemy, but to wait for casualties before withdrawing.

“It seems even heaven is on our side!” He immediately cheered, “Let’s go, action!”

However, what he didn’t see was that the other paper ball left behind was quietly slipped into Lü Lingju’s sleeve.

Seeing Sima Yi’s speechless expression looking at her, Lü Lingju lifted her chin, “What’s there to see? Just seeking a good omen. Isn’t this giving you a chance to shine?”

Sima Yi: “…”

Tian Feng patted his shoulder, “Alright, little strategist, you should follow too. This General Lü knows how to adapt, she’ll have a bright future.”

Sima Yi found it hard to comment.

If he remembered correctly, Lü Lingju took His Majesty as her role model. How she ended up with such a style was truly baffling.

And if he heard correctly, Tian Feng this guy…





After finally shedding the identity of Yuan Feng, he felt a bit less like someone easy to bully. At this moment, there was still a hint of anticipation for the reunion with the generals and strategists of Ji Province…

He uttered a phrase, “Thanks for your auspicious words,” and immediately mounted his horse, chasing after Lü Bu and the others.

This wasn’t a forced march; the battle plan was in his hands, and he had to ensure the capture of the main general of the ambush camp was foolproof!

Stationed in Gaoyang, Ju Shou truly didn’t expect that with Qiao Yan’s troops also mobilizing towards Quanzhou, after urgently ordering Shen Pei to take command in Bohai, the first sign of unusual activity wasn’t from there, nor was it from Lü Lingju and Lü Bu joining forces and directly marching south. Instead, it was them moving a large number of sandbags from Fanyang to the southwest bank of the Yi River.

The direction wasn’t towards Hejian County, but Zhongshan State!

Zhongshan had already been demoted from a state to a county during the reign of Emperor Xiaoling, but perhaps due to over three hundred years of habitual naming, people still preferred to call it Zhongshan State.

But the name wasn’t important now; what mattered was the performance of the northern soldiers.

“Thousands of sandbags, in these two years of low water flow, are enough to temporarily block the river’s flow,” Ju Shou’s expression turned grave. “If Beiping changes hands, their actions upstream of the Yi and Xu Rivers will be hard for us to restrict.”

This was the technique of damming with sand!

When the war report from Donglai County arrived, Ju Shou was still lamenting that even if Xin Ping responded promptly, the moment the other side chose to persuade the remnants of the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans to defect, his situation would be quite passive. Xin Ping was no Han Xin, unable to recreate the glory of the Weishui Battle.

Losing half of Qingzhou to a battle with few casualties and limited scope was almost a certainty.

How come the sand damming was happening in Ji Province!

Ju Shou dared not find any humor in this coincidence.

Allowing the Da Yong troops from Youzhou to gain control of the upstream areas of the Yi and Xu Rivers meant they could deploy more sandbags and other materials, providing a smooth crossing for a large number of soldiers heading south.

This was very bad!

Currently, they could still hold these two borders, relying on geographical barriers to prevent large-scale movements of Youzhou’s swift cavalry and Bingzhou’s iron cavalry.

But if the natural barriers were breached, even with Gao Shun’s elite troops forming an iron wall, how could they resist the overwhelming tide of manpower?

Obviously, they couldn’t!

“In the past few months, Lü Bu has repeatedly invaded our Ji Province territory with tactics of retreating upon casualties or avoiding confrontation, almost making us accustomed to his style,” Gao Shun heard Ju Shou say upon receiving the summons, “but this habit is actually undesirable!”

“Now, on one side, the Protector of the Wuhuan is joining forces with Lü Bu, and on the other, Donglai and half of Beihai in Qingzhou are about to change hands. This battle is no longer a game; it’s about to erupt at any moment.”

Ju Shou once thought whether Lü Bu’s arrogant style could be exploited, as Xin Pi had intended, by first elevating him higher to find an opportunity to capture him.

But if time were ample, and the Grand General hadn’t fallen to this state due to the loss of Yan and Yu Provinces and the denouncement in the proclamation, they might have had a chance to try. Now, they could only consider how long they could hold off this impending disaster.

“What does Lord Ju wish me to do?” Gao Shun asked.

Ju Shou replied, “I will personally oversee the northern defense line of Gaoyang, ensuring no mistakes in the coming days. I need you to immediately go to Beiping, mobilize the Tongguan garrison to join forces with you, and intercept those two Lü generals before they reach the Xu River!”

The speed at which Qiao Yan’s generals captured cities over the years made Ju Shou dare not harbor any illusions.

If the final decisive battle had already begun with the actions in Qingzhou, and the Youzhou troops across the river had been planning for this battle for years, how could he guarantee that the Beiping garrison could hold the city gates?

Gao Shun had to make a trip to intercept the enemy’s plan to dam and breach the rivers upstream before it even started!

Although Gao Shun had some intuitive misgivings, he trusted Ju Shou’s judgment.

He immediately led his soldiers straight towards Zhongshan State.

Since the journey from Gaoyang to Beiping was longer than from Fanyang to Beiping, only slightly advantageous due to fewer river obstacles, Gao Shun dared not make any stops, wishing he could reach Beiping in an instant.

Fortunately, upon entering the Beiping city gates, the local garrison informed him that the enemy had been slowed by the sandbags used for damming and crossing the river, having just crossed the Yi River.

To allow the rear troops to catch up and for the soldiers carrying sandbags to recover their strength, they had set up another camp on the south bank of the Yi River, advancing slowly, putting heavy pressure on the Beiping garrison.

“Before the enemy fully crossed the river, we tried to intercept their vanguard, but their cavalry was especially numerous, and we really couldn’t do anything.”

Cavalry performed exceptionally well in surprise attacks, especially those under Lü Bu and Lü Lingju.

Gao Shun knew this wasn’t the Beiping garrison’s fault.

They had promptly detected the enemy’s movements, delivered the information to Ju Shou, and attempted to intercept the enemy, which was already commendable.

Fortunately, Beiping was south of the Xu River, giving them one last chance.

And Gao Shun was confident he could frontally intercept the enemy troops that had crossed first!

As long as Beiping held, they still had the confidence to hold firm!

But almost as soon as Gao Shun arrived in Beiping, Lü Lingju had already rallied her troops, following Sima Yi’s arrangement, attracting the attention of the Zhongshan garrison from the camp south of the Yi River, and leading them upstream overnight.

Near the source of the Yi River, she quietly crossed the Xu River and waited for the opportune moment to attack.

This was a very special unit.

While organizing the troops that had crossed the river, she touched her waist.

Besides the long spear in her hand, there was another secondary weapon hanging there.

This iron weapon was about four feet long, not shaped like a typical sword, but more like a slender bamboo joint, with a square cross-section.

Although it wasn’t sharpened, in earlier tests of its ability to penetrate armor at close range, Lü Lingju had already clearly understood its power—it could crush a person through armor when wielded by a strong cavalryman!

Previously, due to the iron consumption from well-digging during the drought, it wasn’t mass-produced. But now it could be! This weapon had been manufactured in batches last year when the Bingzhou ironworks resumed weapon production and sent to various places.

But how many troops could actually reach their cavalry? When long spears could solve the problem, carrying such a burden was just a waste of the soldiers’ stamina.

But now, facing this inevitable clash with the ambush camp, this weapon should make its appearance.

It was called the mace.