Chapter 429 Ranger
Although Zhang Chong thought that he mobilized troops from the rear quickly and covertly. But in fact, the Taishan Army's dispatches had long been noticed by the Zhenbei Army.
In fact, the Han army has always had an advantage in intelligence on the Taishan army.
Although the scholar-bureaucrats from Wei, Zhao, Julu, Changshan, Anping, Zhongshan and other places fled north one after another, these people had been serving as masters in this land for hundreds of years and had their own complex network of relationships.
Even though many of the disciples were restored to free persons, they still felt grateful for the past kindness of their masters and continued to send some information about the Taishan Army to the Han army outside.
Therefore, the Taishan Army's large-scale troop mobilization within the territory could not be hidden from the Zhenbei Army in the north.
Of course, the Zhenbei Army didn't believe it at first. Because they don't know how much of this kind of information they have to deal with every day. True and false information sent by those powerful remnants are not taken seriously by their Zhenbei Army.
But in addition to these unprofessional channels, Lu Zhi arranged intelligence back-up in Jizhou.
On the way to Youzhou, Lu Zhi continued to disperse his capable men and lurk in order to grasp the situation in the Jizhou area. He knew that sooner or later there would be a decisive battle with the Taishan Army that would decide the Northland, so the sooner he buried his head, the better.
As this professional intelligence was gradually collected into the new city, for example, the troops stationed in Jingxing had changed their defenses, and all the straight roads were filled with marching people. Lishes between Zhao and Wei were being requisitioned to supply drinking water along the road.
What finally came to Lu Zhi’s hands was this conclusion:
It is estimated that one hundred thousand Taishan troops are marching towards Zhending.
But Lu Zhi did not panic, because what he really trusted was a group of spies rooted within the Taishan Army. Although these people were not large in number, they were the essence of Lu Zhi's entire intelligence system.
So he had been waiting for the military reports from these people, and finally he finally got it, but it took a little longer to send the information.
For eight days, a piece of important information came from the other side:
"The thief is bluffing with a number of 100,000, but the actual troops are less than 10,000, which is not enough to have an impact on the overall situation."
Now Lu Zhi understood.
What a little thief Zhang Chong is, why do you want to play a trick on him to increase the number of stoves? As a soldier, he could understand what Zhang Chong was up to after just a moment's thought.
It is nothing more than using the same group of people to leave the city during the day, secretly return to the city at night, and then continue to leave the city during the day the next day, so as to create the appearance of a continuous army.
Now that you've seen through the opponent's tricks, you need to think about why the opponent did what they did.
Lu Zhi discussed with his staff and believed that there might be several situations like this. One is that the little thief wants to run away, and he is bluffing now, just to make him throw a rat weapon. Then he could lead his army south across the Hutuo River, and then use this water as the boundary with him.
Another way is that the little thief has other main directions of attack. It was obvious that he wanted to trap Lu Zhi's main force in the Xinting area, and then he would attack elsewhere.
As for this elsewhere, it is still unclear.
But Lu Zhi had a way to test the enemy. He decided to abandon the Xinshi and Xianyu areas and led his troops to withdraw to the Lunu area in Zhongshan to the north.
Aren't you bluffing? Then I will show weakness and see how you respond.
In fact, in addition to this reason, Lu Zhiben also planned to withdraw his troops to Lunu.
This is the result of his analysis of the superiority of the enemy's and our own forces. The most core armament of the Zhenbei Army is the cavalry. Even though Gongsun Zan's troops have been slightly damaged, the overall number of cavalry is still around 10,000 cavalry.
To make full use of the strength of the cavalry, there must be a broad depth that allows the cavalry to pass back and forth.
But what now?
He and the troops of the Taishan bandits on the opposite side were all piled up in Kuandian, which was only thirty or forty miles away from Zishui to Hutuosui. Merely spreading out all his troops seemed crowded, not to mention making the cavalry effective?
Another reason is that Lu Zhi has now initially achieved his goal of going south, which is to prevent the Taishan bandits on the north bank from robbing the millet harvest. As for the timing of the decisive battle, he wanted to postpone it until later. It was still too hot. By September, when the grass had grown and the horses were fat, it would be the time for the decisive battle.
Therefore, Lu Zhi had already made such a plan after Gongsun Zan failed to capture Sanhe Pavilion, and now this information only facilitated this.
Therefore, after plundering all the corn in the new city, Lu Zhi moved Dingkou on the north bank of Zishui and took it to Lunu, turning the north bank of Zishui into a no-man's land.
This is another tactic of Lu Zhi.
Setting up no man's land will be a great barrier to Lu Zhi's Zhenbei Army, because most of them are cavalry and can quickly pass through no man's land. However, most of the Taishan thieves were infantry and there were no supplies along the road, so they had to rely on grain road transportation.
When the time comes, Youzhou's sudden cavalry will attack everywhere and cut off their food routes. This no-man's land will be the burial place of these thieves.
As for how many Li Shu people here died in the ravines due to migration during this process, Lu Zhi could not see it.
If you can't see it, it doesn't exist.
Here, Lu Zhi has everything planned beautifully. But as everyone knows, he was wrong from the beginning.
In fact, during the past six months, spies from the Taishan Army's Military Division continued to conduct internal investigations, and with Dong Zhao's shrewd work, several spies were arrested one after another.
After that, he followed the clues and basically uncovered the intelligence.
Later, Zhang Chong specially kept these spies and kept passing on some true and false information to the north, so that the north never doubted.
But this time, Zhang Chong once again ordered this side to pass on false information, which caused a misjudgment on the other side.
At present, Zhang Chong still doesn't know how much impact these methods will have in the end, but at this time, he will naturally use whatever can be used.
Who knows that the result of tomorrow will not be the cause of today.
But compared to Lu Zhiyan sitting in the hall, obtaining information on paper, and then deducing strategic military information.
His friendly troops, the ragtag local tyrants in Zhongshan Kingdom, only believed what they saw with their own eyes.
But saying that they are Lu Zhi's allies really puts a dent in his face.
In fact, Lu Zhi didn't like these people at all and didn't even send anyone to recruit them. Just treat them as weeds in the wild and dismiss them.
But the local tycoons in Zhongshan clearly felt something was wrong.
Rich people and powerful families are definitely not the same thing. If you add dirt, you will know that the mud on these people's feet has not been cleaned very well.
These people are generally a group of thieves or a powerful gang of rangers. There may be less than a hundred or two hundred people in a team.
And with the fall of the Prime Minister of Zhongshan in the Battle of Handan, there are so many local tycoons like this in Zhongshan.
Just like at this moment in Wuji West, in a dense forest near the Nine Gates, a fat man with his chest exposed to cool off, with a piece of chest hair exposed, is such a little rich man.
This man's name is Lu Zhong, and he is a small ranger in Wuji. Because of his bravery, he was elected as the leader by the villagers during the chaos in Zhongshan, and he led a group of poor people to survive in a difficult way.
At this time, they were collecting dates in this jujube forest to use as food rations later.
Zhongshan has been in chaos until now, and only the powerful people in the dock wall still have food left.
Lu Zhong was a fat man, and the hotter the day, the harder it was to endure, so he simply lay down in the shade to rest and watch the people over there gathering dates. Soon, a boy who was as dirty as a mud monkey held a crisp jujube and handed it to Lu Zhong.
Lu Zhong didn't mind being dirty, he took one jujube in one mouthful, and then he breathed a sigh of satisfaction and said:
"This is the taste! Just right!"
Seeing that Kui was enjoying the meal, the clay monkey also stuffed the last two remaining ones into his mouth.
He chewed the dates carefully, letting the fragrance and sweetness of the dates slowly bloom in his mouth and tongue. The jujubes from my hometown are really delicious.
But when he thought about leaving his hometown, the mud monkey became depressed again, and even the dates in his mouth no longer tasted.
Who is Lu Zhong? He could see what this mud monkey was thinking at a glance, and then he cursed:
"Monkey, don't mess with the dates. The dates in this forest are earned by Nai Gong and three nearby Xiangqu masters. They are delicious when eaten. I don't think about how many people are still eating dirt!"
The mud monkey nodded fiercely and ate the remaining dates without thinking too much. If it weren't for Na Ke's bad teeth, he would have chewed the jujube pit.
But pariahs like them, who eat grass all day long, have long lost their teeth.
The mud monkey finished eating and was about to leave when he was kept by Lu Zhong. Lu Zhong also sighed:
"Monkey, we know you don't want to leave your hometown, but who wants to leave? How can I not understand why people are humble when they leave their hometown? But after all, this world is not just for you."
At this time, the fat Lu Zhong looked out of the forest with a story-telling look and sighed:
"Monkey, when I was your age, I went out to the countryside with a wooden sword. At that time, I heard a saying from Lu Weng in the village, saying that wherever the wind blows, the grass will fall. When I was young, I thought I was the wind. It wasn’t until I returned home bruised that I realized I was the grass.”
Then Lu Zhong grabbed a handful of Clay Monkey's scattered hair and said dotingly:
"So now that the wind direction has changed, we grasses must also change directions, otherwise they will be blown away."
Nihou didn't quite understand these principles. He just felt that Boss Lu was particularly sad today. But he is a good boy, so it is better for him not to speak if he knows this.
After a while, the hundreds of Xiangqu people left with more than ten baskets of jujubes. Obviously, the harvest this time was not as expected.
However, everyone near this jujube forest knew that those with the means had already searched the area, and the harvest of more than ten baskets could be regarded as the hard work of Lu Zhong and others.
Lu Zhong took these gains and rushed all the way to Wuji's biggest powerhouse, Wuji Zhen clan.
They wanted to go there to exchange for some food to help them along the way.
For Lu Zhong, these dates could not carry them to their destination. It was better to exchange some millet chaff to Zhen's side and make do.
The Zhen family is the biggest tycoon in this area and has a good reputation among the people. Moreover, a good friend of Lu Zhong's ranger career worked as a general in Zhen's manor.
Lu Zhong felt that with this kind of affection, it would be enough to change something.
In fact, this was indeed the case. When Lu Zhong and the others arrived at Zhen's manor tired and hungry, they not only gave them a meal, but also collected more than ten baskets of dates, and finally gave them five in exchange. A stone millet, ten stones of chaff, obviously too high.
Lu Zhong was surprised and wondered why the Zhen family was so generous. But if you don’t eat the meal that is served, it will be free.
So, he and his men squatted under the corner outside the manor and devoured the food. This meal of millet rice, without anything else, is already supremely delicious.
After almost eating, Lu Zhong’s former ranger friend came over. He smiled and said to Lu Zhong:
"Second brother, let me tell you that you are lying in a deep position and no one knows about you. A roar can be a storm. You see, our husbands all know your second brother's reputation. When he heard that second brother was coming, he specially set up a table to entertain you. Where are you, brother?”
Lu Zhong has passed the naivety of being famous when he was young. In his past life, he had encountered this situation countless times.
The master is so thirsty for talents that he wants you to risk your life.
Originally, the life of the evil knight-errant boy was not worth much, so he sold it to me after a meal of wine and meat. But later, Lu Zhong was injured because of the tragic death of a friend. In the end, he was treated like a shoehorn by his master and was abandoned to die.
Lu Zhong, who recovered from his injuries later, became disheartened and did not want to wander in this muddy pond anymore, so he returned to his hometown.
At this moment, seeing such a familiar scene appear again, how could Lu Zhong not feel wary?
But Lu Zhong knew that he had no choice, so he had to respectfully follow this man into the manor and let his men wait for him outside.
Soon Lu Zhong saw the so-called husband, but he was a weak man with no hair on his mouth.
He first looked up and down at Lu Zhong's magnificent and fat figure, and praised him repeatedly:
"He is a good warrior."
Then he asked Lu Zhong what martial arts he knew.
Lu Zhong hesitated and said modestly:
"We know a few sticks, but they are all ranger skills, not martial arts."
But Lu Zhong’s friend next to him was not polite and assured:
"Lang Jun, Brother Lu is the most powerful one we have ever seen. I once fought side by side with Brother Lu. In that battle, he alone crushed the heads of more than a dozen evil boys. That scene will remain with us for the rest of our lives. Can’t forget it.”
Lu Zhong frowned and glanced at his friend beside him, obviously dissatisfied with why he said this.
But the friend's eyebrows were flying and he replied:
"That's the second brother. Don't worry, great fortune is coming."
Sure enough, after hearing that Lu Zhong had such a strong record, the young man was very excited.
What he was going to do next needed someone like Lu Zhong, so during this period, he went to great lengths to recruit all the heroes and knights who came to their Zhen's Manor.
The man did not hesitate and said directly:
"I heard Hou Jin call you Brother Lu. I'm young, so I just followed suit and called you Brother Lu."
Lu Zhong became even more nervous after hearing this. He lowered his head and said he didn't dare to shout like that.
But the man insisted on this, and Lu Zhong couldn't continue, so he said:
"We have a big event here, and we need the bravery of my second brother. You also know that our Zhen family, no matter how good our reputation is here in Wuji, it has not harmed our fellow villagers. So, second brother, please relax. "Xin, as long as my second brother can help me accomplish this, no matter how rich I am in the future, you will be my brother from now on."
Lu Zhong lowered his head silently, chewing on the meaning of Lang Jun's words, his heart getting hotter and hotter.
Finally, Lu Zhong raised his head and said brightly:
"As long as Mr. Lang can take good care of my fellow villagers, we will do it."
The young man of the Zhen family was also generous. He directly sent people to let the people from Lu Zhong Township outside Wubi come in and made them disciples of the Zhen family.
At this time, Lu Zhong asked what was going on.
I saw the young man of the Zhen family facing the west and said excitedly:
"Send my sister to meet a great hero!"
My family’s monthly tickets are taking off. In the past two months, the monthly ticket has not exceeded 1,000, and it is about to end.
(End of chapter)