Chapter 62: Advancing into Duyang
The soldiers who came from afar rested on the spot to avoid the scorching sun at noon.

Liu Bei and his entourage of more than 20 riders went around Duyang City to observe.

Last year, Liu Biao sent an army of 10,000 people to carry out a sweep and expelled most of the county magistrates appointed by the court in Xudu.

It is hard to say whether the officials and people gathered in Duyang are staunch supporters of the Xu Du faction, but they are definitely staunch anti-Liu Biao faction.

We just arrived at Duyang today, and the defensive fortifications of our camp have not been repaired yet, let alone the fences and trenches surrounding Duyang.

Black Bear stopped his horse beside Liu Bei, and heard Liu Bei say: "We have heard of the speed of clumsy soldiers, but we have never heard of the longevity of clever soldiers."

Liu Bei seemed to have made up his mind, as he was a bit confused. He said, "I want to lead my troops to Ye County in a hurry. I want to ask the captain to surround Yang and ensure that I can retreat safely."

Black Bear frowned, he had already concluded that the battle to burn Bowangpo was about to break out.

I just can't understand it. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, this was clearly Zhuge Liang's first battle after he came out of seclusion, followed by the burning of Xinye and the flooding of Baihe River.

This is how Romance of the Three Kingdoms works, and it’s also the same in the arcade games we play.

It is impossible that when Liu Bei launched the Northern Expedition, he was facing Xiahou Dun and Li Dian; and when Zhuge Liang came out to burn Bowangpo, he was still facing Xiahou Dun and Li Dian.

Seeing Black Bear frowning, Zhang Fei was dissatisfied: "Just ask us to defend the camp firmly, what's the difficulty?"

Gan Ning, who was standing beside the black bear, pulled the reins again with his left hand and glanced at Zhang Fei.

Black Bear ignored Zhang Fei and looked at Liu Bei and asked, "Envoy Liu, do you want to seize Ye County first?"

Seeing Liu Bei nod, Black Bear raised his whip and pointed it at Duyang City, looking around at Liu Bei, Guan, Zhang and Zhao: "If I conquer Duyang on my own, all the captives, both men and women, will be mine?"

Liu Bei frowned: "It should be so, but the people are innocent and ignorant, why should the captain implicate them?"

"Lord Xuande, there are 20,000 enemy troops outside Wankou. Their officers and soldiers are generally ignorant and innocent. How can we hold back in battle?"

Black Bear asked back, and then said: "I understand Lord Xuande's kindness, but from now on, the two families around Wankou will fight and kill each other, and the people will not be able to live in peace in Duyang. If the city can be captured, I will relocate the innocent people to the vicinity of Xinye, or move them to Nanxiang, and the rest will be prisoners."

Liu Bei nodded slowly: "That's fine. But the Duyang garrison has more than a thousand men, about the same as the captain's troops. If we force an attack, it's not the best strategy."

If the attack is forced, the army will suffer heavy casualties and mental stress, and it will be difficult to deal with various issues rationally after the city is captured.

Once the negative emotions accumulated by the army cannot be suppressed, they may explode and lead to a massacre in the city.

Black Bear was seen in deep thought, seemingly considering the possibility of breaking into the city by force.

Liu Bei was a little reluctant, so he advised: "When I capture Ye County, the defenders of Duyang will surely be in disarray. You may as well persuade them to surrender."

"There are too many variables here. I can't wait. Lord Xuande, please set off later. After I defeat Duyang, I will take the Jackdaw Ancient Road to attack Luyang."

Black Bear was really confident that he could capture Duyang, and Liu Bei and the others exchanged glances.

Zhang Fei was about to speak when Guan Yu touched his foot, so Zhang Fei held back.

The two sides separated and watched Black Bear, Gan Ning and the face-covered white-robed Lu Bu leave.

Seeing the other party walking away, Zhang Fei could not help but say: "Brother! This guy was sent by Yuan Shao. There must be Yuan Shao's accomplices in Duyang City. He actually wants to take it all for himself!"

Liu Bei, on the other hand, looked relaxed, but his left hand holding the reins tightly grasped the rope: "If he can break through Duyang, our army will have no worries about retreating, so why should we care about these minor details?"

Guan Yu also spoke up: "This man is quite conceited. After he captures Duyang, he plans to take the Jackdaw Road to Luyang. If he attacks Luyang, Xiahou Yuanrang will come from Henan and will definitely encounter him first."

As he spoke, he calculated the distance with his hands and said, "Xiahou Yuanrang is stationed in Luoyang. It is 300 miles from Luoyang to Luyang. This man has already set out. He will reach Ye County in three days at the fastest and five days at the slowest."

"From Duyang, go north along the Jackdaw Road to Luyang, which is a distance of 130 miles. He will break through Duyang tonight and march tomorrow. It will take two days to reach Luyang. If he is unlucky, he will encounter Xiahou Yuanrang when his camp is unstable."

Guan Yu went to see Liu Bei and said, "Given this kid's cunningness, he will definitely hide during the day and move at night. He will wait for Xiahou Yuan to pass through Luyang before attacking Luyang. So brother, there may be an opportunity for battle."

This opportunity is based on Black Bear's ability to break through Duyang tonight.

If it can be breached, it means that all the speculations are reasonable; if it cannot be breached, then there is naturally no need to stay in Ye County and take risks.

The troops left Wankou and touched Ye County, and then retreated.

Stretching Xiahou Dun's supply line and tiring the enemy is equivalent to benefiting your own side.

This account is easy to calculate.

Liu Bei also thought about it repeatedly and believed that Wancheng was a very important transportation hub.

Just like the center point of a five-pointed star, there are a total of five highways connecting Wancheng. The first is the Wugu Pass Road between Chang'an and Wancheng; the second is the Wanluo Highway to the north of Wancheng; and the third is the Jingyu Highway out of Wankou in the northeast.

The fourth highway leads south to Xiangyang and Jiangling, and is the southern half of the Jingyu Highway; the fifth highway goes southeast, passing through the Wusheng Three Passes in Tongbai Mountain, and forks here, one road goes north to Runan Yiyang, and the other goes south directly to Jiangxia.

However, the northern half of this fifth road is difficult to travel and is not conducive to transporting supplies, otherwise Cao's army could have directly marched to Jiangxia.

The so-called Jackdaw Road is a mountain road heading north from Duyang. Its southern end is the Jingyu Road and its northern end is the Wanluo Road.

It is a county-level road between two national highways, which can be used by large troops and has military significance.

This also means... Liu Bei's northern expedition to the Central Plains could only take a quick hit and run away!
Otherwise, if he stayed in the Ye County area, the rest of Cao's army could take the Wanluo Road and the Jackdaw Road and go around and cut off Liu Bei's retreat!

If you want to truly protect your retreat, it is meaningless to just defend Duyang and Wancheng.

We must capture Luyang and block the intersection.

Only in this situation did Liu Bei dare to wander around Wankou.

As they discussed, they gradually approached the camp, where each army was stationed.

Liu Bei and his men knew their own army inside and out, so they watched the friendly forces from afar.

Black Bear's troops are newly formed and clearly lack experience in setting up a new camp, so they need middle and senior military officers to run around and coordinate.

Unlike the veteran troops, the low- and middle-ranking officers can cooperate to complete the work when stationed. But one thing is obvious, the morale of the Black Bear Troops is very high.

The lower-level soldiers were very enthusiastic about carrying out the tasks assigned by the military officers, and there was a harmonious relationship between the military officers and sergeants; this atmosphere was somewhat similar to that on our side.

Including Gan Ning's 500 men, although their formations were uneven, their morale was equally high.

This high morale is unusual, similar to the early days of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

After they left, Black Bear and Gan Ning took a closer look at Duyang City.

More than a hundred steps away from the city wall, the defenders on the city wall were quite tenacious, and several skilled archers shot arrows at them from time to time.

The arrows were so powerful that whenever they were about to reach the black bear, they would be blocked by Lu Bu with his halberd.

Gan Ning felt that Lu Bu was more and more powerful. Even though they were more than a hundred steps away, Gan Ning was confident that he could dodge, deflect or even catch the opponent's arrows after putting on his armor.

But he couldn't do what Lu Bu did, using his long spear to block left and right and continuously knock away arrows...

After another look around, he retreated out of the defenders' shooting range.

Black Bear's novelty had mostly worn off, and he said, "The morale of the defenders is high. They believe they can wait for reinforcements, otherwise they wouldn't be so fierce and stubborn."

Gan Ning nodded: "It is understandable. After the Battle of Guandu, all parties believed that the court had regained the Mandate of Heaven."

"As far as I know, last year Liu Jingsheng sent more than 10,000 soldiers and horses here. Not far away was Xi'e County, whose chief Du Xi led more than 50 people to defend the city. After three days of fighting, the swords were broken, so they threw earth and stones. After more than 30 people died, they broke through the siege and led more than 200 men and women to escape from Wankou and stopped at Mobei."

Gan Ning said sarcastically, "Du Xi only had over 50 men, and killed or injured over 200 Jingzhou soldiers. Now the walls of Duyang are even stronger, and there are over a thousand soldiers guarding the city. How could they surrender so easily?"

Black Bear was also hearing about this battle for the first time, and he was a little bit unbelievable: "More than 50 people defended the city, and killed more than 200 people? Afterwards, he led the officials and civilians, both men and women, to break out and escape?"

"This is the Jingzhou Army under Liu Jingsheng. Apart from their large numbers and the ability to eat rice, they are of little use."

Gan Ning changed his sarcasm to self-mockery: "It was also last year that Huang Zu's son Huang She, the governor of Zhangling County, led 3,000 soldiers to attack Chaisang. The Chaisang defender Xu Sheng, who was not well-known, led 500 soldiers to shoot and wound more than a thousand Huang She's officers and soldiers, and then attacked outside the city and defeated Huang She. In recent years, the Jingzhou army has been famous for not being good at fighting."

Gan Ning was really making fun of himself. If he had Huang She's status and military strength, not to mention a small Xu Sheng, even the Jiangdong army in the Chaisang area would be forced to retreat by him.

The sad thing is that not only outsiders think that the Jingzhou Army is not good enough, but the people of Jingzhou also think that the Jingzhou Army is not good enough.

But what is really scary is that the Jingzhou army is really not good enough at the moment.

There is no shortage of food, fodder and equipment; there is something wrong with the military system of Jingzhou.

Liu Biao was not unaware of this problem, and to solve it he would have to kill many people.

Gan Ning tilted his head to look at Du Yang and sneered: "In their eyes, these are the weak soldiers of Jingzhou and the bereaved people of Liu Yuzhou coming to besiege this city. How can the defenders of this city be afraid? I'm afraid they even want to use you and me to make a name for themselves and gain merit."

He had also fought several battles with the Dongzhou Army during the Yizhou Rebellion, so he could naturally see that the nearly 4,000 troops under Liu Bei were very elite.

If Liu Bei turned against Huang Zu, or was so shameless as to send Guan Yu or Zhang Fei with a thousand men to attack Jiangxia, he could easily rip off Huang Zu's head and kick it like a ball.

Although there were no balls in those days, there was Cuju, and there was also the game of kicking people's heads.

Gan Ning had nothing to worry about regarding the capture of Duyang City; what he should be concerned about was the next action.

After hearing the two little black dots from the Jingzhou army, Black Bear just smiled. The combat effectiveness of an army in a peacetime environment would decline very quickly; moreover, since Liu Biao took over Jingzhou, he had never fought any tough battles, and the Jingzhou army could not be considered a powerful force in the world.

The army is not strong to begin with, and has been in a peaceful environment for a long time, so its combat effectiveness is naturally hard to describe.

There is drought everywhere in the world, including Jingzhou, but Jingzhou can save itself to some extent.

So, as long as the people of Jingzhou are not starving to death, is there any need for them to go out and plunder?
Even if they win the battle and grab something, it has nothing to do with most soldiers.

After more than ten years, the Jingzhou army became a notoriously weak army.

The Jingzhou army also thought so...so it was really difficult for Liu Biao to be in that position.

Black Bear pondered and asked, "From Xingba's perspective, how would Liu Xuande fight?"

"His 4,000 men cannot attack the city, and are like a tree without roots in the Central Plains."

Gan Ning also thought about this problem and said, "Since the Battle of Guandu, the world has believed that the Central Plains army is strong and has looked down on Liu Xuande as a defeated general. This time he led his troops out of Wankou, probably to extend his prestige in the Central Plains and inspire the depressed people in Hebei."

"But the Central Plains soldiers are strong and the officers are arrogant. How could they let Liu Xuande leave so easily?"

This was a battle for Liu Bei to prove himself. He wanted to prove to his allies in the north and Jingzhou that he was a reliable person who valued the alliance and would do everything he could to fulfill it.

We must also strike a blow to Cao's army's arrogance as the best in the world, boost the morale of the Hebei army, and prove that Cao's army is not invincible.

Only by leading the army out of Wankou can he announce to the scholars in the Central Plains that he is still alive and still very capable of fighting, so... investment is welcome.

Even if you don't invest, please stay pure and don't invest in Cao thieves.

"I understand."

"He fights his fight, and I fight mine."

Black Bear spoke calmly, finally figuring out Liu Bei's trump card, which was to lure the enemy deep into his territory.

Let Xiahou Dun chase him for more than a hundred miles, and when Xiahou Dun can no longer run, then suddenly turn around and give him a severe blow.

Given the huge disparity in the enemy's strength and our perception of each other's strength, this tactic is most suitable for Liu Bei.

It is very likely that Liu Bei would take advantage of the information gap, pretend to retreat, and lure Xiahou Dun into a trap.

There is no need to worry that Xiahou Dun will not be fooled. This is what Cao’s army was like after Guandu, the strongest army in the world.

Liu Bei comes to steal the chicken with his army that has been defeated in successive battles. When he sees that the situation is not going well, he wants to run away. If you are Xiahou Dun, would you chase him?
So Luo Guanzhong lied again. The Battle of Bowangpo should have been fought by Liu Bei.

(End of this chapter)