The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 677 Practical Exercise

After dismissing the troops, Guan Xing turned to Liu Shan and smiled, "Your Highness, we're going out for training. Shouldn't you be returning to the palace?"

Liu Shan immediately became agitated and said, "I'm not going back. If I go back, my father and the prime minister will force me to study again. I'd rather die than go back. Besides, how could you not take me with you on such an interesting training exercise?"

Every man of the Han Dynasty harbors a dream of becoming a general, and Liu Shan was no exception. He once dreamed of leading a large army like Huo Qubing to conquer all directions, but he knew his own limitations, so he kept the idea to himself.

But...

I can understand not being allowed to go to a real battlefield, but not being allowed to go to a training exercise is a bit much.

To put it simply, the training exercise was a novelty for Liu Shan, and he really wanted to participate and have some fun—yes, have some fun.

However, there are advantages to playing this game. At the very least, you get to eat, live, and share the hardships with the soldiers. If these soldiers make it big in the future, they will definitely remember the friendship they have built up and will express their loyalty to Liu Shan without reservation.

It has to be said that being a second-generation official has its advantages; you can build a career while having fun.

Seeing that he was beaming with anticipation, Guan Xing didn't try to persuade him any further. Instead, he instructed him, "You can go, but remember that we're just there to accompany you. We're here to train the soldiers' command abilities, so you must listen more, observe more, and speak less."

Liu Shan nodded emphatically and said, "No problem, I promise not to participate in command or interfere with their decision-making."

Half an hour later, the soldiers of the three garrisons were the first to assemble, and Liu Chan, Guan Xing, and the other four followed them out of the camp and fled towards Yidao City.

In addition, to prevent any misunderstanding, Guan Xing sent someone on horseback to Yidao City to inform the county magistrate that they were conducting exercises and that there was no need to be alarmed by the sight of the army.

The soldiers of Santun played the role of the fleeing side. After leaving the camp, they ran wildly, and their speed caused the formation to become extremely scattered.

Ma Zhongzhou rested in his camp for half an hour before leading his army in full-speed pursuit, determined to annihilate the remaining troops of Santun.

Among the remaining troops, after running for more than ten miles, a platoon leader lay on the ground, pressing his ear to the ground to listen for the footsteps of the pursuers. Then he stood up and asked, "Lord Shence, the enemy is catching up. What should we do now?"

Guan Xing said irritably, "You're the leaders, why are you asking me? Discuss it yourselves."

The three garrison leaders reluctantly huddled together to discuss the matter. Some thought they should speed up their escape, while others thought they should ambush the pursuers to make them hesitant to give chase. Still others thought they should take a detour, quietly circling around the pursuers to their rear and escaping in the opposite direction. Before the battle even began, the three garrison leaders had already disagreed.

The three platoon leaders were arguing heatedly, their faces flushed. Zhang Bao, feeling overwhelmed and full of questions, said, "The pursuers are coming soon. If we keep arguing like this, we might as well surrender."

Guan Xing smiled with satisfaction: "Isn't this exactly the effect we wanted to see? This is the second most dangerous situation I can think of that we would encounter behind enemy lines. If they can break through this, their ability to survive behind enemy lines will be greatly reduced."

Zhang Bao asked in surprise, "If this situation is the second most dangerous, then what about the most dangerous situation?"

Guan Xing said, "To give you the simplest example, imagine you lead 30,000 exhausted soldiers, lacking food and clothing and with many seriously wounded, to retreat. I lead an army of 400,000 to surround the area within dozens of miles of your retreat direction, and keep shrinking the encirclement to compress your living space. How would you break through successfully?"

“Uh…” Zhang Bao said, “Isn’t this the same tactic Han Xin used to surround Xiang Yu, but Xiang Yu just broke through?”

Guan Xing spread his hands and said, "The problem is that we are not Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Chu, and we don't have his heaven-defying martial prowess. In this situation, how can we rely on our personal wisdom and tactics to maneuver around in the encirclement and successfully lead these 30,000 remnants out?"

Zhang Bao retorted irritably, "Isn't this just switching Han Xin and Xiang Yu? Are you trying to make things difficult for me?"

Guan Xing was talking about someone else, but Zhang Bao could only think of Xiang Yu and Han Xin; the two were not on the same wavelength at all.

Guan Xing was too lazy to explain, and said carefully, "After the training exercise is over, let's go back and do a sand table simulation to see if it can be successful?"

While the two were talking, the three village chiefs finally stopped arguing. Actually, the argument hadn't ended, but Ma Zhong was catching up quickly. None of the three village chiefs could convince the others, and they all knew that if they continued arguing, they might all be wiped out. So they had to resort to an arm wrestling match to decide whose opinion to follow. In the end, one village chief won, and everyone continued running forward.

Liu Shan, who was also running alongside, exclaimed in astonishment, "Deciding command by arm wrestling? Isn't that too hasty?"

Guan Xing explained, "It was a bit hasty, but the process isn't important, the result is. Whatever the method, as long as we can get a result quickly with the approval of the majority, that's fine."

This method is indeed hasty and may not be able to select the best commander, but even the worst commander is better than no commander at all.

The garrison commander gained temporary command through an arm wrestling match. He led his troops on a frantic escape for dozens of miles. In the evening, after finding a place to dig a smokeless stove and eating dinner, he ordered his men to create many traces to the north before turning around and fleeing south.

The platoon leader had also participated in the battles of capturing Zhang Cheng twice and encircling and annihilating Lu Xun, so he was still able to apply basic tactics.

Unfortunately, he was facing Ma Zhong, one of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu Han, and Zhou Shan, who had participated in the planning to annihilate Lu Xun. Not to mention, Ma Zhong and Zhou Shan's forces were eight or nine times larger than theirs.

Therefore, the garrison commander was ambushed by Ma Zhong's troops as soon as he entered the Wuling Mountains to the south, and was beaten badly and had to return the way he came.

The garrison commander, realizing the advantage of Ma Zhong's superior numbers, began to rack his brains for a solution. He took out a map to analyze the ambush locations that Ma Zhong might occupy and sent out scouts to investigate Ma Zhong's movements, trying to find a way to break out.

As a result, the decision was made too slowly, which wasted time. The next morning, when they tried to break out, they were ambushed again. Fortunately, the distance to break out was too far from Ma Zhong's, and Ma Zhong's army had just arrived and was not prepared. They took advantage of the situation and successfully broke out into the deep mountains after paying the price of forty or fifty "killed" men.

Then Ma Zhong continued to pursue him and he continued to flee. This pursuit lasted for three days. During this time, the platoon leader was beaten black and blue, his head was swollen and bleeding. Nearly half of his subordinates were "casualties" and there were many complaints in the army. The platoon leader's prestige plummeted.

That day, the remaining soldiers who had fled to a mountain gully could no longer hold on and strongly demanded a change of leadership. The second and third platoon leaders were eager to take action and decisively launched an attack, talking to each soldier to garner votes for themselves. The next morning, they held a direct election, and the third platoon leader was successfully elected because he had the support of some soldiers in the first platoon. He then continued to flee and lingered until midnight before leading the entire army back along the same route to launch a night attack on Ma Zhong's main camp.

Ma Zhong employed a dispersed encirclement tactic, relying on his superior forces to seize key locations, attempting to first surround the remnants of the enemy and then gradually compress the encirclement to finally annihilate them. The advantage of this tactic was that it blocked the enemy's escape route, preventing them from being caught in a chase. The disadvantage was that it led to the dispersion of troops, poor communication, and ineffective command. Therefore, Ma Zhong only deployed half of his forces for the encirclement, while his main force remained behind the remnants, ready to launch an attack at any time. He was also prepared for a night raid by the enemy. As a result, the Santunzhang night raid plan unfortunately failed.

However, the village chief was not discouraged. Seeing that Ma Zhong was on guard, he decisively retreated, trying to lure Ma Zhong into a pursuit and ambush him halfway. Unfortunately, Ma Zhong did not fall for it.

The three village chiefs had no choice but to resort to another method: using ropes to climb the cliff and try to break through the Ma Zhong outpost by scaling the wall. This forced Liu Chan and Guan Xing to grab the ropes and climb up the cliff.

However, to ensure Liu Shan's safety and prevent the crown prince of the Han Dynasty from falling to his death from the cliff, Guan Xing had to take safety measures. He tied a safety rope to Liu Shan and cut bamboo on the spot to make a hanging basket to hoist Liu Shan up.

Unfortunately, the terrain of the Wuling Mountains was too complex, and the encirclement built by Ma Zhong was too large. Even if the three village chiefs crossed the cliff, they were still within Ma Zhong's encirclement.

Moreover, Ma Zhong was constantly adjusting his deployment, and as he gained a better understanding of the terrain of the Wuling Mountains, the encirclement not only did not become thinner but became more and more solid.

After suffering several more defeats, the commander of the Third Battalion, whose army numbered less than a hundred men, finally resigned himself to his fate and said, "Lord Shence, I have done my best, but there is really no other way!"