To be fair, there was nothing wrong with Lieutenant General Nan Dingzhou's plan.
First of all, from the intelligence point of view, the Khmer army failed to capture Zhaoyang City after a long siege, which shows that this Cambodian army, which seems to have good field combat capabilities, is insufficient in its ability to attack the city. It also means that there are still combat-capable friendly troops in Zhaoyang City.
Secondly, even if he lost in a head-on battle, the worst that could happen was that he could retreat into Zhaoyang City. With this new force from him, Zhaoyang City's defensive capabilities would increase exponentially (of course, he didn't understand geometry), so his strategy could be said to be both offensive and defensive.
Finally, they were fighting on the interior, and the news had already leaked. The imperial court could not allow the Khmers to come and go freely in their hinterland without taking action. As long as they held out for a while, reinforcements would naturally arrive. In the history of war, sufficient determination, good morale, and sufficient food, these three combined, can make a city a long-term defense. In the past, wars between various countries often saw sieges of a fortress or city lasting for years without success.
Of course, the lieutenant general didn't blindly trust himself. However, under the cover of the cavalry, the scout captain personally rushed into the city and brought back a reply from the Zhaoyang Tongzhi regarding the city's defense. It clearly stated: "The city has sufficient food, weapons, and defense supplies. In fact, due to the previous collection of military supplies, the reserves are even greater than usual."
All these gave the lieutenant general confidence, and he could not think of any reason to lose.
The lieutenant general's confidence infected his soldiers.
In the age of cold weapons, an individual's bravery or wisdom greatly influenced the morale of the entire army. When the lieutenant general, fully armed and mounted on his warhorse, appeared confidently at the forefront of the troops, the morale of the Chen Dynasty army visibly rose. Observing from a distance, Lin Hai repeatedly spotted the cavalrymen at the forefront of the Chen Dynasty formation speeding up without authorization. If the officers hadn't stopped them in time, some of them would have rushed out prematurely.
This situation usually only occurs when the soldiers are confident that they will win and are worried that they will not gain any military merit by rushing to the back, and it usually only occurs when their side has an absolute advantage.
Although the lieutenant-general ordered the cavalry to advance slowly, save horsepower, and accelerate after entering the charging distance, the soldiers' desire to fight obviously also affected some low-ranking officers, causing them to quietly increase their speed a little bit... Well, it was not very noticeable, but it was just enough to make their team one or two horse heads ahead of the ones next to them, so that they could have an advantage at the start.
This is obvious cheating, and no one is blind.
Therefore, the nearby troops would quietly catch up. After several rounds of this, the Lieutenant General and Lin Hai both noticed a significant disconnect between the cavalry and infantry. Fortunately, the Khmers wouldn't attack from the side, separating their cavalry and infantry. The Lieutenant General was relatively relieved, and the soldiers' desire to fight was a good thing.
As for why he was not worried about the Khmer army's flank attack at all, it was the news in Zhaoyang City. The Khmer army was estimated to have a total of about a thousand people, and most of them were now gathered in the south of Zhaoyang City. Where would they have enough manpower to attack him?
Moreover, there was a circle of plains around Zhaoyang City, and the highest and best observation point was the Zhaoyang Tower, where they were on the right. The lieutenant general looked up at the flag sent from the Zhaoyang Tower, which still stated that the left and right wings were safe and there were no enemies.
The two sides are already very close.
The lieutenant general decided to bypass the city's west and attack the Khmer army directly south. While the flags within the city told him that some Khmer troops were still present in the east, he had no intention of splitting his forces. If his limited forces were separated by the vastness of Zhaoyang City, the risk of a battle would become enormous. While he believed the intelligence from within the city was correct, the thought of "who could fail to see through such an obvious ploy to lure the enemy into splitting up?" flashed through the lieutenant general's mind, then was discarded forever.
"Which idiot raised this banner? Who let them act on their own? Who could fail to see through such an obvious plot to lure the enemy into dividing their troops?" Almost at the same time when the lieutenant general gave up on dividing his troops, Lin Hai became furious again.
Wang Shoushi shook his head. It seemed that Xiao Linzi was getting more and more angry. He had to send a message to Wang Liang. Seizing territory was important, but not the most important thing. If he continued to hold it in, Xiao Linzi would get hurt.
"This flag isn't in our plan. I'll check right away. However, the two sides are about to clash outside the city, and the specific results may have to wait until they decide the winner." Xue Wuxia replied, her face flushed. Zhaoyang Station had encountered many problems in recent days, and to have such a problem at this critical juncture was not something that could be solved with just a few words.
Lin Hai ignored Xue Wuxia's reply and didn't even put down the telescope until he confirmed that the Lieutenant General of Nanding Prefecture had not divided his troops. Then he put down the telescope and said to Xue Wuxia, "Using such an obvious strategy is simply reminding the Lieutenant General of Nanding Prefecture that the information in the city is problematic. If this Lieutenant General is cautious or suspicious, he will choose to retreat directly or enter Zhaoyang City and hold it now, then our plan will be in vain. Therefore, the person who sent this message must have wanted to warn him. Although it seems that the result is still in our favor, this hidden danger must be eliminated. My only hope now is that this is not done by one of our people."
"Sir, please rest assured. No matter who it is, I will eradicate this hidden danger completely." Xue Wuxia, feeling like he was slapped again, bowed and said.
The Chen Dynasty troops had bypassed half of Zhaoyang City. As the terrain forced their formation to fan out around the city, the distance between the cavalry and the infantry behind them widened. The lieutenant general frowned at this. The distance between the front and rear formations, at the farthest point, was nearly two hundred paces. It wasn't too far, but it wasn't close either. Perhaps they should simply halt the front formation and regroup.
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