Lu Tu looked at Sun Erwa, who had come to report the news: "Have you counted the number of men? Are there really 8,000?"
Sun Erwa said solemnly, "I dare not deceive the general, there are at least 8,000 men! So the captain sent me to ask you whether to continue the defense or to persuade the enemy to surrender?"
At this moment, Lu Tu was sitting in the main tent with the other captains. When they heard the words "surrender", Zhu Zhaozhou and the other captains exchanged strange glances.
"General Lü, may I ask how many troops Colonel Liu Hong has under his command?"
Lu Tu held out one hand: "500 people."
Hiss! Everyone present gasped upon hearing this.
If Lü Tu hadn't said it himself, they would have thought it was a fantasy, or that Liu Hong had gone completely mad.
Leading 500 men, facing an attack of 8,000, and still thinking of trying to persuade the enemy to surrender?
Pang Tianlei stood up, cupped his hands, and said, “Reporting to the general, the other side is probably not stupid either. How could they lead 8,000 men to surrender to our 500-man force? Although I don’t know this Liu Hong, please give the order to let me go and guard Luanshigang in his place.”
There were quite a few generals who shared the same thoughts as Pang Tianlei. When they heard this, Nie Yun, Liu Yang and others grinned, which only fueled the arrogance of Pang Tianlei and his men.
He continued, "Captain, the guy who can say that 500 can persuade 8,000 to surrender is really not thinking straight. Luanshigang is very important. Please order me to take over from him."
Zhu Zhaozhou looked at Pang Tianlei and shook his head. This man was loyal and brave, but not smart enough. Didn't he think about why Lu Tu would let Liu Hong only take 500 men to stop him, given that he knew Luan Shi Gang was very important?
Liu Yang naturally had to speak up for his own people, showing no leniency towards Pang Tianlei: "Captain Pang, are you saying you're more capable than Liu Hong? Or are you saying your men are more capable than our brothers?"
Pang Tianlei snorted coldly: "Anyone who thinks of persuading me to surrender is too naive. Even if I am incompetent, I will not rashly send them out of the Luanshigang Pass."
Liu Yang sneered, "Then let's watch and see."
Soon, the two groups began arguing. During these 10 days, Lü Tu was not idle. He used this time to gradually bring a total of 30,000 troops under his command.
Zhu Zhaozhou and his group could only command a total of 3,000 troops, so it was normal for Pang Tianlei and his men to have some complaints.
Lu Tu waved his hand, stopping the noisy people on the scene: "Arguing here is useless. If you have better suggestions, you can bring them up, instead of suggesting such a bad idea as changing generals at the last minute!"
Hearing Lu Tu's reprimand, Pang Tianlei fell silent, lowered his head, and returned to his seat.
Zhu Zhaozhou asked, "General, now that the Red Turban Army is heading towards Luanshigang, we should make preparations and deploy them as soon as possible."
Lu Tu waved his hand: "No need for such trouble. This time, I'll treat everyone to a good show."
Everyone was taken aback: "What's the show?"
Lu Tu smiled confidently: "Naturally, it will be my subordinate Captain Liu Hong who will give you a good show of how 500 men can persuade 8,000 Red Turban soldiers to surrender. Let me show you whether my soldiers are weak or strong, and how they fight!"
After saying that, Lü Tu got up and walked outside, and Nie Yun, Liu Yang, Tuoba Yue and others followed him out, leaving only Zhu Zhaozhou and Pang Tianlei looking at each other.
He said with great distress, "General Zhu, it's not that I don't trust the Commandant, but you are a veteran general who has led troops into battle. Have you ever heard of such an outrageous thing in military books?"
Zhu Zhaozhou shook his head: "Let alone having heard of it, I wouldn't even dare to think about it. An enemy 20 times our size, even with the advantage of natural terrain, we have no chance of winning. But considering Lü Tu's record, I'll give him an extra 20%, that's the absolute maximum."
Pang Tianlei and the others nodded in agreement: "That's right. Since General Lü has spoken, let's go and see. I really don't know why he's so confident, leaving our 30,000 troops unused. Sigh!"
His words actually represent the thoughts of others, after all, they had just joined Lu Tu's command, and who wouldn't want to make contributions and prove themselves?
But Lu Tu was frighteningly confident. He was fine in ordinary times, but especially on the battlefield, every word he said sounded like bragging to others. If it weren't for his past achievements, no one would believe him at all.
Lu Tu went directly to the training ground and began to select his generals: "Liu Yang, Liu Hu, Sun Kuang, Sun Meng, Feng Xiao, Feng Lie, lead 30,000 men to guard the place!"
"Yes, sir!"
"The rest of the officers of the rank of captain and above, follow me to the Luanshigang Pass, along with 2,000 soldiers!"
Zhu Zhaozhou and the others had no reason to refuse, since Lü Tu himself was going to the front lines. Even though they knew he was only taking 2,000 men, they still bowed and said, "Yes, sir!"
Soon, 2,000 cavalrymen set off in a grand procession. The main reason Lü Tu did this was because the Luanshigang Pass was too narrow.
Sending too many people is completely useless, and the deployment of large armies is very particular and the consumption is enormous. Rather than sending so many people who can't help, it's far better to train the newly joined cavalry.
The 1,200 cavalrymen who joined later were all elite soldiers selected by Lü Tu from various armies. Each of them was no more than 22 years old and had one thing in common: an indelible arrogance between their brows and eyes. This was exactly the kind of proud elite that Lü Tu wanted!
In warfare with cold weapons, especially in border areas where most terrain is relatively open, numbers are often not very useful.
The main strategy is to rely on elite cavalry to break through the enemy's formation. As long as this elite force is strong enough to break through the enemy's formation, the enemy will naturally lose their will to fight and be routed.
After all, everyone is here to join the army to make a living; there are very few armies that fight to the death.
Arrogant individuals, of course, cannot be placed in ordinary armies; otherwise, they would quickly lose all their vigor by spending their days alongside seasoned veterans.
Only by constantly adding fresh blood to this elite force, allowing these top talents to compete and inspire each other, can their maximum fighting power be unleashed.
With 2,000 elite cavalrymen, their marching speed was extremely fast. Among them, only the 800 cavalrymen before Lü Tu were equipped with composite bows, detonators, and explosives, which was enough to intimidate the Red Turban Army.
Before long, the group heard a loud explosion coming from a distance, about two miles away from the Luanshigang Pass.
Lu Tu waved his hand and commanded, "All soldiers, listen to my order! Follow me to suppress the rebels!"
"Kill!" the 800 men shouted in unison. This soaring killing intent also infected the newly joined cavalrymen, and everyone rushed towards the Luanshigang Pass.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
