Beside the bonfire, Li Mengxi had a linen spread on his knees, a pen in his hand and ink at his feet, carefully writing down the art of war by the light of the bonfire.

"The [Secret Ambush] method of night attack.

A night attack is a small but powerful move, so it is necessary to use light troops. If you use the troops to mobilize the masses, you will risk losing the troops and the army, which is unwise.

Since we attack the enemy with light troops, the enemy will be cautious and unable to move out, and will send out elite troops to attack. If the enemy moves out, our light troops attacking the camp will not be able to resist them.

Therefore, there can be a method of ambush to ambush the enemy troops leaving the camp.

The method of ambush is supplemented by chariot formations, bows and crossbows.

Send hundreds of chariots to form a secret chariot formation a hundred steps away from the enemy's stronghold.

Among them are the powerful attack method of dislocating a powerful crossbow, the powerful attack method of loading a cart full of crossbows, and the stealth attack method of hiding the location of the chariot formation in a hidden bonfire.

In the hidden attack method, the most important thing is to hide the fire. It is a wooden barrel and a wooden curtain to block the light of the fire. The curtain is coated with yellow mud to block the light better.

Then, there was a fire in the chariot formation and it was lighted, so the movement was not hindered. The enemy could not see the fire thirty or fifty steps away from the chariot formation.

My enemy is in the dark, so I can ambush the enemy secretly.

If the enemy leaves the stronghold, my harassing men will immediately retreat and lead the enemy to the chariot formation.

The enemy's cavalry is armed with fire, which is light, and our chariot formation is dark. We use darkness to attack the light, and it is difficult for the enemy to know the truth."

When Li Mengxi was writing down the art of war, Liu Bei watched quietly.

After Li Mengxi finished writing and stopped writing, Liu Bei beat his numb legs, looked up at the gloomy sky, and seemingly casually mentioned, "I don't know what tomorrow will be like."

Liu Bei asked casually, which made Li Mengxi frown.

After pondering for a moment, Li Mengxi frowned and said, "Tonight, we will strike first. Senior General Huangfu Song is cautious and does not dare to engage in a night battle with me. The officers and soldiers will not fight with me tonight."

"But tomorrow," Li Mengxi frowned, "when it gets bright tomorrow, Huangfu Song may prepare his army and horses to fight with me."

Having said this, it is clear that although it has been delayed all night, a battle with the army tomorrow is still inevitable.

After a long silence, Liu Bei sighed slightly, looked at Li Mengxi, and asked, "Is it inevitable to avoid it?"

"There is no way to avoid it." Li Mengxi arrived immediately, and then he and Liu Bei analyzed it carefully, "Wait until Huangfu Song sets up his formation and wants to fight me..."

As he spoke, Li Mengxi suddenly stopped.

(Wait!) Li Mengxi suddenly opened his eyes wide, and he vaguely felt as if he had caught something.

"Yes! Huangfu Song must be able to set up a battle array!" Li Mengxi suddenly looked excited and patted his thigh with a snap.

Liu Bei was extremely surprised.

His thoughts were whirling, Li Mengxi's expression changed, and he had a countermeasure in an instant, "Still use the method of frightening the enemy!" He was excited, "Old Huangfu is a veteran on the battlefield. As the saying goes, an old horse knows the dangerous road, and a veteran also knows the danger.

Although Huangfu Song is not afraid of death, he dares to fight with our army.

However, if the military situation is at a disadvantage to the officers and soldiers, and Huangfu Song is brave enough to win again, can he just sit back and watch his soldiers lose their lives in vain?

If the officers and soldiers lose ten points from themselves, but they can defeat me by seven points, Huangfu Song will fight with me. If the situation is not favorable for the officers and soldiers, and the officers and soldiers lose ten points by themselves, they cannot defeat me by two points. How can Huangfu Song take the lives of his soldiers lightly at this time?

?”

Having said this, Li Mengxi straightened up his body and said with determination, "Therefore, if the officers and soldiers can be made inferior and their formation cannot be developed, Huangfu Song will definitely not have the intention to fight decisively. Therefore, Xuande Gong's request is not equal to that of the officers and soldiers.

If you become an enemy, you will succeed."

Liu Bei was thoughtful.

Li Mengxi said in a deep voice, "We can ask General Guan to come back and discuss the military situation together."

Liu Bei nodded, got up and went to find his own soldiers to deliver military orders.

——

At the camp where the officers and soldiers were camped several miles away, Guan and Zhang still followed the plan and ran around the camp, calling for the officers and soldiers to go out to fight.

It was dark at night, and there were dangers everywhere. Huangfusong had already suffered a heavy loss, and he didn't know how many troops the Zhuozhou army had ambushed, so he made up his mind not to leave lightly.

On an arrow tower somewhere, Cao Cao looked outside the stronghold. Nearby, there were Zhuozhou Army cavalry holding torches, galloping back and forth like the wind. Looking from a distance, it was pitch black, and he couldn't tell where the Zhuozhou Army was hiding.

(Those who are good at guarding are hidden under the Nine Earths... Now we know the essence of the art of war.) Cao Cao looked into the dark night from a distance and saw that the night was as dark as thousands of horses and thousands of troops lying in wait. Cao Cao sighed with emotion.

A young man's face appeared in his mind, that Zhuozhou Army's military advisor, that little boy...

Looking at the distant night, Cao Cao suddenly smiled helplessly. If the arrangement tonight was made by that young boy, it would be too amazing.

In fact, the ambush tactic did not entirely originate from Li Mengxi.

However, what is more terrifying than the fact that all the plans came from Li Mengxi is that the entire night attack plan was only completed by Liu, Guan, Zhang and Li Mengxi after serious discussion and pooling the wisdom of everyone.

As the saying goes, one person is short-term and two people are long-term. One person's plan will have loopholes no matter what. If multiple people plan it together, it is almost perfect.

This is the strongest point of the Zhuozhou Army, not the wisdom of Li Mengxi alone.

After all, although Li Mengxi had many ingenious plans, he could not master all practical matters; although Guan Yu had read a lot about the art of war, ingenious plans were not his specialty; Liu Bei had a good understanding of people's hearts; Zhang Fei had quick wits; everyone worked together and kept everything secret.

Cao Cao was still observing the formation from a high position, and the Zhuozhou Army was galloping around the camp in a monotonous manner. Cao Cao seemed to have seen enough, and kept his eyes fixed. Behind him, Xia Houyuanrang had already become impatient.

The Zhuozhou Army's cavalry had been galloping for a long time without rest. Cao Cao thought to himself, "When their strength weakens, they may be able to counterattack."

At this moment, Cao Cao suddenly saw a faint point of light approaching in this direction in the distance.

Cao Cao suddenly became energetic and watched intently.

Seeing the distant light point, I quickly approached it. After getting close to a certain extent, it was vaguely visible. The fire point became clear and turned into a cross-shaped fire.

The lid is a long pole with wood tied to it in the shape of a cross. The two ends of the horizontal wood are lit and the upper end is also lit.

In this way, there is a chaos of torches at night, but there is only one torch with the fire forming a cross, which is extremely eye-catching.

Cao Cao thought about it, this is the way to gather people at night.

In a moment, cross torches and Zhuozhou soldiers and horses gathered.

Cao Cao saw that among the Zhuozhou cavalry, another torch with a flag came over and met the cross torch.

Cao Cao guessed that the Zhuozhou Army had new orders. If his prediction was correct, it would not take long for the Zhuozhou Army to change again.

During the Zhuozhou Army's night attack on the cavalry, Guan Yu received an order for the cavalry, and his eldest brother came and asked him to go back to discuss the military situation.

Guan Yu looked back at the army camp and thought for a moment. Guan Yu handed his flag to the deputy general and went back with the cavalry.

At the officer's camp, Cao Cao saw that the cross and the torch were gone again.

Guan Yu quickly returned to the camp and saw Liu Bei and Li Mengxi beside the campfire. Guan Yu asked if they wanted to talk about military affairs.

Li Mengxi organized his words and said, "Tonight, our army will move one step ahead of the army to avoid the worry of being attacked by the army. But tomorrow, Huangfu Song will set up a battle formation to fight with me."

In order to avoid fighting, a certain person negotiated with Duke Xuande to use the method of subduing his troops.

If tomorrow dawns, Huangfu Song will immediately see that the military situation and the officers and soldiers are in serious danger, so Huangfu Song will not dare to make an enemy of our army lightly.

This is why I called General Guan here."

When Guan Yu heard this, he lowered his eyebrows and frowned, thinking, "The method of surrendering troops," Guan Yu whispered, "makes Huangfusong unable to open up his formation and dare not ask for a battle..."

After thinking for just a moment, "This matter is easy to hear. Just surround the army camp and it will be done."

Li Mengxi nodded, "This method is the same as what I thought."

Then, everyone discussed how to surround the army camp before dawn.

Li Mengxi looked up at Guan Yu and asked, "General Guan, is the chariot array useful?"

Guan Yu nodded and briefly talked about the attack on the camp.

Since the car formation is easy to use, Li Mengxi nodded, "Then let's use the car formation."

As he said this, he did not forget to add, "Our army has a lot of carts..."

"The key is how to quietly surround the army camp without the officers and soldiers noticing it." Li Mengxi asked a question.

Then, he answered himself, "There are many people, and the voices will be mixed, but only thirty or fifty people are moved at a time, and the carriages are moved slowly.

Also, if you can’t light a torch and arrange it in the dark, is it possible?”

Li Mengxi found that it was a bit difficult to mobilize tens of thousands of troops without torches at night.

Guan Yu frowned and pondered for a while, then relaxed his brows and said, "This is not difficult. You can have the soldiers grab long ropes and tie dozens of people with one rope. Then, one person in front will lead them and they will feel their way forward, and the whole team will be free from chaos."

At this point, Guan Yu looked at Li Mengxi and said with a smile, "Fortunately, thanks to the hidden fire method, I don't think the bow and crossbow team need to retreat. The chariot formation can be continued on top of the bow and crossbow team's chariot formation, using the crossbow team's chariot formation as the basis."

, continue on the left and right, and make the car array surround the official and military camp."

Li Mengxi nodded, that's fine, the crossbow team doesn't need to move.

Next to him, Liu Bei also had suggestions. Liu Bei said, "We must silence everyone so that tens of thousands of people cannot say a word, let alone move around. Otherwise, even if you move your hands and feet, the noise of tens of thousands of people will be audible.

How can the officers and soldiers not know that our army intends to encircle them?"

Li Mengxi looked solemn.

This involves discipline.

There are tens of thousands of recruits in the new camp, and they are asked to sneak past without saying a word, and after the vehicle formation is set up, they stay in place and cannot move around. I don't know if the new camp can do this.

Li Mengxi felt very unsure.
To be continued...