Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1574: Chapter 1517: Playing Against the Rules

Zhou Yu gazed gloomily at the edges of the Liaodong Peninsula, reluctantly admitting that the methods used by the Hun People were crude, yet effective.

They built barriers at all the ports where one could dock, making landing difficult even if you reached the shore. Meanwhile, in other places that were hard to dock, they stationed scattered troops mainly for scouting—a truly revolting tactic.

”It seems we need to find another place; landing here appears rather challenging,” Zhou Yu said gloomily, noting the Huns’ very tight defenses on the Liaodong Peninsula.

”I’ve already dispatched ships to scout northward,” Li Yan also said with a headache, realizing the Huns’ level of defense was unexpectedly stringent.

”How is it?” Zhou Yu asked, but he already had a hunch. Such arrangements would either leave them a place to land or have defenses as strong as this side; given the intelligence displayed by the Huns so far, Zhou Yu leaned toward the first outcome.

”Their defenses are fundamentally the same as here, but I believe further north, their defensive strength will be much weaker. After all, their troops have a limit,” Li Yan judged after some thought.

”Have you seen a Beacon Tower?” Zhou Yu turned his head and said helplessly to Li Yan.

”Uh, yes, I have,” Li Yan nodded and replied.

”As long as the Northern Huns aren’t foolish, they will surely use this method. As for those stationed at the Beacon Tower, the Huns can use the elderly, sick, and disabled; they mainly need to guard a few points,” Zhou Yu shrugged and said, ”Keep scouting; if the Huns aren’t stupid, they’ll surely leave us a port to land. Nobody can guard against thieves a thousand days.”

Li Yan was extremely embarrassed, yet Zhou Yu’s words made sense.

After sending Li Yan, Wen Pin, and Cheng Pu out to find a ferry crossing, about two days later, Cheng Pu sent a report saying they had found a landing spot.

Naturally, Zhou Yu sent word to Li Yan and Wen Pin to return while he led all the soldiers and his aristocratic family private soldiers towards the place Cheng Pu mentioned.

Although Cheng Pu claimed he had unexpectedly discovered a ferry crossing and had already sent people to scout it, saying the crossing was very hidden and the nearest Hu People would take an hour to rush over, Zhou Yu knew very well that a place meeting all his requirements was surely left by the Hu People, intending to lay a trap for a decisive strike.

After all, the Hu People could not always focus on coastal defenses. If Zhou Yu constantly tested from this direction to that direction, even if there was originally no flaw, Zhou Yu would eventually exhaustively create one.

Someone like Zhou Yu, who sails on the sea, inherently stands in an invincible position. As long as he is willing to spend time continuously probing, even if the opponent puts a renowned general in charge, Zhou Yu would eventually torment them into nervous exhaustion, forcing a flaw to appear.

Instead of that, it’s better to set up a path that seems like a shortcut early on, letting the seemingly invincible opponent, after much trial and error, suddenly find that flaw and naturally think it was of their own making, thinking the opponent was already overwhelmed.

Once they think the flaw is self-created and fails to realize it was left by the opponent, going down this path would certainly lead to certain death.

This is akin to Pang Tong’s reckless attack in tales, pressing the opponent hard, inadvertently finding a path, and assuming he had discovered it himself, never considering it was deliberately left by others, which led to Pang Tong’s demise for being overconfident and unprepared.

Naturally, for someone like Zhou Yu, who doesn’t play by the rules, the Huns are helpless. Anyone encountering this situation would be dumbfounded.

”Tsk tsk tsk, the Huns do have some intelligence,” Zhou Yu said with a smirk, ”Fine, have a hearty meal tomorrow morning, then we’ll attack from here.”

Zhou Yu’s calmness made Li Yan hesitant, deeply feeling that landing here was a trap. Also, Li Yan believed himself to be the second most intelligent in the group, so he advised Zhou Yu, ”General Zhou, with the Northern Huns’ defenses so tight on the Liaodong Peninsula, how could such a vulnerability be left?”

Cheng Pu glared at Li Yan, blowing his beard, ”Have you never heard that even the most vigilant can overlook a flaw? Moreover, the three of us searched for two whole days before finding this place. The Northern Huns have not been here much longer than us and have built so many defense works; a flaw or two is only normal.”

”This flaw in the defense was left by the Northern Huns themselves; I know that,” Zhou Yu said nonchalantly, pausing in his meat-cutting to look up, which left both men speechless.

Li Yan gaped at Zhou Yu, thinking, what the hell, you know this is a pit dug by the Northern Huns, yet you still dive in.

As for Cheng Pu, sure, he was not pleased with what Li Yan said, but when Zhou Yu said it, he had to ponder, as Zhou Yu was typically a paragon of sure-hit predictions.

”You find it strange that I know the flaw was left by the Northern Huns and still go this way?” Zhou Yu asked casually, and Li Yan nodded, for what normal person would knowingly jump into a pit.

”Going another way is too troublesome, and...” Zhou Yu’s mouth twitched a little as he spoke.

Primarily, Zhou Yu had a gut feeling. He hadn’t been by Sun Ce’s side for such a long time, and there was a good chance Sun Ce would be causing trouble again, prompting Zhou Yu to solve this quickly to avoid future complications. Thinking of Sun Ce, unwatched, is unimaginable.

In any case, regarding the Northern Huns, the forces invested in the Liaodong Peninsula could not exceed thirty thousand, and the Northern Huns’ main forces could not exceed five thousand. So, why not play a spooky game of chess with the Northern Huns, flip the board on their face, and call it a day?

Zhou Yu couldn’t believe that after rowing all the way here without engaging in any probing with the enemy on the Liaodong Peninsula, he’d directly find the flaw left by the Northern Huns, and leap into the battlefield they prepared, given the short prep time and no prior signs. Could the Northern Huns truly concentrate all forces here?

The Northern Huns’ deployment, in theory, is without fault. Logically speaking, anyone leading troops would first probe, determine it is hard to conquer, and have top sages create a flaw, like the one Cheng Pu found.

Faced with flaws, different sages would show varied judgments: the confident like Pang Tong might lead troops into it and possibly lose men, while the cautious like Zhuge Liang would continue probing, then find another flaw...

Regarding Zhou Yu, who operates outside standard conventions, who could have foreseen Sun Ce’s constant troublemaking, causing Zhou Yu to never play by the rules? For Zhou Yu, the Huns’ deployment was a godsend. When he arrived, he hadn’t imagined engaging in conventional methods; Zhou Yu being someone you simply can’t harm!