Chapter 171

Among tactics, there is something called the revolving door tactic. It’s a strategy where, like a revolving door, positions are swapped without meeting each other, and it was concretized by Schlieffen, who led the German army just before the outbreak of World War I.

Schlieffen’s revolving door tactic was as follows: while the French army, pursuing the German left wing, launched an offensive and advanced, the German right wing would bypass and enter the rear they had vacated, isolating and annihilating the French army.

Here, annihilation did not mean actual extermination but the loss of combat power. In short, the revolving door tactic was a kind of encirclement operation.

Of course, this was very difficult and somewhat unrealistic, but the idea itself was certainly noteworthy. And Schlieffen’s plan, which proposed the revolving door tactic, was realized in reality after being revised by Moltke the Younger.

The core of the revolving door tactic was simple: while the opponent attacks, bypass and occupy their empty rear.

What Guan Yu was about to do now was exactly that.

While Sima Yi, judging that Guan Yu was trapped in Wancheng, came out of Luoyang and headed south to attack, Guan Yu would instead occupy Luoyang, which Sima Yi had vacated.

It was a bold tactic of swapping positions, but it was also within the scope of what Sima Yi had considered.

“Guan Yu has abandoned Wancheng and come out. Despite all the effort to prepare his grave, he disregards the host’s hospitality.”

Sima Yi, who had seen through Guan Yu’s plan, clicked his tongue and dismissed the decision.

Certainly, the Wei army led by Sima Yi was very tired. They had marched hard from Luoyang to Nanyang Commandery, so it would be impossible to catch up with the speed of Guan Yu’s army, which was determined to run for their lives.

But so what? For the revolving door tactic to succeed, many preconditions must be met.

Guan Yu must have something to hold Sima Yi’s troops in place, and Guan Yu must succeed in bypassing maneuvers while solving supply issues in a situation cut off from Han territory.

But both of these were virtually impossible conditions.

Guan Yu might have thought that Sima Yi would collapse due to physical exhaustion, so there was no need to hold him in place, but the Wei army led by Sima Yi was not that exhausted.

It was Sima Yi. Would he let his troops become so exhausted that they lose their strength? As Sun Tzu’s Art of War says, the principle of marching is to maintain the balance of advance and halt, recover physical strength with regular meals, and not exhaust the troops.

Sima Yi’s skill in managing reserve strength while maximizing speed was exquisite.

Unless he had thrown a desperate gamble right in front of Wancheng, Sima Yi had just entered Nanyang Commandery, so his physical strength couldn’t have been exhausted yet.

But the bigger problem was the second one.

Bypassing maneuvers. Between Xingbu and Luoyang, that was not even possible.

Xingbu and Nanyang Commandery are surrounded by mountain ranges. Outside the mountain ranges, there are counties belonging to Nanyang Commandery, but they are villages connected by paths through the mountains.

Except for the west and south cut off by Xu Huang and Zhang Pei, there are not many roads leading out of Nanyang Commandery. At most, they could fill one hand.

The direction of Pingdi County where Zhang Pei entered, the direction of Biyang County that Guan Yu was concerned about, and the direction of Douyang County, the northernmost route that Sima Yi used to enter the center of Nanyang Commandery.

Currently, Sima Yi was stationed in Douyang County.

If Guan Yu wanted to bypass Sima Yi and go to Luoyang, he would have to go through Biyang County, which would make the route too long.

This would give Sima Yi time to recover his troops and block Guan Yu’s path.

“From what I see, Guan Yu will most likely pass through Douyang County, where we are.”

Although Sima Yi had heard that Guan Yu had entered Nanyang Commandery, he probably didn’t know that Sima Yi had already taken control of Douyang County, the northern passage of Nanyang Commandery.

Even though the best plan to trap and kill him in Wancheng had failed, the grand strategy itself was still valid.

“Alright, if Wancheng is too small a grave, I’ll make the entire Nanyang Commandery his grave.”

While Sima Yi blocked Guan Yu in Douyang County, if Xu Huang and Zhang Pei narrowed the encirclement and surrounded Guan Yu, what could Guan Yu do, no matter how capable he was?

Shu Han’s reinforcements would not come.

The messengers sent to Wuguan and Shangyong would have been cut off by Xu Huang, and the road to Yangfan was also blocked by Zhang Pei.

There might have been messengers sent before Zhang Pei entered Nanyang Commandery, but where would they get troops to send while fighting against Eastern Wu?

Unless they completely emptied Yangfan and Jiangling, there was no way out. If they wanted to bring reinforcements from Yi Province, how far would that be?

‘Guan Yu’s isolation remains unchanged.’

But soon after, the scout’s report shocked Sima Yi.

“What? They’re heading towards Chi County?”

When they went towards Xi’e County, which could shorten the route, Sima Yi thought, ‘Ah, Guan Yu must be trying to squeeze out some use of the naval forces.’

Xi’e County, right next to Yuxu, would be better for moving along with the naval forces than Baomang County, which is somewhat distant from Yuxu.

But even from Xi’e County, they didn’t turn east but continued north.

Even if they went straight, they would only be blocked by the Jin Ling Mountain Range.

‘Could it be that they plan to cross the Jin Ling Mountain Range?’

What kind of mountain range is the Jin Ling Mountain Range?

It’s practically the spine of the continent, dividing it into north and south.

It’s the natural boundary separating Guanzhong and Hanzhong, the largest and most treacherous mountain range.

Even though it’s the edge of the Jin Ling Mountain Range stretching into Xingbu, its ruggedness was worthy of the name Jin Ling Mountain Range.

To cross it? For a moment, Sima Yi even thought that Guan Yu had gone mad from enduring extreme conditions.

But upon closer thought, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

‘There is… a path, albeit barely.’

Compared to Douyang County, it might not even be called a road, but there was a path through the Jin Ling Mountain Range stretching between Henan and Nanyang.

The path from Chi County to Luoyang County was a mountain path at the very edge of the mountain range, barely deserving the name Jin Ling Mountain Range.

But it was still mountainous. Sima Yi didn’t choose that path because it was too narrow for a large army and because Chi County, the exit, had too much water, making it inconvenient.

But for Guan Yu, who was using naval forces, it might have been an advantage.

‘But how did Guan Yu know about it? Did he luckily find a guide?’

The person who told Guan Yu about the path through the Jin Ling Mountain Range.

The answer was Cao Biao. Specifically, Cao Biao, who allowed Zhang Lan to spy on the geography around Luoyang by permitting her to visit the mourning.

Zhang Lan, who had detailed the inland geography, village locations, and fortress levels through her mourning visit, compiled this information into a book and passed it on to key figures.

There were other reasons why Guan Yu decided to cross the Jin Ling Mountain Range based on this information.

Namely, Guan Yu’s own experience of having been to Luoyang twice, and the presence of soldiers from Yi Province, who were among the best in the world at mountain climbing.

If they crossed the Jin Ling Mountain Range, beyond it, there was nothing to worry about except Luoyang County.

There were Guangcheng Pass and Yiguan Pass blocking the south of Luoyang, but with Sima Yi’s main force down there, how could they stop Guan Yu?

If Hangu Pass, reinforced by Zhang Fei and Pang Tong, who were wary of Guanzhong, blocked the way, Guan Yu would have struggled, but the other passes were insufficient. They would only serve their role in adapting the story of the Five Passes and Six Slayings into history.

Watching Guan Yu leave them behind with wide eyes, Sima Yi muttered in despair.

“He deceived our eyes by pretending to come up by Yuxu and then went straight into the mountain range. Guan Yu, I thought he was just an old tiger, but he’s become a fox.”

While admiring Guan Yu, who had found the only flaw in Sima Yi’s nearly perfect encirclement and successfully escaped, someone approached him.

“Sh-shouldn’t we chase them?”

“Hmm, yes. We should chase them.”

Stammering, Sima Yi calmly replied as usual. The man, slightly over thirty, bowed deeply to Sima Yi and, without waiting for further orders, began preparing to march again.

While the man and other officers were organizing the camp, Sima Yi, like a chicken chased by a dog onto a roof, looked north where Guan Yu, avoiding them, was approaching Luoyang.

“If you didn’t like Xingbu, you should have said so. Then I would have made Luoyang your grave from the start. You just wasted your effort.”

Even at this critical moment when Guan Yu was rushing towards Luoyang, Sima Yi muttered without a hint of anxiety.

And he really wasn’t worried about Luoyang at all.

The people in Luoyang were more capable than Sima Yi.

They would surely hold Luoyang until Sima Yi returned.

“The Shu enemies in Guanzhong, Zhao Jin in Hongnong will handle them. Hmm, it’s a pity. It would have been quite a sight to see Guan Yu’s face blocked by Yu Ziyang in Luoyang.”

The person Sima Yi entrusted with Luoyang was none other than Yu Ye, a member of the Han Imperial family.