Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The axemen are undoubtedly best suited to display their strength in this kind of chaotic battle.

With each swing of their axes, even if the enemy blocks with their weapons, they are often shattered along with them.

The axemen, personally led by Guan Yu to charge and kill within the camp, splashed blood wherever they went.

However, to Guan Yu's surprise, the Shanyue, who used to fight individually and collapse at the first blow, were now determined to capture the camp at all costs.

Realizing that the sneak attack had failed, this large group of Shanyue, emerging from the deep mountains and forests, actually launched a fierce attack, disregarding casualties.

This completely illogical behavior caught Guan Yu off guard.

After all, the camp built by Guan Yu was in perfect accordance with the art of war, with defensive facilities throughout the camp, interlinked and mutually supporting each other.

However, even at the cost of several times the casualties, the Shanyue continued to relentlessly assault the camp.

When Guan Yu noticed this situation, he felt uneasy and quickly ordered the Han army to further shrink and hold their ground.

However, not only was the Shanyue's determination to capture the camp alarming, but their numbers also far exceeded Guan Yu's expectations.

Guan Yu's detachment stationed in the Fuchun Mountains numbered only five thousand, but Guan Yu estimated that the number of Shanyue attacking the camp at this moment had already exceeded ten thousand, and there were still many figures outside the camp.

"How can there be so many? Where did these Shanyue come from?"

Guan Yu's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, and he gradually realized the seriousness of the problem.

Fuchun Mountain must be defended, otherwise there would be no barrier in the southern part of Wu Commandery, and so many Shanyue bandits could freely attack the three counties of Qiantang, Yuhang, and Fuchun.

Fortunately, Guan Yu usually enjoyed great prestige among the soldiers, and the officers and soldiers in the army regarded Guan Yu as a god.

While Guan Yu personally led the axemen to fight left and right, even when forced to retreat step by step by the Shanyue, the overall morale remained quite strong.

Moreover, as the defending side occupying the geographical advantage of the camp, the number of casualties was also much lower than that of the Shanyue who were attacking fiercely.

Knowing that the Shanyue were a group that lived in tribes, such a large number of Shanyue people must be a union of multiple tribes, Guan Yu understood that the key at this moment was to persevere.

As long as the Shanyue's losses reached a certain level, this group of Shanyue with their own calculations would inevitably retreat.

One fresh life after another turned into corpses...

Guan Yu's green robe was stained red, and even the original five thousand soldiers under Guan Yu's command had suffered more than two thousand casualties.

And every step the Shanyue took to capture the camp required a large number of corpses as the price, so that the entire camp began to be filled with a strong bloody smell.

However, the Shanyue's determination far exceeded Guan Yu's expectations.

Even under Guan Yu's estimation, the Shanyue's casualties must have exceeded five thousand, but the Shanyue still continued to forcibly attack the camp, as if some great benefit was attracting the Shanyue.

Until...

"Da da da!!"

A large number of horseshoes sounded under Fuchun Mountain, and more than three thousand torches quickly headed towards the camp.

"General Guan, do not worry, Zhao Zilong of Changshan has been ordered to come to your aid!!"

The loud voice that spread in all directions made the soldiers under Guan Yu, who were originally showing signs of fatigue, invigorated, and their morale rose again.

The existence of reinforcements!

The effect on tired soldiers is no less than a traveler lost in the desert getting a large bottle of water.

In contrast, the Shanyue clearly experienced turmoil within due to the appearance of reinforcements.

Based on the common sense that five people share a torch, the three thousand torches that looked like a long dragon often represented more than ten thousand soldiers.

Subsequently, before the reinforcements under the mountain could get close, many Shanyue even had no time to take away the large number of corpses left in the camp, and hurriedly retreated like a tide in the hazy night, disappearing into the jungle.

...

Li Ji finished reading the military report, which detailed every detail, and his face looked quite serious.

Zhao Yun naturally did not have more than ten thousand soldiers to support Fuchun Mountain, but it was still the trick of one person, one horse, and two torches that frightened the Shanyue away.

This made Li Ji feel a little fortunate that, considering that the army was about to arrive near Qiantang County, even if Zhao Yun's cavalry went to support Fuchun Mountain, there was no need to worry that the Qiantang County area would be attacked.

However, what Li Ji did not expect was that the number and determination of the Shanyue exceeded Li Ji's imagination.

If Zhao Yun had not appeared, even if Guan Yu had made preparations in advance, even if Guan Yu had successfully defended Fuchun Mountain in the end, the casualties would definitely be enough to completely cripple Guan Yu's detachment.

Then, after Li Ji thought for a while, he handed the latest military report in his hand to Guo Jia for a look.

After Guo Jia glanced at the time, he subconsciously looked up at Li Ji, and then carefully looked at the details reported in the military report again.

After a while, Guo Jia put down the military report in his hand and said.

"I understand why Mr. Zikun wants to march slowly and ostentatiously. I am afraid that Wu County has spies from Kuaiji Commandery, and they are fully aware of Mr. Zikun's southward march with a large army, and may even be monitoring the army's movements along the way."

Li Ji nodded and continued to think about the key details in silence.

In this era, transmitting information is extremely troublesome and time-consuming, so as long as Li Ji changes the marching speed, he can deduce a lot of interesting information from the time of the attack on Fuchun Mountain.

Therefore, it can be known that Wu County has been arranged with spies, who have long been aware of Li Ji's dispatch of troops to the south.

Last night's desperate attack by the Shanyue undoubtedly seemed like the last night before Li Ji arrived at Fuchun Mountain at a normal marching speed.

At this moment, the person behind the scenes controlling or uniting the Shanyue should have felt remorse after learning of Li Ji's latest marching speed.

After all, the Shanyue had been concealing the purpose of attacking Fuchun Mountain.

Therefore, if the other party learns that Li Ji's marching speed has slowed down, it is easy to draw a judgment that "Li Ji believes that the cavalry led by Zhao Yun has solved the Shanyue problem, so he is not in a hurry to march."

Once based on this judgment, the other party will inevitably continue to wait and see, confirm Li Ji's movements and decisions, and seek a more secure way to induce Li Ji and Guan Yu to voluntarily abandon Fuchun Mountain.

Unfortunately, it is obvious that Li Ji's rapid march after leaving Wu County on the first day surprised the other party, so that after calculating Li Ji's marching speed, they had to choose to raid and attack the Fuchun Mountain camp.

After Guo Jia finished reading the military report in his hand, how could he not understand that Li Ji had conducted a wave of concealed confrontation with the person behind the Shanyue by changing the marching speed, and tested a lot of important information.

This made Guo Jia's expression quite complicated, and suddenly he felt that there was an obvious gap between the immature teenager and the mature big brother.

"Before, it was just speculation, but now it can be completely confirmed that our previous guesses are basically correct..."

Li Ji smiled gently at Guo Jia, and then continued to speak.

"Our opponent is definitely not just the Shanyue. It is impossible for the Shanyue to send scouts to infiltrate the Wu County area and secretly observe the army's movements."

"Kuaiji Commandery secretly colluding with the Shanyue is the only answer, and the number of Shanyue is probably beyond our previous expectations. The number of Shanyue bandits invested in the fierce attack on the Fuchun Mountain camp alone exceeded 10,000."

"Thirty thousand! The total number of Shanyue bandits united together may exceed 30,000!"

When he said this number, Li Ji's face could not help but become solemn.

Similar to the Wuxi Man, a southern barbarian tribe that left its name in history, the force that could be organized by gathering all the young and strong in the tribe was only about 30,000.

Now, compared with the southern barbarians, the Shanyue tribes, which used to fight on their own, have secretly united to form a force of about 30,000, which is undoubtedly quite rare.

In comparison, Li Ji's current force, even including Guan Yu's detachment, Zhao Yun's detachment, and the Qiantang County, Yuhang County, and Fuchun County troops, is only about 20,000.

In addition, the Shanyue are familiar with jungle warfare, and Li Ji also needs to guard against Guo Yi of Kuaiji Commandery, who may resort to underhanded tactics at any time, regardless of his reputation.

"The geographical advantage and the people's support are all unfavorable."

Li Ji could not help but sigh, feeling a little headache for the complexity of the situation.

Although there are many Shanyue bandits, it is not difficult to defeat the Shanyue now. The difficulty lies in the problem of Guo Yi of Kuaiji Commandery!

Guo Yi wants to legitimately intervene in the Wu Commandery issue, and it seems that the Shanyue need to capture Fuchun Mountain first to have a suitable reason.

However, Guo Yi is a distant relative of the Ten Attendants, and perhaps he has the instructions of the Ten Attendants.

The Ten Attendants... will they reason with you? Is there a need to reason with them?

Therefore, Li Ji did not dare to relax his vigilance against Guo Yi, and would not naively think that as long as he blocked the Shanyue, Guo Yi would definitely not dare to send troops into Wu Commandery rashly.

Even "maybe" can be considered a crime, and the excuse can often be "maybe".

Therefore, Li Ji chose to lead his troops into Qiantang County, the county closest to Kuaiji Commandery, and made this county the focus of defense.

Facing Li Ji leading a large army, Xu Wen, the current magistrate of Qiantang County, led the officials of the county government to welcome him outside the city.

Compared to the last time Li Ji saw Xu Wen, Xu Wen had undoubtedly lost a lot of weight, but his eyes were much firmer and brighter than in the past.

Moreover, Li Ji was generally satisfied with Xu Wen's performance after taking office as the magistrate of Qiantang County.

Not to mention assisting in "work-for-relief" without any mistakes, the response made to the Shanyue looting was also commendable.

Therefore, Li Ji rarely comforted Xu Wen with kind words, which made Xu Wen's originally uneasy mood calm down a lot.

Previously, Xu Wen was still extremely afraid that Li Ji would be furious because many Qiantang people had died under the Shanyue, and directly hang his head on the city gate.

Immediately following this, Li Ji led the main force directly into the city and quickly carried out a series of arrangements, focusing on deploying troops along the Qiantang River bordering Kuaiji Commandery to establish something similar to beacon towers.

Li Ji didn't try to hide this move; in fact, he carried it out with great fanfare, intending to openly warn Guo Yi and deter him from acting rashly. (End of Chapter)