Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Meanwhile, the situation on both sides of the Yellow River was undergoing rapid changes.

Nanyang Commandery.

In this largest commandery in terms of population in the Great Han, Lu Bu and Guan Yu had been fiercely battling around Wancheng for nearly half a year.

Under Lu Bu's leadership, the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry naturally had few rivals in field battles.

However, when it came to siege warfare, not to mention the capabilities of the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, even Lu Bu himself was unwilling to throw them into such a bottomless pit.

Lu Bu used mostly infantry newly recruited from the Sili region for sieges.

Of course, these infantrymen might be new recruits, but having obtained equipment from the imperial armory, Lu Bu ensured that their equipment was top-notch.

Even so, despite Lu Bu's intermittent and fierce attacks on Wancheng for half a year, Wancheng remained as stable as Mount Tai, firmly standing on the earth.

Besides the high walls and deep moats, more importantly, Wancheng was connected to Xiangyang by the Yu River. Lu Bu had no navy and could not prevent Xiangyang from constantly transporting money, supplies, and equipment to Wancheng.

Moreover, Guan Yu might be arrogant towards others, regarding them as mere straw men to be cut down, but he couldn't afford to be arrogant towards Lu Bu. He neither engaged in single combat with Lu Bu nor fell for any provocation tactics, steadily defending Wancheng.

In these six months, even when Lu Bu personally attacked the city, Guan Yu led a hundred or eighty axe-wielding soldiers to drive him back.

In such a narrow place as the city wall, Lu Bu's Fangtian Halberd was difficult to wield, not to mention the overwhelming shadow of axes raining down on his head and face.

Unless Lu Bu could take flight like an eagle and unleash a Tathagata Palm to flatten the city wall, his flesh and blood body could not withstand such a dense axe attack.

"Bang!"

Chen Gong, holding two stacks of documents, had just arrived outside the central army tent when he heard a muffled sound of a wine cup colliding with a table.

This made Chen Gong subconsciously lighten his footsteps. After entering the tent, he found that Lu Bu was indeed drinking alone, venting his dissatisfaction.

"Can't conquer it, can't conquer it! Half a year, a full half a year, and still can't take down a small Wancheng!"

"That red-faced thief is truly hateful!"

"Without Wancheng, what's the use of obtaining Nanyang?!"

Lu Bu drank heavily while angrily venting his frustration.

For Lu Bu, after accumulating strength in Sili for a long time, he wanted to move east to Yanzhou, but due to the situation and interests, under the persuasion and guidance of various parties,

Lu Bu changed his mind and prepared to first take Nanyang Commandery, the largest commandery in terms of population, to make up for the lack of population in Sili.

More importantly, Yuan Shu nominally gave Nanyang Commandery to Lu Bu as a gift, which greatly satisfied the vanity of this General.

Even though he understood that taking Nanyang Commandery would inevitably lead to conflict with Liu Bei, Lu Bu didn't care at all.

The household registration data of nearly 2.5 million people in Nanyang Commandery was already close to the entire population of three million in Sili.

In chaotic times, population itself was a form of wealth.

If Lu Bu could completely swallow Nanyang Commandery, the number of people under his rule would almost double.

Therefore, Lu Bu naturally didn't care whether he would offend Liu Bei or whether a war would break out with Liu Bei.

However, what Lu Bu never expected was that during his takeover of Nanyang Commandery, Guan Yu also took the opportunity to expand into Nanyang Commandery and seize control of Wancheng, the strongest city in Nanyang Commandery.

Wancheng was located in the center of Nanyang Commandery, the strongest city in Nanyang Commandery, and the core of many water transport networks.

It could be said that whoever controlled Wancheng could easily control more than half of Nanyang Commandery.

After learning of this, Lu Bu naturally and unhesitatingly mobilized troops to recapture Wancheng.

However, the siege had lasted for half a year without any progress, which made Lu Bu realize that the possibility of conquering Wancheng was minimal.

Especially since behind Guan Yu, most of Jingzhou was constantly supplying blood to Wancheng along the Yu River.

In contrast, Lu Bu, who could only transport grain and supplies from Sili by land, faced far greater logistical pressure than Guan Yu.

Now Lu Bu had already developed the intention to withdraw his troops, reluctantly accepting this bitter fruit, and dividing Nanyang with Guan Yu along Wancheng. The area south of Wancheng belonged to Jingzhou, and the area north of Wancheng was governed by Sili.

However, as a General and Peerless Marquis, Lu Bu couldn't bear to lose face, so he continued to stalemate with Wancheng, occasionally trying to attack the city, while often venting his frustration with alcohol.

Chen Gong, who had entered the tent, observed for a while before reminding him.

"Didn't Fengxian say he would quit drinking?"

Lu Bu opened his drunken eyes, stared at Chen Gong for a while, and said impatiently, "I'll quit tomorrow, I'll quit tomorrow."

Chen Gong sighed inwardly, understanding that Lu Bu was just敷衍 (fū yǎn - going through the motions) him, but also knowing that if he continued to press the issue, it would only make Lu Bu more unhappy.

Then, Lu Bu put down his wine cup and asked, "What brings Gongtai here?"

"Changwen sent people to deliver some news from Jizhou and Xuyu provinces."

Chen Gong explained expressionlessly, feeling somewhat helpless.

Clearly, Nanyang Commandery was closer to Yuzhou and Xuzhou, but Chen Qun, who was far away in Sili, learned the news first and even had time to send someone to deliver the message.

This was undoubtedly a major drawback of being from a humble background.

Top aristocratic families of the Great Han, such as the Chen, Yuan, and Xun families, could be said to have students and former officials all over the world.

But to put it another way, wasn't it also an intelligence network that spanned the world?

Wherever there was any disturbance in the corners of the Great Han, there were people who would take the initiative to pass on the information in order to please these famous families.

In contrast, Lu Bu, despite having the name of a General, did not have the reality of a General, and his influence was limited to Sili. His external intelligence network could only rely on the Chen family represented by Chen Qun to obtain information.

Hearing the name of Chen Qun, Lu Bu perked up and asked, "What news did Changwen send?"

Currently, the most relied upon civil officials under Lu Bu were the two Chens, namely Chen Gong and Chen Qun.

Among them, Chen Qun was more inclined towards political affairs, managing Sili in an orderly manner, while Chen Gong was more often used in the army, focusing on military strategies.

However, in the past six months, Chen Gong had repeatedly used strategies but could not find a way to take Wancheng, which undoubtedly made Lu Bu secretly develop some disappointment and resentment towards Chen Gong.

Chen Gong placed the documents in his hand on Lu Bu's desk.

While Lu Bu looked at them, Chen Gong began to explain.

Even though Lu Bu was in Nanyang Commandery near Yuzhou, the news he received was not as timely as that of some aristocratic families. To this day, he still didn't know the direction of the war in Xuzhou.

When Lu Bu saw that Cao Cao had withdrawn from Xuzhou, and that Li Ji had destroyed the Yuzhou army overnight, and then mobilized 200,000 troops to attack Yuzhou, he couldn't help but take a slight breath of cold air.

(End of this chapter)