Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"Yes!" The generals responded in unison.

Among the great army led by Li Ji, a considerable portion was composed of soldiers drawn from Xuzhou.

Li Ji's deliberate public announcement of the Yellow River's breach affecting Xuzhou was naturally to stabilize the morale of the army.

After all, even if Li Ji didn't proactively disclose such a major event, rumors would gradually arise within the army.

To quell rumors, openness is better than suppression.

Moreover, Li Ji was confident that the flood would subside quickly, which is why he proactively disclosed it, both to prevent the Xuzhou soldiers from losing their will to fight and to take the opportunity to enhance his prestige in the hearts of the Xuzhou soldiers.

Immediately, Li Ji gave Gu Wei a look, and Gu Wei retreated to the rear of the central army tent, instructing eight Tiger Guards to work together to carry in a pre-made sand table.

This sand table depicted the terrain and landforms within a ten-mile radius centered on Ruyang City, and even the deployment of Li Ji's army outside the city was clearly marked on the sand table in advance.

The situation of completely surrounding Ruyang City was undoubtedly clear at a glance from the sand table.

Following Li Ji's signal, Zhuge Liang stepped forward and carefully analyzed the situation for the generals.

"According to the information provided by various sources, Yuan Gonglu, who is now stubbornly defending the city, still has five thousand elite soldiers, along with more than seventy thousand conscripted able-bodied men from the surrounding counties."

"The grain and provisions within the city can last for more than four months, and a large number of wells have been dug in the city in advance…"

After a large number of aristocratic families chose to abandon Yuan Shu and flee to Ruyang City, those families naturally spared no effort in offering a large amount of information related to Yuan Shu and Ruyang City as a pledge of allegiance.

With the mutual corroboration of various intelligence sources, the strength of the army and the amount of grain in Ruyang City were undoubtedly quite clear.

Moreover, Yuan Shu was aware that no matter how stubbornly the cities of Yu Province defended, they would at most delay Li Ji's advance for a while, and Li Ji would eventually bring his troops to Ruyang.

Therefore, Yuan Shu had long ago frantically drawn all available military force, supplies, money, and grain from the surrounding counties, and stockpiled them in large quantities within Ruyang City.

However, Li Ji arrived much faster than Yuan Shu had anticipated.

Otherwise, if Li Ji had slowly advanced and arrived at Ruyang City, Yuan Shu would have been able to conscript more than one hundred thousand able-bodied men to defend Ruyang City to the death.

But even so, with more than seventy thousand able-bodied men defending a strong city to the death,

Even though the force surrounding Ruyang City layer by layer was close to two hundred thousand, it was not an easy task to forcefully capture it.

Siege warfare often doesn't have that many strategies to use.

Especially since Yuan Shu had already blocked the city gates in advance, making it clear that he intended to fight to the death, delaying until winter to force Li Ji to retreat and strive for a glimmer of hope.

Once winter arrives, it will be difficult to both attack the city and transport grain and provisions.

"Based on the past years' snowfall time in Yu Province, we only have about a month and a half left. If we cannot break through Ruyang City within this time, we will have to temporarily retreat."

Finally, after making a summary, Zhuge Liang bowed to Li Ji and everyone present before returning to his seat on the side.

A month and a half, this time is neither long nor short.

There are some strong cities that have been defended for several years without falling.

After the generals digested this information, Li Ji didn't make any special arrangements, and directly opened his mouth and said.

"Ruyang City must be captured within a month and a half."

"The north gate will be led by Zhang Fei as the main general, the west gate will be led by Wen聘 as the main general, the east gate will be led by Xu Sheng as the main general, and the south gate will be led by Zang Ba as the main general, each leading troops to attack the city."

"The one who breaks through the city wall first will be credited with the greatest achievement."

As soon as Li Ji's words fell, the expressions of the four generals, Zhang Fei, Wen聘, Xu Sheng, and Zang Ba, unconsciously became excited.

Immediately afterward, Li Ji made some arrangements specifically for blockading Ruyang City, and then announced the end of the meeting, adopting an attitude of letting the four generals freely develop their strategies for each side of the city wall.

This made Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong couldn't help but feel a little puzzled, and after the meeting, they couldn't help but discuss this.

Although many strategies are difficult to be effective when attacking such a stubbornly defended strong city, it is not that there are no methods of using troops that can greatly accelerate the progress of breaking the city.

For example: mainly attacking one side of the city wall, and assisting in attacking the other three sides, and then suddenly changing the main attack direction when looking for an opportunity often has a miraculous effect in breaking the city.

However, Li Ji's arrangement had a feeling of spreading the effort evenly, allowing the four generals to freely develop their strategies for each side.

Although the motivational effect on the generals is excellent, it will make the generals actively attack the city, but it is obviously far less effective than Li Ji personally commanding the siege.

Until Jia Xu, taking advantage of Li Ji's inspection of the camp, under the guise of going to Li Ji's camp to deliver official documents, actually sneaked some tea leaves back, heard the discussion between Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.

Sitting in a corner, Jia Xu leisurely brewed tea while casually mentioning a sentence.

"Don't just focus on Ruyang. Breaking the city quickly has its advantages, but breaking the city a little slower… doesn't it also have the benefits of being a little slower?"

Although due to age, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong inevitably lack experience and accumulation, Jia Xu's words instantly made Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong grasp something.

"Sima Yi…"

"Yellow Turban Rebels…"

Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang simultaneously uttered a different name, and a few glimmers of understanding flashed in their eyes at the same time.

'The younger generations are really surpassing us…'

'I'm afraid I'm far inferior to them at this age…'

Jia Xu secretly sighed, and at the same time felt more at ease and secure.

The performance of Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong not only did not make Jia Xu feel any jealousy, but also made him feel gratified in his heart, and he lightly sipped a mouthful of freshly brewed tea.

In the next moment, Jia Xu's expression changed, and the tea in his mouth instantly sprayed out.

"Beasts! Beasts who waste precious things…"

"What on earth did that fellow Li Ji add to such good tea leaves? And who exactly is Li Ji guarding against? Could it be that he is even guarding against a gentleman like me?"

"Even if he is guarding against me, what is the tea leaf guilty of?"

Jia Xu, who was both anxious and angry, immediately lost his composure and jumped up, looking at the small bag of good tea leaves that he had just sneaked back, looking like an old farmer who saw that the rice jar had been eaten empty by mice.

Immediately, Jia Xu, who was extremely angry, immediately got up and walked out angrily, saying.

"Today, I must go and reason with that fellow Li Ji…"

Just as Zhuge Liang stood up with some worry, hesitating whether to chase after him to persuade Jia Xu.

Jia Xu walked in from outside the door again, his face also peaceful, and he was still muttering something.

"Forget it, forget it…"

"Why bother with Zikun…"

"It's just a pity what Zikun added to these tea leaves, why has the taste become so both stinky and sweet?"

…

At this moment, Li Ji was not yet aware that Jia Xu, a habitual offender, had been successfully tricked, and was meeting with the trusted aide of Gan Ning, who had been sent back to report the situation, in a remote camp behind the main camp.

"Greetings, Lord Marquis!"

At the first sight of Li Ji, the Jinfan bandit bowed without hesitation.

"You may dispense with the formalities…"

Li Ji signaled Gan Ke to get up and said in a gentle voice. "Gan Ke, tell me, how is Xingba's situation over there?" (End of this chapter)