Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

“The Marquis has ordered me to be the main general for the attack on the South Gate. My heart is filled with gratitude and trepidation. I worry that I will fail to achieve merit and disappoint the Marquis, so I have come here shamelessly to ask for guidance.”

Zang Ba's attitude was extremely humble, and his words were full of gratitude, appearing ready to obey Li Ji's orders at any time, going wherever he was pointed.

This made Li Ji secretly think highly of Zang Ba.

Who said that Zang Ba, being from the Mount Tai bandits, was not suitable for important tasks?

Zang Ba understood human relationships and politics all too well.

Now, Li Ji's central army was stationed on the south side of Ruyang City, yet he appointed Zang Ba as the main general for the attack on the South Gate.

Then, how should the subsequent matters concerning the attack on the South Gate be decided, and by whom? This was a question worth exploring.

Clearly, Zang Ba was unsure of Li Ji's thoughts, so he simply came to take the initiative to clarify his attitude, appearing willing to follow Li Ji's lead.

Li Ji took out tea leaves from another tea box hidden in a secret compartment, brewed tea, and then pushed a cup of fragrant tea to Zang Ba, who was somewhat flattered.

However, Zang Ba apparently did not usually drink tea. He nervously took it, and impatiently, he subconsciously picked up the teacup and took a big gulp.

Immediately, Zang Ba was scalded, baring his teeth in pain, but he was afraid of losing his composure in front of Li Ji, so he quickly swallowed it, his voice a little hoarse.

“Thank you, Marquis, for the good tea.”

“Tea is not drunk like this.”

Li Ji couldn't help but laugh.

This was originally Li Ji's intention to show his acceptance of the Xu Province faction and his close relationship with them, but he did not expect that this warrior, Zang Ba, had probably never drunk tea before, leading to such an embarrassing situation.

Immediately, Li Ji demonstrated how to slightly cool the scalding tea before drinking it.

Zang Ba followed suit and took a sip…

Clearly, this good tea that Jia Xu craved was no different from a cow chewing peony in Zang Ba's mouth, far less refreshing than a gulp of inferior strong liquor. Then he praised,

“Good tea.”

Li Ji was also accustomed to such insincere compliments.

With the increase in his status and reputation, only Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei would be honest with him.

However, Li Ji did not have the malicious pleasure of exposing Zang Ba's ignorance of tea tasting, and went on to say,

“Whether tea is good or bad, one can easily tell.”

“Whether the task of attacking the city is a good task or a bad task, is also yet unknown.”

“Previously, when Cao Cao went south, the strength of Xu Province's troops far exceeded Cao Cao's, but they were repeatedly defeated, not only losing the Langya Kingdom and Donghai Commandery, but also leading to the massacre of a large number of Xu Province people, making the Xu Province soldiers a laughing stock.”

These words made Zang Ba's face full of shame.

The Han people valued martial prowess, and especially valued the honor of their region.

This was why many military generals would often add the prefix of their hometown when reporting their identity.

For four hundred years, Xu Province could be said to have produced many strong soldiers and fierce generals.

Therefore, the prestige of the Xu Province soldiers was not low in the Han Dynasty, but this time they were repeatedly defeated by Cao Cao, truly losing all face.

Although Zang Ba was from Mount Tai, most of his soldiers were from Xu Province.

This made Zang Ba's head slowly lower in front of Li Ji.

“However…”

Li Ji took a sip of tea, a comfortable look on his face, and said.

“This may not be an opportunity for the Xu Province soldiers to prove themselves. As long as they capture Ruyang City faster than the other generals, the world will surely understand that it is some incompetent straw bag generals who are to blame, not the Xu Province soldiers.”

“Xuangao, do you understand now?”

“Xuangao can decide on the matter of attacking the city on his own, and the performance of the Xu Province soldiers this time will inevitably affect how the Lord views the Xu Province soldiers in the future.”

Zang Ba's spirit was shaken, and he suddenly understood that this was both an opportunity given to the Xu Province soldiers by the benevolent and generous Marquis, but also a test.

Once the Xu Province soldiers made no achievements, there was no doubt that they would gradually be neglected and marginalized under Liu Bei's command in the future.

In the next moment, Zang Ba disregarded that the tea in the cup was still quite hot, drank it all in one gulp, and then placed the teacup heavily on the table, cupping his hands and saying.

“I will certainly not let the Marquis down, nor let the Lord down! Ruyang City will surely be broken by my Xu Province soldiers!”

Li Ji nodded with satisfaction and said.

“With such ambition, very good. Xuangao can go down and prepare for the siege.”

“As you command, Marquis.”

Zang Ba got up, cupped his hands, bowed, and retreated three steps before turning around and striding out of the camp.

However, even though Zhang Fei, Wen聘, Xu Sheng, and Zang Ba were all eager to capture Ruyang and get this credit.

Even though Li Ji had brought many craftsmen and carpenters from Shouchun through the Ying River early on, it still took enough time to build siege equipment on the spot.

Moreover, the defenses of Ruyang City were very strict, and it was by no means possible to solve the battle with just a few cloud ladders.

Therefore, even with the help of a large number of soldiers, the construction of various siege equipment took a full five days.

Among them, most of the time was spent because Yuan Shu had cut down all the trees around Ruyang City in advance, and the wood needed to build siege equipment could only be cut and transported from other places.

This was undoubtedly one of Yuan Shu's means of delaying time.

And when all kinds of siege equipment were ready and fairly distributed to the main generals of each city gate, they almost unanimously chose to attack Ruyang City at the first time.

On the seventh day of the siege of Ruyang City, a fierce siege battle began.

This was Yuan Shu's last persistence and madness, and also the goal of the generals to compete for merit.

However, in Li Ji's eyes, he hoped that Yuan Shu could persist for a while longer, to give Gan Ning more time to dig graves for the Yu Province aristocratic families.

Li Ji's posture of fully besieging Ruyang City would be the best reason for being unable to pay attention to the Yellow Turbans for a while.

Previously, the army led by Li Ji had attracted all the attention of Yuan Shu and the aristocratic families of Yu Province.

Even if the Yellow Turbans led by Gan Ning had captured a few county towns, they had not yet attracted the attention of the aristocratic families of Yu Province, and no one would associate Li Ji with the appearance of the Yellow Turbans.

The arrogant aristocratic families naturally thought that the emergence of some rebel armies was a minor ailment.

However, soon they would understand that the already empty Yu Province would become a cruel slaughterhouse.

Under the circumstances that Li Ji, representing “Heaven,” was feigning death, the “Yellow Heaven” he supported would rise unhindered, and then hang the aristocratic families one by one.

…

And when Gan Ke returned with a secret letter, Gan Ning had already captured Qiao County.

It could not be said that the defenses of Qiao County, the seat of Pei State, were insufficient, as it had forcibly conscripted as many as 40,000 young men to defend the city.

But even the strongest fortress can be easily broken from within.

When Gan Ning gathered the elders and villagers around Qiao County who were in famine and appeared under the city, the thousands of young men on the city wall defected again on the spot.

After breaking through Qiao County, the Prime Minister of Pei State, who was hiding in a sewer, was fished out. Gan Ning stepped on the chest of this fat-headed, big-eared official and said contemptuously.

“Since you regard the people as pigs and dogs, and also regard the people as city walls, isn't it ridiculous?”