Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 532: Battle of Xinye (I)

The seat of Nanyang County was Wancheng, which was also a fortified city.

If Huang Zu continued to defend the city, it would take more than a few days for Yuan Shu to completely capture Wancheng.

Yuan Shu might be arrogant and rebellious, but he also had many wise and resourceful people around him who could see the current situation clearly.

If you want to capture Xiangyang, you must fight quickly and decisively, not giving the Jingzhou army time to turn around.

Otherwise, even if Yuan Shu actually mobilized an army of about 130,000.

However, as long as Liu Biao mobilized a 30,000 to 40,000-strong detachment to return to Xiangyang to assist in the garrison, even if he defeated the 130,000-strong Yuzhou army at the gates of Xiangyang, it would not necessarily be able to shake Xiangyang in the slightest.

In contrast to Wancheng, Xinye, which blocks the southward route on the other side, is just a small city.

Even if Liu Biao had repaired Xinye City in advance, it could not change the fact that Xinye City’s defense was far from being comparable to Wancheng.

In addition, after obtaining intelligence on the defenders of Xinye City, Yuan Shu immediately ordered to abandon the attack on Wancheng and instead head straight for Xinye.

Of course, even if Xinye was captured, the road to Xiangyang in the south could be opened, but Wancheng and Xinye were already in a pincer attack and were not far apart. Therefore, Yuan Shu had to send out a detachment to guard against Huang Zu in Wancheng.

Therefore, Yuan Shu ordered his general Zhang Xun to lead 10,000 soldiers to set up camp and defense outside Wancheng to prevent Huang Zu from taking the opportunity to leave the city and destroy Yuan Shu's rear food supply route which was not far away.

Although Xinye is known as a small city, this "small" is only relative to Wancheng. In some periods, Xinye was even briefly moved to be the seat of Jingzhou.

The location of Xinye City is also very important. The Yu River connects Wancheng, Xinye and Xiangyang. Xinye is located in the middle part of the Yu River. From the Yu River where Xinye City is located, it takes only a few days to reach Xiangyang by going downstream.

Except for one side facing the water, Xinye City is surrounded by flat plains on three sides. In addition, the city walls of Xinye are not high, so the difficulty of capturing it is obviously much lower than that of Wancheng.

When Yuan Shu was lying on the cushioned chariot, swaying and staggering to the outskirts of Xinye City under the escort of the central army, he looked at the city not far away that was only four people high, and contempt flashed in his eyes.

"My lord, the place for camping has been chosen. Should we set up camp and rest first and then choose a day to attack the city?" Yan Xiang asked as he approached the chariot.

"No need."

Yuan Shu picked up the cup on the table on the chariot and drank a sip of honey water happily, which greatly relieved the stuffiness brought by the scorching sun.

Now it is summer and the weather is getting hotter and hotter.

Yan Xiang, who was riding a horse and asking questions at the side, looked at Yuan Shu's comfortable appearance, and his throat couldn't help but surge. Then he raised his hand to wipe the hot sweat that kept coming out of his forehead.

Even lying on the battlefield, Yuan Shu felt stuffy with an umbrella to protect him from the sun, and Yan Xiang was naturally sweating profusely. What made Yan Xiang a little worried was the army that had been marching for many days in the hot climate.

In Yan Xiang's opinion, they should set up camp first, let the army rest for a day, then send generals to test the waters and formulate a strategy for attacking the city.

Feeling the comfortable feeling of the honey water flowing down his throat, Yuan Shu waved his hand and said.

"Don't think I don't know military tactics. Even the Art of War says: Attack when your force is five times yours, and divide when your force is twice yours. Xinye City is far less fortified than Wan City, and the garrison is no more than 10,000 people, and the garrison commander is also an unknown young man. Why should we worry about it?"

"With just three drum beats, this small city of Xinye will probably be captured. Why bother setting up camp? Wouldn't it be better to just go into Xinye City and rest?"

Immediately, without giving Yan Xiang a chance to speak again, Yuan Shu waved to his trusted general Ji Ling.

Ji Ling, with a dignified face and a resolute look, held a three-pointed double-edged sword in his hand, and hurriedly rode forward, bowed and lowered his eyes, and said, "What do you want, my lord?"

Yuan Shu raised his hand and pointed in the direction of Xinye, saying, "Conquer this city. I want to go into the city to rest before sunset."

"Yes!"

Ji Ling, who was wearing silver armor, bowed and responded, then threw his cloak and went down to organize the troops.

As Yuan Shu's most trusted general, Ji Ling also had a very high prestige in Yuan Shu's army. After receiving Yuan Shu's order.

Immediately, Ji Ling commanded the army to use nearby materials to build temporary siege equipment, and led a group of generals and personal guards to the city of Xinye.

It also takes some time to build temporary siege equipment.

Before this, Ji Ling ordered the army to rest on the spot, while at the same time sending his generals to challenge the enemy in order to further suppress the morale of the defenders in Xinye City.

The concept of morale seems to be fictitious, but it actually exists and is extremely important.

This is like the same army in later generations, if they were to cross the river to the east and climb Mount Fuji, their morale would be far higher than when facing other targets, and the combat power they could exert would also be far less competitive.

Challenging a general to fight is undoubtedly an effective way to quickly boost one's own morale and suppress the enemy's morale.

Ji Ling, who was proud of his bravery, did not take the small city of Xinye seriously at all.

"Hey! Listen up, people above. I am Liang Gang, a general under Yuan Shu, the governor of Runan County. Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou, is unjust and has killed Sun Wentai, the governor of Changsha County, who is a good friend of my master..."

And on the city wall of Xinye City, except Liu Pan, all the other generals naturally gathered there.

Listening to Liang Gang's shouting at the city gate, even though people of this era had relatively low mental defenses due to the generally high moral standards, Liu Pan and others did not take Liang Gang's slight aggressiveness seriously at all.

What's more, anyone who is not blind can tell what Yuan Shu is thinking.

Things like revenge for Sun Jian and accusing Liu Biao of violating the laws of the court were just excuses.

What worries Liu Pan, who looks a bit plump, is the seemingly endless army of Yuan Shu outside the city.

"Even if there are not as many as 250,000 as advertised, there are probably more than 100,000. I'm afraid Xinye can't stop them." Liu Pan said worriedly.

On one point, Yuan Shu's judgment was indeed correct.

That is, Liu Pan, who was Liu Biao's nephew, was praised for his bravery because of his relationship with Liu Biao, so that Liu Pan could ascend to power and rule the area for Liu Biao.

In terms of actual ability, Liu Pan was mediocre in all aspects except his loyalty, which was why Liu Biao let Liu Pan garrison in Xinye.

There is a huge gap in strength between the enemy and us. Ability is secondary and loyalty is the most important thing. Only in this way can we delay Yuan Shu's march as much as possible.

Some of Liu Pan's generals felt dizzy and suffered from claustrophobia when they saw the endless army outside the city.

Only Huang Zhong, who had a few strands of gray in his beard and was standing next to Liu Pan, had a calm expression, his back still straight, unlike his generals who had already shown signs of cowardice.

(End of this chapter)