Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"Yes!"

All the generals responded in unison.

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

Li Ji deliberately made public the fact that the Yellow River burst its dikes and affected Xuzhou, naturally in order to stabilize the morale of the army.

After all, this is such a big thing that even if Li Ji does not take the initiative to make it public, rumors will gradually spread in the army.

To quell rumors, it is better to guide than to block.

Moreover, Li Ji was sure that the flood would be quelled as soon as possible, so he took the initiative to make the news public. This could not only prevent the Xuzhou soldiers from losing interest in the battle, but also 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 central military tent and asked the eight tiger guards to carry in a sand table that had been prepared in advance.

This sand table shows the topography of the area within ten miles centered on Ruyang City. Even the deployment of the army led by Li Ji outside the city has been clearly marked on the sand table.

The situation in which the entire Ruyang City was surrounded with no escape could undoubtedly be seen clearly from the sand table.

Then, at Li Ji's signal, Zhuge Liang stepped forward and analyzed the situation in detail to the generals.

"According to the information provided by various parties, Yuan Gonglu, who is now defending the city, still has 5,000 elite soldiers, and more than 70,000 young and strong men forcibly recruited from surrounding counties."

"The food and grass expenses in 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 did not hesitate to offer a large amount of information related to Yuan Shu and Ruyang City as a token of their loyalty.

With the mutual confirmation of intelligence from multiple parties, the military strength and food supplies in Ruyang City are undoubtedly quite clear.

Moreover, Yuan Shu knew that no matter how hard the cities in Yuzhou defended, they could only delay Li Ji's progress for a while, and Li Ji would arrive at Ruyang sooner or later.

Therefore, Yuan Shu frantically drew all available troops, supplies, money and food from the surrounding counties and prefectures, and stored them in large quantities in Ruyang City.

However, Li Ji arrived much faster than Yuan Shu expected.

Otherwise, when Li Ji slowly advanced to the city of Ruyang, Yuan Shu would probably be able to forcibly recruit more than 100,000 young and strong men to defend the city of Ruyang.

However, despite this, more than 70,000 young and strong men defended the city to the death.

Even though the number of troops surrounding Ruyang City has reached nearly 200,000, it is still not easy to storm it.

When attacking a city, there are often not so many strategies available.

Especially since Yuan Shu had blocked the city gates in advance, it was clear that he was determined to fight to the death and delay the battle until winter to force Li Ji to retreat and buy a chance of survival.

When winter comes, it is difficult to attack the city and it is even more difficult to transport food and fodder.

"According to the time of snowfall in Yuzhou in previous years, we only have about one and a half months left. If we cannot capture Ruyang City within this time, we can only withdraw temporarily."

Finally, after making a summary, Zhuge Liang saluted Li Ji and everyone present, then sat back on the side.

One and a half months is neither long nor short.

It is not uncommon for some fortified cities to hold out for years without being conquered.

After the generals had digested the information, Li Ji did not make any special arrangements but spoke directly.

"We must capture Ruyang City within a month and a half."

"Zhang Fei will lead the army at the north gate, Wen Pin will lead the army at the west gate, Xu Sheng will lead the army at the east gate, and Zang Ba will lead the army at the south gate."

"Whoever breaks through the city wall first will be the first to achieve the first victory."

As soon as Li Ji finished speaking, the expressions of the four generals Zhang Fei, Wen Pin, Xu Sheng and Zang Ba became unconsciously excited.

Immediately afterwards, Li Jiyou made some arrangements for the blockade of Ruyang City and announced the end of the meeting, allowing the four generals to take charge of one side of the city wall and do what they want.

This made Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong a little confused. After the meeting, they couldn't help but discuss it. Although many strategies were difficult to work in attacking such a strong city, there were still ways to use troops to greatly speed up the process of breaking the city.

For example: focus on attacking one side of the city wall, and then attack the other three sides as a supplement, and then look for an opportunity to suddenly change the main attack direction, which often has a miraculous effect in breaking the city.

However, the arrangement made by Li Ji seemed to treat all the generals equally, allowing the four generals to be responsible for their own areas and perform freely.

Although it was a great incentive for the generals and would make them actively attack the city, it was obviously not as effective as Li Ji personally commanding the siege.

It was not until Li Ji went to inspect the camp that Jia Xu, who went to Li Ji's tent under the pretext of delivering official documents but actually brought back some tea, heard the discussion between Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong.

Jia Xu, who was sitting in a corner, was leisurely making tea while making a casual remark.

"Don't just focus on Ruyang. Taking a city quickly has its advantages, but taking a city slowly... doesn't it also have its advantages?"

Although Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong inevitably lacked experience and accumulation due to their age, what Jia Xu said instantly made Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong grasp something.

"Sima Yi..."

"The Yellow Turban rebels..."

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

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"It's true that the waves behind push the waves ahead..."

"I am afraid that I am far inferior to them at this age..."

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

Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong's performance not only did not make Jia Xu jealous, but instead he felt very pleased and took a sip of the freshly brewed tea.

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

"What a beast! What a wasteful beast..."

"What on earth did Li Ji put into such good tea? And who is Li Ji guarding against? Is he guarding against a gentleman like me?"

"Even if it's to protect me, how can this tea be innocent?"

Jia Xu was so anxious and angry that he jumped up on the spot. He looked at the small bag of high-quality tea he had just brought back like an old farmer who saw his rice jar being eaten up by rats.

Immediately, the extremely angry Jia Xu stood up, walked out angrily and said.

"Today I must talk to 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 again, his face also calm, and he was still muttering something.

"That's all..."

"Why bother with Zikun..."

"It's just pitiful. What did Zikun add to these tea leaves? Why does the taste become so pungent and sweet?"

……

At this moment, Li Ji was still unaware that he had been successfully trapped by Jia Xu, the habitual criminal. He was in a remote camp behind the camp, where he met the confidant of the Jinfan bandits who was sent back by Gan Ning to report the situation.

"Greetings to the Marquis!"

The moment he saw Li Ji, the thief bowed without hesitation.

"No gift..."

Li Ji motioned Gan Ke to stand up and said in a gentle voice, "Gan Ke, can you tell me what's going on with Xingba?" (End of this chapter)