Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"My Lord has ordered me to lead the attack on the South Gate. I am both grateful and nervous. I am worried that I will fail to make any contribution and disappoint my Lord, so I have the audacity to come here and ask for your advice."

Zang Ba's attitude was extremely humble, and his words were full of gratitude, as if he was ready to follow Li Ji's orders at any time and fight wherever he was told.

This made Li Ji secretly look up to Zang Ba.

Who says that Zang Ba is useless just because he was born a bandit in Mount Tai?

Zang Ba really understands the ways of the world and politics.

Now Li Ji's central army was deployed on the south side of Ruyang City, but he appointed Zang Ba as the main general to attack the south gate.

How to make decisions on all matters related to the attack on the South Gate and who should make the decisions is a question worth exploring in depth.

Obviously, Zang Ba was unsure of Li Ji's thoughts, so he simply came forward to make his attitude clear, as if he was willing to follow Li Ji's lead.

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

However, Zang Ba obviously didn't drink tea much on weekdays. He took it hurriedly with some nervousness, and subconsciously picked up the teacup and took a big sip in a hurry.

Zang Ba grimaced immediately because of the burn, but was afraid of losing his composure in front of Li Ji, so he swallowed it quickly, his voice a little hoarse.

"Thank you for the good tea, sir."

“That’s not how you drink tea.”

Li Ji was a little amused.

Li Ji intended to show his acceptance of the Xuzhou faction and his close attitude towards it. He did not expect that Zang Ba, a warrior, had never had tea in his daily life, which led to such an embarrassing situation.

Immediately, Li Ji demonstrated to Zang Ba that the boiling hot tea should be cooled slightly before drinking.

Zang Ba followed suit and took a sip...

Obviously, this fine tea that Jia Xu had coveted so much was like a cow chewing a peony in Zang Ba's mouth. It was far less refreshing than taking a sip of inferior liquor, and then he praised it.

"Good tea."

Li Ji was used to such insincere compliments from others.

As their status and reputation increased, the only three people who would be consistent in their words and deeds in front of Li Ji were Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

However, Li Ji had no intention of exposing Zang Ba's bad taste in not knowing how to appreciate tea, so he just said it along the way.

“Whether tea is good or bad is easy to tell.”

"Whether this siege mission is a good mission or a bad mission is still unknown."

"Before Cao Cao went south, Xuzhou's military force was much stronger than Cao Cao's, but they were defeated repeatedly. Not only did they lose Langya State and Donghai County, but they also massacred a large number of Xuzhou people, making the Xuzhou soldiers a laughing stock of the world."

These words made Zang Ba's face filled with shame.

The Han people value martial arts and attach particular importance to regional honor.

This is also why many military generals would often add the prefix of their hometown when introducing their identities.

During the 400-year history of the Han Dynasty, Xuzhou has produced many powerful soldiers and generals.

Therefore, the Xuzhou soldiers usually had a high prestige in the Han Dynasty, but this time they were repeatedly defeated by Cao Cao, which was really a complete loss of face.

Although Zang Ba was from Taishan, most of the soldiers under his command were from Xuzhou.

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

"but……"

Li Ji took a sip of tea, looked relaxed, and said.

"This may be an opportunity for the Xuzhou soldiers to prove themselves. As long as they can capture Ruyang City faster than the other generals, the world will surely understand that it is the incompetent generals, not the Xuzhou soldiers."

"Xuan Gao, do you understand this?" "Xuan Gao can make his own decision on the matter of attacking the city, and the performance of the Xuzhou soldiers this time will inevitably affect the lord's view of the Xuzhou soldiers in the future."

Zang Ba was shocked, and suddenly realized that this was an opportunity given to the Xuzhou soldiers by the kind and generous marquis, but it was also a test.

If the Xuzhou soldiers fail to achieve anything, they will undoubtedly be gradually neglected and marginalized under Liu Bei's command in the future.

The next moment, Zang Ba drank the tea in the cup directly, regardless of the fact that it was still quite hot. Then he placed the cup heavily on the table and spoke with a bow.

"I will never dare to disappoint the Marquis or my lord! Ruyang City will be conquered by our Xuzhou troops!"

Li Ji nodded with satisfaction and said.

"It's great that you have such ambition. Xuan Gao can go down and prepare for the siege."

"As you command, my Lord."

Zang Ba stood up, bowed, and took three steps back before turning around and striding out of the tent.

However, even the four generals Zhang Fei, Wen Pin, Xu Sheng and Zang Ba were eager to capture Ruyang and get the credit.

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But even if Li Ji had transferred a lot of craftsmen and carpenters from Shouchun through Yingshui early on, it would still take enough time to build siege equipment on the spot.

Moreover, the defense of Ruyang City is very strict, and the battle cannot be resolved by relying on a few ladders.

Therefore, even with the help of a large number of soldiers, it took five days to build various siege weapons.

Most of the time was wasted 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 is undoubtedly one of Yuan Shu's means of delaying time.

After all kinds of siege equipment were prepared and distributed fairly to the generals at each city gate, they almost unanimously chose to attack Ruyang City as soon as possible.

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

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

However, in Li Ji's eyes, he hoped that Yuan Shu could hold on a little longer to buy more time for Gan Ning to dig the graves of the Yuzhou aristocratic families.

Li Ji's all-out siege of Ruyang City would be the best excuse for not being able to deal with the Yellow Turban Army for the time being.

Before this, the army led by Li Ji attracted all the attention of Yuan Shu and the Yuzhou families.

Even though the Yellow Turbans led by Gan Ning have captured several counties, they have not yet attracted the attention of the Yuzhou families, and no one would associate Li Ji with the emergence of the Yellow Turban Army.

The arrogant aristocratic families took it for granted that the emergence of some rebel rebellions was just a minor infestation.

However, they will soon realize that Yuzhou, which has been empty without them noticing, will become a cruel slaughterhouse.

When Li Ji, who represents "Cang Tian", pretends to be dead, the "Huang Tian" he supports will stand up unhindered and then put all the noble families on high ground.

……

When Gan Ke returned with the secret letter, Gan Ning had already captured Qiao County.

The defenses of Qiao County, the capital of Pei State, were sufficient, and 40,000 young and strong men were forcibly conscripted to defend the city.

However, no matter how strong the barrier is, it can be easily breached from the inside.

When Gan Ning gathered the famine-stricken villagers around Qiao County and appeared outside the city, thousands of young and strong men on the city wall once again defected on the spot.

After conquering Qiao County, they fished out the Prime Minister of Pei State who was hiding in a sewer. Gan Ning stepped on the chest of the fat and big-eared official and spoke contemptuously.

“Isn’t it ridiculous that you treat the people as pigs and dogs, and you also treat the people as city walls?”

(End of this chapter)