Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Wei Yan moved his mouth and almost said the word "waste".

Apart from his decent bravery, Chunyu Qiong is really useless and a weakling.

Wei Yan frowned and thought for a while, then asked.

"How about letting Chunyu Qiong lead only a small group of soldiers into the city to lower Li Qian's vigilance, and then taking the opportunity to have Chunyu Qiong cooperate with the outside forces to open the city gate?"

"It's still not appropriate. It's too dangerous. Once Zhong Jian is discovered, he will be killed." Pang Tong refused.

Wei Yan was slightly stunned, and then suddenly understood the implication of Pang Tong's words.

It's not that he was worried about whether Chunyu Qiong was dead or alive, but that he didn't trust Chunyu Qiong at all.

If Chunyu Qiong turned against the Han army again after returning to Linzi and set up an ambush in the city to lure the Han army into the city in advance, they would fall into the trap.

Although Wei Yan felt that Chunyu Qiong did not have the courage to do so, he had to admit that Pang Tong's concerns had to be guarded against.

Wei Yan thought for a while again and said.

"In this case, it seems that the best way is to take advantage of Linzi's unpreparedness and launch a surprise attack at night to try to capture Linzi in one fell swoop."

"Let me think about it."

Pang Tong said this and lowered his head to think.

Now we are about to arrive at Linzi City, and are only one step away from success. It is truly a miracle.

But the difficult problem was how to quickly capture Linzi.

If they had taken the western route and advanced steadily into the State of Qi, then even if they had attacked slowly and forcefully, they would have suffered a great loss of food and fodder.

But now we are taking the dangerous eastern route, and the logistics cannot be continuously supplied.

This forced the capture of Linzi to be swift, otherwise it would pose a great threat to this small troop.

Pang Tong knew more about the information about the Linzi garrison commander. Before leaving, Li Ji even secretly told Pang Tong to pay more attention.

Li Qian, Li Zheng and Li Dian can be called the three heroes of the Shanyang Li family, and they all have quite good abilities.

Especially Li Dian, whom Li Ji praised as a rare Confucian general in Cao Wei.

However, Linzi is an important grain storage area after all. Even though it is located in the hinterland of Qingzhou, Cao Ren would not be so negligent and it is reasonable for him to arrange a trusted general to be in charge.

The distance of fifty miles could be crossed in just over a day for the army led by Wei Yan.

The scouts sent to the front have already found the location of Linzi.

However, the news brought back by the scouts made Wei Yan look very ugly.

The four gates of Linzi were tightly closed, as if the city was on high alert.

Wei Yan stared at Chunyu Qiong with a murderous look and questioned, "Could it be that you secretly informed Cao Jun of the situation when we were talking to him at the pass?"

Chunyu Qiong hurriedly explained. "General, I would never do that. My heart is with the Han Dynasty, so how could I have informed Cao's army?"

"Why is Linzi in this state?" Wei Yan asked.

"I don't know this, this, this..."

"Don't be angry, Wenchang. It's not necessarily Zhongjian's fault. I'm afraid we have underestimated Cao Ren." Pang Tong said.

"What do you mean?" Wei Yan asked.

Pang Tong thought about it for a while and came up with the answer.

"I originally thought that with the army approaching, Cao Ren would have no time to take care of other matters, but perhaps the news of Zhuxu City's fall reached Cao Ren's ears, allowing him to instantly see through our intentions."

"So, if Cao Ren sent fast horses to Linzi to report the news day and night, it is possible that he could inform Linzi before us. This would explain why Linzi was so nervous." Wei Yan said with a look of reluctance on his face. "Is it still a little slow?"

However, this was already the fastest speed for the infantry to march. Wei Yan hurried as fast as he could to cover the distance of more than 200 miles, but he was still a little late.

If Linzi is unprepared, the success rate of the sneak attack on Linzi will be greatly increased.

Now that Linzi is well defended, even if Wei Yan has 26,000 soldiers and horses, three times as many as Linzi.

However, we must remember that this is the heartland of Qingzhou, and it won't take long for Cao Ren to send troops to rescue. It is even possible that a large net has been set up to surround Wei Yan.

Pang Tong, who had already made a clear judgment of the situation while thinking, couldn't help but frown slightly.

This is also the case of a single move affecting the entire body.

If they took the western route, it would be slow, but by then all the Qingzhou defenders would have been transferred by Cao Ren to Beihai County to resist the attack. Even if they knew that Linzi was attacked, it would be difficult to withdraw troops to rescue it.

But the route is along the eastern line, which is faster. However, at this moment, it is not difficult for Cao Ren to withdraw troops to Linzi.

As for the option of fighting or retreating, Wei Yan made the decision almost instantly.

war!
"If that's the case, then the only way is to attack violently, and let Cao Wei's dogs know the strength of our Han army."

Wei Yan spoke in a deep voice.

Wei Yan absolutely could not accept retreat.

If tricks don't work, then just force it.

Linzi is already in front of us. So what if we are on guard? We will just attack with force.

Wei Yan was unwilling to give up, and Pang Tong was also unwilling to give up, so he nodded in agreement.

"That's all."

No matter what, we must fight and test the waters before making a decision. How can we retreat in disgrace just because the other side is prepared when we reach Linzi?
After trying it out, it won’t be too late to make other plans if you have any.

If Cao Ren really doesn't hesitate to mobilize a large number of troops to besiege us, then so what? We can just consider it as relieving the pressure on the teacher.

In an instant, Pang Tong also focused on the overall situation of Qingzhou and sorted out the current situation clearly.

Being stuck deep in enemy territory is indeed disadvantageous.

But the momentum of the Northern Expedition was so overwhelming, how could Cao Ren expect to reverse the offensive and defensive situation by himself?
Even if Linzi was well prepared, Cao Ren would dispatch troops from the surrounding areas to provide support, so Linzi would still be the one that would be most nervous.

Even if he could not capture Linzi by force for the time being, it would force Cao Ren to fight on two fronts, making his already insufficient military force even more stretched.

Moreover, the food and fodder that Wei Yan's army brought was enough for nearly a month. It might be insufficient for a long-term confrontation, but there was no need to worry about the food and fodder problem in the short term.

Immediately, Wei Yan chose a place eight miles away from Linzi, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, to set up camp, preparing to let the army, which had been on the march for days, rest.

All of this was also spied on from afar by Cao's scouts sent out from Linzi City, who quickly brought the intelligence back.

The intelligence sent back by the scouts indeed showed the existence of the Han army.

Li Qian, the defender of Linzi City, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

The messenger sent by Cao Ren arrived only three hours earlier than Wei Yan. If it had been a little later, it might have been a disaster for Linzi City.

"Father, the Han army pretending to be Cao's army has also been traveling for days to come here in order to launch a surprise attack on Linzi. They must be exhausted. Why not attack them when they are not yet firmly established and have not yet built their camp? Perhaps we can defeat them in one battle and send them packing."

Li Zheng suggested.

"No..."

Li Dian, who looked more like a Confucian scholar than a general, quickly objected. (End of this chapter)