Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 882: Out of food?

"Is Shi Yuan so sure that General Zilong will lead his troops to help?" Guo Jia asked with some amusement.

"Brother, you will not come here alone. General Wei must be with you." Pang Tong answered affirmatively.

"Shi Yuan guessed wrong on this point."

Guo Jia shook his head and answered calmly.

"General Zilong is probably still organizing his troops near Ying County in Taishan County, which is more than 300 miles away from here."

After hearing this, Pang Tong felt a little confused, but then he understood.

Zhao Yun led the White Horse Volunteers to launch a surprise attack on Dongchaojin. They also had little food and fodder, and after such a rapid march, they were naturally extremely tired.

Therefore, it was impossible for Zhao Yun to have enough energy to directly move to Linzi after running hundreds of miles and experiencing a great battle in Dongchaojin.

Even if the Baima Yicong were so exhausted and still had the strength to fight again, a direct merger of the two armies would only aggravate the predicament of insufficient food and fodder.

Therefore, after the surprise attack on Dongchaojin, Zhao Yun's best choice was undoubtedly to temporarily retreat along the way to the vicinity of Ying County, which was controlled by the Taishan bandits, to replenish food and grass and rest before fighting again.

After figuring this out, Pang Tong asked in surprise about Guo Jia who appeared in front of him.

“Then how did Senior Brother Fengxiao know that the predicament he faced in Linzi would happen to be here?”

After a pause, Pang Tong vaguely understood and asked.

"Could it be the teacher's arrangement?"

Guo Jia smiled. "As expected of the teacher's praise of him as 'Phoenix Young', Shi Yuan is still young, but his intelligence is rare in the world."

Immediately, Guo Jia spoke with a slightly serious expression.

"Teacher had anticipated the predicament that Shi Yuan was facing, so he sent someone to deliver a secret order to the vicinity of Ying County. When General Zilong led his troops back to the vicinity of Ying County, he received the secret order, ordering General Zilong to lead his troops to rush to Linzi for assistance."

"But the White Horse Volunteers still need to rest for a few days. And considering the White Horse Volunteers' speed, once they pass through Jinan State again and enter the vicinity of Linzi, it will not take long for Linzi to get the information, which will inevitably alert the enemy."

"So, in order to make the White Horse Volunteers a winning surprise force, I came here first to meet up with Shi Yuan, discuss strategies, and then send a message to let the White Horse Volunteers know when to set out, so that the two armies can cooperate and capture Linzi in one fell swoop."

Hearing this, Pang Tong's face was filled with joy, and he was even more impressed by his teacher's ability to predict the enemy's future from thousands of miles away.

The Linzi City order put Pang Tong in a dead end with no solution, but with the White Horse Volunteers as a fresh force ready to join the battlefield at any time, the game was undoubtedly brought back to life.

If the more than 10,000 white horse volunteers led by Zhao Yun were used well, they would be able to reverse the situation here in an instant.

Pang Tong's eyes lit up, and he said with a hint of joy. "Brother Fengxiao, I have a plan. Please join me in the discussion."

"I have just arrived in Linzi, and I don't know as much about this place as Shiyuan does. If Shiyuan has any good plan, please tell me quickly." Guo Jia replied.

For a moment, there was a sound of whispers in the tent, and from time to time there were sounds of heated discussions.

Soon, as the camp became quiet, Guo Jia and Pang Tong went to the central military tent together to find Wei Yan and further formulate a plan.

From the White Horse Volunteer Team that had escorted Guo Jia all the way to his destination, three riders were separated, each carrying a secret letter back to Ying County to deliver to Zhao Yun.

It was also from this day that Li Dian in Linzi City noticed that the amount of smoke from the Han army camp had decreased slightly compared to usual. Could it be that the Han army was finally running out of food?

Li Dian did not know the amount of food and fodder the Han army had, but as the Han army had penetrated deep into the enemy's rear and their food supply routes had been cut off, it was only a matter of time before they ran out of food and fodder.

While the Han army did not lose any men due to combat losses, the size of the rising smoke decreased slightly, which made Li Dian somewhat suspicious.

Li Dian was not completely sure whether it was true or false, so he simply reported his analysis to Li Qian and Cao Xiu truthfully to avoid delaying the battle.

In terms of official rank, Cao Xiu has the highest rank in Linzi City and is also from the Cao clan.

This meant that although Li Qian was nominally the defender of Linzi, he had to give up the dominant power to Cao Xiu.

The intelligence that the Han army seemed to be running out of food and grass made Cao Xiu a little excited, but he was also very patient. He was prepared to hold out until the Han army collapsed and then deal with the remaining soldiers.

On the second day, the Han army outside the city launched a long-awaited attack on Linzi City again, regardless of casualties.

This somewhat abnormal behavior made Cao Xiu suspicious again.

In particular, Cao Xiu personally went to the city wall to observe the Han soldiers and found that those Han soldiers who were usually fierce and brave, now looked pale and weak when they advanced and retreated, unable to hide the fact that they were strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

As the two sides fought fiercely for most of the day, the Han army was ultimately unable to defeat Linzi and slowly retreated again. Cao Xiu kept thinking about the state of the Han soldiers, and became more and more certain that this Han army's detachment was not far from being completely out of food.

Immediately, Cao Xiu urgently summoned a group of Cao's generals in the city, including Li Qian, Li Zheng, and Li Dian, for a military meeting. After expressing his own judgment, he spoke.

"All these factors have led me to suspect that the Han army's reckless attack today was intended to confuse us and allow us to retreat while we are exhausted from defending the city."

As soon as these words were spoken, many of the Cao generals present nodded in agreement.

Such a judgment is indeed in line with the art of war.

Anyone who is familiar with the art of war knows that the time of retreat is the most dangerous. If one is not careful, one may suffer a major defeat as one side continues to chase and kill the other. Therefore, the annihilation of the entire army is not impossible.

Therefore, it is very likely that the Han army deliberately put on such a show in order to retreat safely.

Seeing that the generals seemed to be planning to leave the city and pursue the enemy, Li Dian could not help but remind them.

"The Han army commander Wei Yan and military advisor Pang Tong outside the city are both highly valued by Han Prime Minister Li Ji. They are not easy to deal with. I am afraid there is something fishy going on."

After the two sides confronted each other for many days, Cao's army naturally gradually figured out who the main general of the Han army was.

In terms of military achievements, Wei Yan was naturally not well-known, and Pang Tong was even more of a rookie.

But Li Ji only valued this sentence and would not allow others to despise it.

What Cao Xiu was worried about was undoubtedly the same as what Li Dian was worried about.

The defense of Linzi City was a major matter, but for Cao Xiu, who valued martial arts and glory, watching such a large number of Han troops who were about to run out of food evacuate safely was almost more painful than killing him.

After careful consideration, Cao Xiu still did not act rashly, but continued to send more scouts to monitor the Han army camp regardless of casualties.

(End of this chapter)