Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The battle situation in Luoyang became increasingly brutal.

Under the siege of 400,000 Hu people that lasted for half a month, the defense of Luoyang City, which had been impregnable at the beginning, gradually became precarious.

This was not only because the strength of the Luoyang defenders had decreased, but also because the arrows and other defense supplies stored in the city were running out.

Of course, the most important thing is that Li Ji did it on purpose.

This boosted the morale of the Hu people, whose morale had obviously dropped due to their long-term siege.

As the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, even the lowest-class Hu people understood that there was endless wealth hidden in Luoyang City.

The significance of capturing Luoyang and the prime minister was something the leaders had to consider.

For the lower-class Hu people, the gains after conquering the city are theirs.

Especially when a group of tribal leaders publicly promised to allow their tribesmen to plunder the city for three days after the city was captured, and also stated that there was the palace of the Han emperor in Luoyang, which contained countless gold, silver and jewelry.

This, combined with the apparently crumbling defenses of Luoyang City, completely boosted the morale of the Hu people.

The Qiang people attacked the west side, the Xianbei attacked the east side, and the Southern Xiongnu attacked the south side. In order to become the first tribe to enter the city to plunder after the city was broken, the tribal leaders almost sent out all the young and strong men in the tribe.

The momentum of the siege was unprecedentedly massive.

When these pieces of information were transmitted back to Hulao Pass, Liu Bei was so anxious that he could hardly swallow a sip of water. He was always staring at the city wall to see when the beacon fire would be raised in the direction of Luoyang.

But no...

no……

still none……

After spending two days like this, Liu Bei could no longer bear the extreme anxiety. He was afraid that something unexpected had happened in Luoyang City, so that Li Ji had lost control of Luoyang and had not lit the beacon fire.

There was no time to wait for the Luoyang beacon fire as agreed in the secret letter before sending out troops. Liu Bei had to choose between the great cause of the country and his brothers. What he feared more was losing Li Ji.

Therefore, upon learning that a quarter of the south wall of Luoyang had been climbed by the Hu people, Liu Bei chose... to send troops!
At Liu Bei's order, beacons prepared in advance were lit in the direction of Hulao Pass towards Luoyang to deter the Hu people and inform Luoyang that reinforcements had arrived.

The 400,000-strong Northern Expedition Army, which had been resting for many days, came out like a tiger out of a cage.

The cavalry vanguard led by Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei acted as the pioneer and rode straight to Luoyang at full speed.

Even Liu Bei ignored the dissuasion of his generals and led the vanguard himself, raised the royal flag, and rushed to Luoyang.

……

For a time, the beacon fire spread throughout the land within Hulao Pass. The smoke rising into the sky made the Hu people realize that the Han army was coming.

Similarly, Li Ji, who was slowly burning the sand table in the Luoyang government office, also saw the smoke spreading from the direction of Hulao Pass.

However, this made Li Ji frown and said in a deep voice.

"Who is so bold as to disobey my orders and send out troops ahead of time? If they scare the Hu people away, won't our efforts be in vain?"

"Prime Minister, since troops have been dispatched from Hulao Pass, we can't wait any longer and should let the Hu people into the city as soon as possible," Zhang Song said hurriedly.

"How are the preparations in the city going?" Li Ji asked.

"The people in the city have moved into the imperial palace. All the fire-starting devices have been prepared. General Ma and General Sun at the west and east gates are also ready to defend the city walls." Zhang Song replied hastily.

Li Ji nodded, stretched out his hand to feel the still weak north wind, and estimated the changing trend of the wind force.

The imperial palace in Luoyang City is divided into north and south, but in fact, they are both in the north of Luoyang. The residential houses with a lot of fire-starting objects are all in the south of Luoyang. Therefore, in order to avoid self-ignition and let the fire spread and burn the imperial palace to a white ground, what Li Ji needs is a north wind.

In order to implement the fire plan and make the fire spread quickly, a strong wind is needed.

These two conditions are indispensable to Li Ji.

After secretly estimating the number of breaths, Li Ji said in a cold voice.

"We really can't wait any longer. Tell Yang Ren to abandon the city gate in a quarter of an hour and let the Hu people in."

"Yes."

After a tiger guard received the order and immediately went to deliver the message, Xu Chu, who was secretly getting anxious, quickly spoke.

"Prime Minister, please withdraw to the palace immediately."

Li Ji was not a pretentious person, and he immediately retreated back to the palace under the tiger guards led by Xu Chu.

Moreover, the total number of defenders in Luoyang City at this moment was less than 40,000. Sun Ce and Ma Chao still had about 10,000 troops guarding the east and west walls, while only about 3,000 troops were left at the north and south gates.

There were only 10,000 serviceable soldiers left in the imperial palace.

Just as Li Ji returned to the palace and closed the palace gate, the south gate of Luoyang was broken.

At this time, many Hu leaders saw the beacon fires in the direction of Luoyang, and the Hu scouts stationed at Hulao Pass kept using horns to signal the Han army to leave the pass, so they fell into a fierce quarrel.

Retreat, or continue the siege...

For the Hu people, the siege had lasted for more than half a month, and the casualties of each tribe were also heavy. They did not want to engage in a head-on battle with the large-scale Han army.

The might of the Han army's military formations was passed down from generation to generation on the grassland, and the Hu people knew that they could not stop the Han army's advance.

The distance between Hulao Pass and Luoyang is enough for infantry to reach in at least one day, or at most two days.

If they fail to capture Luoyang before the arrival of the large-scale Han army, the Hu people will have to abandon the baggage and food in the camp and evacuate in a hurry.

However, with the capture of Luoyang's South Gate, the quarrel among the Hu leaders came to an abrupt end.

Yu Fuluo, the Chanyu of the Southern Xiongnu, stood up suddenly and said, "I suddenly remembered that there are some things that have not been dealt with yet. I will take my leave."

Immediately, Yu Fuluo and a group of Southern Xiongnu leaders rushed out in a swarm without waiting for the others to react, riding their horses towards the Southern Xiongnu camp.

But the other Hu people didn't understand that Yu Fuluo was in a hurry to get into the city first to grab the benefits.

Not to mention the gold, silver and jewelry everywhere in Luoyang City, the most important thing is whoever controls the Prime Minister of Hanting, which will be a huge benefit.

As the other Hu people reacted quickly, they left and rushed back without caring about any previous agreement. While intensifying the attack on the nearest city wall, they also sent cavalry towards the south gate of Luoyang.

For a moment, the three gates of Luoyang's south gate had been broken, and the Hu cavalry kept rushing into this thousand-year-old capital with excited roars and cries.

In order to lure the Hu people, Li Ji had ordered people to spread a large number of porcelain, gold, silver, jewelry, salt, wine, ironware and other things coveted by the Hu people on both sides of the road.

Therefore, after countless Hu people poured into Luoyang, their eyes were almost red with excitement.

"Hurry up!"

"My, my..."

"Grab it, grab it!" (End of this chapter)