A lowly soldier becomes king, I slaughter my way through the late Tang Dynasty!

How many enemy troops are there in the city?

"At least two thousand, and the commander is the Khitan chieftain Mo La."

"two thousand!?"

Li Yin screamed in horror!

"But my elite infantry battalion only has three hundred men. How dare they attack a city with two thousand men?!"

As Sun Tzu's Art of War states: "The best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans; next best is to disrupt their alliances; next best is to attack their army; and the worst is to besiege their cities."

Siege warfare is the lowest form of attack, something to be done only when absolutely necessary.

The defending side has a geographical advantage, and if they have sufficient food and morale, it would take at least five times the number of troops to forcibly conquer the city.

In other words, with a total of 2,000 defenders, it would theoretically take 10,000 troops to capture the city.

Previously, Fu Yanqing and Huangfu Yu volunteered, saying that five thousand men could conquer the entire city.

The result was derived from calculations of the enemy's morale, the element of surprise in the attack, and their self-confidence.

Even renowned generals like them would need at least five thousand men before they dared to claim they could conquer the entire city.

but now!

Li Yin's Trapped Camp only had a mere three hundred men!

They actually disobeyed military orders and sent troops to attack Mancheng without authorization!

Is this a joke?!

Huangfu Yu looked completely astonished and shook his head repeatedly.

"This Li Rui, a mere vanguard commander, actually has such audacity? He dares to attack the entire city with only three hundred men?"

And this Niu Ben, he's a commander-in-chief, how could he be so easily instigated by Li Rui that he disobeyed orders and did something so suicidal?

Fu Yanqing frowned and gritted his teeth.

"This Li Rui is indeed a talented person to be able to perceive the importance of Mancheng, but it is simply arrogant to attack Mancheng with only 300 men!"

His departure will alarm the city's defenders, who will surely tighten their defenses. Once the main army arrives, it will be even more difficult to attack.

At this point, Fu Yanqing was furious and slammed his fist on the table!

boom!

"Li Rui, you scoundrel! Disrupting military operations, you deserve to die!"

Li Yin, who was standing to the side, also understood.

Li Rui and Niu Ben's idea of ​​abandoning Taizhou to attack Mancheng was correct, but too reckless.

If we fail to capture the entire city, it will only alert the enemy, resulting in more harm than good.

When Li Yin thought about his subordinates doing such a stupid thing, he was both anxious and angry, but he still had a glimmer of hope.

"Gentlemen, what if... I mean, what if we could conquer the entire city?"

Upon hearing this, Huangfu Yu rolled his eyes and ignored him!

Fu Yanqing, who came from a prestigious family, was reasonable and patiently explained.

"Li Jieshuai, we can't take it down. Three hundred men are far too few; they can't even fill the city walls!"

Even if the city's defenses were extremely lax, after being ambushed, it would only take half an hour at most for the troops to reorganize and completely surround and kill these three hundred men.

Li Yin opened his mouth, realizing there was no way to reverse the situation, and could only sigh to himself.

Once outside the tent, Li Yin angrily addressed his personal guards.

"Spur your horses onward and stop Niu Ben Li Rui!"

The guards were helpless; they knew it was too late, but they still obeyed the order.

Consider it a way to give our own leader some psychological comfort.

……

Late that night.

Four miles east of Mancheng.

"No fires allowed, no wandering around! Anyone who disobeys will be executed!"

After giving the order, Niu Ben, with an excited heart, squatted down next to Li Rui and together they gazed at the city.

"When are we going to make our move? The brothers have been resting for most of the night."

Mancheng is located 35 li northwest of Taizhou.

The 300-strong Trapped Camp arrived in the afternoon and have been resting for several hours now.

Li Rui waved his hand and said.

"No rush. Let the brothers eat and drink their fill, and wait until the early hours of the next day."

The time when people are most tired during the day is around three or four in the morning.

Even the soldiers on night duty would feel drowsy and doze off at this time.

"Do we have to wait that long?" Niu Ben rubbed his hands together, somewhat impatient.

"We have to wait; we only have one chance!"

Upon hearing this, Niu Ben had no choice but to nod.

"Alright, I'll go and reassure the soldiers."

"Um."

After saying that, Niu Ben turned back to his work.

For a moment, this brute completely forgot that he was the commander of the Trapped Camp!

At this moment, Wang Digou was rubbing his sore feet, cursing Li Rui a thousand times in his heart!

Damn rotten coward, bastard born of a whore!

Logically, he should be staying in Dingzhou in the rear with General Li Yin, waiting to set off with the army.

Now, they have to follow this group of desperate criminals from the Trapped Camp, running thirty-five miles to fight some damned Mancheng!

Following an army of over 100,000 is much safer than attacking a city with 300 men!

The reason for all of this is Li Rui!

Wang Digou harbored resentment and curses.

"You son of a bitch, Li Rui, I'll kill you one day, and then I'll steal all three of your beautiful wives! I'll make them bear me ten sons!"

After cursing inwardly, Wang Digou touched the cloth bag at his waist.

It contained a crossbow!

This thing is a rare item; it can kill someone within ten steps with a single blow!

Wang Digou stared intently at Li Rui's retreating figure, cursing under his breath.

"Li Rui, just you wait! Arrows have no eyes on the battlefield, and I'll take your life with one arrow sooner or later!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, he found that Li Rui was walking straight towards him.

Wang Digou was immediately panicked, thinking that he had heard it.

It turned out that Li Rui had only come to see Niu Ben.

"Brother Niu, you will take 290 men and ambush them two miles east of the city. As soon as you see the city gate on fire, lead your men to charge. I will then open the city gate."

Upon hearing this, Niu Ben was stunned.

"You'll open the city gates? How?"

Li Rui said calmly.

"I took ten agile men and climbed over the city wall from the north, then opened the city gate in the dark."

Niu Ben was really startled and hurriedly waved his hands.

"Only ten men? My brother, don't lie!"

Li Rui, however, said...

"I'm serious, Brother Niu, trust me, I'm 90% sure."

Niu Ben was speechless and could only choose to believe.

Or else?

They had all believed Li Rui's lies and disobeyed military orders, abandoning Taizhou and turning their attack on Mancheng instead.

At this critical juncture, even if you have some regrets, you have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

The next morning, it was still dark.

On the north side of the city, eleven dark figures dressed only in cloth slowly moved along the city wall to their designated location.

Someone asked in a low voice.

"Li Fengshi, whose subordinate is named Zhang Yaozu, has a question: why are we taking such a long detour, climbing from the north?"

Li Rui answered in a low voice.

"Mancheng is bordered by the Jin state to the south and the Khitan state to the north, so the defensive deployment is naturally stronger in the south and weaker in the north."

Zhang Yaozu suddenly realized, but was also somewhat puzzled.

Why did Li Feng directly mention the State of Jin? That's strange. Shouldn't he say "our country"?

Shaking his head, Zhang Yaozu continued.

"Li Fengshi, there's a lookout on this corner tower. If I throw the hook directly, he'll spot me."

Li Rui did not answer, and took down the hard bow he carried with him.

Zhang Yaozu was shocked to see this and hurriedly said...

"Li Fengshi intends to shoot him dead? Is that even possible? We're down here, and he's up here. It's already difficult to shoot from here, and it's nighttime. If we miss and he spots us instead, then we'll..."

Zhang Yaozu hadn't finished his earnest and heartfelt words.

But then Li Rui stood tall and straight like a pine tree, drew his bow and nocked an arrow, pulling out a perfect full moon!

call out!

A deep, mournful arrow whistle broke the silence in the night sky.

The sentry on the corner tower barely noticed anything and had just opened his sleepy eyes.

The next second, a white-feathered arrow struck him squarely in the throat!

An arrow pierced his throat, and hot blood dripped down.

The sentry felt a heat on his neck, followed by an intense feeling of suffocation that dragged him into hell.

boom.

With a soft thud, the sentry collapsed inside the corner tower, unable to utter a single groan.

[Number of kills: +1]

"superior!"

Li Rui didn't even look at it, and immediately ordered his men to throw the hooks.

At this moment, the ten skilled soldiers all wore the same expression, speechless with astonishment!

In the darkness, the arrow shot upwards from below, killing instantly, aimed straight for the throat!

What kind of heaven-defying archery skill is this?!

Even the most famous marksmen in the army are probably no better than this!

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up!"

With a low shout from Li Rui, everyone snapped out of their daze!

Zhang Yaozu swallowed hard and said with sincere admiration.

"Li Fengshi, I, Old Zhang, am impressed by you."

After saying that, he untied the rope from his arm, swung an iron hook up, and threw it high into the air.

Ding!

"climb!"