Soon, Yang Rui's armies arrived at Guan County Town and Departing Fox City, forming a pincer attack on Liu Dai's final stronghold.
However, as Liu Dai had been prepared for this, the defenses of Guan County Town and Departing Fox City were more than double or triple the defenses of the cities that Yang Rui's armies had encountered.
The most prominent aspect of these two cities was the exponential increase in the number of soldiers defending them.
There were nearly a hundred thousand soldiers defending Departing Fox City at the moment. According to the reports from Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo, there were more than a hundred thousand soldiers defending Guan County Town!
This was all thanks to the bandit leaders and scouts of the two armies. Before the main forces arrived at the two cities, they had already obtained a rough estimate of the number of soldiers defending Liu Dai's strongholds. It wasn't an accurate estimate, but it was more than enough to help them determine the situation.
Yang Rui's two armies only had around a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers each. This ratio wasn't suitable for a direct assault. Even surrounding the city would be difficult, as there was the risk of a concentrated counterattack from the soldiers within the city.
As such, Yang Rui's army stopped a hundred kilometers away from Departing Fox City. Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo's armies also split into three groups, forming a pincer formation about eighty kilometers northeast of Guan County Town.
The two armies did not attack the city immediately.
Meanwhile, Liu Dai's army within the city had also been intimidated by Yang Rui's invincible army. Liu Dai's army had already sealed off all the gates of the two cities while they were still a distance away from Yang Rui's armies. They simply holed up within the city with no intention of going out to meet the enemy.
Moreover, Guan County Town and Departing Fox City were both advanced cities. The defense and durability of the city walls were both very high. Moreover, after some simple probing, they found that there were plenty of long-range archers in the city. Judging from the range of their arrows, there were also plenty of Sixth Grade archers!
The two cities had turned into turtle shells. If Yang Rui wanted to take the cities by force, he would have to pay a hefty price, regardless of whether he could take them down in the end.
"Feng Xiao, what do you want?"
It seemed that there was no good solution at the moment. Yang Rui turned to ask Guo Jia.
In front of them, Yang Rui's army was attacking cities. He had hardly encountered any difficulties. Now, it was time for Guo Jia to play a role. Guo Jia seemed to have realized this as well.
"Reporting to Lord Prefecture Overseer, the number of guards in Guan County Town and Lihu City has reached two hundred thousand. The bandit leader who went to Puyang City to investigate has also brought back news that the number of guards in the city should be no less than one hundred thousand!
In addition, Governor Qiao Mao has trapped tens of thousands of Liu Dai's subordinates in Dingtao City. Together with the scattered soldiers in other places and the tens of thousands of soldiers that were killed earlier, Liu Dai's total military strength is about four to five hundred thousand. Lord Prefecture Overseer, don't you think this number is normal? "
Guo Jia didn't answer Yang Rui's question directly. Instead, he started to count the number of Liu Dai's soldiers.
In fact, even if Guo Jia didn't say anything. Yang Rui had also noticed the problem. Not long ago, Liu Dai had fought with Qiao Mao. At that time, Liu Dai didn't have so many soldiers. Otherwise, even with Yang Rui's help, Qiao Mao wouldn't be a match for Liu Dai.
In other words, Liu Dai had replenished a large number of soldiers after the battle with Qiao Mao. It was just like how Yang Rui had expanded his army.
It seemed that Yang Rui wasn't the only one who had expanded his army. According to the recruitment standards of provincial, county, and county soldiers, the larger the base, the more expensive it would be. If the recruitment standards of provincial, county, and county soldiers were lower, a few million gold coins would be enough to raise a troop of two to three hundred thousand soldiers.
Although this was not a small amount of money, it was still within the means of most of the more powerful vassals.
Yang Rui believed that his financial resources were one of the better ones among the many vassals. However, most of the other vassals had a strong foundation. For example, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Liu Dai, Liu Ni, and Liu Bei Liu were all either relatives of the Emperor or members of aristocratic families. Naturally, their financial resources didn't need to be mentioned.
Some of the other vassals might be weaker but they all had their own methods. If they didn't raise taxes, they would seek external aid. As long as they had territory, they would be able to gather a portion of their financial resources.
For example, Cao Cao and Liu Bei had received the support of some famous merchants.
Based on this analysis, it wasn't surprising that Liu Dai was able to expand his army by a few hundred thousand soldiers in a short period of time. It was likely that the other vassals were in a similar situation. It was just a matter of numbers.
Yang Rui and Liu Dai were among the vassals that had expanded their armies rather quickly. Ding Yuan and Qiao Mao's subordinates had also grown in strength. Of course, there were also vassals like Wang Kuang. Not only had their strength not grown, it had instead been greatly weakened. However, they were only a few exceptions.
After all, after Dong Zhuo's Rebellion, there would be an era of independent vassals. Without a military foundation, how could one establish themselves?
"Liu Dai's ability to expand his army so quickly is truly unexpected. However, after thinking about it, it isn't surprising. I believe that it isn't just Liu Dai. Other vassals like Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Cao Cao should have also been expanding their armies.
However, I don't know how strong Liu Dai's soldiers are. It has only been a few months since his battle with Qiao Mao. I believe that it will take at least half a year for these newly trained soldiers to form a fighting force. "
Yang Rui seemed to realize what Guo Jia wanted to say, so he replied.
"Lord Prefecture Overseer is truly talented. You have also seen through Liu Dai's bluff.
Just as Lord Prefecture Overseer expected, although Liu Dai currently has three to four hundred thousand soldiers, sixty to seventy percent of them are new soldiers. Unless Liu Dai also controls a sacred training ground like Lord Prefecture Overseer's Penglai Secret Realm, no matter how many soldiers he has, they will only be low-level soldiers. Their fighting strength will definitely be very limited.
With so many low-level soldiers, if they were placed on flat ground against Lord Prefecture Overseer's army, the outcome would naturally be obvious. However, Liu Dai has currently withdrawn all of his forces within the city. Using various defensive measures. This is somewhat troublesome.
If Lord Prefecture Overseer were to attack the city at all costs, there would be no problem. However, in that situation, his own losses would definitely be greatly increased. In the end, he would be implicated by Liu Dai and affect Lord Prefecture Overseer's strength. Clearly, this was not a choice unless it was absolutely necessary.
Over the past few days, Guo Jia had pondered over this matter and finally came up with a plan that could allow Lord Prefecture Overseer to not lose a single soldier. We can easily take down Lihu City and wipe out Liu Dai's hundred thousand soldiers! "
After a series of foreshadowing, Guo Jia finally talked about the plan he had thought of.
"What good plan does Fengxiao have? Quickly tell me! "
When Yang Rui saw Guo Jia's expression when he talked about the plan, he knew that the plan he was about to mention was about ninety percent certain! When he heard Guo Jia say that they could wipe out Liu Dai's hundred thousand soldiers without losing a single soldier, Yang Rui was also very curious.
"Lord Prefecture Overseer only needs to do this."
Next, Guo Jia described the plan in detail, including the contents of the plan, specific methods, auxiliary measures, precautions, etc. He had considered everything very thoroughly.
Almost as soon as Guo Jia began to talk about the strategy, the eyes of Yang Rui and Zhang Ning immediately lit up, and the expressions on their faces also suddenly became cheerful, and they listened to Guo Jia's explanation. The two of them nodded from time to time. It was obvious that Guo Jia's plan had obtained the approval of Yang Rui and Zhang Ning.
Guo Jia had already thought through the plan very thoroughly. After the three of them discussed a few more details, Yang Rui immediately made the decision and arranged according to Guo Jia's plan.
After Yang Rui's soldiers received the order, they all began to move. Under Yang Rui's command, they advanced a hundred li and approached the camp on the west side of Lihu City. They did not set up a camp and acted as if they were going to attack the city from the west.
The only thing that the soldiers in the city did not understand was that Yang Rui's army had originally come from the east side of Lihu City, but their main camp was set up on the west side of Lihu City.
Once the camp was set up and the army arrived at the west side of Lihu City, Yang Rui ordered the soldiers to disperse and clear away the NPCs and players around Lihu City. Regardless of whether they were related or not, they were all forcefully cleared away from the city by Yang Rui.
Yang Rui's army had cleared away all NPCs and players on the east side of Lihu City. In truth, when Yang Rui's army was about to arrive, Lihu City's defenders had already begun to scorch the walls and clear out the land. As a result, there were not many NPCs living around Lihu City.
Not only that, but in order to save food and defend the city for a longer period of time, Liu Dai had even cleared away most of the NPCs in Lihu City, leaving only tens of thousands of strong men to help defend the city. This was also the premise of Cheng Yu's plan.
When night fell, Yang Rui secretly sent out 50000 infantrymen to continue westward.
The next morning, Yang Rui's army began to make a ruckus. They even sent out two or three groups of soldiers to the various gates of Lihu City as if they were going to attack the city. In fact, the 50-plus assault carts from the west gate were slowly pushed toward Lihu City and attempted to launch an attack. However, it did not take long for them to retreat.
For the entire day, Yang Rui's army failed to find a suitable opportunity to attack the city. When night fell, all of the soldiers were still gathered on the west side of Lihu City.
The following day was the same. Yang Rui's army seemed to be trying to attack the city, making a ruckus throughout the day. However, even after three days had passed, there were still no results. On the third day, Yang Rui's army did not even send out any assault carts.
On the night of the third day, Yang Rui's army returned to the main camp at the west gate as if everything was normal. Lihu City's defenders, who were used to Yang Rui's army's movements, did not find anything out of the ordinary.
Of course, Lihu City's defenders could not send out any soldiers to investigate. The scouts they had sent out during the night had all been silently silenced by the Thief leader.
Even so, the defenders believed that Yang Rui's army could not do anything to Lihu City. Hence, they continued to rest peacefully that night.
It was only in the latter half of the night that some of the more alert soldiers were the first to be woken up. The sound of galloping horses coming from the southwest of Lihu City made them a little worried. Could it be that more reinforcements had arrived from Qing Province?
"Not good! It's a flood! "
Someone on the city wall yelled, "To be continued …"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
