Apart from the 10000 soldiers who were waiting on the other side of the Luo River to receive the captives, Yang Rui's remaining soldiers arrived at Guan County under Guo Jia's command. []
Along the way, Guo Jia even took a detour and pretended to charge towards Puyang City. He also used a small number of soldiers to try to provoke Liu Dai and lure him out of the city for a decisive battle.
However, although there were many soldiers in Puyang City, most of them were low level soldiers. If Liu Dai could come out of the city to fight, it would be a good opportunity and they might be able to take down Puyang City in one fell swoop!
Guo Jia led Yang Rui's 140,000 men and split them into two groups. One group only had 20,000 to 30,000 men and horses, and they were going to pass by Puyang City directly. The other group was going to sneak outside and wait for reinforcements. If Liu Dai came out of the city to fight, he could use the twenty to thirty thousand soldiers as bait to set up an ambush.
However, in the end, Liu Dai's Puyang defenders acted as if they were facing a great enemy. Facing Yang Rui's twenty to thirty thousand soldiers, they only stayed within the city and did not dare to come out to fight.
From this, it could be seen that Liu Dai was still prepared to defend Puyang City to the death!
Liu Dai should have already received the news that Yang Rui had flooded Lihu City. However, it was impossible for him to take the initiative to come out and fight. Previously, when he fought with Qiao Mao, Liu Dai had seen the power of Zhang Ning's Heavenly Spirit Fire Rain. Therefore, he did not make any preparations to fight.
Therefore, Guo Jia's plan to lure the enemy out was naturally difficult to achieve.
However, Guo Jia did not lead his troops to Puyang City just for this. From the west side of Lihu City to Guan County, this road was indeed closer. The result of Yang Rui's discussion with Zhang Ning and Guo Jia was that they would first go to Guan County. Then, they would return to Puyang City to deal with Liu Dai.
Previously, Liu Dai was guarding against Yang Rui's two groups of soldiers. Basically, he had stationed all his soldiers in Puyang City, Guan County, and Lihu City. Now, apart from Lihu City, Liu Dai only had Puyang and Guan County left.
As Puyang City was located close to the Yellow River, it was built with a moat. After Liu Dai took over the affairs of Puyang City, he had refurbished the moat. Previously, the bandit leader had already investigated this situation, so the difficulty of attacking Puyang City was obviously higher than attacking Guan County.
This was also the reason why Yang Rui, Zhang Ning, and Cheng Yu had decided to start with Guan County first. If they could successfully take down Guan County, Liu Dai would only be left with Puyang City. Whether it was in terms of situation or mentality, Yang Rui's side would have the upper hand.
"Greetings, my lord (Blazing Sun, Prefecture Overseer)!"
When Yang Rui appeared in the main army camp outside Guan County, Zhang Ning, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, Wu Anguo, and Guo Jia were already waiting for him.
This was the first time Yang Rui and Liu Dai's armies had met since the start of the war. In the past half a month or so, Yang Rui's two armies could be said to be invincible, gnawing down most of Liu Dai's cities. Even if they did not gain anything from now on, they had completed their initial goal of weakening Liu Dai.
"Everyone has worked hard! Previously, everyone's performance was valiant and obtained excellent results. Originally, I should have celebrated with everyone, but the current situation is not completely settled yet. I have already remembered everyone's contributions and will definitely reward you according to your contributions when we return to Qingzhou.
I won't say any more words of praise. Now, does anyone have a good plan to take down Guan County? "
Yang Rui first praised a few people and then asked for a plan.
"Reporting to my lord, Zhang Wenyuan, Wu Anguo, and I have already surrounded Guan County for five or six days. During this time, we have also led our armies to challenge the city several times, but we have not seen any signs of the city coming out to fight.
Moreover, we have intercepted a letter from Liu Dai and learned that the city lord is called Wang Yu. However, Liu Dai only asked him to defend the city and did not ask anything else.
It seems that the garrison of Guan County has already made up their mind to rely on the city's sturdiness to resist to the end. Perhaps the only way to take down the city in a short period of time is to forcefully attack … "
After everyone was silent for a while, Gao Shun was the first to speak.
Previously, Yang Rui had already sent a message to Gao Shun and the other two to only surround the city and wait for an opportunity to seize the opportunity to attack the city. He did not recommend them to forcefully attack the city. However, looking at the expressions of Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo, it seemed that they all had the intention to attack the city. After Gao Shun said those words, Zhang Liao and Wu Anguo could not help but nod in agreement.
How could Yang Rui not know the situation of Guan County? Moreover, if they were to forcefully attack the city, he had Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo on his side, so he did not have to worry about not being able to take down the city.
Moreover, Gao Shun and Zhang Liao were two of the top generals during the Three Kingdoms period. The 40000 Iron Guards who were good at fighting on the city walls were also in the army. The cost of attacking the city should not be unbearable for Yang Rui.
However, when attacking a city, some sacrifices were obviously unavoidable. Although there were plot points to revive soldiers, plot points could be exchanged for some good things, so it was naturally better to save some.
"Fengxiao, do you have any good ideas?"
Yang Rui pondered for a while before turning to Guo Jia and asking.
"General Gao Shun's words are reasonable. With the strength of our army, if we were to forcefully attack Guan County, we would definitely be able to take it down. However, General Gao Shun said that he once obtained a letter written by Liu Dai, which gave Guo Jia some inspiration. If that is the case, there is no harm in trying a plan."
Guo Jia didn't refuse. He nodded slightly and said.
In fact, no one noticed that when Gao Shun mentioned Liu Dai's letter, Guo Jia's eyes lit up. At that time, he should have a plan.
"Fengxiao really does have a plan. Please speak frankly."
Hearing that Guo Jia had a plan, Yang Rui was naturally overjoyed. Previously, when he and Guo Jia were discussing how to attack Guan County, Guo Jia had not thought of a suitable plan. Yang Rui did not expect him to think of a good plan now!
"Lord Prefecture Overseer, please don't be overjoyed. Guo Jia's plan can't be guaranteed to succeed, and it might take a lot of time. It might take at least ten days to complete. I'll explain the plan first, and I'll ask Lord Prefecture Overseer and the generals to consider before making a decision."
Guo Jia first explained the stakes and then began to explain his plan in detail, allowing Yang Rui to make the decision himself.
"Excellent plan! Excellent plan! Fengxiao is truly a genius! "
About fifteen minutes later. Yang Rui could not help but loudly praise while slapping his thigh.
"The strategist is a genius! We cannot wait any longer! "
Zhang Ning, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo had all heard Guo Jia's explanation. Their eyes also lit up. After exchanging glances, they all stood up and cupped their fists.
After experiencing Guo Jia's initial plan to suppress Liu Dai, followed by the plan to flood Li Hu City, and now listening to Guo Jia's plan, Zhang Ning, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo had already regarded Guo Jia as Yang Rui's real military advisor.
Of course, the actions of the four of them also had the intention of helping Yang Rui win over Guo Jia.
"Lord Prefecture Overseer and the various Generals do not need to praise Guo Jia. You must know that only with the strength of Lord Prefecture Overseer and the bravery of the various Generals can Guo Jia's plan be carried out!
Although Guo Jia can think of some ways to deal with the enemy, I do not know the outcome. However, I still don't know what the outcome will be. Lord Prefecture Overseer and all of you have shown such high regard for me, which makes me feel ashamed … "
Guo Jia was the youngest among the people present, so Guo Jia's attitude was very humble. When he saw the others stand up and salute, he naturally hurriedly stood up to respond.
In any case, after the few of them continued to discuss and perfect the plan, Yang Rui once again made the decision to carry out Guo Jia's plan.
On that day, Yang Rui organized his forces to conduct a few probing attacks, throwing over a hundred siege vehicles into the battlefield. They attempted to use the javelins equipped with the siege vehicles to attack the guards on the walls of Guan County.
The siege vehicles could be said to be the sharpest siege weapon in Yang Rui's hands, especially the javelins equipped with them. It could be said that they indirectly provided Yang Rui with a type of long-range power!
However, the results of these few attempts were not very good. Although they caused some damage to the guards on the walls, all the siege vehicles seemed to be suppressed by the long-range archers and did not dare to get too close.
Early the next morning, Yang Rui's troops surrounding Guan County began to move out. After half a morning's work, all of Yang Rui's troops had retreated from the vicinity of Guan County. The tents were also completely removed, as if they had never appeared.
From the walls of Guan County, it could be seen very clearly that after Yang Rui's troops broke camp, they all headed towards the southwest direction, and that direction was where Puyang City was located.
The guards of Guan County, including the main general Wang Yu, naturally guessed the destination of Yang Rui's troops. However, their mission was to defend Guan County. Without Liu Dai's orders, they naturally did not dare to move.
Furthermore, the number of soldiers in Guan County that could face Yang Rui's troops head-on was only a small portion. Even if they chased after them, they would not be able to gain much. At the same time, this could also be the enemy's plan!
Following that, the soldiers who went out of the city to investigate also seemed to confirm this point. There were indeed powerful troops around Guan County. None of the soldiers who went out to investigate the situation came back alive!
It was not until three days later that a group of soldiers who went out to investigate the situation returned with news that there were no Yang Rui's troops within a 100 li radius of Guan County. From this, the guards in the city concluded that Yang Rui's troops were indeed heading towards Puyang City.
Even so, the guards of Guan County still holed up in the vicinity of the county and did not violate the mission that Liu Dai had given them. Naturally, they had no intention of sending troops to reinforce Puyang City.
Just like that, another four days passed. The guards of Guan County were still tightly guarding the city. However, they did not receive any news about Yang Rui's troops. News from Puyang City was also completely blocked. They did not know what the current situation was.
On the morning of the fifth day, before the gates of Guan County had yet to open, a fast horse suddenly appeared from the southwest. It galloped from afar and before it entered the range of the archers on the city walls, it began to shout.
"Don't shoot, this is an urgent report! I am the Lord's messenger, don't shoot! "
When the archers on the city walls saw that there was only one horse and that it was a soldier of Liu Dai's camp, they let down their guard. However, just as they were about to open the city gates to welcome the messenger in, the messenger was nailed to death by an arrow from behind.
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