Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

To dispatch another ten thousand soldiers to Chunyu City was already Cao Ren's limit.

Of these ten thousand soldiers, more than half were young men conscripted on the spot.

When Yu Jin, known for his strict military discipline, personally inspected the newly arrived reinforcements and discovered that more than half were substandard, his face couldn't help but darken. However, he didn't want to make a scene on the spot, lest it damage the morale of the army.

Having young men defend the city wasn't entirely useless.

But that was a measure taken out of necessity when military strength was severely insufficient.

If the enemy's offensive was too strong, the untrained young men might become a breakthrough point for the enemy. Not to mention, they might even panic and flee, leading to a wavering of morale.

… …

Meanwhile, outside the city, Li Ji of the Northern Expedition Army, surrounded by a group of staff officers and generals, circled Chunyu City from a distance, observing its defenses.

Xu Sheng accompanied him throughout, explaining the defensive arrangements of Chunyu City based on the experience gained from several days of continuous attacks.

Li Ji nodded from time to time, gaining a clearer understanding of Chunyu City. Finally, he stopped at a small earthen hill that Xu Sheng had erected to facilitate the siege, and said:

"Not bad."

This "not bad" was a comment on both the strong city of Chunyu and Yu Jin himself.

Chunyu City had stood on the land of Qilu for perhaps a thousand years, which was enough to show its importance and strength.

Due to the limitations of its initial construction, Chunyu City's scale was limited. It could be considered a strong city, but not a truly large one. Otherwise, it could have served as the seat of Qingzhou.

Facing the Wen River on one side, with only one city gate available for attack, was Chunyu City's greatest advantage.

Moreover, small fortresses were built on the left and right banks opposite the Wen River to prevent the Northern Expedition Army from crossing the river nearby, forming a mutually supporting position and forcing the Northern Expedition Army to attack Chunyu City head-on as much as possible.

This arrangement could be considered appropriate to the local conditions and quite clever in terms of military strategy.

Li Ji squinted and looked towards the city tower of Chunyu City, seeing a group of people gathered there. After speculating for a moment, he said:

"Someone come."

A voice of response came from the city tower.

However, due to the distance, Li Ji on the small hill couldn't hear it clearly and waited for the Tiger Guard to return.

Soon, the Tiger Guard quickly returned, saluted, and reported:

"Reporting to the Prime Minister, the person on the city tower is indeed Wei General Yu Jin."

"Yu Jin replied: Thank you, Prime Minister, for your appreciation, I am greatly honored. However, having already become a general of Great Wei, I should naturally go through fire and water for Great Wei. How can I serve two masters? If the Prime Minister wants to persuade Yu Jin to surrender, you might as well take Chunyu City first, then speak of other things, otherwise, wouldn't it be self-inflicted humiliation?"

As soon as these words came out, Li Ji's expression remained unchanged, but the group of generals behind Li Ji almost all showed anger.

"How dare he! The Prime Minister, upholding the principle of benevolence and virtue, gave Yu Jin a chance to abandon the darkness and embrace the light, yet he dares to be so rude!"

"He should be killed!"

"Stubborn and ignorant, arrogant and unruly, he should be诛杀…"

Li Ji raised his hand, telling the generals behind him to calm down, and said:

"Go back and say that within half a month, I will surely have him bound under my command."

The Tiger Guard who went to deliver the message quickly brought back Yu Jin's reply.

[Please, Prime Minister, come and try. Yu Jin will definitely defend Chunyu City to the death and will not retreat a single step.]

Li Ji couldn't help but smile when he heard this, pointing to the direction of Chunyu City and looking back at the generals, he said:

"This Yu Jin is quite interesting, he dares to accept any challenge and is indeed full of confidence."

Sima Yi pointed out Yu Jin's little thought, and said:

"He just wants to take the opportunity to gain fame. If Yu Jin is really lucky enough to stop the Prime Minister, with these words alone, it will be enough to make his prestige soar in Cao Wei, and he will be greatly relied upon by Cao Cao."

Now within Cao Wei, there are many who fear the name of Li Ji, even Cao Cao himself is afraid of Li Ji.

If a general who can stop Li Ji really appears, his prestige and position can all rise rapidly in Cao Wei with this battle.

"Then it depends on whether the soldiers of my Northern Expeditionary Army agree to let such a small Cao general step on us to rise to prominence."

Li Ji said with a smile, and then continued, "And pass this matter to the three armies and ask if the three armies are willing."

Yu Jin wanted to take the opportunity to gain fame, but wasn't Li Ji also using this opportunity to further inspire the morale of the Northern Expeditionary Army?

It was foreseeable that when this matter spread among the Northern Expeditionary Army, it would inevitably further excite those Han wolf cubs to howl.

Not to mention that Li Ji's prestige in the army was at its peak, how many of the soldiers' families had not received the favor of the benevolent policies promoted by Li Ji?

Insulting their Prime Minister would only make the soldiers hate to tear this person alive.

Immediately, Li Ji, standing on the small hill, turned to look at the generals and staff officers standing below.

Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Tian Feng, Xu Sheng, Zang Ba, Gan Ning, Xu Chu…

"Who is willing to lead troops to attack the city again?"

Immediately, the generals almost all asked for battle in unison, even Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi couldn't help but want to ask for battle.

Especially Xu Sheng, who was even more eager to wash away his previous shame and take down this Chunyu City.

"Everyone, don't worry. If we don't care about casualties, it is not difficult to take this Chunyu City, but I already have a plan in mind. This order to attack the city is only to cover up the true intentions of our army and to paralyze the defenders in the city," Li Ji explained.

This extinguished the desire to fight among many generals.

Since it was to cover up the true intentions and paralyze the defenders, then even if they led troops to attack the city, it would be almost impossible to take Chunyu City directly.

In the end, Xu Sheng repeatedly requested and took on this task.

The next day.

When Xu Sheng led the Northern Expeditionary Army to launch another mighty offensive.

Zhao Yun and Wei Yan's battle reports were also sent to Li Ji's hands respectively.

Li Ji glanced at them with a calm expression and passed them down for the staff officers and generals to read.

These two results were both within Li Ji's expectations, and Li Ji had also used the "strategy simulator" to deduce their success rate in advance.

Zhao Yun's battle was successful in one fell swoop, while Wei Yan's would encounter setbacks for a while, which was exactly what Li Ji had prepared for.

The people in the account were half happy and half worried after reading the military report.

Once Dongchaojin was broken, it would be much more troublesome for the Jizhou reinforcements to reach Qingzhou.

Conversely, the accident in Wei Yan's surprise attack on Linzi was undoubtedly quite unfavorable for this partial division that had penetrated deep into Qingzhou.

(End of this chapter)