Chapter 271 End of Second Round, Third Round Begins! (1/2)
Chapter 271 – End of Second Round, Third Round Begins!
8 PM.
The battle inside both north and south fort had ended. Both Yuan Shao armies withdrew from the fort, which they regrouped with the main camp.
Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and all generals were summoned back as well.
20,000 soldiers were sent into the north fort while the other 20,000 went to the south. However, only 10,000 came back from both fronts.
During the day, Lu Bu, Li Feihong, and Lu Zhi jointed their attack with Zhang Liao, which crippled the troops inside the fort. Because of the chaos and the dense crowd of soldiers, Tian Feng did not use his remaining bombs and took all of them back with his surviving men when they escaped.
Similar events happened in the south fort as Xu Huang led 10,000 armored cavalries, charging at Qu Yi's battalions from the northern passage of the south fortress. Zhou Cang also guided another group of 5,000 infantries and pincered Qu Yi Army from the south side beyond the moat. As a result, the southern expedition force suffered severe damages and was forced to retreat.
Counting the number of their survivors, they had already lost 40,000 soldiers from these few days of battles, which was one-fifth of their entire army. Also, they still could not pass these fortresses that stopped their advance.
Yuan Shao sat on the main seat inside the decorated main tent, looking at his officers with a black face. In his hands, battle reports of both forts were written in the scroll.
Yuan Shao uttered in a low voice, ”The fortresses are Jia Xu's traps, yet we fell for it.”
Tian Feng gulped. Te Langpu looked away, and all other strategists looked down.
Yuan Shao glanced around, but he did not show his anger. He walked toward the strategic map table and began arranging the tokens himself.
Instead of pointing their direction at Anping Fortresses, he placed several troops elsewhere.
As he saw the location of the new deployment, Tian Feng's eyes widened as he had an enlightenment, ”We don't have fight our way through here!”
Yuan Shao snorted, ”Exactly! Why are we bothering with these obstacles anyway? Why don't we just detour a bit?”
Te Langpu frowned and raised his hand, ”Won't we get isolated and surrounded by all enemies? We are going deep in their territories without crippling their men. They will definitely surround us and cut our path of return.”
Yuan Shao laughed, ”That's what we want. If they want to surround us, we will strike down their weakest cities and counties. I will force them to fight in the open so we can use our numeral advantage! If we continue to fight on their prepared battleground, we'll continue to lose. Tian Feng, you remember this as well. Don't make another similar mistake again!”
”My Lord is wise. Indeed, it was my carelessness. I'll take responsibility for these damages when we get back.”
”It's good that you realize it. Now, go and prepare! Complete what I have guided all of you!”
…
…
Jia Xu and all officers gathered in the central fort to confirm their status after their plans succeeded.
Though they managed to drive away all soldiers inside the outer layer, they lost a total of 5,000 heavy cavalries, which frustrated Lu Bu.
On the bright side, they destroyed at least 20,000 elites of Yuan Shao Army, which was a profitable exchange of casualties. Secondly, it confirmed Yuan Shao's personal assets and their capabilities as a whole.
In the gathering building, Jia Xu reorganized all tokens, which he removed all the dolls and chips from the board.
Li Feihong tilted his head, ”Why are you removing all of them?”
”Be prepared guys. We'll launch a counter-attack tomorrow. We'll face them on the field.”
”But, aren't we having a better ground if we defend the bases?”
Jia Xu collected the map on the table and replaced it with a new one, which he had finished drawing a few days ago. He reorganized the tokens as he answered Li Feihong's doubts.
”They won't attack us anymore, but they will detour Anping and go elsewhere before they charge at Julu for the decisive battle.”
Lu Zhi, Zhang Liao, and Li Feihong widened their eyes. It did not make any sense for them to dive into their territories as they could cut off their supply routes, which could starve them to death.
But they got their answers once Jia Xu placed Yuan Shao's tokens on the board.
On the map, Yuan Shao's tokens pointed toward the direction of Zhongshan City and Ji City!
”Thankfully, Tian Feng and Yuan Shao are not stupid, so we can narrow their future decisions by a lot. Considered that they have formed a coalition with Liu Yan, a joint attack on Zhongshan is possible.”
”That's … our weakest city,” Muttered Lu Zhi.
”Not only the weakest, but it's also a strategic location to siege if Yuan Shao wants Julu. I'm sure Yuan Shao is using Liu Yan to cripple our army in Zhongshan while he sabotages Liu Yan Army in Ji. By now, our young master is sieging Ji City while Liu Yan's main force is attacking Zhongshan. If Yuan Shao appears to help Liu Yan at this moment, Zhongshan will fall, and our Lord will be isolated instead.”
Jia Xu met his eyes with Lu Bu's as he advised, ”Sir Lu Bu, you will get your chance to rampage as you wish tomorrow. Be warned that you will have to fight Yan Liang and Wen Chou again.”
”That's what I want!” Smiled Lu Bu.
”Therefore, you cannot lead a battalion tomorrow, but you can move freely on the battlefield.”
”Fine with me.”
Jia Xu rearranged ally tokens and began briefing about tomorrow plans. As Jia Xu's mouth continued to explain the logic behind the movements, he thought to himself.