Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Therefore, Ji Ling repeatedly urged all troops to intensify the siege, intending to capture Pengcheng as soon as possible to avoid any further complications.

Furthermore, although Ji Ling led an army of 100,000, the first thing he encountered when entering Pengcheng State was Pengcheng, and he could only set up camp outside the city.

Faced with the invisible pressure from Li Ji, Ji Ling felt more and more like he was walking on thin ice. He was eager to capture Pengcheng as a foothold and then slowly advance into the hinterland of Xuzhou.

However, Ji Ling kept urging the army to intensify the siege.

With Zang Ba's constant presence at the front lines, Pengcheng seemed to be on the verge of collapse, but it was never breached.

Even though many generals managed to capture the city wall, they were driven down by Zang Ba.

The siege lasted for nearly a day, and it would be dark in about an hour.

Ji Ling suddenly thought of leading his trusted guards to attack the city, but he was somewhat afraid of Zhang Fei's troops who were lurking outside Pengcheng.

In order to guard against Zhang Fei, Ji Ling left enough mobile forces to prevent Zhang Fei from taking the opportunity to attack the rear and cause chaos.

This is also the reason why Ji Ling left behind an elite force and did not dare to act rashly.

Just when Ji Ling was hesitating, a personal guard suddenly came to report that a man who called himself Chang Xi wanted to see him.

Ji Ling was startled at first, and then both sides seemed to be shining.

Ji Ling was naturally familiar with the defenders in Pengcheng.

Zang Ba was the leader, and under him were four other generals: Sun Guan, Chang Xi, Wu Dun and Yin Li.

……

Outside the central army where Ji Ling was, Chang Xi, who had led hundreds of his trusted men around and arrived here, was nervously holding the reins with both hands, feeling very uneasy.

However, after leaving Pengcheng, Chang Xi saw that he was only accompanied by a few hundred trusted followers, and his original worry about whether he could leave Pengcheng safely turned into anger.

Chang Xi, Sun Guan, Yin Li and others followed Zang Ba during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and then became bandits together, occupying Kaiyang and dominating the area.

Having worked for Zang Ba for seven or eight years, Chang Xi was forced to leave miserably with hundreds of people. How could he accept this?

In Chang Xi's view, this was completely Zang Ba's betrayal.

Liu Bei?

A benevolent king?

Chang Xi never believed in this. The so-called benevolence was just an excuse.

They talk about benevolence and the people, but in reality, Chang Xi can conclude that it is all about business and bondage.

Although he was not sure about other things, Chang Xi had often heard that the military discipline in Liu Bei's army was strict.

Not to mention taking food from the untouchables, even if they captured a city, the soldiers were not allowed to plunder the city for enjoyment as per custom.

In Chang Xi's opinion, this is simply disgusting!
Restricting the tribesmen in the name of "benevolence" has brought suffering to the tribesmen, but in the end the purpose is to fill one's own pockets with money from the people in other ways, right?
What a benevolent ruler! In Chang Xi's view, he is just a hypocrite, and a hypocrite who treats his people badly.

Even in Chang Xi's view, Zang Ba simply wanted to sacrifice all his brothers as a stepping stone to join Liu Bei.

The difference between the enemy and us was so great that Pengcheng could not be defended at all.

Zhang Fei was a very arrogant guy who never even looked at them. Not to mention leading the cavalry to the city wall to help defend the city, even the reinforcements that were said to be arriving later were nowhere to be seen.

Therefore, Chang Xi, who became more and more unwilling and resentful the more he thought about it, originally wanted to go straight to Taishan County, occupy a mountain and establish himself as king, but he turned around and headed straight towards Ji Ling's central army.

Soon, Ji Ling sent someone to invite Chang Xi in alone.

At this moment, Chang Xi was becoming more and more nervous, but he also knew that once the arrow was shot, there was no turning back.

After seeing Ji Ling riding on a black horse, Chang Xi immediately knelt down and bowed deeply, saying, "Chang Xi greets General Ji."

Ji Ling looked down at Chang Xi, who was showing his flattery, a hint of disgust flashed in his eyes, but he asked in a calm tone.

"You are not in Pengcheng helping Zang Ba defend the city. Are you coming to our army to seek death?"

Chang Xi spoke quickly.

"General Ji has misunderstood. I have long admired Lord Yuan's reputation as a third-generation noble. I have long wanted to serve him and even wanted to persuade Zang Ba to follow me."

"However, Zang Ba was bewitched by Liu Bei and remained unmoved no matter how I tried to persuade him."

"There is a saying: If you don't share the same ideals, you can't make plans together. I don't want to be an enemy of Lord Yuan, but I can't persuade Zang Ba to surrender to Lord Yuan."

"I had no choice but to lead my trusted followers to leave Pengcheng and come to join General Ji. I only wish to help General Ji capture Pengcheng and offer it to Lord Yuan as a stepping stone for advancement."

Upon hearing this, Ji Ling was overjoyed and quickly dismounted from his horse and said.

"What plans do you have to help me? If you can capture Pengcheng, I will personally recommend talented people to you, my lord."

This was undoubtedly the sentence that Chang Xi was waiting for.

Yuan Shu had no other good qualities except that he was extremely tolerant and generous towards his subordinates.

For example, Yuan Shu required a county to pay 10,000 dan of grain, but the county magistrate took the opportunity to plunder 20,000 dan of grain in the county, handed over 10,000 dan of grain, and kept 10,000 dan for himself. Yuan Shu would not hold the county magistrate accountable for his mistakes, but would only praise him as a capable official.

In Chang Xi's view, Yuan Shu was the wise leader worthy of his service.

As one of Zang Ba's former confidants, Chang Xi was well aware of the military situation in Pengcheng.

Immediately, Chang Xi began to tell Zang Ba everything, explaining the deployment of troops in Pengcheng and pointing out several obvious loopholes that could be exploited for siege.

Especially the north gate of Pengcheng, which had been left open by Ji Ling.

Normally speaking, even if he was "surrounding three sides and leaving one side open", Zang Ba still needed to arrange some troops at the north gate for guard.

At the beginning, Zang Ba did exactly that.

However, as the war became more intense, Zang Ba had to withdraw the troops from the north gate and only arranged some young and strong men who were temporarily transferred from the city to go up to the city wall to make it look like a formality.

This one loophole alone is enough to be fatal once Ji Ling finds out about it!
However, although Ji Ling may not have much talent, his style of doing things is mainly safe.

After learning about the many loopholes in Pengcheng, Ji Ling thought for a moment, forced a smile, and said.

"Since General Chang knows Pengcheng well, would you be willing to personally capture the north gate of Pengcheng for my lord?"

When Chang Xi heard this, he was overjoyed at first, but then he looked hesitant.

"What? General Chang doesn't want to?" Ji Ling asked suspiciously.

"Of course I am willing to die for Lord Yuan, but I regret that there are only three or four hundred people willing to follow me and serve Lord Yuan."

"Even if we take the north gate by surprise, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold it until the general enters the city."

Chang Xi quickly began to explain.

How glorious is the achievement of being the first to reach the summit?
Chang Xi naturally wanted the credit, but he also understood that no matter how weak the defenses of the North Gate were, he would not be able to stop Zang Ba's frenzied counterattack even if he captured it with only three or four hundred people.

Others may not know, but how could Chang Xi not know Zang Ba’s bravery?

If he were to fight Zang Ba head-on, Chang Xi knew that he would be beheaded by Zang Ba in less than three rounds. (End of this chapter)