Soon, the two cities of Guanxian County and Lihu City successively ushered in Yang Rui's two-way army, forming a north-south attack on Liu Dai's final defense.

However, because Liu Dai had been prepared for a long time, the defense of the two cities of Guanxian County and Lihu City had more than doubled or tripled compared to the cities encountered by Yang Rui's two armies before.

One of the most striking aspects of the two cities is the explosion in the number of defensive soldiers.

There are currently nearly 100,000 defense soldiers in Fox City, and according to the news from Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo, there are more than 100,000 guards in the county seat of Guanxian County!

This is also thanks to the merits of the bandit leaders and Tanma in the two route armies, and before the main force reached the two cities, they had already found out the approximate number of Liu Dai's guards in the city, although it was not very accurate, but it was enough to help judge the shape.

Yang Rui's troops and horses on both sides are only about 150,000 people, and the ratio of soldiers defending the city on Liu Dai's side is almost 1.5 to 1, such an offensive and defensive ratio is not suitable for direct siege, and even just besieging the city is also a little difficult, and there is a danger of being counterattacked by the guards in the city.

So Yang Rui's soldiers and horses were stationed when they were still 100 miles away from Fox City, and Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Wu Anguo were also divided into three places, and they lived in the northeast of Guanxian County seventy or eighty miles northeast.

Neither army and horse attacked the city in the first place.

The defenders of Liu Dai in the city were also intimidated by Yang Rui's troops, who had been invincible all the way, and when Yang Rui's two armies were still far away, they cleared the field and closed all the gates of the two cities. It's just that the turtle is cowering in the city, and there is no intention of going out of the city to meet the enemy.

In addition, the county seat of Guanxian County and Lihu City are all high-end cities. The walls are highly defensive and durable. And after a simple trial, there are quite a few long-range archers in the city, and looking at the range of their arrows, there are also a lot of archers of the 6th level!

The two cities have turned into turtle shells, if Yang Rui wants to come hard, whether he can win the two cities in the end is not to say for the time being, the price paid will definitely not be less.

"What does Feng Xiao have to say?"

It seemed that there was no good way for a while, so Yang Rui asked Guo Jialai instead.

In front, Yang Rui attacked the city with an army all the way. I have hardly encountered too many difficulties, and now it is time for Guo Jia to play a role. Guo Jia seems to be aware of this.

"Lord Huizhou, the number of guards in the two cities of Guanxian County and Lihu City has reached 200,000, and the leader of the thieves who went to Puyang City to investigate has also brought back the news, and the number of guards in the city should also be no less than 100,000!

The number of guards in the three cities alone has reached as much as 300,000, in addition to Qiao Maotai's tens of thousands of Liu Dai's troops trapped in Dingtao City, plus some scattered soldiers in the rest of the country and tens of thousands of soldiers who were destroyed before, Liu Dai's total strength is almost four or five hundred thousand, doesn't Lord Zhou Mu think this number is normal? ”

Guo Jia did not directly answer Yang Rui's question, but counted the number of Liu Dai's soldiers.

In fact, even if Guo Jia doesn't say it. Yang Rui has also discovered the problem, Liu Dai only fought with Qiao Mao some time ago. At that time, Liu Dai did not have so many soldiers, otherwise even if Yang Rui helped Qiao Mao, he would not be Liu Dai's opponent.

In other words, Liu Dai added a large number of soldiers after ending the battle with Qiao Mao! Just like Yang Rui's large expansion of the army some time ago

It seems that Yang Rui is not the only prince who has expanded the army before, according to the cost standard of state soldiers, county soldiers, and county soldiers, the larger the base, the greater the cost, if the number of state soldiers, county soldiers, and county soldiers is recruited at a lower standard, a team of two or three hundred thousand may be enough for a few million gold coins.

Although such a sum of money is not a small amount, for most of the more powerful princes, it can be taken out by gritting their teeth.

Yang Rui thinks that among the many separatist forces, his financial resources are also one of the better, but most of the other princes have a strong foundation, such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Liu Dai, Liu Fu, Liu Biao and others, who are either relatives of the emperor or a big family, so there is no need to mention financial resources.

Some other princes may be weaker in economic strength, but they all have their own tricks, either to increase taxes or to seek foreign aid, as long as they have territory, they can always collect some financial resources.

For example, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and others have received the support of some well-known businessmen.

With such an analysis, it is not surprising that Liu Dai was able to expand hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a short period of time, and I believe that the other princes should be in a similar situation, but it is just a matter of quantity.

Yang Rui and Liu Dai should have been able to expand their troops relatively quickly, and the strength of the subordinates under Ding Yuan and Qiao Mao has also increased accordingly. Of course, there are also princes like Wang Kuang, whose strength has not only not increased, but has been greatly weakened, but it is only a very small number.

After all, after the plot of Dong Zhuo's rebellion, it is the era of division of the heroes, how can you gain a foothold without a military foundation?

"It is indeed a bit unexpected that Liu Dai can expand his army so quickly, but it is not surprising after thinking about it, it is not only Liu Dai, but other people such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and others should have expanded their army during this time.

It's just that I don't know what the strength of these soldiers expanded by Liu Dai is now, and now it is only a few months before he competes with Qiao Mao, and it is difficult for the new soldiers to form combat power without half a year. ”

Yang Rui also seemed to realize what Guo Jia wanted to say, so he replied.

"Lord Zhou Mu is really talented, and he also saw Liu Dai's bluff.

As expected by Lord Zhou Mu, although Liu Dai currently has three or four hundred thousand soldiers in his hands, but sixty or seventy percent of them are new soldiers, unless Liu Dai also has a leveling holy place like Penglai Secret Realm in his hands, otherwise even if the number of his soldiers is large, most of them are low-level soldiers, and their combat power must be very limited.

With so many low-level soldiers, if they were placed on flat ground to face off against the army of the state pastor, it would naturally be the result of a judgment made by a superior rank, but now Liu Dai has shrunk all his forces in the city. Cooperate with various means of defending the city. It's a bit tricky.

If the governor is to attack the city at any cost. Naturally, there shouldn't be many problems, but in that case, their own losses will definitely increase greatly, and in the end, they will be implicated by Liu Dai and affect the strength of the Dazhou Mu Lord, which is obviously not a last resort and is not advisable.

For a few days, Guo Jia also thought about it, and finally realized a plan, which may make the state pastor not spend a single soldier. You can leave Fox City lightly and annihilate Liu Dai's 100,000 guards! ”

After some foreshadowing, Guo Jia finally talked about the strategy he thought of.

"What is the best plan for Feng Xiao? Come on! ”

When Yang Rui saw Guo Jia's expression when he said the strategy, he knew that the strategy he was about to mention was about to be ninety percent sure! Listening to what Guo Jia said again, Yang Rui was also very curious in his heart to annihilate Liu Dai's 100,000 defenders in the city without spending a single soldier.

"The Governor only needs to do this"

Next, Guo Jia described the strategy in detail, including the content of the strategy, specific methods, auxiliary measures, precautions, etc., which were all very thoughtful.

Almost at the moment when Guo Jia just started mentioning the content of the strategy, the eyes of Yang Rui and Zhang Ning who were present immediately lit up, and the expressions on their faces were also cheerful, and with Guo Jia's explanation. Both of them nodded from time to time, and it was obvious that Guo Jia's plan was approved by Yang Rui and Zhang Ning.

Guo Jia had already thought through the strategy. Next, after the three of them discussed a few of the subtleties, Yang Rui made a decision and arranged it according to Guo Jia's plan.

After receiving the order, all the soldiers of Yang Rui's department also took action, and under the command of Yang Rui, they went forward 100 miles, approaching the west side of the fox city, and there was no sub-camp, and they looked like they were going to attack the city from the direction of the west gate immediately.

The only thing that the soldiers in the city couldn't understand was that Yang Rui's army originally came from the east side of Lihu City, but the big camp was on the west side of Lihu City.

The camp was established, and the army arrived on the west side of Lihu City, and Yang Rui ordered the soldiers to clear out the NPCs and players around Lihu City. Regardless of whether they were related or not, they were forcibly cleared out of the city by Yang Rui.

Yang Rui marched all the way, and all the NPCs and players in the area on the east side of Fox City had been cleared. In fact, as early as the beginning of Yang Rui's approaching army, the defenders of Fox City had already begun to clear the wilderness, making the people miserable, and there were not many NPCs living around Fox City.

Not only that, in order to save food to hold the city for a long time, Liu Dai even dispersed most of the NPCs in Lihu City before, leaving only tens of thousands of strong men to assist in defending the city, which is also the premise of Cheng Yu's plan.

And when night fell, Yang Rui secretly sent 50,000 foot soldiers to continue westward.

Early the next morning, Yang Rui's army began to make noise, and divided two or three troops and horses to the direction of the various gates of Fox City, looking like a siege, and even more than 50 rushing cars in the direction of the West Gate were slowly pushed to the front of Fox City, and tried to attack, but it didn't take long for them to retreat.

Yang Rui's army didn't seem to have found a suitable opportunity to attack the city for a whole day, and after nightfall, all the troops were still collectively stationed on the west side of Lihu City.

The next day was still like this, Yang Rui's troops seemed to have been trying to launch a siege, clamoring all day long, but after three days of this, there was still no gain, and on the third day, Yang Rui's army was not even sent to the field.

On the night of the third day, Yang Rui's army still returned to the main camp of Ximen and stationed there, it seemed that everything was normal, and the guards of Lihu City, who were accustomed to the actions of Yang Rui's army, did not feel anything wrong.

Of course, there are no soldiers sent to investigate anything in Lihu City, and the scouts sent out at night before have been silently killed by the leader of the thieves.

Rao is like this, in the hearts of the defenders, it seems that Yang Rui's army has no way to get away from Fox City, so the guards of the city are still resting peacefully this night

It's just that in the second half of the night, some vigilant soldiers were woken up first, and the sound of thousands of horses galloping on the southwest side of Fox City made them a little worried, could it be that Qingzhou has another army to support?

"Not good! It's a flood! ”

I don't know who shouted first on the city wall (to be continued......