Liu Bei POV

“So in summary, we are now in a 10,000 vs 15,000 scenario, which means we are basically back to square one.” Chen Gong finally spoke up after being silent the entire time. Looks like she’s done with her work as her silk sheets and bamboo scrolls were now neatly by the side.

“And the enemy is far better geared than we are. Apart from the 2,000 sets of heavy armour which we got from the enemy, all of our troops are lightly geared so we are at a unit type disadvantage here.”

“I see…” I nodded but then something else came to mind. If the enemy was left with 15,000, after adding together the losses they suffered from both battles… Does that not mean that they were 30,000 strong to begin with?

— I knew it, I just knew that their vanguard was 30,000 strong!

Wu… Yuan Zhi’s words came to mind again. Looks like she really did know about it beforehand… No no no, now is not the time for this.

“Then will the enemy siege Xinye city?” I asked, “The enemy is currently camping outside the city right?”

When they heard what I asked, everyone, especially the 3 in charge of defending the city, all grimaced.

“That’s not something that is set in stone.” Liao Hua said as she shook her head and set down her bamboo scroll, “Normally, one wouldn’t proceed with a siege unless the numerical advantage was significant enough.”

“It is the rule in war, if our forces are 10 to the enemy’s 1, to surround him; if 5 to 1, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into 2. Based in this, our enemy should be aiming to draw us out into a field battle.” Chen Gong continued and her eyebrows jumped, “But if we look at the current situation, it is very possible that the enemy could take Xinye city by force.”

“Eh? Can they?” I asked as they only had 5,000 troops in excess of ours and looked at Huang Zu who nodded.

“What she said is right. Firstly, we are sorely lacking archers so our ability to fight back when they lay siege is low. Secondly, our walls are too thin and short and we are still in the midst of our fortification works. Lastly, if the enemy attacks and opens the gates, the battle is basically over.”

Ah, that’s right, I almost forgot that Xinye city was too small a city.

“Once the gates are open, it’s no different from a field battle.” Yun Chang continued, “When the time comes, it will be difficult for us to prevail given our unit type disadvantage.”

“Un…” I grunted as I sank into thought. Looks like it will be difficult for us to defend even in a siege battle huh?

“But if you think about it from their point of view…” Zi Long began speaking as she continued to eat her food, not looking at everyone. Her expression all this while has been grim and has not shown any signs of alleviating.

“From their point of view?”

“A siege battle would be their last resort. They will definitely choose to employ psychological attacks first. I am sure Cao Ren and Li Dian know this.” Zi Long explained, “Besides, the enemy has a strategist as well.”

“A strategist?”

“Yes, based on Lord Guan Yu’s description, she should be Yuan Shao of Hebei’s Shen Pei.”

Shen Pei… Who was that again?

“The one who is always scurrying around behind Feng Ji.” Zi Long reminded me irritatedly when she saw that I did not recall who it was.

Oh! Her huh?

“Ahem,” Zi Long cleared he

r throat and continued, “So be it Cao Ren, Li Dian or Shen Pei, they should know that a siege is not the wisest choice to make.” She then looked at everyone before continuing, “They should also know that they will have to endure suffering grave losses if they do so. Are they willing to sacrifice the entirety of their elite vanguard troops? I’m not too sure.”

“But since they have set up camp outside the city, that means that they have begun to prepare themselves for that eventuality.” Huang Zu said, “So we still have to refocus our efforts on training archers and fortifying the city defences.”

“Based on this morning’s intelligence reports, enemy troops that were initially garrisoning in Fan city have begun heading out towards the encampment here.” Chen Gong said as she tossed over a bamboo scroll. Unfortunately, because of her height, she missed by a fair bit, “Ahem, Lord Sun Qian, please help me pick it up.”

“… Here.”

“No, it’s for Xuan De.”

“… Here, my lord.”

“Ah, thanks…” I smiled stiffly at their exchange as I received it. When I opened the scroll, I saw that there was not too much written on it, just information that the movements of about 6,000 people were detected, “6,000 huh? Then that brings the total forces sitting outside to be about 13,000.”

“That does not include the remaining troops garrisoned at Fan city.” Chen Gong added, “It is estimated that there are still about 3,000 or so troops in Fan city.”

That means that they do have the intent to siege the city then. No matter what, we need to do something before they do.

“Then what do we do now? Do we try the same thing we did this time?”

“We son’t have enough troops for a frontal battle. We will only needlessly throw away troops like that.” Wen Yuan said as she shook her head.

“Even if I command them again.” Feng Xian added. If even she is saying such things then I really have no confidence that this will work.

“Raiding Fan city is the sort of trick that you can only use once whether it succeeds or fails.” Zi Long said as she shook her head, “And even if we do raid it, now that the enemy’s main encampment is right outside our doorstep, they just need to put out ample scouts to make sure they find us out before we succeed.”

“We can’t defend and attacking is difficult. This truly is a difficult predicament we are in.”I said as I too shook my head, “So because the enemy is camping outside the city, they can siege us anytime they want and their close proximity will make it difficult to send out a raid. What this means is that they have the initiative in every possible scenario, right?”

“In summary, yes.” Yun Chang nodded.

“Un…” I lowered my head and sank into thought, “Then that means that the possibility that the enemy won’t attack is also not low either. If I were them. I would definitely choose to wait for reinforcements from the main body.”

“That is correct. The possibility that the enemy will wait for reinforcements from the main body is actually quite large.” Yun Chang nodded, as did everyone else. No matter what, it seems like all we can do is wait for an eventual demise. We will lose if they attack and even if they do not attack, we will lose anyway when the main body arrives.

“Actually…” Just then, a clanging sound rang out as Zhou Cang set her bowl on the table and looked at us like we were fools, “Why don’t we just give up Xinye and retreat?”

When she finished, everyone sank into silence. It’s not like anyone here has forgotten about this though.

“Our current objective is to defend Xinye for as long as possible right, Lord Zhou Cang?” Chen Dao said as she frowned, “Besides, even if we were to retreat, where do we go?”

“Now that Lord Liu Qi is in Jiangxia, seeking refuge there is actually a decent choice.”

Un? Seeking refuge at Jiangxia? I was startled by this idea and looked up and saw that it was Zi Long who had proposed that idea.

“My lord, I too think that we should retreat from Xinye as soon as possible before we are dealt a fatal defeat and seek refuge further south in Jiangxia.” Zi Long said very seriously as she saluted me.

“But…”

This was difficult for me. My primary concern was whether doing so would be reasonable. Now that we have no news about things in Xiangyang and Liu Biao, will it be too dangerous to go to Jiangxia? Yuan Zhi also wants me to hide my ident.i.ty so can I tell Liu Qi? And is it really appropriate to do all this at this time? I do not know. There are many things to consider, too many that I really do not know how I ought to reply.

“I think that we should stay here and continue fighting.” Yun Chang said.

“Why is that?” Zi Long seemed puzzled as she asked.

“Though Xinye is Jing state territory and should be under Liu Biao’s rule; now that big brother is back and we are occupying Xinye, we can use this as our base and expand towards the border.”

“I think the same as well.” Wen Yuan nodded.

Zi Long seemed to waver at these protests and silently held her chin.

“Of course, I agree with that. But given our current circ.u.mstances, it might be beyond us…” Zi Long said, bringing our discussion back to where we started. At the end of the day, it does not seem like any of us has a good idea on what to do.

“Alright, alright, now that we know what’s going on,” We have gotten far enough now and it’s time for me to lubricate things and bring the discussion to a close before the atmosphere gets even worse so I raised my hand and said calmly, “Let’s end our morning meeting here for now. As for what to do, we will wait for Yuan Zhi to come back and see what she says.”

“Are we still going to listen to her suggestions this time?” Zi Long immediately asked when I finished.

“Eh? Zi Long? What do you mean by that?”

“I just have some… Opinions on Lord Xu Shu.” Zi Long paused for a long while before she finished her sentence and raised her hand as she continued, “The enemy was expecting a raid and even though she misjudged the enemy strength sent out for the frontal battle, she still pushed ahead with her strategy.”

“But that’s…”

“Alright, let’s a.s.sume for now that those are just coincidences and unintentional mistakes.” Zi Long nodded as she interrupted me and then pointed to Yuan Zhi’s seat, “I’d like to know why Lord Xu Shu is not here to contribute to a.n.a.lysis and giving further instructions now that the battle is over.”

Zi Long’s voice was not loud nor were her words exceedingly harsh. Instead, I could see that she was anxious and worried.