Chapter 249
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Chapter 249: Preparations from Both Sides
For the upcoming encampment raid battle in the wilderness, siege equipment was clearly useless and was all left in West Plains City.
In addition, Liu Meng also stayed in West Plains City to recover due to his injuries.
Luo Ji, after gathering 3,000 troops and one excellent general, departed on the same day.
During the campaign, reasonable control of the marching speed was key.
Blindly pursuing speed, only to arrive at the destination with no strength left to fight, was clearly putting the cart before the horse.
Luo Ji had always managed this balance very well.
Meanwhile, several days ago, Guo Jia and Guo Zhen, who were on their way back to Mirror City, received Luo Ji’s second military order in a short period, a rare occurrence.
The earlier military order had been sent half a month ago, instructing them to return to Mirror City to assist in defending against the upcoming outsider invasion.
However, they had been busy campaigning for some time and accidentally traveled too far.
Additionally, the increase in the number of soldiers under their command greatly slowed down their marching speed, making it impossible to rush back in a short time.
While still halfway, the second military order was swiftly delivered to them.
“What do you say?”
Guo Zhen stood in the tent with his arms crossed, frowning slightly as he looked at Guo Jia, who was seated.
Although Luo Cheng did not speak, his expression clearly showed that he was very concerned about the content of the second military order.
Feeling their gazes, Guo Jia put down the newly delivered military order.
“This time, the invading outsiders seem unexpectedly troublesome. 6 repeating crossbows, 5,000 troops, and they forcibly broke through West Plains City within half a day.”
“5,000 troops?!”
Upon hearing this number, both Guo Zhen and Luo Cheng exclaimed in surprise.
Luo Cheng’s expression even showed unconcealed shock.
“And they forcibly broke through West Plains City within half a day? How is that possible?!”
“Luo Cheng, tell us, what’s the situation with West Plains City?”
Hearing this, Guo Jia asked seriously.
He and Guo Zhen had been campaigning year-round and naturally couldn’t know the situation of West Plains City.
Luo Cheng himself had left during that period, and he had seen the scale and walls of West Plains City, which was why he showed such shock upon hearing the news of West Plains City’s breach.
Taking a deep breath to calm his emotions, Luo Cheng quickly unfolded a map, then circled an area on the map with his finger.
“West Plains City is in this location. It serves as the first line of defense to the west of Mirror City’s territory.”
“At the same time, the territory of this entire area has already been connected.”
As he spoke, Luo Cheng meticulously explained the changes in Mirror City’s layout.
Guo Jia, who was seated, watched with glittering eyes.
He still could not imagine how their Leader managed to achieve such a large-scale feat in such a short time.
It was incredible.
He could only say that he truly lived up to being the Leader, and it was something he absolutely could not do.
But also precisely because he understood the scale and defensive level of West Plains City, his expression became even more solemn.
“So, West Plains City being breached within half a day is simply unbelievable!”
“The defending general must have been careless.”
After a period of thought, Guo Jia said this.
“Careless?”
“Under the Leader’s command, we have won battle after battle, practically becoming an invincible army. Having accumulated so many victories, occasionally becoming careless and underestimating the enemy is an unavoidable situation, isn’t it?”
Guo Jia calmly retorted, not forgetting to glance at Guo Zhen.
“Cough, cough!”
Noticing Guo Jia’s gaze, Guo Zhen, as the elder brother, awkwardly coughed twice.
Just a month ago, when attacking a tribe, he was hit by 2 arrows due to carelessness and underestimation of the enemy.
Because of this, his younger brother had not given him a good look for half a month, often bringing up the matter to scold him.
This made him, as the older brother, increasingly unable to raise his head in front of his younger brother.
Guo Jia was not like this before.
He must have been led astray by the Leader!
Looking at Guo Zhen’s guilty and embarrassed expression, Guo Jia felt speechless inside.
He had no further interest in scolding him.
After more than half a month, his anger had mostly subsided.
He shifted his gaze back to Luo Cheng.
“Moreover, didn’t you say that even at a rapid pace, it wouldn’t take half a day for Mirror City’s cavalry unit to reinforce West Plains City?”
“With that assurance, if it were me, I’d probably also feel at ease and relax.”
Guo Jia’s words left Luo Cheng unable to refute, because it was indeed true.
“So, Sun He was careless and that’s why West Plains City’s gates were breached by the outsiders within half a day?”
“Most likely. It’s probable that by the time he realized the opponent’s overwhelming numerical superiority, it was already too late to do anything.”
“In that case, with the outsiders occupying West Plains City and having the advantage of the city walls, won’t the Leader have to fight a siege battle?!”
“A siege battle is nothing to worry about. With the triple-bow repeating crossbow as a powerful siege weapon, I truly don’t know which wall could withstand it for now.”
At this point, Guo Jia paused, took a sip of water, then spoke again.
“Therefore, the key lies in the subsequent battle. Luo Cheng, before you came, how many troops did Mirror City have?”
“That’s really hard to say.”
Hearing this, Luo Cheng also pondered seriously.
“If I remember correctly, after the previous battle, Mirror City received 40% of the surrendered soldiers.”
“If we include those surrendered soldiers, Mirror City’s forces should be around 4,000.”
“But those are, after all, just surrendered soldiers.”
“Their combat power might be…”
The atmosphere inside the tent became somewhat solemn for a moment.
Guo Jia and the others knew very well the combat strength of newly captured surrendered soldiers.
After all, at least half of their current troop strength was made up of surrendered soldiers.
After attacking a tribe, the population was sent back to Mirror City, while the surrendered warriors were directly thrown into the army to replenish forces and then go attack the next tribe.
This was their current method, so in this regard, they could be said to be very experienced.
Aside from the issue of individual combat strength, surrendered soldiers had three very troublesome problems.
The first problem was that there was basically no rapport with the original troops, making it difficult to cover each other in combat.
The second problem was that these surrendered soldiers had low morale.
Not only was it difficult for their full combat power to be exerted, but they might also affect the morale of other soldiers.
The third problem was that these surrendered soldiers, having just submitted, often had low loyalty, making it easy for a few deserters to appear, which was quite a headache.
Combining all these reasons, it was an urgent matter to quickly lead troops to West Plains City for support.
However, only a few days had passed when a reconnaissance team member delivered the third military order into his hand.
“The outsider army has withdrawn from West Plains City.”
“We are changing our marching route and heading directly to the battlefield!”
