Chapter 269
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Chapter 269: Zhou Dongnan’s Counterattack
Among the civil and military officials in the imperial court, there were actually very few people.
It had been mentioned before that Zhou Dongnan’s strategist lineup was very weak, with basically no one remarkable.
Therefore, among his Great Zhou’s imperial court, military generals clearly held the dominant position.
Having lost three generals, Zhou Jie, Zhang Xijun, and Liu Hu was undoubtedly a heavy blow to Zhou Dongnan.
He could clearly feel that the enemy was trying to provoke him.
Regardless of the situation, he had to do something.
Zhou Dongnan was inherently a very conceited person.
After doing as he pleased in this world, he directly established the Great Zhou and became emperor.
This conceited personality obviously intensified over time.
Therefore, although he summoned civil and military officials for a discussion, it basically turned into him issuing orders alone every time.
Facts proved that even in this situation, with Zhou Dongnan’s modern mindset combined with a player’s experience, many of his decisions were still quite correct.
However, this fact undoubtedly further fueled his conceited nature.
Over time, the process of the officials’ discussions became, after listening to Zhou Dongnan’s commands, everyone would collectively shout, “Your Majesty is brilliant!” and then disperse to carry out their duties.
At this moment, a huge map was spread before everyone.
Then, Zhou Dongnan pointed to the location of East Frontier City and Songhe City on the eastern border and said in a deep voice.
“Just yesterday, East Frontier City and Songhe City were breached by the enemy.”
“General Zhen Dong, Zhang Xijun, and General Liu Hu,, died in battle.”
Hearing the news, the Great Zhou officials in the discussion hall gasped in surprise.
Their feigned reactions made Zhou Dongnan’s eye twitch.
After all, it was already evening, and the news of East Frontier City and Songhe City being breached had spread widely during the day.
It was impossible for these guys not to know.
Too lazy to bother with them, Zhou Dongnan quickly pointed his hand to the last corner of the eastern iron triangle, which was Songshan City.
“Songhe City is an important hub connecting the iron triangle and the rear Shangyuan City.”
“The enemy successively captured East Frontier City and Songhe City.”
“This prevents Shangyuan City’s troops from reinforcing via Songhe City, leaving Songshan City directly isolated and without aid.”
“Now, to reach Songshan City, one can only go around from the other side.”
“During this, they’ll have to bypass the ‘Songshan’ mountain range.”
“The journey has increased by more than four times.”
Zhou Dongnan spoke, and the officials listened below.
A meeting of officials, as usual, began.
Meanwhile, in the General’s Mansion of Songhe City, after counting the supplies in the city’s armory, Luo Ji directly dispatched 500 soldiers to transport these supplies back.
First, they would be moved to East Frontier City, and then, along with the supplies from East Frontier City, they would be transferred to West Plains City.
Although there were no rare resources that could move him, the leather armor, weapons, military equipment, and grain were still useful.
As a side note, the day after Luo Ji captured Songhe City, Guo Jia and Guo Zhen, who had been stationed in West Plains City to stabilize the rear, also moved some troops to East Frontier City.
With Zhou Yi, the “insider,” present, Luo Ji naturally had a clear understanding of the current situation.
After all, when faced with the choice between Songhe City and Songshan City, Luo Ji, who was unaware of the overall situation of the enemy, naturally couldn’t make any elaborate arrangements.
Choosing Songhe City was Zhou Yi’s suggestion.
Facts proved that this step was correct.
For Shangyuan City in the rear to reinforce Songshan City, it had to pass through Songhe City, which served as a central hub.
Zhou Yi’s move directly and forcibly separated Songshan City from the Great Zhou’s territory.
Moreover, according to Zhou Yi, if reinforcements were to take the other route, it would take at least 5 days or more for them to arrive.
The most troublesome part was that they would also have to bypass the ‘Songshan’ mountain range, as Songshan City was a mountain city situated at the foot of Songshan, with the mountain as its back.
If all went well, Luo Ji had originally planned to rest for 2 days and then directly send troops to Songshan City, aiming to capture this city, which was essentially cut off.
This would allow him to completely take control of the entire “iron triangle” that Zhou Dongnan had established in the east.
However, Zhou Dongnan in the rear had clearly realized this.
On the third day of the full-scale war, having already gathered his forces in Shangyuan City, he decisively launched an attack on Songhe City, which Luo Ji had occupied!
Listening to the war horns outside the city, Luo Ji, wearing a Qilin helmet and Mingguang armor, quickly ascended the western wall of Songhe City. With the view provided by his binoculars, he had a clear view of the advancing army in the distance.
The total force was estimated to be around 2,000, and the troop composition was a classic siege formation.
However, this should not be Zhou Dongnan’s full strength, as he initiated this full-scale war very suddenly.
In the Bronze rank, such events rarely occur, and it was likely Zhou Dongnan’s first time being provoked into a full-scale war.
Larger armies have slower assembly speeds and even slower transfer speeds.
These 2,000 troops were likely an emergency deployment from the garrisons of the cities near Shangyuan City.
As for why the enemy was so eager to launch a siege.
“Zhou Yi, what do you think?”
Luo Ji casually asked, remembering that he had an unparalleled strategist by his side.
Luo Ji generally had an idea of Zhou Dongnan’s actions, but he wanted to see how capable his newly recruited unparalleled strategist was, as a test.
Luo Ji was now paying more and more attention to the actual performance of his subordinates, while the attribute panel had become secondary, serving only as a reference.
Take Liu Kai, for example.
He was just a good general with a single intelligence stat capped at 4-stars, but he was very stable in his actions, advanced and retreated with proper justification, and possessed decisiveness.
He had clearly become one of the generals Luo Ji greatly trusted and valued.
Incidentally, over the past 2 days, perhaps because Luo Ji had fulfilled his promise to treat all surrendered soldiers equally and did not plunder or harass the city’s populace, or perhaps because Luo Ji had granted him military authority and trust, Zhou Yi’s loyalty rose surprisingly quickly, reaching 77 points.
Their Great Zhou emperor, Zhou Dongnan, basically did not like to listen to others’ opinions.
In Luo Ji’s words, this was a type of “player’s disease,” which could also be understood as a player’s arrogance.
The general mindset was, “As a player, I’ve seen all sorts of strategies, and my thinking is millions of years ahead of you natives. Why should I listen to you NPC natives babble?”
This directly caused many of his subordinate generals’ personalities to be influenced by Zhou Dongnan.
Even when Zhou Yi was a centurion, he basically had no room to speak when it came to marching and fighting.
Luo Ji’s sudden act of asking for his opinion made him feel instantly flattered, and his loyalty immediately soared to 80 points.
