Yuan Shao claimed to be a large army of 200,000, but Guo Jia had already found out that his total number was only more than 70,000. After splitting 25,000 people to move south, Yuan Shao's troops were less than 50,000, which was about five times the strength of the troops in Junyi City.

Ten sieges and five attacks are common sense. The reason is very simple. Only ten times the force can truly surround the opponent. If the lack of force is not enough, you can only attack actively. Even in field battles, the attacking side will pay more casualties than the defense side, and this is even more so when defending the city. In the case of both sides' arms and individual combat power, a complete city defense system will cause the attacking side to suffer a lot, and the casualties ratio is at least four or five times, and in some cases it will be higher.

Sun Jian had run Junyi City for several months, and had more than 10,000 elite troops and sufficient food and equipment. The price Yuan Shao paid for siege would be amazing. This is a good opportunity to consume Yuan Shao's troops a large amount, which is more beneficial than the two sides' expectation of each other across the city wall. If the siege is not enough, the casualties will be great. It is easier to dampen morale than to siege without attacking, and it can also make Yuan Shao unable to divide his troops and harass the surrounding counties and counties.

Sun Ce and Guo Jia hit it off and immediately notified Sun Jian. Before this, Ma Riyi had already passed the imperial edict in Junyi. Sun Jian had already obtained the seal of General Cheqi and Cavalry, and waited for Sun Ce to receive the imperial edict and officially announced it. After receiving the news from Sun Ce, Sun Jian and Qin Song and Hongzi repeatedly discussed and sent a letter to Yuan Shao. I am the General Cheqi and Cavalry who was officially appointed by the imperial court. I am ordered to fight against rebellion. I hope you will know yourself and don’t call yourself General Cheqi and Cavalry again in the future, so as not to confuse the public and tarnish my reputation.

Yuan Shao was furious when he received this letter. It was not entirely because of Sun Jian's provocation. It was normal for both sides to humiliate each other. What angered him was the court rewarding the father and son of the Sun family. If he did not sign the letter early, he would not sign the letter late. But at this time, wouldn't it be a sign that the Sun family's father and son are loyal ministers and he was a rebellious minister?

Yuan Shao ordered to write a letter to Wang Yun on the one hand to explain, and to attack Junyi on the other hand to let Sun Jian see who is the real chariot general.

Ju Su strongly opposed it. He believed that the lack of troops and the lack of confidence in siege was not sure of victory, and the excessive casualties would seriously damage the morale of the army, and the war was easy to end. If Sun Ce sent troops to Xuxian, Que Yi and Xun Yan for help, it would be difficult for Yuan Shao to escape from Junyi's battlefield, which was far less stable than siege.

But in a rage, Yuan Shao rejected Ju Su's suggestion and ordered the construction of military orders to attack Junyi.

Siege requires large-scale weapons, and these cannot be transferred for a long distance, so they can only be made on the spot. Wood logging, village analysis, and processing can not be completed in less than ten days or half a month. Yuan Shao also knew that Sun Ce had a wood school, and the craftsman was superb, and the stone throwing machine was even more improved. Xun Zhan once told Xu You that Sun Ce had developed a giant stone throwing machine. Although it could not break the city wall, it was very easy to hit the city gate. The technology was insufficient, so he could only use quantity to make up. He ordered that more stone throwing machines be built, at least five hundred.

Five hundred stone throwers were not completed within half a month by the craftsmen of the baggage battalion. The soldiers of each battalion were also sent out to log and work. Only 20,000 central troops were left to guard the city, monitoring every move in the city to prevent Sun Jian from breaking through or attacking out of the city. There was insufficient timber near Junyi, and the soldiers of each battalion had to run dozens of miles away to log, which not only exhausted, but also increased the risk of being raided. For a time, the battalions were full of complaints, and no one dared to speak in front of Yuan Shao, but they complained in private.

While Yuan Shao was working as a lumberjack in Junyi, Que Yi and Xun Yan also worked as lumberjacks in Yanling. However, they were even worse than Yuan Shao: there was no tree suitable for building stone throwers near Yanling. Looking around, almost all of them were saplings that had just been planted for one or two years. The thickest ones were only the thickness of the wrist. It was OK to be a spear, but it was too difficult to make a stone thrower.

Xun Yan was a local, and took on the heavy responsibility of finding materials. He took people around a hundred miles, only seeing the fields of wheat, but not the appropriate wood. Not to mention the nearby hillsides, even the trees beside the road were cut down, and the stubble was still new, and it should have been cut down. After Xun Yan inquired, he found out that this was a good thing that Lu Meng and Jiang Qin, the military farmer who had just taken office. When they took office before the New Year, their first order was to offer a reward to cut trees. Trees with a diameter of one foot and a length of more than one foot were required. Different prices were set according to different specifications, and almost the nearby people were moved. They cut all the nearby big trees in a few days, and those who were slow to react could not catch up.

Where are the cut trees? Some of them are stationed in the city, some are transported down the water and transported to Runan. I heard that shipbuilding is being built there and a lot of wood is needed. In order to meet the supply, Yingchuan's military farming soldiers planted grain and trees at the same time. The small trees are used for shipbuilding in the future.

Xun Yan was so angry that he had nothing to say, and he also remembered the names of Lu Meng and Jiang Qin.

Without suitable wood, you cannot build large siege equipment such as stone throwers. Don’t think about siege cars, you can only build some ladders. This will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of siege, even in county towns.

Soldiers are more valuable than victory, but not long. Kuo Yi was not here to siege the city. If he could not defeat these counties before harvesting the wheat, once Sun Ce led the main force to come, they would face the danger of being attacked. He could not seize the stored grain inside, and the food he carried was not enough to support the harvesting of the wheat. He had to think of another way.

Que Yi naturally proposed the request to collect grain on the spot, but this request was rejected by Xun Yan without any surprise. His reasons were also very sufficient. Yuzhou is the lord's province, Runan is also the lord's county, Ruying and Yingchuan can also be said to be the lord's county. The aristocratic families here marry each other and get along with each other. The lord's outer family, the Li family, is from Yingchuan, and your former lord Han Fu is also from Yingchuan. Can you ensure that these soldiers will not be injured accidentally when plundering? Moreover, the plunder is usually carried out by cavalry, and most of these cavalry are Hu people. Sun Ce has issued a order to kill Hu. The people of Yuzhou are very disgusted with Hu people and want to kill them and hate them. If you send these people to collect food and grass, wouldn't it intensify the conflict? If the people attack them in groups, the accumulation of small amounts will also affect morale.

Que Yi was helpless. From the moment he knew that Xun Yan was the deputy general, he knew that this result would be.

Xun Yan gave Que Yi an idea, moving his troops westward, joining forces with Huang Wan, and attacking Huang Zhong who was reinforced. Huang Zhong was the first general to be recruited by Sun Ce. He was all elite troops in Nanyang, very well equipped and strong combat power. It is estimated that Huang Wan is not his opponent. We went to help, and the two armies joined forces, with nearly 60,000 people, especially five thousand elite cavalry. The possibility of defeating Huang Zhong increased greatly. After defeating Huang Zhong, you can use the seized weapons to equip the troops to improve combat power.

Tuo Yi was moved when he heard this. Nanyang armoured weapons have become synonymous with high-quality products. Many people spend a lot of money to buy, but it is very rare to get it. Even if you buy it, it will be a few or dozens of them, which cannot meet the requirements of a large number of equipment. Tuo Yi was all Han Fu's old subordinates, and they were not favored by Yuan Shao, and they had no chance to contact these high-quality armoured weapons. If they could join forces with Huang Wan to defeat Huang Zhong, they could get at least a few hundred sets of equipment, which would be a fortune and would be enough to encourage morale.

Que Yi turned anger into joy. "Brother Xiuruo is worthy of being a famous scholar, this plan is very wonderful."

https:
Chapter completed!