Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7214 This is no longer within my advantageous range!

Chen Xi stared blankly at the spot Huangfu Song was pointing to, then remained silent for a while before asking, "Um, Grandpa Huangfu, are you projecting yourself onto this?"

“He must have projected himself into the situation, because this kind of tactic is a classic one used by famous generals to crush ordinary people. When Lord Wu’an conquered Yingdu, he used the same tactic.” Zhu Jun pointed to the map and studied it carefully for a while before speaking. “The core of this tactic is that the speed of one’s own mobility and the speed of the army’s troop movements and reactions are much faster than the enemy’s. It can directly destroy the enemy’s core and take it down in a near-decapitation manner. This will completely destroy the enemy’s idea of ​​waiting in ambush and have to deal with the enemy with exhausted troops.”

Huangfu Song remained silent for a while. This operation was indeed his own style of play, but this style of play was fast and could win quickly. It was easy to take down both Prayaga and Varanasi at the same time. It was all about the ability to break through and decapitate in open field battles.

“But a force of 250,000 is really suitable for this kind of fighting. If Varanasi happens to have two legions left to guard Yu Wenze’s rear, and Oswin sends 110,000 to 120,000 men to blockade Prayerka, risking losses to cross the river, and forcibly take down the legions that Xu Shu has arranged here to guard the rear, Xu Shu will definitely retreat after achieving a high casualty ratio, and then Oswin will be furious and pursue him…” Huangfu Song pointed to this point with a somewhat complicated expression.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xi's expression became much more serious.

Xu Shu, who was guarding the rear on the eastern front, had only 9,000 men. Even a top-tier team like his could not possibly withstand Oswin's strong attack. After a large exchange ratio, once Oswin landed, Xu Shu and Sun Guan would definitely have to run away. At this point, it was only natural for Oswin to pursue them.

Considering the legions deployed by Chen Dao and Huang Zhong on Varanasi's side, they will definitely join forces to block them.

"If I were Oswin, I would definitely launch a full-scale attack here, cripple Xu Shu's army at great cost, and then feign pursuit. Whether it's the main force of Varanasi blocking our pursuit, or Yu Jin discovering that my strength is only so-so and taking the initiative to break the blockade and prepare to join forces with Varanasi, it would be enough for me to wipe them out in one go!" Huangfu Song said with a sneer. "One battle, just one battle, is enough to kill them all!"

Since it was a feigned pursuit, they were definitely no match for the forces sent by Varanasi, and would likely collapse at the first contact. Xu Shu wasn't stupid; how could the Kushan forces have crumbled in such a single engagement? Of course, it meant that the main force of the Kushan forces wasn't here. So where could they be? Xu Shu's first thought was Varanasi, and only then would he think of Prayaga.

Because the main force of Varanasi is currently with Xu Shu, having just repelled the forces Oswin used as a feint to pursue and kill, Varanasi is definitely empty now.

Strategically speaking, if the Kushan Empire were to capture Varanasi, Prayaga would become an isolated city trapped on a three-sided island surrounded by water, a hopeless situation. Therefore, Xu Shu had to first ascertain the situation in Varanasi, but the potential problems with Prayaga could not be ignored.

The most likely option then would be to divide the forces, unless Xu Shu could firmly believe that Varanasi would not fall. But the problem is that the main force is all on Xu Shu's side, so how can you be so sure!

However, this would likely result in Yu Jin exploding on the spot, or even more directly, if Yu Jin dared to leave the city, an explosion would only be a matter of time.

“Yu Wenze’s idea is quite good, but he is far from it.” Huangfu Song pointed to his heart and said, “Boluoyaga and his group have problems with their awareness from top to bottom. In this situation, we can either not think about anything and defend to the death, or we can fight in the open from the beginning. If we lose, we can retreat.”

“But this requires someone of your level to operate like this.” Chen Xi frowned as he looked at the entire map, carefully calculated the time difference and the possible situations. He felt that even if Guan Yu were to operate it, he might make a mistake due to timing issues. Of course, if the timing was correct, it wouldn’t be a problem to wipe out the entire region of Prayaga and Varanasi on the spot!

"Why not take a gamble?" Huangfu Song sneered.

"What are we betting on?" Chen Xi didn't react at first, while Zhu Jun looked down at the light and shadow map below and it took him a long time to realize what was going on.

"Your eye for talent is still as sharp as ever," Zhu Jun exclaimed.

"Because this tactic would not result in any loss for Oswin after he eliminated Xu Yuanzhi." Zhu Jun completely understood Chen Xi's doubts. After all, even he had to think for a while and stare at the map to figure this out after Huangfu Song gave him the answer. It was normal for Chen Xi not to see it, and it was also normal for Yu Jin not to think of it.

"After destroying the eastern stronghold, we don't need to worry about time differences anymore. We only need to consider whether Yu Jin will break through the lines outside the city. If he does, Oswin can cross the river and join forces with the legions left there to encircle and kill him. If Yu Jin doesn't leave the city, Oswin can wait in ambush on the east bank of the river to crush the reinforcements from Brahma. We can even move the legions surrounding Yu Jin to encircle and annihilate the reinforcements." Zhu Jun pointed to the river and said, "The pontoon bridge is in Oswin's hands. Even if Wen Ze wants to rescue him, Oswin only needs to cut the pontoon bridge. That's enough time to wear down the reinforcements."

“After eliminating the reinforcements, the initiative is back in Oswin’s hands. Next, instead of attacking Prayerka, we will directly attack Varanasi with our main force. Yu Jin will have to leave the city no matter what.” Huangfu Song sighed and said, “You can’t expect the White Horse Cavalry sent from the north to defeat the more than 200,000-strong Kushan main force. I saw the eyewitness arrow from Balas. The White Horse Cavalry will be doomed.”

"In the Battle of Oswin, if we win just one link and gain the initiative, the Han Dynasty will have no way to fight. I don't understand why we are so determined to defend Boluoyejia. With this kind of terrain, why can't we dismantle Boluoyejia and rebuild it in Hedong?" Huangfu Song said with a frown.

Chen Xi remained silent for a while, saying nothing, but he went through what Huangfu Song had said in his mind and had to admit that Huangfu Song was right. After Oswin divided his forces to surround Boluoyejia and then forcibly eliminated Xu Shu, he directly seized the initiative.

To be honest, Chen Xi didn't doubt that Oswin could take down Xu Shu. After all, Oswin's military strength was there. Spending some time and crippling some men to cripple Xu Shu wouldn't be a problem at all. What Chen Xi thought was the problem was whether Oswin had enough strength to quickly annihilate the main force of Brahma's side or the main force under Yu Jin's command.

This is no small number of people. Yu Jin has 80,000 men under his command, and Chen Dao and Huang Zhong each have more than 30,000 men, totaling about 150,000. Although Oswin has a numerical advantage, this is a land battle, and it won't be easy for Oswin to annihilate so many people.

“This old guy designed it according to his own situation.” Zhu Jun added again, “Without this old guy’s strength, it would be impossible to defeat the opponent in a short time. According to my situation, defeating Xu Shu is not a big problem, but the opponents on the east and west sides are not easy to defeat. Even if we wait for them to tire themselves out, it will be difficult to win quickly, and we may even be attacked from both sides. Moreover, there are reinforcements from the south.”

"The Kou family only has about 20,000 people deployed at the import and export points in Deccan, and that was a joint effort by the Han and Deng families. Based on what I said before, they probably won't even be able to react after the attack is over," Huangfu Song said with a hint of sarcasm. Although Kou Feng was his grandson-in-law and did have some strength, the Kou family's core area wasn't there, so it would be a miracle if they reacted quickly.

"See? He just used his own design." Zhu Jun said with a smile. "If Oswin had your strength, he wouldn't be able to win no matter how you fought. You can call Huangfu Yizhen a slacker, but when it comes to actual combat, he's still very powerful."

Only Zhu Jun could say such vulgar things in front of Huangfu Song.

"I did design it myself, but it is indeed the most reliable design. This plan, given to Guan Yu, is enough to achieve very good results. If he does well, he can even wipe out the reinforcements and the main force of the Baloyajia. And even if he messes it up, the loss will only be about 10,000 men." Huangfu Song didn't think there was anything wrong with judging others by himself, and even specifically mentioned Guan Yu.

"I'll find another person." Chen Xi was a bit overwhelmed by Huangfu Song's explanation and decided to find a few more people to help him make a decision.

What seemed like a stable situation to Chen Xi suddenly felt like a suicide mission after Huangfu Song's explanation.

Chen Xi's military command ability is not very good, but he can still understand the trend of the situation. Huangfu Song's operation, if Guan Yu were in charge, would indeed have a chance to destroy the main force of Prayaga and the reinforcements of Varanasi. That would be terrifying, after all, Oswin really might reach the level of Guan Yu!

This is the essence of "preparing for the worst"—preparing according to the standards of someone like Guan Yu, there shouldn't be any major problems.

Soon the Marquis of Huaiyin and the Lord of Wu'an arrived.

The two glanced at the map, and Wu'an Jun laughed, "What's the point of fighting here? We'll send a portion of our forces to surround Prayaka, cross the Ganges, and march straight in to attack Varanasi. Then we'll turn around and go out this way, making it look like we're going to attack Prayaka again. After that, we'll flood Prayaka, and the main force will directly engage in a decisive battle with the Varanasi reinforcements that are chasing after us. After that, we'll wipe out Prayaka as well."

What flood? Bai Qi's strategy wasn't to take down Prayeraga by flooding. Instead, he used the flood as a substitute for troops, holding Prayeraga back from sending out his own forces. Then he destroyed the main force of Varanasi, took Varanasi, and Prayeraga was easily defeated.

Okay, this one is easier and more manageable. You can't use floods to besiege a city, but you can prevent your army from leaving Parvati. Isn't that a valid idea?
This directly lowers the difficulty to the point where you don't need a large-scale army commander like Guan Yu; you only need an entry-level skill level, just enough to control a large army.

"No, is the terrain really that bad?" Chen Xi was silent for a while before asking the biggest question: Why is everyone complaining about the terrain from the very beginning?

"Isn't this terrain good enough?" Han Xin looked at Chen Xi with great curiosity. "With this terrain, it's not so bad if the enemy comes from the east. It's easy to defend and difficult to attack. But if the enemy comes from the west, you won't even be able to run away. Think about those fortified cities built along the river. What direction are the enemy and the city facing?"

"In short, this terrain is a piece of cake for me." Bai Qi said, indicating that he had plenty of experience in how to take down any idiot who dared to defend a city in such a place.

"Is there a plan to hold this position?" Chen Xi asked after a moment of silence. Even the gods said there was a problem with the terrain, so Chen Xi decided to stop arguing and just find another place.

"Then we can only pray that the opponent isn't skilled enough." Before Huangfu Song could even speak, Han Xin had already revealed his trump card, leaving Chen Xi speechless.

“That’s terrible. I’ll find some people to help Wenze out, and also send your assessment to him. In terms of time, there should still be some time before Oswin makes his move.” Chen Xi thought for a moment and said, “If we send these things to Wenze and let him be on guard, the situation you mentioned should not happen.”

"Actually, there's not much difference," Huangfu Song muttered to himself.

On the battlefield, there are times when you know you can't fight a certain way, but many unfavorable factors and realities force you to fight that way.

“He’s right, there’s no difference. If Oswin can defeat the reinforcements here in open battle, then Wenze will have to come out.” Han Xin said with a sneer. “Because if he doesn’t come out, Oswin can spend some time building up floods and using them to besiege Balayaka for more than ten days. That would be enough time for him to take all his main forces to fight Varanasi, and then the problem will be even bigger.”

"Hmm, are all the strategies and tactics you're giving us based on your own level of understanding?" Chen Xi was silent for a while. Even if the terrain is terrible, it shouldn't be like this. Are you guys abandoning the basic principles?

"Oh, if you know how to deal with it in advance and take precautions, you can indeed defend against it," Han Xin said after thinking for a moment. "At most, you'll lose some soldiers. If you can't win, you can retreat. Anyway, I heard you say before that if Baloyajia is gone, it's gone. As long as we are careful, at most we'll lose some men, but it's not a big problem."

"I knew it." Chen Xi felt much more at ease, then turned to look at Yuan Yin, who, as the chief clerk, had already recorded all the contents of the conversation.

"I will prepare a summary and submit it to you in half an hour," Yuan Yin replied quickly.

"Remember to sign your names then. I'll affix my seal and send it to Wenze today through special channels. I refuse to believe we can fail." Chen Xi said with a sneer. So what if Oswin is promoted to Grand Legion Commander? Can we really lose?

"Any other loopholes? Let me add a couple more." Chen Xi said, looking at the four people in front of him.

"Actually, the biggest problem is the distribution of troops. If we had just as many troops available, we could fight a major battle instead of creating a large-scale situation where the strong bully the weak. Oswin's current situation is purely due to having more troops and taking the initiative. The large army commander can concentrate superior forces to attack your weak link. We have limited troops and insufficient command, and we can't protect our weak link with our weaker forces, which is why we are in this situation." Huangfu Song honestly pointed out the problem.

"Is this a problem?" Chen Xi's face darkened upon hearing this. So the reason the battle turned out this way was because of a lack of troops? Why didn't you say so earlier?

"If the difference in command level isn't that big, then it really is just as old man Huangfu said," Han Xin said casually. "The real difference between a large army commander and an ordinary commander is that when the size of the troops reaches a certain level, a large army commander can concentrate superior forces to form an absolute advantage in a local area, and then rely on that absolute advantage to form a series of victory points."

"So, when the skill levels of large-scale army commanders are not too different, it really comes down to the size of their forces, right?" Chen Xi raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Wasn't this where his strength lay?

"No, it's because there are too many people, and it becomes impossible to command them all. Not everyone is the Marquis of Huaiyin, so there's an optimal range for everyone." Huangfu Song shook his head and said. He had explained these things to Chen Xi. "For example, if an army of 200,000 has double the support, while an army of 400,000 only has double the support, then theoretically, in a battle or large-scale campaign, the maximum combat power of both sides is the same in the short term, but the latter will maintain its peak for a long time, wearing down the opponent!"

With a double boost of 200,000 and a single boost of 400,000, if you have an army of 400,000, you should still bring 400,000, because this will increase the margin for error and extend the peak period.

Of course, most of the time it's impossible to achieve. If 200,000 people can do it, why spend the logistics and supplies of 400,000 people, right? But since this is Chen Xi's era, of course we'll go for a scale of 400,000. What's there to be afraid of!
"I'll send a letter to Xingba and ask him to come too. It's a battle, after all. How could our Han Dynasty possibly lose?" Chen Xi said matter-of-factly. Since this battle is about troop strength, then we should go to our advantageous area and compete with him!

“Hmm, there are only 60,000 people on Ceylon Island right now. Considering we need to leave some to guard the island, we can only mobilize about 30,000. That still feels a bit small.” Chen Xi quickly squeezed out 30,000 men. “After the Grand Commandant goes, the legions in Huashi City and Shilulin region will also be available, that’s another 110,000. It feels like we only have a little more than the enemy, hmm…”

"Go, tell Zhou Gongjin to stop playing around in Chang'an and fly back tonight. Order Marquis Huang Gai of Quanling to mobilize his core troops and lead 50,000 soldiers from Malacca, along the Indian Ocean into the Ganges, and transfer to fifth-generation warships at Samut Prakan." Chen Xi turned to Yuan Yin and gave the order.

With Liu Bei gone, Chen Xi has now become a person of high status. Liu Bei gave Chen Xi the responsibility of managing all affairs in the Central Plains. In other words, from the moment Liu Bei left, Chen Xi could manage everything. He could mobilize troops without going through anyone else; he could just sign off on it. He was definitely a person of high status!

The author is currently observing just how badly things can get.