Double penetration: This Three Kingdoms has dragon energy

Chapter 156 Soldiers are the courage of their generals, and generals are the soul of their soldiers.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

It was completely dark by now.

But even darker than the sky was Zang Ba's face.

After unleashing two hours of continuous ice crystal arrow rain and the Heaven-Burning Technique, he had already consumed 10,000 points of dragon energy!

This is not a small number.

Generally speaking, a powerful prefect in a major prefecture in the Central Plains would not have more than three thousand points of dragon energy at his disposal!

A feudal lord can obtain a maximum of 1% of the dragon energy from his retainers or the common people.

Xuzhou has four million people, so Tao Qian can get a maximum of 40,000 points of dragon energy.

Of course, he definitely wouldn't get 40,000 points of dragon energy.

Because he couldn't possibly get all the people of Xuzhou to provide him with the highest level of spiritual and physical dragon energy.

Based on Tao Qian's current level of control over the people of Xuzhou, he can obtain a maximum of 30,000 points of dragon energy.

This already took into account the fact that Xuzhou was wealthy and had more strong soldiers and scholars.

At the same time, Tao Qian, who possesses 30,000 points of dragon energy, could not possibly allocate all of it to Zang Ba.

On the one hand, Zang Ba currently only controls one-third of Tao Qian's troops.

On the other hand, Tao Qian had to take into account the people's livelihood, and it was impossible for him to allocate all the dragon energy to military affairs.

Therefore, he could only allocate a maximum of 8,000 points of dragon energy to Zang Ba!
Fortunately, Zang Ba himself also had power and could collect some dragon energy, so the dragon energy he could actually control was 10500 points!
In this situation, he used 10,000 points of dragon energy to wage a war of attrition against the Yuan family's army.

I originally thought this would definitely deplete the dragon energy in Yuan's army camp.

According to his estimation, the total amount of dragon energy that the entire Jiqiu forces could collect was only 10,000 points.

The dragon energy that can be allocated to Yuan's army camp will not exceed five thousand points at most.

Ten thousand points of dragon energy against five thousand points of dragon energy is more than enough, even for the attacker!
But to everyone's surprise, after bombarding the camp for two hours, they still couldn't take it down!
Not only did they fail to capture Yuan's camp, but the current state of Yuan's camp is also highly questionable.

An hour ago, the Yuan family's military camp began to crumble and tremble.

This is why Zang Ba did not stop in time, but continued to cast secret techniques.

But unexpectedly, the Yuan family's military camp seemed to be stuck in a state of imminent collapse.

It's been teetering on the brink of collapse for over an hour now, and it's still on the brink!
This made Zang Ba wonder if he had been tricked!
Zhao Yu and Wang Lang both wore expressions that were both unpleasant and perplexing.

Their confusion stemmed from the fact that, like Zang Ba, they couldn't understand why there was so much dragon energy in Yuan's military camp.

They were able to hold their own against them for so long without losing ground.

This is simply incredible.

It looks bad because their current situation is already very bad.

Zang Ba expended 10,000 points of dragon energy, almost exhausting all the dragon energy in his body, but he still couldn't take down Yuan's army camp.

This put them in a dilemma.

There was no way to advance, because they couldn't break through Yuan's army camp.

Retreat was equally difficult; they only had 500 points of dragon energy left, and were almost completely incapacitated.

If we retreat and are pursued, we will immediately face the danger of total annihilation!

"No, we can't fight anymore. Ji Qiu is not as weak as we thought. The dragon aura and foundation of this Yuan family's military camp are far beyond our expectations!"
"If this continues, it won't just be the Yuan family's army that dies, it will be us!" Wang Lang shouted urgently.

In fact, as early as when Zang Ba still had 5,000 points of dragon energy in his body, he had already suggested stopping the war of attrition.

However, Zang Ba was in a state of high alert at the time, while Yuan's army camp was showing signs of collapse.

He hesitated at the time, so he didn't press the issue.

Of course, even if we tried to persuade them strongly at the time, we probably wouldn't have been able to convince them otherwise.

Given Zang Ba's personality, how could he possibly listen to him back then?

As for now, judging from Zang Ba's gloomy face and silent demeanor, he has probably been persuaded, but it seems a bit too late.

However, Zhao Yu, who had remained silent until now, said in a deep voice, "No, we cannot stop this war of attrition."

"Aren't you going to stop this war of attrition? Do you know we only have 500 points of dragon energy left?"

"If we don't stop this war of attrition, are we really going to exhaust all the dragon energy?" Wang Lang roared incredulously.

Zhao Yu said, "Of course I know that our army only has 500 points of dragon energy left, but that's precisely why we can't stop the war of attrition."

Undoubtedly, we fell into their trap earlier; we did not accurately anticipate that there would be so much dragon energy in Yuan's army camp.

But now that we've come this far, we can no longer let them lead us by the nose.

If we stop the war of attrition now, wouldn't that be telling the Yuan army that our dragon energy has been completely exhausted?

If nothing unexpected happens, they are waiting for this news right now.
Once they confirm this news, they will immediately send troops to attack us.

That would truly be our death day!

"Hmm! That makes sense! But what can we do if we don't stop this war of attrition? With our current amount of dragon energy, we're powerless to continue this war of attrition!" Zang Ba took a deep breath and said.

Zhao Yu said in a deep voice, "We can't stop, but we can't fight either. We need to confuse the enemy and create the impression that we've seen through their scheme and are deliberately revealing a weakness to lure them into a trap."

This is the only way to make them hesitate and buy them time.

"If we can just buy ourselves an hour, until after midnight tonight, we can restore the dragon's energy and escape this crisis!"

"Excellent! In that case, please take command of the entire army. This is the military tally; please lead our troops out of this perilous situation!"

Zang Ba took out the tiger tally from his pocket, handed it to Zhao Yu, and then said in a deep voice.

Giving the tiger tally to Zhao Yu would have been impossible under normal circumstances.

Because Zang Ba was unwilling, and Tao Qian also forbade it.

From Zang Ba's perspective, military power was the foundation of his livelihood, and he could not allow others to touch it.

From Tao Qian's perspective, both Zhao Yu and Wang Lang were renowned figures from prominent local families in Xuzhou.

Their relationship with Tao Qian was essentially one of cooperation, a fusion of local forces in Xuzhou and local warlords.

Therefore, Tao Qian used them while also keeping an eye on them, usually assigning them to clerical positions and rarely letting them handle military power.

In comparison, it was Zang Ba, a scion of a prominent family from out of town, who was more likely to gain Tao Qian's trust.

However, now that things have come to this, whether Zang Ba likes it or not, it's no longer up to him.

Firstly, from a political perspective, due to a series of decision-making errors, not only has the Xuzhou army suffered huge losses, but it is also in its current extremely dangerous situation.

This dealt a huge blow to Zang Ba's prestige, making it impossible for him to maintain absolute control over the army as he had initially.

It is necessary to appropriately temper one's sharpness and relinquish power.

Secondly, in reality, the Xuzhou army is now truly standing on the edge of a cliff, and it must rely on Zhao Yu's abilities to have any chance of escaping danger.

Therefore, he had no choice but to relinquish his military power.

When Zhao Yu saw that Zang Ba had relinquished his military power, he naturally refused to give it up and directly accepted the tiger tally, saying, "Please rest assured, General, I will definitely lead the entire army to safety!"

……

Yuan's military camp.

The situation here had not changed at all compared to two hours ago. Zang Ba and the other two were right; the so-called precarious state was just an illusion.

It was just bait that Xi Zhong set up to lure them into continuing a war of attrition.

The truth is, the mere exchange of tens of thousands of points of dragon energy had no effect whatsoever on Yuan's army camp!

"My lord, your dragon energy is as vast as the sea; I admire you greatly!"

Xi Zhong flattered Ji Qiu at the right time, but it wasn't all flattery.

Xi Zhong has always been in charge of military affairs, while collecting dragon energy mainly relies on internal affairs.

Ji Qiu's domestic governance model is completely different from that of other warlords in the Dragon Kingdom world.

Therefore, he had no idea how much dragon energy this domestic policy model could actually collect.

But after today's battle, he realized that the dragon energy within Ji Qiu's body was truly immense.

He was casually given tens of thousands of dragon energy points.

Judging from Ji Qiu's appearance, he still has at least tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of dragon energy within him.

Just how much dragon energy does Ji Qiu possess?

One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand?

Tao Qian, who controlled a province and governed it meticulously for several years, only managed to accumulate 30,000 dragon energies.

Ji Qiu hasn't even truly occupied a state yet, and he already has so much dragon energy?

Is this new model of domestic policy really that effective?

At this moment, Xi Zhong's confidence in his lord was even stronger.

Ji Qiu was also very satisfied with Xi Zhong.

This strategist, whom he recruited earliest, is now becoming increasingly adept at military command.

To be honest, Zang Ba on the other side was no ordinary opponent either.

He was one of the eight generals under Lü Bu in history, a famous general who was not much inferior to Zhang Liao and Gao Shun.

Such a renowned general is enough to suppress a region.

But when facing Xi Zhong, he was completely manipulated and had no chance to fight back!

He truly deserves to be called a top strategist who laid the early foundation for Cao Cao. He was indeed extraordinary!

Ji Qiu chuckled and said, "Not at all, it is Zhi Cai's ability that I admire. If it weren't for Zhi Cai, I wouldn't have been able to handle the battle so easily today!"

After exchanging pleasantries, Xi Zhong glanced at the Xuzhou army not far from the military camp, his eyes suddenly lighting up as he chuckled, "The Xuzhou army has changed generals!"

"A change of general? What makes you say that?" Ji Qiu was taken aback. He looked up at the Xuzhou army's formation and indeed could not see anything unusual.

Xi Zhong chuckled and said, "My lord, you may not know this, but the dragon aura of the army's commander is connected to the army formation. So, as long as the commander is changed, it will inevitably be reflected in the dragon aura of the army formation."

Of course, not everyone can see the dragon's aura.

On the one hand, this requires insightful secret techniques.

Although the subordinate's innate secret technique, Luo Tian Deduction, is not a specialized insight technique, it does have insight-like effects, so it can also detect certain things.

On the other hand, the opponent cannot use hidden secret techniques.

If one uses a concealment-type secret technique to hide their innate dragon energy, even a perception-type secret technique will not be able to detect it.

During the Battle of Changping in the Warring States period, the Qin state changed its general on the eve of battle, replacing Wang He with Bai Qi.

At that time, Bai Qi used a concealment technique to hide his natal dragon energy, which even Zhao Kuo, who possessed an insight technique, could not see, leading to the great defeat at Changping.

However, the current commander of the Xuzhou army who replaced Zang Ba clearly does not possess any hidden secret techniques.

Therefore, it was easily discovered by his subordinates!

"Changing generals on the eve of battle? That's a cardinal sin in military strategy! So, Zhi Cai, what do you think caused the Xuzhou army to change generals?" Ji Qiu's eyes lit up as he asked with a light laugh.

Xi Zhong laughed and said, "What else could it be? Zang Ba has lost his family and has joined Tao Qian all by himself. Military power is his foundation."

He would never relinquish his military power unless absolutely necessary.

Now that he has actually relinquished military power, it must be because the Xuzhou army is already in dire straits.

But the Xuzhou army did not suffer a major blow, so how could it be in dire straits?

Naturally, the dragon's energy has been exhausted!
My lord, the Xuzhou army has exhausted its dragon energy and can no longer unleash many dragon energy secret techniques, reducing its combat power by at least 80%!

Furthermore, the change of commanders on the eve of battle will inevitably lead to chaos in command, which will reduce the remaining 20% ​​of combat strength by another 50%!

At most, they will still have 10% of their fighting strength remaining, which presents a golden opportunity for our army to defeat the enemy!

"Good! It's getting late, and we should indeed go to sleep. Let's send this Xuzhou army on their way!"

Ji Qiu chuckled, then opened a portal and arrived at the official road three miles behind the Xuzhou army.

Reopen the portal and move both the Wolf Riders and the Iron Riders over.

Each of the two battalions had 10,000 cavalrymen, who lined up neatly on both sides of the official road.

The leaders were Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun, the commanders of the two battalions.

Ji Qiu laughed and said, "Zhi Cai said that the Xuzhou army only has 10% of its fighting strength left, so it's up to you now."

"Go forth and show me your strength. Whoever takes Zang Ba's head will be the one to achieve the greatest merit!"

Under normal circumstances, Ji Qiu would not be willing to kill a general of Zang Ba's caliber.

Subduing them is the best option.

However, because he had already destroyed the Zang clan, his conflict with Zang Ba became completely irreconcilable.

At the same time, Zang Ba's aptitude is not high enough to allow him to use a dragon seed.

So the only option was to kill him outright!
"Yes!" Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao bowed in unison.

Then, Zhang Liao's eyes flashed with the malice of a wolf, and he raised his broadsword high, shouting to the rear: "Glory and fame can be won on horseback! Brothers, let's make our mark today, follow me and kill!"

"Kill, kill, kill!"

Ten thousand Bingzhou wolf riders, clad in black armor and wielding scimitars and bows, roared in unison, exuding a ferocious killing intent like a pack of hungry wolves.

Zhao Yun, his eyes burning with fervor, raised his spear high and shouted to the Xiliang cavalry behind him: "Brothers, the Xuzhou army has destroyed my homeland and killed my people. Follow me to eliminate them, defend our homeland, and protect our people!"

"Defend our homes and protect our people!"

"Defend our homes and protect our people!"

"Defend our homes and protect our people!"

Ten thousand Xiliang cavalrymen, clad in red armor and wielding long swords, shouted in unison.

Soldiers are the courage of their generals, and generals are the soul of their soldiers.

The character of the commander-in-chief often determines the character of the army.

The spirit of the first commander of a unit can often become the spirit or soul of that army.

Because of the differences in personality between Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun, their Wolf Cavalry and Iron Cavalry battalions are gradually showing different characteristics.

(End of this chapter)