Black Fairy, the master is a female ghost

After Lu Xunhuan left the stage, Cao Sima announced again, "Now, we will proceed to the second round of competition, a battle of military strategy. Please step forward in order to draw a question and answer it."

Under the stage, Shen Jin bowed and said, "Master Sima, the last round started with me. Can this round start with number four?"

Shen Jin's father was an official in the provincial government, so Sima Cao had to give him some face and did not reject it on the spot.

He asked the other three, "Fan Tong, Xiao Zhang, Lu Xunhuan, do you three agree?"

Fan Tong replied: "I don't care."

Lu Xun Huan replied, "Sir, it's up to you to decide."

Xiao Zhang replied, "The one with the surname Lu is the first, the big guy... you are the second, Shen Jin, you are the third, and I am the fourth."

Cao Sima asked Shen Jin, "Number One, Number Three said you should answer last. What do you think?"

Shen Jin waved his hand irritably: "Okay, okay, let's get started."

Sima Cao turned his gaze towards Lu Xunhuan and said, "Number four, please come forward and draw a question."

He gestured to the back and said, "Go to the question."

A soldier came forward carrying a bamboo basket with ten bamboo tubes about a foot long in it.

Cao Sima said, "There are ten questions in total. Number four, draw one of the bamboo tubes, open it, and hand it to a soldier. The soldier will present it to the gentlemen, and then I, Sima, will read the question. You need to answer it within a cup of tea."

Lu Xunhuan nodded slightly: "I understand."

He reached into the bamboo basket and picked a bamboo tube at random.

Then he opened the bamboo tube, took out a piece of parchment, unfolded it and looked at it, and handed it to the soldier.

The soldier held the parchment, went up to the stage, showed it to each official one by one, then walked forward and handed it to Sima Cao.

Sima Cao looked at the question and read: "If we receive an imperial decree from Your Majesty today to send troops to attack the Southern Liang Kingdom, Your Majesty's goal is to capture Yangshan County of Southern Liang. The number of defenders in Yangshan County is the same as ours, and their strength is comparable. Number Four, after receiving the imperial decree, how would you capture Yangshan County with the least cost?"

Lu Xun Huan replied, "The Art of War says, if you kill one thousand enemies, you will lose eight hundred of your own. If you can avoid fighting, do so."

Both the officials on the stage and the 5,000 soldiers on both sides couldn't help but start talking after hearing his answer.

"What? His Majesty ordered him to capture the enemy city, but he said he wouldn't fight?"

"How can we capture the city without fighting?"

"What kind of answer is this? Is this considered a strategic leadership strategy?"

Cao Sima's heart was also in turmoil. He said to Lu Xunhuan, "Number Four, please elaborate on the military strategy. How can we capture Yangshan County without fighting?"

Lu Xun Huan said, "The Art of War says that warfare is the art of deception. The key to employing troops is to be ever-changing and take the enemy by surprise."

"Our army's intention was to capture Yangshan County, but we pretended not to attack Yangshan. Instead, we marched towards Yanshui County, which was relatively weak in defense, next to Yangshan, in a big way, to lure the enemy away."

"The defenders of Yangshan County will surely rush to support Yanshui County upon hearing the news, leaving Yangshan County defenseless."

He saluted and said, "As the Art of War says, swiftness is of the essence. Our army has received reports that the defenders of Yangshan City are rushing to support Yanshui City. We have taken advantage of the mountains and rivers to block the way and the cover of night to quickly turn back and attack Yangshan at the fastest speed."

"Yangshan is currently undermanned. Our army can easily capture the city."

After hearing this, Sima Cao felt a little more at ease. No matter how other officials judged it, at least in his opinion, it was a brilliant plan and it also showed that Lu Xunhuan had the strategy to lead the army.

He turned around and saluted the officials: "My Lords, what is your judgment?"

The officials discussed it for a while, and one of them said, "Yes, this is a good strategy. It can not only capture the city, but also prevent us from losing a lot of troops in a forced attack."

Another official said: "It may sound reasonable at first glance, but it is ultimately empty talk. It is very difficult to prevent the enemy from discovering our military's intentions."

In the end, out of the ten officials on the stage, six expressed support and four expressed opposition.

That is, Lu Xunhuan's answer received six votes.

Sima Cao asked the other three candidates, "Do you have a more brilliant strategy?"

The three of them avoided looking at each other and no one answered.

After Lu Xunhuan returned to his seat, Fan Tong stepped forward, pulled out the bamboo tube, took out the parchment, and handed it to the soldier.

The soldier took the parchment and showed it to the officials on the stage, and finally handed it to Sima Cao.

After reading it once, Cao Sima read: "One hundred thousand elite soldiers from the Southern Liang Kingdom launched a surprise attack, broke through the pass, and headed straight for Zhongzhou City. Inside Zhongzhou City, our defenders only have thirty thousand. How can we hold out for fifteen days and keep Zhongzhou City intact while we wait for our reinforcements to arrive?"

Fan Tong replied, "Besides holding out to the bitter end, what other option is there? We must mobilize all available soldiers and equipment, and rely on our army's courage, a hundred times greater than before, to fight the enemy to the bitter end."

Sima Cao asked, "Have you finished answering?"

Fan Tong replied, "I have finished answering."

Sima Cao turned around and said, "My Lords, please judge."

The ten judges on the stage discussed for a while, seven voted against it, and only three voted in favor.

In other words, Fan Tong's military leadership strategy received three votes.

Fan Tong said unconvincedly: "My Lords, if we don't defend to the death, what else can you do? Do you have a better answer?"

Sima Cao asked the other three candidates, "Do you three have a better way to defend the city?"

Shen Jin and Xiao Zhang turned their heads away without looking at the stage.

Lu Xun Huan looked at the two of them, walked out, and said with a bow, "Sima, I have some ideas."

Sima Cao nodded: "You go ahead."

Lu Xunhuan said, "Although Zhongzhou City doesn't have many soldiers, as far as I know, it has a population of 300,000. Among these 300,000 residents, there are at least 150,000 men between the ages of 16 and 60. These are our soldiers who will defend the city. The rest, the elderly, the weak, the women, and the children, who can't defend the city, can also be mobilized to deliver water and food."

"In that situation, when the enemy's forces were several times greater than ours, our army couldn't rely solely on our soldiers to fight alone. We should mobilize the entire city's population, unite them, and fight together against the enemy. In addition to swords, spears, bows and arrows, and wooden planks, we should also collect stones, bricks, kerosene, and even water from all over the city and use them on the battlefield."

"With 30,000 soldiers, plus the civilians in the city who can join the battle, and with the support of the entire population, the gap in strength between us and the enemy has been greatly narrowed. Coupled with our endless defensive measures, I think it will be no problem to hold the enemy off for 15 days. It's even possible that before reinforcements arrive, the enemy will suffer heavy losses and abandon the attack and withdraw on their own initiative."

"Report to Sir Sima, I have finished speaking."

After hearing this, Sima Cao smiled.

He turned to the officials and asked, "My Lords, what is your judgment?"

On the stage, the ten judges discussed the matter again.

Finally, the prefect said, "Number four's answer is better than number two's, so it gets one vote."

As a result, Lu Xunhuan already had seven votes in the competition of military leadership strategy.

After Lu Xunhuan retreated, Shen Jin came out, took out the bamboo tube, and handed a piece of parchment to the soldier.

The soldier showed the parchment to the officials and then handed it to Sima Cao.

Cao Sima read it out: "Two armies meet in an open field. Our army outnumbers the enemy by a factor of two. If you were the commander, how would you destroy the enemy?"

Shen Jin replied, "Since our army has the advantage in numbers, we can organize our cavalry and infantry, charge them in round after round, and use our archers to shoot them in round after round. If we wear them down to the bitter end, we will surely win."

Sima Cao asked, "Have you finished answering?"

Shen Jin nodded: "I've finished answering."

Sima Cao turned around and saluted the officials: "My Lords, please give your judgment."

There was another discussion on the stage, and then seven people voted in favor and three voted against.

In other words, Shen Jin got seven votes in one go, tying with Lu Xunhuan.

Sima Cao asked, "Do you have any additions to the other three candidates?"

Fan Tong and Xiao Zhang remained silent, indicating that they would not express any further opinions.

Sima Cao turned his gaze towards Lu Xunhuan.

Lu Xunhuan stood up again and walked to the front of the stage.

On the other hand, Xiao Zhang was furious and wanted to tear Lu Xunhuan, who was always trying to attract attention, into pieces.

Lu Xun Huan saluted and said, "My Lords, since we have twice as many troops as the enemy, why rush to attack? According to Brother Shen Jing's tactics, even if we completely annihilate the enemy, we will probably suffer heavy losses."

"The Art of War says, 'To conquer the enemy without fighting is the best of all.' If you can make the enemy surrender without fighting, that is the best strategy."

"Our army can deploy a defensive formation, quickly encircling the enemy and trapping them in their core."

"In this way, the enemy's supplies and reinforcements are cut off."

"The enemy is eager to escape and will inevitably launch frantic breakouts. Our army will maintain a defensive formation and use static tactics to counteract dynamic forces."

"People will starve to death if they don't eat for three days. The enemy has suffered heavy casualties, suffered repeated setbacks, has no food or water, and has no hope of reinforcements. Their morale has collapsed and they have lost their fighting capacity. Now is the time for us to capture them."

He bowed to the stage and said, "I've finished answering."

Behind him, Fan Tong stood up and said, "What nonsense! We have the ability to crush them, so why are we surrounding them? What a waste of time."

Lu Xunhuan said, "Encircling the enemy and cutting off their supply is, on the one hand, to minimize our own casualties while destroying the enemy, and on the other hand, a strategy of surrounding a point and attacking its reinforcements, in order to eliminate as many of the enemy's active forces as possible."

"Hmph," Fan Tong snorted in dissatisfaction and fell silent.