Ji Jie felt that it was time to formulate a new strategy. He had been fighting different enemies these days. Although he won every time, he didn't seem to get many benefits, except that the addition of Yan State increased the size of Zhou's territory. Apart from three times the number, there has never been any initiative to expand the territory.
"The so-called distant relations and close attacks, there are really not many countries that are on good terms with the Zhou Dynasty now. Among the neighboring countries of Han, Zhao, Wei, and Qin, only South Korea is our ally!" Ji Jie analyzed with the girls and said: "Although Wei The state has Lord Xinling, the state of Zhao has the prince Zhao Qian, the state of Qin has Ying Zheng and the queen mother Zhao Ji. These people are all friends of the Zhou Dynasty, but they have not yet reached the point of influencing a country or the thoughts of those in power!"
Therefore, some measures must be taken to capture a surrounding country first, so as to fundamentally expand one's own power, including the recruitment of troops. Now the two places of Zhou and Yan combined can recruit at most 400,000 troops. The number is quite large, but in wartime at least half of the soldiers must be left to defend the city, and the number of available soldiers will definitely not exceed 200,000.
"Which country is your target?" Qin Qing asked.
"Zhao!" Ji Jie pointed to the map and said: "First, they came here on their own. If King Zhao hadn't taken advantage of our attack on Qi to attack, I would have let him sit on the throne for a few more years! Second, the Zhao State is one of the top three countries in terms of comprehensive national strength among the seven countries. If it continues to develop, it will one day become a powerful enemy of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"
Having a Qin State is enough for Ji Jie to have a headache. He doesn't want to watch Zhao State rise again. They have slowly come out of the predicament after the Changping Battle.
"Should we transfer some of the troops in Qi back?" Chen Yao suggested: "Although there are five cities over there that need to be garrisoned, the distance between the four border cities is not far and they can serve as mutual barriers to reduce the number of defenders. It’s doable!”
Ji Jie shook his head. He knew the character of the people of Qi very well. They were just a bunch of guys who were just trying to get their noses in the face. You just withdrew their troops and their scars were healed and they forgot about the pain. They even devoted the whole country to counterattack. They really fell into the crisis of fighting on two fronts. If they did not withdraw their troops, the people of Qi would think that the main direction of Zhou's attack was still with them, and they would be much more honest.
The defenders left in Zhou and Yan could completely deal with Li Mu's 100,000 troops. There was no need to mobilize troops to mobilize soldiers who were fighting in Qi to come back.
Then, Ji Jie reached a consensus internally: first eat the Zhao State, and then attack the Qi State with all their strength. The strategic policy of this battle was to defend and counterattack, defeat Li Mu and then place the battlefield in the Zhao State.
"Report..." A messenger ran in in a panic, knelt down on one knee and said: "Reporting to the Supervisor, the coach of the Zhao Kingdom, Li Mu, personally brought the dozen long-range trebuchets from the last time out of the camp, intending to Attack Dragon City again, accompanied by Sima Shang's 20,000 vanguard troops to protect the safety of Li Mu and the trebuchet positions!"
"Pay close attention to their movements!" Ji Jie ordered.
"yes!"
It was still unclear where Li Mu would choose as the trebuchet position, and Ji Jie did not react immediately. He felt that things were definitely not as simple as they seemed.
As an old rival, Ji Jie still knows Li Mu very well. If he is not in Dragon City now, maybe Li Mu will repeat his old tricks without thinking. Yesterday, he returned to the city with a high profile. There is no way that the spies placed in the city by Li Mu could not have heard the news. Send it back.
A quarter of an hour later, the second messenger brought the latest news: "Li Mu has chosen a high ground three miles southeast of Dragon City and is setting up a trebuchet!"
Ji Jie asked the messenger to clearly point out Li Mu's specific position on the sand table. He immediately understood everything, smiled and said to himself: "This is to lure me into the bait. It's a good trick to lure the snake out of its hole! Xiong Ben, order the first cavalry The team of three thousand people are ready to go and follow my commander to fight out of the city!"
"I have the order, Your Majesty!" Xiong Ben was gearing up and had long been holding back his desire to go out of the city to torture Zhao Jun, who was in the spotlight.
"Commander-in-Chief Artillery obeys the order!"
"The artillery commander is here!"
"After I lead my troops out of the city, you use the improved trebuchets and new artillery shells to carry out intensive bombing on the enemy positions!" Ji Jie thought of Ou Ming who died tragically, gritted his teeth and said, "Then ambush them along the way. The soldiers are bombing intensively, and I am fighting hand-to-hand with them!"
"I have the order, Your Majesty!"
Ji Jie spent the whole night last night first improving the range of the long-range trebuchet, and then asked the forging supervisor to produce a batch of new artillery shells that were slightly less heavy than the Sky Cannon but not less powerful. If Li Mu still felt that today If it was still a one-sided battle, then he was totally wrong.
Soon, the south city gate opened wide, and Ji Jie personally led three thousand elite cavalry to rush out, heading straight for the trebuchet position that Li Mu was constructing.
On the southeast highland, Li Mu stroked his gray beard, smiled and said to Sima Shang who stretched out his hand: "Ji Jie was indeed fooled! It seems that yesterday's bombardment had a great impact on him, General Sima, how are you preparing for the ambush along the way? How are you doing?"
Sima Shang cupped his fists and said, "The ambush was arranged last night. No one knows their existence. As long as Ji Jie enters the ambush circle, he will never come back!"
"Okay, once Ji Jie dies, no one in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty can be your opponent!" A trace of joy after victory flashed in Li Mu's eyes. He needed a victory to prove his strength, especially defeating Ji Jie!
"Woooo..."
The sound of a horn sounded in the sky. Li Mu raised his head subconsciously, wondering how the sound of a horn could spread so far.
Small black dots were flying towards this direction, and Sima Shang exclaimed: "No, it's Zhou Jun's attack. General, get out of here quickly!"
After saying that, Sima Shang dragged Li Mu and ran down. As soon as he hid behind a big rock, a violent explosion sounded.
"How could their trebuchet hit so far?" Sima Shang was a little shocked. If he hadn't reacted quickly just now, he might have been killed by the explosion now!
Li Mu smiled bitterly and said: "Ji Jie originally invented holding things. What I can do is a piece of cake for him. But I didn't expect that he could complete these transformations in one night. What a mistake!"
Sima Shang knew very well what this meant, which meant that the one-sided situation would still happen, but the god of luck returned to Ji Jie from their side.
"What should we do?" Sima Shang asked: "Should we quickly order the ambush troops to withdraw? They are all within the coverage of Zhou army's artillery fire!"
"Calm down!" Li Mu waved his hand and said: "Ji Jie doesn't know about the ambush. When he is ambushed and the two sides are fighting in a melee, the Zhou army in the city will definitely not dare to fire. Let go and don't worry. Kill Ji Jie." It’s the top priority!”
Sima Shang nodded and looked towards the ambush position.