"Let's wait!" Xu You said to stop him.

Gongsun Du turned around, his eyes were stern, and his anger was hidden. Xu Youbao sneered. "Why, are you a little surprised and think I'm hiding something?"

Gongsun Du didn't say anything, but his expression was a bit ridiculous.

"Shengji, what I said to you is true, but I can't tell you something I don't understand. Like you, it's the first time I've seen Sun Ce's infantry with my own eyes." He paused and said, "This may be a good thing, at least I did not underestimate Sun Ce and give you an unrealistic expectation."

Gongsun Du's expression was a little slow, admitting that Xu You was right. Although Xu You was sure that he had a chance to defeat Sun Ce, he never said that he could defeat Sun Ce easily. He always emphasized that Sun Ce was good at training troops, which would be a fierce battle. On the contrary, he himself was not mentally prepared and did not expect the situation to be so serious.

"What's the trick of Ziyuan?"

"Shengji, although you should adapt to the situation, you should not change easily, especially when you have not figured out the true strength of your opponent. This is the test. You have not done your best, and Sun Ce has not done your best. You will now send the most elite guard cavalry camp. If you can't win, what should you do?"

Gongsun Du sighed softly as if he was thinking.

"We have said before that Sun Ce's advantage lies in the training of soldiers, and your advantage lies in the strong force. With the same force, you have almost no chance of winning, especially in the first half." Xu You waved his hand. "These people are all about to die. We cannot expect them to defeat Sun Ce. We can only expect them to consume Sun Ce's sharpness, wear down his sword, and exhaust his arrows." He pointed to the cavalry on the high ground on both sides. "Those cavalry were not prepared for the attack now. They are just a kind of existence. Remind Sun Ce that he has not won yet, make him nervous, and then numb and relax until exhausted. Now that Sun Ce has won the battle in the first place, he is strong, so you let the cavalry attack. If you can't win, what are you going to do next? Are you going to fight yourself?"

Xu You sneered: "Sun Ce is waiting for you to do this."

Gongsun Du frowned and pondered silently. The messenger looked at him, wanting to ask but not daring to ask. Gongsun Du gritted his teeth, raised his arm and waved it.

“Deploy as scheduled, continue.”

The commander was relieved and waved the flag in his hand to pass the order out. The sound of war drums sounded, and the soldiers on the second line of defense were ready to fight.

Sun Ce sat on the platform and looked quietly at the high slope in the distance. He could only see Gongsun Du and Xu You, not see their faces, nor did he know what they were saying. Judging from the orders sent out, Gan Ning's victory did not disturb Gongsun Du's mood, he remained calm.

Whether it is Gongsun Du’s own decision or Xu You’s suggestion, this combination is not an opponent that can be easily defeated, and any negligence may be fatal.

Sun Ce cheered up and listened to the report. After Gan Ning won, the rough estimate of casualties did not exceed expectations and had little impact on combat power, each song was counting casualties, replenishing arrows, and preparing to fight again. These data were quickly summarized into the Central Army, and the Military Planning Office made accurate assessments, and ready to fine-tune the plan at any time.

At the same time, the soldiers of the baggage battalion stepped forward to clean up the battlefield and cleared out the passage so that the reinforcements could pass smoothly without having to step on the corpses and blood of the opponent or robes, which would affect their speed and mood. They also have an important task: to recycle available weapons, especially arrows. When the two armies were in battle, the arrows consumed a lot, and they could be recycled as much as possible. After simple trimming, or replacement of accessories, they would be left for later use.

During a thousand-mile expedition, food can still be fed from the enemy, but it is difficult to use military equipment, especially for the Jiangdong Army, who is used to fine-grained military equipment. The Liaodong Army picked up the Jiangdong Army's ordnance was a treasure, but the Jiangdong Army picked up the Liaodong Army's ordnance, but it had to find a way to turn it into treasure.

All these things are responsible for, and Sun Ce does not need to worry about them. He only needs to judge the situation based on the final statistics. Time is tight, and everyone is handling their tasks as quickly as possible so that Sun Ce can get the result as soon as possible. Sun Ce also took this opportunity to adjust his mood, drink a little water, and eat something.

No matter how many people around him are busy, he must remain calm like a rock.

Just as Sun Ce reached out to pick up the tea cup on the table, Xu Jie immediately stood up and went forward. "Jie serves tea for the Lord and Hou."

Sun Ce nodded and took back his hand to take the cup. Xu Jie picked up the teapot from the table beside him and poured a cup for Sun Ce first. Sun Ce pointed to Guo Jia and others. Xu Jie understood and served tea for Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang and others in turn, taking the opportunity to take a look at the affairs they were dealing with. She just looked, didn't say anything, and did not delay the matter in her hands. Everyone didn't even pay attention to her and was busy with their own affairs.

Sun Shangxiang moved to Sun Ce and said softly: "Brother, why don't you take advantage of the victory to attack? Was it a waste of so much time to give your opponent a chance to breathe?"

Sun Ce slightly turned his face and looked at Sun Shangxiang. "Do you think we can defeat Gongsun Du within one or two rounds?"

Sun Shangxiang blinked and bit his finger and thought for a moment. "I understand. Gongsun Du has a strong military force, just like a bull. Even if he shoots one or two arrows, he will not fall down even if he stabs him twice. If he presses him tightly, he may be injured by him. So you can't hurry. You have to steadily. When you get the opportunity, you can shoot him with an arrow and stab him, so that he can slowly bleed. Right?"

"It's right." Sun Ce pinched Sun Shangxiang's nose. "Waring between the two armies is like fighting between masters. Before you are sure to kill with one blow, the most important thing is to keep the door tight and not reveal flaws to avoid being taken advantage of by the enemy, rather than being eager to attack, just thinking about a quick battle and decisive decision. Patience is sometimes more important than courage."

Sun Shangxiang touched her nose and giggled, "I understand. Master Chen Wang said that when hunting beasts, he must keep a distance from his prey and ensure his safety first. Even if he fails to hit the vital points of the prey, it doesn't matter. Shoot a few more arrows, and the prey will always fall. Brother, do you think Master Chen Wang will follow him when the emperor goes to the west?"

Sun Ce frowned slightly and shook his head. He had not received any news about the emperor's expedition, but according to time, it should be soon.

"Lord, the result is out." Zhuge Liang walked over quickly and placed a statistical data of the ink mark in front of Sun Ce. Sun Ce put down the teacup and read it carefully. This is a table, with the estimated data and the actual data, with a clear comparison. All the data are good, better than expected, and the casualties are far lower than the previous estimate.

Sun Ce frowned. "Fengxiao, are these Liaodong troops too weak? Could this be a trap?"

Guo Jia shook the feather fan. "What the lord said is very much. These Liaodong troops were probably sent by Xu You to sharpen their knives. The real elite troops were not sent out. The food route was cut off by our army. Of course, he had to give up and just send it to consume our army's physical strength." He looked at the central army in Gongsun Du in the distance. "But he was destined to be disappointed, and we just took this opportunity to warm up. Lord, from the data, the advantages of our infantry are very obvious. We can reduce the consumption of arrows as appropriate, so as not to get no arrows available."

Sun Ce took a look at the data again and accepted Guo Jia's opinion. Among all the data, the best situation is the casualties of infantry during assault, which means that they have a greater advantage in close combat and should be used appropriately, rather than focusing on reducing casualties regardless of arrow consumption. The advantages must be balanced, otherwise the losses will not be worth the effort. Once the arrows are consumed too much, the losses of infantry will also increase rapidly.

As soon as Guo Jia finished speaking, the Military Planning Office also sent a similar suggestion. Sun Ce happily agreed and signed the relevant order to inform the former army, so that Gan Ning could prepare.

After a meal, the sound of war drums rose again, and Gan Ning launched a second wave of attacks.

Half an hour later, Gan Ning successfully defeated Gongsun Du's second square formation and achieved two consecutive victories at the beginning. Although the casualties did not exceed the pre-set standards, Sun Ce still switched Gan Ning to the flank rest, and continued to attack from the personal guard camp, patiently and resolutely moving forward.

Within one day, Sun Ce attacked five times and pushed forward more than 500 steps ahead of the battle. Gongsun Du's first line of defense was basically destroyed, leaving only the cavalry on the slopes on both sides intact. More than half of the 10,000 infantry soldiers who set up formations on the ground were injured and killed or killed. Without fighting spirit, Gongsun Du was not allowed to retreat early and gave up the first line of defense.

Gongsun Du was a little impatient and regretted not being able to send cavalry in time, resulting in heavy casualties and low morale. What worried him the most was that he paid the price but did not receive the due effect. Sun Ce was very restrained and sent various troops to take turns to fight, maintaining strong morale and physical strength. Gongsun Du was not sure about Sun Ce's casualties, but from the situation, it should be very limited and he definitely did not achieve the goal he expected.

Gongsun Du asked Xu You for a plan. Xu You also scratched his head a little. Sun Ce's reaction was not in his plan, and there was no flaw. The combat power of the Jiangdong Army exceeded his imagination. If this trend continues, I am afraid that Gongsun Du may not be able to wait for a counterattack when Sun Ce attacks the city of Dashi. At that point, Gongsun Du's situation will be difficult.

Xu Youqiang calmed himself and pondered in front of the map for a long time. "Don't be anxious about the promotion and knowledge, know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. Although the battle today is not good, we already know how strong Sun Ce is, and we will have a clear idea. Fighting tomorrow will be the time to counterattack." Xu You pointed to the hillsides on both sides. "Our army has the advantage of the terrain and can be condescending. In order to avoid disadvantages, Sun Ce must first take this place. We can send more crossbowmen to make up for insufficient training and force Sun Ce to fight to the death. When the two armies are tired, we will send cavalry to attack. If we are lucky, we may be able to directly break through the central army."

Gongsun Du stroked his beard and thought about it for a long time. He accepted Xu You's suggestion, adjusted the deployment of troops, arranged the withdrawn remnants to the third line of defense, and extracted 10,000 infans from the third line of defense and was charged to the originally not thick second line of defense. He specially strengthened the number of crossbowmen on the hillsides on both sides, preparing to use the advantage of military strength to make up for the shortcomings of training and military equipment. With the help of geographical advantage, he must at least form a confrontation, destroy Sun Ce's morale, block Sun Ce's progress, and drag the battle into the war of attrition he hoped.

.m.
Chapter completed!