Shouchun Great Battle (5)
"Open the gate."
"Nah, don't wanna."
Sima Yi and Pang Tong started bantering casually across the city gate, dropping all pretenses.
"I said open the damn gate! Don't you know that when Cao Cao's army pounds on a gate like this, it's supposed to break?"
"Hmph. If Shouchun were that easy to take, do you think Yuan Shu would've picked a spot this vulnerable as his capital? A little knocking like this ain't gonna do shit."
Sima Yi focused on hammering the walls with battering rams and catapults. With Cao Cao's forces outnumbered by Yuan Shu's—far short of the three-to-one ratio needed to scale walls effectively per classic strategy—she couldn't risk ladder assaults lightly. Desperate times called for siege weapons.
"Shouchun might shake, but it won't fall!"
Pang Tong placed her left hand on her face and let out a sinister "Heh heh." The shadows from the ink on her cheeks made her look downright devious, while Sima Yi fidgeted, running frantic calculations.
"Master. At this rate, shouldn't the walls or gate be smashed by now?"
"Hmm. Even basing it on Yangyang's defenses, not yet."
"......Then that's a problem."
Sima Yi bit her lip, mentally measuring the distance between Heodo and Shouchun. We all knew exactly what was eating at her.
"Hmph, how's it feel? Thought you'd blitz in and claim victory quick, but it's dragging, huh? Gonna fight on a full stomach or what?"
"Shut up."
Sima Yi's anxiety boiled down to one word: provisions.
"Even packing a month's worth for a hundred thousand... "
An army could only carry so much food at a time. Especially for a massive force like this—logistics had to be calculated to the bone.
"......They're on the verge of running dry."
Sima Yi muttered, rubbing her forehead.
"Master, could they raid the nearby rice fields for supplies?"
"No. Cao Cao issued strict orders, remember? This is about crushing the rebel Yuan Shu, not plundering the people's crops."
Cao Cao had forsaken local foraging for the sake of legitimacy. So her army was stuck relying solely on what they'd hauled from Heodo to besiege Shouchun.
"You think someone sending reinforcements from Heodo wouldn't account for that?"
"If they'd calculated consumption right, they should've dispatched the supply train the moment camp was set up here to arrive on time."
Feeding a hundred thousand wasn't child's play. Even the best plans crumbled against real-world variables.
"One. This is Cao Cao's first time moving an army this size. Sure, sending twenty thousand to Wan was good practice, but a hundred thousand? Different beast. This'll be a bloody, valuable lesson—but painful right now."
Cao Cao herself included, no one in her army had marched such numbers over long distances in the past decade—except maybe Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao's fifty-thousand-each clash at Jieqiao. They hadn't crunched the exact rations a hundred thousand mouths would devour.
"Can't starve troops in the field. Rations always run heavy—it's basic."
Inexperience. Factor one.
"Two. Yuan Shu handled logistics for the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition once—fed over a hundred thousand. He knows exactly how fast supplies vanish. Sure, he's lost field battles, but lock into a siege attrition war? He knows he's got the edge."
Invaders versus defenders. Campers baking under the sun until breach versus those sleeping in beds despite the war. One side choking down rice balls for breakfast, the other enjoying veggie rice. Training aside, who fights with more fire? Hunger kills morale fast.
"Three. Cao Cao's taken zero losses in this siege. Ironically, her field victories jacked up supply burn."
"If forty thousand died here and twenty thousand there, that's forty thousand fewer mouths."
Harsh truth, but reality.
"Survivors eat the dead's share—easy ration control."
"Staff always plan for attrition. Heh, what a mess. Yuan Shu's army got crushed so bad Cao Cao's troops are starving harder?"
"Not something Yuan Shu's side should say after making forty thousand corpses."
"Why not? He founded his own empire. Think losing forty thousand fazes him? Pride wounds from defeat hurt worse."
Yuan Shu's rout preserved Cao Cao's hundred thousand nearly intact. His side? Forty thousand dead meant fewer mouths to feed.
"Liu Bei's staff. Your take?"
Sima Yi turned to Zhuge Liang, who'd been quietly watching. She reached for the snacks—bought with Sima Yi's pocket money.
"What?"
"Provisions. How d'you handle 'em?"
"Handle how? You think a minor lord like Liu Bei emptied Xiaopei out of pure loyalty to the realm—and Cao Cao's gonna bill us for rations?"
Zhuge Liang's voice cut sharp as she swallowed a snack whole.
"Wiping Yuan Shu's vanguard earned us a share of their supplies, I'd say."
"Kuh...!"
Speechless. Toppling the enemy vanguard was worth more than five thousand men's rations. Nitpicking it proved Sima Yi's desperation.
"......Fine. Concede. We'll force a quick decisive battle before supplies run out."
Sima Yi pushed all her forces forward.
"A hundred thousand bearing down full force. Feed 'em every last crumb till they're stuffed—peak morale—then smash the gate and storm Shouchun."
"Gonna be massive casualties."
"Can't afford to lose, casualties or not."
Sima Yi glared at Pang Tong, snapping her flag over the one Pang Tong clutched at the wall.
"With desperate resolve—we win."
"......So who wins here?"
"Hm."
I snapped two of Sima Yi's flags.
"Lose twenty thousand breaking the gate. Fair?"
"Thirty thousand, tops."
"What? Against Yuan Shu, that's twenty thousand."
Even Pang Tong didn't fully trust Yuan Shu's forces—ten thousand could die or live in a blink.
"Gate breached by Cao Cao. Yuan Shu bolts."
"Yeah. Flees elsewhere. No way he fights to the death."
Even yielding Shouchun, his capital, Yuan Shu would hole up in another stronghold. Most likely...
"Huainan."
Yeonam—close to Xinye, just over a mountain ridge. Stone's throw from Jingzhou. That's where he'd run.
Shouchun Campaign result: Cao Cao-Liu Bei alliance victory. Yuan Shu routed to elsewhere.
...Probably.
"Not bad. Pang Tong, take you as my disciple."
"Phew. Finally over?"
Pang Tong exhaled long, tension draining.
"No more of this crap. Next time, put me on Cao Cao's side."
"What if they lose?"
"Still better—serving the one with the Emperor. For the Han court."
Zhuge Liang's hand froze mid-flag tidy-up.
"You planning to join Cao Cao...?"
"Eh? Doesn't matter who—Cao Cao or whoever—as long as they hold the Emperor."
Zhuge Liang bowed her head briefly. Then...
"Sorry."
"...Huh?"
A curt apology, and she packed up, leaving first. Pang Tong grinned at her back.
"She's fun, huh?"
"Why? What're you scheming?"
"Dunno the future, but working with her? Never boring."
"Working together, huh."
Did Pang Tong think Zhuge Liang would serve?
"Not keen on teaming with your side."
"Hmph. Feeling's mutual."
Pang Tong squared off with Sima Yi.
"You win this sim, but next time? I won't lose."
"Bring it anytime. I'll always win."
Battle lust flared between them. Through this mock war, I'd refined my disciples' perspectives—and strategy a bit more.
But it was all armchair theory, far from the front. We could predict most scenarios, but not the wild moves from equally sharp minds.
A month later.
What Sun Uk later reported about Shouchun differed wildly from our sim.
"Out of three hundred thousand, only thirty thousand survived to flee?"
Yuan Shu lost, sure—but this bad?
"How the hell did Cao Cao do it?"
"Pounded till the gate shattered and walls crumbled."
"No way. Riots from hunger should've hit first."
"W-Well..."
We got intel Sun Uk skipped—from another angle.
"Cao Cao beheaded the quartermaster?"
Cao Cao solved it in a way no one foresaw.
"My lord, I'm innocent!!"
"Yeah, yeah. You would be."
Cao Cao ran her thumb along the blade, grinning wickedly.
"Grain spoiling in the rain? Not your fault. Troops on the brink of mutiny from hunger? Not your fault either. After all..."
Her reflection in the steel beamed cheerfully.
"I ordered half-rations for three days myself. Heh. But rules are rules."
"Hngh...!"
Cao Cao pressed the blade to the quartermaster's throat.
"I'll chop your head and gibbet it. 'Quartermaster stole supplies.'"
"My lord...!!"
"Was gonna say."
She tapped his shoulder with the flat, then sliced open a box on the desk.
"Urk...!"
A metallic tang filled the air. Inside: a mangled head, features eerily like the quartermaster's.
"Lie low somewhere else for a year. I know a guy—crash with him. Your family's set up fresh elsewhere too. I could've killed you for real, but..."
She clapped his shoulder, sighing deeply.
"I'm too soft-hearted. Play dead a year. Got it?"
"Sob... Th-thank you...!"
"Thanks nothing. Go. Won't forget your loyalty."
The officer withdrew. Alone, Cao Cao toyed with the blade, twisting her lips at her severed hair locks in its edge.
"Sigh. Too soft for my own good."
Choking back laughter, she grabbed the box and headed out. Outside, Cao Hong was stripping the officer's uniform for a swap.
"M-My lord."
"To Wan. Yeah, there..."
Cao Cao scratched her head, pointing west.
"Say you fled Zhong's tyranny—they'll take you."
Next day.
After beheading the "quartermaster," Cao Cao vowed to seize Shouchun come hell or high water. Fresh supplies from Heodo filled bellies, and they assaulted.
Crunch.
The battering ram pulverized the gate. Cao Cao bellowed.
"Charge the breach, Cao Hong! Xiahou Dun! Xiahou Yuan! Yu Jin! Li Dian! Xu Huang! Cao Ren! Dian Wei! Zhang Liao! Heo Jeo! And Guan Yu, Zhang Fei! Into the city! Whoever captures Yuan Shu alive gets gold from my hand!!"
WAAAAAAAAAH!!
Yuan Shu fled through the opposite gate.