309. Lie Fan Sieged Gongsun Kang

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Zhang Yan then led his army to return at the tastes speed, but it was too late for him as those lands that were taken by Yuan Shao, were guarded by Yan Liang, and Wen Chou who didn't advance anymore after taking down those lands, Zhang Yan knowing that they stopped and there's a huge disparity between the number of his army and Yuan Shao's Army, decided to let go and returned to his capital.

He knew that he couldn't defeat Yuan Shao's Army, maybe if they were still attacking there was an opportunity for him to turn the situation, and retake the lands that were taken by them.

Unfortunately, Yuan Shao's Army didn't budge from its position and stayed inside those lands, fortifying their defenses and beginning to consolidate Yuan Shao's control over those lands, wiping any traces of Zhang Yan's rule.

Soon the news of this event spread out to the land but didn't receive much attention like its southern counterparts where the war expanded to 2 against 1, only Cao Cao we're the ones who take the news seriously.

Lie Fan was silent after Jia Xu finished reading the letters, these changes showed that Yuan Shao had finished consolidating his rule over Gongsun Zan's land or it was already in the last stage.

This wasn't good news, as this meant Yuan Shao would begin to focus on rebuilding his army and stockpiling supplies for his next campaign, which 100% surely headed south, to show his superiority to his childhood friend Cao Cao.

Cao Cao right now wasn't ready to face Yuan Shao, at least he needed to have some preparation like the one he used to do in his original timeline, so he fastened the plan and then announced his presence in the north so that Yuan Shao would think twice before attacking.

Lie Fan asks Jia Xu, Xun You, and Chen Gong if they can fasten their progress once again, and if there are any consequences from doing this as they have fastened the progress before.

Xun You and Chen Gong feel that they can't fasten the progress anymore, as it could be in jeopardy if they rush it more since the chance of negligence increases due to it being rushed once again.

Jia Xu on the side also on the same opinion, but then additionally said that maybe they could rush not from their strategy and army side, but intrigue by using the Oriole just like the one with Deng Long at Jing Province.

Hearing this, Xun You and Chen Gong gave it some thought and agreed with Jia Xu's suggestion, the Oriole is truly a frightening weapon in their hand that none of their enemies ever know about.

The people who knew about them outside of Lie Fan's Advisors and Generals, either dead or someone who had the privilege to know about it, and even Lie Fan's retainers all of them were under the watchful eyes of the Oriole.

Using the Oriole at this time was the best course of action in the minds of Jia Xu, Xun You, and Chen Gong as can be seen from the situation in Jing Province and Jiaozhi Province.

Huang Zu's Army under Liu Biao was facing an internal breakdown due to Deng Long being 'converted' to their side through the Oriole interrogation techniques.

Lie Fan hearing that Xun You and Chen Gong supported Jia Xu's suggestion, immediately agreed to Jia Xu's suggestion and informed Jia Xu to handle the Oriole front here exclusively to take down Gongsun Du, while leaving the rest to Xu Kai in Xiapi.

Jia Xu cupped his hand receiving Lie Fan's order, and left the tent to do the task immediately and coordinate with all of the Oriole in Gongsun Du's domain except the ones guarding the border to root out Gongsun Du from his seat of power.

Next Lie Fan, Xun You, and Chen Gong look at the vision map to look at the condition of the landscape of the war right now, with around 60 to 705% of Gongsun Du's land already under their control.

The situation was already pretty much in Lie Fan's favor due to them maximizing the utilization of the element of surprise, and efficient coordination between Lie Fan's main army and his other armies.

Of course, this doesn't mean Lie Fan and his advisors become overconfident but they become more cautious as they never know when something unexpected could arrive, especially since Gongsun Du still has a large number of soldiers returning from their canceled campaign.

While Lie Fan was coordinating with his advisors for their next move, Gongsun Du welcomed his expeditionary forces back from their canceled campaign and called all of the generals of the expeditionary force to have a meeting.

Gongsun Du: "Everyone welcome back to Xiangping, I would like to apologize for cutting short the remarkable campaign that all of you doing, but it's an emergency as Lie Fan has invaded My domain and managed to control a large amount of my domain on the West and our south!"

General 1: "What?! My Lord how could Lie Fan suddenly attack us?! Wasn't he in a battle against Liu Biao currently over Jiangxia?!"

Gongsun Gong: "Yes he is, but it should be that he was confident he could fight on two separate fronts at a large distance, especially now since the Eun Clan joined Lie Fan in attacking Liu Biao."

General 2: "Preposterous! My Lord, we need to teach Lie Fan a lesson to not bite more than what he can chew! Show him that his overconfidence and huge ego will be his downfall!"

Gongsun Du: "Rest assured, we will definitely teach Lie Fan a lesson, but now I want all of your men to recuperate for a couple of days before reinforcing Kang'er in the south, as he is leading an army there to halt the advance of Lie Fan's main army."

Hearing Gongsun Du's words, all of the generals who joined the expeditionary force to campaign against the aliens outside of China, finally realize how critical the situation was with Gongsun Du sending his eldest son and heir to halt Lie Fan's advancing army.

After the meeting was dispersed, Gongsun Du and Gongsun Gong turned toward the officials that was a thorn in the rule of the Gongsun Clan, trying to appease them as they were hysterical after knowing that Lie Fan invaded them and was unstoppable.

Far from Xiangping in its south, a town called Longwan Gongsun Kang stationed his army there as it's the most strategic town and has the largest granary and supplies to feed his army in long siege battles.

He has received a report that Lie Fan stationed his army in a town several ten kilometers from his current position and has no sign of movement or any indication that it will move from that position.

Gongsun Kang heaved a sigh of relief as mentally he was ready to face off against Lie Fan and his army, it can be said that while he was much older than Lie Fan in terms of military exploit and mind, Lie Fan was leaps and bounds higher than him.

Lie Fan defeating and killing Zhang Jiao leader of the Yellow Turbans alone can be compared with half of Gongsun Kang's military exploit or even more, and having the strength to rival Lu Bu or at least manage to defeat Lu Bu with Dian Wei and Huang Zhong show his prowess.

At this moment, when Gongsun Kang was entertaining himself with a few courtesans suddenly a soldier barged in, wanting heavily and without waiting for his rebuke, reported that Lie Fan's army was heading toward their location at a fast speed.

Gongsun Kang hearing this immediately jumped up from his seat, shock and dread filled his voice as he drove out of the courtesans and then ordered the soldier who barged in to immediately relate the relay order to his generals to enter a defensive position.

The soldier immediately leaves to relay his order, while Gongsun Kang immediately summons his advisors to construct a strategy to hold this town for as long as possible, to buy more time for reinforcement to arrive.

On Lie Fan's side, after they looked at the map both Xun You and Chen Gong in agreement painted the town Gongsun Kang was staying in to become the town they would station in.

Because it was much bigger and its location was strategic, where Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao could arrive at their location much faster than at their current position now.

Lie Fan doesn't argue with them and agrees with their point of view, and after two days of preparation they head toward the town before arriving there, Lie Fan receives information from the Oriole that Gongsun Kang and his army were stationed there.

Hearing this makes Lie Fan smile because if he managed to take Gongsun Kang, Gongsun Du's heir, and eldest son as a hostage he could use him to leverage against Gongsun Du and even possibly end this war sooner than expected.

Low Gan informed Jia Xu, Xun You, and Chen Gong about this, and the three of them agreed with Lie Fan's view, Gongsun Du definitely didn't want to lose his heir and eldest, son, as he was a believer in his eldest son have to succeed his father position, and the other sons don't have the qualification to do so.

An old thinking that has been abandoned by some and upheld by some, Gongsun Du was the latter and can be exploited so when Lie Fan and his army arrive at the town, they begin the assault on the town heavily.

Gongsun Kang led the defense personally, and from atop the wall looked at the sea of men below storming toward his location, like a group of ants seeing some food on the ground.

At this time, he saw 25 weird siege engines he had never seen before put forward by Lie Fan's soldier, where there were people pushing them while there were also soldiers who guarded them from arrows using their shields.

While he was perplexed by the siege engine, he saw the soldiers putting in something inside the holes of the engine, not just one of the engines but all of them which was done at the exact same time, and when he squinted his eyes he suddenly heard the loud voice of something they never heard before, like lighting but it's much more high pitched and hurt the ears more, before suddenly he saw hundreds of arrow being shot to the walls around him, where some hit the walls while the other hit his soldiers around him.

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Name: Lie Fan

Title: Three Heroes Who Defeat Lu Bu

Age: 29 (196 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 2,462,000

Renown: 725

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)

SP: 1,071,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 936 (+20)

VIT: 598 (+20)

AGI: 583 (+10)

INT: 587

CHR: 93

WIS: 509

WILL: 397

ATR Points: 0