Jiangxia it is!
As the expedition is coming from Lujiang, which we’ve conquered fairly recently, we’ll have to spend some time stocking up on enough supplies to feed and equip our army.
And while we’re at it, Jianye is a little closer to the front and a lot richer than Wu, so I’m moving our capital there. Besides, Jianye is basically modern Nanjing, which has served as China’s capital several times. I’m bringing along my civil administration cohort of GirlKisser420, Lemon, Shell Game, and Frank West. (The Lizzard is already in the city waiting for us.)
The force to capture Jiangxia will consist of three high-mobility units and two siege engine teams. If the siege engines make it to Jiangxia, the city is toast.
Unfortunately, siege engines are slow, which gives Liu Biao time to send reinforcements to intercept.
Fortunately, we have CHAI TEA MOTHERFUCKIN’ LATTE, who absolutely goes off on the attacking army. First, she unleashes her Lone Horseman tactic, which she shares with the legendary Zhao Yun, throwing the enemy into a state of massive confusion.
Then she catches up with enemy general
Chen Jiu and curbstomps him in a horseback duel, causing his army to lose nearly all its morale.
In the end, we’re able to hold off the reinforcements long enough for the siege engines to overrun Jiangxia.
For the first time, we’ve captured prisoners. They refuse to switch sides and work for us, and they’re not dangerous enough to execute, so we ransom them back to Liu Biao.
This year’s recruiting highlights include lovable administrator
Cang Ci, dashing cavalry warrior
Cao Chun,* scholar
Zhao Yu, and genius chancellor
Gu Yong.*Heroku App says Cao Chun led the “Tiger and Leopold Cavalry,” which is probably a typo, but I prefer the idea of him running around with a bunch of white-gloved monocle-wearing European nobility.
Perhaps most importantly for my purposes, we’ve recruited
Xushi. I’m not the kind of guy who will turn down the company of beautiful women. Now, she is “skilled at augury,” and I haven’t had good luck with women who are into tarot, but maybe this time it’ll be different.
In the diplomatic realm, we get a year-long alliance offer from Zhuge Jin (lime green), and extensions from Zhang Chao (purple), Kong Rong (magenta), Shi Xie (light red), and Xu Jing (forest green). As we’re not fighting them this year, I’m happy to take their cash and/or land for a year‘s protection.
Peace behind the lines brings prosperity. Both Wu and Jianye are now large cities. However, Jianan in the far south continues to struggle, as it’s been hit by a plague.
Liu Biao seems to think that we’re coming for Chaisang next. He’s built fortifications and traps along the river.
At the end of the year, we’re number one in China for territory controlled and in army size, but we’re probably not the favorites to take over China—that would be Yuan Shao, who could easily build a much larger army if he got a few moments’ peace from his constant warfare.
The local front is chaotic. Sun Ce’s men are crossing the mountains to strike at Chaisang, Liu Biao has nearly captured Xinye from Yuan Shu (pink) in the west, and Yuan Shao is sweeping southward.
Some options for this year include:
1. Strike at Chaisang. No matter who wins the Sun Ce-Liu Biao matchup, the city (a Medium one) will likely be poorly defended when our soldiers get there, although an attack would be supply-intensive as we’d either need a long march from Jianye or a river crossing from Lujiang. It would complete our conquest of Yang Province and give us a bonus.
2. Keep going west and take Xinye. This is another chance to clean up someone else’s mess, either Yuan Shu’s or Liu Biao’s. Xinye is also a Medium city. It would be more awkward to resupply Xinye than Chaisang.
3. Let the alliance with Zhuge Jin expire and move north to take Shouchun. He’s distracted fighting Yuan Shao in the north. This would complete a conquest of Huainan and give us a bonus. It’s also a Medium city.
4. Let the alliance with Zhang Chao expire and finish him off by taking Guangling. It’s a miracle he’s survived this long, really. We’d have to cross a river to get there, but a completed conquest would allow for two-front warfare in the north. Guangling is Medium-sized.
5. Make a daring strike against Liu Biao’s capital of Jiangling. We’d have to cross a river and risk counterattacks from both sides, but if the attack is successful, we’d cut his forces in half and potentially capture a lot of useful officers and/or have the chance to give Liu Biao a permanent headache cure.
6. Let the alliance with Shi Xie expire and move south through the mountains to Nanhai. Nanhai is a small and isolated city, but if we capture both of Shi Xie’s coastal cities of Nanhai and Jiaozhi, we’ll be able to use those cities as a base for lucrative trade missions with the faraway land of
Tianzhu.7. Turtle up, rebuild supplies and cash, support Yuan Shao’s enemies, and wait for the opportunity to destroy him.
8. Comedy eighth option.
You’ve advised me well so far: what have you got in mind?