Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

Battling Liu Wuzhou again, Li Hongyun was full of confidence.

With his golden talents, he was able to charge into battle and also strategize behind the scenes.

However, the script did not unfold entirely as he had imagined.

Liu Wuzhou sent Yuchi Jingde to challenge them, and Li Hongyun adhered to Lord Qin's strategy, fortifying defenses while also dispatching his cavalry to harass Liu Wuzhou's supply lines.

Yet, Yuchi Jingde, with Liu Wuzhou's cavalry, brutally defeated the cavalry sent by Li Hongyun, and only Zong Luohou narrowly escaped.

Li Hongyun was speechless. What was happening!

Yuchi Jingde was simply too formidable!

Li Hongyun had no clue on how to capture Yuchi Jingde.

He had no choice but to revisit the key battle that Lord Qin used to subdue the "SSR Gatekeeper": the Battle of Meiliang State.

In the original history, Lord Qin stationed at Bai Bi to fight Liu Wuzhou's grand army, while at the same time, Lv Chongmao from Xia County rebelled. Therefore, Emperor Gaozu of Liang dispatched Prince Yong'an to suppress Lv Chongmao.

Unexpectedly, Lv Chongmao sought help from Liu Wuzhou, and Yuchi Jingde led his troops south. Due to Prince Yong'an's negligence in defenses, Xia County suffered a huge defeat, including the capture of Prince Yong'an and the Minister of the Ministry of Industry among other high-ranking officials.

The entire Liang Army stationed at Xia County was annihilated, including many forces redeployed from other battlefields.

At this point, the Liang Army was at a complete disadvantage. Stationed at Bai Bi, Lord Qin had only two options: either to passively defend and divert some troops south to Puzhou State to rebuild the defense line or to launch an active attack.

The risks of an active attack were naturally great, as his forces numbered only about 30,000. Dividing them further could prove disastrous if Song Jingang were to suddenly launch a full-scale attack, potentially breaching Bai Bi and causing a total collapse of the Liang Army.

But passive defense also seemed bleak. It wouldn't pose a problem in the short term, but it wouldn't reverse the declining situation.

Thus, Lord Qin chose to launch an active attack.

He didn't rashly rush in but accurately predicted that Yuchi Jingde, meeting with Song Jingang, would definitely pass through Meiliang State.

Therefore, Lord Qin set up an ambush at Meiliang State, with Yin Kaishan and Qin Shubao, two generals skilled in cavalry, to overpower Yuchi Jingde. They decisively defeated him in the great battle at Meiliang State, beheading over two thousand men, and the Liang Army retook the numerous prisoners of war and provisions that had been seized in the previous disaster at Xia County.

From then on, every encounter with Lord Qin left Yuchi Jingde utterly defeated until Liu Wuzhou's situation was dire, and he had no choice but to surrender to Lord Qin and was subsequently reused.

After analyzing, Li Hongyun fell silent.

According to the standard solution provided by Lord Qin, to defeat Liu Wuzhou, he first needed to take down Song Jingang; to defeat Song Jingang, he first needed to eliminate Yuchi Jingde.

How to eliminate Yuchi Jingde?

It required not only properly ambushing him but also having two capable cavalry generals to put him under pressure.

Because Yuchi Jingde was a top cavalry general himself, sending just one person to lay an ambush was not safe.

Lord Qin sent two top cavalry generals, Yin Kaishan and Qin Shubao.

But there was a problem, these two individuals were not under Li Hongyun's command right now...

And Li Hongyun couldn't possibly ambush Yuchi Jingde at Meiliang State again because, in this timeline, he hadn't abandoned Jinyang, so the front lines were completely different from historical records.

"It seems to subdue this 'Gatekeeper', I must personally take action..."

Defeating Liu Wuzhou was imperative, or else Li Hongyun couldn't snatch the opportunity to combat Wang Shichong from Lord Qin; capturing Yuchi Jingde was also crucial, as his key role in the Xuanwu Gate Incident could not be handed over to Lord Qin.

Li Hongyun looked at the map, where his forces occupied both Jinyang and Yuci, positioned respectively west and south of Yellow Snake Ridge, subtly forming an encirclement.

Both Jinyang and Yuci had been fortified strongholds for a long time, ensuring reliable city defenses.

However, situated on higher ground, Yellow Snake Ridge had its advantages, making a forced uphill attack not a wise move.

Thus, whoever took the offensive would gain no advantage; a prolonged stalemate became inevitable.

Yet during the stand-off, both sides would continue to dispatch cavalry to raid one another, and at this moment, Li Hongyun had no cavalry generals guaranteed to defeat Yuchi Jingde.

Even if Li Hongyun himself took action, he might not necessarily have sure-fire confidence in defeating Yuchi Jingde.

It would be best to emulate Lord Qin by lying in wait on Yuchi Jingde's inevitable route, and then concentrating superior military forces and the most capable cavalry generals for a decisive battle to thoroughly defeat him.

So, where was Yuchi Jingde's inevitable route?

Li Hongyun continued along the map, looking toward the northwest.

Judging from the current terrain, the Liang Dynasty clearly held the greatest territory, while Liu Wuzhou's base, Ma Yi, lay directly to the north of Jinyang.

During the standoff, both armies could raid each other's supply lines, or even... launch a surprise attack from behind!

That was how Lord Qin fought during the battle at Bai Bi.

After severely defeating Yuchi Jingde at Meiliang State, the Liang Army continuously achieved victories, boosting their morale. His subordinates urged him to decisively battle Song Jingang.

But Lord Qin refused, stating that Song Jingang, with consecutive victories and peak military strength, wasn't yet ripe for the decisive battle.

He dispatched generals to cross Lvliang Mountain to the west, reaching Jie Xiu and Mengmen Pass, thus severing Song Jingang's supply lines.

Only after Song Jingang's supplies dwindled and his troops' morale collapsed did he decisively strike, advancing hundreds of miles in a fierce battle that determined the fate.