A Textbook Siege-and-Strike

The simulation clock had just struck three in the morning.

Yetai Yangquan rubbed the bridge of his nose vigorously in the temporary command tent at Fortress Point 3.

He knew exactly why Tansen Meilin had left him these positions, but he had no choice but to swallow his pride. The Meilin family's influence in the Federation was immense, and Lianda's strength was a cut above Dongwen's. He dared not openly defy Tansen Meilin, so he could only try to secure his promise to send reinforcements when necessary.

He had watched Xu Lingqu's matches—the way Moye's team had blitzed Shaji showed a clear penchant for surprise attacks. That was why he hadn't dared to close his eyes, waiting for her to show up with Moye and Cimei's forces.

As he expected, a little over ten minutes later, Dongwen's command substation at Fortress Point 2 quickly reported to Yetai Yangquan.

At this moment, after integrating their forces, Moye and Cimei had first deployed a heavy-armor unit around Fortress Point 2. The unit maintained a certain distance, encircling the fortress point completely.

The black muzzles of guns and cannons were aimed at Fortress Point 2. The night wind was bleak, and Dongwen's substation commander, who had been dozing off, was jolted wide awake by the scout's report.

"Reinforcements! Requesting reinforcements from headquarters!"

Yetai Yangquan rubbed his temples wearily and replied, "Raise the energy shield first. Don't panic, don't act rashly and give away our position. Wait for my response."

He hesitated, then sent a communication channel request to Jie Luo at Zhicheng.

Jie Luo, who also couldn't sleep, quickly accepted the request.

"Cimei and Moye have surrounded Fortress Point 2. Can you send me some reinforcements?"

Fortress Point 1 was occupied by Zhicheng, and there was a route that could quickly reinforce Fortress Point 2.

Jie Luo hesitated. "What's the situation? How many of them are surrounding you?"

"The scouts say they've placed all their heavy weapons on the outer perimeter forming an encirclement. Can't tell the number, but it's a sea of them. I'm guessing they want to take the first fortress point in one go," Yetai Yangquan said urgently. "If Fortress Point 2 falls, they'll have a straight route to Fortress Point 1, and you'll be in danger too."

Jie Luo pondered for a moment, then still hesitated. "How many troops are you planning to send?"

Current troop distribution for Dongwen and Zhicheng:

Zhicheng: 40 at Fortress Point 1 (15 points), 55 at Fortress Point 4 (15 points)

Dongwen: 40 at Fortress Point 2 (10 points), 55 at Fortress Point 3 (20 points)

"Thirty. I'll send thirty. Just hold the line, and by noon I'll ask Tansen to send more support," Yetai Yangquan gritted out.

He'd be called a jumpy fool by Tansen, but he couldn't afford to underestimate Moye and Cimei.

Hearing this, Jie Luo finally relented. "Alright, I'll send twenty to reinforce you."

With his consent, Yetai Yangquan breathed a slight sigh of relief and immediately replied to the command substation at Fortress Point 2: "Reinforcements are on the way. Pay attention to my orders. When they're in position, coordinate with them—hit the Moye-Cimei coalition from both sides."

With the deployment mostly complete, Yetai Yangquan finally relaxed. He lay back in his command chair, waiting for good news from the front.

Meanwhile, the heavy-armor unit from Moye and Cimei surrounding Fortress Point 2 was perfectly quiet. Had the fortress point's commander been a bit bolder and more meticulous—if he hadn't just raised the energy shield and hunkered down—he would have quickly discovered that only sixteen people were surrounding them, including Yun Yao and Xu Lingqu sitting in the vehicles.

"They really raised the shield and didn't move a muscle," Yun Yao laughed. "Commander Xu, you truly are prescient. Our ambush units are already in position on the two roads that lead here."

One hundred seventy-six people. Xu Lingqu had taken a gamble, using sixteen to fake an encirclement of Fortress Point 2, displaying heavy weapons to intimidate under the cover of night, while sending the rest of the force light, split into two groups to ambush reinforcements from either direction.

Hearing the channel report that the ambushes were fully in place, Xu Lingqu smiled. "This is just an appetizer for them."

The night was dark and concealing. The thirty-man squad Yetai Yangquan sent, with two armored vehicles, drove toward Fortress Point 2 to reinforce. The squad leader, looking out at the pitch-black night, couldn't help but curse, "Those lunatics from Moye and Cimei—don't they like sleeping? Always running around at this hour! So annoying!"

His deputy, sitting beside him, said quietly, "Isn't this the only time to launch a surprise attack?"

The captain snorted. "Surprise attack? We already anticipated it and are on our way to reinforce. How is that a surprise?"

It was true that Cimei and Moye's joint encirclement of Fortress Point 2 wasn't exactly unexpected—everyone knew they'd move eventually.

But what truly caught them off guard was about to come.

Liu Zheng, with her heavy sniper rifle, watched the reinforcement squad unknowingly enter their ambush zone. Without hesitation, she fired the opening shot of the ambush.

The first shot from the heavy sniper pierced the tracks of an armored vehicle, immobilizing it.

With that shot, the ambushers on both sides opened fire with everything they had, quickly taking down the panicked and terrified squad—giving them a firsthand taste of walking into a trap like sheep to the slaughter.

On the road where Zhicheng was reinforcing Dongwen, a similarly beautiful ambush played out like a carbon copy. In just over ten minutes, both reinforcement squads were wiped out to the last.

Yetai Yangquan's temples throbbed violently. Seeing the reinforcement signals in the channel suddenly vanish entirely, he practically leapt from his chair.

At the same time, Jie Luo immediately sent him a request to open a channel. He realized at once—something had happened there too!

"Impossible! Impossible! Where did Xu Lingqu get so many people to use!" Yetai Yangquan was nearly frantic. An ambush that ended this effectively in ten-odd minutes meant the enemy must have committed more than twice the number of troops he had sent!

Could it be—could it be—

Yetai Yangquan paced furiously, grinding out between clenched teeth, "Was the encirclement fake?"

At the commentary desk, Professor Zhuang's eyes showed a hint of pity. "That kid finally figured it out."

Senior Colonel Ren smiled and shook his head. "This is the most common and most reliable tactic in siege-and-strike: fake the encirclement, strike the reinforcements for real."