Romance of the Three Kingdoms: First scenario won!

199AD

 

Dong Min, successor of the late master Dong Zhou, remains my most well-armed foe with 24 generals commanding 370,000 soldiers, and occupies both of China's capital cities Loyang and Ch'agan. I want them.

I have... quite a bit more than that, with 49 generals and 633,000 soldiers, but loyalties and arms levels are all over the place, and I do need to reserve much of my army to defend the regions I already have. By my estimation, I will need about 540,000 soldiers to take any of Dong Min's territory, hold it, and guard my own from retaliation, and the more equipped they are, the better.

Phase 1 of my attack plan. Spread out. Retake as much free territory as possible, and scour for weapons-grade metal and soldiers. A lot of it is territory I previously abandoned; it lies deteriorated, disloyal, and fallow, but meticulous redistribution of gold and rice and several months of maintenance gets it back into shape.

New generals are recruited too; Cao Cao has a field day charming Guan Yu's disgruntled servants in region 2 over to his side, and more free agents are found in the territories I've taken. With the playing field narrower, not to mention the inevitable victor of this conflict obvious, they're not in nearly as much of a hurry to leave my employ any more.

Phase 2 is ensuring that each general gets what they need from wherever it is available. The process is... not exciting.

It's three times longer than this and I have another one for provincial needs.

 

By spring of 200AD, I have 54 generals, mostly loyal, half of them fully armed, and more than enough metal to arm the rest albeit spread all over China. And almost 750,000 soldiers.

Phase 3 begins. I begin moving troops toward Dong Min's domain, picking up weapons along the way.

In January 201AD, I launch my first invasion, on state #18.

 

Even with all that fortification he can't hold out against my overwhelming forces, and I don't hesitate to use fire to keep him moving. It's a rout, and Dong Min's commanding officer withdraws before the end of the month.

Next, I invade #20.

This one's a bit disadvantageous for me, but liberal use of trick attacks followed by fire forces a lot of retreats and evens the odds.

It spills into the months to come, and Dong Min sends reinforcements, but this cannibalizes #21's defenses which I also invade with my spare generals.

I'm outnumbered, but now they truly have nowhere to run.

 

#21 runs out of rice and falls, and I immediately have the surviving generals, now in my employ, invade Yuan Shu.

I'm quickly reminded not to do that, as multiple generals defect during the fight, adding their ranks to Yuan Shu's and making the battle drag out far longer than it need be.

Before I'm done with Yuan Shu, #20 is taken by attrition.This triggers the victory conditions for scenario 1, and simultaneously, of 2, 3, and 4.