Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Even with Li Ji's good temper, he couldn't help but curse inwardly "pig teammate" at this moment.

The situation is very favorable, and it is the time to break through the pass in one go. Does Yuan Shao intend to hold back his anger?
Before this, Guan Yu beheaded Hua Xiong and left the body to be taken back to Sishui Pass by the 3,000 Xiliang cavalry. This was Li Ji's advance instruction, in order to use Hua Xiong's death to severely damage the morale of the Sishui Pass defenders.

If we wait until tomorrow to attack Sishui Pass, let alone whether Dong Zhuo in Luoyang will take advantage of his cavalry advantage and send new garrisons and reinforcements to Sishui Pass overnight.

Even if it gave the soldiers at Sishui Pass a night to calm down, their originally low morale would surely be restored.

In this case, wouldn’t Hua Xiong’s death have been in vain?

Even Liu Bei, who claimed to be an expert in military affairs, understood the reasoning behind this. Many princes present who were well versed in military tactics also reacted one after another.

Gongsun Zan spoke first, with a hint of contempt in his tone.

"Alliance leader, in ancient and modern times, the military has always been about making a strong first push, then weakening and finally exhausting itself. Now that General Guan has killed Hua Xiong in battle, it is time to take advantage of the situation and attack Sishui Pass. Why are you hesitating?"

How could Yuan Shao not notice the contempt in Gongsun Zan's tone? This made Yuan Shao frown secretly, but he remained silent.

After careful consideration, Yuan Shao also understood that there was great potential in taking advantage of the situation to attack the city.

However, in this way, in Yuan Shao's view, most of the credit would go to Liu Bei and Guan Yu. How could Yuan Shao be willing to do things for others?

Cao Cao, who knew Yuan Shao's nature well, was keenly aware of Yuan Shao's thoughts and spoke to ease the atmosphere.

"Benchu, it is right to be cautious, but the key to supporting the Han Dynasty is speed. Such a good opportunity cannot be missed. If you delay, changes will occur. If you miss this good opportunity, I am afraid that you will be blamed by the world."

This sentence finally convinced Yuan Shao.

Between attacking the city to help Liu Bei and taking the blame if things change later, Yuan Shao chose the safer option of attacking the city to help Liu Bei.

This also made Li Ji, who noticed the change in Yuan Shao's expression, secretly breathe a sigh of relief, and sighed that Cao Cao understood Yuan Shao better. Otherwise, if the soft approach didn't work, then Li Ji could only use the hard approach to push Yuan Shao forward.

Immediately, Yuan Shao, who had made up his mind, drew his sword and immediately ordered all his troops to organize an attack on Sishui Pass. Perhaps in order to restore his reputation, Yuan Shao took the initiative to send his elite troops to the front line to launch the first wave of siege.

At this moment in Sishui Pass, as Hua Xiong's headless body was brought back without being concealed, it had already caused panic.

Especially when they heard that Hua Xiong was beheaded by a red-faced man among the allied forces, their morale plummeted.

In addition, with Hua Xiong's death, there was no real garrison commander in Sishui Pass who could command the forces of all parties.

Therefore, it only takes less than half a day.

Sishui Pass, one of the most important passes in the world and regarded as the barrier of Sili, was captured by the allied forces.

The camp, which had just been built not long ago, was directly demolished by the Allied forces, and then more than 200,000 Allied troops chose to enter the pass and spend the night.

What made Liu Bei and Li Ji quite helpless was that they should have quickly sent special forces to Hulao Pass further behind and try to seize the pass by using a clever trick while the soldiers at Hulao Pass might not be able to react.

As long as we take over Hulao Pass, the road to Luoyang will be smooth without any obstacles.

However, the first thing Yuan Shao did after entering the city was to hold a celebration banquet. Not only the princes, but all the soldiers in the army were rewarded with wine and meat to celebrate.

In order to avoid causing disgust among the allied forces, Liu Bei could not speak even if he wanted to persuade them, so as not to discourage the soldiers.

……

While the celebration banquet was in full swing in Sishui Pass, at the Prime Minister's Mansion in Luoyang City.

This government office was built by the former general He Jin at a cost of unknown amount of money. It is extremely luxurious with pavilions, towers, carved railings, jade bricks, and flowing water.

Just to maintain the daily operation of the mansion, more than three hundred slaves and maids are needed.

However, as a roar was heard from the main hall of the mansion, all the maids and servants in the mansion were terrified, fearing that they would be dragged away and chopped alive to vent their anger.

At this moment, in the main hall, a headless corpse was placed on the ground, and the corpse was still tightly holding a long-handled broadsword. It was Hua Xiong.

Dong Zhuo, who had just kicked over the table and roared in anger, now asked breathlessly.

"Who killed Hua Xiong?"

"It is said that he is a red-faced, long-bearded man who calls himself Guan Yu." The confidant who was kneeling on the ground to send Hua Xiong back answered fearfully in a crying voice.

"Guan Yu?!"

This name was surprisingly unfamiliar to the generals present.

Only Dong Zhuo still had a vague impression. When in Julu City, it was heard that Liu Bei had two sworn brothers, one of whom was Guan Yu, a man with a red face and long beard.

"How brave! How brave!!!"

Dong Zhuo laughed angrily, his fat face trembled, revealing a ferocious and cruel look, and said.

"He killed my beloved general and seized my pass. He is really brave. What a relative of the Han royal family, Liu Xuande." At this moment, Dong Zhuo had already decided to go to the palace again tonight to vent his anger towards the relatives of the Han royal family on the concubines and princesses in the palace.

Soon, Dong Zhuo thought of Hua Xiong who had followed him in battles for many years, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Good man, good man, we were just about to start enjoying the glory and wealth with our brothers, but you left first. What a pity..."

Dong Zhuo sighed and spoke.

"Find the best woodcarver in Luoyang to carve a skull made of agarwood for Hua Xiong, and prepare various items for his burial according to the standards of a prince. Then select a married princess to bury him together with him. Hua Xiong likes married women, so this will satisfy him."

"Hua Xiong didn't enjoy happiness during his lifetime, so we should let him enjoy it after his death, so that he won't have to fight for us all his life and get nothing in the end."

After a pause, Dong Zhuo turned his eyes and looked at the confidant who was kneeling beside Hua Xiong's body, and said.

"You buried this man as well. What's the logic of the master dying and the servants living? We hate such disloyal and treacherous people the most. When Hua Xiong was defeated, you should have charged forward to avenge him. You specially came back with the corpse. Do you want to claim the reward?"

Finally, Dong Zhuo seemed to have lost all interest and waved his hands casually.

"Bury them. Bury all of Hua Xiong's personal guards. Don't let Hua Xiong be alone in the underground."

"Yes."

Niu Fu stepped out and bowed to receive the order, then waved his hand to signal the personal soldiers guarding outside the door to go forward and take away the confidant who had been frightened to the point of his legs going limp, as well as Hua Xiong's body.

Only after Hua Xiong's body was carried away did Dong Zhuo start to ask.

"Now that Sishui Pass has been breached, the only pass left that can stop the princes from Guandong is Hulao Pass. What should we do next?"

Although Dong Zhuo seemed to be asking questions to his trusted aides, his eyes were actually almost entirely on Li Ru.

Li Ru pondered for a moment and then spoke.

"Prime Minister, although Hua Xiong was defeated hastily, he did buy us some time."

"Now, Luoyang has purged a large number of nobles and families who may be related to the Guandong princes. The money and food obtained from the confiscation of their property is countless, enough to support us in fighting the allied forces for two or three years without worrying about the money and food problem."

"Li Jue and Guo Si have each led 50,000 Xiliang cavalrymen to the Sanfu area to resist Liu Yan, Liu Biao, and Ma Teng. Li Jue and Guo Si are good at fighting. Relying on the geographical advantages and the elite Xiliang cavalrymen, it is expected that it will not be difficult to resist Liu Yan and his ilk."

"At present, although Hulao Pass is the only pass left to defend in Luoyang, Hangu Pass and Hulao Pass are both considered the most powerful passes. In the past, the Qin State could rely on Hangu Pass to resist the alliance of the six countries for 15 years, and then defeated them one by one."

"Now the Prime Minister may be able to hold on to Hulao Pass, causing the allied forces to disintegrate, and finally swallow up the world."

After saying this, even Li Ru, who originally had a pale complexion, began to blush a little.

After learning that the allied forces had joined forces to attack Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo became furious and decided to kill Liu Bian, Yuan Wei and others.

Li Ru also gave up the idea of ​​gaining the support of the world's families for Dong Zhuo through appeasement, and simply followed Dong Zhuo's lead and became more ruthless, almost completely slaughtering all the noble families related to the Guandong families in Luoyang.

It’s just that Luoyang has been almost completely blocked during this period of time, so the news can’t be spread out at all.

Otherwise, the allied princes would find out that it was not just Yuan Shao's blood relatives who died, but most of the relatives of the Guandong princes were implicated.

With such a quick and decisive decision, the entire court seemed much cleaner and purer to Li Ru.

Moreover, in the future, when Dong Zhuo needed to retreat to Sili and Sanfu, and Liu Yu personally denied Liu Xie's legitimacy, Li Ru did not think that too many officials were needed in the court to govern the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, even though most of the officials in the court were killed, Li Ru felt that the court was running much more smoothly, and the subsequent stalemate between Dong Zhuo and the allied forces over money and food was completely resolved.

According to Li Ru's judgment, the next step was to guard Hulao Pass carefully and wait for the princes in Guandong to fall into chaos. Then he would have time to first pacify Ma Teng and Han Sui in Liangzhou, then attack Yizhou and take all the land of the old Qin.

Finally, wait for an opportunity to get out of Hulao Pass and sweep across the world, then you can repeat the great feat of King Qin sweeping across the world.

Thinking of the ending, Li Ru felt his palms trembling slightly with excitement. His spirit, which had been heavy and tired due to the large amount of official business during this period, seemed to become much clearer at this moment.

Dong Zhuo hesitated for a moment, then made a decision and said.

"Tomorrow, except for Niu Fu who will lead 10,000 Xiliang cavalrymen to guard Luoyang, the entire army will follow us to Hulao Pass to fight a decisive battle with the princes of Guandong."

"Yes!"

Immediately, all the scholars and generals in the hall bowed in response.

Li Ru looked at Dong Zhuo with a bright look in his eyes, as if the indomitable Xiliang warrior Dong Zhongying had returned again.

Although he had been seduced by the wine, women, money and power of Luoyang for a while, after enjoying it for a while, the man did not forget his ambitions and came back.

'The one who conquered the world was Dong Zhongying.'

Li Ru's face was slightly flushed, but his eyes showed a determined look. (End of this chapter)