Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Facing Dong Zhuo's roars one after another, Li Ru felt that his brain was overdrawn and he began to feel dizzy.

Even Li Ru found it difficult to explain all of Lu Bu's suspicious anomalies to Dong Zhuo.

However, Li Ru was more certain that this was most likely a divisive plot by the Allies. By calculating Lu Bu's various reactions, they created the coincidence that Lu Bu seemed to have ulterior motives.

At this moment, Li Ru knew very well that no matter how he tried to comfort or persuade Dong Zhuo, who was in a rage, it would probably be ineffective, so he could only analyze it from a purely rational perspective.

"Prime Minister, Marquis Wen still has more than 40,000 Bingzhou Wolf Riders. If we want to defend Hulao Pass, these 40,000 Bingzhou Wolf Riders are indispensable."

"Therefore, let alone whether Wen Hou has ulterior motives, the most important thing right now is undoubtedly to stabilize Wen Hou, and the Prime Minister must not have any conflicts with Wen Hou, otherwise he will only push Wen Hou to the side of the allied forces."

"If we force Wen Hou to rebel, the consequences will be disastrous! Ahem... "

As Li Ru finished speaking this long paragraph in a hurry, his weak body caused him to cough repeatedly.

These words quickly calmed down Dong Zhuo, who was originally furious. His mung bean-sized eyes flashed with shrewdness and fear at the same time.

After a moment, Dong Zhuo nodded and said in a deep voice.

"What Wenyou said is absolutely right. Regardless of whether Fengxian has second thoughts or not, we must first stabilize Fengxian. Even if we want to have a good fight with Fengxian, we must first find a way to take back the military power of Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry."

Upon hearing this, Li Ru couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

No matter what, the relationship between Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu has finally been stabilized. As long as Lu Bu has no ulterior motives, Li Ru has plenty of ways to slowly reconcile and resolve the misunderstandings between them.

In Li Ru's opinion, Lu Bu's unparalleled bravery was an indispensable force for Dong Zhuo to conquer the world.

Especially after seeing the existence of powerful generals such as Zhao Yun, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei among the Allied Forces in Guanzhong, Li Ru became more convinced of this point.

Immediately, at Li Ru's suggestion, Dong Zhuo sent people to send Lu Bu a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry as a reward for his military exploits. He also sent several medical officers and precious medicinal materials to help Lu Bu recover from his injuries.

……

In the allied camp outside Hulao Pass, there were also many voices of doubt.

With Yuan Shao's tacit approval, a group of princes led by Yuan Shu began to attack Zhao Yun for obviously letting Lu Bu go, questioning whether Zhao Yun and even Liu Bei were secretly colluding with Dong Zhuo.

However, with Li Ji's light words, all the questioning voices were silenced.

"Zilong made a mistake and had to make way to save his life. Why are you so excited? If you don't believe that Lu Bu is so brave, next time Lu Bu comes to challenge, you can go on the field and confirm it yourself, how about that?"

Immediately, Zhang Fei roared loudly, "Humph, Mr. Zikun is right. If you have any objections, I will not go up next time and let you go first."

In an instant, the princes looked at each other, and no one dared to step forward to talk.

If there were still people who doubted that Lu Bu's bravery was just a false reputation before, then how could these princes not know how terrifying Lu Bu was at this moment?
Looking at the entire allied camp, perhaps only Liu Bei's men have enough powerful generals to resist Lu Bu.

If the other princes dare to challenge Lu Bu, they will probably end up like the second Wang Kuang.

Liu Bei looked at the tense atmosphere and spoke gently.

"Everyone, I have already sworn to be sworn enemies with Dong, so how could I collude with him? This is absolutely unacceptable. In order to resist Lu Bu, my generals are willing to risk their lives to fight him. If I were to collude with Dong, why would I do this? I hope you will understand."

Facing the steps handed to him by Liu Bei, even though Yuan Shu felt somewhat unwilling to let this shoe seller and mat weaver steal the limelight, he could only helplessly walk down the steps.

At least with the threat of Lu Bu in front of him, it is not that Liu Bei cannot do without the allies, but it is the allies that cannot do without Liu Bei.

Otherwise, if no one could resist Lu Bu in the future, let alone capturing Hulao Pass, it would be possible that the allied forces would be defeated head-on by Lu Bu's unstoppable army.

Afterwards, Yuan Shao, intending to change the subject, shifted the focus back to the deceased Wang Kuang.

For a while, the tent was filled with cries and voices mourning Wang Kuang, as if every prince was Wang Kuang's close friend during his lifetime.

Cao Cao even announced with tears in his eyes that he would do his best to take care of Wang Kuang's widow and orphans, so as not to let the heroes who sacrificed their lives for the Han Dynasty shed blood and tears.

At first glance, compared to the other princes who only paid lip service to mourning Wang Kuang, Cao Cao was the only one who took practical action and was willing to take care of Wang Kuang's widow and orphans.

However, Li Ji always felt that Cao Cao might have ulterior motives. In this case, Wang Kuang might not shed blood and tears, but it was possible that Wang Kuang’s widow would have to shed blood and tears.

After the princes went through the mourning process, Yuan Shao announced that a day would be chosen to bury Wang Kuang and the entire army would wear white cloth to mourn Wang Kuang. Then the allied forces, which had already rested, would prepare to attack the city.

Li Ji took the opportunity to speak up. "Leader, in my opinion, the Dong thief may send people to attack the camp during this period, so we must be on guard."

This is undoubtedly a possibility. Dong Zhuo's army has many horses and can rely on the passes, so they have the advantage of taking the initiative to attack the camp.

Seeing this, Guo Tu immediately proposed a solution, saying, "It's that simple. We just need to send more scouts around Hulao Pass. If the thief Dong sends troops out of the pass, they will definitely not be able to hide from the scouts."

In response, Li Ji smiled and continued.

"This is a good strategy, but since we know that the traitor Dong will send people to attack our camp, why not lure him into a trap?" Guo Tu retorted.

"Hmph, Mr. Zikun is probably just talking about war on paper, right? The allied camp is so large that the lords of each town are stationed in a corner. There are a total of thirty-six... thirty-five towns. How can we know which town the Dong thief is attacking?"

Li Ji smiled confidently and said, "The direction of the attack must be Cao Mengde! So we only need to set up an ambush in Cao Mengde's residence, and the bandits will fall into the trap."

When these words were spoken, all the princes present were shocked.

Especially Cao Cao, who was originally sitting in a corner, subconsciously pointed at himself and asked, "Why did they attack Cao's base?"

Guo Tu frowned and thought carefully for a long time. He also didn't understand why Dong Zhuo's attack on the camp must be an attack on Cao Cao, so he asked back.

"That's right, Mr. Zikun, are you just making up stories without any evidence?"

"It's hard to explain the mystery to Gongze all at once."

After a pause, Li Ji bowed to Cao Cao.

"If Meng De believes in me, why don't we discuss how to set up an ambush? If the scouts sent by the allied forces see the enemy troops coming out of Hulao Pass, please do not alert the enemy."

Seeing that Li Ji's words were so confident, and Li Ji's reputation as a "national hero" was at its peak in the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao could not help but doubt it.

The other princes were also half-believing and half-doubting about this.

Only Guo Tu's face had a tendency to be somewhat liver-colored.

What mystery is hard to explain?
"It's obvious that the bastard Li Ji deliberately insulted me!"

As the meeting ended, Guo Tu, who became more and more angry, secretly sent someone to spread the news within the allied forces, claiming that the allied forces would set an ambush in Cao Cao's base.

Just as the allied forces had also secretly placed a number of spies in the Sili area, it was impossible for Dong Zhuo not to place even a single spy among the allied forces.

Therefore, Guo Tu's purpose was to pass the news to Dong Zhuo in this way, and then destroy Li Ji's plan and make Li Ji lose face in front of the heroes.

However, when the news began to spread among the allied forces, Liu Bei also noticed it and hurriedly informed Li Ji of the matter.

However, unlike Liu Bei who looked somewhat worried, Li Ji smiled when he heard the news. He sighed and said.

"Alas, Guo Gongze, Guo Gongze, your mind is still so narrow, how can you accomplish great things? It's a pity."

Liu Bei, who was listening at the side, couldn't help but frown and slammed the table, saying angrily.

"Guo Tu's behavior is really hateful! I will go find Yuan Benchu ​​now. I must make Yuan Benchu ​​give me an explanation. How can I let Guo Tu use such a mean trick to ruin Zi Kun's reputation and the allied forces' plan?"

Seeing Liu Bei holding his sword and preparing to stand up, Li Ji quickly grabbed Liu Bei and spoke.

"My lord, you have misunderstood! Did Ji do this on purpose?"

"Huh?" Liu Bei looked at Li Ji in confusion.

Li Ji explained unhurriedly.

"I knew that Guo Gongze was narrow-minded, so I used words to provoke him, intending to guide Guo Gongze to secretly spread the news among the allied forces and then pass it to the thief Dong."

Liu Bei thought for a while, and still asked in confusion.

"What do you mean, Zikun? If the Dong thief knew that our army had set up an ambush at Mengde's garrison, he would definitely not come again. Even if he sent troops to launch a surprise attack, he would choose another direction."

"That's exactly the trick here. Even the lord, as a bystander, can hardly see through it, so the thief Dong will definitely fall into the trap!"

Li Ji opened his folding fan, fanned himself, and continued, "My intention is not to win or lose by attacking the camp, but to use this strategy to alienate the thief Dong and Lu Bu."

Suddenly, Liu Bei recalled that Li Ji had secretly ordered Zhao Yun to let Lu Bu go.

However, after returning to the camp, Liu Bei was busy dealing with various matters of all sizes and did not have time to inquire about the intention in detail.

Seeing Li Ji mentioned it again, Liu Bei hurriedly asked.

"Appreciate further details."

Li Ji spoke calmly and confidently.

"The trust between Dong the thief and Lu Bu was originally unstable and was maintained entirely by interests."

"Zilong's actions after the battle may have planted doubts between Dong Yu and Lu Bu, but the interests of both sides are the same, and with the wise man Li Ru on one side to maintain peace, they will definitely not turn against each other."

"How can we further alienate Dong and Lu Bu? I have prepared an answer for Dong. As long as the answer is consistent, Dong may supplement the process of arriving at the answer on his own." (End of this chapter)