Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Led snakes out of their holes?

Liu Bei was a little stunned and stared at Li Ji blankly.

Li Ji immediately helped Liu Bei sit down again, then poured him another cup of hot tea and said.

"I'm sure you are quite familiar with Yangzhou's terrain. It's vast and full of miasma, with a network of rivers and streams. Although there are no strong cities or high walls, marching is extremely difficult."

“So, since the mountain road is difficult to travel, I will not go to the mountain, but let the mountain come to me.”

In the original trajectory, Sun Ce began to attack Wu County in the first year of Xingping, and did not occupy Yuzhang County until the fourth year of Jian'an. It took nearly six years to truly dominate Jiangdong.

It is conceivable that although Yangzhou is weak, it is extremely difficult to conquer it.

Especially in a terrain like Yangzhou, with its crisscrossing water network and dense miasma, it might be okay for a small force to march, but it would be quite difficult for a large force to march.

It was because Wu County was mostly plains, and because Liu Bei and Li Ji had spared no effort to repair roads over the years, that Wu County was able to escape from this predicament.

However, the troops within Wu County might be able to march very fast on the official roads, but outside Wu County, the conditions in the four counties of Lujiang, Jiujiang, Danyang and Yuzhang were still quite bad.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei understood what Li Ji meant.

Opportunities and risks undoubtedly coexist.

It seemed that Wu County had revealed a flaw, as Liu Bei and Li Ji were not in Wu County, but it was also a trap to lure the enemy into advancing rashly.

This made Liu Bei couldn't help but stroke his beard and frown.

"However, there are not many soldiers in Wu County, and Zikun is not stationed in Wu County. Isn't this a bit risky?"

If Li Ji stayed in Wujun, Liu Bei would naturally be confident in the strategy of "luring the snake out of its hole".

"If Jiruo were in Wu County, how could some evil spirits dare to invade?"

In response, Li Ji revealed a helpless smile.

In a way, this is almost like being burdened by fame.

Given Li Ji's reputation, any strategy like showing weakness to the enemy was almost doomed to fail, and the possibility of the enemy rushing forward if he revealed a flaw was almost zero.

I'm afraid no one in the entire Han Dynasty would believe that the "national hero" Li Ji is a rookie.

"That's true. As long as Zikun is in Wu County, I'm afraid those villains won't dare to have any extra thoughts."

Liu Bei responded, but there was still some worry in his eyes. "I wonder who Zikun has decided to take on the important task in Wu County?"

Li Ji took a sip of tea and answered. "Jia Wenhe."

"Jia Wenhe?"

Liu Bei recalled the kind-hearted gentleman that Jia Xu was. Especially in recent years, Jia Xu had become increasingly fatter and his figure had been growing steadily towards fullness, and now he had become almost the plumpest person in Wu County.

And as Jia Xu's body became more and more plump, his face looked increasingly kind and harmless.

Even though Liu Bei was reminded many times by Li Ji that Jia Xu was a wise man, even Liu Bei always subconsciously underestimated Jia Xu.

"Jia Wenhe, is it really possible? But please don't let anything go wrong." Liu Bei replied with a frown.

"My lord, don't worry. This seems to be a rainy day preparation, but in fact, Ji and Wenhe have been preparing for a long time. Wenhe's mission is not to resist the attack of the bandits, but... to win Yangzhou for my lord in one battle."

When he said this, the sharpness in Li Ji's eyes was clearly revealed.

Why did Li Ji fully support Liu Bei's choice to "fight Dong Zhuo" even though he knew that he would probably not gain any substantial benefits by leading more than 30,000 elite troops all the way here?

Even the most capable generals and elite troops under Liu Bei were all brought out.

Even Yuan Shao knew to leave Yan Liang, Wen Chou and a large number of elite troops in Bohai, so how could Li Ji possibly come out in full force just to "defeat Dong Zhuo"?

Drunkard’s intention is not to drink!
Only by defeating Dong can some ambitious people around Wujun be convinced that Wujun’s elite troops have been deployed.

In Li Ji's plan, no matter what the benefits and results of this expedition against Dong were, the real big deal was that the attention of all the princes in the world was focused on Sili, and the entire Yangzhou was completely swallowed up in one fell swoop.

Li Ji, who had ambitions to conquer the world, did not have the time to spend five or six years like Sun Ce did in the original trajectory to occupy Yangzhou.

Otherwise, wouldn't that be no different from Jiangdong Jerry?

Feeling Li Ji's confidence, Liu Bei's originally uneasy heart suddenly calmed down completely.

Shooting at random has never been Li Ji's style!

What shocked Liu Bei was that Li Ji had already been planning to take over Yangzhou before the fight against Dong Zhuo. "How did Zikun know that I would be appointed as the governor of Yangzhou after the meeting to fight against Dong Zhuo?"

Liu Bei was quite confused about this.

"That's not true..."

Li Ji smiled and then answered.

"But the fact that the Lord was appointed as the governor of Yangzhou is just icing on the cake. As long as Yangzhou is swallowed up, it doesn't matter even if the court appoints someone else as the governor of Yangzhou."

After a pause, Li Ji looked at Liu Bei, whose face was a little stiff, and spoke slowly.

"My lord, times have changed. Who is the governor of Yangzhou is not decided by the court, but by whoever swallows up Yangzhou. This is a chaotic world."

Liu Bei pondered for a while, let out a long breath, and said.

"Zikun is right. It's just that I still haven't adapted to this chaotic world."

In the prosperous times, who was the governor of Yangzhou was naturally determined by the imperial court;

But in troubled times, if Liu Bei had already swallowed up Yangzhou, and Liu Bei did not like who was the governor of Yangzhou, then the court would have to replace him with a governor that Liu Bei liked until Liu Bei was satisfied.

But after being comforted, Liu Bei's tone became a little more relaxed, and he said, "However, I never thought that Zikun had such confidence in Wenhe's ability."

Li Ji shook his head and answered in a calm and relaxed tone.

"It's not just Wenhe's ability, but also his confidence in Wujun, which has been governed by the Lord and Ji for six years."

"It seems that the lord has not yet realized that Wu County is no longer what it used to be. Even if Wen He is not here, those jackals will not be able to shake Wu County in the slightest."

"So, my lord, don't worry, just go to Yingchuan to visit the wise. Even if Wenhe makes some mistakes, it will definitely not shake the foundation of Wujun in the slightest."

After being reminded by Li Ji, Liu Bei finally understood some of the key points. He smiled awkwardly, realizing that he was too concerned and confused.

Even though Liu Bei took away 30,000 elite troops, the current foundation and military household system of Wu County could not be shaken by the other counties in Yangzhou.

At this moment, Liu Bei seemed to understand why Li Ji had put almost all his efforts into promoting the military household system before defeating Dong Zhuo.

This was to fully combine Wu County's heritage and people's hearts with the military household system, to keep wealth and soldiers among the people.

For a moment, Liu Bei not only did not feel worried, but instead felt a little sympathy for those moths that had fallen into the big net woven by Zikun early on.

Who could have imagined that half a year before the fight against Dong Zhuo, Li Ji had already begun to weave a big net for the trap set a year later?

Immediately, Liu Bei slowly and carefully sipped the hot tea that Li Ji had just poured for him, and then spoke.

"Then I'll trouble Zikun to accompany me to Yingchuan to visit the wise man."

……

at the same time.

Wu County is more than a thousand miles away from Luoyang.

The long distance meant that even though Luoyang changed horses but not people, there was still an information gap of nearly half a month.

When Liu Bei was ready to lead his army to leave Luoyang, the latest news on the battle against Dong Zhuo that reached Wujun was that the allied offensive was blocked at Hulao Pass.

However, Liu Bei and Li Ji were not in Wu County.

Now, all military and political affairs of Wu County are under the charge of Jia Xu, Gu Yong, Zhang Hong, Xiahou Bo and Mi Zhu, who supervise each other.

After the information sent back from Sili arrived in Wujun, the five people gathered in the government office to discuss.

The content of the discussion was not only the internal affairs of Wujun and Kuaijijun, but also the issue of grain transportation.

Liu Bei led his army on a long journey of thousands of miles to fight Dong Zhuo. Naturally, he could not rely on the allies for all food and logistics like the impoverished Sun Jian did. He also maintained a rather long supply line through sea vessels.

Now, as the intelligence sent back from Hulao Pass seemed to be gradually unfavorable to the Allied Forces, a dispute was also breaking out in the Wujun government office.

Zhang Hong advocated that Liu Bei withdraw his troops and return to Wujun, believing that maintaining the supply line over a long distance, even with sea transport, would consume so much energy that it would cause great damage to Wujun.
Xiahou Bo believed that Liu Bei should continue to be sent more elite troops, both to support Liu Bei's cause of defeating Dong Zhuo and to prevent any unexpected events from plunging Liu Bei into a crisis.

Besides, Gu Yong's attitude is inclined towards Zhang Hong, while Mi Zhu's is inclined towards Xiahou Bo...

Only Jia Xu played the role of peacemaker with a smile, persuading everyone to discuss the matter calmly and in a friendly manner. (End of this chapter)