Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Anyone who has actually experienced marching and fighting will understand that the larger the size of the army, the slower the marching efficiency and speed.

If the road is flat and the weather is good, the march will not be as slow as a turtle.

It can be estimated that there are nearly 140,000 allied troops gathered in Liyang, and the quality of these 140,000 soldiers is mixed.

The official roads in Danyang County were almost all in disrepair. In addition, Jiangdong had a well-developed water network, so most people went to Wu County by water.

This also resulted in the land area where Danyang County and Wu County met becoming almost like a wilderness.

Liyang may be less than a hundred miles away from Yangxian, but if one were to bypass Yangxian by land and attack Qu'a or Wucheng, the distance would almost triple, and the march would be as difficult as crossing mountains and ridges.

Even without considering logistics and food, it would take a month for an army of more than 100,000 to travel by land from Liyang to Qu'a or Wucheng.

For the allied forces fighting against Wu, who needed to capture Wujun as quickly as possible before Liu Bei led his troops to rescue Wujun, choosing Qu'a or Wucheng as the direction of attack was tantamount to seeking death.

Therefore, from the suggestion made by Xu Gong, Zhou Xin almost saw through Xu Gong's true intentions at a glance.

Perhaps as a member of the Xu family of Runan, Xu Gong read a lot of military books since he was a child, but it was obvious that his ability was limited to talking about military affairs on paper, and he probably had no real experience in leading troops.

Zhou Ang, who was also well versed in military strategy, saw through Xu Gong's stupidity and couldn't help but laugh out loud on the spot.

How could Xu Gong not sense the contempt in Zhou Ang's laughter? He narrowed his eyes and said, "I wonder why Lord Zhou is laughing?"

Zhou Ang, who was already quite disdainful of Xu Gong's occupation of the position of alliance leader, immediately wanted to point out Xu Gong's ignorance in public, but Zhou Xin answered first.

"My brother may be laughing because the allied forces are already strong and our Zhou family will be avenged."

Xu Gong glanced at Zhou Xin and Zhou Ang, and then said with a smile.

"Don't worry, I will do my best to help you two get revenge."

"Then thank you, Lord."

Zhou Xin responded with a look of gratitude, then turned the topic back to the march and said.

"Just now, the leader suggested that we bypass Yangxian and attack Wucheng and Qu'a, which is an option. But now our army has the advantage in manpower, so why should we take a detour?"

"Moreover, this expedition to Wujun is intended to break the foundation of the traitor Liu Bei in Wujun with thunderous force. Otherwise, when the traitor Liu Bei returns to lead the army to aid Wujun and regain a foothold, the victory or defeat will be even more uncertain."

After these words were spoken, the faces of many people in the tent, who had originally been relaxed and happy, became a little more solemn.

Liu Bei had been the governor of Wujun for about six years and had a solid foundation. More importantly, in addition to the national hero Li Ji, he also had famous warriors such as Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei under his command. Who would not be afraid of their names?

Therefore, if Liu Bei had not taken Li Ji, Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei and other civil and military officials on a long journey to fight Dong Zhuo, and the defense map had not fallen into the hands of the Yangzhou family, and the improved paper and printing technology had not appeared, they would have finally put the Yangzhou family under pressure.

The vast majority of Yangzhou noble families definitely did not have the courage to conquer Wu County.

"Lord Zhou is right. Speed ​​is the key to deploying troops this time. We must capture Wujun before the traitor Liu Bei can come back to help."

"We should attack Yangxian! Even if the losses are a little greater, it doesn't matter. This is not the time to haggle..."

"You don't have to worry. Previously, Wu Jun Li Ji felt that Wu Jun had a strong army and could rest easy. He also felt that it was difficult to sustain a large number of soldiers and horses. Therefore, he imitated the method of garrisoning on the border and cultivated land, and implemented the so-called 'military household system', which caused the military strength of Wu Jun to decrease a lot."

"I have also heard of this. The 'military household system' is to dismiss soldiers and make them military households again. In fact, they are no different from civilians and need to cultivate the land. Otherwise, there would definitely not be less than 20,000 soldiers and horses left in Wu County."

"This is undoubtedly a great joyous event for our army. Even if the officials of Wu County quickly call up and dismiss the soldiers again, how many of them would be willing to become a soldier with heads hanging on their waists again?"

……

Obviously, as they both belonged to the Jiangdong region, it was impossible for the implementation of the "military household system" in Wujun and Kuaiji counties to be completely concealed from the Jiangdong families.

In the eyes of the Jiangdong aristocratic families, the "military household system" was superficially similar to the method of garrisoning border areas and cultivating land that had appeared many times during the Qin and Han dynasties, both of which allowed soldiers to engage in farming to alleviate food pressure.

(PS: The military farming system was not invented by Cao Cao. It can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty when Meng Tian had already implemented military farming. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty also implemented the military farming system.

However, before Cao Cao, people were stationed on the borders and cultivated land to stabilize the borders and alleviate the pressure on military food.

Cao Cao was probably the first person to implement the military farming system as a national policy, forcing a large number of civilians to farm on a large scale in the Central Plains.)
In particular, the "military household system" initially promoted by Li Ji directly included some soldiers and young and strong civilians as "military households."

Except for a very small number of people, almost everyone, judging from the appearance of the "military household system", believed that Li Ji's move was to ease the pressure of military food consumed by the many years of expedition to Yingzhou.

Listening to the discussion of the aristocratic families, Xu Gong really didn't understand the so-called "military household system" in Wujun, and asked with a frown.

"Military household system? Is it possible for Wujun to quickly draw a large number of elite troops from those military households?"

"Hahaha……"

This time, Zhou Ang couldn't hold back his laughter, and then he said, "It seems that the leader doesn't know much about military affairs. How many soldiers are willing to join the army? Moreover, those so-called military households cultivate the land every day, do they know how to fight? Are they going to imitate the Yellow Turbans and carry farm tools to the battlefield?"

The other representatives of the noble families looked at Xu Gong with a bit more mockery in their eyes, thinking that what Xu Gong said was really ridiculous and even completely irrational.

If there had not been the phrase "Why not eat meat porridge" at that moment, someone might have secretly ridiculed Xu Gong for saying this.

Seeing that Xu Gong's face visibly darkened due to being mocked, Zhou Xin quickly spoke up to smooth things over, and then Xu Gong briefly explained what the military household system was.

In fact, the Jiangdong aristocratic families had never really worried about whether the soldiers who had been dismissed as military households under the military household system could be recruited again.

Even though the Han people were martial, the status of soldiers was still quite low.

Except for some heroes who have great ambitions and want to fight for a way out in the army, almost all soldiers voluntarily join the army because they can't survive, so they join the army and work hard to eat military rations.

Of course, most soldiers did not join the army voluntarily.

If there is a choice, with fields and houses, even a beautiful wife and a big fat baby, who would be willing to tie his head to his waist and fight on the battlefield?

Xu Gong lost face in public and was very unhappy, but he managed to maintain his composure on the surface and decided on the strategy of attacking Yangxian, which was strongly advocated by Zhou Xin and also supported by many noble families.

In the eyes of the anti-Wu coalition, the first battle is the decisive battle!
Perhaps Wujun would also concentrate its forces in Yangxian, but as long as Yangxian was captured in one fell swoop, it would be possible to occupy Taihu Lake and thus bring the entire northern part of Wujun within the range of attack.

In addition, with the military rations transported by water from Taihu Lake and Lishui, the problem of food supply can be fully guaranteed.

According to the estimates of the anti-Wu coalition, even if Wu County forcibly recruited young and strong men during this period, the number of troops that Yangxian could concentrate should be around 30,000.

The advantages are obvious!

The only question was how long it would take to capture Yangxian and then capture Wujun before Liu Bei could return to provide assistance.

……

By the time the subsequent soldiers, money, food, and military supplies of the anti-Wu coalition army arrived in Liyang one after another, Wu County had already entered a state of complete martial law.

Especially the noble families in Wu County, almost all of them were suspected of treason and were forbidden to go out, and those who violated the rules would be executed!
At this moment, not to mention the Wujun aristocratic families, even Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong were at a loss.

Zhang Zhao, who prided himself on his secretiveness, had just learned that the four counties of Yangzhou had begun to form an alliance.

But before Zhang Zhao could further confirm the news, he took the initiative to convene a meeting of Wujun officials to seize military power to resist foreign enemies.

As a result, he himself was accused of treason and imprisoned in his mansion.

It was not until this moment that Zhang Zhao felt as if there was an invisible net always hanging over the Wujun family's head, and even his every move seemed to have become a chess piece in the hands of others.

'We were on the chessboard from the beginning?!'

But by the time Zhang Zhao realized this, it was already too late.

Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, who claimed to be powerful figures in Wu County, were cut off from the outside world by the soldiers. Even if they had all their plans, they could not carry them out.

As for Li Ji, he had always allowed the aristocratic families represented by Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong to jump up and down and fight for power.

In addition to the fact that Wu County lacked talent at the time and the support of the aristocratic families was conducive to stabilizing the rule, it was also prepared for this moment.

It is easy to deal with one or two aristocratic families.

However, if one wants to deal with the entire Jiangdong family without causing backlash and hostility from the Eastern Han family group, then one needs an impeccable opportunity and excuse.

Aristocratic families are an important and cannot be ignored group in this era.

Dismembering or transforming the aristocratic family group is tantamount to carrying out a huge change.

Change is undoubtedly extremely dangerous, and it can be overturned if you are not careful.

Therefore, Li Ji has always been indulgent to the Jiangdong family to a certain extent in order to paralyze the Jiangdong family and give them a little hope that they can have a piece of the cake they want.

The essence of aristocratic families is also the pursuit of interests.

Land, fame, power...

These are the interests that the aristocratic families need and are also the foundation of the aristocratic families.

When these noble families, who had been hanging on for many years with slim hopes, suddenly looked back and realized that once Liu Bei's group dominated Jiangdong, it would further undermine the foundation of the noble families. (End of this chapter)