Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

In Li Ji's opinion, this is undoubtedly the best choice to go with the flow at the moment.

What’s wrong with the two Yuans joining forces?

The two Yuans temporarily united under external pressure, but as their power grew, internal chaos was inevitable. Moreover, Li Ji had once settled in Youzhou to hinder Yuan Shao's growth, so he was not a threat at all.

On the contrary, it is appropriate to take advantage of the situation at this moment and try to seize Xuzhou while the two Yuans are busy taking Yanzhou and have no time to take care of Xuzhou. The significance of this to Liu Bei's group would be unimaginable.

The importance of Xuzhou almost determines that whoever controls Xuzhou will be qualified to compete for the Central Plains.

Even the later president started his Northern Expedition from Xuzhou, and the Chinese Begonia Leaf was thus unified.

They would rather send out 800,000 troops and give up all their advantages than give up Xuzhou, which shows how important Xuzhou is.

Therefore, Li Ji looked at Liu Bei with burning eyes, waiting for Liu Bei's reaction.

However, after a moment of daze, Liu Bei waved his hand, turned his back to Li Ji, stretched out his hand and patted the pillar on the side, saying.

"No! Absolutely not! I can agree to everything else, Zikun, but this is absolutely not allowed."

"My lord, this opportunity cannot be missed. Xuzhou can only be defended in Tao Gongzu's hands, but once Xuzhou is acquired by you, it will be a matter of time before you conquer the Central Plains."

Li Ji blurted out his persuasion.

But Liu Bei gritted his teeth.

"I have known Tao Gongzu for many years. We have always supported each other and our correspondence has never ceased."

"Although Tao Gongzu is old and frail, and can hardly do anything, he still has the heart of a Han minister and has repeatedly helped me and helped me to support the Han Dynasty. How could I do such a treacherous thing?"

This question seemed to be questioning Li Ji, but it was more like Liu Bei questioning himself.

"I have always been a benevolent person. Now that I am attacking Xuzhou, even if Zikun has a brilliant plan that can convince the world, I know that I have betrayed my loyalty. How can I face the world?"

"Not right! Not allowed! Not allowed!"

Li Ji knew that Liu Bei would oppose this, but he still couldn't help but persuade him.

"It is only a small honor to keep the alliance for a while. It is a great honor to pacify the troubled times and support the Han Dynasty. My lord, why do you abandon the great honor for the small honor?"

"If the lord feels guilty towards Tao Gongzu, and does not harm the lives of Tao Gongzu and his son, he can also grant them wealth and honor for several generations."

"Besides, Xuzhou is in a strategic location. I'm afraid Tao Gongzu is unable to defend it. If you don't take it today, it will be taken by others tomorrow. Please think twice."

Liu Bei always believed in Li Ji's advice, so even though he resisted in his heart, he still took a few deep breaths, thought it over, and then answered.

“I once said: Do not refrain from doing good deeds because they are small, and do not do bad deeds because they are small.”

"If I can convince myself to give up small righteousness and take Xuzhou today, I can convince myself to give up great righteousness and harm the people of the world someday."

"This step, I will never retreat."

"Even if there is no suitable opportunity to march north to the Central Plains, we would rather wait and never take Xuzhou."

Liu Bei's answer did not surprise Li Ji.

There was no sign of frustration on Li Ji's face, and he couldn't help but smile.

Liu Xuande is still Liu Xuande. "Since the Lord has made up his mind, I will not persuade him any more. Please allow me to think about the strategy of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains." Li Ji replied with a bow.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei suddenly came to his senses, turned around, held Li Ji's hands, and began to apologize.

"I know that Zikun's heart is to support the Han Dynasty, but I really don't want to do anything treacherous and ruin Zikun's brilliant plan. I hope Zikun won't blame me."

At the end of his speech, Liu Bei's face was full of shame.

Liu Bei knew very well that what Li Ji said made sense. As long as he occupied Xuzhou while the various princes were too busy to take care of it, and with the two states of Jing and Yang as his foundation, it would only take a day for him to conquer the Central Plains.

However, Liu Bei was unwilling to do anything treacherous.

If the two armies were facing each other, no matter how cunning and treacherous the enemy was, Liu Bei would have a clear conscience.

However, Liu Bei felt guilty for stabbing his good friend Tao Gongzu in the back.

Li Ji naturally would not mind such a small matter. After discussing with Liu Bei for a while, he finally decided to send a message to Guan Yu, asking Guan Yu to be prepared for any changes in Nanyang at any time.

Now Nanyang County is almost completely controlled by Yuan Shu, with only the city of Xinye belonging to Liu Bei.

In addition, Huang Zu of Wancheng was afraid that he would be harmed by Sun Ce if he surrendered to Liu Bei, but he did not want to surrender to Yuan Shu and bear the name of betraying his old master, so he maintained his independence in the cracks.

However, once Yuan Shu decided to cede Nanyang to Lu Bu, Nanyang would inevitably fall into chaos for a period of time during the handover between the two sides.

During this period, it was undoubtedly the best time for Guan Yu to take advantage of the opportunity to send troops to retake the Nanyang area adjacent to Xiangyang.

In this way, even if there is a war with Lu Bu in the future, there will be enough buffer for Xiangyang, so that Lu Bu's Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry will not reach Xiangyang directly in an instant.

In addition, Liu Bei also ordered a large-scale mobilization of troops and garrisoned in Shouchun to intimidate Yuan Shu and scare him as much as possible so that he would not dare to move troops to attack Yanzhou.

After Li Ji and Liu Bei had a preliminary discussion on all military affairs, they began to arrange troop movements while continuing to pay attention to changes in the situation in the Central Plains.

A piece of information that was not taken seriously by the Jinyisi but which Li Ji could not help but ponder secretly was delivered to the desk.

[When Cao Cao launched an uprising to attack Dong Zhuo, Cao Song, the former Grand Commandant of Langya State, had moved his family to Xuzhou for fear of being retaliated by Dong Zhuo. At the invitation of Cao Cao, he was preparing to move his family to Qingzhou.]

Cao Song?!
Li Ji was naturally familiar with this name.

The former Grand Commandant Cao Song was a corrupt official. He obtained this position of the Three Highest Officials by following the path of the Ten Eunuchs and donating 100 million yuan, and he was dismissed after only five months in office.

(PS: It is one hundred million, that’s right. This is how it is recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biographies of Eunuchs.)
What's more important is that after seeing this information, Li Ji almost instantly came up with the idea of ​​handing this information to Jia Xu and asking Jia Xu to find a way to get rid of Cao Song in Xuzhou.

At that time, if Cao Cao launched an attack on Xuzhou out of anger, wouldn’t Liu Bei have an excuse to enter Xuzhou openly?
But after estimating the time, Li Ji sighed and gave up the idea.

It was not because he was kind-hearted, but it would not take Cao Song long to move, and Langya State and Qingzhou were adjacent to each other, so he did not even need to pass through Taishan County.

It took a lot of time for the intelligence to be transmitted back to Shouchun. Even if Jia Xu was asked to get rid of Cao Song, it was too late to take action in Xuzhou and then put the blame on Tao Qian.

However, after Li Ji looked through the information about Cao Song's move, he found that the money and belongings he was carrying were as numerous as nearly a hundred carts, and he even had many beautiful maids serving him along the way.

"I'm afraid Cao Song has only just made his full bet on Cao Cao, and his family background is really rich. I really don't know how he managed to get so much money back then..."

"But if this money falls into Cao Cao's hands, it will probably help Cao Cao solve his urgent problem."

Li Ji said to himself. (End of this chapter)