Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The sky gradually brightened.

Li Ji also stayed awake all night.

This was an undoubted great victory, in which the weak defeated the Cao army.

The preliminary battle results collected and summarized by Li Ji almost all showed that this battle almost broke the backbone of Cao's army.

Cao Cao's original military force was less than 50,000. Including the 10,000 Yuan troops led by Zhu Ling, it could only be roughly counted as 60,000.

However, Li Ji had to deal with more than 8,000 corpses of Cao's army just in the battlefield outside the dense forest, not including the losses of those buried in the fire in the dense forest and those strangled by the surprise attack of the cavalry led by Zhang Fei.

In Li Ji's estimation, Cao Cao was lucky enough to be able to gather 30,000 defeated soldiers again.

Of course, Li Ji's soldiers also suffered losses.

The number of injured could not be counted at the moment, but there were more than 3,000 people who died or were seriously injured or disabled.

With a casualty ratio of nearly one to ten, it is hard not to be amazed by the result.

But when Li Ji learned from Zhang Fei that Cao Cao had escaped, he couldn't help but frown, but he also understood that Zhang Fei had done his best.

The death of Dian Wei and a bunch of Cao's generals could be considered a consolation prize.

As for the Qinggang sword handed over by Zhang Fei, Li Ji was quite curious and pulled it out towards the slowly rising sun. A strong smell of blood spread from the scabbard.

Even Li Ji, who was of average sword connoisseurship, could tell at a glance that the Qinggang Sword was extraordinary, and blurted out "good sword".

Immediately, Li Ji took a piece of cloth from Gu Wei's hand and carefully wiped the blood stains remaining on the Qinggang Sword.

After Li Ji finished wiping and sheathed the Qingguang Sword again, he said.

"It's a good sword, but it's a pity that it fell into my hands. It's no less than a pearl thrown into the dark."

After a pause, Li Ji's eyes moved, and he handed the Qinggang sword to Zhang Fei again and said.

"This sword can cut iron like mud, and it is perfect for making achievements on the battlefield. It would be a pity to leave it with me. I appreciate Yide's kindness, but since this Qinggang sword is Yide's trophy, I will keep it for use."

But Zhang Fei kept making excuses.

"I am used to using the Zhangba Snake Spear. When has the governor ever seen me use a sword on a daily basis?"

"Besides, I was able to seize the Qinggang Sword thanks to the Governor's advice. I only used brute force, so I don't dare to take credit for it. The Qinggang Sword should belong to the Governor."

Upon hearing this, Li Ji tried to persuade Zhang Fei several more times, but Zhang Fei refused again and again and tried his best to persuade Li Ji to accept it.

Even if Li Ji wanted to force the Qinggang sword back into Zhang Fei's arms, he was no match for Zhang Fei in terms of strength. Instead, Zhang Fei forced the Qinggang sword to Li Ji's waist in just a few moves.

"You...you, Yide, this will probably ruin the Qinggang Sword. What use is this sword to me?" Li Ji said unhappily.

"Hey hey hey."

Zhang Fei smiled naively and said, "As a commander-in-chief, it is an honor for the Qingguang Sword to serve as his sword and command thousands of troops."

"Besides, the governor usually uses a good sword that is commonly used in the army. If outsiders knew about this, they might think that my brother treated the governor unfairly, or that he thought that Yangzhou couldn't afford to buy a good sword for the governor to use."

After being persuaded by Zhang Fei, Li Ji no longer insisted and instead thanked Zhang Fei for his kindness.

No matter what, Li Ji was still very happy that Zhang Fei was thinking of him all the time.

Soon after dawn, when everything was confirmed, Li Ji personally wrote a battle report to Liu Bei, letting Liu Bei know the outcome of the battle. This was certainly not because Li Ji was eager to take credit for the battle, but because after the battle, Cao Cao was no longer able to catch up with the main force led by Liu Bei.

In this way, the pressure on Liu Bei would be greatly reduced, and he only needed to focus on how to break through the 30,000 Cao troops led by Cao Hong and head to Yishui.

Although Liu Bei's ability to command troops was far from comparable to that of Li Ji and Cao Cao, he had many brave generals and famous strategists around him, and he also had a clear advantage in military strength.

Therefore, as long as Liu Bei does not withstand the high pressure and make stupid moves without listening to advice, and can deal with a mere Cao Hong, Li Ji still has full confidence in Liu Bei.

However, just as the battle report written by Li Ji himself was sent out, the scouts sent out sent back an urgent report.

What the scout brought back was a letter, a secret letter that Cao Cao sent to Yuan Shu but was intercepted.

Out of caution, Li Ji ordered the military doctor to carefully check whether there was any poison in the letter, and then he took the letter and read it through it slowly.

After reading it once, Li Ji frowned slightly and handed the letter to the curious Zhang Fei for review.

In order to avoid trouble, after getting Li Ji's permission, Zhang Fei simply read out the contents of the letter.

In addition to some polite greetings, the main content of the letter is:

This shows that Cao Cao has cut off the food supply of Liu Bei's 100,000-strong army, and the two sides are fighting fiercely in Donghai County. Cao Cao said that he would do his best to stop Liu Bei from withdrawing to Xia Pi State and let Yuan Shu quickly send troops to attack Pengcheng.

After reading the contents of the letter, Zhang Fei started cursing on the spot.

"This Cao thief is so shameless. He clearly wanted to ask Yuan Shu for help, but he made such exaggerated statements, even making it seem like our army was on the verge of collapse."

Whenever discussing military strategies, Chen Dao would always change his usual silence and start talking eloquently.

"General Zhang, this is also a strategy. If Cao didn't say so, how could Yuan Shu speed up the dispatch of troops?"

After a pause, Chen Dao frowned slightly and said.

"But if Yuan Shu really believed what Cao Cao said and sent his troops faster to attack Pengcheng, it may not be possible to defend Pengcheng with only the soldiers under Lord Tao's command."

Zhang Fei said disapprovingly.

"Although Yuan Shu is not a good man, he is also quite treacherous and cunning. How could he trust a letter from Cao Cao? Besides, Cao Cao just suffered a terrible defeat, so Yuan Shu would not dare to send troops."

Chen Dao pondered for a moment and said.

"Yuan Shu is not aware of Cao Cao's disastrous defeat. On the contrary, Yuan Shu is about to receive news that the lord has led a large army north to Donghai County."

"When Cao Cao's letter reaches Yuan Shu, it is normal for Yuan Shu to believe what is said in it."

After hearing what Chen Dao said, Zhang Fei was stumped for a moment. After thinking for a while, he came up with a solution and said.

"In that case, why don't we send someone to deliver a letter to Yuan Shu, informing him of Cao's tragic defeat. This will surely intimidate Yuan Shu for a while."

Chen Dao shook his head and said.

"General Zhang, do you think Yuan Shu would trust a letter from an ally or a letter from someone he considers a threat?"

"Even if we send a letter, I'm afraid Yuan Shu will only interpret it as a plot to sow discord and delay time, which will only speed up Yuan Shu's dispatch of troops."

Zhang Fei said dissatisfiedly, "This won't work, and that won't work either. So tell me what you can do."

Chen Dao was speechless for a moment, and turned to Li Ji and said, "I will listen to the governor." (End of this chapter)