Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Not every prince was as well-funded by Li Ji as Liu Bei. In troubled times, military service was not only not compulsory, but the pay was even far more than that during the heyday of the Han Dynasty.

It was not obvious in the newly settled Jingzhou area, but it was within the Yangzhou area, especially in Wu County.

The value and status of military households have been significantly improved. Many farmers with enough young and strong people in their families are now scrambling to get a place as a military household.

This trend, which originated from the system, would inevitably spread to other states and counties with Wujun as the core and Yangzhou as the center as Liu Bei's rule prolonged.

In other words, Li Ji did not want to engage in excessive military expansion, but was more worried about creating an environment even crazier than that of the Qin Dynasty during the Warring States Period, so as to avoid a situation where he only increased the number of troops while other industries were in recession.

Otherwise, the ratio of population to military force in Yangzhou would definitely be incredible to the other princes.

But Yuan Shu was not Liu Bei, and he did not have capable ministers under his command who could give him money and food crazily. When Yuan Shu was short of soldiers, the method he adopted was simple and crude forced conscription.

The fact that Yuan Shu was able to recover his military strength so quickly was also related to the fact that he had severely squeezed the troops in Nanyang County.

Therefore, once Pengcheng fell, in addition to the spread of war that would affect a large number of people in the hinterland of Xuzhou, plundering of the population and forced conscription of young and strong people would also be inevitable.

By then, Xuzhou would be almost destroyed.

This was unacceptable to Liu Bei and Li Ji, whose goal was long-term stability.

This time, Liu Bei was also easily persuaded by Li Ji and replied with a sigh.

"In the face of justice, personal preferences and grudges are indeed insignificant."

After a pause, Liu Bei continued, "Zikun, are you really going to ignore Cao Cao? If he attacks us again after our army returns to Pengcheng, it will be troublesome."

Li Ji, who had already prepared a plan, answered.

"We can't ignore Cao Cao, but we only need to send a small army to guard against him from a distance and drive him away from Xuzhou."

"In this way, even if Cao's army makes any unusual movements, a small army will be enough to contain them for a while, making Cao Cao feel uncomfortable."

After all, Li Ji was still taking advantage of the fact that Cao Cao had no cavalry and that the terrain of Xuzhou was almost all plains.

As long as there were two or three thousand cavalrymen in this detachment who were scattered and monitored Cao's army from a distance, it would be enough to make Cao Cao helpless.

"That's all it can do."

Liu Bei nodded, understanding that this was the best method at the moment.

Afterwards, after a little thought, Liu Bei's eyes fell on Sun Ce, who had been recommended by Li Ji before. He decided to let Sun Ce and Zhou Yu lead 20,000 troops to guard against Cao's army and recapture the passes of Xuzhou city along the way.

This detachment had only one main purpose, which was to guard against a surprise attack from Cao Cao.

With 3,000 cavalrymen acting as eyes and ears for this small detachment of the army, it was enough for Sun Ce and Zhou Yu to keep a close eye on Cao's army.

Moreover, even if Cao Cao made any unusual moves, he could be restrained for a long time and send people to warn Liu Bei.

Sun Ce was naturally very happy about this arrangement, and Zhou Yu, who had been playing badly, was also visibly cheered up.

After the military meeting, he ordered all troops to quickly regroup and return to Pengcheng for support. Among them, he ordered Zhang Fei to lead 4,000 cavalry to Pengcheng for support and to make Liu Bei's attitude clear to Zang Ba.

Li Ji found an empty tent and was about to take a rest to relieve the fatigue from riding so fast all the way.

After hesitating for a while outside the tent, Wei Yan finally walked over under Xu Chu's wary gaze and said.

"I have something to ask the governor, please let General Xu know."

Xu Chu refused mercilessly. "The Marquis has ordered that no one should be disturbed for the next hour unless the lord himself comes."

This made Wei Yan's face look a little unhappy.

In Wei Yan's view, Xu Chu was just a mountain hunter who was somewhat brave. However, he was valued by his lord and appreciated by the marquis, so he was kept by the marquis as a personal bodyguard.

Wei Yansu looked down on such a reckless man who was only brave but had no military strategy. Such a reckless man's position was entirely due to the favor of his superiors, and he had no military merit or achievements to speak of. However, Wei Yan did not dare to act recklessly outside Li Ji's tent. He was very unhappy in his heart, and could only answer.

"In that case, I will wait for a while."

Xu Chu said in a deep voice, "Please step back five steps."

"you……"

Just when Wei Yan couldn't help but get angry, Li Ji's voice rang out from inside the tent.

"Zhongkang, let General Wei in."

"Yes."

Xu Chu responded.

Wei Yan snorted coldly, but felt a little happy in his heart, thinking that the Marquis really valued him more. He was about to stride into the tent.

Xu Chu reached out again to stop Wei Yan.

"Why are you stopping me again?" Wei Yan asked.

"Unload your weapons."

Xu Chu replied.

Upon hearing this, Wei Yan did not dare to be presumptuous. He took off the sword at his waist and handed it to Xu Chu, then lifted the curtain and walked in.

It was not dark inside the tent. After Wei Yan walked in, he quickly bowed and saluted Li Ji.

"I pay my respects to you, Lord Marquis."

Li Ji lowered his head to wipe the Qingguang sword and asked without raising his head. "General Wenchang, why are you here at this time instead of organizing the army to set off?"

"I just want to report to you, my lord, about my trip to Tan County. Please point out any omissions."

Facing Li Ji, Wei Yan's attitude was respectful and cautious, and he kept himself very humble, making it impossible for people to find any fault with him.

However, Li Ji understood Wei Yan's thoughts very well.

Wei Yan was afraid that his failure in capturing Tan County would make Li Ji suspect his ability, so while he came here to explain himself, he also wanted to make it clear that his every move was in accordance with Li Ji's orders.

Remind Li Ji not to be partial to others and let them lead the team without giving himself any chance.

Li Ji, who understood Wei Yan's thoughts, felt somewhat helpless at this moment.

In addition to Wei Yan's utilitarianism being the main factor, the more important thing was that Li Ji's status was increasing, and the only person Wei Yan could hold on to under Liu Bei was Li Ji.

Immediately, Li Ji placed the Qinggang sword heavily on the table in front of him.

With a "dong" sound, Wei Yan suddenly felt a little pressured. He lowered his head slightly and did not dare to look directly at Li Ji.

Li Ji looked at Wei Yan and said, "Let's not talk about Tan County for now. I just have something to ask you."

"Yan, I dare not hide anything." Wei Yan replied quickly.

"If you replace Sun Bofu, what will you do?" Li Ji asked.

This question cheered up Wei Yan. After thinking quickly, he answered loudly.

"If Cao Cao returns to Xuzhou with a treacherous heart, you should reject him; but if Cao Cao shows a flaw, you should swallow him up." (End of this chapter)