Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

While Liu Bei and Tao Qian were stabilizing the internal political situation in Xuzhou, he also entrusted the military power to Li Ji, the Grand Commander of Jingyang and Marquis of the State.

After Li Ji reorganized the army in Xuzhou, he formed a large army in Pengcheng State with 70,000 Yangzhou troops as the main force and 30,000 Xuzhou troops as the auxiliary force.

He also ordered that Xu Sheng be appointed as the chief general and Jia Xu as the military advisor in Shouchun, and that an army of 40,000 be raised.

The troops were divided into two groups, totaling 140,000 troops. They announced to the outside world that they had 200,000 troops. They raised the banner of "Northern Expedition" and prepared to march into Yuzhou.

Yuzhou is the most prosperous place in the Central Plains.

Among the states in the Central Plains, Yuzhou is not the largest in area, but it is the most densely populated state among the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty.

In the most recent household registration data of the Han Dynasty, the total population of Yuzhou was as high as 7.18 million. Taking into account the number of hidden households and unregistered illegal residents, the actual population of Yuzhou is likely to be more than 8 million.

Not only is Yingchuan County, which has cultivated a large number of famous strategists and wise men, located in Yuzhou, but also the aristocratic families including the Yuan, Chen, Xun, and Cao families who are now stirring up the Han Dynasty all come from Yuzhou.

One can imagine the weight and status of Yuzhou in the Central Plains.

Even if the 100,000-strong army led by Ji Ling was destroyed, resulting in only one-tenth of the actual available troops in Yuan Shu's hands, but as long as Yuan Shu was given a chance to catch his breath, he would shamelessly suck blood from within Yuzhou.

Relying on Yuzhou's solid foundation, Yuan Shu also has the possibility of catching his breath quickly.

It is for this reason that, even though it was almost early autumn and it was no longer a very appropriate time to use troops, Li Ji still insisted on launching a northern expedition to Yuzhou, in order to destroy Yuan Shu or completely occupy Yuzhou before winter came.

Cao Cao also had similar ideas to Li Ji!

We must gain a firm foothold in Jizhou before winter comes.

This year was undoubtedly a year of great changes. At the beginning of the year, Yuan Shao reversed the situation by defeating a strong opponent with a weak advantage in the Battle of Jie Bridge. In one fell swoop, he showed his potential to annex the two states of Lian and Ji, and to compete with Liu Bei in the north and south for hegemony over the Central Plains.

For Jizhou, the war has lasted for nearly two years without any break, and the money and grain that the rich Jizhou has accumulated for many years since the Yellow Turban Rebellion will also be exhausted.

Therefore, before the arrival of winter, it was particularly important for Cao Cao to gain a foothold in Jizhou and withstand Yuan Shao's counterattack to gain a firm foothold.

However, when the news that Li Ji had destroyed the army led by Ji Ling with the "ambush from ten sides" strategy reached Cao Cao, who had already entered Jizhou, he still felt a little dazed and regretful.

What Cao Cao regretted was that he felt that perhaps he should not have kept the fact of Yuan’s army’s withdrawal from Xuzhou a secret.

If Ji Ling had been informed of the relevant situation at an appropriate time after evacuating for a period of time, Ji Ling might not have ended up with the entire army being wiped out.

After all, in Cao Cao's opinion, the longer Ji Ling could delay Li Ji, the more intense the battle between the two sides, the better, as it would help him temporarily restrain Li Ji and turn his attention to Qingzhou.

But Cao Cao actually did not expect that Li Ji would have the ability to reproduce the "ambush from all sides" in the plain area in a very short time, completely destroying the available troops in Yuan Shu's hands.

And now, it is likely that it won’t be long before Yuzhou will fall into Liu Bei’s pocket.

Given Yuan Shu's arrogance, he would certainly fight back to the end, but with the huge disparity in military strength between the two sides, Cao Cao did not think that Yuan Shu could hold off Li Ji for long.

While Cao Cao's mind was churning with thoughts, he handed the information in his hand to Xun You, who had a foolish look on his face, and said.

"Gongda, take a look at this."

Xun You seemed to take it somewhat slowly, but his lifeless eyes became more and more brilliant and solemn as he looked at it, and finally he spoke in a more serious tone.

"As expected of a great patriot, my lord, you took advantage of Liu Bei's sending people to help Youzhou resist Yuan Shao's forces and seize Jizhou."

"Now, the Marquis of Guoshi is also taking advantage of the opportunity of our lord's concealment of the Yuan family's withdrawal to seize the opportunity to annex Yuzhou, showing his ability to take advantage of the situation."

However, Cao Cao laughed out loud and said, "Gongda is just too modest. In my opinion, Gongda is no less than Zikun. As long as he can take over Ji and Bing provinces, why can't he compete with Liu Da'er?"

"I don't deserve it, I'll do my best."

After Xun You answered, he remembered something and asked, "I wonder if the people that the lord secretly sent to Yuzhou can rescue Master Ang."

Cao Cao's expression paused slightly, then he shook his head and did not answer.

However, the results are obvious.

No matter how careless and complacent Yuan Shu was, he would still keep a close eye on Cao Ang, a hostage.

Once Yuan Shu knew about Cao Cao's "backstabbing" behavior, Cao Ang would definitely be in trouble.

Xun You knew this, and so did Cao Cao. Xun You had reminded Cao Cao of this from the very beginning, and asked Cao Cao to send spies to Yuzhou to rescue him.

Xun You also knew that it was unimaginably difficult to rescue a hostage behind enemy lines, and hope was slim from the beginning.

However, Xun You still pretended to be foolish and asked about the matter in order to clear himself of responsibility and prevent Cao Cao from secretly venting his anger on him afterwards.

"It is my fault that I will implicate Master Ang. Please punish me, my lord."

Xun You took the initiative to ask for forgiveness.

"How can you blame Gongda for the incompetence of the secret agent?"

Cao Cao hurriedly stepped forward and helped Xun You up, and said in a deep voice.

"Even if Ang'er met with an accident, he died for the great cause of the Cao family. Besides, Cao still has three sons, Pi, Zhang, and Zhi, so there is no need to worry about the lack of successors."

(PS: Cao Cao is indeed a thief. According to historical records, he had 25 sons and 6 daughters. In reality, he had even more children.)
Xun You, with a foolish look on his face, showed tears of gratitude, and there was still shame in his words.

Perhaps Xun You also understood that if he wanted to use Yuan Shu to contain Liu Bei, then Cao Ang, who was sent as an envoy to Yuan Shu to persuade him to send troops, would inevitably end up miserably.

This is a dead end that cannot be avoided.

But when it came to his ambition, Cao Cao never showed the slightest hesitation.

Even though Cao Cao did have feelings for Cao Ang, when it came to his ambition to dominate the world, no feelings could hold him back.

……

The governor's mansion in Ruyang, the capital of Yuzhou, was in chaos.

A large number of beautiful maids were trembling with fear, fearing that Yuan Shu, who was almost insane with anger, would chop them with the sword in his hand.

"Thief Cao!"

"You thief! How dare you do this..."

At this moment.

Yuan Shu might not have known that Cao Cao had headed straight for Jizhou, but he had learned the sad news that the army led by Ji Ling had been completely annihilated. Even the body of his trusted general Ji Ling was sent back by Li Ji.

In Yuan Shu's opinion, the culprit behind all this was undoubtedly Cao the thief! (End of this chapter)