Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The cotton that is now gradually blooming all over Yingzhou is the best solution for soldiers to fight against the severe winter cold.

But, it’s too late!
It only took two or three years to send cotton to Yingzhou for planting.

Although Zuo Rong did not disappoint Li Ji, when it comes to preaching, Zuo Rong is absolutely professional.

Otherwise, Zuo Rong would not have been able to deceive one Buddhist believer after another and build one Buddhist temple after another in an era when Buddhism was not popular.

Today, the Japanese Buddhism spread by Zuo Rong has been thoroughly spread in Yingzhou, with countless believers.

Even in the latest news from Yingzhou that Li Ji learned, there were countless Japanese people who had voluntarily petitioned to hollow out Mount Fuji and build a giant Buddha to worship the Buddha.

Zuo Rong had no resistance to this and secretly asked Li Ji for his consent.

After all, although Zuo Rong may be considered to have a high status in Yingzhou, his every move is actually under the surveillance and control of the Han army stationed in Yingzhou, and he has close protection when he goes in and out.

Zuo Rong also understood clearly how Li Ji conquered the entire Japan back then, and he did not dare to think of leading a million Japanese Buddhist soldiers to counterattack the Central Plains. Instead, he obediently cooperated with Li Ji in preaching.

However, when Li Ji learned that Zuo Rong had instigated his followers to hollow out Mount Fuji and build a giant Buddha, he still couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Mount Fuji is an active volcano.

And according to what Zuo Rong said, they were planning to hollow out Mount Fuji to build a 100-meter-tall Buddha that would be taller than the Leshan Giant Buddha in Li Ji's memory, so that the entire Yingzhou could be illuminated by the Buddha's light.

There is no doubt that this is a major project, and once completed, it will be a great merit.

Li Ji was not sure whether the Buddha's light would shine upon Yingzhou.

It is certain that when a volcano erupts, it will carry a large number of believers straight to the Western Paradise.

Therefore, Li Ji wrote back on the spot to reject Zuo Rong's idea.

But, Lee Ki-sun...

The kind-hearted Li Ji did not want to affect the Japanese people's freedom of belief, so he politely refused because the Japanese people had not accumulated enough merit.

When the Japanese have accumulated enough merit through mining and picking cotton, Li Ji will approve Zuo Rong to mobilize a large number of Japanese believers to build a giant Buddha on Mount Fuji.

Zuo Rong knew nothing about volcanic geography, let alone the consequences of hollowing out Mount Fuji.

Zuo Rong only knew that Mount Fuji was the sacred mountain of Yingzhou. If he built a giant Buddha with his own face there, it would be remembered forever and would surely be a great deed comparable to that of Sakyamuni.

Zuo Rong naturally interpreted Li Ji's words about accumulating merit as a test for himself, requiring Zuo Rong to make sufficient contributions to the Han Dynasty before he was allowed to build the giant Buddha.

But even though Zuo Rong was motivated by this iron pancake, growing cotton still needs to follow the basic logic of plant growth.

The past two or three years have been the period during which cotton has been widely promoted in Yingzhou. Snow-pure cotton flowers are growing everywhere in Yingzhou, carrying the Japanese people's wishes to wash away their sins.

However, there is still some distance to go before Li Ji can harvest large quantities of cotton every year as he wishes, and it also takes a process to make cotton into various warm clothing.

At least, the battle in Yuzhou could not wait for the support of cotton.

By the time Li Ji came back to his senses from the events in Yingzhou, a group of civil and military officials had discussed with each other and reached a conclusion.

"Teacher, if we want to speed up the attack, the only way now is to divide the army into three or four groups, and take turns attacking the cities along the way."

Pang Tong stood up and spoke.

"Now Yuan Shu is forcibly recruiting young and strong men in Yuzhou, but he is more than capable of defending the city, but unable to fight back."

"Besides, some young and strong men who have not been trained in military formations may be useful in defending the city. If they dare to go out of the city to fight, it would be a good thing." "But considering the teacher's great reputation, Yuan Shu, who has long been frightened, certainly would not dare to think of fighting the teacher in the field. Therefore, even if we divide the troops, the risk is extremely low."

Not all cities are as high as Xia Pi City, Shouchun City, and Pengcheng City with high walls and deep moats. The main function of most cities is to defend against attacks by bandits and wild beasts outside the city.

Even if those small cities had conscripted many young and strong men to help defend them, attacking the city with an army of 100,000 was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

Therefore, the method proposed by Pang Tong is undoubtedly a good idea.

When attacking some small cities, due to the limited area where the army can be deployed, the difference between 20,000 and 100,000 troops is not that big.

At this moment when Yuan Shu can only resist but not fight back, it is feasible to divide the troops and attack the city separately.

only……

“It’s still too slow!”

Li Ji shook his head and spoke.

"Even if we divide our forces to attack the city, if we capture one city every day, it will still take quite a while."

"In this way, the closer we get to the heart of Yuzhou, the more young and strong men Yuan Shu can forcibly recruit, and the resistance we will face later will become more and more tenacious."

"More importantly, if Yuan Shu continues to forcefully levy troops like this, all the young and strong men in Yuzhou will have to flee or be forcibly levied. This will be an extremely serious blow to the entire Yuzhou."

As Li Ji finished speaking, Zhuge Liang suddenly thought of something, stood up, and said, "Teacher, do you want to go deep into the enemy's territory alone? No, the risk is too great."

"Liang'er is quite perceptive."

Li Ji smiled, then asked Gu Wei, who was waiting outside the door, to bring in the map of Yuzhou, and then pointed at the map and spoke.

"Our army is now in Xiang County, Pei State, while Yuan Shu's seat of government is in Ruyang."

The map of Yuzhou looks like an elephant with its trunk swinging upwards, with the trunk on the northeast side bordering Yanzhou and Xuzhou. Xiang County of Pei State where Li Ji is now is roughly located at the mouth of the elephant.

Yuan Shu's seat of government, Ruyang, was located near the belly of the hind leg, more than 500 miles away from Xiang County of Pei State, and even close to 600 miles away.

"At this distance, even if we divide our forces and attack the cities one by one, it will probably take at least two months to reach Ruyang."

Li Ji said this with a slightly helpless tone.

This is undoubtedly the first "tough battle" that Li Ji has faced so far.

This "hard battle" refers to the need to capture and occupy a state bit by bit, rather than the previous tricky method of controlling the two states of Jing and Yang.

Of course, to others this was already a terrifying speed.

In history, Liu Bei's attack on Yizhou was quite smooth from beginning to end, but it still took three years.

It took Sun Ce five full years to unify Jiangdong.

It was for this reason that Chen Gong was so surprised and shocked by Li Ji's swift and rapid swallowing of Jing and Yang states that he even messed up his strategy.

Cao Cao became unbalanced because Tao Qian offered Xuzhou to Liu Bei with both hands.

Yuan Shu was determined to fight Li Ji to the death, even if Li Ji had severely damaged the Yuzhou troops in advance. It was still a tough nut to crack. (End of this chapter)