Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Li Ji's gaze flickered, and he agreed almost without hesitation.

Or rather, to have Liu Yu take the initiative to invite him was precisely Li Ji's goal.

Contrary to the image of weakness and conservatism that Gongsun Zan portrayed, Li Ji found Liu Yu to be every bit the gentleman as rumored upon initial contact.

So much so that even after Li Ji deliberately revealed that he commanded 30,000 troops, Liu Yu, who was in dire need of manpower, managed to refrain from actively requesting reinforcements.

Clearly, Liu Yu knew that borrowing troops would be a significant disadvantage to Wu Commandery, so he stubbornly avoided mentioning it.

It wasn't until Li Ji proactively provided Liu Yu with an excuse, allowing Liu Yu to bestow favor upon Li Ji, that Liu Yu convinced himself to make a decision.

Subsequently, Liu Yu led Li Ji into a room that was clearly used for handling daily affairs before speaking.

"Mr. Zikun, to be honest, the situation in You Province is currently perilous! Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju have colluded with the Wuhuan in rebellion, and decrees from Guangyang Commandery eastward are difficult to enforce. Moreover, according to scouts, over ten thousand Wuhuan cavalry are gathering within Yuyang Commandery, poised to capture Yuyang City."

Li Ji's face displayed an expression of great shock, which then turned into anger as he slammed his palm on the desk, exclaiming in a furious voice.

"The Wuhuan barbarians dare to do this?"

After a pause, Li Ji seemed to realize his behavior and quickly cupped his fist towards Liu Yu, saying, "Ji did not intend to lose his composure before you, Your Excellency. Please forgive me."

"It's alright."

Liu Yu looked at Li Ji with a hint of appreciation in his eyes before saying.

"Once the Wuhuan capture Yuyang City, the next target will undoubtedly be Ji City. If Ji City falls, then the entire You Province will be completely lost. Therefore, I wish to shamelessly borrow 10,000 troops from Mr. Zikun."

Upon hearing this, a look of hesitation and doubt appeared on Li Ji's face before he said.

"Ji has a question, which is that Your Excellency Liu still controls the four commanderies of Dai, Shanggu, Zhuo, and Guangyang. If you were to fully conscript troops and call upon the young men to fight the enemy, with the heroic spirit of the men of You and Yan, I would imagine that recruiting tens of thousands of soldiers in a very short time would not be difficult."

To this, Liu Yu shook his head and said.

"Mr. Zikun only knows one thing but not the other. Among the remaining four commanderies, Zhuo Commandery alone has a population of nearly 700,000, which is more than the combined population of the other three commanderies. Moreover, the combined population of Dai and Shanggu Commanderies barely reaches 200,000, and Guangyang Commandery has a population of less than 300,000."

"If we were to conscript troops, we could only do so from Zhuo Commandery."

"However, when the former Administrator of Zhuo Commandery, Liu Yan, left office, the treasury and granaries were completely emptied. Even though there is still a large amount of grain in Ji City, there is a severe shortage of weapons and armor."

… …

Li Ji.

In an instant, Li Ji was somewhat stunned.

How Liu Yan emptied the treasury and granaries was something Li Ji knew very well.

Part of it was that a large number of weapons and armor were given to Liu Bei during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and part of it was clearly that Liu Yan had privately sold or taken them away.

And You Province, with Zhuo Commandery being the southernmost and wealthiest, also had the largest population in You Province.

Among the four commanderies of You Province that Liu Yu still controlled, Zhuo Commandery accounted for the majority of the population. With the Zhuo Commandery treasury empty, even if Liu Yu wanted to conscript the young men of You Province on a large scale, he probably wouldn't have enough weapons and armor to equip the soldiers.

Given Liu Yu's character, how could he be willing to watch those young men fight the Wuhuan with only their flesh and blood if he couldn't even equip the soldiers with weapons and armor?

And Li Ji suddenly realized the problem that had been subjectively overlooked in the previous simulations, and that even though 200,000 men of You and Yan had formed an encirclement against the Wuhuan cavalry, the number of casualties was still far greater than that of the Wuhuan cavalry.

That was because the 200,000 men of You and Yan in the simulation probably didn't have many who were truly armed and armored!

And perhaps only in a state where emotions were completely discarded during the simulation would Li Ji truly treat those fine men of You and Yan as flesh-and-blood shields to be thrown in.

The current reality was that You Province was far short of weapons and armor, and even if the treasuries of the remaining four commanderies were emptied, probably not many new troops could be equipped.

For a moment, Li Ji completely understood the difficulties that Liu Yu faced.

Having been in office for less than a year, before Liu Yu could slowly take control of the military and political affairs of You Province.

The Wuhuan began a large-scale rebellion. Internally, there were generals led by Gongsun Zan with differing ideologies, and in the urgency of the situation, it was suddenly discovered that the treasury and granary of Zhuo Commandery, the most vital part of You Province, were empty.

With all of this combined, how could Liu Yu see any hope of winning a battle against the Wuhuan? Naturally, he could only choose to concentrate his forces and defend Ji City.

"I wonder how Your Excellency plans to resist the Wuhuan at this moment?" Li Ji asked.

Liu Yu sighed and said helplessly.

"Besides defending Ji City, the only other option is to send envoys to appease and persuade the Wuhuan to voluntarily withdraw their troops. As long as Ji City is guaranteed to be safe, the Wuhuan will only be able to temporarily retreat back to the grasslands when winter comes."

"By next year, when I have made all the preparations, it will not be so easy for the Wuhuan to plunder Han territory again."

Winter?!

Upon hearing this, Li Ji's expression couldn't help but twitch slightly.

It was only the beginning of May, and there were still six months until winter.

With a little calculation, the time that Yuyang City and Ji City could delay the Wuhuan was less than two months, which meant that Liu Yu was prepared to allow the Wuhuan to wreak havoc and plunder Han territory for four months.

"Your Excellency, solely defending Ji City will surely cause countless Han people to suffer," Li Ji cautiously advised.

"How could I not know this?"

Liu Yu said helplessly.

"But there are nearly 200,000 people within Ji City, and a large amount of money and grain is stored there to support the Han army on the borders of Dai and Shanggu Commanderies. Once Ji City is captured, then the entire You Province will be completely lost to the Wuhuan."

"I dare not gamble, nor can I gamble!"

A look of struggle filled Liu Yu's face as he said, word by word.

"I also cannot abandon the safety of the 200,000 people before my eyes to try to save perhaps even more people."

"What I can do is to protect Ji City and order the people of the various commanderies of You Province to enter the city as much as possible to avoid the Wuhuan's plundering. With the protection of the city walls and the unity of the military and civilians, I believe that the Wuhuan will not easily break through the city, nor will they waste a lot of time attacking the cities one by one."

"It's just that, by doing so, I will inevitably fail those people who cannot enter the city to avoid the Wuhuan. I am also ashamed of His Majesty's and the imperial court's trust, as I have failed to protect You Province for the Han Dynasty, preventing it from suffering harm from foreign tribes."

By the end, Liu Yu's slightly cloudy eyes were filled with tears, full of shame.

These heartfelt words greatly moved Li Ji.

The people of the Liu family are either extremely cunning and treacherous, or extremely emotional and sincere…

The Liu Yu before him was undoubtedly a person similar to Liu Bei in his benevolent nature.

Now, after carefully understanding the situation, Li Ji could honestly say, had Liu Yu done wrong? And had Gongsun Zan done wrong?

Neither had.

The ideologies of Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan undoubtedly represented the choices of the conservative and radical factions, vividly portrayed.

What Liu Yu thought about was how to preserve You Province and as many people as possible;

What Gongsun Zan thought about was that he would rather perish together with the Wuhuan than be willing to survive under the Wuhuan's iron hooves.

As the Governor of You Province, Liu Yu needed to consider more, while Gongsun Zan, as a general, was undoubtedly more pure.

Immediately, Liu Yu wiped away his tears with the corner of his robe and said.

"I have embarrassed myself before Mr. Zikun. The current situation in You Province is indeed not optimistic. I have tried my best to urgently mobilize over 30,000 soldiers to arrive at Ji City, and although I am determined to coexist with Ji City, I am worried about the disparity in strength between the two sides."

"Therefore, what I wish to discuss with Mr. Zikun is whether Mr. Zikun can lend me a portion of his troops? And I promise that I will not use the troops of Wu Commandery until an emergency, and will try my best to preserve these troops for Xuande."

"As for the grain and the grain storage land promised to Zikun earlier, I can immediately provide the grain, but the grain storage land will need to wait until the Wuhuan retreat before You Province can have a truly secure place."

In the end, Liu Yu looked at Li Ji with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Although Liu Yu, as the Governor of You Province, was far above Li Ji in status, Liu Yu was originally a gentleman who did not bully others with his power. Moreover, Li Ji was the Prefect of Wu Commandery and was not under Liu Yu's jurisdiction.

Furthermore, Liu Yu had also heard about the affairs of Yingzhou, knowing that Li Ji was sent to Yingzhou to investigate the affairs of the Wa Kingdom on Liu Bei's orders.

In Liu Yu's view, it would be demanding for Li Ji to temporarily abandon Liu Bei's orders for the sake of the people and righteousness, and instead lend troops to You Province.

Therefore, Liu Yu had even prepared himself to be politely rejected by Li Ji.

However, what Liu Yu did not expect was that Li Ji cupped his fist and bowed, saying. "Your Excellency Liu's heart of protecting the country and the people is deeply admired by Ji. I am willing to lead 30,000 troops to fully assist You Province in resisting the Wuhuan."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yu was stunned, first overjoyed, and then somewhat worried as he said.

"Mr. Zikun is going to Yingzhou on military orders. If all 30,000 troops are used to help me resist the Wuhuan, wouldn't that force Mr. Zikun to violate Xuande's orders? That would instead harm Mr. Zikun."

After a pause, Liu Yu continued.

"Mr. Zikun only needs to lend me 10,000 troops, and I will already be extremely grateful."

Li Ji smiled and said seriously.

"Land may be divided into north and south, but how can Han people be divided into north and south? Moreover, with the rise and fall of the world, every person is responsible. My lord and I are both Han people, and if the Wuhuan barbarians dare to plunder Han territory, then regardless of who it is, they have the responsibility to kill the barbarians."

"On the contrary, if I ignore the Wuhuan and flee far away, I will definitely be severely reprimanded and punished by my lord afterwards."

These words caused Liu Yu's heart to surge.

Especially the phrase "With the rise and fall of the world, every person is responsible," which made Liu Yu unable to help but greatly admire it.

"Excellent, excellent! Mr. Zikun is young but possesses great wisdom, truly a blessing for the Great Han. I, this old man, hereby thank Mr. Zikun for his righteousness on behalf of the million people of You Province."

"Ji is merely following the teachings of our lord and doing what should be done, unworthy of such praise," Li Ji demurred.

Overjoyed, Liu Yu continued to praise him.

"Seeing Mr. Zikun, one understands Xuande's benevolence. If Mr. Zikun is already like this, it's evident that Xuande must also be as benevolent, virtuous, loyal, and righteous as the rumors say."

To this, Li Ji could only continue to decline, and then requested.

"Ji also has some understanding of military strategy and tactics, so I wonder if Governor Liu would allow me to participate in military planning and review relevant records about the Wuhuan? Perhaps I can find some strategies to counter the enemy."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yu answered almost without hesitation.

"Mr. Zikun is too modest. I often hear Lu Zigan praising your talents. To have Mr. Zikun's assistance, I can only say that it is something I've been longing for."

"If it weren't necessary to consider Xuande's thoughts, I would have liked to let Zikun be the Associate Governor of You Province right now."

(End of this chapter)