Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Chapter 32: White Robe Returns Home

Afterward, the exhausted Liu Bei left Xiahou Bo with Li Ji to inquire about the details of the Jizhou battlefield, while he himself hurriedly departed.

In Liu Bei's estimation, Xiahou Bo was a loyal and righteous man, and could potentially be of great help to the military campaign.

However, Liu Bei was also well aware that he was far inferior to Li Ji in terms of strategy, so he specifically brought Xiahou Bo over to allow Li Ji to assess the importance of the assistance Xiahou Bo could provide.

Furthermore, Liu Bei, now a military commander, also needed to settle the soldiers and establish camps, and the magistrate of Zhending County had already invited Liu Bei to a banquet that evening to thank him for suppressing the bandits.

Liu Bei, intending to take the opportunity to request some grain and provisions from the Zhending County, naturally could not refuse.

Although Liu Bei had previously seized a large amount of money and grain from the Yellow Turbans in Zhuo County, under the circumstances of long-distance marching, it was naturally impossible for the grain and provisions to be continuously transported from Zhuo County.

Therefore, Liu Bei left the large amount of money and grain he had seized in the manor in Zhuo County, and after leaving Zhuo County, the army only carried enough grain for one month.

A month's worth of grain was already a considerable amount, and carrying more grain would greatly hinder the marching speed.

At that time, the entire army would appear unusually bloated, and even more like a grain transport team.

Moreover, Liu Bei was, after all, fighting on his own territory, and with the official document stamped by Liu Yan, Liu Bei could reasonably request grain assistance from the local governments along the way.

Therefore, all kinds of trivial matters weighed on Liu Bei alone, and Liu Bei's time was quite tight.

In the end, it was still due to a lack of talent, as there were no civil officials in the army to assist in coordinating all aspects of affairs.

Originally, Li Ji wouldn't have minded assisting Liu Bei, but Liu Bei didn't mention it, and Li Ji, who didn't quite count as Liu Bei's subordinate yet, naturally wouldn't take the initiative to interfere in the specific affairs of the army.

However, when Li Ji was seeing Liu Bei out the door, Liu Bei seemed to remember something and turned his head to instruct Li Ji.

"Zikun, you should learn more about the situation from Brother Xiahou, but if you are tired, you should rest well. You have worked hard during this time."

After gradually becoming familiar with Liu Bei, the two sides no longer had the sense of distance they had deliberately created before, and Li Ji nodded directly.

"Alright."

Immediately, Liu Bei hurried downstairs and walked away.

And after leaving the gate, looking at the two soldiers guarding the door, Liu Bei said gently. "Thank you both, after you hand over to others later, rest well."

The two soldiers hurriedly cupped their hands in response. "Yes, sir."

"However, please also don't be careless, and don't let irrelevant people disturb Mr. Zikun's rest," Liu Bei instructed.

"Yes, sir."

Liu Bei looked at the two soldiers with a stern look, and then felt relieved, and then looked up at the room where Li Ji was, and couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

With Zikun's talent, why should he endure the hardship of crossing mountains and ridges with me?

How could Liu Bei not know that if Li Ji assisted him in handling military affairs, it would be much easier?

It's just that Liu Bei usually felt that Li Ji's accompanying the army was extremely hard, and he really couldn't bear to have those trivial matters wear down Li Ji's energy.

It would be better for him to spend more effort and give Li Ji a little more rest time.

As for whether Li Ji had great ambitions for him, Liu Bei never had such an idea in his heart.

He was just a down-and-out member of the Han imperial family, reduced to selling straw sandals for a living, so what did he count for?

Among the Han imperial family, those who were stronger than him, if not as numerous as the stars, were comparable to the carps crossing the river!

Therefore, Liu Bei felt that he had nothing to repay, only to give Li Ji all his trust and the best possible comfortable environment, in order to repay Li Ji's kindness in helping him.

Liu Bei also hoped to take this opportunity to make Li Ji stay a little longer by his side, and give rise to some thoughts of following him.

"Pa!"

In the shocked eyes of the two soldiers, Liu Bei suddenly slapped himself and spat.

"Liu Xuande, ah, Liu Xuande…"

"Zikun helped you break the bandits in Daxing Mountain, and set up the Brocade-Clothed Guards for you, and followed you on a long expedition to Jizhou without complaint. You don't think about repaying him, but you even妄想挟恩图报? (harbor the delusion of taking advantage of his kindness to seek repayment?)"

"You are despicable, you are shameless, you covet Zikun's loyalty!"

"You must not do this, if Zikun is willing, it is naturally excellent, but you must never force Zikun either…"

Liu Bei muttered as he walked away, leaving behind two soldiers with shocked and bewildered expressions.

As for Li Ji, who was chatting happily with Xiahou Bo in the room, he had no idea what had happened downstairs.

Xiahou Bo, this wandering knight of Jizhou, was indeed worthy of his reputation, and was quite clear about all kinds of news, big and small, in Jizhou.

Of course, the so-called wandering knight is not exactly the same as the so-called great hero, they pay more attention to a kind of "righteousness" and "reputation", and many of them have killed people for "righteousness".

For example, Jing Ke in the Warring States period was essentially a member of the wandering knights.

They have their own unique set of concepts and rules of conduct, and most of them value righteousness over life, which is a rather unique group in this era.

Therefore, after Li Ji carefully inquired about the information Xiahou Bo knew about the Han army and the Yellow Turbans, he did not forget to take the opportunity to learn about the "wandering knight" group from Xiahou Bo, and after hearing a lot of interesting stories about the wandering knights, he arranged for Xiahou Bo to go down to rest.

Nothing was said overnight.

When Li Ji got up the next day, washed up, and was about to continue reading.

"Dong dong!"

"Sir."

Li Ji opened the door, let the three soldiers outside the door in, and listened carefully to their observations on their trip to Chengdi Village.

Of course, Li Ji would not let them blatantly go to Chengdi Village to inquire about Xiahou Bo's news, which would undoubtedly be an unpleasant behavior.

If Xiahou Bo was really a useful person, it would inevitably make Xiahou Bo feel resentful.

Therefore, Li Ji ordered the three soldiers to go to Chengdi Village in the name of Liu Bei, carrying a lot of grain, oil, and meat, claiming that Xiahou Bo was preparing to go on an expedition with Liu Bei.

And Liu Bei heard that life in Chengdi Village was quite difficult, and Xiahou Bo was quite worried about his elders and villagers before leaving, so Liu Bei secretly sent people to send these things to the villagers.

With such a good impression, the three soldiers were naturally warmly received by the villagers of Chengdi Village, and there was no need to actively inquire about Xiahou Bo's information, and the villagers almost explained everything in their chattering.

After confirming this, Li Ji was completely relieved of Xiahou Bo's identity, and cupped his hands towards the three soldiers.

"Well, thank you three, I will ask Brother Xuande to reward you three."

"Dare not!"

The three soldiers hurriedly returned the salute.

Although Li Ji did not have any position in the army, these three soldiers were the righteous soldiers who initially followed Liu Bei, and naturally understood what kind of great talent and status Mr. Li Ji was, and how dare they be arrogant in front of Li Ji.

After confirming Xiahou Bo's identity, Li Ji no longer had any doubts and quickly went to find Liu Bei.

In less than half a day, Liu Bei once again reorganized his army and left Zhending.

However, this time there was no need to follow the approximate direction of the march as before, but under the leadership of Xiahou Bo, this "guide", they marched on small roads far away from the official road, but still barely passable, straight towards Gaoyi.

At the same time, Li Ji also ordered the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun to be divided into three groups, changed into the clothing of the Yellow Turban bandits, and followed the map drawn by Li Ji based on Xiahou Bo's description, and galloped along the official road straight to Julu City to investigate the situation.

According to Xiahou Bo, the vicinity of Julu is now extremely chaotic, the order has collapsed, and the Yellow Turbans will not set up roadblocks to check identities or anything.

Previously, Xiahou Bo had successfully returned to Zhending from the Guangzong area by changing into Yellow Turban clothes and sneaking through.

Therefore, as long as it is not a large-scale march, the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun can be divided into three groups and scattered to Julu to investigate the situation, without worrying about being detected by the Yellow Turbans in advance.

… …

And just half a day after Liu Bei led his army away in a hurry.

Chengdi Village.

As the golden glow of dusk sprinkled on the earth, a white horse galloped across the earth like a shooting star, with two teenagers on its back, one of them wearing a white robe, holding a silver spear, with a hint of youthful immaturity remaining on his face, but his eyes had a sharpness as if piercing through the clouds and a few points of anxiety.

And when the white horse stopped at the entrance of Chengdi Village, looking at the peaceful Chengdi Village from afar.

The white-robed youth suddenly pulled the reins!

In an instant, the divine white horse changed from extreme motion to extreme stillness, its front hooves raised high, and the entire white horse stood up like a person.

But even so, the white-robed youth still sat steadily on the horse's back, his body did not even produce a trace of shaking, but another teenager hugging tightly behind the white-robed youth let out a cry of surprise.

"Ah!!"

Suddenly, the teenager who lost his balance loosened his hands, and the whole person suddenly fell towards the ground.

However, in the midst of a dizzying spin.

The pain that the teenager expected did not come, but instead he was lifted into the air by the seemingly slender and not burly white-robed youth with one hand, and then slowly placed on the ground.

The white-robed youth, who took a long breath, asked with concern. "Brother Lan, you are too careless, didn't you fall anywhere?"

Xiahou Lan replied with a smile. "Hey, Brother Yun'er, it's okay, it's okay, didn't you catch me?"

The white-robed youth said seriously. "It's good that you're okay, be careful next time, your horsemanship is not good, you should be more careful and cautious on horseback."

Xiahou Lan said nonchalantly. "It doesn't matter, anyway, Brother Yun'er will protect me."

The white-robed youth smiled helplessly, and then looked in the direction of Chengdi Village, and said.

"Lan, didn't you say that a large number of Yellow Turban bandits were coming to the village to plunder?"

"I don't know either."

Xiahou Lan looked at the peaceful Chengdi Village, and said somewhat confusedly.

"Not long ago, after my brother returned home, he was always worried that Yellow Turban bandits would loot Zhen Ding, so he would go out early every day to investigate the situation."

"That day I was still a little drowsy, and my brother pulled me out of the bed with a look of urgency, telling me to quickly go up the mountain to ask Master for help. He would try his best to delay the time, so that the villagers could hide on the mountain and wait for Master to come and save them."

The white-robed youth nodded upon hearing this and said.

"Brother Bo is always prudent and knowledgeable. Since he urged you to go up the mountain to ask Master for help, he must have noticed something. But the village doesn't seem to have suffered any losses, there must be some other change."

"Huff~"

Xiahou Lan breathed a sigh of relief and said. "Anyway, it's good that nothing happened."

The white-robed youth's face, which had been slightly tense, also relaxed, and he said.

"Yes, it's good that nothing happened."

With his heart, which had been half-raised, now relaxed, the white-robed youth looked at Chengdi Village again, but couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation at returning home.

"Brother Yun, you haven't been back to the village for three or four years, have you?" Xiahou Lan asked.

The white-robed youth dismounted, and while leading the horse, he walked towards the village with Xiahou Lan, and added earnestly.

"It's been four years and five months. I was taken into the mountains by Master to learn martial arts when I was eleven, and I have not been allowed to go down the mountain since."

"It's been that long," Xiahou Lan scratched his head and said. "Master allows me to enter the mountain to study martial arts for a month every year, I didn't realize that Brother Yun hasn't been back for so long."

"Master said that learning the spear requires concentration and focus, and one must not be distracted, so he doesn't want me to go down the mountain and be disturbed by trivial matters. Master is doing this for my own good," the white-robed youth replied.

Xiahou Lan clicked his tongue and said.

"Master is just saying that casually, he's just afraid that you, his disciple, will be abducted as soon as you go down the mountain and won't come back. Only you, Brother Yun, would take it seriously."

"It is disrespectful to speculate on Master's intentions without authorization!" The white-robed youth shook his head and lectured.

"Master has a set of principles, but he can't beat Brother Yun," Xiahou Lan said dismissively.

The white-robed youth replied. "That is Master deliberately yielding to his disciple, how can you take it seriously."

"Brother Yun, you are just too modest. Master said that you are very, very strong," Xiahou Lan said somewhat helplessly.

"Master is just encouraging me, how can I become arrogant and despise the heroes of the world because of this?"

After a pause, the white-robed youth said earnestly to Xiahou Lan.

"Lan, you are the same. In the future, if you join the army or engage in械斗厮杀, remember to always keep three points of strength in battle, so that you can deal with various emergencies and protect yourself."

Xiahou Lan looked at the white-robed youth in shock and said.

"Then I guess no one will be able to beat me."

"How could that be? Lan is also quite powerful," the white-robed youth encouraged.

Xiahou Lan replied weakly.

"Brother Yun, if you're not good at encouraging people, you don't have to. Do you think I don't know that you usually let me win?"

As the white-robed youth walked into the village, he attracted countless gazes wherever he went, and everyone seemed surprised by the identity of such a heroic young man.

Suddenly, a woman who had been staring at the white-robed youth for a long time seemed to remember something and asked.

"Are you the younger brother of that Zhao family boy?"

The white-robed youth hurriedly bowed to the woman and said. "Aunt Fu, I am Zhao Yun. I followed my master to learn martial arts away from home for many years, and have just returned to the village."

Aunt Fu immediately became interested and asked. "Sure enough, it's Yun, it's been so many years, I didn't expect you to be such a heroic young man in the blink of an eye. Are you about to be crowned?"

"Before returning home, Master crowned Yun and gave him the courtesy name: Zilong," Zhao Yun replied respectfully.

Aunt Fu's smile became even brighter and said. "Not bad, not bad, Aunt Fu just happens to have a niece, who is very…"

Zhao Yun: "…"