Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Luring the snake out of its hole?

Liu Bei was slightly stunned, staring blankly at Li Ji.

Li Ji immediately helped Liu Bei sit down again, then poured him another cup of hot tea and said.

"Lord, you are probably very familiar with the terrain of Yangzhou. It is vast with much miasma, and crisscrossed by waterways. There may not be any strong cities or high walls, but marching is extremely difficult."

"Therefore, since the mountain roads are difficult to travel, instead of going towards the mountains, I will make the mountains come to me."

In the original timeline, Sun Ce began attacking Wu Commandery in the first year of Xingping (194 AD) and did not occupy Yuzhang Commandery until the fourth year of Jian'an (199 AD), taking nearly six years to truly dominate Jiangdong.

It is conceivable that Yangzhou may be weak, but it is exceptionally troublesome to conquer.

Especially the terrain of Yangzhou, with its interwoven waterways and miasma, small groups of soldiers may be fine, but large groups of soldiers find it quite difficult to march.

It is only because Wu Commandery is mostly plains, and because Liu Bei and Li Ji have spared no effort in continuously repairing roads over the years, that Wu Commandery has escaped this predicament.

However, while marching within Wu Commandery on official roads may be extremely fast, the situation in the four commanderies of Lujiang, Jiujiang, Danyang, and Yuzhang outside of Wu Commandery remains quite dire.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei already understood Li Ji's meaning.

Opportunity and risk undoubtedly coexist.

It seems that Wu Commandery has revealed a flaw, with neither Liu Bei nor Li Ji in Wu Commandery, but is it not also a trap to entice the enemy to advance rashly?

This made Liu Bei unable to resist stroking his beard and frowning.

"However, there are not many troops in Wu Commandery, and Zikun is not stationed there either. Wouldn't this be somewhat risky?"

If Li Ji were to stay and guard Wu Commandery, Liu Bei would naturally be full of confidence in the "luring the snake out of its hole" strategy.

"If Ji were in Wu Commandery, how would those monsters and demons dare to offend?"

To this, Li Ji revealed a helpless smile.

To some extent, this could almost be considered being burdened by his reputation.

With Li Ji's reputation, stratagems such as feigning weakness are almost destined to fail. The possibility of the enemy rushing forward just because he reveals a flaw is almost zero.

Throughout the entire Han Dynasty, probably no one would believe that the 'National Scholar' Li Ji would be a weakling.

"That's true. As long as Zikun is in Wu Commandery, I'm afraid those bandits wouldn't dare to harbor any extra thoughts."

Liu Bei responded, but there was undoubtedly still some worry in his eyes, and he said. "I wonder who Zikun has decided will take on the important task in Wu Commandery?"

Li Ji took a sip of tea and replied. "Jia Wenhe."

"Jia Wenhe?"

Liu Bei recalled Jia Xu's kind gentlemanly appearance, especially in recent years, Jia Xu has become increasingly broad-minded and stout, his figure running wildly on the road to plumpness, and now he has almost become the most plump person in Wu Commandery.

Moreover, as Jia Xu's figure became more and more plump, his appearance became increasingly kind, gentle, and harmless.

Even though Liu Bei had been reminded by Li Ji many times that Jia Xu was a man of great wisdom, even Liu Bei would always subconsciously underestimate Jia Xu.

"Jia Wenhe, is he really capable? I hope there won't be any mistakes." Liu Bei frowned as he replied.

"Lord, please rest assured. This matter seems like taking precautions, but in reality, it is a plan that Ji and Wenhe have been preparing for a long time. Wenhe's task is not to resist the enemy's attack, but… to settle everything in one battle and completely seize Yangzhou for the Lord."

As he said this, the sharpness in Li Ji's eyes was revealed without a doubt.

Why did Li Ji know that this "punitive expedition against Dong Zhuo", leading more than 30,000 elite troops from thousands of miles away, might not yield any substantial benefits, but Li Ji still fully supported Liu Bei's choice?

Even the most capable generals and elites under Liu Bei's command were all brought out.

Even Yuan Shao knew to leave Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and a large number of elites in Bohai. How could Li Ji simply come out in full force just for the sake of "punishing Dong Zhuo"?

The drunkard's intention is not in the wine!

Only by punishing Dong Zhuo can some ambitious people around Wu Commandery be convinced that Wu Commandery's elites have all been dispatched.

In Li Ji's plan, no matter what the benefits and results of this punitive expedition against Dong Zhuo are, the real prize is to take advantage of the attention of the world's lords being focused on Sili, and completely swallow the entire Yangzhou.

Li Ji, who aspires to dominate the world, has no time to spend five or six years前后 like Sun Ce in the original timeline, just to occupy Yangzhou.

Otherwise, wouldn't that be no different from Jerry in Jiangdong?

Feeling Li Ji's confidence, Liu Bei's somewhat uneasy heart was completely calmed down for a moment.

Aimless actions have never been Li Ji's style!

What shocked Liu Bei was that before the punitive expedition against Dong Zhuo, Li Ji had already been plotting to swallow Yangzhou whole.

"How did Zikun determine that after this alliance to punish Dong Zhuo, I would definitely be appointed as the Governor of Yangzhou?"

Liu Bei was quite puzzled about this.

"That's not the case…"

Li Ji smiled and then replied.

"However, the Lord being appointed as the Governor of Yangzhou is just icing on the cake. As long as we swallow Yangzhou, even if the imperial court appoints someone else as the Governor of Yangzhou, it doesn't matter."

After a pause, Li Ji looked at Liu Bei's somewhat stiff face and slowly said.

"Lord, times have changed. Who is the Governor of Yangzhou is not actually up to the imperial court, but up to whoever swallows Yangzhou. This is the chaotic world."

Liu Bei pondered for a while, let out a long breath, and said.

"Zikun is right. I am still somewhat unable to adapt to this chaotic world."

In prosperous times, who is the Governor of Yangzhou is naturally determined by the imperial court;

But in chaotic times, if Liu Bei has already swallowed Yangzhou, then if Liu Bei doesn't like who is the Governor of Yangzhou, then the imperial court will have to replace them with someone Liu Bei likes, until Liu Bei is satisfied.

However, after being enlightened in this way, Liu Bei's tone became a little more relaxed, and he said. "However, I never thought that Zikun would trust Wenhe's abilities so much."

Li Ji shook his head and replied in a calm and composed tone.

"It's not just Wenhe's abilities, but also enough trust in Wu Commandery, which has been governed by the Lord and Ji for six years."

"It seems that the Lord has not yet realized that Wu Commandery is no longer what it used to be. Even without Wenhe in charge, those jackals and wolves cannot shake Wu Commandery in the slightest."

"Therefore, the Lord does not need to worry and can safely go to Yingchuan to seek out talents. Even if Wenhe makes some mistakes, it will definitely not shake Wu Commandery's foundation in the slightest."

After being reminded by Li Ji in this way, Liu Bei finally understood some of the key points, and also smiled sheepishly, realizing that he was just being anxious out of concern.

Even if Liu Bei took away 30,000 elites, with the current foundation of Wu Commandery and the military household system, it is by no means something that the other commanderies of Yangzhou can shake.

At this moment, Liu Bei seemed to understand why Li Ji had almost done his best to promote the military household system before the punitive expedition against Dong Zhuo.

This was to fully combine Wu Commandery's foundation and the people's hearts with the military household system, hiding wealth among the people, and even more so, hiding soldiers among the people.

For a time, Liu Bei not only did not have any worries in his heart, but instead felt a little sympathetic for those moths who had fallen into the web woven by Zikun so early.

Who would have thought that as early as half a year before the punitive expedition against Dong Zhuo, Li Ji had already begun to weave a large net for the trap a year later?

Immediately, Liu Bei slowly finished the hot tea that Li Ji had just poured, and then opened his mouth to say.

"Then I will have to trouble Zikun to accompany me to Yingchuan to seek out talents."

… …

At the same time.

Wu Commandery, more than a thousand miles away from Luoyang.

The long distance meant that even with the method of changing horses but not people, there was an information gap of nearly half a month for information from Luoyang to reach Wu Commandery.

In the situation where Liu Bei and Li Ji were both not in Wu Commandery.

Currently, the military and political affairs of Wu Commandery are jointly responsible and supervised by Jia Xu, Gu Yong, Zhang Hong, Xiahou Bo, and Mi Zhu.

After the intelligence from Sili arrived in Wu Commandery, the five people also gathered in the government office to discuss.

The content of the discussion not only included matters within Wu and Kuaiji Commandery, but also the issue of grain transportation.

Liu Bei led his troops thousands of miles to punish Dong Zhuo, so naturally it was impossible for him to entrust all his grain and logistics to the allied forces like the penniless Sun Jian. He had also always maintained a rather long supply line through seagoing ships.

Now, with the intelligence from Hulao Pass gradually seeming unfavorable to the allied forces, a dispute is also breaking out within the Wu Commandery government office.

Zhang Hong fully advocated persuading Liu Bei to withdraw his troops and return to Wu Commandery, believing that maintaining the supply line from thousands of miles away would consume so much, even with seagoing ships transporting it, that it would be enough to hurt Wu Commandery's vitality;

Xiahou Bo, on the other hand, believed that elite soldiers should continue to be sent to Liu Bei, both to support Liu Bei's great cause of punishing Dong Zhuo and to prevent any accidents that might cause Liu Bei to fall into crisis;

In addition, Gu Yong's attitude leaned towards Zhang Hong, while Mi Zhu leaned towards Xiahou Bo…

Only Jia Xu smiled and acted as a peacemaker, persuading everyone to discuss calmly and amicably.

(End of this chapter)