Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Xu Gong had assumed that with his status and reputation, these remote clans would quickly submit and pledge allegiance. He hadn't expected them to be so short-sighted.

This greatly embarrassed Xu Gong, and his chest was filled with anger.

If Xu Gong didn't understand that Liu Bei's power in Jiangdong was significant, and that they needed to work together to defeat Liu Bei in order to acquire Jiangdong, Xu Gong would have stormed off in anger, refusing to associate with these fools.

However, at this moment, Zhou Xin took the initiative to stand up, gently pressed his hands down, and said.

"Please listen to a word from me..."

As the crowd gradually quieted down, Zhou Xin slowly began to speak.

"Liu Bei, the governor of Wu Commandery, is hypocritical, ruthless, and falsely benevolent. He takes in refugees in the name of virtue, but drives them to excavate waterways as laborers. How is his behavior any different from the tyrannical Qin dynasty forcing farmers to build walls?"

"Countless refugees have been buried in Wu Commandery as a result, only to complete the false benevolence of that treacherous Liu Bei!"

"Furthermore, as the governor of Wu Commandery, Liu Bei secretly attacked Kuaiji Commandery and even kidnapped Guo Yi, the governor of Kuaiji Commandery. Then, he carried out a large-scale massacre in Kuaiji Commandery, eliminating dissidents."

"My Zhou clan of Kuaiji, one hundred and twenty-three members, died at the hands of Liu Bei. The people of Kuaiji only know that Guo Yi was cruel and constantly slaughtered the pillars of society, but they do not know that the person behind the scenes was the falsely benevolent Liu Bei."

As he said this, Zhou Xin's eyes were bloodshot, tears flowed uncontrollably, and he heavily pounded his chest several times, shouting loudly.

"Liu Bei's actions, how are they different from a national traitor? Alas, woe is me, how painful, how hateful!"

"Today, we gather here to form an alliance, not for selfish desires, but because we cannot ignore the voices of the people of Wu and Kuaiji Commanderies, and we cannot tolerate a despicable and brutal person like Liu Bei remaining in Wu Commandery to harm the loyal and good!"

"Therefore, this alliance is nominally to attack Wu, but in reality, it is to attack Liu Bei, to attack those who are disloyal and rebellious!"

Whether it was because Zhou Xin's words were too infectious, stirring up the crowd's empathy, or whether it was to show righteousness.

For a time, almost everyone in the tent began to weep, curse, or vow...

Perhaps not everyone was unaware that Liu Bei was implementing benevolent governance in Wu Commandery, and that after secretly controlling Kuaiji Commandery, the lives of the common people at the bottom of Kuaiji Commandery were also visibly improving.

However, Liu Bei's benevolent governance, from the perspective of the aristocratic families, was true tyranny!

The cornerstone of ruling the world should be them, these aristocratic families, not those ants at the bottom. Treating the ants kindly while squeezing the aristocratic families, what is this if not tyranny?

Especially the emergence of improved papermaking and printing techniques almost panicked the aristocratic families of Yang Province...

Therefore, most of the aristocratic families present were perhaps unsure whether what Zhou Xin said was true or false, but they almost all deeply empathized!

If Wu Commandery is not attacked today, perhaps the fate of the other aristocratic families will be no different from that of the Zhou clan of Kuaiji in the future.

Only Xu Gong and Ze Rong's expressions seemed out of place with the rest of the aristocratic families of Yang Province.

Xu Gong was not originally from an aristocratic family of Yang Province, and what he sought was to control Yang Province.

If the attack on Wu Commandery is successful, and Zhou Xin takes the opportunity to become the lord of Jiangdong as the leader of the alliance, this would undoubtedly be like driving away a jackal only to bring in a tiger for Xu Gong.

As for Ze Rong, he knew that he, with his background as a local strongman, would not be taken seriously by the Jiangdong aristocratic families, and he had no possibility of becoming the leader of the alliance.

What Ze Rong cared about was the wealth of Wu Commandery, he only wanted to take the opportunity to make a fortune in Wu Commandery, and then build Buddhist temples in his territory and recruit believers...

The world looks down on me, so what!

My Buddhist teachings are that everyone is equal. When everyone in the world is a believer of my Buddha, why can't I, Ze Rong, be the leader and establish a Buddhist kingdom on earth?

"Amitabha!"

Ze Rong piously recited the Buddha's name, which could be considered as echoing Zhou Xin and expressing his support for Zhou Xin's attitude.

Only after Zhou Xin had aroused the crowd's shared hatred did his tone change, and he said.

"What we seek in this alliance is righteousness, not personal desires. Therefore, I recommend Lord Xu of Yuzhang to be the leader of the alliance, to coordinate all parties and attack Wu Commandery."

This unexpected turn of events made Xu Gong, who had originally been gloomy, ecstatic, and he almost blurted out "Is that true?".

Fortunately, Xu Gong was somewhat scheming and barely suppressed his joy, pretending to decline.

However, Zhou Xin, who was bent on revenge, knew very well that if he were the leader of the alliance, Xu Gong would definitely cause trouble, and even secretly collude with Wu Commandery in order to make the allied forces and Wu Commandery suffer a double loss.

Therefore, for the sake of the overall situation, recommending Xu Gong as the leader of the alliance would better unite the allied forces.

And after Zhou Xin took the initiative to repeatedly recommend Xu Gong as the leader of the alliance, giving Xu Gong enough face, Xu Gong finally put on a reluctant and ashamed expression and agreed to serve as the leader of the alliance.

Many aristocratic families in Yang Province may not have liked Xu Gong, but with the unanimous opinions of the four commandery governors, they had no way to object.

Immediately, Xu Gong ascended the high platform that Zhou Xin had prepared in advance, and imitated the Oath of the Peach Garden of the anti-Dong Zhuo alliance, performing a series of rituals of swearing an oath of blood.

After the alliance ceremony was over, Xu Gong sat in the main seat and re-opened the tent to discuss matters, discussing the attack on Wu Commandery.

Now, the soldiers, money, and grain of the four commanderies of Yang Province are constantly coming to Liyang to gather, and it will take at least three to five days for everything to be prepared.

And when Xu Gong summarized the total strength of the various forces that were about to arrive in Liyang, and came to a figure of more than 136,000.

Even with Xu Gong's scheming, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

'Yuan Shao is the leader in the north, and I am also the leader in the south, what is the difference?'

'When I lead my troops to pacify Wu and Kuaiji Commanderies, and become the lord of Jiangdong in one fell swoop, and then rely on the prestige of the Xu clan in Runan, I may be able to take all of Yu Province with lightning speed.'

"At that time, the two provinces of Yang and Yu will be connected, what is the Yuan clan worth?"

At this moment, Xu Gong, sitting in the main seat, felt high-spirited, as if hegemony was already in sight.

However, Xu Gong was able to be sent to Yuzhang Commandery by the Xu clan with high expectations, perhaps his personality had obvious flaws, but he obviously also had some ability.

After suppressing the excitement in his heart, Xu Gong, sitting in the main seat, really had some of the demeanor of coordinating all parties, steadily holding the posture of being the leader of the alliance, and asked everyone in the tent.

"The day of marching east is imminent, I wonder if you have any good strategies for defeating the enemy?"

Zhou Xin, who had been preparing for this for a long time, immediately stood up and had his confidants bring a defense map copied onto a huge cloth and hang it in the tent, and then said.

"Lord, Liu Bei has long been unpopular, and there are countless people in Wu Commandery who want to rebel against him, this is the defense map sent out at the risk of their lives by the loyal men in Wu Commandery."

"And according to the content of this defense map, I sent a large number of confidants to investigate within Wu Commandery, and it can be said that they entered the land of no one, easily penetrated into the hinterland of Wu Commandery, and repeatedly verified the patrol time of the soldiers, all of which were correct."

As soon as this statement came out, although many people had already heard about the Wu Commandery defense map, Zhou Xin's public confirmation that the content of the defense map was correct made many people show ecstasy.

And Xu Gong was the same, carefully looking at the content of the defense map, the more he looked, the more joyful he became, and said.

"According to the defense map, Wu Commandery is tight on the outside and loose on the inside, and the actual available force is only more than 18,000. If so, with an order from this leader, nearly 140,000 troops will march east, wouldn't they be able to flatten Wu Commandery in an instant?"

Nearly 140,000 VS less than 20,000.

How could they lose?

For a time, Xu Gong couldn't even think of a reason to lose.

Especially now that "the right time, the right place, and the harmony of the people" are not in Wu Commandery, but in the anti-Wu allied forces, it is even more impossible to lose!

Zhou Xin nodded and replied.

"The current available force in Wu Commandery is indeed like this, but now that we are meeting in Liyang, the momentum is huge, even if the officials of Wu Commandery are more dull, it is expected that they will receive some news in a day or two."

"At that time, Wu Commandery will definitely quickly concentrate its forces in the Yangxian direction, and will also try to conscript local young and strong men as much as possible, plus there are still about 10,000 troops in Kuaiji Commandery."

"Therefore, according to my estimation, after our army is ready, Wu Commandery should be able to concentrate about 30,000 troops in Yangxian with all its efforts."

Looking at the map, Liyang and Yangxian are located upstream and downstream of the Lishui River respectively, less than a hundred miles apart.

Infantry marching in a hurry is only a journey of three to five days.

If the navy travels downstream from Lishui River, it can reach Yangxian in one day.

Xu Gong heard the words, thought for a while, and said.

"I wonder how many ships are there in Liyang now? Why not take advantage of Wu Commandery's unpreparedness, concentrate all the ships and go down smoothly, and raid Yangxian. As long as Yangxian is broken, Taihu Lake will be our army's backyard, and Wu Commandery will have no danger to defend."

It must be said that this is undoubtedly a brilliant plan.

This made Zhou Xin, who had originally looked down on Xu Gong, quite surprised for a while.

However, Zhou Xin shook his head, pointed to the direction of Yangxian in the defense map, and said.

"Although this plan is wonderful, it is not feasible."

"That scholar Li Zikun is blind and helps the tyrant, but his ability is quite extraordinary. Perhaps he has already realized that once Taihu Lake is lost, the northern part of Wu Commandery will be completely lost."

"Therefore, the defense map clearly marks that iron cables are set up across the river in the narrow downstream of Lishui River to prevent foreign enemies from raiding Yangxian."

"My confidants who were secretly sent to investigate also confirmed that there are many soldiers patrolling in the corresponding places, and the river channel is equipped with a mechanism to raise and lower iron cables."

Suddenly, there was a burst of discussion in the tent.

Some were surprised by Li Ji's foresight, and some were thankful that the defense map was in hand to avoid a defeat...

If they had not known about this in advance, they would have hurriedly sent ships down the river to raid Yangxian and been blocked by iron cables in the river.

At that time, once the Wu Commandery defenders reacted quickly, they would likely use fire to cause heavy losses to the raiding ships.

This is also why, after mastering the defense map, many aristocratic families who were originally frightened by Liu Bei and Li Ji had greatly increased their confidence in capturing Wu Commandery.

With the Allied forces having a complete understanding of Wu Jun's defenses, how could they possibly lose?

Having his suggestion of a surprise attack refuted by Zhou Xin, Xu Gong wasn't annoyed and simply followed along, saying,

"In that case, why don't we do the opposite? Our army will immediately create a grand display of force to put pressure on Wu Jun, forcing them to concentrate their troops in Yangxian. Then, we abandon Yangxian and instead attack Qu'a or Wucheng. What do you think?"

Hearing this, Zhou Xin immediately felt that his earlier assessment of Xu Gong might have been a bit rash.

Xu Gong does have some knowledge, but it really is just a little… (End of Chapter)