Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

What was shocking was the emergence of the "Anti-Wu Coalition Army"…

That this could actually happen…

Were the Jiangdong aristocratic families truly disregarding the overall situation?

Even with Lü Bu's political acumen, he could understand that the Anti-Wu Coalition Army's sneak attack on Wu Commandery at this juncture was almost tantamount to standing completely against the Anti-Dong Coalition Army, slapping the entire Anti-Dong Coalition Army in the face.

And what group did the Anti-Dong Coalition Army consist of? It was a collection of Han Dynasty imperial relatives and Kanto warlords.

Especially after the Anti-Dong Coalition Army defeated Dong Zhuo, it represented righteousness.

But what made Lü Bu and Chen Gong even more concerned was that the Anti-Wu Coalition Army, which claimed to have 300,000 troops but actually had 140,000, had been defeated.

Defeated utterly in an instant, defeated to the point of complete annihilation.

Currently, Lü Bu, who could only be considered a makeshift team, naturally didn't have the ability to plant spies or informants in Yangzhou.

The reason Lü Bu was able to learn of this news was through the channels of the Yingchuan Chen clan, a famous family of the time.

Moreover, the information that the Yingchuan Chen clan obtained was also through some former students and officials far away in Yangzhou, as well as aristocratic families with some connections.

More importantly, after the Anti-Wu Coalition Army was utterly defeated, the completely panicked Jiangdong aristocratic families were almost frantically seeking relationships everywhere.

Hoping to exert pressure on Liu Bei through the alliance of many aristocratic families, and then try to make Liu Bei compromise as much as possible, so as to protect the Jiangdong aristocratic families from being held accountable by Liu Bei after the autumn harvest.

However, compared to the short-sightedness of the Jiangdong aristocratic families, who were still not very clear about the direction of the Central Plains situation, almost all the Central Plains aristocratic families who learned of this news were almost silenced.

Liu Bei, who was he?

The deputy leader of the Anti-Dong Coalition Army, this alone was enough to illustrate the extent of Liu Bei's network and influence.

Moreover, Liu Bei had the national scholar Li Ji as his strategist, and Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei as his generals, with well-trained soldiers and sufficient supplies. He had made a great name for himself in the process of defeating Dong Zhuo, and was even publicly honored as the Imperial Uncle by Emperor Liu Xie, and appointed as the Governor of Yangzhou.

Therefore, even the proud Yingchuan aristocratic family, who disliked Liu Bei very much in their hearts, did not dare to show any disrespect on the surface. When facing Liu Bei's visit, they all treated him politely.

As a result, the Jiangdong aristocratic families still went ahead of the other Han aristocratic families in a way they dared not imagine, and actually formed a so-called "Anti-Wu Coalition Army" to attack Liu Bei, the deputy leader of the Anti-Dong Coalition Army and the Governor of Yangzhou.

The Han Dynasty had already collapsed almost completely, but people's hearts still belonged to Han. All the warlords of the time still claimed to be Han officials, and all the aristocratic families never dared to deny their identity as Han people.

Therefore, this… wasn't this a complete reversal of the natural order?

Therefore, although the Jiangdong aristocratic families were almost frantically contacting other aristocratic families, attempting to put pressure on Liu Bei, no aristocratic family agreed.

Exert pressure?

How to exert pressure?

If Liu Bei, as the Governor of Yangzhou, indiscriminately suppressed and slaughtered the Jiangdong aristocratic families in order to control Yangzhou, then the other aristocratic families would naturally not turn a blind eye.

But now, the Jiangdong aristocratic families had aggressively raised the banner of rebellion, and then were slapped to the ground by a force with empty strength, unable to find any novel angle to accuse Liu Bei.

Therefore, almost all the Central Plains aristocratic families, when they learned of this news.

The first reaction of all the aristocratic families, in addition to being dumbfounded, was to find it laughable and contemptuous, and even reached a consensus that the Jiangdong aristocratic families were truly a disgrace to the Han aristocratic families.

The reason why the Yingchuan Chen clan specially informed Lü Bu of this news was naturally because the Yingchuan Chen clan, gradually seeing the chaos approaching, chose to bet on Lü Bu.

At least, Lü Bu's current hand was by no means worse than that of the other warlords. Even Lü Bu, who controlled Sili and the imperial court, had the greatest advantage among all the warlords.

Lü Bu was not only the number one general in the world, but also had a group of fierce generals and Bingzhou wolf cavalry under his command. What he lacked was only the support of aristocratic families and a large number of civil officials.

Therefore, in the situation where the Yuan family in the Central Plains gradually showed their dominance, the Yingchuan Chen clan had no better choice than Lü Bu.

And Lü Bu was able to smoothly operate this "small court" even when Chen Gong did not support the establishment of a "small court," and completely controlled the entire Sili at an extremely fast speed, which was naturally due to the strong support of the Yingchuan Chen clan.

That is, Lü Bu was quite nostalgic. Even though he was somewhat dissatisfied with Chen Gong's previous opposition to the establishment of a "small court," he still allowed Chen Gong to maintain his position as "chief strategist."

As for Chen Qun, the representative of the Yingchuan Chen clan, his position in Lü Bu's "small court" was second only to Chen Gong at this moment.

As the direct son of the Yingchuan Chen clan, Chen Qun's demeanor was undoubtedly the most standard aristocratic son, with an elegant and noble young master's posture that was not aggressive.

While eloquently describing the process of the "Anti-Wu Coalition Army" incident, his articulation was clear, and he appropriately omitted or emphasized details, explaining a series of key points in a few words.

In terms of demeanor, Chen Qun undoubtedly surpassed Chen Gong by more than one level.

Even though Chen Gong's position was more forward than Chen Qun's, the feeling he gave was that the unremarkable Chen Gong was far inferior to Chen Qun.

After Chen Qun stated the relevant information and carefully analyzed the various subsequent effects of the matter.

Chen Qun directly stated that how Liu Bei would deal with the Jiangdong aristocratic families who participated in the rebellion was not the key. The key was that Yangzhou would be completely controlled by Liu Bei from then on, and dominating Jiangdong was not just around the corner, but would become a reality.

This was not the period after several dynasties had changed, reaching a consensus that "it is easy to go from north to south, but difficult to go from south to north."

On the contrary, in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods before the Qin and Han dynasties, the Jiangdong region was never short of hegemons.

Chu, Wu, and Yue were all hegemons located on both sides of the Yangtze River.

Moreover, Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Chu, destroyed Qin, starting his army from Kuaiji Commandery, and then all the way from south to north, he pierced through the entire Great Qin, filling in the last handful of soil for Great Qin.

Therefore, when Liu Bei was about to completely unify Jiangdong, everyone's first feeling was a threat like a thorn in their back.

Yangzhou seemed to be far away from the Central Plains, but once Yangzhou swallowed Xuzhou or Yuzhou, it could immediately enter the Central Plains, and the vast Yangzhou would instead become a grain-producing area that no one could threaten, continuously transporting grain to the front.

Chen Gong's original plan for Lü Bu's hegemony was to seize Yanzhou after controlling Sili, and then use Yanzhou as a stepping stone to sweep across the Central Plains, defend Liu Bei in the south, and attack Ji, You, and Bing in the north, which would completely lay the foundation for hegemony.

At that time, Lü Bu, whose hegemony had been established, would slowly clear out Liu Yan, Liu Biao, and Liu Bei, these thorny Han imperial relatives.

But if Liu Bei entered the Central Plains first, it would undoubtedly pose a great threat to Lü Bu's strategic intentions.

With Lü Bu's arrogance, he might look down on the rabble of Kanto, but he was quite afraid of Liu Bei, and had always secretly regarded him as a great enemy.

Therefore, this made Lü Bu very dissatisfied with Chen Gong, who had previously persuaded him to let Liu Bei serve as the Governor of Yangzhou, and he questioned Chen Gong with a frown.

"Gongtai, this is somewhat different from what you said before. Didn't you say before that it might take Liu Bei nearly two years to completely control Yangzhou?"

Chen Gong opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but the words came to his lips, and he swallowed them back.

Perhaps Chen Gong knew that in order to send away the Anti-Dong Coalition Army, if he didn't give the "Governor of Yangzhou" to Liu Bei, what would he use to appease Liu Bei?

(End of this chapter)