Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Chapter 6: Predicting the Enemy's Movements from a Thousand Miles Away

“Da da da da…”

A series of rapid hoofbeats echoed through the night.

Zhang Fei, leading the Eighteen燕云 Riders, had been traveling south day and night along the route marked on the map since leaving Zhuo County, searching for traces of the Yellow Turbans.

For Zhang Fei, this was his first time leading troops. Although he only had eighteen men under his command, Zhang Fei's mood was undoubtedly quite agitated at first.

However, after two days of relentless travel, the excitement on Zhang Fei's face had disappeared, replaced by a disheveled appearance from the wind and dew, making his face look both fierce and solemn.

At this moment, Zhang Fei had arrived at the edge of the area where Li Ji had predicted the Yellow Turban bandits would be. As far as the eye could see, it was still a scene of tranquility and peace.

This couldn't help but arouse a trace of doubt in Zhang Fei's heart, and he murmured to himself.

“Am I being tricked by Mr. Zikun?”

Immediately, Zhang Fei took out the map from his bosom and carefully identified it by the faint moonlight, confirming that his position was correct before putting it back into his bosom.

Then, Zhang Fei turned to look at the Eighteen燕云 Riders behind him, his face full of unconcealed exhaustion, even swaying slightly while sitting on horseback.

In the past two days, except for the necessary rest for the horses, they had been traveling non-stop. At this moment, both men and horses were exhausted.

However, Zhang Fei was well aware of the importance of time. The sooner he confirmed the Yellow Turban bandits coming from Ji Province, the more time Liu Bei would have for preparation and deployment.

Therefore, even though Zhang Fei really wanted to let the Eighteen燕云 Riders, who shared his sentiments, rest first, he still raised his丈八 Serpent Spear and ordered.

“Spread out three hundred zhang apart and search south. If you find anything, use three long whistles as a signal. Tonight, no matter what, we must first find the traces of the Yellow Turban bandits.”

“Yes.”

The Eighteen燕云 Riders responded in unison with somewhat tired voices, and without any complaints, they quickly spread out three hundred zhang to the left and right, like a large net, beginning to search this area from north to south.

And this was also a method that Li Ji had taught Zhang Fei.

Zhuo County was so large that a dozen people thrown into it were just a drop in the ocean.

Even with the area further narrowed down by Li Ji, a dozen people might not be able to find anything if they searched like headless flies.

However, just as Zhang Fei gritted his teeth and prepared to search this area thoroughly overnight in this way.

Before long, Zhang Fei and the Eighteen燕云 Riders reunited again at the sound of three whistles, all gazing into the distance at the black shadows that seemed to be wriggling forward little by little under a continuous stretch of torches.

“We really found them. The Yellow Turban bandits are really in this area…”

Even though Zhang Fei had subconsciously believed in Li Ji's ability, he couldn't help but be shocked when he personally confirmed Li Ji's prediction.

“Could this be predicting the enemy's movements from a thousand miles away? Mr. Zikun is truly a divine man.”

With Zhang Fei's intelligence, he only felt that the scene before him was unbelievable, and it was really difficult to understand how Li Ji had predicted the location of the Yellow Turban bandits a thousand miles away two days ago.

However, as Zhang Fei led the Eighteen燕云 Riders to quietly approach the flank of the continuous black shadows in front of them, their faces were all somewhat complicated and ugly.

As far as the eye could see, the faces of the old, weak, women, and children were everywhere among those black shadows, walking slowly and laboriously along the direction of the torches.

Only those holding torches were strong men with yellow scarves tied around their heads, and these Yellow Turban bandits with large knives constantly shouted and scolded the old, weak, women, and children to move forward.

Even though Zhang Fei and the Eighteen燕云 Riders were still a considerable distance away from the Yellow Turban crowd, in the dark night, the shouts of the Yellow Turban bandits, the cries of the women and children, and the occasional wails formed a scene that made people feel both cold and angry.

In Zhang Fei's eyes, this was not even considered marching, but driving the people forward!

Yellow Turbans!

“Yellow Turbans!!!”

Zhang Fei clenched his teeth, his eyes wide open, as if he wanted to devour people.

From the accents of those Yellow Turban bandits and the large number of driven old, weak, women, and children, Zhang Fei could easily judge that most of those old, weak, women, and children were from Zhuo County, and those Yellow Turban bandits should be from Ji Province.

Previously, Zhang Fei had not been able to fully understand what Li Ji had said, that the Yellow Turban bandits would plunder the people along the way, rapidly growing like a snowball.

And that no matter what, he must find the location of the Yellow Turban bandits' headquarters in order to truly defeat this group of Yellow Turban bandits.

Now, Zhang Fei understood that the Yellow Turban bandits' plundering methods were much more terrifying than ordinary mountain bandits and robbers.

Wherever these Yellow Turban bandits passed, they not only looted the local people's property and food, but also forced the people to join the Yellow Turban crowd.

A steel knife in one hand, food in the other, and the people were looted clean, with almost no way to survive, where could there be more choices?

As for pretending to join and then resisting?

When a commoner is forced to join the Yellow Turban bandits with his family, where is there any chance to resist?

The old, weak, women, and children have no ability to escape at all and can only be guided and driven along the way.

And when the old, weak, women, and children in the family are forced to become a part of the Yellow Turban crowd, then those young and strong men who are forced to join have no choice but to obey in order to protect their families.

Even, in order to have food for the old, weak, women, and children in the family, the only choice for those young and strong men is to follow the other Yellow Turban bandits to rob other people.

Anger!

Zhang Fei's tiger-like eyes stared fiercely at those Yellow Turban bandits holding torches in the Yellow Turban crowd, wishing he could rush up now and stab a few holes one by one with the丈八 Serpent Spear in those bandits' bodies.

The huge Yellow Turban crowd in front of him did not scare Zhang Fei. Instead, looking at the loose and chaotic advance of the huge number, a thought subconsciously sprouted in his mind—"night raid."

This group of Yellow Turban crowds could not even be considered real soldiers. Even the outermost periphery had never had any defense. Zhang Fei felt that even if he only led eighteen people, he could take advantage of the night to break through the Yellow Turban crowd and kill to his heart's content.

However, Zhang Fei glanced back at the Eighteen燕云 Riders behind him who were already exhausted to the extreme, and he still dismissed the idea.

More importantly, under the night raid, Zhang Fei also understood that even if he could kill a hundred or eighty Yellow Turban bandits to vent his anger, I am afraid that those old, weak, women, and children who had no combat power would die more in the chaos and trampling.

“Hateful!”

Zhang Fei said fiercely. “I will definitely make you bandits look good tomorrow.”

Immediately, Zhang Fei led the Eighteen燕云 Riders back to a certain distance, and then, while resting, he thought about how to quickly find the location of the Yellow Turban bandits' headquarters.

… …

Three days later.

Just as Li Ji put down the 《Spring and Autumn Annals》 in his hand and prepared to sleep with his clothes on.

“Bang!”

The door was suddenly knocked open, and Liu Bei rushed in excitedly.

This made Li Ji sit up subconsciously, only feeling a headache.

In the past five days, Liu Bei had been busy with the righteous army's affairs day and night, constantly recruiting local braves.

However, even so, Liu Bei still did not forget to greet Li Ji with warmth every day. No matter how busy and urgent he was, he would always eat at the same table with Li Ji and sleep with him…

Sleep, of course, was impossible!

Perhaps it was a matter of habit in this era, Liu Bei had repeatedly wanted to have a long talk with Li Ji knee-to-knee and sleep with his feet touching, in order to express Liu Bei's importance and affection for Li Ji.

However, Li Ji could not bear this habit, and resolutely declined in the past, almost opening his mouth and saying, "I like to kill people in my dreams."

Therefore, as soon as he saw Liu Bei appearing at this time, Li Ji almost subconsciously thought that Liu Bei wanted to invite him again.

“Zikun, Zikun…”

Liu Bei was so excited for the first time that his face was a little flushed, and he rushed directly to Li Ji's face, took Li Ji's hand, and said repeatedly.

“You are too amazing, a divine man! A divine man!”

? ?

Li Ji.

What's wrong with Liu Bei in the middle of the night?

Just as Li Ji couldn't help but lean back a little, slightly away from Liu Bei's somewhat excitedly flushed face.

“Brother Xuande, what is this?” Li Ji asked guardedly.

Liu Bei reached into his clothes while speaking. “Yes, yes, yes, Zikun, let me show you something wonderful first, and you will understand.”

Then, a bamboo slip was taken out of Liu Bei's arms and handed to Li Ji.

Li Ji took the bamboo slip and pretended to get up and sit on a couch away from Liu Bei. By the candlelight, he opened the bamboo slip and looked at it.

【To Big Brother, Second Brother, and Mr. Zikun…】

This tone made Li Ji's spirit shake, and he immediately understood that this was the information Zhang Fei had sent back, which was also the information Li Ji was eagerly waiting for.

Without any knowledge of the Yellow Turban crowd's intelligence, even Li Ji's "Strategy Simulator" would not be of any use.

The more detailed the intelligence, the more it can help Li Ji use the "Strategy Simulator" ability to deduce.

However, what surprised Li Ji a little was that the next sentence in the bamboo slip was "Mr. Zikun is truly a divine man. I traveled day and night for two days away from Zhuo County and found the Yellow Turban bandits in the location Mr. Zikun said…"

As the bamboo slip was unfolded little by little, it also recorded a large amount of Yellow Turban information that Zhang Fei had discovered.

After Zhang Fei led the Eighteen燕云 Riders to rest for a night, he began to collect information about the Yellow Turban crowd the next day.

One hundred thousand!

Including a large number of old, weak, women, and children, the number of the Yellow Turban crowd was estimated by Zhang Fei to be more than one hundred thousand.

And those real Yellow Turban bandits are hidden among this overwhelming number of old, weak, women, and children. The specific number is unknown, and the location of the Yellow Turban bandits' headquarters is unclear.

Among them, Zhang Fei specifically recorded that every day the Yellow Turban crowd marched, a large number of old, weak, women, and children could not support it and fell down.

The path of the Yellow Turban rebels was marked by the corpses of the old, weak, women, and children, while they simultaneously continued to forcibly conscript more civilians.

After Zhang Fei and the Eighteen Riders of Yan Cloud spent the better part of a day riding around the periphery of the Yellow Turban rebels, they finally made a decision.

That was to charge into the Yellow Turban ranks!

And not under the cover of night, but directly in broad daylight.

Nineteen people charging into a hundred thousand?!

Seeing this, Li Ji's brow couldn't help but twitch violently.

However, Zhang Fei wasn't a complete brainless brute; he deliberately chose the weakest flank to break through, specifically targeting those Yellow Turban bandits wearing yellow scarves.

With preparation meeting unpreparedness, Zhang Fei quickly created a small-scale chaos.

Moreover, the panicked old, weak, women, and children, without the guidance or expulsion of the Yellow Turban bandits, not only failed to pose a threat to Zhang Fei and his men but also, to some extent, protected this small group.

Furthermore, with Zhang Fei's martial prowess, charging into the ordinary Yellow Turban bandits was practically like mowing grass in a Musou game.

Soon after, the small-scale chaos on the flank quickly attracted the attention of the main force of the real Yellow Turban bandits, and thousands of yellow-scarved bandits rapidly surrounded Zhang Fei and the Eighteen Riders of Yan Cloud.

However, thanks to the obstruction of the old, weak, women, and children, Zhang Fei and the Eighteen Riders of Yan Cloud quickly and safely retreated.

Subsequently, with the help of the exposed Yellow Turban bandits, Zhang Fei quickly found the true location of the Yellow Turban main force, and then, by identifying the cooking smoke in that area from afar, he judged that the Yellow Turban main force numbered approximately five to six thousand.

Secondly, among the civilians who had been plundered and joined the Yellow Turban ranks, the number of able-bodied young men who could be driven and posed a threat was about twenty thousand, while the remaining seventy thousand were mostly old, weak, women, and children who posed little threat.

Finally, in the gradually dwindling area, there was a large section of text praising Zikun's foresight, stating that according to Zhang Fei's actual judgment of the Yellow Turban's marching speed, they would arrive near Zhuo County on the tenth day from the previous calculation.

Li Ji slowly closed the bamboo scroll, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said.

"There are still five days before the Yellow Turban bandits truly arrive at Zhuo County. If Zhuo County does not resist the Yellow Turban bandits, then these Yellow Turban bandits will spread like celestial maidens scattering flowers, starting to gradually cover the entire territory of Zhuo County and then attacking other counties in You Province."

With this brief respite, Liu Bei also recovered his composure from the excitement of confirming Li Ji's ability to predict the enemy from a thousand miles away, sighed, and said.

"In these few days, Prefect Liu Yan has completely transferred the military force of the entire Zhuo Commandery to Zhuo County. I'm afraid it's really as Zikun said before, that he intends to abandon the entire Zhuo Commandery and defend only the city of Zhuo County."

"It's not surprising. The Yellow Turban's power is great. In just one or two months, they have swept through the eight provinces of Qing, Xu, You, Ji, Jing, Yang, Yan, and Yu, which can be said to have occupied nearly half of the Han Dynasty. Such an astonishing momentum, it's only natural that Liu Yan is filled with fear."

Li Ji calmly commented.

The information available to different classes is obviously vastly different. When Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and more ordinary people saw the righteous army proclamation, they only then learned of the existence of the Yellow Turban rebels. Prefect Liu Yan obviously had more information about the Yellow Turbans in his hands.

Therefore, when the Yellow Turbans showed the intention of attacking You Province, Liu Yan lost his composure to this extent and even made plans to abandon the entire Zhuo Commandery and defend only the city of Zhuo County.

During these few days, Liu Bei also visited Liu Yan in his capacity as the leader of the righteous army and a member of the Han imperial family, intending to make a final effort to persuade Liu Yan to protect more civilians. It was then that he learned from Liu Yan the shocking news that the Yellow Turban rebels had swept through eight provinces of the world.

At this moment, a trace of doubt and hesitation couldn't help but appear on Liu Bei's face as he asked.

"Zikun, can we win this battle? Can the Han Dynasty win?"