Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Liu Qi hurried forward, looking at the blood gushing from Huang Zu's wound. His heart was filled with complex emotions as he said,

"General Huang Zu, why did you have to do this?"

"Gurgle... Gurgle..."

Huang Zu's throat moved, but he couldn't speak anymore. He merely held Liu Qi's hand, a faint smile on his face, before the light in his eyes rapidly faded.

This sudden change caused a chorus of weeping from Huang Zu's former subordinates on the Wancheng city wall who had witnessed the event.

Guan Yu quickly arrived beside Liu Qi, his expression filled with emotion as he said,

"What a great number of loyal and righteous men there are!"

Liu Qi, with a sorrowful expression, said, "General Yun Chang, this monk wishes to bury General Huang Zu beside my late father's grave. I ask for your permission."

Guan Yu nodded, then bowed to Huang Zu and said,

"It should be so. Guan will ensure General Huang is given a proper burial."

"And I will inform my elder brother of this matter, and he will report it to the imperial court, requesting the court to grant General Huang a title, so that General Huang's name of loyalty and righteousness may be recorded in history for future generations to sing his praises."

Upon hearing this, Liu Qi rose and, with his hands clasped together, bowed to Huang Zu, then personally accompanied the retrieval of Huang Zu's body.

With Huang Zu's dying wish, even though Huang Zu's former subordinates were deeply saddened by his death, they did not resist Guan Yu leading his troops into Wancheng.

This allowed Guan Yu to smoothly take over this strong city and to incorporate all of Huang Zu's former subordinates into his army.

When the news reached Shouchun, Liu Bei exclaimed in public,

"Preserving Wancheng from the ravages of war is benevolence; preferring death to serving another master is loyalty. Such a man of both benevolence and loyalty, I shall personally petition the Emperor to grant him a title."

However, Liu Bei's joy at Guan Yu's smooth takeover of Wancheng was short-lived, as a battle report from Xuzhou shocked him greatly.

When Cao Cao led his army to Kaiyang City in Langya State, Cao Bao believed that the Cao army had come from afar and was exhausted. That night, he intended to take advantage of the Cao army's unstable foothold and personally lead five thousand elite troops to raid their camp.

However, the Cao army had not only anticipated Cao Bao's raid but had also laid an ambush.

Moreover, a significant number of the generals in Cao Bao's army, who were originally from the Qingzhou Yellow Turban rebels, betrayed him when Cao Bao led his troops out of the city, directly opening the city gates to let the Cao army in.

The forty thousand troops within Kaiyang City were almost completely annihilated.

Only Cao Bao led two thousand remnants to Jiqiu, attempting to use the twenty thousand troops stationed there to continue resisting the Cao army.

However, not only Tao Qian, but even Liu Bei, who was thousands of miles away, wished he could chop Cao Bao into pieces when he learned of the battle report.

One general's incompetence dooms the entire army.

Forty thousand Xuzhou soldiers were ruined by Cao Bao in a single day.

Also named Cao, Cao Cao's methods were far more formidable than Cao Bao's.

"Tao Gongzu entrusted the army to Cao Bao's hands; is that not tantamount to seeking his own death?" Liu Bei sighed, unable to recover from the battle report.

Li Ji pondered the battle report in detail and guessed, "That Cao Bao was able to escape the ambush; could it be that Cao Cao intentionally let him go?"

These words left Liu Bei unsure how to respond, and he even felt that Li Ji's guess was likely the truth.

Otherwise, with Cao Cao having laid an ambush, and Cao Bao not possessing the bravery of Lu Bu, being able to lead two thousand remnants to break out would truly be a miracle.

However, infected by Li Ji's relaxed tone, Liu Bei couldn't help but reply,

"According to Zikun's words, shouldn't Cao Mengde give Cao Bao a stipend?"

"At least enough to make up for two and a half years," Li Ji replied.

"Hahahaha..."

Immediately, Liu Bei and Li Ji couldn't help but look at each other and laugh.

However, after laughing, Liu Bei looked at the map hanging on the wall, his brow furrowed as he analyzed,

"The generals of the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans who joined Xuzhou suddenly betrayed us. It seems Cao Mengde had planned for Xuzhou long ago, and with the fall of Kaiyang City, the only city south of the Cao army is Jiqiu."

"Once Jiqiu falls, the Cao army will be able to drive straight into the heart of Xuzhou, and the East Sea Commandery, where Xuzhou's administrative seat of Tan County is located, will be defenseless..."

"I wonder if Tao Gongzu can wake up and cut his losses in time, gathering his forces to retreat to Xiapi, otherwise, if the Cao army defeats them one by one, Xuzhou may be in danger."

Li Ji did not deny Liu Bei's judgment but instead asked,

"Tao Gongzu still hasn't replied?"

Liu Bei shook his head, his expression revealing some helplessness.

Tao Qian had not asked Liu Bei for help. Even if Liu Bei wanted to send troops, under the banner of Cao Cao's "revenge," he could not directly intervene in the Xuzhou battlefield.

The only thing Liu Bei could do to reduce the pressure on Tao Qian was to continue to increase troops in Ruyin City, deterring Yuan Shu from acting rashly and attacking Xuzhou from the side.

However, given the current situation in Xuzhou, it seemed that Cao Cao would defeat Xuzhou repeatedly without Yuan Shu's intervention.

In terms of troops and supplies, Xuzhou far surpassed Qingzhou.

However, the level of the generals and strategists on both sides seemed to be on completely different levels.

This greatly exceeded Liu Bei's expectations.

Beforehand, Liu Bei had thought that Tao Qian and Cao Cao would at least have a fierce battle, and that Tao Qian would only be unable to hold out with the support of the two Yuan.

Unexpectedly, Tao Qian made frequent blunders, making the situation in Xuzhou visibly worse.

When Tao Qian learned of the disastrous defeat at Kaiyang, he was indeed almost angered to death.

It was only because Tao Qian had no capable generals left that he did not immediately order Cao Bao's head to be chopped off.

But even so, Tao Qian still did not ask Liu Bei for help, but gritted his teeth and continued to transfer twenty thousand elite troops to Jiqiu, ordering Cao Bao to defend Jiqiu to the death, with the idea of exhausting the Cao army's supplies and continuing to drag on.

Knowing that he had made a mistake, Cao Bao dared not act cleverly again, holding the idea of redeeming himself, and led forty thousand elite troops to defend Jiqiu to the death.

The two armies also launched a nearly ten-day offensive and defensive tug-of-war in Jiqiu. During this period, the Cao army repeatedly tried to lure Cao Bao out of the city, but Cao Bao remained unmoved.

It was not until the two armies had been deadlocked in Jiqiu for half a month that Cao Cao used the trebuchet improved by Liu Ye to break through the city gate of Jiqiu, and Cao Bao led ten thousand remnants back to Tan County.

With the fall of Jiqiu, the most essential East Sea Commandery of Xuzhou was completely opened to Cao Cao.

Just as Tao Qian, unwilling, was preparing to abandon Tan County and the East Sea Commandery, retreat to Xiapi, and continue to lengthen the Cao army's battle line to defend the strong city to the death.

In order to force Tao Qian to lead his army out of the city for a decisive battle, Cao Cao, under the name of "revenge," began to massacre and plunder the cities in the East Sea Commandery.

In just a few days, Cao Cao massacred two cities in a row, and the number of corpses of the massacred people was so large that it even caused the Yi River to stop flowing.

Once this matter came out, the entire Han Dynasty was in an uproar, and the voices condemning and reprimanding Cao Cao were deafening.

Shouchun City, within the State Shepherd's Mansion.

"Cao! Meng! De!"

"Cao the thief!! I swear to never coexist with Cao the thief!!!"

Liu Bei was so angry that his eyes turned red. He drew his sword and swore to the sky, announcing in an unquestionable tone, without any consultation with Li Ji for the first time,

"Send troops! Send troops immediately... I will personally lead troops to punish the thief!" (End of this chapter)