Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

One side of the battlefield was close to the Yi River, which made Li Ji want to attack Cao Cao's flank, but he could only attack from the side guarded by Zhu Ling.

However, after a slight hesitation, Li Ji dismissed the idea.

The Yuan army led by Zhu Ling was indeed Cao Cao's support, but it was also a force for the Yuan family to restrain and supervise Cao Cao.

Li Ji could not rule out the possibility that Cao Cao might have wanted to use his hand to eliminate Zhu Ling, and then allow Cao Cao to directly annex the remnants of the Yuan army after they were scattered.

Li Ji did not intend to fulfill Cao Cao's wish, as it would only waste his own forces and benefit Cao Cao.

Therefore, Li Ji frequently adjusted his orders to adjust or reinforce the front army, choosing to continue to put pressure on Cao Cao's army from the front.

To say nothing else, the will and resilience of qualified military household soldiers are by no means inferior to top-tier elites.

The continuous fierce battle ultimately tested not only the commander's ability, but also the overall will and resilience of the soldiers.

Moreover, there were not many tricks to play on the plains battlefield.

At the beginning, Cao Cao's army was full of energy, relying on huge shields to defend, presenting a stalemate.

However, as time went by, the energy and condition of Cao Cao's soldiers continued to decline, and the speed of attrition also began to increase significantly.

Gradually, the line where the two armies collided began to turn into a meat grinder, and soldiers fell one after another.

This made Cao Cao frown again, and he had to direct the central army to reinforce the front army and fill the gaps.

What made Cao Cao even more uncomfortable was that Li Ji actually only approached from the front, and had no intention of taking advantage of his superior forces to attack the flanks.

A feeling of being seen through arose in Cao Cao's heart.

Cao Cao led his army here, naturally not intending to fight Li Ji to the death, but to test the combat power of the Yangzhou army, and also to use the Yangzhou army to consume the Yuan army led by Zhu Ling.

Due to the distance, coupled with Zhu Ling's deliberate procrastination.

This made Cao Cao almost push Tao Qian back to Xiapi City when the reinforcements led by Zhu Ling arrived in Xuzhou, which made Cao Cao quite dissatisfied, and even aroused some other thoughts.

However, Li Ji's uncooperativeness made Cao Cao both annoyed and helpless.

Especially watching the soldiers he had painstakingly accumulated fall one after another, Cao Cao felt extremely heartache.

Even though the current battle loss ratio between the two sides was not much different, Cao Cao understood that he could not outlast Liu Bei.

For a time, even though the overall frontal battlefield remained evenly matched, Cao Cao already felt a huge pressure coming, putting himself in a dilemma.

A stalemate would consume Cao Cao's limited resources;

Retreating would allow Liu Bei to reach the upper reaches of the Yi River and clean up the corpses.

More importantly, when the plague would form completely depended on luck…

Li Ji came too quickly, too fast, and more decisively than Cao Cao had expected.

However, Cao Cao's eyes only showed a moment of hesitation, and then turned into firmness again.

'My ambition will never stop here!'

'I must hold Liu Bei back at all costs!'

The front armies of both sides continued to fall, and Cao Cao and Li Ji were constantly filling the gaps, fighting until dusk before choosing to retreat.

The post-war statistics showed the battle loss ratio was 1:1.3.

For every ten Yangzhou soldiers lost, thirteen Qingzhou soldiers would be lost.

This result not only made Li Ji frown in dissatisfaction, but also made Cao Cao frown in worry…

In this day's battle, Li Ji was more focused on probing, and it was only a collision and stalemate of the front army.

However, the number of Qingzhou soldiers who died or were seriously injured was still as high as four thousand, not to mention the injured.

If this continued day after day, let alone whether the Qingzhou army could withstand such losses, the originally high morale would also plummet rapidly, and it would not be able to last for long.

Cao Cao convened his strategists and generals to discuss the matter, but for a while, he could not think of a suitable solution.

Li Ji was using an upright army to exert strong pressure, and in the initial confrontation, Cao Cao not only could not gain an advantage in on-the-spot command, but also the strength and combat power of the Yangzhou army steadily suppressed the Qingzhou army.

It was only because Li Ji seemed to have seen through Cao Cao's thoughts that he did not choose to attack Zhu Ling's flank, otherwise, opening up two battlefields, the number of casualties after a day of fierce fighting might have been even greater.

"Lord, why not just retreat and defend Tan County?" Liu Ye suggested.

"Retreating now will inevitably lead Liu Da'er to lead his army north to clear the Yi River, and all previous efforts will be in vain!" Cheng Yu opposed without hesitation.

Mao Jie retorted when he heard this. "If we don't retreat, even if the Lord does not hesitate to spend troops to forcibly block Liu Bei for five or six days, does Zhongde certainly believe that a plague will break out in the Yi River?"

Even within Cao Cao's group, there was never a shortage of people who were dissatisfied with the poisonous plan of slaughtering the city to create a plague.

It was just that loyalty came first, and many people did not dare to direct their anger at Cao Cao, but believed that Cheng Yu had bewitched Cao Cao, and put the blame on Cheng Yu's head.

Cheng Yu could only go all the way to the dark, arguing with Mao Jie and others, supporting the continued blocking of Liu Bei.

Cao Cao's troops were naturally not limited to today's 50,000. In fact, there were still more than 30,000 who were sent by Cao Cao to destroy the roads behind and set up traps, building camps to prepare for step-by-step defense.

Cao Cao led his troops here, also to further buy time for the rear.

It was just that this battle today also caused many people to lose their confidence.

With the combat power shown by the Yangzhou army, I am afraid that no matter what, they will not be able to forcibly block them in Donghai County for half a month.

However, the generation of the plague, the external environment and time are one thing, but whether it can be successful in the end depends on luck.

If Cao Cao and Liu Bei fight to the end, but the plague has not been cultivated, then it will be completely over, and I am afraid that Liu Bei will take advantage of the situation to chase him back to Qingzhou.

Therefore, some stable-seeking generals and counselors have begun to retreat, and began to persuade Cao Cao to avoid the edge.

It is a pity that this kind of argument will undoubtedly not produce a result. Cao Cao, who was sitting in the main seat with his eyes closed, never intended to order a retreat.

It was not until the meeting was about to end that Xi Zhicai reminded him.

"Lord, you may need to be careful of Marquis Guoshi sending people to raid the camp."

As soon as this remark came out, Cao Cao, who had been fighting fiercely for a day and was inevitably physically and mentally exhausted, suddenly opened his eyes and said.

"If Zhicai hadn't reminded me, I would have almost forgotten about this."

Raiding the camp is undoubtedly a strategy that is both simple and has extremely high risks and rewards.

Simple means that even Cao Bao would raid the camp.

The risks and rewards are extremely high, and it also means that Cao Bao's raid fell into a trap, directly leading to the annihilation of his entire army.

But is it possible for Li Ji to launch a night attack after a day of fierce fighting?

Logically speaking, both armies are exhausted… it is not possible.

But maybe Li Ji will do the opposite.

In addition, the Cao army is exhausted and sleeping soundly, and if they encounter a night attack, there may be a camp riot.

Immediately, Cao Cao pondered for a moment, and made a series of arrangements, waiting for Li Ji to come to raid the camp at night. (End of this chapter)