Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

However, the problem that Pang Tong was worried about ultimately did not occur. After arranging several feint maneuvers,

the troops took advantage of the night to withdraw from Tan County. Xun Yu did not notice, or perhaps he noticed but did not act rashly, allowing Wei Yan and Pang Tong to retreat.

To avoid encountering Cao Hong, who was returning to Tan County, Wei Yan and Pang Tong's retreat route was slightly further north.

In addition, Cao Cao had previously carried out a large-scale massacre in Donghai County, and many people either died or fled. The march passed through a desolate and uninhabited landscape, which also eliminated the possibility of scouts hiding among the people to track and investigate.

But on the other hand, it was quite difficult for Pang Tong to arrange scouts around Tan County.

The people around Tan County either died or fled. Only in Tan County were there still a considerable number of young and strong men controlled by Cao's army to transport grain and grass. This made any scouts appearing around Tan County particularly conspicuous.

So even though Pang Tong personally arranged it, he could only let the scouts monitor the movements of Tan County from a distance, not daring to get too close.

… …

While Li Ji set up camp in place to restore the grain route, Liu Bei also led the army to the Yishui River section blocked by a large number of civilian corpses.

After being soaked for many days, a large number of civilian corpses had already become rotten and smelly.

To Liu Bei's relief, he arrived in time, and no plague had yet developed in the Yishui River.

Afterward, in order to properly and quickly dispose of these corpses, Liu Bei quickly sent people to block the Yishui River for a period of time upstream, and then poured a large amount of kerosene into the Yishui River channel where the corpses were piled.

Finally, a fire was set to burn it once, and then the remaining remains were cleaned up and buried on the spot.

This process took Liu Bei five full days, even with the use of a large army, to properly dispose of all the corpses.

But even so, Liu Bei, who had once passed through Donghai County, could not help but feel a burst of desolation and anger as he looked at the empty surroundings.

He felt desolation and sympathy for the people who had encountered war and massacre, and he also felt increasingly angry at Cao Cao's actions.

No matter how lofty the reasons, they could not conceal the heinous and brutal acts.

At this moment, Liu Bei, without any worries, revealed a strong killing intent in the direction of Tan County, wishing he could kill Cao Cao quickly.

However, a piece of information sent out at the cost of life by a scout from the direction of Tan County made Liu Bei look a little dazed.

"What? Cao's thief ran away?"

"How could he run away?"

"How could he run away?!"

Liu Bei, in the central army tent, rarely lost his composure and asked three questions in a row.

However, it was clear that no one could answer Liu Bei's questions, and the scout who was being watched by many eyes trembled a little.

But Liu Bei clearly understood that he could not get the answer from the scout, so he could only repeatedly ask the scout for the details he had detected.

Although the scout did not dare to get too close to Tan County, he was able to clearly see Cao's army leaving Tan County in a mighty manner.

Even after Cao's army retreated, the scouts sent one person into the city to take a look around. The entire city was empty, and anything that could be used or eaten was taken away by Cao's army.

Even though the scout's identity had already been verified, Liu Bei repeatedly confirmed it, but could not help but suspect whether the scout was Cao Cao's spy.

After all, Cao Cao's retreat from Tan County meant giving up Donghai County, which he had already obtained, and even Langya State, which had no natural defenses, had to be spit out.

Without Cao Cao's containment on one side, Yuan Shu alone would not be able to take Xuzhou.

The crisis in Xuzhou, since Cao Cao retreated, was equivalent to being resolved invisibly.

But the problem was that Cao Cao retreated after losing so many soldiers and wasting so much money and food. Even if he plundered Xuzhou to make up for some of it, it was clear that the cost was far greater than the gain.

More importantly, after Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, he invisibly pushed Xuzhou hard, pushing Xuzhou into Liu Bei's arms.

When Liu Bei in Xuzhou has the reputation of defeating Cao and retreating Yuan, the process of Xuzhou transitioning to Liu Bei's hands is equivalent to pouring a large bottle of lubricant, showing smoothness.

Even Liu Bei himself knew that Xuzhou was his, then Qingzhou was definitely the next target.

In such a situation of interdependence, it was impossible for Cao Cao not to know, and even more impossible not to know that such a retreat was only delaying death.

It was just that during Liu Bei's cleaning of the Yishui River, Cao's army was retreating with a large amount of supplies in a mighty manner. Such traces would not be mistaken even by a blind man, and the scout also clearly watched Cao Cao retreat north.

For a time, everyone in the tent frowned, and Liu Bei also felt that Cao Cao's move was extremely strange.

After a moment, Sima Yi put forward a hypothesis.

"Could it be that Cao Cao saw that the situation in Xuzhou was irreversible, and prepared to use Yuan Shu to contain our army, and then attack Yanzhou?"

Although Cao Cao would betray the alliance with Yuan Shu by doing this, Sima Yi never felt that a piece of paper alliance had any binding force on a hero like Cao Cao.

"No!"

Just after Sima Yi's words fell, Zhuge Liang shook his head and retorted.

"The location of Yanzhou is unique, and it is surrounded by Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Lu Bu at the same time. It is easy for Cao Cao to violate the alliance with the Yuan family to attack Yanzhou, but it is extremely difficult to defend Yanzhou under the threat of the three families…"

After a pause, Zhuge Liang added. "Unless Cao Cao can get the support of the lord, but the lord and Cao's thief are at odds with each other, how can he support Cao's thief's actions?"

"Therefore, if Cao Cao takes Yanzhou, he will only be attacked by the heroes of the world and divided among them, which is a way to die."

Xu Shu nodded, agreeing with Zhuge Liang's persuasion, and then said.

"I think Cao Cao is deliberately showing weakness. In the situation where Yuan Shu has already entered the game, he wants to preserve his strength, sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and then wait for an opportunity to move. This is also in line with Cao Cao's treacherous style."

"Moreover, now Lu Bu is confronting General Yun Chang in the direction of Nanyang County, and Yuan Shu is invading Xuzhou. Even if Cao Cao retreats, the pressure that our army needs to bear is also great, and it is not impossible for both sides to suffer."

"No!"

Pang Tong waved his hand and said. "You must know that the situation in the Central Plains is that one move affects the whole body. Cao's thief retreats first. After the news spreads, how can Lu Bu and Yuan Shu use their lives to benefit others?"

… …

Just as the staff group started to discuss, Liu Bei looked around, but still felt lost and helpless.

Without Li Ji by his side, the words of the staff group members seemed to make some sense, and it seemed that they could not come to a conclusion in the short term.

But Cao Cao had already fled north, and Liu Bei obviously did not have time to delve into it slowly.

Immediately, Liu Bei slapped the table and said.

"It doesn't matter what Cao's thief intends to do, but how can we tolerate him slaughtering wantonly and retreating safely? Pass my order, immediately raise troops to pursue…"

"Lord, please wait!"

At this moment, the curtain of the tent was opened, and Li Ji, who was in a hurry, strode in. (End of this chapter)