Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

“Zikun!”

Seeing Li Ji's appearance, Liu Bei couldn't hide the joy on his face and subconsciously stood up to greet him.

“Lord.”

Li Ji bowed to Liu Bei, then nodded slightly to the other strategists and generals in the tent who had also subconsciously risen to greet him.

Among them, Li Ji's gaze lingered on Wei Yan and Pang Tong in the tent for a moment before Liu Bei pulled him to the vacant seat.

Amidst his joy, Liu Bei couldn't help but ask with some doubt.

“Zikun, why have you come here at this time? Has something happened?”

After all, according to the previous arrangement, although Li Ji ordered Wei Yan and Pang Tong to quickly withdraw their troops and join Liu Bei to help him clear Yishui,

Li Ji's troops remained stationed near Liyang Bridge, both to prevent Cao Cao from launching a counterattack and to protect the increasingly stretched supply line.

“It was because an urgent report arrived from Xiapi, first reaching me. Realizing the matter was important, I rode here with a light cavalry to join the Lord for discussion.”

Li Ji handed the urgent report to Liu Bei while briefly explaining the reason.

Liu Bei took the urgent report and quickly read it, his expression changing slightly, before passing it to the other civil and military officials in the tent to read.

The content of the urgent report was a plea for help from Tao Qian!

Yuan Shu, with Ji Ling as commander, was formally attacking Pengcheng with an army of 100,000. In just one day, Pengcheng had already begun to report critical situations.

The low morale of the Xuzhou soldiers was one issue, but more importantly, Ji Ling had prepared a large number of siege weapons in advance. As soon as the army moved, it launched a thunderous siege of Pengcheng.

Zang Ba might be a rare brave general in Xuzhou, but he could hardly resist Ji Ling's siege momentum, and he issued a request for help to Tao Qian almost immediately.

After receiving the request for help, Tao Qian did not dare to delay and hurriedly sent the letter for help.

“What's wrong with this Tao Gongzu? Hadn't I already sent him a letter under Zikun's advice, asking him to dispatch troops to Pengcheng? Why is Pengcheng reporting a critical situation after only one day?”

Having said that, Liu Bei added somewhat irritably. “I think Tao Gongzu simply didn't dispatch troops to Pengcheng at all.”

Liu Bei was already quite aware of Tao Qian's current situation.

In name, Tao Qian was still the Governor of Xuzhou, but the elderly and frail Tao Qian's prestige in Xuzhou was already insufficient.

Now, after a series of defeats, the sphere of influence that Tao Qian could truly command was probably only a part of the Xiapi State.

Zang Ba was a brave general, and his previous attitude towards Tao Qian was basically to listen to orders but not to follow proclamations.

Perhaps Tao Qian received Liu Bei's letter, but he was unwilling to further dilute the few remaining troops in Xiapi City, fearing that Xiapi City would fall into a crisis of severely insufficient defensive forces.

“Tao Gong is probably worried that Xiapi City will also encounter a surprise attack, so he has acted somewhat conservatively.”

Li Ji spoke politely, but most of the people present understood that Tao Qian was purely afraid of death.

Now that Tao Qian had made up his mind to give up Xuzhou, the safety of the Tao family was what Tao Qian valued, so even though Liu Bei reminded him that Yuan Shu's army was about to invade and attack Pengcheng, Tao Qian was still unwilling to divide his troops.

“Alas!”

Liu Bei sighed deeply, feeling deeply helpless about this.

In just a few years, Tao Qian's changes were so great that Liu Bei felt somewhat at a loss.

A few years ago, Tao Qian still had the heroic courage to lead troops straight to gather and denounce Dong Zhuo thousands of miles away, but now he seemed to have lost even a trace of his spirit.

“Zikun, does that mean we can only withdraw our troops to reinforce Pengcheng?” Liu Bei asked.

“Pengcheng's defending general, Zang Ba, and Tao Gong have long been at odds. If Tao Gong does not assist Zang Ba, Zang Ba will have no intention of defending Pengcheng to the death. Once support is delayed and the Yuan army's offensive becomes more urgent, Zang Ba may open the city and surrender.”

Li Ji pointed out the stakes, stating what was the priority.

Moreover, in the initial strategy, Liu Bei's goal of leading the army into the Donghai Commandery was to avoid the outbreak of the plague. Now that the main goal had been achieved, reinforcing Pengcheng was the right thing to do.

And when Li Ji pointed out that Zang Ba might open the city and surrender, the expressions of many people in the tent changed slightly.

This possibility was not non-existent; on the contrary, it was highly likely to happen.

The relationship between Tao Qian and Zang Ba was already not harmonious, and loyalty was out of the question.

Although the trend of Liu Bei taking over Xuzhou was already clear, it must have reached Zang Ba's ears.

Perhaps Liu Bei had both fame and prestige in Xuzhou, but the Yuan family was also famous throughout the Han Dynasty, the leader of the aristocratic families.

Therefore, if Liu Bei faced Pengcheng being besieged for a long time but did not express his position for a long time, it was not impossible for Zang Ba to take the opportunity to choose to surrender to Yuan Shu.

Pang Tong blurted out a word of advice.

“Lord, it is advisable to quickly reinforce Pengcheng and win over Zang Ba, and by no means allow Zang Ba to surrender to Yuan.”

Following Pang Tong, Sima Yi, Xu Shu, Zhuge Liang, and others also expressed their views, agreeing that they should quickly reinforce Pengcheng.

If Pengcheng was not lost, the overall situation in Xuzhou would not undergo a huge change;

But once Pengcheng fell into Yuan Shu's hands, even if Liu Bei eventually retook Pengcheng, the flames of war would further spread to the hinterland of Xuzhou.

In a situation where the Langya State and the Donghai Commandery had already been devastated by Cao Cao, once Pengcheng was breached, the flames of war would further spread between Pengcheng and Xiapi City.

Then, even if Yuan Shu was driven away in the end, what Liu Bei could get would only be a completely devastated Xuzhou.

The value gap between a Xuzhou that still had some vitality and a Xuzhou that had been completely devastated was immeasurable.

Under Li Ji's slight reminder, Liu Bei had completely understood the truth.

However… …

Liu Bei slammed his fist on the table and said angrily.

“But if I let Cao thief retreat from Xuzhou safely like this, what face do I have to face the Xuzhou people who died tragically under that fellow's butcher knife, and what face do I have to receive Tao Gongzu's courtesy to cede Xuzhou?”

Li Ji sighed and said.

“Lord, the deceased are gone, the living are like this. It is important to avenge the Xuzhou people who died tragically, but it is more important to prevent more Xuzhou people from suffering from the scourge of war.”

“Do you not know Nanyang Commandery?”

“After Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang Commandery, he levied exorbitant taxes and even forcibly conscripted a large number of young men before withdrawing from Nanyang Commandery, making it impossible for them to return home in this lifetime.”

“Once Pengcheng falls, even if the Lord retakes Pengcheng, the people will not be as they were before.”

As the chaotic world continued, many warlords undoubtedly gradually realized the importance of population.

Of course, each warlord's focus on the importance of population was also different.

In Cao Cao's eyes, every person could be put into the Tuntian system to produce food; while in the eyes of the aloof Yuan Shu, he focused more on forcibly conscripting people for labor or soldiers.

It was conceivable that the final outcome of the young men forcibly conscripted by Yuan Shu would be that nine out of ten would die in a foreign land.

And without the young men, how should the remaining old, weak, women, and children live in a chaotic world, and how should they live so desperately?

(End of this chapter)