Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

For Li Ji, who had a clear understanding of the overall situation of the world, this Yanzhou was nothing more than a piece of land he had left for Lu Bu.

Hulao Pass, this strategic pass in the world, shocked Li Ji.

Back then, when the anti-Dong Zhuo alliance attacked Hulao Pass, if they hadn't used a plan to incite Lu Bu's rebellious nature and backstab Dong Zhuo, it was entirely possible that the alliance would have been blocked by Dong Zhuo at Hulao Pass.

And if Lu Bu were trapped in the Sili region, it would mean that Li Ji would have to find a way to break through Hulao Pass in the future.

The world's number one warrior guarding the world's number one strategic pass, the difficulty of breaking through it made Li Ji sigh.

Therefore, whether it was to prevent Lu Bu from becoming a variable in the process of occupying Yuzhou, or to prevent Lu Bu from trapping himself in the Sili region and taking the initiative to leave the pass.

At this time, Li Ji was happy to see Lu Bu occupy Yanzhou.

Even though the Bingzhou wolf cavalry led by Lu Bu was also one of the best in the world in field battles, it was ultimately easier to deal with than holding Hulao Pass.

Therefore, Li Ji attached his own opinions to the information sent by Guan Yu and forwarded it to Liu Bei.

He asked Guan Yu to continue to defend the territory and try his best to let Jingzhou recuperate and restore its vitality.

Jingzhou had been shrouded in war for about two years, and the Jingzhou army had almost been completely replaced from beginning to end.

Regardless of whether it was from the perspective of Jingzhou's financial and food losses, or from the perspective of stabilizing the people's hearts, Jingzhou urgently needed to recuperate for a period of time.

Occupying Wancheng in Nanyang County also gave Jingzhou a barrier to resist threats from the north at any time, without worrying about Lu Bu's Bingzhou wolf cavalry directly reaching the Xiangfan area overnight, which had an irreplaceable role in stabilizing the situation in Jingzhou.

However, considering that the faster Yuan Shu's ability to resist was disintegrated, the more beneficial it would be to the overall situation.

Li Ji intended to have Wen聘, who was in Jingzhou, lead 20,000 troops as a separate force to also insert obliquely into Yuzhou from the direction of Nanyang County to attack Yuan Shu from both sides.

In this way, Yuzhou would be attacked from the east, west, and south at the same time, presenting a vast encirclement.

After Liu Bei browsed the opinions attached by Li Ji, he did not change a word, stamped the seal, and sent it to Jingzhou as quickly as possible.

Yuan Shu in Yuzhou was undoubtedly struggling on his deathbed, frantically conscripting young men and food, regardless of the lives of the people.

The entire territory of Yuzhou was almost plunged into a certain sense of "carnival".

Greedy officials who took the opportunity to make a fortune in the name of Yuan Shu were everywhere.

Yuan Shu, who was in his final madness, did not care about the people at all, and even tacitly approved of the greedy officials who took the opportunity to plunder, in order to win over those officials to support him at this moment.

In order to block Li Ji to the greatest extent, Yuan Shu used his confidants to form supervisory teams to drive those conscripted young men to defend each city to the death.

Even in the face of the army led by Li Ji, it was not difficult to capture these small cities, but it would take a lot of time.

The longer Li Ji's pace was delayed, the more young men Yuan Shu could conscript in the hinterland of Yuzhou.

Even though Yuan Shu's approach was no less than draining the pond to catch the fish, and would inevitably be backfired sooner or later, and greatly consume the potential of Yuzhou itself, it was undoubtedly to delay Li Ji's pace.

If Li Ji had to attack city by city to Ruyang, where Yuan Shu was located, it was likely that winter would have arrived.

And in this way, even if Yuzhou was taken down, it would be a crippled version of Yuzhou.

After taking down Xiangcheng in Peiguo, Li Ji stepped into the city gate, which had been simply cleaned but still had bloodstains everywhere, issued notices to appease the people, and summoned his civil and military officials to discuss matters in the county office.

However, this small Xiangcheng county office was no less in scale than a government office, and even showed signs of recent repairs everywhere.

This made Li Ji lose the mood to talk to the officials of Xiangcheng who were kneeling down and begging for mercy in front of him, waved his hand, and said.

"Drag them down and follow the usual practice."

"Yes, Governor."

Immediately, the burly Tiger Guards dragged the officials down like they were carrying fat chickens.

As for what the usual practice was, it was to tie up these officials one by one and parade them through the streets to let the people identify their crimes.

Those with crimes would be killed, and those without crimes would be spared.

In addition, the strict military discipline within the Yangzhou army could ensure that the people would not be harmed, and this method was undoubtedly enough to quickly stabilize the people's hearts and restore normal order.

Soon, the generals and staff also rushed to the county office.

Except for Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, who were still stationed in Langya, Xu Shu was transferred by Li Ji to Liu Bei's side to listen to his orders and make up for any omissions, and Chen Dao and Zhou Tai were also left in Xuzhou to protect Liu Bei, the rest were still under Li Ji's command.

Moreover, Zang Ba and Chen Deng of Xuzhou also took the initiative to ask to be under Li Ji's command.

Cao Bao, who had originally recognized the situation, also realized that Xuzhou was about to be surnamed Liu, and had taken the initiative to request to be under Li Ji's command to show his active attitude towards leaning towards the new master of Xuzhou.

It was just that Li Ji really didn't want to add a blatant flaw to himself, so he politely declined Cao Bao.

Perhaps Cao Bao was a straw bag in military affairs, but his influence in Xuzhou was not low, and Cao Bao's approach was also greatly conducive to Liu Bei's rapid control of Xuzhou.

In the situation where Zhang Fei did not whip Cao Bao and completely antagonize Cao Bao, Cao Bao, who was not threatened with his life, would naturally not have any rebellion, but would soon be conquered by Liu Bei's charm.

Now Liu Bei and Li Ji are implicitly dividing their work clearly.

Liu Bei is responsible for internal affairs, using his amazing charm to quickly stabilize and control Xuzhou;

Li Ji is responsible for foreign affairs, leading the army and intending to quickly swallow Yuzhou and achieve hegemony.

After Li Ji waited for a while, the generals and staff successively arrived at the county office, saluted Li Ji, and sat down in their respective seats.

Generals: Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Xu Chu, Tian Yu, Zang Ba, and many partial generals such as Sun Guan and Yin Li;

Staff: Chen Deng, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Sima Yi.

After everyone was there, Li Ji didn't say any useless pleasantries, and directly told about Lu Bu's withdrawal from Nanyang and the difficulties currently faced in attacking Yuzhou.

Due to the fact that the army was not fully prepared before advancing, this meant that some of the siege equipment in the army was insufficient, and Yuan Shu was using the method of conscripting young men to defend each city to delay time.

Although the army's progress in breaking through cities along the way was considered smooth, if this continued, it would inevitably be delayed until winter.

It is common sense in this era that it is difficult to use troops in winter.

The key lies in the lack of adequate heating methods.

Using troops in winter, not to mention that it would be difficult to mobilize the army, morale would be low, and even non-combat attrition would be far greater than combat attrition.

While the civil and military officials began to discuss in low voices, Li Ji narrowed his eyes and couldn't help but think of cotton again. (End of this chapter)