Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Upon hearing this, a trace of fervor appeared in Chen Deng's eyes…

Few knew of Chen Deng's admiration for Liu Bei, a man with aspirations to assist the world and benefit the people.

However, Chen Deng was keenly aware that he was a member of the Chen family of Xu Province, and with his father, Chen Gui, growing old, Chen Deng had no choice but to remain in Xu Province and take over the family responsibilities, even though he had long harbored the idea of going to Yang Province to offer his meager strength to Liu Bei.

Now that Liu Bei had taken control of Xu Province, no one was happier than Chen Deng, as it resolved his dilemma of choosing between loyalty and filial piety.

Therefore, being pressed by Li Ji in such a way, Chen Deng felt his brain working like never before.

And unlike Pang Tong and the others, Chen Deng also had a considerable understanding of the terrain surrounding Xu Province.

In an instant, one guess after another floated in Chen Deng's mind, only to be quickly and completely rejected.

Small forces penetrating deep behind enemy lines were one thing; with Marquis Champion leading the way, it was nothing rare.

But when it came to an army of 100,000, not to mention in the Central Plains, even on the grasslands, leading such a large army nearly six hundred miles deep behind enemy lines was unprecedented.

The key issue was how to ensure the supply lines?

Or rather, what would the soldiers eat?

Visible sweat beaded on Chen Deng's forehead, and in a short while, he looked as if he had been pulled out of the water.

However, Chen Deng also had the ambition to shine brightly under Liu Bei's command, and even more so, the hope of proving himself to the rumored peerless hero.

Finally, Chen Deng took a deep breath and slowly opened his mouth to speak.

"Could it be… waterways?"

Li Ji, who had been somewhat nonchalant, had a slight change in expression and asked with some surprise.

"Oh? I'd like to hear the details."

Chen Deng said with some shame and helplessness.

"I have exhausted all my abilities to imagine various ways to march six hundred miles through Yu Province, all ending in failure. The only method that my abilities cannot fathom is that the crisscrossing waterways of Yu Province seem to offer a possibility."

Upon hearing this, a hint of appreciation could not help but appear in Li Ji's eyes.

'This little Deng… is really good, also a promising talent. His thinking may not be wildly imaginative, but it is unexpectedly practical, with the potential to govern a region.'

And with Chen Deng's reminder, the rest of the staff's eyes refocused on the map hanging in the county office.

However, this map did not depict the obvious mountains and rivers, but only clearly marked the distribution of various counties and cities and roads within Yu Province.

"I can't quite recall the terrain map of Yu Province for a moment…"

Pang Tong muttered, gnashing his teeth, his face full of entanglement and helplessness.

Pang Tong had always been exceptionally intelligent and had an excellent memory, but this also led the self-confident Pang Tong to not like to read books that he was not interested in.

Pang Tong vaguely remembered seeing the terrain map of Yu Province in a book that he had casually flipped through.

But Pang Tong only roughly focused on the dangerous places within Yu Province and remembered them; Pang Tong really did not specifically spend energy to remember the specific mountains and rivers.

Just then, Zhuge Liang stood up and asked. "Teacher, can I modify this map?"

"Yes."

Li Ji indicated that Zhuge Liang should feel free.

In the past, maps were entirely hand-drawn, so they were naturally extremely precious and could not be damaged in the slightest.

However, with the continuous innovation and progress of printing in Yang Province, maps can now also be mass-produced.

And with permission, Zhuge Liang picked up a red pen and stood up, and began to outline the Yu Province map according to his memory.

Rivers that ran vertically and horizontally through Yu Province were personally drawn on the map by Zhuge Liang.

Li Ji carefully compared it and found that what Zhuge Liang had drawn was exactly the same as what he remembered.

Seeing this, Pang Tong said with a constipated expression.

"Good for you, Zhuge Liang. I always see you with a book in your hand, so you've been spending your time memorizing the courses of these rivers that you might never need?"

"Teacher has a saying that I deeply agree with: A general who does not understand astronomy or recognize terrain…"

Before Zhuge Liang could finish speaking, Pang Tong gave a French military salute, telling Zhuge Liang not to continue.

Unlike Zhuge Liang, who was determined to become a polymath, Pang Tong was more like a student who specialized based on interest, and never wanted to spend any effort on things that he felt were unimportant.

Immediately, after Zhuge Liang demonstrated amazing memory and extensive knowledge, and manually filled in the rivers on the Yu Province map, while everyone secretly praised him, their eyes once again fell on the map.

What Chen Deng said just now undoubtedly received the approval of many people.

In a normal way, it would be impossible to lead a large army six hundred miles deep behind enemy lines; only through terrain…

Waterways seemed to be the only possible direction.

However, after looking at the distribution and direction of the waterways in Yu Province, everyone felt even more helpless.

Since Yu the Great divided the land into nine provinces, Yu Province has been located in the center of the nine provinces, and is also the essence of the Central Plains. All dynasties have extensively developed Yu Province, and the waterways are also quite developed.

However, all the major rivers with any significance in Yu Province run from north to south, eventually flowing into the Huai River.

At least, there is no waterway that runs from west to east, or from east to west through most of Yu Province.

The current problem is that Li Ji needs to lead his army from east to west into the hinterland of Yu Province, where Ruyang is located. The major rivers running from north to south seem to be of no use other than becoming obstacles.

As for mobilizing countless boats to transport 100,000 troops, going around a large circle from Pei County into the Huai River, and then going upstream along the Huai River into the tributaries, and finally arriving at a port near Ruyang…

In the eyes of some people who are well versed in naval affairs, it is completely unfeasible.

Even though there are many major rivers in Yu Province, it is difficult to accommodate a fleet that can transport 100,000 troops, and such a forced detour would probably take until winter.

For a time, the people in the county office seemed even more silent, completely unable to think of a way to break the situation of going hundreds of miles deep behind enemy lines.

Wherever Li Ji's gaze passed, it was like a group of poor students who had no face to face their teacher, and were even more afraid of being asked questions by the teacher, and almost all lowered their heads and remained silent.

When Li Ji looked at Sima Yi again, Sima Yi had a solution in his mind at this moment, but he didn't dare to say it, and he also understood that Li Ji would not adopt this strategy.

That is, secretly send people disguised as Yuan's army, and then continuously destroy the major rivers in Yu Province one by one, causing large-scale breaches in the rivers in Yu Province, preferably turning the entire Yu Province into a swamp.

In the face of such a disaster, not to mention that the counties and cities in various places would continue to forcibly conscript young men to stop Li Ji, the officials and guarding generals were afraid that they would flee like birds startled by the twang of a bow.

And Yang Province has no shortage of boats, and a large number of boats are prepared in advance around Yu Province.

At that time, it will not only be possible to quickly let some elite troops cross the water directly to Ruyang, but also to rescue the people with great fanfare and win over fame, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

(End of this chapter)