Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Moreover, because Pang Tong, to put it nicely, was a bit stubborn and also had a devil-may-care attitude, he wasn't pretentious at all. This made it easier for him to gain the friendship of the generals compared to Zhuge Liang.

Furthermore, Li Ji had recently praised Pang Tong as one of the "Three Sages," calling him "Phoenix Youngster."

Therefore, Pang Tong's remarks this time also caused quite a stir.

Intellectuals skilled in military strategy, such as Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Jia Xu, and Xu Shu, quickly gained a basic understanding and judgment of what Pang Tong had said.

The Northern Expedition involved both the Wei and Zhao states, so there naturally had to be a question of priority.

Attacking Qingzhou and attacking Yanzhou were two different directions.

What Pang Tong said also made some sense.

Compared to rapidly swallowing the entire Qingzhou, attacking Yanzhou to cut off the connection between Wei and Zhao would undoubtedly be much simpler.

Knowing the great importance of the Northern Expedition, one should be extremely cautious.

The route of the Northern Expedition was even more crucial to success or failure.

Zhuge Liang also stepped forward to offer his advice without hesitation.

"Reporting to the Prime Minister, Pang Tong's concerns are not groundless. Moreover, there are not many days left before winter. It is really not easy to capture Qingzhou before the snowfall."

"Once we fail to establish a firm control over Qingzhou before winter, giving Cao Wei a chance to catch their breath, it will undoubtedly render all previous efforts useless."

Li Ji nodded slightly and looked at the others, giving everyone enough time to offer their advice.

Among them, the reactions of Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang undoubtedly made Li Ji very gratified.

Pang Tong specialized in military affairs, so he must have secretly started studying the Northern Expedition long ago. That's why he was able to blurt out his suggestion to attack Yanzhou.

Zhuge Liang's reaction was selfless, and he was advising Li Ji based on his own judgment.

Compared to them, Sima Yi, that little rascal, was silent at this time.

Soon, Lu Zhi, Xu Shu, Guan Yu, and others also spoke up, implicitly leaning towards supporting the main attack on Yanzhou.

After all, attacking Yanzhou did not require the rapid capture of the entire Yanzhou. It was only necessary to cut off the connection between Yanzhou and Qingzhou. Then, it would be much more troublesome for Lu Bu and Cao Cao to join forces.

The burden on logistics and supply lines alone would be enough to establish a great advantage.

Moreover, in terms of strength, Cao Cao, who possessed the three states of Ji, Bing, and Qing, ultimately had a stronger foundation than Lu Bu, who was not good at governing.

Attacking Yanzhou meant attacking Lu Bu.

Attacking the weak first and then the strong was undoubtedly in accordance with the art of war.

Li Ji was by no means a self-willed person. He also knew that the Northern Expedition required unity from top to bottom, and only with concerted efforts could it be accomplished. He hoped that everyone could truly help him fill in the gaps and avoid any oversights that he had not noticed.

Therefore, after many civil and military officials had expressed their opinions, Li Ji signaled to Xiahou Bo. Then, ten personal guards entered in a line, each holding a tray with a thick piece of clothing on it.

Everyone was a little puzzled when they saw this.

People like Mi Zhu and Mi Fang, who usually had extensive contact with various items, looked a little surprised.

The reason was that the material of this item was unheard of.

Li Ji then slowly said.

"The reason for attacking Qingzhou is actually due to the concern that the Cao thief once dug up the Yellow River. In order to prevent him from continuing to resort to such unscrupulous acts, we can only take advantage of the Yellow River's dry season to control Qingzhou with lightning speed."

The last time the Yellow River was dug up, it did not cause much damage to the Han army. In addition, the breach was blocked in time, and the damage to Xuzhou was controlled to a certain extent.

Relatively speaking, Jinan, which was under Cao Cao's rule, suffered even more severely.

But some things, once there is a first time, then the second, third, and fourth will naturally not be far away.

This was Li Ji's biggest concern about capturing Qingzhou.

If the Yellow River were to be dug up again during the flood season, given the terrain of Qingzhou, most of Xuzhou would have to be reduced to a swamp, let alone continue to guarantee the logistics of the army attacking Qingzhou.

These words also made a group of civil and military officials a little embarrassed, realizing the problem.

To prevent such things from happening again, the only way was to take advantage of the Yellow River being in the dry season and seize Qingzhou quickly.

The current concealment of troop movements from Cao Wei was undoubtedly a rare opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Qingzhou.

Without waiting for the others to speak, Li Ji continued.

"As for the difficulty of using troops in winter that you are worried about, these clothes are the remedy. These clothes are called: cotton clothes, and the inner and outer materials are made of 'Kapok'."

"And the cold protection and warmth of these cotton clothes are comparable to fur. Soldiers can use them to resist wind and snow. You can all try them on."

"Please forgive my rudeness, Han King and Prime Minister, I will try it on."

Pang Tong would not hold back if he had objections.

But Pang Tong would fully believe what Li Ji said.

Immediately, Pang Tong did not mind taking off his court clothes in front of a group of civil and military officials, leaving only an inner shirt on his body, and then put on the cotton clothes.

It was currently autumn, and the weather was clear and refreshing.

But as the thick cotton clothes were put on, Pang Tong kept moving up and down.

Before long, Pang Tong felt like he was in a stove. When he hurriedly took it off, he found that he was already sweating profusely.

This scene also surprised a group of civil and military officials, and they all stepped forward to study the cotton clothes, and some even followed suit and put them on to feel it.

After a series of tests, it was indeed comparable to fur.

Immediately, Pang Tong couldn't help but ask.

"May I ask the Prime Minister, what is the cost of this item, how many have been prepared, and is it enough for the army to use?"

Li Ji smiled and said.

"As early as seven or eight years ago, this Marquis accidentally discovered the use of 'Kapok', so I sent this item to Yingzhou, asking Japan to plant it on my behalf. Now Kapok can be said to be all over the mountains and fields in Japan, countless."

"Also in the previous year, 'Kapok' was sent back in large quantities from Yingzhou. This Marquis began to secretly organize manpower to make cotton clothes. Now the scale has taken shape, and the quantity is enough for the Northern Expedition."

Li Ji did not want to say the specific quantity and the specific place where the cotton clothes were stored, so he could only say that it was enough.

However, after the world is pacified, there is no need to worry about cotton clothes being used to aid the enemy, and cotton clothes can be popularized among the people, solving the problem that the people have few items to keep warm in winter.

After all, the Japanese are mining and picking cotton in almost one go, and they are frantically exporting it.

The only thing that limits the number of finished cotton clothes is the manpower issue.

After all, there are many procedures involved in further processing cotton and then making cotton clothes, so it is naturally not easy to popularize it among the people now.

And many generals looked at the cotton clothes one by one, and their eyes were almost glowing.

Because keeping warm in winter is a big problem. Once a large-scale use of troops is rashly made in winter, the number of soldiers who are frostbitten and frozen to death may far exceed the battle damage, and it is not easy to maintain the morale of the army.

"Teacher is far-sighted and has made preparations early. This disciple admires him."

Pang Tong blurted out a sentence, and even forgot to call him by his official title because he was so excited.

However, a group of civil and military officials could not care about Pang Tong's flaw. Instead, they all bowed and shouted.

"The Prime Minister is far-sighted and has made preparations early. The Northern Expedition will surely be a great victory."

At this point, even though Li Ji did not say it clearly, a group of civil and military officials understood Li Ji's plan.

At this time, the Northern Expedition was to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, and the approaching winter was even more of an advantage.

With these warm cotton clothes that can be popularized, as long as it is not a time of heavy snowfall, most of the time in winter can be used for normal troop use.

This undoubtedly became one of Li Ji's confidence that he could quickly capture Qingzhou.

In this way, the strategy of first capturing Qingzhou, then destroying Lu Bu, and finally attacking Cao Cao from the north and south undoubtedly had the conditions for realization.

If Qingzhou can really be captured quickly, then Cao Cao's hand stretching across the Yellow River can be completely cut off, and there is no need to worry about fully attacking Lu Bu. The strategic significance is self-evident.

As for the Northern Expedition, although Liu Bei had fully entrusted it to Li Ji for decision, Li Ji would naturally not be able to remotely control the battles in two directions at the same time.

Therefore, while Li Ji intended to personally lead the army to the Northern Expedition to Qingzhou, the important task of resisting Lu Bu was led by Guan Yu.

Once Qingzhou faced a large army, Lu Bu would inevitably send troops to either aid Qingzhou or attack Yuzhou and Jingzhou to relieve the siege of Qingzhou.

Among them, the possibility of Lu Bu rushing to aid Qingzhou from thousands of miles away was very small. He would definitely choose to besiege Wei to save Zhao, in an attempt to force Li Ji to retreat.

After swallowing Qingzhou, Li Ji would join forces with Guan Yu to attack Lu Bu.

Although the civil and military officials who were able to attend the court meeting this time were actually Liu Bei's trusted confidants.

But when Li Ji finished appointing generals at the court meeting, that night, he led the generals and rushed to Langya State, preparing to launch the Northern Expedition offensive.

In order to avoid the premature disclosure of the Northern Expedition to the greatest extent, Shouchun will continue to close the city gates for three days, until Li Ji has led the generals and many confidant troops not far from Langya State, before unsealing the city gates and issuing a notice to appease the people.

At the same time, a proclamation written by Liu Bei himself was sent out, and it was published in the latest issue of the newspaper to be distributed in the coming days, advertising to all the people.

[September of the second year of Xinghan, this newspaper, by the order of the Han King's Mansion and the Prime Minister's Mansion, publishes the "Xinghan Northern Expedition to Punish the Traitors Proclamation" as follows:

Liu Bei, the King of Han, informs all the people of the world.

It has been four hundred years since the Han Dynasty, and the Mandate of Heaven has not changed; now the universe is collapsing and the country is covered in dust!

There are two thieves, Cao and Lu, who are plotting to usurp the throne, deciding to use the water of the Yellow River, and assassinating the Son of Heaven in the street, staining the Han Dynasty with blood, which is outrageous to both humans and gods, establishing a false regime as king, and causing chaos in the world.

Bei, the great-grandson of Emperor Jing, even though he weaves mats and sells shoes, how dare he forget the ambition of Emperor Gao, how dare he forget the idea of restoring the Han Dynasty?

Adding to being the King of Han, I know even more that the Han thieves and the Han Dynasty cannot coexist, and the royal industry cannot be partial.

Now, I appoint Prime Minister Li Ji as the commander, leading the crowd of six states to the Northern Expedition against the false regime.

If Bei does not starve to death in Shouchun, the front line will definitely have an endless supply of food and grass;

If Bei does not die in battle, there must still be a soldier in the army.

The Prime Minister also said: If the Northern Expedition fails, I swear not to return.

Shuo! [Alas!]

Bei and the Prime Minister have the same ambition for the Northern Expedition, and I respectfully ask all the people to see and see it.]

P.S. I forgot an important detail when writing earlier, so I'm adding it directly into the main text to avoid it being missed.

That is, choosing a new era name.

Since Liu Xie is already dead, it's naturally impossible to continue using the previous era name. To demonstrate legitimacy, theoretically, even just advancing to the title of King of Han should involve choosing a new era name.

The new era name is set as "Xing Han" (Reviving Han), and it just so happens that the first year of Xing Han is also 196 AD, the same as the first year of Jian'an. This will also make it easier for my foster fathers to keep track of the timeline.

The second year of Xing Han is 197 AD.

In this year, Li Ji is thirty, Liu Bei is thirty-six, and Zhuge Liang is sixteen. (End of chapter)