Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Li Ji continued to peruse the texts in his hand until he felt the time was right, then he looked at Xiahou Lan, who had a well-behaved expression, and asked.

"Mingzheng, do you know where you went wrong?"

"Lan doesn't know, but since the master does this, there must be a reason. Lan dares not disobey."

Xiahou Lan spoke the most rebellious words in the humblest tone, seemingly obedient, but in reality, full of dissatisfaction.

Li Ji, who was keenly aware of Xiahou Lan's state of mind, asked unhurriedly.

"Then tell me, what is the reason for you to encourage Sun Ce to recognize me as his adoptive father? Don't say it has nothing to do with you, this matter must be greatly related to you."

Li Ji naturally knew his bookboy quite well.

He was originally a lively person, who usually seemed well-behaved in front of him, but in reality, he was still quite mischievous behind his back.

Xiahou Lan hesitated for a long time, and finally dared not hide anything, saying hesitantly.

"Lan saw that the master was very attentive and valued Sun Ce, so he wanted to further the relationship between the master and Sun Ce."

"And the closest relationship in the world is that of father and son, so I secretly reminded Sun Ce to recognize the master as his father, which would surely allow the master to teach him with all his might."

"In this way, the master can gain a powerful adopted son, and the lord can also use this to express goodwill to the Wu County gentry and gain the full support of the Sun family, killing two birds with one stone."

Li Ji couldn't help but have a headache when he heard this…

It couldn't be said that Xiahou Lan didn't have his own thoughts, and it could even be said that Xiahou Lan had considerable subjective initiative.

Logically speaking, if Li Ji accepted Sun Ce as his adopted son, there would indeed be many benefits.

The biggest problem was that Li Ji didn't want to accept an adopted son at all!

Secondly…

Li Ji signaled Xiahou Lan to stand up, and then said, "Mingzheng, I am very happy that you can have your own thoughts, but I don't like your thinking very much."

Xiahou Lan couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard this.

This time, Xiahou Lan had repeatedly thought it over, and felt that it would definitely be beneficial and harmless before taking the initiative to do it.

It was to respond to the expectations of the lord and the master, to let them understand that he had grown, and to hope to gain the master's praise.

So when he received a scolding instead, Xiahou Lan instinctively felt a little aggrieved and unconvinced.

"Please enlighten me, master," Xiahou Lan said quickly.

"Mingzheng, what you see is only short-term benefits, but you don't look at it from a long-term perspective…"

Li Ji thought for a moment, and then said.

"I quite admire Sun Ce, so it's true that I have repeatedly promoted the competition between Sun Ce and Zilong, but if I take advantage of the situation and accept Sun Ce as my adopted son, then even if I can draw closer to the Sun family, it would be undesirable."

After a pause, Li Ji asked Xiahou Lan.

"If Mingzheng were a member of the Wu County gentry, what would be the general idea after knowing about this?"

Xiahou Lan pondered deeply for a long time before carefully answering.

"They would think that the Sun family has completely relied on the lord, and that the lord has also begun to release goodwill to the gentry and try to win them over."

"And then? What actions would the gentry take?" Li Ji asked again.

Xiahou Lan pondered for a moment before answering.

"The gentry may also try to send more gentry children to contact the lord or other civil and military officials under the lord's command, and try to have the lord or the master accept them as adopted sons, so as to avoid the Sun family becoming dominant in Wu County with the lord's support."

"That's right!"

Li Ji nodded and said.

"The gentry may not be able to tolerate the lord not being close to them, but what they can't tolerate even more is the lord only being close to one family."

"With my position, once I accept Sun Ce as my adopted son, then the Sun family will inevitably receive further attention and favor from the lord, and then it can be predicted that the Sun family will completely dominate among the Wu County gentry."

"In this way, it seems that the Wu County gentry can be made to actively attach themselves to the lord, but is it really a good thing for the important ministers under the lord's command to have too close a relationship with the local gentry?"

Speaking of this, Li Ji couldn't help but narrow his eyes, and Xiahou Lan felt as if a flash of lightning had flashed through his mind.

It was true that the master was now almost absolutely trusted by the lord, but once the master had a close relationship with the Sun family, and even after the Sun family became dominant among the Wu County gentry.

Would this undermine the trust between the lord and the master?

Would the lord really not be wary of the master?

If the master did this, would the other important ministers under his command do the same once they had too close a relationship with the local gentry?

Xiahou Lan subconsciously associated with a certain train of thought, and became more and more frightened, and hurriedly bowed down and said.

"Lan almost made a big mistake, please punish me, master."

"Forget it."

Li Ji waved his hand, and then asked Xiahou Lan to step back, saying, "Mingzheng, go back and think carefully, and think twice before acting in the future."

"Yes."

Xiahou Lan nodded repeatedly, and was about to get up and step back when.

Suddenly, a burst of shouts and screams faintly came from outside the camp.

"Whoosh!"

Xiahou Lan instinctively drew out the long sword from his waist, made a defensive posture, and said urgently.

"Master, it seems that someone is attacking the camp."

Li Ji also noticed the movement, quickly got up and put on his sword, and then rushed out of the camp with Xiahou Lan, looking towards the north where the shouts and screams came from.

"Woo~"

At this moment, a somewhat rapid horn sounded, awakening many soldiers in the camp who had already begun to fall asleep.

Soon, Sun Ce rushed to Li Ji's side from the north side in a hurry.

Before Li Ji could speak, Xiahou Lan took the lead and questioned Sun Ce.

"How many enemies are there? Do we need to retreat?"

The soldiers guarding Li Ji were all cavalry, who were not good at defense, but focused on mobility.

If the situation was critical, under the protection of a group of cavalry, it would undoubtedly be "running away is the best option", and it would be best to retreat first with mobility.

"It seems to be a group of water bandits from the river, the number is unknown, they were detected in advance by the sentries arranged by General Zhao, and now they are attacking our army's camp," Sun Ce replied quickly with the information he knew, and then replied.

"General Zhao asked me to come and protect the master. If the camp is breached, the master can lead the main force to retreat first."

"No need to retreat!"

Li Ji looked at the seemingly dense number of torches in the distance, and said coldly.

"I don't know where these petty thieves came from to make a show of it. They want to scare me with one person holding two torches? The sound of shouting and killing seems dense, but it is too deliberate and not chaotic enough. The number is expected to be no more than five hundred."

"Sun Ce, you lead a hundred cavalry to immediately mount your horses and leave the camp, and attack from the flank. Let me see who has the guts to attack us in Wu County."

Sun Ce said hesitantly, "But General Zhao's order is…"

Li Ji narrowed his eyes, glanced at Sun Ce, and said, "This is a military order."

"Yes!"

Sun Ce quickly responded and said, "Master must be careful."

Immediately, Sun Ce immediately began to mobilize the cavalry to rush out of the camp from the flank, preparing to use their high mobility to go straight to the enemy's flank.

In addition, Li Ji also asked Xiahou Lan to quickly assemble and mobilize the remaining available troops to lean towards the north side of the camp.

As for considering whether the enemy would be feinting to the east and attacking the west, using the north side to attract Li Ji's attention, and then attacking the south side to break through the camp, this was not in Li Ji's consideration at all.

The number of cavalry guarding Li Ji was only three hundred. If the number of enemies exceeded two thousand, there would be no need to use such a clumsy trick, they could just surround the camp by force.

On the contrary, in this situation of unclear circumstances, if Li Ji rashly led a part of the cavalry to retreat, he might fall into the enemy's ambush.

Instead, gathering the troops and staying by Zhao Yun's side was the safest and most prudent choice.

If things really couldn't be done, Li Ji could just learn from A Dou and enter and exit seven times with Uncle Yun.

However, the facts proved that Li Ji's judgment was not wrong.

The enemy army that kept attacking the north side of the camp and held dense torches was almost instantly thrown into chaos after Sun Ce led a hundred cavalry to charge into the formation, and was even pierced through in an instant.

Zhao Yun, who was originally cautiously mobilizing soldiers to defend the camp, immediately understood that the number of enemy troops was not large.

Immediately, Zhao Yun left about a hundred cavalry to protect Li Ji, and also personally led a hundred cavalry to counterattack the enemy army.

For a time, even in the dim night, Li Ji could vaguely see bursts of blood splashing wherever Zhao Yun passed.

After Zhao Yun once again pierced through the enemy army, the enemy's morale completely collapsed and they began to drop their torches and flee towards the river on the north side.

It's just a pity that Zhang Liao was not able to defeat ten thousand with eight hundred for no reason.

In that distance where the enemy troops fled to the river, it became a road of slaughter under the absolute mobility of the cavalry.

Two legs simply couldn't outrun four legs!

With the advantage of the cavalry's mobility unfolded, two hundred cavalry were enough to become an unforgettable nightmare.

"Surrender!"

"Brothers, surrender quickly…"

"General, spare our lives, don't kill us, we surrender!"

As a burly man who seemed to be the leader shouted repeatedly, the fleeing enemy troops hurriedly knelt down and surrendered.

Zhao Yun directed the cavalry to slowly drive the kneeling enemy troops together, and found that most of these enemy troops were wearing linen clothes, and the weapons in their hands were mostly simple weapons such as harpoons and broadswords, and the remaining number was about three hundred.

Immediately, Zhao Yun asked Sun Ce to personally return to the camp to report the situation to Li Ji, and to ask how to deal with these prisoners.

Li Ji would naturally not waste these delivered labor force, and after Zhao Yun seized the weapons of these prisoners, he brought the leader over.

Soon, a man with a fierce face, weathered by the elements, and a build that wasn't particularly tall but with clearly defined muscles, was brought before Li Ji.

This man wore a blue turban and was dressed no differently from ordinary commoners, except for a lone heart-guard mirror hanging on his chest for protection.

Before Li Ji could speak, the man took the initiative to kneel down and pleaded.

"The attack on you was my own doing. I am willing to take full responsibility and accept any punishment, whether it be death or dismemberment. I will have no complaints. I only ask that you show mercy and spare my brothers. Most of them still have wives, children, and elderly parents to care for."