Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Li Ji noticed Jia Xu's reaction and shifted his gaze, first looking at Zhang Fei.

"Mr. Zikun, you know me. Letting me charge into battle is fine, but asking me to lead an army alone..."

Zhang Fei chuckled sheepishly as he finished speaking.

Li Ji nodded and then looked towards Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun consciously stepped forward, cupping his hands in a salute. "Yun is aware that his abilities are insufficient to lead an army, and he doesn't know much about naval warfare. Furthermore, before leaving, the Lord repeatedly instructed Yun to stay close to Mr. Zikun."

"Reasonable."

Li Ji nodded and looked towards Gan Ning.

"Sir, you know me. If you let me loose to plunder Yingzhou, I can do it beautifully, I can guarantee it. But if it's anything else..."

Li Ji sighed and said, "Xingba should read more military strategy. How can you be a bandit all your life?"

"Yes, sir," Gan Ning mumbled in response.

Next, Li Ji looked towards Jiang Qin.

Jiang Qin responded with an awkward expression, saying, "Mr. Zikun, I think I still have some ability in the water, but if I need to go ashore, I'm afraid I can't handle the responsibility."

Li Ji said with some regret, "Gongyi still needs to command many warships, so it is indeed not suitable for him to go ashore."

Afterward, Li Ji's gaze fell on Sun Ce, who was standing at the end.

This made Sun Ce instinctively eager to try. He opened his mouth, wanting to fight for it, just in case his teacher really agreed.

However, feeling Li Ji's gaze, which carried a hint of warning, Sun Ce immediately wilted and said.

"Teacher, I am not yet thirteen years old. Even if I want to relieve Teacher's worries, it will be difficult to convince the others."

"Ce'er, just keep trying, don't be discouraged," Li Ji encouraged softly.

After Li Ji asked around, only Jia Xu hadn't said anything...

Finally, Li Ji realized that he seemed to have missed Jia Xu, turned his head to look at Jia Xu, and asked directly.

"Wenhe, if you were to lead an army to Yingzhou alone, would there be any difficulties?"

Being afraid of death, afraid of risk, and afraid of taking responsibility, wouldn't those count as difficulties?

Jia Xu wanted to speak but stopped, undoubtedly cursing Li Ji hundreds of times in his heart.

Originally, Li Ji was the one taking responsibility in the front, so he could offer advice freely from behind, but now it had become like this.

The atmosphere had been built up to this point, and Jia Xu couldn't find a reason to refuse even if he wanted to.

Even if he feigned illness, there would probably already be a doctor waiting outside to rush in for a diagnosis.

Jia Xu maintained the demeanor a gentleman should have and replied, "Xu can try his best, but he still needs Zikun to transfer one or two capable generals to me."

"It's rare for Wenhe to take on this responsibility so actively, you must already have a strategy in mind. Then let Xingba and Gongyi be at Wenhe's disposal, how about that?" Li Ji asked gently.

Jia Xu weighed it slightly and knew that the Wuhuan matter was more urgent and pressing. Li Ji was willing to hand over Gan Ning and Jiang Qin to his command, which was indeed full support.

"Acceptable."

Jia Xu agreed.

Immediately, Li Ji, without the slightest hesitation, on the one hand, immediately ordered people to start reorganizing the troops to prepare for dividing the forces, and on the other hand, sent people to invite Gongsun Zan over.

When Gongsun Zan, whose eyebrows occasionally revealed a bit of worry, arrived and learned of Li Ji's decision, he was both surprised and delighted.

"Mr. Zikun, you are truly righteous!"

Regardless of Li Ji's reaction, Gongsun Zan bowed deeply to Li Ji to express his gratitude.

Li Ji quickly avoided Gongsun Zan's grand salute and said.

"General Gongsun, please don't do this. If the Lord were here, he would definitely make the same decision. I am just following the Lord's path of benevolence and virtue."

"Moreover, any Han man with blood in his veins would definitely not ignore this matter."

Upon hearing this, the worry between the eyebrows of this man from the northern frontier unconsciously dissipated, and he couldn't help but laugh heroically.

"Mr. Zikun is right, any Han man who still has blood in his veins can definitely not tolerate the alien iron hooves trampling on Han soil..."

After a pause, Gongsun Zan cupped his hands and said.

"If Mr. Zikun doesn't mind my humble position, just call me 'Bogu'. Today, I am grateful for Mr. Zikun's righteous assistance. In the future, even if I, Gongsun Zan, am smashed to pieces, I will never forget the kindness of Xuande and Mr. Zikun."

"Since that's the case, then Brother Bogu might as well call me Zikun as well," Li Ji said with a smile.

"Good, good, good."

Gongsun Zan was not polite and laughed heartily. "With Zikun's help, those mere Wuhuan will surely be defeated, teaching those Wuhuan to lose their courage at the mere mention of our Han name."

In contrast to Gongsun Zan's heroic optimism, Li Ji very realistically began to inquire.

"I wonder how many usable troops Brother Bogu currently has under his command? How many troops has Governor Liu of Youzhou mobilized? Where have the Wuhuan troops reached, and how long do you estimate they will arrive at Ji County?"

Li Ji had not known these details involving specific war intelligence before, nor could he secretly investigate them in a short time. He could only learn about them through Gongsun Zan.

At this moment, Gongsun Zan had no intention of hiding these military secrets at all, and even personally fetched a map of Youzhou and spread it out in front of Li Ji and others, answering them one by one.

Youzhou governs eleven counties. Now, with the killing of the prefects of Youbeiping County and Liaodong County, it also means that the six counties east of Yuyang County have completely broken away from Youzhou's control.

As far as Gongsun Zan knew, a large number of Wuhuan cavalry were gathering towards Yuyang County under the call of Quli Ju.

In addition, Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju have a greater influence in Yuyang County, so Liu Yu's current decision is to defend Guangyang County, where Ji County, the seat of Youzhou, is located, on the one hand, and send people to negotiate with the Wuhuan on the other, trying to win over the Wuhuan.

However, due to the internal and external cooperation between Zhang Chun, Zhang Ju, and Quli Ju, Liu Yu lost control of the six counties east of Yuyang County before he could fully react.

As a result, Liu Yu urgently transferred troops from Dai County, Shanggu County, Zhuo County, and Guangyang County. At present, the troops in Ji County are only about 30,000.

However, Gongsun Zan currently has more than 10,000 usable troops under his command, including more than 7,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry.

The reason why Gongsun Zan was able to grow to this point was largely thanks to the continuous trade of warhorses and oxen with Wu County, allowing Gongsun Zan to continuously expand his foundation.

However, after listening to Gongsun Zan's analysis of the current situation in Youzhou, both Li Ji and Jia Xu revealed expressions with a few too many question marks.

The three most essential counties of Youzhou are Zhuo County, Yuyang County, and Guangyang County.

At the beginning of the Wuhuan Rebellion, while most of the Wuhuan were still in the area east of Youbeiping County, Liu Yu did not do his best to regain control of Yuyang County. Instead, he chose to abandon Yuyang County and defend Ji County in Guangyang County only because he was worried about the influence of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju in Yuyang County.

At this moment, Jia Xu inexplicably felt much more psychologically balanced.

Being stuck with such a governor as a teammate is worse than having no teammates at all.

If Jia Xu were in charge of Youzhou, at this moment, Jia Xu would have already had the idea of secretly getting rid of Liu Yu, and then pushing the murderer onto the Wuhuan to arouse the common hatred of the Youzhou soldiers, and then seize the military power of the entire Youzhou.

Immediately, Jia Xu patted Li Ji on the shoulder and whispered.

"Zikun, you slowly handle the Wuhuan Rebellion in Youzhou. I'll go down to reorganize the troops and prepare to set off for Yingzhou..."

After a pause, before leaving, Jia Xu did not forget to stir up trouble for Li Ji, whispering.

"Zikun, why not consider killing Liu Yu first."

Immediately, Jia Xu, with a few brisk steps, took Gan Ning and Jiang Qin down to reorganize the troops.

How could Li Ji not know what Jia Xu meant? He even wished he could draw his sword and chop Liu Yu to pieces first.

The section of the Great Wall in Youzhou that defends against the Wuhuan is basically concentrated in Yuyang County and Youbeiping County. If Li Ji were the governor, even if he had to fight to the death, he would at least have to defend the section of the Great Wall in Yuyang County.

In this way, it could be avoided that the Wuhuan could drive straight into the hinterland of Youzhou from Yuyang County, forcing the Wuhuan to enter from Youbeiping County and go around to attack Yuyang County, lengthening the Wuhuan's marching and retreat routes.

As long as the marching route is lengthened, there will inevitably be many more flaws that can be exploited.

Li Ji almost unthinkingly asked. "Brother Bogu, is it still too late to urgently transfer all the cavalry to support Yuyang County and seal off the Great Wall near Bizhi and Pinggu?"

"It's too late."

Gongsun Zan sighed and said.

"Two days ago, news came back that many Wuhuan cavalry had appeared near Yuyang City, waiting for the Wuhuan cavalry to gather to a certain number and attack Yuyang City. Once Yuyang City falls, the next step will be Ji County."

"Brother Bogu, based on your experience, how long will it take for the Wuhuan to start attacking Ji County?" Li Ji asked again.

Gongsun Zan estimated slightly and replied. "Half a month at the earliest, a month at the latest."

After a pause, Gongsun Zan said.

"Ji County has a large city and high walls, and there are 30,000 defenders, plus the people in the city are united, and the Wuhuan are not good at siege warfare. In my judgment, even if the Wuhuan have more than 100,000 troops, it will be difficult to capture Ji County."

"However, with the Wuhuan's mobility and greed, once they confirm the weakness of the Han, at that time, they may leave a part to contain Ji County, while the majority of the troops will pass through Guangyang County, enter Zhuo County, and go down to Jizhou, and even Qing and Xu provinces may be included in the Wuhuan's looting range."

It must be said that Gongsun Zan is indeed a general who has dealt with foreign tribes many times, and his vision has its own uniqueness.

Li Ji followed Gongsun Zan's train of thought to make a judgment and found that Gongsun Zan's train of thought was likely to become a reality.

The Han Dynasty has suppressed all foreign tribes for hundreds of years. Now, under the instigation of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju, they are wantonly invading Han soil. Once they confirm the weakness of the current Han, the reaction can be imagined. They will inevitably be a hundred times more ecstatic than during the holidays, frantically looting everywhere, and biting off a piece of flesh from the Han Dynasty.

Furthermore, Ji County, as the seat of You Province, possessed strong walls and fortifications, making it indeed difficult for the Wuhuan to capture.

However, the Wuhuan's purpose in invading Han territory this time was not to occupy land, but to loot and plunder. Naturally, they would not engage in a deadly battle with Ji County to the end. Detouring around Ji County would inevitably become the Wuhuan's choice.

Following Gongsun Zan's description, Li Ji gained a rather clear and thorough understanding of the current situation in You Province, unconsciously arranging the entire You Province territory in his mind like a sand table to visualize the current situation.

(End of Chapter)