Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Even if Li Ji had Liu Yu issue an order to mobilize warhorses in advance, it still took more than half a month for the order to travel from Ji City to the horse farms in Dai Commandery and Shanggu Commandery, and then for the warhorses to be urgently delivered to the vicinity of Ji City.

During this period, the three forces in Ji City had also completed their initial integration and selected Youzhou soldiers who could at least guarantee basic riding skills without falling off their horses, forming a cavalry force of 20,000.

Subsequently, the decisive Gongsun Zan led the 20,000-strong force northward from Ji City without hesitation.

The reason for not heading directly east was to avoid the increasingly numerous Wuhuan cavalry gathering in the Yuyang City direction...

On the walls of Ji City, Liu Yu and many other generals, including Li Ji, watched the cavalry force, which had gathered almost all the warhorse strength of Youzhou, depart into the distance.

"Mr. Zikun, can Gongsun Bogui really sweep through the Wuhuan settlements and firmly contain about 80,000 Wuhuan cavalry?"

There was considerable pessimism and distrust in Liu Yu's tone.

Li Ji raised the hand holding his folding fan in front of Liu Yu, casually flipped it over, and then fanned himself with the unfolded fan, saying.

"Lord Liu, please rest assured, victory for the Han is... as easy as turning one's hand."

Originally, Li Ji didn't have the habit of carrying a folding fan with him, but in this era without air conditioning or fans, in order to alleviate the sweltering heat, Li Ji slowly developed the habit of fanning himself with a folding fan from time to time.

Having received Li Ji's confident and affirmative answer, Liu Yu also seemed to have gained a bit more confidence in his heart, feeling that the 20,000 cavalry entrusted to Gongsun Zan should not be completely lost.

However, what Liu Yu didn't know was that what Li Ji was referring to was not only Gongsun Zan's ability to successfully contain more than half of the Wuhuan cavalry.

Currently, the garrison in Ji City consists of approximately 27,000 Wu Commandery infantry and 23,000 Youzhou infantry, totaling just over 50,000 infantrymen.

This is also the reason why Liu Yu was willing to hand over all the cavalry to Gongsun Zan. With 50,000 infantrymen defending the city and sufficient food supplies, Liu Yu was confident that he could hold Ji City for a year without any problems.

Immediately, Li Ji cupped his fist and requested.

"Lord Liu, I also understand a little about the art of training soldiers. I wonder if you would allow me to train the soldiers in the city for half an hour each day."

Liu Yu, who knew that the abilities of his subordinates such as Xianyu Fu were actually quite mediocre, was overjoyed upon hearing this and said.

"Then I will have to trouble Mr. Zikun to put in more effort. There is no need to limit it to half an hour. Mr. Zikun can train as he pleases."

Upon hearing this, a smile could not help but appear on Li Ji's face.

Liu Yu may have some shortcomings such as indecisiveness and excessive conservatism, but it cannot be denied that Liu Yu was kind to his subordinates and was not stingy with trust.

This is also the cornerstone of Li Ji and Liu Yu's ability to cooperate so happily.

At the same time that Gongsun Zan led his cavalry north, detouring to the outside of the Great Wall, preparing to circle around and then enter Yuyang Commandery to attack the Wuhuan settlements according to the route set by Li Ji.

The military report that Li Ji sent back was also presented to Liu Bei through the prefectural office.

It was precisely because of this that this military report caused a huge controversy in the prefectural office.

The scribes, led by Jian Yong, believed that in the face of foreign enemies, they should unite to resist them together.

The scribes, led by Zhang Zhao, believed that Li Ji was acting on his own initiative, ignoring his responsibility to go to Yingzhou, and placing the 40,000 soldiers of Wu Commandery in danger. They should order him to be held accountable.

Sitting in the main seat, Liu Bei did not directly express his position, but watched the officials in the Wu Commandery prefectural office, which had gradually grown stronger, argue with each other.

Obviously, it was fine when Li Ji was still in Wu Commandery, as he could use his absolute prestige to firmly suppress all internal conflicts in the prefectural office.

However, as Li Ji led his army on an expedition overseas, different factions inevitably began to form within the Wu Commandery prefectural office.

Currently, there is undoubtedly the local Wu Commandery aristocratic faction led by Zhang Zhao and the outsider faction of northerners such as Jian Yong.

It's just that in the absence of Li Ji, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and others, the voice of the northerners' faction is obviously much weaker than that of the local Wu Commandery aristocratic faction.

This is still the case after Jia Xu secretly slaughtered more than half of the aristocratic families in the Wu and Hui regions and continuously resettled refugees who had fled from the north, greatly weakening the influence of the local aristocratic families.

But even so, under the premise that the Benevolence Academy cannot stably produce usable grassroots and mid-level officials, in order to maintain the stability and development speed of Wu Commandery to the greatest extent, the power of the aristocratic families has unknowingly penetrated into all aspects of Wu Commandery.

Gradually, under Liu Bei's silent observation, the voices in the prefectural office opposing Li Ji's leading troops to support Youzhou became mainstream.

Zhang Hong, who had joined the Wu Commandery prefectural office half a month ago under Zhang Zhao's recommendation, after refuting Jian Yong with classics and historical allusions until he was unable to fight back, changed his tone and bowed to Liu Bei, who was sitting at the head of the table.

"Lord, Li County Chancellor's actions are indeed inappropriate and lack consideration. Please order him to be reprimanded, and do not allow Li County Chancellor to get involved in the chaos of Youzhou."

Zhang Hong's speech was just the beginning, closely following Zhang Hong.

Nearly half of the officials in the prefectural office bowed and made suggestions to Liu Bei, all demanding that Liu Bei severely punish Li Ji, and even suggesting that he summon Li Ji back to Wu Commandery and replace him with someone else to continue leading the army to Yingzhou.

Seeing this, Xiahou Bo, who was standing beside Liu Bei, could not help but show a few awkward expressions on his face.

Even according to the reports from the Brocade-Clothed Guards, the small actions of the local aristocratic families in Wu Commandery had never stopped since Li Ji left Wu Commandery, but Xiahou Bo had never expected that over half of the scribes in the prefectural office had been won over by the Wu Commandery aristocratic families.

Liu Bei nodded slightly, then turned to look at Zhang Zhao, who had not said much, and asked.

"Zibu, before Zikun left, he instructed that if there are any unresolved internal affairs, you can be consulted. What do you think about this matter?"

Zhang Zhao's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

Zhang Zhao did not expect Li Ji to value him so much, and even leave such a sentence for Liu Bei.

This made Zhang Zhao feel somewhat guilty for taking advantage of Li Ji's departure to compete for power.

However, this trace of guilt only lasted for a moment, and Zhang Zhao quickly regained his composure and replied.

"Lord, in my opinion, County Chancellor Li may just be young and vigorous, with a bit of youthful enthusiasm that is too impulsive. The Lord should not severely punish County Chancellor Li, and just send someone to convey an order to County Chancellor Li not to disregard the lives of Wu Commandery soldiers because of his own selfish thoughts."

Hearing these words that hid a knife in their smile, Jian Yong became anxious and shouted.

"Zhang Zibu, what do you mean by this? Do you think that Mr. Zikun is helping Youzhou resist the Wuhuan for some benefit?"

"Zhao dares not to speculate on people's hearts," Zhang Zhao cupped his fist and said.

Seeing that Jian Yong was about to say something else, Liu Bei slightly raised his hand to stop Jian Yong, then glanced at the crowd below and said.

"What Zibu said is not without reason. It is indeed inappropriate for Zikun to use troops without permission."

As soon as these words came out, the officials of the Wu Commandery aristocratic faction unconsciously showed a few smiles on their faces, while the expressions of Jian Yong and others became extremely ugly.

From the perspective of the Wu Commandery aristocratic faction, under Liu Bei, Li Ji was like an insurmountable mountain. As long as Liu Bei's trust in Li Ji did not change, with Li Ji's position and ability, then no one would ever have a chance to stand out.

What was even more frightening was that after the Wu Commandery aristocratic families had secretly observed for a period of time, they found that Li Ji's governance did not favor the aristocratic families in any way. On the contrary, with the establishment of the Benevolence Academy, the Wu Commandery aristocratic families gradually realized the seriousness of the problem.

That is, if this continues to develop, Liu Bei will be able to firmly control the entire Wu Commandery even if he completely abandons the Wu Commandery aristocratic families.

Moreover, with the promotion of the State Shepherd policy, many aristocratic families had already seen the possibility of Liu Bei being promoted to the Governor of Yangzhou, which made the Wu Commandery aristocratic families, who had never truly surrendered to Liu Bei, unable to restrain themselves any longer.

At this time node when Li Ji was on an expedition overseas, in order not to be abandoned by the rolling tide of the times, many Wu Commandery aristocratic families took the initiative to join Liu Bei and began to form a group.

On the contrary, Jian Yong and other scribes representing outsiders frowned involuntarily, wanting to speak out for Li Ji but not knowing what to do.

The next moment, Liu Bei waved his big sleeve, and without waiting for the others to discuss, he directly announced.

"The punishment for Zikun will be set as a three-month salary deduction and an order to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors for a month, but since Zikun is now leading troops outside, the corresponding punishment will be implemented after Zikun returns to Wu Commandery."

In an instant, the entire hall fell into a moment of silence.

A three-month salary deduction?

Even though Li Ji has now left Wu Commandery, Liu Bei still sends people to Li Ji's residence with various rewards every three to five days under various pretexts. The mere three-month salary is probably not even comparable to one of Liu Bei's rewards.

As for reflecting on his mistakes behind closed doors for a month, it will still be implemented after Li Ji returns to Wu Commandery. What is the difference between that and announcing Li Ji's future vacation in advance?

For a time, the expressions between the scribes of the outsider faction and the Wu Commandery aristocratic faction were almost visibly reversed.

Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao looked at each other, and could only brace themselves and remind him.

"Lord, do you approve of County Chancellor Li leading troops to participate in the Wuhuan Rebellion? If a large number of Wu Commandery youths die in a foreign land, it may cause dissatisfaction among the people."

"When a general is outside, he may not accept all military orders. Since Zikun has made such a decision, he must have some reason for it. Even if there are mistakes, that will be said afterwards. How can we replace generals on the eve of battle, or easily interfere with the front lines of the war?"

After a pause, Liu Bei glanced at Zhang Zhao and Mi Zhu respectively and said.

"This matter is settled then. Furthermore, Zibu, Zizhong, in the next few days, you two are to allocate another fifty thousand dan of grain from the granaries and send it to Youzhou via the newly launched ships, so as to prevent the war in Youzhou from affecting the storage areas and impacting the army's supply of provisions."

"Yes."

Zhang Zhao and Mi Zhu, upon hearing this, could only agree.

Immediately, Liu Bei stood up and, holding the military report sent back by Li Ji, hurriedly left the main hall. (End of Chapter)