Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

As intelligence from Yi and Jing provinces continued to pour into Wu Commandery, the war between the two sides was on the verge of erupting.

Yi Province had raised its banner, demanding that Jing Province hand over Liu Zhang and launching an active offensive.

Jing Province, on the other hand, vehemently denied abducting Liu Zhang and gathered its forces under the banner of defending its territory and protecting its people.

Under the influence of various opinions, it was difficult to distinguish right from wrong. The imperial court controlled by Lu Bu also did not intervene to influence or prevent the mutual attacks between these related provincial governors.

Or rather, this was the situation Lu Bu wanted to see.

Moreover, the orders of the imperial court might not even be taken seriously by Liu Yan and Liu Biao anymore.

However, before the Yi and Jing provinces could truly start their war, the battles north of the Yellow River had already broken out.

Due to the distance, it took at least half a month for intelligence from Ji Province to reach Wu Commandery.

So by the time Liu Bei and Li Ji learned of this, the war had already begun!

Under the influence of Liu Bei and Li Ji, the relationship between Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan within You Province might not be considered harmonious, but it could not be described as bad either.

However, Han Fu, who had taken office as the governor of Ji Province, was unable to resist Yuan Shao's enormous influence and had to invite Gongsun Zan, who had previously been appointed by the imperial court as the governor of Bohai Commandery, into Ji Province.

However, how could Yuan Shao be willing to give up Bohai Commandery, which he had been managing for a long time?

More importantly, what Yuan Shao wanted was the entire Ji Province and Bing Province.

Using Ji Province as a granary and Bing Province as a horse-breeding ground to raise a powerful army to dominate the Central Plains was Yuan Shao's strategy.

Therefore, with the fundamental interests of the three parties impossible to reconcile, conflicts were bound to erupt.

After carefully reading the intelligence from Ji Province for a moment, Li Ji couldn't help but look up at Liu Bei and exclaim.

"Yuan Benchu truly shows the demeanor of a great leader, especially when he is in adversity."

The chaotic situation of the three parties checking each other north of the Yellow River was Chen Gong's doing, attempting to delay the unification of the north and buy Lu Bu time to move east through Hulao Pass and sweep through Yan and Yu provinces.

Within Ji Province, facing the implicit alliance of Han Fu and Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao was clearly inferior in terms of both military strength and righteousness.

However, during the winter, Yuan Shao, who usually displayed the arrogance of a noble family, gradually began to repeatedly humble himself and show goodwill to Han Fu, implying that he was willing to hand over Bohai Commandery and would be willing to leave Ji Province and take up his post in Bing Province in exchange for some compensation.

This series of actions undoubtedly numbed Han Fu, who was already a fool, and greatly satisfied Han Fu's vanity.

It made Han Fu believe that his plan to drive away a tiger and swallow a wolf had made both Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan willing to be used by him.

Once, Han Fu even openly said to Yuan Shao's envoy with self-satisfaction.

"The former leader of the alliance can only follow my, Han Wenjie's, will today. Could it be that I am also a great leader?"

Even so, Yuan Shao was not annoyed. Instead, he repeatedly sent gifts and even sent messengers, saying that he would personally visit Han Fu's provincial governor's mansion after the spring plowing to discuss matters with him.

All of this undoubtedly completely confused Han Fu. Moreover, Han Fu also sent people to constantly monitor the troop movements in Bohai Commandery, so he had no defenses at all.

However, it was during the spring plowing season, when Han Fu was most relaxed.

Qu Yi, who had originally been sent by Han Fu to monitor the movements of Bohai Commandery, rebelled, allowing the Bohai Commandery army to reach within about a hundred miles of the capital, Ye City, before Han Fu noticed.

In this battle, Yuan Shao not only mobilized all 30,000 elite troops from Bohai Commandery, but also ignored the cities along the way. Yuan Shao personally led the army, disregarding the rear, and headed straight for Ye City with a do-or-die determination.

At that time, the defending army of Ye City was only 5,000. However, as long as Han Fu held on for more than four days, Gongsun Zan, who had reacted, could completely cut off Yuan Shao's retreat, surrounding the isolated Yuan Shao under Ye City and trapping him to death.

However, Qu Yi's rebellion and defection, Yuan Shao's personal command, and the menacing approach of the 30,000 troops.

Had already made Han Fu extremely fearful. Moreover, Han Fu was afraid of the disrespect he had shown to Yuan Shao's envoy earlier, fearing the consequences of falling into Yuan Shao's hands.

As a result, Han Fu actually abandoned the city and fled directly under the protection of 500 personal guards.

The abandonment of the capital, Ye City, also caused Han Fu's already low prestige in Ji Province to plummet to freezing point. Yuan Shao took the opportunity to use Ye City and Bohai Commandery as the center, effectively controlling more than half of Ji Province.

Listening to Li Ji's sigh, Liu Bei also said with great agreement.

"Yuan Benchu's move can be described as dangerous. Once he arrives at Ye City, if he cannot quickly win and break the city within four days, I am afraid he will have no place to be buried. It's just that Han Wenjie is too timid. Relying on the strength of Ye City, he had 5,000 soldiers but did not dare to defend the city. Otherwise, the outcome would still be uncertain."

Li Ji pondered for a moment and said.

"Han Fu is unpopular in Ji Province. Yuan Shao has secretly and openly made friends and won over countless people over the years. Even Han Fu himself was originally a student and subordinate of the Yuan family."

"The abilities of Yuan Benchu's counselors are not bad. Even if Yuan Benchu has the courage to take such a risk, those counselors must have prepared many backup plans."

"If I am not mistaken, I am afraid that Ye City has also been infiltrated and won over by Yuan Shao, becoming a sieve. With Han Fu's ability to defend the city, it is not certain that he would not be betrayed by his subordinates and have the city gate opened from within."

Liu Bei was a little confused when he heard this...

Being the lord of a territory himself, Liu Bei really couldn't understand why Han Fu had so many traitors under his command.

So was Liu Zhang.

Liu Bei had really not experienced the words "unpopular".

"So, Han Fu's abandonment of the city and escape was the right choice?" Liu Bei said with some astonishment.

"That's not the case."

Li Ji said helplessly.

"If Han Fu had even three parts of Yuan Benchu's courage in adversity, he could have directly sealed off the four gates of Ye City and waited for Gongsun Zan to cut off Yuan Benchu's retreat. Yuan Benchu would have only been left with defeat."

"Unfortunately, unfortunately..."

Speaking of this, Li Ji couldn't help but sigh and said. "The cage that Chen Gong painstakingly built for Yuan Shao has now been broken through by Yuan Shao for the most part."

Liu Bei asked with some confusion. "Zikun, even so, Yuan Benchu has only occupied half of Ji Province. Han Fu still has half of Ji Province in hand, plus Bogui's assistance. Yuan Benchu may not necessarily be Han Fu and Bogui's opponent."

Li Ji shook his head and said.

"One cannot only consider the cities, but rather, through this battle, Yuan Benchu, who already had a very high reputation and prestige, has shown the posture of a hegemon, revealing a trend of dominating the north and south with our lord."

"In this way, not only will countless ambitious people take the initiative to join him, but also many families who were originally still hesitant will further bet on Yuan Benchu."

"With so much help, how can Han Fu, who has lost prestige and popular support, be Yuan Benchu's opponent?"

Speaking of this, Li Ji paused and commented objectively.

"As for Gongsun Bogui, he has more courage than strategy, and I am afraid he is not Yuan Benchu's opponent either."

(End of this chapter)