Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 78 No One Can Match Him

Fortunately… the one assisting Emperor Gaozu… wasn't Xu Ziyuan, otherwise how could there have been… the four-hundred-year foundation of the Great Han Dynasty…

Xu You felt a buzzing in his brain and a surge of Qi and blood in his chest. He stood up, pointing at Li Ji in anger, about to retort, when he suddenly felt a sweetness in his throat.

"Pfft ~ ~ ~"

A mouthful of fresh blood suddenly spurted from Xu You's mouth, even staining half of the sand table red.

This scene shocked everyone present.

Before anyone could react, Xu You's pale face suddenly fell backward.

"Bang!"

Immediately, Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo, and some scholars acquainted with Xu You rushed towards him.

"Ziyuan!"

"Mr. Xu You…"

"Xu Ziyuan."

Seeing that Xu You seemed to be exhaling more than inhaling, everyone panicked and hurriedly arranged for soldiers to send Xu You back to the city for medical treatment.

After Xu You was sent away, the way everyone looked at Li Ji completely changed.

Xu You was also a famous scholar, known for his resourcefulness and quick wit. As a staff member of the Yuan family, Xu You's reputation was not small among scholars.

However, Xu You, who was also skilled in sand table deduction, was completely played in the palm of his hand and utterly defeated. The two sides seemed to be opponents of completely different levels.

Li Ji, feeling everyone's gaze, said helplessly.

"Sand table deduction is meant to be an elegant pastime for honing the strategic skills of both sides. I didn't expect Xu Ziyuan to be able to vomit several liters of blood. I deeply admire his focus and dedication. Given time, I look forward to another sand table duel with Xu Ziyuan in the future."

Cao Cao couldn't help but chuckle inwardly upon hearing this.

'Giving him a way out… is worse than not giving him one…'

As a friend of Xu You, Cao Cao knew that with Xu You's narrow-minded personality, he would never be able to face this ridicule calmly.

Moreover, the utter defeat in the sand table deduction, vomiting several liters of blood and fainting, was enough to make Xu You famous throughout the Han Dynasty.

Of course, compared to Xu You's infamy, Li Ji's was undoubtedly absolute fame.

Li Ji's previous arrogance, under the proven strength, had turned into youthful spirit and confident pride, and the desire to seek a defeat seemed to be true.

'I was right about him. Zikun is truly a genius of this era, far superior to the likes of Xu Ziyuan!'

Previously, due to Liu Bei drawing his sword against him, Cao Cao, who had come with sincerity, undoubtedly had some resentment in his heart.

At this moment, Cao Cao no longer cared about that small contradiction and even understood Liu Bei's reaction.

Li Zikun, how could he be a talent that three thousand gold could buy?

Li Ji respectfully saluted and then said.

"I wonder, is there anyone else willing to enlighten Ji?"

However, Xu You had already been defeated. The scholars present were mostly familiar with each other and knew that they were not as strong as Xu You, so how could they humiliate themselves?

Seeing that the situation seemed to be as expected, Li Ji was about to give Liu Bei a wink, preparing to let Liu Bei personally enter the arena.

Cao Cao took a few steps forward, stepped out of the crowd, and saluted.

"Cao is not talented, but please give Zikun some guidance."

"Please."

Li Ji replied.

Cao Cao didn't mind the blood that Xu You had vomited and directly knelt down in Xu You's original position.

Or rather, everyone present was a meritorious official in quelling the Yellow Turban Rebellion and had experienced many battles. Xu's blood hardly caused any concern or fluctuation among them.

Xu You's vomiting of blood, besides a considerable part feeling contempt for Xu You, also made a considerable part admire and respect Li Ji.

Extraordinary people do extraordinary things.

"Cao Guoxiang, what topic do you want to use?" Li Ji asked.

Cao Cao frowned and said.

"I address you by your courtesy name, Zikun, so why do you address me like this? Could it be that you still mind Cao's previous rudeness, wanting to use three thousand gold to ask for your assistance?"

As soon as this was said, everyone was shocked.

Three thousand gold?!

This was definitely not a small amount for anyone.

However, listening to Cao Cao's meaning, it seemed that he wanted to exchange three thousand gold for Li Ji's assistance but was fiercely rejected instead?!

Even regarded as humiliation by Li Ji?!

For a time, many scholars looked at Li Ji with complex expressions.

Hey, be sure to let go of this matter with Li Zikun and come to me, please use three thousand gold to humiliate me as much as you like.

Some happy scholars had already thought of nicknames for Xu You and Li Ji.

Xu You, Xu Three Liters, meaning that he vomited more than three liters of blood; Li Ji, Li Three Thousand, meaning that his value exceeded three thousand gold.

Faced with Cao Cao's straightforward questioning, Li Ji took the opportunity to explain.

"Cao Guoxiang misunderstood. Previously, it was my lord who wanted to protect me, so he was momentarily angry and had some conflict with Cao Guoxiang, but there is absolutely no intention of holding a grudge. Please understand, Cao Guoxiang."

"Since that's the case, then why do you still address me like this?" Cao Cao asked again.

Li Ji helplessly cupped his hands and said. "Mengde, please."

"Hahaha."

Cao Cao stroked the short beard under his chin, his face cheerful.

On the contrary, Liu Bei, who had always maintained a benevolent and gentle expression, faintly raised a few black lines.

Cao Thief, truly a shameless person.

Even though the staff under his command were not family members and others could not contact them according to etiquette, on the contrary, normally speaking, the more a staff member was valued by others, the more it could show his ability.

It's just that, in Liu Bei's view, that Cao Thief had already been driven away by himself at the cost of drawing his sword, and should have some self-awareness, but he still acted like this, truly regarding face as nothing.

Seeing this, Li Ji also directly asked. "Mengde, I wonder what topic you want to choose?"

"I have the ambition to become the General Who Conquers the West, and those I admire are Generals Huo and Wei. How about we use the Battle of the North of Dingxiang in the sixth year of Yuanshuo during the reign of Emperor Wu for deduction?" Cao Cao replied.

Upon hearing this, Li Ji quickly recalled the content of the Battle of the North of Dingxiang.

This was also the first time that Huo Qubing truly stood on the stage of history, and after the battle, he was granted the title of "Champion Marquis," meaning to commend Huo Qubing for being "the bravest in the three armies."

Fortunately, Li Ji had read a large number of classics during this period, including those recording the Battle of the North of Dingxiang, and he knew the course of the entire Battle of the North of Dingxiang like the back of his hand, otherwise, he would inevitably be at a great disadvantage.

After that, Lu Zhi and Huangfu Song re-evaluated and re-arranged the sand table.

Li Ji held the side of the Xiongnu, and Cao Cao held the side of the Han army.

In history, the Han army naturally won a great victory in this battle, but that was because of the blessing of famous generals such as Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. In fact, in terms of the pure comparison of military strength between the two sides, the Xiongnu were all cavalry and had a great advantage.

As a result, it did not exceed anyone's expectations.

Although the Han army held by Cao Cao took every step steadily and did not show the impatience that Xu You had shown before, it was still easily defeated by the Xiongnu held by Li Ji, and even unknowingly used the high mobility of the cavalry to surround the main force of the Han army.

This scene even made a term slowly rise in the minds of everyone present—the "Siege of Baideng," that is, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty was besieged by the Xiongnu at Baideng Mountain, and finally had to heavily bribe the Xiongnu Yan Clan to escape by luck.

This was also the beginning of the Han-Xiongnu struggle, and the reason why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty spared no effort to avenge the Xiongnu.

"I have been defeated."

Knowing that he could not turn the tide, Cao Cao surrendered frankly and cupped his hands.

"Zikun always anticipates the enemy, and Cao's every move seems to be clearly seen by Zikun, without any power to fight back."

Immediately, Cao Cao got up and took the initiative to salute Li Ji and said. "After playing a game with Zikun, I feel that I have benefited a lot, and I now know that my use of troops still has such flaws."

Li Ji also hurriedly returned the salute and said modestly. "Mengde's use of troops combines the orthodox and the unorthodox, and takes every step steadily. I have also gained a lot."

Unlike Xu You's impatient style, Li Ji felt that Cao Cao's use of troops was by no means comparable to ordinary people during the sand table deduction with Cao Cao.

That is, on the sand table, under the circumstances where all factors are clear, Li Ji is essentially similar to AlphaGo, and it is impossible to lose.

If it were really a battle between the two sides on the battlefield, the outcome would still be unknown.

After that, Huangfu Song, Lu Zhi, and Zhu Jun couldn't help but feel itchy for a while and successively conducted sand table deductions with Li Ji.

Victory!

Victory again!

Still victory!

As dusk approached, Li Ji had successively defeated Xu You, Cao Cao, Zhu Jun, Huangfu Song, and Lu Zhi. The wars selected were also different, but the ending was almost always the complete defeat of one side.

This kind of military strategy and planning ability completely stunned everyone present.

It must be known that although sand table deduction is only a certain degree of replication of war and does not absolutely represent war, those who are good at fighting will definitely not be bad at sand table deduction.

What was even more surprising was that, whether it was Cao Cao, or Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song, or Zhu Jun, after conducting sand table deductions, they all had a sense of benefiting a lot.

Lu Zhi, who had already tried his best, looked at the Battle of Changping on the sand table, which was also heading towards the end, and sighed with emotion.

"If only sand table deduction is used as a judgment, there may be no one in this era who can match Li Zikun, which shows that his use of troops and planning must also be first-class in this era. No wonder he can assist Xuande to fight thousands of miles, defeat the Yellow Turbans, and burn Zhang Jiao. It's a pity that the younger generation is to be feared!"

As Lu Zhi finally said these words, both Liu Bei and Li Ji couldn't help but feel happy.

Now, Lu Zhi's defeat of the main force of the Yellow Turbans has laid the foundation for victory, and he vaguely has the demeanor of the number one famous general of the Great Han Dynasty. Li Ji has won five consecutive victories in sand table deductions, and Lu Zhi has given such an evaluation.

Li Ji's name, like a roc riding the wind and sweeping across the four directions of the Great Han Dynasty, is already a predictable thing.

'There may be no one in this era who can match Li Zikun!'

This sentence of evaluation will attract a steady stream of admirers and "little haters" to Wu County for Li Ji.

In this way, wouldn't all the heroes of the world fall into Liu Bei's grasp?

Those who admire him need no further words!

Even the "little haters" who seem to be here to cause trouble and challenge Li Ji are not without their uses.

In fact, in Li Ji's view, "little haters" might even become a great help to Liu Bei.

Those who admire others mostly do so because there is an untouchable distance, and "admiration" is the emotion furthest from understanding.

"Little haters" are different. To dare to "hate" shows that the little haters themselves must have some ability, and must all be talented individuals.