Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The next moment, the dark-faced man casually flicked his fan, sending Yan Baihu's hand flying, then raised the Zhangba Serpent Spear stuck in the ground and shouted loudly.

“I am Zhang Yide of Yan! ! ! ”

The thunderous voice clearly only sounded once, but in the ears of countless bandits, it seemed to echo continuously for at least three to five times.

“Those who surrender will not be killed!”

“Those who surrender will not be killed! ! ! ”

Following Zhang Fei's shout, the Han army in formation also shouted in unison, their momentum vast.

For a time, the bandits, with no way to advance or retreat and their morale at rock bottom, abandoned their weapons and surrendered one after another.

In the other two directions, similar scenes were also unfolding.

The Han army in formation advanced slowly, Zhao Yun charged into the enemy ranks alone, killing ten bandit leaders in succession, causing no other bandit leader to dare to issue commands, and they could only obediently surrender.

On the other hand, the Han army led by Guan Yu took a little more effort, gradually and completely disintegrating the bandits' morale, before capturing them like turtles in a jar.

Guan Yu identified the bandits among the crowd for a while, and directly dragged a bandit leader in front of him.

“General, spare me, General, spare me… … ”

The bandit leader was so frightened that he cried out repeatedly, looking at Guan Yu, who held the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and was awe-inspiring, he felt as if his liver and gallbladder were about to burst.

Guan Yu narrowed his Danfeng eyes and asked in a calm tone. “Guan has heard that you called Liu Xuande a weaver of mats and seller of shoes, and that Li Sanqian is only fit to pour tea and massage your legs? ”

“No, no, no, I didn’t, don’t talk nonsense, it wasn’t me.” The bandit leader repeatedly defended himself.

However, Guan Yu identified the characteristics of the sniveling bandit leader kneeling in front of him and said contemptuously.

“You gutless rat, only dares to spout nonsense behind my back, but only knows how to cry for your parents in front of Guan? Killing you would only dirty Guan's Green Dragon Crescent Blade! ”

Upon hearing this, the bandit leader was overjoyed and repeatedly kowtowed. “Thank you, General, thank you, General, I am unworthy, I am unworthy~”

However, Guan Yu flicked his cloak, turned and left, and said coldly.

“Hack him to death with亂 axes.”

“Yes!”

Immediately, a dozen axemen, trained by Guan Yu to serve as personal guards, quickly drew their short axes and surrounded the wide-eyed bandit leader, quickly silencing him.

Li Ji, standing at a high point in Wu County, watched the battles in the three directions subside as expected, his expression calm.

Although the two sides still had a considerable difference in strength on the surface, in the narrow battlefield arranged in advance within the city, no matter how many troops could not be spread out, it was meaningless.

With Liu Bei's elite soldiers brought from the Central Plains to Wu County setting up battle formations, and the county soldiers cooperating in the rear, no matter how many bandits there were, there was no room for resistance.

Jia Xu, standing beside Li Ji, sincerely sighed.

“Zikun is still benevolent, clearly a big fire could have burned those bandits to ashes, yet he specially secretly mobilized the county soldiers from the remaining cities to ambush them in the city.”

Li Ji couldn't help but twitch his eyebrows and said.

“Although these bandits have committed many evils, they are all rare able-bodied men, and using them as labor can greatly reduce the labor burden on the people of Wu County.”

According to Li Ji's estimation, this battle could at least force about 15,000 bandits to surrender, and then use all these prisoners as labor to invest in the development of Wu County.

It should be known that, not counting hidden households and unregistered households, the registered population of the entire Wu County is only a little over 700,000.

Assuming five people per household, drawing one corvée from every ten households would at most mobilize more than 10,000 able-bodied laborers in Wu County.

Moreover, such a heavy corvée would inevitably cause the people of Wu County to complain and greatly reduce public support.

Therefore, for Li Ji, whose goal is to carry out large-scale development of Wu County, these 15,000 bandit prisoners can be regarded as solving an urgent need.

Of course, being fellow Han Chinese, Li Ji would not let them fall into the miserable fate of digging potatoes in Siberia.

Li Ji, who prides himself on his pure and gentle nature, still pays attention to human rights to some extent, and it is enough to let these prisoners contribute their strength to the development of Wu County for the rest of their lives.

However, Jia Xu proposed a different suggestion, saying.

“Zikun, rather than using them all as labor, it is better to recruit them to fill the vacancies in the county soldiers. These bandits are mostly fierce people, and with a little training, they can be considered qualified soldiers.”

“There is no need for that.”

Li Ji shook his head and denied it.

There was nothing wrong with Jia Xu's suggestion, and even in terms of quickly replenishing troops, recruiting bandits was definitely easier and more efficient than recruiting local braves.

“The banditry in Wu County has been cleared, it is only necessary to send a general to station in the Fuchun Mountains in the southern part of Wu County to guard against the Shanyue barbarians, and the remaining battles will not be frequent.”

“Therefore, rather than recruiting these undisciplined bandits to join the army and disrupt military discipline, it is better for the lord to slowly build an army that is completely loyal to the lord.”

Jia Xu's eyes flashed upon hearing this, and he glanced obscurely at Li Ji beside him.

Completely loyal to the lord?

And worried that directly recruiting bandits would disrupt military discipline?

‘Li Zikun, so that’s how it is… …’

Jia Xu's mind raced, and he finally confirmed a certain fact.

Li Ji's so-called “ruling the world with one county” is completely false, what he seeks is “swallowing the world with one county”, what he wants is to build Wu County into a land of kings and overlords, waiting for an opportunity to act, eyeing the Central Plains!

‘What great ambition, Li Zikun… …’

Jia Xu couldn't help but feel that Li Ji, who seemed refined and modest, was much more dangerous than he had judged.

He was not planning to let Liu Bei settle in a corner, but had long ago conceived the idea of ​​contending for the world, and had been preparing for it all along.

‘Should I… … take the opportunity to leave? ’

‘Inappropriate, inappropriate, although Li Zikun's actions are crazy, his plans and schemes are well-considered and extremely cautious. Could it be that he has deduced that a true chaotic world is coming? ’

‘If a chaotic world where order collapses is coming, staying with Liu Xuande may be the safest option, and with Li Zikun's strategy, he may really achieve great things.’

Jia Xu suddenly felt that he seemed to be facing a choice.

Should he take advantage of the fact that his involvement with the Liu Bei group is not deep, and that everyone has relaxed their guard against him, find an opportunity to quietly leave without difficulty.

Or should he continue to stay in Wu County to assist Liu Bei, and be led by Li Zikun all the way to the end… …

For a time, while Li Ji and Jia Xu were silent, Xiahou Lan, who was following behind Li Ji, looked at the battlefield being cleared below and couldn't help but recall a sentence Li Ji had said about seven or eight days ago.

‘The land around Wu County next year should be more fertile… …’

As soon as Xiahou Lan saw the soldiers below cleaning the battlefield and carrying the corpses to the land outside the city for burial.

Admiration, shock, fear… …

A large number of complex and intense feelings surged into Xiahou Lan's heart, making it difficult to imagine that Li Ji had already foreseen this scene as early as seven or eight days ago.

‘So, is everyone in Wu County completely played by Mr. in the palm of his hand? ’

‘This… … is this Mr.? ’

Xiahou Lan felt that this might be a realm that he would never be able to reach in his life, and only felt that his brother and Yun Ge'er really overestimated him.

Clearly serving as Li Ji's personal book boy, Xiahou Lan had no idea how Li Ji specifically did this.

Cannot learn… …

Cannot learn at all… …

For a time, Xiahou Lan both felt that Li Ji was indeed as rumored, strategizing and winning from a thousand miles away, and also felt a burst of depression and shame.

Li Ji, after watching the bandits being successively escorted into a prisoner camp that had been built in advance, looked at Jia Xu who was still pondering, patted Jia Xu on the shoulder, and asked meaningfully.

“Wenhe, if you haven’t thought about it yet, then let’s first attend the celebration banquet prepared by the lord for us?”

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu immediately understood that the information Li Ji had revealed just now was not an unintentional leak, but was subtly informing him.

That is to say, Li Ji!

Li Zikun, that damned fellow, has not relaxed his guard and vigilance against him.

“Do I have other choices?”

Jia Xu asked rhetorically.

Li Ji sighed and said.

“Wenhe, you must know that everyone has to die since ancient times? Some are lighter than a feather, and some are heavier than Mount Tai. With Wenhe's talent, it should be as heavy as Mount Tai, leaving a name in history. It is really unbearable for Ji to see Wenhe waste his talent.”

Jia Xu's face changed slightly, his eyes flickered for a long time, and he faintly replied. “If possible, I don’t want to be a feather, nor do I want to be Mount Tai, I wish to be a long-lived turtle.”

Li Ji: … …

“Wu County can raise long-lived turtles.” Li Ji said helplessly.

“I hope so… … ”

Jia Xu responded vaguely, while following Li Ji to attend the celebration banquet, he was still constantly weighing the various advantages and disadvantages in his mind.

Although Jia Xu is currently serving under Liu Bei, the meaning of whether or not to recognize Liu Bei as his lord is worlds apart!

Before recognizing him as his lord, Jia Xu is theoretically still a free man.

For example, when he was under Niu Fu before, Jia Xu could leave if he wanted to, without damaging his reputation or integrity in the slightest.

However, if he recognizes Liu Bei as his lord and establishes the status of lord and minister, then from then on Jia Xu will be deeply bound to Liu Bei. If he betrays his lord, then he will be disloyal.

If the name of disloyalty spreads, although the world is big, there will be almost no place to stand!

As the celebration banquet was about to end, Jia Xu finally made up his mind and recognized Liu Bei as his lord during the banquet.

Liu Bei was a little confused about this, but he had repeatedly heard Li Ji praise Jia Xu's talent as no less than his, and he was overjoyed.

Before the celebration banquet had even ended, Li Ji, wasting no time, immediately ordered Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun to each lead a detachment to seize money and grain from the various bandit camps and strongholds.

Jia Xu and Luo Bin had long since scouted the locations of all the bandit camps in Wu Commandery. Furthermore, the able-bodied men from each bandit camp had almost all been mobilized, leaving only a portion of the old and weak to guard the camps.

In less than five days, Liu Bei's complete annihilation of the Wu Commandery bandits, who were boasting a force of "50,000," caused his prestige within Wu Commandery to soar like the sun at its zenith.

Almost all of the bandit camps in Wu Commandery were broken by Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun. Convoys transporting the seized money and grain flowed into the Wu County treasury like an endless dragon.