Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Hearing this, Zhao Yun, who had also been pondering, asked, perplexed.

“No route bypassing Mount Fuchun? How is that possible? Mount Fuchun firmly seals and guards a large area of deep mountains and old forests in the southern part of Wu Commandery. Going down the river from there is a plain. If you want to enter the Qiantang County area, you must pass through Mount Fuchun.”

Li Ji shook his head and pointed to Kuaiji Commandery, saying, “What if that group of Yue people entered the Qiantang County area from Kuaiji Commandery?”

“This, is that really possible?”

Zhao Yun still asked in confusion.

“Although the Qiantang County area is close to Kuaiji Commandery, that area is mostly plains. The Kuaiji Commandery's seat, Shanyin, is also nearby. If the Yue people were to invade, they would definitely be blocked by Kuaiji Commandery.”

“Heh heh heh…”

Jia Xu chuckled a few times, saying.

“That's simple. Kuaiji Commandery can deliberately allow the Yue people to enter, and even reach some kind of deal behind the scenes. Guo Yi, the administrator of Kuaiji Commandery, is endlessly greedy in his commandery. It seems that the envoy he sent to Wu Commandery reported the changes in Wu Commandery to him, and it has stirred up some other thoughts in him.”

At this, Li Ji couldn't help but glance at Jia Xu.

This is like leading a wolf into the house…

Jia Xu wore an innocent expression.

After all, with such a greedy neighbor, even if you can hide it for a while, can you hide it forever?

Sooner or later, Guo Yi will set his sights on you anyway.

Originally, everyone was in this bitter place of Yang Province. Guo Yi was busy in Kuaiji Commandery and couldn't scrape much oil and water, so naturally, he didn't bother to pay attention to his poor neighbor.

Now, seeing Wu Commandery inexplicably become rich, how could Guo Yi endure it?

“A hyena following behind the Ten Attendants…”

Li Ji muttered. He already knew Guo Yi's background very well.

He was indeed a distant relative of Guo Sheng, one of the Ten Attendants. Relying on his relationship with Guo Sheng, he obtained the official position of administrator of this remote commandery. Once he took office, he naturally exploited the people and plundered wildly.

As the inspector, Liu Bei had heard about Guo Sheng's affairs and impeached him to the court several times, but as expected, it was like a stone sinking into the sea.

However, after Emperor Ling's death and the demise of the Ten Attendants, Guo Yi's name disappeared from the records. It is conceivable that he was likely directly eliminated after losing his backing.

On the contrary, Wang Lang, the one who was scolded to death by Zhuge Liang in front of the battle and became famous, replaced him as the new administrator of Kuaiji Commandery.

These pieces of information flashed through Li Ji's mind, and his gaze unconsciously focused on the Qiantang County and Shanyin County area, and he said.

“If that's really the case, then the number of Yue people who plundered Qiantang County is likely to be more than three thousand. Perhaps that group of Yue people is being used to test Wu Commandery's reaction…”

“We must crush them with thunderous force to deter the Yue people from daring to invade!”

Although he did not know the current situation in the Qiantang County area in detail, it was clear that the possibility of this direction existing was beyond doubt.

With this in mind, Li Ji no longer hesitated and said.

“Zilong, you will immediately lead 1,500 light cavalry to the Qiantang County area. I grant you the authority to act according to the situation. The purpose is to investigate the battle situation and, as much as possible, to kill the bandits and deter the Yue people.”

“Yes!”

Zhao Yun accepted the military order and immediately turned around decisively, leaving the government office and heading straight to the camp to summon the cavalry.

After Zhao Yun left, Li Ji and Jia Xu were still staring at the map, each lost in thought.

Currently, the only possibility to judge that the group of Yue people bypassed Mount Fuchun and entered the Qiantang County area is from Kuaiji!

Whether it was the incompetence of Guo Yi, the administrator of Kuaiji Commandery, who allowed the Yue people to plunder everywhere, or whether Guo Yi had reached some kind of deal with the Yue people, this information is still unknown.

The first problem facing Li Ji and Jia Xu is how many Yue people there are!

Although most of the Yue people's rebellions are small-scale operations carried out by various tribes fighting on their own, with at least a few hundred people attacking villages nearby, Yang Province has also seen incidents where tens of thousands of Yue people jointly broke through county towns and plundered.

“We must be prepared…”

Li Ji was very unhappy with this situation full of unknowns, from which too many possibilities could be derived.

After all, since the Yue people could enter the territory of Qiantang County silently with a force of three thousand, then there were too many things they could do.

“To the north, the Yue people can sweep through the surrounding prosperous areas, and the three counties of Qiantang, Yuhang, and Fuchun will all be plundered; to the south, if another group of Yue people cuts off Yunchang's supply line…”

Speaking of this, Li Ji's tone was particularly solemn.

“Originally, Yunchang's unit had the advantage of Mount Fuchun's terrain and the support of the plains for supplies, but instead, they will be trapped in Mount Fuchun. Even if Yunchang can lead his troops to break through, he will hand over Mount Fuchun.”

“In this way, considering the worst-case scenario, the Yue people in the three commanderies of Danyang, Kuaiji, and Yuzhang can all pour into Wu Commandery through this gap.”

Hearing this, Jia Xu's expression also became much more serious, understanding that if this situation really happened, Wu Commandery's terrain would be indefensible.

It would be difficult to defend with only the low walls of the county towns.

At that time, I am afraid that the people of the entire southern part of Wu Commandery will suffer, and it will be extremely detrimental to the planned development of Wu Commandery.

“This possibility is minimal, but we must guard against it…”

Jia Xu commented, saying, “Zikun, could it be that you want to use troops on a large scale?”

“Only by showing our sword can we protect our wealth…”

Li Ji narrowed his eyes, saying.

“Whether it is Guo Yi's probing in Kuaiji Commandery or the Yue people's spontaneous plundering, if we cannot strike back hard, it will only turn Wu Commandery into a piece of fat that everyone can take a bite of.”

“Moreover, Wu Commandery has been training soldiers for a year, and it is indeed time to see some real blood.”

Jia Xu, who had never truly discussed military affairs with Li Ji, was greatly surprised to hear this!

Previously, Jia Xu had always secretly believed that his use of troops and strategies was quite radical. Li Ji's daily actions were calm and steady, and in the past, every time he used troops and strategies, he almost always had a considerable grasp, so he had always thought that Li Ji should be a conservative in war.

What Jia Xu did not expect was that Li Ji actually felt that Jia Xu was too conservative. In comparison, Jia Xu felt more like a conservative.

However, Jia Xu frowned and couldn't help but pour cold water on Li Ji, saying.

“Zikun, you must know that Wu Commandery still has 600,000 refugees in 'work-for-food'. Can Wu Commandery still provide enough food and grass for a large-scale war?”

You must know that once a war starts, the food consumption of soldiers is almost two to three times higher than usual.

If the battle line is prolonged, this number will continue to soar due to logistical problems, and it would not be surprising even if it reached as much as five times.

“Does Wenhe think that I can't take it out?” Li Ji asked back.

Hearing this, Jia Xu subconsciously wanted to refute.

You must know that Jia Xu had also handled the administrative affairs of Wu Commandery for a period of time.

Even if he did not have an accurate number for Wu Commandery's money and food reserves, he had a general idea in his mind.

In Jia Xu's judgment, the money and food accumulated by slaughtering 70% of the Wu Commandery's aristocratic families was quite勉强 to maintain “work-for-food”, and it was impossible to guarantee that Wu Commandery could use its troops to start a war.

However, looking at Li Ji's ambiguous expression, Jia Xu suddenly realized that Li Ji was not the kind of person who would aimlessly, and asked.

“Zikun, where did you get the money and food?”

“Wenhe, in fact, my style of governing and planning is generally four words—be prepared for emergencies, so I have always reserved enough money and food to maintain the war.”

Li Ji did not directly answer Jia Xu's question, but merely said leisurely.

In fact, Jia Xu's judgment was not wrong. Wu Commandery's original money and food could only勉强 maintain “work-for-food”.

It was precisely because of this that Li Ji believed that he had to extract 300,000 dan of grain from Yizhou as redundancy before choosing “work-for-food”.

The role of the 300,000 dan of grain was to prevent various possible emergencies, and it was enough for Li Ji to mobilize all the troops in Wu Commandery to conduct two large-scale battles on its own territory.

Not to mention, Yizhou would continue to send 300,000 dan of grain to Wu Commandery.

It was just that, besides Zhao Yun being a participant in the matter of Yizhou's support for grain, even Liu Bei did not know the details, and thought that it was Li Ji who moved him with emotion and reasoned with him, and persuaded Liu Zhang to convince Liu Yan to support a large batch of grain.

This also made Liu Bei have a great impression of Liu Zhang in private, believing that Liu Zhang was different from Liu Yan and was a person who cared about the people.

As for the other people in Liu Bei's group, even Mi Zhu was confused about the 300,000 dan of grain that suddenly appeared on the account, let alone Jia Xu, who was completely unaware of the whole process.

Hearing this, Jia Xu couldn't help but ask.

“Zikun, could it be that you foresaw this situation as early as a few months ago?”

“I am good at deduction, but not good at fortune-telling. How could I know a few months in advance that the Yue people would plunder Qiantang County? Otherwise, I would have let Zilong lead the cavalry to set up an ambush and directly cut off that group of Yue people halfway.”

Li Ji said helplessly.

“It's just that, my thoughts on things are biased towards conservatism, and I have made more preparations for emergencies, so naturally there is no worry about money and food.”

Jia Xu, who was silenced by the money and food that appeared out of thin air, said leisurely after a long while.

“Perhaps, what the lord is experiencing at this moment is the kind of joy that Emperor Gaozu had behind him with Xiao He, no matter when a war occurs, he can always guarantee that there is enough money and food.”

“Could Xiao He make Emperor Gaozu continue singing and dancing?”

Li Ji glanced at Jia Xu, then threw a roll of bamboo slips directly in front of Jia Xu and said.

“Tonight, you and I will calculate the logistics, money, and supplies for the large-scale mobilization of Wu Commandery's troops, so that the lord can use them immediately after he wakes up from his drunken stupor tomorrow.”

Jia Xu subconsciously took half a step back, asking with a bitter look.

“Zikun, I suddenly feel that the small matter you mentioned at the banquet just now is not impossible to discuss… … (End of this chapter)”