Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

In such exposed terrain, and with the infantry having just landed and not yet formed into battle formations, the outcome of facing a cavalry charge was self-evident.

Li Ji had only been grilling skewers for a short while, and with Guo Yi already retreating, the battle on the riverbank was largely decided.

With their retreat blocked by the Qiantang River, and their morale completely shattered, the soldiers, upon Zhao Yun's furious roar, discarded their weapons and surrendered.

Besides that, many ships were crowded on the riverbank, unable to retreat.

Li Ji squinted his eyes and estimated that the ships Guo Yi had left behind could carry roughly two thousand soldiers.

In other words, this was a crushing blow to Kuaiji Commandery, which already lacked sufficient ships.

'The main objective has been achieved, very good…'

Li Ji smiled slightly, thinking to himself.

…

Meanwhile, Guo Yi, leading over a thousand defeated soldiers in a panicked retreat, held the iron helmet with an arrow stuck in it. Besides the anger of almost losing his life, he felt mostly fear.

The more he thought about it… the more frightened he became…

It was as if Li Ji had foreseen everything, even deliberately standing in the firelight to lure him into conversation, allowing the sharpshooter to find his position in the dark night.

'Fortunately, the river wind was strong, or I would have lost my life…'

Guo Yi touched his neck, feeling not warmth, but a chill of lingering fear.

So much so that Guo Yi had not had time to consider the specific losses. Only after the ship docked again on the other side did Guo Yi's tense heart completely relax.

Xu You, seeing Guo Yi return with only a thousand demoralized remnants, felt a sense of foreboding and hurriedly went to meet him, asking.

“Lord Governor, has something unexpected happened?”

It would have been better not to ask, as the question completely ignited Guo Yi's anger, and he roared, “Guards, drag this incompetent fool down and execute him!”

Upon hearing this, Xu You was stunned, and his face turned pale.

Before the fierce guards could step forward and restrain Xu You, he hurriedly shouted.

“Lord Governor, even if this battle was unfavorable, it is not my fault, so why this? Today, it is not a pity for you to kill Xu You, but I fear that in the future, all scholars in the world will avoid you like snakes and scorpions!”

These words made Guo Yi, who was originally blaming Xu You, barely calm down and shouted.

“If you were not Li Zikun's internal contact, why would Li Zikun know that this Governor would lead troops across the river here tonight, and even set up a cavalry ambush halfway? If this Governor had not remained calm in the face of danger and commanded the soldiers to fight their way out, how could I have returned to Kuaiji Commandery alive?”

“What?!”

Although Xu You had already guessed this outcome, he could not help but be shocked when he heard it from Guo Yi's mouth.

Didn't Xu You himself know whether he had secretly colluded with Li Ji?

In fact, while Xu You seemed to be moved by Guo Yi's wealth and offered advice, Xu You was originally acting on Yuan Shao's orders to undermine the development of Wu Commandery.

In this regard, Xu You and Guo Yi's goals were, to some extent, consistent, so how could he secretly inform Li Ji?

'Could it be that the plan I set up was seen through by Li Zikun long ago?'

This unbelievable thought flashed through Xu You's mind, but he didn't have time to delve into it and hurriedly defended himself.

“If I were truly Li Zikun's internal contact, I would have taken the opportunity to escape long ago. Why would I stay here to welcome the Lord Governor's return? Please, Lord Governor, understand the situation and do not easily believe Li Zikun's words of discord.”

This simple and direct logic convinced Guo Yi.

However, if Xu You was not an internal contact, then it seemed that the only conclusion was that Kuaiji Commandery's actions were all within Li Zikun's expectations.

“Li Ji, is he truly so intelligent as to be almost demonic?”

Guo Yi's tone could not hide his fear.

Hearing this, Xu You secretly breathed a sigh of relief, understanding that his suspicion had been temporarily cleared, but he was now undoubtedly facing a more thorny problem.

Why had the seemingly foolproof river crossing raid turned into such a panicked escape?

Wu Commandery and Kuaiji Commandery were neighbors, and the dialects and customs of the people on both sides were almost the same, which meant that Kuaiji Commandery had long sent many spies to Wu Commandery to target it.

Therefore, if Liu Bei had sent reinforcements to Li Ji, or if there were any large-scale troop movements in Qiantang County, it would have been difficult to completely hide them.

The spies recently deployed to Wu Commandery had not reported any large-scale troop movements near Qiantang County. Even if they wanted to ambush Guo Yi, where would the troops come from?

Gradually regaining his composure, Guo Yi brought Xu You back to the main tent and then described the course of events in detail.

Of course, Guo Yi made some embellishments and modifications regarding his own performance.

Guo Yi would naturally not say that he had uttered a harsh word from a hundred and twenty paces away, and then was almost shot in the head by an arrow, which directly scared him into a panicked escape, even neglecting those soldiers who were neither on the riverbank nor in the river.

However, Guo Yi's performance was not the main point. The key was the pre-ambushed cavalry and Li Ji appearing on the beacon tower, which was enough to show that Li Ji had long prepared and anticipated the time and place of Guo Yi's sneak crossing of the Qiantang River.

This made Xu You, who had always been dissatisfied with Li Ji and tried to avenge himself, feel a little apprehensive.

'Impossible, impossible. It's one thing for Li Zikun to be good at deduction on the sand table, but how could he be so terrifying in actual combat? He's just a young man who has just come of age…'

'It should be that the news was leaked due to a lack of secrecy. There are also Li Zikun's spies in the army, who informed Li Zikun in advance, and then he happened to transfer Zhao Yun's cavalry back from Fuchun Mountain ahead of time.'

'It's just a coincidence, just a coincidence…'

Although Xu You knew that the possibility of such a coincidence was extremely low, Xu You could only convince himself in this way. Otherwise, wouldn't Xu You feel like a joke for using his intelligence in front of Li Ji?

A well-thought-out plan, laying down all kinds of false pretenses, and then jumping into the pit that Li Zikun had dug in advance.

Immediately, Xu You explained to Guo Yi with the reason that "there are internal contacts from Wu Commandery hidden in the army."

Xu You himself couldn't completely believe this reason, but Guo Yi suddenly felt enlightened and felt that everything could be explained in this way.

Li Ji happened to transfer the cavalry back from Fuchun Mountain to Qiantang County, and the internal contact in the army happened to pass this news out, which happened to allow Li Ji to react in time after receiving the internal contact's information…

After Guo Yi summarized it, he only felt that there seemed to be a few too many "happenings."

For a time, this made Guo Yi and Xu You unconsciously fall silent.

After a while, Guo Yi said in a low voice. “Sir, if we retreat our troops now, do you think it would be a good plan?”

?

Xu You.

Is it considered a plan to cherish life and run away?

However, now that things had come to this, how could Xu You allow Guo Yi to retreat? He immediately said.

“Lord Governor, why worry? Do not forget that a large number of Yue tribes are still attacking Fuchun Mountain. Even if this forced crossing of the Qiantang River is unsuccessful, the advantage is still with the Lord Governor. Even if Li Zikun is good at playing these kinds of conspiracies and tricks, how can he change the overall situation?”

“The Lord Governor can sit and watch the changes in the situation, and wait for the Yue tribes to capture Fuchun Mountain before seizing the opportunity to cross the river and determine the outcome in one battle. You are already in an invincible position, so why retreat?”

“Moreover, now that the Lord Governor is already an enemy of Liu Bei, once you show weakness this time, Liu Xuande will definitely use the righteousness of 'Governor' to impose many restrictions on the Lord Governor, and even secretly seize the real power of Kuaiji Commandery.”

“Once the Lord Governor loses real power, then Liu Xuande will be the cleaver and you will be the fish. Now, life and death are all within the Lord Governor's thoughts. I am a famous scholar from Nanyang. At worst, I can hide back in Nanyang and close my doors, but does the Lord Governor want to abandon his post and flee?”

The four words "abandon his post and flee" undoubtedly deeply stimulated Guo Yi.

Moreover, Guo Yi completely understood what Xu You meant!

Things had come to this point, and he was already an enemy of Liu Bei, so there was no point in retreating!

Once he retreated, Guo Yi was likely to become fish to be slaughtered before he could even find a way to use his relationship with the Ten Attendants to change places and continue to be a commandery administrator.

“Please, sir, enlighten me.” Guo Yi hurriedly asked Xu You with a serious expression.

“Just as I said earlier, the advantage is still with the Lord Governor, so why worry?”

Xu You first said confidently, setting the tone, and then continued.

“What the Lord Governor should do now is to vigorously support the Yue tribes with money and food, and continue to promise the Yue tribes the benefits after they attack Wu Commandery. The Lord Governor should also find ways to collect and build ferries.”

“Ferries?” Guo Yi didn't quite react.

“That's right.”

Xu You nodded and said. “Li Zikun's plan this time is just to deceive our army into thinking that our ferries are limited and that the number of soldiers that can be transported at one time is similar to his.”

“If our army had enough ferries, two thousand troops could cross the river in a mighty manner at one time. What use would beacon towers or ambushes be? This can be said to be overwhelming with force. Even if Li Zikun is good at conspiracies and tricks, he will be helpless and will surely be defeated.”

Hearing this, Guo Yi felt that the haze in his heart had been swept away, and he praised repeatedly.

“Good! Very good! Wu Commandery's cavalry is only a thousand or so. If they want to stop my two thousand troops, how is that different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot?”

“That's exactly the reason!”

Xu You became more and more confident as he spoke, only feeling that he had just entered a dead end.

Why bother competing with Li Ji in such calculations? He could completely crush him with the advantage of his troops.

“The Lord Governor should take advantage of the Yue tribes' strong attack on Fuchun Mountain to collect and build ships, and wait for the opportunity for the Yue tribes to capture Fuchun Mountain before the Lord Governor leads his troops across the river and settles the matter in one battle.”

"Good!"

Guo Yi grinned, nodding repeatedly.

As for whether Kuaiji Commandery would consider crossing the river before they had collected and built a large number of ships, both Guo Yi and Xu You tacitly remained silent.

Even though Guo Yi and Xu You were unwilling to admit it, Li Ji had undoubtedly cast a considerable shadow over them. (End of Chapter)