Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Tadun's move was both to vent his anger and to win people's hearts.

Especially since most of the Wuhuan cavalry led by Tadun were Wuhuan people who had settled in Yuyang, Youbeiping, and Liaoxi for many years, they were reacting strongly upon seeing the Jingguan and the flag.

As the nominal commander of this Wuhuan cavalry, Tadun had to express his stance, which would easily win over a large number of Wuhuan people.

Especially the Wuhuan youths from the Wuhuan settlements in Yuyang and Youbeiping that had been slaughtered, Tadun, who often studied Han Chinese classics, understood that these were the easiest forces to be absorbed as his direct subordinates.

As long as he had enough direct troops, the question of "who is the king and who is the subject" between Tadun and Qiuliju might need to be re-discussed.

Tadun's bold and tragic demeanor also easily infected a large number of village leaders present, causing many of them to swear allegiance along with Tadun.

Tadun, satisfied in his heart, pondered slightly and not only did not hide the contents written on the Jingguan and the flag, but instead actively promoted them among the Wuhuan army.

He used the deaths of his clansmen to arouse the anger and morale of the Wuhuan army, and even led the army to personally rebury the heads in the Jingguan, followed by a passionate and heroic speech.

At that moment, many Wuhuan people remembered the man who swore before the Jingguan to avenge his clansmen against the Han dogs, to bury that Han Chinese cavalry in the grassland as well, and vowed to cut off their heads to build a Jingguan.

Qiuliju's nephew—Tadun!

The Wuhuan people admired the strong and those with a bold spirit…

Tadun seized this opportunity to firmly grasp this Wuhuan army, which originally had a somewhat superficial relationship with him.

Afterwards, Tadun led the Wuhuan cavalry back into Youbeiping to search for the traces of the Han army.

Relying on his knowledge of the terrain, Tadun finally caught up to a Wuhuan settlement that was still burning fiercely after spending about seven days.

The Wuhuan settlements along the way were almost all slaughtered and built into Jingguan, and then set on fire.

Under Tadun's intentional control, the entire Wuhuan army was almost in a state of grief and indignation.

"Finally found you, Han dogs!"

Looking at the still burning Wuhuan settlement in front of him, a trace of pleasure appeared on Tadun's face. He did not organize his troops to put out the fire, and even ordered the entire army to abandon some unnecessary supplies, and the entire army pursued at full speed along the still quite clear hoof prints remaining on the edge of the Wuhuan settlement.

The Wuhuan cavalry, numbering as many as 80,000, did not hesitate to expend their horses' strength, and the smoke and dust billowed for several miles, and even the earth was shaking.

Tadun didn't care about this…

Judging from the fire at the Wuhuan settlement, the Han army was likely to have left less than half an hour ago, and he had to firmly bite down on that Han army.

However, half an hour…

An hour…

Even two hours…

Tadun still did not catch up with the Han army, and even the hoof prints that were originally thought to have been left by the Han army had long disappeared without a trace near a small creek, but the Wuhuan cavalry's warhorses were already exhausted from this full-speed march.

"How could this be? Where did the problem occur?"

Tadun couldn't figure it out, so he had to order the army to rest in place temporarily, while sending out a large number of scouts to search for traces of the Han army's march nearby.

However, the result was still nothing.

This made Tadun realize that he might have fallen into a trap, and he quickly turned around and returned to the Wuhuan settlement.

However, by the time Tadun led the exhausted army, which had been pursuing with all its might for half a day, back, this Wuhuan settlement had already been burned into a large area of ruins.

Afterwards, Tadun went deep into the ruins to investigate for a while, his face as gloomy as water…

He had been tricked!

Unlike the previous Wuhuan settlements that were set on fire everywhere, this Wuhuan settlement was set on fire by flammable materials such as kerosene.

That is to say, as long as three or five confidants were left in this pre-arranged Wuhuan settlement, they could easily create the illusion that a large number of Han troops had just set fire to the Wuhuan settlement and left.

If Tadun had put out the fire first when he first arrived, or had been more careful to observe for a while, he might have been able to judge the difference.

It was just that after chasing for so many days and witnessing so many burned Wuhuan settlements, Tadun had already formed a certain inertia of thinking, so that he ignored these details.

Subsequently, Tadun sent people to search for the hoof prints of the Han army leaving around the Wuhuan settlement, and finally found the real traces of the Han army's march three miles away in another direction.

This once again confirmed Tadun's judgment, but… it was too late!

This time, losing the initiative not only meant that the Han army had also noticed the position of the Wuhuan pursuers, but also wasted a whole day of Tadun's time.

This ebb and flow was enough to widen the distance between the two sides again.

…

In a Wuhuan settlement about a hundred miles away from Tadun, the Han army led by Gongsun Zan were very skillfully completing a whole set of procedures and garrisoning in it.

No logistics were needed, the Wuhuan settlement naturally had food.

Gongsun Zan even saved the time for setting up camp, using that part of the time to clean the Wuhuan settlement, and then directly move into it.

It was just that as night fell, Gongsun Zan and Zhao Yun, who usually went to sleep and rest, were waiting for something at the entrance of this Wuhuan settlement at this moment.

Finally, under the gaze of Gongsun Zan and Zhao Yun, five white horses galloped towards them in the distance under the night.

"They're here!"

Gongsun Zan said, and Zhao Yun's expression also slightly condensed.

Because the route that the Han army led by Gongsun Zan had swept through the Wuhuan settlements so far was based on the plan formulated by Li Ji.

And now, it was an important turning point in the plan formulated by Li Ji.

In Li Ji's plan, it was judged that the Wuhuan pursuers would pursue to the previous Wuhuan settlement today.

Therefore, in the plan, Gongsun Zan was deliberately asked to spend a lot of effort to arrange flammable materials in the previous settlement, and then disguised a large number of hoof prints to mislead the Wuhuan pursuers to buy time.

Therefore, the news brought back by these five White Horse Volunteers was particularly crucial.

If the Wuhuan pursuers did not appear as Li Ji had expected, and were not successfully misled by the arrangement that Li Ji had requested.

Then Gongsun Zan, who originally had considerable doubts about the seemingly incredible plan prepared by Li Ji, might no longer follow the plan.

On the contrary, if the news brought back by the White Horse Volunteers was consistent with the plan's judgment, then it would become the cornerstone of trust for Gongsun Zan to continue to implement that plan.

Just as Zhao Yun was slightly distracted, the five White Horse Volunteers had already arrived in front of Gongsun Zan and Zhao Yun, dismounted and bowed.

"General, General Zhao, we are back."

Gongsun Zan did not waste any words and asked in a deep voice. "What's the result? Did Wuhuan pursuers appear?"

"Yes! About 80,000 troops came mightily, and after we set the flammable materials on fire in advance as planned, those Wuhuan pursuers went straight to the direction of the hoof prints arranged in advance, and even abandoned a lot of supplies in order to hurry."

While speaking, the squad leader, who was the leader of the five White Horse Volunteers, also untied a flag from the saddle and reported.

"General, there are also several flags among the abandoned supplies, and I picked one of them back."

Gongsun Zan took the flag, spread it out, and saw that the word "Tadun" was written on it.

"Tadun? Tadun?! It's really the same as what Zikun predicted?!"

Gongsun Zan, who already had a look of surprise on his face, had an expression of amazement.

Not only was the strength of the Wuhuan pursuers predicted, but even the person leading the troops and when they would catch up to the previous Wuhuan settlement were completely consistent with what Li Ji had predicted.

If Li Ji was making a judgment on the spot, Gongsun Zan would not be so amazed.

But that marching plan was written by Li Ji a month ago.

That is to say, Li Ji had accurately judged this result a month ago?

Gongsun Zan unconsciously clenched the flag in his hand and muttered. "Xuande… has really recruited an extraordinary talent!"

In this regard, although Zhao Yun was also quite shocked, he inexplicably felt a sense of honor…

For a time, Gongsun Zan couldn't help but ask Zhao Yun in addition to his emotion. "Does Zikun usually predict the enemy's movements like this?"

Hearing this, Zhao Yun couldn't help but think back and recall.

As someone who often escorted Li Ji, Zhao Yun could be completely regarded as the person who had the longest contact with Li Ji among the generals of Liu Bei's group.

"Mr. Zikun once said unintentionally that if he deduces on the sand table, he can easily deduce the changes beyond a hundred rounds…"

"Among them, the Wuhuan have settled in Han land for more than a hundred years, and coupled with the close relationship with Youzhou, the recorded information can be said to be detailed and complete!"

"And Mr. Zikun, knowing the information of both the enemy and ourselves, looks at the overall situation, perhaps for Mr. Zikun, this is no different from a game of chess."

"Especially the various things that the cavalry led by General Gongsun did according to the plan, perhaps it itself guided and destined the Wuhuan to only respond in this way, and then, like a puppet, step by step, as Mr. Zikun's plan, go down."

Zhao Yun, who has always been quite silent, said a lot in one breath this time, and there was still a bit of unfinished meaning.

Zhao Yun's implication was nothing more than: My lord is a genius bestowed by heaven, so predicting victory or defeat from a thousand miles away is only to be expected.

At that moment, Gongsun Zan remained silent for a long time before bowing in the direction of Ji City.

Previously, what Gongsun Zan admired most about Li Ji was his sense of righteousness, but now he was even more impressed by the ability Li Ji had displayed, and he sincerely envied Liu Bei.