Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

In fact, quite a few lords were preparing to leave Luoyang as soon as possible.

After all, the later they left Luoyang, the greater the risk would be.

It wasn't just the local risks, but also the last group of lords to leave Luoyang needed to be wary of Lü Bu overturning the table and directly forcing them to stay.

Therefore, after Sun Jian directly led his troops away on the same day and hurried back to Changsha Commandery in Jing Province, the remaining lords, both large and small, who received the news began to consider leaving.

On the very night that Sun Jian had just led his troops away from Luoyang, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu almost simultaneously noticed the problem with the seal on the imperial edict.

As members of the Yuan clan, who had served as high officials for four generations, their clan had more imperial edicts issued by past emperors than could be counted, easily enough to cover an entire wall.

The seal on the edict was not the Imperial Seal of the Realm!

This absurdity felt like the national bank issuing counterfeit money.

After Yuan Shao urgently summoned his advisors to discuss the matter, they quickly came to the conclusion that the Imperial Seal of the Realm had been lost.

As for who had obtained the Imperial Seal of the Realm, Sun Jian undoubtedly became the most suspicious person.

In particular, Sun Jian's hasty departure further highlighted his guilty conscience.

In an instant, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu made almost the same decision, which was to send cavalry to intercept Sun Jian in an attempt to verify the matter.

In fact, it wasn't just Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu who suspected Sun Jian; after Sun Jian was the first to hastily leave Luoyang, Chen Gong also suspected Sun Jian.

However, before the allied forces left Luoyang, the Bing Province wolf cavalry was almost unable to move. Even if Chen Gong wanted to try to recover the Imperial Seal of the Realm, he was powerless to do so.

That night, Chen Gong stood on a high point within the imperial palace, looking out at the night sky, where it seemed that many soldiers and horses were constantly being mobilized. His gaze was deep and distant, yet it also revealed a hint of helplessness.

Enlightened people of this era all understood that the Han Dynasty was almost dead in name only!

Chen Gong was determined to support the Han Dynasty, but the reality was that Lü Bu was not a loyal and patriotic person. Coordinating the relationship between the emperor and Lü Bu had already exhausted Chen Gong's efforts.

Moreover, the remnants of Dong Zhuo's forces after Hangu Pass made Chen Gong feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Therefore, whether it was to protect the Han Dynasty or to win the opportunity for Lü Bu to dominate, the united Guandong lords were completely against the interests of the emperor and Lü Bu.

Lü Bu could not completely break off relations with the Guandong lords, otherwise, it would inevitably lead to a situation where the snipe and the clam fought, and the fisherman benefited.

"Your Majesty, Fengxian, if you want to recreate the world and pacify the troubled times…"

"The only way is to incite the Guandong lords to fight among themselves, use Ma Teng and Liu Yan to deal with the remnants of Dong Zhuo, and then seize Hangu Pass as a barrier, then march east and sweep Yanzhou, using Sili as a base and Yanzhou as a stepping stone to seize the Central Plains…"

"After that, go north to pacify the three provinces of Ji, Bing, and You, and take all the land for raising horses, so that you can sweep the world."

Chen Gong muttered to himself.

This was also the blueprint that Chen Gong had conceived for the emperor and Lü Bu after much deliberation.

In Chen Gong's view, the key to this was speed!

It was necessary to occupy the vast majority of the Central Plains before the foreseeable melee north of the Yellow River completely determined the winner, and then take advantage of the situation to go north and become the fisherman.

Otherwise, once the fertile Ji Province and the horse-breeding Bing and You Provinces were all in one person's hands, it would probably be too late to contend with them.

In addition to this, what worried Chen Gong the most was Liu Xuande.

Liu Xuande had the strategist Li Zikun under his command, and the warriors Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, who could defeat ten thousand men. It would probably be difficult to find an opponent to sweep Yangzhou.

He only hoped that Liu Xuande would be burdened by his reputation for benevolence and would not be willing to attack Xu and Jing Provinces after occupying Yangzhou. Otherwise, once Liu Xuande occupied the entire south, he would also be a powerful enemy.

Thinking about this, Chen Gong couldn't help but be a little distracted, and then a question floated into his mind…

'Could Li Zikun have already seen through my strategy? Will I really be a match for that Li Zikun?'

'No! Even if it is seen through, so what? Using the name of the emperor to enfeoff the lords, this is a conspiracy, and this is also the most suitable chessboard that Fengxian can strive for!'

'Yangzhou is vast and sparsely populated, and it also includes the four commanderies of Lujiang, Jiujiang, Danyang, and Yuzhang. Previously, Dong Zhuo had sealed new commandery governors to take office in these commanderies, and those commandery governors would definitely not easily submit to Liu Xuande.'

'Even if Li Zikun has unparalleled wisdom and Zhao Yun and others are all great generals of this era, it will take them at least two or three months to travel from Luoyang back to Wu Commandery, and then it will take them at least a year and a half to pacify the commanderies one by one…'

'By the time Liu Xuande completely controls Yangzhou, it will probably be two years later.'

Two years later…

This time estimate made Chen Gong feel much more at ease.

And this was already Chen Gong's judgment based on constantly overestimating Li Ji's military and political abilities, and assuming that Liu Bei's troops would be invincible wherever they went.

In Chen Gong's view, Liu Bei currently only truly controlled Wu and Kuaiji commanderies, and it would be like a whale swallowing the six commanderies of Yangzhou with just these two commanderies.

Considering the size of Yangzhou, it would take a considerable amount of time just to send troops around it, let alone the time it would take to fully digest the six commanderies after swallowing them.

Therefore, Chen Gong had already made his judgment based on constantly overestimating Li Ji's military and political abilities.

In Chen Gong's view, two years might be enough for Lü Bu to fully recover, and then march east from Hulao Pass to occupy Yanzhou and begin to dominate the Central Plains.

After thinking for a long time, Chen Gong looked in the direction of Li Ji's residence and thought to himself.

'There's no problem, this game… the advantage is on my side!'

However, unlike Chen Gong's sense of urgency, Li Ji was unhurriedly discussing the marching route back to Wu Commandery with Liu Bei.

Since the sea ships needed to transport more than a hundred carts of bamboo slips back to Wu Commandery, this also meant that if Liu Bei wanted to return to Wu Commandery.

Either they could directly take the land route;

Or they could wait for the sea ships to transport the bamboo slips back to Wu Commandery and then come to pick up the soldiers and horses led by Liu Bei and return to Wu Commandery by sea.

However, after experiencing the convenience of the sea route, even Liu Bei did not want to travel thousands of miles back to Wu Commandery by land.

Otherwise, the long journey would not know how many soldiers would be exhausted along the way.

Therefore, after some discussion, the marching route that was determined was to go east from Hulao Pass, cross Yanzhou all the way, go to the port of Qingzhou, and then take the sea ships that came to pick them up back to Wu Commandery. This was basically the reverse route from Wu Commandery to the Suanzao Alliance at the beginning.

After the marching route was determined, Li Ji suggested.

"My lord, it will take a considerable amount of time for the sea ships to travel back and forth to Qingzhou Port to pick us up. At that time, we may be able to stay in Yingchuan for a period of time, and perhaps we can find one or two more great talents to assist my lord's great cause."

"Yingchuan?"

Liu Bei also felt that this place name was somewhat familiar.

Before the RenDe Academy, Yingchuan could be said to be the gathering place for scholars and great talents in the world. Counting the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, the number of capable people and strange scholars from Yingchuan was countless.

Starting from Zhang Liang and Chao Cuo, there were also seven of the "Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai" who assisted Emperor Guangwu who were from Yingchuan, which also laid the foundation for Yingchuan's position in the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Liu Bei was also quite tempted by Li Ji's suggestion.

Although the RenDe Academy was also continuously cultivating talents, how could Liu Bei, who aspired to the world, dislike having too many talents?

More importantly, with Li Ji's assistance, Liu Bei had gradually cultivated enough confidence.

He felt that he was no longer the shoe-weaving commoner despised by scholars, and with his current status, he could also recruit one or two great talents to assist him.

"Zikun, it has been nearly half a year since we led our troops out of Wu Commandery. If we don't return to Wu Commandery as soon as possible, there may be changes," Liu Bei said worriedly.

Of course, what Liu Bei was worried about was not an internal strife in Wu and Kuaiji commanderies.

With Liu Bei's popularity and influence in Wu and Kuaiji commanderies, coupled with the implementation of the military household system, Liu Bei always firmly controlled the hearts of the people and military power.

Not to mention others, even Li Ji could not shake Liu Bei's rule in Wu and Kuaiji commanderies.

That was a rule that was truly firmly controlled from the bottom up, and it could not be shaken by one or two important ministers or aristocratic families.

What Liu Bei was worried about was the hidden dangers in the remaining four commanderies of Yangzhou.

Previously, after Dong Zhuo controlled the government, he had extensively used real power and official positions in various places to win over scholars. This was how Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu obtained their positions as commandery governors.

In Yangzhou, the four commanderies of Danyang, Jiujiang, Lujiang, and Yuzhang had also changed new commandery governors, and it seemed that in order to contain Liu Bei, the new commandery governors who took office were all ambitious people.

Therefore, what Liu Bei was worried about was that leading elite troops away from Wu Commandery for too long might lead to his home being stolen.

However, facing the worries raised by Liu Bei, a meaningful smile appeared on Li Ji's face, and he said.

"My lord's worries are very true. The new commandery governors of the four commanderies of Danyang, Jiujiang, Lujiang, and Yuzhang are all like tigers and wolves. Even when my lord was still in Wu Commandery before, they were still eyeing us covetously."

"Now that my lord has led troops away from Wu Commandery for a long time, it is not surprising that they have taken action…"

Immediately, Liu Bei's expression changed significantly.

It wasn't that Liu Bei hadn't had similar concerns before, but he had absolute trust in Li Ji, and he believed that since Li Ji hadn't brought it up, Li Ji probably thought that the four commanderies wouldn't dare to covet Wu Commandery, so he didn't pay too much attention to it.

What Liu Bei never expected was that Li Ji actually thought that the four commanderies might attack Wu Commandery, which made Liu Bei feel anxious.

If he led his troops out to hunt, and his home was stolen, that would be terrible?

If even Wu Commandery was gone, wouldn't Liu Bei, the governor of Yangzhou, become a laughing stock?

Before Li Ji could finish speaking, Liu Bei quickly said.

"I will order Ziyi Long and Yide to lead the cavalry to travel day and night and rush back to Wu Commandery to be on guard."

Li Ji quickly stopped Liu Bei, who wanted to get up, and said.

"Lord, do not worry. Even if Zilong and Yide were to travel day and night, I'm afraid it would still take them about a month to return to Wu Commandery."

"More importantly, this is also something I did intentionally, in order to lure the snake out of its hole. Otherwise, is Your Lordship truly prepared to return to Wu Commandery and attack each city and stronghold one by one?" (End of Chapter)