Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Besides feeling depressed, Jia Xu couldn't help but ponder the deeper meaning behind it.

At this moment, stirring up friction with Yuan Shu would undoubtedly benefit Liu Biao of Jingzhou the most, allowing him to focus entirely on the battle with Yizhou without any worries.

What exactly happened in Jingzhou that caused such a significant shift in Li Ji's previous strategy?

With limited information, Jia Xu found it difficult to determine the reason for this and could only say,

"Zikun is not one to make baseless accusations; something must have changed."

Guan Yu stroked his beard and nodded, his view similar to Jia Xu's, as he said in a deep voice,

"Now that the Lord has appointed Master Zikun as Grand Commander to oversee military affairs, it is our duty to fully cooperate with Master Zikun's orders."

"Furthermore, Guan has been enduring and yielding to cooperate with the strategy, allowing those insignificant fools in Yuzhou to become complacent. It is a good opportunity to send troops and have those villains surrender and atone for their sins."

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu quickly dissuaded him, saying, "Absolutely not."

"Why do you say that, Master Wenhe?" Guan Yu asked.

"Zikun's intention is to provoke friction, not to engage in direct warfare with Yuan Shu. The meaning behind this is vastly different," Jia Xu quickly reminded him.

Guan Yu pondered for a moment and, without getting annoyed, replied, "Master Wenhe is right. I almost failed to grasp the proper measure."

Guan Yu's character has always been respectful to superiors but not condescending to subordinates.

Jia Xu was even more adept at understanding people's hearts. He had always presented himself as a low-key gentleman who prioritized the public good in front of Guan Yu, naturally earning Guan Yu's respect.

Guan Yu also valued Jia Xu's advice greatly; otherwise, he wouldn't have specifically summoned Jia Xu to discuss matters.

After a slight pause, Jia Xu said,

"In Xu's opinion, Zikun's intention has three aspects: first, to alleviate some pressure on Jingzhou; second, perhaps to show the world that our Lord has no intention of joining forces with the Yuan clan to seize the foundation of our kinsman; and third, perhaps to divert more of Yuan Shu's forces from the Jiujiang direction."

Perhaps the orders issued by Li Ji were drastically different from before, but Jia Xu didn't believe that the strategy had fundamentally changed.

Currently, the direction of expansion for Yangzhou is only Jing and Yu provinces.

Jingzhou will still be Li Ji's target.

Otherwise, if Li Ji wanted to take the opportunity to seize Yuzhou, he should have continued to have Guan Yu yield, allowing Yuan Shu to become complacent, and then transfer all the heavy troops stationed in Chai Sang to Shouchun, waiting for an opportunity to act.

With this understanding, Jia Xu naturally had no difficulty drawing several conclusions regarding the change in attitude towards Yuan Shu.

Perhaps, in Li Ji's strategy, Yuan Shu was no longer needed to recklessly attack Jingzhou from the south.

On the contrary, Yuan Shu was likely to become Li Ji's obstacle in the future, which is why friction was created with Yuan Shu in the Shouchun direction.

While not triggering a full-scale war, it could also force Yuan Shu to divide his forces for defense, preventing Guan Yu from seizing Runan Commandery, a large and populous area.

Despite Yuan Shu being intentionally suppressed by Chen Gong, making him seem quite unsuccessful.

In reality, Yuan Shu's current strength far exceeds Yuan Shao's.

Yuan Shao had to use all his schemes, turning adversity into opportunity, to barely secure a foothold in half of Ji Province. He would still need to face the alliance of Han Fu and Gongsun Zan to contend for the entire Ji Province.

Even though Yuan Shu was transferred from the position of Administrator of Nanyang Commandery to the Administrator of Runan Commandery, Chen Gong deliberately plotted to weaken Yuan Shu's foundation.

Runan Commandery was originally the Yuan clan's home base, and even after Yuan Shu was transferred away from Nanyang Commandery, he was still vying with Liu Biao for control of Nanyang Commandery.

Even now, more than half of Nanyang Commandery is still in Yuan Shu's hands.

Both Nanyang and Runan commanderies have an official registered population of over two million, no less than Wu Commandery. In addition, Yuan Shu has the influence of the Yuan clan and has gradually brought Chen and Pei states under his control.

Most of Yuzhou is now in Yuan Shu's hands.

In terms of population alone, Yuan Shu's territory has more people than Yangzhou, which Liu Bei has been managing for many years, and the scale of troops that can be mobilized is also enormous.

This is the foundation of the Yuan clan, and it is also the foundation of Yuzhou, the most densely populated area in the Central Plains of the Han Dynasty.

Compared to Yuan Shu, who firmly controls Yuzhou and the Yuan clan's foundation, Yuan Shao is more like a Yuan clan member who has fled to Ji Province and established his own domain.

Chen Gong was well aware of the foundation Yuan Shu possessed, so the previous plan was to try to use Yuan Shu to firmly suppress Liu Bei within Yangzhou, allowing Yuan Shu and Liu Bei to fight each other, resulting in mutual destruction.

Guan Yu pondered Jia Xu's analysis for a long time and deeply agreed.

Currently, Jingzhou is the focus, and Guan Yu's main task is to defend against or contain Yuan Shu. If a real war breaks out with Yuan Shu, it would be detrimental to Yangzhou.

Therefore, the degree of this needs to be carefully measured.

"I wonder if Master Wenhe has any strategies to teach me?" Guan Yu asked.

"Just do the opposite of how you previously showed weakness," Jia Xu said with a smile.

"Moreover, in this way, the justification will also be in General Guan's hands, and you can also vent the pent-up anger from before."

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu immediately understood Jia Xu's meaning and began to make arrangements.

Previously, in order to provoke conflict between Yuan Shu and Liu Biao, and to make Shouchun appear weak.

Under Jia Xu's advice and Guan Yu's arrangements, conflicts broke out between Yuan Shu's soldiers and Liu Bei's and Liu Biao's troops in the areas where they bordered.

Yangzhou spies lurking in Yuan Shu's army pretended to unintentionally shoot and kill a scion of a Jingzhou aristocratic family. Liu Biao naturally took the opportunity to attack, trying to regain more control of Nanyang Commandery.

In the Jiujiang Commandery direction, a merchant caravan was arranged to deliberately reveal the wealth they were transporting when passing through Runan Commandery, arousing the greed of Yuan Shu's soldiers. That night, a captain led his confidants to attack and kill the caravan, and then fled.

Unlike Liu Biao, who seized the opportunity to make a big fuss, Yangzhou only sent envoys to ask Yuan Shu to arrest the murderer, and then made a few seemingly meaningless threats before letting the matter drop.

In addition, Guan Yu deliberately reduced the smoke from the city's military camps and the density of patrols in the surrounding area, creating the illusion in the eyes of some of Yuan Shu's spies that a batch of soldiers had been secretly transferred from Shouchun City.

With such a combination of overt and covert actions, Yuan Shu naturally relaxed his vigilance against Yangzhou, believing that Yangzhou had also shifted its focus to the Jingzhou direction.

And the change at this moment is simple!

Immediately, Guan Yu adopted a posture of sharpening his weapons and feeding his horses, frequently leading troops to patrol the border.

Moreover, all merchant caravans coming from Yuzhou were detained on the pretext of the previous attack on the Yangzhou caravan in Yuzhou, and a strong demand was made for Yuzhou to hand over the murderer and compensate for the losses, otherwise, war would be imminent.

For a time, the originally calm border between Runan Commandery and Jiujiang Commandery became fraught with tension, with a tendency to erupt into war at any moment.

(End of this chapter)