Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Supporting each other, starting from humble beginnings.

These eight words sound easy, but they allowed the friendship between the four to brew into a fine wine recorded in history.

The mutual understanding between Liu Bei and Li Ji as lord and subject goes without saying.

Even Guan Yu and Zhang Fei deeply respected Li Ji, regarding him as an elder brother.

Therefore, as the moon became dim and the stars sparse, the prepared ten jars of fine wine were completely emptied.

At this small feast, Zhang Fei, who always followed the rule of 'one cup for this brother, one bowl for me,' was the first to get drunk and fall to the ground, snoring loudly.

Moreover, Zhang Fei's sleeping posture was almost like a black bear falling to the ground, still holding an empty wine jar in his arms, which made Li Ji secretly laugh.

However, Zhang Fei couldn't be blamed for this.

Li Ji had strictly ordered all generals not to drink heavily while leading troops. Over the years, Zhang Fei had been repeatedly warned and reminded, so he didn't dare to violate the ban. This led to Zhang Fei fighting quite happily in Jingnan for more than half a year, but he was extremely thirsty for wine.

As a result, at this small feast, Zhang Fei, who had the best alcohol tolerance, was the first to get drunk.

The March night breeze was still quite cool. Liu Bei got up, took off his outer robe, and covered Zhang Fei to prevent him from catching a cold.

Liu Bei then invited Guan Yu, whose face was becoming increasingly flushed, and Li Ji, who was slightly tipsy, to drink another cup. His tone became slightly serious as he said,

"Zikun, in your opinion, when can we launch a northern expedition to the Central Plains? Reorganize the world and restore the Han Dynasty."

Since Dong Zhuo's rebellion, the entire world had been in a chaotic state of warlords vying for territory. Liu Bei had seen it all through the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

If one lived under Tao Qian's rule, and the governor had no ambition to expand outwards, nor any pursuit of extravagance and luxury, then such people were undoubtedly fortunate.

However, for the vast majority of the people, as the warlords divided the country and the court's laws were no longer followed, a large number of people were inevitably constantly exploited by the warlords in various places for their own selfish purposes.

The world is often a makeshift stage, and not everyone has the foresight for a long-term plan. There are some small warlords who choose to drain the pond to catch all the fish.

When the court's authority was still present, they collected 50% of the tax.

Now that they are warlords occupying a territory, if they continue to collect only 50%, wouldn't that be a waste of their occupation?

The current chaos in the Central Plains is not only the mutual conquest between the major warlords, but also many small warlords who are draining the pond to catch all the fish, exploiting the people.

In chaotic times, human lives are as cheap as grass.

Liu Bei also constantly looked at the chaos reported by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, unable to sleep at night, sighing endlessly.

Li Ji also understood what Liu Bei was thinking and replied,

"Lord, don't worry. With our threat in the south, the warlords who aspire to the world will continue to speed up their annexation, gradually forming an orderly situation in the chaos."

Even the worst rules are better than no rules.

The progress of this era is now significantly faster than the late Han Dynasty chaos in Li Ji's memory.

The sudden rise of Liu Bei is like a catfish, stirring up this pool of chaotic and turbid water intensely.

Many Central Plains warlords who aspire to the world have also gradually realized that if they don't grow stronger, they will inevitably be swallowed by Liu Bei.

As a result, the speed of annexation between the major warlords will accelerate, further squeezing the living space of many small warlords, and briefly forming some rules again.

"As for the day of the northern expedition to the Central Plains, we still need to wait for an opportunity or two..."

Li Ji turned the wine cup in his hand and said. "However, this opportunity is expected to be not far away."

Liu Bei nodded slightly, always trusting Li Ji's judgment.

Guan Yu, who was constantly sipping with narrowed eyes, rarely took the initiative to speak, saying.

"Zikun, Guan has a question. During the previous Battle of Jingzhou, you sent a message to me, asking me to lead troops to capture Runan. Why didn't you let me take the Huai River and attack Nanyang from the side?"

"If we had Nanyang Commandery in our hands, wouldn't that be better than a small Runan city?"

Nanyang and Runan Commanderies can be said to be the essence of the Central Plains.

Among them, the essence of Jingzhou is in northern Jing, and the essence of northern Jing is in Nanyang.

Therefore, no matter how critical the location of Runan City is, it is far from comparable to the entire Nanyang Commandery.

At that time, perhaps Li Ji had no energy to capture Nanyang Commandery after defeating Yuan Shu.

But as long as Guan Yu was transferred in advance to lead troops along the Huai River to attack Nanyang from the east, he might have been able to take back the entire Nanyang in one fell swoop, so that today, only Nanyang Commandery is missing from the two prefectures of Jing and Yang under Liu Bei's rule.

"In terms of the battle situation, there was indeed an opportunity to take Nanyang Commandery; but in terms of the general trend, Nanyang should not be taken."

Li Ji shook his head and explained.

"Nanyang Commandery can be called Xiangyang, and even the barrier for the entire Jingzhou to resist the north, and the population is extremely large, and the potential is limitless."

"However, Nanyang Commandery borders Sili in the north and Yuzhou in the west. Once Nanyang Commandery is taken, Lu Bu, who is entrenched in Sili, will definitely be like a thorn in his back and will not turn a blind eye."

"At that time, our army will be exhausted, and Lu Bu will be aggressive. With Yuan Gonglu watching from the side, the war will be endless, and our army will be trapped in Nanyang Commandery."

"Not only will Jingzhou be difficult to stabilize quickly, but I am afraid that we will still be forced to continue fighting Lu Bu and Yuan Shu in Nanyang Commandery. What about accumulating strength for the northern expedition to the Central Plains?"

As Li Ji's voice fell, Guan Yu pondered for a moment and then cupped his hands.

"I have been taught."

Li Ji saw this, raised his glass to Guan Yu, and smiled at each other.

Separated by Nanyang, Lu Bu could not interfere with Jingzhou.

But once Li Ji took Nanyang, Lu Bu would not dare to go east out of Hulao Pass, and might be cut off at any time and attacked Sili.

The counselors under Lu Bu would not fail to see this and would never accept the situation where Nanyang Commandery was obtained by Liu Bei.

More importantly, once Nanyang Commandery, which would be attacked from both sides by Sili and Yuzhou, was taken, then the strategic center of the entire Liu Bei Group would have to be tilted towards Nanyang Commandery.

This is quite unfavorable for Liu Bei, whose real foundation is in Yangzhou, in terms of deploying troops and transporting money and food.

Immediately, Li Ji expressed his thoughts, saying.

"Nanyang should not be the direction of our army's northern expedition to the Central Plains. Our army's first choice for the northern expedition to the Central Plains is to send troops from Shouchun City to capture Yuzhou. Once Yuzhou is obtained, Nanyang will naturally be in our grasp."

"However, even if the main attack on Yuzhou is from the direction of Shouchun, Jingzhou also needs to send a general to guard the area. One is to defend the territory, and the other is to make a feint attack on Nanyang Commandery or Runan Commandery from the side, advancing on both the east and west routes, so that Yuan Shu will be overwhelmed."

Liu Bei nodded and asked. "Zikun said so, I think you already have a candidate for the general who will guard Jingzhou?"

"Yun Chang can guard Jingzhou."

Li Ji replied without hesitation.

Whether it is prestige, seniority, or ability, Guan Yu is undoubtedly the best candidate.

Moreover, now that both Jing and Yang Prefectures are Liu Bei's territory, it is impossible for "crossing the river in white" to stab Guan Yu in the back.

When Liu Bei heard this, he looked at Guan Yu and said softly.

"I wonder what Yun Chang thinks?"

Guan Yu's expression became solemn, and he bowed to Liu Bei, saying. "How dare I not listen to the military advisor's orders? I will never fail my eldest brother's trust."

(End of this chapter)