Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Out of sentiment, Liu Bei and Tao Qian were allies and friends.

Logically, Xu Province, as an important passage for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, could not be allowed to be seized by Yuan Shu's faction.

Therefore, the discussions among the civil and military officials in the hall, apart from the cause of Cao Song's death, mostly revolved around the matter of sending troops.

Unlike Tao Qian's delayed reaction,

when the news of Cao Song's death spread in Qing Province and Cao Cao's army showed signs of activity, relevant information was quickly transmitted back to Shouchun. Otherwise, Liu Bei's letter could not have been sent to Xu Province so quickly.

And because Li Ji valued the sand table, sand table simulations were most prevalent under Liu Bei's rule.

Soon, the people worked together to build a sand table of Xu Province's terrain that was almost half the size of the hall.

Although the terrain may not be 100% accurate, it was based on the Han Dynasty map in the Dongguan Library, as well as the Xu Province terrain secretly explored and drawn by the Mi Family Chamber of Commerce over the years, and was not much different from the real world.

Small flags representing troops were inserted.

Currently, according to the intelligence gathered by the Brocade-Clothed Guards,

Cao Cao's army is said to number 150,000, but the actual strength is about 100,000, with 50,000 elite troops and 50,000 Qingzhou soldiers trained from the young and strong of the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans.

In addition, Yuan Shao also ordered Zhu Ling to lead 10,000 elite soldiers and transport a large amount of money and food to support Cao Cao, while Yuan Shu stationed 50,000 troops in Pei, west of Xu Province.

For a time, the total number of troops facing the north and west of Xu Province was as high as 160,000, forming a pincer attack.

According to the Brocade-Clothed Guards and the Mi Family Chamber of Commerce's years of infiltration and understanding of Xu Province, the available military strength in Xu Province is about 120,000, including many Xu Province troops who may not listen to Tao Qian's orders.

As the small flags representing troops were added to the Xu Province sand table, the situation in Xu Province was also quite clearly presented to everyone.

The situation in Xu Province is not optimistic if Liu Bei does not intervene and provide support.

While Yuan Shu stationed troops in Pei, he also officially withdrew his troops from Nanyang Commandery, ceding Nanyang Commandery to Lu Bu.

Moreover, while withdrawing from Nanyang Commandery, Yuan Shu took away all the money, food, and materials from the treasuries and granaries of the counties in Nanyang Commandery, and even took away nearly 100,000 young and strong people.

In addition, Yuan Shu had previously deliberately taken the measure of stationing troops in Nanyang, attracting Liu Bei to deploy a lot of troops in the direction of Jingbei, undoubtedly deliberately inducing Guan Yu, who was stationed in Jing Province, to enter Nanyang Commandery, and then clash with Lu Bu.

For a time, the situation in all directions north of Jing and Yang Provinces became tense.

And at the same time that the wars in various parts of the Central Plains broke out one after another,

Yuan Shao, who had initially settled Ji and Bing Provinces, once again stationed troops on the border of You Province, preparing to try to take advantage of Gongsun Zan's serious injury and greatly reduced prestige to forcibly capture You Province.

Due to Han Fu's active surrender, Yuan Shao's total military strength after the Battle of Jieqiao not only did not decrease, but after incorporating Han Fu's generals and soldiers, his available military strength rapidly expanded to more than 100,000.

And as Yuan Shao gradually digested the territory of Ji and Bing Provinces, this number will continue to rise.

It's just that Yuan Shao couldn't wait.

It is true that Ji and Bing Provinces have not been digested, but You Province, which lost nearly 50,000 cavalry, was also badly damaged.

You Province is in the rear, which is like a thorn in Yuan Shao's back.

Even though You Province has cleared the fields for hundreds of miles, Yuan Shao saw that the Central Plains was in chaos, and no princes had the spare capacity to take care of or harass the battles on the north bank of the Yellow River, Yuan Shao rekindled his determination to forcibly conquer You Province.

It was May, which was also the best time to conquer You Province.

Therefore, after Yuan Shao sent Zhu Ling to lead 10,000 elite soldiers to support Cao Cao, he also drew a large number of troops from Ji and Bing Provinces to the north, ready to cross the border and attack You Province at any time.

At this moment, from a strategic point of view, this undoubtedly looked like a strategic offensive launched by the princes of Yuan Shao's faction against the princes who were close to Liu Bei.

It was both to make Liu Bei unable to launch a Northern Expedition and to force Liu Bei to divert his energy to try to protect Liu Yu, Gongsun Zan, and Tao Qian, otherwise Liu Bei would lose his left and right arms in an instant.

As reports were sent to Shouchun, Liu Bei was visibly getting a little angry.

Especially as Cao Cao, with an unstoppable momentum, continued to capture cities and fortresses from the north of Langya State.

Tao Qian's countermeasures were also successively transmitted back to Shouchun.

It was confirmed that Tao Qian ordered Cao Bao to lead 60,000 troops to defend the Kaiyang and Jiqu lines, guarding the passage for Cao Cao to continue south.

Zang Ba led 20,000 troops to garrison Pengcheng State to guard against Yuan Shu.

Such an arrangement made Liu Bei frown and said.

"Is Tao Gongzu confused? Even if I don't know much about military affairs, I understand that Langya State is a plain, with no strong cities or important terrain. What is there to defend?"

"He should mobilize the Xu Province troops to retreat to Tan County, or even abandon Tan County, and retreat to Xiapi with all his strength, relying on the strong city to defend."

After a pause, Liu Bei became a little unsure after speaking, and subconsciously looked at Li Ji.

Feeling Liu Bei's gaze, Li Ji quietly nodded, affirming Liu Bei's point of view, allowing Liu Bei to quickly regain his confidence.

Xu Province is indeed easy to attack and difficult to defend.

More than 80% of the area is plain terrain.

Therefore, if you want to defend Xu Province, you can only defend strong cities such as Xiapi, Pengcheng, and Guangling, and relying on the defense of strong cities is the best policy.

The city walls of some small cities are low, and under the offensive of Cao Cao's mighty army of 100,000, the advantage of the city walls is almost non-existent, and blindly defending is just wasting troops.

Li Ji took over Liu Bei's words and added.

"What the lord said is very true. Kaiyang and Jiqu are not suitable for defense. It is best to abandon Langya State and Donghai Commandery and retreat to the Xiapi and Pengcheng area."

"In addition, a general should be sent to lead troops outside to try to harass Cao Cao's food supply line on the expedition south."

"In this way, in less than three months, the food and supplies of Cao Cao's army, which came from afar, will be exhausted, and the logistics will be overwhelmed, and naturally there will be only one way to retreat."

Liu Bei nodded in agreement and said. "Zikun's suggestion, I will inform Tao Gongzu in a letter later, I hope Tao Gongzu can use it..."

After a pause, Liu Bei frowned and said.

"It's just that I have sent three letters in a row, almost explicitly stating that Tao Gongzu can ask Shouchun for help, but there has been no reply. Could it be that Tao Gongzu has completely lost control of Xu Province."

"This kind of ignorant deployment is not from Tao Gongzu's hands, but Cao Bao, who privately controls the military power, is acting arbitrarily?"

In this regard, Li Ji had some guesses in his mind, roughly that Tao Gongzu was judging a gentleman's heart with the heart of a villain, fearing that Liu Bei would take the opportunity to plot Xu Province.

It's just that in this era when communication relies entirely on letters, one party has read but not replied, and Liu Bei really can't guess Tao Qian's situation in a short time.

Even if the Brocade-Clothed Guards and the Mi Family Chamber of Commerce have infiltrated Xu Province like a sieve, the transmission of information takes time.

Therefore, Li Ji watched Liu Bei send another letter to Xu Province involving military strategy, and could only persuade him.

"Lord, don't worry, Cao Cao has not yet broken through Langya State, General Cao Bao may be able to directly block Cao Cao's army and protect the peace of Xu Province."

(End of this chapter)