Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

“So, Zikun believes that Cao Bao has the ability to lead 60,000 soldiers to withstand 100,000 of Cao Cao's troops?” Liu Bei asked, holding a glimmer of hope.

Li Ji's expression turned serious, but he spread his hands outward and replied.

“He definitely can't withstand them.”

This time, Cao Cao's attack on Xu Province was practically an all-in, using up all his accumulated resources. His command was filled with brilliant generals and strategists like rain. He also held high the banner of "revenge" to boost the morale of the entire army. Its sharpness was such that there was no way Cao Bao could withstand it.

However, this abrupt answer almost made Liu Bei choke. He said, annoyed,

“If that's the case, shouldn't I be even more worried?”

Li Ji smiled slightly, saying with a pointed meaning,

“It's precisely because the Lord is too aware of his status as a Han Dynasty clansman that he worries too much about Xu Province. Perhaps this is the reason why Tao Qian is hesitant.”

This caused Liu Bei's expression to slightly freeze, and he suddenly realized.

Liu Bei had always been concerned about the Han Dynasty and had always regarded Liu Yu, Tao Qian, Gongsun Zan, and others as Han officials.

In this way, to put it nicely, he had a sense of ownership.

However, Liu Yu, who always adhered to the duties of a Han official, didn't care much, but that didn't mean Tao Qian wouldn't mind.

Tao Qian, due to his age, knew that he had little ability to expand outward, but he was often more concerned about whether his own territory would be interfered with by others.

“It seems that I have indeed been a little too anxious,” Liu Bei said self-reflectively.

“Lord, Xu Province has been peaceful for many years after all, and its foundation is profound. Even if Cao Cao's offensive is strong, it won't be captured in a short time…”

“Moreover, even if the situation in Xu Province reaches an irreversible point, Shouchun and Wu Commandery are only a short distance from the southern part of Xu Province, so there is no need to worry.”

After a pause, Li Ji explained to Liu Bei in a gentle voice the route by which Yang Province could support Xu Province and the planned marching plan.

In the end, Yang Province was too close to Xu Province.

So close that Wu Commandery and Guangling Commandery were only separated by a river. Moreover, with the sea ships in Liu Bei's hands, he was always capable of cutting off Cao Cao's rear supply lines deep in Xu Province.

It was precisely because of this that Li Ji was not worried at all in the face of Cao Cao's large-scale southward attack on Xu Province, who had the ability to overturn the chessboard at any time.

Even if it developed into the worst result, it would only be that Tao Qian was destroyed, and Liu Bei and Cao Cao would divide Xu Province.

From a strategic point of view, only Tao Qian would always be hurt.

Moreover, the longer the war in Xu Province dragged on, the more it would delay Yuan Shu's time to attack Yan Province to the north.

Overall, it was beneficial to Liu Bei.

With Li Ji's explanation, Liu Bei's brow relaxed for the most part, but he still frowned slightly and said.

“But no matter what, the more Cao Cao's army penetrates into Xu Province, the more Xu Province's people will suffer from the ravages of war. How can I bear it?”

Upon hearing this, Li Ji thought of some of Cao Cao's deeds and reminded him.

“If that's the case, Lord, you can send a letter to Cao Cao in the name of a Han Dynasty clansman, reminding Cao Cao that raising troops for revenge should not harm the people, and even more so, should not carry out the slaughter of the city.”

“He dares?!”

Liu Bei's eyes widened. The words "slaughter the city" seemed to touch Liu Bei's bottom line, and his tone changed instantly.

Although the authority of the Han Dynasty had been lost and the lords in various places were fighting each other in troubled times, so far, the various lords within the Han Dynasty had generally maintained relative restraint.

There were those who exploited and plundered the people, but no one had yet recklessly aimed the butcher's knife at the Han people to carry out the slaughter of the city.

However, Li Ji knew very well that Cao Cao in the original trajectory not only dared, but even slaughtered the city on a large scale, causing blood to flow like rivers, angering both heaven and man.

This caused Liu Bei, who had just lifted the siege of Kong Rong in Qing Province in the original trajectory, to be furious and lead thousands of soldiers south to support Xu Province.

As for the reasons for Cao Cao's slaughter of the city, there were only a few.

First: to deter people's hearts and disintegrate Xu Province's resistance;

Second: to plunder the wealthy people of Xu Province to the greatest extent;

Third: to replenish military food…

But no matter which one it was, raising the butcher's knife to the people who were also Han Chinese was something that Li Ji could not accept, and even more so, something that Liu Bei could not tolerate.

Liu Bei was actually somewhat skeptical of Li Ji's reminder.

Although Cao Cao had unscrupulously exhumed the graves of the sages in Qing Province, and his reputation had been greatly tarnished, in Liu Bei's mind, Cao Cao's image was still quite good, and he regarded him as a righteous man who had the Han Dynasty in his heart.

However, Li Ji's reminder was not without reason, so Liu Bei quickly wrote a letter and sent someone to Cao Cao as soon as possible, reminding Cao Cao, as a Han official, not to harm innocent people when he raised troops.

… …

When Liu Bei's letters were sent to Tao Qian and Cao Cao respectively, the two of them almost simultaneously discarded them like worn-out shoes.

Tao Qian completely felt that Liu Bei was standing and talking without back pain. Once Tao Qian gave up the Langya State and the East Sea Commandery and retreated to the Xiapi and Pengcheng line, then nearly half of the entire Xu Province would have substantially fallen.

Even if he finally defended Xu Province, Tao Qian's already small prestige would probably suffer another heavy blow.

Moreover, in Tao Qian's view, Liu Bei was deliberately exaggerating Cao Cao's military strength, trying to force himself to ask Liu Bei for help, and then gradually hand over the real power of Xu Province.

The Yellow Turbans had been making trouble in Qing Province for many years, and it had long been barren. Even if Cao Cao pulled out 100,000 troops, how much money and food could he have?

As long as he resisted step by step for a while, Cao Cao's army would naturally only have the way to retreat.

Cao Cao's reaction was similar to Tao Qian's, thinking that Liu Bei was standing and talking without back pain.

Cao Cao was neither as deeply rooted as the Yuan family, nor had the strong support of a large number of aristocratic families, nor was he like Liu Bei, whose money and food seemed to gush out on their own, as if they could never be used up.

The essence of war is the competition of money and food.

If he didn't plunder the people of Xu Province, then for Cao Cao, this expedition to Xu Province would not even have a bottom line.

Therefore, after entering the Langya State, Cao Cao, under the banner of "revenge", plundered money and food wherever he went, like locusts passing through, and constantly forcibly relocated the people near Qing Province to Qing Province to cultivate land.

How important is the people's heart?

Sending them to forced land reclamation will naturally make them honest.

Population and money and food are the foundation of everything.

Therefore, although Cao Cao's army entered the Langya State like a broken bamboo, its marching speed was not fast, and it slowly advanced southward all the way.

Near the beginning of June, Cao Cao's army, which had been slowly sweeping through the Langya State for a month, finally arrived at Kaiyang, where Cao Bao led heavy troops to garrison.

… …

At the same time.

The war in Ji and You Provinces broke out again.

Yuan Shu also officially and completely withdrew from Nanyang Commandery. At the same time as Lu Bu began to take over Nanyang Commandery, Guan Yu, who had been prepared for a long time, also quickly recovered a part of Nanyang Commandery's territory near Xiangyang.

Among them, as one of the barriers to the north of Xiangyang, Guan Yu personally led 20,000 elite troops to the city of Wancheng.

Wancheng, which had maintained semi-independence in Huang Zu's hands, had not had a suitable opportunity to capture it, whether it was Yuan Shu or Liu Bei.

After all, as the first strong city in Nanyang Commandery, Wancheng also had more than 10,000 elite troops stationed in the city.

If you really want to attack it by force, without spending half a month and adding the casualties of tens of thousands of soldiers, there is basically no possibility of taking it down.