Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

For Xu Province!

Only Cao Cao knew how much preparation and sacrifice he had made.

Xu Province was a territory that Cao Cao was determined to obtain.

Only by connecting Qing and Xu provinces could Cao Cao truly be qualified to compete for dominance in the Central Plains amidst the current complex situation.

With Qing Province as the foundation, seizing Xu Province would allow him to set his sights on Yan Province.

Otherwise, Cao Cao would be trapped in Qing Province, becoming fish on someone else's chopping board.

However, what Cao Cao desired but could not obtain was once again delivered to Liu Bei's doorstep.

Even with Cao Cao's unwavering will, he couldn't help but lose his composure for a moment upon hearing this news.

More importantly, even though Liu Bei refused the seal of the Provincial Governor, the tiger tally was completely handed over to Liu Bei, indicating that Tao Qian had completely taken sides.

This was no longer just an alliance, but Tao Qian had clearly shown his allegiance to Liu Bei.

Tao Qian had managed Xu Province for many years, coupled with Liu Bei's prestige and reputation in Xu Province.

Once the war in Xu Province subsided, Cao Cao, with his political acumen, would easily understand that "Two Yields of Xu Province" and even "Three Yields of Xu Province" were bound to happen.

However, after a moment of anger, Cao Cao quickly regained his composure, stood up, and began to observe the map hanging behind him.

Cao Cao had been plotting for Xu Province for a long time, and many Qingzhou Yellow Turban generals who seemed to have defected to Tao Qian were actually hidden pawns planted by Cao Cao.

It was precisely relying on these hidden pawns that they took advantage of Cao Bao's unpreparedness, secretly opened the Kaiyang city gate, and severely damaged the Xu Province army.

Furthermore, some Qingzhou Yellow Turban generals led their troops back to Cao Cao's command, further strengthening Cao Cao's forces.

This was undoubtedly a brilliant move.

Using Tao Qian's money and food to feed his own troops, and even betraying him at a crucial moment by opening the city gate, further replenishing usable forces.

Because of this, Cao Cao's 100,000-strong army, after fighting all the way in Xu Province, still had over 80,000 troops available.

These 80,000 troops were being deployed by Cao Cao on both sides of the Yi River, north of Xiapi City.

National Scholar Marquis Li Ji!

Cao Cao dared not underestimate this strategist whom he most wanted to obtain.

As long as Li Ji arrived at Xiapi City with the army and began to investigate the situation in Donghai Commandery, the matter of the Yi River could not be hidden from Li Ji's eyes.

Using plague to break Xiapi City was a poisonous plan offered by Cheng Yu, and its effect and function were obvious.

The 80,000 troops in Cao Cao's hands were already all of Cao Cao's assets.

Cao Cao couldn't afford to gamble, nor could he compete with Liu Da'er, whose foundation was already established.

Yuan Shu, without his 100,000-strong army, could basically recover after a year of recuperation thanks to his deep foundation;

Liu Da'er, losing his 100,000-strong army, would only suffer a setback in his momentum to advance north into the Central Plains, which could be considered a major injury, but with the foundation of Jing and Yang provinces and Li Zikun's governance ability, it would not damage his foundation at all.

Only by using the plague as a natural disaster to directly break Xiapi City, and preferably create a land of death within Xiapi that would make people change color upon hearing it.

Cao Cao's finger tapped on the location of Xiapi City, his eyes constantly showing a look of consideration.

The Yi River not only ran through Xiapi City but even most of the area of Xiapi State.

Moreover, the west side of Xiapi State was Pengcheng State, close to Yu Province; the east side of Xiapi State was Guangling Commandery.

Therefore, as long as a large area of plague-stricken land could be created in Xiapi State, it would not only greatly affect the armies under Tao Qian and Liu Bei but also cleverly separate Pengcheng State and Guangling Commandery.

Let Yuan Shu attack Pengcheng and fight to the death with Tao Qian and Liu Bei, while Cao Cao took the opportunity to seize Guangling Commandery.

As long as Guangling Commandery, which was across the Yangtze River from Wu Commandery, was truly under control, Cao Cao would have a bargaining chip to make Liu Bei wary.

Wu Commandery was Liu Bei's place of origin and the population and economic center of the entire south of the Yangtze River, and Liu Bei and Li Ji would definitely not accept Wu Commandery being directly threatened.

Therefore, the focus of the subsequent confrontation between the Cao and Liu armies would inevitably shift to between Guangling Commandery and Wu Commandery.

In this way, Cao Cao would have the opportunity to turn around and seize Xiapi City and Pengcheng.

Otherwise, under the resistance formed by Yuan Shu, Liu Bei, and Tao Qian, it would be impossible for Cao Cao to truly hold Pengcheng and Xiapi in his hands.

Cao Cao went through the plan in his mind to confirm whether the rapid restoration and transformation of the relationship between Liu Bei and Tao Qian would have any serious impact.

This was a plan that Cao Cao had been planning for a long time, the hope for taking the entire Xu Province in one fell swoop.

Relying solely on Cao Cao's own strength was undoubtedly not enough to swallow the entire Xu Province, so Cao Cao had placed his hope on driving away the tiger to devour the wolf from the beginning.

A major defeat of Tao Qian was necessary so that Liu Bei and Yuan Shu, who were originally watching, would enter the fray one after another.

The Yi River plague was a crucial next step.

If the plague could successfully spread in Xiapi State, then Liu Bei and Tao Qian would not be able to give up Pengcheng, and they would not be able to spare the energy to take care of Guangling Commandery, which was separated by the plague area.

Even if Liu Bei and Li Ji intended to continue transferring troops from Yangzhou to Guangling Commandery, Lu Bu and Guan Yu in Nanyang Commandery were constantly at odds with each other, and enough troops needed to be left in Shouchun to be wary of Yu Province, how many troops could be transferred to Guangling for a while?

Yi River!

Xiapi City!

This was the key to the next strategy.

This was also the reason why Cao Cao heavily deployed troops on both sides of the Yi River, in order to resist the counterattack from Liu Bei and Tao Qian and forcibly go north into the Yi River to clear the corpses.

But at this moment, the hidden contradictions between Liu Bei and Tao Qian were quickly resolved, which meant that the two families' forces could successfully merge without guarding against each other.

This was undoubtedly extremely bad news for Cao Cao.

Especially since Cao Cao had deliberately spread a lot of discord rumors before, and Tao Qian had repeatedly failed in battles without actively seeking help from Liu Bei.

Cao Cao thought that this matter could contain Liu Bei for a period of time, but he did not expect it to be resolved so quickly.

Now, Cao Cao could only hope that Li Ji would not be able to detect the truth for a while after leading his army into Xiapi City, delaying it for a while.

However, just as Cao Cao continued to send out a large number of scouts to investigate the news in Xiapi State, he never expected that Li Ji would lead his army to Xiapi City without entering the city to slowly recuperate.

Li Ji only reorganized his army outside Xiapi City for a day, and after rewarding the three armies with supplies from Xiapi City, he directly led the army to continue north, with the momentum of not entering the city without breaking Cao's army.

Moreover, the target of Liu Bei's army was quite obvious, heading straight for Tan County where Cao Cao was located along the Yi River!

This made Cao Cao, who originally thought he could delay it for at least seven or eight days, feel a bit caught off guard for a while, and he had to quickly start preparing for war in advance.

For a time, the situation of offense and defense in the territory of Xu Province was reversed.

Cao Cao, who was unstoppable, contracted his forces in Donghai Commandery, while Liu Bei went north all the way, pointing his sword at Cao Cao.

(End of this chapter)