Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

(Thank you for the concern, everyone. Today, my fever is mostly intermittent and low-grade, and I feel much better.)

Li Ji fell into deep thought, his thumb rubbing against the fan bone, secretly deducing the impact of the Cao-Yuan conflict on the overall situation of the world.

Now that Cao Cao has made a series of preparations to launch a surprise attack on the vulnerable Ji Province, unless a mighty warrior descends from the heavens to turn the tide, the change of ownership of Bohai Commandery can be said to be inevitable.

Even in Li Ji's view, with Cao Cao's ability, it is not impossible to sweep across the entire southern part of Ji Province before Yuan Shao can react.

In this way, perhaps Yuan Shao still has a clear advantage in troop strength over Cao Cao on the main battlefield, but strategically, Yuan Shao will be in an extremely unfavorable situation.

Bohai Commandery is Yuan Shao's base. Losing Bohai Commandery is almost equivalent to cutting off most of Yuan Shao's financial and food resources.

In reality, Yuan Shao's control over the entire territory of Ji Province and nominal annexation of Bing Province has only been a matter of the past six months, coupled with the death of Han Fu, which has caused a great deal of dissatisfaction.

Moreover, Yuan Shao's control of the entire Ji Province has not actually supplemented much financial and food resources. In the Battle of Jieqiao, which lasted for about a year, Han Fu had almost exhausted all the financial and food resources he could mobilize.

Therefore, Yuan Shao, whose Bohai Commandery was attacked by surprise, is no different from a snake that has been struck in its vital spot.

It is precisely because of this that Li Ji has always believed that as long as Cao Cao can gain a firm foothold under Yuan Shao's first wave of counterattacks.

Then, with Cao Cao seizing the financial and food resources of Bohai Commandery, and with Qing Province constantly supplying blood from behind.

If it drags on, Cao Cao undoubtedly has a great chance of winning!

For Li Ji, it is not beneficial for either Yuan Shao or Cao Cao to become stronger. The best outcome would be for both to suffer.

Now, Sun Ce's force within Langya State, and Zhao Yun, who has been entrusted with troops in You Province by Liu Yu, undoubtedly have the ability to influence the battle from the north and south.

Of course, Liu Yu's personality has always been conservative, which means that Zhao Yun will not be able to mobilize many You Province troops to counterattack Ji Province, and Sun Ce only has twenty thousand troops in his hands.

This amount of force is far from enough to be the final arbiter, but it is still possible to stir up trouble.

If Zhao Yun or Sun Ce were to attack the rear while the Cao and Yuan families were engaged in a fierce battle, it would bring a huge impact to the battle situation.

Therefore, Liu Bei's judgment is not without merit.

It's just that Li Ji undoubtedly also has a clear understanding of Cao Cao's treachery and decisiveness. Cao Cao has the awareness to be reborn from adversity, but he is by no means a blind gambler.

Li Ji slowly opened his mouth and said.

"What Lord has said is not without merit, but Cao Cao will inevitably take into account the emptiness of Qing Province and the threat from the Xu Province direction."

"Even if Cao Cao makes a desperate gamble, Xun Yu, Xun You, Xi Zhicai and other resourceful men will inevitably have preparations."

Liu Bei frowned slightly, nodding in agreement.

Even though Liu Bei hated Cao Cao's tyrannical massacre of the city, he had to admit that the world had underestimated Cao Mengde.

In a situation where the situation in the Han Dynasty presented a rivalry between Liu and Yuan, no one had expected that it would be Cao Cao, who occupied the barren Qing Province, who would stir up the overall situation of the world, dragging most of the lords of the world into a vortex.

Moreover, Cao Cao has repeatedly sought survival in desperate situations, taking chestnuts from the fire, and has actually begun to plot for Ji Province.

If Cao Cao really defeats Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu is defeated by Cao Cao's betrayal, then the once-powerful Yuan family will be virtually ended by Cao Cao alone.

Warlord.

This is also Liu Bei's objective evaluation of Cao Cao in his heart.

It is indeed not surprising that such a figure would have a backup plan in Qing Province.

"It's just that Cao Cao has limited troops in his hands, what backup plan can he still have? Moreover, Cao Cao's reputation in Qing Province is also extremely poor. Even if he intends to imitate the Yellow Turbans and use the people as soldiers, the number of respondents will inevitably be few."

Liu Bei said with some incomprehension.

"What Lord has said is very true. Now, whether Cao Cao has a backup plan in Qing Province, or what kind of backup plan he has, is only a temporary guess. It is not appropriate to abandon such a good strategy due to fear of choking, based on mere speculation."

After a pause, Li Ji continued to speak.

"Moreover, Cao Cao is implementing the Tuntian system in Qing Province, and it is also extremely difficult for the Brocade-Clothed Guards to collect and transmit information. There may be omissions in the information about Qing Province. Even if we send a letter to Bofu, he should be careful."

Liu Bei nodded, also understanding that this was the most appropriate choice at the moment.

The current Jing and Yang Provinces can be said to be fighting on two fronts. Not to mention the battle in Nanyang Commandery, coupled with the need to quickly annex Yu Province without giving Yuan Shu a chance to breathe, it is impossible for Liu Bei to transfer troops north to Ji Province to act as a fisherman.

Moreover, You Province has suffered severe troop losses, and Liu Yu, who is conservative in style, needs to guard against Yuan Shao while also constantly being wary of the other alien races on the grasslands. This makes it impossible for Liu Yu to transfer a large number of troops to Zhao Yun to launch a surprise attack on Ji Province.

Even Liu Bei and Li Ji tacitly did not propose letting Zhao Yun go south to launch a surprise attack on Ji Province. Besides feeling that Cao Cao's advantages and threats were greater, they also considered that the more important thing for You Province at the moment was to recuperate and consolidate its territory.

As long as You Province remains stable, no matter how the Cao-Yuan conflict goes, it is unlikely to threaten You Province in the short term, allowing Liu Bei to always possess an important horse-breeding ground.

Just as several fast horses escorted the secret order away from the camp, traveling day and night to deliver the secret order to Sun Ce's hands.

The twists and turns of the Xu Province battle were also beginning to spread to the ears of everyone who was paying attention to this matter at an astonishing speed.

First, Cao Cao raised troops to attack Xu Province in the name of revenge, defeating Tao Qian repeatedly, losing Langya State and Donghai Commandery in succession, and had to retreat to Xiapi.

Moreover, Cao Cao's massacre of the city in Donghai Commandery not only shocked the Han Dynasty, but also triggered a series of reactions, causing lords such as Liu Bei, Yuan Shu, and Lu Bu to enter the arena to fight each other.

From that moment on, the Xu Province battlefield undoubtedly attracted the attention of most of the world.

In contrast, even if Yuan Shao raised troops north to attack You Province because of this, it seemed so uneventful.

After annihilating the army led by Ji Ling, in order to boost his prestige and to allow Liu Bei to possess the destiny of heaven, Li Ji did not deliberately block the process of the Battle of Donghai Commandery.

Li Ji's borrowing of the north wind for three quarters in Liu Bei's name to defeat Cao's army greatly shocked countless people.

The key point was that after Cao Cao was severely damaged by Li Ji's fire, he unexpectedly and decisively concealed it from Yuan Shu's side and quietly withdrew from Xu Province.

Afterwards, it led to Li Ji's use of the "Ambush from All Sides" strategy to annihilate Yuan Jun's army led by Ji Ling overnight, with the momentum of his military force pointing directly at Yu Province, with the intention of annexing Yu Province in one fell swoop.

"The Mandate of Heaven belongs to him, hegemony will be achieved!"

For a time, countless people who were paying attention to the direction of this Central Plains war could not help but come up with such a thought in their minds.

It was as if at the time when the Han Dynasty was about to collapse, the figures of Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Guangwu seemed to appear behind Liu Bei alone.

The National Scholar Marquis Li Ji was even more like gathering the abilities of the Three Heroes of the early Han Dynasty, paving the way for Liu Bei to support the Han Dynasty and restore the Han Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)