Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Meanwhile, Liu Bei, while stabilizing the internal affairs of Xu Province with Tao Qian, once again entrusted military power to Li Ji, the Grand Commandant of Jing and Yang Provinces, who was also regarded as a national treasure.

After reorganizing the army in Xu Province, Li Ji formed a large army in Pengcheng, mainly composed of 70,000 Yangzhou soldiers, supplemented by 30,000 Xu Province soldiers.

He also ordered Xu Sheng, with Jia Xu as his strategist, to raise an army of 40,000 from Shouchun.

Dividing their forces into two routes, totaling 140,000 troops, they outwardly declared a force of 200,000, and with great fanfare, raised the banner of "Northern Expedition" in preparation for advancing into Yu Province.

Yu Province was the heartland of the Central Plains.

Among the various provinces of the Central Plains, Yu Province was not the largest in area, but it had the highest population density among the thirteen provinces of the Great Han.

In the most recent household registration data of the Great Han, the total population of Yu Province was over 7.18 million. Including unregistered and illegal residents, the actual population of Yu Province was likely to exceed 8 million.

Not only was Yingchuan County, which had cultivated a large number of famous strategists and wise men, located in Yu Province, but also the Yuan, Chen, Xun, and Cao families, who were now stirring up the situation in the Great Han, all originated from Yu Province.

It was conceivable what weight and status Yu Province held in the Central Plains.

Even though the annihilation of the 100,000-strong army led by Ji Ling had reduced the actual usable military force in Yuan Shu's hands to only one or two tenths of its original strength, as long as Yuan Shu was given a chance to catch his breath, allowing him to disregard his reputation and forcibly exploit the resources within Yu Province.

Relying on the solid foundation of Yu Province, Yuan Shu still had the possibility of quickly recovering.

It was precisely for this reason that even though it was approaching early autumn, which was not a very suitable time for military operations, Li Ji still strongly advocated for a northern expedition to Yu Province, aiming to destroy Yuan Shu or completely occupy Yu Province before winter arrived.

Cao Cao held a similar idea to Li Ji!

Before winter arrived, he had to gain a firm foothold in Ji Province no matter what.

This year was undoubtedly a year of great changes. At the beginning of the year, Yuan Shao reversed the situation in the Battle of Jieqiao, turning weakness into strength, and seized the two provinces of Ji and Bing, showing his potential to compete with Liu Bei for hegemony in the Central Plains, one in the north and the other in the south.

For Ji Province, the war had continued for nearly two years without any sign of stopping, and the wealth and grain accumulated in the fertile Ji Province for many years since the Yellow Turban Rebellion was about to be exhausted.

Therefore, before winter arrived, being able to seize a foothold in Ji Province and withstand Yuan Shao's counterattack was particularly crucial for Cao Cao.

However, when the news that Li Ji had annihilated the army led by Ji Ling with the "Ambush from All Sides" strategy reached Cao Cao, who had already entered Ji Province, it still caused Cao Cao to feel a bit dazed and regretful.

What Cao Cao regretted was that he felt he should not have completely concealed the matter of withdrawing from Xu Province from Yuan's army.

If he had informed Ji Ling of the relevant situation after withdrawing for a period of time, Ji Ling might not have ended up with the fate of having his entire army annihilated.

After all, according to Cao Cao's idea, the more Ji Ling could hold back Li Ji for some time, and the fiercer the two sides fought, the better, so that he could temporarily contain Li Ji and divert his spearhead to Qing Province.

But Cao Cao really did not expect that Li Ji would have the ability to reproduce the "Ambush from All Sides" in a very short period of time in the plains, completely crippling the usable military force in Yuan Shu's hands.

And now, it was feared that it would not take long before Yu Province would become Liu Bei's possession.

With Yuan Shu's arrogance, Yuan Shu would inevitably resist and counterattack to the end, but in the situation where the military strength of the two sides was so disparate, Cao Cao did not think that Yuan Shu could hold back Li Ji for long.

While Cao Cao's thoughts were surging, he handed the intelligence in his hand to Xun You, who had a foolish look on his face, and said.

"Gongda, take a look at this."

Xun You seemed to take it somewhat sluggishly, but the more he looked at his somewhat lifeless eyes, the more they showed a bit of shrewdness and solemnity. Finally, his tone became a bit more serious and said.

"Worthy of the name Marquis of National Talent, the lord took advantage of Liu Bei sending people to aid You Province in resisting Yuan Shao's forces, and took the opportunity to seize Ji Province."

"Now, Marquis Guoshi also took advantage of the lord concealing the withdrawal from Yuan's forces, and wanted to take the opportunity to annex Yu Province, fully demonstrating his ability to guide the situation."

However, Cao Cao laughed loudly at this and said.

"Gongda is too modest. In Cao's opinion, Gongda is no less than Zikun. As long as we take all of Ji and Bing provinces, why can't we compete with Liu Daer for hegemony?"

"You dare not take it, do your best."

After Xun You answered, he thought of something again and asked. "I wonder if the people the lord secretly sent to Yu Province have rescued Young Master Ang."

Cao Cao's expression stagnated slightly, then he shook his head and did not answer.

However, the result was obvious.

Even if Yuan Shu was careless and paralyzed, he would focus on monitoring Cao Ang, such a hostage.

Once Yuan Shu learned of Cao Cao's "backstab", Cao Ang would inevitably not end well.

Xun You knew this, and Cao Cao also knew it, and from the beginning, Xun You had reminded Cao Cao of this matter, asking Cao Cao to send people to secretly explore Yu Province to rescue him.

And Xun You also knew that the difficulty of rescuing a hostage deep behind enemy lines was unimaginable, and the hope was very slim from the beginning.

However, Xun You still pretended to be foolish and asked about this matter, in order to clear himself of responsibility, so as not to incur Cao Cao's secret anger afterwards.

"If Young Master Ang is implicated, it is the fault of the minister, please punish the lord."

Xun You took the initiative to ask for punishment.

"If the secret agent is incompetent, how can you blame Gongda?"

Cao Cao hurriedly stepped forward to help Xun You up, and said in a deep voice.

"Even if Ang'er encounters misfortune, it is also for the great cause of the Cao family. Moreover, Cao still has three sons, Pi, Zhang, and Zhi, so there is no need to worry about no one to succeed him."

(PS: Cao Cao is worthy of being Cao thief. Historically, there are as many as 25 verifiable sons and 6 verifiable daughters, and the actual number of children will only be more.)

Xun You, with a foolish look on his face, showed a look of gratitude and tears, and his words were still full of shame.

Perhaps, Xun You also understood that if he wanted to use Yuan Shu to contain Liu Bei, then Cao Ang, who was sent to Yuan Shu to persuade him to send troops, would inevitably end up miserably.

This was an unavoidable dead end.

But in the face of hegemony, Cao Cao had never had the slightest hesitation.

Even if Cao Cao was not without feelings for Cao Ang, but in the face of hegemony, no feelings could become Cao Cao's fetters.

… …

In the state shepherd's mansion in Ruyang, the seat of government of Yu Province, it was in a mess.

A large number of beautiful maids trembled in fear, fearing that Yuan Shu, who was so angry that he was almost insane, would slash the blade in his hand indiscriminately on their bodies.

"Cao thief!"

"Cao thief! How dare you do this…"

At this moment.

Yuan Shu might not know that Cao Cao had already gone straight to Ji Province, but he also knew the bad news that the army led by Ji Ling had been completely annihilated, and even the corpse of his confidant and beloved general Ji Ling had been sent back by Li Ji.

And in Yuan Shu's view, the chief culprit who caused all of this was undoubtedly Cao thief!

(End of this chapter)