Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

In the following days, Jiang Gan mostly stayed inside his residence with the gates tightly shut, not daring to venture out.

However, Jiang Gan sent out a large number of servants to gather information.

By the second day, Shouchun was under full city-wide martial law.

Generals like Jiang Qin and Gan Ning, who were originally training the navy outside the city, rushed back to Shouchun day and night, and even clashed with the soldiers surrounding the Prime Minister's residence.

This made Jiang Gan feel even more threatened, seeing Liu Bei subtly gaining complete control of the city gates, seemingly to stabilize the situation.

Jiang Gan hurriedly sent out a third secret letter, further explaining the drastic changes in Shouchun and urging the King of Wei to make plans as soon as possible.

These three secret letters arrived at Cao Cao's desk almost simultaneously.

After Cao Cao read these three secret letters, the expression on his face was incredibly complex, filled with shock, elation, and regret…

Based on Cao Cao's political acumen, if what Jiang Gan said was true, then Li Ji would undoubtedly die, and a massive internal strife would erupt under Liu Bei's rule.

Even if the Great Han, governed by Liu Bei, would not be torn apart as a result, it would inevitably suffer a great loss of vitality and lose the hearts of its subjects.

Sima Yi and Guo Jia, mentioned by Jiang Gan, and other disciples, had apparently realized this and were sparing no effort to contact generals from various places to enter Shouchun.

It's like…

It's too similar…

A few traces of emotion couldn't help but appear on Cao Cao's face.

This scene undoubtedly resembled the eve of the Great General's death.

However, Cao Cao also deduced from the secret letters that Liu Bei might have been momentarily confused at first, but the subsequent act of blockading the Prime Minister's residence must have been guided by a master strategist.

This timing was just right.

Now that they had broken ties, it was obviously necessary to go all the way while avoiding giving people an excuse to criticize.

'As long as the Prime Minister's residence is surrounded, who can say for sure whether Li Zikun ultimately dies of illness or due to some other accident?'

'Afterward, Liu Da'er can cry loudly for Li Ji and punish himself with three cups of wine, which will eliminate much of the impact of this matter.'

Cao Cao couldn't help but get up and pace back and forth, pondering the details.

'However, Li Zikun can also be said to have taught his disciples well, those disciples quickly realized the crux of the problem.'

'They are willing to summon generals who control military power outside the city to Shouchun, thereby forcing Liu Bei to back down or find a way to rescue Li Zikun, which is indeed a glimmer of hope.'

Cao Cao couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh, praising.

"Wonderful! It's truly wonderful!"

"If Jiang Gan hadn't happened to get close to Li Ji, how would outsiders know about such internal strife? I'm afraid that everything would be over before news spread."

However, after laughing, Cao Cao couldn't help but sigh for Li Ji, murmuring.

"Zikun, ah, Zikun, you calculated all the external enemies, but did you ever calculate the truth that people's hearts are fickle and the ways of emperors are unpredictable?"

"Benevolence? It's just Liu Da'er's self-proclaimed words, but it's a pity that someone as intelligent as you deeply believes in these words, leading you to fall into such a deadly situation."

With this thought in mind, after a slight hesitation, Cao Cao picked up his pen and wrote a secret letter to be sent back to Jiang Gan, instructing Jiang Gan to protect himself while seizing the opportunity to act.

If there was an opportunity, he must try his best to snatch Li Ji to the Wei Kingdom, telling him that he was willing to lead a large army to meet him and treat him with the position of Prime Minister.

After this secret letter was sent out, Cao Cao immediately sent a secret order to Cao Ren, who was stationed in Qingzhou, instructing Cao Ren to closely monitor whether there were any troop movements on the Xuzhou border.

If the Shouchun Incident was true, and Liu Bei still had a strategist behind him, then he would definitely understand that moving Li Ji's biggest hidden danger lay in the popular support and prestige he possessed in the army.

Popular support can still be concealed, but the biggest fear is a large army causing trouble.

Therefore, Liu Bei would inevitably urgently transfer troops to various places to contain or defend.

"Unfortunately, the timing is a bit bad, it's almost late autumn, otherwise, taking advantage of their internal strife and infighting would undoubtedly be a great opportunity to join forces with that Lu Bu to attack Liu Da'er."

Cao Cao had to suppress the thought of immediately dispatching troops, understanding that it was too late, and he could only wait and see the changes in Shouchun, and make plans in the spring of next year.

Under Cao Cao's close attention, news soon came from Qingzhou.

The scouts and spies who had infiltrated Xuzhou had all detected that there were waves of troops constantly being mobilized.

Upon receiving this news, Cao Cao further confirmed that the contents of the secret letter sent by Jiang Gan were not false.

If it weren't for the drastic changes in Shouchun, Liu Bei would never have mobilized troops on such a large scale within the territory for no reason near the end of autumn, wasting money and grain.

Moreover, Cao Cao also knew that the possibility of Li Ji surviving this time was extremely small, and the chance of escaping to the Wei Kingdom was even more渺茫.

With this thought in mind, Cao Cao, with mixed feelings of sorrow and joy, simply sent someone to summon a carpenter to carve a wooden body based on Li Ji's portrait, preparing to erect a cenotaph for Li Ji in the Wei Kingdom, so as to prevent his soul from having no place to rely on after being killed by Liu Bei.

…

At this moment, within the city of Shouchun, there was no trace of the past hustle and bustle, with teams of soldiers constantly patrolling the city, creating a bleak atmosphere.

In the days after Li Ji was seriously injured, there was an almost constant stream of generals from various places leading and training troops who rushed to Shouchun.

By the eighth day, even Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were far away in Jing and Yu, had rushed back.

During this time, Jiang Gan could be said to have been terrified every day, fearing that fierce fighting would break out outside at any time, and even more afraid that he, as the Prime Minister's Chief Secretary, would be implicated by Li Ji.

Now, it was the ninth day.

Jiang Gan counted the days on his fingers, knowing that there would definitely be a result on the tenth day, which was also the date originally set by Zhang Ji and Hua Tuo to determine whether Prime Minister Li Ji could wake up.

Just as many people in Shouchun were anxious.

A Dou secretly stole Liu Bei's seal and entered the besieged Prime Minister's residence.

"Your Highness?!"

A Dou's appearance surprised Li Xiang, whose face was full of worry.

"Brother."

Upon seeing Li Xiang, who had lost a lot of weight after not seeing him for several days, A Dou's eyes immediately turned red.

"How did Your Highness come here?"

Immediately, Li Xiang noticed the Han King's seal that A Dou was holding in his hand and said anxiously.

"Leave quickly, this is not a place for Your Highness to stay."

A Dou couldn't care about wiping away his tears and hurriedly stuffed the seal in his hand into Li Xiang's hand, saying anxiously.

"It is Brother and Father's Substitute who should leave."

"Your Highness, you…"

Li Xiang was a little stunned, then forced a smile on his face and said.

"What are you doing, Your Highness? Father only had a small conflict with the King of Han. When Father wakes up tomorrow, it will be fine, nothing will have happened, Your Highness should just go back, but don't let the King of Han discover that the seal is lost."

A Dou's eyes were dripping with tears, saying.

"Brother, don't lie to me, I know I am stupid, but I am not an idiot."

"Now, Father and Father's Substitute have become like fire and water, I really can't bear to see Father's Substitute and Brother suffer, please kidnap me as a threat, and then quickly escape Shouchun with Father's seal."

This scene not only made Li Xiang, who had always been precocious and calm, cry, but also made the two people hiding in the corner look different.

Liu Bei's face was a little flushed, and his whole body was faintly shaking, saying.

"Zikun, look, look at what A Dou is…"

Li Ji's face was full of embarrassment.

When A Dou came to the door with the seal, it happened that Liu Bei was afraid that Li Ji would be bored pretending to be sick alone, so he sneaked over from the back door.

As a result, he naturally knew about the arrival of this unexpected guest at the first time.

Then, Liu Bei pulled Li Ji over, wanting to see what A Dou intended to do.

What he never expected was that Liu Bei and Li Ji heard everything.

Li Ji quickly opened his mouth and whispered to persuade him. "Great King, don't be angry, A Dou is just confused for a moment…"

Before Li Ji could finish speaking, Liu Bei clapped his hands together and continued.

"A Dou said it well, really well, knowing that Father and Father's Substitute have a conflict, and also knowing to side with the weaker party, even at the risk of death to protect them, which can be called great filial piety."

…

Li Ji.

Liu Bei's words confused Li Ji.

After a pause, Liu Bei stroked his beard with satisfaction and whispered.

"I originally thought that this child A Dou was too stupid and useless, but today I know that his nature is like this, very good, very good."

"I have made up my mind, if there is a day to unify the world, I will make A Dou the Crown Prince, so that I can rest assured about state affairs even if I encounter any accidents."

(End of this chapter)