Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

“Bang!”

As Luo Bin's words fell, Yan Baihu heavily slapped the table, startling Luo Bin so much that he couldn't help but shudder, wondering if he had revealed some flaw.

“Wonderful!!”

Yan Baihu praised loudly.

“Sir, you truly possess the talent of a national scholar, perhaps even surpassing Li Sanqian. When I capture Li Sanqian using your plan, it will surely make your name known throughout the land.”

Luo Bin said modestly, “I hope this plan can assist Boss Yan in some small way.”

Immediately, Yan Baihu, who had long been full of food and drink, told Luo Bin to eat and drink his fill, while he himself eagerly went to find his own younger brother, Yan Yu, preparing to have Yan Yu personally lead his trusted elite troops to infiltrate Wu County as an internal response.

In less than three days, the bandit leaders led their bandits to gather at White Tiger Mountain, and once again held a grand alliance ceremony, jointly worshiping Yan Baihu as their leader and Luo Bin as their military advisor, with the remaining bandit leaders as brave generals.

Among them, the smug Yan Baihu decided to proclaim himself king, self-appointing himself as the “Virtuous King of Eastern Wu,” and was privately ridiculed by many bandits as the “Bandit King.”

Subsequently, Yan Baihu led nearly 20,000 bandits, composed of more than thirty large and small bandit groups, claiming to be 50,000, without carrying baggage or provisions, only taking a few days' worth of rations, and marched mightily towards Wu County at full speed.

As this news spread, the entire Wu Commandery, both large and small cities, were shaken and terrified. Many county officials in small counties even abandoned their posts and fled.

By the time the news reached Wu County, the bandits, marching at full speed, were less than fifty miles away, only half a day's journey.

For a time, the four gates of Wu County were tightly closed, and all the people in the city hid in their homes. Many heads of influential families gathered anxiously in the government office, intending to investigate the situation.

However, before these family heads could even see Liu Bei, they began to quarrel among themselves in the government office.

Some families believed that the bandits were numerous, with as many as 50,000 troops, and Wu County had few soldiers and a small city, so they could not hold out. They should open a city gate to allow them to evacuate in advance.

Some families believed that if the entire city worked together to defend the city, the bandits would not last long and would retreat on their own.

Still, other families greatly questioned whether there were family members in the city who were spies for the bandits?

These scenes of heated arguments were all quietly observed by Liu Bei and Li Ji, who were outside the room.

“My lord, it seems that no one believes you can win,” Li Ji said with a smile.

“On the surface, there are less than three thousand soldiers in Wu County, and the soldiers I led south are also only three thousand in number. With the bandits claiming to have fifty thousand troops, they naturally don't think we can win.”

After a pause, Liu Bei continued, “Moreover, most of the Wu Commandery families have already been frightened by the local bandits, so naturally, they are terrified and at a loss.”

“So much the better,” Li Ji said with a smile.

“As long as we win this battle, my lord's prestige in Wu Commandery will surely be at its peak, and these families will no longer dare to harbor the slightest contempt or disregard for you.”

Immediately, Liu Bei and Li Ji did not go in to see these families, but instructed the servants to prepare enough tea for them, letting them quarrel to their heart's content, while Liu Bei and Li Ji went to the main hall of the government office.

When Liu Bei and Li Ji walked into the main hall of the government office one after the other, the civil and military officials under Liu Bei had already gathered here.

Subsequently, Liu Bei sat at the head, while Li Ji sat in the seat of honor for civil officials on the right.

“Everyone must have heard about the bandits wanting to invade our city, right?” Liu Bei spoke first.

Instantly, most of the civil and military officials present looked quite solemn.

Now that Liu Bei has been appointed as the governor of Wu Commandery for less than a month, not to mention controlling Wu Commandery from top to bottom, even a large number of vacancies in the commandery's army have not been filled, and the military strength can be said to be quite insufficient.

Under such circumstances, with 50,000 bandits invading the territory and attacking the city, it would probably be a bloody battle.

Zhang Fei took the lead in patting his chest to express his position, and said loudly, “Brother, don't worry, with me here, I will kill as many bandits as they come.”

Liu Bei raised his hand and said in a relaxed tone, “Yide, rest assured, Zikun has already made a plan for this matter, and the rest of you should listen to Zikun's orders and arrangements.”

Immediately, Liu Bei signaled to Li Ji, and Li Ji then stood up and said, “Although the bandits claim to have 50,000 troops, in reality, there are only 18,653 people, so you don't need to worry.”

As soon as these words came out, the civil and military officials present first breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Immediately, everyone suddenly reacted, and Zhang Fei even directly asked, “Mr. Zikun, isn't the specific number of bandits you know a little too detailed?”

“There's no way around it, because the bandits united under the leadership of Yan Baihu were precisely promoted by me in secret, so I naturally know quite a lot about them,” Li Ji replied.

Instantly, everyone present inexplicably felt a little… comedic, and felt that something seemed strange.

Zhang Fei asked somewhat puzzled, “Mr. Zikun, why are you doing this? Are you secretly instigating those bandits to attack our city?”

“Yide, rest assured, we have our internal response among the high-level bandits. We know very well about their action plan, and their every move is also under our control. This move is just inviting the tiger into the cage,” Li Ji said, and also explained to the others present.

Liu Bei, who was sitting at the head, also added, “This plan, Zikun has also obtained my approval. Rather than us sending troops to go deep into the mountains to wipe them out one by one, it is better to use this as a guide to lure all those bandits out and settle it in one battle.”

“Therefore, the bandits still think that they sent trusted elite troops to infiltrate Wu County to serve as internal support, but in fact, they don't know that Zikun has already prepared for it, and even the plan proposed among the bandits was secretly instructed by Zikun to the internal response.”

Instantly, everyone present suddenly understood that the seemingly mighty bandits were actually just prey that had fallen into the spider's web.

“By the way…”

Suddenly, Liu Bei remembered something, took out a bamboo slip from his arms and handed it to Guan Yu, saying, “This bamboo slip also records the words and deeds of many bandit leaders, which are quite rude. You generals can circulate it and then pay attention to that disciple who wants Zikun to pour wine and massage his legs, and be sure not to let him escape.”

Guan Yu, who took the lead in opening the bamboo slip and looked at it for a while, suddenly opened his narrowed danfeng eyes a little, and said angrily, “Madman, how dare you! How dare you say such a thing, Guan will kill him.”

Seeing this, Zhang Fei, who was already curious, couldn't wait to directly approach Guan Yu, glanced at it, and immediately glared angrily.

After the rest of the generals circulated it, they were also angry at the unruly words recorded on the bamboo slip.

Seeing Liu Bei and the generals looking so indignant, Li Ji couldn't help but feel a little helpless.

It was clearly a military discussion, how did it become a meeting to read and browse the bandits' remarks to denounce them?

However…

‘The morale of the army is usable.’

Li Ji said to himself, and since those bandits were destined to be defeated from the beginning, Li Ji did not specifically intend to stop them.

It was not until the generals gradually calmed down that Li Ji truly arranged various arrangements to prepare for a battle to determine the bandits of Wu Commandery.

… …

When the 50,000 bandits led by Yan Baihu arrived mightily under the city of Wu County, looking at the tightly closed city gate and the sparse guards on the city wall.

Yan Baihu suddenly felt a surge of pride, feeling that the Wu Commandery's seat of government in front of him was just a matter of taking it in an instant.

Immediately, Yan Baihu assigned a large number of bandit leaders to lead bandits to spread out and surround the three gates of Wu County, and then rode his horse to approach and talk with more than ten bandit leaders, saying, “I am Yan Baihu, the 'Virtuous King of Eastern Wu'. Those in the city who know what's good for them should quickly open the city gate and welcome me in, otherwise, once the city gate is breached, not a single chicken or dog will be left behind.”

However, a young and cheerful laughter suddenly sounded above the city gate, saying, “What a mess, how dare a mere bandit call himself king?”

As soon as these words came out, a bandit leader immediately took the initiative to express his loyalty and said loudly, “Where did this yellow-mouthed kid come from? The one in front of you is the man who became the Bandit King. Come and pay your respects quickly, and you can save your little life.”

Listening to this sentence, Li Ji really couldn't hold back completely.

What went wrong?

Li Ji was not surprised by the title of "Virtuous King of Eastern Wu."

In the original trajectory, Yan Baihu once occupied Wu Commandery, calling himself the "Virtuous King of Eastern Wu", and then was beaten by Sun Ce, who had just emerged.

It's just that this "Bandit King"\n… …

Immediately, Li Ji couldn't help but laugh loudly.

“Okay, okay, I am Longxi Li Zikun. If that Bandit King below has the ability, then come into the city. I am waiting in the city to boil tea and await your arrival.”

Immediately, Li Ji stopped talking, but with a wave of his hand, ordered the commandery soldiers on the city wall to release arrows.

As the sparse and scattered arrows fell, not only did it not cause panic, but it aroused a burst of laughter.

Seeing this, Yan Baihu felt that the time was almost up, and immediately raised the spear in his hand, shouting and encouraging, “Men, follow me to kill! As long as we break through Wu County, there will be money, food, and women!!!”

After that, Yan Baihu also showed some bravery, personally leading the team to charge, leading the bandits to kill mightily towards the city gate of Wu County.

As Yan Baihu's shouts of killing sounded, the bandits on the other two city gates also surged towards the direction of the Wu County city gate.

Responding to the bandits was the sporadic arrows falling from the city wall from time to time.

How could that weak and hard-working resistance scare these bandits?

On the contrary, in the eyes of many bandits, it was like encouraging them to use more force to disintegrate Wu County's resistance, as long as they used a little more force, they could break through the city gate of Wu County.

At this moment, a burst of shouting and killing seemed to sound inside the three city gates.

This almost collectively sent the numerous bandits gathered outside the city gates into a frenzy of excitement. Their eyes widened as they waited for the city gate to open on its own.

The sounds of fighting and killing inside the city gate didn't last long before dying down. What replaced it was the city gate slowly opening from the inside.

Including Yan Baihu, the breathing of each and every bandit became heavy as they watched the slowly opening city gate's crack grow larger and larger.

When it was just wide enough for one person to squeeze through, some of the impatient bandits practically forced their way through the gap, as if there was an irresistible attraction hidden behind that crack in the city gate.