Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

However, while feeling depressed, Jia Xu couldn't help but ponder the deeper meaning of it.

The person who would undoubtedly benefit the most from the friction with Yuan Shu at this moment would be Liu Biao of Jingzhou, as Liu Biao of Jingzhou would no longer have any worries and could focus on fighting Yizhou.

What exactly happened in Jingzhou that caused such a drastic change in Li Ji's previous strategy?

With limited information available, Jia Xu was unable to make any judgement for the moment and could only speak.

"Zi Kun is not someone who does things without a purpose, or something has changed."

Guan Yu stroked his beard and nodded, his views were similar to Jia Xu's, and he said in a deep voice.

"Now my eldest brother has appointed Mr. Zikun as the Grand Commander to oversee the military affairs. Since Mr. Zikun has given this order, it is only natural for us to fully cooperate with him."

"Besides, I have been tolerant in order to cooperate with the strategy, which has allowed those people in Yuzhou who are willing to sacrifice their own lives to succeed. It is just the right time to send troops to make those two villains surrender and apologize for their crimes."

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu quickly spoke up to dissuade him. "No."

"Why do you say that, Mr. Wenhe?" Guan Yu asked.

"Zi Kun's intention is to provoke friction rather than engage in a head-on battle with Yuan Shu. The meaning is very different." Jia Xu reminded quickly.

Guan Yu hesitated for a moment, but was not annoyed, and replied, "Mr. Wenhe reminded me that I almost failed to grasp the scale at that time."

Guan Yu's character has always been to be proud of his superiors but not to be domineering to his subordinates.

Jia Xu was a shrewd man who was good at grasping people's hearts. He always behaved like a low-key gentleman who was dedicated to the public in front of Guan Yu, which naturally won Guan Yu's respect.

Guan Yu also attached great importance to Jia Xu's suggestions, otherwise he would not have specially summoned Jia Xu to discuss matters.

After Jia Xu pondered for a moment, he spoke.

"Zikun's intentions, in my opinion, are threefold: first, to relieve some of the pressure on Jingzhou; second, perhaps to show the world that the lord has no intention of joining forces with the Yuan family to seize the same clan's foundation; third, perhaps to draw more troops from the Jiujiang direction to Yuan Shu."

Perhaps the orders issued by Li Ji were completely different from before, but Jia Xu did not believe that the strategy had fundamentally changed.

At present, Yangzhou's only expansion directions are Jing and Yu states.

Jingzhou will still be Li Ji's target.

Otherwise, if Li Ji wanted to take the opportunity to seize Yuzhou, he should have continued to order Guan Yu to be patient and make Yuan Shu feel paralyzed, and then transferred all the heavy troops stationed in Chaisang to Shouchun and wait for an opportunity to act.

After having this certainty, considering the change in attitude towards Yuan Shu, it was not difficult for Jia Xu to draw several conclusions.

Perhaps, in Li Ji's strategy, there was no need for Yuan Shu to attack Jingzhou at will in the south.

On the contrary, Yuan Shu would most likely become an obstacle to Li Ji in the future, so friction with Yuan Shu was created in Shouchun.

While preventing a full-scale war from breaking out, it would also force Yuan Shu to divide his troops for defense and prevent the populous county of Runan from being captured by Guan Yu.

Even though Yuan Shu was deliberately suppressed by Chen Gong, he seemed to be doing quite badly.

However, at this moment Yuan Shu's actual strength was far greater than Yuan Shao's.

Yuan Shao took great pains to survive and barely occupied half of Jizhou. Next, he had to face the alliance between Han Fu and Gongsun Zan to fight for the whole Jizhou. But even though Yuan Shu was transferred from the governor of Nanyang County to the governor of Runan County, Chen Gong deliberately planned to weaken Yuan Shu's foundation.

Runan County was the Yuan family's hometown. Even though Yuan Shu was transferred away from Nanyang County, he was still competing with Liu Biao for control of Nanyang County.

Until now, more than half of Nanyang County is still in the hands of Yuan Shu.

The official registered population of Nanyang County and Runan County alone exceeded two million, which was no less than that of Wu County. In addition, Yuan Shu had the influence of the Yuan family, and gradually brought Chen State and Pei State under his control.

Most of Yuzhou has fallen into the hands of Yuan Shu.

Judging from the population alone, the population under Yuan Shu's rule was even larger than that of Yangzhou, which had been managed by Liu Bei for many years, and the scale of the military force that could be mobilized was also huge.

This is the foundation of the Yuan family, and also the foundation of Yuzhou, the heartland of the Central Plains with the highest population density in the Han Dynasty.

Compared with Yuan Shu, who firmly grasped Yuzhou and the Yuan family's foundation, Yuan Shao was more like a member of the Yuan family who fled to Jizhou and established his own faction.

Chen Gong was also well aware of the strength of Yuan Shu, so his previous plan was to try to use Yuan Shu to firmly suppress Liu Bei in Yangzhou, letting Yuan Shu and Liu Bei fight each other and suffer losses.

As for Jia Xu's inference, Guan Yu narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time, and he also agreed with it.

Jingzhou is the focus at the moment, and Guan Yu’s main task is to guard against or contain Yuan Shu. Once a war really breaks out with Yuan Shu, it will be disadvantageous to Yangzhou.

Therefore, the balance here needs to be carefully measured.

"I wonder if Mr. Wenhe has any strategies to teach me?" Guan Yu asked.

"Just do the opposite of how you showed weakness before."

Jia Xu said with a smile. "Besides, in this way, the truth is in General Guan's hands, and he can also vent his previous frustration."

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu immediately understood what Jia Xu meant and began to make arrangements immediately.

Before this, in order to provoke the conflict between Yuan Shu and Liu Biao, and also to make Shouchun show weakness.

Under Jia Xu's advice and Guan Yu's arrangement, conflicts broke out among Yuan Shu's soldiers in the border areas between Liu Bei and Liu Biao.

A Yangzhou spy lurking in Yuan Shu's army accidentally shot and killed a man from a Jingzhou noble family. Liu Biao naturally took the opportunity to attack and tried to regain more control of Nanyang County.

In the direction of Jiujiang County, a merchant caravan was arranged to go to Runan County, and the property carried by the caravan was deliberately exposed to arouse the greed of Yuan Shu's soldiers. That night, a captain led his confidants to attack and kill the merchant caravan, and then escaped.

Unlike Liu Biao who took the opportunity to launch a massive attack, Yangzhou merely sent an envoy to ask Yuan Shu to arrest the murderer, and uttered a few seemingly meaningless harsh words, and then the matter was left unresolved.

In addition, Guan Yu deliberately reduced the smoke from the military camps in the city and the density of patrols in the surrounding areas, creating the illusion in the eyes of some Yuan Shu's spies that a group of soldiers in Shouchun City had been secretly withdrawn.

Such a combination of overt and covert tactics naturally made Yuan Shu relax his vigilance against Yangzhou, thinking that Yangzhou had also shifted its focus to Jingzhou.

And the transformation at this moment is also simple!
Immediately, Guan Yu showed an attitude of preparing for war and began to lead his troops to patrol the border frequently.

Moreover, all the merchant caravans coming from Yuzhou were detained under the pretext of the Yangzhou merchant caravan that had been attacked in Yuzhou before. Then, they demanded in a tough manner that Yuzhou hand over the murderer and compensate for the losses as soon as possible, otherwise war would break out.

For a time, the border between Runan County and Jiujiang County, which had been peaceful before, became tense, with a strong tendency that war was about to break out. (End of this chapter)