Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"So that's how it is. It's just as I guessed before. The Marquis of Guoshi relied on his reputation and hesitated to move forward after arriving in Yicheng. He was just bluffing."

Chief Clerk Yang Hong stood up, flicked his sleeves, and began to comment.

"You must know that the lord led an army of 200,000 to the south, and swept across northern Jing in just a few months. He was invincible, destroyed dozens of cities, and swept a thousand miles in an instant. His power was magnificent and his momentum was fierce..."

"But the army led by the Marquis of Guoshi is only 60,000, less than half of the lord's. It is only natural that he dares to bluff."

Yuan Shu was so delighted when he heard this that his chin unconsciously raised slightly. He almost commented to Yang Hong in person, saying that he liked what he heard and should say more.

The rest of the people present, seeing that what Yang Hong said pleased Yuan Shu very much, also stood up and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and ourselves.

In less than a moment, when everyone was talking about it and was about to come up with a conclusion of ten wins and ten losses, someone said something.

"My lord, I have a plan to defeat Li Ji..."

These words instantly made Yuan Shu, who was listening with squinted eyes, shudder and blurt out something.

"The plan will not work, so don't use it."

These words forced a scholar sitting at the last seat to swallow back the words that were about to come out of his throat, and he spoke instead with some reluctance.

"My Lord, I haven't even told you my plan yet, how do you know it won't work?"

Yuan Shu waved his sleeves, motioning the scholar to sit down, and then spoke.

"Who is Li Zikun? He will definitely not fall for the trick easily. He is also very good at taking advantage of the situation and turning the tables. If he uses a trick, he may be counterattacked by Li Ji."

"On the contrary, as long as I don't use any tricks and use the upright military force to suppress them, even if they have thousands of ingenious plans, it will be useless."

As someone who witnessed how Li Ji alienated Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu, Yuan Shu reviewed the situation carefully afterwards and found that the key point was that Li Ji had anticipated that Lu Bu would lead his troops to launch a night attack in order to clear his name.

The powerful thief Dong was stabbed to death on the city wall by Lu Bu because of this small night attack, and the Xiliang army, which had dominated the area, almost collapsed.

In the battle against Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu's bravery and Li Ji's wisdom left a deep shadow on Yuan Shu.

From then on, Yuan Shu secretly vowed that he would never fight with Lu Bu in terms of generalship, nor with Li Ji in terms of wits. Instead, he would try his best to pull the opponent into the direction he was good at and then defeat him.

And what did Yuan Shu think he was good at?
That is naturally due to his family background of three generations of officials, as well as the money, grain and supplies that can be mobilized behind the scenes.

Otherwise, with Yuan Shu's temperament, how could he be so furious when he knew Li Ji was a hundred miles away, and yet choose to retreat ten miles and set up camp.

Use a trick?

Not useful at all.

However, Yuan Shu had the confidence and courage to lead nearly 120,000 troops to fight against 60,000.

Immediately, Yuan Shu sent someone to deliver the map explored near Xiangyang to the big tent and spoke.

"Li Ji's army is far inferior to mine, so it doesn't matter if he doesn't dare to fight head-on. If they don't come over, what's the harm in me leading the army over?"

"But the marching route still needs to be carefully planned. Everyone should work together to discuss how to march to avoid Li Ji setting up an ambush on the way, or attacking with water or fire, or getting stuck in unfavorable terrain."

At this point, Yuan Shu finally stated the purpose of convening everyone to discuss the matter.

However, when everyone looked at the map, they saw that the terrain was almost flat for nearly a hundred miles south of Xiangyang, and they really couldn't feel that there was any ambush there.

To set an ambush, you also need the right terrain conditions...

As for water attack and fire attack...

However, with Yuan Shu's order in front of them, everyone could only discuss the matter bit by bit based on the map, trying to take all aspects into consideration as much as possible.

This scene also made Yuan Shu quite satisfied.

Yuan Shu did not expect that the talents of his advisers were superior to Li Ji's, but it would be enough if the civil and military officials could work together to find and fill in the gaps and prevent the army from falling into a trap.

No more plans...

What is a national scholar? What is Li Ji? What else can Li Zikun be? They all have to grovel at the feet of the Yuan family, which has been a family of three dukes for four generations!

……

Soon, the latest developments of the Yuzhou army also reached Li Ji.

After the two sides confronted each other for a period of time, Yuan Shu finally took the initiative to advance.

What bothered Li Ji was that Yuan Shu's army of more than 100,000 soldiers were marching on the plains, and they only moved about ten miles every day.

Moreover, before and after each march, Yuan Shu would have all his cavalry patrol the area within thirty miles several times to confirm that it was safe before moving forward.

In order to prevent Li Ji from launching water attacks during the rainy summer and autumn, the upper reaches of the surrounding rivers are patrolled daily, giving off a feeling of being both timid and confident.

Faced with Yuan Shu's behavior, Li had no intention of using any tricks.

Even if it is true, there is nothing that can be done.

At the very least, more than 90% of tactical strategies can be easily cracked with sufficient caution.

only……

"Does the world really think that I, Li Zikun, only know how to come up with strange plans?"

Li Ji made a self-deprecating remark, and then made some arrangements. However, on the surface, the 60,000 soldiers did not make any movements, and they always stayed in the camp ten miles outside Yicheng.

The distance between the two sides is constantly narrowing by ten miles every day.

Eighty miles, fifty miles, thirty miles...

At this distance, it can be reached in half a day's rapid march, and the cavalry can arrive in an instant.

Yuan Shu stopped advancing and instead chose to set up camp thirty miles away. He even spent a day or two building a number of fortifications.

Afterwards, Yuan Shu sent an envoy to challenge Li Ji to a battle.

In response to this, Li Ji readily agreed and made it clear that he would not break his promise.

Two days later, the armies of both sides moved slowly towards each other.

Both sides also sent out a large number of spies to monitor the movements of the other side's army to confirm whether there was any fraud.

The distance was thirty miles, and the two armies were heading towards each other.

Soon, they met in a plain area.

The armies of both sides also stopped at a distance of 500 steps away.

At this moment, Yuan Shu's tense heart finally settled down.

Now that the two armies were engaged in direct combat, and Yuan Shu had already sent people to explore the surroundings countless times, Li Ji no longer had any chance to cheat.

"The odds of winning are in my hands, the advantage is mine!"

Yuan Shu, sitting on a gorgeous chariot, said proudly.

Immediately, Yuan Shu ordered his troops to drive forward under the protection of Ji Ling, and then sent a fast horse to the front of the Yangzhou army to deliver the message.

"Please ask the state scholar to come out and talk to me."

Upon hearing this, Li Ji, who was also sitting in a chariot, followed Yuan Shu's wish and drove towards the front of the battle under the protection of Xu Chu.

Each side had a chariot, a military officer as escort, and a personal guard behind the chariot, and then they met in the center of the two armies' formations.

(End of this chapter)