Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Jingzhou, Xiangyang.

Within a month of Li Ji's entry into Xiangyang, the entire Jingbei area, except for Nanyang County held by Yuan Shu, had already been initially controlled by Li Ji.

This was only possible with the full cooperation of Liu Qi and the aristocratic families of Jingzhou.

However, even though Li Ji knew that Nanyang County was short of troops, he was temporarily unable to advance northward.

In order to open the door to Yizhou, Liu Biao mobilized all the troops in Jingzhou, but this also led to a serious shortage of troops in various cities in Jingzhou. Some cities could not even gather a few hundred county soldiers to maintain public order.

Especially after Liu Biao drained away his military forces in the southern part of Jingzhou, the southern barbarians such as Lingling Barbarians, Wuling Barbarians, Changsha Barbarians, etc. who were entrenched in the four counties of southern Jingzhou had already sensed the weakness of the Han cities and began to frequently cause chaos and looting.

In less than a month, Li Ji in Xiangyang had received more than ten letters of request for help from the four counties in southern Jing. The known number of casualties had reached tens of thousands, and the number of missing persons was even more unclear.

"Snapped!!"

Li Ji, who had been working in the Jingzhou governor's mansion for many days, could not help but angrily throw a bamboo slip from Wuling County to the ground.

"The Wuling barbarians broke into Yuanling City, burning, killing and looting. The fire burned for three days!"

"How brave! How brave!!!"

At this moment, Li Ji was so angry that he laughed. Even the joy of knowing that Guan Yu had captured Ruyin City according to the plan disappeared without a trace.

"Gu Wei, go and gather all the generals to discuss the matter."

Li Ji said in a cold voice.

Liu Biao might have been prepared to give up Jingnan for the time being, but Li Ji could not tolerate the foreigners trampling on the Han people like this.

Jingnan had been empty for less than half a year when the barbarians entrenched in various parts of Jingnan suddenly came out in full force as if it were New Year's Day and frantically plundered the Han people.

It’s tolerable, it’s unbearable!

If we fail to inflict heavy damage on these barbarians at once, they will probably think that the Han Dynasty is dead.

Soon, one general after another hurried to the governor's mansion to discuss matters. Not only the generals from Yangzhou, but also the generals from Jingzhou such as Huang Zhong, Wen Pin, Liu Pan, Cai Zhong, and Cai He also came.

One month is enough time for some earth-shaking changes to take place.

Liu Qi had been sent back to Wujun by Li Ji, and Liu Bei also officially took over the seal of the Governor of Jingzhou from Liu Qi.

Afterwards, Liu Bei submitted a memorial to the imperial court and, at the same time, recommended the Grand Commander Li Ji to temporarily take over the post of Governor of Jingzhou in the name of the seal of the Governor of Jingzhou, to oversee all affairs of Jingzhou.

At this point, the power in Jingzhou had undoubtedly achieved an initial smooth transition. Even the officials and generals at all levels in Jingzhou were temporarily transferred by Liu Bei to the command of Grand Commander Li Ji.

Seeing Li Ji sitting in the main seat with a slightly cold face, the generals did not dare to laugh or speak after arriving, and hurriedly sat on both sides according to their status.

After all the generals arrived, Li Ji spoke in a deep voice.

"The barbarians are in turmoil. The four counties of Jingnan, Changsha, Wuling, Lingling, and Guiyang, have all been plundered by barbarians. The counties are not well guarded. The city of Yuanling in Wuling County has been confirmed to have been lost. The number of casualties and missing people is difficult to count."

As Li Ji finished speaking, the officials and generals who were formerly under Liu Biao's command lowered their heads subconsciously, not daring to look at Li Ji.

Over the years, although the barbarians in the four counties of southern Jing had frequently caused rebellions, they were almost always confined to a certain place, and very few of them actually captured a city.

Now, rebellion broke out in the four counties of southern Jing at the same time, and even the city of Yuanling was breached. This scale of rebellion is rare in the past 400 years of the Han Dynasty.

As the situation evolved to this point, Liu Biao, who had withdrawn all the military forces from southern Jing, played an indispensable role.

Without sufficient military force to intimidate the barbarians in southern Jing, it would be strange if they did not cause chaos.

Li Ji had no intention of holding these Jingzhou officials and generals accountable, so he spoke directly.

"The southern barbarians are in turmoil, so we should send troops to quell the rebellion immediately. Who is willing to go to Jingnan to quell the rebellion?"

Suddenly, all the generals were inspired and stepped forward to ask for battle.

"I want to go!"

"It takes only a moment to quell the chaos."

"I can pacify the southern barbarians."

...Looking at the generals who were vying for battle, Li Ji raised his hand to suppress them and spoke.

"Jingzhou is short of troops, and the four counties in southern Jing are also in turmoil. I intend to send four generals to the four counties in southern Jing to quell the rebellion, and each of them will only lead 5,000 troops."

Five thousand?

As soon as this number came out, people like Cai Zhong and Cai He immediately began to retreat.

The fighting power of the barbarians in southern Jing should not be underestimated. They are very brave and fierce, and there are definitely tens of thousands of barbarians causing chaos in various counties.

With only 5,000 soldiers and horses, many generals really did not have the confidence that they could quell the rebellion.

However, it was not that Li Ji was unwilling to squeeze out more troops, but that he really had no troops available.

When Jingzhou was first settled, each city needed to station troops to consolidate its rule.

In addition, there were countless remnant soldiers from Yuzhou entrenched in northern Jing and causing chaos everywhere, and Li Ji also needed to retain enough troops to deter Yuan Shu.

Therefore, Li Ji could not even spare any troops in northern Jing to be transferred to southern Jing.

The 5,000 troops prepared for each of the four generals to quell the rebellion were the 20,000 troops that Liu Bei had previously transferred to Chaisang in case of emergency.

As Li Ji's scrutinizing gaze continued to sweep over them, the generals began to sit down again.

After a while, there were only a few generals who still dared to stand in front of Li Ji and ask for a fight.

Zhang Fei, Gan Ning, Huang Zhong, Wen Pin, Wei Yan.

After Li Ji's eyes swept back and forth over the five people, he pointed his finger at Gan Ning and said.

"Xingba."

"exist!"

Gan Ning took a step forward excitedly and answered loudly.

Facing Gan Ning's excited gaze, Li Ji said with a smile.

"You, I have another important use for you, sit down first."

"what?"

Gan Ning was startled and hesitated to speak. He did not dare to question Li Ji, so he had to sit down again.

Immediately, Li Ji looked at Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Wen Pin, and Wei Yan and said.

"Are you all willing to go to Jingnan to quell the rebellion?"

"Yes!"

The four generals answered in unison, among which Zhang Fei's voice was the loudest.

However, unlike Zhang Fei's calm excitement, Huang Zhong and Wen Pin, the surrendered generals, were more nervous than excited, and had even prepared themselves for the possibility of being rejected by Li Ji.

However, Li Ji said after hesitating for a while.

"The barbarians in the four southern counties of Jing are in rebellion. The situation in Wuling County is the most serious, followed by Changsha and Lingling, and Guiyang County is the worst. Which county do you want to go to to quell the rebellion?"

"Wuling County!"

Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong and Wei Yan almost unanimously requested to fight in Wuling, but Wen Pin, who was of calm temperament, did not speak rashly.

Upon seeing this, Li Ji pretended to hesitate and then spoke in a different way.

"Who wants to go to Guiyang County?"

Guiyang was the last, and the four generals naturally felt unwilling to be left behind, so they kept silent, causing the situation to fall into a brief stalemate.

After a moment, Wei Yan suddenly realized something from Li Ji's half-smile. He stepped forward and took the order.

"Wei Yan is willing to go to Guiyang County to quell the rebellion." (End of this chapter)