Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Support each other, starting from small beginnings.

These eight words are easy to say, but they made the friendship between the four people become one of the finest wines in history.

There is no need to elaborate on the friendship between Liu Bei and Li Ji as master and minister.

Even Guan Yu and Zhang Fei respected Li Ji and regarded him as an elder brother.

As a result, as the moon became brighter and the stars became dimmer, the ten jars of fine wine that had been prepared were all gone.

At this small banquet, Zhang Fei, who followed the principle of "one brother drinks a cup and I have a bowl, then another brother drinks a cup and I have another bowl", was the first to get drunk and fall asleep on the ground.

Moreover, Zhang Fei's sleeping posture was almost like a black bear lying on the ground, with an empty wine jar in his arms, which made Li Ji laugh secretly.

However, this is not Zhang Fei's fault.

Li Ji had strictly ordered his generals not to drink excessively while leading troops. Zhang Fei, who had been warned repeatedly over the years, did not dare to break the ban. This resulted in Zhang Fei having a great time fighting in Jingnan for more than half a year, except that he was extremely craving for wine.

So much so that at this small banquet, Zhang Fei, who had the best alcohol tolerance, was the first to get drunk.

The night wind in March was still quite chilly, so Liu Bei stood up, took off his outer robe and covered Zhang Fei with it to prevent him from catching a cold.

After Liu Bei invited Guan Yu, whose face was becoming increasingly flushed, and Li Ji, who was slightly tipsy, to have another drink, he straightened his tone and said.

"Zikun, in your opinion, when can we launch a northern expedition to the Central Plains? Reorganize the world and revive the Han Dynasty."

Since the traitor Dong had been in power, the whole country had been in chaos with warlords fighting for power, and Liu Bei had seen all of this through the Jinyisi.

If the people lived under Tao Qian's rule and the governor had no ambition for external expansion and no pursuit of extravagance, then they would undoubtedly be considered lucky.

However, as warlords divided the country and the imperial laws were no longer obeyed, a large number of people were inevitably exploited by local princes for their own selfish purposes.

The world is often a makeshift one, and not everyone has the foresight to achieve long-term success. There are many small princes who choose to drain the pond to catch fish.

When the imperial court still had its dignity, it collected 50% of the tax.

As a vassal state ruling a region, if you continue to collect only 50%, then isn't your rule in vain?

The chaos in the Central Plains today is not only caused by the great princes attacking each other, but also by many small princes draining the pond to catch fish and exploiting the people.

In troubled times, human life is as cheap as grass.

Liu Bei also kept looking at the chaos reported by the Jinyi Division, and could not sleep at night and sighed endlessly.

Li Ji also knew what Liu Bei was thinking and answered.

"My lord, don't worry. With the threat from us in the south, the princes who are determined to conquer the world will continue to speed up their pace of annexation, and gradually form a situation of order in chaos."

No matter how bad the rules are, they are better than no rules.

The progress of this era has obviously accelerated a lot compared to the chaotic times at the end of the Han Dynasty that Li Ji remembered.

The rising Liu Bei was like a catfish, stirring up the chaotic and turbid water violently.

Many princes in the Central Plains who aspired to rule the world gradually realized that if they did not grow stronger, they would inevitably be swallowed up by Liu Bei.

As a result, the speed of annexation among the big princes will accelerate, which will further squeeze the living space of many small princes and temporarily form some rules again.

"As for the day of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, we still need to wait for an opportunity..."

Li Ji turned the wine cup in his hand and said, "However, this time is probably not far away."

Liu Bei nodded slightly, always convinced by Li Ji's judgment.

Guan Yu, who was squinting his eyes and sipping his wine, took the initiative to speak, which was rare.

"Zikun, I have a question. When we were fighting in Jingzhou, you sent me a message asking me to lead the army to attack Ruyin. Why didn't you ask me to go along the Huai River and attack Nanyang from the side?" "If we can also control Nanyang County, wouldn't it be better than a small Ruyin city?"

Nanyang and Runan counties can be said to be the essence of the Central Plains.

Among them, the essence of Jingzhou is in Jingbei, and the essence of Jingbei is in Nanyang.

Therefore, no matter how critical the location of Ruyin City is, it is far from being comparable to the entire Nanyang County.

At that time, perhaps after defeating Yuan Shu, Li Ji no longer had the energy to advance to Nanyang County.

However, as long as Guan Yu was deployed in advance to lead his troops to attack Nanyang from the east via the Huai River, the entire Nanyang could be recaptured in one fell swoop. There would not be a situation where the two states of Jing and Yang under Liu Bei's rule only lacked Nanyang County.

"In terms of the war situation, there is indeed a chance to take Nanyang County; but in terms of the overall situation, Nanyang is not suitable to be taken."

Li Ji shook his head and explained.

"Nanyang County can be regarded as the barrier of Xiangyang and even the entire Jingzhou against the north. It also has a large population and unlimited potential."

"However, Nanyang County borders Sili to the north and Yuzhou to the west. Once Nanyang County is taken, Lu Bu, who is entrenched in Sili, will definitely feel uneasy and will not turn a blind eye."

"By then, our army will be exhausted, Lu Bu will be coming aggressively, and Yuan Gonglu will be watching covetously from the side. I'm afraid the war will continue and our army will be stuck in the quagmire in Nanyang County."

"Not only will it be difficult for Jingzhou to quickly stabilize, I'm afraid we are now forced to continue fighting with Lu Bu and Yuan Shu in Nanyang County. How can we still talk about accumulating strength to march north to the Central Plains?"

As Li Ji finished speaking, Guan Yu thought for a moment and then bowed.

"Been taught a lesson."

Upon seeing this, Li Ji and Guan Yu raised their cups to drink and smiled at each other.

Without Nanyang, Lu Bu could not interfere with Jingzhou.

But once Li Ji took Nanyang, if Lu Bu dared to go east to Hulao Pass, he might be in danger of being cut off from retreat by Li Ji at any time and attacking Sili.

The wise men under Lu Bu's command would not fail to see this point and would definitely not accept the situation where Nanyang County was taken by Liu Bei.

More importantly, once Nanyang County, which would be attacked from both Sili and Yuzhou, was taken, the strategic center of the entire Liu Bei Group would have to shift towards Nanyang County.

This was quite disadvantageous for Liu Bei, whose real base was in Yangzhou, in terms of deploying troops and transporting money and food.

Immediately, Li Ji expressed his thoughts and said.

"Nanyang should not be the direction of our army's northern expedition to the Central Plains. Our army's northern expedition to the Central Plains should first start from Shouchun City and advance to Yuzhou. Once Yuzhou is captured, Nanyang will naturally be in our pocket."

"But even if we attack Yuzhou from Shouchun, Jingzhou still needs to send a general to guard the border. On the one hand, we can also pretend to attack Nanyang County or Runan County from the side. By advancing from both the east and west, Yuan Shu will lose sight of one and lose the other."

Liu Bei nodded and asked, "Since Zikun said so, I guess you already have a general in mind to command Jingzhou, right?"

"Yun Chang, you can control Jingzhou."

Li Ji replied without hesitation.

Whether in terms of prestige, qualifications, or ability, Guan Yu is undoubtedly the best choice.

Moreover, Jing and Yang states are now both Liu Bei's territories, so it is impossible for "Crossing the River in White Clothes" to stab Guan Yu from behind.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei looked at Guan Yu and spoke in a gentle voice.

"I wonder what Yun Chang thinks?"

Guan Yu's expression became serious, and he stood up and saluted Liu Bei. "How dare I disobey the orders of the military advisor? I will never let you down." (End of this chapter)