Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Li Ji has never been a gambler.

The art of employing troops is to make the weak stronger and to make the strong weaker, and to harmonize the positive and the negative.

The most important reason why Zhang Fei was able to force Cao's army to retreat was a clever timing.

Of course, the key to the success of this plan also lies in the opponent being Cao Cao.

It was almost dusk, and due to time constraints, Cao Cao, who was an expert in military operations, could not make many arrangements.

It is precisely because Cao Cao is good at commanding troops and suspicious by nature that as long as Li Ji invisibly blocks all other options Cao Cao can make, Cao Cao will naturally not take risks.

If Xiahou Dun were the commander-in-chief, he might have stubbornly gambled that there were no ambush on the other side, and he would not care at all even if he lost some troops.

By then, although Li Ji would not suffer any substantial losses due to such a reckless act, his planned backup plans would undoubtedly be completely disrupted.

Seeing that Chen Dao had the idea of ​​"progress", Li Ji simply started to investigate and asked.

"Shuzhi, tell me, if you were the commander, what would you do next? Should we keep the Liyang Bridge? How should we deploy our troops?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Dao frowned and thought for a while before answering.

"The river is less than ten feet wide. Even if the Liyang Bridge is destroyed, Cao Cao can build another bridge for the army to pass through in an instant."

"Therefore, the Liyang Bridge should be left intact. This may help to scare Cao Cao for a while longer."

"And our army can use this time to speed up the construction of the rear camp, and even build another small camp nearby to form a corner."

"In this way, relying on the solid strength of the two camps, it is not difficult for our army to hold back Cao's 60,000 troops for ten days or half a month with only 30,000 soldiers."

After saying that, Chen Dao raised his eyes and carefully looked at Li Ji's reaction.

Li Ji smiled and said, "Shu Zhi is steady and prudent, and he has shown the style of a great general in commanding troops."

This is not Li Ji praising Chen Dao, but a realistic evaluation.

Just from what Chen Dao said, we can see that Chen Dao is quite capable and he is steady and cautious in taking every step. This choice can also steadily hold back Cao's army.

It is true that Li Ji is now short of military rations, but at the same time, Cao Cao’s food supply is about to be cut off, and Tan County and Yishui are in emergency situations, so Cao Cao can’t afford to waste time.

Not to mention delaying Cao Cao for ten days or half a month, Cao Cao would definitely not be able to bear it even if they held the camp for five or six days.

However, just as Li Ji finished his words, Zhang Fei destroyed the load-bearing structure of Liyang Bridge in just a few moves, causing it to collapse on the spot.

"Oh no, General Yide got too impulsive!"

Chen Dao blurted out, "In this way, Cao will definitely think that General Yide is guilty and knows that there is no ambush in the dense forest."

Li Ji raised his hand to comfort him. "Don't worry, Uncle Zhi. What Yide did was my order."

"Governor, why is this happening?" Chen Dao asked in confusion.

Li Ji couldn't help but let a smile appear on his face, and then he spoke.

"Of course... to trick Cao Cao..."

After saying that, Li Ji looked up at the sky, still slowly waving the folding fan in his hand, and muttered something.

"It has not rained for seven days. The last rainfall will be at noon tomorrow. It can be said that the weather is dry..."

……

Just as Cao Cao led his army to retreat three miles in a somewhat embarrassing manner, he was arranging people to set up camp and waiting for dark, and then sent his confidants to quietly cross the river to the other side to find out whether there were any ambushes.

By then, after a good night's rest, the army would be able to make appropriate countermeasures regardless of whether there were ambushes on the other side. However, Cao Cao learned from the scouts' report that after the army retreated, Zhang Fei hastily destroyed the Liyang Bridge and disappeared into the dense forest on the other side.

Cao Cao was so angry that veins seemed to be throbbing on his forehead.

As the saying goes: Nothing happens more than three times.

From last night till now, Cao Cao has encountered three attempts to confuse the enemy.

"How dare you bully me, little boy?"

Cao Cao threw the water bag in his hand to the ground and spoke angrily.

"Gather the whole army and continue to march forward. I will cross the river tonight and catch up with Zhang Fei. I will tear out his tendons and skin him alive."

It would have been fine if there were an ambush on the other side, but without one, Cao Cao led an army of 60,000 but was scared off by Zhang Fei alone. If this got out, wouldn't the whole world laugh at him?

Upon hearing this, Xi Zhicai quickly began to persuade him.

"My lord, you can't do that. We still don't know who Liu Bei will send to cover the retreat, and how many troops he will have. If Guo Shihou is the commander, it's possible that he did it on purpose to anger my lord and cross the river at night."

These words made Cao Cao, who subconsciously thought that Zhang Fei was the only one left to cover the retreat, suddenly calm down.

After his cavalry was completely wiped out, Cao Cao not only lost the initiative on the battlefield, but even the intelligence he could obtain was very limited.

The most crucial thing at the moment is that Cao Cao has no idea whether it is Liu Bei's army lying in ambush on the other side, or just a detachment of the army that has been cut off, and who is the commander of this detachment.

The main general is Zhang Fei, and the main general is Li Ji. These are undoubtedly two different concepts.

But without the cavalry, Cao Cao was like a blind man and it was difficult to be sure.

Cao Cao forced himself to calm down and reconsidered the matter carefully, but his psychological state unconsciously tended towards the principle of "three times the limit".

The Yangzhou army has used the strategy of confusing the enemy twice in a row, so how could there be a third time?
Moreover, Cao Cao knew Zhang Fei quite well. When he was ordered by Liu Bei to cover the retreat, he stubbornly defended the Liyang Bridge for a while, but after he accidentally scared himself away, it was normal for him to destroy the bridge and expose his true identity.

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war. The faster we catch Liu Bei's army, the more chances we will have to join forces with Cao Hong's 30,000-man army to encircle and attack them..."

Cao Cao murmured to himself, but he had made up his mind.

"If it was only the small number of troops led by Zhang Fei who were left behind, Zhang Fei's revelation of his true identity is enough to prove that Liu Bei had led a large army to Yishui day and night."

"Zhang Fei could never have expected that our army would pursue Liu Bei after retreating and continue to march at night. Now we may be able to catch up with him immediately."

Following Cao Cao's words, the counselors and generals surrounding him were unable to refute.

The current situation is very unfavorable to Cao Cao. The key to turning defeat into victory is to quickly catch up with Liu Bei's army, and then attack Liu Bei from the front and back with the Cao army led by Cao Hong.

Therefore, Liu Bei could not afford to delay, and neither could Cao Cao.

"Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Yu Jin..."

Immediately, Cao Cao named three generals and ordered them to build simple bridges at different locations on the three small rivers, and then each lead 3,000 elite troops to cross the river to explore whether there was an ambush on the other side.

Just as Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren and Yu Jin received the order and were about to hurriedly go down to carry it out, Cao Cao suddenly called them to stop and said in a deep voice.

"Of all the strategies, fire and water are the worst. There are dense forests on the other side. Even if there are no ambushes in the forest, we must be careful to see if there are any things that can cause fire hidden in the forest."

"Yes, my lord."

The generals looked stern and responded quickly. (End of this chapter)