Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Li Ji raised his eyebrows and looked at Wei Yan, who was lowering his head and looking submissive. A thought popped up in his mind almost subconsciously:
You are quite a boaster, young man.

Even though Cao Cao had just suffered a major defeat, including the troops under Cao Hong and Xun Yu, Cao Cao still had nearly 70,000 troops when he began to retreat to Qingzhou.

Even if Li Ji were to lead 20,000 troops to confront Cao Cao head-on, he knew that his chances of winning were slim, and at most he could hold back Cao's army for a while.

This is also the reason why Li Ji, after weighing the pros and cons, strongly advised Liu Bei to give up pursuing Cao Cao.

Even a rabbit will bite when it is cornered, let alone Cao Cao, a powerful hero who still has nearly 70,000 available soldiers under his command?

Although Li Ji was puzzled at one point about Cao Cao's retreat from the battlefield in Xuzhou, wondering whether Cao Cao had other plans or simply wanted to preserve his strength and wait for the opportunity, Li Ji never confused the priorities of strategic objectives.

It is true that Cao Cao is a serious threat, but as an important foothold for seizing the Central Plains, Xuzhou is what Li Ji is determined to obtain.

And it is necessary to preserve Xuzhou as much as possible, and not let it be a completely destroyed Xuzhou that still needs Li Ji to find a way to keep it alive.

The world situation is such that every second counts.

Li Ji had no intention of extending the time of unifying the country to more than ten or twenty years, nor did he want to spend several more years governing Xuzhou.

Therefore, Cao Cao's retreat from Xuzhou on his own initiative was undoubtedly strategically beneficial and had no disadvantages.

As a result, Wei Yan just refused or swallowed it, and his tone was very arrogant.

Wei Yan is undoubtedly a promising talent, but does Wei Yan have the strength to resist or swallow him?

Definitely not.

Li Ji asked in return, "If we fail to resist and Cao Cao marches straight in and attacks Huanglong, what should we do?"

Wei Yan blurted out this sentence.

"I am willing to guarantee it with my life..."

The next moment, a brush hit Wei Yan's forehead, interrupting the rest of his words.

Li Ji was so angry that he laughed.

"How much is your head worth? Can it guarantee such a big thing?"

Sometimes, we are not afraid of subordinates who are incompetent, but we are afraid of subordinates who are incompetent but have ideas.

Or maybe Wei Yan was just at an impetuous age where he was greedy for merit and reckless, so how was the words he said different from those of Ma Su?
Ma Su was too clever for his own good when defending Jieting, which led to a temporary tactical mistake, which in turn led to a complete strategic defeat.

If Wei Yan was sent to follow up and guard against Cao's army's retreat.

Suddenly, Wei Yan came up with a confident and bad idea and decided to take a gamble. It was very likely that Cao Cao would see through his plan and take advantage of it to swallow up the troop led by Wei Yan in one fell swoop.

By then, the impact on the entire strategy will also be fatal.

Before that, after Wei Yan and Pang Tong rushed back to reunite with Liu Bei, Pang Tong quietly sent someone to deliver a secret letter to Li Ji, recording Wei Yan's greedy words verbatim.

It was because Li Ji realized that Wei Yan seemed to be a little eager for quick success that he summoned him into the tent to test him.

Unexpectedly, Wei Yan really did that.

Feeling Li Ji's gaze, Wei Yan was sweating all over, but he could only ask with a brave face. "I don't know what I said wrong to make the Marquis unhappy."

Li Ji narrowed his eyes and stared at Wei Yan for a few moments, seeing Wei Yan's panic, he slowly spoke.

"I don't even dare to offer my life to you to guarantee victory, let alone the confidence that I can stop or defeat Cao's army with 20,000 soldiers..."

After a pause, Li Ji looked at Wei Yan, who was completely frozen, and said.

"How about I give up the position of governor as soon as possible and let someone more capable do it? How about nominating Wenchang to take on this important task?"

At this moment, Wei Yan's forehead was covered with sweat, and he subconsciously raised his hand to wipe it off, and said with some stammering, "My Lord, you are joking..."

"It was Wenchang who started the joke first."

Li Ji said this with a wry smile, which made Wei Yan feel even more uneasy.

It was not until more than ten breaths later that Li Ji sighed slightly and said.

“You must know that wealth and honor are sought in danger, and they are also lost in danger. One out of ten times you will succeed in seeking them, but nine out of ten times you will lose them.”

"Throughout history, those who are good at using strange and risky strategies are all cautious people, or they use strange and risky strategies only when they have no other choice. Do you know why?"

Wei Yan took the opportunity to wipe his sweat and quickly answered, "I don't know, please enlighten me, sir."

"Because those who use many strange and dangerous strategies and are arrogant and careless have not yet grown up, the history books will naturally not record the names of such losers."

Li Ji answered calmly.

The world only sees the benefits of odd and risky schemes, but most of them only see the benefits.

Later generations had a term called "survivor bias".

History books often only record successful cases and miracles created by using unconventional and risky means, but never record how many people have fallen into this gamble.

It does not mean to deny the use of risks, but a general should "consider defeat before considering victory". This is true for the way of using troops and the way of survival.

What's more, the general trend is often a matter of one thing affecting the whole body. If Wei Yan fails in his bet, it is very likely that the good situation will collapse directly or indirectly.

Therefore, Li Ji's tone at this moment was quite stern, and he shouted.

"The soldiers who follow you are not your stake for promotion, and supporting the Han Dynasty should not be your stepping stone for advancement."

"Don't say you don't have the ability to resist and swallow it. Even if you do, what benefit will it bring to the overall situation of Xuzhou?"

When asked this by Li Ji, Wei Yan couldn't help but feel panicked and didn't know how to answer.

However, Wei Yan didn't know how to answer, so Li Ji shouted again and pressed the issue.

"Talk! What good is that?"

Wei Yan was not a stupid man. On the contrary, he was a very smart man, and had an acumen in military affairs that was unmatched by ordinary people.

It’s just that Wei Yan had never held a high position before, and had never considered the overall situation.

Therefore, after being enlightened by Li Ji, Wei Yan also realized that as far as the battle situation in Xuzhou was concerned, Cao Cao's willingness to retreat on his own would have obvious benefits for Liu Bei's control of Xuzhou.

On the contrary, once the generals of the detachment who were guarding against the retreat of Cao's army acted on their own and were careless for a moment, they were defeated.

Even if Cao Cao had no intention of launching a counterattack, such an opportunity would have been presented to Cao Cao, making the situation in Xuzhou complicated and worse again.

Moreover, even if Wei Yan really resisted or even defeated Cao's army, it would be too far for him to take control of Qingzhou while the war in Xuzhou was still unresolved. It would be of no benefit except losing troops.

Wei Yan replied with shame. "No... no benefit."

Li Ji continued to stare at Wei Yan for a moment, making Wei Yan feel a mountain of pressure.

Finally, Li Ji spoke again.

"In that case, does Wenchang still have any objection to the appointment of the commander of the detachment?"

Wei Yan was slightly startled, realizing that the Marquis had already seen through his thoughts, so he quickly shook his head and replied.

"I know that my abilities are not enough for this position, so I dare not raise any objection." (End of this chapter)