Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Half a million? !

Even though all the civil and military officials were determined to win the Northern Expedition, they couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts when they heard this number.

However, Wei and Zhao occupied nearly half of the Han Dynasty's territory. With their aggressive military campaigns and the whole country's strength, it was not surprising that they could gather an army of 500,000.

"Although there are many bandits, they are just chickens and dogs that are on guard against each other. The so-called army going south is just to attack instead of defend and ease the predicament."

Pang Tong spoke first and revealed the secret in one sentence.

Today, the Han Dynasty is like a hidden dragon emerging from the abyss, while Wei and Zhao are like small beasts. Knowing they cannot win, they have no choice but to gather together and roar in order to intimidate the Han Dynasty and buy themselves a chance to catch their breath.

Sima Yi also spoke up.

"In my opinion, even if Cao and Lu are married, they will not be of the same mind. Since they want to attack instead of defend, why don't you take a defensive stance and defend instead of attack? Over time, Cao and Lu will surely develop grudges, and then we can divide them and defeat them, and we can win a great victory."

When this plan came out, there were many people who agreed with this approach of seeking stability, but there were even more people who frowned.

"If Zhongda does this, won't it give the enemy too much prestige and destroy the morale of our army?"

Sun Ce, with his arms crossed over his chest, may not be good at strategy, but he was unhappy with Sima Yi's proposal, so he spoke.

"Not to mention that Cao Cao and Lu Bu are afraid of the Prime Minister's Northern Expedition, even if Ce Duzhi has a grudge, they will not fight among themselves at the critical moment of life and death. If we just keep waiting, how long will we have to wait?"

"Besides, even if we have 500,000 troops, what does it matter? The military strength of our Han Dynasty will only be superior."

Sima Yi heard this and sneered in a calm tone.

"The way to use troops is not to fight to the death blindly. When the Wei-Zhao coalition army is first formed, its edge must be at its strongest. We should take a defensive stance to temporarily avoid the edge, wear down the morale of the army, and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack. This is the way to win."

This statement actually caused Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu and Pang Tong to rarely agree with Sima Yi.

When the forces of both sides reach a huge scale of 500,000, one of the most important factors affecting the outcome is the morale, which is difficult to calculate intuitively.

If morale is one point higher, and every soldier puts in one point more effort, when expanded to a huge number of 500,000, the impact will be enormous.

However, as the entire staff gradually reached a unified judgment, Li Ji, who had been looking down in thought, asked with a chuckle.

"I avoid its sharp edge?"

Li Ji stood up suddenly, his eyes that usually seemed to be full of wisdom now revealed a strong sharpness, and he said in a deep voice.

"The king has widely issued proclamations to the people of the world, saying that the kingship cannot be partial and that the Han and the traitors cannot coexist. Countless people have spontaneously donated goods and grain, and some have even volunteered to join the army to support the Northern Expedition."

"Now, do you want to let the Prime Minister of the Great Han Dynasty avoid the edge of the Han traitors? Let the Northern Expedition avoid the edge of the Han traitors? Let the Great Han Dynasty that I want to revive avoid the edge of the Han traitors?"

Having said this, all the civil and military officials present had stern expressions.

"What if 500,000 bandit troops are about to march south?"

"How can I, Li Zikun, give up even an inch of space and allow these villains to invade the place where the people live and work in peace and contentment, and allow them to attack the city and plunder the land with all their might?"

"If this is the case, where will the people be? And where will the great cause of the Northern Expedition be?"

"Even if we want to avoid them, we must teach these 500,000 bandits to avoid our attack!!!"

After hearing these words, all the generals were excited, and the counselors in the staff group felt a little ashamed. Defending instead of attacking was in line with the art of war, but it was not in line with justice, nor was it in line with the expectations of the people of the world.

How can a strong man avoid thieves? !

Even if they won, how would the history books record this seemingly ugly victory? And how would they let the people of the world know that the once powerful Han Dynasty had been revived?
"What the Prime Minister said is absolutely true!"

"You can't avoid it, you can't give in, you have to fight!"

"As long as I, Wei Yan, am here, I will never allow the thieves to set foot on the fertile land under my rule..."

Immediately, the excited generals shouted in support.

"Pass on my military order. The army will return to Yuzhou and continue to draw troops from various states and counties. As for going south to attack Liu, I will ask them to stop my offensive first before discussing other matters."

As the military meeting ended, military orders were quickly sent to various places with Linzi as the center. Li Ji also sent a handwritten letter to Yecheng, which only said one sentence:
In the early spring of next year, General Ji will go to Yanzhou to fight against the bandits. If Meng De arrives, he will kill the two bandits with one sword and bring peace to the world.

This was undoubtedly a naked declaration of war, which made it clear that Li Ji would aim at Yanzhou next year.

Li Ji also knew that Cao Cao would not be intimidated by such a declaration of war. On the contrary, Li Ji was only afraid that Cao Cao would not come.

If Cao Cao insisted on defending Jizhou with an army of more than 300,000, it would take Li Ji several years to tackle this tough problem.

But Cao Cao really decided to go south, which was actually better in Li Ji's opinion.

As for defeat...

If you are a general, you should think about defeat before you think about victory. But since you have already commanded the troops of the world, you should have the determination to win every battle and the momentum to swallow up mountains and rivers. Otherwise, if your every word and action is that of cowardice, what is the use of having sharp swords and spears?

However, even for a large-scale troop battle that is about to begin, the two sides are almost in a state of openness.

Unless Cao Cao was deceived in advance through Jiang Gan as before, it would be impossible to completely conceal the movement of hundreds of thousands of troops.

However, Qingzhou was just being settled and its foundation was unstable. Li Ji considered for a long time about who to leave in Qingzhou to prevent it from being taken back by Cao Cao in a surprise attack.

Moreover, since Qingzhou was poor and its people suffered from the harsh rule of Cao Wei, in order to get Qingzhou's government affairs back on track quickly, it was necessary to send a capable minister to sort out Qingzhou.

This made Li Jisi think twice, and he finally decided to transfer Chen Deng from Xuzhou, and then keep Zang Ba to be responsible for the defense of Qingzhou to prevent Cao Wei from taking advantage of the opportunity to counterattack Qingzhou.

Soon, as Lü Lingqi was sent to Yecheng to marry Cao Pi, the Cao and Lu families officially formed an alliance, and Li Ji also led his army to slowly retreat from Qingzhou to Yuzhou.

In addition, the money, food and military forces from other prefectures and counties under its jurisdiction also began to converge towards Yuzhou.

However, as the unusually short winter passed, all things began to revive.

While the world was closely watching the direction of a war that was about to determine the fate of the world, no one expected that the land of Yongliang would lead the war.

Years ago, the Ma and Han families turned against each other and fought a war.

However, Ma Teng relied on the bravery of his son Ma Chao and gradually gained the upper hand, defeating Han Sui again and again until the winter snowfall, when the two sides were forced to cease fighting.

However, what Ma Teng did not expect was that Han Sui persuaded the gradually declining remnants of Dong Zhuo to send troops in the winter under unknown conditions.

When Ma Teng was completely unprepared, Han Sui and the remnants of Dong Zhuo attacked Ma Teng from both sides, and a fierce battle broke out. (End of this chapter)