Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

at the same time.

Li Ji was also reading the military reports compiled by various departments today, with a look of satisfaction on his face.

In the short area of ​​more than 20 miles west of the north bank of Guandu, Lü Bu's army of about 170,000 was divided into four camps for defense. Lü Bu, Zhang Xiu, Zhang Liao and Wei Xu were each stationed in a camp to prevent the Han army from forcing a crossing of the Honggou River.

The Honggou Canal is an artificial canal connecting the Yellow River to the Huai River.

However, since it was not yet the flood season of the Yellow River, the surface of the Honggou River was not very wide, so it was not difficult for the Han army to force a crossing of the river, and the water flow was quite gentle.

This is undoubtedly quite beneficial for the vast majority of southerners in the Northern Expedition Army who are already good at water.

Of course, in a battle involving a large-scale army numbering hundreds of thousands, Li Ji could not possibly have enough energy to require that every unit's attack route be shifted eastward, or even better, ten feet to the west.

In such large-scale military operations, what the commander needs to focus on is the implementation of the strategy. As for the specific tactical arrangements of each unit, most of the time they undoubtedly have to be made by the generals themselves.

The ten generals arranged by Li Ji to attack the camp set up by Lu Bu on the west side each had their own strengths and were all good at fighting.

In addition to Zhuge Liang who was kept by his side to assist in handling military affairs, the remaining military advisers such as Jia Xu, Pang Tong, Sima Yi, Zhang Song, etc. were all sent to assist the various departments in formulating or coordinating plans to attack Lu Bu.

Lu Bu is a good fighter, and he also has Zhang Liao, Zhang Xiu, Wei Xu and other generals under his command who are not to be underestimated. The two Chens are also resourceful, but the gap in the configuration of civil and military affairs between the two sides is still visibly huge.

Moreover, now that each of the ten generals is leading a division, Li Ji has also given each division a stage to fully demonstrate its strengths in this battle line of more than 20 miles, and there are also a group of staff officers behind the scenes to coordinate the divisions to make plans...

It's not that Li Ji looked down on Lu Bu and his civil and military officials. It's true that the Han army already had an advantage in terms of manpower, which was not much different from a dimensionality reduction attack.

If Lu Bu had not been exhausted, it would have been a situation beyond Li Ji's expectations.

Of course, Lu Bu still has a trump card in his hand - 50,000 Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry.

Because he was afraid of the amazing combat power that the 50,000 Bingzhou Wolf Riders could exert in the plains, Li Ji could only erode Lu Bu's forces bit by bit, and could not rashly cross the river on a large scale to launch a general attack on Lu Bu.

Otherwise, if you are not careful, you may fall flat on your face due to the advantage of the Honggou water...

Just as Li Ji was holding a stack of military newspapers, standing in front of the sand table, fine-tuning the small flags representing each unit, and carefully thinking about and deducing the battle situation.

Zhuge Liang walked to the door of the big tent and spoke respectfully.

"Teacher, there is a letter from Shouchun."

Li Ji's expression changed slightly, and he came back to his senses from deep thought. He took the secret letter with the wax intact and opened it to read.

Familiar Liu Bei's handwriting, as for the content...

Li Ji glanced through it and couldn't help but smile.

Seeing this, Zhuge Liang asked, "Teacher, is this the king's handwriting?"

After all, according to Zhuge Liang's understanding, the only thing that could make the teacher show such expression, apart from a letter from home, was the king's handwriting.

Li Ji put the letter away and replied, "It's from the king."

"Are you asking about the battle situation at the front?"

Zhuge Liang asked as he stepped forward to grind ink for Li Ji. This made Gu Wei, who was a beat slower, put his foot back.

"The king did not urge us or put pressure on us, but was concerned about whether there was anything urgently needed at the front so that the rear could prepare as soon as possible..."

After Li Ji answered casually, he also picked up his pen and began to write a reply to Liu Bei.

After all, if he didn't reply now, Li Ji might forget about it when he got busy later.

If Liu Bei didn't receive a reply for a long time, it might make Shouchun, thousands of miles away, nervous and misunderstand that something unusual had happened to the Northern Expedition Army. As for the content of the reply, Li Ji simply reported the battle situation on the front line as usual, and said that everything was going well for the Northern Expedition...

Although Li Ji was not worried that a Qin Hui-like figure might emerge in the rear and shake Liu Bei's determination to march north, he even forced Li Ji to return.

However, it is still necessary to paint a rosy picture for the "leader" to increase Liu Bei's confidence. Moreover, what Li Ji did could not be considered as painting a rosy picture, but rather a look forward to a future that is about to be realized.

After finishing the letter of several hundred words, Li Ji handed it to Gu Wei and asked Gu Wei to arrange someone to send it back to Shouchun. Then Li Ji focused his attention again on the sand table in front of him.

As the two sides tested and fought, the markings on the Wei-Zhao coalition forces on the sand table naturally became clearer and clearer.

On the battlefield centered on Guandu, a total of over one million troops were deployed on both sides of the river.

Li Ji might not be able to fully understand Cao Cao's strength for the time being, as the Cao Wei army had a relatively strong foundation, but Lu Bu was obviously just a pair of vulnerable cards.

As long as we manage to restrict Lu Bu's Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, then Lu Bu can almost be considered to have no cards left.

Moreover, Li Ji was also aware of the obvious plan to attack Lu Yang, and it was impossible for Cao Cao not to guess Li Ji's intention, but Cao Cao still cooperated with Li Ji for six days.

Apparently, Cao Cao continued to betray his allies as usual...

Just as Cao Cao understood Li Ji, Li Ji also guessed Cao Cao's thoughts.

Cao Cao might not watch Lu Bu being completely destroyed, but a Lu Bu who was too strong was not what Cao Cao wanted to see.

In Cao Cao's vision, the most ideal battle situation is undoubtedly that both Lu Bu and the Han army are exhausted to a certain extent, and then Cao Cao can take advantage of the situation to control the greatly reduced Zhao State to a certain extent, making Zhao State a buffer zone or even a war zone between Han and Wei.

After a while, Li Ji asked Zhuge Liang a question.

"Kong Ming, how long do you think the tacit understanding between me and Cao Cao can last?"

As Li Ji's close disciple who is always by his side, Zhuge Liang is undoubtedly the one who knows all the strategic ideas best, and he also understands that Cao Cao and Li Ji are working together to play Lu Bu.

After thinking for a moment, Zhuge Liang proposed a time and said.

"Seven to ten days."

"Why?"

"If Cao Cao still does nothing after ten days, no matter how easily Lu Bu is deceived, he will definitely see through Cao Cao's intentions, which will lead to the collapse of the Wei-Zhao coalition," Zhuge Liang replied.

As to why Zhuge Liang was able to accurately judge the time of ten days, there is no direct and detailed explanation, but Zhuge Liang understood it very well.

There is no other reason. This is based on the consideration of the Han army's continued offensive against Lu Bu.

What Cao Cao wanted to see was that Lu Bu and the Han army would both suffer losses to a certain extent, rather than Lu Bu being really defeated and unable to recover, so that the Wei-Zhao coalition would have no need to exist.

"Kong Ming's inference is correct, but after all, he still doesn't know much about Cao Cao."

Li Ji waved his hand and said.

"Seven to ten days. You know this time, I know it, and Cao Cao knows it too."

"But once it is delayed to this time, even if Cao Cao takes some action, it will seem a bit obvious, and Lu Bu will definitely be suspicious, which is what Cao Cao does not want to see."

"Besides that, Cao Cao is cunning and complex, and he will definitely launch an offensive in advance to catch our army off guard."

After a pause, Li Ji placed his hands on the edge of the sand table, his eyes flickering as he spoke in a deep voice.

"Therefore, within five to six days... Cao's army will definitely make unusual moves!" (End of this chapter)