Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

When he said this, there was not a trace of hesitation in Cao Cao's eyes.

After killing Li Ji, Cao Cao felt that he might occasionally have regrets for the rest of his life...

But personal feelings never influenced Cao Cao's decision-making.

Whether it is the current Han Dynasty or the Northern Expedition Army, Li Ji is an irreplaceable pillar and a great threat to Cao Cao.

If Li Ji could be killed, he might face revenge from Liu Bei at all costs, but now Qingzhou has been lost, and Lu Bu is sandwiched between Liu Bei and him.

Even if Liu Shang Er took revenge at all costs, the first person to suffer would be Lu Bu.

Even if Lu Bu could not defeat Liu Bei on both sides, he would certainly be able to greatly deplete Liu Bei's military strength. This would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Cao Cao.

With hegemony ahead of him, why would Cao Cao hesitate?

"There is one thing I have to say. I have never lied to Lu Bu. The reason why I played drums every day and wrote many Guandu memorials was actually to make Zikun lose his temper."

"Of course, Zikun is definitely not a short-sighted person. If my guess is correct, Zikun must have seen through my intention to use the Han army to consume Lu Bu's troops."

"However, today I specially sent someone to deliver the poem that I wrote with great effort to Zikun. Regardless of whether Zikun will be moved by the poem or what he feels in his heart, he will never think that tomorrow will be the day for me to attack."

After a pause, Cao Cao stared at Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan and said.

"Zi Kun has been playing the zither on the bluestone on the opposite bank at fixed times for many days to appease our army and buy time to defeat Lu Bu."

"However, our army has not made any rash moves in the past few days, and Zikun has brought with him the same number of personal guards. However, both Zikun and his personal guards will inevitably become a little careless."

"And I have secretly sent people to select 500 good swimmers, led by Miaocai tonight. Before dawn, they will dive into the water of the ditch to hide their bodies, and then breathe with reeds, waiting for Zikun's arrival..."

At this point, Cao Cao waved his hand suddenly and said, "The talented people hiding in the water will just wait for my drum to sound, and then lead the army to attack from the water immediately. It would be best if they could shoot Zikun to death with one arrow from a distance."

When Xiahou Yuan heard this, he felt that he could do something great, so he responded.

"If that's the case, I'm 70% sure that I can kill Li Ji!"

To stab someone in the back and to shoot someone openly are two different things.

Even if Xu Chu stayed by Li Ji's side all the time, he might not be able to react to the sudden attack from the water that had been calm for nearly ten days.

"Miaocai doesn't need to be under too much pressure."

Cao Cao's tone changed and he continued.

"Even if we can't kill Zikun right away, Miaocai only needs to lead the 500 soldiers to temporarily contain Zikun and prevent him from escaping back to the camp for a while."

"After Miao Cai makes his move, Yuan Rang will immediately lead the elite troops in the camp to attack. It doesn't matter if they take Zi Kun hostage or his body. It would be best if we can take advantage of the situation to cause a sharp drop in the morale of the Han army and then break through the Han army camp."

Cao Cao had already come up with this plan when Li Ji first appeared on the other side of the river playing the piano.

Even though it seemed that the two sides were just staring at each other from across the river, in Cao Cao's eyes, Li Ji not only possessed unimaginable value, but would also be the Achilles' heel of the 700,000-strong Northern Expedition Army.

Once Li Ji dies, the morale of the Northern Expedition Army will be broken and defeat will be inevitable.

Therefore, Cao Cao would repeatedly do things that seemed unreasonable, allowing the generals in the army to criticize him, and even bringing him to justice under Lu Bu's call for accountability.

After waiting patiently for so long, Cao Cao finally couldn't help but pull in the net, wanting to catch the big fish on the other side in one fell swoop.

……

While Cao Cao and the Xiahou brothers were conspiring, the large volume of "Guandu Memorial" was also delivered to Li Ji's desk.

When the two armies are fighting, the envoy will not be killed.

Li Ji did not make things difficult for the guard who brought the gift, and let him leave on his own, then he began to read the so-called "Guan Du Zou" series of poems. It must be said that Cao Cao was also a versatile person in a sense.

There is no need to say much about his military and political strategies. As for his talent and knowledge, he is also one of the best in the world.

If these articles of "Guan Du Zou" were put into the context of reading comprehension in later generations, every article would have Li Ji's name on it, as if he was pointing at Li Ji's nose, which shows Cao Cao's eagerness to seek talents.

"Not bad, not bad. It's a pity that Cao Cao was born in troubled times. If he had lived in a prosperous era, he might have been a great poet."

Li Ji spoke with great appreciation, and after sharing the contents with Zhuge Liang, he did not forget to give it to Gu Wei for sealing and safekeeping.

This is a rare original. Even though Cao Cao later became a defeated general, it is still a collectible item.

After Gu Wei carefully put away the stack of papers, Li Ji waved his hand to disperse the people around him, leaving only Zhuge Liang by his side, and asked.

"Kong Ming thought, what is the purpose of Cao Cao sending such a scroll of poems at this time?"

Zhuge Liang thought about it carefully, and inspired by Li Ji's previous unintentional hint, he guessed.

"Is it to paralyze the teacher? And is it to use these poems to half-induce and half-invite the teacher to play the piano on the shore on time tomorrow?"

After a brief silence, Li Ji said with great relief.

"It won't take long for Kong Ming to become one of the wisest men in the world. That's great."

"Teacher, you have given me such high praise. I am not even one-tenth of your wisdom. How dare I talk about your wisdom?" Zhuge Liang replied quickly.

Li Ji did not bother to correct Zhuge Liang's modesty, but started to explain directly.

"Cao Cao wants to hook me, but am I not also trying to seduce him?"

Most of Lu Bu's troops were cavalry, and there were only a little over 100,000 infantry, but the real main force in defense was ultimately the infantry.

Unlike Lu Bu's infantry, which had only a little over 100,000 soldiers, Cao Cao's army of more than 300,000 soldiers consisted of nearly 300,000 infantry, which was a huge number.

These 300,000 infantrymen almost filled up the 20-mile defense line on the east side of the north bank of Guandu set up by Cao Cao.

With such a large number of troops, if Cao Cao remained idle, it would not be easy for Li Ji to attack. Even facing this huge force focused on defense, the difficulty was far beyond what Lu Bu could handle.

Lu Bu only has a pair of explosive cards, while Cao Cao has a bunch of good cards that can be played...

Li Ji opened the folding fan in his hand, then gently covered the river surface on the east side of Guandu and spoke softly.

"What Cao Cao is thinking is unexpectedly in line with the astronomical phenomenon. Tomorrow morning there will be thick fog all around, which is perfect for an attack."

Perhaps, Li Ji had not expected this volume of "Guan Du Memorial". Li Ji had originally expected that there would be a rare fog tomorrow morning that would block the view, and there was no way Cao Cao would remain idle under such a weather phenomenon.

However, in Li Ji's eyes, the volume of "Guan Du Memorial" that was sent to him seemed to be an attempt to cover up something.

Isn't this a coincidence?
My thoughts are similar to Cao Cao's.

"Teacher, what you mean is... Cao Cao will send troops to attack you tomorrow morning?"

Zhuge Liang's expression became more serious, and he said, "In this case, Teacher, you must not..."

Li Ji interrupted Zhuge Liang's words of persuasion and spoke.

"Don't worry, Kong Ming. I know that as the commander-in-chief of the three armies and the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, I cannot put myself in danger. Therefore, I ordered someone to carve a fake body out of wood to confuse Cao Cao's eyes."

After a pause, until this moment, Li Ji naturally would not continue to cover up and spoke.

"By then, there will be a thick fog, and Cao Cao on the other side will not be able to see my real body or fake body clearly. Kong Ming only needs to hide behind the fake body and play the piano. Cao Cao will not doubt my identity." (End of this chapter)