Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 910 True and False Secret Letter
It was the night after Cao Cao’s military meeting.

A man arrived at the gate of the Han army camp and asked to see Li Ji. He introduced himself as an old friend who brought a secret letter and had something important to tell Li Ji.

When the matter was reported to Li Ji, he was searched and brought into the big tent, where he was presented with a letter.

Li Ji opened the letter and found that it did not contain any identity information. It only summarized the contents of Cao Cao's military discussion and clearly described the plan proposed by Xi Zhicai.

Xi Zhicai's plan is not complicated at all.

Cao Cao was in charge of defense and continued to resist the Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition in the Guandu area.

Freeing Lu Bu from the embarrassing and unskilled defensive position, he could then lead the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry to bypass Guandu and try to attack the Han army's rear food supply routes, or even directly counterattack Yuzhou and disrupt the situation that was gradually tilting towards Li Ji.

After reading the letter, Li Ji handed it to Zhuge Liang, then looked at the person who was brought into the tent and asked in a calm tone.

"I wonder where this old friend is from?"

"My lord and the prime minister have a golden and precious friendship."

After hearing this, Li Ji understood and stopped asking questions. Instead, he asked Gu Wei to take the man away and settle him down, and then rewarded him with ten gold coins to send him out of the camp.

After the man left, Zhuge Liang finished reading the letter and asked.

"Teacher, do you know who sent this secret letter?"

"What is the golden bead? It is a tooth."

Li Ji smiled and said, "In Cao's army camp, I'm afraid Guo Tu is the only one who has such a close relationship with me."

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but think about the situation of Yuan's former subordinates in Cao Wei.

When Cao Wei was first established, in order to quickly stabilize the political situation and win over the hearts of the people, many of Yuan's former subordinates were given a high status in Cao Wei.

However, as Chunyu Qiong surrendered to the Han Dynasty and became a guide, Yuan's former subordinates such as Tian Feng also gained a good status in the Han Dynasty.

This undoubtedly made many of Yuan's former subordinates who disliked Cao Cao have different ideas. The most prominent among them was Xu You, who advocated surrender to Han when Cao Cao pretended to be sick.

However, Xu You, who was proud of his achievements and was the representative of the Yuan faction, would never have imagined that he would become the "chicken" to be killed by Cao Cao to scare the monkeys.

Since then, the former members of the Yuan faction have been marginalized within Cao Wei at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Although powerful generals such as Zhang He and Qu Yi were still able to lead a unit on their own, the situation of civil officials such as Guo Tu and Feng Ji was undoubtedly becoming increasingly difficult.

Guo Tu was born into the Yingchuan Guo family, and was of the same clan as Guo Jia. It just so happened that Zhuge Liang knew the Yingchuan Guo family quite well.

When the aristocratic families in Yuzhou were being sorted out, the Yingchuan Guo family was also included, but because they still had some relationship with Guo Jia, after shedding a layer of skin, the Yingchuan Guo family was retained.

And as Yingchuan Guo Shi completely recognized the reality, he bowed to Guo Jia and received a lot of advice from him.

In recent years, by actively going to Izu to reclaim fertile land and develop minerals, a lot of profits have been made.

The status of Yingchuan Guo family among the aristocratic families in Yuzhou has not decreased but increased, and now they have become staunch supporters of the Han Dynasty's policies.

Many times, interests ultimately speak.

After the Yingchuan Guo family was forced to jump out of the monster-like involutionary circle of the Thirteen Prefectures of the Han Dynasty, they suddenly discovered that it was not raining outside.

The land, money, and status that the aristocratic families want can be easily satisfied outside.

The only drawback is that you need to plan and develop it bit by bit by yourself.

But for a Han Chinese who loves farming, it is hard to say whether this is a difficulty or a reward. Therefore, considering that the Yingchuan Guo family has become the most loyal supporter of the Han Dynasty, some of Guo Tu's actions are not difficult to understand.

"Teacher, if the person who sent the letter was really Guo Tu, he would have enough reasons to deliver the secret letter in such a secret way, hoping to gain merit and return to Han."

After Zhuge Liang blurted out his analysis, his expression showed some hesitation again, and said.

"But Cao has always been suspicious and doesn't trust the Yuan family's civil and military officials. It's still unknown whether this is a secret letter from Guo Tu himself."

This seems to have leaked important secrets of the Wei-Zhao coalition, but it is actually full of truth and falsehood.

It seems believable, but it also seems like a trap.

Li Ji said nothing, but stood up and walked to the large sand table placed in the big tent to look at it.

Now nearly 80% of Lu Bu's troops are concentrated on the north bank of Guandu, and the remaining troops are mostly deployed by Lu Bu in Luoyang and Hulao Pass to ensure the safety of Sili.

After all, once Guandu was breached, the connection between Sili and Yanzhou would inevitably be cut off, which forced Lu Bu to be prepared to abandon Yanzhou and save Sili if the situation changed.

Therefore, Yanzhou's military strength was quite insufficient.

However, what Li Ji is looking at now is the marching route that Lu Bu can choose if he decides to lead the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry to attack from a different direction.

For Lu Bu, there were only two directions: either enter Yanzhou and go south to attack the Chen State in Yuzhou, approach Runan County, and cut off the connection between Yangzhou and the Northern Expedition Army.

Or he could retreat to Sili and then go south to Yingchuan County or Nanyang County to cut off the connection between Jingzhou and the Northern Expedition Army.

The scale of the Northern Expedition Army, which now has a huge number of 700,000, is maintained by two routes for food and supplies, namely the two states of Xu and Yang on the Huai River line and the two states of Jing and Yi on the Yangtze River line.

Once Lu Bu succeeds, one of the food supply routes will be cut off.

Then the Northern Expedition Army at Guandu would not be out of food, but with only one food transportation route, it would be difficult for the huge Northern Expedition Army to sustain for a long time.

"It's a good plan..."

After Li Ji said this, his tone changed and he became more emotional.

"Xi Zhicai is indeed a man who should not be underestimated, but he has surrendered to the enemy. Does he want to reverse the trend of the Northern Expedition with his meager body? It's a pity. He doesn't know his own abilities."

Zhuge Liang thought for a while and then asked, "Teacher, should we send troops to try to stop Lu Bu from going south to attack Yingchuan or Nanyang?"

"Liang'er also thinks that Lu Bu will retreat from Sili and go south to attack Yingchuan or Nanyang?" Li Ji asked.

"If Lü Bu takes the eastern route to bypass Yanzhou, once Guandu is lost, Lü Bu will be completely cut off from retreating to Sili, and will be trapped in the indefensible Yanzhou..."

Zhuge Liang analyzed calmly.

"Therefore, although it seems that Lu Bu has made a choice, in fact, if he really acts according to the secret letter, the only possibility is to attack the Yingchuan and Nanyang areas."

"That's right. With this conclusion, we can see through the mystery of this secret letter."

Li Ji said with a smile, took the secret letter casually, threw it into the brazier as if it were a piece of trash, and then pointed out the trick in it and said.

"Whether this secret letter is true or false, real or fake, it is not important. We only need to distinguish who it benefits and who does not harm. In this way, the true and false will be self-evident, and the real and fake will be revealed."

Zhuge Liang frowned and thought for a few breaths, then he relaxed and said.

"I see……"

(End of this chapter)