Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Soon, a group of generals in Xingyang City hurriedly gathered together.

As all the generals gathered, Zhang Song, who had a photographic memory, also took on some of the duties of a secretary and took notes of the meeting himself.

As soon as Li Ji opened his mouth, the expressions of the generals changed slightly.

"Report from Guandu: Cao Cao's army has already set out, abandoning some of their baggage and food supplies in preparation for fleeing north."

At this moment, many of the generals present looked excited.

Cao Cao's escape, coupled with Lu Bu's defeat and the fall of Zhao, meant that the land south of the Yellow River would be completely recovered.

In a sense, this can even be called "the overall situation has been decided"!
Even if Cao Cao could really escape back to Jizhou, how could he stop the Northern Expedition with only Ji and Bingzhou without Lu Bu's support?

Cao Wei is just making a last-ditch effort.

Even though countless people believed that Li Ji's Northern Expedition would be successful, at this moment they truly felt that the day when Liu Bei would revive the Han Dynasty like Emperor Guangwu was just around the corner.

Even if Liu Bei immediately proclaimed himself emperor in Shouchun based on his achievements in conquering Sili and Yanzhou, that would be the trend of the people.

However, Li Ji slammed the folding fan in his hand on the table, interrupting the joy of the generals, and spoke.

"Guan Du is not a place where Cao Cao can come and go as he pleases. I have made all the necessary preparations at Guan Du to teach Cao Cao what it means to cross the Yellow River."

After a pause, Li Ji continued.

"But if we want to achieve our goal in one battle, there are still some shortcomings. Some of the remnants of Cao Wei will be able to escape back to the north of the Yellow River."

"If we allow those unwilling bandits to continue to hold the city and try to capture cities one by one, it will inevitably delay the day of restoring the country."

"Now that Hulao Pass has been captured, there is no longer any obstacle to entering Guanzhong. I intend to send a force from Guanzhong to Mengjin to cross the Yellow River. While Cao Wei is unable to take care of both, I will recapture Bingzhou and isolate Jizhou."

Suddenly, all the generals in the hall rushed to ask for battle.

Crossing the Yellow River from Mengjin and heading north is Bingzhou. This is not just a simple matter of recovering Bingzhou, but also a matter of being able to attack from the flank and front of the army.

The Prime Minister was not prepared to give Cao Wei any chance to breathe and was ready to completely defeat Cao Wei in one breath.

Li Ji's gaze moved around and finally landed on Zhang Fei, and he spoke.

"Would Yide be willing to lead an army of 100,000 to recapture Bingzhou, and then attack Jizhou from both sides to wipe out the Han bandits?"

"I do!"

Zhang Fei agreed without any hesitation, and even couldn't hide his excitement.

In a sense, Zhang Fei has never really led an army alone so far, which is one of Zhang Fei's regrets.

"Okay, then I will dispatch 100,000 soldiers. After we pass Hulao Pass tomorrow, you will lead the army straight to Mengjin. There must be no mistakes."

After Li Ji decided on this matter, he continued.

"Now that the traitor Lu has surrendered, the State of Zhao no longer exists, but there may still be traitors causing chaos in various places. We should send an army to inspect Henan Yin to bring peace to the people as soon as possible. Who is willing to take on this task?"

This was obviously not a good job, and it was even a tough job of inspecting local areas, posting notices and reassuring the people.

In the end, it was Zhang Ren who took the initiative to step forward.

Li Ji also allocated 5,000 soldiers to Zhang Ren to restore stability as soon as possible in the area connecting Yingchuan County and Nanyang County via Hulao Pass.

In addition, manpower is also needed to properly guard and resettle all the surrendered soldiers left behind by the State of Zhao.

After all, most of the surrendered soldiers cannot be directly recruited and used, especially the large-scale and organized surrendered soldiers, who would bring disaster upon themselves if they are not careful.

Therefore, although Li Ji coveted the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry in Xingyang City, it was unrealistic to use them as combat power in the short term.

On the contrary, in order to guard the surrendered soldiers and prevent them from causing chaos, Li Ji had to leave a large number of troops in Xingyang to guard them, and then slowly disperse them to surrender or send them to labor reform. After all the arrangements for entering the pass were made, it was almost midnight, and Li Ji just dispersed the military meeting and ordered all the generals to prepare as soon as possible.

The next day, at the beginning of the Si hour.

The Han army stationed in Xingyang set out again and headed towards Hulao Pass.

By the time the army arrived at Hulao Pass, it was almost dusk. Zhang Liao and a group of generals were already waiting for Li Ji's arrival at the open gate of Hulao Pass.

Re-entering Hulao Pass, Li Ji couldn't help but feel like he was "back again".

But this feeling goes away just as quickly as it comes.

While listening to Zhang Liao's report of the many details of the surrender at Hulao Pass, Li Ji looked around and asked.

"Why don't you meet Gao Shun? I have long wanted to get to know this skilled general who once led an army of 800 to stop countless cavalry from entering Luoyang."

However, when Li Ji mentioned Gao Shun, Zhang Liao's face darkened and he spoke with difficulty hiding his sadness.

"Report...Report to the Prime Minister, Gao Shun left a message last night: 'A loyal minister should not serve two masters', and then hanged himself to death."

After hearing this, Li Ji was slightly stunned and couldn't help but sigh to Gao Shun.

Li Benji thought that Gao Shun had already surrendered after opening the gate of Hulao Pass, so he was preparing to personally see the Xianzhen Camp and then use Gao Shun again so that he would not have to be hidden like Lu Bu.

What no one expected was that after Gao Shun accepted the last military order and led his troops to surrender, when he saw that his life and wealth and glory were within his grasp, he actually chose to hang himself.

"Take me to see it."

Li Ji said this, and then, under the guidance of Zhang Liao, walked towards the inconspicuous courtyard where Gao Shun usually lived.

At this moment, under Zhang Liao's arrangement, the coffin containing Gao Shun was placed there.

Li Ji first looked at Gao Shun, then looked at the bedroom where Gao Shun hanged himself, and saw the words "A loyal minister does not serve two masters" still left on the wall.

"It's a pity that they are so foolishly loyal."

Li Ji couldn't help but sigh out loud. He was sighing for Gao Shun, but also for the fact that Lu Bu had played a good hand so badly.

Lu Bu kept generals like Gao Shun and the Xianzhen Camp in hiding and did not use them, which was really cutting off his own arms.

And according to Zhang Liao, the reason why Lu Bu did not value Gao Shun and the Xianzhen Camp was because of his personal likes and dislikes.

Zhang Liao looked nervous for a moment, then bowed.

"Prime Minister, I still have something to report to you. You will make the decision."

"explain."

Zhang Liao heard this and replied in a deep voice.

"That was the day Gao Shun surrendered. He said that as a surrendered general, he was afraid that he would never be able to lead the Xianzhen Camp again, so he told me all the tricks of commanding and training the Xianzhen Camp."

"At that time, I tried to appease him, saying that he could ask the Prime Minister for permission, and the Prime Minister might allow him to continue to lead the Xianying Camp."

Having said that, Zhang Liao could hardly hide the guilt and sadness on his face, and continued.

"But now that I think about it carefully, Gao Shun might have had the intention to die at that time, but I was not careful at that time, which led to lifelong regrets."

"But the Xianzhen Camp is the result of Gao Shun's life's work. I dare to ask the Prime Minister not to abolish it. I have already recorded everything Gao Shun said in a book. Please take a look at it."

Finally, Zhang Liao took out something from his bosom and presented it to Li Ji with both hands. (End of this chapter)