Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

For a moment, a helpless expression appeared on Jia Xu's face.

Looking at Jian Yong's furious appearance, it seemed he would draw his sword or order someone to arrest him at any moment.

However, the matter had already been secretly decided, and Jian Yong was an upright gentleman who might not be able to accept the reasoning behind it.

Moreover, this kind of thing should not be made public, or even leave corresponding written records.

Immediately, Jia Xu picked up the document Liu Bei had given him from the corner of the desk, raised it, and said.

"Xianhe, the command the Lord gave me was 'Do not let the refugees starve to death, all other matters are permitted.' Are any refugees starving to death now?"

"You!"

Jian Yong opened the bamboo slip in Jia Xu's hand, looked at the brief sentence on it, and felt as if a breath was stuck in his throat, unable to advance or retreat.

"Xianhe, you and I each perform our duties, do not speak more than necessary."

Jia Xu cupped his hands and replied.

"Even if Xianhe intends to report this matter to the Lord, it does not matter, but before the Lord's other orders come down, please do not interfere in this matter."

"Humph!"

Jian Yong stood there blankly for three to five breaths before flinging his sleeves and leaving.

Obviously, Jian Yong was going to tattle.

However, Jia Xu was even more fearless about this.

Even if Liu Bei did not know the whole story, Li Ji must have reported it in advance, knowing that he could not hide it from Liu Bei.

Moreover, Jia Xu knew very well that starving refugees were truly not human.

Having seen countless horrific and unbelievable things happen to starving refugees, Jia Xu knew that they were often just a group of beasts acting on instinct.

Now, making an effort to prevent the refugees from starving to death was already a great act of benevolence and righteousness.

Did Wu Commandery really have the ability to feed all the refugees until they were full?

No!

Jian Yong was too naive and had limited vision, and he was not in Li Ji's position of overseeing the overall situation, so he naively wanted to feed every refugee until they were full, based on past practices.

'This is one situation, that was another situation...'

Jia Xu sighed inwardly, and also felt that Li Ji sometimes had too many bottom lines.

If it was truly based entirely on Jia Xu's ideas, he could completely select those relatively strong and skilled people from among the refugees and quickly settle them in Wu Commandery.

As for the others, wouldn't they be perfect as food?

In this way, Wu Commandery could quickly recruit the elite among these refugees from the Central Plains with almost no grain consumption, which would not only not affect the development of Wu Commandery, but even greatly accelerate the progress, wouldn't that be wonderful?

Moreover, wouldn't this also be a kind of benevolence and righteousness, not making those refugees who would die sooner or later suffer the torment of hunger, and also allowing a portion of the refugees who might die to live.

It was a pity that Jia Xu knew that Liu Bei and Li Ji would not accept this brilliant plan.

Liu Bei would not accept it no matter what, and as for Li Ji, Jia Xu felt that he would generally only not accept it within the scope of the Han Dynasty.

After that, Jia Xu tidied up a bit, hid a heart-protecting mirror in his robe, and then, under the protection of six fully armored personal guards, began to inspect the distribution of porridge in the refugee camp.

Various complaints and protests were still serious, but without those hooligans and ruffians who intended to riot, the unarmed and weak refugees could only issue protests.

And under Jia Xu's secret guidance, the resentment of many refugees was directed at Li Can, the grain official.

'Very good, all is very good...'

Jia Xu nodded secretly, everything was proceeding as he had expected.

Moreover, most of the refugees who protested were those who had been fed too much by Jian Yong before.

The subsequent refugees who were constantly being sent from the north bank of the Yangtze River were already on the verge of death from hunger, and they were already grateful to have a bite to eat, so naturally they would not issue any protests.

And as the number of people in the refugee camp continued to increase, this kind of protest would naturally be further diluted, and eventually come to nothing.

Afterwards, as long as Li Can's dog head was cut off and displayed to the public, and a large amount of money and grain were found in Li Can's home as evidence.

Then this matter would be recorded by the historians as Li Can embezzling grain and would not damage Liu Bei's reputation for being virtuous, and Jia Xu would not need to bear even the slightest bit of blame.

What?

Li Can's family was destitute.

Wasn't Jia Xu clear about this?

But if there was no money or grain in Li Can's home, there was plenty in the Wu Commandery treasury, as long as a portion of the money and grain was transferred between the two.

'Truly a troublesome little thing.'

Jia Xu muttered to himself, and after confirming that there were no problems, he prepared to return to his camp to drink tea and rest.

Suddenly, a burst of cheers rang out at the entrance of the refugee camp.

"Lord Liu?"

"It's Lord Liu, it really is Lord Liu coming!"

"I didn't expect that the dignified Lord Liu would actually come to this place..."

...

As Jia Xu heard the commotion from the refugees, he was slightly stunned at first, and then his expression changed slightly.

'Oh no! If the Lord really comes in person, there will be problems!'

Jia Xu immediately hurried towards the direction of the commotion under the protection of his personal guards.

The banner representing Liu Bei, with the character "Liu" on it, was raised.

When Jia Xu arrived, he saw Jian Yong saying something beside Liu Bei from a distance, and many refugees around him seemed to be clamoring about the porridge matter.

Seeing this scene, Jia Xu frowned slightly and could only bite the bullet and quickly walk to Liu Bei in front of the path opened by the personal guards to salute.

"Lord."

"Wenhe, you've come."

Unlike Jia Xu's imagined fury, Liu Bei's expression was as gentle as ever, and he patted Jia Xu's arm and said.

"Wenhe has worked hard these days, Wenhe seems to have lost weight..."

Speaking of this, Liu Bei's voice paused, feeling the fleshy sensation from his palm and Jia Xu's seemingly rounder figure, his voice could not help but pause.

Since the great drought and plague in the Central Plains caused countless refugees to flee, the civil and military officials of Wu Commandery, from top to bottom, were almost all busy and lost weight, which made Liu Bei subconsciously encourage every subordinate in this way.

He did not expect that Jia Xu not only did not lose weight, but with his family settled in Wu Commandery, Jia Xu had a tendency to be carefree and gain weight, and his figure gradually became rounder.

"In short, you have worked hard. Wenhe is responsible for distributing food to tens of thousands of refugees without any mistakes, which is already a great achievement."

Liu Bei encouraged him in a gentle voice, which made Jian Yong, who was standing next to Liu Bei, unable to stop himself from speaking, and made Jia Xu shrink his head, worried that Liu Bei was saying something sarcastic.

However, this should not be the case!

Even if the Lord did not know the whole story before, under the premise that Jia Xu had indeed not embezzled any grain, with the Lord's character, he would never push his subordinates down to be beheaded for this reason.

However, at this moment, some of the refugees around Liu Bei were still clamoring about protests and the grain official Li Can embezzling grain, which made Jia Xu unconsciously feel a sense of crisis, fearing that he would be implicated.

More importantly, Liu Bei's appearance had put things in a dilemma.

If Liu Bei did not deal with this matter, it would inevitably damage Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence and virtue; if Liu Bei beheaded the grain official Li Can in advance, it would be really difficult for Jia Xu to maintain this good situation.

"Lord, why did you come here? You should stay in Wu County to oversee the overall situation."

Jia Xu asked, biting the bullet.

"Wu County has Zikun sitting in town to oversee all matters, it would be useless for Bei to stay in Wu County, it is better to come over and appease the people and personally confirm the situation of the refugees..."

After a pause, Liu Bei's voice lowered slightly and said.

"More importantly, there is the issue of grain. Bei also intends to visit the various commanderies in Xu Province to borrow grain, and take the opportunity to come and see you and the situation of the refugees."

Grain!

In a word, if considering fully providing disaster relief and saving the people, the grain in Wu Commandery is far from enough.

Therefore, Liu Bei, as the governor of the commandery, had already planned to go to Xu Province to borrow grain to solve the urgent need.

However, this could not help but make Jia Xu smile bitterly in his heart.

Liu Bei's appearance had completely disrupted Jia Xu's plan.

Jian Yong glanced at Jia Xu, and then stretched out his hand towards Liu Bei and said.

"Lord, please come this way, this is the nearest porridge distribution point."

This scene made Jia Xu suspect that Liu Bei's arrival was specially invited by Jian Yong.

This made Jia Xu shake his head helplessly, inexplicably understanding why Li Ji had not monopolized power before, but firmly grasped the right to speak, probably to avoid this kind of situation from happening.

"Let's go take a look."

Liu Bei nodded, and then followed Jian Yong towards the nearest porridge distribution point, and Jia Xu could only helplessly follow behind, thinking in his mind whether there was a way to temporarily protect Li Can.

It would be a pity to cut off Li Can's head now.

Soon, Liu Bei walked to the porridge distribution point and saw the porridge with sand and gravel that ordinary people could hardly swallow.

However, to Jia Xu's surprise, Liu Bei was not angry, but ordered the soldier distributing porridge to serve him a bowl in front of many refugees.

Afterwards, Liu Bei held the bowl of porridge and walked to a high place, and said loudly.

"Everyone, I am Liu Bei, the governor of Wu Commandery, Liu Xuande!"

As soon as these words came out, suddenly the surroundings were completely silent, and even those in the distance who could not hear clearly had soldiers repeating Liu Bei's words.

"Everyone, please forgive Liu Xuande's incompetence. Wu Commandery has limited money and grain, and can only provide you with this kind of food that is difficult to swallow, but in order for more people to survive, please forgive Liu Xuande's helpless actions."

"But! Perhaps the heavens have not taken pity on you, or perhaps the imperial court's disaster relief has been delayed, but I, Liu Xuande, will not abandon you even if it costs me everything."

"As long as Liu Xuande has even a single bowl of thin porridge to drink, I will ensure that all of you have some as well to stave off hunger. I will absolutely not allow any of the people who believed in me, Liu Xuande, and came to Wu County to starve to death!"

"This may be difficult to swallow, but I, Liu Xuande, will share it with you, and I will live with you."

Having said that, Liu Bei, under the gaze of everyone, raised the bowl of porridge in his hand and drank it down in large gulps.

Some of the refugees who were closer to Liu Bei could even clearly hear the grating sound of Liu Bei's teeth grinding against the sand and gravel.

In less than a moment, the bowl of sandy, thin porridge was completely consumed by Liu Bei, who even turned the bowl upside down to show everyone.

Immediately afterward, Liu Bei calmly walked down from the elevated platform.

In the next moment, a wave of emotional weeping erupted, centered around Liu Bei.

This scene caused Jia Xu to marvel, even generating a feeling of 'So, this is how it can be done.'

Sincerity is the ultimate weapon... (End of chapter)