Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Just after Gu Yong left the government office, the atmosphere inside not only didn't ease, but under the gaze of Li Ji, who appeared to be just over twenty years old, every county magistrate felt immense pressure, not even daring to breathe loudly. The atmosphere was so quiet that it seemed you could hear the sound of hearts beating.

Previously, Liu Bei and Li Ji's reputation in Wu Commandery was like the sun in the sky, and Zhang Fei, the inspector who patrolled everywhere, also brought a lot of fright to the many county magistrates.

There was even an unlucky county magistrate who was caught by Zhang Fei red-handed oppressing the common people and was directly tied up and flogged in public.

However, many county magistrates soon discovered that Zhang Fei was reckless and lacked strategy, only needing to put on a good show and avoid letting Inspector Zhang Fei see anything he shouldn't.

Moreover, with the aristocratic clans in Wu Commandery either dead or relocated, this further amplified the power and importance of the county magistrates, who believed that the commandery administrator Liu Bei still needed their support as local county magistrates to stabilize the people's hearts.

Even with the respect and fear for the Wu Commandery government office, many county magistrates who were already acting recklessly gradually became even more presumptuous.

Some county magistrates even felt that Liu Bei was a benevolent lord and Li Ji was a gentleman, and that they could be deceived with propriety. As long as they didn't get caught with any evidence, Liu Bei and Li Ji would have no excuse to deal with them.

However, what these county magistrates didn't know was that since the Brocade-Clad Guard began to be established within the Wu Commandery, their every word, every action, every move was recorded.

Liu Bei and Li Ji had a thorough understanding of each county magistrate's behavior.

It's just that, previously, Li Ji needed these county magistrates to stabilize the local people's hearts, and more importantly, Li Ji hadn't been able to free up the energy to deal with these corrupt officials, so he could only let these corrupt officials jump around for a while longer.

But now that these county magistrates had directly run into Li Ji's gun, Li Ji naturally wouldn't hesitate to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, and teach these county magistrate masters that the times are different.

As for the people's hearts being unstable?

Or even a rebellion occurring?

Not to mention that the commandery soldiers in various places were already firmly controlled by Liu Bei, and the Brocade-Clad Guard had been completely established throughout the entire Wu Commandery.

Even Guan Yu, who was stationed with troops in the Fuchun Mountain area in the southern part of Wu Commandery, could reach Yuhang County and Qiantang County with just one day's march.

Dare to rebel, and the nine generations will be wiped out.

In this time of great disaster, Li Ji had no intention of playing any deceitful games with these county magistrates.

Finding a talent worthy of being a chancellor to replace Gu Yong is a bit difficult, but if you want to become a county magistrate or find scholars with the talent of a county magistrate, you could throw a brick at the scholars studying outside Ren De Academy and kill two.

It was only because the implementation of "work-for-relief" to build water conservancy projects still required the support of various county towns that these county magistrates still had their value, and temporarily letting other scholars take over would require a certain period of adaptation.

Otherwise, Li Ji might have already settled accounts after the autumn harvest, directly taking down the heads of most of the county magistrates who oppressed the people.

Under Li Ji's blatant killing of the chicken to scare the monkeys, the remaining county magistrates almost all withered at once, feeling a chill on their necks even while sitting in the government office.

As if they were afraid that the next moment they would be like the Qiantang County magistrate, their heads staying in Wu County as guests, while their bodies would return home first.

Immediately, Li Ji slightly raised his hand.

A group of minor officials from the commandery entered in a line, carrying roll after roll of bamboo slips, distributing them to each county magistrate, with the number of bamboo slips in front of each county magistrate varying.

Some had only three or five rolls, while others had as many as ten or more.

The county magistrates couldn't help but quietly exchange glances, trying to find some useful information or answers from their colleagues, but they were all confused.

But before Li Ji opened his mouth, none of these county magistrates dared to directly open the bamboo slips in front of them, even though they were full of doubts and curiosity.

In fact, these were all copies of the Wu Commandery water conservancy plan that Li Ji had led a group of minor officials to transcribe overnight, and they were transcribed according to the area of each county town, with the corresponding area's copy given to each county magistrate.

As for the original Wu Commandery water conservancy plan, Li Ji had specially set aside a room in the government office to place and store it, and naturally wouldn't give the original to the county magistrates below.

Only now did a gentle smile appear on Li Ji's face, and he said.

"Gentlemen, you may now browse the bamboo slips in front of you at your leisure. I will explain the specific matters to you in detail after the new Qiantang County magistrate arrives."

After saying that, Li Ji got up and bowed to the county magistrates present, scaring many county magistrates to get up and return the salute.

Immediately, Li Ji left a minor official here to serve the county magistrates with tea, fruit, and the like, while he himself turned and left, heading to the side hall where Liu Bei usually worked to continue handling official business.

Even with Gu Yong handling the various internal affairs of Wu Commandery, the continuous stream of refugees pouring into Wu Commandery was still a complex and overwhelming task to handle and settle.

Li Ji naturally didn't have extra time to waste with the remaining county magistrates. While they were reading those bamboo slips, Li Ji was still squeezing time to coordinate and arrange various matters.

… …

On the other side, Gu Yong, leading a team of commandery soldiers, went straight to the posthouse.

Before Gu Yong could push open the door to the Qiantang County magistrate's room, the door was opened from the inside first.

Opening the door was a somewhat handsome scholar, wearing a scholar's robe that was a bit worn and faded, with many patches.

When the scholar saw Gu Yong outside the door, he quickly and respectfully saluted.

"Greetings, Lord Gu."

Gu Yong maintained a somewhat dull and honest expression on his face, nodding and returning the salute to this scholar.

Gu Yong was previously responsible for handing over with a group of county magistrates, so Gu Yong also had some impression of the scholar in front of him, and Gu Yong had also seen the specific records about Xu Wen in the official information that Li Ji gave him.

Xu Wen, the assistant magistrate of Qiantang County.

Born into poverty, he was originally just a reading companion for the young master of the Qiantang County magistrate's family, but he was much better at studying than the young master of the Qiantang County magistrate's family, and gradually revealed extraordinary talent.

However, due to his background, Xu Wen had no room for advancement at all.

Instead, the Qiantang County magistrate realized that Xu Wen was a promising talent and personally placed Xu Wen in the position of county assistant, handing over all government affairs to Xu Wen as if he were a hands-off shopkeeper.

Therefore, this is also why the Qiantang County magistrate often engaged in oppressing the people, but the overall situation in Qiantang County was actually quite good.

Furthermore, unlike the Qiantang County magistrate's various wealth-grabbing schemes, Xu Wen had not secretly accepted any bribes as county assistant for several years, and instead often advised the Qiantang County magistrate.

However, in the eyes of the Qiantang County magistrate, Xu Wen was still just a servant of his family.

In Gu Yong's view, this kind of thing could only be regarded as commonplace.

But what shocked Gu Yong was that Li Ji had never been to Qiantang County, so why would he know so much about Xu Wen's past?

Moreover, Gu Yong understood that Xu Wen was generally favored by Li Ji, so he naturally wouldn't be arrogant towards Xu Wen, but instead said with a smile.

"Lord Xu, congratulations."

"Ah?"

Xu Wen was slightly stunned, but he didn't understand where the joy came from at all, and instead continued to say.

"Please wait a moment, Lord Gu. My lord will be ready soon."

Just then, a somewhat impatient voice sounded in the room.

"What's the rush? Disturbing people's sweet dreams early in the morning is one thing, but rushing so urgently is another."

As the voice fell, a pot-bellied Qiantang County magistrate who seemed to be deliberately sticking out his stomach and walking with an splayed gait came out of the room.

After seeing Gu Yong, the Qiantang County magistrate's eyebrows clearly furrowed, and he scolded.

"You, a mere clerk, don't understand any rules?"

"What rules?" Gu Yong asked back in some confusion.

"You… …"

The Qiantang County magistrate pointed his finger at Gu Yong, wanting to say something, but seemed to have some concerns, and instead flicked his sleeves and said.

"Forget it, this official won't bother with a mere clerk. Lead the way."

"Oh, leading the way is no problem. I came here this time to send you on the road to the Yellow Springs."

Gu Yong still maintained that seemingly dull and honest expression, and instead slightly raised his chin towards the commandery soldiers beside him.

Immediately, under the Qiantang County magistrate's shocked and terrified gaze, several wolf-like commandery soldiers directly stepped forward and controlled him.

"What are you doing! What are you doing!"

The Qiantang County magistrate kept shouting.

Gu Yong then took out Li Ji's warrant and said.

"Didn't you just ask me if I understand the rules? I really don't understand your rules very well, but in Wu Commandery, we follow the rules set by the lord and Commandery Assistant. You violated the Commandery Assistant's rules, so I am ordered to take your head and hang it on the city gate for seven days, and your body will be sent back to the Qiantang city gate to hang."

In an instant, the Qiantang County magistrate's face almost turned completely white, with no more of his previous arrogant official authority, and instead he struggled and roared repeatedly, saying.

"What a joke? I am the Qiantang County magistrate, let alone you, a mere clerk, even if Commandery Assistant Li Ji were here, what qualifications would he have to lay a hand on me."

On this point, the Qiantang County magistrate was indeed correct.

In the Han system, the commandery administrator had a rank of 2,000 dan and led the military and political power of a commandery.

Although the commandery assistant was also an official, he only had a rank of 600 dan, the same as the county magistrate.

In a sense, the commandery assistant and the county magistrate were at the same level, and the commandery assistant did not have the direct power to deal with the county magistrate.

However, Gu Yong opened the warrant, and the seal on it not only had the Commandery Assistant's seal, but also had the great seal belonging to the commandery administrator.

"Is this enough?"

Gu Yong asked again.

"Impossible! Lord Liu is not in Wu Commandery at all. Lord Liu has clearly gone to Xu Province. Why would the warrant have Lord Liu's great seal."

The Qian Tang County Magistrate shouted in shock and bewilderment, questioning, “Fake! It must be fake! Li Ji is incredibly audacious, actually daring to forge an official seal, disregarding the laws of the imperial court. This is a crime punishable by execution of the entire family!”

“Release me! Do you intend to obey a false decree?” (End of Chapter)