Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The war stirred up by the Western Qiang, seemingly unrelated to Wu Commandery in Yangzhou, in reality, had no impact on the surface.

If there were any changes, it was that with the resurgence of the war, the price of grain in the Central Plains, which had already experienced a natural disaster, rose again, leading to an increase in refugees.

As Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence spread wider and wider, more and more refugees, harboring a glimmer of hope, continued to move south.

If Kuaiji Commandery had not been substantially controlled by Liu Bei, the continuous influx of refugees would have indeed become a minor problem for Wu Commandery.

At least, before the water conservancy renovation project was fully completed and the soon-to-be-reclaimed farmland produced grain, the current capacity of Wu Commandery to accommodate refugees had reached a considerable limit.

However, as Jia Xu, through Guo Yi's hand in Kuaiji Commandery, drastically purged corrupt officials and powerful clans, the amount of land that could be distributed undoubtedly increased immediately.

Especially since the area of Kuaiji Commandery was twice that of Wu Commandery, but the population was less than half of Wu Commandery's current population.

Although the southern part of Kuaiji Commandery was almost entirely continuous mountains, it could definitely be described as sparsely populated, and Kuaiji Commandery also had a longer coastline.

Even if it fully developed the fishing industry, it could support a large population.

Therefore, for the continuous stream of refugees pouring into Wu Commandery, Wu Commandery now acted more as a transit point, transporting them in batches to Kuaiji Commandery by sea to address the problem of insufficient population in Kuaiji Commandery.

As news of the war in the north continued to arrive, unsurprisingly, the commander of the Han army was none other than Lu Zhi, who was appointed General of Chariots and Cavalry, while Dong Zhuo was appointed Colonel and sent to the Three Auxiliary Regions to suppress the rebellion.

Moreover, Sun Jian, as a Separate Command Commandant, was also among them.

However, the Western Qiang cavalry, claiming to number 200,000, was overwhelming in its momentum. Even though Lu Zhi was extremely cautious and proceeded step by step, the imperial decree did not allow the loss of an inch of land in the Three Auxiliary Regions, urging Lu Zhi to lead his troops out of the city to fight, forcing Lu Zhi to repeatedly lead his troops to fight the Western Qiang in the wilderness.

Although Lu Zhi's ability to command troops was remarkable, in the wilderness, infantry fighting cavalry, coupled with the fact that the Han army was not dominant in strength, was almost continuously suppressed. The war situation deteriorated, and he had to fight and retreat, holding fast to the city.

This made Wu Commandery, besides Liu Bei, have one more person who worried about the war every day: Madam Wu.

Therefore, after Liu Bei learned of the latest war situation in Liang Province, he often went to the Sun family to inform Madam Wu.

Even if Liu Bei occasionally did not have time to go in person, he would specifically send someone to deliver the war report to Madam Wu, so as to prevent Madam Wu from worrying about Sun Jian's safety.

And Liu Bei truly lived up to his promise to Sun Jian in Julu, taking good care of the elderly, weak, women, and children of the Sun family who remained in Wu Commandery.

Previously, when Madam Wu was about to give birth to her third son, Sun Xu, Liu Bei not only sent a large number of doctors but also did not forget to send various supplies needed for infants, which could truly be described as attentive care.

However, due to the unfavorable situation in the northern war, Liu Bei, who was concerned about the country and the people, had rarely shown a relaxed smile on his face in the past two months.

He was worried that the Western Qiang rebels would completely capture the Three Auxiliary Regions and that Lu Zhi would be persecuted and imprisoned by various factions in the court due to the unfavorable war situation.

After all, Lu Zhi had neither joined the aristocratic party nor maintained a distance from the eunuchs and imperial relatives. He was honest, upright, and incorruptible, and there were almost no flaws in his moral character.

Therefore, in fact, Lu Zhi's situation in the court was that almost everyone wanted to win him over, but everyone also rejected him.

Now that Lu Zhi was the commander-in-chief and the war situation was unfavorable, this undoubtedly gave the imperial relatives and eunuchs in the court the best excuse.

"Alas, Zikun, do you have any good strategies? I am really worried that one day news will come that Master Lu has been imprisoned," Liu Bei said with a sigh.

Li Ji was equally helpless about this.

The Three Auxiliary Regions were more than a thousand miles away from Wu Commandery. Even if a messenger traveled day and night, it would take at least half a month for a round trip.

Not to mention that Li Ji did not know the specific war situation in the Three Auxiliary Regions in detail, even if he knew everything, such a lag would make any strategy meaningless in the ever-changing battlefield.

Therefore, Li Ji could only comfort him softly.

"My lord, there is no need to worry. Lord Lu has the merit of pacifying the Yellow Turbans, and even if it is worse, there will be no danger to his life."

Of course, if Lu Zhi, as the commander-in-chief, lost the war and could not make any achievements in the short term, it would be inevitable that he would be completely squeezed out of the court by the eunuchs and imperial relatives.

However, in order to avoid Liu Bei's excessive worry about his mentor, Li Ji did not say this.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei said with a face full of unwillingness.

"The unfavorable war situation, how can it be Master Lu's fault? If it were not for the treacherous officials in the court who repeatedly advised His Majesty to order Master Lu to take the initiative to attack and resist the Western Qiang rebels outside the Three Auxiliary Regions, how could Master Lu, who was forced to fight, have repeatedly suffered defeats and been forced to defend the city after suffering heavy losses?"

"Especially the slander of that eunuch Zhang Rang, claiming that Master Lu had completely pacified the millions of Yellow Turbans in just a few months, and the Qiang people are just a small foreign race, and the troops he leads are only 200,000. As long as Master Lu is wholeheartedly for the public and has no intention of raising bandits for self-respect, he will surely win."

"Hateful! The country has such treacherous officials, harboring evil intentions, and even in the face of a dangerous war situation, they still do not forget to fight for power and profit. I wish I could kill them with my own hands!"

Looking at Liu Bei's expression, which contained anger in his unwillingness, Li Ji's heart was equally helpless.

However, this kind of thing was really too normal.

There were really too many armchair strategists who directed from a distance.

Compared with Yue Fei's grievances, Lu Zhi's situation was not considered unjust.

Lu Zhi was too upright and did not form factions for personal gain, which inevitably made him a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh of countless people in the current Han court.

And the changes in the situation were as Li Ji had expected.

As Lu Zhi had to repeatedly fight in the wilderness to cope with the imperial decree and suffered heavy losses, and then used the city to carry out the defensive stage, this made the two sides enter a stalemate.

The Qiang people were all cavalry and were not good at attacking cities. It was almost impossible to break through the city personally guarded by Lu Zhi.

This made the war situation temporarily stalemate, and as winter was approaching and it began to snow in the north, the Qiang people would have to choose to temporarily withdraw their troops.

The court issued an order, clearly that Lu Zhi, who had contributed to resisting the Qiang people and defending the Three Auxiliary Regions, was stripped of his official position and imprisoned on the grounds of "ineffective in defeating the bandits." Instead, Huangfu Song was appointed by the court as the new commander of the Han army.

Moreover, since the Qiang people had to withdraw their troops due to the winter, even if Huangfu Song had just taken office, it was naturally impossible to let the Qiang people retreat unscathed.

Therefore, Huangfu Song took advantage of the Qiang people's retreat and ambushed them along the way, beheading more than a thousand people, which could be regarded as saving some face for the Han court.

However, Huangfu Song's performance could only be said to be at a normal level, but it became the last straw that confirmed Lu Zhi's crime of "ineffective in defeating the bandits."

Although discerning people could see that Lu Zhi's merits outweighed his faults, most people were mediocre, and with the tacit understanding formed by various factions, Lu Zhi was directly stripped of all official positions.

However, Li Ji, who had expected this, secretly used He Miao's connections and asked He Miao to persuade General He Jin to add a clause to Lu Zhi's punishment: exile to the land of Wu and Kuaiji.

By the time Lu Zhi's matter was settled, the end of the year was approaching. Liu Bei was both saddened and helpless by the fact that his teacher had ended up in such a state.

And because Lu Zhi was to be exiled to the land of Wu and Kuaiji, Liu Bei almost immediately sent Xiahou Bo to Sili to escort Lu Zhi along the way.

But even so, Liu Bei, who had truly and thoroughly seen the extent of the corruption of the current court for the first time, undoubtedly had some beliefs in his heart that were greatly impacted, so that he was not in a good mood every day.

Seeing this, Li Ji simply said.

"My lord, why not go for a walk outside with Ji?"

For Li Ji's rare initiative to invite him, even though Liu Bei's original interest was not high, he still mustered some energy and replied with a smile.

"Since Zikun invites me, I will naturally follow."

Immediately, Liu Bei and Li Ji got up and walked out of the side hall of the government office.

Just looking at the fine snow falling outside at this moment, Liu Bei suddenly turned around and walked into the house, saying.

"Zikun, wait a moment."

After saying that, Liu Bei walked into the side hall.

When Liu Bei came out again, Liu Bei was carrying a hand warmer that could be used for warmth, and then he put the hand warmer into Li Ji's hand, saying.

"Zikun, please bring this with you, lest your fingers get frostbitten."

"What about the lord?" Li Ji asked subconsciously.

"Has Zikun forgotten that I still practice martial arts diligently every day? A little wind and frost is naturally harmless to me," Liu Bei replied with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Li Ji no longer pretended to decline.

After all, the winter in the land of Wu and Kuaiji was still quite humid and cold, and it was even more uncomfortable when it snowed.

Immediately, Liu Bei and Li Ji walked side by side outside the government office, but when passing through the main hall, both Liu Bei and Li Ji slowed down a lot.

Liu Bei was worried about disturbing the work of the civil servants such as Mi Zhu, Jian Yong, and Gu Yong who were on duty in the main hall, while Li Ji was purely a little guilty.

After all, as Wu Commandery gradually moved into the right track and became stable, and a group of civil servants such as Gu Yong had completely grown up, Li Ji actually needed to personally intervene or handle official affairs less and less every day.

For Li Ji, what he was doing now was to maintain the general framework and strategic direction of Wu Commandery and to handle some urgent and major affairs.

Therefore, don't look at the fact that less than an hour had passed since the roll call in the government office, and the civil servants in the main hall were busy, but Li Ji had already finished handling his own affairs at hand.

Especially with the end of the year approaching, the annual accounting must also be calculated, so almost all officials under Li Ji had no free time.

If Mi Zhu, Jian Yong, Gu Yong, and the others were to see Li Ji carrying a small hand warmer and strolling out of the government office with Liu Bei, they might just block Li Ji's door with a mountain of official duties tomorrow.

Fortunately, Mi Zhu and the others were swamped and in a frenzy, with many minor officials bustling in and out of the government office.

Therefore, even though Liu Bei and Li Ji passed slowly in front of the main hall, Mi Zhu and the others didn't notice Li Ji at all. (End of Chapter)