Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 29: Zikun, What Do You Think?

In the evening, the feast was enjoyed by both host and guests.

Perhaps the dishes and dances arranged by Liu Bei were inferior to those of Liu Yan, but there was no scheming or deception at the banquet, so Li Ji felt more relaxed and at ease, enjoying the unique characteristics of this era to the fullest.

When Li Ji woke up drunk the next day, the sun was already high in the sky, and Liu Bei was lying beside him, snoring loudly.

Li Ji's expression collapsed in an instant as he desperately tried to recall what happened last night.

Suddenly, Li Ji realized that he and Liu Bei were both sleeping fully clothed, and he relaxed.

'Drunkenness leads to mistakes! Drunkenness leads to mistakes!'

Li Ji reflected on himself, deeply feeling that he had been too relaxed and happy last night, and it was also the first time since coming to this era that he could drink heartily with peace of mind, so much so that he didn't even realize he had gotten drunk.

When Li Ji got up to wash, he couldn't help but sigh as he looked at his reflection in the water.

'One night of indulgence, and I'm so haggard. From today onwards... I quit drinking!!!'

Afterward, Li Ji woke Liu Bei up, and the two went to a corner of the Peach Garden where the two thousand children were settled, not forgetting to order servants to purchase some snacks that the children liked from Zhuo County.

Soon, with Liu Bei's kind face and the bribery of snacks, Liu Bei easily mingled with the children.

The joyful expressions on those faces, many of which were malnourished, made Liu Bei secretly shed tears and say to Li Ji.

"Even if these children fail to establish the Brocade-Clothed Guard, I still want to raise them."

Li Ji shook his head and said.

"Brother Xuande, you can raise them for a while, but how can you raise them for a lifetime? In such a world, only by restoring prosperity can such tragedies be prevented."

Liu Bei was silent for a moment before sighing.

"Zikun is right. Raising a thousand people is just small benevolence, while restoring prosperity is great benevolence. But I don't know if I can achieve that level in my lifetime."

Li Ji didn't respond, his eyes looking at the children in front of him, his heart also filled with a lot of emotions.

Only by truly experiencing a chaotic world can one understand how cheap and humble human life is in this world.

This also made Li Ji instinctively want to change the chaos, just like the education he had learned in his childhood, which sprouted and grew over the years, permeating his heart.

"Brother Xuande, do you know why I study?" Li Ji asked.

It was the first time Liu Bei had heard Li Ji take the initiative to reveal his inner thoughts, and he quickly asked.

"Why?"

Li Ji slowly replied.

"I study to make my Han people always stand at the top of the world, and I study to ensure that the old are cared for and the young are educated."

Liu Bei's eyes widened a lot, looking at Li Ji beside him with shock, his face calm, but his eyes seemed to be surging with waves.

'So, this is Zikun?'

Liu Bei thought silently, but suddenly felt a sense of peace in his heart.

'With Zikun here, how can I let the Great Han decline?'

Afterward, Liu Bei and Li Ji were both immersed in their own thoughts, and neither of them spoke for a long time.

"Zikun, these children mostly use nicknames, and some children don't even know their father's surname."

After a pause, Liu Bei looked at Li Ji and said. "I intend to give them surnames. I also believe that these children will eventually become an important cornerstone of our two ideals."

"Okay."

Li Ji nodded, agreeing with Liu Bei's idea.

In fact, if Li Ji didn't understand the propriety of the situation and knew that this kind of thing was more suitable for Liu Bei to do personally, he would have used this method to win over the hearts of these children, enhance their sense of identity and cohesion.

"I want to give the males the surname Liu, and the females the surname Li, collectively known as the Peach Garden Group," Liu Bei said.

Suddenly, Li Ji looked at Liu Bei with a hint of surprise, not knowing whether Liu Bei was simply alluding to something with this, or whether he had almost integrated the winning of people's hearts into his instinct.

'Brother Xuande, you are not only trying to win over the hearts of these children, but also want to win over my heart as well.'

Li Ji sighed secretly, but he didn't mean to refuse Liu Bei's intention.

This kind of thing also had benefits for Li Ji.

With the granting of surnames first, even if the "Peach Garden Group" truly established the "Brocade-Clothed Guard" in the future, Liu Bei and Li Ji's status in their hearts would be like parents.

Even if the "Brocade-Clothed Guard" was handed over to others to manage, it would be enough to ensure that Liu Bei and Li Ji could influence and control the "Brocade-Clothed Guard" at any time.

After Liu Bei and Li Ji walked around the "Peach Garden Group", except for leaving Guan Yu to train the soldiers in the camp, the two hurried to Zhuo County to visit Liu Yan under the guard of the cavalry led by Zhang Fei.

The cooperation between Liu Bei and Liu Yan was facilitated by Li Ji. Now that Liu Bei has returned to Zhuo County, no matter what the reason, Liu Bei still needs to meet with Liu Yan.

Liu Yan was quite satisfied with Liu Bei's initiative to visit.

Subsequently, under the intentional maintenance of the two Han clan relatives with the legacy of Emperor Gaozu, the relationship between the two looked less like uncle and nephew, and even more harmonious and loving than biological father and son, a scene of fatherly kindness and filial piety.

The cooperation between the two also progressed further.

Liu Yan's request was for Liu Bei to lead his troops south as soon as possible to defeat the bandits, so as to gain enough political capital to promote the "Provincial Shepherd Policy" and be appointed as a Provincial Shepherd.

Liu Bei's request, in essence, in addition to killing bandits and pacifying the people, and supporting the common people, also hoped to take this opportunity to reproduce the glory of his ancestor, Prince Jing of Zhongshan, and ride in a feather-covered carriage.

Soon, the money, food, war horses, etc. that Liu Yan had promised before were quickly arranged and sent to the camp outside the Peach Garden. Liu, Guan, and Zhang were also mostly busy training soldiers every day.

Previously, Liu Bei had only two thousand soldiers, and coupled with the lack of various weapons, there was naturally no need to divide them into front and rear armies and different arms.

It was only necessary for the two thousand soldiers under his command to be able to basically understand the command flags and swarm up.

In essence, in Li Ji's view, that was a proper group of rabble.

However, because this group of rabble was protecting their hometown, their morale was extremely high. Coupled with the fact that the targets of the battle were the Yellow Turban bandits who were in chaos in the dense forest and thick fog, they also exerted considerable combat power.

However, if the two sides were to line up for a decisive battle, this kind of rabble without distinction between front and rear and different arms would probably not be far from disintegration after a few rounds of pushing and collision with well-trained elite soldiers.

With Liu Yan's support at the cost of draining the Zhuo County treasury, various types of weapons such as long spears, large shields, Han swords, knives, and axes were also complete, enough to equip the six thousand soldiers under Liu Bei's command.

Therefore, Liu, Guan, and Zhang can be said to have started a large-scale military training, not hesitating to provide a large amount of meat to improve the morale of their soldiers, so as not to cause resentment under the high-intensity training.

It was a pity that Liu Bei didn't have much time left. In order to avoid changes in the Jizhou battlefield, and with Liu Yan's constant urging, he was afraid that Liu Bei would take advantage of the situation and stay in Zhuo County without moving.

Therefore, Liu Bei had to hastily integrate his soldiers in half a month and had to start leading his troops south.

In addition to leaving Jian Yong in the Peach Garden to be responsible for the "Peach Garden Group", there were also more than a dozen old servants and one hundred soldiers in the Peach Garden.

"Xianhe, the Peach Garden Group will be temporarily entrusted to you," Liu Bei bowed to Jian Yong and thanked him.

"I will definitely not fail Xuande's trust," Jian Yong replied solemnly.

Li Ji also stepped forward, took out a bamboo slip from his sleeve and handed it to Jian Yong, saying.

"Xianhe, this is what I have hastily summarized recently, most of which are the arrangements for the Peach Garden Group for the next half year or so, which can be trained in sequence."

"Zikun, rest assured," Jian Yong also agreed one by one.

Immediately, Liu Bei turned over and mounted his horse, waving goodbye to the Peach Garden Group gathered in front of the Peach Garden Manor, and then pulled the reins and led the crowd to march slowly.

When passing through the gate of Zhuo County, Liu Yan also led a large number of officials from Zhuo County to wait for a long time, doing a lot of superficial work to convey Liu Yan's intention to suppress the bandits to the world.

When he really left Zhuo County and started leading his troops south, Zhang Fei, who had been holding back a stomach full of displeasure, shouted.

"That old thing is full of hypocrisy. It's really annoying to look at. I can't wait to stab him seven or eight holes with a snake spear."

Everyone was a little powerless to complain about Zhang Fei's words of venting, and they also knew that this was Zhang Fei's nature, so they let him vent on his own.

Liu Yan is, after all, the governor of a commandery and a relative of the Han clan. Looking at the entire Han Dynasty, he is also a political existence that cannot be ignored.

Although the world is now plagued by Yellow Turban bandits, the Han Dynasty is only about to decay, not already gone. The crime of killing a governor is enough to be valued and suppressed by the Han Dynasty.

In contrast, Guan Yu was quite interested in the bamboo slip that Li Ji handed to Jian Yong before parting, and asked.

"Master Zikun, is the bamboo slip you gave to Xianhe recording some special method of training soldiers?"

Li Ji shook his head and said.

"If I were good at training soldiers, how could I hide my clumsiness and not teach Yunchang?"

Guan Yu heard this and quickly explained. "Guan is not of this intention, but only curious."

"The arrangements in the bamboo slip are mostly to let them be self-reliant and literate, and to try out some strategies," Li Ji said vaguely, and Guan Yu understood and did not ask further.

In fact, even if the bamboo slip that Li Ji said was placed in front of Liu, Guan, and Zhang, they would not understand the secrets in it, and even Jian Yong, the executor, would not understand the deep meaning.

What is written in the bamboo slip, in addition to letting Jian Yong teach the Peach Garden Group to read regularly, is to order Jian Yong to let the Peach Garden Group carry out necessary farming, weaving, etc. It seems that this is just a way to reduce the cost of raising the Peach Garden Group.

However, Li Ji was intentionally using this method to secretly test a system—the "military household system."

The military household system was a brilliant strategy employed by Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu Emperor of Ming, to maintain a large army amidst internal and external troubles and widespread recovery efforts, famously claiming to "raise a million soldiers without costing the people a single grain."

Although, from a later perspective, the military household system had its flaws, and even ultimately exacerbated land annexation in the late Ming Dynasty, corrupted the army's combat effectiveness, and contributed to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

However, discussing a system apart from its era is simply being a hooligan!

In prosperous times, the military household system was more harmful than beneficial; in chaotic times, Li Ji believed that the military household system was absolutely a great weapon for pacifying the world.

Of course, the military household system itself can also be considered a type of "military agriculturalism," originating from the Zhao State during the Warring States period, frequently appearing in the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, with Cao Cao being the first to implement "military agriculturalism" on a large scale during the late Han Dynasty.

However, there are also various subtle differences between the military household system and normal military agriculturalism.

Li Ji did not dare to draw conclusions rashly on such far-reaching policy matters, so he secretly conducted trials through the Taoyuan group to collect various feedback for subsequent verification and discussion.

'Better safe than sorry…'

'Xuande's foundation is weak, so I can only make various preparations early on.'

Li Ji thought silently, also beginning the first military expedition of his life.

Obviously, this was not a friendly or comfortable experience.

Although, in comparison, Li Ji only needed to ride on horseback, without having to walk on his own two feet like many soldiers, he still found it quite arduous and unbearable.

Moreover, the process of marching was often exceptionally monotonous.

Not only for the commanding generals, but even more so for the soldiers.

Fortunately, it was still spring, not the rainy season or the cold winter, and Youyan mostly consisted of plains, so the morale of the army was maintained quite well.

Only after experiencing it firsthand did Li Ji truly understand why, if it wasn't a truly strong army, the rainy season and winter would almost be a death sentence.

Presumably, for an ordinary army, if everyone suffered from the cold and got drenched in the rain, not to mention whether the morale of the army would collapse, I'm afraid that many would fall ill on the spot, and how could they maintain basic combat effectiveness?

Therefore, even Li Ji, who was riding a warhorse and occasionally able to read books to relieve boredom, still felt it was hard work, so one can imagine how difficult it was for the soldiers who marched step by step on foot.

However, under the constant urging of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, and after marching south for about seven days to the edge of Zhuo Commandery, the appearance of these soldiers changed, truly gaining some of the resolute aura of soldiers.

As they approached the edge of Ji Province, the Yellow Turban rebels, appearing in groups of three or five to plunder everywhere, invigorated the spirits of the generals and soldiers who had been feeling extremely bored after half a month of marching.

Immediately, Zhang Fei's thousand cavalrymen were divided into ten teams to suppress those Yellow Turban rebels, while Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Li Ji gathered together to spread out a map and study it.

This map was obtained from Liu Yan, and it was not a topographic map suitable for military use, only indicating the general directions of various areas in Ji Province.

Next was the most important issue: the marching route.

For Liu Bei at this time, there was very little information from the Ji Province battlefield; he only knew that Lu Zhi was leading the Han army in a fierce battle with Zhang Jiao around Guangzong County, and that the Yellow Turban's base camp was located in Julu.

As for the specific troop deployment of the Yellow Turban rebels, Liu Bei's side knew very little.

Therefore, if the marching route was slightly careless, and Liu Bei's six thousand men encountered the main force of the Yellow Turban rebels head-on, it would be a big problem.

In the end, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei pondered for a long time, then looked at Li Ji and asked.

"Zikun, what do you think?"