Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The aristocratic families will inevitably not sit idly by and await their doom!

Each aristocratic family will definitely actively seek a way out.

The group represented by Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, mainly composed of the aristocratic families of Wu Commandery and Kuaiji Commandery, is already tied to the Liu Bei group in every aspect.

Their demands are obviously not entirely consistent with the demands of the other four commanderies of Yangzhou.

The aristocratic families represented by Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong hope to steadily get a seat at the table within the Liu Bei group, and they would not hesitate to secretly hinder Liu Bei to achieve this.

The other four commanderies' aristocratic families have a deeper understanding of the threat posed by Liu Bei. Once Liu Bei dominates Jiangdong, the interests of most aristocratic families will inevitably be damaged.

Therefore, driven by various factors, the aristocratic families of the four commanderies of Yangzhou chose to form an alliance and counterattack when Wu Commandery seemed to be in a state of weakness with loopholes everywhere.

It can be said that Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong are like the fishhook that Li Jite deliberately threw into the deep water of Jiangdong, stirring up the deep water and attracting all the fish hidden beneath the surface.

Otherwise, if Wu Commandery were to remain strong to the end, there would be no room for any aristocratic families.

Either the Jiangdong aristocratic families would have risen up early to counterattack, unanimously rejecting Liu Bei's existence; or they would have chosen to submit under the absolute pressure of Wu Commandery's strength, and then become hidden dangers that would be even more difficult to deal with afterward.

After all, Liu Bei practices benevolent governance and acts with benevolence internally, and he is based in this era in the name of benevolence and virtue.

If the aristocratic families choose to submit and welcome the king's army, Liu Bei cannot carry out massacres without reason and directly attack the Jiangdong aristocratic families who are outwardly submissive.

In this upheaval, each aristocratic family has its own ideas and purposes, and each believes that they are the ones calculating others.

Unfortunately, while they are using Yangzhou as a chessboard to play games and seek benefits, they are completely unaware that they are also pawns in the hands of Li Ji and Jia Xu.

Li Ji is very fond of a saying: 'Clean the house before inviting guests.'

At this moment, it is used in Yangzhou as: 'Clean the house before moving in,' otherwise, it will be much more troublesome to clean after moving in.

While martial law is imposed in various parts of Wu Commandery to prevent aristocratic families from jumping over the wall in desperation, it is also to prevent spies and scouts from transmitting intelligence and information.

It was still the hour of Yin, before dawn, and the sky was still dark.

In the area where the military households lived, faint oil lamps were lit in the brand-new residences.

One by one, strong men, with the help of their mothers or wives, groped in the dark to put on their leather armor…

The womenfolk all had tears in their eyes as they bid farewell to the young men of their families.

Niu Er.

Originally from Beihai, Qingzhou, his family had been farmers for generations. There were three brothers in the family. Because the old father didn't know a single character, Niu Er was the second oldest, so he was simply called Niu Er.

Because the three brothers were almost as strong as calves, the men in the family worked day and night in the fields. Occasionally, when they had free time, they hunted and fished. They were barely able to maintain their lives after paying heavy taxes.

In fact, Niu Er didn't understand the meaning of the various taxes with names he couldn't even pronounce.

He only knew that the county magistrate demanded so much. If they didn't pay, their fields would be used as collateral, and even their houses would be torn down.

Of course, as a new county magistrate was replaced every few days, sometimes the taxes to be paid would be higher, and sometimes the taxes to be paid would be lower.

And this was also Niu Er's greatest pride. The three brothers in his family all had great strength. Not only were they good at farming, but they were also quite good at hunting and fishing, unlike some neighbors who didn't have enough manpower in their families and couldn't afford to pay taxes, and were forced to sell their fields and didn't know where they went.

Niu Er believed that with his strength and enough effort, he would definitely be able to make his family live a good life.

Until that year when the Yellow Turbans caused trouble, Niu Er's life, which he had always been proud of and satisfied with, was completely shattered.

In order to avoid the Yellow Turbans, Niu Er's family took their remaining food and hid in the mountains. His father contracted a cold in the mountains and died of a serious illness, and his eldest brother, Niu Yi, also fell to his death while looking for medicinal herbs to treat his father in the mountains.

After the Yellow Turban Rebellion passed, Niu Er took his mother and younger brother, Niu Xiao, out of the mountains again and returned to the fields that had been passed down from generation to generation, preparing to work hard again and restore their past life.

The following year, the family's remaining food ran out, and it was clear that the grain would be harvested soon.

The subsequent drought and plague completely plunged Niu Er's life into despair.

Escape!

Escape!

Due to the spread of the plague, in order to survive, Niu Er had no choice but to take his mother and younger brother, Niu Xiao, away from their homeland and flee south all the way.

However, his younger brother, Niu Xiao, eventually died of an accidental infection with the plague.

Only Niu Er carried his old mother on his back, relying on the strength he had been proud of in the past, and walked one road after another, eating whatever he could, and fleeing south all the time.

Until he arrived in Xuzhou, Niu Er was occasionally able to get a bowl or two of thin porridge from the porridge stalls that distributed porridge to feed his old mother.

Moreover, Niu Er learned from the kind people who distributed porridge that this was the grace of Liu Xuande, the governor of Wu Commandery, and that if he went to Wu Commandery, he might even have rice to eat.

With hope rising in his heart again, Niu Er continued to carry his old mother south, took the ferry arranged by the Liu government and crossed the Yangtze River, and arrived at Wu Commandery.

In the refugee camp where countless refugees gathered, there was indeed porridge to eat every day, which made Niu Er extremely grateful to Lord Liu…

Even though the porridge later became thinner and thinner, and even contained a lot of sand, Niu Er only cursed the corrupt officials in secret, and was still grateful to Lord Liu.

Until Niu Er witnessed the rumored Lord Liu at close range, and witnessed Lord Liu sharing the sandy porridge with the refugees with tears in his eyes.

At that moment, Niu Er secretly vowed in his heart that after repaying his mother's kindness, he would serve Lord Liu to the death to repay his great life-saving grace.

Soon, Niu Er found an opportunity to repay Lord Liu and joined the so-called "work-for-relief"…

Niu Er didn't quite understand the specifics, but he could still understand that he could eat his fill by working, and his old mother could also eat her fill.

As for the subsequent talk about distributing fields and houses, Niu Er didn't really believe it.

However, after Niu Er continued to dig river channels for nearly a year, what made Niu Er ecstatic was that he was indeed allocated a house and fields.

Although the fields could only be barely considered newly reclaimed lower fields, this was something that Niu Er had never dared to dream of.

At this moment, Niu Er only hoped that the taxes could be collected a little less.

However, when the next harvest season arrived, Niu Er, who was worried, learned that he did not have to pay taxes for five years, but he needed to pay a portion to repay the loan.

Niu Er didn't understand the things with too many words, but when he saw that the family still had 70% of the harvested grain left, Niu Er knew that this was from the benevolence and virtue of Lord Liu.

Praise Lord Liu!

That day, Niu Er and his old mother knelt in front of the longevity tablet erected for Lord Liu in their home and once again sincerely thanked Lord Liu, and hoped that Lord Liu could stay in Wu Commandery forever, instead of being replaced by other corrupt officials.

Life was getting better day by day.

Niu Er's strength and efforts brought year after year of harvest to the family.

In the past five years, Niu Er not only married a woman he admired, but also had two big fat sons…

Until about half a year ago, a petty official went to Niu Er's place to promote the "military household system".

Over the years, Niu Er has been able to understand a lot more words.

After learning that the "military household system" was a policy promoted by the benevolent Lord Liu and the wise County Deputy Li, and that becoming a "military household" would enjoy a series of preferential treatments, Niu Er joined the military household without hesitation.

With his strength far superior to ordinary people, Niu Er was easily selected as a military household.

After that, Niu Er's family moved to a new place. From the mouth of a superior who often boasted that he had served as a guard for the wise County Deputy Li, Niu Er learned that the area he lived in was named "Wu 13th Military Village", and there were about 500 households living in this military village.

Subsequently, Niu Er's life became more regular. During non-farming seasons, he farmed with the women in his family on odd days, and on even days, he was subjected to various military drills and battle formations by his superiors.

And he could rest for two days each month, and even get a string of money as military pay each month.

This made Niu Er feel a little ashamed in his heart, feeling that he had joined the "military household system" out of the idea of repaying the benevolent Lord Liu, but instead he was still getting money from Lord Liu every month.

Until yesterday…

The superior, who always had a smiling face, gathered everyone in the military village and said with a solemn expression.

"Brothers, someone wants to destroy our lives…" (End of this chapter)