Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

It must be known that now Liu Bei has made Lady Gan his official wife, then A'dou is the eldest son in the true sense.

In the future, if Liu Bei achieves great success and is fortunate enough to ascend the throne, then A'dou will naturally be the crown prince, and Li Ji will become a maternal relative.

The status of maternal relatives in the Eastern Han Dynasty is beyond doubt.

The Three Dukes can rotate five or six times a year, but maternal relatives often hold positions second only to the emperor and above all others for as long as ten years, or even decades.

And compared to others, Liu Bei's most trusted and reliable choice for a maternal relative is undoubtedly Li Ji.

Therefore, Liu Bei thought of taking the opportunity to have Li Ji work harder in his spare time and have a daughter to marry A'dou, which would not only consolidate A'dou's position but also further consolidate Li Ji's influence.

However, Li Ji's concerns were not without reason, and Liu Bei had to reconsider this issue carefully before saying.

"Then it seems that I should work harder in my spare time and have a daughter to marry Xiang'er."

Li Ji blinked and cupped his hands, saying.

"I, Li Ji, thank you for your grace on behalf of Xiang'er."

A political marriage with a daughter is not feasible, but a son is not impossible.

Immediately, just as Li Ji was about to explain in further detail to Liu Bei how to castrate the aristocratic families of Yangzhou, Liu Bei waved his hand and said.

"After days of marching, Zikun must be tired. Moreover, this matter must be extremely complicated, and it may be difficult to explain in detail for a while."

"So Zikun should go down and rest, and then boldly carry it out. It's not too late to report the details in writing afterward."

Li Ji did not force it, and followed Liu Bei's intention, retreating to rest.

However, when Li Ji went to the room arranged for him to rest in the county office, Sun Ce, accompanied by Zhou Yu, had been waiting in front of the door for a long time.

Li Ji sighed slightly, and while letting the vigilant Xu Chu guard the door, he led Sun Ce and Zhou Yu into the room.

After entering the room and closing the door, Sun Ce knelt down to Li Ji on the spot, and said with a bit of a sob.

"Teacher, Ce'er seeks a plan to avenge his father!"

For Sun Ce at this moment, it was as if he had found a reliance and a backbone.

Sun Ce was only sixteen years old. He had become Li Ji's disciple at the age of ten and had followed Li Ji for six years, which accounted for more than half of Sun Ce's entire life since he had memories.

In name, he was a teacher, but in Sun Ce's eyes, Li Ji was no exaggeration to say that he was like a teacher and a father.

Relatively speaking, Sun Jian had not returned to Wu Commandery in these six years, and Sun Ce had not seen Sun Jian for six years. The two sides only had occasional correspondence on a regular basis.

Sun Ce's memory of Sun Jian had become almost blurred, making Sun Ce's closeness and trust in Li Ji even greater than that of Sun Jian.

But this does not change the fact that Sun Jian is Sun Ce's biological father.

As a son, with Sun Ce's staunch character, how could he not avenge his biological father?

Therefore, upon seeing the backbone in his heart, Sun Ce, like a wronged child, told Li Ji how much bullying he had suffered.

But this, on the contrary, made Zhou Yu, who had followed Sun Ce in, feel a little embarrassed.

Zhou Yu and Sun Ce had become sworn brothers, vowing to share blessings and hardships together. In principle, Sun Ce's elders were also Zhou Yu's elders.

But Sun Ce suddenly knelt down to Li Ji, completely giving Zhou Yu no chance to find an excuse to avoid it beforehand.

For a time, as a sworn brother, should Zhou Yu kneel or not?

Helpless, Zhou Yu could only kneel on one knee to Li Ji along with Sun Ce, in order to fulfill the brotherhood.

And Li Ji did not care about Zhou Yu's momentary entanglement in his heart, but looked at Sun Ce with a bit of helplessness in his eyes, and said.

"Ce'er must already know about your father's campaign against Dong Zhuo and the hidden jade seal, right?"

"Yes!"

Sun Ce replied with his head down.

After Huang Gai and others found Sun Ce in a disheveled state, they naturally did not dare to hide anything from Sun Ce, and almost revealed everything in detail.

Including Sun Jian's entire process of participating in the alliance, how he accidentally obtained the jade seal, how he had conflicts with the anti-Dong Zhuo allied forces, and then was ambushed and killed on the way back to Changsha with his army in a hurry.

"Does Ce'er blame me for not dissuading General Sun?" Li Ji asked.

"Ce is not an ungrateful person. My father was blinded by greed for a while and failed to listen to good advice. It was his own fault."

"However, blood is thicker than water, and I dare not not avenge my father's great revenge!"

Sun Ce replied with red eyes.

This made Li Ji feel quite gratified in secret. Perhaps Sun Ce's character was also staunch, but under Li Ji's years of influence, he was no longer the kind of character who could not listen to good advice.

Immediately, Li Ji helped Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, who were kneeling on the ground, up and let them sit down before continuing to speak.

"The one who killed General Wentai was Huang Zu, a general under Liu Biao of Jing Province. However, Liu Biao is a member of the Han imperial family and a brother of the same clan as the lord. Without a reason, the lord will definitely not rashly attack him."

Sun Ce heard this and said, gritting his teeth.

"Then please, Teacher, lend me three thousand naval soldiers. Now that I have not yet reached adulthood and have not yet served as an official, I cannot be truly considered the lord's general. If I lead troops to take revenge on Liu Biao and Huang Zu on my own, it will not damage the lord's reputation."

Li Ji's eyes narrowed slightly, he secretly glanced at Zhou Yu, and then asked.

"How does Ce'er plan to take revenge? Could it be that you want to lead three thousand naval soldiers up the long river and directly take Xiangyang?"

"No!"

Sun Ce replied in a deep voice.

"I want to lead three thousand soldiers straight to Changsha, inherit my father's position, and then first sweep through the four counties of Jingnan, and then concentrate the troops of the four counties to cross the Yangtze River and directly take Xiangyang, taking the heads of Liu Biao and Huang Zu to pay homage to my father's spirit in heaven. What does Teacher think?"

Li Ji did not answer directly, but turned to look at Zhou Yu and said. "This one must be Ce'er's sworn brother, right?"

Zhou Yu heard this and saluted without arrogance or impetuosity.

"Zhou Yu from Lujiang pays respects to the Marquis of National Talent."

Li Ji nodded and then replied. "Does Zhou Lang think Ce'er's plan is feasible?"

Zhou Yu's heart tightened slightly, but on the surface, his expression remained the same. After pondering for a while, he said.

"If operated properly, it can be greatly accomplished. Moreover, even if it fails to successfully kill Huang Zu, it can also greatly damage the strength of Jing Province, making it difficult for Liu Biao to control the four counties of Jingnan, which is also greatly beneficial to… Yangzhou."

Zhou Yu's strategic and tactical vision is beyond doubt.

From the perspective of Yangzhou, it only needs to support Sun Ce with some soldiers in the early stage to promote Sun Ce to go to Changsha to try to control Jing Province. Regardless of whether the final result is successful or not, it will be a great weakening for Jing Province.

Once the four counties of Jingnan are lost, coupled with the fact that Yuan Shu basically still has the final say in Nanyang County, Liu Biao's territory and population actually controlled in Jing Province, nominally the governor of Jing Province, will be less than half.

Moreover, with Sun Ce's courage and Zhou Yu's wisdom, it is difficult to say whether they can cross the river and defeat Liu Biao, but the four counties of Jingnan really have a great probability of being taken into Sun Ce's control with thunderous force.

Of course, no one knows a disciple better than his teacher.

Li Ji can be sure that with Sun Ce's wisdom, he would never have thought of first taking the four counties of Jingnan as a foothold before crossing the river to attack Liu Biao.

This plan is probably Zhou Yu's plan, and it is probably also related to Huang Gai and others' vigorous encouragement of Sun Ce to take revenge, which made Sun Ce form such an idea.

The only thing Li Ji is a little unsure of is what Zhou Yu's starting point for proposing this plan is.

Is it just to assist his sworn brother Sun Ce in taking revenge?

Or is it because he knows that it is difficult to stand out, so he takes the opportunity to let Sun Ce lead an army alone, and then assist Sun Ce in sweeping through Jing Province to make a name for himself in the world?

Or even, Zhou Yu sees through that Liu Bei will not attack Jing Province due to righteousness, making the four counties of Jingnan a promising foothold for a while.

So as long as Sun Ce takes the four counties of Jingnan and then seizes the opportunity to cross the Yangtze River and defeat Liu Biao, then Sun Ce will also have the opportunity to become a warlord.

It's just a pity that Zhou Yu probably doesn't know that in Lujiang, he is only slightly famous for his handsomeness.

Once a "Zhou Yu Understanding Contest" is held, I am afraid that Zhou Yu himself will have to rank second under Li Ji.

And facing Li Ji's calm gaze that seems to be able to see through people's hearts, Zhou Yu feels inexplicably nervous, but more of it is confidence.

Zhou Yu is confident that the conditions and benefits he has proposed are those that Li Ji cannot refuse.

(End of this chapter)