Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The level of trust between them made Zhang Zhao suspect that even if Liu Bei were to suddenly die from a sudden illness, he might entrust all military and political power to Li Ji before his death.

And Li Ji…

"Perhaps he would also assist the young lord along the way, without giving rise to the slightest disloyal thought."

Zhang Zhao muttered to himself, feeling inexplicably relieved.

Perhaps, Jiaozhou, a place where Han Chinese, Southern蠻, and Baiyue people were mixed, was where the "art of checks and balances" could truly play its role.

Moreover, with both the lord and Marquis Guoshi possessing such magnanimity, Zhang Zhao need not worry about being exiled if he went to Jiaozhou.

"Zigang, it seems that you and I, brothers, will be heading to Jiaozhou soon to bring peace to the people of the Han Dynasty and ensure Jiaozhou's early return to allegiance…"

"Let's go together, let's go together!"

That night, the completely relieved Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong both fell drunk.

…

As for the arrangements for Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, Li Ji also personally met with Liu Bei to report.

These days were busy!

Not only were the civil officials in the state government busy, but also the generals under Liu Bei, and even Liu Bei himself, were extremely busy.

With Yangzhou initially stabilized, since preparations were being made to reform many systems, it was inevitable that land needed to be surveyed and household registrations remade throughout Yangzhou.

The Eastern Han Dynasty was corrupt and decaying, and the local aristocratic families were growing stronger day by day, which meant that there were inevitably a large number of unregistered and hidden households everywhere, and the land information registered by the government also had considerable deviations.

In addition, not only was there a serious problem of empty salaries in the former Wu Commandery, but the other commanderies and counties in Yangzhou were also the same.

Moreover, after experiencing the Wu Commandery defensive battle, the military households and soldiers may not have shown strong combat capabilities, but the mere ability to mobilize powerfully was enough to crush the contemporary commandery military system.

What's more, the soldiers of the military household system could be self-sufficient on weekdays.

Apart from the various benefits and treatments that the government needed to provide to the military households, tens of thousands of military households did not need to consume a single grain of rice from the granary on weekdays.

This was undoubtedly a great benefit for the sparsely populated Yangzhou, as it allowed the military households to cultivate fertile land and greatly save the military rations needed to support the soldiers on weekdays.

On this point alone, without Li Ji even needing to speak, everyone, including Liu Bei, realized the advanced nature of the military household system, and many generals were almost raising both hands and feet in agreement to implement the military household system throughout Yangzhou.

And Liu Bei himself, after Li Ji proposed the "Grand Military Exercise," was also busy preparing the venue and entertaining the various lords and aristocratic families who were about to come to Wu Commandery.

Although Liu Bei did not particularly welcome the aristocratic families, in order to initially carry out various reforms in Yangzhou, how could Yangzhou gain temporary stability and reduce opposition from the outside world? Demonstrating military force was undoubtedly an excellent way.

Looking at this matter from a broader perspective, it was like a small African country clamoring to change certain international rules, which would only be met with the iron fist of sanctions. However, if a permanent member of the Security Council felt that the three nautical mile rule was too narrow and simply changed it themselves, other countries would not dare to say anything.

The same was true for Yangzhou.

In the eyes of the world, Yangzhou was still largely seen as a sparsely populated, remote, and backward place, and making its own reforms might invite criticism from the world.

But if Yangzhou first showed enough strength and prosperity, then no matter what reforms were made, great Confucians would naturally defend Yangzhou, and perhaps even prompt many insightful people to begin a mode of reflection.

Moreover, Li Ji had even thought of a slogan for Liu Bei for this "Grand Military Exercise," which was "Make the Han Dynasty Great Again," so as to further solidify Liu Bei's reputation that everything he did was for the Han Dynasty.

When the time comes, heaven and earth will help; when luck departs, even heroes are not free.

Li Ji wanted to personally push the "luck" onto Liu Bei, so that Liu Bei could obtain as much of the Han Dynasty's legacy as possible, and then rebuild the Han Dynasty three times on this foundation.

Therefore, when Li Ji saw the busy Liu Bei, there was also a clear look of fatigue on Liu Bei's face.

And after listening to Li Ji's arrangements for Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, a look of admiration appeared on Liu Bei's face.

Being in Yangzhou, south of Kuaiji Commandery was the land of Jiaozhou, and Liu Bei was naturally no stranger to the situation in Jiaozhou.

It was just that that place was of no benefit to contending for hegemony in the world, and even investing too much energy in Jiaozhou at the moment would be a loss in the short term.

However, Jiaozhou also belonged to the territory of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bei was also troubled by how to make the people of Jiaozhou return to the Han Dynasty as soon as possible.

And Li Ji's arrangement was to prepare to strive for positions above the commandery governors for Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong in Jiaozhou, and then provide remote assistance from Yangzhou.

This was perhaps the most appropriate strategy at the moment, as it did not require sending troops to Jiaozhou, and it could also check and balance the various forces in Jiaozhou in a relatively peaceful way.

Virtue, prestige, and grace were used together to slowly plan for it.

Perhaps this would take a very long time, but for the Han Dynasty, which had already entered a chaotic world, it was undoubtedly the best choice.

"Zhang Zibu and Zhang Zigang both have great talents, but compared to Yuan Tan, they have a bit more bias and narrow-mindedness. Zikun's arrangement is quite appropriate."

Liu Bei expressed his approval, which meant that this matter would be decided in this way.

Moreover, in Liu Bei's mind, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong were never compared to Li Ji, but to Gu Yong, who came from an aristocratic family in Jiangdong.

Immediately, Li Ji further stated to Liu Bei that starting to slowly plan for Jiaozhou now and gradually developing it would also have many benefits for Yangzhou.

Jiaozhou was located south of Yangzhou, and after six or seven years of development, the maritime transport of Wu Commandery had entered a fairly complete stage.

Therefore, after Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong gained a firm foothold in Jiaozhou and used various advanced technologies to complete the initial development.

It was not that Yangzhou was unilaterally transfusing blood to Jiaozhou, but that it would open up a new maritime trade route, allowing Yangzhou and Jiaozhou to exchange what they had, and it was even possible for Jiaozhou to slowly evolve into a reserve granary for Yangzhou.

After all, the registered population of Jiaozhou was about two million, but if it could slowly win over the Southern蠻 and Baiyue people to integrate into the Han Dynasty, then perhaps the actual population of Jiaozhou could be more than doubled.

This clear and long-term plan description made Liu Bei couldn't help but nod repeatedly, and his eyes couldn't help but stare at Li Ji's chest from time to time.

This made Li Ji a little strange. After repeatedly confirming that there was nothing wrong with his chest, he couldn't help but ask.

"My lord, is there something wrong with me here?"

"I'm just curious how much more strategy is hidden in Zikun's chest," Liu Bei replied.

Li Ji smiled dumbly and said. "Hahaha, it can't be seen with the naked eye."

"Indeed."

Liu Bei stroked his beard and then said.

"Zikun, those aristocratic families in Yangzhou have been making trouble in the city again recently. Some of them don't know where they learned of my whereabouts, and even begged me."

"Let them make trouble for a few more days."

Li Ji replied, frowning slightly and saying.

"On the contrary, the matter of leaking the lord's whereabouts shows that the aristocratic families in Yangzhou are really deeply rooted. They can still have relationships to confirm the lord's whereabouts. If some aristocratic families have malicious intentions to assassinate the lord, wouldn't that be bad?"

"This matter may need to be investigated in detail. Please give me a few days, my lord, and I guarantee that I will not let any aristocratic family continue to harass the lord."

"Ah, this…"

Liu Bei's original intention was just to casually share this little thing, and to remind Li Ji not to let the aristocratic families in Wuxian who were making trouble interfere with the lives of the people.

But he didn't expect that this good intention seemed to be harming some aristocratic families.

However, Liu Bei actually quite enjoyed Li Ji's concern for his safety, and secretly investigating the whereabouts of superiors was a taboo in itself, so Liu Bei did not intend to speak for those aristocratic families.

It was better to leave the troublesome existence of aristocratic families to Zikun to handle fully. (End of this chapter)