Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The sorrowful sound seemed to alter the atmosphere within the hall. Some of the musicians, who were originally playing, appeared startled, their movements faltering, causing the melody to become disjointed.

The performers in the middle of the hall also made mistakes, descending into chaos.

Instantly, the performers and musicians wore looks of fear, unsure of what to do.

The dignitaries filling the hall were clearly not people these performers and musicians could afford to offend. Any anger directed at them, even a spark, would be enough to incinerate everything connected to them.

However, Li Ji, who saw through all of this, understood that this scene had been prepared for him.

He guessed that the Yu Province aristocratic families had secretly bribed some of the performers and musicians to create chaos, in order to cooperate with the family representative's speech and draw Li Ji's attention.

Otherwise, even if someone cried out during the banquet, Li Ji could simply ignore it, and within a few breaths, someone would "invite" the crying person out of the banquet, causing no ripples whatsoever.

But if the performers and musicians all made mistakes at the same time, it would be difficult to ignore, and Li Ji would find it inconvenient to turn a deaf ear.

At this moment, the hearts of the aristocratic families and powerful clans were also unconsciously racing, secretly observing Li Ji's reaction.

Would it be displeasure and anger, would he turn a blind eye, or would he take the opportunity to intervene…?

Li Ji's various reactions would deeply affect the future of the Yu Province aristocratic families and powerful clans, and even influence their attitude towards Liu Bei in the future.

Li Ji's gaze swept across the room and then landed on Guo Ling, the family representative who had been pushed forward to cry out, causing Guo Ling to involuntarily lower his head, his body trembling slightly.

To incur the Marquis's displeasure would be a catastrophe for the current Yu Province aristocratic families.

Even with the promises of benefits from many Yu Province aristocratic families, Guo Ling couldn't help but feel fear as the moment arrived.

For no other reason than that Li Ji's prestige and power were too great, and the matter of Liu Bei inheriting the Mandate of Heaven was gradually gaining widespread recognition even among the aristocratic families.

If borrowing the north wind was a coincidence, then how could one explain the celestial dog devouring the sun, or the Yellow Heaven Sage being burned to death by the azure fire?

How could such things not make the world believe?

Immediately, Li Ji raised his hand and waved at the performers and musicians, signaling them to withdraw.

The performers and musicians were immediately pardoned, and they retreated gratefully.

Then, Li Ji pretended to be puzzled and asked.

"Who was it just now who had a grievance?"

Guo Ling's body tensed, but he could only secretly tug at his tender flesh under the cover of his wide sleeves to force tears, and braced himself to step forward, prostrating himself on the ground and crying.

"Guo Ling of Yingchuan unintentionally startled the banquet and disturbed the Marquis's enjoyment. It is because my heart is extremely grieved that I could not help but shed tears. I beg the Marquis to punish me."

A person from Yingchuan?

Immediately, Li Ji understood Guo Ling's background.

The aristocratic families who could sit here were all prominent and wealthy, so it could only be the Guo family of Yingchuan, the family of Guo Tu and Guo Jia.

Perhaps this was also the reason why Guo Ling had been pushed forward.

Although Guo Jia had separated from the Guo family of Yingchuan and established his own branch, there was still some familial connection, and they were borrowing the relationship between Guo Jia and Li Ji.

Li Ji sighed and stood up, saying.

"This is a private banquet. I originally did not want public affairs to disturb everyone's enjoyment, but before the Lord left to return to Shouchun, he repeatedly emphasized to me that I must love the people like my own children in order to win their hearts."

"Since you are all subjects of the Great Han, I will certainly not sit idly by and ignore grievances. Guo Ling, please tell me your grievance."

As soon as these words were spoken, the aristocratic families present were both excited and chilled to the bone.

Loving the people like one's own children was naturally advocated by Confucianism.

But could aristocratic families also be considered people?

Or rather, if aristocratic families were considered people, could those commoners still be listed as people?

Being treated equally was obviously not the treatment that the aristocratic families wanted, but in terms of righteousness, they could not find any fault, and it directly blocked most of what Guo Ling originally wanted to say.

Therefore, after Guo Ling hesitated for a long time, he spoke again.

"Marquis, when the Yellow Turban rebels ran rampant, they seized a large amount of my family's ancestral fields and property. I beg the Marquis to make a decision for us."

"Is there such a thing? Those Yellow Turbans are indeed detestable, doing such conscienceless things, repeatedly undermining the foundation of my Great Han. They are truly hateful…"

As Li Ji angrily denounced the Yellow Turbans, Gan Ning, who was present, involuntarily lowered his head, his face flushed red as he tried to suppress his laughter.

Li Ji once again set a tone, reassuring the aristocratic families present.

But Li Ji's next sentence made the faces of many aristocratic families stiffen.

"Solving this matter is not difficult. Not only Guo Ling, but I understand that many aristocratic families and powerful clans may have suffered some losses under the rampage of the Yellow Turbans."

"Please provide the corresponding house deeds and land deeds as soon as possible. After I send people to verify them one by one, I will return the ancestral fields and land occupied by the Yellow Turbans as soon as possible."

It's just that the aristocratic families and powerful clans have used various means to annex land for many years, and naturally it is impossible to handle all kinds of procedures properly every time.

What to change the upper field to the lower field, the lower field to wasteland, and many operations such as hiding field property and population have become the norm among the aristocratic families and powerful clans.

Not to mention that there are a large number of common people who are "voluntarily" buying and selling land, and the aristocratic families and powerful clans simply do not have land deeds in hand.

More importantly, this time the rampage of the Yellow Turbans in Yu Province was more thorough than the previous Yellow Turban Uprising.

The previous Yellow Turban Uprising also spread in Yu Province, and also occupied many cities and seized the property of many aristocratic families and powerful clans.

But those properties were basically divided up by the Yellow Turban generals. After the Yellow Turbans were defeated, the aristocratic families and powerful clans returned to their old places, and everything was returned to its original owner, except for some losses in money, grain, and objects.

But this time it was different. The Yellow Turbans in Yu Province not only distributed a large amount of money, grain, and fields to the local people, but also burned all the land deeds and house deeds they left in the mansions, as well as the land deeds and house deeds kept in the local government.

In this way, it was clear that the Yellow Turbans in Yu Province had been defeated, but when the aristocratic families and powerful clans returned to their hometowns, they found that their fields still had new owners, and they had become vagrants who could hardly prove that they were not without fields or land.

Turning the world upside down!

All of this, in the eyes of the Yu Province aristocratic families and powerful clans, was undoubtedly turning the world upside down, and what was even more hateful was that they could not do anything to those mud-legged people.

Although the Yellow Turbans in Yu Province had been pacified, a large number of weapons in the armory had flowed out.

Moreover, the entire officialdom of Yu Province had undergone a major reshuffle, and the Yu Province aristocratic families had no place to borrow strength for a while. Simply using force was not the opponent of those rural clans who had benefited from the land.

Therefore, Li Ji's seemingly fair and just request for the aristocratic families and powerful clans to provide house deeds and land deeds was something that the aristocratic families and powerful clans obviously could not produce at the moment.

After all, if there were well-founded aristocratic families and powerful clans, why would they need to ask Li Ji for help? They would have already bared their fangs at the mud-legged people.