Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 126: A Win-Win Solution

Wu County was not large; if it were only a matter of maintaining the status quo and having complete officialdom.

Whether it was Li Ji or Jia Xu alone, either could easily secure the position of County Assistant, and even have plenty of time to leisurely drink tea and daydream every day.

However, Wu County itself had undergone tremendous changes. On one hand, it was constantly gathering refugees, and on the other hand, it was preparing for all the necessary water conservancy matters.

Recently, Li Ji had also formulated a strategy for establishing an academy, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard was also about to start building its framework.

It could be said that, in Li Ji's opinion, Jia Xu's resentful look, as if he could support ten Evil Sword Immortals, was not without reason.

If Li Ji were to replace Jia Xu in the position of County Assistant, the sheer volume of trivial government affairs would relentlessly overwhelm him, and he would similarly be filled with resentment.

Moreover, Li Ji never intended to emulate Prime Minister Zhuge, exhausting himself and working himself to death.

Previously, Wu County was in a state of disrepair, lacking even a basic framework. Li Ji was forced to oversee everything, guiding government affairs back on track.

However, as Wu County began to develop gradually, various expenditures and revenues would undoubtedly become increasingly cumbersome and enormous, causing Jia Xu, who was temporarily in charge of the county, to feel overwhelmed.

Therefore, Li Ji, knowing this well, had long wanted to find a tool person to manage finances, and Mi Zhu had simply walked into the line of fire.

However, what Mi Zhu felt was trust!

Besides trust, it was nothing BUT trust!

Being new to the area, Liu Bei and Li Ji openly and confidently entrusted the entire county's finances to his hands. What kind of trust was this?

Immediately, Mi Zhu stood up, walked in front of Liu Bei and Li Ji, performed a grand salute, and said.

"A scholar dies for his confidant. Thank you, Lord, for your appreciation. Mi Zhu would die ten thousand times without being able to repay this kindness. I will definitely do my best to assist Mr. Zikun in managing finances."

"Zizhong, please rise quickly…"

Liu Bei hurriedly stepped forward to help Mi Zhu up, patted Mi Zhu's shoulder, and said gently.

"You and I, lord and subject, understand each other. Why say more? Zizhong can bring his entire family to join me, trusting me so much, and I trust you as well. Therefore, I can only entrust the financial power related to my life to Zizhong for management, so that I can sleep peacefully every night."

In an instant, Mi Zhu was moved to tears by Liu Bei's words, and tears visibly streamed down his face.

Li Ji, who witnessed the whole process, could only quietly give a thumbs up…

As expected of you, the Great Han Charmer!

Previously, Mi Zhu's loyalty to you was willing to exhaust Mi Zhu's money and food to help. Now, even if you asked Mi Zhu to die, I'm afraid Mi Zhu would not hesitate for a moment.

However, one thing was correct: unlike Mi Fang, although Mi Zhu was a merchant, he was also a gentleman.

After Mi Fang betrayed and defected to the enemy, Mi Zhu, as his elder brother, would be ashamed and indignant to death. Entrusting financial power to such a gentleman was indeed reassuring.

Subsequently, Liu Bei immediately appointed Mi Zhu as the "Lesser Treasury Secretary" of Wu County, in charge of the county governor's internal treasury, money, grain, and material disbursement, etc., as a subordinate official.

To this, Liu Bei explained to Mi Zhu with a face full of guilt, begging Mi Zhu not to mind, as this was already the highest official position that Liu Bei could offer at present.

Although it was only a clerk, it was a position with low rank but great power.

At this moment, Mi Zhu already couldn't wait to shed blood and sacrifice his life for Liu Bei. How could he mind the size of the official position? He also mentioned that hundreds of millions of coins and grain would be transported from Xu Province to Wu County one after another for Liu Bei to use.

To this, Li Ji, who was listening from the side, sighed…

Hundreds of millions of coins and grain, let alone a small Lesser Treasury Secretary, even the position of the Three Dukes could be bought.

Although, given the current Emperor's nature, even if you bought the position of the Three Dukes, you could only sit for a while and couldn't sit for long. After a while, you would have to find an excuse to replace people.

However, that was still the "Three Dukes". In this era where the position of Prime Minister was not established, the "Three Dukes" was the most revered position at the pinnacle of civil officials.

Mi Zhu was overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed.

However, this was not surprising. There were still many fans in later generations who bankrupted themselves for streamers, let alone Mi Zhu facing the "Great Han Charmer" Liu Bei.

Facing Mi Zhu's repeated offerings of money and grain, with an appearance that Liu Bei must accept, or he would look down on himself.

Liu Bei subconsciously turned his inquiring gaze towards Li Ji.

Accept? Or not accept?

Li Ji pondered slightly, then stood up and asked. "Zizhong, this hundreds of millions of coins and grain is probably all the liquid money and grain that Zizhong sold after selling a lot of assets in Xu Province, right?"

"For the Lord's great cause of developing Wu County, a few assets are not worth mentioning."

Mi Zhu replied with a firm look, as if he were in office.

However, hundreds of millions of coins and grain might indeed be of great help to Wu County, but Li Ji would not engage in overfishing.

Compared with the short-term hundreds of millions of coins and grain, a complete commercial network was much more important.

Previously, Mi Zhu had not fully returned to his heart, and the Mi family had not yet moved to Wu County. Li Ji had concealed a lot of things and had not told Mi Zhu.

Now, looking at Mi Zhu's eyes, which were willing to die at any time, Li Ji pulled Mi Zhu to sit down, mentioning that he was going to let the Mi family, on the one hand, maintain the original commercial channels as much as possible, and on the other hand, also open up a commercial network in Wu County.

Different from the prevailing emphasis on agriculture and neglect of commerce in this era, Li Ji deeply knew the importance of commerce.

Commerce could not only bring prosperity to the local area, but even, if operated well, could invisibly control the lifeline of other regions.

As Li Ji imparted many epoch-making commercial concepts, Mi Zhu's eyes towards Li Ji could be described as heavenly.

No, it even carried a bit of fear!

Mi Zhu simply imagined that if Li Ji were given a certain amount of money and grain, and Li Ji used various commercial concepts to conduct commercial competition with the Mi family, I am afraid that within three to five years, the Mi family would be dismembered and annexed by Li Ji.

In the end, Li Ji summarized to Liu Bei, who was listening in a daze.

"Commerce is very important, the Mi family cannot give up, and Wu County also needs a huge commercial network to support it."

"But, if Zizhong is in charge of Wu County's money and grain, I am afraid that he will not be able to manage the Mi family's business anymore." Liu Bei also replied somewhat awkwardly.

"This matter is easy."

After a pause, Li Ji said.

"Previously, Zifang (Mi Fang) first followed the Lord to Wu County, remotely assisting Zizhong in transferring part of the industry to Wu County. I see that although he is young, he can also be considered organized and capable, and he is also a promising talent."

"Therefore, Zizhong can completely hand over the Mi family's business to Zifang for management. Zizhong only needs to remotely control and guide it, and I think it will be fine."

Of course, this was only one of the purposes.

A deeper purpose was that Li Ji intended to kick Mi Fang out of the military and political system of the Liu Bei Group through this method, and let Mi Fang be under Mi Zhu's management and supervision at all times.

Even if Mi Fang relapsed and defected to the enemy for some unknown reason in the later period, what would be affected would only be the Mi family's business, which was not a concern, and would not lead to major changes such as Guan Yu's death and the fall of Jing Province.

As soon as these words came out, Liu Bei and Mi Zhu both fell into contemplation.

Among them, Liu Bei glanced at Li Ji with some deep meaning.

Liu Bei naturally saw Mi Fang's performance. He was mediocre.

Therefore, although Liu Bei looked at Mi Zhu's face, he appointed Mi Fang as the Five Senses Clerk.

Liu Bei did not give Mi Fang any importance. Occasionally, he only let Mi Fang assist in managing the refugees outside the city.

In addition, Liu Bei had long seen that Li Ji seemed to dislike Mi Fang, and Li Ji's suggestion seemed to be recommending him for reuse.

In fact, it would undoubtedly completely cut off Mi Fang's future promotion possibilities, and at most, he would always be a businessman.

However, Liu Bei did not intend to expose Li Ji's thoughts, only feeling that Li Ji's judgment must have its deep meaning, so he instead cooperated and said.

"This, it seems to be a win-win solution. What do you think, Zizhong?"

As Liu Bei spoke, Mi Zhu replied without hesitation. "Then I will follow Mr. Zikun's words, and I will gradually hand over the Mi family's business to my younger brother to manage."

"Good, in this way, the two carriages of the Mi family are indispensable pillars of Wu County."

Liu Bei praised him greatly and took the initiative to raise his wine glass towards Mi Zhu and said. "I hope that in the future, I can work with Zizhong to bring a prosperous age to the people of the Han Dynasty."

"I am sincerely grateful and terrified, and I will definitely do my best."

Mi Zhu replied quickly.

However, at this moment, Jia Xu's figure appeared at the door.

Different from his usual gentle and gentlemanly image, Jia Xu's clothes were torn in many places at this moment, and even his hair crown was crooked and slanted. His resentment was almost visibly radiating from the inside out.

No one knew what Jia Xu had experienced, so that Jia Xu seemed to be somewhat broken, and his eyes turned around in the side hall, even bypassing Liu Bei, staring at Li Ji, and said quietly.

"Li Zikun!"

"Oh, isn't this Wenhe?"

Seeing this, Li Ji, before Jia Xu's resentment completely erupted, hurriedly greeted him, held Jia Xu's wrist with one hand, and said familiarly.

"Come, come, come, quickly take a seat, I have some good news to tell you."

"I hope it's good news. I have already let Yide go to your mansion to wait. If… hehe~"

Jia Xu said in a low voice, and finally sneered a few times. Obviously, the unfinished words were not good words.

To this, Li Ji was not surprised at all.

The simple and reckless Third Master was indeed being played by Jia Xu in the palm of his hand. Somehow, he was deceived into his mansion.

The only thing that surprised Li Ji a little was that Zhang Fei was also fooled too quickly.

Li Ji was slightly delayed by Mi Zhu, and he was thinking that he might be able to pull Liu Bei to see Jia Xu's embarrassed appearance of shouting "No."

This made Li Ji couldn't help but sigh in a low voice.

"Regret…"

"Hmm?"

Jia Xu turned his head, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Liu Bei, seeing Jia Xu's disheveled appearance, asked with some surprise and concern, "Wenhe, what's wrong with you?"

Jia Xu didn't reply, but turned to look at Li Ji, who had pulled him down to sit.

Li Ji replied with a smile.

"Perhaps it's because just now, Yide and I were discussing with Wenhe who to send to the Yangtze River to clear out the river pirates, and Wenhe and Yide were being too modest and pulling at each other?"