Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The magistrate of Lou County heard this and his expression softened slightly, but his tone was still quite firm as he said,

“Since Lord Prefectural Administrator knows what is virtuous, and the Prefect's actions are also based on benevolence and virtue, I implore Lord Prefectural Administrator to withdraw this order, for I cannot comply.”

Following the lead of the Lou County magistrate, and seeing that Li Ji seemed not at all angered, the other magistrates also began to voice their difficulties.

Among them, Xu Wen, who was somewhat unclear about the situation, quietly opened a few of the bamboo scrolls piled in front of him, and after a cursory glance, felt his scalp tingle.

Having served as the county clerk for several years, and with Xu Wen handling all the large and small affairs of Qian Tang County, it could be said that Xu Wen understood Qian Tang County very well.

Therefore, Xu Wen only needed to make a rough estimate to realize that if the water network transformation were to be carried out as described in the bamboo scrolls, more than half of the able-bodied men would have to be drawn from the people of Qian Tang County to serve as laborers.

This was tyranny!

Moreover, Qian Tang County definitely did not have enough money and grain to support such labor.

Xu Wen's heart trembled, realizing why so many magistrates were objecting; once this decree was implemented, the people would probably flee even if they did not riot.

Just as Xu Wen was about to speak, however,

Li Ji raised his hands slightly, and the noise in the room immediately quieted down.

Then, Li Ji continued,

“This decree does not require the counties to provide money or grain, nor does it require the counties to send laborers. I will use the method of 'work-for-relief' to draw able-bodied men from the refugees who have fled to Wu Commandery to carry out the water network transformation throughout Wu Commandery.”

Xu Wen's heart stirred, and he couldn't help but ask, “What is 'work-for-relief'?”

Li Ji continued,

“Calculating on the basis of a family of four, one able-bodied man participating in the water network transformation will receive enough grain for one family for one day. After the term of service is completed for one year, the family will be registered as local residents and allocated fifty mu of land as compensation, and the government will build houses for them to live in on loan.”

As for real money, Li Ji would naturally not distribute it to the refugees.

Or rather, even if he did distribute it to the refugees, it would be meaningless.

In the first year, the refugees' task was to survive and have enough to eat. Even if they were given money, they could only use it to buy and sell grain, which would only give some people the opportunity to drive up prices.

More importantly, the internal circulation of money in Wu Commandery was not necessarily that high right now.

Moreover, Wu Commandery already had a shortage of manpower, so the “work-for-relief” method should naturally be as simple as possible.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Li Ji's “work-for-relief” this time was to provide grain and allocate land as compensation after one year.

Naturally, Wu Commandery did not yet have that much land to allocate, but after the Wu Commandery water network transformation was completed, the area of arable land would increase dramatically.

It could be said that Li Ji was completely using the promise of future rewards to feed the current refugees.

Of course, with the amount of grain distributed to a family of four, while the able-bodied men needed to participate in the water network development, the other elderly, weak, women, and children in the family also needed to engage in some relatively easy other labor.

Repairing houses, cooking meals and porridge, delivering supplies, etc…

In short, compared to barely surviving on thin gruel mixed with sand and gravel, the Wu Commandery government was using enough food as a condition, and the allocation of land in the future as compensation, to allow the refugees to develop Wu Commandery and build homes that would belong to them in the future.

Therefore, Li Ji also needed the full cooperation and support of the various counties in Wu Commandery.

The county offices needed to draw a large number of people to coordinate materials, reconcile the relationship between the local people and the refugees, and even the water network development might affect the houses and land of some local people.

These also needed to be coordinated and handled by the local county offices.

Moreover, the local situations were obviously best understood by the local county offices. Even though Li Ji had already organized a large number of scholars and minor officials who had accumulated some experience to go to various places to direct the water network development, he still needed the local county offices to provide a lot of assistance.

If one were to use the saying “governing a large country is like cooking a small fish” to describe it,

Li Ji was the head chef, the water conservancy plan was the recipe, the refugees were the ingredients, and the local county offices, scholars, and minor officials were the chefs who actually handled the cooking.

What kind of dish this pot of Wu Commandery would eventually become was related to all aspects.

After Li Ji patiently explained the above content to the magistrates in relatively official language, the magistrates undoubtedly understood Li Ji's meaning.

The labor force would be solved by the prefectural government; the money and grain would also be solved by the prefectural government…

The task of the local county offices was to coordinate the refugees to carry out “work-for-relief” according to the water network development plan distributed to each county.

For a time, some of the more capable magistrates were amazed by Li Ji's plan!

This almost perfectly transformed the refugees, who were originally a heavy burden on Wu Commandery, into an important labor force for developing Wu Commandery.

What the magistrates were even more aware of was that the difficulty in achieving this was not the idea itself, but the specific water network development plan distributed to their hands.

Without a specific and implementable plan, even if one wanted to settle the refugees through “work-for-relief,” the only result would be a surplus of labor.

Ordinary prefectures and commanderies did not need such a large labor force at all.

And even if a large labor force was used, would the investment of labor produce sufficient returns in terms of people's livelihood and economy?

However, the faces of many magistrates still showed bitterness!

Even if the prefectural government solved the problems of money, grain, and labor force on its own, coordinating such a large labor force was undoubtedly an extremely heavy task for the county offices.

The days of going to work on time in the past, drinking a bellyful of tea and wine, strolling around, and leaving on time to collect their salary, being a petty thief of the public funds, and eating and drinking with the local wealthy families and merchants, seemed to be gone forever.

“Gentlemen, this matter concerns hundreds of thousands of people in Wu Commandery and countless refugees. I hope that you will not have any slack or lazy thoughts. If anyone makes a mistake, do not blame me!”

“The capable go up, the mediocre go down, that is all.”

However, these words, when heard by the many magistrates, only made them feel that perhaps the mediocre who went down would go down to the Yellow Springs.

Then, Li Ji's face showed a warm and jade-like smile, and he said,

“Of course, it is important for people to have self-awareness. If any of you gentlemen feel that you are not capable enough to be a county magistrate, you can take this opportunity to resign.”

Perhaps there were talented people who did not care about the position of county magistrate, but even more talented people would not think that this decree was difficult to achieve.

As for the mediocre, they were even more reluctant to give up their official robes and the seal of office that symbolized power.

Therefore, after Li Ji finished speaking and paused for more than ten breaths, no magistrate spoke up to resign.

“Good! Since you gentlemen have no objections, then it is decided. Please return to your county offices as soon as possible to make preparations. All labor and money and grain will begin to be sent to the counties within three days…”

After a pause, just as Li Ji got up to leave, he stopped and added again,

“In addition, when you gentlemen leave Wu County, it is best to go out from the South Gate. After all, you were colleagues with the former Qian Tang County magistrate. Take the opportunity to pay your respects to the former Qian Tang County magistrate before leaving, and I sincerely hope that I will not need to go to the city gate to pay respects to you in the future.”

In an instant, the magistrates present felt a tightness in their hearts, and they did not dare to breathe loudly even after Li Ji's figure had disappeared for a moment.

Some of the magistrates, who had made some calculations and realized the immensity of the money and grain mobilized by the prefectural government was unimaginable, and had the idea of secretly reaching out to steal some, felt a chill and pain in the back of their necks.

That Li Ji was truly capable of killing people!

And that Liu Bei rose to prominence by suppressing the Yellow Turbans…

A group of butchers disguised in the name of benevolence and virtue, a disgrace to culture, a disgrace to culture!

However, even though some of the magistrates, feeling a sense of shared grief, secretly cursed Li Ji in their hearts, they temporarily dispelled the greedy thoughts of reaching out.

Then, the magistrates left the prefectural government one after another, and all avoided the South Gate when leaving Wu County.

However, Li Ji was very clear that this temporary deterrence would not last long. Some magistrates and minor officials who were used to it would inevitably be unable to resist reaching out.

But for Li Ji, this was already enough.

As long as they got through the most troublesome initial stage, then the positions of the county magistrates and officials that were vacated later would be more convenient for promoting his own people, and thus be able to more deeply grasp the situation in the counties.

Moreover, it was also a good opportunity to clean up those parasites that he had not been able to take care of before.

After roughly sorting out the arrangements for the money and grain for “work-for-relief” and handing over the remaining calculations and transportation to Mi Zhu, Li Ji prepared to leave Wu County and go to the refugee camps in the northern part of Wu Commandery to oversee and direct the operation in person.

Jian Yong was almost unable to control the refugee camps. Even with Jia Xu's assistance, Jia Xu could only suppress the possibility of riots among the refugees.

Jia Xu was not good at the coordination of all aspects of the refugees' lives, and Jian Yong's ability was not enough to coordinate the more than 200,000 refugees gathered together.

Moreover, with the start of “work-for-relief,” it was also necessary to continuously screen out suitable refugees from the refugee camps and send them to various counties.

If Li Ji did not personally go to the refugee camps, Jian Yong would not have the energy to screen the refugees on a large scale.

Before leaving Wu County, Li Ji was busy in the prefectural government discussing the details and arrangements of the money and grain with Mi Zhu. Unknowingly, by the time Mi Zhu left, it was already past curfew.

Especially with the influx of a large number of refugees, it was inevitable that some villains such as thieves and bandits were mixed in.

Therefore, the curfews in the various cities of Wu Commandery had been strictly enforced under Li Ji's orders, in order to prevent anyone from trying to take advantage of the chaos and become outlaws.

With Li Ji's status, the curfew naturally did not apply to him, but Li Ji looked at the dim sky and gave up the idea of returning to his residence to rest. Anyway, he would be alone in the residence.

However, with the affairs within Wu County temporarily arranged, most of the upcoming tasks involved going to the refugee camp to handle matters. This left Li Ji with some unexpected free time, and he felt a bit unaccustomed to it.