Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

By the time Li Ji had tentatively arranged the tasks for the clerks and scholars, the sun was setting.

Throughout the whole process, Jia Xu had been following Li Ji, acting as an invisible man. Perhaps some of the scholars still didn't quite understand the meaning of "relief through labor," but Jia Xu, who had been listening in, completely understood Li Ji's train of thought on how to settle the refugees.

When Jia Xu accompanied Li Ji back to the camp assigned to him, Jia Xu couldn't help but ask, "Zikun, you truly are a great talent! Did this method come from the 'Yanzi Chunqiu'?"

If it had been in the past, Li Ji really wouldn't have known what Jia Xu was referring to.

However, in order to guard against someone obsessed with the Spring and Autumn period, Li Ji was now very familiar with the classics related to the 'Spring and Autumn'.

"Relief through labor" was indeed first recorded in the 'Yanzi Chunqiu': During a famine, Yanzi asked to distribute grain to the people, but the Duke did not allow it. Instead, he wanted to build a platform for his bedroom. Yanzi ordered the officials to increase the rent, move the construction site further away, delay the completion date, and not rush it. The platform was completed in three years, and the people were relieved. Therefore, the ruler was pleased with his leisure, and the people had enough to eat.

Seeing Li Ji's slightly humble smile and silence, Jia Xu said with much emotion.

"Yanzi, in order to save the people and make Duke Jing of Qi willing to provide disaster relief, had the victims work as laborers to build a high platform for Duke Jing of Qi to enjoy. The victims repaired it for three years, survived the disaster year, and were able to live."

"When I read the 'Yanzi Chunqiu,' what I felt was mostly Duke Jing of Qi's greed for enjoyment and his disregard for the victims, seeing enjoyment as more important than the interests of the people."

"I didn't expect that in Zikun's eyes, he saw a strategy for governing the country. I am far inferior to Zikun."

Being praised so directly by Jia Xu for the first time, Li Ji couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.

After all, "relief through labor" was more based on the experience of later generations. Li Ji was just looking at it from the perspective of later generations and hadn't really comprehended a strategy for governing the country from the 'Yanzi Chunqiu' as Jia Xu admired.

However, Li Ji had no way to explain this, and the form of "relief through labor" did indeed first appear in the 'Yanzi Chunqiu'.

However, in a sense, this was also a good thing for Li Ji.

Policies that completely transcended the era might not be accepted.

But policies that were based on the classics of the sages would not only not be questioned but would also be praised and admired. Jia Xu's reaction was a clear example.

Smart people sometimes tend to fill in some details on their own.

Moreover, in the future, as lords using the same "relief through labor," Duke Jing of Qi did it for enjoyment, while Liu Bei did it to develop water conservancy. By comparing them, it would further highlight that Liu Bei was more benevolent and loved the people than Duke Jing of Qi. This would undoubtedly add another layer to the propaganda.

It should be known that if you don't occupy the high ground of public opinion and propaganda, others will naturally occupy it.

When Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence and virtue completely becomes the subconscious of everyone in this era, often without having to take action himself, a large number of collaborators will naturally be born within the enemy forces.

Of course, the real chaotic times have not yet arrived, so it is too early to say this, but a strategist should have long-term considerations and accumulate advantages in all aspects early on...

These thoughts flashed through Li Ji's mind, and he said.

"Wenhe, you flatter me."

Immediately, Li Ji invited Jia Xu to sit on the couch, then checked the tea in the camp and found that it was actually the fried tea that he usually liked to drink.

"Xianhe is really thoughtful," Li Ji said with emotion.

Jia Xu watched Li Ji elegantly and skillfully begin to boil water and make tea, and casually replied.

"That's probably Xianhe's own tea. It's just that Xianhe probably realized that he didn't have time to make tea when he got here, so he had someone send some over when he arranged the camp for Zikun."

Listening to Jia Xu's slightly teasing voice, Li Ji smiled helplessly and said.

"Jia Wenhe, you really have no heart! Xianhe has good intentions, but in your mouth, it becomes gloating."

"Please!"

Li Ji said as he poured a cup of fragrant tea for Jia Xu.

The slight fragrance of tea made Li Ji's tired spirit relax a lot.

"Hiss ~"

Jia Xu took a small sip of tea, tasted it carefully, and said. "As expected, the tea brewed by Zikun is three points better."

"If it's brewed by the lord, Wenhe would probably praise it as five points better," Li Ji said with a smile.

"That's not..."

Jia Xu squinted and replied. "The tea brewed by the lord must be seven points or more."

After saying that, Li Ji and Jia Xu looked at each other and smiled.

Perhaps Jia Xu and Li Ji were many years apart in age. Li Ji was not yet twenty, but Jia Xu was already nearly forty years old.

However, within Liu Bei's group, Li Ji and Jia Xu were rare people who understood each other.

Of course, Li Ji and Jia Xu did not agree that the point of understanding each other was in "gentleman" or in "poisonous schemes," it was entirely based on each other's abilities.

After some leisure of drinking tea, Li Ji continued to pour tea for Jia Xu and said.

"Once relief through labor begins to be implemented, the large number of laborers gathered in the refugee camps will be able to play a role. Each scholar will lead a large number of laborers to carry out water conservancy development in different areas of Wu County."

"At that time, after the water conservancy development comes to an end, those laborers will also settle down locally with their families, and because they have developed water conservancy for the local area, they will be more easily accepted by the local people."

Jia Xu nodded and said.

"Relief through labor is naturally a good strategy, but Zikun should have considered the issue of grain consumption, right? Wu County's current grain supply is probably somewhat insufficient. Zikun should already have a countermeasure."

"The grain is already on its way," Li Ji said with a smile.

"Xuzhou?"

Jia Xu frowned and reminded. "Even if the lord has a big face, it is impossible to borrow much grain from Xuzhou."

Li Ji shook his head and pointed west.

Jia Xu's expression slightly condensed, his eyes flashed with thought, and he quickly locked onto the place Li Ji was pointing to, saying. "West of Wu County, there are only Jing and Yi provinces, and grain can be quickly transported along the Yangtze River to Wu County."

"However, the internal struggles of the aristocratic families in Jing Province are serious, and the situation is complicated. Persuading the aristocratic families to lend grain is as difficult as ascending to heaven."

"As for Yi Province... the newly appointed Governor of Yi Province, Liu Yan, is not a benevolent person. He proposed the 'Governor Policy,' a plan that is infinitely harmful. Liu Yan's heart is either foolish or poisonous. How would he be willing to lend grain for the sake of the people?"

At the end, Jia Xu's tone became more suspicious.

However, a trace of unnaturalness flashed across Li Ji's face. Being told to his face that the "Governor Policy" was an infinitely harmful plan was no different from Jia Xu pointing his nose and scolding him as either foolish or poisonous.

Moreover, Li Ji couldn't explain that he had proposed the "Governor Policy" to Liu Yan in exchange for benefits, obtaining Liu Yan's full support for Liu Bei, which allowed Liu Bei to truly have a usable army to conquer the Yellow Turbans in the south.

Only Liu Yan and Li Ji knew about this matter. Even Liu Bei was completely unaware of the details, merely believing that Li Ji had persuaded Liu Yan with his silver tongue to support the conquest of the Yellow Turbans.

"Wenhe, you don't need to worry about the grain. I am only worried about two things now."

Li Ji said leisurely, but at this moment, Jia Xu seemed to have not heard at all, pretending to be deaf and dumb, looking down at the tea leaves in his cup.

Can't hear... Don't q...

The things that Li Ji was still worried about were definitely not easy things.

If Jia Xu didn't know that running away was useless, he would have run out of the camp long ago.

However, Li Ji seemed not to notice Jia Xu's silent refusal. Jia Xu didn't respond, and Li Ji continued to speak.

"Once the water conservancy is completed, the arable land in Wu County will increase dramatically, but the native cattle in Wu County are far from enough. Relying solely on human labor to cultivate... difficult, difficult, difficult!"

"At that time, even with water conservancy and fertile land, I am afraid that the efficiency of the people's farming will be quite low."

Speaking of this issue, Li Ji's brow was almost furrowed.

Cattle can be said to have run through the five thousand years of Chinese farming history, and its importance is self-evident.

Whether or not there are cattle has a great impact on the farming efficiency of the people, and sufficient cattle can also promote the further liberation of labor.

Otherwise, in this era where each person needs to cultivate more than twenty acres of land to ensure that they can support themselves in the coming year after paying taxes, relying entirely on human labor, the people almost have to bury themselves in the fertile fields every day and have very little free time at all.

Previously, Li Ji's plan was to gradually develop Wu County's water conservancy, gradually increase Wu County's fertile land, gradually absorb refugees to increase the population, and then slowly purchase cattle through various channels.

However, the plan was obviously not as fast as the changes.

As long as "relief through labor" is successfully implemented, Wu County's water conservancy will be almost completely developed within a year, and countless refugees will be able to settle down in Wu County and have their own houses and fields.

This, in turn, highlights the problem of cattle shortage all at once, and it is also an urgent problem to be solved, which can significantly improve people's livelihood.

However, this is undoubtedly a difficult problem, and for Jia Xu, it is an even more difficult problem.

Especially this kind of problem of people's livelihood and governance, Jia Xu was at a loss for a while, but instead recalled the deliciousness of eating beef, which was really amazing.

Unfortunately, in this era, eating beef is not a glorious thing, and even the government often investigates.

Therefore, no matter who asks, Jia Xu not only cannot share his feelings about the deliciousness of beef with others, but even insists that he does not eat beef.

Li Ji seemed not to notice the change in Jia Xu's expression and continued.

"Another problem is that, according to estimates made through various channels of information, the number of refugees coming south from the Xuzhou passage to Wu County exceeds 800,000."

"This number is too high! The number of native Wu Commandery residents is roughly the same. Even with the ‘work-for-relief’ program to develop water conservancy, which greatly increased the amount of land in Wu Commandery available for resettling displaced people, this number is still too high."

It wasn't that Wu Commandery lacked cultivated land after the water conservancy development, but rather that Li Ji needed to consider the period between resettling the displaced people and them resuming labor and cultivation!

(End of Chapter)