Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

You can criticize Emperor Ling of Han for being incompetent, but you can't say he was useless!

Emperor Ling of Han's political skills, even when looking at all the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty, were undoubtedly among the best. From a puppet emperor to wielding great power, he completely manipulated the eunuchs, relatives of the empress, and scholar-officials within the court. His methods were undeniably brilliant.

However, Emperor Ling of Han was also a famously foolish and fun-loving person. Setting aside the open selling of official positions, he also unprecedentedly and publicly compared the eunuchs Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong to his own parents.

Therefore, the current Han Dynasty is like a crumbling tall building. Emperor Ling of Han is both dismantling the few remaining cornerstones of the building and using his own body to keep the building from collapsing.

Once the current emperor, Liu Hong, dies and is given the posthumous title of Emperor Ling of Han, all the conflicts suppressed by Emperor Ling of Han will erupt in an instant.

However, the current emperor, Liu Hong, has not yet passed away, and it is not yet the time for rebellious subjects to emerge. Whoever sticks their head out will get hit!

Liu Yan chewed over the words "delay declaring kingship" and asked.

"However, time waits for no one. The Emperor is not yet thirty, and is in his prime. Even if we delay, how can we delay past the Emperor? How can we drag it out until the next Governor of Yi Province arrives?"

This point is undoubtedly Liu Yan's concern.

Liu Yan has no desire to leave Yi Province now that he has arrived.

But the Emperor, Liu Hong, is too young, young enough to make Liu Yan despair. Emperor Liu Hong ascended the throne at the age of ten, and has been emperor for nearly twenty years, even though he is not yet thirty years old.

Although almost every emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty had a short lifespan, who can accurately predict how long Emperor Liu Hong will live?

If Emperor Liu Hong could live to the age of seventy, a rarity since ancient times, Liu Yan would probably have turned to dust long ago.

He can't outlast him!

The age difference makes Liu Yan completely lack confidence that he can outlive Liu Hong.

Moreover, it is true that the Emperor Liu Hong adopted the policy of provincial governors, but Emperor Liu Hong has always liked to change his decrees in the morning and evening. No one knows whether Emperor Liu Hong will cancel the policy of provincial governors with a random order, or replace Liu Yan, the Governor of Yi Province, before long.

This feeling of possibly losing power at any time makes Liu Yan feel uneasy. Otherwise, Liu Yan would not have been provoked by Li Ji's letter to the point of being unable to stop.

"Father, Mr. Zikun has also mentioned this matter in detail. Please listen to me explain it carefully."

Liu Zhang said quickly, watching Liu Yan's expression change.

"Mr. Zikun mentioned delaying declaring kingship, respecting the imperial court, and maintaining the status of a subject. The key point is to sever ties with the imperial court, and then form the fact that Yi Province still respects the imperial court on the surface, but is completely not controlled by the imperial court."

"In this way, even if the Emperor understands that Yi Province has rebellious intentions, as long as it maintains superficial obedience and bribes the Ten Attendants with money, the Emperor will definitely not launch a large-scale attack on Yi Province."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan's eyes lit up, and he felt that this method was very promising.

"How do we sever ties?"

Liu Yan asked about the key point. This excuse is particularly important and needs to be sufficient enough to persuade Emperor Liu Hong to a certain extent, maintain Emperor Liu Hong's face, and allow Yi Province to escape the control of the imperial court without causing damage to Emperor Liu Hong's face.

Only in this way can the imperial court reluctantly accept it and not directly define Yi Province as a rebellious subject.

"Hanzhong!"

Liu Zhang said a place name, saying.

"Hanzhong is the only way for Yi Province to reach Guanzhong. At the same time, it is also the only way for all the money, grain, and taxes in Yi Province to be sent to the imperial court. As long as a rebellion occurs in Hanzhong, the connection between Yi Province and the imperial court will be severed."

"Therefore, Mr. Zikun suggested that his father secretly control Hanzhong with trusted aides, and then launch a rebellion to separate Hanzhong."

"With the natural danger of Hanzhong's terrain, it can easily resist Sili and Liang Province from the outside. If the imperial court wants to quell the rebellion, it can only use the military power of Yi Province. By then, when will the Hanzhong rebellion be truly quelled? Isn't it up to the father to decide?"

As soon as these words came out, Liu Yan couldn't help but stand up suddenly, and then quickly walked to the map hanging on the side of the secret room and looked at it.

The terrain of Hanzhong Prefecture, located in the northernmost part of Yi Province, is very unique. It is completely adjacent to Sili, but the junction between the two is completely blocked by the Qinling Mountains. The only passage to Sili is a narrow plank road named Ziwu Road, and the Ziwu Pass is also set up on this plank road.

However, as long as a rebellion occurs in Hanzhong and the Ziwu Road is blocked, the connection between Yi Province and the imperial court can almost be cut off.

As for the difficulty of crossing the Qinling Mountains from other directions, it is almost impossible.

In this way, if Sili wants to intervene in Hanzhong Prefecture, it can only enter from the Liang Province side, but the difficulty is still not small, and it is difficult to use a large number of troops due to terrain barriers.

It can be said that Hanzhong Prefecture can be completely called the gateway to Yi Province. Whoever controls Hanzhong Prefecture determines whether Yi Province opens or closes its doors.

"Wonderful! Incredibly wonderful!!!"

The more Liu Yan looked at it, the more excited he became. He only felt that this method really spoke to his heart, and it almost completely matched his thoughts.

Moreover, as long as a rebellion occurs in Hanzhong Prefecture and nominally escapes the control of Yi Province, then Yi Province can also substantially escape the control of the imperial court.

At that time, Liu Yan can sit in Yi Province and wait for the right time by slowly delaying with Hanzhong Prefecture.

If he advances, he can wait for the world to change drastically, leave Hanzhong, occupy the land for raising horses in Liang Province in the north, and then take Sili in Guanzhong. With Yi Province as the granary and Liang Province as the source of war horses and soldiers, he will occupy all the advantageous terrain of ancient Qin, and sweeping the world will be a matter of moments;

If he retreats, even if the Emperor Liu Hong is strong, Liu Yan can actually divide the land and become king in Shu, enjoy the rest of his life in wealth, and not worry about being recalled to the imperial court from Yi Province at any time, living a precarious life!

Although Liu Yan's tactical ability in military affairs is poor, Liu Yan's political level and strategic vision are undoubtedly very brilliant.

Without Liu Zhang saying much, after some consideration, Liu Yan understood how powerful this plan was.

It not only grasped the lifeline of the imperial court, but also retained some face for Emperor Liu Hong, so that Emperor Liu Hong would not directly turn his face and launch a large-scale suppression, and also made Yi Province completely owned by Liu Yan in reality.

"Mr. Zikun didn't expect to be a loyal person. He really came up with a wonderful plan..."

Liu Yan said with some emotion, and then asked. "Zhang'er, is Mr. Zikun really unwilling to join my father?"

Liu Zhang cupped his hands and quickly said Li Ji's excuse for refusing, explaining that Li Ji wanted Liu Bei and Liu Yan to be like Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, waiting for the right time to sweep the world.

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan unconsciously twirled his beard and said smugly.

"Xiang Yu can only show off his bravery for a while, how can he compare to Emperor Gaozu occupying the lands of Ba, Shu, and Guanzhong? When the time comes, if we can compete for the Central Plains, this old man will definitely defeat my nephew Xuande without a doubt."

This confident tone made Liu Zhang couldn't help but get excited.

At that time, wouldn't I...no, wouldn't I be the Crown Prince?

"Zhang'er, considering that Mr. Zikun has set this wonderful plan for my father, if we can capture Mr. Zikun in the future, we must treat him with courtesy."

Liu Yan said with unconcealed excitement.

"Yes."

Liu Zhang said with a tone that was hard to hide his excitement.

...

It's just that what Liu Yan and his son didn't know was that they were eyeing the world and the throne, while Li Ji was purely eyeing the grain in Yi Province, planning to swindle a wave of grain.

Even the strategy that Li Ji provided to Liu Yan and his son was actually thought out by Liu Yan himself in the original trajectory, but Li Ji embellished it and sold it to Liu Yan for use.

Selling Liu Yan's future strategy to the current Liu Yan, Li Ji earned 600,000 dan of grain as an intermediary fee, which can only be said to be the conscience of the Han Dynasty.

Only the nine-character mantra of "store grain widely, build high walls, and delay declaring kingship" is quite valuable.

But just as Li Ji said to Liu Zhang, with the unique terrain of Yi Province, it almost naturally has the advantages of "storing grain widely" and "building high walls". There is no difference whether you say it or not, it is purely used to fool Liu Yan and his son.

As Wujun is about to embark on the road of rapid development, it will inevitably gradually attract the attention of the world. Under this circumstance, Li Ji can't wait to put up a target to attract the attention of the Emperor Liu Hong and the imperial court.

Yi Province is undoubtedly the best target.

Moreover, in Li Ji's estimation, when the imperial court realizes that Yi Province is about to completely escape control and Liu Yan is likely to have rebellious intentions, then in order to contain Liu Yan, Liu Biao will also be appointed as the Governor of Jing Province, to block the route from Yi Province to Shu from the south.

This is not speculation, but inevitable!

The terrain of Yi Province is destined to be easy to defend and difficult to attack when facing foreign enemies, but at the same time, it is extremely difficult to leave Shu. There are only two routes to choose from.

Either go north out of Hanzhong, or go south out of Bajun and enter Jing Province.

The difficulty of leaving Hanzhong is actually not low at all!

Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei used their lives to interpret that the north expedition seems beautiful, but in fact, this difficulty is almost at a hellish level.

However, the relationship between Jing Province and Yi Province is also subtle to the extreme, and it is extremely difficult for both sides to attack each other.

This is why, in the original trajectory, when Shu Han lost Jing Province, it was almost equivalent to losing half of its life, and the dream of restoring the Han Dynasty was also shattered by half.

When Jing Province was still in the hands of Shu Han, Guan Yu was able to fight all the way north, almost making Cao Cao want to move the capital.

But after Jing Province was lost, Zhuge Liang never had the idea of attacking Jing Province, which shows that the difficulty of Yi Province attacking Jing Province made Zhuge Liang frown;

At the same time, it is almost impossible for Jing Province to attack Yi Province, as evidenced by the fact that Liu Bei was invited to enter Sichuan in the first place, or that Dong Wu never thought of actively entering Sichuan in his life.

Now, what Liu Yan is considering is to sever ties with the imperial court and prevent the imperial court from sending people in, but he has completely failed to see the hidden dangers of not being able to get out.

Wait for the time to come?

For Li Ji, the Mandate of Heaven wasn't far off; it was just that Liu Yan lacked the geographical advantage to contend for it, and he didn't have much lifespan left to squander.

Once Liu Yan passed away, following Emperor Liu Hong's demise, Li Ji felt very relieved to leave Yi Province in Liu Zhang's care.

During this brief period of interaction with Liu Zhang, Li Ji had formed a basic assessment of him: a watchdog who could only guard his home! (End of Chapter)