Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 232: The Overall Situation is Set

The next day.

When Li Ji woke up from his dream, feeling a bit of aftertaste, he wanted to linger for a while, but Cai Zhaoji declined.

“My lord, you have important responsibilities and cannot indulge in pleasure. Moreover, I still need to rest for a while, so please have mercy on me.”

Naturally, Li Ji would not force her. He was about to get up and dress himself when Cai Zhaoji reluctantly took the initiative to get up and help Li Ji dress.

Originally, Li Ji intended to let Cai Zhaoji rest more and let Li Shu and Li Qin, who came with Cai Zhaoji as part of her dowry, do it.

However, Cai Zhaoji insisted on this, so Li Ji had no choice but to give up.

When Cai Zhaoji finished helping Li Ji dress and awkwardly styled her long hair, revealing her fair neck, Li Ji's heart couldn't help but stir slightly.

‘Forget it, there will be plenty of time in the future, no need to rush… …’

Li Ji persuaded himself, then hurriedly left the room, fearing that he would not be able to control himself and mess up Cai Zhaoji's styled hair again.

After Li Ji left the backyard and gathered the servants in the mansion, he appointed Li Shu and Li Qin to manage the affairs of the mansion, but suddenly felt like something was missing.

That kid Guo Jia, hasn't he woken up yet?

As Li Ji's page, Guo Jia naturally lived in the front yard of Li Ji's mansion.

But now that Li Ji had already gotten up, that kid Guo Jia was still sleeping.

Immediately, Li Ji asked Li Shu to send someone to call that kid Guo Jia over.

However, when Guo Jia appeared with sleepy eyes, he was accompanied by Xiahou Lan, whose face seemed to have a hint of resentment.

Suddenly, Li Ji remembered.

The mansion only prepared one room for pages, but after returning to Wu County, Li Ji was disturbed by a series of weddings, and completely forgot that he had two pages.

In addition, because Xiahou Lan needed to preside over the sand table "Four Crossings of the Red River" in Rendeshuyuan every day, Xiahou Lan had not been in the mansion for the past few days, so Li Ji subconsciously ignored this detail.

Looking at Xiahou Lan's hostile and resentful look at Guo Jia, Li Ji almost instantly guessed what had happened.

Last night, could it be that Xiahou Lan returned to the room to rest first, and then Guo Jia, who was drunk at the banquet, also sneaked in… …

Or did Guo Jia return to the room to rest first, and then Xiahou Lan sneaked back into the quilt and found an extra person?

The scene was too beautiful to imagine!

Instead, Li Ji pretended not to know and ignored the problem, asking with concern. “Mingzheng, Fengxiao, when did you finish drinking last night? Why do you still look so sleepy?”

Hearing this, Xiahou Lan quickly and respectfully replied. “I was wrong, I got up late, please punish me, sir.”

Guo Jia rubbed his eyes, still looking like he hadn't recovered, and said. “Last night was the day of sir's great joy, why did sir get up so early?”

Hearing this, Xiahou Lan couldn't stand Guo Jia's lazy and unruly behavior, and angrily questioned him.

“Bold, Guo Jia, how can you be so rude to sir?”

Guo Jia casually replied. “Respect lies in the heart, not in blindly adhering to those pedantic rituals.”

Seeing that Xiahou Lan and Guo Jia seemed to be about to argue, Li Ji quickly raised his hand to stop them.

“Alright, are Mingzheng and Fengxiao familiar with each other? You are both people that I value, and you will be pillars of talent in the future, so I intend to let you communicate more. I will let you live in the same room. Did you have a heart-to-heart talk last night, sleeping foot-to-foot?”

Hearing this, Xiahou Lan looked at Guo Jia with even more resentful dissatisfaction and did not say a word.

Instead, Guo Jia said with a smile.

“I wanted to sleep foot-to-foot with Brother Mingzheng last night and talk about life, but Brother Mingzheng seems to have some grudges against me, seeing me as a fierce tiger and flood, so last night Brother Mingzheng would rather sleep on the floor than share a pillow with me.”

Xiahou Lan seemed to have been touched on his bottom line, and angrily wanted to refute.

“Shut up, you rude person, that room was clearly mine first… … ”

Knowing that Xiahou Lan and Guo Jia's personalities were incompatible, Li Ji didn't force it, and waved his hand casually, saying.

“Alright, now is not the time to dwell on such trivial matters. Since Mingzheng is not used to it, I will have Li Shu prepare an extra room for Fengxiao.”

“Thank you, sir.” Guo Jia cupped his hands in response.

Immediately, Li Ji also comforted Xiahou Lan a few words, and then sent a carriage to send Xiahou Lan back to Rendeshuyuan, and he took Guo Jia towards the direction of the government office.

Along the way, Li Ji occasionally looked at the festive streets on both sides that had not completely faded, and casually asked.

“Fengxiao, what do you think of Wu County?”

“Compared with the big cities in the Central Plains, it's just a remote small city… … ”

Guo Jia said first, then changed his tone and said. “However, the expressions on the faces of the people and the security environment in the city are much better than many big cities in the Central Plains.”

Regarding this, Li Ji could only say that it was a very objective evaluation.

The Central Plains has become increasingly turbulent in recent years, and there is a sense of panic. On the contrary, Liu Bei's popularity in Wu County is at its peak, and Liu Bei has not set up any messy miscellaneous taxes like those corrupt officials.

Therefore, after Liu Bei officially took office as the governor of the county, the disappearance of those privately set miscellaneous taxes alone made many people feel a significant change.

What the superior does, the subordinates follow!

When Liu Bei upholds the idea of benevolence and kindness and often treats the people kindly, then the officials under his command, no matter what their original intentions are, will inevitably not dare to blatantly do anything to exploit the people in order to cater to Liu Bei as the governor of the county.

In this way, over the past year, the expressions on the faces of the people under the rule of Wu County have naturally undergone earth-shaking changes.

Li Ji looked at the people outside the carriage, their eyes gradually gaining a little light, smiled slightly, and then said.

“This will only be a beginning. Fengxiao, please remember this moment. At the same time next year, perhaps your feelings will be even deeper.”

Hearing this, Guo Jia looked at the people outside thoughtfully and nodded slightly.

Immediately, Li Ji asked in a low voice again.

“Fengxiao, what do you think of the current imperial court?”

Guo Jia was slightly startled. This was undoubtedly a sensitive question.

However, as Guo Jia turned his head to look at Li Ji, he inexplicably understood Li Ji's meaning and slowly replied.

“Extremely corrupt, it may not be far before the chaos of heroes fighting for hegemony reappears.”

Li Ji did not say a word, nor did he express whether he agreed or not.

In fact, this question was not about the imperial court, but about Guo Jia's view of the Han Dynasty.

It was obvious from Guo Jia's answer that Guo Jia was not a loyal supporter of the Han Dynasty, but directly pointed out that the troubled times might be coming soon.

This point has gradually been noticed by many wise men.

After pacifying the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the current emperor intensified the sale of official titles, and the governors of various counties had more power, and the policy of appointing state pastors was also established.

Strengthening the local areas and weakening the imperial court… …

How could many wise men not judge the degree of danger, but the current emperor was immersed in the balance of imperial power and did not notice it at all.

Li Ji seemed not to say a word, but did not scold him, which made Guo Jia's slightly raised heart relax.

Not expressing an opinion is, in a sense, equivalent to expressing an opinion.

Some things do not need to be said directly.

Soon, the carriage arrived at the government office.

Li Ji got up late, but when he arrived at the government office, he found that it was almost empty. Except for some servants, almost no officials were on duty in the government office.

“My lord really is… … ”

Li Ji smiled helplessly, understanding that the appearance of this situation must be that Liu Bei announced that he would rest today, allowing the officials of Wu County to drink freely at the banquet last night.

Immediately, Li Ji walked into the government office. In addition to unhurriedly searching and reviewing various major government documents that had been archived during his absence from Wu County, he was also waiting for some important news.

Last night, Li Ji may have indulged all night, but he still couldn't help but care about the war in the southern part of Wu County.

Regardless of whether the war went smoothly last night, the news should have been sent back at this moment.

Before long, as Li Ji expected.

Jiang Qin, covered in dust, personally returned to the Wu County government office. Originally, Jiang Qin looked a little dazed when he saw the somewhat empty government office, but when he saw Li Ji personally welcoming him, he quickly stepped forward and saluted.

“I have not failed Mr. Zikun's trust, a great victory.”

“Tell me quickly.”

Li Ji's face couldn't help but show joy, and he directly asked the key points, saying. “Has that Guo Yi been captured?”

“He has been captured by Xingba, and the seal of the governor of Kuaiji County has also been obtained.”

Jiang Qin replied with absolute certainty.

It was precisely because this matter was crucial that Jiang Qin personally confirmed it on Gan Ning's ship before leaving.

“Good!”

Li Ji immediately clapped his hands and laughed.

The key to this plan is not how many enemies are defeated, but to capture Guo Yi in one fell swoop.

As long as Guo Yi is in hand, then using Gan Ning's name, which has nothing to do with Wu County on the surface, the space for operation will be too great.

Li Ji even intended to imitate Cao Cao's holding the emperor to command the princes, and achieve the rule of Kuaiji by holding the county governor through Gan Ning.

Immediately, Li Ji asked again, saying.

“What is the situation of Fuchun Mountain?”

Jiang Qin quickly replied.

“Also, according to Mr. Zikun's plan, a large number of soldiers were transported upstream along the river to the vicinity of Fuchun Mountain and handed over to General Guan and General Xu. When I returned, General Guan and General Xu had already begun to lead 20,000 soldiers to surround Fuchun Mountain.”

“With the elite of our army, it is expected that the Yue bandits trapped in the Fuchun Mountain camp, unaware of this, will definitely have wings and be unable to fly this time.”

At this point, Li Ji was completely relieved.

Even though the Yue tribesmen numbered over thirty thousand, their expertise lay in jungle warfare, and most were accustomed to fighting alone. They were no match for the Han army in a direct, organized battle formation.

Outside the 富春 (Fuchun) Mountain camp, Li Ji had already ordered the large-scale felling of trees under the guise of defending against the Yue, clearing a vast area devoid of cover.

This area would hinder the Yue's advance during an attack. Now, it could also work with the Han army to trap them firmly within the camp, cutting off their chance to escape back into the deep mountains and forests.