Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Meanwhile, Guo Jia entered the side hall, first bowing respectfully to Liu Bei, whose expression and demeanor revealed no issues. Then, his gaze swept across the room, noticing the desk that had been chopped into dozens of pieces.

"Fengxiao, do you have important business?" Liu Bei asked.

Guo Jia didn't directly answer Liu Bei. Instead, he pointed towards the direction of the shattered wood and said,

"Why is there a desk in the side hall that has been chopped up like this?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei felt somewhat embarrassed.

Officially, Liu Bei always demanded of himself to "not show joy or anger in his face, not express likes or dislikes in words, and not let sorrow or happiness overflow from his countenance."

Now, being caught in such a state by Guo Jia, who wasn't particularly close to him, how could Liu Bei not feel ashamed and awkward?

Seeing this, Xiahou Bo immediately stepped forward to admit it, saying.

"My lord, this is Bo's fault. Earlier, a stray dog somehow darted into the side hall and jumped back and forth on your desk. In a fit of anger, Bo drew his sword and slashed at it, accidentally chopping the desk into this state as well."

"It seems that the stray dog was quite annoying to Jichang," Guo Jia said with a smile.

"It was especially hateful…"

Seeing that Xiahou Bo was still trying to cover for him, Liu Bei waved his hand and said.

"Fengxiao is not an outsider. You are like family to Zikun, and I have nothing to hide. Just now, it was because the anger in my heart was difficult to suppress, so I drew my sword to vent my frustration."

Although Liu Bei initially didn't particularly like Guo Jia's personality, as Li Ji took Guo Jia as a trusted aide and had Guo Jia secretly handle many matters, even appointing him as the director of the Zongheng Division.

Through prolonged contact with Guo Jia, Liu Bei discovered that Guo Jia's abilities were indeed quite extraordinary. Perhaps he was slightly lacking in political affairs, but he excelled in military strategy, tactics, eloquence, and so on.

Moreover, before leaving Wu Commandery, Li Ji had secretly told Liu Bei: If there are unresolved matters, you can ask Guo Fengxiao.

Therefore, although Guo Jia seemed like a loafer in Wu County and the government office on weekdays, wandering around aimlessly every day, in reality, Guo Jia could freely enter and exit many important and critical places, and even meet with Liu Bei from time to time.

"My lord is indeed honest. I have come precisely to resolve your worries," Guo Jia said with a somewhat smug smile.

Liu Bei's expression immediately changed, and he pressed for details.

"Oh? I would like to hear the details."

"This imperial edict, on the surface, is to promote the teacher and grant him higher ranks and titles. In reality, it is intended to sow discord between you and the teacher, and also aims to force the teacher to flee to the distant land of Liaodong. The intentions are sinister."

Guo Jia first shook his head slightly, stating his judgment, causing Liu Bei to look at Guo Jia with a bit more anticipation, listening quietly for his insightful opinion.

However, Guo Jia's tone changed, and he cupped his fist and said.

"Therefore, in my opinion, my lord only needs to… wait, that's all."

"Wait?" Liu Bei asked, puzzled.

"That's right. My lord doesn't need to do anything, and absolutely must not do anything superfluous…"

When Guo Jia said this, his expression became serious, and he said.

"Especially things like intercepting the imperial envoy halfway or fabricating that the edict was never received, must not be done under any circumstances. That little eunuch Zhao Liang, in my observation, is actually an abandoned pawn sent by the Ten Attendants. He doesn't know the details of Wu Commandery and intends to provoke my lord. This must be guarded against."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei immediately rebuked, "How dare you! Zhao Liang is an imperial envoy, holding the imperial staff. I am a subject of Han. How could I attack an imperial envoy?"

To this, Guo Jia readily admitted his mistake, but he understood that Liu Bei was usually gentle, but in reality, his temperament was much more resolute than ordinary people. It was not impossible for him to do something unwise in a fit of anger.

Therefore, Guo Jia quickly followed after seeing Liu Bei leave in a huff, to prevent any major mistakes from happening in the absence of the teacher in Wu Commandery.

While rebuking, Liu Bei didn't dare to admit that when he had just heard Guo Jia say "intercept the imperial envoy," he had felt a slight stirring of intention.

Luoyang was extremely far from Wu Commandery, and it was necessary to cross the Yangtze River. It was normal for accidents to happen along the way.

At that time, if a large number of river pirates were rampant in the Yangtze River, causing obstruction to north-south traffic, that would also be very normal, right?

However, this thought was only fleeting, and it was rejected by Liu Bei. What would such actions be different from Liu Yan, the governor of Yi Province, whose intentions were now unclear?

Immediately, after Liu Bei calmed down slightly, he asked with great confusion.

"What good will 'waiting,' as Fengxiao said, do? Could it be that if we do nothing, His Majesty will withdraw his decree?"

"Naturally not."

Guo Jia paused slightly before continuing, "It's just that the teacher may have already anticipated this matter and hurriedly left You Province for the overseas Yingzhou."

"The sea separates us from Yingzhou by vast waves. Even if my lord intends to inform the teacher of the imperial decree, how can you tell him?"

"Naturally, we can only wait for the teacher to return from overseas Yingzhou before speaking again, but my lord must not forget a certain time that the teacher once predicted."

Suddenly, Liu Bei woke up.

Li Ji had predicted that the current emperor would pass away in the early years of the sixth year of Zhongping, and now it was already near the fifth year of Zhongping, and Li Ji was still on his way to Yingzhou overseas.

As long as Li Ji stayed in Yingzhou for about a year before returning to Wu Commandery, by then the emperor would have passed away, and the Han Dynasty would also enter the era of great chaos that Li Ji had spoken of.

At that time, how could the imperial court have the energy to pursue Li Ji's problem?

Liu Bei pondered for a long time, sighed deeply, completely abandoning the efforts he had been secretly trying in the past, and said.

"It seems that for now, we can only do this."

However, this completely relieved the heavy stone in Liu Bei's heart, and he turned to pick up the edict placed aside and looked at it, a look of joy beginning to appear on his face, and he said.

"In that case, those eunuchs painstakingly tried to harm Zikun, but unexpectedly, in the face of the great trend of the world, they failed to force Zikun to go to Liaodong, but instead gave Zikun the title of 'Marquis of Zhaoting,' very good, very good."

"That's right, from now on, the teacher can also be a Han marquis," Guo Jia echoed.

Although the "Marquis of Zhaoting" was only a title slightly stronger than the Marquis within the Passes, and was the lowest rank among the marquises, it was far from the era of cheap titles in the chaotic world later on.

On the contrary, the current titles of the Han Dynasty were truly symbols of glory.

It should be known that before Li Ji, the three people who were granted titles for their merits were Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song, and Zhu Jun, who had pacified the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which shows the gold content of the title.

（PS: Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were granted and promoted during the Yellow Turban Rebellion is a historical fact. The granting of Lu Zhi's title in the text is the influence of the butterfly effect.）

"Marquis of Zhaoting, Marquis of Zhaoting, Marquis of Zhaoting…"

The more Liu Bei chanted this title, the more he inexplicably liked it, and he immediately said.

"This is also a great thing for Zikun. We must quickly send someone to inform Zikun of this news, and also, Jichang, quickly arrange for people to help Zikun change the plaque of his residence."

… …

At this moment, Li Ji, who was far away thousands of miles away, naturally did not know the changes that had occurred in Wu Commandery.

However, Li Ji had indeed anticipated this.

The situation within Luoyang was complex at the moment. There were Western Qiang invaders outside, and factional disputes between eunuchs and relatives of the emperor inside, coupled with the emperor's greed for pleasure and beauty.

Under such circumstances, Liu Yu, with his gentlemanly demeanor, truthfully presented the battle report to the imperial court, which could be predicted to trigger a series of storms.

However, Li Ji's contribution to this could not be erased. The Ten Attendants greatly disliked Li Ji, and the Yuan clan, whose influence in the court was growing, also targeted Liu Bei.

Li Ji was almost certain that under the competition of various parties, "holding up to kill" would become the final result.

Therefore, realizing this, Li Ji would ignore Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan's retention, and leave You Province with his army early, in order to have no opportunity to receive the imperial edict.

As long as Li Ji righteously hid overseas and chose not to accept the trick, even if there were any tricks, they could not do anything to Li Ji.

"Holding," no matter how the various parties held him up, as long as Li Ji did not stretch his neck out, how could they kill Li Ji?

Perhaps the only place where Li Ji's prediction was slightly off was that he thought the imperial court would send an envoy to You Province to find him, but unexpectedly, they directly sent one to Wu Commandery.

However, at the moment, Li Ji's energy was more focused on Yingzhou, eager to quickly manage Yingzhou.

The already insufficient time was spent on various matters in You Province for about four months, which made Li Ji feel that time was even more pressing.

As the fleet restarted in Yingzhou, relying on Sun Ce's command, it safely crossed the peninsula. Yingzhou could already be seen from afar.

In his previous life, Li Ji did not have the opportunity to set foot on Yingzhou because he did not want to go abroad;

Unexpectedly, in this life, he saw Yingzhou in such a dramatic way.

In the past four months, Jia Xu had reported the situation once in a letter, but the content expressed in it was that everything was going smoothly, but the situation was complicated and difficult to explain in detail on paper, and he would wait for Li Ji to lead his army to Yingzhou before discussing it in detail.

At that time, Li Ji agreed with Jia Xu that he would come to a specific sea area and let Jia Xu send someone to meet him.

Now, as he arrived at a specific sea area near Yingzhou, Li Ji, standing on the deck, looked around at the sea, and suddenly found that the "Kuaiji" was appearing behind a deserted island, slowly heading towards Li Ji's direction.

After both sides further confirmed their identities through flag signals, and Li Ji carefully looked at the hull of the "Kuaiji" and found no traces of damage, he allowed the "Kuaiji" to approach the fleet.

In the next moment, a figure nimbly climbed up the mast of the "Kuaiji," waving towards Li Ji's direction from afar, and shouted excitedly.

"Mr. Zikun, hahahaha, you've finally come…"

Looking at Gan Ning's unceremonious appearance, Li Ji was completely relieved.

Gan Ning's personal welcome basically confirmed that Jia Xu's unit, which had gone to Yingzhou first, had not encountered any problems.

Afterward, Li Ji waved his hand, signaling Sun Ce to bring the "Kuaiji" closer to his flagship, the "Yingzhou."

Once the two ships were close enough, Gan Ning didn't wait for a plank to be lowered. He simply grabbed a rope on the mast and swung over, landing steadily on the deck of the "Yingzhou."

(End of Chapter)