Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Zhang Zhongjing was, by nature, a bit of a bureaucrat and arguably the ceiling of internal medicine skills in this era.

Therefore, the matter was essentially that Li Ji briefed Liu Bei, then handed the task to Zhang Zhongjing, who would quickly produce a charter as a professional, which Li Ji would then sign and seal.

After Liu Bei and Li Ji talked until the stars were sparse in the sky, he walked out with light steps.

Xiahou Bo, who was guarding outside the house, looked at the excitement and flush on Liu Bei's face that hadn't dissipated, and couldn't help but feel a little confused, completely not understanding what Mr. Zikun inside the house had done to make Liu Bei, who usually didn't show his emotions, look like this.

But at this moment, the excitement and joy in Liu Bei's heart were really hard to tell others.

'Zikun has ten thousand miles of mountains and rivers in his belly, and a splendid and prosperous world!'

Liu Bei looked at the night sky, and sighed in his heart.

Only after talking with Li Ji in detail today did Liu Bei realize that the blueprint hidden in Li Ji's heart was so vast.

Behind Liu Bei, Li Ji followed out with a hint of fatigue on his face, preparing to see Liu Bei off.

Throughout the whole process, Liu Bei listened patiently and excitedly, but Li Ji had to explain the upcoming plans for Yangzhou to Liu Bei in a way that Liu Bei could understand.

Wu County is not small, but it is definitely not big.

Many things can be tested in Wu County, but it is far from enough to be the basis of hegemony.

Transforming the entire Yangzhou into the way Li Ji wanted, and then annexing the surrounding areas into it, is the way to become a king, and it can also promote the content of the reform to the entire Han Dynasty in a relatively stable way.

It's just that Li Ji was tense for a long time this morning because of the birth of Xiao Xi'er, and then spent a lot of effort to discuss with Liu Bei for a long time, so it is natural that he could not hide his fatigue.

When Liu Bei saw this, he insisted on not letting Li Ji see him off, and left quickly by himself.

In response, Li Ji did not insist, bid farewell with a salute from afar, and turned around to prepare to go to the backyard, but found Li Xiang sitting on a stone pier next to the backyard door, his head nodding down from time to time, unable to stop dozing off.

When Li Ji saw this, he walked up to Li Xiang and squatted down, but Li Xiang, who still couldn't open his eyelids, was unaware.

"Xiang'er, why are you dozing off here? Why don't you go back to your room to rest?" Li Ji asked gently.

Li Xiang woke up suddenly, and after seeing Li Ji in front of him, he quickly saluted like a little adult and said.

"I am waiting for my father, and after my father has finished discussing business with my uncle, please allow my father to go to my mother to say hello."

Li Ji was slightly startled, and then remembered that in order to avoid affecting Cai Zhaoji's rest, he had ordered that no one except Li Shu and Li Qin, who were serving Cai Zhaoji closely, were allowed to enter Cai Zhaoji's room.

With Li Ji's prestige, no one in the mansion dared to disobey Li Ji's orders, so even Li Xiang was turned away, so he came here to wait for Li Ji, hoping to get Li Ji's permission.

"You child…"

Li Ji's heart was filled with helplessness and complexity for a moment.

If it were A Dou or other children of the same age, they would probably have cried and made a fuss and rushed directly into the mansion's conference hall, how could they be as sensible and intelligent as Li Xiang, waiting on the road from the conference hall to the backyard.

Li Ji's evaluation of Li Xiang has always been that he is too sensible and intelligent.

But precisely because of this, Li Ji didn't dare to show his doting on Li Xiang at all, for fear that the precocious Li Xiang would develop an arrogant personality that put no one in his eyes, and completely grow crooked.

After all, if Li Ji didn't act a little more strictly, who in the entire Liu Bei Group would dare to be strict with Li Xiang.

Even in a few years, maybe no one in the entire Han Dynasty would dare to treat Li Xiang harshly.

In this case, how can he develop a sense of awe?

If people have no awe, they will be lawless.

Therefore, Li Ji's heart was full of pity for Li Xiang at this moment, and he even wanted to pick up Li Xiang and go to see Zhaoji together to see how Zhaoji was recovering.

However, Li Ji still resisted this impulse and responded lightly.

"Then follow me."

Immediately, Li Ji did not express appreciation or criticism for Li Xiang's actions, but flicked his sleeves, put his hands behind his back, and continued to walk forward.

When Li Xiang saw this, he jumped off the small stone pier a little cautiously, trotting to catch up with Li Ji, while holding the pastry that he had wrapped up in the morning in his palm.

Tonight, the moonlight was still bright, stretching the shadows of Li Ji and Li Xiang very long.

"Father, can mother eat pastries at this time?"

"Yes."

… …

When Li Xiang, who was once the eldest son, was born, even if Li Ji did not hold a big banquet, the colleagues or families who came to visit in person could be in an endless stream.

But now, the birth of Li Xi, within the Liu Bei Group, is not enough to cause much attention and sensation.

Except for close friends such as Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Zhao Yun, and Guan Yu who will personally come to congratulate, the rest of the colleagues basically sent a gift.

In the universal view, the importance of a daughter is naturally far lower than that of an eldest son.

However, the fact that the Yangzhou Shepherd's Mansion and the Marquis of Guoshi's Mansion successively sent people to distribute maltose, rice, and grain to congratulate Li Xi made many Yangzhou families who had arrived in Wu County begin to overthink.

"What the Guoshi does must have a deep meaning!"

This statement has almost gradually become the consensus of the Yangzhou families, especially when the one-month period is approaching, the Yangzhou families have to send people to Wu County to try to explain how "excusable" they are.

And many Yangzhou families who had arrived in Wu County in advance gathered together to discuss this matter.

"Could it be a test or an examination?"

"There is really this possibility, this must be hinting at me and others, wanting to see what my reaction is, otherwise why make such a big fanfare for the birth of a mere daughter."

"It's just that the old man has heard that the Marquis of Guoshi is upright and has never accepted any benefits after being an official for many years, and his words and deeds are all for the public, so he can't try to make money with such small tricks, right?"

"Who can say for sure about this kind of thing? Even if the Marquis of Guoshi doesn't have this idea, shouldn't you seriously express it? Now, under Liu Huangshu, the Marquis of Guoshi has the most power, and Liu Huangshu can be said to listen to the Marquis of Guoshi."

"Hmph, you are really as timid as mice, my Xu family has been passed down for more than 300 years, and our ancestors have produced as many as six of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, if we bow down and flatter a small rural marquis, what backbone is there to speak of? And what face is there to see the ancestors?"

"That's right! The reason why I came to Wu County before was to negotiate with Liu Huangshu, why should I compliment a rural marquis like this?"

"What you said is very reasonable, as long as I am united, no matter what that Marquis of Guoshi does, he can't kill me all, right?"

… …

The next day, when Li Ji, who had returned to the government office after the break, quickly saw the content of the conversations that the Jinyi Division had presented about the secret meetings of many Yangzhou families.

"Oh, the Yangzhou families can still have such backbone?"

Li Ji may not care about the so-called gifts from the Yangzhou families, but he was greatly surprised by the backbone shown by the Yangzhou families, which had a not small deviation from what Li Ji had expected.

However, Li Ji was not in a hurry to deal with these Yangzhou families, and planned to continue to wait for the one-month period, so that the guillotine would drop a little longer.

It's just that after Li Ji returned to the government office, before Li Ji could sit still, a meeting was convened, and the content of this meeting was very simple.

That is promotion and granting official positions!

Liu Bei was promoted to General Annan and concurrently served as the Governor of Yangzhou. Although he did not have the right to open a government like Lu Bu, with the decline of the imperial court, the promotion of all officials in Yangzhou was undoubtedly decided by Liu Bei in one word.

If Li Ji had not taken a break and returned home after returning to Wu County, this promotion meeting would have been held long ago.

Therefore, after Li Ji ended his break, Liu Bei convened this promotion meeting almost immediately, intending to initially set the official system within the entire Yangzhou.

The first is to change the governing place of Yangzhou to Wu County, and change the original Wu County government office to the State Shepherd's Office.

Li Ji was originally promoted to the Prefect of Wu County by the imperial court, so it was not appropriate to be Liu Bei's subordinate official, but Liu Bei directly appointed Li Ji as "Military Advisor" to oversee all military and political affairs inside and outside Yangzhou.

Guan Yu was promoted to the Military Cao Congshi of the State Shepherd's Office, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun were both Inspectors Congshi, Jia Xu was promoted to Zhizhong Congshi, Mi Zhu was promoted to Bu Cao Congshi, Jian Yong was promoted to Chief Clerk, Sun Qian was Literature Congshi, and Guo Jia was Supervisor.

Other generals such as Gan Ning, Jiang Qin, and Xu Sheng were recommended to the imperial court as miscellaneous generals or actual school lieutenants.

Only the Biejia Congshi, who was the head of all subordinate officials, was chosen by Liu Bei to be vacant.

The positions of prefects of the other counties in Yangzhou are still in a vacant state because a considerable part of them are still imprisoned in Wu County Prison, and no arrangements have been made yet.

However, what Wu County lacks the most now is practical small officials.

Therefore, a large number of civil servants accumulated since the establishment of the Rende Academy have also been promoted and arranged to the government offices of various counties to maintain the operation of the government offices.

After these civil servants who are loyal to Liu Bei completely control the government offices of various counties and counties, who the prefect is is not important at all. The key is that the government offices of various counties can implement the orders issued by the State Shepherd's Office.

After this meeting, which lasted for most of the day, everyone walked out with smiles on their faces.

Only Gu Yong had a bitter face, with a look of melancholy and complexity.

It was not that Gu Yong had not been promoted, but the position he was promoted to was…

Li Ji walked over with a smile on his face and asked. "What? Yuan Tan, what you have been dreaming of before is to become the County Chancellor of Wu County, right?"

At this moment, Gu Yong almost couldn't help but roll his eyes, and his face was stretched very long.

It was true that Gu Yong once wanted to become the Assistant Administrator of Wu Commandery, but the current Administrator of Wu Commandery was Li Ji!!!

Before Gu Yong could respond with his usual evasive manner, Li Ji patted Gu Yong on the shoulder and said,

"Yuan Tan, you know, I have the highest hopes for you! Work hard, and who knows, my position might be yours in the future."

Immediately, Li Ji happily left work.

Li Ji, as the Administrator of Wu Commandery, naturally held only a nominal title. As Liu Bei's territory grew larger, it was impossible for Li Ji to handle all the trivial matters within the commandery as he had done before.

And Gu Yong's position as the Assistant Administrator of Wu Commandery was specifically recommended to Liu Bei by Li Ji.

Now, Wu Commandery, as the core prosperous area of Yang Province, likely had the largest population of any commandery in the entire Han Dynasty and would also be the central area for Li Ji to implement reforms in Yang Province.

It was foreseeable that the administrative affairs of Wu Commandery would be extremely heavy.

Only by entrusting it to Gu Yong, a talent comparable to a prime minister who was quite familiar with Wu Commandery, could Li Ji be completely assured, and this could also be considered a fulfillment of his past promise to Gu Yong.

'But in doing so, perhaps Gu Yong will have to suffer a little more...'

Thinking of this, Li Ji, escorted by Xu Chu, walked all the way back to his mansion, a smile almost constantly on his face.

But when Li Ji returned to the front of the Marquis of the Nation's residence and saw the mountain of gifts, almost blocking the entire doorway, his expression couldn't help but freeze.

Wait a minute...

Didn't the aristocratic families of Yang Province agree that they would never bow their heads to a mere rural marquis? Where was the full display of integrity revealed in those words?

(End of Chapter)