Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

And so, amidst such turbulent times, another year passed for the Great Han, arriving at the second year of the Chuping era, which in Li Ji's memory was 191 AD.

This year, Liu Bei turned thirty years old.

Li Ji, on the other hand, appeared increasingly handsome and refined. As he grew older, he finally managed to grow some facial hair, which made him appear more composed and added a touch of dignity.

During one winter, under the influence of various factors, over ninety percent of the remaining aristocratic families in Yang Province, whether willingly or forced by the circumstances, began to choose to relocate to Yizhou for governance and development.

Ships constantly traveled between Yang Province and Yizhou, transporting not only the families but also a large quantity of supplies, servants, and other necessities for governing and developing Yizhou.

Of course, all of this was not free.

Li Ji's dealings with the aristocratic families were never charitable.

Yizhou land also required the Yang Province families to exchange land for it.

Depending on the value of the land, the exchange ratio varied from twenty to one to one hundred to one.

Land, in the hands of the Yang Province families, was also meant for cultivation, ensuring the basic needs of future generations.

But having clearly understood that Yizhou's land was more suitable for cultivation, and with the Yang Province families shifting their focus to Yizhou, they naturally had no energy to cultivate the land in Yang Province. Coupled with the shocking exchange ratio,

therefore, most of the families chose to retain only a small portion of their Yang Province land, exchanging the rest for land in Yizhou.

It was through this method that Li Ji quickly gathered a large amount of land from the aristocratic families during the winter of the first year of Chuping.

This land steadily ensured the smooth implementation of the military household system in the remaining, not-yet-extensively-cultivated prefectures and counties of Yang Province, without harming the interests of the common people.

In addition, the transportation between Yang Province and Yizhou was entirely monopolized by Liu Bei, which was currently the most effective way to ensure that the aristocratic families paid taxes to the greatest extent.

To this end, Li Ji did not forget to urgently draft a "Maritime Transport Tax Law" for implementation, further skimming off another layer of oil from the Yang Province aristocratic families, and this would continue to happen in the future.

Yizhou was temporarily developed by the Yang Province families, but with the maritime transport completely controlled by Liu Bei, the only channel for selling the various resources developed was undoubtedly Yang Province.

With benefits at stake, various methods could be used to favor many Yang Province families who were already inclined towards Yang Province, thereby creating a competitive environment.

Moreover, even though Li Ji promised the Yang Province families autonomy in Yizhou, a pitfall was quietly buried in the agreement signed by both parties.

Yang Province promised not to interfere in any administrative affairs during the development and governance of Yizhou, but required Yizhou to abide by the laws of the Great Han, and Yang Province would send personnel to supervise and enforce the laws in various places.

The Yang Province families had some objections to this, but they understood that they were not preparing to completely break away from the Great Han, so they agreed.

Obviously, they were not aware of the pitfall of the separation of powers.

They only had administrative power, which was the power inevitably handed over to encourage the Yang Province families to actively develop and govern Yizhou.

However, Li Ji quietly retained legislative and judicial power.

In a sense, the Yang Province families were athletes running a race on Yizhou, but Li Ji was the referee and the rule-maker.

Perhaps this was not significant in the early stages, but in the long run, it could ensure that Yizhou would never have the opportunity to break away from the Great Han.

And from then on, the Yang Province families were, in a sense, completely tied to Liu Bei.

Only Liu Bei's support could continuously guarantee their interests and foundation in Yizhou.

After spending more than half a year, Liu Bei's decrees could finally reach every village and household in Yang Province unimpeded.

In addition, Liu Bei's cancellation of a large number of exorbitant taxes and corvée labor led to a rapid surge in Liu Bei's prestige among the people of Yang Province.

Li Ji had already seen this very clearly.

Money and food were the foundation for implementing benevolent governance.

And if the money and food benefits of benevolent governance were directly distributed to the people at the bottom, instead of being deducted layer by layer in the middle, then countless people could quickly be won over.

The principle had always been so simple.

The winter of the first year of Chuping in Yang Province seemed to be three degrees colder than in the past, but what the people felt was unprecedented hope and enthusiasm.

Yang Province, centered on Wu Commandery, seemed to have undergone a transformation.

Even though it was not yet spring, Li Ji, who took the time to inspect the other counties of Yang Province with Liu Bei, felt a sense of vitality from the people.

The Great Han had indeed just entered a chaotic era, but the people had already suffered for many years.

However, Li Ji looked at the pedestrians hurrying in the light snow, shivering from the cold, and couldn't help but reveal a few traces of helplessness on his face.

Even though the artisans in Wu Commandery had gradually formed a scale, and under Li Ji's promotion, a large number of innovations had been achieved.

For example, coal briquettes, which had already appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty, were promoted and innovated to produce cheaper and safer smokeless coal.

Although Yang Province's coal resources were not abundant, a large amount of coal could be easily brought back through maritime transport, and the Mi Clan Chamber of Commerce also made a fortune by cooperating with merchants from various states to manufacture smokeless coal.

However, cheap smokeless coal could only ensure that the sparsely clad people would not freeze to death at home, but they could not avoid freezing when they went out.

This was a limitation in the material of the clothing. The clothes worn by the people were often coarse linen, and they could not afford more expensive clothes at all.

Li Ji was also helpless about this at the moment.

The only solution was cotton.

However, Zuo Rong was considered diligent after going to Yingzhou, but if he wanted pure white flowers to cover the entire island nation, it would obviously take at least five years.

And even if there was a first batch of cotton produced, it could only be given priority to the soldiers, and then gradually popularized to the people.

However, with the existence of smokeless coal, even though there was more snowfall this winter, the statistics showed that there were very few deaths from freezing in the entire Yang Province, which made Li Ji quite gratified.

However, as spring approached, what people like Liu Bei and Li Ji, who knew the inside story, were concerned about was the news of Lin Yi rice.

If it was delayed any longer, it would be too late.

Thinking of this, Li Ji couldn't help but furrow his brow slightly.

Although the portion of Lin Yi rice brought back by Liu Ji earlier was far from enough for popularization, it was enough for Wu Commandery to conduct research and trial planting.

(End of chapter)