Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 512: Usurpation?

Li Ji wasn't worried about the situation in the Lin-yi Kingdom.

Even the small countries around Lin-yi were so frightened that they immediately knelt and offered tribute, let alone Lin-yi, whose ruling class had been wiped out in one fell swoop.

Moreover, Xu Sheng had left 3,000 Han soldiers to guard Lin-yi.

As long as the Han army's flag was still planted on Lin-yi's land, at least this generation of Lin-yi people would never dare to harbor any rebellious thoughts, which would be enough for Yu State to slowly incorporate Lin-yi into the Rinan Commandery.

However, Qu Lian made an interesting point.

That was, Qu Lian split off a county's worth of land back then, fought for half his life, and conquered the Lin-yi Kingdom, which was far larger than the Rinan Commandery.

In the end, it was all for the benefit of the Great Han.

At least, now Yu State could justifiably incorporate the entire Lin-yi Kingdom into the Rinan Commandery, adding a little bit more to the territory of the Great Han.

In addition to the Lin-yi rice produced there, Lin-yi's geographical location was also highly valued by Li Ji.

Although the Wu Commandery's sea ships had repeatedly made technological breakthroughs, there was still a significant gap compared to the Zheng He's voyages to the West, which meant that the possibility of long-distance voyages was not high.

Under such circumstances, after Lin-yi was completely stabilized, Li Ji planned to establish ports in Yizhou, Zhuya (Hainan), and the southernmost end of Lin-yi.

In this way, a safe and complete sea route could be opened up, and the island countries of Southeast Asia could be included in the navigation range by using the port in southern Lin-yi as a stepping stone.

After the Yangzhou aristocratic families, as pioneers, had stabilized in Yizhou, the number of aristocratic families that needed to be guided overseas would inevitably increase as Liu Bei's territory continued to expand.

Yizhou was large, but it was far from satisfying the appetite of the entire Great Han's aristocratic families.

Therefore, the many island countries in Southeast Asia undoubtedly became the next direction to arrange.

As more and more aristocratic families were guided and bound together, the benefits generated became more and more enormous…

Driven by huge profits, there was no doubt that everything related to navigation, including sea ships, would usher in unprecedented rapid development and breakthroughs.

Long-distance voyages might not necessarily be a distant future.

Li Ji couldn't help but imagine it for a while before pulling his thoughts back.

That was probably a more distant blueprint than restoring the Han Dynasty.

However, as long as the aristocratic families, who had endless desires for land, power, and fame, were guided overseas, then the final outcome would be the same.

Of course, unlike colonialism, the benevolent Great Han had its own characteristics, which was… edification.

At this moment, Gu Yong walked in with a somewhat anxious pace and said.

"Lord Marquis, those Lin-yi prisoners cannot be dealt with like this."

"I thought it was something important that made Yuan Tan look so anxious…"

Li Ji said with a smile, and then asked. "Why can't they be dealt with like this?"

Gu Yong stared at Li Ji, wanting to confirm whether Li Ji had really overlooked it or was deliberately pretending not to know.

However, Li Ji's calm and peaceful expression made it impossible for Gu Yong to see anything.

Immediately, Gu Yong looked around and, seeing that there was no one else, stepped forward and carefully reminded him.

"This is an act of usurpation. Lin-yi is, after all, a country. It is very inappropriate to directly deal with the king and a group of noble ministers without the permission of the imperial court."

Perhaps with the arrival of the chaotic world, many rules had become waste paper.

It was just that Liu Bei had always adhered to the righteousness of supporting the Han Dynasty and restoring the Great Han. While obtaining a lot of benefits, there were naturally many things that needed to be careful about.

For example, as the General of Annam, Liu Bei might have no problem sending troops to conquer Lin-yi, but it was taboo in a sense to kill the king without authorization and demote a group of Lin-yi noble ministers to the status of commoners, which was suspected of despising royal power.

If there were no envoys from the countries south of Jiaozhou, Gu Yong thought it would be fine to do it, and it would not be a big deal if Li Ji sent the concubines of Lin-yi to his backyard to play with.

As long as he pretended to be confused and denied it, no one would be able to grasp the handle.

However, since the envoys of the various countries were going to Luoyang to pay tribute, this matter would inevitably be publicized, so it would not be appropriate to deal with the ruling class of Lin-yi at will.

However, feeling the concern revealed in Gu Yong's words, Li Ji showed a smile on his face and patiently explained.

"Yuan Tan is overthinking it. The Great Han has never officially recognized the country established by Qu Lian by splitting off Han land. Since it is not a country, then it is just a chaotic rebel. It is most appropriate for Yangzhou to deal with the family members of the traitors who followed the chaotic rebels."

Is that okay?

Gu Yong couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

Then, after careful consideration, it seemed that this was indeed the case.

In the eyes of the countries south of Jiaozhou, Lin-yi was naturally a serious country, but in the eyes of the Great Han court, it had never officially recognized the existence of the Lin-yi Kingdom.

In addition, Qu Lian was originally a Han official, so he was just a rebel who split off the land.

In this way, it was reasonable for Yangzhou to deal with this group of chaotic rebels and their family members on its own.

"I overlooked it."

"Yuan Tan, don't limit your vision to one place. Focus on the entire Great Han, so that Yuan Tan will be able to find that some things are completely different."

Li Ji kindly reminded Gu Yong.

Li Ji had always recognized Gu Yong's ability to govern.

However, the atmosphere in Jiangdong was a little strange. The vision of the heroes from the Jiangdong aristocratic families seemed to be limited, and they subconsciously focused only on one place and one region.

Looking at the ministers of Eastern Wu in the original trajectory, the only one with a very high overall view was Lu Su.

But the problem was that Lu Su was not from Jiangdong at all. Lu Su was a serious Xuzhou Xiapi person, and he was also a famous wealthy family.

It was a pity that Lu Su was about to reach adulthood, and his studies had also been completed. It was not suitable to invite him to Wu Commandery as a protégé.

However, Lu Su had not yet officially reached adulthood, and it was a little early to invite Lu Su to be an official, so Li Ji could only pay attention to Lu Su's movements through the Jinyi Division from time to time.

As for Li Ji's reminder, Gu Yong pondered for a while, and then bowed and retreated to continue his work.

Afterwards, Li Ji specially met the son of Gu Jun, who died as a Han envoy.

He was only eight years old, still very young, and his skin was the dark color unique to the Rinan Commandery. Although his face was very tender, his eyes seemed quite firm and mature.

Li Ji also respected Gu Jun, who was willing to die for the sake of great integrity.

Therefore, after Xu Chu brought Gu Jun's son in, Li Ji directly called Gu Jun's son to his side, and with a flip of his palm, he produced a few pieces of maltose.

At this time, the craft of white sugar was quite mature, and there was never a shortage of various sugar products from market vendors.

The name of maltose in later generations was maltose, and its earliest appearance could be traced back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. By this era, it was a very common snack.