Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Liu Yan was ill, so ill that he was unconscious.

Li Ji was fishing by the river in Chaisang when he received this news.

Perhaps it was due to his advancing age, or perhaps because Li Ji could deduce too much from what he already knew, he had developed a strong interest in fishing, a pursuit that relied entirely on the unknown.

Therefore, during his time garrisoning troops in Chaisang, Li Ji would often go fishing by the river when he had nothing else to do, occasionally enjoying the feeling of wasting time and energy without necessarily getting a return.

As for the information about Liu Yan, it was transmitted back by the Brocade-Clad Guards through emergency channels.

The three-hundred-li plank road in Ba Commandery was destroyed, but this did not mean that all outward passages were blocked. It only cut off the possibility of Yi Province using troops in the direction of Jing Province in the short term.

It was still feasible to continue downstream from Ba Commandery via the Yangtze River waterway to enter Jing Province and Yang Province.

However, not to mention the rapid currents of the Yangtze River in Ba Commandery and the Three Gorges area.

More importantly, the naval development of Yi Province could not be said to be weak, but only slightly better than nothing. Perhaps Liu Yan could not even gather enough ships from the entire Yi Province to meet the transportation needs of a large army.

Moreover, with those few dilapidated ships in Yi Province, even if they barely managed to transport a large army through the Three Gorges, they would sink to the bottom of the river in an instant when facing the navies of Jing Province or Yang Province.

Therefore, Liu Yan's idea of advancing into Jing Province may have been aborted, but the Brocade-Clad Guards' ability to transmit information outwards via the Yangtze River waterway would not be affected.

Li Ji wins twice, is this not a win-win situation?

Holding a fishing rod in one hand, Li Ji flipped through the specific intelligence that was transmitted, all of which were evidence of Liu Yan's serious illness, even to the extent that the Yi Province State Shepherd's Office was widely inviting physicians from all over to treat Liu Yan.

A physician who had been developed as a contact by the Brocade-Clad Guards also successfully infiltrated the State Shepherd's Office to personally take Liu Yan's pulse.

Not much time left.

This was the conclusion given by the physician developed by the Brocade-Clad Guards.

"I'm afraid this is really going to anger Liu Yan to death..."

Li Ji couldn't help but sigh, feeling a sense of sorrow and joy, as if an old friend had passed away, and he had personally sent him off.

Mainly, the "joy" accounted for a larger proportion, about eighty or ninety percent.

'However, Yi Province...'

Li Ji stared at the bamboo fishing float on the river, his thoughts also diverging.

Liu Yan's plan had almost deceived everyone, not only Liu Zhang, who had a good relationship with Liu Bei and Li Ji, but even Zhang Song, the mole that Li Ji had secretly developed, had also been deceived.

Most importantly, in order to confuse others, Liu Yan did not hesitate to kill his wives and concubines, and antagonize Zhang Lu, who occupied Hanzhong, which can be described as cutting off his own arm.

At that time, not to mention Liu Biao believing it, even Li Ji had no doubts.

It was not until Liu Yan sent only 50,000 Yi Province troops out of Sichuan as bait that Li Ji faintly noticed something was wrong.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Yi Province had been infiltrated by the Brocade-Clad Guards like a sieve, with infiltrations in all aspects.

Because of this, even if Liu Yan was seriously ill and unable to control government affairs, according to Li Ji's judgment of the situation in Yi Province, it was impossible to mobilize only 50,000 troops in order to regain the only heir.

Once suspicion arose, Li Ji reversed and deduced, and then noticed many small problems in the details, and then judged the chess game laid out by Liu Yan.

At present, the mutual damage between Yi and Jing is undoubtedly in the best interest of Yang Province.

The Jing Province army has been almost completely lost, and Yi Province has also cut off the possibility of leaving Sichuan for a while.

In this way, the real game in Jing Province is only between Yuan Shu and Liu Bei.

However, there is one point that Liu Biao's judgment is correct, that is, if Liu Yan is really seriously ill, this is undoubtedly a good opportunity to swallow Yi Province.

However, Li Ji quickly gave up this seemingly tempting greedy idea with a calm mind.

Jing Province still has Yuan Shu's hundreds of thousands of troops to face, how much more troops can Li Ji spare to try to swallow Yi Province?

Even if the feasibility exists, the number of changes in it is more like a "gamble".

And Li Ji has always hated "gambling" and "poison", and will not easily do things that he is not sure of.

Wanting to take the opportunity to seize Yi Province at this moment is undoubtedly a "gamble".

"However, if Yi Province falls into the hands of his other sons after Liu Yan's serious illness, it may be a variable..."

Li Ji said softly.

Liu Yan has four sons. Liu Zhang, who has had a lot of contact with Liu Bei and Li Ji, ranks fourth. He also has three older brothers, Liu Fan, Liu Dan, and Liu Mao.

Since Liu Yan took control of Yi Province earlier than in the original trajectory, the three older brothers of Liu Zhang needed to stay in Luoyang as hostages.

Later, after Dong Zhuo died, Luoyang was in chaos. The three disappeared and were thought to have been killed by the Xiliang rebels. In fact, they were secretly protected by Liu Yan and sent back to Yi Province.

But the problem lies here. Li Ji knows very little about Liu Fan, Liu Dan, and Liu Mao. He doesn't know their abilities and minds. If they inherit Yi Province, it may be a variable.

'It is not advisable to take Yi Province now. It is not stable, and if the lord swallows the territory of two clan state shepherds in one breath, even if it looks good on the surface, it will inevitably seem like an attempt to cover up the truth...'

'However, we can add fuel to the fire within Yi Province.'

At this moment, Li Ji noticed the movement of the fishing float out of the corner of his eye, and subconsciously lifted the fishing rod sharply, and the fishing line tightened instantly.

A big fish was hooked!

This made Li Ji stand up quickly, his body tensed, and his arms exerted force to try to catch the big fish.

Gu Wei, dressed as a pageboy, ran in from the outer perimeter guarded by guards in a hurry, shouting with joy.

"Lord Marquis, General Bo Fu is back."

Li Ji's attention was distracted for a moment by Gu Wei's shout, and he did not slow down slightly in time with the direction of the big fish's struggle, so that the fishing line was over-tightened and instantly exceeded the force it could withstand.

"Bang!"

With a crisp sound, the fishing line snapped directly in the middle.

In just a breath, the fishing float was completely dragged by the big fish and disappeared into the river.

"What a pity."

Li Ji sighed.

It is quite rare for such a big fish to be hooked.

Xu Chu on the side said when he saw this.

"I will go to the craftsman who made the fishing rod for the Marquis. He must have cut corners, otherwise, why would the fishing line break so easily, so that the Marquis's big fish was released."

"Nonsense."

Li Ji said unhappily.

Even if there is no imperial examination system and the "scholar-peasant-artisan-merchant" class is completely solidified, the status of artisans has always been low.

However, during Li Ji's administration, he repeatedly increased the income and status of artisans, which made the artisans' respect and love for Li Ji come from the heart.

Therefore, if Xu Chu really questioned the craftsman for this reason, not to mention whether he would directly punish the craftsman, I am afraid that the craftsman would inevitably feel ashamed and uneasy.

"What does it matter if this big fish is gone? Let's see when another big fish will be truly hooked."

Li Ji said, then threw the fishing rod in his hand to Xu Chu, flicked his sleeves, and said.

"Return to camp."

(End of this chapter)