Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 57: Choosing a Location Among the Four Provinces

Entering the imperial court and holding a central position was truly Liu Bei's ideal of bringing honor to his ancestors.

In the blink of an eye, he had risen from the very bottom to the stage of the central power of the Han Dynasty.

Leading troops to suppress bandits was also Liu Bei's wish.

Even after the Yellow Turban Rebellion was quelled, the current Han Dynasty was still riddled with holes, with bandits and mountain brigands as numerous as hairs, and the remnants of the Yellow Turbans would inevitably require a long time to slowly conquer.

Garrisoning the frontier was even more of an irresistible temptation for the men of the Han Dynasty.

Ever since Huo Qubing's Fenglang Juxu ceremony, every Han man almost instinctively entered a state of excitement when conquering foreign tribes.

Governing a region was also one of Liu Bei's ideals.

Just like the oath made in the Peach Garden Oath, to bring peace to the common people and protect a region so that the sea is calm and the river is clear.

Li Ji allowed Liu Bei's expression to change from time to time, and continued to drink porridge on his own, filling his already hungry stomach.

After a long time, Liu Bei suddenly woke up and said with a wry smile.

"What I will do in the future depends on the court's appointment, how can I decide?"

"No, you can."

Li Ji shook his head and said.

Nowadays, the imperial court's selling of official positions is almost openly displayed.

Although the Emperor would not be so completely out of his mind as to easily sell off official positions that truly controlled the power of the court.

However, with Liu Bei's merits already sufficient, it was really too simple to choose a position he liked.

Liu Bei was naturally aware of this.

It's just that this kind of thing was somewhat unwilling to be accepted by Liu Bei's extremely high moral bottom line.

"Zikun, if I buy an official position, it is not the act of a gentleman, and I am irreconcilable with the eunuch party," Liu Bei said in a deep voice.

"Brother Xuande has misunderstood.

Now that Brother Xuande has the support of the Northern General and Liu Yan, if you have any ideas in mind, you should express them, so that the court can arrange Brother Xuande in a position where he can maximize his abilities."

Li Ji said with a smile as he advised.

In fact, Li Ji had no preference for or aversion to the eunuch party.

Perhaps most people in this era attributed all the Emperor's mistakes to the eunuch party's bewitchment of the Emperor and disruption of the government, and even the selling of official positions was blamed on the eunuch party.

In fact, the eunuch party was ultimately just the Emperor's spokesperson.

The money spent on selling official positions was ostensibly taken away by the eunuch party, but in reality, it was still contributing to the Emperor's private treasury's GDP.

However, since Liu Bei disliked the eunuch party, even if Li Ji did not contact the eunuch party, Liu Bei would still have plenty of room for choice with his current merits.

And Liu Bei pondered again for a long time, and then looked at Li Ji expectantly and asked.

"Zikun, what do you think?"

Li Ji wiped his mouth and said bluntly.

"Entering the imperial court, you will be restricted by the eunuch party and the Empress's relatives, making it difficult to achieve anything."

"This is also what I am worried about," Liu Bei nodded and said in agreement.

Li Ji continued to say.

"As for leading troops to suppress bandits and garrisoning the frontier, they are nothing more than martial men.

However, what the Han Dynasty lacks is not martial men, but people who can truly do something for the people.

Governing a region, you can make suggestions to the imperial court, and retreat to protect a region so that the sea is calm and the river is clear."

These words dispelled the entanglement in Liu Bei's heart, and he said.

"Zikun is right, I have been taught.

I just don't know which prefecture I should strive to be the governor of in Zikun's opinion?"

At this moment, Liu Bei no longer deliberately pretended to be modest, and was very clear that his merits were enough to serve as the governor of a region.

It's just that the economic, population, customs, and other differences between the thirteen prefectures and one hundred and five counties of the Han Dynasty were extremely large.

Similar to some prefectures and counties with chaotic security and rampant thieves, in recent years, there have even been incidents of thieves breaking through the government offices and killing the prefects.

In addition, due to the difficulty of governing prefectures and counties, there have also been cases of officials being deprived of their positions and demoted by the imperial court.

Therefore, when having room for choice, choosing which prefecture or county to serve as governor is undoubtedly a great knowledge.

Immediately, Liu Bei took out a simplified map of the entire thirteen prefectures of the Han Dynasty and began to study it with Li Ji with great enthusiasm.

"If Brother Xuande is to govern a region and protect the sea so that it is calm and the river is clear, then there is naturally no need to consider places bordering foreign tribes, where border troubles often occur."

Li Ji said, and then picked up a brush and crossed out Jiaozhou, Bingzhou, Liangzhou, and Youzhou, and also blacked out Sili, which would not have a governor.

"And Jizhou and Qingzhou were the main areas affected by the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and I am afraid that they will be busy with suppressing the remnants of the Yellow Turban bandits for the next few years, making it difficult to achieve anything."

After saying that, Li Ji crossed out Jizhou and Qingzhou as well.

If the Han Dynasty had already existed in name only and officially entered a chaotic world, then Jizhou and Qingzhou might be excellent choices, but now that the Han Dynasty is still in existence, many things will be subject to a certain degree of restrictions.

In this case, serving as the governor of Jizhou and Qingzhou would probably be nothing more than suppressing bandits, and the treasury would be almost empty, making it extremely difficult to achieve anything.

Liu Bei followed Li Ji's train of thought, constantly thinking, and nodded in agreement.

The above prefectures and counties are indeed basically messes.

"Yuzhou and Yanzhou are adjacent to Sili, and there are as many prominent families as stars and they are deeply rooted.

Even the governor is often subject to restrictions.

In the end, is it the prominent families governing the prefectures and counties, or is it the governor governing the prefectures and counties, who can say for sure?"

Li Ji shook his head and also crossed out these Yuzhou and Yanzhou as well.

In the end, I mean that the waters of Yuzhou and Yanzhou are too deep, and Liu Bei, whose background is almost blank, cannot grasp them.

At this moment, the simplified map of the thirteen prefectures of the Han Dynasty in front of Liu Bei was already blacked out in a large area, leaving only Yizhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou.

"So, Zikun believes that if I want to achieve something, it is better to serve as the governor of one of the four prefectures of Yi, Xu, Yang, and Jing?" Liu Bei asked.

Li Ji nodded and said.

"These four prefectures each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they still need to be carefully considered."

Liu Bei put on a thoughtful expression, but in fact, looking at the map in front of him, his eyes gradually became a little scattered.

What is all this?

Liu Bei could say what the specific thirteen prefectures of the Han Dynasty were, but asking Liu Bei to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the four prefectures of Yi, Xu, Yang, and Jing, which he had never been to, was really embarrassing for Liu Bei.

However, looking at Li Ji's gaze, Liu Bei bit the bullet and expressed his opinions on the four prefectures one by one.

"Yizhou, um, not bad, not bad..."

"Xuzhou is also very good."

"Yangzhou is just a little bit south, but it's pretty good."

"Jingzhou, I guess it's not bad either."

......

Li Ji.

You analyzed it very well, don't analyze it next time.

Li Ji, who was a little bit dumbfounded, didn't expose Liu Bei, and also said.

"Brother Xuande's opinion is brilliant."

Liu Bei's old face turned red, and he simply said truthfully.

"Actually... it's not very brilliant, cough cough, I don't know much about these, but I believe that Zikun must have a brilliant theory."

Being praised and trusted so nakedly by Liu Bei, Li Ji's heart actually felt a bit inexplicably happy.

It's over!

Has the "Han Dynasty Enchantress" also used her power on me?

Li Ji quickly calmed his mind and refocused his eyes on the map in front of him.

Yang, Jing, Xu, and Yi, these four prefectures each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they are all worthy of consideration.

However, with the advantage of foresight, Li Ji first excluded Xuzhou.

Xuzhou has no natural defenses, it is easy to attack and difficult to defend.

Although it is a must-contend place for military strategists, it is extremely easy to be continuously affected by the Central Plains battlefield if Xuzhou is used as a starting place.

If you want to create a stable rear area, Xuzhou is undoubtedly not a good choice.

After pondering for a moment, Li Ji still chose to cross out Xuzhou.

In addition, if we talk about the most stable and suitable place for development in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, it is undoubtedly Jing and Yi prefectures, which is also the foundation of the establishment of the Shu Han Dynasty in the original trajectory.

Yizhou has the importance of natural dangers, forming its own circle.

As long as you guard the passes, even a million troops will be difficult to enter.

You only need to choose an opportunity to exit Guanzhong, and use Yizhou as a rear area to provide a steady stream of support, and you have the hope of sweeping the world;

Jingzhou is surrounded by the Yangtze River and is far away from the center of the Central Plains war.

Using it as a starting place, you only need to block the Yangtze River, and then seize the opportunity to move, annexing Yuzhou and Yanzhou, and you can watch the Central Plains with vigilance, and you don't have to worry about the backyard catching fire and getting into the dilemma of multi-line operations.

Therefore, Yizhou and Jingzhou are undoubtedly the most in line with Li Ji's concept of "accumulating grain widely, building high walls, and slowly claiming kingship."

You can accumulate great power, wait for the opportunity to move, and sweep the world in one fell swoop.

The only problem...

Li Ji glanced at Liu Bei, making Liu Bei feel a little inexplicable.

"Zikun, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Li Ji sighed and casually crossed out Yizhou first.

Because of the advantage of foresight, Yizhou has thousands of benefits, but Li Ji is clear that there is a hidden danger in it that is difficult for Liu Bei to deal with.

After Liu Yan submits the "Policy of the Governor of the State", he will probably set his sights on the position of the Governor of Yizhou.

At that time, Liu Yan will have absolute control over Liu Bei in terms of affection or righteousness by virtue of his uncle and superior status.

Therefore, if you choose Yizhou, then no matter how much effort Liu Bei makes, it will be making wedding clothes for others.

"Considering all the factors, after excluding Xuzhou and Yizhou.

In this way, only Jingzhou and Yangzhou are left."

Li Ji murmured, and then asked Liu Bei.

"Brother Xuande, do you have any ideas?"

"Jingzhou and Yangzhou, what are the main differences?" Liu Bei asked.

Li Ji thought for a while and said.

"Jingzhou's various conditions are promising in the future, but the local prominent families are also deeply rooted.

If you want to achieve something, I am afraid that you will have to spend a lot of effort on the local prominent families."

"As for Yang Province, located further south, it is often plagued by barbarian unrest, and one can expect many mountain bandits and water pirates. However, although there are many local aristocratic families in Yang Province, most of them are small clans. In this respect, it is an advantage compared to Jing Province."

Li Ji spoke, falling into deep thought.

Don't assume that the Eastern Wu in the original timeline seemed to have many cowardly figures, generally being more than capable of maintaining the status quo but lacking in offensive capabilities. Furthermore, after the founding of Eastern Wu, the aristocratic families were incredibly prominent and resistant to change.

However, at this stage, Yang Province really doesn't have any truly prominent aristocratic families.

It wasn't until the arrival of the chaotic times, when the Central Plains fell into continuous warfare and a large number of aristocratic families migrated south, and the Sun family, in order to quickly gain a foothold, actively chose to cooperate with a large number of aristocratic families, that a large group of prominent aristocratic families was created after the founding of Eastern Wu.