Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 58: True Near-Death Experience

For example, the four major Jiangdong surnames—Zhu, Zhang, Gu, and Lu—which had a great influence in Eastern Wu in the original timeline, could only barely be considered small aristocratic families at this time, and their influence was still limited to one commandery.

In contrast, the Jingzhou aristocratic families were much more prominent, intermarrying and forming alliances with each other, intricately intertwined, affecting the whole body with one move, and had long turned most of Jingzhou into the shape of aristocratic families.

Among them, the Cai and Kuai families of Jingzhou can be regarded as true prominent families. Although they are not top-ranked in the entire Han Dynasty, their influence in Jingzhou penetrates into all aspects.

After a pause, Li Ji continued to introduce to Liu Bei.

"South of the Yangtze River, Jing and Yang are divided into east and west. Jingzhou is located on the west side of the Yangtze River, connecting to Shu, and can be connected to Yuzhou and Sili in the north; Yangzhou is located on the east side of the Yangtze River, bordering the sea in the east, and connecting to Xuzhou and Yuzhou in the north."

And Liu Bei seemed to have remembered something and raised his concerns, saying.

"Zikun, I have heard that both Jing and Yang provinces are sparsely populated, with many dense forests and swamps, hot and humid climates, many poisonous insects and beasts, and many barbarian tribes and Shanyue hiding in the mountains and dense forests to cause trouble."

Li Ji nodded, not denying this statement, and this is also the mainstream view of this era.

"Brother Xuande, the reason for the sparse population only stems from the vast land. It must be known that whether it is Jingzhou or Yangzhou, the vastness of one province is enough to compare with the lands of Qing, Xu, Yan, and Yu provinces. Isn't this a major advantage? Does Brother Xuande understand?"

Faced with Li Ji's question, Liu Bei frowned tightly, feeling like he understood but couldn't grasp the real key point.

Seeing this, Li Ji was not anxious, but found some tea leaves in the room and simply brewed them, then poured a cup for himself and Liu Bei.

'So bitter!'

Li Ji frowned, but could only drink it as it was.

After all, compared to the bitter tea, Li Ji could not accept the most mainstream tea-drinking method of this era: adding salt and spices to the tea.

Then, Li Ji pushed open the window and glanced at the small courtyard outside.

This place was already inside Julu City, and it was also the temporary residence that Lu Zhi had assigned to Liu Bei.

At this moment, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Xiahou Bo had already left, and only Zhang Fei was still waiting for Liu Bei in the courtyard.

Immediately, Li Ji waved to Zhang Fei and shouted.

"Yide."

Seeing this, Zhang Fei walked over, first taking a casual and inadvertent glance through the window into the house to see what Liu Bei was doing, and then cupped his hands and said.

"Mr. Zikun, is there anything you need?"

Li Ji said with a smile. "Yide, please guard outside the courtyard gate and do not allow anyone to approach without Brother Xuande's permission."

Zhang Fei's eyes widened when he heard this, and his breathing obviously quickened.

"If there are any sounds or movements from inside the house, Yide doesn't need to be surprised. I intend to discuss some important matters with Brother Xuande," Li Ji continued.

Zhang Fei asked. "Since it's just discussing matters, why doesn't Mr. Zikun bring me along?"

"It's too early for Yide, there will be opportunities in the future."

Li Ji waved his hand, then closed the window, leaving Zhang Fei in the courtyard with a confused heart.

Afterwards, Zhang Fei's expression changed slightly before he walked somewhat reluctantly towards the courtyard gate, and ordered the soldiers acting as personal guards to be on alert around the perimeter.

And Liu Bei, who had witnessed the whole process, couldn't help but ask with some doubts. "Zikun, what are you doing?"

"Just guarding against eavesdroppers."

Li Ji said with a smile, and sat leisurely in front of Liu Bei, asking. "Brother Xuande, do you understand what I just asked?"

"Please enlighten me, Zikun," Liu Bei cupped his hands and said seriously.

Li Ji pondered for a moment and decided to take this opportunity to truly state his position, asking. "Brother Xuande, have you ever considered where the Yellow Turban Rebellion originated?"

"Naturally, it was the demonic Taoist Zhang Jiao who bewitched the people, with ambitious intentions," Liu Bei blurted out.

Li Ji smiled and said.

"If Brother Xuande thinks like this, then I ask, where did Zhang Jiao get such abilities and charm to incite millions of Yellow Turbans to riot in eight provinces? Even the sages of the past were no more than this, could it be that Zhang Jiao's ability is even above the sages of the past?"

"One person's charm is so limited? Rebellion is a crime of confiscation and extermination. Even if Zhang Jiao could bewitch more than thirty people every day to abandon everything for him and revolt, it would only be ten thousand people a year, and a million people would take a hundred years."

This left Liu Bei speechless, and he already understood that his answer was indeed full of errors, and instead said.

"It is the Taiping Dao doctrines written by Zhang Jiao, which are extremely bewitching. Therefore, Zhang Jiao teaches his disciples, and the disciples bewitch the world, and so on."

"Have you read the Taiping Dao doctrines, Brother Xuande?" Li Ji asked again.

Liu Bei thought for a moment and did not hide it, answering. "When assisting Master Lu in burning the Taiping Dao-related items in the city, I briefly glanced through one or two."

"Does Brother Xuande believe in the Taiping Dao doctrines?" Li Ji pressed.

"Naturally, I do not believe in such deceptive words," Liu Bei answered without hesitation.

"Since Brother Xuande already knows this, why do you still not understand that the root cause of the rebellion of millions of Yellow Turban believers does not lie in the seeds produced by the demonic Taoist Zhang Jiao, but in the millions of people who exist who can allow the seeds to take root and sprout."

Speaking of this, Li Ji couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"As long as the soil exists, even if there are no seeds produced by Zhang Jiao, there will still be Zhao Jiao, Qian Jiao, Sun Jiao producing such a seed, and then quickly taking root and sprouting in the hearts of millions of people."

These words that pointed directly to the essence made Liu Bei look surprised, his eyes somewhat dull.

"Then why are there so many people…"

As he spoke, Liu Bei's voice weakened.

Being from the bottom himself, Liu Bei almost instantly understood why millions of people would believe in the Yellow Heaven, even to the point of rebelling.

Perhaps, it was because they couldn't survive and couldn't see hope.

And the reason for all this, Liu Bei didn't want to admit it but gradually came to his own answer in his heart, was nothing more than bureaucratic corruption, dark government, and exorbitant taxes…

This made Liu Bei, who was still essentially a passionate young man, suddenly feel a sense of shattered ideals.

After a moment, Liu Bei then slowly opened his mouth in a somewhat distracted manner. "Zikun, could it be that the Yellow Turban Rebellion is truly not the fault of those below, but of those above?"

These words were undoubtedly disrespectful, and even if these words were spread, the imperial court would be completely sufficient to put Liu Bei in jail and punish him.

It was precisely for this reason that Li Ji had Zhang Fei guard outside the courtyard in advance, not allowing anyone to enter the small courtyard, lest there be eavesdroppers.

Immediately, Li Ji narrowed his eyes and replied.

"Fools only know Zhang Jiao's fault; the wise investigate the court, investigate the officials, investigate the aristocratic families; I believe it only lies in the land not being wide enough and the people not being sparse enough."

The land is not wide enough?

The people are not sparse enough?

Liu Bei looked at Li Ji in surprise, unable to connect these words with the root cause of the Yellow Turban Rebellion for a moment.

Only Li Ji knew very well that all social problems in the feudal period could be regarded as problems of land conflict at their root.

Perhaps, the decline of the Chinese feudal dynasty can be analyzed from politics, economy, climate, etc., but in the end, it will still return to an essence to be reborn.

That is: vast land and sparse population.

Under the condition that land is fixed, the more people there are, the more intense the conflicts caused by land will be.

According to what Li Ji knew, before the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the population of the Eastern Han Dynasty, excluding hidden households and unregistered households, was close to 60 million, but by the end of the Three Kingdoms period, only about eight million remained.

In less than a hundred years, the population decreased by more than 80% due to war, plague, famine, and other factors.

This was not taking one out of ten to kill, it was simply taking one out of ten to live, and the remaining nine people all died.

True near-death experience!

People were almost gone, so naturally there were no land conflicts. The importance of population resources exceeded that of land resources, and everyone was tired of war, which naturally promoted the arrival of peace.

Of course, Li Ji naturally had no way to tell Liu Bei these prescient data.

"Land annexation is becoming increasingly serious, and the poor have no place to stand, so naturally they have no way to survive. Isn't this because the land is not wide enough and the people are not sparse enough?" Li Ji said in a heavy tone.

At this point, Liu Bei finally gradually understood why Li Ji had just said that "vast land and sparse population" was an advantage.

"Zikun, is the land of Jing and Yang really suitable for cultivation and reclaiming fertile land?" Liu Bei couldn't help but ask.

"Pfft ~"

Li Ji couldn't help but chuckle when he heard this.

However, this was not to blame Liu Bei, it was entirely a shackle of the era's vision.

The southern land was hot and unbearable, with dense forests and miasma, and many swamps and mosquitoes. In the eyes of almost everyone in this era, its value was naturally far inferior to the Central Plains region.

However, Li Ji knew very well that even in the feudal dynasty period, as long as the South was fully developed, even without potatoes and other grains, the population that could be supported in the Ming Dynasty was as high as 200 million.

The main difference in the degree of development in the South alone resulted in a population difference of nearly four times.

Therefore, Li Ji had always felt in his heart that it was better to pull the population to reclaim wasteland and cultivate fields as much as possible than to consume the population through war to restore the balance between land and population.

Why stare at the Central Plains?

As long as the area south of the Yangtze River is developed as much as possible, even if the current Han Dynasty has a population of 60 million, supporting it is not a difficult task.

"Actually, there is one thing I have been hiding from Brother Xuande," Li Ji said.

"What is it?" Liu Bei quickly asked.

Li Ji replied. "In fact, my understanding of the way of strategy is only a glimpse of the door. What I am truly good at and like is 'farming'."

"Ah?" Liu Bei was stunned.

Naturally, Liu Bei didn't actually believe that Li Ji's talk of "farming" meant tilling the fields himself. He understood that it referred to opening up fertile land to ensure the provision of money and grain, among other internal affairs.

Previously, in Liu Bei's eyes, Li Ji's ability to devise strategies was comparable to even Zhang Liang and Fan Zeng, truly a heaven-sent talent.

However, now Li Ji was actually claiming that his "farming" abilities far surpassed his strategic prowess?