Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

“So… Zikun, son of Bei, isn't Zhang Liang, but Xiao He?”

Liu Bei murmured to himself, then, recalling his interactions with Li Ji over this period, he suddenly realized.

Scheming, farming, and the battle of Baoluojin not long ago, Zikun found the weakness of the Yellow Turbans in a very short time, defeating the strong with the weak head-on.

This isn't just Zhang Liang or Xiao He, it's clearly a combination of the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty.

“Bang!”

Liu Bei was so excited that he accidentally knocked over his teacup, and looked at Li Ji excitedly.

“If that's really the case, with Zikun's help, why should I worry about the difficulty of opening up good land south of the Yangtze River?”

After a pause, Liu Bei slammed his palm and said.

“Since this is the case, the Jing Province has many powerful families, which will inevitably restrict Zikun's ability to display his talents. It's better to choose a place in Yang Province, what do you think?”

Li Ji nodded, agreeing. “Yang Province is indeed not bad, Brother Xuande has a good idea.”

In any case, the establishment of the Eastern Wu was based on Yang Province, and it laid the foundation for the three-way balance of power, which is enough to prove the great potential of Yang Province.

Liu Bei saw that the atmosphere was so enthusiastic, his breathing became unconsciously heavy, and his heartbeat accelerated under the excitement and tension, but his brain was constantly fighting between heaven and man.

Just now… just now Zikun should have been hinting at me, right?

Suggesting that I choose to serve as a prefect in Jing Province or Yang Province, and explicitly stating that he is good at cultivating good land, this must be hinting at me, right?

However, a surge of impulse arose in Liu Bei's heart, but facing the increasingly important Li Ji, he was inexplicably hesitant, fearing that once he broke through that layer, the relationship between the two parties would become estranged.

“Gulp!”

Liu Bei swallowed his saliva and finally made up his mind.

I can't delay any longer!

Liu Bei gritted his teeth, suddenly straightened up, solemnly tidied up his clothes, and then bowed to Li Ji.

However, when he really opened his mouth, the draft that Liu Bei had been working on for a month or two was suddenly completely forgotten at this moment.

“Brother Xuande, what are you doing?”

Hearing Li Ji's question, Liu Bei's mind became hot and he said directly. “If Bei is fortunate enough to be the prefect of a region, he would like to invite Zikun to be the assistant prefect.”

When Liu Bei finished speaking, he immediately felt waves of regret in his heart.

Such words of his did not show his importance to Zikun, nor did they praise Zikun's ability, nor did they promise future courtesy to Zikun. How rude!

Immediately, Liu Bei's brain raced, and he was about to open his mouth to find a way to remedy it.

“Thank you for not abandoning me, my lord. Ji is willing to serve you with the utmost loyalty.”

Hearing this, Liu Bei looked at Li Ji in a daze for more than ten breaths, making Li Ji feel inexplicably flustered, and began to wonder if he had expressed the wrong feelings.

Liu Bei suddenly slapped his thigh and laughed out loud.

“Hahahaha, it is the greatest fortune in my life to be favored by Zikun.”

Immediately, Liu Bei quickly got up and helped up Li Ji, who was bowing down, and said with his mouth unable to close.

“Zikun, Zikun, although you and I are nominally master and servant in the future, we are actually brothers. Even if Bei only has a bowl of meat soup, he will definitely share half with you.”

Li Ji also laughed and asked. “What about gold, silver, treasures, beauties, and titles?”

“Ah?”

Liu Bei was stunned, pretending to be annoyed and said.

“How can Zikun compare himself to such external things? How can those gold, silver, treasures, beauties, and titles be compared to Zikun in the slightest?”

After a pause, Liu Bei seemed to have thought of something and asked.

“Is Zikun worried that Bei will not tolerate you in the future, so you are deliberately defiling yourself early?”

After speaking, without waiting for Li Ji to answer, Liu Bei immediately raised one hand to the sky to swear, and with the other hand, he drew his sword and cut the table next to him in half, and shouted.

“Heaven is above, Liu Bei swears in the name of his ancestors that if he has the slightest thought of not tolerating Li Zikun in the future, may he be cut off from his descendants and may his body be cut in two like this table.”

? ? ! !

Li Ji.

While hurriedly stopping Liu Bei, Li Ji said.

“My lord, what are you doing? Where has there ever been a lord who swears to heaven that he will not betray his minister? Isn't this trying to make me disloyal and unrighteous?”

Liu Bei said seriously. “Zikun, Bei knows that he is crude and lacks talent. It is a blessing from heaven to be favored by Zikun, and he also regards Zikun as a brother.”

Even though Li Ji had extremely high resistance to all kinds of pie in the sky, at this moment, he couldn't help but be moved by Liu Bei's sincere words, and said.

“Ji will do his best and spare no effort to repay my lord…”

“Zikun…”

Just as Liu Bei was getting more and more excited, looking at Li Ji with tears in his eyes and was about to say something more.

“Bang!”

The door was suddenly kicked open, and even one side of the door flew over from Li Ji's side and crashed into the wall.

Zhang Fei's towering figure like an iron tower rushed in, shouting.

“Is big brother safe? Why is there the sound of drawing a sword and slashing…”

When Zhang Fei saw the situation in the house clearly, his thunderous voice unconsciously weakened.

Liu Bei's face suddenly had a feeling of being as black as ink.

This made Liu Bei suddenly feel like it was the night of his wedding, he had taken off his bitter tea seeds, and suddenly the police came to check the room and crack down on pornography, which made Liu Bei's chest surge with qi and blood.

“Big brother, Mr. Zikun, I'm sorry, you… you continue…”

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhang Fei wanted to slip away and leave on the spot, his figure suddenly shrank back, and he pulled the only remaining half of the door shut with force.

“Bang!”

However, Zhang Fei was undoubtedly too rude, so that the half of the door that was already drooping shattered on the spot.

Zhang Fei rushed straight out of the courtyard without looking back, and his figure disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this, Liu Bei couldn't help but sigh and said.

“Yide's actions are still so reckless and unruly, Bei will definitely teach him a lesson later, please don't blame him, Zikun.”

Li Ji looked at his door, one side stuck to the wall, and the other side shattered, which made the corners of Li Ji's mouth twitch uncontrollably, but he was not angry with Zhang Fei.

“This is just a small matter.”

Li Ji waved his hand, then sat back at the table, only to find that the map had also been cut in half.

Immediately, Li Ji pieced the two maps back together and said.

“My lord, I do have some plans for the future of my lord and Yang Province, I wonder if my lord is interested in knowing them.”

“Please teach me, Zikun.” Liu Bei replied.

“Yang Province, the land of Jiangdong, has six counties under its jurisdiction: Lujiang County, Danyang County, Wu County, Kuaiji County, Yuzhang County, and Jiujiang County. Most of the population is concentrated in the four northern counties, namely Lujiang, Jiujiang, Danyang, and Wu.” Li Ji briefly explained.

“So, Zikun means to choose one of the four counties of Lujiang, Jiujiang, Danyang, and Wu to be the prefect?”

After a pause, Liu Bei said.

“Speaking of which, Master Lu also served as the prefect of Jiujiang and Lujiang counties, and was deeply loved by the local people, and then he was transferred back to the court for reuse. Bei is a disciple of Master Lu, if he goes to Jiujiang or Lujiang to serve as the prefect, he may be able to use Master Lu's prestige.”

Regarding Lu Zhi's past as an official, this was something that Li Ji was not clear about before.

Moreover, if Lu Zhi had served as the prefect of Jiujiang and Lujiang counties, then Liu Bei could easily win over a part of the people by going to take office under the name of Lu Zhi's disciple.

However, Li Ji shook his head slightly and said. “My lord, in my opinion, the first choice should be to serve as the prefect of Wu County, followed by Danyang County, and then Jiujiang County.”

“Why?” Liu Bei asked with some confusion.

“Because, among the Yang Province, only these three counties are connected to Xu Province. If we can open up the connections with Xu Province, we can continuously recruit refugees fleeing from the Central Plains to solve the problem of opening up good land but lacking farming power.” Li Ji replied.

As for why Wu County was chosen as the best, Li Ji was not convenient to tell Liu Bei directly.

When Tai Lake is ripe, the world is full.

The Tai Lake mentioned in this proverb from later generations is located in Wu County.

Therefore, although Li Ji has not had the opportunity to conduct an on-the-spot investigation of Wu County, he is clear that the potential of Wu County must be the greatest.

As long as he establishes a good foundation in Wu County and seizes the opportunity, he can move from north to south and from east to west, unifying Yang Province and establishing a foundation for hegemony.

Then, he can either go up the Yangtze River to seize Jing Province and enter Shu, and send troops from the three lines of Guanzhong, Nanyang, and Guangling, forming a sweeping trend in the world.

Or, he can defend Jing Province in the west and seize Xu Province in the north, using Yang Province as a place to supply food, and gradually erode the Central Plains from Xu Province, and finally form a trend of swallowing the world.

However, these blueprints in his mind cannot be told to Liu Bei clearly when the Han Dynasty has not collapsed, otherwise he will definitely be regarded by Liu Bei as a rebellious minister with ulterior motives.

Only when the Han Dynasty has fallen and Liu Bei, as a member of the Han clan, is duty-bound to support the Han Dynasty and reproduce the world of Ji Han, can Li Ji's blueprints in his mind be directly stated.

Therefore, Li Ji thought for a while and drew a pie.

“If the lord can manage Wu County properly, on the one hand, he can accept and resettle a large number of refugees, and on the other hand, he can open up countless good fields. Not to mention the great achievements that are difficult to estimate, what is more important is that he can prove to the officials in the court that the potential of Jiangnan is great and can solve the hunger of the people.”

“At that time, with further support from the court, the lord will personally preside over the continuous migration of people to the south, open up good fields in Jiangnan, make the people warm and full, and the granaries are full, or it will be another prosperous age of the Han Dynasty.”

“This is to rule the world with one county.”

It has to be said that Liu Bei was completely moved by the pie drawn by Li Ji.

Especially since he had just been hit hard by the Yellow Turban Rebellion not long ago, now in the future depicted by Li Ji, Liu Bei clearly saw the possibility of changing the chaos in the world with his own strength, making countless people warm and full, and reproducing the prosperous age.

Ruling the world with one county?!

“Good!”

Liu Bei clapped his hands and praised.

"Zikun is truly a peerless talent. To govern the world from a single commandery shows remarkable magnanimity and a promising future. This may indeed be the path to truly serve the nation above and bring peace to the common people below."

"The road ahead is long and winding, but I will search high and low..."

Liu Bei's eyes gleamed with light, and then he grasped Li Ji's hand tightly, saying.

"Zikun, with your assistance, I, Bei, will surely be able to change the chaos of this world, and I will certainly remain steadfast in fulfilling the ambitions in my heart."

Li Ji bowed with cupped hands and said, "I, Ji, also believe that my lord will surely realize the ambitions in his heart."