Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 82: Thirty Percent? Twenty Percent.

However, the wealthiest in this era are definitely not merchants, but the great aristocratic families rooted in the Han Dynasty for four hundred years.

Li Ji naturally wouldn't place all his hopes on the Mi family, or rather, the Mi family alone might not be able to fully support the money and grain consumption that Li Ji expected.

Moreover, the marching speed was much slower than Li Ji had anticipated, which also meant that the arrival time in Wu Commandery would be delayed considerably.

'There's not much time to play games of power and profit with the local aristocratic families of Wu Commandery...'

Li Ji thought to himself, then summoned Xiahou Lan and, with rain gear in hand, went to find Jia Xu in the neighboring camp.

When Li Ji entered Jia Xu's camp, he was surprised to find Jia Xu sleeping during the day, listening to the sound of the continuous drizzle outside the camp, sleeping so peacefully and comfortably.

Li Ji waved his hand to dismiss Xiahou Lan, then walked to Jia Xu's side and coughed a few times, saying.

"Cough cough, Wenhe, how do you know disaster isn't looming?"

Jia Xu slowly opened a sliver of his eyes, with absolutely no intention of getting up, but instead lazily rolled over and said.

"With you, Li Zikun, here, what difficulties could there be? Don't disturb my peaceful sleep, I was busy all night last night."

Li Ji was amused by Jia Xu's words; as the current chief steward of Liu Bei's army, how could Li Ji not know what work had been assigned to each person?

Jia Xu was simply going through the motions, taking on the task of compiling and summarizing the daily consumption in the army.

With Jia Xu's ability, such a task probably wouldn't take even a quarter of an hour to complete.

Looking at Jia Xu's posture, even more like a salted fish than himself, Li Ji didn't feel a bit of envy, and a hint of a cold smile appeared on his face, saying.

"Wenhe, don't you know that when there is no danger, I am the greatest danger?"

Instantly, Jia Xu seemed to have been pressed with some kind of power button, suddenly sitting up straight, with an upright and serious demeanor, saying.

"Zikun is joking; the situation of Lord Xuande is not optimistic right now, hindered by roads and weather on the way, arriving in Wu Commandery no sooner than the beginning of September, and possibly as late as the end of September."

"Now, before the spring plowing of next year, there is less than half a year left. If Wu Commandery cannot be controlled within half a year, and quickly developed, the so-called governing the world with one commandery will become a joke, which will inevitably damage Lord Xuande's reputation, and even trigger a series of hidden dangers."

"In such a situation, how can Zikun say there is no danger? A quick decision should be made."

Li Ji heard this and said.

"Wenhe sees the situation so clearly? Since the crisis is here, how can Wenhe sleep peacefully during the day?"

"It's just that I've been thinking too much, and I'm exhausted," Jia Xu replied.

"Wenhe is only thirty-seven years old, the prime of life, the time to start a career and make contributions, so how can you sleep?" Li Ji asked again.

"I can sleep; Xu regards wealth and fame as fleeting clouds."

Jia Xu replied with the air of a gentleman who has seen through the world.

"No, Wenhe can't sleep."

Li Ji narrowed his eyes and continued before Jia Xu could refute, "Wenhe also doesn't want the Lord to have an unstable foothold in Wu Commandery, with many hidden dangers lurking in the dark, right?"

"At that time, perhaps I and the Lord won't be in the way, but if an assassin quietly assassinates Wenhe, how can Wenhe sleep peacefully?"

Jia Xu heard this, thought for a while, and turned his head to give Li Ji a deep look.

With Jia Xu's low-key style of doing things, he never easily offended people; even if he really offended someone, Jia Xu generally wouldn't let the other party continue to live.

In this case, Jia Xu generally would not become the target of assassins sent by others.

However, how did Jia Xu hear from Li Ji's words a hint that Li Ji was preparing to send assassins himself to scare him when the time came?

Li Ji responded to Jia Xu with a concerned and profound gaze.

"That makes sense..."

Jia Xu nodded, acknowledgingly saying.

"I can't sleep; how does Zikun think I can sleep peacefully?"

"Naturally, when everyone in Wu Commandery is of one mind, and no one dares to harbor the heart of harming the Lord."

After a pause, Li Ji sat down and said.

"The previous governor of Wu Commandery was during the Xiping era; then, during the Guanghe era, for a full six years, Wu Commandery did not have a governor. What does Wenhe think is the reason?"

"It's just a tacit understanding."

Jia Xu casually replied.

"The tacit understanding of the local aristocratic families of Wu Commandery; the local aristocratic families are unwilling to allow one party to become dominant and serve as governor, and they don't want outsiders to be above them. Since they can buy an official position from the Ten Attendants, then naturally they can also bribe the Ten Attendants to keep the position of Wu Commandery governor vacant."

Li Ji heard this and couldn't help but take a deep look at Jia Xu.

Not only was his age and experience far superior to Li Ji, but more importantly, Jia Xu was from a humble background, having come into contact with countless aristocratic families, knowing these things like the back of his hand, and able to see through the hidden secrets with a single word.

"That's right; in this way, when the Lord takes office in Wu Commandery, unless the Lord forms alliances through marriage or promises a lot of benefits, he will definitely not receive the support of the local aristocratic families."

"And if you want to develop Wu Commandery, it will inevitably impact the interests of the local aristocratic families, and the conflicts between the two sides are expected to be difficult to reconcile."

Li Ji said in a gentle tone, saying words that sounded somewhat dangerous in Jia Xu's ears, and he vaguely understood what trouble Li Ji had come to him with this time.

Jia Xu stroked his beard, trying his best to persuade Li Ji, saying.

"Zikun, perhaps you can talk with the Wu Commandery aristocratic families first; not all aristocratic families are unreasonable."

"No, heaven's will is so, what can be done?"

Li Ji sighed and said.

"If the Lord could arrive in Wu Commandery earlier, I might have the time and leisure to take some gentler methods, but the continuous rain has consumed these times on the marching road."

"Moreover, after dealing with a batch first, the remaining batch will probably be easier to talk to. Wenhe, you're right, aren't you?"

Jia Xu showed a subtle smile and said.

"Zikun, actually, I am a northerner, and I gradually feel unwell as I travel south."

Li Ji heard this, and his expression became a bit dim and sad, saying.

"In that case, if Wenhe settles in Wu Commandery in the future, wouldn't his life be short? Fine, then I will prepare for Wenhe's funeral in advance, and I will definitely give Wenhe a grand funeral."

Seeing Li Ji make a gesture to get up and leave, Jia Xu knew that Li Ji was mocking him, but he still subconsciously grabbed Li Ji's wrist and said.

"Being unaccustomed to the climate is not something that cannot be overcome."

"Can it really be overcome?" Li Ji asked again.

"Of course, it can," Jia Xu replied.

"That's right; I'm afraid that the local aristocratic families of Wu Commandery will also be unconvinced by the Lord," Li Ji said.

"That can also be overcome," Jia Xu replied.

"It's just that I'm also worried that if Wu Commandery becomes a river of blood, it may damage the Lord's reputation," Li Ji said gloomily.

At this moment, Jia Xu couldn't help but curse Li Ji in his heart.

I knew that you, Li Zikun, seem gentle and refined, but you are definitely not a kind person; you want to kill people, but you don't want to see blood, and you don't even want to bear the infamy.

You're even more hypocritical than a whore...

(PS: The chastity memorial archway is not a unique product after Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism; the earliest chastity memorial archway came from a widow named "Qing" during the Qin Shi Huang period, and was personally awarded by Qin Shi Huang, called the "Huaiqing Terrace" chastity memorial archway.)

However, cursing aside, Jia Xu also knew that this was undoubtedly the secret agreement between Li Ji and him: many things that were inconvenient for the benevolent and virtuous to deal with should be handled by Jia Xu.

"Is there a roster of Wu Commandery aristocratic families?" Jia Xu asked.

Li Ji then smiled and took out a bamboo scroll that he had prepared in advance from his sleeve and handed it to Jia Xu.

Regarding the specific information about Wu Commandery today, Li Ji naturally still knew nothing.

However, the number of aristocratic families in Wu Commandery is recorded in the imperial court.

Therefore, this bamboo scroll was the information that Lu Zhi had checked from the imperial court; perhaps there were many details that were not detailed enough, but the difference in quantity from the actual situation would not be too great.

Wu Commandery now governs thirteen counties, namely: Wu County (capital), Lou County, Wuxi, Piling, Qu'a, Dantu, Yangxian, Wucheng, Youquan, Haiyan, Yuhang, Qiantang, and Fuchun.

There are more than 700,000 registered households, and there are more than thirty large and small aristocratic families, averaging about three families in each county, which can be said to divide the cake of Wu Commandery clearly.

Of course, relatively speaking, no dominant aristocratic family has emerged in Wu Commandery, which is a great advantage for Li Ji to rectify the Wu Commandery aristocratic families.

In the absence of a leader, it is much easier to carry out methods such as division and disintegration, and winning over and suppressing.

It's just a pity that Li Ji wants to use the "Strategy Simulator" to deduce practical strategies, which requires a lot of accurate information.

Therefore, under the circumstances that Liu Bei decided to open a road to Wu Commandery for the refugees as much as possible, the marching speed would inevitably be further affected, so it would be better to let Jia Xu go to Wu Commandery first to deal with the aristocratic family problem, and solve the initial resistance to Liu Bei's control of Wu Commandery as much as possible.

After Jia Xu pondered for a long time, he put down the bamboo scroll in his hand and asked with a rather serious expression.

"How many percent?"

Kill the chicken to scare the monkey, kill how many percent?

Li Ji thought for a while, held up three fingers, and replied, "Thirty percent."

Jia Xu heard this and pondered again.

Leave thirty percent?

After a moment, Jia Xu said.

"Since Zikun has decided not to talk to the local aristocratic families of Wu Commandery first, then there seems to be no need to talk later; thirty percent is a bit too much, let's make it twenty percent."

"Twenty percent is fine, but it's best to make it thirty percent..."

Li Ji nodded, agreed, and didn't force Jia Xu to kill too much when using strategies for the first time.

"Then this matter shall be entrusted to me. However, I require Zhang Fei and five hundred cavalry, and a guarantee that Zhang Fei will obey my commands," Jia Xu stated his requirements.

"Agreed."

After a pause, Li Ji continued, "However, the Lord will not agree subjectively, but objectively I can guarantee that the Lord will not pursue the matter. Therefore, Wenhe, you can act freely. What I want is a group of docile local aristocratic families when the Lord arrives in Wu Commandery, a group that will assist the Lord in governing Wu Commandery, instead of aristocratic families vying for power and profit."

Jia Xu smiled meaningfully and replied, "Zikun, rest assured. Now that I have joined Lord Xuande's command, I still need to do something. This small matter will certainly not cause any problems. The remaining aristocratic families will surely be docile and grateful to Lord Xuande."