Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Regardless, Liu Bei was, after all, the newly appointed Administrator of Wu Commandery. Yet, upon his arrival, only a handful of local aristocratic families appeared to greet him.

This was undoubtedly a sign of contempt towards the new Administrator, even a deliberate act of intimidation.

Not to mention Liu Bei, even Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Xiahou Bo, and other generals behind him showed displeasure, their faces unconsciously revealing a hint of murderous intent.

It should be known that Liu Bei did not come alone; he had three thousand well-trained soldiers under his command, which could serve as his confidence to deter the local aristocratic families.

Li Ji, looking at the few people present, frowned slightly, thinking:

‘Could it be that Wenhe failed? So few aristocratic families are here to welcome the Lord…’

Thinking of this, Li Ji looked towards Jia Xu and Zhang Fei, who were standing at the front.

Jia Xu responded with a gentle smile, a humble and friendly demeanor, and cupped his fist, saying.

“My Lord, you have finally arrived.”

“Big brother, we have been waiting for you so eagerly.”

Zhang Fei also stepped forward boisterously to help Liu Bei dismount, then hugged Liu Bei tightly, his tone filled with barely suppressed excitement.

Liu Bei comforted Zhang Fei and was about to ask Jia Xu about the situation, wondering why only so few aristocratic families had come to welcome him.

In the next moment, the aristocratic families behind Jia Xu, almost with a "whoosh," all knelt down, crying out.

“Lord Xuande, you have finally come…”

“The Gu family has been precarious for months. Now, we finally meet a wise lord. If Lord Xuande does not abandon us, the Gu family is willing to serve you.”

“Lord Xuande, it is fortunate you came, otherwise, I am afraid you would not have seen this old man.”

“Lord Xuande has arrived, we can rest assured.”

… …

？ ？ ？

Liu Bei, Li Ji.

“Everyone, everyone…”

Although Liu Bei was still confused, he instinctively stepped forward to help the aristocratic family members of varying ages up one by one, comforting them with kind words.

Li Ji took the opportunity to look at Jia Xu, seeing the indifferent and gentle expression on his face, he pulled Jia Xu aside and asked in a low voice.

“Wenhe, did you do this?”

“Zikun, you can’t say that. I just gave it a little push.”

After a pause, Jia Xu smiled and raised three fingers. “However, not to disappoint Zikun, only thirty percent of the remaining aristocratic families are left.”

This sentence silenced Li Ji for a moment.

If Li Ji remembered correctly, when he asked Jia Xu to deal with the aristocratic families, he said to deal with thirty percent…

But the result was that only thirty percent were left. What kind of divine understanding was this?

If I say “defend this wave” with a slight accent in the future, will Jia Xu misunderstand it as “go all out” and directly breach the dam or release a plague to perish together?

Instantly, Li Ji reaffirmed an idea: Jia Xu must not be easily let out.

In just over a month, Jia Xu had actually reduced the aristocratic families in Wu Commandery to only thirty percent.

Too ruthless.

Li Ji’s momentary silence made Jia Xu’s expression shift, and he immediately realized something, asking in a low voice.

“Wait, Zikun, the thirty percent you mentioned wouldn’t be…”

Li Ji nodded.

Jia Xu’s expression stiffened, and he stopped speaking.

After a long while, Jia Xu smiled sheepishly and said.

“Actually, there isn’t much difference between dealing with thirty percent and only having thirty percent left. It shouldn’t have a big impact on your subsequent development of Wu Commandery… right?”

Seventy percent and thirty percent, not much difference?

What a rounding, Jia Wenhe.

However, seventy percent of the aristocratic families in Wu Commandery are dead, and Li Ji can’t revive their corpses.

Li Ji scratched his head and asked the most crucial question.

“Wenhe, when you were dealing with it, did you expose yourself?”

This was the most crucial point.

If too many local aristocratic families died, the biggest problem for Li Ji would be the potential instability in the near future and the greater lack of personnel who could serve as officials.

But if this matter involved Liu Bei, the trouble would be quite significant.

If Liu Bei had a solid foundation, even to the point where he could fight the world alone, Li Ji could naturally shout, “Those aristocratic families who don’t submit to me shall die!” He could completely ravage and transform the aristocratic families according to his own wishes, turning them into the way Li Ji liked.

However, Liu Bei was just starting out. Even offending Cao Cao required careful handling.

Although it was common for a newly appointed Administrator to rectify the local aristocratic families and establish authority, the red line that Li Ji had drawn for Jia Xu was thirty percent.

Exceeding thirty percent would make the impact and public opinion difficult to control, possibly damaging Liu Bei’s reputation.

Unexpectedly, Jia Xu’s thinking and methods were ruthlessly extreme. In the blink of an eye, seventy percent of the local aristocratic families in Wu Commandery had directly evaporated.

If it spread that Liu Bei instructed Jia Xu to massacre seventy percent of the local aristocratic families in Wu Commandery, it would definitely make Liu Bei be seen as the public enemy of the aristocratic families in the world. Trying to erase this influence would be quite troublesome and thorny.

Jia Xu stroked his beard and replied affirmatively. “Zikun, rest assured, there was absolutely no exposure. Even if someone suspects, there is absolutely no evidence.”

Hearing this, Li Ji narrowed his eyes, somewhat not understanding how Jia Xu had accomplished this in just over a month, but he subconsciously sighed and said quietly.

“What a pity, if I had known, I would have left none behind. The more blank it is, the easier it is to draw a blueprint…”

Jia Xu’s fingers suddenly exerted force involuntarily, tearing off several whiskers, and he stared blankly at Li Ji.

So, I misunderstood? Can you really blame me?

Or is it that Li Zikun deliberately spoke ambiguously, guiding me to deal with only thirty percent of the remaining local aristocratic families in Wu Commandery, and then shifting the blame?

Feeling Jia Xu’s strange gaze, Li Ji immediately understood Jia Xu’s thoughts and explained.

“I am just analyzing from a rational perspective. My morality and kindness do not allow me to do such cruel and fierce things.”

“You just don’t want to damage your reputation, right?”

Jia Xu retorted, saying.

“In that case, I am afraid I am the benefactor of the local aristocratic families in Wu Commandery. Otherwise, if you, Li Zikun, had taken action, you might have really uprooted the entire aristocratic family in Wu Commandery.”

Li Ji gave Jia Xu a thumbs up.

Good, good, good, what a great philanthropist of the late Han Dynasty!

You slaughtered seventy percent, and you still have the nerve to call yourself the benefactor of the local aristocratic families in Wu Commandery. It has to be you, the great philanthropist Jia Wenhe!

Jia Xu, on the other hand, did not show the slightest embarrassment on his face. Instead, he felt that his judgment was correct. This action was definitely considered doing good and accumulating virtue, in harmony with Heaven.

Then, Li Ji glanced at Liu Bei, who was surrounded by aristocratic family members crying out, and said in a low voice.

“Jia Wenhe, how exactly did you deal with the seventy percent of the local aristocratic families? Tell me quickly, so I can make some preparations.”

Jia Xu nodded and said in a low voice.

“After I led Yide and five hundred cavalry to Wu Commandery at full speed, I used the excuse of secretly confirming the situation of the bandits in Wu Commandery to have Yide and five hundred cavalry disguise themselves as Yellow Turban cavalry who had fled from the north. On the other hand, I sent people to spread rumors everywhere in Wu Commandery.”

“The content of the rumors, in addition to publicizing Lord Xuande’s prestige in exterminating the Yellow Turbans, was to publicize that after the new Administrator of Wu Commandery took office, he would prepare to comprehensively eliminate all the bandits and water thieves within Wu Commandery.”

“Subsequently, after half a month of preparation and Yide’s cavalry basically scouted the locations of all the large and small bandit dens in Wu Commandery, I sent people to persuade those bandits in the identity of Yellow Turban thieves, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages, intending to form an alliance to loot Wu Commandery before the arrival of the new Administrator, so that they could each escape to various places with the money and food they obtained.”

“The subsequent events were simple.”

“What Yide didn’t know was that the half-month roaming of the five hundred cavalry he led, disguised as Yellow Turban warriors, had already caused panic among the aristocratic families in Wu Commandery, fearing that the Yellow Turban thieves would loot and massacre the aristocratic families on a large scale as they did in the Central Plains.”

“Therefore, most of the aristocratic families, out of self-preservation, would naturally mobilize their forces to prepare to encircle and suppress the five hundred cavalry led by Yide…”

Hearing this, Li Ji could already deduce the process and results even without listening to the rest.

The five hundred cavalry led by Zhang Fei had fought thousands of miles and had not been defeated by the Yellow Turban warriors. They could already be considered elite soldiers. How could they be defeated by a rabble composed of servants and retainers mobilized by some aristocratic families?

Moreover, Jia Xu would definitely not let the cavalry led by Zhang Fei clash head-on with the rabble composed of aristocratic families, but would use a series of tricks to contain and confuse that group of rabble.

And with the main forces of the local aristocratic families in Wu Commandery being restrained by Jia Xu, the theft of homes by bandits who had been contacted and incited by Jia Xu in advance in various counties and places in Wu Commandery was only an inevitable result.

As expected of Jia Wenhe, this trick of "borrowing a knife to kill" was used with extreme precision.

In this way, it was no wonder that the remaining aristocratic families in Wu Commandery were so excited about Liu Bei’s arrival, almost kneeling down and hugging Liu Bei’s thigh.

In a very short period of time, seventy percent of the aristocratic families in Wu Commandery were slaughtered by local bandits, and the remaining thirty percent would definitely be terrified all day long.

Now, Liu Xuande, the newly appointed Administrator of Wu Commandery, who was famous throughout the world and had long declared that he would eliminate the local bandits in Wu Commandery, had arrived, so everyone was saved.

“So, more than seventy percent of the money and wealth accumulated by the aristocratic families in Wu Commandery are now in the hands of the local bandits?” Li Ji asked meaningfully.

“Naturally, thieves don’t leave empty-handed…”

Jia Xu also nodded in understanding and then secretly took out a bamboo slip from his arms and handed it to Li Ji, saying.

“This is the specific location of the bandit dens that looted the aristocratic families in Wu Commandery. Most of them definitely haven’t had time to transfer yet.”

Li Ji carefully placed the bamboo scroll into his sleeve and said in a deep voice, "Alas, in that case, Ji must definitely avenge the local aristocratic families and recover their losses!"

After a moment's pause, Li Ji thought of something and continued.

"However, those bandits may not be able to completely plunder all the accumulated wealth of the aristocratic families in a short period of time. Wenhe, later bring some men to pay respects at the residences of the aristocratic families that were tragically massacred, and see if there's anything left behind."

"Wenhe, you are originally from an aristocratic family, so presumably you will be more experienced in searching."