Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 127: Gather food widely and build walls high

"Ok?"

When Jia Xu heard this, his eyes flashed, and he instantly understood the hidden meaning. He immediately nodded and answered.

"Correct."

"Yangtze River water thieves?"

Liu Bei pondered for a moment and asked. "Zikun, is the problem of water thieves in the Yangtze River serious?"

Li Ji's expression straightened and he said in a deep voice.

"Lord, regardless of whether it is serious or not, the key point is that Yangtze River water thieves are not allowed to exist in Wu County."

Immediately, Li Ji stepped towards the map of Wu County hanging on one side, drew his finger on the northern part of Wu County, and said.

"Please see, my lord, Wu County and Xuzhou are now facing each other across the river, and Wu County's connections with Xuzhou and the Central Plains all need to cross the Yangtze River. Once the Yangtze River is cut off, Wu County will be alone on the south side of the Yangtze River."

"This is absolutely unacceptable. Therefore, no matter whether the current problem of water thieves in the Yangtze River is serious or not, the Yangtze River must be firmly controlled and no bandits are allowed to breed. Otherwise, it will be a major event that affects Wu County and even the entire Yangzhou. .”

When Liu Bei heard this, he couldn't help but nodded in agreement.

Jia Xu's eyes flickered slightly, and he understood that Li Ji was just saying it nicely. It seemed to be to clear up the Yangtze River water thieves and ensure the stability of exchanges between Wu County and the Central Plains region.

However, they are basically trying to seize control of the Yangtze River. At least judging from Li Ji's tone, he intends to use Liu Bei's reputation as the governor of Yangzhou to firmly control the entire Yangtze River Basin in northern Yangzhou.

Just wait until the weather is right and the Yangtze River will take over.

Then Liu Bei can advance across the Yangtze River and head north to the Central Plains, and retreat to lock the Yangtze River and dominate one side.

"What Zikun said is absolutely true, but I don't know who should be sent to clean up the Yangtze River water thieves?" Liu Bei asked.

Li Ji thought for a while, glanced at Jia Xu, and then said. "My lord, Jiang Qin is a water thief. Ji thinks it's better to take charge of Jiang Qin, while Wen He checks for any leaks and fills them up."

When Jia Xu heard this, he asked directly. "Zikun, how to solve the boat problem? Jiang Qin's original few small sampans alone can't accomplish much."

"I need to trouble my lord about this matter."

Li Ji cupped his hands and said.

"The Wujun family must have mastered a lot of ship technology. The lord can go out and ask for it from various families, and then find and recruit craftsmen from the Mi family and the refugees to build a shipbuilding workshop on the east side of Lou County. Within two years, large ships can be become."

Mi Zhu on the side couldn't help but speak out after hearing this.

"My lord, the Mi family's craftsmen can be driven by my lord, and the Mi family has some ship manufacturing technology before. However, whether it is building a shipbuilding workshop or building a large ship, it requires countless money and food."

"Therefore, if you just want to wipe out the water thieves in the Yangtze River, in my opinion, there is no need to go to war in such a big way. You only need to buy a few large ships."

There is no doubt that from the perspective of Mi Zhu, who is now in charge of finance, Li Ji's suggestion is a waste of money.

Mi Zhu agrees with the elimination of water thieves in the Yangtze River!
  Whether it is to maintain public security in Wu County and Yangzhou, or to ensure the Mi family's commercial routes, there are only benefits to wiping out the Yangtze River water thieves.

However, setting up a shipbuilding workshop specifically for this purpose is completely a waste of money and food.

This time Liu Bei couldn't help but hesitate a little, feeling that what Mi Zhu said was reasonable.

Today has not yet entered troubled times, and the basic order of the Han Dynasty still exists. Li Ji's suggestion basically sounds like the local government decided to independently develop and manufacture tanks in order to maintain public order and deter criminals.

Li Ji saw Liu Bei's hesitation in his eyes.

However, Li Ji knew very well that the few years before the troubled times were the most important time for accumulation. If he could accumulate a lot of shipbuilding technology at this stage, he would be ready when the troubled times came.

The entire Yangtze River can be turned into Li Ji's back garden in an instant, which is an unparalleled advantage.

"Gather food widely, build walls high, and slowly become king."

This nine-character mantra is also the main purpose of Li Ji's secret plan for Wu County.

Among them, "Guangji Liang" naturally involves developing Wu County, accommodating refugees, cultivating fertile fields, etc., with the intention of turning Wu County and even the entire Yangzhou into a large granary for hegemony.

As for "building a high wall", maybe there is no big city in Yangzhou, but the Yangtze River is the most perfect natural "city wall" for Wu County and Yangzhou.

As long as he firmly holds the Yangtze River, Liu Bei will have the foundation for his hegemony.

But, how to convince Liu Bei at this stage...

As soon as Li Ji had an idea, he walked to Liu Bei's side and whispered a few words.

Then, under the gazes of Jia Xu and Mi Zhu, Liu Bei, who usually kept his emotions in check, first showed uncontrollable shock, and then turned to overflowing ecstasy and doubt.

Immediately, Liu Bei grabbed Li Ji's arm and asked.

"Zikun, what you said just now...are you serious?!"

"Of course." Li Ji nodded and replied.

The next moment, Liu Bei couldn't help but slapped his thigh hard. He gritted his teeth in pain, but he still said with joy on his face. "The shipbuilding factory must be built, and the Yangtze River water thieves must also be eliminated. This is a major event that cannot be delayed!"

"Zizhong, please take the lead in allocating this part of money and food after taking office, and recruit a large number of shipbuilding craftsmen. Tomorrow, I will visit the Wujun family one by one to obtain shipbuilding technology, so as to build the shipbuilding factory as quickly as possible. "

Mi Zhu was extremely confused about what Li Ji secretly said to Liu Bei, so that Liu Bei's attitude changed so quickly and so firmly.

However, now that Liu Bei had spoken, even though Mi Zhu still had some objections in his heart, he still said it seriously.

"Yes, my lord."

Immediately, Liu Bei looked at Jia Xu and said.

"Wen He, I'd like to trouble you. After re-handling government affairs with Zikun tomorrow, you and Jiang Qin will go to the Yangtze River to suppress the bandits. The necessary ships will be mobilized within Wu County as soon as possible for you, and the supplies will also be given to you. The authority to recruit troops by oneself is initially limited to 3,000 sailors."

"Yes."

Jia Xu also responded, feeling a little happy.

No matter what, at least the tedious and tiring government affairs can be thrown away, which is a great joy for Jia Xu.

As for going to clear out the water thieves in the Yangtze River, with Liu Bei's support, Jia Xu just thought it was just a fun and formality.

Immediately, after Jia Xu and Mi Zhu left, Liu Bei finally couldn't help but look at Li Ji and asked.

"Zikun, is what you said just now true?"

"It's not fake, it's not fake."

Li Ji said somewhat dumbfounded. "There are indeed ten times more grains than today's grains overseas, and there are countless gold and silver mines. Only shipbuilding can find them overseas."

Liu Bei did not ask how Li Ji knew the news, or in Liu Bei's view, Li basically knew astronomy and geography, and was an expert in everything. It is common sense to know what mediocre people don't know.

In fact, Li Ji did not deceive Liu Bei, and everything he said was true.

Not to mention the gold and silver mines!
  As for the grain issue that Liu Bei was most excited about.

Perhaps unless there is some epoch-making breakthrough in shipbuilding that allows the shipbuilding technology of the Han Dynasty to catch up with the level of the Ming Dynasty in a very short time, there is a high probability that the most important sweet potatoes and potatoes will not have the chance to travel across the ocean to find them.

But you can still look for the most important rice grain!

Li Ji had secretly sent someone to confirm the place of Wu Jun before.

Although there are very few areas where rice is grown in Wu County, the yield of those rice is not high and the conditions are harsh, so the common people at the bottom do not spontaneously promote it.

Even before Li Ji left Wu County, he personally inspected a lot of local rice in Wu County. It was completely different from the "fruitful" in Li Ji's memory.

Nowadays, in the land south of the Yangtze River, miasma becomes more prevalent as you go south. Even if Li Ji wants to send people deep into various deep mountains and dense forests, it is extremely difficult to find good rice seeds.

Li Ji even suspected that if he really wanted to find that kind of rice seed, he would probably have to cross Jiaozhou and go to Yizhou, Annan or the Southeast Asian islands to get something.

If we want to bring about a leap-forward change in Wu County's grain production, rice that can be harvested twice or even three times a year is indispensable.

As a result, Li Ji vigorously developed water conservancy in order to ensure that most of the fields in Wu County met the water resources conditions for growing rice.

Therefore, in this case, a shipbuilding workshop is a must.

And it is difficult to build ocean-going ships with today's shipbuilding technology, but it is not difficult to build offshore ships.

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if we can't find food seeds by then, we can easily dominate the Yangtze River with the accumulation of shipbuilding factories.

Furthermore, finding grain depends on God's will and luck, but can Li Ji still not know where there are large amounts of gold and silver mines overseas?
  At worst, developing those gold and silver mines first would be enough to respond to Liu Bei's expectations and generate a thousand-fold return on the cost of the shipbuilding factory.

'No, it should be said that those gold and silver mines must be developed...'

A fierce light flashed in the eyes of the gentle and elegant Li Ji.

However, Liu Bei, who was immersed in ecstasy and anticipation, did not notice the change in Li Ji's expression at that moment. Instead, he stood up and paced back and forth with excitement for a while, just now recovering from the joy of seemingly unable to finish the food. Gradually recovered.

"Zikun, if it succeeds, then you and I can say that we have made a contribution to the present generation and will benefit the future."

Liu Bei sighed, still feeling unbearably happy in his heart.

"Jiang Gongyi and Wenhe's navy must also urge them to build up as soon as possible. After the ships that can sail on the sea are built, they can form a fleet as soon as possible to search for grain."

"My lord, please don't get excited. Ship construction is not a matter of time. It may take a year at the earliest to build a ship that can withstand the wind and waves of the sea."

Li Ji comforted.

"Furthermore, the growing conditions of rice have strict requirements on climate and water conservancy conditions. Only after the water network in Wujun is transformed can large-scale rice planting be guaranteed."

"And the completion of Wu County's water conservancy will also take at least one year to achieve initial results."

(End of this chapter)