Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Li Ji asked Chen Gong at the right time.

"Gongtai, what do you think of this flower?"

At this moment, Chen Gong regretted claiming to be knowledgeable about exotic flowers and plants, so that he was easily criticized by Li Ji.

How can I see it?
Just stand and watch!

Chen Gong looked around and seemed to be attracted by some flowers on the other side. He distanced himself from Li Ji and went to admire them alone.

Of course, Chen Gong deliberately did not go far, maintaining a distance that was not convenient for him to exchange ideas about flowers and plants with Li Ji, but at the same time allowed him to observe Li Ji's every move.

This also made Li Ji further confirm that Chen Gong's purpose of accompanying him voluntarily was to guard against him.

Li Ji entered the imperial garden to "steal flowers" and not to "steal fish", so why did it come to this?

Li Ji smiled helplessly, and then did not expose Chen Gong. Instead, he strolled around the imperial garden seriously, looking for rare flowers and plants that might be useful.

Soon, Li Ji discovered some exotic flowers and plants that were introduced through the Silk Road but had never appeared among the people.

Tulips, laurel, cockscombs, aloe vera...

Among them, some have obvious medicinal value or livelihood value.

Especially the pepper, carrot and cumin, which made Li Ji feel a little greedy. These were flavors that Li Ji had not tasted for many years.

Especially pepper and cumin, which are must-haves for barbecue!
Even though the Han people also had a wide variety of spices, Li Ji searched for a long time and could only find a few spices that barely tasted similar to the original for barbecue.

Li Ji paused for a few moments in front of Pepper and Cumin, then continued to wander around the Imperial Garden.

"However, there are indeed many good things in the Western Regions, both in terms of people and things. Moreover, traditionally, the Western Regions have been under the jurisdiction of the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years..."

"If the time and conditions are right, it would be great if I could allow the Western Regions to completely return to the Han Dynasty during my lifetime."

While Li Ji was thinking secretly, he was strolling leisurely in the Imperial Garden, occasionally stopping in front of some exotic flowers and plants, just like a scholar on a spring outing.

This made Chen Gong very difficult, as he had to carefully identify every flower or plant that Li Ji stopped to look at.

However, the scope of miscellaneous knowledge mastered by Chen Gong did not include exotic flowers and plants. He could only recognize 20% to 30% of the various flowers and plants commonly seen in the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Chen Gong felt a little dizzy after identifying all kinds of flowers and plants with different shapes and unknown uses, but he did not dare to relax at all.

Before this, Chen Gong agreed to Li Ji's request without thinking it over. Afterwards, he returned to the palace and studied the case as usual. Suddenly, he realized the problem.

Li Ji's reputation is so great, who in the world dares to underestimate him?
Even though Li Ji's request seemed reasonable, Chen Gong was more worried that Li Ji was secretly plotting something, or had some big plan, or even that there were some rare and precious things in the imperial garden.

Furthermore, the incident in the palace had not yet been resolved, which made Chen Gong even more worried.

However, after completely offending Yuan Shu, gaining Liu Bei's support was extremely crucial, so even if Chen Gong wanted to regret, there was no room for him to do so.

Therefore, out of caution, Chen Gong had to accompany him personally to confirm what Li Ji was up to.

Chen Gong planned to write down all the rare flowers and plants that Li Ji paid attention to, and then find relevant people to study them one by one to find out whether they had any special effects.

Li Ji actually had some guesses about Chen Gong's thoughts.

But precisely because of this, Li Ji obviously paused.

There are so many good things from the Silk Road hidden in the emperor's imperial garden. It would be a waste of resources if these good things were only used for viewing.

Li Ji's excuse for coming to the Imperial Garden was to bring some rare flowers and plants back to Zhao Ji as gifts. In addition, given Chen Gong's strict attitude, it was naturally impossible to take all the rare flowers and plants out for cultivation.

Therefore, if Chen Gong spent some time studying the uses of these exotic flowers and plants because of Li Ji's stop, it would be beneficial to promote these plants that have certain benefits in medicine, food, etc.

This is a good thing for ordinary people!
Why not borrow the energy of Lu Bu and Chen Gong to do your own things and benefit the people of the world?

Therefore, Li Ji appeared to be in a rather leisurely state, but he seemed to be frequently attracted by some exotic flowers and plants and could not move.

And every time Li Ji stopped, he seemed to secretly observe Chen Gong's direction before leaving with some reluctance.

Suddenly, Li Ji's eyes narrowed slightly, and his attention was completely attracted by about a dozen bunches of white flowers planted together not far away.

'The grass is like a cocoon, and the silk inside the cocoon is like fine yarn...'

White stack!
Or maybe it’s what it was called in later generations, that is cotton!
At this moment, Li Ji's heart was pounding.

There is no need to say much about the role of cotton. It is the first choice for keeping warm.

Whether it is used in civilian or military affairs, it is irreplaceable for future generations.

Even though Li Ji had high hopes for the Imperial Garden, he couldn't help but feel a little excited when he saw Mianhua. However, Li Ji stood in front of Mianhua for a few breaths as before, then turned around and continued to walk around the Imperial Garden.

Firstly, it was to prevent Chen Gong from becoming suspicious; secondly, Li Ji still needed to confirm whether there were any more valuable exotic flowers and plants in the imperial garden.

However, Li Ji took Chen Gong, Zhao Yun and others on a full tour of the Imperial Garden, looking at almost all kinds of flowers and plants, and they stopped to look at more than fifty kinds of flowers and plants.

By the end, Chen Gong himself almost had some memories confused.

What makes Li Ji a little regretful is that there are more than twenty kinds of exotic flowers and plants in the Imperial Garden that have promotional value and can enrich the species of the Central Plains.

But the only species that can truly be called a strategic species is undoubtedly cotton.

Therefore, after Li Ji took Chen Gong around for a short while, he returned to the cotton and made his comment.

"After looking around, among the many exotic flowers and plants introduced from the Western Regions, this flower is the most pure and flawless, restrained yet layered, just like the relationship between me and my wife."

Immediately, Li Ji ordered Zhao Yun to lead three or five personal guards to dig out the cotton with roots and mud and put it into the bamboo baskets prepared in advance.

This immediately aroused Chen Gong's vigilance, but he couldn't stop him by force, so he could only ask, "Mr. Zikun, if you are picking flowers, why do you go to the trouble of picking them with roots and mud?"

"Luoyang is more than a thousand miles away from Wujun. If it has no roots or soil to support it, when it returns to Wujun, what difference will this flower make from dead grass?"

As Li Ji spoke, there was a hint of surprise in his eyes, as if he thought it was childish for Chen Gong to ask such a question.

This made Chen Gong, who was not good at quick thinking, look a little embarrassed, but seeing that Zhao Yun was meticulously carrying out Li Ji's order to dig up all the ten bundles of cotton without leaving any, he hurriedly said.

"Mr. Zikun, please show some mercy and leave three or five bouquets in the Imperial Garden. Otherwise, it will be hard to explain if the Emperor holds us accountable if the Imperial Garden loses these flowers."

This... is just an excuse!

Nowadays, from the princes to the aristocratic families, everyone knows that Liu Xie is just a symbol and he has no real power at all.

Not to mention that there was no cotton in the Imperial Garden, even if Lu Bu wanted to set fire to the entire Imperial Garden, Liu Xie would still have to stand by and help blow air.

After all, it was just an excuse for Chen Gong to keep some cotton for research.

While Li Ji pretended to be thinking and remained silent, Zhao Yun quickly sped up his pace.

Seeing that there were only two bundles of cotton left, Chen Gong was about to speak to stop them, but Li Ji seemed to have finished thinking and said.

"Gongtai is right. Zilong, please stop now. You can find some other flowers and plants later."

Looking for something else?
Chen Gong looked a little unnatural, but looking at the two bundles of cotton left alone, he was too thick-skinned to continue speaking to stop them.

Afterwards, in order to bring Chen Gong to the ditch, Li Ji also found two kinds of edible plants, pepper and cumin, and dug them up with their roots and soil just like cotton.

And every time Li Ji would comment on it from various angles, saying that this item had a symbolic connection with his relationship with Zhao Ji.

Seeing that the bamboo baskets carried by Zhao Yun's personal soldiers were almost full, Chen Gong finally couldn't help but remind Li Ji to stop.

Li Ji, who had secretly achieved his goal, did not persist for too long, but on the surface he maintained an unsatisfied look, and then left the imperial garden somewhat reluctantly.

After leaving the Imperial Garden, Li Ji secretly asked Zhao Yun to take the cotton, pepper and cumin back to the mansion and take good care of them. Then he and Chen Gong rushed back to Nan Palace to wait for the court meeting to end.

On the way back, Li Ji had almost no communication with Chen Gong.

Chen Gong was simply memorizing various flowers and plants. While feeling a little tired, he was still constantly pondering Li Ji's actions.

Li Ji is already thinking about how to promote cotton planting.

As a truly strategic material, cotton should be promoted as quickly as possible.

But at the same time, the role of cotton should be kept secret as much as possible until the troubled times are over.

After all, the Han people have had the tradition of men farming and women weaving since ancient times. As long as they realize the role of cotton, there is no technical threshold at all.

Li Ji didn't want this thing to become an obstacle to unifying the world.

Soon, Li Ji thought of a perfect place to grow cotton.

There will be no shortage of labor to pick cotton, and there will be no possibility of leaks.

Yingzhou!!
It just so happened that all the Japanese men went mining, and the Japanese women had nothing to do, so it was a good opportunity for them to pick cotton.

Li Ji also quickly came up with an idea on how to promote cotton cultivation in Japan.

All you need to do is define cotton as the national flower of Japan, tie it to the current religious reincarnation in Japan, and say that the more you touch cotton, the better your fortune in the next life. You don't have to worry about the newly civilized Japanese people developing some resistance. (End of this chapter)