Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"Everyone, for the sake of Wujun and the lord, please remain calm! Be magnanimous! Be magnanimous!"

However, Jia Xu's persuasion not only failed to work, but instead added fuel to the fire, causing the two sides to almost slam the table and burst into an argument.

Zhang Hong blew his beard and spoke angrily.

"Xiahou Bo, you are just a rough man, a warrior, how can you understand the money and grain circulation of Wujun and the development of people's livelihood? If you waste your military power and go on an expedition thousands of miles away, disaster will come!"

"I am a knight from Changshan. I have received great kindness from my lord. I only know that I must repay him with my life..."

Xiahou Bo sneered, knowing that he could not win the argument with Zhang Hong, so he retorted, "Right now, the lord is fighting fiercely with the traitors in the front. Instead of supporting us, we persuade the lord to retreat without success. What is our intention?"

"This is for the great cause of my lord, and for the millions of people in Wu County. How can a short-sighted person like you understand this?"

At this moment, Zhang Hong, who usually displayed the elegance and grace of a scholar, was also so excited that he drooled.

Xiahou Bo raised his hand and wiped the water that splashed on his face. He placed one hand on the sword at his waist and said angrily.

"Even though I am short-sighted, I only care about loyalty and righteousness. I follow the orders of my lord, not people like you who have so many hidden thoughts!"

"Today, I, Xiahou Bo, have only one thing to say. Without the order of my lord, I will chop off the head of anyone who dares to shortchange the frontline even a grain of food."

Zhang Hong stiffened his neck and said, "Come! Here is my head, chop it off if you have the guts."

Xiahou Bo let out a heavy breath, and the hand holding the hilt of the sword seemed to tighten suddenly. This frightened Gu Yong and Mi Zhu so much that they hurriedly stepped forward to separate Zhang Hong and Xiahou Bo on the left and right.

Gu Yong also took the opportunity to speak.

"Why would Ji Chang want to threaten his colleagues with weapons? And Zi Gang's intention is only to get everyone to propose to the Lord to withdraw the troops, not to cut off the Lord's food and salary."

"Besides, Zigang's concerns are not without reason. The lord is leading a large army to fight against the Dong bandit. Even if he wins, he will not be able to occupy the enclave thousands of miles away. If he loses, it will be a heavy blow to Wujun."

"Now is a good time to send a message to the lord and propose a withdrawal. This will allow the lord to show his loyalty as a relative of the clan, and will not cause him to suffer too much loss."

Jia Xu also quickly stood between the two parties, nodded in a harmless manner, and said soothingly. "Yes, yes, what Zi Gang and Yuan Tan said makes some sense."

"Humph!"

While Mi Zhu quickly held down Xiahou Bo's sword, he snorted coldly and said.

"If you give up halfway, won't you be ridiculed by the world?"

"Besides, the lord has Mr. Zikun who is very knowledgeable and can see thousands of miles away. If things are not going well, he will persuade the lord. Why do we, the people who stayed in Wu County, need to say more to influence the decision of the war in front?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu agreed and said, "Indeed, the other princes have not retreated yet. How can my lord, as a relative of the Han Dynasty, withdraw first?"

Zhang Hong completely ignored Jia Xu's yes-man attitude and directly retorted loudly.

"Li Ji may be resourceful, but can his plans turn into axes and swords to break through Hulao Pass? According to the latest military reports, the Allied forces of more than 200,000 troops have been blocked at Hulao Pass for many days. What can Li Zikun do?"

Xiahou Bo felt the contempt in Zhang Hong's words and spoke angrily.

"How can you, an old man, be qualified to address Mr. Zikun by his name? You are just a small clerk. Mr. Zikun has entrusted you with the task of temporarily managing some of Wujun's government affairs. Why are you so ungrateful?"

Zhang Hong blushed and shouted angrily.

"I am not loyal to Li Ji alone, nor am I a lackey of Li Ji. I am a subject of the lord, and I eat the salary of the Han Dynasty. But you are the one barking here. Are you a subject of Li Ji? Or a subject of the lord?"

This quarrel lasted for nearly half an hour. Seeing that Xiahou Bo, who was relatively taciturn, was about to draw his sword due to the scolding, Gu Yong hurriedly dragged Zhang Hong out of the government office.

"You are just a brat, with only a little bit of loyalty in your eyes. You are not worthy of being a strategist!"

After leaving the government office, Zhang Hong, still not satisfied, continued to curse in the direction of the government office behind him.

"Zigang, calm down. Don't let it harm your health." Gu Yong began to persuade.

"Humph!"

Zhang Hong snorted coldly, and after his expression eased a little, he spoke to Gu Yong.

"Yuan Tan, forget about that idler, why don't you follow me back to my house to have a drink? Zi Bu is also in my house, it's been a long time since the three of us have had a chat."

Gu Yong agreed almost subconsciously, and then he was suddenly shocked and realized that if he followed Zhang Hong back home, he might get into some big trouble.

Immediately, Gu Yong spoke calmly with a hint of helplessness.

"Alas, Zhang Zhongjing prescribed a few doses of medicine for me a few days ago, and he said that I must not drink any alcohol, otherwise the medicine will become toxic..."

After a pause, Gu Yong bowed and said.

"Next time, next time for sure. This time I can only refuse Zigang's kindness. Next time I will find a pot of good wine and invite Zigang to my house for a feast." Zhang Hong did not show any dissatisfaction, but twisted his beard expectantly and said, "Then I will wait for Yuan Tan's good wine."

However, after the two parties parted ways at the street entrance in front of the government office, Zhang Hong's face darkened slightly. He got on the sedan chair following behind and went straight back to the mansion.

After returning to the mansion, Zhang Hong went straight to a room located on the northwest side of the mansion near the back door and pushed the door open.

Zhang Zhao, who was known as "the two Zhangs" together with Zhang Hong, was sitting among them. In addition, there were some scattered heads or representatives of aristocratic families from Wu County, Kuaiji County and other counties who had surrendered to Liu Bei.

It was a small room that housed more than ten people.

After Zhang Hong pushed the door open and quickly closed it, Zhang Zhao glanced at the lonely Zhang Hong and said, "Didn't Gu Yuantan come?"

Zhang Hong sat in the empty seat next to Zhang Zhao and answered, "He refused with an excuse. It seems he is deliberately keeping a distance from us."

Zhang Zhao couldn't help but reveal a bit of regret when he heard this.

"It's a pity. If Gu Yuantan is willing to completely side with us, he will definitely be able to persuade the lord to withdraw his troops and return to Wujun."

After a pause, Zhang Zhao asked Zhang Hong about the latest military reports he had learned in the government office. Zhang Hong told him the truth one by one and explained in detail the attitudes and reactions of the other four people who now hold great power in Wu County.

After hearing this, Zhang Zhao and the people from the noble families present all looked thoughtful.

For Zhang Zhao and the Yangzhou families, the obstruction of the Allied offensive was undoubtedly a good thing.

In the former Wu County and Kuaiji County, the aristocratic families were almost playthings in Li Ji's hands. Not to mention wanting to sideline the county governor as he had done in the past and let the aristocratic families actually control the power, not even a bit of real power could slip through Li Ji's fingers.

This made the noble families in Wujun and Kuaijijun both respect and fear Li Ji. As long as Li Ji was in Wujun, the remaining noble families in the two places would instinctively keep their tails between their legs.

Until Gu Yong left Wujun, he recommended Zhang Zhao to assist Li Ji in handling all the government affairs in Wujun. Not long after, even Li Ji himself left Wujun and crossed the ocean to Yingzhou.

This also gave hope to the aristocratic families in Wu County, Kuaiji County, and even the entire Yangzhou.

Unlike Gu Yong, who already had great respect for Li Ji and the two had a relationship through Cai Yong, Zhang Zhao was originally from a small aristocratic family in Pengcheng, Xuzhou.

This gave the Yangzhou aristocratic families hope of winning over Zhang Zhao and making him a member of the Yangzhou aristocratic family.

As a result, just as the Yangzhou family had hoped, Zhang Zhao, who came from a small family, was not resistant to the Yangzhou family.

Through marriage, Zhang Zhao was quickly accepted by the Yangzhou family and quickly became the spokesperson of the Yangzhou family in Liu Bei's group.

In order to consolidate his position, Zhang Zhao also brought his distant cousin and close friend Zhang Hong from Xuzhou to integrate into the Yangzhou family. With the cooperation of the two, they quickly gained a firm foothold in Liu Bei's group.

However, before Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, with the strong support of the Yangzhou family, could completely gain a strong say in Liu Bei's group.

With Li Ji's return from overseas, he once again took the position of county magistrate...

Whether it was Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, or the many Yangzhou families who began to invest in Liu Bei because of the existence of Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, they all felt like the sky had fallen.

It is clear that during the days when Li Ji was away, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong also diligently assisted Liu Bei in governing Wujun.

Apart from the fact that Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong occasionally needed to give back to the aristocratic families, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong believed that they had never slacked off, and the entire Wu County had prospered at a speed visible to the naked eye in the past two years.

This made Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong feel that in terms of contribution ability, they were no less than Li Ji.

However, the facts dealt a heavy blow to Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong. All their diligent efforts over the past two years were finally rewarded with Li Ji's understated "not bad".

It was as if all the credit belonged to Li Ji...

Are you kidding me? !

However, Liu Bei, as the lord, thought it was natural and once again entrusted power to Li Ji, who had disappeared for more than two years.

Then, Li Ji used extremely tough tactics to directly carry out military and political reforms under Liu Bei's rule.

Good farmland registration, household registration, implementation of military households...

These reforms were a heavy blow to the aristocratic families who had secretly taken in many illegal households and developed a lot of fertile land in Wujun and Kuaijijun in recent years.

How could Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong and a number of other noble families, who had become the working class for others, be content with this?

More importantly, if it was just a temporary loss, the aristocratic families could still endure it, but with the current trend, Li Ji would be in power as long as one day.

Then under Liu Bei's rule, the aristocratic families would be able to enjoy "fairness" that is closer and closer to that of the common people.

But what the aristocratic families want is "privilege" rather than "fairness"!
Politics, land, education, law...

These privileges that the noble families originally enjoyed over the common people were almost disintegrated bit by bit under Liu Bei's rule. (End of this chapter)