Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Over the years, the "Ren De Academy" has continued to grow and expand, and the proportion of civilian students enrolled has continued to increase;

Liu Bei's reputation and the support of the "Ren De Academy" also gradually freed him from the dilemma of having to rely on the children of aristocratic families to govern the local area;
Previously, the land of Wu County and Kuaiji County was re-measured, and a large amount of land that was not registered with the government was recovered from the noble families...

All these things that happened unconsciously undoubtedly gradually weakened the influence of the family.

While everyone was still weighing the options, an old man sitting below slowly spoke.

"Zi Bu, Zi Gang, the allied forces' offensive was blocked at Hulao Pass, which is undoubtedly a good thing. Otherwise, if those outsiders continue to make great contributions, I am afraid that within three to five years, Wujun will no longer have a place for Jiangdong families like us."

As soon as these words were spoken, many people nodded and agreed.

"This may sound a little harsh, but if Liu Xuande had not been defeated at Hulao Pass, I'm afraid he would never have made use of us."

"I am afraid that if Liu Xuande succeeds in defeating Dong Zhuo, he will only use those outsiders more."

"There is no point in saying more. The key right now is how to make Liu Xuande understand that if he wants to control Wujun, he can't do without us..."

"In my opinion, we should cut off Liu Xuande's food supply and then put the blame on Mi Zhu."

"Are you crazy? If we really cut off Liu Xuande's food supplies, even if Liu Xuande is kind and benevolent, he will definitely kill people when he returns. How many heads are enough to chop off?"

It was undoubtedly the non-Yangzhou civil and military officials under Liu Bei, headed by Li Ji, who forced these noble families to band together.

Generally speaking, in conflicts between local factions and foreign factions, the local factions will have the upper hand.

However, under Liu Bei's rule, the local factions were almost suffocated and could only band together to survive.

The voices of discussion also continued to reach the ears of Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong.

"Everyone, listen to me."

Zhang Zhao knocked on the table, and as the noise in the room gradually died down, he spoke.

"The Lord was deceived by Li Ji and insisted on leading his army to fight Dong Zhuo thousands of miles away. What a waste of money and manpower! Of course, Li Ji was good at deceiving people."

"But if we look deeper, the key is undoubtedly that Li Ji followed the master to rise to power, and he had close personal relationships with the generals that the master relied on, such as Zhao Zilong, Guan Yu, and Zhang Yide."

"Military power is of utmost importance!"

This is the conclusion Zhang Zhao came to after much reflection.

According to common sense, "checks and balances" is the kingly way to control his subordinates, but under Liu Bei's command, Li Ji holds both military and political power. Is this reasonable?
Very unreasonable!

Eventually, Zhang Zhao gradually understood why his lord allowed Li Ji to hold so much power without checking or restraining him, and why Liu Bei did not support him at all even when Zhang Zhao took the initiative to show his hostility towards Li Ji.

The key lies in... military power!
Zhang Zhao only made some achievements in government affairs. How could he check and balance Li Ji, who was regarded as a god by the generals under Liu Bei?
When everyone present heard what Zhang Zhao said, they were all shocked.

Zhang Hong asked with a frown.

"Zi Bu, before the lord left Wujun, he entrusted the tiger talisman to Xiahou Bo. How could Xiahou Bo help the Jiangdong family like us? Without the tiger talisman, how can we control the military power?"

Zhang Zhao stood up and walked slowly to the candlelight, and said in a deep voice, "Common sense won't work, so an unreasonable situation needs to occur..."

"If an enemy invades Wujun, Xiahou Bo is just a reckless knight-errant who can command a few hundred men, but how can he know how to deploy troops and form battle arrays?"

"Gu Yuantan is also not good at strategy, Mi Zhu, Jian Yong, and Sun Qian are all average..."

When Zhang Zhao said this, Zhang Hong reminded him, "Zi Bu, don't forget Jia Wenhe. He must have some ability to be entrusted by Li Ji as the acting county magistrate."

"Ha~"

Zhang Zhao laughed out loud, waved his hand, and said, "I have already investigated Jia Wen and his people. They are just flatterers. There is no need to worry about them."

"Oh? But since he is a friend of Li Ji, he should not be an incompetent person." Zhang Hong reminded cautiously. "The reason why Li Ji values ​​Jia Wenhe is that Jia Wenhe saved him when he was a child, and it is also for this reason that Jia Wenhe was recommended to the lord by Li Ji..."

After a pause, Zhang Zhao began to talk about it like he knew everything.

"I have already found out that the reason why Jia Wenhe is in such a high position in the government office is that Li Ji has repeatedly abused his power for personal gain, and Jia Wenhe has taken the credit."

"Before the lord arrived in Wujun to take office, Li Ji assigned Jia Xu to lead the way. As a result, thieves were everywhere in the county, but Jia Wenhe hid in the city and did nothing;"

"In the second year of Zhongping, there was a disaster in the Central Plains, and refugees flocked south. Li Ji sent Jia Wenhe to inspect the food and grass. As a result, the refugees almost rioted because of sand and gravel mixed in the porridge. Fortunately, the lord went to pacify them in time..."

"But even so, Li Ji still tried his best to protect Jia Wenhe, and sent Jia Wenhe to various counties in Yangzhou as an envoy on the pretext of borrowing grain and settling refugees. As a result, Guo Yi of Kuaiji County led his troops to invade Qiantang County."

"Afterwards, in order to protect Jia Wenhe, Li Ji did not hesitate to let Jia Wenhe pretend to be sick for more than a year and not show up in front of others until he led the army to Yingzhou. Only then did he hurriedly take Jia Wenhe to accompany the army to share the credit."

"With all the above, doesn't it prove that Jia Wenhe is nothing but an incompetent flatterer?"

After Zhang Zhao told these events one by one, whether it was Zhang Hong or the other family heads, they could only nod in agreement. Even if they wanted to find an excuse to refute, they could not find any basis.

The main thing is that everything that Jia Xu is responsible for seems to have the shadow of Li Ji.

Even for many of the problems that broke out, Jia Xu seemed to have an unshirkable responsibility.

Apart from that, Jia Xu's gentle, harmless and gentlemanly demeanor in daily life really makes it difficult for people to be wary of him at all.

However, after Zhang Zhao finished his analysis, in addition to despising Jia Xu, many people present also felt envious and jealous towards him.

How many Jiangdong noble families hoped to occupy Jia Xu's position, and no one knew how much resources and efforts they had secretly spent for this purpose.

However, for Jia Xu, he had achieved this status by just eating and drinking every day and lying down with a carefree mind and a fat body.

Some of the heads of the noble families were very angry and started to rebuke him. "Li Zikun is a cancer! He abuses his power for personal gain and will harm Lord Liu sooner or later..."

"For the sake of Lord Liu's great cause and the development of Wujun, we must not allow Li Ji to act so recklessly and appoint people based on personal connections!"

"What a pity! If Li Ji is willing to take my daughter as his co-wife, then Jia Xu's position may belong to me..."

Suddenly, amidst the voices denouncing Li Ji, someone said something quite discordant, causing the discussion in the room to come to a halt.

This sentence undoubtedly opened up a new idea for the noble families present, and the originally united thoughts seemed to begin to diverge.

As long as Li Ji becomes his own man, then nepotism, monopolizing power and acting recklessly, which were originally condemned by the Jiangdong aristocratic families, will undoubtedly be naked advantages!
Seeing that the eyes of some of the family heads began to wander, Zhang Hong's voice sank slightly and said.

"Don't mention anything that will affect unity. If Li Ji wants to live in harmony with us, do you think he won't think of this method of marriage?"

"That's right..."

Zhang Zhao also laughed contemptuously and said, "Li Ji has obviously never looked you in the eye. It is meaningless for you to approach him except to humiliate yourselves."

These two plain words also completely shattered the fantasies that had just arisen in the hearts of some of the heads of aristocratic families.

A patriarch of a noble family asked Zhang Zhao, "So, Zibu already has a strategy in mind?"

"nature."

Zhang Zhao revealed a calm smile and said.

"The foreign enemy invaded Wujun, Xiahou Bo, Jia Xu, and Gu Yong were unable to resist. In this critical moment, our noble family turned the tide, and the military power will naturally be temporarily controlled by us."

"At that time, we can take the opportunity to place our trusted confidants there and support the generals. We can also let the lord know that the Wujun army is in danger and quickly withdraw the troops back to Wujun."

"As one side gains, the other loses. The prestige of Li Ji, who strongly supports the fight against Dong, has greatly declined, while ours is just the opposite. This is in line with the principle of checks and balances. My lord must also know that the support of the noble families is indispensable." (End of this chapter)