Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Not only were there mountains of gifts, but there were also many people from wealthy families still gathered near the door, seemingly constantly talking to the doorman.

The appearance of Li Ji made the eyes of the sweaty doorman Liu Qin light up. He quickly broke away from the people from the noble families around him, strode towards Li Ji and saluted.

"Welcome back to the mansion, my Lord."

Liu Qin's action also made the people from the noble families who were originally gathered in front of the Guoshihou Mansion quiet down, and they looked at Li Ji with a bit of flattery and awe.

Even though many of the Yangzhou noble families, due to their dignity and prestige, privately called Li Ji a mere county marquis, but when facing Li Ji directly, their bodies were unusually honest.

In a blink of an eye, Li Ji wiped out more than 100,000 allied forces against Wu from thousands of miles away. How could this not frighten the Yangzhou nobles?
After Li Ji glanced around casually, he began to ask.

"Liu Qin, what's going on?"

"My Lord, these are all gifts for the young lady. However, my Lord is not at home, and my Lady cannot take charge for the time being, so I dare not decide to accept the gifts..."

After a pause, Liu Qin spoke with a somewhat helpless tone.

"I have explained this to the visitors again and again, telling them that they can wait until the Marquis returns before sending a letter to visit, but they insisted on sending it. Many people simply left their gifts outside the door and left."

Perhaps the Yangzhou families were not very familiar with marching and fighting, but how could they not understand the ways of the world?

If you can pay a visit to Li Ji and present the gift in person, the effect will naturally be excellent.

However, the Yangzhou noble families today were not really qualified to meet Li Ji so easily, so they chose to come and give gifts when Li Ji was away from home on duty.

Is this something they don’t understand?
No, this is too understandable.

This is so that Li Ji doesn’t have the chance to refuse.

As Li Ji nodded slightly, a middle-aged man with a rather elegant demeanor came over boldly and bowed.

"Yuzhang Zhu Zheng, courtesy name Ganglie, pays homage to the Marquis of Guoshi."

The visitor's self-introduction made Li Ji raise his eyebrows slightly.

The Zhu family is a big family in Yangzhou, and there are two Zhu families that are quite famous, namely the Danyang Zhu family and the Yuzhang Zhu family.

However, just like the Lujiang Zhou family and the Kuaiji Zhou family, they both have the surname Zhou, but they have little relationship with each other.

However, what impressed Li Ji the most was the record of the Jinyi Division that he had seen this morning, in which he confidently claimed that "without backbone, he would not have the face to see his ancestors." This was Zhu Zheng, who came on behalf of the Yuzhang Zhu family.

"The name suits the person."

Li Ji's sudden praise made Zhu Zheng happy, and he thought he had found the right time.

For the Yangzhou families, the ones who now hold the power of life and death over them are undoubtedly Liu Bei and Li Ji.

During this period of more than half a month, some noble families secretly moved away from Yangzhou.

However, just as the noble family set out, the entire clan was captured that night, without even a single one of them escaping, as if they had been waiting for them.

Especially when most of the slaves and retainers of the Yangzhou family were captured, facing the strong suppression of the elite troops of Wujun, the family did not even have the ability to resist.

Although this result was not unexpected to the Yangzhou family, it did dispel their last glimmer of hope.

Therefore, in order to survive and reduce losses, the Yangzhou families secretly tried to interpret the words and actions of Liu Bei and Li Ji countless times.

There is a conclusion that is recognized by the Yangzhou families today: that is, what Liu Bei and Li Ji wanted was to force the Yangzhou families to completely surrender, otherwise there would be no need to go to so much trouble.

But on the other hand, the matter of "the alliance against Wu" would not be easily revealed, and some scapegoats would inevitably need to be brought out to restore the dignity of Liu Bei, the new governor of Yangzhou.

So, who dies? Who lives?

What price should be paid for the safety of the family? This is the key.

In the eyes of most of the Yangzhou families, their opponents are not only Liu Bei and Li Ji, but more importantly, other people from the Yangzhou families.

It was impossible for Liu Bei and Li Ji to destroy all the Yangzhou families, so in Zhu Zheng's opinion, he only needed to make the Yuzhang Zhu family more appreciated by Li Ji than the other families.

Therefore, when the various families were discussing internally, Zhu Zheng's purpose was very clear from the beginning, which was to see if he could trick some ignorant people into actually believing in some noble words.

backbone?

If you still have your integrity at this critical moment, then you are the one who is eager to go down and meet your ancestors.

Zhu Zheng had secretly sent people to keep an eye on the government office early on, and was waiting not far from the Guoshihou Mansion in advance.

When Zhu Zheng learned that Li Ji had finished his shift and was returning home, he hurriedly brought gifts to the door to deliver them, and the gifts sent in advance by other Yangzhou families just happened to serve as his background.

Now, Zhu Zheng felt that his plan had paid off handsomely, and he had just received praise from the state scholar.

This made the smile on Zhu Zheng's face even brighter. He kept his body half-bent and read out in a rhythmic manner the article that was written last night after three revisions by the talented people in his family.

"I am delighted to hear that your family has a new baby. Yuzhang Zhu is overjoyed, so I was asked to come early to give you a small gift." "The talent and wisdom of the state scholar are extraordinary, and his virtue is known to all quarters. Now he has received a thousand gold coins. It is really a gift from heaven. Could it be to congratulate Uncle Liu on his promotion to the governor of Yangzhou today, and to govern the area and bring peace to the people for the great Han Dynasty?"

"Your daughter's birth into this world is truly a joy to your family, a delight to Yangzhou, and a blessing to the Han Dynasty."

"With this fortune, your daughter will surely inherit the wisdom of the Marquis Guoshi and the virtue of Lady Zhaoji. She will be graceful and talented, and her future is just around the corner..."

Before this, Li Ji always thought that he didn't like to hear compliments, but he didn't expect that there were too few flatterers around him.

At least, even though Li Ji knew that Zhu Zheng's long and eloquent speech was just flattery, he couldn't help but feel a little happy in his heart.

In particular, Zhu Zheng did not forget to focus his praise on Xiao Xier, which made Li Ji very satisfied.

However, seeing that Zhu Zheng seemed to be in the process of continuing to take the civil service exam, he raised his hand and interrupted him.

"I will remember the intentions of Yuzhang Zhu family."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zheng's face was filled with joy. Hadn't he made so many plans just for Li Ji's words?
Immediately, Zhu Zheng waved to the six tribesmen following behind him.

The six members of the Yuzhang Zhu family hurried forward, each holding a tray covered with a large red cloth, and at the end there were a few young men dressed as servants pulling a large cart.

Zhu Zheng followed up and said, "Yuzhang is a poor and remote place with few treasures. We only have some local specialties to show our appreciation."

"Oh?"

Li Ji used his folding fan to lift up a corner of the red cloth on the tray in the front, revealing more than a dozen gold bars stacked in a pyramid shape.

Immediately, Li Ji put down the red cloth that he had lifted up at one corner, and said with some amusement.

"This specialty is quite interesting. I don't know when the gold vein was discovered in Yuzhang."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zheng's mind raced, thinking about the deeper meaning of this sentence, and he answered quickly.

"Yes, yes, what the Duke of Guo said is very true. I was confused for a moment and couldn't tell the difference."

"This is clearly a specialty of Yangzhou, and it is all a specialty of the reign of Emperor Liu. Dividing it into counties is narrow-minded. I am narrow-minded. I am far less far-sighted than the national scholar."

This made Li Ji look at Zhu Zheng with even more admiration. He didn't expect that Zhu Zheng could still lick his way back after going around in circles like this.

In a sense, this Zhu Zheng is indeed a talented person, but his calligraphy is not very good and has nothing to do with being strong and resolute.

"That's quite true. But I'm afraid it's not enough to just use these things to test me," Li Ji asked with a smile.

"Guoshi Hou has misunderstood. Guoshi Hou has long been famous throughout the world and is the best among all the heroes. Who would test Guoshi Hou? And who dares to test Guoshi Hou?"

Zhu Zheng spoke righteously.

"It's just that Yuzhang Zhu heard that Guoshihou had received another thousand gold coins, which meant that Guoshihou had a successor and had many descendants. This is really a joy for the Han Dynasty. If we don't congratulate him with courtesy, wouldn't we be ashamed of our ancestors who sacrificed their lives for the Han Dynasty?"

Li Ji nodded, reached under the tray piled with gold bars, weighed it, and smiled after estimating its weight.

"It's really worth a fortune..."

This made Li Ji feel a little sad, thinking back to the time when he became famous in Julu when Cao Cao was willing to pay him "three thousand gold".

To this day, the gold that Yuzhang Zhu sent to the newly born little Xier alone is worth thousands of gold.

Immediately, Li Ji turned and spoke to Liu Qin.

"Send people to return the gifts sent by the other Yangzhou noble families, and make a list of the names of those that were not sent."

When these words were spoken, Liu Qin was stunned for a moment, thinking that he had misheard, then he reacted and quickly nodded his head.

Zhu Zheng was so frightened that his pupils shrank noticeably and his heartbeat quickened. He secretly felt lucky.

Is that a list without gifts?
That's clearly a list of people who are going to be sent to hell!

Immediately, Li Ji extended his hand to Zhu Zheng and said, "Brother Ganglie, if you don't mind, why don't you bring your gifts into the mansion and have a seat?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zheng's whole body tensed up instantly.

If they follow Li Ji into the palace in public at this moment, it will mean that Yuzhang Zhu family has completely thrown themselves into Liu Bei's arms.

However, Zhu Zheng only hesitated for a moment before making a decision.

The troubled times had arrived, and there was no doubt that Liu Bei would become the overlord of Jiangdong. It was the good fortune of the Yuzhang Zhu family to be able to join Liu Bei under such circumstances.

As for whether he would be met with hostility and jealousy from other Yangzhou families, Zhu Zheng could not care less. He first wanted to ensure that the Yuzhang Zhu family could be the first to get ashore in this wave that could destroy the family at any time.

Immediately, Zhu Zheng lowered his back a little more and complimented.

"The noble lord invited me first, and I am honored to follow him." (End of this chapter)