Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Li Ji said no, but Jia Xu was very sure that this was the main reason. Li Ji saw him slacking off every day, so he took revenge.

However, Li Ji continued to speak.

"Furthermore, since Wenhe wants to fake the appearance of being incompetent, then what could be more direct than for Wenhe, a civil official, to show off his prowess in the grand military performance and appear to be skilled in martial arts but not in strategy?"

"So, both publicly and privately, only Wenhe is suitable for this important task..."

After a pause, Li Ji couldn't help but stood up and walked to Jia Xu's side, patted Jia Xu's shoulder gently, and said.

"Wenhe, the glory of all the civil officials under the lord's command is on your shoulders. Don't let others knock you down with just a few moves when you go on the field."

At this moment, Jia Xu's face turned green and he was resisting in his heart.

However, Jia Xu also knew that the matter was a foregone conclusion.

The Han Dynasty valued martial arts, and many people gave up writing to join the army. Almost every scholar had mastered the six arts of a gentleman, and great scholars like Lu Zhi were also very capable in martial arts.

Therefore, if Liu Bei really did not have a single scholar sending people into battle, it would indeed seem somewhat embarrassing.

Even if Jia Xu was determined not to go into battle, Li Ji would certainly arrange for other civil officials to go into battle as a formality, in order to show that even the scholars under Liu Bei's command were capable of fighting bravely.

Although Jia Xu was not worried at all about encountering any danger at the grand martial arts performance, it also meant that Jia Xu would need to practice the art of archery again in the next month.

This was undoubtedly a tough job for Jia Xu, and if he was not careful he would lose face in front of countless princes and aristocratic families.

Just when Jia Xu remained silent, Li Ji spoke slowly.

"Speaking of which, if Wenhe really doesn't want to go, I won't force him. I'll just give him another task."

"Not long ago, a large amount of tea disappeared in Wu County. Some of it was the imperial tea that the lord was going to offer to the emperor. This is a serious crime!"

"Then let Wenhe be in charge of the investigation and find out the thief who stole the tea and cut him into pieces to correct..."

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Jia Xu coughed violently a few times, interrupting Li Ji's words.

Exposed?
How can it be so fast? !
At this moment, Jia Xu felt a little surprised.

After all, compared to dealing with the anti-Wu allied forces, Jia Xu spent more energy trying to perfectly catch some tea leaves.

They used all kinds of tricks, such as replacing one thing with another, passing inferior goods off as good ones, forging account books, and even faked a fire to burn all the non-existent tea.

Jia Xu felt that since Li Ji had no time to take care of such trivial matters, these things should have remained silent forever. How could they have been exposed so quickly?

"I need to participate in the grand martial arts performance, and I'm afraid I don't have the time to take care of this...such a small matter..." Jia Xu said with a forced smile.

"Oh? Really?" Li Ji asked.

"Really?" Jia Xu.

"Not reluctant?" Li Ji asked again.

"The honor of all my colleagues is on my shoulders, how can I retreat?" Jia Xu said loudly.

"Well, in that case, the investigation of tea will not be handed over to Wenhe, but should be handled by..."

Li Ji hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at Xu Chu, who was sitting on the side with his eyes rolling around in boredom, and said, "Then let Zhong Kang be in charge of investigating this matter, right?"

"Ah? Me?" Xu Chu was stunned and couldn't react.

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that if he relied on Xu Chu's brain to investigate, the matter would inevitably end up in nothing.

But when he thought about actually going to participate in that grand martial arts performance, Jia Xu's face looked a little bitter, and then he slowly squeezed out a word from between his teeth.

"Li Zikun, don't forget to give me some inside information then..."

Li Ji said with a gentle but brilliant smile, "Don't worry, Wenhe."

"Zikun, I am so lucky to have you."

Jia Xu let out a long sigh and then walked out the door.

This was a path Jia Xu had never expected. He was already over 40 years old, but he had to pick up the art of archery all over again.

After watching Jia Xu leave, Li Ji could no longer hide the smile on his face.

Slacking off every day without any disguise is simply corrupting the working atmosphere within the governor's office.

Moreover, the person who hated Jia Xu the most in the entire governor's mansion was not Li Ji, but Gu Yong, who had to work overtime for two hours every day.

If Jia Xu continues to be so carefree, what will the other people think? Won't they lose their morale?

Therefore, no matter what, Li Ji had to find something to keep Jia Xu busy. Among all the counselors under Liu Bei's command, Jia Xu was the oldest, and Jia Xu was fat and happy every day. Seeing that his physical fitness was obviously declining, he could take the opportunity to let Jia Xu recover.

Otherwise, when Jia Xu is older, he will be required to accompany the army as a military advisor and fight in long battles. Jia Xu's body may not be able to bear it by then, and it is not impossible that he will die on the way to the battle like Guo Jia in the original trajectory.

Li Ji naturally had some feelings for Jia Xu, who was both his teacher and friend. He naturally did not want to see Jia Xu die of illness on the eve of unifying the world.

"My lord is not a heartless person. The end of the road we need to take is not far away. If Wenhe is not there by then, wouldn't it be a pity in life?"

Li Ji muttered to himself, and then continued to read the recent summary of the movements of various princes.

Although the improved papermaking and printing technologies have been completely unlocked and papermaking and printing have been carried out in large quantities day and night, the preliminary paper is now almost entirely used to print the Dongguan collection of books to complete the Wujun Library that is being prepared.

Therefore, official documents in the governor's office were still mainly made of heavy and cumbersome bamboo slips.

However, this is a gradual replacement process, and Li Ji cannot rush it even if he wants to.

The princes that Li Ji is paying close attention to now are Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, Cao Cao, Liu Yan and Liu Biao.

Among them, apart from Cao Cao's desperate trip to Qingzhou to quell the Yellow Turbans, the most dramatic news was the news sent back from Yizhou.

After many careful verifications by the Jinyisi, even though Liu Yan deliberately blocked the leakage of relevant information, all signs still indicated that Liu Yan was very likely to be seriously ill in bed.

Moreover, Liu Yan's illness began to worsen, most likely two months ago.

However, Li Ji remembered that according to the original trajectory, Liu Yan should have died in 194, and now it was only the end of 191. If nothing obvious happened, Liu Yan should be able to hold on for some time.

Is it a trick? Or is he really seriously ill?
Li Ji thought about it for a long time, and even analyzed all the intelligence about Yizhou in the past year from scratch, and finally came to a conclusion.

Perhaps Liu Yan really realized that he did not have much time left, but was not yet at the end of his life. The reason why he released the news of his serious illness in an attempt to cover up the truth was probably to pave the way for Liu Zhang.

The Yizhou aristocratic families also held considerable power, so Liu Yan might be setting a trap for the Yizhou aristocratic families, preparing to take some of them away before his death, so that Liu Zhang could safely inherit the Yizhou governorship instead of becoming a puppet controlled by the Yizhou aristocratic families.

In addition to Yizhou, Cao Cao had also led his troops to Qingzhou and began to clear out and pacify the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou.

Although Cao Cao had only ten thousand soldiers, the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou were said to have a million of them. But unlike most of the other princes and noble families who were not optimistic about Cao Cao, Li Ji did not think that the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou would be a match for Cao Mengde.

What's more, in just a few months, Cao Cao had a number of Yingchuan talents under his command, including Xun Yu, Xun You, Xi Zhicai, etc. Even Dian Wei, whom Li Ji had been looking for for some time, also emerged in Cao's camp.

"So, the Yingchuan family would rather choose to place a part of their treasure on such a downtrodden Cao Cao, or would they rather not rely on my master?"

Li Ji narrowed his eyes and couldn't help but sneer.

Of course, Li Ji also knew that Cao Cao was not the only choice of the Yingchuan family. While Xun Yu brought a group of talented people to join Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and others were also heavily bet on by the Yingchuan family.

On the contrary, the four relatives and governors Liu Bei, Liu Yu, Liu Yan, and Liu Biao, who now occupy four of the thirteen states, and the Yingchuan families have no intention of betting on it at all.

The meaning behind this is quite profound.

"Aristocratic family? Humph!"

This made Li Ji think of the Yangzhou family and Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong.

Perhaps Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong were not good at being geniuses and quick-witted, but their ability in governing was still quite outstanding, and they were not inferior to Gu Yong at all.

Moreover, up until now during the Wujun Defense War, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong have been under house arrest in their mansions, which has been about two months.

Immediately, Li Ji pondered for a while and continued to handle various official duties. When it was time to get off duty, he did not return to the mansion directly, but went in the direction where Zhang Zhao was under house arrest.

When Li Ji saw Zhang Zhao again, in just a few months, Zhang Zhao seemed to have aged more than ten years, and his originally black hair was now covered with large patches of silver hair.

Moreover, unlike every time he met Li Ji in the past, when he was respectful on the surface but had a somewhat reserved attitude in his words and actions, this time Zhang Zhao seemed to have completely lost his temper and bowed his head and said.

"Greetings to the state scholar."

At Zhang Zhao's invitation, after everyone sat down and had tea, Li Ji asked in a calm tone.

"How is Zibu doing these days?"

Zhang Zhao spoke with a little energy. "I've thought a lot, and I've figured out a lot of things, but there are even more things I can't figure out."

"If Zi Bu doesn't give up, Ji can try to solve his doubts." Li Ji replied.

Zhang Zhao was silent for a long time, then he slowly spoke. "What am I in the eyes of the state scholar?"

Li Ji raised his eyes, then chuckled and said.

"Zi Bu is not my subordinate. You and I are just colleagues. Does it matter how Ji views Zi Bu?"

"How Zibu is a minister to his lord, and how his lord views Zibu, this is the key." (End of this chapter)