Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

This remark made Zhang Zhao's eyes slightly dazed.

Did Liu Bei treat Zhang Zhao badly?
Obviously not.

Even though in Liu Bei's eyes, Zhang Zhao was far less important than Li Ji, he was always treated with courtesy and enjoyed all the treatment corresponding to his status.

But what did Zhang Zhao do?
Perhaps Zhang Zhao also assisted Liu Bei in keeping his rule in order while Li Ji was away overseas, but Zhang Zhao was also clear that he had regarded Li Ji as a political enemy from the beginning to the end.

He married into a Yangzhou family, actively handled government affairs, and won over his colleagues...

In order to strike against Li Ji, Zhang Zhao even went so far as to leak the defense map to foreign enemies. Even though Zhang Zhao had never thought of surrendering to the enemy, this move was very different from betraying his master.

Sacrifice the interests of the lord to fight for one's own interests.

Zhang Zhao looked at the young and handsome Li Ji in front of him, and a feeling of unwillingness, regret and dejection still rose up in his heart unconsciously, which finally turned into a sigh.

Zhang Zhao suddenly realized that the "checks and balances" he had adhered to for many years might not necessarily be wrong, but his own weight was obviously not enough to check and balance Li Ji.

And being deeply trapped in this obsession, I obviously made a big mistake.

When Zhang Zhao was under house arrest in his mansion, he heard that the army raised by the anti-Wu coalition had a strength of more than 130,000. Zhang Zhao was so frightened that his hands and feet went weak. He was so anxious that he wanted to force his way out, fearing that the northerners could not stop the anti-Wu coalition.

However, the direction of the situation made Zhang Zhao lose his mind.

The 130,000-strong army either died or surrendered, with only a few escaping. Even the remaining four counties of Yangzhou were brought under control in an instant.

It was not until that moment that Zhang Zhao suddenly realized that he seemed to have been a chess piece from the very beginning, a chess piece used by Li Ji.

Before meeting Li Ji, Zhang Zhaoming had countless questions in his mind that he wanted to ask Li Ji.

But at this moment, Zhang Zhao suddenly realized that even if Li Ji really just regarded him as a chess piece, so what?

Do you blame Li Ji for disregarding the friendship between colleagues? Or does he want to maintain his fragile dignity and pride?
Or did he want to use this to comfort himself that it was Li Ji's unkindness that caused him to leak the defense map?
However, Li Ji's brief words made Zhang Zhao realize again that the master he was worshipping was Liu Bei.

Are my actions worthy of my lord's courtesy?
Is he a minister who serves his subjects?

Or was it his own fault, and was Li Ji just going along with it?

"My life can be described as You Meng's."

Zhang Zhao laughed miserably and made fun of himself.

You Meng's clothes?

Li Ji was not unfamiliar with this word recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian", and it could be condensed into two simpler words using the words used in later generations - clown.

Li Ji did not respond. He had no intention of mocking Zhang Zhao, nor did he need to say anything to comfort him.

For Li Ji, the only thing he wanted to confirm this time was Zhang Zhao's thoughts.

After Zhang Zhao laughed miserably a few times, his body looked even more hunched, and then he spoke to Li Ji.

"May I ask the Duke of Guoshi, since I have worked so hard for my lord, can you please give me some respect? Give me a cup of poisoned wine, and send my body back to my hometown for burial?"

Li Ji asked back, "Why do you think I will definitely kill you?"

"Although I don't know much about the situation outside the palace, the anti-Wu coalition has been destroyed. The Yangzhou family can no longer hinder the master's dominance of Jiangdong. With the ability of a national scholar, I will take the opportunity to vigorously suppress the Yangzhou family to stabilize the rear and wait for an opportunity to advance into the Central Plains."

Zhang Zhao answered slowly. "The Yangzhou family has been completely suppressed. In the eyes of the state scholar, I am afraid that I, an annoying political enemy, have lost my greatest use. It is meaningless to keep me."

"Besides, there are countless connections between this old man and the Yangzhou family. If I stay here, it will only give the Yangzhou family a chance to slowly revive in secret."

"For public and private reasons, for emotional and rational reasons, I have no choice but to die."

Upon hearing this, Li Ji couldn't help but chuckle.

Zhang Zhao, who was ready to die, frowned and asked, "Why is the Duke of Guo laughing? Are you mocking me for not being able to see the current situation clearly?"

"Zi Bu's analysis is correct, but not completely correct," Li Ji replied.

"I'd like to hear the details," Zhang Zhao replied.

"From the perspective of Yangzhou, Zibu deserves to die; but has Zibu never felt that Yangzhou is too narrow-minded?"

After Li Ji said this calmly, he turned to comment.

"Zi Bu's ability is not inferior to others, but his vision is always limited to a corner of a state. Isn't this a kind of sadness?"

Immediately, Li Ji turned away and walked out the door, saying.

"Yangzhou may not be able to accommodate you and me, but the Han Dynasty can accommodate us. The territory outside the Han Dynasty is even more vast..."

Before Li Ji walked out of the door, Zhang Zhao reacted as if waking up from a dream, changed his decadent demeanor, stood up suddenly, chased in the direction of Li Ji, and shouted.

"Please stay, Lord Guoshi."

Li Ji paused slightly, looked at Zhang Zhao who had caught up with him, a smile appeared on his face, and said.

"If Zibu wants to commit suicide, Ji will not stop him. But if Zibu still has some ambition, why not go to Jiaozhou to stabilize the territory and develop the potential for the Han Dynasty? How about that?"

Jiaozhou?

There were thirteen states in the Han Dynasty, and Jiaozhou was the southernmost one, with seven counties and fifty-six towns. Its area was no less than that of Yangzhou, but the population that could be included in the official household registration was only about 200 million.

The combined population of the seven counties was far less than that of today's Wu County, which shows how sparsely populated the area was.

Moreover, Jiaozhou had poor transportation, dense jungles, and was blocked by continuous mountains. In addition, the number of foreign ethnic groups such as the Southern Barbarians and the Baiyue living in the Jiaozhou area was greater than that of the Han people.

Therefore, although Jiaozhou was nominally one of the Thirteen Prefectures of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court's attitude towards Jiaozhou for hundreds of years was mainly to let it go and maintain stability, and it was really unable to develop it.

Previously, Zhu Jun was deeply aware of the changes in the court situation, so he recommended his son Zhu Fu as the governor of Jiaozhou when Emperor Ling of Han was still in power, hoping that Zhu Fu could live in peace in Jiaozhou and seek wealth and honor in his life.

However, unlike his father Zhu Jun, Zhu Fu did not practice inaction after taking office to maintain stability in Jiaozhou for the Han Dynasty, and he even tried every means to plunder the people's wealth.

For this purpose, Zhu Fu also came up with a tax law that even Li Ji found incredible, which was that the people of Jiaozhou had to pay one hu of rice as tax for every yellow croaker they caught.

It should be noted that since Jiaozhou was undeveloped, its agricultural technology was far behind that of the Central Plains, and it was also covered with dense jungles. It was normal for people to rely on hunting and fishing to make up for the lack of rice.

This rule undoubtedly dug up the roots of the people of Jiaozhou.

As a result, righteous armies rose up all over Jiaozhou, and the Jiaozhou nobles, the Baiyue people, bandits, etc. took advantage of the situation and directly broke through the government seat. Zhu Fu fled in a panic but was killed by the people on the way.

At this point, the post of governor of Jiaozhou remained vacant, and most of the counties in Jiaozhou were still controlled by the Jiaozhou families. (End of this chapter)