Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Of course, the Jiaozhou families are by no means kind and people-loving people.

As the imperial court's authority declined, the aristocratic families in Jiaozhou became more and more unscrupulous.

If Zhu Fu's head had not been hung on the city wall of Panyu, the government seat, it would have served as a certain warning for the time being. It is possible that the local aristocratic families would have exploited the local people even more severely.

Now Shi Xie (also known as Xie), the governor of Jiaozhi County, is a prominent family in Jiaozhou. He is sending his confidants to the court to build relationships, hoping to be promoted to the governor of Jiaozhou.

Coincidentally, the confidants sent by Shi Xie also took the sea route and rested at the port of Wujun. After some spying by the Jinyisi, their purpose was learned and then reported to Li Ji's desk.

For Li Ji, naturally, he would not want to see Jiaozhou being completely controlled by the local aristocratic families.

Especially since Shi Xie himself was one of the great families in Jiaozhou. Once Shi Xie was firmly seated as the governor of Jiaozhou, the influence of the Cangwu Shi family would expand rapidly in Jiaozhou, and eventually Shi Xie would completely become the local emperor of Jiaozhou.

Although due to development reasons and complex local conditions, it is impossible for Jiaozhou to provide substantial help to Liu Bei's group in its fight for world domination in the short term.

But in the long run, if we don't take the opportunity to intervene and control Jiaozhou now, it will be extremely difficult to intervene in the future.

However, Jiaozhou is vast and sparsely populated, with widespread miasma, and is also home to a number of forces including aristocratic families, southern barbarians, and the Baiyue. It would be impossible for Li Ji to completely control or pacify Jiaozhou in a short period of time, even if he went there in person.

The only way is to slowly conquer them with virtue, pressure them with intimidation, and favor them, and then slowly develop the Jiaozhou area.

According to Li Ji's estimation, even if the route and strategy were correct, it might take more than ten years, or even a whole generation, for the people of Jiaozhou, the Southern Barbarians, the Baiyue and other forces to slowly merge into one and recognize their identity as Han people.

It was naturally impossible for Li Ji to go to Jiaozhou and stay there for more than ten years.

Moreover, the person who goes to Jiaozhou to preside over the overall situation needs to have strong political and governance skills, and have sufficient understanding of various trivial matters at the grassroots level, so as to balance the forces of all parties and gradually bring them together.

In Li Ji's eyes, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, who have been practicing the art of "checks and balances" throughout their lives, are the best candidates.

However, Zhang Zhao naturally could not understand why Li Ji, who was already in a remote corner, was actually considering a long-term plan to unify the country more than ten years later and to make Jiaozhou completely monarchized and developed to a certain extent.

Zhang Zhao spoke with a slightly unhappy expression.

"If the Marquis wanted to exile me to Lingnan, there would be no need to go through so much trouble."

What to develop Jiaozhou?
To the scholars of that era, this was no different from being exiled to Lingnan.

"narrow!"

Upon hearing this, Li Ji could not help but comment with two words coldly.

"you?!"

Li Ji ignored Zhang Zhao's reaction and spoke. "Military generals take pride in expanding territory, so shouldn't civil officials take pride in governing, stabilizing, and developing a region?"

"Since the pre-Qin dynasty sent Tu Sui to lead 50 Qin troops to attack Lingnan in five directions, and then Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty destroyed the Nanyue Kingdom and established the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration, hundreds of years have passed. Jiaozhou has repeatedly rebelled and has not achieved long-term peace. Isn't this a shame for the Han Dynasty's civil officials?"

(PS: I found a bug in the article when I checked the data today. In history, it was called Jiaozhi Prefecture before 207 AD instead of Jiaozhou. It was only during the reign of Emperor Xian of Han that the name "Jiaozhou" was changed.)
Zhang Zhao opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to refute.

Li Ji paused for a moment and then asked, "Zi Bu, how do you think your talent compares to mine?"

Zhang Zhao's eyes twitched slightly and he bowed.

"Like a firefly compared to the brightness of the moon, it is far inferior."

The person who knows a person best is often his enemy.

The same is true for Zhang Zhao. Because Zhang Zhao always pretended that Li Ji was his political enemy, he would study all the policies that Li Ji implemented in Wujun one by one afterwards.

It seems that during the few years when Zhang Zhao assisted Liu Bei in governing Wu County, Wu County had undergone earth-shaking changes, making Wu County perhaps the second most prosperous place in the Han Dynasty after Luoyang.

But Zhang Zhao was very clear that what he was doing was more like following the rules of others.

If Li Ji was Xiao He, he would be Cao Shen.

Before Li Ji left to lead his troops overseas, he clearly formulated the development strategies for Wujun, both large and small. Zhang Zhao simply implemented everything according to Li Ji's instructions.

But it was precisely because Zhang Zhao watched Wujun prosper visibly under this trajectory that he realized more and more clearly that Li Ji's talent was far superior to his own.

His talents far surpass mine, his age is much younger than mine, and his relationship with the lord is even better than mine.

It was precisely because of this that Zhang Zhao became more and more panicked and unwilling, knowing that as long as Li Ji was still alive, he would never be able to truly come to the fore, so he even made stupid moves.

Moreover, this is just a gap in ability in government affairs. In terms of strategy, which Zhang Zhao is not good at, the two sides are not comparable at all.

In response to Zhang Zhao's answer, Li Ji continued.

"Since Zi Bu also admits that Ji is better than you, does Zi Bu think that if he continues to stay in Yangzhou, he will have a chance to govern a region?"

"But in contrast, Jiaozhou is where Zibu really showed his talent for governance."

"Now Jiaozhou and the Han Dynasty are at odds with each other, and the Nanman and Baiyue tribes have not yet submitted to the king. If Zibu can properly govern Jiaozhou, Jiaozhou will be completely loyal to the Han Dynasty and show kindness to the Nanman and Baiyue tribes."

"Perhaps thousands of years later, Li Ji's name has long been buried in the torrent of history, but the descendants of all ethnic groups in Jiaozhou will certainly still remember Zhang Zhao's name and be grateful to him."

After a pause, Li Ji looked directly at Zhang Zhao and asked, "Zi Bu, do you think...?"

At this moment, Zhang Zhao's heart was truly moved by what Li Ji said.

Zhang Zhao...is a vulgar person!
What Zhang Zhao pursued was power, fame, status and so on. That was why he subconsciously regarded Li Ji as an imaginary enemy and competed with Li Ji.

As long as Zhang Zhao goes to Jiaozhou and governs Jiaozhou properly, the name of Li Ji will be feared throughout the Han Dynasty.

But for the people of Jiaozhou, Zhang Zhao will always be the most respected person.

Moreover, allowing the southern barbarians and Baiyue peoples of Jiaozhou to integrate into Jiaozhou and become part of the Han Dynasty was also something that would go down in history.

Even thousands of years later, Zhang Zhao's name may still be passed down on the land of Jiaozhou.

This is of great appeal to a very traditional layman like Zhang Zhao.

But before that, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but stare at Li Ji and asked again, "Is this really not just a simple exile to Lingnan?"

Li Ji couldn't help but burst out laughing, then he faced north, pointed in the direction of the Yangtze River, and spoke loudly.

"I swear to the Yangtze River today that what I said to Zhang Zibu was out of the public interest. I have absolutely no intention of exiling Zhang Zibu to Lingnan. In the future, I will work together with Zibu to assist the lord and make Jiaozhou a royal province and enjoy long-term peace and stability as soon as possible."

"If there is even a trace of falsehood in what I, Li Ji, have said above, what would it matter even if thousands of arrows pierce my heart?"

Seeing Li Ji willing to swear by the Yangtze River to reassure himself, Zhang Zhao was shocked and moved. (End of this chapter)