Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The level of trust between them made Zhang Zhao suspect that even if Liu Bei died suddenly of an acute illness, he might entrust all military and political power to Li Ji before his death.

And Li Ji...

"Perhaps he will also assist the young master all the way, and will not harbor the slightest rebellious thoughts."

Zhang Zhao murmured to himself, feeling inexplicably relieved.

Perhaps, a place like Jiaozhou, where Han people, southern barbarians and Baiyue people live together, is the place where the "checks and balances" can truly play a role.

Moreover, the lord and the state marquis both have such broad minds, so Zhang Zhao does not have to worry about being exiled even if he goes to Jiaozhou.

"Zi Gang, it seems that you and I will be going to Jiaozhou soon to pacify the people of the Han Dynasty and bring Jiaozhou back to the Han Dynasty as soon as possible..."

"Go together, go together!"

That night, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, who were completely relieved, both got drunk.

……

As for the arrangements for Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, Li Ji also met with Liu Bei in person to report.

It’s been a busy period these days!

Not only the civil officials among the provincial governors were busy, but also the generals under Liu Bei and even Liu Bei himself were extremely busy.

When Yangzhou was first established, since many systems were to be reformed, it was inevitable that land would be checked and household registration would be re-established within Yangzhou.

The Eastern Han Dynasty court was extremely corrupt, and local aristocratic families were growing stronger and stronger, which meant that there were inevitably a large number of unregistered and hidden households in various places, and the land information registered by the government also had considerable deviations.

In addition, it is not just the former Wu County that has a serious problem of empty payroll, but the other prefectures and counties in Yangzhou are also like this.

Moreover, after experiencing the Wujun Defense War, the military soldiers may not have demonstrated strong combat capabilities, but their strong mobilization capabilities alone are enough to crush the current county military system.

What's more, soldiers under the military household system can be self-sufficient on weekdays.

Apart from the various welfare benefits promised to the military households by the government, tens of thousands of military households do not need to consume a single grain of rice from the granary on a daily basis.

This is undoubtedly a huge benefit for Yangzhou, a sparsely populated city. It allows military households to cultivate fertile farmland and saves a lot of military rations that are usually needed to feed the soldiers.

Just from this point alone, there was no need for Li Ji to speak, and everyone, including Liu Bei, realized the advanced nature of the military household system. Many generals were almost ready to raise their hands and legs in favor of implementing the military household system throughout Yangzhou.

After Li Ji proposed the "grand military performance", Liu Bei himself was busy preparing the venue and entertaining the princes and aristocratic families from all parties who were about to come to Wujun.

Although Liu Bei was not particularly fond of aristocratic families, he initially carried out various reforms in Yangzhou. How could he achieve temporary stability in Yangzhou and reduce opposition from the outside world? Showing force was undoubtedly an excellent way.

If we look at this matter from a broader perspective, it is like a small African country clamoring to change certain international rules, which will only bring about the iron fist of sanctions, but a certain big brother from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council thinks the three-nautical-mile rule is too narrow and simply modifies it on his own, and other countries dare not say a word.

The same is true for Yangzhou.

Nowadays, Yangzhou is still seen as a sparsely populated, remote and backward city in the eyes of the world. If it reforms itself, it may be criticized by the world.

But if Yangzhou could show that it was strong and prosperous enough first, then no matter what reforms were made, there would always be great scholars who would debate on Yangzhou's behalf, and it might even cause many knowledgeable people to start reflecting on themselves.

Moreover, Li Ji had even thought of a slogan for Liu Bei for this "grand military display", which was "Make the Han Dynasty great again", and thus allow Liu Bei to further consolidate his reputation of doing everything for the Han Dynasty.

When good luck comes, heaven and earth will help you; when bad luck comes, even the hero cannot be free.

Li Ji wanted to push the "fortune" to Liu Bei's side, so that Liu Bei could obtain as much of the Han Dynasty's heritage as possible, and then build the Han Dynasty for the third time on this basis.

Therefore, when Li Ji saw Liu Bei who was very busy, Liu Bei's face also showed a bit more tiredness.

After listening to Li Ji's arrangements for Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, Liu Bei showed a look of admiration on his face.

Being in Yangzhou, to the south of Kuaiji County is Jiaozhou, so Liu Bei was naturally familiar with the situation in Jiaozhou.

However, that piece of land was of no benefit to the struggle for world hegemony, and even investing too much energy in Jiaozhou at the moment would not be worth the loss in the short term. However, Jiaozhou also belonged to the territory of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bei was also worried about how to make the people of Jiaozhou return to the Han Dynasty as soon as possible.

However, Li Ji's arrangement was actually intended to help Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong secure positions above the rank of county governor in Jiaozhou, and then have Yangzhou provide assistance from afar.

This may be the most appropriate strategy at the moment. It does not require the use of troops in Jiaozhou, and it can balance the various parties in Jiaozhou in a relatively peaceful way.

Use virtue, authority and grace together and proceed step by step.

Perhaps this will take a very long time, but for the Han Dynasty which has entered a chaotic era, it is undoubtedly the best choice.

"Zhang Zibu and Zhang Zigang are both talented, but unfortunately they are more paranoid and narrow-minded than Yuan Tan. Zikun's arrangement is quite appropriate."

Liu Bei spoke up to express his agreement, which meant that the matter would be decided in this way.

Moreover, in Liu Bei's heart, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong's benchmark was never Li Ji, but Gu Yong, who came from a noble family in Jiangdong.

Soon after, Li Ji explained to Liu Bei that they should start to develop Jiaozhou gradually, which would also bring many benefits to Yangzhou.

Jiaozhou is located south of Yangzhou, and after six or seven years of development, Wujun's maritime transportation has entered a fairly complete stage.

Therefore, after Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong gained a firm foothold in Jiaozhou and completed the initial development using various advanced technologies.

It is not that Yangzhou will simply provide blood transfusions to Jiaozhou, but that a new maritime trade route will be opened up to allow Yangzhou and Jiaozhou to exchange what they have. It is even possible that Jiaozhou will gradually evolve into a reserve granary for Yangzhou.

After all, it is true that the registered population of Jiaozhou is about two million, but if the Nanman and Baiyue can be slowly lured into the Han Dynasty, then it may not be impossible for the actual population of Jiaozhou to more than double.

Liu Bei couldn't help but nod his head repeatedly after hearing this clear and long-term description of the plan, and his eyes couldn't help but stare at Li Ji's chest from time to time.

This made Li Ji feel a little strange. After confirming several times that there was nothing wrong with his chest, he couldn't help but ask.

"My Lord, is there anything wrong with me?"

"I'm just curious about how much strategy Zikun has hidden in his mind." Liu Bei replied.

Li Ji burst out laughing. "Hahaha, you can't see it with the naked eye."

"Too."

Liu Bei stroked his beard and said, "But there is no rush. There is still a long time to come. I will see you sooner or later."

After a pause, Liu Bei remembered something and said.

"Zikun, those Yangzhou noble families have been making a fuss in the city recently. Some of them have learned of Bei's whereabouts from somewhere, and even came to me for help."

"Let them make trouble for a while."

After Li Ji answered this, he frowned slightly and spoke.

"On the contrary, the whereabouts of the lord have been leaked. It seems that the Yangzhou family is really deep-rooted. They can even confirm the whereabouts of the lord with such connections. If some of the families have evil intentions to assassinate the lord, wouldn't it be bad?"

"This matter may require a detailed investigation. My Lord, please give me a few days. I promise that I will not allow any family to continue to harass you."

"Ah this..."

Liu Bei's original intention was just to share this small matter casually and to remind Li Ji not to let the Yangzhou family making trouble in Wu County interfere with the lives of the people.

However, I didn't expect that this good intention might harm some noble families.

However, Liu Bei actually quite enjoyed Li Ji's concern for his safety, and secretly investigating the whereabouts of those in power was a taboo, so Liu Bei had no intention of speaking for those aristocratic families.

It is better to let Zikun handle the troublesome existence of the noble family. (End of this chapter)