Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

After Liu Jinian turned fifteen, he did not join the Jinyi Division, as his personality was not suitable for being a spy to gather information.

Therefore, Liu Ji was finally arranged to lead a team of about twenty people and drive a small ship to go overseas to look for rice seeds.

Before leaving, Liu Ji was still a young man in his prime. More than three years later, Liu Ji, with a frosted face, looks even older than Liu Bei.

At this moment, Liu Bei also spoke with eyes full of heartache.

"It's hard for you. You have made great contributions to the Han Dynasty and the people."

Although there were many children in Taoyuan, it was impossible for Liu Bei to treat every child as his own, but he clearly remembered the characteristics and appearance of each child, and even had some understanding of each child's general personality.

Liu Ji has gone through more than three years, overcoming many difficulties and hardships...

What he did was not for the Han Dynasty or the people, but to repay Liu Bei and Li Ji for saving his life and filling his stomach, and to gain their recognition.

Therefore, Liu Ji, a man who was lost on the sea by a storm and had almost no water and food for three days and three nights, did not waver in his will.

At this moment, under Liu Bei's affirmative praise, tears could not stop flowing out.

However, after more than three years of experience at sea, Liu Ji's character can be said to be tough. He regained his composure in just a moment, but subconsciously a happy smile still appeared on his face.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Ji briefly described the process of going overseas to find rice seeds.

The twenty people led by Liu Ji would be no different from an ant, let alone if they were placed in the vast ocean. Even if they were placed on the long coastline extending southward from central Jiaozhou, they would be no different from an ant.

The process of finding rice seeds is purely a process of constantly taking chances.

In addition to recording the nautical charts along the way, they would dock every once in a while and go deep into an area of ​​about thirty miles to look for the presence of rice seeds.

Therefore, teams like Liu Ji who go overseas need to face not only the dangers on the sea, but also the various dangers hidden in strange and unknown lands.

Liu Ji almost glossed over the hardships encountered in the early stages, and only gave a glimpse of it from the fact that fifteen of the twenty people he led died.

Even the crew members who subsequently maintained the normal navigation of the ship were young and strong people recruited by Liu Ji during the voyage.

Liu Ji was determined to succeed or die, and he persevered all the way south along the coastline, searching for various rice seeds, hoping to find a high-yield variety that met Li Ji's description.

It was not until Liu Ji arrived at a country called "Linyi" that he discovered that their rice seeds could survive even if planted randomly in some barren wasteland without the intensive cultivation like that of the Han people, and the rice yield was far higher than that of the Han people.

At this moment, Liu Ji realized that they had found it. Then Liu Ji secretly harvested the rice that was not yet ripe overnight, filled the cabin of the small ship as much as possible, and rushed back like crazy.

After hearing this, Li Ji was completely certain that what Liu Ji brought back was what later generations called Champa rice.

When Liu Bei heard that Liu Ji brought back a whole boatload of rice, he was also excited and asked, "How much is it, how much is it?"

"Please forgive me, my lord. Due to the limited space in the cabin, the amount of rice I brought back may be less than 100 dan," Liu Ji replied.

"Hundred stones?"

Liu Bei pondered for a moment and murmured.

"It's almost done, almost done. If we cultivate these rice grains well, perhaps a considerable portion of them can survive and be used as food seeds. After another year or two of cultivation, we may be able to gradually promote it."

As he spoke, Liu Bei couldn't hide the disappointment in his tone.

The rice grains that Liu Ji brought back were not yet mature, so the possibility of their survival was greatly reduced. It was a blessing from heaven that only one stone out of a hundred stones of rice grains could survive.

Therefore, this was like pouring a bucket of cold water on Liu Bei's heart, making him feel like he was about to enter the bridal chamber, but was being dragged out to weave a few more pairs of straw sandals.

Li Ji, who had been listening, suddenly spoke at this moment.

“Is there any record on the nautical chart?”

"Here, Mr. Zikun."

Liu Ji answered quickly while taking out several pieces of cloth from his arms.

Li Ji took all the cloths, and then, on the nearby stone table, he pieced the five pieces of cloth together according to Liu Ji's instructions.

The location of Linyi Kingdom also appeared in front of Li Ji, which was roughly located in the southern part of the Monkey Kingdom in later generations. It was indeed difficult for Liu Ji to find his way from the Yangtze River Estuary to the southern part of the Monkey Kingdom without any sea charts.

However, although the nautical chart recorded by Liu Ji was not detailed, it was undoubtedly sufficient to provide guidance.

Li Ji stroked his chin and muttered, "It's a bit far, but if the round trip speed is fast enough, it will be in time for next year's spring plowing. It won't be delayed."

"what?"

Liu Bei still hadn't reacted yet.

Li Ji spoke with a smile on his face.

"My Lord, the rice that Liu Ji brought back is not yet mature. It is undoubtedly too much of a stretch to use it as rice seeds for cultivation, and the quantity is far from enough to support promotion in Yangzhou."

"But, is there still a shortage of this kind of rice in Linyi?"

Suddenly, Liu Bei's eyes lit up, and he vaguely guessed what Li Ji meant.

"Wu County is indeed not close to Linyi State. If we were to march over the ground, it might take more than a year to reach there."

"But if we march by sea, and have a sea map to guide us, it will take no more than two months to reach Linyi."

"By then, the Linyi Kingdom will have just harvested its rice, which will be just right for our Han people to use."

At this moment, Liu Bei couldn't help but slap his thigh and praised loudly.

"What Zikun said is brilliant!"

Although Wujun already had quite advanced sea-faring technology, Liu Bei's thinking had obviously not completely changed and his thoughts were still relatively benevolent and conservative.

The Han Dynasty didn't have it, so Liu Bei subconsciously thought about how to cultivate it slowly on his own.

But what Li Ji was thinking was that we are the mighty and powerful Han, and all the land under heaven belongs to the king. Wherever the ships arrive is the territory of the Han Dynasty.

Since we know that the required rice seeds are in Linyi, we can just send people to get them after confirming the location. Why bother to go through the trouble of cultivating the seeds again bit by bit?

Liu Bei spoke hastily. "I will ask Zi Zhong to quickly organize a caravan and go to Linyi to purchase a large amount of rice seeds."

"My lord, don't be anxious."

Li Ji shook his head. At this moment, information related to Linyi Kingdom appeared in his mind, and he answered.

"Linyi was originally under the jurisdiction of Xianglin County, Rinan Prefecture. In the second year of Emperor Shundi's Yonghe reign (137 AD), a Gongcao named Qu Lian rebelled, attacked the county government, killed the county magistrate, and proclaimed himself the 'King of Linyi' and established the Linyi Kingdom."

"What? This happened?!"

Liu Bei stared with his eyes wide open, he really knew nothing about this matter.

After all, for the Han Dynasty, Jiaozhou was left alone and was completely ignored. The rebellion of a mere county Gongcao was no less than an ant biting a toenail.

At that time, the government was in chaos and Emperor Shun was in the midst of a fierce struggle to take back power from the eunuchs and relatives of the emperor's wife. It is possible that this matter was not even brought to the attention of Emperor Shun, let alone attracted the attention of the court.

Even if the imperial court took it seriously, given the distance between Linyi and the capital, it was impossible for the imperial court to directly send troops to march two years to attack. At most, it could only order the officials of Jiaozhou to quell the rebellion on their own.

But if the local officials in Jiaozhou had done something, a small Gongcao would not have been able to rebel and declare himself king.

Out of reach...

This is undoubtedly the case, and it was also because of this that the Linyi Kingdom successfully became independent and seemed to have formed a considerable country south of Jiaozhou.

"That's right. Linyi has been part of the Han territory since ancient times. It's just that a small thief stole and established himself. How can such a country be qualified to trade with the Han?"

Li Ji expressed his opinion in a deep voice.

Hearing this, Liu Bei rubbed his belt with his fingers and spoke slowly.

"Zikun, if that's the case, why don't we urgently summon Gan Ning, Jiang Qin, and Xu Sheng to discuss this matter." (End of this chapter)