Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"Of course it is true."

Li Ji responded, saying, "As early as the third year of Zhongping, my lord had already found the location of Yizhou, and sent the Marquis of Han Shouting to lead his troops to station there and investigate the local situation..."

After a pause, Li Ji looked at Gu Yong and said.

"Yuan Tan should be quite clear about this."

In an instant, Gu Yong, who had been sitting silently among the representatives of the aristocratic families, suddenly became the focus of attention.

"At that time, Yuan Tan was going to Kuaiji County to take up the post of County Magistrate. Later, when Yuan Tan learned that Han Shou Ting Hou was going to open up Yizhou, he resigned from the prefect of Kuaiji County and followed Han Shou Ting Hou to Yizhou for several years."

"So even I learned about the situation in Yizhou from Yuan Tan's report."

As soon as these words were spoken, some people who already had complicated thoughts immediately understood why Gu Yong had stood on Liu Bei's side from beginning to end.

Those eyes that were full of suspicion and inquiry when they looked at Gu Yong were as if they saw through everything, thinking that Gu Yong knew about the existence of Yizhou in advance and also knew about Li Ji's plan in advance.

A fertile land comparable in size to Wu County, and very close to Yangzhou.

If it were really divided up and given to the aristocratic families for self-governance, this would undoubtedly be a temptation that the aristocratic families would find difficult to resist.

Gu Yong opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but he didn't know how to start.

Yizhou, Gu Yong really knows it very well!

However, Gu Yongke had no idea that Li Ji was actually planning to hand over Yizhou to the aristocratic families for self-governance.

So when Gu Yong learned the news, he was a little confused, but while he was confused, Gu Yong almost subconsciously appeared in his mind the map of Yizhou, and was ready to select an excellent area for the Gu family.

However, seeing Gu Yong staring blankly at the gazes, some impatient representatives of the aristocratic families finally pushed Gu Yong and asked urgently.

"Brother Yuan Tan, Brother Yuan Tan, please tell me what Yizhou is like. Is it really as fertile and pleasant as the Duke of Guoshi said?"

Gu Yong came back to his senses and nodded subconsciously.

This... is indeed true!
Although Izuku is now covered with forests, the land is indeed quite fertile, and plains account for more than one-third of it, so its potential is enormous.

However, the local population of Yizhou is limited. Even though Gu Yong had previously gone to Yizhou with the army to station there, he had only opened up a garrison port and established connections with many gathering points of local residents in Yizhou.

As for wanting to truly develop Yizhou, in Gu Yong's opinion, the lack of population alone is an insurmountable difficulty...

and many more!

Suddenly, Gu Yong's pupils shrank slightly.

With his understanding of Li Ji, Gu Yong vaguely understood the calculation behind this at this moment.

Food needs to grow from the ground, and the population needs to multiply and grow from generation to generation. These things do not appear out of thin air.

Gu Yong had not paid much attention to Yizhou before because of its limited population.

Due to the limitation of his vision, Gu Yong only thought that the purpose of stationing troops in Yizhou was just to obtain some resources that Wujun lacked.

The desire to truly develop Izu into a fertile land is made simply a pipe dream due to the insufficient population.

However, what if Izu was assigned to the aristocratic families in the name of "self-government"?
No matter how much privilege a noble family enjoys within the Han territory, there is a limit to their privileges. But if they monopolize a piece of land in Yizhou, what difference is there between that and being a king?
Moreover, the aristocratic families have considerable influence in the local area, and they have hidden countless undocumented households to cultivate the land for them.

Therefore, the aristocratic families who go to Yizhou also face the problem of insufficient population. What will they choose?

There is no doubt that they will definitely choose to take as much of the population as possible to Izu...

As long as Li Ji intervened or made deals a little in the process, there were plenty of ways to make the aristocratic families hand over the land of Yangzhou. In addition, some of the people who were firmly dependent on the aristocratic families were also transferred to Yizhou.

When he thought of this, Gu Yong couldn't help but tremble all over, as if a big chess game was laid out in front of him.

Li Ji picked up a piece and made a move in Yangzhou, using both kindness and force to prepare to transfer all the Yangzhou families to Yizhou.

From the perspective of the Yangzhou families, this was undoubtedly a brand new path, allowing the families to break through past restrictions and gain countless lands, power, and opportunities to be remembered for generations.

But from Li Ji's perspective, he relied on all the background and influence of the family.

He allowed them to take the population under his rule, who did not pay taxes and might cause instability, to Yizhou. While developing Yizhou, Liu Bei also achieved complete control over the entire Yangzhou area.

Li Ji saw all of Gu Yong's reactions.

With Gu Yong's ability, even if he cannot guess the whole picture at this moment, he will definitely be able to infer some of the truth.

Yizhou was actually like a chicken rib to Liu Bei. Instead of spending a lot of energy and resources on developing Yizhou, it would be better to put those energy and resources on Yangzhou.

If Yizhou really wants to develop a livable and prosperous place, it will take at least fifty years, if not a hundred years.

But if Yizhou is handed over to the aristocratic families to develop on their own, it is possible that a situation of "hundreds of schools of thought" will emerge in Yizhou, and Li Ji will not have to worry about it at all.

For their own interests, the aristocratic families will devote all their efforts to the development of Yizhou.

And in Li Ji's view, Yizhou... is just a beginning, a hook for the initial transformation of the family.

The Han people's desire for fertile land is insatiable, and as a gathering of Han elites, the aristocratic families' desire for fertile land is endless.

When Liu Bei's power expanded outward from Yangzhou, and led other noble families overseas in a similar way, the territory of Yizhou might not be enough for the noble families to share the profits.

At that time, continuing to expand from Izu to more distant fertile lands will be an inevitable trend of human nature.

The endless pursuit of fertile land made the aristocratic families like hungry wolves in the Han Dynasty, constantly squeezing the living space of the lower-class people.

But outside the Han Dynasty, the endless pursuit of fertile land is undoubtedly an excellent quality, which prompts the aristocratic families to expand outward.

Perhaps, then it will be a prosperous era where "All under heaven belongs to the king, and all within the four seas are the king's subjects."

Wherever there is fertile land, there will be Han people, Chinese language, and Chinese characters.

That's all.

Thinking of this, Li Ji couldn't help but smile knowingly, nodded at Gu Yong, and then announced.

"Ji also knows that this matter is very relevant and cannot be decided in a short time, so you can ask Yuan Tan for the many details related to Yizhou."

"Moreover, in twenty days, Wujun will have a fleet heading to Yizhou to transport supplies. You can go with them and make a decision after seeing it with your own eyes." (End of this chapter)