Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 58 True escape from death

For example, in the original trajectory of Soochow, the four most influential Jiangdong surnames: Zhu, Zhang, and Gulu were basically just small aristocratic families during this period, and their influence could not extend beyond a county.

Relatively speaking, the Jingzhou aristocratic families are much more prominent. They have married and formed alliances with each other. They are intertwined and can influence the whole body. They have long since turned most of Jingzhou into the shape of aristocratic families.

Among them, the Cai and Kuai families in Jingzhou can be regarded as truly famous families. Although they are not ranked among the entire Han Dynasty, their influence in Jingzhou reaches all aspects.

After a pause, Li Ji continued to introduce Liu Bei.

"South of the Yangtze River, Jing and Yang divide the east and west. Jingzhou is located on the west side of the Yangtze River, connected to Shu, and to the north Sili of Yuzhou; Yangzhou is located on the east side of the Yangtze River, facing the sea to the east and Xuzhou to the north."

Liu Bei seemed to have remembered something, raised his doubts and said.

"Zikun, I heard that the two states of Jing and Yang are vast and sparsely populated, with many dense forests and swamps. The climate is sultry and hot, and there are many poisonous insects and ferocious beasts. There are also many barbarians hiding in the mountains and dense forests to cause trouble."

Li Ji nodded and did not deny this statement, and this was also the mainstream view of this era.

"Brother Xuande, the reason for the sparse population is only due to the vastness of the land. It should be noted that whether it is Jingzhou or Yangzhou, the vastness of one state is enough to compare with the four states of Qingxu, Yanyu, and this is not a major advantage, Xuande Brother, do you already understand?"

Facing Li Ji's question, Liu Bei frowned, feeling like he didn't understand, but he couldn't grasp the real key point.

When Li Ji saw this, he was not anxious. Instead, he found some tea in the room and brewed it briefly, then poured a cup for himself and Liu Bei.

'Very bitter! '

Li Ji cried so much that he frowned, but he could only drink.

After all, compared to the brewed bitter tea, Li Ji could not accept the most mainstream tea drinks of this era that add salt and spices to the tea.

Immediately, Li Ji opened the window and glanced at the small yard outside the window.

This is already inside Julu City, and this is also the temporary residence assigned to Liu Bei by Lu Zhi.

At this moment, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Xiahou Bo had left, and only Zhang Fei was still waiting for Liu Bei in the yard.

Immediately, Li Ji waved his hand towards Zhang Fei and shouted.

"Yide."

Seeing this, Zhang Fei walked over. First, he glanced into the room through the window in a casual and casual manner to see what Liu Bei was doing, and then handed him over.

"Mr. Zikun, what do you need?"

Li Ji said with a smile. "Yide, please stay outside the courtyard gate and don't let anyone get close without Brother Xuande's permission."

Hearing this, Zhang Fei's eyes widened and his breathing became noticeably faster.

"If there is any noise in the house, there is no need for Yide to be surprised. Ji is planning to discuss some important matters with Brother Xuande." Li Ji continued.

Zhang Fei asked. "Since we are just discussing matters, why don't Mr. Zikun bring me along?"

"This is too early for Yide. There will be opportunities in the future."

Li Ji waved his hand and then closed the window, leaving Zhang Fei in the yard with a messy heart.

Afterwards, Zhang Fei's expression changed slightly, and then he walked towards the entrance of the courtyard with some annoyance, and ordered the surrounding soldiers acting as personal guards to maintain martial law around him.

Liu Bei, who had witnessed the whole process, couldn't help but asked with some doubts. "Zikun, what are you doing?"

"Beware, walls have ears."

Li Ji said with a smile, then sat down in front of Liu Bei and asked. "Brother Xuande, do you understand what Ji Shi just asked?"

"Please ask Zikun for advice." Liu Bei cupped his hands and said seriously.

Li Ji pondered for a moment and decided to take this opportunity to truly express his position and asked. "Brother Xuande, have you ever thought about where the Yellow Turban Rebellion originated?"

"Of course it's the evil way that spreads its horns to confuse the people and is very ambitious." Liu Bei replied blurtly.

Li Ji smiled and said.

"Brother Xuande, if you think about it this way, then I would like to ask, where does Zhang Jue have such ability and charm that he can instigate millions of Yellow Turbans to turmoil the eight states? Even the sages and saints are nothing more than this. Is it possible that Zhang Jiao is still as capable as the sages? Above a saint?"

"How limited is the charm of one person? Rebellion and rebellion are the crime of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan. Even if Zhang Jiao can seduce more than 30 people every day to abandon everything and rebel for him, it will only reach 10,000 people in a year, and it will take a hundred years to reach a million people. .”

This made Liu Bei suddenly speechless. He already understood that his answer was indeed full of mistakes, so he turned to speak.

"That is the teaching of Taiping Dao written by Zhang Jiao. It is extremely confusing. Therefore, Zhang Jiao taught his disciples and his disciples deceived the world, and so on."

"Has Brother Xuande read the teachings of Taiping Dao?" Li Ji asked again.

Liu Bei thought for a while and replied without hiding anything. "When I assisted Master Lu in burning things related to Taiping Road in the city, I briefly read through them."

"Brother Xuande, do you believe in Taiping Taoism?" Li Ji asked.

"Of course I don't believe those monstrous words that confuse the public." Liu Bei replied without hesitation.

"Since Brother Xuande knows this, why don't you understand that the cause of the chaos caused by the millions of Yellow Turban followers is not the seeds produced by the demon Dao Zhangjiao, but the existence of millions of people who can make the seeds take root and germinate."

Speaking of this, Li Ji couldn't help but let out a long sigh. "As long as there is soil, even if there is no seed produced by Zhang Jiao, there will still be such a seed produced by Zhao Jiao, Qian Jiao and Sun Jiao, and then it will quickly take root in the hearts of millions of people."

These words that pointed directly to the essence made Liu Bei look shocked and his eyes were a little dull.

"Then why are there so many people..."

As he spoke, Liu Bei's voice weakened.

Both came from a lower class background, and Liu Bei understood almost instantly why millions of people would believe in Huang Tian, ​​and even go so far as to rebel.

Probably, it's because I can't live anymore and there is no hope.

The reason for all this, Liu Bei didn't want to admit but gradually came to his own answer in his heart, was nothing more than bureaucratic corruption, political darkness, exorbitant taxes...

This made Liu Bei, who was still essentially just a passionate young man, suddenly feel like his ideals were broken.

After a while, Liu Bei spoke slowly and somewhat absentmindedly. "Zikun, could it be that the fault of the Yellow Turban Rebellion lies not with those below, but with those above?"

This statement is undoubtedly disrespectful. If this statement were spread, the imperial court would be able to jail Liu Bei for his crime.

It is precisely for this reason that Li Ji asked Zhang Fei to be on guard outside the courtyard in advance and did not allow anyone to enter the small courtyard, lest the walls have ears.

Immediately, Li Ji narrowed his eyes and replied.

"A fool only knows the fault of Zhang Jiao; a wise person will investigate the fault in the court, the officials, and the aristocratic families; but I think it is just because the land is not wide enough and the people are not sparse enough."

Not enough land?

Not enough people?

Liu Bei looked at Li Ji in surprise, but for a moment it was difficult to connect this sentence with the root cause of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

It’s just that Li Ji knew very well that all social problems in the feudal period could be regarded as the root of land conflicts.

Perhaps, the decline of the Chinese feudal dynasty can be analyzed from the perspective of politics, economy, climate, etc., but after all, it will return to its essence before it can be reborn.

That is: the land is vast and the people are sparse.

When the land is fixed, the more the population increases, the more intense the conflicts caused by the land will be.

As far as Li Ji knows, before the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the population of the Eastern Han Dynasty was close to 6000 million, not counting hidden households, black households, etc., but by the end of the Three Kingdoms period, there were only about million left.

In less than a hundred years, the population dropped by more than 80% due to war, plague, famine and other factors.

This is no longer just killing one out of ten, but living one out of ten, and the remaining nine people are dead.

Really a narrow escape from death!
  With almost no people left, there will naturally be no land conflicts. Population resources are more important than land resources. Everyone is tired of war, which will naturally promote the arrival of peace.

Of course, Li Ji had no way of telling Liu Bei these prophetic data.

"Land annexation is becoming more and more serious. The poor people have no place to stand, and naturally they have no way to survive. Isn't this because the land is not wide enough and the people are not sparse enough?" Li Ji said in a serious tone.

At this point, Liu Bei finally gradually understood why Li Jishi said that "vast land and sparsely populated" was the advantage.

"Zikun is just a land of Jing and Yang. Is it really suitable for farming and cultivating fertile land?" Liu Bei couldn't help but ask.

"Pfft~"

Hearing this, Li Ji couldn't hold it back for a moment, but chuckled lightly.

But this is not to blame Liu Bei, this is completely shackles of the vision of the times.

The southern land is swelteringly hot, densely forested with miasma, and swampy with mosquitoes. In the eyes of almost everyone in this era, its value is naturally far lower than that of the Central Plains.

However, Li Ji knew very well that even during the feudal dynasty, as long as the south was completely developed, even without potatoes and other grains, the Ming Dynasty could feed a population of as many as 200 million.

The main difference is just the degree of development in the South. The gap in the number of people it can support is nearly four times.

Therefore, Li Ji always felt that instead of consuming the population through war and restoring the balance between land and population, it would be better to draw as many people as possible to open up wasteland and farm.

Why focus on the Central Plains region?

As long as the south of the Yangtze River is developed as much as possible, it is not difficult to feed the Han Dynasty even if it has a population of 60 million.

"Actually, there is one thing that Ji has been hiding from Brother Xuande." Li Ji said.

"What's the matter?" Liu Bei asked quickly.

Li Ji replied. "Actually, Ji is just a first glimpse into the art of strategy. What he is really good at and likes is 'farming'."

"Ah?" Liu Bei was stunned.

Naturally, Liu Bei did not really think that what Li Ji meant by "farming" meant going to work in the fields himself. Instead, he knew that what he meant was cultivating fertile land to protect money and food, and other internal affairs matters.

Previously, in Liu Bei's eyes, Li Ji's ability to make plans was not far behind Zhang Liang and Fan Zeng, and he was truly a genius.

However, now Li Ji actually claims that his "farming" ability far exceeds his strategy?
  (End of this chapter)