Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

The next day.

After Li Ji got up, he felt a hangover headache. He drank some sobering soup that Zhao Ji had prepared earlier, and only then did he feel a little better.

He had such a pleasant conversation with Liu Bei and Guan Yu that he got drunk without realizing it.

Soon, Li Ji got up and walked around the mansion to sober up, and by the way, he looked at Li Xiang who was sleeping soundly on the couch.

Don’t ask why you have to sleep on your stomach. The reason is to reflect on your mistakes facing the wall.

Afterwards, Li Ji took a bath and changed his clothes before leaving the mansion to go to the governor's mansion to handle official business.

Although everyone arrived in Shouchun yesterday, Liu Bei was not familiar with the officials, generals, and aristocratic families of Jingzhou.

Therefore, Liu Bei arranged for the rest of the people who arrived in Shouchun to rest for three days in the name of settlement before discussing official business.

In fact, during these three days, Liu Bei needed to contact many key officials and generals of Jingzhou one by one, and then prepare to make corresponding arrangements.

The newly renovated government office in Shouchun City was naturally incomparable to the small government office in Wu County.

Moreover, in the governor's mansion, Liu Bei had reserved an entire corner for Li Ji in advance, which made Li Ji feel a little amused and helpless.

During these three days, Li Ji roughly sorted out the overall changes in Yangzhou in recent years, and also had a brief understanding of the provincial governor's office and Shouchun.

In addition to the obvious changes in the environment, what Li Ji felt most intuitively was the presence of many new faces among the officials and clerks.

However, this is also a very normal change in the promotion of officials.

As Liu Bei's territory continued to expand, he naturally needed to mobilize reliable officials to various places to stabilize the local areas. In addition, Ren De Academy also continued to supply talents to Liu Bei.

It would be strange if there were no changes in facial expressions.

In addition, Liu Bei discussed decisions with Li Ji from time to time during these three days, and soon finalized a final plan.

In the subsequent rewards, Liu Bei generously promoted many meritorious people and gave them titles of generalship, and rewarded them with generous amounts of money.

However, the truly key change in official positions was that Guan Yu was appointed as the governor of Nanjun County, in charge of all military affairs in Jingzhou. He also transferred Jiang Qin, Wen Pin, Kuai Liang, Cai He, Cai Zhong, Zhou Cang and others to Jingzhou to take on their respective duties.

Among them, Zhou Cang was a group of bandits who were entrenched around Ruyin when Guan Yu captured Ruyin City.

Zhou Cang heard of Guan Yu's name and wanted to serve him, so he took the initiative to help Guan Yu set up an ambush. Guan Yu also saw that Zhou Cang was brave and loyal, so he took him in as a general.

In addition, what made Li Ji quite helpless was that Liu Bei not only insisted on retaining Li Ji's title of governor, but even promoted him to the Grand Governor of Jingyang, making him the governor of all political and military affairs of the two states.

Of course, this reward was actually far beyond the power that Liu Bei possessed, so Liu Bei nominally changed the reward to a recommendation to the court.

As for whether the imperial court agrees or not, at a time when the imperial court is gradually becoming a mere formality, it is no longer entirely up to the imperial court to decide.

Liu Bei's behavior was already considered to be in compliance with the rules, as many princes had already reached the point where they did not even bother to do anything superficial.

Last winter, as Cao Cao completely unified Qingzhou, he proclaimed himself the governor of Qingzhou. He continuously rewarded his civil and military officials, and finally made a list and submitted it to the Sili Department as a formality.

No one knows whether this list was brought to Sili, reached the hands of Lu Bu's small court, or was delivered to the emperor for his personal review.

In contrast, Liu Bei maintained respect for the emperor on the surface. He not only sent envoys to Luoyang to meet the emperor, but also sent a large amount of money and silk.

This deeply moved Emperor Liu Xie, who was strictly controlled by Empress Lu.

With Lü Bu trying to seize power outside and Empress Lü suppressing him inside, Emperor Liu Xie was not only living in dire straits, but he also had no freedom at all. Even the inner treasury was controlled by Empress Lü. Sometimes, even if Emperor Liu Xie rewarded the eunuchs in the palace and followed his father's old path to win over the eunuchs to fight against the in-laws, he would still be clean-handed.

At a time when the princes of the world were increasingly ignoring Emperor Liu Xie, Liu Bei still sent a large amount of wealth from afar. How could this not make Emperor Liu Xie feel warm?

Therefore, even though Emperor Liu Xie's voice could not leave the palace, he still returned the favor by openly saying something to Sun Qian, who came as Liu Bei's envoy.

"The emperor's uncle is the backbone of the Han Dynasty. He can make his own decisions on local affairs and does not need to report to the emperor on everything."

This remark, in addition to returning a favor, was undoubtedly also an attempt by Emperor Liu Xie to disgust Lu Bu, openly flatter him, and resist Lu Bu's control over the government.

Even though the edict of Emperor Liu Xie could not leave Luoyang, and he was powerless to promote Liu Bei, this remark gave Liu Bei great convenience.

When Sun Qian brought this message back to Shouchun, Liu Bei was so moved that he could hardly control himself and even prepared to burn incense for three days to thank the emperor for his kindness.

Seeing this, Li Ji did not dissuade Liu Bei, but instead encouraged Liu Bei to continue going to Luoyang to give gifts to the emperor to thank him for his kindness.

Let Liu Bei find an excuse to send gifts during festivals and holidays, even if it's a small gift every three days or a big gift every five days.

Now, under the recommendation of Jia Xu, Jia Mu, who had entered the provincial governor's mansion as an official, looked at the long list of tribute gifts. After returning home, he could not help but ask Jia Xu for advice.

"Father, why did the Marquis ask the Lord to send gifts to the Emperor repeatedly? Now that the power of the court is controlled by Marquis Wushuang, even if the Emperor is inclined to the Lord, it will not help much. On the contrary, the weight of the gifts sent is enough to support three thousand elite soldiers."

Jia Xu, who was sipping tea and listening to the maids singing in the mansion, closed his eyes slightly and asked casually.

"Mu'er, do you know what the situation in Luoyang is like?"

"I know a thing or two." Jia Mu replied.

"In that case, do you think that the gift can be delivered to the emperor?" Jia Xu asked again.

This problem touches upon Jiamu's blind spot.

The situation in Luoyang was actually quite complicated. It was hard to say whether the gift would be delivered to the emperor or intercepted by Lu Bu.

Finally, after struggling for a long time, Jia Mu said, "It should...it should be delivered to the emperor. No matter how domineering the Wushuang Marquis is, he will not openly damage the emperor's prestige."

After hearing this, Jia Xu sighed secretly, feeling somewhat disappointed, and then he explained.

"In fact, it doesn't matter whether this gift can be delivered to the emperor."

"At a time when all the heroes today despise the imperial court and the emperor, this gift is well worth it as long as it shows the world that you are respectful and submissive to the emperor."

"After all, the lord does not want to be a traitor, but wants to uphold the royal way of the Han Dynasty. Besides..."

Jia Xu chuckled, took a sip of tea slowly, and said.

"Zi Kun keeps asking the lord to pay tribute to the emperor, and he also intends to muddy the waters in Luoyang."

"If the gift reaches the emperor, he will have some capital to try to win over all parties to fight against Lü Bu and Empress Lu;"

"If Lu Bu or Empress Lu constantly interrupt the ceremony, it will widen the gap between the emperor and the father and daughter of the Lu family. And from now on, the lord will not be afraid of attacking Lu Bu without a legitimate reason."

"This is a conspiracy that kills three birds with one stone..." (End of this chapter)