Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Yang Hong was shocked when he heard this.

Now that crops are gradually ripening in various places, it is time to start harvesting.

The forced conscription of young and strong men from all over Yuzhou will inevitably lead to slower grain harvesting in various places.

As soon as Yuan Shu issued this order, it was easy to imagine that even if the people tried their best to harvest food, it would be too late.

Once the fire was set, it would inevitably lead to a poor harvest in a considerable part of Yuzhou.

Moreover, Yang Hong was also aware that the people's grain harvest was poor, and the local officials and aristocratic families might not necessarily reduce the amount of grain they demanded from the people or tenant farmers.

As a result of this, there will definitely be famine in Yuzhou next year.

However, Yang Hong also understood that at this critical moment of life and death, Yuan Shu would not care about such trivial matters, and stopping Li Ji's advance was the top priority.

As Yuan Shu's order was quickly transmitted to the counties and cities along the east side of Ruyang, fires began to break out in the fields, causing countless people to cry in despair.

For the lower-class people, they may never have seen what gold is in their entire lives, but they only understand that the golden food in the fields is their reliance for survival.

They didn't understand why they had to burn the crops in the fields that could already be harvested.

How should we live next year?
Young and strong men were forcibly conscripted, grain was burned, and a haze of despair shrouded the land of Yuzhou, making it seem as if the people of Yuzhou could no longer see where tomorrow was.

Li Ji, who was marching quickly all the way to the Huai River, soon discovered that large areas of fields had turned into scorched earth.

"Teacher, I sent people to find a few old farmers in the surrounding area and asked them. The grain in the fields was burned by officials from the nearby city yesterday."

Zhuge Liang, who became more and more careful in his work, soon found out the truth about the matter. He hurriedly rode a pony to report to Li Ji, with a look of worry on his face.

Obviously, Zhuge Liang also understood what the large-scale burning of grain in the fields meant to the people at this time.

Unless the imperial court or Yuzhou can mobilize a large amount of grain for disaster relief next year, the people affected will inevitably suffer from famine.

Li Ji saw this point very clearly.

The extremely fragile small peasant economy of this era cannot withstand such turmoil, and natural disasters and man-made disasters can instantly disrupt their peaceful lives.

"Yuan Shu is fortifying his city and clearing the fields, burning food supplies, fearing that our army will be eaten by the enemy..."

Li Ji sighed, pondered for a while, and then spoke.

"Liang'er, record my words and send them to Shouchun and the Lord immediately."

"Yes."

Zhuge Liang responded quickly, then took out a charcoal pencil from his sleeve and prepared to write on his sleeve.

Now that the army is still on the march, there is naturally no condition to slowly grind the pen and ink.

Although Zhuge Liang also had a photographic memory, in order to avoid omissions, he still prepared to write on his sleeves so that he could accurately convey Li Ji's orders later.

"The people of Yuzhou have been affected by the war, and a large number of young and strong people have been forcibly conscripted. A large amount of grain has been burned. There may be famine next year. After the autumn grain of Jingzhou and Yangzhou is stored in the warehouse, a large amount of grain should be mobilized to the border for preparation."

"If Yuzhou wins the battle, we will transfer food to Yuzhou to prepare for disaster relief; if Yuzhou suffers a setback, we will also need to let Jingyang and Yangzhou prepare to receive the refugees."

After saying this, Li Ji continued to march on his warhorse, looking at the grain in the fields from afar, and couldn't help feeling quite regretful.

In troubled times, money is important, but food is the foundation of everything.

Even though Liu Bei's group introduced high-yield grain varieties, grain was still quite precious due to limitations on population and arable land area.

However, Li Ji quickly suppressed his unnecessary weakness and hesitation, realizing that the more so, the more important it was to end the troubled times as soon as possible.

Otherwise, the prolonged war would only drag the entire Han Dynasty into the abyss, and even lead to the tragic scene of "Five Barbarians Invading China". "Order the entire army to speed up!"

Under Li Ji's supervision and command, the army's marching speed slightly increased, and they continued to rush towards the direction of the water.

Wherever they passed along the way, all the fields were burned down.

Even under Yuan Shu's order to "fortify the walls and clear the fields", there were still thieves who blatantly robbed the people under the banner of "orders from above".

The excuse is: first take away the people's food and preserve it, so that the army led by Li Ji will naturally not be able to steal food.

Many of the people who dared to resist were directly labeled as "collaborators" and beheaded.

Order was disappearing visibly in Yuzhou.

The boundary between officials and bandits also began to blur in the turbulent times.

Fortunately, Li Ji did not have the idea of ​​"taking food from the enemy" from the beginning, otherwise Yuan Shu's move would be enough to abort Li Ji's plan.

But famine did not wait until the next year, it appeared already.

However, although Li Ji wanted to provide disaster relief, the army only carried enough dry food for a few days and was completely unable to help the people.

But Li Ji couldn't bear to watch the people suffer from famine.

Li Ji, who had been marching eastward from Xiang County for four days, looked at the map spread on the ground by the light of the campfire when the army was resting at night. His usually calm expression showed a little hesitation.

Comparing the position of the army, Li Ji muttered.

"The army has passed Dan County. We will be able to leave Pei State tomorrow and reach the Wei River in about three days."

However, what Li Ji was worried about was not the army, but the obvious signs of famine that had already appeared around Dan County.

The famine among the people of Yuzhou naturally had no impact on the army's marching speed, but Li Ji was unable to ignore these people.

In a sense, Li Ji and Liu Bei do have a lot of similarities.

In the original storyline, facing Cao Cao's army chasing him, Liu Bei couldn't let go of the people, so he gritted his teeth and led them across the river to escape;

Now seeing the people around him suffering from famine, Li Ji couldn't help but feel a little compassion.

If they had only burned the grain in the fields, the people of Yuzhou would have been able to survive until next year.

However, many bandits relied on their official positions and took the opportunity to cause chaos and looting under the banner of Yuan Shu, and they robbed the few remaining grains in many people's homes, so that a small-scale famine broke out in an instant.

At this moment, around Li Ji, a group of staff members and some generals were also there.

Li Ji sighed, expressed his concerns, and planned to listen to everyone's opinions.

A period of silence followed, with only the occasional crackling sound from the campfire.

However, this is undoubtedly a difficult question to answer for anyone.

Seeing this, Li Ji added another sentence.

"You can speak freely without any doubt. Even if what you say is wrong, you will not be blamed for it."

Pang Tong, the most courageous one, heard this and started to speak.

"In this case, teacher, please do not blame the student for offending you." (End of this chapter)