Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 99 I wish to be a long-lived turtle
  The next moment, the black-faced man casually slapped Yan Baihu's hand away with a fan, then raised the eight-foot-long snake spear stuck in the ground and raised it upwards, shouting loudly.

"I am Zhang Yide from Yan!!!"

The sound like thunder was obviously made only once, but it seemed to echo three or five times in the ears of countless bandits.

"Those who surrender will not be killed!"

"Those who surrender will not be killed!!!"

As Zhang Fei shouted, the Han troops in formation also shouted loudly, with great momentum.

For a time, the bandits, who had no way to advance or retreat and whose morale had dropped to the extreme, abandoned their weapons and surrendered one after another.

In the other two directions, similar scenes are happening.

The Han army slowly advanced in formation, and Zhao Yun rode alone into the formation and picked off ten of the bandit leaders. No bandit leader dared to give orders anymore, so he had to surrender obediently.

On the contrary, the Han army led by Guan Yu wasted a little effort and completely destroyed the morale of the bandits bit by bit, and then they were captured like a turtle in an urn.

Guan Yu identified among the thieves for a while and dragged a thief leader directly in front of him.

"General, spare your life, General, spare your life..."

The leader of the thief was so frightened that he exclaimed again and again. Looking at the majestic Guan Yu holding the Qinglong Yanyue Sword in front of him, he was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder were split.

Guan Yu narrowed his eyes and asked in a calm tone. "Mr. Guan once heard that even if you call Liu Xuande a mat weaver and shoe seller, Li Sanqian is only qualified to pour tea and hammer legs for you?"

"No, no, no, I didn't, don't talk nonsense, it's not me." The leader of the thieves defended again and again.

However, Guan Yu recognized the characteristics of the thief who was kneeling in front of him with a runny nose, and said contemptuously.

"A cowardly person who only dares to talk nonsense behind his back, but only cries for father and mother in front of Guan? Killing him will also dirty Guan's Qinglong Yanyue Sword!"

When the thief leader heard this, he was filled with surprise and kowtowed repeatedly. "Thank you, General, thank you, General, I am not worthy, I am not worthy~"

However, Guan Yu flicked his cloak and turned to leave, saying coldly.

"He was hacked to death with an axe."

"Yes!"

Immediately, a dozen sword and ax hands trained by Guan Yu to serve as personal guards heard this, quickly drew out their short axes and surrounded the thief with wide eyes, and soon silenced the thief.

Li Ji, who was standing at a high place in Wu County City, looked calm as he watched the fighting in three directions quickly subsided as expected.

Although there is still a considerable gap in military strength between the two sides, in the narrow battlefield arranged in advance in the city, it is meaningless to have more troops that cannot be deployed.

With the elite soldiers Liu Bei brought from the Central Plains to Wu Commandery setting up battle formations, and with county troops cooperating at the rear, there was no room for resistance no matter how large the number of bandits were.

Jia Xu, standing next to Li Ji, sighed sincerely.

"Zikun is still kind. A fire can burn all the bandits, and he secretly mobilized county soldiers from other cities to ambush them in the city."

Li Ji couldn't help but frown and said.

"Although these bandits have done many evil things, they are all rare young men. Using them as labor can greatly reduce the labor burden of the people of Wu County."

According to Li Ji's estimation, this battle could at least force around 15,000 bandits to surrender, and then all these prisoners would be used as labor to develop Wu County.

It should be noted that, excluding hidden households and illegal households, the registered population of Wu County is only over 700,000.

If a family of five is counted as one household, and one out of ten households is selected to serve as a labor force, the maximum number of young and strong laborers in Wu County is only more than 10,000.

Moreover, such heavy labor will inevitably make the people of Wu County complain and drop their morale.

Therefore, for Li Ji, whose goal is to carry out large-scale development of Wu County, these 50,000 bandit prisoners can be regarded as a solution to his urgent need.

Of course, as they were both Han Chinese, Li Ji would not let them end up in a tragic fate similar to digging potatoes in Siberia.

Li Ji, who claims to have a pure and gentle personality, is more or less particular about human rights. He just wants these prisoners to contribute to the development of Wu County for the rest of their lives.

However, Jia Xu put forward a different suggestion and said.

"Zikun, instead of using them all as labor, it is better to recruit and surrender to fill the vacancies in the county soldiers. Most of these bandits are fierce people. With a little training, they can be regarded as qualified soldiers."

"That's not necessary."

Li Ji shook his head and denied.

There is nothing wrong with Jia Xu's suggestion. Even in terms of quickly replenishing troops, recruiting bandits to surrender is definitely easier and more efficient than recruiting local braves.

"The bandit trouble in Wu County has been eliminated. All we need to do is send a general to station in the Fuchun Mountain area in the south of Wu County to guard against the Shanyue barbarians. The remaining wars will not be frequent."

"Therefore, instead of recruiting these unorganized bandits to join the army and destroy military discipline, it is better for the lord to slowly build an army that is completely loyal to the lord."

When Jia Xu heard this, his eyes flashed, and he glanced vaguely at Li Ji beside him.

Completely loyal to the lord?

And are you worried that direct recruitment of bandits and their ilk will undermine military discipline?

'Li Zikun, that's it...' Jia Xu's mind was racing and he finally determined a certain fact.

Li Ji's so-called "ruling the world with one county" is simply false. What he seeks is to "devour the world with one county." What he wants is to build Wu County into a place of overlords, waiting for opportunities and watching the tigers. Central Plains!
  'What a big ambition, Li Zikun...'

Jia Xu couldn't help but feel that Li Ji, who seemed elegant and modest, was much more dangerous than he had judged.

He did not plan to let Liu Bei settle down in a corner. He had clearly had the idea of ​​​​conquering the world early and had been making preparations.

'Do you want to... take the opportunity to escape? '

'No, no, no, although Li Zikun's move was crazy, his plans were well thought out and extremely cautious. From this point of view, could he have deduced that real troubled times are coming? '

'If troubled times are coming when order collapses, it may be safest to stay here with Liu Xuande. And with Li Zikun's plan, it is not necessarily true that he can achieve great things. '

Jia Xu suddenly felt that he seemed to be facing a choice.

Otherwise, it would not be difficult to find an opportunity to quietly leave while the involvement with Liu Bei Group is not too deep, and everyone has relaxed their guard against him.

Otherwise, he would continue to stay in Wu County to assist Liu Bei, and Li Zikun would lead him to the end...

For a moment, when both Li Ji and Jia Xu fell silent, Xia Houlan, who was following Li Ji, looked at the battlefield being cleaned below and couldn't help but recall what Li Ji said about seven or eight days ago.

'The land around Wu County should be more fertile in the coming year...'

As soon as Xiahou Lan saw the soldiers below cleaning the battlefield, they moved the corpses to the land outside the city for burial.

Admiration, shock, fear...

A large number of complex and intense feelings surged into Xiahoulan's heart. It was hard to imagine that Li Ji had anticipated this scene seven or eight days ago.

'So, everyone in Wu County has been completely manipulated by Mr. Applause? '

'Is this...sir? '

Xia Houlan felt that this might be a realm that he would never reach in his lifetime, and he felt that his brother and Brother Yun really looked down upon him.

As Li Ji's personal pupil, Xia Houlan had no idea how Li Ji did such a thing.

Can't learn...

I can't learn it at all...

Xia Houlan felt for a moment that Li Ji was really strategizing and winning from thousands of miles away as rumored, and at the same time he felt a little autistic and ashamed.

After Li Ji watched the bandits below being forced into a prisoner camp built in advance one by one, he looked at Jia Xu who was still deep in thought, patted Jia Xu on the shoulder, and asked meaningfully. road.

"Wen He, if you haven't made up your mind yet, why don't you go to the celebration banquet prepared by the Lord for us first?"

When Jia Xu heard this, he immediately understood that the information revealed by Li Ji just now was not accidentally leaked, but was instead being communicated to him in a subtle way.

In other words, Lee Ji!
  Li Zikun, this damn guy, hasn't relaxed his guard and vigilance about himself yet.

"Do I have any other options?"

Jia Xu asked back.

Li Ji sighed and said.

"Wen He, you must know who has never died in life since ancient times? It may be lighter than a feather, or heavier than Mount Tai. Wen He's talent should be as important as Mount Tai and leave his name in history. I really can't bear to see Wen He waste his full talent. .”

Jia Xu's face changed slightly, his eyes flickered for a long time, and he replied quietly. "If possible, I don't want to be a feather, nor do I want to be Mount Tai. I want to be a long-lived tortoise."

Li Ji:......

"Wu County can raise long-lived turtles." Li Ji said helplessly.

"I hope so……"

Jia Xu responded noncommittally, and while following Li Ji to attend the celebration banquet, he was still weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

Although Jia Xu is now serving under Liu Bei, the meaning of whether he is Liu Bei's master is completely different!
  Without becoming the master, Jia Xu is still theoretically free.

For example, under Niu Fu's command before, Jia Xu left when he wanted to, and his reputation and integrity would not be damaged in the slightest.

However, if he worships Liu Bei as his master and establishes his status as master minister, then Jia Xu will be deeply bound to Liu Bei from then on. If he betrays his master, it would be disloyal.

If the name of disloyalty spreads, no matter how big the world is, there will be almost no place for it!
  At the end of the celebration banquet, Jia Xu finally made up his mind to worship Liu Bei as his lord during the banquet.

Liu Bei was a little confused about this, but he was overjoyed when he heard Li Ji praising Jia Xu's talent many times as not being inferior to him.

After the celebration banquet was over, Li Ji almost didn't wait for the next day, and immediately ordered Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun to lead their troops to the tops of various bandit camps to seize money and food.

Jia Xu and Luo Bin had already figured out the locations of the bandit camps in Wu County, and almost all the young and strong people from each bandit camp had left, leaving only some old and weak people behind.

In less than five days, as Liu Bei wiped out the so-called "50,000" thieves in Wu County in one battle, his prestige in Wu County could be said to be at its peak.

Almost all bandit camps in Wu County were destroyed by Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun, and the convoys of seized money and grain were continuously sent to the Wuxian treasury like a long queue.

(End of this chapter)