Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

As for whether this would dilute Li Ji's power, Li Ji could only smile and remain silent.

As the saying goes: "Big meetings discuss small matters, small meetings discuss big matters."

The things that are actually brought up for discussion in such tea party meetings, which may be leaked, cannot be said to be trivial, but they are all things that don't matter even if they are leaked.

Those major matters concerning strategy were almost completely discussed by Li Ji and Liu Bei alone last night.

Even if they are brought up again for discussion at the tea party meeting, the discussion is not about whether or not to do it, but about how to do it.

For example, regarding the establishment of the Wu Commandery navy, the scope of discussion at the tea party meeting was who to send and what the planned size of the navy should be.

As for the more secretive shipbuilding yards with wider implications, Liu Bei didn't even bring them up for discussion.

Moreover, many issues had already been decided upon by Liu Bei and Li Ji, and putting them up for discussion at the tea party meeting was more for the purpose of brainstorming and identifying any omissions.

For example, besides Jiang Qin, was there a more talented but overlooked second candidate to be recommended as the commander of that Yangtze River navy?

As for Zhang Fei's self-recommendation, it was almost collectively ignored.

However, to Liu Bei and Li Ji's surprise, Zhao Yun recommended someone at the meeting.

He claimed that this person was originally named Xu Sheng, styled Wenxiang, from Ju County, Langya, and had moved to Wu County about a year ago to become a commandery soldier.

When Yan Baihu led his bandit troops to attack Wu County, Zhao Yun noticed that this person fought bravely. Later, he paid more attention to him, and after occasionally chatting with him, he found that although his martial prowess was slightly inferior to his own, he had insights into both naval and infantry warfare, so he knew that he was extraordinary.

Regarding Zhao Yun's strong recommendation, Liu Bei also took it to heart and planned to have Zhao Yun bring Xu Sheng over for examination after the meeting to determine the primary and secondary candidates for the navy commander.

Only Li Ji knew that Xu Sheng could be fully regarded as a rare naval commander who possessed leadership, strategy, and martial prowess, and was one of the "Twelve Tiger Generals of Eastern Wu" along with Jiang Qin, but Jiang Qin excelled more in martial prowess, while Xu Sheng's achievements were much more dazzling in comparison.

Li Ji still remembered that in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms," besides Cao Cao's praise of Zhang Liao for "shaking Xiaoyao Ford," Sun Quan praised Xu Sheng's achievements in repelling Cao's army in the "Battle of Ruxu."

Zhao Yun… truly a blessed general!

Even more commendable was Zhao Yun's consistently modest style, which allowed him to both discover talented subordinates and be willing to recommend them to Liu Bei.

However, apart from Xu Sheng, the subsequent tea party meeting did not bring Li Ji any more surprises.

However, with the end of the tea party meeting, the various issues were decided upon, and the various tasks were also assigned on the spot.

The general direction and planning for the development of Wu Commandery in the coming year was almost understood even by Zhang Fei, who mostly stared blankly throughout the whole process.

The water conservancy planning project, which was the main focus, would also truly begin to be implemented.

Initially, the focus would be on improving the water network centered on the five lakes of Wu Commandery: Tai Lake, You Lake, Mo Lake, Xu Lake, and Gong Lake, repairing river channels, and reclaiming land from the lakes, with the aim of first creating a fertile land centered on the five lakes to continuously accommodate displaced people.

When the tea party meeting, which lasted until dusk, ended, Gu Yong was still immersed in that grand plan when Li Ji led him away.

As a prime minister in the making who excelled in governance, Gu Yong was well aware of the magnificent scene that would be depicted under that blueprint.

More importantly, Gu Yong saw the possibility of success and the truly feasible implementation plan, which made Gu Yong feel an unspeakable excitement in his heart.

That scene of transforming the Wu region, which was nothing more than a remote place in the eyes of the world, into fertile land, was something that Gu Yong, as a native of Wu Commandery, longed to see.

Even though Gu Yong vaguely understood that what was providing Li Ji with the means to transform the land of Wu Commandery on a large scale was probably the accumulation of money and grain from 70% of the aristocratic families in Wu Commandery.

However, Gu Yong suddenly felt that those aristocratic families had died a worthy death!

For the cornerstone of a prosperous era, a worthy death!

If the heavy losses of the aristocratic families in Wu Commandery for a time could be exchanged for the prosperity of Wu Commandery that would last for thousands of years, Gu Yong believed that if he were in charge of governance, he would definitely not hesitate or be soft-hearted in any way.

The only difference was that Gu Yong felt that he probably couldn't be as clean as Li Ji, plundering the money and grain of the aristocratic families without leaving any criticism.

For a time, Gu Yong felt a little more anticipation for his upcoming official life and for his future of learning from Li Ji.

"What are you thinking about? Could it be that Yuan Tan is thinking of staying at my residence for the night?"

Suddenly, a voice entered Gu Yong's ears.

Gu Yong came back to his senses and realized that he had unknowingly followed Li Ji all the way from the government office back to the entrance of Li Ji's residence.

However, Gu Yong obviously would not admit his gaffe, but instead asked in a serious manner. "I followed County Deputy Li here just to confirm whether County Deputy Li has any other instructions?"

Li Ji raised an eyebrow and joked. "Now it's already after working hours, so even instructions outside of work are okay?"

"Public affairs are handled publicly, private affairs are handled privately," Gu Yong said loudly.

"Then Yuan Tan should go back and rest well. You worked hard today recording the meeting for half a day…"

Li Ji patted Gu Yong on the shoulder and said to Gu Yong in a warm voice. That brotherly demeanor made Gu Yong's heart warm slightly, and he couldn't help but feel that Li Ji might also have some humanity.

However, Li Ji paused slightly and continued before Gu Yong could speak.

"What's more, half of today's government affairs are still piled up and haven't been dealt with. Yuan Tan will still need to put in more effort tomorrow."

Gu Yong: …

Gu Yong's mouth moved slightly, as if some uncouth words were about to come out, but he forcibly endured them.

"Yes, thank you, County Deputy Li, for your attention. Yong will definitely work hard."

Gu Yong cupped his hands and left almost at a running pace, and at the moment he turned his back to Li Ji, the expression on Gu Yong's face, which had been maintaining a simple and honest look, twisted, and he disappeared from Li Ji's sight while silently cursing someone.

And Xiahou Lan, who was following behind Li Ji, couldn't help but sigh.

"Sir, even if Yuan Tan is a simple and honest character, but like this… wouldn't it be a little too much? Yuan Tan won't be able to handle so many government affairs, right?"

"Simple and honest?"

Li Ji chuckled and said instead.

"Habit is a terrible power. Unlike Wenhe, Yuan Tan can still be cultivated to have some good habits. Otherwise, when Yuan Tan is fully grown, he won't be so easy to use."

As for what good habits, it was naturally the habit of handling trivial government affairs diligently and without complaint.

When Gu Yong has been cultivated to the point where, no matter how many trivial government affairs are thrown at him, even if he complains endlessly, his body will still be excited and perfectly handle all the government affairs.

In Li Ji's view, Gu Yong can be considered truly cultivated at that time.

And unlike Li Ji and Jia Xu, Gu Yong's true forte is government affairs, and Li Ji will naturally fully develop Gu Yong in this area.

After Gu Yong has initially grown up, Li Ji will be able to put more energy into other more important aspects.

With the end of the tea party meeting, the civil and military officials of Wu Commandery, each shouldering important tasks, all became busy.

Soon after, the candidates for the Wu Commandery navy generals were determined. Xu Sheng was the commander, Jiang Qin was the deputy, and Jia Xu, with the title of Chief Clerk, served as the supervisor and military advisor. The township soldiers originally led by Jiang Qin were used as the backbone to recruit township soldiers to establish the navy, with a strength of three thousand, and a naval base was established around Dantu.

Therefore, Jia Xu soon left Wu County with the army, which also meant that Li Ji had one less tea friend after reporting to the government office on weekdays.

As for Gu Yong?

He was so busy handling government affairs that he didn't even have time to get up to urinate. What was the point of drinking so much tea?

Wouldn't that harm Gu Yong?

Li Ji, with his gentle and pure nature, would naturally not harm Gu Yong in this way.

Therefore, while Li Ji was pointing (supervising) Gu Yong to handle government affairs in the main hall of the government office every day, he mostly supplemented the specific content corresponding to the Wu Commandery water conservancy planning project directory alone while drinking fragrant tea, and personally arranged the water conservancy development.

However, some bullets that were fired early finally shot back at Li Ji himself after going around in a big circle.

When Xiahou Lan walked up to him again with a pile of visiting cards, Li Ji only felt a headache.

"Sir, a visiting card from Xu Jing, a famous scholar from Runan."

Xiahou Lan pointed to the visiting card placed on top and explained, just as he was about to continue introducing the other visiting cards below.

Li Ji rubbed his temples and asked. "Just say the number."

"Thirteen," Xiahou Lan replied.

This made the bitterness on Li Ji's face even worse.

Li Ji suddenly realized a point that he had been slightly careless about before, or rather, a point that he had been tricked by Jia Xu.

That is, even if Li Ji attracted a large number of scholars to Wu Commandery with his reputation, Li Ji alone was too overwhelmed to deal with so many scholars.

Unless Li Ji held lavish banquets in the mansion every day to entertain visiting scholars from all directions.

But if Li Ji were to degenerate into such a debater, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?

However, even if Li Ji could ignore ordinary scholars, just dealing with famous scholars like Xu Jing would take a lot of effort, which had already made Li Ji somewhat annoyed.

'Jia Wenhe, he probably thought of today's events when he proposed this strategy…'

While Li Ji secretly noted Jia Xu's account, he couldn't help but think about whether there was a way to solve the problem once and for all.

That would both continue to attract a large number of scholars to Wu Commandery, and Li Ji would not have to receive them much, nor would it harm Liu Bei and Wu Commandery's reputation.

‘I am known throughout the land for my mastery of the art of strategic sand table simulations. The solution must lie within this realm. Furthermore, the many scholars who visit me do so under the guise of seeking guidance and engaging in scholarly discussions.’

‘Why not use this as a threshold to filter out the mediocre talents?’

With this thought in mind, a glint of shrewdness flashed in Li Ji's eyes.

If he were to create something akin to the 'Invaluable Chess Formation,' how could he fail to attract the scholars of the world?

Moreover, there would be no need to use solving it as the threshold, but rather to divide them into tiers based on how far they could extrapolate the simulation.

In this way, that damned competitive spirit would surely leave the scholars of the land unable to stop themselves, all wanting to either prove their abilities or seek fame through it.

At that time, he could raise his own status without offending the many scholars…

For example: Exceptional talent would merely be the basic requirement to meet with me, Li Zikun.

The more Li Ji considered it, the more he felt its feasibility was extremely high.

The only problem was how to set up something similar to the 'Invaluable Chess Formation,' a puzzle for the ages, while still arousing the scholars' competitive spirit, leading them to flock to it like ducks to water?

Sand table simulation…

Sand table simulation…

Perhaps he could use a bit of dimensional reduction, like the Four Crossings of the Red Water River?!