Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

However, for Liu Bei, the casual act just now was merely a small interlude.

Following his ambition of "Do not refrain from doing good, no matter how small," and also feeling pity for the three-year-old child struggling to support the coffin as he passed by, Liu Bei felt a great deal of compassion.

As for whether this would be beneath his dignity...

For Liu Bei, practicing benevolence never required considering matters of status.

However, the tragic scenes of refugees he saw along the way made Liu Bei's heart feel increasingly urgent, and he also genuinely felt a sense of pressure on his shoulders.

The lives of countless people depended on a single thought.

Perhaps borrowing some grain could reunite a few more families of three.

Although Wu Jun was also constantly transporting grain to Xu Province through the Mi family's channels, in order to allow the refugees to have enough strength to reach Wu Jun.

However, under the circumstances where grain could only be transported by land, the consumption of grain transportation made Liu Bei frown, and a large number of soldiers also had to be arranged to protect it, lest it be robbed by bandits, mountain bandits, or even starving refugees.

This made the matter of grain transportation even more difficult!

At this moment, Liu Bei further understood Li Ji's idea of building a Wu Jun navy.

If the shipyard was completed and enough seagoing ships were built, then grain could be transported from the sea to Xu Province.

In this way, not only would the speed increase more than tenfold, the consumption along the way would be greatly reduced, and even the safety would be greatly improved.

It's just that distant water cannot quench immediate thirst...

The matter of seagoing ships cannot be counted on in the short term, and the consumption of transporting grain from Wu Jun to Xu Province is also astonishing.

Liu Bei could only hope to borrow grain from the prefects or chancellors of various counties in Xu Province, so as to quickly solve the urgent need.

(PS: At this time, Tao Qian was not yet the governor of Xu Province.)

In Li Ji's grain borrowing plan for Xu Province, the first step was to find Liu Rong, the King of Langya.

In an instant, Liu Bei couldn't help but recall Li Ji's reminder before leaving Wu County:

【My lord, the key to this trip to Xu Province lies in the King of Langya! As long as the King of Langya is willing to lend grain in the name of helping relatives and caring for the people, then Yin De, the Chancellor of Langya, will definitely lend grain to relieve the people for the sake of the King of Langya...

After that, your lord will visit the prefects and chancellors of Donghai County, Xiapi County, Pengcheng State, and Guangling County in order from north to south. With your lord personally coming forward and the momentum gradually increasing, success is inevitable.】

Soon, the fief of Liu Rong, the King of Langya, came into Liu Bei's sight.

Immediately, recalling Li Ji's reminder, Liu Bei did not wash up, continued to maintain his dusty and muddy appearance, and then asked Xiahou Bo to prepare gifts, and went directly to the Wang Mansion of the King of Langya to submit a greeting card.

After Liu Bei waited for a while outside the Wang Mansion, the Wang Mansion of the King of Langya opened the middle door wide, and a young man who looked a little weak and wearing a royal robe came out and saluted Liu Bei from afar.

"It turns out that Uncle has come to visit. Please forgive me for not welcoming you from afar."

When Liu Bei saw this, he hurriedly greeted him and returned the salute. "Your Highness, you are too polite. I am an outsider, how can I be called Uncle?"

Liu Rong coughed lightly a few times, looked at Liu Bei's gentle appearance, and couldn't help but feel a sense of closeness in his heart and said.

"According to seniority, since you are my uncle, then this king should treat you with the etiquette of a junior."

Immediately, Liu Rong noticed Liu Bei's dusty and slightly embarrassed appearance, and couldn't help but asked.

"Why is there so much mud on Uncle's body? Could it be that you encountered bandits on the way?"

Liu Bei quickly replied. "No, it's because I was anxious to meet the King of Langya and dared not stop for a moment."

"Oh? Is there anything important that made Uncle, who is far away in Wu Jun, come to Langya."

Liu Rong asked with some nervousness.

Liu Bei said with a hint of guilt in his tone.

"It is really about the refugees. I cannot bear to see the refugees suffering from hunger, but even if Wu Jun empties its money and food, it will not be negligent. Therefore, I am visiting the King of Langya this time to borrow grain."

When Liu Rong heard this, his expression softened a bit, and he said.

"There is still a lot of grain stored in this king's mansion. In addition to leaving some for the servants to use, the rest will be given to Uncle. It's just a small matter, but I'm afraid it's just a drop in the bucket."

After a pause, Liu Rong took the initiative to say.

"Please come into the mansion for a rest, Uncle. Let this king summon Yin De, the Chancellor of Langya, to come and talk, to see if he can come forward to mediate and borrow some grain from the Langya granary to give to Uncle."

When Liu Bei heard this, his face was overjoyed, and he never expected that things would be smoother than he had imagined, and he admired Li Ji's ingenuity even more.

The King of Langya, Liu Rong, is indeed a wise king. Even before Liu Bei took the initiative to ask for help, he had already tried his best to solve Liu Bei's problem of borrowing grain in order to save the people as soon as possible.

It should be known that the Han Dynasty has thirteen states and one hundred and five counties, some of which are renamed as states because there are Han royal relatives who have been granted the title of king in this county.

However, not every king's territory occupies the entire county, and each king's territory will be reduced a lot after passing on for another generation.

Therefore, even within the State of Langya, the true territory of the King of Langya is not much.

In this case, if the imperial court sets up a prefect in the State of Langya to govern the non-territory of the King of Langya, it would undoubtedly be disrespectful to the King of Langya.

Therefore, in any county or state where a king is located, no prefect is set up, but a chancellor is set up to respect the king.

In the situation where the King of Langya, Liu Rong, is willing to personally intercede with the Chancellor of Langya for Liu Bei, even if Liu Rong does not have the power to directly order the chancellor, the chancellor will naturally need to give Liu Rong face.

As long as the State of Langya opens such a precedent in Xu Province, then it will be much easier for Liu Bei to visit the remaining counties.

The development of things was much easier than Liu Bei had imagined, and everything seemed to be a natural result, just as Li Ji had predicted.

After Liu Bei declared that the grain borrowed would not be transported to Wu Jun, but would be used to relieve the disaster and save the people nearby, with the strong support of Liu Rong, Yin De, the Chancellor of Langya, promised to mobilize 50,000 dan of grain for disaster relief.

However, Yin De, the Chancellor of Langya, stated that the State of Langya was unable to accept refugees, and could only divert a large number of refugees to Wu Jun.

Naturally, Liu Bei would not have any objections to this.

As this matter was quickly negotiated, Liu Bei only stayed in the Wang Mansion of Langya for one night, and the next morning he hurriedly bid farewell to Liu Rong and Yin De, and the group hurried south to Donghai County.

Liu Rong personally sent Liu Bei out of the city, watched the backs of Liu Bei and others leaving, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Uncle can be called a benevolent and virtuous sage."

Yin De, who had been keeping a straight face before, also commented with a bit more admiration.

"A gentleman."

After a pause, Yin De shook his head and said.

"But if Langya continues to vigorously divert refugees to the south for disaster relief, how can Wu Jun accommodate so many victims? This matter may be a disaster rather than a merit."

"Uncle is not a person who only cares about one thing and loses sight of the other. He should have a countermeasure. We can just do our best."

Liu Rong shook his head and said.

"Chancellor Yin, this king's mansion can still allocate 10,000 dan of grain, and all of it will be given to Chancellor Yin for disaster relief. Please make good use of it."

Yin De, who knew Liu Rong's temperament, did not decline, but cupped his hands and hurried down to arrange everything to prepare for disaster relief.

Only Liu Rong still lingered in place for a long time, looking at the refugees who could occasionally be seen outside the city, with a bit of sadness in his eyes, and murmured.

"Does our Liu family now live up to our ancestors, live up to the people of the world, and live up to the Han Dynasty?"

......

At the same time.

Inside the imperial palace of Luoyang, the Ten Attendants and many important ministers were also fiercely tearing each other apart in the court.

There were no high-sounding speeches, and everything was straightforward and crude.

After all, He Jin, who was the General-in-Chief, was originally just a butcher, and the Ten Attendants were mostly from ordinary civilians.

In the situation where the two major forces in the court were all crude people, the style of both sides would naturally not be elegant.

"Zhang Rang, you eggless thing, I just think what's wrong with Yangzhou resettling those refugees?"

"He Jin, you crude person, fuck your mother!"

"Do you have that ability? Besides, I am a relative of the emperor. If you want to fuck my mother, are you planning to be disrespectful to His Majesty?"

"You butcher, you crude person, don't talk nonsense about His Majesty!"

"You eggless person, you can't even be crude even if you want to be crude."

"......"

As the scolding between the two sides gradually developed from the resettlement of refugees to personal attacks, the many important ministers present had long been accustomed to it, and even holding back their laughter had become seamless.

On the contrary, the emperor Liu Hong, who was high above, leaned back a little lazily, propped his chin with one hand, as if he was watching a good show, listening with great interest to the scolding between He Jin and Zhang Rang.

As for the slight offense to imperial power in the conversation between He Jin and the Ten Attendants, the emperor Liu Hong didn't care, or rather, this was what the emperor Liu Hong intended.

Whether it was He Jin or the Ten Attendants, the worse their reputation and the more incompetent their abilities, the more satisfied the emperor Liu Hong was.

Since Emperor Guangwu revived the Han Dynasty, in order to check and balance the aristocratic families from controlling the government, every emperor had to rely on the power of eunuchs and relatives to check and balance, but at the same time, it also often led to the monopoly of power by relatives.

Therefore, this generation of eunuchs and relatives was carefully selected by the emperor Liu Hong for a long time... stupid pigs.

This kind of eunuchs and relatives who can openly scold each other in the court, even without concealing their ambitions, are the eunuchs and relatives that the emperor Liu Hong uses most at ease.

So, scold each other...

Emperor Liu Hong patiently enjoyed the spectacle, until he grew somewhat weary. Seeing that many influential ministers in the court supported the idea of resettling the refugees in Yang Province, and that it wouldn't require the imperial court to expend any additional funds or grain, he considered it a solution to the great drought and epidemic in the Central Plains.

“Then let Yang Province be responsible for resettling the refugees, with the Inspector of Yang Province overseeing the matter…”

Emperor Liu Hong said faintly, making the final decision on the matter. Then, amidst the chorus of “Your Majesty is wise,” the court adjourned, and he headed straight for the wine pools and meat forests in the rear palace, his pace quickening considerably. (End of Chapter)