Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

“Alas…”

Liu Yu sighed, a sense of frustration welling up within him.

Having interacted with Li Ji for some time, Liu Yu knew that Li Ji was neither tempted by beauty nor swayed by wealth and pleasure.

During Li Ji's stay in Ji City, Liu Yu often sent him money and beautiful maids, not to win him over, but out of gratitude for Li Ji's righteous assistance in resisting the Wuhuan, hoping to satisfy some of his daily needs.

However, Li Ji did not accept any of the wealth Liu Yu privately gifted him, instead donating it all in the name of the government to the people who had temporarily settled in Ji City after abandoning their homes due to the scorched-earth policy.

Li Ji also maintained propriety with the maids, never even removing their silken robes.

In his spare time, Li Ji's only hobby seemed to be reading various documents and books stored in You Province, and playing chess with Liu Yu.

It was precisely because Liu Yu admired and recognized the benevolence, integrity, and loyalty displayed by Li Ji that he was so moved as to publicly praise him as a "national pillar" at the city gate.

But precisely because he understood Li Ji's adherence to "benevolence, integrity, and loyalty," Liu Yu, despite his deep reluctance, could not bring himself to repeatedly urge Li Ji to stay.

Liu Yu was even more unwilling to insult this rare friend by tempting him with power and wealth.

What Liu Yu didn't know was that what is free is often the most expensive.

It was true that Li Ji was not greedy for wealth and uninterested in women, but he was by no means a saint with no desires.

On the contrary, during this time, with Liu Yu's permission, Li Ji had thoroughly read a large number of documents and books in the You Province government office.

If previously Li Ji only had a thorough understanding of the terrain of Zhuo County in You Province, then now he had a clear understanding of the terrain, officials, horse farms, and other information recorded on paper throughout the entire You Province.

In terms of familiarity with You Province, not to mention Liu Yu, even Gongsun Zan was far behind Li Ji at this moment.

Otherwise, how could Li Ji have written a "Plan to Pacify the Wuhuan" based on the current situation in You Province, allowing You Province to gradually put a collar on the broken-spined dog that was the Wuhuan?

At the same time, in a sense, Li Ji, who had a thorough grasp of the entire You Province, knew dozens of locations along the coast of You Province where a large number of troops could land if he wanted to seize it by force.

It could be said that even if Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan were to become enemies with Liu Bei in the future, all that would be needed was to give Li Ji 100,000 soldiers, and in less than three days, Li Ji would personally ask Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan if they wanted to eat beef.

Unfortunately, Liu Yu, looking at Li Ji's refined appearance, sighed with regret and slowly said,

“Since Zikun's mind is made up, then I will say no more…”

After a pause, Liu Yu continued,

“Furthermore, Zikun intends to go to Yingzhou, and I imagine you will need to find a place to store grain within You Province, and I promised before that I could give you a place to station troops and store grain, I wonder if Zikun has a place in mind?”

Li Ji naturally had a draft in his mind, but on the surface, he pretended to ponder for a moment before saying, “I once heard that there is a natural harbor on the southeast coast of Quanzhou County (near present-day Tianjin) in Yuyang County, I wonder if it can be built into a port?”

Liu Yu did not bother to investigate the terrain around Quanzhou County in detail, and waved his hand and said, “Since that is the case, why not have Zikun write a letter back to Xuande, asking Xuande to recommend a talented person to serve as the magistrate of Quanzhou County, and I will also mobilize laborers to build the port you need, how about that?”

Upon hearing this, Li Ji was overjoyed.

Previously, the trade between Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan was actually all conducted privately.

This greatly limited the scale of trade, and furthermore, the cattle, sheep, warhorses, and so on that Gongsun Zan could provide were gradually becoming insufficient to meet the needs of Wu Commandery.

Especially with the impending chaos, Liu Bei had already begun to build momentum to control the entire Yang Province.

At that time, whether it was warhorses or oxen, for the Liu Bei Group, the more the better.

Therefore, Li Ji had long envisioned turning this trade from covert to overt, but he had been struggling to find a suitable opportunity.

And now, Liu Yu's intention was nothing more than to hand over the entire Quanzhou to Li Ji's control, to avoid controversy caused by Li Ji stationing troops along the coast of Quanzhou.

In this way, with Liu Yu's support and tacit approval, Li Ji could completely open a trading market in Quanzhou County.

With the convenience of Wu Commandery's unique sea trade, the profits would be unimaginable, and it would also solve the shortage of livestock such as oxen and warhorses in Jiangdong to the greatest extent.

Therefore, Li Ji took the opportunity to propose to Liu Yu that he was preparing to conduct some small trades in Quanzhou, buying more oxen to take back to Wu Commandery to provide to the displaced people to reclaim wasteland, and buying more warhorses to take back to Wu Commandery to train more cavalry to combat bandits and mountain bandits.

For these small requests in Liu Yu's eyes, Liu Yu naturally would not reject the intention of his friend, and with a wave of his hand, he also took the initiative to say that after the next batch of warhorses in the horse farm were trained, he would give Wu Commandery 3,000 warhorses.

Hearing this, even with Li Ji's current cultivation, he almost couldn't suppress the curvature of the corners of his mouth.

‘In the west, Liu Yan of Yi Province gives my lord food, and in the east, Liu Yu of You Province gives my lord warhorses, the Liu family members are really too good to my lord Liu Bei, when my lord Liu Bei obtains the world, I will definitely advise my lord Liu Bei to properly settle the clansmen.’

Afterwards, Li Ji answered some questions about the "Plan to Pacify the Wuhuan" to Liu Yu, and after discussing it in the quiet room for a full hour, Li Ji finally bid farewell and left.

However, even though he had already informed Liu Yu of his intention to lead the army away, the war had only just ended, and it would take a considerable amount of time just to rest the soldiers and treat the wounded.

Moreover, You Province's next policy was "to subdue the enemy's army without fighting," but in order to avoid accidents, the troops led by Li Ji still needed to be stationed in Ji City temporarily to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.

In addition, Li Ji also needed to coordinate and arrange for the establishment of a real seaport near Quanzhou County.

Unlike the temporary port that had previously traded with Gongsun Zan in secret, Li Ji attached great importance to this new port, not only regarding it as a place to station troops and store grain, but also preparing to build it into a trade center for the entire You Province, and even the northern region.

Therefore, even though this seaport had only just begun construction, Li Ji gave it a name: "Jinmen."

Perhaps Liu Yu had no achievements in military strategy, but he was a veteran in politics and diplomacy, so after having Li Ji's "Plan to Pacify the Wuhuan,"

In less than a month, Liu Yu used Qiu Liju's head to make Tadun take the initiative to send the heads of Zhang Ju, Zhang Chun, and other traitors who colluded with foreign tribes.

The originally fallen Yuyang Commandery, Youbeiping Commandery, and Liaoxi Commandery all returned to You Province…

And during this period, the results of the You Province war also spread throughout the Han Dynasty.

In addition to Liu Yu, who was already famous for his virtue, Gongsun Zan, who roamed outside the Great Wall, gradually gained the reputation of "General White Horse."

On the other hand, Zhao Yun's record of leading two thousand White Horse Volunteers in and out of the Wuhuan army of 30,000, breaking through formations and beheading generals, seemed too unbelievable, so that many people did not believe it.

As for Li Ji, who was already quite famous, he gained the name of "National Pillar," which was personally praised by Liu Yu, and quickly spread throughout the north and south of the Yangtze River, gradually replacing the previous name of "Li Three Thousand."

More importantly, the war launched by the Western Qiang invading the Three Auxiliary Regions had lasted for several years, which undoubtedly had a very serious impact on the prestige of the Han Dynasty.

This great victory from Youyan was undoubtedly what the current Han Dynasty urgently needed to boost morale.

Therefore, seeing that this great victory seemed to be causing more and more storms in the Han Dynasty, Li Ji thought of certain problems, and immediately quickened his pace, disregarding Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan's retention, and left You Province again at the end of September, continuing on the road to Yingzhou.

After the battle of You Province, the loss of Wu Commandery's 30,000 troops was not too heavy, only losing more than 5,000 infantrymen.

In contrast, Gongsun Zan additionally gifted Zhao Yun's White Horse Volunteers.

Moreover, the White Horse Volunteers originally led by Zhao Yun, with the assistance of Gongsun Zan during this period, re-selected elites in You Province to replenish the number of two thousand.

Therefore, after about four months, Li Ji led the army to set sail again in You Province, the number of soldiers did not decrease significantly, but the quality almost produced a degree of sublimation.

More importantly, not to mention the quality of the cavalry, the Wu Commandery infantry had experienced a series of city defense and camp attack battles, and the degree of elite had far surpassed the past.

In the past, except for the soldiers originally led by Guan Yu in Fuchun Mountain, most of the soldiers were either drawn from the commandery soldiers, or they were only slightly stronger than the commandery soldiers.

According to Li Ji's current evaluation standards, the soldiers of the world are roughly divided into four levels: miscellaneous soldiers, commandery soldiers, elites, and strong soldiers.

Miscellaneous soldiers: Roughly the Yellow Turban Army, righteous army, mountain bandits, and other first-class, the soldiers' literacy is even to the extent that they can not properly arrange the formation;

Commandery soldiers: Slightly stronger than miscellaneous soldiers, able to follow various instructions to carry out basic formation, and after a certain amount of training, is also the most common and common level of soldiers in the entire Han Dynasty;

Elites: The Northern Army Five Schools led by Lu Zhi in the Yellow Turban Rebellion were typical elite soldiers, with a military formation and fighting skills that were obviously superior to the commandery soldiers.

It was precisely relying on the elite of the Northern Army Five Schools that Lu Zhi had previously defeated Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turban Army with less strength.

Having experienced the war in Youzhou, the soldiers of Wu Commandery could barely be considered elite soldiers. However, compared to the White Horse Riders led by Zhao Yun, they were undoubtedly on two different levels.

It wasn't just the difference in individual combat skills or military formation coordination; more importantly, it was the difference in conviction. (End of Chapter)