Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

After Liu Ji turned fifteen, he didn't enter the Jinyi Guard because his personality wasn't suited to gathering information as a spy.

Therefore, Liu Ji was ultimately assigned to lead a small team of about twenty people, sailing a small ship overseas to find rice seeds.

Before leaving, Liu Ji was a vibrant and promising youth, but after more than three years, Liu Ji, now with a face weathered by wind and frost, looked even older than Liu Bei.

At that moment, Liu Bei said with heartfelt pity, “You've suffered. You've made a great contribution to the Han Dynasty and its people.”

Although there were many children in the Taoyuan group, Liu Bei couldn't treat each child as if they were his own, but he clearly remembered the characteristics and appearances of each child, and even had some understanding of each child's general personality.

Liu Ji had spent more than three years braving difficulties and navigating countless turbulent waves...

What he sought was not for the Han Dynasty, nor for the people, but to repay Liu Bei and Li Ji for saving his life and providing him with food, and to gain their approval.

Therefore, Liu Ji, a man who had been caught in a storm and lost his way at sea for three days and three nights with almost no food or water, whose will had not wavered in the slightest,

at this moment, couldn't stop tears from welling up at Liu Bei's praise filled with affirmation.

However, after more than three years of experience at sea, Liu Ji's character had become incredibly resilient. He quickly regained his composure, but a joyful smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

Immediately, Liu Ji briefly recounted the process of going overseas to find rice seeds.

The twenty people led by Liu Ji were nothing more than ants, not only when placed in the vast and boundless sea, but even when placed on the long coastline extending south from central Jiaozhou.

The process of finding rice seeds was purely a matter of constantly trying one's luck.

While recording sea charts along the way, they would go ashore every so often, venturing about thirty miles inland to look for the existence of rice seeds.

Therefore, teams like Liu Ji's, who went overseas, had to face not only the dangers of the sea, but also the various dangers hidden in unfamiliar and unknown lands.

Liu Ji glossed over the hardships encountered in the early stages, only hinting at them by mentioning that fifteen of the twenty people he had brought had died.

Even the crew members who maintained the normal sailing of the ship later were young and strong men whom Liu Ji had re-recruited during the voyage.

Liu Ji was determined to succeed or die trying, and he tenaciously searched for various rice seeds along the coastline to the south, hoping to find the high-yield grain that Li Ji had described.

Until Liu Ji arrived at a country called "Linyi", he discovered that their rice seeds could survive even when planted casually in some barren wastelands without the intensive cultivation methods used in the Han Dynasty, and the yield of rice grains was far superior to that of the Han Dynasty.

At that moment, Liu Ji realized that they had found it. Then, Liu Ji secretly cut down the unripe rice overnight, filled the small ship's hold as much as possible, and rushed back like a madman.

Hearing this, Li Ji was completely certain that what Liu Ji had brought back was Champa rice, as it would be called in later generations.

Liu Bei, upon hearing that Liu Ji had brought back a whole ship of rice, excitedly asked, “About how much is there? About how much?”

“Please forgive me, my lord, but due to the limited space in the hold, I'm afraid there are less than a hundred shi of rice that was brought back,” Liu Ji replied.

“A hundred shi?”

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, murmuring, “That's about right, about right. If we cultivate these rice grains well, perhaps a considerable portion of them can survive as seeds. After a year or two of cultivation, we might be able to gradually promote them.”

But as he spoke, Liu Bei's tone couldn't hide a hint of disappointment.

The rice grains that Liu Ji brought back were not mature enough, which would greatly reduce the possibility of survival. It would be a blessing from the heavens if one shi of the hundred shi of rice grains could survive.

Therefore, it was like pouring a bucket of cold water on Liu Bei's head, giving him the feeling that he was about to enter the bridal chamber, but was forcibly dragged out to weave a few more pairs of straw sandals.

Li Ji, who had been listening from the side, suddenly spoke at this moment.

“Were sea charts recorded?”

“Here, Mr. Zikun,” Liu Ji replied quickly, taking out several pieces of cloth from his arms.

Li Ji took all these cloths and pieced them together on a nearby stone table according to Liu Ji's instructions.

The location of the Linyi Kingdom also appeared before Li Ji's eyes, roughly located in the southern part of what later generations would call the Monkey Country.

It was indeed difficult for Liu Ji to have explored all the way from the mouth of the Yangtze River to the southern part of the Monkey Country without any sea charts.

However, although the sea chart recorded by Liu Ji was not detailed, it was undoubtedly sufficient to guide the direction.

Li Ji stroked his chin and muttered, “It's a bit far, but if the round trip is fast enough, we can make it in time for the spring plowing next year, so it won't be delayed.”

“What?” Liu Bei still hadn't been able to react.

Li Ji's face revealed a few smiles as he said, “My lord, it is true that the rice brought back by Liu Ji is not yet mature, and it would be too difficult to use it as seed for cultivation, and the quantity is far from sufficient to support promotion in Yangzhou.”

“But, is there a shortage of this kind of rice in the Linyi Kingdom?”

Suddenly, Liu Bei's eyes lit up, and he vaguely guessed what Li Ji meant.

“The distance from Wu Commandery to the Linyi Kingdom is indeed not short. If we were to march on land, it might take more than a year to get there.”

“But if we were to march by sea, and with a sea chart to guide us, it would take no more than two months to reach the Linyi Kingdom.”

“At that time, Linyi Kingdom will probably have just harvested the rice, which can be used by our Han Dynasty.”

At that moment, Liu Bei couldn't help but slap his thigh and praised, “What Zikun said is wonderful!”

Although Wu Commandery already had relatively advanced shipbuilding technology, Liu Bei's thinking was not only obviously not completely transformed, but even his thinking was always relatively benevolent and conservative.

If the Han Dynasty didn't have it, what Liu Bei subconsciously thought of was how to cultivate it slowly by himself.

But what Li Ji thought was that our glorious and strong Han Dynasty, all the land under the sky belongs to the Emperor, and wherever the sea ships arrive is the territory of the Han Dynasty.

Now that we know that there are needed rice seeds in Linyi, after confirming the location, just send someone to fetch them directly, why bother to painstakingly cultivate the seeds bit by bit again?

Liu Bei hurriedly said, “I will let Zizhong quickly form a merchant fleet and go to Linyi to purchase a large number of rice seeds to bring back.”

“Don't worry, my lord.”

Li Ji shook his head. At this moment, information related to the Linyi Kingdom had already appeared in his mind, and he replied, “Linyi originally belonged to Xianglin County, Rinan Commandery. In the second year of Yonghe during the reign of Emperor Shun (137 AD), a meritorious officer named Qu Lian rebelled, led troops to attack and occupy the county government, killed the county magistrate, and proclaimed himself 'King of Linyi' to establish the Linyi Kingdom.”

“What? Such a thing happened?!”

Liu Bei stared wide-eyed, truly unaware of this matter.

After all, for the Han Dynasty, Jiaozhou was in a state of free-range and completely unimportant. The rebellion of a mere county meritorious officer was no different from an ant biting a toenail.

At that time, the imperial court was in chaos, and Emperor Shun was trying to take back power from the eunuchs and relatives, so it is possible that this matter was not even reported to Emperor Shun, let alone attracting the attention of the court.

Even if the imperial court paid attention, given the distance of Linyi, it would be impossible for the imperial court to directly send troops to march for two years to conquer it. At most, it would order the officials of Jiaozhou to quell the rebellion themselves.

But if the local officials of Jiaozhou had done something, it wouldn't have been the turn of a small meritorious officer to rebel and claim kingship.

The whip is beyond reach...

This undoubtedly described the situation, and it was also because of this that the Linyi Kingdom successfully became independent, and it seemed to have formed a not small country south of Jiaozhou.

“That's right, the Linyi Kingdom has been our Han Dynasty's territory since ancient times, but it's just that a small thief has stolen it and established himself. How can such a country be qualified to trade with our Han Dynasty?”

Li Ji stated in a deep voice.

Hearing this, Liu Bei rubbed his fingers on his belt and slowly said, “Zikun, since this is the case, why not urgently summon Gan Ning, Jiang Qin, and Xu Sheng to discuss this matter?”

(End of this chapter)