Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Crowning, for a Han Chinese, is a major event.

Having a courtesy name signifies true adulthood and the qualification to independently manage affairs. Outsiders should no longer regard Sun Ce as a mere youth.

Especially after Sun Jian's death, the vast Sun family estate is now full of orphans and widows, urgently needing Sun Ce to step forward and take charge after his coming-of-age ceremony.

Therefore, even though Sun Ce couldn't help but want to jump out and volunteer for battle on the spot, he was forcibly held back in his seat by reason, unsure of what to do.

Subconsciously, Sun Ce, who highly regarded Zhou Yu's intellect, urgently spoke to Zhou Yu beside him.

"Yu-di, Yu-di, I really want to go to war, is there a good plan?!"

Unlike the others, Zhou Yu had not yet reacted.

The significance of high-yield grain is self-evident. What shocked Zhou Yu was that Liu Bei's fleet actually possessed the ability to launch expeditions to Linyi.

This greatly shocked Zhou Yu, and he almost instantly understood what this meant.

Today, Liu Bei can launch an expedition to Linyi, then as long as Liu Bei has the idea, he can appear like divine soldiers descending from the sky in coastal areas such as Ji, Qing, and Xu provinces at any time.

The strategic and tactical significance of this is especially terrifying!

To the point that Zhou Yu's mind was still a little dizzy.

Zhou Yu clearly remembered that before he left Lujiang with his father to go to Luoyang, Yangzhou had never had such naval technology.

Although Yangzhou aristocratic families possessed some shipbuilding technology, it was mainly used for river and canal transport within Yangzhou.

How could it be that in just a few short years, Wu County had unknowingly developed naval technology to this extent?

Seeing that Zhou Yu didn't seem to have reacted, Sun Ce couldn't help but raise his voice slightly.

"Yu-di?!"

This time, Zhou Yu, who was sitting at the end of the table, reacted, which also attracted the attention of the others.

Seeing this, Li Ji took the opportunity to give Sun Ce a chance, and said.

"Ce'er, Zhou Yu, do you also have any brilliant ideas?"

In Li Ji's view, this campaign against Linyi was not only righteous, but also offered great opportunities to gain merit and fame.

Therefore, Li Ji also wanted to give Sun Ce a chance.

Hearing this, Sun Ce didn't care what Zhou Yu thought, and immediately stood up and said loudly.

"Teacher, I also volunteer for battle…"

As for the reason…

Sun Ce's mind raced, and he blurted out, "Conquering countries, I have experience!"

Ah?!

The most stunned person was Zhou Yu, who looked sideways at Sun Ce, who was about the same age as him, his mind full of confusion.

Conquering countries… has experience?

What a cold joke.

Has my elder brother already become so incoherent in order to volunteer for battle?

In order to block information about the Yamatai Kingdom as much as possible, all the officers and soldiers who knew the inside story were ordered not to disclose it, and the vast majority of the soldiers who followed Li Ji on the expedition to Yamatai only knew that they had fought a battle with the Yamatai Kingdom, and then supported the Wa people to re-enter Yamatai.

Only confidants like Sun Ce truly knew that the Yamatai Kingdom was completely destroyed by Li Ji, and the Wa people were just puppets in Li Ji's hands.

As for the information about the Yamatai mines, which continuously produced large quantities of gold and silver and transported them to Wu County, was also something that ordinary soldiers could not know.

Only the soldiers who stayed in Yamatai to supervise the mines and control the Wa people might know a lot more, but there was no chance for the news to return to the Great Han.

Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, Li Ji's previous expedition to Yamatai was, as Li Ji said in his book "Subduing People with Virtue" not long ago, to assist the Great Han's vassal state of Wa in restoring their country.

Destroying the Yamatai Kingdom was also to assist the Wa people.

Moreover, Li Ji's assistance in destroying the country was portrayed as being forced to do so in order to maintain the Great Han after being humiliated, completely as a victim's face, so Sun Ce's mention of it was naturally not much.

Therefore, Zhou Yu really didn't know the inside story, only knowing that Sun Ce had followed Li Ji to Yamatai, but not knowing that Sun Ce had personally broken through the capital of the Yamatai Kingdom and captured Himiko and other nobles to Li Ji's horse.

Immediately, Zhou Yu followed up, both to divert attention and make up for Sun Ce, and also out of public interest, said.

"Imperial Uncle Liu, in Yu's humble opinion, since the Linyi Kingdom has such grain, there is no need to go to war. Just send a few ships to the Linyi Kingdom, and I think we can easily exchange for the required grain through trade."

At the end, Zhou Yu couldn't help but cast his gaze towards Li Ji.

In Zhou Yu's view, Li Ji should support his views and take this opportunity to persuade the warlike generals.

From an absolutely rational point of view, the current Han Dynasty needs this high-yield grain, but compared to sending troops to attack and retrieve the grain, sending a few ships to exchange for the grain through trade is undoubtedly simpler and easier.

Even if the Linyi Kingdom was split from the Great Han, after the Great Han's ships arrive in the Linyi Kingdom, in terms of power and profit, the Linyi Kingdom would not dare and would not refuse trade.

However, Zhou Yu's words undoubtedly offended Gan Ning, a warmonger, who retorted coldly.

"Hmph, where merchant ships can reach, warships can reach even more! Moreover, the establishment of Linyi is not righteous. If we trade with it, wouldn't it be equivalent to acknowledging the status of the Linyi Kingdom? Are you, Zhou Yu, not afraid of being cursed by future generations?"

This sentence undoubtedly hit the key point of Zhou Yu's proposal.

In terms of pure profit and efficiency, the way of trade is undoubtedly faster.

But Liu Bei, as the General of Annam, the Governor of Yangzhou, and the Imperial Uncle of the Great Han, if he sends people to trade with the self-established country of rebels, this is tantamount to acknowledging the independent status of the Linyi Kingdom in a sense.

Although Zhou Yu wanted to express that he meant sending ships secretly, as long as this trade is not registered, no one will know, and who will pursue the details?

It is clear that Zhou Yu's meaning is not suitable for discussion on the table, and was even asked by Gan Ning to the point of being in a dilemma, and can only continue to cast his gaze towards Li Ji, hoping that Li Ji will personally come down to appease those warmongers.

It's a pity that Zhou Yu obviously doesn't know that Li Ji, who is regarded as the head of Liu Bei's civil servants and shows elegance and gentleness in his eyes, is the real radical.

Does Li Ji not know that trade is the most efficient and labor-saving way?

However, Li Ji's vigorous development of people's livelihood is not for the purpose of saving money and food at this time.

Gan Ning's words just now can be said to be very much in Li Ji's heart.

Warships can reach the positions that merchant ships can reach.

The relationship between countries is essentially about interests, but you can't just look at the immediate interests.

The Linyi Kingdom has been independent for fifty-four years. If such a long time continues to be delayed, after the older generation of Linyi people completely die, the Linyi's internal recognition of the Great Han will undoubtedly decline sharply.

If this goes on for a long time, the Linyi Kingdom may really completely break away from the Great Han and move towards complete independence.

Therefore, in Li Ji's view, this time to send troops to conquer Linyi, taking back high-yield grain is one of the main purposes, and taking this opportunity to re-incorporate Linyi into the territory of the Great Han is also an excellent opportunity.

Moreover, taking advantage of the power of conquering Linyi, it will also be of great benefit to sending Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong to govern Jiaozhou next.

Seek the government in its position.

Zhou Yu, who is now a commoner, is only considering from the aspects of money, food, and soldiers. Taking back grain through trade may be the optimal solution.

But in Li Ji's view, this battle must be fought.

If this generation does not take this opportunity to re-incorporate Linyi into the Great Han, maybe this battle will be left to future generations to fight.

As for the issue of money and food that needs to be consumed in conquering Linyi, under the premise of confirming the necessity of conquering Linyi, it is not within Li Ji's consideration at all.

It's not to say that Yangzhou has reached the point where it doesn't lack money and food at all, but Li Ji's diligent governance over the years is precisely so that he won't be forced to give way in righteousness for the sake of some interests in the future.

Furthermore, in autumn and winter, the Central Plains is not suitable for using troops, but it is a good opportunity to conquer the hot climate of Linyi.

'The timing of the day, the advantage of the terrain, the harmony of the people, the righteousness, the morale, and the money and food are all indispensable, why not fight?'

Li Ji's determination is probably only known to Liu Bei.

Therefore, facing Zhou Yu's gaze, Li Ji slowly closed the folding fan in his hand and made the final conclusion on this matter, saying.

"This matter may not be as simple as Zhou Yu thinks."

"Linyi was once the territory of our Great Han. This grain was bestowed upon Linyi, undoubtedly a gift from heaven to the Great Han."

"However, Qu Lian, knowing about this grain but not offering it to the imperial court, instead raised troops to rebel and split the land to establish himself. Such actions must be intentionally harming the country and the people, intending to harm our Great Han!"

At this moment, Li Ji stood up and said in a deep voice.

"If Qu Lian had offered this grain to the imperial court and promoted it to the world earlier, how could Yangzhou be so poor today, and why would the people have to endure hunger and cold like this, and even the Taiping Dao sect would not have the opportunity to bewitch the people to rebel."

"How could the world today be like this?"

"Such a deep investigation shows that Qu Lian's intentions are vicious, and the harm to the Great Han is even greater than that of the thief Dong!"

As soon as these words came out, not to mention the generals who were volunteering for battle below, even Liu Bei's expression became gloomy and revealed anger.

Although this is a kind of sophistry and conspiracy theory, it undoubtedly steadily let Qu Lian, who established himself as the "King of Linyi", steadily take the blame.

"Such a vicious person against the Great Han, for the sake of reason and emotion, how can he accept trade? And how can the Great Han trade with him again, only…"

"Kill!"

"Can we rectify the prestige of the Great Han and relieve the hatred of the people!" (End of this chapter)