Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Immediately, Liu Bei's curiosity was piqued, and he asked.

"Oh? Who could earn such praise from Wen Xiang?"

It should be known that Xu Sheng's personality is cautious and steady.

If someone truly didn't possess some ability, it would be impossible for Xu Sheng to openly recommend them.

"This man is named Chen Dao, courtesy name Shu Zhi, from Runan in Yu Province. About two years ago, he heard of Lord's benevolent reputation and came from Runan to Wu Commandery to join the army. His courage may be slightly inferior to General Zilong, but he is above me. Moreover, he governs the army strictly. I have entrusted him with supervising military law, and no one in the army disobeys him."

Xu Sheng replied.

Chen Dao?

Li Ji's eyes lit up slightly, as he also had quite an impression of this name.

In the original timeline, the "White Feather Troops" (Bai Er Bing) formed and led by Chen Dao were praised by Zhuge Liang as "superior soldiers," truly the elite of the elite.

Li Ji simply didn't expect that after hearing of Liu Bei's benevolent reputation, Chen Dao had already come to join Liu Bei's command early on, and凭借 (pingjie - relying on) his own abilities, he had gained Xu Sheng's appreciation and was initially entrusted with important responsibilities by Xu Sheng.

And Liu Bei naturally wouldn't belittle Xu Sheng's solemn recommendation. He immediately sent someone to invite Chen Dao over.

As Chen Dao arrived at the council hall, everyone secretly sized him up.

His appearance was ordinary, his physique was sturdy, and there was a unique steadiness in his movements. Facing everyone's gaze, he showed no timidity or fear. Only when he looked at Liu Bei sitting in the main seat did a few traces of eagerness and excitement appear in his eyes.

"Chen Dao from Runan, greets Lord."

"Quick, please rise."

Liu Bei stood up and personally helped Chen Dao up, then asked, "Wen Xiang recommends you as having the ability to form heavy armor troops. I wonder what you think?"

Chen Dao pondered slightly, then replied loudly.

"Not weaker than others."

Liu Bei frowned slightly, feigning some displeasure and doubt, and said.

"Compared to the Camp Destroyer that used a lone army to resist tens of thousands of allied cavalry, forcing tens of thousands of cavalry to retreat, you dare say you are not weaker than them?"

There was still no hesitation in Chen Dao's eyes as he replied, "I dare not say I will surely win, but I will certainly not be defeated."

At this moment, admiration filled Liu Bei's eyes.

A general leading troops, if without confidence, must be a mediocre talent.

Chen Dao had not shown the slightest hesitation or timidity from beginning to end, which was at least enough to prove his courage and also indirectly demonstrated his confidence.

"Good!"

Liu Bei clapped his hands and laughed, saying.

"Since Shu Zhi is so confident, then I will appoint you as Heavy Armor Commandant."

"You will replace Wen Xiang in forming a heavy armor troop. I can satisfy all your needs for soldiers, armor, and weapons. I hope Shu Zhi can form a heavy armor troop that is not weaker than others, as you have said."

"I will certainly not disappoint Lord," Chen Dao replied, still without joy or fear.

Chen Dao's displayed temperament made Liu Bei even more delighted, and he said to Xu Sheng, "Wen Xiang has contributed to recommending talent, reward him with one hundred gold."

"It is my duty, I dare not claim merit," Xu Sheng replied with cupped hands.

Li Ji said with a smile.

"Since it is a reward from Lord, Wen Xiang should accept it. Reward for merit, punishment for demerit. Does Wen Xiang want Lord to be a master of unclear rewards and punishments?"

"I dare not."

Xu Sheng quickly replied, and then accepted Liu Bei's reward.

Immediately, Liu Bei had Chen Dao also sit in the hall to listen, and then the final selection of the commander-in-chief was decided.

Xu Sheng was the commander, Gan Ning was the vanguard, and Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were under his command, leading 30,000 naval troops.

Using the "Wu Commandery" as the flagship, the "Kuaiji" and "Lujiang" as sub-ships, and leading more than 30 large and small seagoing vessels to form a large fleet to set out immediately.

At this moment, Xu Sheng, Gan Ning, Sun Ce, and even Zhou Yu's faces couldn't hide a few traces of excitement.

Zhou Yu opposed conquering Linyi by force based on reason, but it didn't mean that Zhou Yu didn't want to be appointed as a general and ennobled, leaving a name in history.

This conquest of the Kingdom of Linyi was of great significance. If they could win a great victory and bring back the grain seeds, it would definitely be written about in history. Even if he was only under Xu Sheng's command, there was a high probability that he would be ennobled because of it.

And now Liu Bei's command was naturally no longer what it once was. In order to build a fleet to conquer Yingzhou, almost 80% of the seagoing vessels had been transferred.

With the continuous trade with "Jinmen Port" and Yingzhou, whether to meet trade needs or driven by interests in all aspects, the development and construction of various seagoing vessels had never stopped.

And before completely controlling Yang Province, the shipyard had already expanded the commandery-level warships to the "Lujiang," "Jiujiang," "Danyang," and "Yuzhang."

Now that the seagoing vessel technology had gradually reached a bottleneck, the further conquest of seagoing vessel technology had been delayed, and Li Ji's hoped-for "province"-level warships had not been perfected.

However, even without "province"-level warships, Li Ji was confident that a fleet composed of three "commandery"-level warships as the main force, supplemented by various seagoing vessels, would be enough to crush a small Kingdom of Linyi.

It was just that Jiang Qin, who had been smiling all night, could no longer smile after learning that he needed to stay in Yang Province this time. He even exuded an aura of decadence.

After Xu Sheng and others excitedly went down to make preparations for the voyage as soon as possible, Liu Bei specifically called Jiang Qin to comfort him.

After all, among Liu Bei's command, the only naval generals who could truly stand alone were Xu Sheng, Jiang Qin, and Gan Ning. It was impossible to send all three out, and it was necessary to leave one general to stay in Yang Province to deal with various situations.

And letting Jiang Qin stay in Yang Province was, in a sense, a trust in Jiang Qin.

This made Jiang Qin feel grateful for Liu Bei's importance, but he still couldn't hide his regret.

How many opportunities does a person have in their life to leave a name in history?

This time, I, Lao Jiang, have missed it.

Thinking of this, Jiang Qin almost burst into tears of regret.

Seeing this, Li Ji also followed to comfort him.

"Why doesn't Gongyi imitate Wen Xiang? Try to recommend more talents to Lord. If there are more available naval generals, why would Lord necessarily want Gongyi to stay in Yang Province?"

Hearing this, Jiang Qin's spirit was slightly shaken. He felt that what Li Ji said was very reasonable, and he secretly resolved to pay more attention to this aspect in the future.

As for the conquest of the Kingdom of Linyi, although Liu Bei didn't publicize it, he didn't deliberately hide it either.

More importantly, if they wanted to build a naval force of up to 30,000, they would inevitably need to select 15,000 soldiers from military households who were good at swimming to supplement it.

Therefore, even if the matter could be concealed for a while, it would not be possible to hide it for a long time.

Moreover, when Linyi was conquered, one of the Er Zhang would still need to go to Linyi to take office, and this matter must also be reported to the imperial court.

Therefore, Li Ji simply didn't bother to carry out any concealment.

This massive troop movement, on the contrary, frightened the Yang Province aristocratic families who had originally begun to fight internally, causing the Yang Province aristocratic families to instantly become as quiet as quails.

Under the high-efficiency mobilization unique to the military household system, 30,000 naval troops were mobilized in just five days, and all kinds of needed materials had been fully prepared.

Without the slightest delay, this mighty fleet left Wu Commandery on a clear morning and headed towards the Kingdom of Linyi.

The only purpose of this trip was… to destroy the country!

The only ones who saw off this fleet were Liu Bei, Li Ji, and Mi Zhu, who was responsible for a large amount of money and grain allocation.

It was just that Mi Zhu's gaze towards Liu Bei and Li Ji revealed a few obvious traces of resentment.

As the nominal Chief Clerk in charge of all money and grain in Yang Province, Mi Zhu didn't even know the whereabouts of the money and grain needed to supply 30,000 soldiers for half a year.

Under the order of Liu Bei and Li Ji, Mi Zhu cooperated with Li Ji day and night to allocate money and grain.

After finally emptying many granaries in five days and completing the allocation of money and grain, he then watched helplessly as the fleet loaded with a large amount of money and grain directly left Wu Commandery.

Watching the fleet loaded with a large amount of money and grain gradually disappear into the distance, Mi Zhu's heart ached so much that it was difficult to breathe.

At this moment, Mi Zhu seemed to have a new understanding of Li Ji's previous term "tool man."

"Zikun, may I ask, Chief Clerk wants to ask about the whereabouts of these money and grain!"

Mi Zhu asked, gnashing his teeth.

Li Ji put his hands behind his back, looking out at the distant sea. The sea breeze blew his robe, and he replied.

"Zizhong, don't worry, the purpose of this fleet is to ensure that Yang Province will no longer have to worry about famine."

(End of this chapter)