Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Based on Jia Xu's past performance, he could only be described as mediocre. Even when Niu Fu appointed him as an adjutant, he always ensured that his work was neither outstanding nor terrible.

If we were to use exams as an analogy, Jia Xu was the type of candidate who could consistently score exactly fifty points.

He wouldn't give Niu Fu any reason to criticize him, but there was also nothing noteworthy or praiseworthy about him.

Therefore, Jia Xu found it perplexing that someone as unremarkable as himself would be targeted by Li Ji, who was even willing to go to such great lengths to have him assist Liu Bei.

Li Ji was momentarily at a loss for words upon hearing this.

After all, Jia Xu's brilliance was entirely derived from a future that had not yet occurred. Currently, Jia Xu had not yet demonstrated any exceptional abilities.

However, a smile appeared on Li Ji's face, and he said.

"In my opinion, Wenhe is by no means a person who is bound by Confucian benevolence and morality. He is unscrupulous in his actions, with a ruthless and resilient nature. However, our lord's character is too benevolent, and he may be constrained by others due to his personality in the future. Therefore, he needs Wenhe's assistance."

Jia Xu's gentle, gentlemanly expression darkened upon hearing this.

Li Ji's words sounded pleasant, but in reality, he was completely implying that Jia Xu had no bottom line when it came to planning and executing schemes. This would be useful when dealing with certain people or matters that were difficult to handle with benevolence.

If Jia Xu could hear Li Ji's inner thoughts, then Li Ji's inner monologue would be: 'Our lord is benevolent, and this matter is difficult to handle. Then our lord shouldn't handle it. Let's go out for a stroll and clear our minds, and then secretly let Jia Xu loose.'

Then, even if Jia Xu did something that violated benevolence and morality, and was later reprimanded and punished by Liu Bei, Li Ji would dissuade and comfort him from the side, considering the relationship between Jia Xu and Li Ji.

With Liu Bei's emphasis on loyalty and righteousness, would he really disregard Li Ji's feelings and do anything to Jia Xu?

Naturally, he could only choose to forgive Jia Xu and warn him once, "Don't do this again next time."

However, Jia Xu was naturally unaware of Li Ji's plan at this moment and retorted sarcastically.

"In my opinion, Zikun is not a benevolent person either. He may not care more about benevolence and morality than I do when using schemes."

"I, Li Ji, can be benevolent."

Li Ji replied with a smile.

After all, Liu Bei's character dictated that the prevailing atmosphere within his group would inevitably be benevolence and morality. Therefore, if Li Ji wanted to become the head of Liu Bei's civil officials, his actions and style could not be completely contrary to this.

Otherwise, either Li Ji would have many conflicts with the other civil and military officials, or Li Ji would have many conflicts with Liu Bei.

It was like, no matter how powerful "Human Butcher" Bai Qi was, he probably wouldn't be valued under Liu Bei. This was a matter of compatibility.

The same was true for Jia Xu. Jia Xu's character dictated that he could never truly become the head of Liu Bei's civil officials.

However, Jia Xu's greatest pursuit was not high office and great wealth, so this kind of compatibility conflict was not a problem in Li Ji's view.

"Wenhe need not worry too much. Spend some more time with our lord, and you will understand."

Li Ji patted Jia Xu on the shoulder and said. "From now on, we can be considered colleagues. Please give me more guidance, Wenhe. I am extremely grateful."

"Having you as my colleague is truly my blessing," Jia Xu replied with a forced smile.

"Wenhe, don't you think you and I are like Boya and Zhong Ziqi, truly kindred spirits?" Li Ji said.

"Zhong Ziqi wouldn't be thinking about when to take Boya's head. If I turned around and left, I'm afraid Zikun wouldn't spare my life, would he?"

"How can that be compared?"

Li Ji said as a matter of course.

"It is precisely because I know Wenhe's heart that I will use this method to keep Wenhe here. Even if I can't get Wenhe's heart, I still want to keep Wenhe's person first."

As Li Ji spoke, he still had no intention of handing over the blood-stained silk scroll.

After all, if he ever wanted to kill Jia Xu, Li Ji only needed to forge another blood-stained silk scroll with mismatched handwriting, and then he could kill Jia Xu reasonably at any time.

This kind of thing was useful to keep.

For people like Jia Xu, who seemed like gentlemen but in reality had no bottom line when making plans, it was necessary to have a little deterrence at all times.

Gentlemen could be deceived with principles, while villains needed to have their lifelines grasped.

Jia Xu narrowed his eyes slightly and said. "Don't forget, I also know the details of how Zikun forged his identity as a member of the Longxi Li clan. If this matter is publicized, it will definitely cause Zikun to be scorned by the world."

Li Ji chuckled and replied.

"Isn't this the guarantee I gave to Wenhe? It's to reassure Wenhe."

In fact, how could Li Ji not know that this was a handle? In this era where aristocratic families controlled the vast majority of discourse power, Li Ji's impersonation of a member of another aristocratic family would inevitably be scorned by the aristocratic families of the world.

For the sake of safety, Li Ji could have completely fabricated a background in Wu County himself.

With Li Ji's influence under Liu Bei, he could have concealed this from anyone. However, Li Ji still chose to let Jia Xu know and participate in it.

The purpose was nothing more than to reassure Jia Xu.

Only when one party held the handle of the other would it cause anxiety, but when both parties held the handle of the other, it was often a relationship that was much stronger than mere interests.

Moreover, the relationship between Li Ji and Jia Xu could also allow Jia Xu to confidently display his abilities under Liu Bei in the future, without worrying about being hated and scorned by Liu Bei for being too ruthless.

After this conversation, Jia Xu's face still seemed displeased, but in reality, he had basically sorted out Li Ji's thoughts, and he couldn't help but feel that Li Ji might really be his kindred spirit.

Li Ji had not only considered all aspects for Liu Bei, but had even invisibly made various guarantees for Jia Xu to be able to display his abilities.

'Li Zikun is more complicated than previously judged...'

Jia Xu silently evaluated in his heart.

'It's a pity that my relationship with Zikun is not stable enough. If I marry my daughter to Zikun, it would be too close...'

Suddenly, Jia Xu thought of something and said.

"Zikun, I think what Xuande Gong said is not bad, you can consider it."

"What?" Li Ji didn't react for a moment.

"It's that you and I become sworn father and son, the age is also suitable... Hmm? Zikun, you are looking around, what are you looking for?" Jia Xu asked in confusion.

Li Ji replied with an unkind expression. "I'm seeing if there is a halberd..."

Halberd?

Jia Xu didn't understand what he meant, but he roughly heard Li Ji's meaning, which was undoubtedly wanting to find a handy weapon to stab him to death!

Immediately, Jia Xu, who adhered to the principle of a gentleman not standing under a dangerous wall, did not hesitate at all, got up and left, escaping Li Ji's line of sight.

And even after Jia Xu left, Li Ji's face was still quite unhappy. Until Zhao Yun came to take Li Ji to attend the banquet, Li Ji did not forget to ask.

"Zilong, what do you think about me practicing the halberd?"

Zhao Yun replied with a serious expression upon hearing this.

"Mr. Zikun, the halberd is mostly a ceremonial object. Very few people use it as a weapon. It also includes many techniques such as rushing shovel, back chop, horizontal stab, downward split stab, oblique rein, horizontal chop, interception, pass, pick, and straight split. The requirements for use are extremely high, and it is not mastered by ordinary people."

"Relatively speaking, the sword is a gentleman's weapon, and it is more suitable for Mr. Zikun to practice to strengthen his body and protect himself."

Li Ji nodded, not forcing it, but secretly planning to prepare a halberd in his room in the future, without using it.

Only when Lu Bu kills his adoptive father twice in the future will Jia Xu inevitably be frightened when he sees the halberd and dare not mention this matter again.

And when Li Ji arrived at the main hall where the banquet was held, Jia Xu had already arrived early and was chatting happily with Liu Bei. After Li Ji and Zhao Yun arrived, Liu Bei announced the start of the banquet.

Although this was a private banquet set up by Liu Bei, the specifications were far from comparable to yesterday, but it was better in terms of warmth and harmony, and more about exchanging feelings with each other.

Liu Bei did not have any self-importance at all, but instead often raised his glass and took the initiative to drink with Jia Xu and Zhao Yun.

The only regret was that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had not yet returned, and Xiahou Bo had also returned to Changshan to prepare to bring his younger brother Xiahou Lan over, and go to Wu County together.

Originally, Zhao Yun and Xiahou Bo both believed that Xiahou Lan had not yet learned anything, and could not yet serve Liu Bei, so they declined to bring Xiahou Lan, who was more like a family member.

However, Li Ji believed that precisely because Xiahou Lan had not yet learned anything, Xiahou Bo should bring him with him to discipline him more and urge him to become a talent.

In this regard, Xiahou Bo considered again and again, and also decided to return to Changshan to bring Xiahou Lan over according to Li Ji's words.

As for Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, none of them were married now, and their parents had also passed away, so naturally there were no family members to speak of.

This banquet naturally lasted until nightfall, and everyone present was full of food and drink before they dispersed to rest.

And until Li Ji returned to his room to rest and fall asleep, a certain thought flashed through his mind, and he always felt that he had overlooked something small.

However, under the surge of drunkenness, Li Ji slightly pondered the arrangements and situations of everyone under Liu Bei, and after confirming that there was no problem, he fell asleep peacefully.

......

At the same time.

In another residence not far from Liu Bei's mansion.

Cao Cao, who had been boiling tea around the stove, had already poured down a whole day of tea, looking at the hazy night, and after confirming that Li Ji would not be visiting today, he suddenly swept all the stoves and teapots in front of him to the ground.

"Bang!"

"Someone!"

Cao Cao shouted.

"Brother."

Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, who had taken turns accompanying Cao Cao to drink tea for most of the day and were so full of tea, had originally hid in a corner, and at this time they hurriedly came out.

Cao Cao said with a gloomy face. "Go and inquire about the movements of Liu Daer's mansion today."

"Yes, brother."

Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan exchanged a look, immediately understanding the reason for Cao Cao's anger, and hurriedly went down to arrange for people to inquire.

Soon, the news was relayed back to Cao Cao.

After learning that Liu Bei had hosted a banquet in his mansion to entertain his subordinates for the better part of the day, Cao Cao, enraged, began to laugh and said.

"Good, good, good. It seems that Liu Bei still has some skill in winning people's hearts, unwilling to let Li Zikun come to visit me, he actually used such means to keep Li Zikun in his mansion."

"Humph! If the mountain won't come to me, then I will go to the mountain."

"Yuan Rang, go and send a formal invitation to Liu Bei, I will visit Li Zikun at Liu Bei's residence tomorrow."