Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Yang Hong was shocked to hear this.

Now that the grain in various places is gradually ripening, it is time to start harvesting.

Forcing the able-bodied men in various parts of Yu Province will inevitably slow down the harvesting of grain in various places.

Once Yuan Shu's order is issued, it is conceivable that even if the people desperately try to harvest the grain, it will definitely be too late.

And once the fire is set, it will inevitably lead to a considerable part of Yu Province experiencing a poor harvest.

Moreover, Yang Hong also knew that even if the people's grain harvest was poor, the officials and aristocratic families in various places might not reduce the amount of grain they demanded from the people or tenant farmers.

With this back and forth, Yu Province would inevitably suffer a famine next year.

However, Yang Hong also understood that at this critical moment of life and death, Yuan Shu would not care about such trivial matters, and stopping Li Ji's advance was the top priority.

As Yuan Shu's order was quickly transmitted to the counties and cities along the east side of Ruyang, fires began to ignite in the fields, causing countless people to cry out in despair.

For the common people at the bottom, they may never have seen what gold is in their lives, but they only understand that the golden grain in the fields is their only means of survival.

They didn't understand, they didn't understand, why they had to burn the grain in the fields that could already be harvested one after another.

How are we going to live next year?

The able-bodied men were conscripted, the grain was burned, and a cloud of despair enveloped the land of Yu Province, making the people of Yu Province seem unable to see where tomorrow was.

Li Ji, who was marching rapidly towards the Guo River, quickly discovered large tracts of fields that had been turned into scorched earth.

"Teacher, I sent people to find a few old farmers in the surrounding area to inquire, and they said that the grain in the fields was burned by the officials from the nearby cities yesterday."

Zhuge Liang, who was becoming increasingly cautious in his work, quickly found out about this and hurriedly rode a small pony to report to Li Ji, with an unavoidable look of worry on his face.

Obviously, Zhuge Liang also understood what the large-scale burning of grain in the fields at this time meant for the people.

Unless the imperial court or Yu Province can mobilize a large amount of grain for disaster relief next year, the affected people will inevitably suffer a famine.

Li Ji saw this even more clearly.

The extremely fragile small-scale peasant economy of this era cannot withstand such a torment. Natural and man-made disasters will instantly break their peaceful lives.

"Yuan Shu is implementing a scorched earth policy, burning grain, worried that our army will seize food from the enemy..."

Li Ji sighed, pondered for a while, and then said.

"Liang'er, record what I dictate and send it to Shouchun and the lord immediately."

"Yes."

Zhuge Liang responded quickly, then took out a charcoal pencil from his sleeve, ready to write on his sleeve.

Now that the army is still on the march, there is naturally no condition to slowly grind ink.

Although Zhuge Liang also has the ability to remember everything he sees, in order to avoid omissions, he still prepares to write on his sleeve to facilitate the accurate transmission of Li Ji's orders afterwards.

"The people of Yu Province have been affected by the war, a large number of able-bodied men have been conscripted, and a large amount of grain has been burned. There may be a famine next year. After the autumn grain in Jing and Yang provinces is put into storage, a large amount of grain should be transferred to the border for preparation."

"If Yu Province wins this battle, allocate grain to Yu Province to prepare for disaster relief; if Yu Province suffers a setback in this battle, Jing and Yang provinces also need to prepare to receive the fleeing victims."

After saying that, Li Ji continued to ride his warhorse and march, while looking at the grain in the fields in the distance, and couldn't help but feel quite惋惜.

In troubled times, money is certainly important, but grain is the foundation of everything.

Even for the Liu Bei Group, which has introduced high-yield grain varieties, grain is still quite precious due to the limitations of population and cultivated land area.

However, Li Ji quickly suppressed those extra weaknesses and hesitations, and understood that the more this was the case, the sooner the troubled times had to be ended.

Otherwise, the continuous wars will only drag the entire Han Dynasty into the abyss, and even lead to the tragedy of "Five Barbarians Overthrowing China".

"Order the entire army to speed up!"

Under Li Ji's urging and command, the army's marching speed subtly increased a little, constantly heading towards the Guo River.

Wherever they passed, the fields could be said to have been completely burned.

Even under Yuan Shu's order of "scorched earth policy", there were many bandits who, under the guise of "the order from above", blatantly robbed the people.

They called it: first take the people's grain and store it, so that the army led by Li Ji will naturally not be able to seize the grain.

Many of the people who dared to resist were directly beheaded with the label of "colluding with the enemy".

Order can be said to have disappeared visibly in Yu Province.

The boundary between officials and bandits has also begun to blur significantly in the troubled times.

Fortunately, Li Ji did not have the idea of "seizing food from the enemy" from the beginning, otherwise Yuan Shu's move would have been enough to make Li Ji's plan fall through.

But the famine, however, could not wait until next year, and broke out one step ahead.

It's just that Li Ji has the heart to provide disaster relief, but the army only carries a few days of dry food, and is simply unable to help the people.

But watching the people fall into famine made Li Ji greatly unbearable.

Li Ji, who had been marching east from Xiang County for four days, looked at the map spread on the ground by the light of the campfire when the army was resting at night, and his usually calm expression was slightly hesitant.

Comparing the location of the army, Li Ji murmured.

"The army has passed Dan County, and will be able to leave Pei State tomorrow, and will be able to reach the Guo River in about three days."

However, what Li Ji was worried about was not the army, but the signs of famine that had already appeared around Dan County.

The famine in Yu Province naturally does not affect the marching speed of the army, but Li Ji can't bear to ignore these people.

In a sense, Li Ji and Liu Bei do have a lot of similarities.

In the original trajectory, facing Cao Cao's army chasing and killing, Liu Bei could not let go of the people, gritted his teeth and led the people across the river to flee;

Now, seeing the surrounding people falling into famine, Li Ji also couldn't help but feel a bit of compassion.

If only the grain in the fields was burned, then the people of Yu Province could still survive until next year.

However, many bandits, relying on their official status, and under the banner of Yuan Shu, took the opportunity to cause chaos and rob, taking away all the little remaining food in the homes of many people, so that a small-scale famine instantly broke out.

At this moment, the members of the staff group and some generals are also on Li Ji's left and right.

Li Ji sighed, and expressed his concerns, intending to listen to everyone's thoughts.

A moment of silence followed, with only the "crackling" sound from the campfire from time to time.

However, this is undoubtedly a difficult question for anyone to answer.

Seeing this, Li Ji added again.

"Everyone should speak freely, there is no need to be suspicious, even if what you say is wrong, you will not be blamed for it."

Pang Tong, who was the boldest, followed and said.

"Since that's the case, teacher, don't blame the student for offending you."

(End of this chapter)