Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

"Teacher…" Sima Yi paused slightly, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes, which then turned into determination.

If, before Li Ji's great defeat of Cao Cao, Sima Yi had intentionally concealed his talent and held back, it was because the general trend of the world was not yet clear.

The struggle between Yuan and Liu made it difficult to predict who would have the last laugh.

Even though Sima Yi had become a disciple of Li Ji, it did not mean that Sima Yi had to serve Liu Bei.

However, with Cao Cao's crushing defeat by Li Ji, followed by his abandonment of the Yuan alliance to attack Ji Province from the rear, and Li Ji's preparation to swallow Yu Province, Sima Yi believed that Liu Bei had already secured forty percent of the world.

Once Liu Bei successfully swallowed Xu and Yu Provinces, he would effectively control four provinces, in addition to his influence over Yi, You, and Jiao Provinces.

As long as Li Ji's position remained secure or he didn't encounter any unforeseen circumstances, with Li Ji at the helm for Liu Bei,

then in Sima Yi's view, it was only a matter of time before the world ultimately fell into Liu Bei's hands.

Therefore, Sima Yi, who had always intended to conceal his talent, finally made up his mind to place his bet and intentionally display his abilities.

However, Sima Yi was also aware that compared to Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong,

he was not as versatile as Zhuge Liang, nor was he as skilled in unconventional strategies as Pang Tong. How to further demonstrate his value in front of Li Ji was what troubled Sima Yi.

"The Yu Province aristocratic families are wealthier than entire countries. With centuries of accumulation, even though the Yu Province aristocratic families are divided into four factions, betting on Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, and Lu Bu respectively, and supplying these four with a large amount of money and food, their foundation is still profound."

Sima Yi stated in a low voice.

Even though Sima Yi was from Henan and belonged to the Sili aristocratic family, he was adjacent to Yu Province and was well-versed in the internal affairs of the Yu Province aristocratic families.

Although the Great Han was divided into thirteen provinces, in terms of aristocratic families, Yu Province alone accounted for thirty to forty percent of the Great Han.

Li Ji was naturally aware of what Sima Yi was saying.

In particular, Runan and Yingchuan commanderies within Yu Province were places where top-tier aristocratic families gathered. You could probably hit a noble family whose ancestors had served as one of the Three Dukes or Nine Ministers by throwing a brick.

Previously, Liu Bei had received a cold reception in Yingchuan, which had annoyed him for quite some time.

Therefore, Li Ji looked at Sima Yi and said.

"The Yu Province aristocratic families are indeed wealthy, but it is not easy to obtain their financial support, let alone persuade them to take out money and food for disaster relief. Does Yi'er intend to use your silver tongue to persuade them?"

The influence of the Yu Province aristocratic families was too great. Their tentacles even extended to all aspects of the Great Han. Their related disciples and former officials touched the vast majority of the Great Han's commanderies and counties.

Offending the Yu Province aristocratic families was no different from offending the entire aristocratic class of the Great Han.

Even after seizing Yu Province, Li Ji needed to handle the Yu Province aristocratic families with caution.

"How could the Yu Province aristocratic families be willing to take out money and food based on just a few words?"

Sima Yi was naturally not so naive.

If one truly wanted to exchange for the Yu Province aristocratic families' full support, one had to conduct an equivalent exchange of interests.

However, Sima Yi had long subtly seen from Li Ji's policy line that Li Ji intended to suppress and weaken the aristocratic families. Naturally, he understood that Li Ji would not be willing to sacrifice the long-term interests of the region in exchange for short-term support from the aristocratic families.

During the process of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu's revival of the Great Han, he had become too deeply bound to the aristocratic families, to the point that it later formed an uncontrollable situation.

Even the constant heavy use of Empress relatives and eunuchs throughout the Eastern Han Dynasty was essentially because the Han Emperor had to rely on Empress relatives and eunuchs to fight against the aristocratic families in order to maintain his own rule.

Therefore, Li Ji naturally could not allow the Great Han to return to the Eastern Han cycle, allowing the aristocratic class to continue to restrain the development of the Great Han.

"This disciple understands the teacher's concerns and is also aware that the teacher must already be considering how to suppress the Yu Province aristocratic families."

"Therefore, the plan that this disciple has devised is actually a double-edged sword, which can not only solve the famine but also greatly weaken the Yu Province aristocratic families."

Sima Yi said softly.

Sima Yi had to be careful, after all, the Sima clan, originating from Henan, had a lot of involvement with the Yu Province aristocratic families, and could even be linked to many Yu Province aristocratic families through marriage.

Now that Sima Yi was offering advice, it was tantamount to biting a large group of his own relatives.

If this matter were exposed, Sima Yi would probably be intolerable to the aristocratic families.

A trace of fluctuation flashed in Li Ji's eyes, understanding that Sima Yi was preparing to completely state his position, and was also expressing his loyalty to Li Ji, submitting his certificate of allegiance.

Li Ji asked.

"What is the plan?"

"The reason why the Yu Province aristocratic families make the teacher feel somewhat helpless is because the teacher needs to reason with the aristocratic families, and also needs to abide by a large number of tangible and intangible rules."

Sima Yi said softly.

"But rioters... do not need to abide by the rules with the Yu Province aristocratic families."

Li Ji narrowed his eyes slightly, and immediately understood what Sima Yi meant.

Under circumstances where rules are followed, aristocratic families have many ways to restrain the imperial court or the lords.

It is like a very simple game called Jungle Chess, with the relationship of restraint between elephants, tigers, and mice.

Those in power often find it difficult to deal with aristocratic families, but they have no way to deal with rioters.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion ten years ago killed many aristocratic families, and Huang Chao at the end of the Tang Dynasty in the original trajectory also fully illustrated that under circumstances where rules are not followed, entering Chang'an is much easier than passing the imperial examination to enter Chang'an.

How many aristocratic families, in the end, were buried in the hands of Huang Chao, a son of a lowly merchant whom they had never looked at directly.

And after Sima Yi uttered that sentence, it was as if he had untied invisible restraints, and also as if he had taken off his mask, his face showing ruthlessness as he continued to say.

"Yuan Shu, in order to survive, frequently imposed tyrannical policies within Yu Province, forcibly conscripting young men, burning fields, and allowing local powerful officials to plunder the people, causing widespread resentment."

"As long as someone raises their arms and shouts, or secretly guides them, the victims will inevitably riot!"

"Compared to the difficulty of constantly funding the victims with food, it would not be easy for the teacher to secretly fund the victims with weapons."

Li Ji nodded slightly. Compared to the huge amount of food needed for disaster relief, it was indeed easy for Yangzhou to produce tens of thousands of weapons.

Even transporting them to the hinterland of Yu Province would only require one or two ships.

"But even if the victims are given weapons, a rabble of people, does Yi'er think they can easily capture cities and expand their territory to support themselves?"

Sima Yi smiled coldly and said.

"The actual number of soldiers in the commandery and county cities of Yu Province is quite small. Nearly eighty to ninety percent of the city's defense force is composed of young men from Yu Province who have been forcibly conscripted."

"At that time, the rioters will use the people from the same village to carry out a psychological attack. The rioters may not even need to attack forcefully, and can cause internal strife within the city, opening the gates to welcome the rioters."

"As long as the rioters enter the city, with a little guidance, is there still a need to worry about not being able to take food from the aristocratic families?" (End of this chapter)