Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Many legends about gods and ghosts, once the mystery is revealed, are actually just that.

Li Ji's tone seemed as if he was talking about something ordinary, but at the same time he did not forget to ask a question.

"My Lord, what feelings do you have about the people's sentiments?"

Liu Bei was slightly stunned by Li Ji's question which seemed to contain deep meaning. He looked at Li Ji and then answered.

"It's not difficult to deceive the people."

Li Ji couldn't help but sigh and said.

"There was Zhang Jiao before and Li Ji after. From now on, no one in the Han Dynasty will use the saying 'the blue sky is dead, the yellow sky will be established' to determine the fate of the Han Dynasty."

After a pause, Li Ji said seriously, "My Lord, please forgive me for being disrespectful in the following few words..."

"Why do you and I need to say such things? Zikun, just speak your mind. If there is anything I have done wrong, I will correct it." Liu Bei replied.

Li Ji shook his head and replied.

"It's not that the lord has any shortcomings, but I want to teach the lord to understand that not only can history sometimes be tampered with by the victors, but the hearts of the people can also be easily manipulated and deceived."

"People are ignorant and can be easily deceived and exploited. This is not the people's fault, but human nature."

“Therefore, only by broadening people’s wisdom and enabling them to distinguish right from wrong can we ensure the stability of our country and the people’s livelihood.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei couldn't help but look at Li Ji with his eyes slightly widened.

It is not as treasonous as Li Ji said, but the court has always advocated the policy of keeping the people ignorant.

To broaden people's knowledge is completely different from the Confucianism's advocacy of educating the world.

These four seemingly simple words sounded like a bolt of thunder to Liu Bei's ears. He stared blankly at Li Ji for several seconds.

Li Ji was not anxious and waited patiently for Liu Bei to digest it. He also understood that for feudal rulers, "enlightening the people" was a taboo to some extent.

It is often believed that only by keeping the people ignorant can a country achieve long-term stability.

Moreover, the strategy of keeping the people fooled was perfected in Shang Yang's "Five Techniques for Governing the People" in "The Book of Lord Shang", which include: keeping the people fooled, weakening the people, tiring the people, humiliating the people, and impoverishing the people.

In a sense, it was not unfair at all that Shang Yang was torn into pieces by five horses.

Shang Yang's "Five Techniques for Governing the People" had a profound impact on the Qin State and also affected Emperor Qin Shihuang's attitude towards the people of the world. This indirectly led to Emperor Qin Shihuang exhausting the people's strength and ignoring the people's grievances. The Qin Dynasty, which ultimately achieved a unified country, quickly collapsed.

The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system. Even though the Western Han Dynasty produced many benevolent emperors such as Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Jing of Han, and Emperor Xuan of Han, the court as a whole undoubtedly still inherited the tendency to keep the people ignorant.

Moreover, according to the original trajectory, the policy of keeping the people ignorant did not end with the collapse of the Han Dynasty. Instead, it was continuously optimized and improved by successive dynasties.

By the time of the Pigtail Dynasty, the perfection of the "thirty-three taels of silver" and the "eight-legged essay" was undoubtedly the sublimation and development of the "Five Arts of Governing the People".

It can be said that although Shang Yang never saw a unified dynasty until his death, his thoughts continued to influence every generation of unified dynasties.

In Li Ji's view, this special period is undoubtedly the best time to reverse this tendency of keeping the people ignorant and break away from complacency.

After all, although the policy of keeping the people ignorant has been in use for hundreds of years, it can be regarded as a law passed down from our ancestors.

However, before the policy of keeping the people ignorant was completely solidified, Li Ji was able to use the influence of the Taiping Dao and the repeated rebellions in the Han Dynasty over the past hundreds of years to illustrate that the policy of keeping the people ignorant was not advisable.

Those who do not plan for eternity are not qualified to plan for the moment.

Li Ji specially invited Liu Bei from Xia Pi State to Runan County. Not only did he need Liu Bei to come forward to "accept the mandate of heaven", but he also wanted Liu Bei to see with his own eyes the undesirability of the policy of fooling the people.

Today, there is a Longxi Li Zikun who can easily give someone the destiny in front of the people. Why can't there be a Liu Zikun in the future who can make the people believe that another person is the destiny? The people's will is the most solid existence in the world, but it is also the weakest existence.

After a long while, Liu Bei frowned and spoke.

"Please elaborate on this idea of ​​broadening people's knowledge, Zikun."

For this moment, Li Ji had already prepared countless plans in advance, in order to take the opportunity to persuade Liu Bei and gain his full support.

As long as he got Liu Bei's support, everything would be justified and he could embark on the path of carrying out a thorough reform of the Han Dynasty during the chaotic times.

"My lord, when you are talking about how to broaden people's knowledge, I would like to ask a question: Do the people consider themselves Han people?" Li Ji asked.

"Of course." Liu Bei answered without hesitation.

"What's the reason?" Li Ji asked again.

"The people of Han are not Han people. Could they be called anything else?" Liu Bei was a little puzzled.

"My Lord, you didn't really answer this question. What is the basis for the people to think of themselves as who they are?"

"If it is just the name of the country, then it is so. But when Wang Mang established the Xin Dynasty, did the people change their name because of it?"

After a pause, Li Ji gave another example and said.

"When Qin conquered the six kingdoms and unified the world, there were many people who did not call themselves Qin people but considered themselves Chu people, Qi people, or Zhao people."

After such in-depth investigation, Liu Bei was stumped.

Liu Bei frowned and thought for a while, even recalling many memories from his childhood, before he answered.

"Is it a matter of time? The dynasty needs to last for several generations, and the people must pass it down by word of mouth before the next generation will consider themselves Han Chinese."

“This is indeed one of the reasons, but it is also where people are stupid.”

Li Ji responded and then spoke.

"I have another question. My lord, you must know that most of the rebels at the end of the Qin Dynasty were under the banner of restoring the country. I don't know how many of them were fake, but there must be some who truly miss their homeland."

"However, those rebels under the banner of restoration must be nobles, not common people. Why is that?"

Liu Bei frowned and thought hard. He wanted to say that since the rebel army were all nobles of the six countries, they would naturally fight under the banner of restoration. But when Liu Bei changed his mind, he found the loophole.

Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were not from Qin, and Emperor Gaozu was not from Qin either.

He was about the same age as Emperor Gaozu and was born before the unification of Qin Shi Huang. Even Emperor Gaozu's great-grandfather had served as an official of the State of Wei. However, by the time of Emperor Gaozu, he had completely become a commoner.

But even so, Emperor Gaozu would not be unaware of the change of dynasties, nor would he be unaware that his homeland had fallen.

Seeing that Liu Bei had not been able to answer for a long time, Li Ji spoke directly.

"The answer is nothing more than recognition."

"The many nobles of the six countries who fought under the banner of restoration, whether it was out of the interests of their homeland or out of the glory of their homeland, they undoubtedly had their hearts set on their homeland."

"Just as when the Han Dynasty was about to fall, my lord and a group of loyal ministers and brave generals were committed to supporting the Han Dynasty, the same is true."

"But, my lord, please think carefully, how many of the countless people who consider themselves Han people will take the initiative to support the Han Dynasty?" (End of this chapter)