Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"Thank you, Lord!"

Li Ji immediately bowed.

Liu Bei listened, and the more he thought about it, the more he understood.

broken……

Could this be the path Zikun had envisioned from the beginning?
I became an indispensable part of Zikun's journey on this path.

Liu Bei was naturally no longer the peddler who weaved mats and sold shoes, but had unknowingly attained a very outstanding political level.

The so-called politics refers to when Liu Bei ascended the throne as emperor after unifying the world. Even though he greatly agreed with enlightening the people, the emperor could not personally step in and promote something unilaterally.

Politics is ultimately the art of balance.

The emperor plays an irreplaceable role in balancing the political situation, so it would be helpful if the emperor personally came out to express his support openly.

Then, for those groups that oppose this national policy and whose interests are seriously damaged in the process, they are likely to go to extremes and do things that are not conducive to the implementation of the national policy.

In other words, it requires singing the same tune.

Moreover, the ones who sing must be ministers, and the ones who join in the singing must be the emperor, otherwise the political situation will be out of balance.

Suddenly, Liu Bei couldn't help laughing.

Before this, Liu Bei always felt that Li Ji had planned too much for him, so much so that Liu Bei regarded Li Ji as a brother to each other, but he also always felt that he didn't know how to reward Zikun for his contributions.

Now that Li Ji made this request, Liu Bei felt that a big problem in his mind was solved.

Zikun helped me revive the Han Dynasty, and I helped Zikun promote national policy.

Zikun's ambition is not to pursue wealth, sex and wine, but to ensure long-term stability of the country, and he will help each other when the time comes.

With this thought, Liu Bei suppressed all the worries in his heart, even though he understood that broadening people's knowledge would have no less impact on the country than Shang Yang's reforms on Qin, and would definitely bring tremendous changes to the Han Dynasty.

But Liu Bei believed not only in Li Ji's ability, but also in Li Ji's intentions.

Now that I think about it carefully, the various governance policies that Li Ji had previously implemented were also related to broadening people's knowledge.

However, Liu Bei still raised a question.

"Zikun, although Yingzhou has abundant gold and silver mines, they will eventually run out. If we continue to develop the arable land south of the Yangtze River, it will eventually be occupied by the people."

Even though Liu Bei did not say it too bluntly, Li Ji understood what Liu Bei's biggest concern was about broadening people's knowledge.

With Liu Bei's vision, he now understands all the issues concerning the stability of the country, which ultimately come down to two words - money and food.

Yangzhou is changing with each passing day and is quickly becoming a paradise in troubled times.

It’s nothing more than two words: money and food.

Li Ji obtained enough money and grain to reduce taxes and exempt levies for the people of Yangzhou, encouraging a large number of people to continue to open up arable land. Even labor was replaced by prisoners of war, or by letting young and strong people work for pay.

All these things were unimaginable in the past Han Dynasty.

It was precisely because of this that Liu Bei was able to first occupy Jingzhou with the help of Yangzhou, and in less than a year he was able to mobilize a large army to the north to fight against Cao Cao and swallow up Yuzhou in the west.

But the troubled times will end sooner or later, and the prisoners of war will be exhausted sooner or later.

Moreover, when Li Ji governed the entire Han Dynasty, could the money and grain be guaranteed to be sufficient to this extent?

Even after the people were enlightened, how could they ensure that the Han Dynasty always had sufficient money and grain?

After all, once people become more educated, the number of people willing to work hard on the fields will inevitably decrease. When food becomes scarce, a series of problems will arise.

Li Ji smiled, opened the fan in his hand in front of Liu Bei, and placed it flat in front of Liu Bei, saying, "My lord, this fan is like the Thirteen States of the Han Dynasty."

Liu Bei nodded and listened attentively.

After all, Liu Bei was also convinced by Li Ji that broadening people's knowledge would bring many benefits to the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bei also had absolute trust in Li Ji.

But Liu Bei also needs to be responsible for the Han Dynasty and the people of the world. He also needs to be aware of all the details involved. In addition to fully supporting Li Ji, he also needs to find out the shortcomings and fill them in for Li Ji.

For Liu Bei, after he had already made preparations to unify the world, supporting Li Ji in enlightening the people was a top priority.

Li Ji continued to point at the fan and said.

"The size of the fan is already determined, but the words written on it are like the people of the Han Dynasty and the farmland. There will come a day when it will be difficult to continue writing."

"Whether it is a policy of keeping the people ignorant or a method of enlightening them, this is a difficult problem that must be faced."

Liu Bei frowned, knowing the contradiction.

According to what Zikun once said, that is exactly the fundamental reason for the current chaos.

The powerful families annexed the cultivated land, leaving the tillers with no place to live. The people were unable to make a living and there was resentment among the people, which led to the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the undermining of the prestige of the imperial court.

Once the prestige of the imperial court is lost, ambitious people like Dong who want to disrupt the government will naturally be unable to restrain themselves.

Even if there is no traitor Dong, there will probably be other traitors who will disrupt the government.

According to Zikun, if the fundamental contradictions are not resolved, the arrival of troubled times is inevitable, it is just a matter of time.

"So why not jump out of the fan and write somewhere else? Leave only the essence and enough space on the fan so that it's not too crowded?"

Li Ji then pointed in the direction of Yingzhou and Yizhou and said with a smile.

"Before this, my lord, did you know that there are such a huge amount of gold and silver in Yingzhou overseas? I'm afraid you didn't know that Yizhou, which is only a stone's throw away from Jiaozhou, has mineral resources as numerous as stars, right?"

Today, the Yangzhou families have taken deep roots in Yizhou, and the Jingzhou families have also begun to flock to Yizhou.

Under the development of the noble families, Yizhou has begun to produce various resources continuously, among which mineral resources are the most important, and are continuously transported to Yangzhou.

"My lord, Yingzhou and Yizhou are not isolated cases."

Li Ji closed the fan in his hand and spoke.

"It is one thing to lead the noble families overseas to ease the conflict over farmland between the noble families and the common people. But it is more about treating the noble families as advance troops."

"With the family's development, we will continue to find more fertile lands overseas."

"Even if we can control small countries suitable for farming to produce grain for the Han Dynasty, why should we Han people work in the fields all day long?"

"In the future, Ji also intends to formulate corresponding national policies to encourage the people to go out to sea and explore on their own. It is stated that there is not only wealth in the sea, but also that those who have made pioneering and contributions to the Han Dynasty overseas can be granted corresponding status and honor. What's wrong with that?"

"Of course, if we want to encourage the people to go out to sea and explore, the first step is to broaden the people's knowledge..."

After a pause, Li Ji looked at Liu Bei's stunned expression and asked with a bow.

"What do you think, my lord?"

However, Li Ji waited for a few breaths, but Liu Bei still had a dazed expression.

"My lord?"

It was not until Li Ji cried out a few more times that Liu Bei suddenly reacted and stared at Li Ji with a shocked look. (End of this chapter)