Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

During the conversation with Zuo Ci, they went straight to the topic of lighting the lamps, and all the details of the Natural History Academy were finalized with Zuo Ci.

By the time Zuo Ci left the county government office, he was already walking in a light-hearted manner, feeling a mixture of tiredness and excitement.

Li Ji personally escorted Zuo Ci out of the door of the conference hall. After watching Zuo Ci leave, he turned and looked at Zhuge Liang who came out from behind the screen.

After Zhuge Liang further stabilized the internal situation of Ruyang, he arrived at Nandun City with the team transporting grain and fodder.

Zhuge Liang appeared with a large stack of papers with freshly dried ink in his hands, which undoubtedly recorded the conversation between Li Ji and Zuo Ci.

When Li Ji took the papers and looked through them, Zhuge Liang, who was standing beside him, expressed his concern and said.

"Teacher, I think the Taoist Zuo Ci is not a good person. He is eager to join the army just for fame and fortune. I don't think he can be trusted, not to mention that he specially established the Natural Academy for him."

"What Liang'er said is very true, but how can we expect everyone to be loyal and righteous? The world is bustling, and everyone comes for profit. This is the norm."

After a pause, Li Ji continued.

"And the establishment of the Natural Academy was not because of trust in Zuo Ci. Quite the contrary, it was precisely because of distrust in Zuo Ci that we wanted to use Zuo Ci to train talents who were truly loyal to the Han Dynasty."

"Can Taoism make a country prosperous?" Zhuge Liang was somewhat unable to react.

"Taoism cannot, but if the all-encompassing knowledge in it can be further developed and used by the Han Dynasty, it will bring great changes to the Han Dynasty."

At this point, Li Ji hesitated slightly, but decided to say it.

When facing Zuo Ci, Li Ji would naturally choose to keep something in reserve and not explain all of its huge potential and functions, so as to prevent Zuo Ci from harboring any evil intentions or disloyalty.

But Zhuge Liang is undoubtedly trustworthy, and Li Ji will also need someone trustworthy to help supervise everything in the future.

Immediately, Li Ji pointed to the Alchemy Department divided out from the Natural Academy and said.

"It seems that the explosion of the alchemy furnace is a common occurrence, but the power of the explosion varies. If we can understand the principle of the explosion, we can stably control when to explode and make the power of the thing that causes the explosion further increase."

"If so, isn't it the ultimate weapon for cutting through mountains and rocks, and killing enemies on the battlefield?"

After a pause, Li Ji pointed at the sky and said.

"The celestial phenomena are not just like those Taoists and sorcerers who can predict good and bad luck. They can also observe the changes in the wind and clouds of the four seasons and determine the time of the solar terms. They are of great use to the country and the people."

"In addition, medical skills, star latitude, five escapes, etc., if taken apart one by one, all of them are very useful. It is better to disregard the useless and take the useful, that is the right way."

When Zhuge Liang heard this, he suddenly had an epiphany. Looking at the detailed plan of the Natural Academy in the records, he immediately understood the profound meaning behind it.

In the Natural History Academy, various Taoist studies have been divided into different departments for teaching.

When persuading Zuo Ci, Li Ji used the reason that "every profession has its own specialties".

Not everyone can become a Taoist sage like Zuo Ci who is proficient in everything. Breaking the system into different departments and teaching students according to their aptitude will help to quickly train a group of helpers who can assist Zuo Ci.

Zuo Ci did not doubt this, but was happy to accept this arrangement, thinking that in this way he would not have to worry about the students in the academy affecting his status.

Little did they know that this undoubtedly fell into Li Ji's trap.

Zuo Ci could not be trusted completely, especially for a national weapon like gunpowder that would surpass its time if successfully developed. Li Ji was even more uneasy about leaving it entirely to someone like Zuo Ci who had complicated thoughts. "Teacher has farsightedness, and the disciple is far from being able to follow."

Zhuge Liang said this with a bow.

Li Ji couldn't help but smile and said.

"But next I will need to trouble Liang'er to designate a site next to Yuzhou Academy for the construction of the Natural Academy and complete it as soon as possible."

Zhuge Liang was not at all displeased by the additional burden. Instead, he agreed with a solemn face. He also confirmed some details about the construction of the Natural History Academy with Li Ji one by one before taking his leave.

I have to say that even using the young version of Zhuge Liang made Li Ji feel very comfortable.

We are not afraid of Zhuge Liang being lazy, but we are more afraid of him being overtired.

There is no need to worry that Zhuge Liang will mess up the tasks assigned to him. He will only complete them much better than expected.

Even after Li Ji got used to the young version of Zhuge Liang, he inexplicably began to dislike Gu Yong.

Compared to Gu Yong, who was only good at governing, Zhuge Liang was too omnipotent. Apart from not being as considerate as Sima Yi, who could refuse such an omnipotent deputy?

On the second day, Zuo Ci, who was so excited that he could not sleep all night, hurried to Li Ji to resign and prepare to start preparing teaching staff for the School of Natural History.

No matter how proficient in Taoism Zuo Ci was, he could not teach the entire Natural Academy at the same time as he was unable to do so.

More importantly, Zuo Ci's goal was to become the leader of Taoism and achieve the unification of Taoism. To do this, he needed to win over some Taoists and alchemists to join his camp.

The Natural Academy is undoubtedly the huge bargaining chip that Zuo Ci holds now. He is not afraid of not being able to persuade the Taoists and alchemists to get closer to him.

Especially since Taiping Dao completely became a stepping stone for Liu Bei to achieve his destiny, this further highlighted the importance of the bargaining chips in Zuo Ci's hands.

Therefore, in order to show his appreciation for Zuo Ci, Li Ji personally brought A Dou and Li Xiang's siblings to the city gate to see Zuo Ci off, and also gave him a thousand gold coins as travel expenses.

In the following few days, a large number of teams that had originally gone out to look for Adou and Li Xiang returned to Nanton City one after another.

However, Li Ji did not show up again, and even most of the government affairs were handed over to Zhuge Liang. He put a lot of his attention on accompanying Adou, Li Xiang and Li Xi.

Only after the banquet prepared by Sun Ce was arranged and the large number of civil and military officials as well as the powerful families of Yuzhou gathered in Nandun City were invited did Li Ji take Li Xiang and Li Xi to the banquet.

Li Ji was very satisfied with Li Xiang's ability to remain calm when trapped by the snow and wind.

Furthermore, after Liu Bei unified the country, the talent gap created by this rejuvenated Han Dynasty was undoubtedly huge.

Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, and Pang Tong, the "dragon, tiger, and phoenix" trio, have stepped onto the stage of the times at the age of only about thirteen, with a bit of the style of Gan Luo in the pre-Qin period.

This made Li Ji realize that Li Xiang might officially enter the political arena earlier than he expected, and that Li Xiang was by no means an incompetent person. It would be better to bring Li Xiang with him and teach him in advance.

As for bringing Li Xi along, it was purely because Li Ji couldn't stand Li Xi's coquetry. Also, considering that even though this banquet had political implications, it was essentially a private banquet, there was no problem in bringing Li Xi along.

I don’t know if it’s because of the change in status that even a calm person like Li Ji can’t help but want to show off his baby. (End of this chapter)