Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

"My lord, are you worried that building the capital will consume a huge amount of food?" Li Ji asked again.

After thinking about this for a while, Liu Bei shook his head.

The issues of money and food were not a problem for Liu Bei.

Not to mention that with the promotion of new rice varieties, grain production under Liu Bei's rule has repeatedly broken new records.

Especially with the formal implementation of the new system of "equalizing the land tax and the population", the possibility of the powerful families in the past continuing to hide their land and population was eliminated. Even though taxes were reduced, the amount of grain gathered in granaries across the country was astonishingly large.

What's more, even Liu Bei knew that the grain consumed in building the capital was just an insignificant part of the investment compared to promoting the development of the entire area south of the Yangtze River.

Liu Bei slowly expressed his real concerns. "What I am worried about is that it will hurt the people."

Li Ji was speechless, thinking that some of Liu Bei's habitual thinking could not be changed in a short time, so he answered.

"My lord, you are worrying too much. There is no labor service system under your rule, so how can it hurt the people? Are you worried that the wages you offer are not enough to encourage the people to work actively and voluntarily?"

Why waste people’s time and money?

That was forced labor, which consumed money and food and emptied the national treasury.

But when the finances are extremely abundant and we even need to worry about how to make money flow reasonably into people's pockets, these are unnecessary worries.

In Li Ji's view, building a new capital, while ensuring sufficient food, would liberate a part of the labor force, create a large number of jobs, and train a large number of civil engineering workers.

There is also no need to worry that these civil engineering workers will have nowhere to go and become refugees after the construction of the capital is completed.

The establishment of a new capital will only be the first ripple in the great wave of development south of the Yangtze River. There will be countless places south of the Yangtze River that will require large-scale construction in the future.

With the capital established in the south of the Yangtze River, it would inevitably siphon off talent from the entire Han Dynasty and even radiate to the surrounding countries of the Han Dynasty, gathering around the capital, and then spreading to the surrounding areas with the capital as the center, rapidly promoting local development.

Therefore, after Li Ji explained it in detail, Liu Bei suddenly felt enlightened.

After all, it was impossible for the imperial court in the past to be as wealthy as Liu Bei is today. Large-scale construction projects could only result in forced labor, which would be a waste of money and time.

"And if you are still worried, you can just separate a small chamber of commerce from the Mi Chamber of Commerce and let the craftsmen and common people who are building the capital city register under the name of the chamber of commerce. The chamber of commerce will uniformly assign tasks and pay wages, and the government will also send people to supervise."

"In this way, even after the capital is built, with the Chamber of Commerce in the center, there is no need to worry about the craftsmen and the people not being able to find work later."

Liu Bei was overjoyed when he heard this. He felt as if a new door had suddenly opened. He even felt that what Li Ji said casually was a completely new way of governing the country.

In the past, government officials were government officials, merchants were merchants, and farmers were farmers, with clear distinctions between them.

What Liu Bei was worried about was that even if he recruited the people to work, after the construction of the capital was completed, the people would not be able to find work on their own. If they wanted to go back to farming, it would be difficult for them to get their land back.

The method proposed by Li Ji was undoubtedly a good idea in Liu Bei's view, as it could greatly guarantee the people's livelihood.

"Zikun, this is a good idea. I'll ask Mi Zifang to come up with the specific details as soon as possible."

Liu Bei felt that the haze had cleared away, and now the difficulties in building the capital seemed to have disappeared, so he asked.

"Then where do you think is the best place to build the capital?"

Li Ji held his folding fan upside down, pointed to Moling in the north of Danyang County, and said, "In my humble opinion, Moling can be a good place to build a capital." "Why?" Liu Bei asked.

"Ji once passed through Moling. Its topography can be described as: a dragon coiled around the Zhongshan Mountain and a crouching stone tiger. It is indeed the residence of an emperor."

This straightforward statement made Liu Bei feel a little embarrassed. He wanted to say something humble, but he felt that there were no outsiders around, so it seemed unnecessary to refuse.

However, Li Ji did not notice Liu Bei's expression at all at this moment. He waved his sleeves and spoke in a high-spirited manner.

"In addition, Moling has the Yangtze River to the north, which can be used as a barrier and connected to the Yangtze River; it is adjacent to Lishui in the south, which can connect to the entire Yangzhou. It has convenient transportation and controls the key point to the sea."

"Overall, Moling's location can be said to be: to the north, it can remotely control the Central Plains; to the south, it can develop Yangzhou and Jiaozhou; to the west, it can go deep into Jingzhou and Bashu along the Yangtze River; to the east, it is the vast ocean."

“It is a very good location. Looking across the Yangtze River, it is hard to find another place like this.”

At this moment, Liu Bei looked at the "Moling" on the territory map which seemed to have been marked in advance by Li Ji, and felt that it was the new starting point of the great cause that he was about to create with Zikun.

With the new capital built here as the center, we can govern the people's livelihood internally and expand the territory externally. How wonderful!

"it is good!"

Liu Bei couldn't help but stand up and clapped his hands, laughing, and said, "Let's follow Zikun's suggestion and build a new capital in Moling..."

After a pause, Liu Bei raised his hand and stroked his beard, saying, "But the name of Moling is not suitable for the capital. We need to change it to a more appropriate name. What do you think, Zikun?"

After hearing this, Li Ji thought for a while and said, "How about we name it 'Jianye'?"

"Jianye?! Build a career, is Zikun trying to remind everyone not to forget their original aspirations? Very good, then we name it Jianye to supervise the construction of the new city, and make it the southern capital of the Han Dynasty."

Liu Bei said loudly.

The next day.

As Liu Bei summoned his ministers to discuss the matter of the capital, with the secret cooperation of Li Ji, the decision was made with an attitude that seemed to be discussing but in fact could not be questioned.

Even though the ministers had different thoughts, some opposing and some supporting, they could not influence the decision made by Liu Bei and Li Ji at all.

Liu Yu argued with Liu Bei for a long time afterwards, fearing that after Liu Bei built a new capital south of the Yangtze River, he would lose his ambition to march north to pacify the troubled times.

To this end, Liu Bei made repeated assurances, which made Liu Yu temporarily feel at ease. He even turned around and visited Li Ji, whom he regarded as a friend regardless of age difference. While complaining to Li Ji that he should not have supported Liu Bei in establishing the capital in Jianye, he repeatedly warned Li Ji to remind Liu Bei not to forget the Northern Expedition.

Now that Liu Yu had arrived in Shouchun, he naturally gave up the idea of ​​returning to Youzhou and prepared to stay in Shouchun to assist Liu Bei in stabilizing the hearts of his relatives throughout the world.

Liu Yu, who had no intention of fighting for hegemony and was not greedy for power and wealth, had already begun to transfer the military and political power of Youzhou to Liu Bei, making Youzhou a real enclave under Liu Bei's rule.

In this regard, Liu Bei could not help but complain to Li Ji afterwards, saying that Li Ji had caused him a lot of trouble.

Establishing the capital south of the Yangtze River was good in every way, except that it made it easy for people to think that Liu Bei had no intention of conquering the north and only wanted to live in peace in a corner. As a result, when Liu Yu had some free time, he would find a reason to remind Liu Bei, which made Liu Bei, who had a good temper, very annoyed.

Li Ji listened and laughed, then suddenly thought of something and said.

"My lord, this doesn't seem to be impossible. After all, it's not like you can't enjoy yourself..." (End of this chapter)