Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

As for Li Sanbao's arrangement, at this critical juncture when Liu Bei was about to become king, it was just an insignificant ripple.

Except for Liu Bei and Li Ji who attached great importance to him and Sima Yi who paid some attention to him, no one else even paid attention to a person like Li Bao.

All arrangements for the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven and proclaiming the king were carried out smoothly as scheduled.

The massive project of changing Moling to Jianye and building a new capital has already begun.

In addition, one thing that attracted people's attention during Liu Bei's rule was the promotion of something called "newspaper", and students in the academies built in various states and counties were required to go to the corresponding counties regularly to promote and recite the newspaper.

Due to the extremely low literacy rate among the people, the promotion of newspapers depended entirely on students from local academies, so in the early days the newspaper was only published once every two weeks.

Even so, it was undoubtedly an unprecedented innovation.

The low price of one cent per copy made many illiterate people who were gradually living a stable life choose to buy a copy and take it home to worship in order to get a taste of the literary atmosphere.

The headline news of the first edition of the Han Dynasty's newspaper was undoubtedly that Liu Bei was about to be promoted to King of Han, as well as the elaboration of the Han traitors Cao Cao and Lu Bu's claiming to be fake kings.

And in the corner of the newspaper, there was a message: Liu Bao changed his surname to Li Bao and took the courtesy name Sanbao because of his great contribution.

In this way, Li Bao's ambition was made clear and his name left an indelible mark.

As the day of advancement, August 5, approached, the publicity provided by newspapers made the people under Liu Bei's rule feel honored and they were filled with joy and celebrated together.

For ordinary people, they may not have the vision to look at the whole era, but living in troubled times, they can feel the benevolence of Liu Bei's administration most personally.

Life has become better, with fields to farm, clothes to wear, and houses to live in...

Not only did people no longer have to suffer from hunger as in the past, but heavy taxes and levies were gone forever, and even forced labor was abolished.

Under the influence of propaganda, the people undoubtedly deeply understood who they should thank for this series of benevolent policies.

Therefore, on the eve of Liu Bei's promotion to the throne of King of Han, many people under his rule, who had benefited from his benevolent rule, almost spontaneously hung up lanterns and decorations.

Even the poorest people would choose to hang a red cloth in front of their doors to show joy.

However, on the borders of the three states of Jing, Xu and Yu, the situation was quite tense.

As if they had discussed it in advance, Cao Cao and Lu Bu both stationed troops at the border, ready to take advantage of the opportunity to invade across the border in order to force Liu Bei to give up his ambition to become king.

Urgent documents were delivered to the office where Li Ji was stationed day and night, and troops in the country began to march to the border to prepare for war.

No one can guess whether Cao and Lu will take the opportunity to go to war and join forces to attack Liu.

Liu Bei's dominance undoubtedly forced the two families of Cao and Lu, who were not of the same mind, to unite to fight against him.

For Liu Bei and Li Ji, their thought might be to accumulate money, food, troops and horses for about a year, and then sweep away the rebels with a mighty force, hoping to defeat the two families of Cao and Lu in one fell swoop.

But for Cao and Lu, they naturally understood that it was impossible to defeat Liu Bei in one battle, but now there was great potential in taking advantage of the opportunity to invade the border.

At this moment, whether Cao and Lu would take action was not only a game between Liu Bei and Cao and Lu, but also a game between the two families in secret.

Whoever of the Cao and Lu families takes action first will inevitably attract the vast majority of hatred and will most likely suffer losses as a result.

For this reason, Liu Bei also sent people to inquire about the situation from time to time to confirm whether any special response should be taken.

Facing the seemingly wavering public opinion, Li Ji's attitude through the government office remained consistent, that is, the ceremony should be carried out as scheduled. The matter of offering sacrifices to heaven and proclaiming the king must be carried out smoothly as scheduled, not to mention the harassment and violation of the border by the Cao and Lu families, even if they come to attack with all their strength.

Through the publicity of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and newspapers, everyone in the world knew that Liu Bei would be crowned king on August 5. If the date was postponed or affected, his prestige would inevitably be greatly damaged.

Even Li Ji saw through the true nature of the Cao and Lu families. It was true that the two families were forced to unite, but they definitely did not dare to invade the border with their main forces for fear of being hated. At most, they would harass them and make a show of force.

Of course, even though Li Ji made such a judgment, he still mobilized a large number of troops to the border to guard against the extremely small probability of a full-scale sneak attack by the Cao and Lu families.

However, as a result, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, whom Liu Bei had intended to recall to Shouchun many times, had to continue to garrison in Jingzhou and Yuzhou respectively. Even Xu Sheng was sent to Xuzhou to take charge.

Finally, as the atmosphere on the border seemed to be getting more and more tense and the two sides might go to war at any time, the people in all the states and counties under his rule waited for the day of August 5th with smiles on their faces.

More than 100,000 people from the surrounding areas of Shouchun flocked to Shouchun to witness Liu Bei's ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven and becoming king.

In this regard, neither Liu Bei nor Li Ji stopped it. Instead, they marked out an area for the people to watch the ceremony outside the high platform for offering sacrifices to the sky built outside the city, and used soldiers to maintain order.

On this day, countless people were looking forward to it. Amid the majestic music, Liu Bei, dressed in his best attire, stepped onto the platform step by step.

And at Liu Bei's strong request, Li Ji followed him in a formal suit and with a sword.

On the next step above the platform, Liu Yu, the chief minister of the Han Dynasty, had been waiting there in advance. He followed Liu Bei and Li Ji to take the last step onto the platform.

The ceremony of offering sacrifice to the heavens then proceeded...

Countless people watched from afar, with admiration and expectation in their eyes.

Even though most of the people could not even see Liu Bei's figure from so far away, they still felt a strong sense of excitement.

As the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven ended, Liu Bei put on the crown with nine tassels and was named King of Han.

The officials, generals, noble families, soldiers and common people below the high platform all bowed down and shouted “King of Han” continuously.

At this moment, Liu Bei, standing on the high platform, looked at the countless subjects below through the gaps between the tassels, and an indescribable feeling arose spontaneously.

king!
King of Han!

When I was young, I had the dream of pointing to the mulberry tree and using its feathers to cover my carriage, and today my dream has finally come true.

But when he really climbed to this high position, Liu Bei felt that the platform under his feet seemed so fragile, and he felt as if he was walking on thin ice.

'Does Bei's virtues justify his position?'

Liu Bei had a reflective look on his face, and his mood was a little heavy. He raised his hands and said.

"All subjects are exempt from formalities."

As the soldiers stationed around the platform repeated in unison, the many soldiers and civilians surrounding the platform stood up one after another. From a distance, it looked like the wheat was slowly standing up again.

Immediately, just as Liu Yu was about to remind Liu Bei to move back to Shouchun City, Liu Bei spoke first.

"Now that all the people have gathered here, why don't I stay in the city and enthrone the ministers here, and let all the people watch the ceremony? What do you think?" (End of this chapter)