The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 708: Driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf
Huang Quan and others had no objections, and Liu Fan had even fewer objections.

At first, he didn't have any feelings for Sima Yi, but after spending more time with him, he felt that he couldn't live without Sima Yi.

Whatever doubts he had, Sima Yi could answer them with ease.

Sima Yi was able to dissect and subtly resolve and reconstruct the various problems plaguing the Han Dynasty.

In particular, Sima Yi demonstrated extremely high emotional intelligence and political wisdom in his interpersonal relationships, and no one in the Han Dynasty, whether general or general, dared to disobey him.

This kind of talent should be kept!

While advising his ministers that Sima Yi would eventually leave, he also tried to persuade them.

Liu Fan also secretly spoke with Sima Yi in private.

If Sima Yi were willing, he could give him a de facto prime ministership, a marquisate, or even a king.

What could Sima Yi say about this?
He decisively refused and then recommended an outstanding cousin to Liu Fan.

Sima Bada, that sounds like a lot.

However, the Sima family now feels that they haven't trained enough.

With the Great Qi and the seven kingdoms combined, the land was easily divided up.

Sima Yi was unwilling because he saw that the foundation of the Han Dynasty was still too weak compared to that of the Qi Dynasty.

Based on his understanding of Tian Ze and the civil and military officials of Da Qi, although he would not break his promise and deal with the Seven Kings ahead of time, he would not let the Seven Kings catch up.

You must understand, the world is vast, with not only the four great empires but also numerous other continents. The Great Qi has plenty of land to develop.

In a world of great strife, the strong become strong, and the weak perish.

While the latter is unlikely to occur due to territorial limitations and increased distance, the former is undoubtedly possible.

Putting aside his many distracting thoughts, Sima Yi entered the hall without ceremony and directed the attendants who came in from outside to bring in the sand table for rest.

Holding a long staff and pointing at the huge sand table, Sima Yi began his lesson.

"Khorasan Province, located in the south of Parthia, is characterized by mountains, river valleys, plains, and deserts, and has both strategic defensive and economic value."

"On the surface, this is indeed a territory of extremely high value, but..."

Sima Yi casually drew a circle on the right side of the province, where it bordered the Kushan Empire.

"This is a vast desert."

"If we send troops to the Khorasan province, we will face enormous logistical pressure."

“If Parthia has any intention of dealing with us, they can easily cut off our logistics and turn Khorasan into an isolated island.”

"Compared to other figures like Liu Bei and Sun Ce, we have a huge deficiency in military affairs: we do not have a strong navy."

Sima Yi couldn't help but shake his head slightly at this.

Liu Fan was a wise and decisive ruler, but the foundation of the Han Dynasty was indeed inferior to that of the other six states.

Among the seven kingdoms, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Ce all possessed extremely powerful naval forces.

Although Lü Bu and Gongsun Zan did not vigorously develop their naval forces, they were unparalleled in cavalry, possessing an advantage that other states could not match.

Only Liu Fan built an engineering force purely through spending money.

Furthermore, in order to catch up with the average level of the Seven Kingdoms in all aspects, the Han Dynasty had to cut back on most of its naval resources. As a result, the Han Dynasty had a small navy, which was largely unknown to the public.

"Regarding the division of the Kushan territory, our Han Dynasty has no land adjacent to the sea, so in Parthia's eyes, it is simply impossible for us to support the Khorasan Province by sea."

"If they wanted to, they could easily drive us out of the Khorasan province by cutting off our logistics."

Upon hearing Sima Yi's words, everyone present nodded in agreement.

This is also one of the main reasons why the seven kingdoms were able to focus on development after conquering the Kushan Empire and did not make any attempts to probe Parthia.

The desert to the west has created an uninhabited area, like an insurmountable barrier.

Unless there are internal problems within Parthia, a forced westward expedition would be too risky and unlikely to yield any substantial results.

“If we use Khorasan Province as our base to develop production and have enough food, wouldn’t they be shooting themselves in the foot?” Li Yan questioned.

Sima Yi smiled faintly and casually planted a flag that did not belong to Parthia in the location of the Khorasan province.

"First of all, the Khorasan province was originally occupied by the Persians. About ten years ago, the Persians launched a rebellion, which was suppressed, but the repercussions are still lingering."

"According to the latest intelligence, the Persians have now risen again in the Khorasan province, occupying cities such as Chir and establishing themselves as independent, posing a great threat."

"To put it bluntly, the Khorasan province is not entirely under Parthia's control now. Most of its forces are out of control and extremely dangerous."

"Letting us in is nothing more than using one tiger to devour another. If they are cautious, they can take advantage of the situation when we are both exhausted and wipe us out in one fell swoop."

"Of course, if that were all, they wouldn't have gone to such lengths. There's no need to take that risk. Their real goal must be Mesopotamia, which was taken by Rome."

"That's the second point I wanted to make."

Sima Yi tapped the location of Mesopotamia with his long staff, his expression slightly grim: "Parthia has agreed with us that the province of Khorasan will serve as a 'deposit' for our joint campaign against Mesopotamia."

“If we send troops, we will inevitably be tied down by Rome. If we do not send troops, they can use this as an excuse to take back the province of Khorasan.”

"In this way, we lost a lot of troops for nothing, helped them quell the rebellion, and also dealt a blow to Rome. It was a win-win situation."

Upon hearing this, the ministers nodded slightly.

They simply lacked information about Parthia, but after learning about the situation in Khorasan Province from Sima Yi, they were able to glean some insights from Sima Yi's analysis.

“Third, and most importantly.” Sima Yi put away his long staff and looked at Liu Fan.

"Parthia never imagined we would abandon the Kushan lands."

Sima Yi did not think Anxi's actions were foolish.

On the contrary, he felt that Anxi's approach was quite bold and decisive, and extremely ingenious.

It can be said that by bringing in the power of the Han Dynasty, they directly solved the problems of local separatism and the threat from Rome.

Under normal circumstances, as long as the big man falls into the trap, according to their plan, they will be the beneficiaries regardless of the outcome; it's just a matter of how much they profit.

However, he misunderstood a very basic piece of information and a crucial question.

That is, Liu Fan had no intention of staying in Kushan, and the other six kings had no intention of doing so either.

They were allies of the Great Qi, and had long since set their sights on Parthia further to the west.

(End of this chapter)