Three Kingdoms: Let Yuan Shen be great again

Chapter 28 Benevolent governance and virtuous governance are inferior to insects.

"The preparations are not going well."

Within Lujiang County, Yuan Yao, who was inspecting the area, had a worried look on his face.

More than half a month has passed since Sun Ce issued his challenge. During this time, the Zhong family has been working tirelessly to prepare for the war.

The good news is that Liu Ye's previous plan to unite the anti-Sun forces within Jiangdong has yielded much better results than expected.

Not to mention Yuan Yao, even Sun Ce himself probably never expected that Yan Baihu, whom he had always looked down upon, and his followers would cause him so much trouble.

At first, Yuan Yao was worried about how to contact the anti-Sun forces within Jiangdong, but Yang Hong once again demonstrated his amazing connections. He knew people of Xu Gong, the former governor of Wu Commandery, who in turn knew people of Xu Zhao, who in turn knew people of Yan Baihu, the largest anti-Sun force in Jiangdong.

And so the two sides connected and hit it off immediately.

Yuan Yao bribed Yan Baihu's remaining followers with a large sum of money, spending almost all the money he had earned from selling grain recently, to support their activities in Jiangdong.

Of course, given the strength of Yan Baihu's remaining forces, it was neither possible nor necessary for them to launch a direct uprising. Under Liu Ye's remote micromanagement, a master of manipulation, they only needed to follow the plan and annoy Sun Ce.

For example, they would harass logistics, destroy bridges and roads, attack poorly defended official or merchant ships, and incite the foolish Yue people to rebel.

The gains from each individual operation were not large, but they accumulated and spread in many places, forcing Sun Ce, who was originally poised to launch an expedition, to stop and first turn back to maintain order behind him.

The only regrettable thing is that the highly anticipated assassination attempt failed.

Yuan Yao sighed helplessly, guessing that it was probably his appearance that caused a butterfly effect, leading to a major change in history.

But things are not bad as they are now. Yuan Yao calculated that it would take Sun Ce at least a month to quell the unrest, plus the time needed to reorganize the army. This meant that the Zhong family had two more months to prepare for war in advance!

however--

Apart from that, everything else is bad news.

Standing in front of a military camp, Yuan Yao's face was dark, and he wished he could give Ji Ling a good scolding.

the reason is simple.

Yuan Yaozhen never expected that Ji Ling, the chief general of the Zhong clan, who looked like he had thick eyebrows and big eyes, would be more ruthless than anyone else when it came to exploiting his soldiers, and had managed to make his troops lose almost half of their strength!

But Ji Ling remained defiant: "Grand Commander, we soldiers are simple-minded, born to serve our country. At your command, we would gladly sacrifice ourselves!"

Yuan Yao really didn't want to say anything more.

These past few days, he has been inspecting various military camps of the Zhong clan. What he has seen and heard along the way has greatly strengthened his cardiovascular resilience and emotional regulation ability.

Receiving a salary without working is a common occurrence, and Ji Ling is just one of the most prominent examples. There are countless other problems as well.

The morale is low, military discipline is lax, training is insufficient, weapons and armor are of poor quality, and the quality of rank-and-file soldiers is so poor that it could be the subject of a long, drawn-out crosstalk performance.

Even Cao Xing, whom he trusted the most, had a rough and rude habit.

None of them are easy to deal with.

Huang Yi, who was accompanying him, tried to comfort him, saying, "Your Highness need not worry, you are much better than before."

Yuan Yao said coldly, "I know, but I don't really blame them."

Given the prevailing historical context, Yuan Yao did not expect a Puritan-like army to suddenly appear, nor would he be overly demanding of others.

Moreover, regarding the issue of receiving salaries without working, Yuan Yao had done it before. He maintained the Imperial Guard, which was supposed to be a thousand men, at only three hundred men for a long time, and pocketed the difference to pay off debts and win over other ministers.

However, human nature is inherently hypocritical. Now that Yuan Yao has taken power and no longer needs to exploit soldiers, he hopes that others can behave a little better and not go too far.

Huang Yi was somewhat confused: "I don't understand, Your Highness, what exactly does 'good table manners' mean?"

Yuan Yao gave an example using a rhetorical question: "What do you think of Yang Hong as a person?"

Huang Yi thought for a moment and said, "I didn't think much of it before, but recently I've been working hard for the country and have put forward many useful suggestions, such as awarding land to those who have rendered meritorious service in the military."

Yuan Yao gave Huang Yi's answer a zero, believing that he was qualified to serve as one of the Three Dukes in the Xudu court.

Yuan Yao: "Don't think about what benefits a decree itself brings; first think about what benefits the person who made the decree brings."

Yang Hong's true nature has never changed; he is a despicable person who prioritizes self-interest above all else. Suppressing Zhang Xun would help expand his own power, so he helped suppress him. Granting land based on military merit would allow the civil officials he represents to take the opportunity to manipulate things, so he vigorously encouraged this.

However, Yang Hong's greatest strength was his flexibility. Although he was greedy for money, he tested Yuan Yao's bottom line through repeated contact and knew what he could do at what time.

Seeing that Huang Yi was still confused, Yuan Yao turned his horse around and said, "Let's go, let's go take a look at Changping Granary."

The Ever-Normal Granary is equivalent to the country's grain reserve center. Based on the principle of buying grain when it is cheap and selling it when it is expensive, it not only regulates grain prices but also serves as a temporary emergency measure.

With Sun Ce about to launch an attack, this is naturally an emergency situation, and it's time to take some reserve grain from the Ever-Normal Granary.

As a result, the warehouse clerk in charge of guarding the Ever-Normal Granary turned ashen-faced, knelt on the ground trembling like a leaf, and kowtowed repeatedly, saying that he dared not open the door without orders from his superiors.

Even Huang Yi noticed something was wrong, but Yuan Yao remained calm and composed, sending someone to take the warehouse clerk to his superior while he waited there.

Not long after, Yang Hong, having learned of the matter, rushed over.

Yuan Yao laughed and said, "Master Yang, I didn't know you were in charge of the Ever-Normal Granary."

Yang Hong said with a stern face, "The official in charge of the warehouse is unwell today. Fortunately, I know some inside information, so I have come to clear up your doubts, Your Highness."

Yuan Yao: "Oh, what's the inside story?"

Yang Hong: "I dare not hide it from Your Highness. A few days ago, when we were preparing for spring planting, we found that because a lot of land had been reclaimed this year, the grain seeds we had prepared were not enough. So I took the liberty of granting the request of my subordinates and allocated some grains from the Ever-Normal Granary to make do with the emergency."

"I see." Yuan Yao suddenly realized. "Then let's not check the Ever-Normal Granary for now. Let's go and inventory the Armory. It just so happens that this matter was assigned to civil officials this year. Let's see how things are going."

"Your Highness!"

"What's wrong?"

Yang Hong gritted his teeth: "There are too many miscellaneous items in the armory, and it is inevitable that there will be some omissions in the hasty inspection. But please rest assured, Your Highness, this old minister will guarantee that they will match the accounts one by one. It's just that the transportation is fast or slow, and they may not all arrive at the front line at the same time."

"With Lord Yang's words, I am naturally at ease." Yuan Yao was very satisfied, and then casually added, "By the way, Lord Yang, there is one more thing I need to trouble you with."

Yang Hong wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Your Highness, please speak freely."

Yuan Yao: "The weather is dry this winter, so we must be very careful with fire. Could you please keep an eye on this for me, Master Yang?"

Yang Hong broke out in a sweat again: "Yes."

After Yang Hong slunk away, Yuan Yao and Huang Yi stood there, speechless for a long time.

A moment later, Huang Yi, who had witnessed everything, whispered, "Your Highness, Yang Hong... may be a little better behaved than others, but he's just a case of the pot calling the kettle black."

"But who else can we use besides him?" Yuan Yao's feelings were complicated.

To be fair, Yuan Yao disliked Yang Hong at all. This scoundrel was from Hongnong, studied in Luoyang, became famous in Yingchuan, and finally joined the Yuan family of Runan. He was the worst of all, a veritable scoundrel among scoundrels.

However, given the current situation of Zhongshi, which is beset by internal and external troubles and plagued by parasites, he has no choice but to rely on Yang Hong.

Benevolent governance is good, virtuous governance is excellent, and filial governance may be good, but it's a topic that can't be touched. However, in this context, none of them are as bad as insects.

"At least this insect knows what's good for it."

Just as Yuan Yao was thinking this, he suddenly saw that the insects they had been discussing had returned.

Moreover, there was another person with him, looking travel-worn and disheveled.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an acquaintance with whom I had dealt quite a bit.

Mi Zhu! ?

Mi Zhu took two steps to Yuan Yao, immediately bowed deeply, and spoke urgently:

"Cao Cao is personally leading an expedition to Xuzhou; the situation is extremely urgent. We beg Young Master Yuan to send troops to rescue my lord!"

Yuan Yao was stunned for a moment, but after hearing what the other party was saying, he immediately became angry and vented all the pent-up anger he had been holding in during the inspection of military equipment earlier that day.

"Mi Zizhong, oh Mi Zizhong!" Yuan Yao sighed, hands behind his back, "What did I do wrong to deserve such disrespect from you?"