Three Kingdoms: Let Yuan Shen be great again

Chapter 49 The soft persimmon, step forward!

The layout of Wancheng was quite different from other cities in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Traditional cities are usually divided into an outer city where ordinary people live their daily lives and an inner city where high-ranking officials and nobles reside. Wancheng, on the other hand, has a third center, namely the Grand Governor's Office, which serves as the central government office.

Since the Zhong regime did not originally have a Grand Commander, the so-called Grand Commander's Office was actually Yuan Yao's former residence, located at the junction of the outer city and the inner city.

Considering that Yuan Yao was the de facto ruler of Huainan, people privately did not call this place the Grand General's Mansion, but instead nicknamed it the Blue Tile Terrace based on its iconic plain blue tiles.

That morning, Hwang Yeo carried several scrolls of documents under his arm and walked heavily to the Blue House for work.

The official documents he brought weren't actually important matters, but since the cleanup, the atmosphere within the Zhong family had completely changed. Stimulated by the high performance bonuses and KPI assessment system issued by Yuan Yaoxin, everyone was working day and night, each one more prolific than the last.

Therefore, even if it was just for show, Huang Yi had to carry several bundles of bamboo slips with him to avoid being accused of having a bad work attitude, which would result in him being ranked at the bottom in the six-month evaluation.

Huang Yi's office was in a corner of the Blue House, shared with several other military staff members, one of whom was Lü Meng from Runan, who was currently favored by Yuan Yao.

The thought of having to pretend to be busy again and then slack off all day made Huang Yi feel utterly exhausted.

What? You're saying Huang Yi is Yuan Yao's brother-in-law? Just based on this marriage relationship, he doesn't need to care about any assessments or anything; he can just sit back and relax.

Haha, just in case you don't know, let me remind you again: Yuan Yao also had a father named Yuan Shu. So, where is Yuan Shu making his fortune now?

Huang Yi could overthrow even Yuan Shu, who was his sovereign and father, so he didn't think that Yuan Yao would be so kind as to spare him if he ever committed a crime in the future.

Before he even arrived at the destination, he received a notification that Yuan Yao had ordered him to go to a meeting.

Huang Yi inwardly complained about her brother-in-law, "You know how capable I am, why do you keep calling me for things?"

But I still have to go.

I ran into another person along the way.

Yang Hong was the head of the civil service in the theory of the Zhong regime.

The reason it is said in theory is because everyone can see that the person Yuan Yao values ​​most right now is actually Liu Ye, who has just been appointed as the military advisor. Yuan Yao listens to him almost without question on major military and political matters.

In contrast, Yang Hong, who was originally one of the three giants of Wancheng, has been suppressed by intentional or unintentional means, and his current voice may not even be as powerful as Yan Xiang, who has always been below him.

Upon seeing Yang Hong, Huang Yi politely greeted him first.

"Master Yang".

"Oh, so it's General Huang Zhonglang."

"Is Lord Yang also going to a meeting? Do you know why His Highness wanted to see us?"

"I didn't know before, but now I think I do."

Neither Yang Hong nor Huang Yi were in Yuan Yao's core decision-making circle, so there must have been only one reason why they were both allowed to attend the meeting at the same time.

That is the next strategic direction for the Zhong family.

Actually, there's not much to say about this. You can figure it out pretty much by using the process of elimination.

Currently, the various forces bordering the Zhong clan are none other than Cao Cao of the Central Plains, Sun Ce of Jiangdong, Huang Zu of Jiangxia Commandery, Chen Deng of Guangling Commandery, and Hua Xin of Yuzhang Commandery.

Cao Cao and Sun Ce are obviously not worth fighting; they are too strong.

There are only three left.

In fact, before the Battle of Huainan began, Yuan Yao had specifically contacted these three people, hoping that they would fight against Sun Ce together based on the principle that if one of them were to perish, the other would be vulnerable.

However, the results were not ideal.

Only Chen Deng gave Mi Zhu some face and barely managed to gather a force, making a show of crossing the Yangtze River to the south—but it was only a show of force, and they couldn't actually fight. Guangling County was in the same situation as Lujiang County back then; it was only nominally subjugated to Xuchang. If they angered Sun Ce, there might not be anyone to back them up.

The other two were similar. For example, Huang Zu was contacted by Huang Yi himself, but even though he used his status as a direct descendant of the Huang family of Nanjun to make contact, Jiangxia County remained inactive. At most, they promised to protect Huang Yi after the defeat, but as for sending troops, they would have to wait until the outcome was decided before they could take advantage of the situation.

Hua Xin had even less hope. His Yuzhang Commandery was the most hopeless in the surrounding area, and he himself had no military talent whatsoever. The little bit of courtesy that Yang Hong wrote in his letter was not enough to sway him. He insisted on being a centrist, neither supporting Sun Ce nor Yuan Yao, and just watched from the sidelines.

But no matter what, they didn't make enemies of Huainan. As a result, Yuan Yao just recovered and wanted to pick on the weak. Isn't it a bit too much to use people like this?

But that's just how chaotic times are.

Upon arriving at the main hall of the Grand Commander's Mansion, Yuan Yao, seeing that everyone had arrived, took the opportunity to propose the theme of the meeting.

Just as Yang Hong had predicted, he would choose one of Huang Zu, Chen Deng, and Hua Xin as his primary target for future conquest.

Yuan Yao first asked Huang Yi, "What's the situation with Huang Zu? If we want to seize Jiangxia Commandery, does Liu Biao have the resources to support us?"

Huang Yi was speechless. He had gone to Jiangxia County to ask for help, and hadn't paid any attention to the situation in Jingzhou. He had no idea whether Liu Biao would come to Huang Zu's rescue.

Fortunately, Yang Hong stepped forward in time and saved the day.

"Your Highness, I just received news a couple of days ago that Zhang Xian, the governor of Changsha who led a rebellion in Jingzhou, has passed away."

"Zhang Xian is dead?"

Yuan Yao was a little surprised.

Zhang Xian was indeed a ruthless character. The reason why Yuan Yao dared to include Jiangxia as a candidate was because Zhang Xian had led a rebellion in three counties, causing Liu Biao a lot of trouble and preventing him from quelling the rebellion for several years.

Now that Zhang Xian is dead, even if the Changsha rebels are still around, their defeat is only a matter of time, and the difficulty of capturing Jiangxia will increase significantly.

After crossing Jiangxia off the list, Yuan Yao turned to the crowd and asked, "What are your thoughts on Guangling Commandery and Yuzhang Commandery?"

Seeing Yang Hong standing right in front of him, Yuan Yao casually asked, "Master Yang, I remember you know Chen Deng and Hua Xin, right? Do you have any suggestions?"

"This old minister is ashamed," Yang Hong said. "I have known Chen Yuanlong and Hua Ziyu for a while, but now that we are about to fight each other, I really don't know how to begin."

"No problem, then tell me your thoughts on these two people."

"Yes. This old minister once heard the famous scholar Xu Si of Nanjun say that Chen Yuanlong is a man of great ambition and has not lost his heroic spirit."

This means that Chen Deng is a seasoned veteran who has been wandering the martial arts world for many years, and he has an unruly and wild spirit.

(Even the wildly presented fish sashimi is wild.)

"And what about Hua Xin?"

"Hua Ziyu..." Yang Hong pondered for a moment: "He is experienced, calm, and good at flexibly adopting opinions from all sides. He is a very famous prefect."

After making his evaluation, Yuan Yao seemed to be deep in thought.

Attending such a meeting for the first time, Lü Meng couldn't contain himself and couldn't help but ask Liu Ye in front of him, "Strategist, Chen Deng and Hua Xin are both so capable, what should we do?"

Liu Ye glanced back at Lü Meng: "You think Hua Xin is very capable?"

Lü Meng: "Huh, didn't Chief Clerk Yang say that?"

Liu Ye shook his head: "Yang Hong means that Hua Xin is a muddle-headed, incompetent fool."