I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 281 A Topic That Cannot Be Touched

Yuan Shu slept until noon the next day before waking up. He ate a big meal and drank a lot. Just as he was about to pack up and go to the military camp outside the city to take a look, he learned that Lu Zhi, the Thirteen Guardians and other core members of the Yi Xin Hui's leadership were visiting him.

It seemed that they were very familiar with Yuan Shu's behavior habits and knew that they should not disturb him on the night before and the morning after he returned from the battle, so they chose to visit him in the afternoon.

Yuan Shu received them with great joy and invited them to his courtyard for a drink and chat. He also handed over the gifts he brought back to them one by one.

Originally, Yuan Shu was planning to send someone to deliver it, but now that they are here, he will deliver it personally.

To be honest, every time the leader came back from a business trip, he would bring gifts to his subordinates. Not only had Lu Zhi and the others seen this, they had never even heard of it.

Although it is customary for those in high positions to give rewards to their subordinates during major festivals, and the Han emperor has done this many times, bringing back souvenirs for everyone when returning from business is something that is obviously only done between close friends, but Yuan Shu actually did it well.

Yuan Shu will never forget the core leadership of Yi Xin Hui and the outstanding and active members who have made significant contributions, and he will give them gifts every time.

Although it may not be very precious, this kind of behavior is very helpful to the subordinates. They can feel that Yuan Shu cares about them and is watching them. In this way, they can be sure that their efforts are worth it.

Therefore, the centripetal force of the Yi Xin Hui group towards Yuan Shu is very strong, and as time goes by, it tends to grow.

This time Yuan Shu went out to fight and captured a lot of spoils, so he gave his subordinates very rich gifts.

He gave his subordinates very precious gold, silver, jade, pearls, Shu brocade, silk cloth and other valuables with practical value and collection value.

The subordinates were very happy about this and expressed their gratitude to Yuan Shu collectively. At the same time, they kept sighing that it was a great honor for them to be able to follow Yuan Shu.

Why would other leaders care so much about their subordinates?

When he went out to do things, he didn’t forget to bring gifts for everyone, and the gifts were so hard!
And ever since they followed Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu has never treated them unfairly.

Before following Yuan Shu, some of them who came from poor backgrounds would sometimes go hungry and sometimes suffer from the cold. But after following Yuan Shu, they were able to ensure food and clothing even in the most difficult times, and they never went hungry again.

Yuan Shu himself had said more than once that even if he had to pay out of his own pocket, he would ensure that everyone had enough to eat. This was the minimum requirement. He would never allow any of his subordinates to suffer from hunger and cold.

Now Yuan Shu's status and power have greatly increased, and he has brought more and more benefits to everyone, but the deep friendship between them, the friendship that has grown from poverty to wealth, has never disappeared. How can this not make people shed tears?

Even Lu Zhi, who was Yuan Shu's former senior brother, could not help but be intoxicated by the warm-hearted offensive created by Yuan Shu and could not extricate himself. He could not imagine what kind of dark and hopeless life he would lead after leaving Yuan Shu.

That was something he dared not even think about, a topic he could not even touch.

After a burst of laughter, Yuan Shu clapped his hands, signaling everyone to be quiet. Everyone immediately quieted down and stared at Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu cleared his throat.

"I was originally planning to have a meeting with you in a few days, but now that you are all here, let's take this opportunity to arrange what we will do next. As you all know, I won a battle, but this is not all I want to do, or it can be said that this is just the beginning.

Next, I will have to gain more military merits to gain more unshakable prestige. I want to become the strongest person in the world recognized by the people of the entire Han Dynasty! Therefore, I decided to go north, manage the northern border, conquer the Xianbei, and establish the prestige I need by completely destroying the Xianbei!"

When Yuan Shu said this, his subordinates were all very surprised.

This was the case of one wave after another. The remnants of the eunuchs had not been completely eliminated, the war to quell the rebellion had just ended, and even the aftermath of the war had not been completed. Most of the troops had not had time to return to Luoyang, but Yuan Shu was already arranging the next round of things to do.

They were very impressed. They lamented that Yuan Shu's energy was so strong and his enterprising spirit was so strong. It seemed that he had no fatigue and did not need to rest. No matter how big a thing he had accomplished, he could just sleep well and move forward again.

However, this matter involves too many people and is extremely dangerous, so everyone's expressions became serious.

As the first person under Yuan Shu and the second-in-command of the Yi Xin Society, Lu Zhi stood up and spoke first.

"Zijia, I know you really want to establish meritorious service, and this is of course necessary, but shouldn't we discuss this matter again? The Xianbei have been invading the northern border of the Han Dynasty for more than ten years, and have been knocking on the gates of the south for many years. The court and the border counties have tried every means to arrange a marriage, but there is no way to stop them.

Over the years, I have heard that some officials have suggested attacking the Xianbei and sending a large number of cavalry to the north, but no consensus has been reached. Some say that there are not enough soldiers or the treasury is empty. Whether there are enough soldiers or not is not the point, but the treasury is indeed empty at the moment. This may not be the best time to destroy the Xianbei."

Lu Zhi's view was also shared by most people present.

Wei Jia has the same opinion.

"Whether the treasury is empty or the troops are insufficient, these are secondary. The main reason is that the Xianbei are strong. Their leader Tan Shihuai is quite knowledgeable in both civil and military affairs. For more than ten years, no one in the border area has been able to restrain him. He has more than 100,000 soldiers under his command. It will not be done overnight if we want to completely destroy them. I hope you can think deeply about this."

Yuan Shu understood their thoughts very well, so he repeated to them what he had said to Yuan Feng.

He told his loyal subordinates that he did not want to achieve success in one battle, but planned to use several years to rebuild a solid northern defense line and continuously weaken the Xianbei through various means.

At the beginning, they only fought a defensive counterattack without taking the initiative to attack, until the Xianbei were weak and the Han army was strong, and then they marched out of the border in one fell swoop to secure victory.

After securing victory, we must also manage the grasslands, bring them under the control of the Han court in new ways, eliminate disasters for future generations, and relieve worries in the north.

This grand plan amazed Lu Zhi and others.

After they learned about it, they discussed their views enthusiastically, and finally expressed their optimism about Yuan Shu's plan, but some also raised some of the same concerns as Yuan Feng.

They were worried that Yuan Shu's efforts to rectify border trade would be hindered by local forces. Even if it could be controlled at the official level, it would probably end up with some twists and turns, or even civil unrest. Otherwise, there would be no way to restrict the export of ironware to the grassland.

The people who put forward this suggestion are Luo Yi, Su Chu and Ma Ran. Because they are in charge of trade-related matters in Yi Xin Hui, they are very concerned about matters involving trade and are quite professional.

However, Yuan Shu had already formed his mind about this and did not have too many concerns.

All he thought about was—

I have already become the number one successor to the actual ruler of the Han Empire, holding great power and military authority, but I am restricted by a group of local tyrants on the border. Isn't this itself extremely unreasonable?

My strength and financial resources are countless times greater than theirs, and my identity and status are far higher than theirs. According to the rules of the game of the Han Empire, there will be no problem at all for me to kill them.

Not to mention that Yuan Shu will bring a very powerful army and use force to form a strong deterrent against them. Just the commercial trade engaged in by these people is a lowly industry that is suppressed in the Han Empire. Suppressing this kind of trade is politically correct!

"If those insects can plant crops on the grasslands and establish settlements on the Xianbei people's territory, I will consider them ruthless and will not touch even a single wheat seedling of theirs! I will even personally lead troops to the grasslands to protect them! But are they establishing settlements? Are they producing food? None of that!
The ironware they sold to the Xianbei people became the swords they used to invade the border and kill my people. They are the accomplices of the Xianbei people! They are sinners! I won't even blink an eye when dealing with this group of people, even if I kill all three of their clans! If they dare to stop me, I will let them know why I am the one who calls the shots in Luoyang City! And not them!"

(End of this chapter)