Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 249: Disrupting the World, the Beauty of the Country

Chang'an, Shangshutai.

Zhao Yun led dozens of soldiers to clear the way, while Zhang Yu talked with Dong Zhao and Jia Xu as they walked.

Those who could enter the Secretariat to discuss matters had to work in the Secretariat. Dong Zhao was the governor of Wei County recommended by Yuan Shao. After the Secretary of State Li Ru was killed by Zhu Jun, Zhang Yu recommended Dong Zhao as the Secretary of State as soon as he entered Chang'an to replace the vacant position.

Now Jia Xu and Dong Zhao are both Shangshu, plus Wu Shuo who has joined the army, half of the six departments of the Shangshutai are controlled by Zhang Yu. Therefore, even if there is no military support, Zhang Yu, with his status as the Recorder of Shangshu Affairs and the official positions of his three subordinates, must approve any resolution that the court wants to pass.

"Yuan Shu and Cao Cao are fighting for Yanzhou. I wonder how the battle goes?" Zhang Yu asked.

Dong Zhao hesitated for a moment and said, "According to the report from the scouts, since Liu Xiang was defeated by Cao Cao, Yuan Shu has surrendered Yanzhou and sent Sun Jian as the general to lead 40,000 infantry and cavalry to the north. Cao Cao and Zhang Miao have stationed their troops in Fugou, and Yuan Shao has provided them with food and supplies, and Zhu Ling has led 3,000 elite soldiers to help them."

"Cao Cao was afraid of Sun Jian's large army, so he fortified his walls and cleared the fields, and built high fortifications to hold his ground. The confrontation lasted from February to March. In mid-March, Yuan Shu suddenly went north to Yanzhou and led his army in person, intending to fight Cao Cao. Upon hearing that Yuan Shu was leading the army, Cao Cao sent out his troops to fight, and by feigning defeat, he defeated Yuan Shu and chased him all the way to Yanling."

"Ha ha!"

Zhang Yu could not help laughing and said, "Sun Jian is a fierce tiger from Jiangdong, and Cao Cao is very afraid of him. Yuan Shu went north to lead the army, maybe he fell into Cao Cao's trap of alienating him."

Zhang Yu almost guessed Cao Cao's plan. Sun Jian was a general that even Dong Zhuo feared, let alone Cao Cao. Cao Cao had just surrendered the Yellow Turbans, and the quality of his troops was uneven. Naturally, he did not dare to fight Sun Jian in the field, so Cao Cao chose to dig deep trenches and build high fortifications to deal with it.

During the defense period, Xun Yu offered a plan to Cao Cao, saying that Sun Jian had a great reputation and was now leading a large army outside, so it would be better to send people to spread rumors that Sun Jian wanted to establish himself as the emperor. Yuan Shu would be afraid and would transfer Sun Jian away from the army.

As expected, Yuan Shu fell into the trap. As Sun Jian had been fighting in Yingchuan for many years and was now in charge of the army, Yuan Shu had to worry about whether Sun Jian intended to establish himself as an independent ruler. So he went north in person, seized Sun Jian's troops, and personally commanded the army to fight against Cao Cao.

As a result, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu with an ambush. Fortunately, Sun Jian led his troops to support and prevented Cao Cao from entering Yingchuan County.

Under the same process, it still has the familiar taste. No matter how strong Yuan Shu is, he is never a match for Cao Cao.

Zhang Yu calmed down and said, "Yuan Shu has been defeated by Cao Cao and will not dare to take Yanzhou again in the near future. After this battle, Sun Jian will make Yuan Shu afraid."

Sun Jian was quite unlucky. Although he did not die in Xiangyang in this life, he was targeted by Yuan Shu everywhere because of his outstanding ability. Yuan Shu recommended Sun Jian as the governor of Yuzhou, but the only territory he could control was Yingchuan. All the counties in Yuzhou were appointed by the governors sent by Yuan Shu.

"Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu and became famous in the Central Plains. He may become a powerful enemy for you in the future," said Dong Zhao.

"Ha ha!"

Zhang Yu laughed again and said, "Yuan Shu has Sun Jian as his wing, Yuan Shao has Cao Cao as his follower, and I have Lü Fengxian, so why should I worry about Cao Cao?"

Lü Bu was an outstanding military strategist. If it weren't for his temperament, Zhang Yu would have wanted to recruit Lü Bu as his subordinate. However, Lü Bu was unruly and difficult to control. Since he couldn't keep him around, it would be better to let Lü Bu go out of the pass, just like in history, and cause trouble for Cao Cao in Yanzhou.

Now that Lu Bu has him behind him, it will not be so easy for Cao Cao to defeat Lu Bu again. Especially the court will be very happy to see Lu Bu and Cao Cao fighting. After all, if a powerful warlord appeared in Yanzhou, the court would not be able to sleep well.

Seeing that Zhang Yu had his own strategy to deal with Cao Cao, Jia Xu said, "Sir, Yuan Shu has taken over Jingzhou, occupied Yuzhou, and appointed officials in Yangzhou. His power is growing, and we must stop him!"

Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment and said, "Liu Yan of Yizhou may be of use..."

Zhang Yu, Jia and Dong were talking as they walked. Before they knew it, they had arrived at the provincial capital. They heard the attendants shouting, "The general has arrived!"

Zhang Yu straightened his clothes, drew his sword and walked in proudly.

In Taichung, Zhu Jun, Yang Biao and other ministers stood up to greet Zhang Yu and said hello.

Zhang Yu bowed and entered the hall, then sat down in the upper seat.

After Zhang Yu sat down, everyone greeted each other. Yang Biao coughed and said, "The palace ladies haven't had new clothes for several years. Now your majesty wants to send the Shaofu to make clothes for the palace ladies. I wonder what the cavalry thinks?"

"I wonder how much silk and linen there is in the country?"

"Return to the carriages and cavalry. There are still more than 20,000 horses in the palace!"

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "Since there are more in the palace, and the palace ladies haven't had new clothes for several years, we can make clothes according to your majesty's wishes!"

"good!"

Yang Biao looked kind and said, "Then we will make the clothes according to what we discussed before!"

"promise!"

Zhang Yu had a large army in hand and had recruited another 20,000 soldiers. The court officials were impeccable in their respect for Zhang Yu.

After chatting about some trivial matters, Zhu Jun, who was straightforward, asked immediately: "Since the cavalry is in charge of the government, they want to move east to Luoyang. What is the plan now?"

Zhang Yu looked calm and said, "I have ordered Zhang Yang to lead his troops back to Henei, and he will send materials from Henei to repair the palace. In addition, Liu Bei has made great contributions in defeating the bandits, and he is a distant relative of the emperor. You can send Liu Bei to lead his troops out of the pass first to recruit refugees from Henan for Your Majesty and repair the two temples."

"What official position does Liu Bei hold now?" Yang Biao asked.

"As the current Pingyuan Xiang, he can be appointed as a general and be granted the title of Tinghou for his merits." Zhang Yu said, "But Lü Bu has made great achievements and is arrogant, so he should not stay in the capital. Cao Cao now controls Yanzhou and has expelled Jin Shang, so Lü Bu can be sent to serve as the governor of Yanzhou to protect the emperor." Zhang Yu did not intend to keep Lü Bu in Guannei, and it was even more impossible to keep Liu Bei by his side. However, in order to control Liu Bei, Zhang Yu planned to let Liu Bei stay by Liu Xie's side as a shackle to Liu Bei, so that Liu Bei would not make any random moves.

Zhu Jun and Yang Biao looked at each other and said, "The chariots and cavalry are well arranged, and I have no doubts. Since Liu Bei is a distant relative of the emperor, why not appoint him as General Yi Ju and Minister of the Court, and have him and General Zhang Yang be responsible for renovating the palace, repairing the capital, and recruiting refugees."

Seeing that the two had no objection, Zhang Yu continued, "Since the death of Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou, the position of governor of Yangzhou has been vacant for a long time. Tao Qian privately applied for the position and replaced the court officials. This is not feasible. Therefore, the court needs to appoint a governor of Yangzhou to succeed Chen Wen and pacify Xu and Yang for the country."

Zhu Jun asked suspiciously, "Does Ji'an have a candidate?"

Zhang Yu shook his head and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhu is from Kuaiji and is familiar with the affairs of Yangzhou. You can recommend talented people to me!"

The essence of reminding the court to praise the governor of the province was that Zhang Yu did not want Yuan Shu's power to expand too aggressively, and wanted to use the court's hand to clamp down on Yuan Shu.

Zhang Yu asked Zhu Jun to recommend talents because Zhu Jun's eldest son Zhu Fu was the governor of Jiaozhou. If he asked him to recommend someone to go to Yangzhou to take up the post, perhaps they could establish contact with Jiaozhou and echo each other, so as to curb Yuan Shu's eastward expansion.

Zhu Jun pondered for a long time and said, "Liu Yao, the nephew of the former Grand Commandant Liu Chong, is the brother of the former Yanzhou Governor Liu Dai. He is now taking refuge in Huaipu. It would be better to appoint Liu Yao as the Governor of Yangzhou."

Liu Yao was a distant relative of the Han Dynasty, and Zhu Jun recommended him to be the governor of Yangzhou with almost no selfish motives, purely for the sake of the Han Dynasty. After all, the fact that the alliance to fight against the enemy was held today proved that the only people who were truly willing to save the Han Dynasty, apart from patriots, were distant relatives of the Han Dynasty, such as Liu Yu and Liu Bei.

"What do you think, Mr. Yang?" Zhang Yu asked.

Yang Biao had no objection, and said, "Let's follow Mr. Zhu's opinion!"

"Then we can let the Minister of the Interior draft the edict, and then issue it to Liu Yao!" Zhang Yu said.

"good!"

Afterwards, Zhang Yu asked for official positions for Zhang Liao, Zhang Yang, Xu Huang and others, and recommended Wang Hong to be the Right Fengyi. Zhu Jun and Yang Biao had no objection. As for the Yongzhou petition, Zhang Yu temporarily suppressed it, preparing to wait until Guanzhong was slightly disturbed before letting Wu Shuo petition.

After using the emperor's name to place chess pieces to contain Cao Cao and Yuan Shu, Zhang Yu returned to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's mansion to prepare to take care of military affairs.

Soon after Zhang Yu took his seat, he learned that Zhang Ji was here to visit him.

"Brother, I wonder why I'm here to visit you today?" Zhang Yu warmly invited Zhang Ji to sit down and said.

After Zhang Xiu worshipped Zhang Yu as his uncle, Zhang Yu saw that Zhang Ji and his nephew were reliable, so he simply addressed Zhang Ji as an equal. The last person who discussed brothers with Zhang Yu was Zhang Yan, who changed his surname.

It has to be said that there are many people with the surname Zhang, second only to the surname Liu in the late Han Dynasty. It was really convenient for Zhang Yu to win over everyone by using the relationship of having the same surname.

In the future, Zhang Yu might be able to contact Zhang Lu and become his brother, to see if he could make Zhang Lu a vassal prince like Zhang Yan, so that he could extend his influence into Bashu.

Zhang Ji stole a glance at Guo Tu and said with a smile, "I have nothing else to do. I just haven't seen you for a long time, so I came to see you. You are new to Chang'an, and most of the people around you are old friends. I wonder if this is inconvenient?"

Seeing that Zhang Ji had something to say, Zhang Yu smiled and said, "Although it's not as good as Jinyang, it's still a good place to stay. You and I are not outsiders. If you have something important to say, you can just tell me now!"

Zhang Ji chuckled and said, "Your Excellency is wise. I got a palace maid the other day. She is a beauty. Now you have no one to take care of her, so I am willing to offer her to you."

"Who is this woman?" Zhang Yu asked.

"Surname Zou!"

Guo Tu interrupted and said, "She is proficient in singing and dancing. She is from Jingzhao in Guanzhong. She was a palace maid. After Li Jue captured the city, he took the most beautiful girls and distributed them to the generals. General Zhang kept her as a singing girl."

Hearing this, Zhang Yu looked up at Guo Tu, and immediately knew that it must be Guo Tu who was behind this. How could Zhang Ji, a mere warrior, have such thoughts? If he met such a beautiful woman, he would probably keep her for himself.

Seeing that Zhang Yu knew it was his doing, Guo Tu smiled flatteringly.

In terms of strategy, the new recruits Dong Zhao and Jia Xu put a lot of pressure on him. In order to preserve his position and maintain his position as Zhang Yu's top confidant, he naturally had to find other ways. If he wanted to win Zhang Yu's favor, pleasing Zhang Yu was the best choice.

Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment and was quite interested in Zou, but he was afraid that he would be stealing someone else's love.

"Since you have obtained it, just keep it!" Zhang Yu said with pain.

Seeing Zhang Yu's modesty, Zhang Ji wanted to keep him, but considering his own status, he hurriedly said, "Your Excellency is of noble status, how can you leave her unattended? Zou is a newcomer, so you might as well accept her reluctantly as a token of your appreciation."

Zhang Ji's heart was bleeding. He had gone to great lengths to obtain Zou from Li Jue, and had originally intended to treat her well and keep her as his second wife.

However, when Zou stayed overnight at Guo Tu's house that day, she was seen by Guo Tu. After being brainwashed by Guo Tu, he recognized Zou as his sister and prepared to give her to Zhang Yu as a concubine.

Although he is reluctant now, he must give something for the sake of status!

How many beautiful women are there in the world?

After Zou died, he found Cao, who was not as pretty as Zou, but had a better family background. He hooked up with Zhang Yu, so how could he not have a noble woman as his second wife?

(End of this chapter)