Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 30 The heroes of the world are like jackals and wolves, and the officials are like flies buzzing around.

As a loyal and virtuous man of the Han Dynasty, he should naturally serve the emperor.

However, while both were serving the emperor, Cao Cao used the emperor to command the other lords, while Yuan Shu wanted to use the emperor to punish the disobedient!
I am hereby appointed by the Emperor as Grand General to march north to Luoyang to protect the Emperor and defend the throne. Those who oppose me are traitors!

You, Cao Cao, want the emperor and raise a great banner of righteousness, so I will seize your foundation and destroy the root of your existence.

Yuan Shu might not have been able to handle this matter on his own, but in Xuzhou, not far away, Cao Cao had also blocked him from entering Luoyang and preventing him from rescuing the emperor. There was still that big-eared scoundrel who was wholeheartedly devoted to restoring the Han Dynasty.

Not to mention Lü Bu, who had just been driven out of Yanzhou by Cao Cao and was temporarily stationed in Xiaopei, eager to reclaim his base.

It remains to be seen whether his half-brother, upon hearing of this, will remain unmoved as history has shown.

As he pondered, he chuckled softly.

"All the heroes under heaven are nothing but jackals and wolves!"

Yuan Shu's gaze slowly swept over the officials at the banquet. He noticed that everyone had different expressions and their own thoughts.

Just like Zhou Yu and Lu Xun, who were arguing endlessly with their own opinions, the ministers followed them for various reasons: some for their families, some for their own interests, some for their ambitions, and some for their loyalty and righteousness.

He frowned slightly and sighed silently.

“These officials are nothing but flies.”

Throughout history, those who eat meat are despicable, those who are wholeheartedly devoted to the public good are few, and those who seek personal gain are many. Zhou and Lu were no exception.

However, their Achilles' heel is Sun Ce. One must be protected, the other must be killed. With my son Bofu in hand, why should I worry that they cannot be used for my own purposes?
On the other hand, if we kill Zhou Yu now, even if we gain Jia Xu in the future, wouldn't we still have selfish motives and schemes?
Jia Xu was wise enough to protect himself, Lu Xun was burdened with a blood feud, and Gong Jin shared the same ambition as Sun Ce. Those who achieve great things throughout history are all good at using people. They not only have extraordinary talents, but also have a broad mind that can encompass the world.

Although he was not particularly talented, he was not one to be jealous of the virtuous and capable. He was not bothered by Zhou Yu's scheming for personal gain or Lu Xun's hidden murderous intent. Instead, he laughed loudly and said: "Heroes of the world are as numerous as carp crossing the river, and now they are all in my trap!"

The virtuous should be given their proper positions, and the lesser men should also be put to their proper use; this is what it means to know people and assign them to suitable positions.

Loyal ministers like Yan Xiang can be entrusted with important matters with confidence, just like Xiao He; even those with selfish motives like Zhou Yu have their place to use their talents.

As the ancients said: "He who can lead troops is called a general; he who can command generals is called a commander."

Looking at the many talented men under his command, there are many generals, such as Taishi Ci, Xu Chu, Jiang Qin, Zhou Tai, and even Ji Ling, Zhang Xun, Cheng Pu, and Huang Gai, all of whom are capable of leading troops and conquering cities and territories.

If one were to be a commander, leading hundreds of thousands of troops alongside Cao Cao, and the more the better, then only Gongjin (Zhou Yu) could achieve this.

Now, instead of granting him the authority to command troops, he is only ordered to attend the central army and participate in military affairs. All troop deployments and general assignments will be decided by Zhou Yu, passed through Yuan Shu's hands, discussed by the military council, and supervised by the ministers. In such a situation, no matter how much you scheme and plot, you can only sigh in vain.
Moreover, Zhou Yu's only target is Sun Ce. If he were to suffer defeat due to Zhou Yu's selfishness, he would surely kill Sun Ce, fail to escape, and suffer harm instead. A wise man would not do such a thing.

It's better to be law-abiding and earn trust!
Thinking this, Yuan Shu reminisced about his past life, a meaningful smile appearing in his eyes.

[Gongjin, rest assured, we only need to win one more battle. We are just a little short of trust, so I will rely on Sun Ce and let him lead the army on his own.]

Gongjin, keep up the good work! With just 0.5 points of trust, I will definitely let Sun Ce go on the expedition.

Heaven has bestowed great favor upon you! Congratulations, Gongjin, for gaining double the trust in this battle. You're just 0.01 points away from securing Sun Ce's freedom.

Gongjin! Why do you look so pale? The last leg of a journey is the hardest. Sun Ce's great ambitions are about to be realized, and his great cause is about to flourish. As his sworn brother, you must not give up on him.

Come, come, let's fight another battle together, and this time we'll pacify the world!

】

Shaking his head and chuckling lightly, Yuan Shu cleared his mind of distractions and turned his gaze from Zhou Yu to Lu Xun.

If we consider Boyan's talent, he could certainly become a commander in the future. However, he is still young. He is intelligent enough to offer advice and strategies, but he has no experience in actual combat and leading troops.

As for Yuan Shu personally leading hundreds of thousands of troops to fight against Wei Wu.
He didn't want to be like Yuan Shiwan.

Relying on his extensive knowledge of the Three Kingdoms from his previous life, he could anticipate others' moves, strategize, and control the world's affairs to his own advantage. Perhaps he could succeed.

But when it comes to both sides setting up their formations and commanding troops in battle, it's not that they're unwilling, but rather that they simply didn't have the opportunity to have such experience in their previous lives.

Let alone facing Wei Wu, his peak record across both lifetimes was only when he bullied the Jiangdong kids by relying on numerical superiority.

The saying goes, "When the birds are all gone, the bow is put away; when the rabbit is all dead, the dog is cooked." In the past, when King Qin executed Bai Qi and Empress Lü killed Han Xin, the world was already at peace and great achievements were made. Now that the nine provinces are in chaos and the four seas are collapsing, it is the time for heroes to use their talents. How can there be any reason to put away the bow and cook the dog?

I have united the feudal lords nine times and established a great empire over the world. In the future, I will need Gongjin to do more for the sake of my son Bofu.

As the candles burned out, the banquet came to an end. What was originally a celebratory feast had ended hastily due to the chaos in Chang'an and the emperor's escape.

After the officials took their leave, Yuan Shu simply instructed Yang Hong, "In the coming days, I still need you to discuss matters with me and prepare for the matter of granting favors to the feudal lords."

It's time to send a letter to my long-lost half-brother.

"only!"

After Yang Hong left, Yuan Shu called Taishi Ci back.

"Ziyi, please slow down and come with me to see an old friend from Donglai."

"An old friend from Donglai? I wonder which one you're referring to, Lord Yuan?"

Taishi Ci harbored doubts. He followed Yuan Shu to a small, secluded courtyard. Before he even got close, he saw a woman sitting alone by the window, mending clothes by candlelight, and his eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Yuan Shu patted his shoulder gently and comforted him softly.

"Shu Changyan has long admired Ziyi's loyalty in rescuing Kong Rong in Beihai, and this is no exaggeration!"
When he was on his southern expedition against Liu Yao, although he had not yet reached Qu'a, he already longed to go there.

I have just heard that since Yuan Tan, the eldest son of my half-brother Yuan Shao, governed Pingyuan, he has been ostracizing Tian Kai, the governor of Qingzhou, and attacking cities and seizing territories everywhere. Considering that even Kong Beihai could not escape this chaos, how much more so Ziyi's mother.

Shu was deeply concerned for his safety, so he brought him to Shouchun early on and made proper arrangements for him. He is now doing well, but he often misses Ziyi.

"Ming Gong."

With a single, sincere statement, Taishi Ci finally understood how much his lord valued him.
What moved him even more was that during the Battle of Qu'a, Yuan Shu had already brought his mother back, but he did not use her to threaten him during the battle, nor did he rely on her to persuade him to surrender after the battle.

At this moment, what Taishi Ci felt was not the gratitude of a loyal minister and a wise ruler, but a sense of equality and respect that he, from a humble background, had never felt from a noble family.

At this moment, he vaguely sensed that his lord was different from the other warlords of the time; it was a feeling that he could not describe and had never experienced before.

That was the faint light that they, like moths who had never seen the light before, were willing to risk their lives to protect in the long, chaotic night.

"May I ask your ambitions, sir?"

"Actually, I told Bo Fu about it, but he never believed me."

Yuan Shu's eyes, which were usually reserved for those in the main seat and whose emotions were unpredictable, rarely showed a hint of nostalgia or longing.

"I am a kind-hearted person, and I can't bear to see people in the world separated from their loved ones, or their families broken up and people killed."

He looked at him with a slight smile.

"Ziyi, do you believe me?"

(End of this chapter)