The Three Kingdoms: Home Travel

Xuchang. Its Japanese name was Xu County.

Just by looking at its name, one can tell that Xuchang is merely a county town, yet it is home to many prominent families, such as the Guo, Fang, Wang, and Xiao Gou families, all of whom are renowned clans in the area.

One day, he suddenly arrived in Xuchang and became its governor. This man was Cao Cao, Cao Mengde!

The Cao family were descendants of founding heroes, but their fortunes declined until Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, rose to prominence. Cao Teng rose to the position of Grand Chamberlain, serving four emperors and was once enfeoffed as Marquis of Feiting. His salary was only below that of the Chancellor and Grand Commandant. Cao Teng had no son, so he adopted Cao Song, a son of the Xiahou family, who were his family's close friends. This Cao Song was Cao Cao's biological father!

Cao Song, with the help of his father Teng's connections and his proper conduct, successively served as the Commandant of the Capital Region, the Grand Minister of Agriculture, and the Junior Grand Minister of Agriculture, wielding great power and influence over the finances and etiquette of the Han Dynasty.

Unlike his father, Cao Song was not an incorruptible official. After many years in office, he was corrupted by power, and by Cao Cao's generation, the Cao family was incredibly wealthy.

From this perspective, the Cao family can also be considered a prominent family.

When they first heard that Cao Cao had been appointed governor of Xuchang, the wealthy and powerful families of Xuchang did not dislike him, because they were all from prominent families.

After Liu Dai, the governor of Chuzhou, failed in his campaign against the Yellow Turbans and died, Cao Cao took over the post of governor of Wanzhou.

Originally, when Cao Cao gained power, the powerful families of Xuchang should have been overjoyed. Unfortunately, a man emerged who succeeded Cao Cao as the governor of Xuchang: Jiang Zhe, son of Jiang Shouyi, who seemed to come from a humble background. Rumors suggested he was from Xuzhou.

How could Jiang Zhe, who came from a poor family, be appointed as a prefect?

Many prominent families in Xuchang City were dissatisfied. They secretly sent people to investigate, and the news they received shocked them.

The son-in-law of Prince Situ and the son-in-law of Cai Ba, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, truly has an extraordinary background!

The Wang and Cai families were both prominent clans of the Han Dynasty. Although they were not large families, few in the world were unaware of their reputations, and the powerful families of Xuchang were convinced and tacitly accepted Jiang Zhe's appointment as the Prefect of Xuchang.

Jiang Zhe's behavior was quite unusual; he treated the common people of low status with kindness, but neglected the powerful families of Xuchang. As a result, the dissatisfied families used grain prices to put pressure on Jiang Zhe.

This was the first clash between the powerful families and Jiang Zhe. They were initially deceived, but after realizing the deception, they were persuaded by the renowned scholar Qiao Xuan. Both sides abandoned their plans, thus making this a stalemate.

The Xuchang aristocratic families originally thought that Jiang Zhe would restrain himself and treat them well, but unexpectedly, Jiang Zhe suddenly changed the tax system to attract merchants from all over the world. Before the Xuchang aristocratic families could react, Xuchang had already changed its appearance and was no longer the world of the aristocratic families.

The powerful families, harboring strong resentment, dared not act rashly when they saw the three thousand soldiers Jiang Zhe had deliberately transferred to Xuchang. In the second round, Jiang Zhe completely defeated the Xuchang families!

Seeing their wealth, which rightfully belonged to them, fall into the hands of others, how could the powerful families let it go? They secretly exchanged information, intending to gather the power of all the powerful families in Xuchang to put pressure on Jiang Zhe.

Unfortunately, Jiang Zhe's strategic brilliance was evident in his creation of the Xuchang Chamber of Commerce, which shattered the power dynamics of those aristocratic families. With their power shifting, these families no longer had the authority to challenge Jiang Zhe and were forced to swallow their bitter pill, submitting to his orders.

In the third game, Jiang Zhe also achieved a complete victory over Xuchang Shijia!

The young man surnamed Jiang who was once looked down upon by the powerful families, now... just listen to his title: Grand Minister of the Han Dynasty, Prefect of Xiaoxuchang, and administrator of Yuzhou and Chongzhou.

He was stationed in Xuchang, commanding tens of thousands of troops.

In other words, as long as Jiang Zhe is in Xuchang, the powerful families of Xuchang will never have a chance to rise again, and they will never be able to return to the situation where they could get whatever they wanted.

Even if they hated Jiang Zhe, the aristocratic families would still respectfully address him as "Sir" upon meeting him.

Even the heads of the families had to be extremely respectful to Jiang Zhe, who was just over twenty years old and barely twenty. The reason was simple: Jiang Zhe held their lives in his hands!

But to be fair, they had to admire this young man surnamed Jiang, who had transformed Xuchang from a county town into a prefecture city in just over a year, and possibly even the capital city in the future!

Even though they were at the mercy of these powerful families, the wealth they earned was several times, or even hundreds of times, greater than before.

Jiang Zhe's methods alarmed the aristocratic families, but his domestic policies earned their admiration.

So much so that even today, those aristocratic families hesitate.

"A small rebellion?" Guo Yu, the head of the Guo family, looked alarmed. He and the other family heads in the secret room exchanged bewildered glances. "Don't talk nonsense!" Wang Hai, the head of the Wang family, nervously looked towards the door, even though everyone had dismissed the servants long ago. Wang Hai was still terrified.

Taking out a letter, Wang Hai addressed the assembled members of the prominent families of Xuchang in a deep voice, "This is a letter from one of His Majesty's most trusted advisors to us. He intends to eliminate Cao Cao's power in Xuchang. In the letter, he states that if we assist him, we will be richly rewarded afterward!"

The heads of the families looked at each other, none of them daring to step forward and take the letter to read.

"Have you all been terrified by that Jiang Zhe?!" Wang Hai shouted angrily when no one stepped forward. "As long as Jiang Zhe is in Xuchang, we will all depend on him for survival and obey the orders of a mere boy. This is truly the greatest humiliation of our lives!"

Seeing the extremely somber atmosphere, Fang Ge, the head of the Fang family, frowned and said, "Brother, we used to think the same way, but what was the result? I advise you, brother, that we cannot and cannot control this matter. As for Jiang Zhe, let me tell you, I am not afraid of any of you foxes, but I feel this fear whenever I see him. Are you the only one who feels this way?" Guo Yu said with a sigh, "Jiang Zhe's various methods are beyond our understanding, let alone how to counter them. We don't even understand his intentions. When Brother Fang and I went to visit him..." "Alas, I advise you all not to cause trouble. Just manage your family business peacefully. Although we rely on Jiang Zhe for survival, honestly speaking, aren't the money and goods we receive every day far greater than before? Brother Guo is absolutely right!" All the family heads echoed in agreement.

"You!" Wang Hai was taken aback, then frowned and said in a deep voice, "What if one day Jiang Zhe suddenly makes things difficult for us? He has tens of thousands of elite troops at his disposal. How can we deal with that?"

Upon hearing Wang Hai's words, all the family heads frowned and pondered. In fact, this was exactly what they were worried about. It was not that they had not visited the Jiang family, which is now the Situ residence, but although they had visited, they had never accepted any gifts. How could this put the noble families at ease?

"Don't panic, everyone!" Guo Yu and Fang Pi exchanged a glance and said. "Jiang Zhe said beforehand that if we behaved ourselves, he wouldn't push us too far. Let's see what happens now."

Has Jiang Zhe ever made things difficult for us? Hmm, speaking of which, he hasn't... If that's the case, that's truly remarkable! Even if you're terrified, he's not in Xuchang now, so what do you have to fear?

Sighing, Guo Yu shook his head and said, "Brother Wang, you've never met Jiang Shouyi. You'd never understand the feeling he had when he looked at you, that feeling of being seen through completely. If Jiang Zhe were over seventy years old, I certainly wouldn't have done this. What harm would it do to lend you a hand? But this man is only just now..."

"Brother Guo is absolutely right!" Fang Luo echoed. "So what if Cao Cao loses Xuchang this time? Cao Mengde is only thirty years old, and Jiang Zhe has just come of age. Our family businesses are all in Xuchang. If these two attack Xuchang with their archers again in the future, we will not survive!"

"Yes, that's it!"

"That's right!" All the family heads nodded. They were not only afraid of Jiang Zhe, but also of Jiang Zhe, who was only twenty-two years old. "If he can already control me like this, what will he be like in the future?"

"Do you really think Jiang Zhe is some kind of god or something?" Wang Hai said angrily.

Brother Wang, don't forget! Fang Beng glanced at Wang Hai and said, "Where did such a large number of people in Xuchang City come from? They came from Jiang Zhe when he led 50,000 troops to suppress the 300,000 Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou! He defeated 300,000 with only 50,000. He is a good general and a wise minister."

Gentlemen, don't be tempted by short-term gains! You'll only get yourself into trouble! To be honest, I can't defeat Jiang Shouyi! Therefore, Brother Wang, I'm sorry!

"Yes! I have never seen anyone like Jiang Shouyi before," Guo Yu said with a self-deprecating laugh. "I am no match for him either. I apologize, brother, but we are unable to assist you!"

"You, you all!" Wang Hai, his chest tight with anger, pointed at the two men and roared, "You should know that if we were to gather all the servants and guards in our household, there would be nearly ten thousand of them! If you are afraid of Jiang Zhe's retaliation, why don't you go to the Situ Mansion, capture all his wives and concubines, lure him here, and then behead him with one stroke!" "Hmm?" Guo Yu and Fang Neng exchanged a glance and remained silent.

The other powerful families were immediately intrigued upon hearing this, clearly fearing Jiang Zhe even more than Cao Cao. This was understandable; they had never witnessed the bravery and strategic brilliance Cao Cao displayed when he campaigned against Lü Bu, but only Jiang Zhe's endless array of methods.

Seeing that many in the room were tempted, Wang Hai breathed a slight sigh of relief and said softly, "What do you all think? All we need to do is kill Jiang Zhe! I've long heard that Jiang Zhe treats his wives and concubines very well. If we use them as bait…", he said, waving the letter in his hand. He smiled and added, "From now on, we will still be the rulers of Xuchang!"

Aside from the two family heads, Guo Yu and Fang Ge, who remained silent with furrowed brows, the other aristocratic families were all tempted. And rightly so. Even if Jiang Zhe allowed them to earn more money, the families who depended on Jiang Zhe would never be satisfied…

Half a quarter of an hour later, all the other family heads, except for Guo and Fang, were persuaded and signed a written agreement.

"I'm sorry, my two brothers!" Wang Hai said with a smile, looking at Guo and Fang. "It's not that I don't trust you two, but this matter is of utmost importance and cannot be leaked. So I'll have to trouble you two for the night. Gentlemen, tie up my two brothers." Guo Yu and Fang Ge exchanged a glance, then surrendered with wry smiles.

Silently bound and locked in the secret chamber, Guo Yu watched the family heads emerge with glee, muttering, "They won't understand how terrifying Jiang Zhe's eyes were." Fang Ju sighed bitterly, saying calmly, "We'll see what happens at dawn. If Cao Mengde's forces are defeated, we'll leave Xuchang. If Cao Mengde gains power, then Xuchang will only have the Gou, Guo, and Fang families left." It's worth a gamble!

"Hehe!" Guo Yu smiled slightly, then turned to Fang Beng and said, "Brother, your thoughts are similar to mine. Let's wait until dawn, and everything will be clear!"

"good!.

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