You get Lu Bu as your starting character.

Chapter 341 Have the details of the local officials been thoroughly investigated?
royal palace.

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

Xiao He, Fang Xuanling, and the other ministers had all withdrawn.

Only Jia Xu, the Imperial Censor, was kept by Zhou Chen.

Zhou Chen sat upright on the dragon throne and glanced at Jia Xu; "Wenhe, have you thoroughly investigated the backgrounds of the officials in various regions?"

Jia Xu nodded; "Your Majesty, with the covert assistance of the Eastern Depot, I have thoroughly investigated the backgrounds of local officials."

During this period, Jia Xu, the Imperial Censor, appeared to be keeping a low profile and not taking any action.

But in reality, Jia Xu was secretly investigating the backgrounds of local officials.

This is one of the reasons why Emperor Zhou Chen appointed Jia Xu as Imperial Censor.

The duty of the imperial censors was to investigate and supervise all officials.

Zhou Chen appointed Jia Xu as Imperial Censor in order to find out the background of local officials and prepare for the rectification of officialdom.

"That's good."

"Then let's take this opportunity to start rectifying the administration of our Great Zhou and, while we're at it, also clean up those unstable factors."

Zhou Chen said, his eyes gleaming.

Zhou Chen thought the strategy Jia Xu had just presented was excellent.

Zhou Chen also knew that Jia Xu was right.

Despite the seemingly peaceful and prosperous state of the Great Zhou Dynasty today, there are still some unstable factors lurking beneath the surface.

Take aristocratic and wealthy families as an example.

Zhou Chen issued an edict abolishing some of the privileges of powerful families and confiscating their land holdings, thus weakening their power. Are these powerful families truly willing to accept this?
The answer is obvious; everyone knows it.

It was only because of the overwhelming power of the imperial court that the powerful families could not and dared not resist.

However, the powerful and wealthy families are truly unwilling to accept this.

It would be the same for anyone.

If someone were to ask Zhou Chen to relinquish some of his privileges and weaken his power, Zhou Chen would be unwilling to accept it.

Under normal circumstances, it would be very difficult to eliminate these unstable factors within the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Because no one can be sure which powerful and influential families in the Great Zhou Dynasty are truly unstable factors.

But right now is the best opportunity to test the waters.

With powerful enemies attacking from hundreds of cities in the Great Wilderness, any aristocratic family or powerful clan that harbors resentment will certainly not remain indifferent.

The unstable factors within the Great Zhou will be exposed one by one.

Zhou Chen could take this opportunity to deal with the experts from the Hundred Cities of the Great Wilderness, while also eliminating unstable factors within the Great Zhou.

have to say.

Jia Xu truly lived up to his reputation as a cunning strategist; his ability to manipulate people's hearts was unparalleled.

This strategy can be described as a plan with three calculations in one.

……

Outside Yanmen Pass.

The Northern Capital.

Dozens of corpses hung on the city wall.

These corpses are all the corpses of experts from the Hundred Cities of the Great Wilderness.

Besides Xidu City, Beidu City has also been attacked by experts from the Hundred Cities of the Great Wilderness in the past two days.

But as a result, all the experts from the Hundred Cities of the Great Wilderness who attacked Beidu City were turned into corpses and hung on the city walls.

Like the Western Capital, the imperial court had previously ordered the mobilization of 100,000 Zhenbei Army troops to defend the Northern Capital.

Inside the military camp.

Lu Bu sat in the main seat, looking at the imperial edict that the Eastern Depot had just delivered.

Below sat generals Gao Shun, Cao Xing, Wei Xu, Cheng Lian, and others.

Previously, not only was Lü Bu transferred to Beidu City, but in order to strengthen the defense of Beidu City, generals such as Cao Xing and Wei Xu were also ordered by Zhou Chen to be transferred to Beidu City along with Lü Bu.

After reading the imperial decree, Lü Bu looked up at Gao Shun and the others below. "His Majesty has issued a decree ordering us to immediately set off for Xidu City to join Huo Qubing and the others in dealing with the experts from the Hundred Cities of the Great Wilderness one by one."

what?
As soon as Lü Bu finished speaking, Gao Shun and the others frowned.

"General Lü, if we all leave, who will defend Beidu City?"

Gao Shun looked at Lü Bu and asked.

"Just hand it over to the generals below."

"Lu Bu said."

"Hand it over to the lower-ranking officers?"

Upon hearing Lü Bu's words, Gao Shun and the others frowned even more deeply.

If these people leave, can the generals below defend Beidu City?
This is not the same as abandoning the defense of Beidu City. What's the difference between this and handing over Beidu City?
"This is His Majesty's decree, and I believe His Majesty has given it his due consideration."

Lu Bu glanced at the expressions of Gao Shun and the others, and naturally saw what they were thinking.

However, as far as Lü Bu was concerned, he would obey the emperor's decree as long as it was issued.

As for other things, they were not within his consideration.

……

Outside the Western Capital.

More than a dozen groups of people were stationed outside the city.

The entire western capital city was under martial law, with the city gates tightly closed and the soldiers on the city walls ready to attack at any moment.

Inside a large tent.

A dozen or so figures sat down in turn.

These dozen or so figures were all city lords of the Hundred Cities of the Great Wilderness, holding high positions of power and possessing formidable strength.

Sitting at the very front was Shi Yan, the city lord of Giant Stone City.

Shi Yan glanced at everyone present and said, "I'm sure you all know why you've come to the Great Zhou. The reason you haven't acted yet is because you've seen the corpses hanging on the city walls and haven't figured out the true strength of the Great Zhou!"

The city lords all exchanged glances, wondering what Shi Yan wanted to do by gathering them together.

One of the men standing right next to Shi Yan said in a low voice, "Shi Yan, if you have something to say, just say it directly. There's no need to beat around the bush."

This man showed no courtesy whatsoever to Shi Yan. Because this man was the city lord of Ten Thousand Beasts City, and in terms of both strength and influence, he was in no way inferior to Shi Yan.

"Then I'll be frank. I've investigated the true strength of the Great Zhou. It's not as strong as you all appear on the surface; it's extremely weak internally."

"The entire Great Zhou Dynasty only has a handful of truly skilled individuals, most of whom are stationed at the border."

"As you all surely know, this Western Capital is merely one of the cities of the Great Zhou Dynasty located outside the pass. The Great Zhou Dynasty has many cities within the pass, so there is no need for you to waste your time here."

"As long as we bypass Xidu City, the other cities of the Great Zhou will have little resistance and no powerful guards, so we can easily take them over."

Shi Yan told all the information he had gathered without reservation.

It wasn't that Shi Yan was selfless, but rather that he had his own schemes.

Upon hearing Shi Yan's words, the city lord of Ten Thousand Beasts City sneered; "Shi Yan, you would be so kind as to tell us this?"

The city lord of Ten Thousand Beasts City looked incredulous.

Not only the city lord of Ten Thousand Beasts City didn't believe it, but the other city lords present also showed doubt.

Although this information was not too confidential, it could be found out by simply sending someone to investigate.

However, those who received the information first gained the upper hand.

If they had learned of this information first, they would never have easily told others; instead, they would have secretly occupied more cities first.

In response to everyone's doubts, Shi Yan smiled slightly and said, "Even if I didn't tell you, you would have found out about this very soon. So it's not a matter of whether I'm being kind or not."

"The interests in the Great Zhou are too great to be taken by just one or two companies. None of us here can handle it, so there won't be any conflict."

At this point, Shi Yan changed the subject.

"of course."

"I'm telling you all this so that you can share some of the pressure."

"After all, although the Great Zhou only has a handful of experts to offer, they should not be underestimated."

"If our Great Stone City were to attempt to seize any of the Great Zhou's cities, we would certainly be met with a thunderous strike from the Great Zhou."

“I’m not afraid of the Great Stone City, but I might suffer heavy casualties, which is not what I want to see.”

Shi Yan said sincerely.

How much of it is true or false, nobody knows.

Perhaps only Shi Yan himself knows.

"Gentlemen, I have said everything I can say and told you everything I can tell you. Whether you believe it or not is up to you."

"The people of Stone City will go first."

After Shi Yan finished speaking, he got up and left.

Subsequently, the troops from Giant Stone City left the outskirts of Xidu City, bypassed Xidu City, and headed directly towards Yumen Pass.

……

On top of the city.

Huo Qubing looked at the dozen or so troops stationed outside the city with a solemn expression.

These dozen or so groups were quite powerful, but fortunately they all had their own agendas and were wary of and restrained each other, none of them wanting to be used as stepping stones.

The presence of dozens of corpses hanging on the city walls was the only thing that allowed Xidu City to maintain a state of stability for the time being.

Otherwise, the Western Capital really wouldn't be able to withstand the watchful eyes of so many people.

"General Huo, look, a group of people seem to have left."

Pan Feng, who was standing nearby, spotted a group of people leaving and immediately spoke up.

Ok?
Huo Qubing looked and saw that a group of people had indeed left.

Seeing the group leave, Huo Qubing's expression did not ease; instead, his brows furrowed.

Followed by.

It didn't take long.

One group after another left.

Huo Qubing saw this and his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

Without a doubt, Huo Qubing knew that these troops were not retreating, but rather heading straight for Yumen Pass, bypassing the Western Capital.

"This is troublesome. These forces from all over the Hundred Cities of the Great Wilderness will definitely bypass the Western Capital and head straight for the Western Liang region."

Huo Qubing said in a deep voice.

Pan Feng's expression also turned serious.

Now, Zhang Liao has also been transferred to Xidu City, and there are no skilled warriors left to guard Xiliang.

These people bypassed Xidu City and went straight to Xiliang, which was completely unable to resist them.

It can be said that these people could take over the Western Liang region without lifting a finger.

Although Pan Feng and Huo Qubing looked grave, they could only watch helplessly.

Because they were lucky to even guard the Western Capital, let alone stop the experts from the Hundred Cities of the Great Wilderness from bypassing the Western Capital.

at this time.

Cao Youxiang went up to the city wall.

"General Huo, news has arrived from Luoyang."

Cao Youxiang handed a document to Huo Qubing.

"Oh!"

Huo Qubing was startled and immediately took the message from Cao Youxiang's hand.

I opened it and glanced at it.

A glint of light immediately flashed in Huo Qubing's eyes.

……

outside the city.

As time went by, the forces from more than a dozen cities in the Great Wilderness gradually left.

Regardless of Shi Yan's purpose in sharing those messages, the dozen or so city lords understood that they really didn't need to get entangled with the experts guarding the Great Zhou in Xidu City.

By bypassing the Western Capital, they could also head straight to other cities of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

They simply didn't believe that there were experts stationed in every city of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)