Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7114 Everyone Has Their Own Thoughts
Li You actually disliked anyone messing with the household registration records he had created. In his view, these records were the foundation for managing all the people in the world. Allowing anyone to add or delete anything on them would cause considerable problems and make his management more difficult.

Since someone of Zhong Yao's rank could come to him and give a reason, there was really no need for Li You to stop him, especially since the other party clearly stated that there were five people involved and was willing to share some of his merits with these five people to help them register their citizenship and bestow certain titles upon them.

Therefore, although Li You was somewhat reluctant, after thinking about it, he felt it was acceptable, so he asked Ge Xuan to bring over the secret mirror for recording household registration and handed it to Zhong Yao.

“Yuan Chang, I still have to say something. If you are going to register the veterans from the Kushan side and allocate your merits, you should make sure to carefully complete their household registration, background, and merits. This thing also serves as an archive to some extent.” Li You handed the General Secret Mirror, which represented the household registration, to Zhong Yao and said seriously.

As the saying goes, either don't help at all, or help to the end. Since we can't stop Zhong Yao from bringing several Kushan veterans into the country, we might as well go with the flow.

"This thing can also serve as an archive?" Zhong Yao was stunned for a moment, and then instantly understood Li You's power. If this thing could serve as an archive, then the power that Li You had previously displayed was only a small part of it. With the archive, Li You, as the Imperial Censor, could actually promote and place people all over the country, just like Lu Su did back then.

After all, the files are with Li You, and the review is also with Li You. Even if modifying this document requires Chen Xi to compile it, Chen Xi generally won't look at it. Even if the number of files modified is large and the level is high, Chen Xi will pay some attention. But even so, this is definitely top-level authority.

“All the soldiers’ files have been filed in the past few years, and the state-owned factories and mines have also filed them for easier management,” Li You said with his eyes half-closed. Zhong Yao’s expression became much more serious. He understood that Li You was implying that if Li You were to take action in the future, he, Zhong Yao, should pretend that he knew nothing and do nothing.

“Chen Zi…” Zhong Yao was about to ask when Li You interrupted him.

"Don't casually mention Zichuan's name in Chang'an. I can say it from here, but if you do, it might cause trouble," Li You interrupted Zhong Yao before he could speak, and said very seriously. Upon hearing this, Zhong Yao's face darkened, and he instantly realized that he had been reckless before. No, he might have already made a mistake.

“He may or may not know, but his attitude toward this matter is similar to mine, at most a difference in degree,” Li You said, shaking his head. He could sense Chen Xi’s complex feelings about what he was about to do, but Lu Su’s downfall had made Chen Xi noticeably hesitant in this regard. If Chen Xi would have considered completely suppressing Li You’s thoughts on this matter before, after Lu Su’s downfall, Chen Xi had actually gradually relaxed his stance.

Li You could sense that Chen Xi wasn't really willing to go that far, but Lu Su's downfall served as a wake-up call for Chen Xi, making him realize that if he, as a reformer, wanted to prolong this prosperous era for all people, he still had to take action against the powerful families.

So after that incident, Chen Xi relaxed his control over Li You to some extent. Of course, Li You could also sense Chen Xi's hesitation. After all, Chen Xi, who had made amazing and successful progress on the path of reform, really didn't want to ruin this favorable environment.

However, Lu Su's matter was a thorn in Chen Xi's side. Chen Xi knew that Lu Su wanted to challenge her, she knew it from the first day they met, but Chen Xi did not expect that Lu Su would choose such an extreme method.

This was a thorn in Chen Xi's side. After repeatedly reflecting on it, Chen Xi finally realized that it was a thorn that Lu Su had stabbed him, a thorn that made Chen Xi change his attitude towards the various aristocratic families.

In the end, Chen Xi did change his attitude as Lu Su had hoped. Even though there was no change on the surface, Chen Xi did begin to actively suppress the ambitions of the aristocratic families.

From a certain perspective, Lu Su did indeed win by half a step, but that was all. In fact, if we were to say who won the most in the end, it might actually be Li You, because with Chen Xi's indulgence, Li You gained even greater power. The household registration and archives were consolidated and merged together, and not just for ordinary people, but for everyone, including Chen Xi of the Yingchuan Chen Clan, which was terrifying.

This immense power, combined with the authority of the Censor-in-Chief, gave Li You the ability to manipulate the bureaucratic system, much like Lu Su had in his time. However, unlike Lu Su's aboveboard actions, Li You could only do this in secret, but even doing so in secret was astonishing.

This is already a level of power that normal people wouldn't dare to imagine. In fact, if Zhuge Liang were to cooperate, the power would be even greater than that of Lu Su back then.

However, Li You would never involve Zhuge Liang in his actions. He would rather slowly devise a plan and spend time resolving the issue than rush into dragging Zhuge Liang into the mess.

"Alright, to be honest, although I come from a wealthy family in Yingchuan, I don't have a good impression of most aristocratic families. However, if you just want to deal with it, I won't stop you. But if you cross the line, then I'm sorry, I also have my principles." Zhong Yao thought for a moment. After experiencing how he worked hard to build his career in the Ganges region, only to be hindered by the various aristocratic families in the south, Zhong Yao had some understanding of Li You.

Of course, it's just that he understands. As for colluding with Li You or anything like that, Zhong Yao couldn't do it. He's a very moral person when it comes to such matters.

"I can help you sort out the situation on the Ganges," Li You said slowly.

"There's a whole host of karmic entanglements behind this, how do we resolve them? And the biggest deterrent is actually right here." Zhong Yao pointed to the seats where Guo Jia and Fa Zheng used to sit when he was in the government. The reason why the southern aristocratic families on the Ganges side were able to seize the opportunity to beat a drowning dog was because of this incident. They also have powerful backers in Chang'an.

Guo Jia and Fa Zheng will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly, and Guan Yu and Zhao Yun will also give a clear investigation result. As for Zhong Yao, who is involved in this case, the fact that he hasn't been severely punished shows that Zhong Yao's background and abilities are indeed quite strong.

Anyone else would probably be in prison by now. These are investigators sent from Chang'an; they could be gone in an instant. The fact that you're allowed to stand here and talk is already a favor.

So when Zhong Yao heard Li You say that Li You could handle this matter for him, Zhong Yao's first reaction was to shake his head. Because of the trouble this matter was so complicated, even Chen Xi was unwilling to get involved. After all, the current situation was really hard to predict, and it might really turn into a battle between factions!

“Actually, you’re making the problem too difficult,” Li You said, shaking his head. “In the next battle, even if the Grand Commandant goes to the Ganges, it will be hard to win. In that case, why not let the Kushans in and fight another battle in the heartland? That way, regardless of victory or defeat, the Kushans will be willing to take the blame, and the original problem can be eliminated.”

Upon hearing this, Zhong Yao's eyelids drooped, his expression became extremely solemn, and then he looked at Li You and asked very seriously, "If the next battle is like this, then who will serve as the Ganges strategist?"

“Based on the situation over this period of time, it should be Xiaozhi who goes to the Ganges as the strategist to clean up the mess.” Li You thought for a moment and said. Chen Xi is not going, Jia Xu is not going, and he has things to deal with, so the most suitable candidate is actually Fazheng.

Unlike wars in other regions where high-ranking political officials are not required to be on the front lines, wars that determine the fate of an empire, regardless of the era, always send a political official who ranks among the top ten or five in the national political arena to accompany the army.

"With Fa Zheng as the strategist and Xu Yuanzhi being capable enough, do you think Fa Zheng would take such a risk?" Zhong Yao asked slowly after thinking for a moment.

Having returned from the Ganges front, Zhong Yao knew the situation there better than anyone else. The state of the Han army there was far worse than before, and the level of unrest among the troops was difficult to describe to the rear. From this perspective, Lu Su deserved to be exiled or even killed.

Therefore, Zhong Yao agreed with Li You's judgment that the front line of the Ganges would definitely not win. However, the overall battle would be lost, but that did not mean that they could not achieve amazing results on the flanks.

Zhong Yao also knew about Xu Shu's background. If Liu Bei's group were considered as a company, Xu Shu's employee number would be at least 00005, and if only civil officials were counted, it might be 00001, since Chen Xi was not actually a member under Liu Bei, but rather Liu Bei's collaborator.

Therefore, after Lu Su's downfall, Xu Shu was actually one of the most suitable candidates to fill the position of the current elder statesman of Chang'an.

Even though Xu Shu is fighting on the front lines of the Ganges, the other side is actually doing the work of the veteran faction.

To put it bluntly, apart from Xu Shu, who is not a veteran, no one has ever held the position of Chief of Staff of the Ganges Army. From a certain perspective, arranging Xu Shu for this position is paving the way for him.

"Is Fa Zheng willing to do such a thing?" Zhong Yao asked with some surprise. After all, he had worked with Fa Zheng before and knew his personality to some extent. This person was not the kind of person who was willing to sacrifice for others. At least, someone of Xu Shu's level would not be like that.

“Personality is personality, life is life, and politics is politics. Xiaozhi can still make the right choices when it comes to important matters,” Li You said, shaking his head.

"So you're planning to replicate Zhou Yu's strategy, right? After all, nothing makes the enemy pursue you more than a genuine defeat." Zhong Yao pondered for a moment before offering his assessment. "I'm not doubting your judgment, and such a simple plan is indeed easy to execute. What I'm worried about is, what if you were the strategist?"

Zhong Yao's words startled Li You slightly. She naturally began to explain, but when she spoke, she seemed unsure of how to do so.

“Logically speaking, I shouldn’t have been brought along,” Li You said with a hint of surprise. “Yu Wenze and I haven’t actually worked together before.”

“It’s just a possibility. Maybe the Grand Commandant needs it, right?” Zhong Yao shook his head and said, “Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore. It’s hard to say right now. If Fa Xiaozhi goes to the Ganges as the military advisor, I agree to your plan, and I will cooperate with Xu Yuanzhi to carry out that flanking maneuver. But if it’s not Fa Xiaozhi, then I’m sorry.”

"Alright then," Li You said in a deep voice. It was a case of trying three shots when there was no hope, and then pushing their luck. So, this result is already quite good.

"Grand Commandant will go to the Ganges, right?" Zhong Yao asked earnestly after opening the secret mirror. Although it seemed absurd, Zhong Yao, who had seen Liu Bei so many times in Chang'an and at the Ganges, had a high opinion of Liu Bei, but also felt that he was too idealistic.

Idealism is a good word, but it's not good to use it for politicians, because ideals are ideals and reality is reality. Often, reality can make people unconsciously deviate from their ideals.

It was precisely because Zhong Yao held Liu Bei in extremely high regard that he was also worried that Liu Bei might become emotional at times, just like this time. In Zhong Yao's view, this was a clear display of emotionality. Liu Bei should not have gone to the Ganges at this point in time, at least in Zhong Yao's judgment. However, based on the intelligence gathered so far, Liu Bei was determined to go.

This left Zhong Yao feeling quite helpless. He was both impressed by Liu Bei's unwavering faith and will over the decades, which remained as brilliant as ever, and frustrated that Liu Bei had put himself in a dangerous situation in order to help others.

The mere thought that crossed Zhong Yao's mind stirred a certain excitement within him, for following such a person meant that at least he wouldn't have to worry about being abandoned one day.

Although Zhong Yao's abilities would never allow him to reach this level, he still possessed empathy and inevitably pondered what would happen if he were not in that situation.

“Yes, it’s basically unavoidable. Even Zichuan couldn’t stop it. I think he tried to persuade them, but in the end, he was persuaded instead.” Li You said with a hint of helplessness, “We don’t really want the Grand Commandant to go, but we can’t stop him. To be honest, this is really the Grand Commandant finding a way out for those people. Sigh, why do it this way!”

That's what they say, but when Li You said it, he had a kind of passion like Zhong Yao. Even if you fail to follow someone like that, it would only be a pity.

“I also have some arrangements on the Ganges, which might come in handy later.” Zhong Yao glanced at Li You. He wasn’t sure if Li You had any other arrangements on the Ganges, since Li You had successfully caused a division among the people in the middle and lower reaches of the Ganges last time.

To be honest, the only time Zhong Yao truly appreciated Li You's actions was when he had Meng Kangbu release hundreds of thousands of Kushan prisoners, causing chaos and morale collapse in the southern Kushan region. As for the other methods, Zhong Yao considered them neither a temporary fix nor a fundamental solution; they merely delayed the inevitable.

“Zijing should have made some arrangements over there as well,” Li You said with a touch of emotion. In fact, everyone knew that Liu Bei’s personal trip to the Ganges was also intended to see Lu Su again, to see if Lu Su had any intention of repenting.

In Li You's view, even if he repented, it would be meaningless. In the current situation, it was too late to say anything, and everything that followed was already predetermined.

“Okay, I will communicate with Doctor Lu after I return to Ganges.” Zhong Yao nodded, then quickly activated the Secret Mirror. With Ge Xuan’s guidance, he quickly understood the process of filtering and calling the files. This rapid way of locating the file made Zhong Yao’s eyes light up and his heart burn with excitement. This system has great potential!

As Zhong Yao thought this, he opened the archives of the major clans in Taiyuan, Bingzhou. He didn't bother to browse the archives of the Wang and Guo clans of Taiyuan, but under Ge Xuan's guidance, he quickly entered the archives of the Zhang clan of Taiyuan, a small and insignificant family.

Li You watched Zhong Yao's actions without saying anything. Although he didn't quite understand why Zhong Yao didn't put those people into the Zhong family's files but instead wanted to include them in the small family of the Zhang family in Taiyuan, it wasn't important to Li You.

As Zhong Yao opened Zhang Changpu's file and saw his birth date in the first year of Jian'an, he showed no expression on his face, but was extremely surprised in his heart.

However, he showed no surprise whatsoever. Zhong Yao simply began to intervene, quickly placing his five guards from the Kushan Empire under the Zhang family of Taiyuan. He changed their names, revised their records and birth dates, and even allocated some of their merits to them, elevating them to the fifth or sixth rank of nobility.

As for Zhang Changpu's personal file, Zhong Yao only glanced at it and did not make any changes.

"Speaking of which, this thing is really useful. I wonder when I'll be able to use it on my end?" After making the modifications, Zhong Yao didn't close the window but handed it to Li You, which was a way of gaining Li You's trust.

Li You glanced at it, made sure the other party wasn't messing around, and simply closed the add/delete page. Then he shook his head and said, "This thing is not easy to handle. If it weren't for Xu Gonghe, I would probably still be relying on a group of people to search and modify it. It's definitely much easier now."

“Xu Gonghe is indeed a remarkable person.” Zhong Yao nodded slowly. “Speaking of which, I think this file can be linked from one place to another. Could we then link this family to another family? This way, we can see a lot of things from marriage relationships and migration records.”

Li You was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, then nodded. He had also considered these things, but he hadn't expected that Zhong Yao would come up with such a good idea on his first encounter with this.

It's truly reached the point where blankets can devour people alive. The author has indeed experienced a lot these past two years, sigh.