Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7303 Different Perspectives

After Bai Wang left, Fu Ji, Gao Yi, Lu Zhao, Hua Ben, and others naturally gathered together. These people were all elites of Xuzhou, belonging to the level of those who were truly high-ranking and successful. They also had their own information channels, so they all knew what was happening in Xuzhou. It was precisely because they knew that they found it outrageous.

"Brother Bai, what's the situation in Langya?" Lu Zhao asked Bai Shou with a somewhat sullen expression. In any case, based on the information he had received so far, Guangling County, where Lu Zhao was located, was in big trouble. The current news was that there was a large-scale crop failure in the area. Of course, there was no unrest because the local officials had already opened the granaries and distributed grain.

To be fair, if Lu Zhao were in Guangling County and didn't have so many brothers giving him pointers, he might still be helping the Guangling County governor guard the granaries and help open them to distribute grain. He wouldn't even be thinking about the essence of the problem. After all, the intelligence of this group of people is, to be honest, rather mysterious.

"It's not good, but Langya is near the sea, and the fishing industry has developed well in recent years, so the impact of the crop failure is not too great. In addition, it is backed by Qingzhou. Recently, the elders of the Langya Wang clan have organized ships to transport grain from Qingzhou and are distributing it." Bai Shou sighed and said.

To reiterate, Bai Shou's intelligence is slightly higher than Lu Zhao's, but if Bai Shou were in Langya, he would at most subconsciously feel that something was amiss. If you really wanted to find a reason, Bai Shou wouldn't be able to. After all, even if there was a crop failure, the compensation was in place. In recent years, they have been vigorously developing near-shore and deep-sea fishing, so the people in Langya have local industries to make a living. Even if there is no grain, they won't starve to death.

"Any news from the Langya Wang clan?" Fu Ji asked Bai Shou. There are only three or four families in Xuzhou that can be considered prestigious, and the Langya Wang clan is definitely one of them. However, the Langya Wang clan has long since fled to Central Asia to establish fiefdoms. Those who remain in the local area are just old fogies who are too lazy to even manage the local area and are simply wasting their lives.

The basic situation is similar to that of the Yuan family in Yuzhou. However, the Yuan family is deeply rooted and its influence extends throughout Yuzhou, while the Langya Wang family has not yet risen to prominence and can only cover the Langya prefecture. In the past, the Wang family was a prominent family in this area, but since they went to acquire their own fiefdoms, they have almost dissipated. In the past, when the prefect came, he would first have to pay his respects here, but now he doesn't need to.

"I haven't received the latest news yet, but I've been in Langya for so many years, and I feel that the old men of the Wang family are all quite nice." Bai Shou recalled the old men of the Langya Wang family who stayed in the ancestral home to guard the ancestral hall. He thought those old men were quite interesting. They didn't take advantage of their age, and they helped when asked. In fact, they were often easier to talk to than ordinary old men in the countryside.

“Brother Bai, think about what level you are. Ordinary villagers don’t know your situation. If you make a fool of yourself, they’ll think you’re some nobody. Do you think the Langya Wang clan knows your situation?” Gao Yi looked at Bai Shou with a hint of disdain, as if he were looking at an idiot.

Among the veterans in Xuzhou, Gao Yi was the one from the wealthiest family. He had actually studied and gone to school. Although he couldn't reach the level of a powerful and influential family, he was still considered a respected elder in the village, a genuine landlord and wealthy man. Of course, after Cao Cao avenged his father, Gao Yi was the only one left in the entire family.

Even so, there are some things that Gao Yi should know. Even though Gao Yi was like an idiot back then and didn't learn anything, he still saw things more clearly than the people around him because of what he saw and heard.

"In short, the Langya Wang clan is alright. I've never been beaten by them before, nor have I been later. I think the Langya Wang clan is indeed quite good." Bai Shou thought for a moment and still gave a relatively objective evaluation. "I estimate that this matter has nothing to do with the Langya Wang clan. They only have some old men over sixty years old left, and they simply don't have the energy to do this kind of thing."

Upon hearing this, Gao Yi glanced at Bai Shou, then remained silent for a while before finally refraining from saying anything. It was true that those old men didn't have the energy to handle these matters, but to say that they were completely unprepared would be to underestimate them. The fact that they were able to quickly mobilize ships, purchase grain from Qingzhou, and swiftly stabilize the Langya region after the incident, preventing any chaos in Langya, was enough to demonstrate their capabilities.

"Brother Gao, do you know something?" Fu Ji sensed that Gao Yi wanted to say something but didn't want to. He looked around, blocked the air, and asked Gao Yi.

“I’m not entirely clear on the whole situation either, but the widespread crop failure must have been premeditated,” Gao Yi said in a deep voice. “And the fact that the Langya Wang clan reacted so quickly proves that they may have foreseen something before the incident. Conversely, which aristocratic family in Xuzhou didn’t foresee this? That family must have something wrong with it!”

"Now that you mention it," Hua Ben recalled the news sent to him from Pengcheng. After discovering the crop failure, the Zhang family in Pengcheng immediately mobilized their own resources, encouraging local elders to activate militia guards in each village and organizing manpower to try to transfer grain from Yangzhou. To be honest, this reaction was a bit too swift.

"Now that you mention it, I also have records mentioning that the Wang family of Donghai is mobilizing ships, and they're transporting grain from Qingzhou together with the Wang family of Langya." Fu Ji's brows furrowed upon hearing this, his expression grave. These families had all received advance notice—such a significant matter, they'd been informed…

"The Xiao and Miao families in Lanling are also scrambling for food everywhere." Wu Xi scratched his head, and upon hearing this, the others exchanged bewildered glances. This meant that these powerful families in the region had received advance notice, and since they had received the news, they were practically courting death!

“You’ve got it wrong. You should be looking for families that aren’t reacting. In my opinion, families that are reacting are the ones that are normal,” Gao Yi said expressionlessly. “Whether they’re acting or they’ve really been fooled, at least they’re genuinely trying to solve the problem, and solving the problem is actually quite important.”

“Families that haven’t responded yet…” Wu Xi and the others exchanged glances, then naturally turned to Gao Yi.

“The Chen family of Xiapi and the Zhao family of Langya,” Gao Yi said in a deep voice.

"This?" Wu Xi and the others were all taken aback. The truly top families in Xuzhou were actually the Chen family of Xiapi and the Zhao family of Xuzhou. Both were families of three dukes. The only difference was that the Chen family of Xiapi had a close relative, Chen Deng, in this era, while the Zhao family of Langya had almost no pillars of support.

As for the other families such as the Langya Wang clan, Langya Zhuge clan, Donghai Wang clan, Lanling Xiao clan, Lanling Miao clan, Huaiyin Bu clan, and Pengcheng Zhang clan, they were still quite different from the two mentioned above in this era. Before the Three Kingdoms period, the two families mentioned above were the only truly prominent families in Xuzhou whose lineage had been interrupted.

By the time of the Three Kingdoms period, the Zhao clan was basically finished, and the Chen clan had not prospered either. On the contrary, the Langya Wang clan, the Zhuge clan, the Donghai Wang clan, the Pengcheng Zhang clan, and the Huaiyin Bu clan truly prospered.

After all, in prosperous times, rules are established, and seniority can be created to rank people and allow them to rise to high positions based on their solid foundation and disregard differences in individual intelligence. But in chaotic times, it's simply a matter of ability versus inability; if you don't step down, you die!
Conversely, this is also the key reason why the Zhao family of Xuzhou did not perish in this era. Chen Xi turned the tide and prevented the collapse of the Han Dynasty. As one of the earliest families in Xuzhou to join the Han Dynasty, the Zhao family, even without lavish rewards, naturally rose to prominence simply because they joined early and had a strong foundation. Coupled with the reputation left by Zhao Xiao and Zhao Li from the early Eastern Han Dynasty, frankly speaking, as long as they did not do anything reckless, the Zhao family of Xuzhou could have survived until Chen Xi and Liu Bei were finished.

After all, sometimes, ability is not as important as choice, especially in Xuzhou, where the Zhao family made an extremely correct choice.

Similarly, the Chen family of Xiapi was also like this. However, compared to the Zhao family, which had no outstanding young people and whose influence was mainly spread throughout and infiltrated the local bureaucratic system of Xuzhou, the Chen family of Xiapi had a branch named Chen Deng who was worth mentioning.

But here's the problem: the main branch of the Chen family of Xiapi is the line of Chen Qiu, the Minister of Works. Moreover, Chen Qiu's two sons were both officials with a salary of 2,000 shi (a unit of grain). Chen Gui, who was very famous and capable, was just Chen Qiu's nephew. As for the most outstanding member of the Chen family of Xiapi in this era, it was Chen Gui's son, Chen Deng.

It should be understood that most families in this world have a very complex attitude towards the geniuses of their branches. The only family that can separate from the main branch and become the main branch if they have the ability to surpass the main branch is probably the Chen family of Yingchuan.

Just look at the relationship between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu; the struggle between legitimate and illegitimate heirs could escalate to the point of life and death.

Most families would find it difficult to accept a branch replacing them. To be honest, the distance between Chen Deng and the main branch of the Chen family in Xiapi is about the same as the distance between Chen Xi and Chen Qun. They are indeed within the five degrees of kinship, but the Chen family in Xiapi would never accept Chen Deng becoming the main branch.

Especially now that the Chen family of Xiapi is developing quite well under the protection of Liu Bei and Chen Xi, it is even less likely that they would accept a mere branch family head with a salary of only two thousand shi!
The veterans from Xuzhou present were all deep in thought at this moment. As the saying goes, these two families have a great deal of prestige in Xuzhou. Even if Wu Xi and others have superb combat power, it is difficult for them to look down on these powerful families that have stood in Xuzhou since they were born.

"You think it's one of these two?" Fu Ji opened his mouth, but after a long pause, he finally spoke, because in Fu Ji's opinion, this answer was simply too outrageous.

"Besides these two, there are no other possibilities," Gao Yi said coldly.

"What are they after?!" Lu Zhao muttered under his breath.

“Who knows? We definitely can’t figure out what they’re thinking,” Hua Ben said after a moment of silence. “Maybe they think it’s not a serious matter.”

Hua Ben's words stunned everyone present. Wu Xi chuckled awkwardly for a while, but when she realized that no one else was laughing, she couldn't laugh anymore either.

After all, they had survived the Yellow Turban Rebellion and had seen and experienced the hardships. They truly understood that people cannot understand each other and that what you valued as important matters might be nothing more than a joke to others!

Even some of your life-or-death matters are nothing more than jokes among others. It's just that being shrouded in the glory of Liu Bei and Chen Xi for more than 20 years has naturally made them empathize with each other. But now Hua Ben's words have shattered this reality.

"Actually, there probably wasn't any deep thought behind it. We just did it, so what? After all, not many people died. Besides, even if some people did die, so what?" Hua Ben said calmly. "After all, wasn't that how it was back then?"

"Hair like chives, cut it and it grows back; head like a rooster, cut it and it crows again; officials need not be feared, but common people should never be underestimated." The oldest, Bai Shou, softly recited a folk song from the Yellow Turban Rebellion. This is how Han Dynasty folk songs have been passed down.

"Find someone to cover for me. I'm going back to Xuzhou. If, as you suspect, they simply think the matter isn't too serious, then I'll go and kill them," Bai Shou said calmly as he stood up.

During the grand martial arts competition, Zhao Zhen was unable to kill Bai Shou, but Zhao Zhen dealt Bai Shou several blows, and Bai Shou did not die. This is enough to explain a lot. Moreover, unlike the other brothers, Bai Shou, who had followed the Yellow Turbans, did not have any respect for the powerful families. He would kill them if necessary, and at worst, he would pay with his own life. What was there to be afraid of?

“I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that.” Jiang Guang appeared behind Bai Shou and held him down. He believed that Bai Shou had absolutely nothing to do with what was happening in Xuzhou. After all, he was an old Yellow Turban soldier who had been chased and killed by Jiang Guang during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Such a person was either completely depraved or extremely upright, even willing to risk his life. Clearly, Bai Shou was the latter.

"You!" Bai Shou was unable to avoid it. He turned his head and glanced at Jiang Guang. His expression was somewhat unpleasant.

“None of you can go back to Xuzhou,” Jiang Guang said very seriously. “Your uncle has actually been beaten before. For people like us, it’s best to pretend we know nothing about this and wait for orders from the Prince of Jin or the Marquis of Chen. Going back now will not only fail to solve the problem, but will also make things worse. Your uncle guarantees this with his life experience!”

These words were spoken with conviction, and recently, a new generation of veterans discovered that Jiang Guang actually seemed to be from the Central Army, belonging to the same generation as Zhang Huang, Ba Xiu, and other old men in their seventies, rather than deceiving them. Therefore, many veterans began to suspect that Jiang Guang must have used some kind of special talent that altered his physique to force himself to look thirty-three years old, and then pretended to be a young man instead of an old widower in the first year of Yuanfeng, successfully deceiving a wife.

In short, Jiang Guang's current situation definitely involves age fraud. Considering that Bashu, Huangfu Song's personal guard, really fought alongside Jiang Guang, and that Huangfu Song even asked Jiang Guang about his successful oath when they first met in Northern Europe...

Instead of considering that Jiang Guang was actually a young man, it would be more reasonable to consider that Jiang Guang developed some extraordinary talent that allowed him to rewrite himself as a young man. After all, for a veteran of Jiang Guang's caliber, the latter is much more reliable than fighting the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the age of seventeen, becoming a top-tier imperial guard in a year, and getting acquainted with the Grand General, right?
Surely no one actually thinks Jiang Guang's later fabrication of achieving adaptive age at seventeen in a year is reasonable, right? What a joke, there's no logic to it at all. This old widower must have heard about blind dates and then tried to change his bone age. After all, there are elite talents who can forcibly alter their own bodies and restore their youth, but at most, they are difficult to acquire and master.

But considering that Jiang Guang and Bashu's group climbed over the wall together and copied the elite talents from the Southern Army, then to be honest, it's reasonable for Jiang Guang to come up with something like this, right?
Jiang Guang couldn't explain it either, because no matter how he explained it, there would be problems, so he finally gave up and said, "You guys guess. I'll answer if you call me uncle, that's all."

In this way, Jiang Guang's seniority was restored, so he could once again use his seniority and experience to advise the younger brothers.

For example, if Jiang Guang, who was in his forties, were to say this to Bai Shou, who was almost sixty, Bai Shou would not listen to him at all. But Bai Shou had seen Jiang Guang, who was in his forties, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. So now that Jiang Guang is advising Bai Shou as someone who has been through it all, Bai Shou feels that he should listen to him.

"That's the situation. If you trust me, just stay here. Lord Chen will give you an answer. Our solution may not be the best one." Seeing that Bai Shou had calmed down, Jiang Guang warned the veterans from Xuzhou, "Just like you said before, what we consider important may not be anything in the eyes of those powerful families. Similarly, our solution will not be the right solution in the eyes of those powerful families."

Jiang Guang, who was punished in the Jizhou case, had a very accurate understanding of this point. The reason why his title was revoked was because during the Jizhou case, he viewed the overall situation of the world from his own perspective and then, on a whim, was exiled thousands of miles away, thus wasting his title.

If it weren't for Liu Bei and Chen Xi giving him face, he would have been finished back then, and he wouldn't be where he is now.

This incident made Jiang Guang realize that there was still a big gap between his understanding and those cunning people, so he should just be the knife and leave the handle to Liu Bei and Chen Xi. That way, he could just be mindless throughout the whole process.

"Okay." Gao Yi glanced at Jiang Guang and said somewhat dejectedly.

"Don't be discouraged. You originally had the aptitude for the seventh level. If this continues, it will be a problem whether you can even maintain the sixth level." Jiang Guang patted Gao Yi and said. After his will for revenge was shattered, Gao Yi was still at the sixth level, but his strength was continuously declining. From being able to fight Zhao Zhen head-on during the Grand Martial Arts Competition, he could barely even reach the super sixth level now. It had only been half a year.

Please cast some votes at the beginning of the month to give the author a chance to survive; this is just too tragic.