Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 2 The General Leading the Troops
After Yan Yi left Baihu Hall, he went straight to the study.

Reading is one of the six arts of a gentleman, and it is also a basic skill that must be mastered in this era. If one is literate but not martial, he is weak; if one is martial but not literate, he is barbaric. Reading can be said to be the foundation of life.

The original owner of this body was also educated, but he was playful and active and had difficulty concentrating on books, so he did not learn very well. As his soul disappeared over time, some of his memories of knowledge gradually became vague.

Yan Yi naturally would not let this knowledge be lost in vain. He would spend one or two hours every day reading and practicing calligraphy to consolidate his memory.

In the study, twenty or thirty volumes of bamboo slips were neatly stacked on the dark brown desk. Each volume was carefully classified and marked for identification.

Yan Yi sat down on the soft mat and patiently read the Analects of Confucius and Mao's Book of Songs for a while. He then flipped through several volumes of the Book of Han. Finally, he took out a volume of Yuedanping that Yan Baihu had someone copy and began to read it with great interest.

Yuedanping was created by Xu Shao, Xu Jing and others from Runan. It was based on the evaluation of people, poems, calligraphy and paintings. It became popular in the Central Plains and had a huge influence. A single word could double a person's value and make him famous, or it could ruin a person's reputation and make him despised.

The most famous of these is the comment on Cao Cao: "A capable minister in times of peace, a treacherous hero in times of chaos."

Xu Shao was taking refuge in Xuzhou at this time, so the evaluation targets of Yuedanping turned to Xu, Yu and Yang states, becoming one of the channels for Yan Yi to understand the people in Jiangdong.

"The general is the soul of the army. An army without a soul is like a walking corpse. The first step in commanding an army is to establish the general who will lead it."

After carefully reading this issue of Yuedanping, Yan Yi was inspired. He spread out a piece of dark yellow mulberry paper on the desk, ground the inkstone, held the brush in his hand, and slowly wrote the eight words "Gan Ning, Taishi Ci, Zhuge Liang" on the paper.

Mu paper is rough, writing is not clear enough, and it is not easy to preserve, so he often used it to practice calligraphy.

Looking at the sloppy handwriting on the paper that faintly exuded the scent of ink, Yan Yi's eyes flashed with deep desire. After staring for a long time, he sighed slightly and picked up the pen to erase the words.

"Gan Ning rebelled against Liu Zhang in Bashu and was exiled by him. He should be on his way to Jingzhou now. Taishi Ci will not arrive in Jiangdong for another year."

"Next year, Zhuge Xuan will take up the post of Yuzhang Governor, and Zhuge Liang will accompany him. If we fail to recruit him, will he be imprisoned? Or killed?"

While thinking, Yan Yi practiced calligraphy and wrote down a series of names including Zhou Yu, Liu Ye, Hua Xin, He Qi, Chen Wu, Yu Fan, and Zhou Tai.

When the paper was filled with dozens of names, he was shocked to find that there was not a single candidate who could be recruited.

Even those third-rate generals whom he looked down upon when playing games in his previous life were now something he could only desire.

A wise bird chooses the right tree to roost in. Yan Baihu was born in a humble family, had little virtue and reputation, and his jurisdiction only covered a county. How could these people look down on him?
Yan Yi's face was gloomy and helpless, and he felt a sense of pressure in his heart.

"Forget it. We have to eat one bite at a time and take one step at a time. Let's recruit a few available people in Wucheng first." Yan Yi stood up and paced back and forth in the study, frowning unconsciously.

If we talk about the famous generals in Wucheng, they are none other than Yan Baihu and Yan Yu.

Other than that, it seems... that's all?

Yan Yi complained inwardly, then after much deliberation, he took out another piece of paper and, following the original owner's memory, wrote down a few names that were both familiar and unfamiliar to him: Si Qing, Chen Gan, and Fan Yan.
"Si Qing, the original owner's retainer, is said to be a descendant of Gou Jian, King of Yue. However, Gou Jian has been dead for six or seven hundred years. Besides being somewhat famous among a few small Shanyue tribes, his status is even lower than that of a humble family."

"Chen Gan was originally a military officer under Yan Baihu. During the attack on Wucheng, he underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, becoming surrounded. After breaking out, he personally led the rearguard, beheading over a dozen people and sustaining severe wounds. After the battle, he was demoted to a garrison commander."

"Fan Yan was once an official in Changsha County. His brother committed murder, implicating his mother, who was then detained in a pavilion. She died there. Furious, Fan Yan murdered the pavilion chief and more than ten others. He fled to the Jianghu and joined a Changsha native named Qu Xing in a rebellion. He was defeated by Sun Jian and later sought refuge with Yan Baihu, serving as Sima of a separate army. He achieved remarkable military success, but he offended Yan Yu by cracking down on the misappropriation of military rations. Yan Yu dismissed him from his military post and sentenced him to the punishment of grinding rice in the city walls."

While Yan Yi was sifting the information in his memory, he took out a flint and steel from the cabinet, started a flame, lit the mulberry paper, and placed it in a porcelain basin on the ground.

The flames flared up a few times, and in a blink of an eye, they had engulfed the two sheets of paper. Yan Yi walked to the window and said to a figure outside, "Go and get Manager Xu."

Huh!
The figure bowed slightly, and then there was the sound of hurried footsteps leaving.

A moment later, Xu Yan, the steward of the Yan residence, came to the study alone.

Xu Yan is Xu Ying's cousin. He is nearly forty years old, a little fat, and always has a humble smile on his face.

"Uncle, I need to hire a few people. Please consider it for me."

Yan Yi looked at Xu Yan, spoke politely, and called out a few names.

"Young Master, are you selecting generals to lead the troops?" Xu Yan obviously knew that Yan Yi would be leading the troops. Upon hearing this, he twirled his beard and smiled, "Young Master, you have good vision. These are all capable men. As the saying goes, you must first know the person before employing him. Do you know him?"

Yan Yi said sternly, "I was just about to ask my cousin for advice."

Xu Yan paced back and forth a few times, then pondered, "Fan Yan is knowledgeable about military affairs. He is upright and reserved, not good at socializing. He enjoys the support of his soldiers, but is ostracized by his colleagues. He has no military patronage and a clean record. Young Lord, please exonerate him first, then appoint him to a prominent position, and you can use him with confidence."

Yan Yi nodded slightly.

Xu Yan continued, "Chen Gan has the courage to lead the charge, but he has a hot temper and acts rashly. Your Majesty can use his courage, but you shouldn't entrust him with important tasks. He is extremely filial to his mother. Your Majesty, as long as you treat her well, you can win his heart."

"As for Si Qing, he's actually a talent your mother recruited for you." Xu Yan looked at Yan Yi, who looked surprised, and smiled. "Three years ago, Si Qing's tribe was destroyed by Zu Lang, and Si Qing was sold into slavery. Later, he was appreciated by the Zhou family of Lujiang and became the head of the guard of the Zhou caravan. If your mother hadn't bought his tribe and the person he admired from Zu Lang, Si Qing wouldn't have come to join the Zhou family. He has a strong character and is loyal to the core. Young Master, you can make him your confidant."

The Lujiang Zhou family is the most prominent family in Jiangdong. If the Yuan family has three dukes in four generations, then the Zhou family has three dukes in two generations. In this respect, they are second only to the Runan Yuan family and the Hongnong Yang family.

The Zhou family had a close relationship with the Yuan family, so many people in the family worked for Yuan Shu. When Yuan Shu became increasingly decadent, the Zhou family began to rely on the Sun family, including Zhou Yu, who led the Zhou family to its peak again.

"Si Qing must be extraordinary to be appreciated by the Zhou family and to have Xu Ying take the trouble to win her over and control her." Yan Yi pondered for a moment, a beautiful face appearing in his mind. He blurted out, "The person Si Qing is attracted to is Zheng Jiang, who works for my mother?"

Xu Yan smiled slightly: "It's this girl."

Yan Yi was very excited: "Where is Si Qing now? Why haven't I seen her for so long?"

Xu Yan sighed and said, "When the young prince fell off his horse and was injured, the commander-in-chief was furious. He then demoted Si Qing to a riding slave for neglecting his duties. If the young prince wishes to employ this person, he must personally step in to exonerate him."

Mounted slaves refer to slaves who accompany the army to look after horses. They usually do odd jobs such as feeding horses and carrying horse feed, and are used as death squads during wartime.

When the Wu and Yue states were fighting at Zhuli City, a hundred miles east of Wucheng County, King Gou Jian of Yue ordered 300 slaves to act as death squads and commit suicide in front of the two armies to intimidate the Wu soldiers. Then he led his army to attack and defeated the Wu army.

To this day, although the Han Dynasty has abolished slavery, the practice of slavery still persists, it has only been called a different name.

Furthermore, the Jiangdong counties were largely populated by the Shanyue people. Their descendants had established their own separatist regimes in the mountains, defying Han rule. Many Shanyue tribes still maintained the same systems that had existed for centuries. Many of Yan Baihu's soldiers were Shanyue, and their practice of slavery was even more prevalent than among other factions.

"I fell off my horse and got injured. It's my poor riding skills. What does it have to do with others?"

Yan Yi sighed, straightened his clothes, and strode out of the study, with Xu Yan following closely behind.

(End of this chapter)