Three Kingdoms: Ten Times Speed, Diao Chan Says I'm Too Fast

On the same month, at the governor's mansion.

As always, Yuan Shao, who had been working late into the night, stopped because of his aching back. After reviewing the last document, he picked up a teacup.

The hot tea had long since cooled down. Yuan Shao frowned slightly and put the teacup down again.

The words of Guo Tu, Tian Feng, and Xu You during the day still lingered in his mind.

Future prospects, common people, gentry.

The three words kept repeating in my mind.

"Ziyi... if you were in his shoes, what would you do?"

Yuan Shao muttered to himself.

Thinking of Duan Yu, who was younger than him but could support his family with his own two hands, Yuan Shao felt nothing but admiration and envy.

Duan Yu was all alone, so he could do whatever he wanted without any scruples or constraints.

They act decisively and without any hesitation.

But what about him?

He appears to be the governor of Ji Province, a regional warlord.

Even he himself knows that without the powerful backing of the Yuan family, could he have achieved what he has today?

Guo Tu, Xun Chen, Xin Pi, Xin Ping...

Tian Feng, Ju Shou, Shen Pei...

Which of these people didn't join his ranks because of the prestigious Yuan family behind him?

If he hadn't relied on the Yuan family... how could he have achieved what he has today?

But if you benefit from it, you should also be wary of it.

He had to consider the interests of the Yuan family, which meant he had to make some trade-offs.

Refusing the imperial edict would not only affect his own future, but also the Yuan family.

There is no doubt about this.

But they couldn't bear to actually collect grain from the people.

Duan Yu once said, "When the world prospers, the people suffer; when the world perishes, the people also suffer."

During my time in Liangzhou, I saw the people of Liangzhou living in hardship, and during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, I saw the withered bones by the roadside amidst the chaos.

Wasn't the magnificent and extravagant Luoyang, where he lived for over twenty years, a city of dazzling splendor reflected only through the blood and sweat of the people of the land?

He couldn't bring himself to use the flesh and blood of the people of Jizhou to satisfy the insatiable desires within Luoyang.

Taking a deep breath, Yuan Shao's gaze gradually hardened.

"Someone is coming."

The servant outside the study bowed and entered.

"Send my calling card to the residences of Prefect Tian, ​​Attendant Ju, Judge Shen, and Chief Clerk Cui, and tell them that I will be hosting a banquet at their residences tomorrow night."

"I also sent a message to my cousin, telling him that we will attend the banquet together tomorrow."

After receiving the order, the attendant left the study.

"I'll take on the trouble of offending people myself. Ji Province can do without me, Yuan Shao, but the people of Ji Province..."

Yuan Shao gave a wry smile.

............

As the setting sun casts its golden glow, the western flow of the Zhang River paints half the city in a crimson hue, reflecting off the moat surrounding Ye City. The golden phosphorescence shimmers on the shadows of passersby on the city gate drawbridge.

Before the vermilion gates of Yuan Shao's governor's mansion, several red-wheeled carriages crushed the twilight, leaving a long, continuous shadow in the crimson sunset.

The curtains of the carriage, covered in gold leaf, were lifted by the evening breeze, revealing the xiezhi pattern embroidered on the dark red gauze robe of the seated person. The shawl sewn around the hat of the Jinxian was made of gold thread and dyed cicada silk.

The people on both sides of the long street looked at the nobleman sitting in the carriage with envy.

Even the light reflected from the brand-new autumn clothes of the servant holding the horsewhip and driving the carriage shone brighter than the light on the faces of the many poor people who could only watch from afar.

When the magnificent carriage stopped in front of the vermilion gate of the governor's mansion, the charioteer cracked his whip three times in mid-air, startling the surrounding commoners who hurriedly lowered their heads.

After the carriage stopped, Tian Feng, Ju Shou, and others, dressed in dark red gauze robes, stepped down from the carriage with the help of their attendants, facing the two open vermilion gates of Yuan Shao's residence.

The group exchanged glances, seemingly understanding the underlying meaning of today's banquet from each other's eyes.

Just after the group alighted from their carriage, a narrow black carriage, in stark contrast to their ornate one, pulled up beside them.

Dressed in simple, if not plain, clothing, Yuan Ji slowly stepped down from the carriage with only one attendant.

Upon seeing everyone, Yuan Ji smiled politely.

"I've met you all."

Before everyone could bow, Yuan Ji gave a greeting first.

"Don't dare."

Tian Feng and Ju Shou quickly bowed in return.

"Greetings, Young Master Yuan."

"Greetings, Young Master Yuan..."

With a calm and composed smile, Yuan Ji asked the group, "Are you all here for the banquet today?"

Tian Feng, Ju Shou, and the others quickly nodded in agreement.

“Eh…” Yuan Ji immediately bowed again and said, “You are too kind, too kind.”

"Benchu ​​did not say that there were many distinguished guests today, only that it was a banquet. My plain clothes seem a bit impolite."

Tian Feng and the others quickly said they wouldn't do it, absolutely not.

After exchanging a few pleasantries in front of the mansion gate, Tian Feng and the others invited Yuan Ji to go first. Then, led by the servants who had been waiting at the gate, arranged by Yuan Shao, they entered the mansion together.

After the coachman who stayed outside the mansion parked the carriage, someone naturally invited him into the mansion to dine in the side rooms on both sides of the gate while he waited for the host to enjoy a joyous evening banquet inside.

As the two vermilion doors inlaid with copper nails slowly closed, they also shut out the world that the people on the street could never glimpse in their entire lives.

The people who had stopped and stood watching on the long street slowly dispersed.

..............

In the reception room.

Before midnight, the firelight from the gilded black bird lamps on the walls of the hall had already illuminated the central courtyard as if it were daytime.

The walls of the green pavilion were covered with Shu brocade curtains, on which were embroidered with pictures of the beasts from the Classic of Mountains and Seas in gold thread. As the candlelight flickered, the red beasts seemed to be about to burst out of the silk.

A thirty-six-panel mother-of-pearl and mica screen surrounds a nine-tiered lotus platform, with a rosewood armrest on each tier.

Yuan Shao sat in the main seat, the shimmering light of the jade belt hook at his waist making the ankle bells of the dancers in front of him appear ethereal blue.

Inside the courtyard, twelve maids dressed in fine silk and brocade veils covered their faces with white gauze, revealing only their phoenix eyes.

Behind the light gauze curtains on both sides, thirty musicians in the east wing suddenly played their zithers, and the nine bells with guilloché patterns on the chime bell stand responded with a chime.

On the eight-foot-long tortoiseshell table, braised scallops and orangutan lips from the South China Sea are served in a gilded and carved bowl, with a white toad carved in the shape of the Kunlun Mountains placed beside it.

When the wine was poured into the luminous cup, it reflected the Hetian jade disc hanging from the ceiling, creating a rainbow-like effect.

A maidservant brought over a whole steamed deer covered with honey-preserved plum blossoms, while the soup made with deer placenta steamed with white vapor under the heat of the gilded Boshan stove.

During a break in the music and dance, Yuan Shao, sitting in the main seat, raised the luminous cup in his hand.

"Brother, please have a drink."

"Gentlemen, please enjoy your drinks."

Yuan Shao smiled.

Sitting in the first seat below Yuan Shao, Yuan Ji picked up his wine cup, drank it all in one gulp, and then said with a smile, "It has been a long time since I have tasted such fine wine. Today I must thank Yuan Shao."

Tian Feng, Ju Shou, Shen Pei, Cui Yan, and others also raised their wine cups one after another.

Yuan Shao picked up his wine cup and suddenly stood up.

Everyone looked at Yuan Shao, who had stood up, with puzzled expressions.

"Gentlemen... do you enjoy this fine wine and delicacies today?" Yuan Shao asked, looking up at Tian Feng, Ju Shou, and the others below him.

Tian Feng and the others began to offer their compliments.

Yuan Shao suddenly changed the subject, looking westward as if reminiscing, and said, "I once went to Liangzhou, and along the way I saw that the people were starving. They would fight each other for a wild vegetable by the roadside or a handful of grain."

“The roadside was piled high with bones. Starving people could not bear to eat their own children, so they had to exchange children with their neighbors to eat them.”

"Even the bark of the trees along the roadside and in the forest has been eaten clean."

As soon as Yuan Shao spoke, Tian Feng, Ju Shou, and the others sitting in the hall knew what Yuan Shao was going to say next.

All of the previous words, and tonight's banquet, were merely prelude.

"I know you haven't seen it, and you may not believe it, but I saw it with my own eyes..."

“The villagers’ family members who died yesterday were just buried in the wilderness, but the graves were dug up the very next day. Do you know why?”

Yuan Shao shook his head and said, "I am new to Liangzhou and do not know anything about it. I only thought they were tomb raiders."

"But the soldiers accompanying me told me that poor families don't have any burial goods in their granaries. Most of the time, they are just wrapped in a straw mat and that's it. There's no money in the dug-up graves. The people who dug the graves were only after the corpses in the pits."

"When a person dies... they are no longer a person, but food to fill their stomach."

"Like the meat dishes at this banquet."

Upon hearing this, Tian Feng, Ju Shou, and the others sitting below the hall suddenly felt nauseous.

Only Yuan Ji remained calm as Yuan Shao continued speaking.