Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 30: Persuading the Talented Chief Clerk Yan
Yangzhou, Jiujiang County, Shouchun City.
Yuan Shu was discussing matters with his civil and military officials at the governor's office.
Shouchun City is the current provincial capital of Yangzhou. Its original capital was Liyang, which is also in Jiujiang County. However, due to geographical considerations, Yuan Shu moved his base camp to Shouchun.
Shouchun was used as Yuan Shu's base camp and with careful management, it is now one of the most prosperous and wealthy cities in the Eastern Han Dynasty!
Moreover, this governor's mansion was built magnificently. If it were in prosperous times, I think he would be charged with impoliteness. But now... Yuan Shu even dared to detain angels, so this impoliteness was nothing.
It was only in name, the Han Dynasty had not officially declared him a traitor - after all, the reputation of the Yuan family and the strength of Yuan Shu were there, and if a rash expedition failed, the Han Dynasty itself would be embarrassed!
That day, Yuan Shu called his civil and military officials to come, and he started talking nonsense...
"Do you know what the 'Five Virtues Theory' is?" Yuan Shu asked in a puzzling way.
However, the civil officials present still answered "I know" one after another, but several military officers seemed to have no idea what everyone was talking about!
"I've studied the theory of the five virtues carefully recently. Wow, it's so profound! You see, the virtue of Zhou is fire, and the virtue of Qin is water, so Qin replaced the Zhou Dynasty."
Yuan Shu spoke eloquently, ignoring the frown on the faces of his subordinates, and had no idea what was wrong with his lord.
“Although the Qin Dynasty was tyrannical and destroyed the Zhou Dynasty, it was no match for Xiang Yu and his ilk. We, the Han Dynasty, inherited the fire virtue of the Zhou Dynasty, so we were able to defeat the Qin Dynasty and unify the world!
Let me tell you another story. You know that my Yuan family has three dukes for four generations, right? But you may not know that my Yuan family's ancestors are descendants of the sage king Shun! By the way, the sage king Shun is a man of earth virtue, and in this "Five Virtues Theory", if the dynasty changes violently, it is the conflict of the five elements, but if it conforms to the trend of the times, it may not be a conflict, it may also be a relationship of inheritance!
Oh my! Speaking of inheritance, fire and earth are the inheritance, right? Hahaha...what a coincidence!"
Yuan Shu's tone of "surprised or not, not unexpected or not", coupled with his two small mustaches, was really unique.
Ministers: ...%@&^*
Well, I finally understood it. It turns out that I’m on to this topic again!
"Well, the lord told us a story. I also have a story here that I want to tell the lord." Yan Xiang stood up at this time.
The Chief Clerk Yan Xiang and the Chief Clerk Yang Hong were the most important civil officials under Yuan Shu, and could be considered his right-hand men.
When the civil officials saw Yan Xiang speak, they all hoped that he could wake Yuan Shu up - Yan Zhubu was very good at this.
For a moment, everyone looked at Yan Xiang expectantly.
"Tell me about it." Yuan Shu was not very interested at first, and seemed dissatisfied that everyone did not agree with him.
"This story is called 'King Wu Conquers King Zhou'! A long, long time ago, the Zhou people, from their ancestor Hou Ji to King Wen Jichang, had been accumulating virtue and merit, and Xiqi became increasingly powerful, even surpassing the Shang Dynasty..." Yan Xiang said slowly.
As Yuan Shu listened to Yan Xiang's words, his expression became better and better.
The other civil officials looked at Yan Xiang in shock - I didn't expect that a man with thick eyebrows and big eyes like you would flatter? Don't flatter at this juncture... and King Wu's attack on King Zhou? How dare you say that!
"Later, during the reign of King Wu, King Zhou committed atrocities, so he raised an army in Xiqi and the whole country responded. After one day of fighting, he defeated Zhou's kingdom!" Yan Xiang continued.
This is quoted from Zhang Yi during the Warring States Period. The great war between Shang and Zhou was not that complicated. When King Wu followed Jiang Shang's strategy and officially went to war with King Zhou of Shang, "the world was divided into three parts, and two of them belonged to Zhou." He conquered other princes as needed and destroyed them as needed. The final war with the Shang Dynasty actually only took one day, which was the Battle of Muye outside Chaoge.
On the Jiazi day, Ji Fa personally led the army to fight against King Zhou in Muye and directly defeated him - a typical one-wave attack, unlike in later literary works, with several armies and many large-scale battles.
After hearing what Yan Xiang said, Yuan Shu was even more proud and was waiting for Yan Xiang to say that he was as wise as King Wu of Zhou and that the people of the Han Dynasty were looking forward to him just as they were looking forward to King Wu...
However, Yan Xiang suddenly asked, "Then the question is... King Wu has accumulated such a great advantage, and he has been carefully serving the Shang Dynasty. Is the Han Dynasty as unjust as King Zhou of Shang? Are there any princes who are as powerful as King Wu?"
Yuan Shu: !!!
This 180-degree turn almost broke Yuan Shu's back!
Yuan Shu glared at Yan Xiang angrily, but Yan Xiang looked calm. Many people present secretly applauded in their hearts - he was worthy of being Yan Zhubu, and his stories were still as awesome as ever.
At this moment, Yuan Shu's official seal suddenly flashed.
Regardless of whether the Han Dynasty recognized it or not, Yuan Shu, who occupied Jiujiang, Lujiang and Yuzhang, naturally had the official seal of the governor of Yangzhou, and he could also receive the news from the Han Dynasty.
After reading this report, Yuan Shu's originally angry expression turned into a furious one...
"How can this be possible! You shameless fellow are bringing disaster to the world with your strange and tricky skills! You and I, Yuan Shu, cannot coexist in harmony!" Yuan Shu slammed the official seal on the table.
Today's Confucians have not yet become so corrupt as to regard inventions and creations as strange and licentious skills - Bai Tu wrote in the "Three Character Classic" that "scholars, farmers , merchants and artisans, these four classes are the health of the country", and the great Confucian scholars also praised them and did not think that industry and commerce were so unbearable.
Why was Yuan Shu so angry?
Firstly, it was naturally because of the anger that Yan Xiang had just fanned - it would have been fine if you wanted to scold me, but you actually praised me so highly and then scolded me!
Secondly, Yuan Shu's reaction was quick enough. He immediately realized that this move would weaken the aristocratic families, or the top aristocratic families and the aristocratic families, and would be beneficial to the poor families.
Thirdly... this communication to Yuan Shu also specifically included the news that Bai Tu was named "Mr. of Yangzhou".
As a staunch supporter of the theory of bloodline, Yuan Shu was one of who was extremely hostile to the downward transfer of educational power!
What's more, Bai Tu was appointed as the governor of Yangzhou, which made it clear that the Han Dynasty no longer wanted to give him face.
"My lord, is there any important news from the Han Dynasty that needs to be announced to the world?" Yan Xiang asked when he saw this.
"Hmph!" Yuan Shu didn't want to pay attention to him, but he still waved his official seal and sent a copy of the message to all the ministers present.
Papermaking, printing... the four books for enlightenment... the eternal fragrance of books... the master of enlightenment... the governor of Yangzhou?
Bai Tu's achievements and titles were flashing on everyone's official seals. Many people also thought about why Yuan Shu was so angry, but whether they agreed or not, no one spoke at this time.
"Mover of Yangzhou? Haha, I want to see if he dares to take the office!" Yuan Shu said angrily.
At the same time, Yuan Shu could never have imagined that Bai Tu and his entourage had already passed through Guangling County, which he controlled, and successfully entered the Yangtze River, heading for Qu'a...
