Mythical Three Kingdoms-Chapter 1539 - 1482: The Troubles of Yizhou Scholars and Warriors

While Yuan Hui was pulling the wool over Shixie’s eyes, things were quite troublesome in Yizhou as well. Like every member of the Liu Royal Family, anything else could be tolerated, but not the Huns.

After learning about this, Liu Zhang was almost as excited as Liu Xie, both were practically wielding knives together, ready to take down the Huns.

If Liu Xie was unable to act due to lack of soldiers and resources, Liu Zhang had people and troops, but his territory was quite tricky. The difficulty of entering and leaving was no less than Jiaozhou, so even though Liu Zhang had plenty of valiant generals at Inner Qi Manifestation level and top-tier strategists, he couldn’t dispatch them.

The civil officials and military generals of Yizhou didn’t have much advice for Liu Zhang’s current situation; fighting the Huns was politically correct, nobody could object, nor was it advisable. To be honest, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan wanted to fight too, but the issue was the difficulty of deploying troops from Yizhou; by the time soldiers were sent out, the northern battle would likely be concluded.

Liu Zhang wasn’t completely thoughtless, the advice from civil officials and military generals made sense; it’s not that he didn’t want to fight, but Yizhou was truly too challenging, wanting to fight but lacking the capability.

"This isn’t a solution, my Lord." Zhang Song, nibbling on fish slices, said helplessly to the civil and military officials at a private banquet. After a significant confrontation previously, the relationship between Yizhou’s civil and military officials had improved considerably, enough for them to sit together and eat peacefully.

"Assistant Officer Zhang, look at what we can actually do now?" Zhang Ren also took a piece of fish and remarked. Frankly, he had just returned from Hanzhong; although the battle of Hanzhong had ended long ago, withdrawing troops took so much time, showing how troublesome Yizhou’s roads were.

"Indeed, our Lord has scolded us fiercely, the problem isn’t that we don’t want to fight. To fight the Huns, I’d be the first to go if I could." Leitong admitted during his visit to Liu Zhang yesterday when advising a bit, and almost got scolded to death by Liu Zhang.

"Indeed, we all want to fight. General Yann, do you want to fight?" Leng Bao said helplessly; after scolding Leitong yesterday, all the military generals were affected.

"Fight! Anyone not going is not a man!" Yan Yan said, puffing his beard and glaring. Who doesn’t want to fight, but how do you send empty troops? Li Yan talks boldly, sacrificing a life to fight the Huns, but without soldiers, what are you fighting?

"We must come up with a solution." Wang Lei, an extremely loyal supporter of Liu Zhang, naturally understood Liu Zhang’s mindset. So, after enduring Liu Zhang’s outbursts these days, he didn’t mind. Fighting the Huns is an unavoidable issue for an imperial family member.

"If there was a solution, we’d have thought of it already." Huang Quan said with a bitter smile; there’s no persuading here, there’s only one path—to fight.

"Cough, cough, should we try this?" Qin Mi coughed twice and said; if it went on like this, facing another round of scolding was inevitable. Liu Zhang recently became quite irritable, yet there was no way to challenge him.

"If Zichi has any good ideas, feel free to share." Cheng Ji spoke from the side.

"Not exactly good ideas, but somewhat feasible." Qin Mi said with a smile. "If we can’t fight the Huns, we can fight other foreign clans."

"That is a solution, but I sold all the Bantu Man recently for money." Zhang Ren said, feeling helpless. During the later stages of the Hanzhong battle, he coordinated well with Zhang Wei, targeting the Barbarians, selling all those he could capture.

Because of engaging in such dirty business together, Zhang Ren and Zhang Wei developed a mutual understanding. Zhang Wei, honorably, didn’t cheat Zhang Ren out of money, even claiming they shared a family legacy from five hundred years ago. Consequently, Zhang Ren had a somewhat favorable view of Zhang Wei.

Yet, even though Zhang Ren had a favorable view of Zhang Wei, if Liu Zhang commanded Zhang Ren to strike fiercely, Zhang Ren would show no mercy, perhaps offering a bowl of wine as a parting gesture.

"After sweeping the Barbarians once, the Northern Yizhou Barbarians have mostly quieted down." Cheng Ji said with a sigh, "Shouldn’t have acted so harshly beforehand."

"Wasn’t it done for permanent peace?" Meng Da said with a bitter smile, who could have predicted another twist such as this?

"No, no, no, I understand Zichi’s meaning now." Zhang Song shook his finger, starting to plot deviously, "The Bantu Man is gone, but we still have the Southern Barbarians."

"The problem is, the Southern Barbarians have been quite cooperative lately; they have willingly accepted kingly transformation and are willing to exchange with us." As Zhang Song’s brother, Zhang Su already knew what Zhang Song wanted to do before he started plotting.

"No, no, no, that’s just one part of the Southern Barbarians. We need them all to accept kingly transformation." Zhang Song waved his hand and said.

"The issue is, given the current situation, I’ve just about managed to settle the various kings of the Thirteen Caves; don’t make trouble for me?" Zhang Su said with a tone of annoyance.

Zhang Su had been overseeing this, and leveraging the collaboration between the commercial association and the Southern Barbarians had finally facilitated their communication with the Han People, settling the numerous Barbarian kings one by one. If his brother initiated this, years of efforts would be for naught.

"But beyond those Barbarians who have yielded, aren’t there more Southern Barbarian people yet to yield?" Zhang Song said with a smile. But as he smiled, his unsightly face became even more so. "Besides, rather than constantly enduring our Lord’s scolding, why not redirect his attention?"

Zhang Su considered it, realizing enduring Liu Zhang’s scolding wasn’t a way to live, thus tacitly agreeing with Zhang Song’s words.

"It seems everyone has no objections." Zhang Song glanced around; he held the highest rank and intelligence among them, so after he spoke, indeed no one objected.

"First, it’s not us who act first; it’s the Barbarians who act first. Second, it’s not our Barbarians who act; it’s the Barbarians envious of our Barbarians’ improved lives who act. Third, it’s a Barbarian rebellion, we suppress it, letting them accept kingly transformation." Zhang Song laid the groundwork and started the devious plotting.

"This isn’t challenging; I have a subordinate named Lyu Kai who’s extremely knowledgeable about the relationships among the Barbarians; leave this to me." Zhang Su firmly stated. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"While they’re having a heated fight in the north, we in the south mustn’t be outdone, Ziyuan, bring your family’s map, let’s validate Shendu’s depth this time." Zhang Ren turned to Wu Yi and said, making Wu Yi look a bit downcast. He could hardly confess he’d given the map to Chen Xi.

"Alright then, but this route is difficult to traverse." Wu Yi said helplessly, "Moreover, given the huge distance, it’s no easy task to reach there."

"That’s indeed true. Perhaps we’ll finish subduing the Barbarians before the northern battle ends." Wu Lan said smilingly, "We certainly can’t let the Lord keep scolding us; who stays in Chengdu this time, I’m not staying."