Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1375 Party
While Cao Pi was organizing the Jian'an style gathering in Chang'an, officials from the Jin State often mentioned gossips and anecdotes circulating in the Wei State in private gatherings.

In the State of Jin, Yuan Xi did not specifically require officials to work simply, but because Yuan Xi himself had a socially phobic personality in his previous life, he had no awareness of socializing among the gentry. In addition, he was usually obsessed with technical research, so he seldom held banquets for the monarch and his ministers.

However, most of the time, the gentry wanted to build closer ties through banquets, so there were many private exchanges among the officials of Jin State, especially in Jianghuai, where officials had a habit of drinking and having fun.

Compared with the central line of Jicheng, Yecheng and Shouchun created by Yuan Xi, the current Jianghuai region is centered on the triangular area surrounded by the three important cities of Shouchun, Guangling and Nanchang. Thanks to the development of steamships, travel in the Jianghuai region is extremely convenient, and officials often meet on official business.

Just like this time, the core officials of the three cities held a banquet hosted by Lu Xun at Wankou, the center point of the triangle.

Of course, this meeting was not simply to strengthen personal relationships, but because the three places wanted to pool resources to build a large workshop, so they had to discuss it together. This was also reported to Yuan Xi in advance.

As for the personnel of the three parties, Shouchun was mainly led by Lu Xun and Liu Ye, Guangling and Dong'an were mainly led by Bu Zhi and Liu Ji, and Nanchang was mainly led by Lu Su and Jiang Qin. Half of them were old officials of Jiangdong, especially many of Yuan Shu's old officials.

During the banquet, everyone was toasting each other, and as they drank to their heart's content, they gradually became less cautious in their conversations. Liu Ye said drunkenly, "Ten years ago, who would have thought that the world would be like this."

"At that time, most of us saw that it was a fight between the two Yuans, but Gong Lu's defeat was so quick that it was too unexpected. Afterwards, everyone thought that Ben Chu was the final winner, but he didn't expect Cao Cao to pick the peach."

"I never thought that it would be His Majesty, who was the least favored one, who turned the tide and reached this point today."

Liu Ji, who was sitting opposite him, said calmly, "Your Majesty lives a simple life and is strict with himself. I heard that he often stays up all night reviewing memorials to handle government affairs, and even stays in his study. His diligence and hard work are something that few monarchs from ancient times to the present can do. If he can't win, is there anyone else in the world who is more qualified?"

"I heard that the King of Wei, Cao Pi, was drinking and having fun day and night in Chang'an, just like what Gonglu did in Shouchun. He is so decadent, how could he win the heart of Your Majesty?"

Liu Ji's personality is somewhat similar to Yuan Xi's. He also lives a simple life, does not like socializing, and almost never attends banquets or social events in his life. This time he came to Wankou because he had to come due to national affairs and only reluctantly attended the banquet.

As soon as he said this, everyone's faces stiffened. They thought to themselves, we are attending a banquet here, isn't it a bit of a spoiler for the mood by saying this?
Lu Su quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Jing Yu, when Lord Sun followed Lord Gong to attack Lord Liu, they were all serving different masters. Now we are all serving Your Majesty just to eliminate some minor grudges from the past, not just for fun."

Liu Ji also reacted. He was not ignorant of change, so he raised his cup and said, "My words may have offended you, please forgive me. I will drink three cups as punishment first."

Lu Xun raised his cup and said, "Jingyu is a model of Jianghuai officials. There is nothing wrong with him. Although I am slightly higher in rank than you, you elder brothers are as virtuous and kind as I am. Your Majesty placed us in Jianghuai for the sake of stability in the Jin Dynasty. This shows your Majesty's trust in you."

"Today, I will lead the blessing, wishing that Jin will unify the world and dominate the world."

After hearing this, everyone stood up and raised their glasses towards the north in the direction of Yecheng. After they sat down, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

Jiang Qin said, "We were all enemies of your majesty. We are extremely lucky that your majesty has not abandoned us and has reused us."

"To be honest, although Your Majesty is always at the forefront of the battle and is extremely brave, and all the famous generals in the world have been defeated by you, in fact, compared with other lords, Your Majesty is soft-hearted."

"Think about it, everyone. Some of us once followed Duke Gonglu, and some followed Lord Sun. Except for a few generals who died in the battlefield, almost everyone else managed to save their lives, right?"

"But if it was under another lord, it would be hard to say."

His words resonated with many people. Bu Zhi was the only one who had only served Yuan Xi, so he didn't have so many scruples when speaking. He nodded and said, "Zhi has indeed heard about this. For some lords, it is really hard to predict life and death."

"I heard that Cao Cao is the most terrifying. He is cruel not only to his enemies but also to his own people."

"Not to mention the Huaicheng Rebellion, where so many people were killed that Kong Beihai and Zhang Mengzhuo both died in it. Even Chen Gongtai and Xu Ziyuan, who were once friends of Cao Cao, died at his hands."

"Others, such as Yanzhou Bian Wenli and Jizhou Shen Zhengnan, were killed without authorization. Famous scholars and ministers were like grass in Cao Cao's eyes."

Liu Ye snorted coldly, "We misjudged him at the beginning. Who knew that his reputation when he was young would cover up his ruthlessness later on? He single-handedly suppressed the Yingchuan faction, but now he is dead. The new King of Wei does not have the ability of Cao Cao."

"If we can't win the battle, then we can only drink and have fun, right?"

Lu Xun was still a young man, so he lowered his voice and said, "You don't know yet. The news from Chang'an is that Cao Pi hosted a banquet for his trusted ministers last month, but he ate too much Wushisan at the banquet and behaved in a very ugly manner. He even asked his concubines to serve him wine, which was a violation of etiquette."

After hearing this, Lu Su was shocked and sobered up a lot. "This kind of thing is a scandal. Isn't this young King of Wei too ignorant?"

Lu Xun nodded and said, "So over the years, your majesty has been strictly prohibiting the use of Wushisan in Jin State, and has sent those alchemists who refine Wushisan to engage in ore smelting."

"The more I understand Your Majesty, the more I admire Your Majesty's foresight."

"Your Majesty once said that Wushisan is not a good thing. It contains heavy metals extracted from ores and is extremely harmful to the human body. If abused, it will not only shorten a person's lifespan, but also make them more likely to develop mental disorders."

"I didn't quite believe it at the time, but now that I hear about this happening in the Wei court, I admire your majesty's foresight."

Liu Ji said in a deep voice: "That being said, I heard that some nobles in Guangling also bought Wu Shi San privately for consumption. After all, I heard that this thing can make people addicted, even more so than fine wine and women, and it is not so easy to resist." Lu Su said in a deep voice: "There are also signs of this in Nanchang."

"So I have an idea. Should we issue a decree to punish officials involved in this to combat this trend?"

Lu Xun nodded and said, “What Zi Jing said is what I want to say.”

"Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han could not resist the temptation of these unknown elixirs, and one died suddenly, and the other became old and confused. Even Your Majesty regards this thing as a formidable enemy, and you really cannot touch it."

"I suggest issuing a decree to require local officials to confess and hand over the money voluntarily. If they refuse to repent, they should be severely punished."

"Otherwise, if this trend continues, it will ruin Jianghuai's reputation sooner or later."

"You know, for who knows how many years to come, Your Majesty will have to stay in Yecheng to deal with the State of Wei, so Jiang Huai will probably rarely come. This is a time to test our loyalty and ability."

"I heard that the officials in Yecheng are all very cautious because they are by your Majesty's side. Prime Minister Zhuge is also mature at a young age and lives a simple life. This is what your Majesty likes. We can't be compared to him."

Bu Zhi said, "That's a good idea, Governor. I will return to Guangling soon and confiscate the Wushi Powder and then destroy it in public to serve as a warning to others."

Liu Ye said, "This is not good. It is also a large sum of money."

"Why not just sell it to Wei?"

After hearing this, everyone shook their heads and smiled bitterly, "Zi Yang's mind is just like yours in using troops, full of sinister intent."

Liu Ye chuckled and said, "Cao Wei is our enemy, why should we be soft-hearted towards him?"

"When they beat us, they didn't hold back."

"Many of our peers also died at the hands of Cao's army."

Lu Su smiled bitterly: "Zi Yang was under Yuan Gonglu and fought against Cao Mengde, and he suffered a lot of losses."

"But for those of us who have previously joined the Sun family for two generations, the biggest killer is not Cao Mengde, nor Your Majesty, but Lord Xuande."

After these words came out, Lu Xun, Jiang Qin and others showed their approval on their faces, and even had a hint of fear, and said in unison: "Yes, those battles in Chaisang were simply too terrible."

Liu Ji said in a muffled voice: "This is all because of Lord Sun. The two armies were fighting and if they lost, they would have lost. But they chose to assassinate him and offended the King of Hannan. Who would have thought that the revenge would be so crazy?"

Everyone was silent. The war that broke out between Hannan and Wu because of Zhang Fei's death was so intense that neither side could stop fighting in the end. Dozens of generals from both sides died in the battle, which almost wiped out all the backbone forces of the two countries. From then on, the two countries were unable to recover and completely withdrew from the stage of fighting for the world.

In silence, Liu Ye whispered, "Did Lord Sun really die in the battle of Xianbei Dai County?"

"Did he really surrender to the Xianbei or was it a false surrender? Your Majesty, do you have a conclusion?"

Everyone turned their eyes to Lu Xun. After all, he was in charge of the Jianghuai Procuratorate and was naturally the most likely to get the inside story.

After hearing this, Lu Xun smiled bitterly and said, "Although your majesty did not forbid me to speak, he did not give me a clear answer either."

"What is certain is that Sun Hou did serve in the Xianbei king's tent before the Xianbei were defeated, along with Sun Shao, Yan Jun and others."

"There was a great epidemic in Xianbei that day, and the Northern Procuratorate took the opportunity to mobilize death squads to raid the Xianbei king's tent in Dai County. This is also true."

Lu Su said, "Bo Yan is saying that maybe they were killed by the assassins?"

Lu Xun shook his head and said, “No, the assassins couldn’t even break into the inner courtyard of Kobinen’s mansion.”

"Although there is no clear conclusion as to what happened inside, I speculate that someone in the palace detonated the buried explosives. After the explosion, the Xianbei people were in complete chaos, and all tribes fled north in panic. Kobinen must have been killed in the explosion."

"Although we cannot be sure who did it, we can be sure that Lord Sun is in great danger."

Everyone was moved when they heard this. Lu Su raised his glass and said, "In that case, I wish Lord Sun a safe journey."

"His time has passed."

(End of this chapter)