novelAbuy Chapter 92 Arguing is all about who has the thickest skin.
Chapter 92 Arguing is all about who has the thickest skin.
Chapter 92 Arguing is all about who has the thickest skin.
The main hall of the governor's mansion.
Liu Bei sat in the center, his gaze fixed on Yang Hong, and asked in a mellow and composed tone, "Chief Clerk Yang, has General Yuan given you any instructions for coming here?"
With Lu Yong present, Old Liu felt less anxious.
Yang Hong stood up, cupped his hands and said, "My lord has heard that Liu Yuzhou has been making many moves recently. First, he attacked Qu'a, drove away Sun Bofu, then took Wu County, and then entered Yuzhang."
But Liu Yuzhou should know that my lord is the governor of Yangzhou, and these three places are all my lord's territory.
Taking it without asking—is this perhaps Liu Bei's way of being an ally?
Without waiting for an answer, Yang Hong continued, "Furthermore, our lord permitted you to march south and provided you with provisions—is this how you repay our lord's benevolence?"
This series of questions suddenly made the atmosphere in the hall tense.
However, no one spoke up; everyone was waiting for Lu Yong to speak.
After a moment of silence.
Lu Yong chuckled, stood up, and cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Yang Hong. "Chief Secretary Yang, please forgive my bluntness, but you were merely arguing unreasonably just now."
At the same time, he unlocked the ability of the entry "King of Verbal Power (Gold)", increasing his success rate in verbal battles by 90%.
Yang Hong was unaware that the other party had already activated a cheat. He narrowed his eyes slightly, made a gesture of invitation, and said, "I would like to hear your insights."
""
Lu Yong stood with his hands behind his back and spoke slowly: "First of all, although General Yuan calls himself the Governor of Yangzhou, the court has never officially recognized him."
The real governor of Yangzhou was Liu Yao.
Therefore, the six prefectures of Yangzhou—Jiujiang, Danyang, Lujiang, Yuzhang, Wu, and Kuaiji—are legally under the control of Liu Yao and have no jurisdiction over General Yuan.
Lu Yong's words struck at Yuan Shu's weak point.
Let me be frank, you're just a fake governor of Yangzhou. Where do you get the nerve to say that Yuzhang and Wu are yours?
After a pause, Lu Yong continued, "General Yuan, who controls Jiujiang and Lujiang, already occupies the fertile land north of the Yangtze River. He doesn't care about remote and desolate places like Danyang, Yuzhang, and Wuxian at all."
Moreover, since Liu Yao took office, Danyang and Wu have always obeyed his orders.
If it weren't for our military assistance, Yuzhang would surely have fallen into Zhu Hao's hands by now.
"We acquired this land from others, so how did it become something we seized from General Yuan?"
Yang Hong's face darkened: "Liu Yao has refused to accept my lord, so my lord should naturally send troops to punish him."
"Who did General Yuan send?"
Upon hearing the name "Sun Bofu," Yang Hong immediately fell silent.
It was he who took the initiative to conspire with Lu Yong to eliminate Sun Ce.
Bringing up Sun Ce again now is tantamount to slapping oneself in the face.
Lu Yong didn't give Yang Hong time to think and continued, "Yang Changshi should know better than I what kind of person Sun Bofu is."
If he were to actually seize Wu Commandery, does the Chief Clerk think he would willingly hand it over with both hands?
Moreover, Sun Bofu attacked Qu'a, but was defeated by Liu Yao before our General Guan Yu sent troops.
He ultimately defeated Liu Yao and avenged Sun Bofu.
"Wait!" Yang Hong suddenly interrupted, "Sun Bofu said that he defeated Liu Yao and captured Qu'a."
It was Guan Yu who led his army in a surprise attack and captured his city!
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Lu Yong categorically denied, "Yun Chang would never deceive us."
"You're turning black into white!" Yang Hong almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
I've seen shameless people, but I've never seen anyone this shameless!
"Chief Secretary Yang, you can't make baseless accusations without evidence," Lu Yong replied without changing his expression.
Evidence? Where the hell are you going to find evidence?
Even in later generations, with photos and videos, a country that was defeated 6-0 can still send envoys around to proclaim its great victory.
Moreover, in an era when it was difficult to record the scenes of that time.
Yang Hongming knew Lu Yong's sophistry, but he just couldn't find enough evidence to refute it, and his beard was trembling with anger.
Lu Yong pressed his advantage, saying, "Besides, you, Chief Secretary, are well aware of Sun Bofu's wolfish ambitions."
His sworn brother Zhou Yu, as well as Zhou Shang, the governor of Danyang under Liu Yao, had long since secretly sided with him.
Otherwise, how could Sun Bofu have gathered an army of 10,000 in just one or two months?
Without us, Sun Ce could have immediately taken over Danyang after capturing Wu Commandery, then moved east to Yuzhang and south to Kuaiji.
The question is, would Sun Ce still willingly hand over the occupied land to General Yuan?
Yang Hong's lips twitched.
He sought Lu Yong's help to deal with Sun Ce because he saw through Sun Ce's ambition and ability.
However, he did not expect that after Sun Ce, the little tiger of Jiangdong, was driven away, Liu Bei, the big bad wolf, came in.
Lu Yong, having gained the upper hand, began to press his advantage. "As you know, Chief Clerk, Zhou Yu once laid an ambush on Qingshan Road, attempting to burn our army and civilians marching south."
Afterwards, he secretly funded and won over the Yue people in Jing County, attempting to attack our army from both the north and south.
General Yuan and my lord are allies; Sun Ce could not possibly be unaware of this.
However, he allowed Zhou Yu to repeatedly harm him.
To borrow the words of the Chief Clerk: Is this perhaps General Yuan's way of establishing alliances?
Yang Hong's expression changed slightly.
Zhou Yu and Zhou Shang secretly defected to Sun Ce, and they didn't even hear a word of it!
Now that Lu Yong has exposed this matter in public, he can no longer defend Sun Ce.
Yang Hong knew that this issue could no longer be debated with Lu Yong; continuing to argue would only put his side in a more passive position.
So he took a deep breath, changed direction, and asked, "Now that Liu Yuzhou has taken over the four commanderies, what are his next plans?"
"You don't know this, Chief Secretary!" Upon hearing this, Lu Yong changed his aggressive demeanor and revealed a bitter expression. "Danyang is mountainous, and arable land is only available in the flat areas around Wanling and Chungu. It is already difficult enough to feed the people and soldiers."
Unfortunately, the Yue people in the mountains are unruly and often harass and attack the people under my rule, causing us endless suffering and exhaustion.
The lord could only send his most capable general, General Guan, to guard Wu County.
General Zhang was sent to guard the southern part of Danyang.
Yuzhang is also mountainous, and there are countless mountain bandits, river pirates, and other inhabitants.
To be honest, we are currently facing a severe shortage of manpower.
If General Yuan is sympathetic to our plight, could he possibly provide us with another 10,000 shi of grain, or send a force to help us suppress the mountain bandits, the Yue tribes, and the river pirates?
Upon hearing this, Yang Hong couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
The fact that Lu Yong described as "many mountains, little arable land, and many bandits in the mountains" was indeed true.
Yuan Shu had previously been unwilling to expend great effort to occupy and manage these counties, precisely because of these two reasons.
What Lu Yongwei didn't say was that now the major leaders of the Shanyue had all submitted to Liu Bei, and the Shanyue and the Han people had passed the initial adjustment period and were getting along better.
The mountain bandits and river pirates of Yuzhang Commandery are now so powerful and helpless that they have nowhere to turn but to submit or be annihilated.
"Sigh—" Lu Yong sighed deeply after saying this.
This long sigh made Yang Hong feel a little embarrassed.
He originally planned that even if he couldn't get the territory back, he would at least extort some money and supplies.
But now it seems that not having to pay out of my own pocket is already a good thing.
Seeing that Yang Hong had nothing to say, Liu Bei quickly stepped in to smooth things over: "I am always grateful for Brother Gonglu's kindness. Therefore, I am willing to provide General Yuan with five thousand shi of grain, ten cartloads of mountain specialties and precious medicinal materials every year."
"Yang Changshi, what do you think?"
Five thousand bushels of grain is nothing.
The truly valuable items are local mountain products and medicinal herbs.
Yang Hong pondered for a moment and added a condition: "You must sell those wines to us at a price 20% lower than the market price."
Then they resell them for huge profits.
Lu Yong suddenly laughed, "This matter requires careful consideration!"
"?" Yang Hong frowned slightly, thinking that Lu Yong was going to refuse.
Unexpectedly, Lu Yong subtly raised his eyebrows at him twice, as if to convey some unspoken message.
Yang Hong understood Lu Yong's meaning in a flash.
He gave a knowing look, then bowed and returned to his seat.