Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1464 Homework
Seeing Wei Yan rushing towards him with a knife in hand, Xiahou Shang quickly thrust his spear at him, but Wei Yan was prepared and just slightly turned sideways, knocking the spear away and falling into Xiahou Shang's arms.

This does not mean that Xiahou Shang is weak in martial arts. On the battlefield, long spears are only threatening when they are formed into a formation. Fighting alone, especially against an armored opponent, as long as the first two moves fail to kill the opponent, he will inevitably be approached by the opponent. Cavalry generals can still use the advantage of their horses to keep their distance, but in a one-on-one infantry battle, especially when wearing armor, the long spear is far inferior to the ring-handled sword.

When Xiahou Shang saw Wei Yan grabbing the weapon, he reacted very quickly. He held his spear horizontally and smashed it into Wei Yan's face, then took advantage of the situation to retreat.

Seeing that Xiahou Shang's personal guards were just a few feet behind him, Wei Yan would never miss this opportunity. He immediately shrank his body to avoid the flying spear and stabbed Xiahou Shang with his ring-handled sword.

Xiahou Shang saw that there was no time to dodge, and secretly cried out that his life was over, but at this moment his foot slipped and he fell backwards, just avoiding the knife. Wei Yan did not expect that the knife would miss, and immediately turned his wrist, changing the stab to a chop, and chopped at Xiahou Shang's face, but Xiahou Shang broke free, yelled, and kicked Wei Yan's ankle.

Wei Yan fell forward, and the ring-handled sword pierced into the ground, close to Xiahou Shang's cheek. He fell to his knees and was unable to pull it out for a while. He was also angry, and immediately hit Xiahou Shang in the face with his elbow.

Xiahou Shang felt dizzy and subconsciously hooked his legs around Wei Yan's waist. Wei Yan was about to stand up, but was staggered again. He became even more angry and raised two fists as big as sand bowls to smash into Xiahou Shang's face.

Xiahou Shang protected his face with his arms, desperately blocking Wei Yan's fists, and at the same time twisted his body hard to dodge. The movements of the two were too intense, and the next moment they both slipped and rolled down the hillside.

All this happened in the blink of an eye. The soldiers on both sides rushed over, but before they could help, they saw the two men tumbling down the hillside. The grass and branches along the way could not stop their fall. They rolled for a hundred feet before they fell heavily into the ravine. There was a dull sound, and then both of them were motionless.

The Wei army was leaderless and fled in all directions. The Jin army was also in a state of panic. They sent people down the mountain to rescue Wei Yan, while at the same time they had to chase the Wei soldiers who outnumbered them. They were caught off guard for a moment and had to watch many Wei soldiers escape.

It was not until two hours later that Zhang He and others arrived with the pursuing troops. After listening to what Lieutenant Wei Yan said, they hurried over to check and found that Wei Yan and Xiahou Shang both had broken their limbs and were seriously injured. They immediately ordered doctors to treat them and at the same time led their troops to pursue them.

Zhuge Liang, who had already entered Hanzhong, heard the news that Wei Yan was seriously injured and Xiahou Shang was captured, and sighed to Zhao Yun: "It's not worth it to lose a general in order to capture Xiahou Shang."

Zhao Yun nodded and said, "With broken limbs, it will take two to three years for him to be able to fight. I'm afraid Wen Chang will have to miss the battle of Chengdu."

Zhuge Liang said: "Let someone take him back to Hanzhong to recover, and we will continue to build the road and fight from Jinniu Road."

Zhao Yun asked, "The three passes on the Jinniu Road, Baishui Pass, Jiameng Pass, and Jianmen Pass, are all extremely steep. I'm afraid we have to fight our way through them step by step. Are you going to ignore the Mi Cang Mountain Road?"

Zhuge Liang said, "Leave it to Commander Lu. The Jinniu Road will have to be repaired sooner or later. This is what your majesty said before he sent out the troops. It is not just to capture Chengdu, but to dredge the Yizhou Shu Road and connect it with Guanzhong. Otherwise, there will be no difference from the previous dynasty."

Although Zhao Yun knew Yuan Xi's intentions long ago, he still couldn't help but sigh: "Your Majesty sometimes doesn't look like a monarch who unifies the world, but rather like a diligent craftsman who mends his clothes."

Zhuge Liang smiled and waved his feather fan after hearing this, saying, "Indeed, he said that there is not much he can do in this world, and the only thing that can produce immediate results is building roads."

When the news of the capture of Hanzhong reached Yuan Xi, he had already returned to Jicheng from Yecheng. He completed the succession ceremony in front of civil and military officials, officially established Yuan Rui as the crown prince, and then brought him to his side to teach him personally.

He knew that he had missed out on Yuan Rui's teachings because of his battles in the past few years, so he had been teaching by example and passing on his ideas to Yuan Rui during this period of time.

At that moment, he took the battle report sent by Zhuge Liang, calculated the distance and time on the map, and said aloud: "The road between Hanzhong and Chengdu is still too difficult to repair."

"Cement can be used to build city walls, and naturally it can also be used to build roads. As long as the formula is improved and slag, lime, soil, and tree sap and stones are mixed, a similar effect to concrete can be achieved."

"The road to Shu is difficult, as difficult as climbing to heaven. If we use only manpower to level the road and open up the mountains, it may take more than 30 years to complete. But if we use steam engines, it is possible to improve the road several times in ten years."

Yuan Rui said, "I don't quite understand. Why don't you capture Chengdu first and then mobilize all the manpower and resources in Sichuan to build the road?"

Yuan Xi said aloud: "Because that is impossible."

"The local aristocratic families in Yizhou are actually quite stubborn. They have two sides. On the one hand, they strongly resist foreign enemies and protect their homes. But on the other hand, the so-called homes they protect are mostly just their own land and the interests of their slaves from being infringed."

"That's why they are loyal to Wei now, because the Nine-Rank System gives them enough privileges. The soldiers and civilians who farm are ordinary people, and it's not the turn of the wealthy families to recruit soldiers. Their interests are not harmed, so they are naturally happy to serve Cao Wei."

"In short, they are no different from the nobles of Liangzhou. They just want to be local emperors."

"If I attack them now, the Yizhou nobles will certainly surrender the city because they don't want to suffer losses, just like Xiahou Yuan did when he attacked Yizhou."

"I don't want to keep these powerful families. We don't need them to control the villages and towns in the future. We must replace them with our officials."

"Although this move will increase the number of low-level officials and the expenditure of the national treasury, it is still much more cost-effective than handing over the governance of villages and towns to those wealthy families who own thousands of slaves and tens of thousands of acres of land."

"Wei State has nowhere to run, so we can just push it over like this, and slowly drain away all the assets of its officials and nobles. By then, Wei State will only be left with an empty shell, and it will be much easier to take over."

Yuan Rui said, "But won't Wei try to survive and pass on more taxes to the people?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi was relieved and said, "You can think of this, which really changes your perspective. That's great." "Sometimes those in power forget this, and when they implement policies, they seem to be considering the overall situation, but in fact they sacrifice the interests of the grassroots people, which leads to the collapse of the political situation. This is forgetting one's roots, forgetting that the imperial power does not come from heaven, but from all the people in the world."

"Just like the Factional Persecution during the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling, the original intention was to restrict the rise of the aristocracy. In my opinion, there was nothing wrong with the starting point, but in the process of implementation, they lost their original intention. In order to restrict the aristocracy, they ignored the lives of the people, which led to natural disasters. When the people were starving, they still collected money, which led to the Yellow Turban Rebellion."

"If you don't represent the interests of the vast majority of the people and don't speak for them, sooner or later they will rise up and overthrow you."

Yuan Rui bravely said: "Father, if that's what you said, then the emperor should be called the Lord of All People rather than the Son of Heaven?"

"Wouldn't that overturn the system that Confucianism and Taoism set up for the emperor?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "That's right. So how to integrate and dissolve Confucianism and Taoism is your homework for the next few days, no, for your entire life."

"You have to remember that the Lord of All Peoples is for democracy. This does not mean that we are the masters of all peoples, but that we allow all peoples to be autonomous."

Yuan Rui nodded as if he understood, looking as if he had a headache. He thought that his father had given him another difficult problem. It would not be a good idea to ask outsiders for advice on this matter, otherwise if he spoke it out, it might cause unrest in the court and the country.

Sometimes, I can only think and do these major issues close to the core by myself. Although I am a member of the royal family, there is almost no one I can talk to. Now I still have my father, the emperor and my mother, but if I ascend the throne in the future, who can I talk to?

He suddenly realized that this was what it meant to be alone.

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Seeing Yuan Rui in a trance, Yuan Xi thought that he was tired, so he said, "That's all for today. Go pay your respects to the Queen, and then go have dinner with her."

Yuan Rui asked, "What about the emperor?"

Yuan Xi said, "I have something else to think about and don't want to be distracted. Just have someone send it to my study."

Yuan Rui agreed and backed out, but heard Yuan Xi say, "I have been thinking a lot about your marriage these days."

"Since you and Xiang'er don't get along, I won't force you. I'm afraid you don't like older people. Is there anyone of your age that you like?"

"I can respect your idea, but since you have become the crown prince, this matter cannot be delayed forever. If there is no one you like, then I will appoint someone."

Yuan Rui stammered, "My son, I do have one."

Yuan Xi laughed and said, "No wonder, I knew it was like that. Who is it?"

Yuan Rui mentioned a name, and Yuan Xi was surprised, "She?"

"How many times have you met her in total? You've known her for less than half a year, right?"

Yuan Rui lowered his head and said, "But I don't know why, I always think she is very good."

Yuan Xi did not comment, but waved his hand and said, "I understand, you can go down first."

After Yuan Rui left, Yuan Xi fell into deep thought, because what Yuan Rui was talking about was actually Zhang Fei's daughter Zhang.

He thought to himself that this was really strange. In terms of appearance, Sun Shangxiang was not inferior to Zhang, except that she was more lively and stubborn. Could it be that what Yuan Rui really liked was the elegant and quiet type like Zhang?
However, thinking of Zhang's father, Yuan Xi couldn't help but smile bitterly, thinking that the difference in their personalities was so great that it was hard to tell that they were biological children. In comparison, Sun Shangxiang was more like Zhang Fei's daughter, right?

But think about it, Zhang Fei was born in Youzhou. If Zhang became the queen, it would fit in with the background of Jin State establishing its capital in the north and guarding the border.

Yuan Rui was heading towards Zhen Mi's bedroom, but on the way he saw Sun Shangxiang walking towards him holding Zhang's hand. When Yuan Rui saw them, he bowed and said, "Hello, both of you."

Zhang hurriedly returned the greeting, but Sun Shangxiang said nonchalantly, "You are already the crown prince, why don't you look up at me? How can you be a crown prince at all?"

Yuan Rui glanced at Zhang secretly and said, "Sister is right."

After Yuan Rui left, Zhang said, "The prince seems to be very afraid of me."

Sun Shangxiang glanced at Zhang and said with a half-smile, "It may not be me that he is afraid of."

(End of this chapter)