I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 689: The Local Bully’s Counterattack
In a small building in Hongnong City, Zhang Yan bluntly called for a boycott.

This person is also from a wealthy family in Hongnong.

Hongnong is a large county in Sili and the throat of the two capitals, with countless famous and prominent families.

Not to mention the Hongnong Yang family, a famous clan in Tokyo that produced seven dukes and four ministers during the Han and Jin dynasties, the Liu family is also a clan of the Han Dynasty, with three dukes in two generations and descendants of Dai Wang Xi, the brother of Emperor Gaozu.

The young man who had just been so generous was none other than the grandson of the late famous official of the Eastern Han Dynasty, former Grand Commandant and Marquis of Luxiang Liu Kuan.

In terms of origin, the Zhang family is far inferior to the Yang and Liu families in Hongnong, but in terms of power and strength, they are not weaker than these two families.

Zhang Yan had many slaves and servants, and thousands of retainers. He was always known for his heroic spirit. He had made great efforts in recruiting soldiers for Hongnong County.

In normal history, in the tenth year of Jian'an (205 AD), Gao Gan, the governor of Bingzhou, rebelled against Cao Cao, and Zhang Sheng, a native of Henei, invaded the area between Gao and Mianyang.

At that time, Zhang Yan led the county's household members to capture the prefect directly. Together with Wei Gu from Hedong, he responded to Gao Gan and Zhang Sheng, and captured Hongnong on his own, causing considerable trouble to Cao Cao.

In the end, it was Zhong Yao who stepped forward and led Ma Teng and others together with Zhang Ji to attack the rebels. They finally killed this man and put down the rebellion.

Now that Su Yao has taken over Hongnong, Zhang Yan thought that since he had made great contributions in helping Wang Zhubu surrender the city, he should at least be given an official position, which would be more in line with his status as a noble family.

However, he did not expect that Su Yao not only did not reward them, but even disliked them for surrendering too slowly.

Even Wang Zhubu and others were only retained in their original positions. He, a prominent family in Hongnong, was completely ignored like a transparent person and was not even invited to the celebration banquet!

This really made Zhang Yan furious.

But he still put on airs at that time.

The reason is very simple. Su Yao's army needs to prepare a large amount of military supplies and food to enter the city.

In today's world, this task cannot be accomplished without the support of powerful families.

After all, the richer the area in the Central Plains, the lower the proportion of self-cultivating farmers, and those good paddy fields had long been divided up by these wealthy and powerful families.

So, although Zhang Yan was angry, he was not panicked at all.

You, Champion Hou, are so young, so I will think you don’t know the rules.

But as long as you still want to continue fighting, you have to come to me, bow your head, and beg me to cooperate and provide you with food.

This is the characteristic of the times and you must try it.

Throughout history, there are many cases where a county was conquered but effective rule could not be established because the emperor did not have the support of the local powerful families.

Zhang Yan was also well aware of this. Although his family background was not as good as the Yang and Liu families, his business was getting bigger and bigger, which was naturally inseparable from their extraordinary skills.

Compared with the Hongnong Yang family, whose assets are spread all over the world, the Zhang family's development strategy focuses more on deepening its roots in Hongnong.

Not only did Zhang Yan have a large number of slaves at home, he also, through land mergers and business operations, to a certain extent occupied more than half of the grain trade share in Hongnong, achieving near monopoly power.

Under this force, all the prefects of Hongnong were inevitably influenced by him.

Therefore, Zhang Yan believed that as long as Su Yao wanted to continue his westward expedition, he would inevitably need his support.

Therefore, he was not in a hurry, but planned to wait until Su Yao came to ask him for help before making a careful decision.

However, Su Yao's next move was completely beyond his expectations.

At the Hongnong Fair, the Zhen family successfully attracted the attention of the city's citizens and the children of the noble families through singing and dancing performances and product displays. The outstanding performance of salesmen such as Xiaotao and Xiaolu made the caravan's products sell well and made a lot of money.

Even Liu of Hongnong began to flirt with them and made lavish purchases to create momentum for them.

Driven by the influx of truckloads of copper coins, the sale at the rally reached its climax.

This made Zhang Yan feel very angry.

If that guy surnamed Su really succeeds in this, wouldn't his future position in Hongnong be in jeopardy?

Zhang Yan thought to himself, his face becoming increasingly gloomy. He knew very well that if Su Yao succeeded in this move, it would not only establish his prestige in Hongnong City, but also break his long-standing monopoly on the grain and grass market, seriously weakening his influence in Hongnong.

It’s tolerable, it’s unbearable!

So, he immediately called on his close followers and business partners to boycott Su Yao together.

The best case scenario is that the market doesn't go well and he can't make enough money.

The worst that can happen is that we will all fall out. Even if you have money, I won’t sell you grain. What can you do to me?
"This, is it dangerous for us to do this?"

"If we anger the Champion Marquis, we might..."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment at Zhang Yan's proposal, and the young man from a noble family, Li Shen, even expressed his uneasiness bluntly.

Champion Hou Suyao is no longer the rookie boy.

His fame spread far and wide with each victory, and was known to everyone.

Especially in the upcoming battle against Dong Zhuo, Su Yao drove Dong Zhuo out of the capital at lightning speed and quickly conquered Hangu Pass. It was obvious that his own bravery and the fighting ability of his soldiers were extraordinary.

This is not something that the brave servants under their command can easily deal with.

Otherwise, they would not have responded to the request of Wang Zhubu and forced the county governor to open the city and surrender.

Now that Su Yao’s army has entered the city, if we anger him, the consequences will be disastrous.

"Yeah, yeah, it's too dangerous."

"They have soldiers."

"Brother Zhang, let's take a long-term view."

Led by the young man Li Shen, several others spoke out to persuade him. However, Zhang Yan snorted coldly and said disdainfully:
"What are you afraid of? No matter how powerful Su Yao is, can he kill us all?"

"Don't forget, this is Hongnong, our territory!"

"Even a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake. Su Yao is seeking fame and reputation by pretending to be a benevolent teacher. Could he slap himself in the face in the blink of an eye and use force against us, the heroes who opened the city and surrendered?"

Zhang Yan's words were full of confidence. He stared at the bustling market below and said sinisterly:

"As long as we do it cleanly and don't give others any chance to criticize us, at best we can just stop doing business with him. What can he do to me?"

In Zhang Yan's opinion, although Su Yao was brave and invincible, he was ultimately an outsider in a place like Hongnong and could not compete with the local aristocratic families.

Moreover, Zhang Yan also knew that Su Yao was currently busy with the western expedition against Dong Zhuo and could not spend too much time and energy here.

Therefore, he firmly believed that as long as he and others united together, Su Yao would not be able to raise enough food and grass in a short period of time, and he would have to compromise.

Looking at the people who were still wavering, Zhang Yan patiently persuaded them:
"Besides, we don't really want to go against him."

"We just want to let him know through our actions that, apart from the Yang and Liu families, he can't afford to offend the other noble families in Hongnong."

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"As long as he is willing to respect us and give us the status and treatment we deserve, we can support him."

"Don't you think this request is quite reasonable?"

It’s reasonable. It’s too reasonable.

The aristocratic families of the Later Han Dynasty gradually grew and became a force that even the emperor could not control by the end of the Han Dynasty.

In the form of manor economy, they controlled a large amount of land, wealth and manpower in the local area, forming de facto separatist forces.

The influence of imperial power withdrew from the countryside and even gradually withdrew from the county towns, and was confined to the government offices in the prefectures and counties. Local governance needed to rely on the cooperation of local clans.

Therefore, for outsiders, how to balance and stabilize the local families is the top priority that needs to be paid attention to.

This is the tradition of the Han Dynasty.

But now, the champion Hou Suyao actually broke the tradition and ignored them, showing an attitude of completely excluding them from the center of power.

In this situation, expecting them to cooperate honestly is really disrespectful.

What, you want to ask why they didn’t make trouble when Dong Zhuo came?

Because Dong Zhuo would really chop off their heads and he didn't care about his reputation at all.

And this champion Hou Suyao
Seeing him raising the banner of overthrowing Dong Zhuo and joining forces with Lu Zhi and Yuan Shao, he was still setting up an innocent rebel army.

Although killing enemies on the battlefield was horrifying and the scene was filled with blood, people were still reasonable in their dealings with others.

Especially as for the people under his rule, whether it was for fame or he was truly benevolent, I have never heard of him doing anything like massacring a city or killing surrendered prisoners.

So, when Zhang Yan repeatedly emphasized that this time everyone would only engage in a literary struggle and not a physical fight, gradually, the children of the noble families began to make a fuss:
"Brother Zhang, what you said makes sense. Our family has been operating in Hongnong for many years. How can we be manipulated by an outsider general?"

"Yes, we just want him to know that Hongnong is not his backyard, not a place where he can do whatever he wants."

"As long as he can respect us, we can cooperate with him."

"Okay, since everyone agrees, let's make it so."

Zhang Yan slapped the table and stood up:

"From now on, immediately inform your relatives, friends, businesses and servants that no one is allowed to do business with the Zhen family business, nor are they allowed to participate in the activities of that market."

"Anyone who dares to violate this will become an enemy of all of us!"

"That's right, we must unite and let him know how powerful we are!"

The discussion became more heated. Under the trend of common interests, all the students started to use their brains and work together:

"It's not enough for us to just resist. We also have to persuade the Yang family and the Liu family, and even other counties in Hongnong County. We have to send people to go there."

"We must tell all the noble families that have friendships with us, let them know how ignorant the champion marquis is of the rules, and let them join our ranks."

"In this case, even if Su Yao wants to mobilize food and grass from other places, he will encounter many obstacles."

"Yes, we must let him know that without our support, he will not be able to take a single step in Hongnong County!"

"Yes, yes, yes, we must let him know. If he doesn't make arrangements for us, let alone fighting against Dong, he won't even be able to see the gate of Tongguan!"

Everyone agreed and immediately took action to implement the boycott plan.

The effect of their boycott was immediate and noticeable. The next day, the once bustling crowd in the square in front of the county magistrate's mansion was reduced by about half.

The other customers were confused and looked around, asking what was going on.

By the third day, the stalls at the market were deserted and there were only a few customers. The business of Zhen's company suffered an unprecedented blow.

Even the dances of the Hu sisters and others could no longer attract crowds of onlookers.

Xiaotao, Xiaolu and others were extremely anxious. They ran around and knocked on doors, trying to persuade merchants and people to come to the square, even if they didn't want to buy anything.

But the effect was minimal. The boycott initiated by Zhang Yan and others was like an invisible net, covering the sky above Hongnong City, making many people afraid to do business with Zhen's company easily.

"How to do how to do."

"Madam Zhen, if this continues, we won't be able to complete the mission, and the caravan will suffer heavy losses!"

When Xiao Tao and Xiao Lu learned that the generous young master of the Liu family had come to return the goods with a truckload of goods, they could no longer bear it.
(End of this chapter)