In the Three Kingdoms period, the opening scene features the killing of Huang Gai, shocking Zhou Yu!

Zhang Biao thought there was hope.

Without the right tools, how could I dare to come? I was already prepared.

He took out a roster from his pocket, held it above his head, and respectfully handed it to Zhao Yu.

"Yes, Lord Zhao, yes."

"Look, this booklet contains the household registration roster of the village chiefs of the ninety-one villages surrounding Gucheng!"

Zhang Biao began to enthusiastically promote his professional skills.

"There are many more detailed booklets, which are stored in our office in the countryside outside the city."

It recorded everything clearly, down to how many able-bodied men each family had, how many pigs they raised, how many mistakes they had made, their reputation among neighbors, and their character.

Zhao Yu took the roster, flipped through it a couple of times, and nodded. Not bad. Interesting.

They've actually come up with "big data user profiling" and "grassroots grid management," which, although somewhat general, are absolutely invaluable in this day and age.

Seeing Zhao Yu nod, Zhang Biao became even more enthusiastic and continued to promote his team:

"Sir, you should think about this: although you distributed grain today, the people are forgetful."

If you want them to remember Prime Minister Cao's kindness for a long time and be devoted to him, it's not enough to just give them food; someone has to keep talking about it to them every day!

We may not have many other skills, but we've been working at the grassroots level for years, and we're best at... no, best at educating people!

Storytelling? We're professionals!

Zhao Yu narrowed his eyes upon hearing this.

"Dezu, I think these 'grand-disciples' are quite sensible."

He tossed the roster in his hand a couple of times.

"Actually, I'm worried because the 300,000 shi of 'public relations expenses' have been spent, and there's no dedicated publicity team to maintain the Prime Minister's great persona."

And look, a professional team has come right to our doorstep!

"You...you want them to disguise themselves as Taoist priests and use them to brainwash the lower levels of the government on behalf of the Prime Minister?"

"What is brainwashing? This is called going deep into the masses!"

Zhao Yu rolled his eyes at Yang Xiu, then turned to look at Zhang Biao and the others kneeling on the ground.

"Listen up! If you want to join Cao Cao's camp, you have to follow my rules! First, take off all this tattered octagonal robe and go get a few clean uniforms for tomorrow."

"Secondly, starting tomorrow, your work locations will be under the big trees at the entrances of each village and beside the wells!"

"Third, which is your core business: give me a series of storytelling performances on the theme of 'Prime Minister Cao Angrily Executes Corrupt Officials, Saving 300,000 Stones of Rice for the People'!"

The touching image of the Prime Minister, who lost his appetite and sleep for the sake of the people, must be deeply etched into the minds of every citizen of Hanzhong!

We can't just let them work; they also need to get a commission.

"Basic salary covers all needs, additional compensation is calculated separately!"

In which month do the villagers in your assigned village show the highest level of gratitude towards the Prime Minister? I will personally award you gold coins as a bonus!

If you can't do it, get out of here. Understand?

"Your Excellency is magnanimous! I understand! I swear to serve Prime Minister Cao to the death! I swear to follow Director Zhao and Lord Laozi to the death!"

Returning the gold coins—that must be the most wonderful job in the world!

For them, it doesn't matter who their master is; whoever pays their salary and lets them continue to deceive people at the grassroots level is their father.

"To make a long story short, Dezhu, take them to get their uniforms now. Tomorrow morning, take twenty soldiers with their ears covered and get ready to go to work."

……

The next day at noon, in Lijia Village, on the outskirts of Chenggu County.

The work has officially begun.

Since it was winter, there wasn't much to do anyway, so all the villagers, young and old, men and women, squatted by the tree roots, slurping down the porridge made from the grain they had been given out the night before.

Amidst the whispers among the people, a sense of awe and suspicion remained regarding the Cao army in the city.

As he said this, a group of people walked along the dirt road at the village entrance.

The leader was Zhang Biao.

He had already taken off his Bagua Taoist robe and put on the blue long gown uniform issued by Cao Jun's logistics department.

He wore a leather belt around his waist, and his hair was neatly combed.

The moment he put on that "grassroots cadre" uniform, he instantly transformed into a government official.

Zhang Jun took the lead and took a deep breath.

He began to unleash his incredible "traffic generation" skills, which could be described as a game-changer.

Reaching the pine tree beneath Mount Hua, he bowed slightly, his eyes sweeping around.

In that one glance, he captivated the eyes of the village's left-behind aunties, newlywed brides, and even an old lady who had lost half her eye.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the area under the pine trees on Mount Hua was completely surrounded by layers upon layers of people.

Seeing that the crowd had gathered, Zhang Biao knew that he had successfully brought the situation under control.

Then, he took out half a prepared blue brick from his sleeve and slammed it onto the millstone with a "smack".

"Folks! Is your morning rice porridge still sticky?"

"Sticky! The rations given by Cao Cao's army are really good!"

Several men wiped their mouths and loudly echoed their agreement.

"That's right. I'm here on a mission today. You can see the clothes I'm wearing. We're no longer people who live off the five pecks of rice, so I won't talk about the five pecks of rice thing."

Today I'm going to tell you a story about "Prime Minister Cao's clever plan to capture Yang Song, which saved the people from 300,000 shi of military rations!"

Zhang Biao was beaming with excitement, spitting as he spoke, a truly spectacular sight.

The story unfolds with dramatic twists and turns, contrasting how Cao Cao's army opened the granaries and distributed grain the previous night with how greedy Yang Song was.

The women nodded repeatedly as they listened, chewing the beans in their hands with a crunching sound.

Zhang Biao was just about to portray Cao Cao as the number one philanthropist when an old man smoking a pipe in the front row couldn't sit still anymore.

He coughed at his pipe on his foot and mustered his courage to shout.

"My lord, you say the Prime Minister is a good man, but I've long heard that Prime Minister Cao is a lecherous man, a lustful devil who loves other men's wives!"

"Back in Wancheng, he forced Zhang Xiu to rebel because he took Zhang Xiu's aunt as his own, which resulted in the deaths of his eldest son Cao Ang, his nephew Cao Anmin, and a fierce general named Dian Wei!"

Who in the world doesn't know about this story of "one shot killing three wise men"?

These words caused an uproar. People stopped eating their beans and looked at Zhang Biao with suspicion.

This is top-tier dirt from the Three Kingdoms period! Most people would have been rendered speechless by now.

But Zhang Biao was personally appointed by Zhao Yu as the "captain of the vanguard of public opinion"!

Actually, there are some tricks to it.

"This is just hearsay, something to talk about."

"It's all the enemy's slander, sir. Let me ask you two questions: Is the Prime Minister a fool? If he really just wanted a woman's body, would he be in such a hurry to do this in the enemy camp that has just surrendered, when he doesn't have many men with him? There are plenty of women in the world. Couldn't he go back to Xuchang and choose slowly?"

The old man was clearly not expecting Zhang Jun to respond like that.

"this……"

"Who is that Zou Shi? She is Zhang Ji's widow and Zhang Xiu's aunt! Zhang Ji was the old lord, and Zhang Xiu was just a substitute."

Isn't it the same as Liu Bei taking Lady Zou as a concubine, or Sun Quan taking Lady Xu as a concubine?

According to custom, the main purpose of taking a widow as a concubine is to take control of the former subordinates, family assets, and connections!

Is this sleeping with a widow? This is acquiring an entire legion at low cost!

The entire room fell silent, and the onlookers stared wide-eyed, wondering who would explain the intricacies of the situation.

"As for the loss of the eldest son and General Dian Wei..."

"That was clearly Zhang Xiu's wolfish ambition, which betrayed the Prime Minister's good intentions! His rebellion at that time was not for his aunt at all. It was because the Prime Minister was too hasty at that time and wanted to sow discord among Hu Che'er, who was under Zhang Xiu's command. When Zhang Xiu found out, he thought the Prime Minister wanted to kill him, so he rebelled."

"The prime minister lost his son, suffered the loss of his beloved general, and now he has to bear the infamy of 'killing three virtuous men with one cannon shot'!"

Have you ever seen the Prime Minister defend himself for this? He swallowed all his blood and tears, bearing all the sins for the sake of this great Han dynasty.

The old man dropped his pipe on the ground, completely stunned.

Zhang Biao continued to output damage.

"Some people even say he's inherently suspicious and commits murders in his dreams?"

"That's because the Prime Minister is working tirelessly day and night to govern the country, exhausting himself! During the day, he has to guard against the rebellions of the feudal lords, and at night he dreams of slaying demons and monsters for the people of the Han Dynasty!"

"To protect us, the Prime Minister can't even get a good night's sleep! The monsters he kills in his dreams aren't people, they're vengeful ghosts haunting the Han."

This combination of tactics, a mix of truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, is seamlessly integrated and relies entirely on fabrication.

Coupled with Zhang Biao's vivid and moving recitation, the villagers' values ​​were greatly shaken.

Below, Taoist priests who had been pre-arranged also stepped forward.

Find a good spot where a ray of sunlight shines through the leaves of the Huashan pine tree onto his profile.

"Fellow villagers, I can testify... Last night, I personally saw the Prime Minister's son-in-law, Lord Zhao Yu, standing on the Chenggu city wall, looking towards Nanzheng and shedding tears."

Lord Zhao said, "As long as the people of Hanzhong can have a full meal, what does it matter if my father-in-law bears the infamy for the rest of his life?"

At this point, Zhang Jun slowly raised his head and looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle.

Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of people in the village, a single, crystal-clear tear slid down the corner of his right eye.

A decisive goal.

That single, heartfelt tear ignited the entire audience.

"Prime Minister...you're suffering too much!"

Aunt Wang, who was sitting in the front row, burst into tears and slapped the old man next to her on the leg.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"That's right! From now on, if anyone dares to say a bad word about the Prime Minister in our village, I'll be the first to stab them to death with a fork."

Looking at the scene before him, Zhang Biao was overjoyed.

He slammed the bluestone brick onto the millstone.

"The Prime Minister said that as long as everyone is doing well, it doesn't matter if he suffers a little grievance!"

Come on, everyone line up. Everyone who attends the lecture today, come up and get five salted duck eggs!

Please spread the word! Tomorrow at the same time, we'll be telling the story of "Lord Zhao's Night Visit to the Thieves' Den." Tomorrow, we'll not only give out duck eggs, but also washbasins!