The Three Kingdoms: The entire Cao Cao camp thought I was weak and frail.

"Ah Hao, you..." Xun Kun looked at his youngest son, his heart filled with mixed feelings, including pride and relief.

"Father, elder brother," Xun Hao met their gazes and said calmly, "The world is in chaos. Although I am weak and cannot fight on the battlefield like you, elder brother, to achieve great deeds, I still want to do my part for the family. Hao is not a useless person."

Xun Kun remained silent for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh, but his eyes lit up.

"When has the Xun family ever produced a useless person? Whether it's Youruo, Wenruo, or you, Ahao, you are all the outstanding talents of the Xun family."

"Father is right." Xun Yu stepped forward and gently placed his hand on Xun Hao's shoulder, the sight of his thin frame making his heart tighten. He turned to Xun Kun, his voice more solemn than ever before, "Ah Hao's talent far surpasses mine. He deserves a place in the family."

Soon, Xun Hao formally proposed to the family, citing the reasons of "preventing the remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and consolidating the family business," to establish an intelligence network belonging to the Xun family.

"The art of war says, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' Although the Yellow Turban Rebellion has been quelled, the world is in chaos. What are the movements of the various warlords? What are the decrees of the court? Where are there disasters and where is there unrest? If we cannot grasp this information in time, we will be like the blind and deaf, left to be slaughtered at will."

His proposal received the full support of Xun Kun and Xun Yu.

Soon, an invisible network centered on Yingchuan and radiating to Luoyang, Hebei, and Jiangdong was quietly laid out under Xun Hao's personal planning.

Winter came exceptionally early and was exceptionally cold in the seventh year of Guanghe.

For nearly half a month, continuous snow blanketed the entire Yingchuan County in a thick layer of silver. The old saying, "A timely snow promises a bumper harvest," proved to be the most biting irony this year. Although the Yellow Turban Rebellion was swiftly quelled, the devastation of war on agriculture was catastrophic. Fields lay barren, nine out of ten houses were empty, and what followed was an even more terrible famine and plague.

Every day before dawn, many frozen corpses would appear outside Yingchuan City. The price of rice in the city rose three times a day, and ordinary families had long since run out of food.

The refugees, like a gray tide, surged in from all directions, gathering outside the city gates, desperately gnawing on grass roots and tree bark.

Inside Yingchuan Academy, the charcoal fire burned brightly, making it warm and cozy.

Wrapped in a thick fox fur coat, Xun Hao sat by the window, gazing at the snow piling up on the bare branches outside, his brow furrowed. He knew that the wheels of history had begun their relentless crushing force, and this first winter of chaos would be the cruelest test of humanity.

He looked at the first batch of messages transmitted back from the newly established intelligence network.

"...In Nanyang County, a snow disaster caused more than 10,000 people to freeze to death, and refugees poured north into Yingchuan and Runan."

"...The Yellow River in Dongjun breached its banks, and all the villages along the river were flooded, with countless people suffering from the disaster."

"...The price of rice in Luoyang rose three times a day, and a shi (a unit of dry measure) of rice was worth a thousand coins. The wealthy hoarded it and the common people resorted to cannibalism."

Each chilling message paints a picture of a living hell.

Xun Hao's expression grew increasingly grave. He knew this was merely the prelude to chaos. What followed would be even more chaotic and tragic.

"We can't wait any longer," he said, putting down the bamboo slips in his hand and addressing Guo Jia, who was sitting opposite him.

"What are you waiting for?" Guo Jia, carrying a steaming bowl of ginger tea, walked behind him and placed his slightly cool hand on the back of his neck.

Xun Hao shrank his neck slightly from the cold, but did not dodge.

"I'm thinking about those people outside the city," Xun Hao said softly. "If this continues, before spring even arrives, the area outside Yingchuan City will become a huge graveyard."

"That's a headache for the court and the governor," Guo Jia said, holding the ginger tea to his lips. "You're not fully recovered yet, so don't worry about the world. Here, have some hot tea to warm yourself up."

Xun Hao took a sip from Guo Jia's hand, the spicy warmth sliding into his stomach, making him sigh comfortably. He looked at Guo Jia and said earnestly, "Brother Fengxiao, I want to open the granaries and distribute grain."

Guo Jia stopped feeding him tea. He looked at Xun Hao, making sure he wasn't joking.

"Open the granaries and release the grain?" Guo Jia put down his bowl and sat down beside him. "Little Haozi, do you know that the grain we stockpiled before was the foundation for the Xun family's survival in this chaotic world? If we release it now, what will we eat next year when there's a food shortage?"

"I've calculated it. The grain we've stockpiled is enough to feed the entire Xun clan for three years. Taking some out to help disaster victims won't fundamentally harm them," Xun Hao explained. "Besides, I'm not giving away grain for nothing."

"Oh? What kind of wicked idea do you have now?" Guo Jia raised an eyebrow.

"Work relief instead of punishment." Xun Hao's eyes lit up. "The city is in dire need of reconstruction. Many houses and roads destroyed in the war need repair. We can recruit able-bodied refugees, provide them with three meals a day, and have them work. This will not only solve their livelihood problems but also speed up the reconstruction of the city and effectively manage these refugees, preventing them from causing trouble. Isn't this derived from your work relief strategy?"

"As for the elderly, the weak, women and children," Xun Hao continued, "we will set up sheds outside the city and provide them with porridge, two meals a day, so that they can at least survive this winter."

"The idea is good." Guo Jia stroked his chin and pondered, "However, this matter is extremely costly. Will your father and those old fogies in the clan agree to it? This is a major event that could shake the foundation of the family."

"Therefore, I need Brother Fengxiao's help." Xun Hao looked at him with complete trust in his eyes.

Guo Jia was completely defenseless against that gaze. He smiled helplessly, "I knew it. So, what do you want me to do?"

"I can't get grain by myself, but there are people in Yingchuan City who can." Xun Hao blinked twice, and Guo Jia immediately understood: "Prefect?"

"As expected, Brother Fengxiao understands me best. Brother Fengxiao, you can secretly offer a suggestion to the Prefect: if the treasury is empty, we can 'borrow' some. Which of the prominent families in Yingchuan doesn't have stored grain? He is the Prefect of a prefecture; if he uses the greater good of the court and the lives of the people as a pretext to 'requisition' grain from each family, who would dare to refuse?"

Guo Jia gasped.

This is tantamount to using the governor's knife to cut the flesh of powerful clans, with the Xun family itself inevitably bearing the brunt of the cuts. It's a game of injuring the enemy eight hundred while losing a thousand of your own.

He thought he was insightful enough in judging people and things, and that his actions were unconventional enough. But today, he realized that he was still too "conformist" in front of this twelve-year-old boy.

"Alright." Guo Jia nodded emphatically, his peach blossom eyes filled with excitement. "Ah Hao, you wait and see how your brother Fengxiao makes that old man Guo willingly hand over his knife to us."