Three Kingdoms: Let Yuan Shen be great again

Before parting, Yuan Yao gave Lu Yi a suggestion.

That means Lu Yi has no future under Sun Ce.

Given Sun Ce's personality, even if Lu Yi's double-crossing is a great success and he convinces Sun Ce that he has made a huge contribution, will he be given important responsibilities in the future and lead the family to revival?

impossible.

Suppressing local gentry was one of Sun Ce's basic governing principles. Unless his strategic direction underwent a complete 180-degree turn and he became confined to Jiangdong and did not seek further advancement, he would never compromise.

Worse still, those families that don't have a direct grudge against Sun Ce might be better off, as they have some hope of rising in power. But the Lu family has a blood debt that both sides are well aware of, so they can't gain the other side's trust.

Yuan Yao: "So, join my ranks! I will give you a level of trust that Sun Ce could never offer. I will treat you as my right-hand man, and I will revive the Lu family under your leadership!"

"As for what if, I mean what if, you really are a spy sent by Sun Ce to Yuzhang to destroy the anti-Sun coalition from within, that's fine too—of course I'll choose to forgive you."

"I can even accept you continuing to infiltrate Huainan, as long as I get your body. No, I'm confident I can snatch you away from Sun Ce. Uh, that's roughly the idea."

Yuan Yao's sincerity was so great that Lu Yi was deeply moved when he heard this sycophantic speech.

Then she coldly rejected him and drifted away.

There was no way around it; as a notorious usurper regime, the Zhong family's infamy was far too authoritative. While it was fine for everyone to cooperate privately without tacit agreement, there were still some obstacles to truly committing to them.

Yuan Yao was not discouraged. His business in Huainan was thriving and on the rise. Although Lu Yi was good, he was still a young and unfinished product, so there was no need to rush him.

Moreover, Yuan Yao is truly a man of high moral character; does he not intend to force Lu Yi?

fart!

He was just putting on an act!

To reiterate, Yuan Yao, who stood out from the crowd of scoundrels of the Zhong family, may have been slightly lacking in civil administration and military prowess, but in terms of morality, he was absolutely handsome and dashing.

Now that he knew about Lu Yi's inner conflict and the mutual distrust between him and Sun Ce, Yuan Yao had already figured out what methods he would use to force Lu Yi to join him before this meeting.

"Ziming".

"They're here, Grand Commander!"

Yuan Yao drew a dagger from his waist: "I don't know about Huainan, but in Jiangdong, given the bad relationship between Sun Ce and the gentry, all it takes to sow discord between them is a gold knife of moderate size."

Lu Meng opened his mouth, but couldn't help but say, "Grand Commander, the one you're holding is an iron dagger. If you want a golden dagger, we found a lot of gold during the raid on Haihun this time, and we can forge one for you right now."

"...I don't need the golden knife; it's just a metaphor. What I actually mean is the Golden Knife Strategy."

"Oh, if you had said that earlier, I would have understood. Let's talk about the plan then."

"Who told you to mention the knife? So, this golden knife must be used to stab steadily, accurately, and most importantly, ruthlessly."

"I understand."

"Choose a good time, choose a good opportunity."

"So, who should we stab?"

"You should ask, how do I stab them?"

"How do I stab him?"

"Fake backstabbing."

Yuan Yao sheathed his dagger and instructed Lü Meng to write a letter to Wancheng: "Tell Yang Hong that it's time to make our move."

For the next two weeks, Yuan Yao continued to fight the local tyrants in Haihun while observing the main battlefield from the sidelines, watching as Huang Zu's allied forces were brutally defeated by the Jiangdong army.

Incidentally, Guan Yu was the main force behind this campaign against the local tyrants. His enthusiasm for this matter was much higher than Yuan Yao had anticipated. It's possible that the powerful and wealthy are all equally ruthless, and the valuable goods in Yuzhang reminded Guan Yu of his hometown, Jieliang. Thus, he transformed into Guan Changsheng and launched a powerful attack. Of course, it's also possible that Yuan Yao promised him a ten percent share of all the spoils from Yuzhang, which would serve as Liu Bei's start-up capital in Runan in the future.

In the end, the local powerful families of Haihun had been dealt with enough, and the remaining people either fled or were penniless. Yuan Yao then shifted his focus to Shangliao, which was not far from Haihun, where there were also many fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

At that very moment, in Wancheng, under Yuan Yao's instructions, the master of manipulation Liu Ye and the ultimate scoundrel Yang Hong joined forces and began their operation.

During his time in Yuzhang, Yuan Yao did not meet with Lu Yi often, but they maintained correspondence, sometimes discussing the situation, sometimes exchanging military intelligence, and sometimes just chatting.

As a result, Yuan Yao had accumulated more than a dozen handwritten silk scrolls by Lu Yi.

So now, it's time to bring a little shock to the late Eastern Han Dynasty with the Golden Knife Scheme.

Yuan Yao directly employed movable type printing, extracting the desired content from Lu Yi's letters and combining it into something new—nothing more than a rebellious document.

Coincidentally, there was a great calligrapher in Huainan named Shi Yiguan, who used to be Yuan Shu's subordinate. Yang Hong specially asked him to carefully copy the calligraphy and make a complete copy.

Even if Lu Yi himself came at this moment, he would be stunned for a long time upon seeing this letter with its cover completely altered, let alone anyone else.

So Yang Hong made another effort, impersonating Lu Yi's messenger and sending the letter of rebellion to the Lu family of Wu County, which was then handed over to Lu Ji, the current head of the Lu family.

Lu Ji was stunned when he opened the letter. Lu Yi said that he had been suspected by Sun Ce and had officially decided to rebel. He hoped that Lu Ji would take his entire clan to Huainan and the two sides would meet in Wancheng.

At this moment, Lu Ji was in a state of utter confusion and didn't know what to do.

Unfortunately, Yang Hong didn't give him time to think.

Yang Hong's men deliberately and carelessly leaked the news of Lu Yi's rebellion. The Jiangdong army dared not be careless and, adhering to the principle of "better safe than sorry," immediately dispatched troops to arrest the Lu family.

Lu Ji had no choice but to flee in panic. He was then caught and brought back on the banks of the Yangtze River, which became irrefutable evidence of his defection.

At this point, Lu Yi was successfully cornered. He was completely unaware of Yuan Yao's malicious intentions and had no chance of breaking the deadlock.

Because at this point, even if it is later found that the crucial letter of denunciation was forged, it will not change the Lu family's predicament.

In Sun Ce's eyes, others can easily sow discord with just a letter, so it seems that your Lu family is somewhat disloyal.

And the only path left for Lu Yi is also about to emerge.

Of course, he didn't tie his own hands and return to Jiangdong like a fish on a chopping board to explain the cause and effect, begging Sun Ce to see the truth.

Lu Yi was a smart man; he must have known one thing: when others say you are rebelling, you'd better actually be rebelling.

Only by making a name for themselves outside can they gain the support of their clansmen trapped in Wu County and prevent Sun Ce from easily persecuting them.

A few days later, Yuan Yao, who was wreaking havoc in Shangliao, successfully caught up with Lu Boyan, who was in a sorry state and furious.

Lu Yi was unaware that Yuan Yao was the mastermind. He immediately knelt down, pleading tearfully, "The lives of more than sixty members of the Lu family of Wu County are entirely in the hands of the Grand Commander. Please, please save them!"

Yuan Yao smiled and helped Lu Yi up: "Boyan, you're too kind. I will do my best."

Plan in place~

only……

The Golden Knife Plot had barely ended two days ago, and Yuan Yao was just figuring out how to tell Lu Yi the truth when he received another message.

"What?! The Jiangdong navy has appeared at Pengli Lake, and Zhou Yu is leading the troops!"

Yuan Yao exclaimed incredulously, "Impossible! These past few days, Lujiang has been keeping a close watch on the Yangtze River and hasn't seen the main force of the Jiangdong navy at all. How could Zhou Yu possibly be at Pengli Lake?"

Yeah, why should we?

As more military intelligence came in, the answer was soon revealed.

Zhou Yu: Sailing on dry land!