The emperor stood under the northern palace of Weiyang Palace, looked at the General's Mansion diagonally opposite Feng Street, and sighed softly.

As soon as the twelfth lunar month enters, the atmosphere of the New Year gradually becomes stronger. Ordinary people begin to arrange the necessities of the New Year, and officials are not willing to fall behind. They are particularly concerned about the affairs of the court. Not only do they often appear in front of the three dukes and nine ministers, but there are also many people who come to pay homage to the emperor. After the routine is upset, the topic will always naturally be related to the New Year.

The emperor understood that it was the New Year and the court should give rewards.

But the court had no money. Not only did it have no money, but it was not enough supplies. After the Nanyang cloth merchants disappeared from Guanzhong, Guanzhong was in short supply. Not to mention transporting silk to the Western Regions to make money, even the most basic supply of cloth became a problem. The weaving workshops in Guanzhong were booming, but the market supply could not be guaranteed, and the quality could not keep up with Nanyang's products. Ordinary people suffered high prices and had a certain degree of economic strength. Officials who did not worry about the price complained about the inferior quality.

They all hope that the court can come forward to solve this problem and give at least a few good pieces of materials so that their families can make new clothes for the New Year.

The emperor was in a state of great anxiety. As a last resort, he decided to go to the General's Mansion in person, hoping that Yang Xiu could solve some difficulties for the court for the sake of the four generations and three dukes of the Yang family.

The emperor is so cowardly that I am a coward for some cloth.

Although it was only a street, the emperor still needed a ceremonial war when traveling. Not only did Yulinlang block the intersection in advance, Hu Benlang accompanied him on his side, and even the Tiqi was alarmed and rushed to maintain order.

The emperor crossed the street and came to the gate of the general's mansion.

General Yang Xiu stood at the door, looking at the hundreds of Yulin Lang and Hu Benlang on the street, and then looked at the tiqi in the distance, and his lips moved. He saluted the emperor and welcomed the emperor into the mansion. Without going to the atrium, he went directly to the warehouse.

The yard that acts as a warehouse was full of baskets of big and small sizes, and boxes filled the corridors. There were even many places in the yard, and there was no place to stand. Seeing this, the emperor had to signal the accompanying officer to wait outside the door so that he would not squeeze in and break things.

"Is this sent by the general?" The emperor was mixed with joy and sorrow, and was nervous. It was a good thing to send supplies, but the supplies were piled up in the general's mansion and were not sent to the palace, so there were naturally conditions. If the conditions were not met, the supplies would not enter the palace.

"The General has tributes from the states." Yang Xiu said with a smile: "The New Year is here. The General knows that Your Majesty is going to reward the ministers, so he specially prepared some good things for Your Majesty." As he said that, he led the emperor through the boxes piled up like a hill, and came to the inner room, and ordered people to open two boxes. The boxes were full of glassware, one box was a glass cup that the emperor had seen, but the other box was unknown what the things were. Under the light, it was crystal clear and beautiful.

The emperor was happy, but he refused to show a hint of joy on his face, pretending to be disdainful. "This glass cup is rare in Guanzhong, but Guandong is not a novel object, right? Isn't it a bit perfunctory to make tributes?"

Yang Xiu blinked. "What Your Majesty needs is a rare thing that the people do not have at home?"

"Since it's a tribute, of course it's more rare."

"Yes." Yang Xiu nodded, expressed his agreement, closed both boxes, and turned around and looked around. "Although these things are good things, they are rare but not rare. Even if there are not many people at home, they still have them. It doesn't matter. I will have someone to sell them tomorrow. By the way, these things are not available at home in ordinary people, and they are completely in line with His Majesty's requirements."

He quickly walked to a box, the servant opened the lock and lifted the lid of the box. Yang Xiu took out a bronze mirror from it and handed it to the emperor like a treasure. "Your Majesty, this is a light-transmitting mirror that has been lost for hundreds of years. It took several years for the Du family mirror workshop in Danyang to recover successfully. This is the first batch of finished products. The general placed an order last year, specially prepared for His Majesty."

The emperor heard the name of the translucent mirror, but it was the first time he saw it. He took the mirror and looked over and over again. He felt that the mirror was indeed exquisite. He asked gold and silver, but he didn't know what to do with the so-called translucent mirror. Yang Xiu led him out and came to the courtyard to let him look at the light. This time, the emperor could see clearly that through the bronze mirror, he could also see the inscription on the back, which was consistent with the records in the classics.

"how?"

The emperor looked slightly and expressed satisfaction, but he secretly complained. The translucent mirror is good, but he couldn't go home to enjoy the mirror. "What else?"

"With a translucent mirror, how can there be no Hepu Pearl?" Yang Xiu hooked his fingers, and a waiter took a brocade box. Yang Xiu held the brocade box in his hand and opened the lid. There were a whole box of pearls inside, each with a round and full diameter of more than one inch. Before the emperor could speak, Yang Xiu took out another box. There were not many pearls inside, but the size was larger, about one inch and five minutes.

"Your Majesty, can these be used as tributes?"

"Of course, of course." The emperor nodded awkwardly. These things are good things, but they cannot be eaten or worn, and cannot solve the practical problems. But they were just talking too much, wanting something that ordinary people don't have. As a result, Yang Xiu took it real and wanted to sell things like glass cups to the market. This is a troublesome thing. How can tribute be sold? Moreover, there are almost no such things in Guanzhong, and the price will definitely not be low. Guanzhong is already tight in money. Once these things are on the market, will the market be messed up?

Yang Xiu led the emperor to see some rare prices, and then he led the emperor to the court and sent someone to offer some brightly colored and full juice. The emperor tasted a petal, which was very sweet, and couldn't help but eat another petal. "It tastes delicious."

Yang Xiu said with a smile: "These citrus are all Changsha specialties. They were originally presented to His Majesty by the General, but they are not rare. Since Your Majesty doesn't want it, I have to keep it and ask Your Majesty to taste it. It is considered to borrow flowers to offer Buddha."

The emperor's mouth was bitter. He chewed it tastelessly. "The general was restraining the eight states, so these tributes?"

"Yanzhou Prime Minister Cao Ang said he would handle it by himself, and it was probably coming soon. These are the ones from the other seven states." Yang Xiu was a little embarrassed. "Your Majesty, these are all carefully selected good things. However, now the Central Plains business and travel are busy, the transportation is convenient, the good things are profitable, and they are even more popular goods sold. There is no way to talk about the rareness. The general has no choice."

"So that's it." The emperor hurriedly followed the situation. "The general was dedicated to serving the people, and the court could not be harsh on the ministers. I would relax some requirements, no need to be rare."

Yang Xiu immediately thanked him and submitted a list of tributes. The emperor read it one by one. There were nearly a hundred items, including food, clothing, useful, and fun. There were really many problems, which could solve many problems. But the real problem was still not solved. Without food and cloth, no matter how sweet the citrus was, they could not be eaten as food.

The emperor was embarrassed to ask directly, and asked about the autumn harvest in the Central Plains in a tactful manner. When Yang Xiu heard this, he immediately complained about the pain. This year's autumn harvest was quite good, but Cao Cao attacked Jingzhou and seized Wu County. The war restarted, and the expenses were too high. At present, Zhou Yu was preparing for the war in Jiangling, and Huang Zhong fought in Hanzhong. There were more than 50,000 people directly participated in the war, and there were still 20,000 to 30,000 people preparing for reinforcements, which was very expensive. Jingzhou was in the downstream and had difficulty in attacking, so he could only defend passively. The general had to ask someone to repair the city. The county and county towns had to be repaired, and the fortresses had to be repaired, which required a lot of manpower and material resources.

In the final analysis, I spent all the money and food that should be given to the court, and the general owed a new debt. This is all for the court. Will the court help solve it? Now the people of Jingzhou are in agitation, and the general can no longer control it.

After Yang Xiu finished speaking, he presented a newspaper and dozens of flyers.

The emperor was a little secretly happy, but after reading these newspapers and leaflets, his face suddenly became extremely embarrassed. These public grievances were not for Sun Ce, but for the court. It would be easy to deal with just complaints, but the court could not hear them anyway, but the people petitioned to kill Xu Rong, Zhang Liao and avenge the people of Nanxiang and Shunyang, which was a bit difficult to deal with.

The emperor felt like he had shot himself in the foot. If he had known this, he wouldn't have come today.

Yang Xiu immediately told the emperor another news: Nanxiang, the representatives of the people in Shunyang were on their way to Chang'an. They planned to go to the Beique to write a letter, asking the emperor to kill Xu Rong and Zhang Liao, and to upend the wronged people. The general asked him to be responsible for the safety of these people, but the general's mansion had no guards, so he wanted to ask His Majesty to arrange some people to protect him.

The emperor became more and more uneasy as he heard it. He didn't dare to sit anymore. Who knew what other requests would Yang Xiu make? He hurriedly stood up. Yang Xiu sent him to the door and grabbed the emperor's sleeve and asked: "Your Majesty, the imperial court issued an edict to all states to recruit guards. The general has prepared 3,000 elite troops and can enter the capital at any time. When will the imperial court issue an edict? Also, will the King of Wu need to come to court next year? He has a lot to say to His Majesty."

The emperor broke free from Yang Xiu and fled in panic.

——

The emperor returned to the palace and calmed down. The more he thought about it, the more he felt the headache.

Sun Ce's tribute was to Chang'an, only apart from him, but whether it could really be in his hands was a question. Yang Xiu's meaning was very clear. If the court did not kill Xu Rong and Zhang Liao as Sun Ce's request, then what he got was not the tribute, but the people who went to the palace to shout for justice.

Xu Rong became a trouble.

The emperor did not dare to be negligent, so he immediately asked someone to invite Xun Yu. Xun Yu was amused and couldn't blame the emperor. He knew that the emperor was anxious and underestimated Yang Xiu's cunning. He only knew that the Yang family's three generations and three masters were still half of the Yuan family's blood. Besides, he has been by Sun Ce since he became an official, and he agreed with Sun Ce's political philosophy. In his heart, the destiny of the Han Dynasty should end, and all that is left is the question of how to end. Isn't it a boring to discuss with him?

The emperor was still too young and too naive, and overestimated the appeal of the court.

Xun Yu's focus was not Yang Xiu's attitude, but was concerned about the consequences of Cao Cao's attack on Jingzhou. Regardless of whether Cao Cao wanted to or not, since he captured Wu County, the war between him and Sun Ce had been on the string and had to be launched. Although the Three Gorges were calm, the Mianshui River Basin started a war. Huang Zhong led more than 10,000 people into Hanzhong and surrounded Fangling for more than three months.

Wu Yi was only responsible to Cao Cao and did not report any news to the court. The news obtained by Xun Yu came from the secretary station. Liu Ye sent many detailed reports on Hanzhong, but the journey was long and the information was exposed due to inconvenient status. The lag of the news was very obvious. So far, the news he received was a month ago. The court did not know whether Huang Zhong had made new progress.

Judging from Yang Xiu's attitude, Huang Zhong seemed to be in trouble.

This is understandable. Although the Mian River Basin is not as steep as the Three Gorges, it is still a mountainous area, which is easy to go down the water, but it is much more difficult to go up against the water. Sun Ce's transformation of warships was mainly concentrated on sea ships, mainly balance and resistance to wind and waves. These characteristics have no advantages in inland rivers and even become disadvantages. Huang Zhong's slow advancement in Hanzhong was expected. This was based on the refinement of the Jingzhou army. There was less force, less logistical pressure, and less transportation consumption, so Sun Ce could support it for a longer time.

Yang Xiu's accounts may be exaggerated, but the basic facts should be reliable. In other words, the court's goals have been basically achieved, and Cao Cao's attack has already restrained Sun Ce's energy. However, Cao Cao alone is far from enough. If you want to truly drag down Sun Ce, you still need Yuan Tan and Jia Xu to send troops together. At this time, killing Xu Rong will definitely not work. Not only can you not be killed, but you must also make full use of their abilities to cause greater trouble for Sun Ce.

This will certainly anger Sun Ce, but Sun Ce has decided to rebel. Even if the court bows his head, he will not give up. Break is inevitable. It only depends on how it works, guides public opinion, and fights for the people's hearts. The battle between the two sides has not only been on the battlefield, but has expanded to various fields.

As for public opinion, the court was obviously far behind. The newspapers and leaflets on the case were proof, not to mention the representatives of the people who were rushing to Chang'an. If the people really wanted to kneel down in the Beique or shout for justice at the gate of the East City, the court would be passive. Even these newspapers and leaflets could not be distributed in Guanzhong. The court must have corresponding measures to control public opinion.

How to control public opinion? Should we confront the tit-for-tat, print newspapers, make people write articles to argue, or ban newspapers?

Xun Yu had no decision for a while. These two methods were beneficial. In theory, tit-for-tat rebuttal is the right way to defend against the people, and guard against Sichuan. Party members have always advocated that scholars should take the world as their responsibility and oppose suppressing public opinion. However, he was worried that the court's reasoning was wrong and may not be Sun Ce's opponent in debate. Moreover, such rebuttal requires manpower and material resources. The court's strength is limited and may not be able to support it. If newspapers are prohibited, one is it possible to do it, and the other is, isn't it going to go further to Qin's law?

Although we are urgently in power, we cannot do so without a bottom line.

Xun Yu was in a dilemma, but Liu Ye was very decisive. He immediately suggested that Kong Rong come out to publish a newspaper to serve as the mouthpiece of the court and refute the public opinion in Nanyang. Kong Rong and Ni Heng were studying books in Nanshan, but they have not seen any results yet. It is better to let them do something practical first.

As for the representatives of the people from Nanyang, when they entered Beijing, they were sent to Tingwei Prison to be imprisoned, and they would not beat or scold them, and they would first find out their identity. This is the custom of the court and it is beyond blame. This was how the court handled the imperial edicts against Guo Yi and others before, and the effect was pretty good. Except for Sun Ce's mention of it every now and then, who still remembers them? After a few years, when the situation reverses, Sun Ce will be unable to protect himself, so this matter is meaningless.
Chapter completed!