Chapter 257

Chapter 257

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 8: Chang’an Wine Debate, Autumn Changes Chapter 257: Monthly Submission

Zhang Meng was completely unaware that he was actually Qiao Yan’s chosen demonstration subject, and thus fell into this trap without any defense.

When he took the knife from the person holding it, he even professionally examined it from all angles, finally concluding that it was indeed an excellent knife.

However, there are differences between good knives, such as the one that excels in throat-cutting sharpness and the thick-backed knife, which are different.

The former excels in sharpness and toughness, while the latter excels in strength.

The knife in Zhang Meng’s hand belonged to the former.

In other words, if this knife were used in actual combat, it could easily cut through flesh, but heavy armor could also effectively block its blade. So, what about the concrete ground in front of him?

If it were the latter type, it might rely on its strength and the explosive force of being slammed down to make a small dent in the concrete under extreme conditions. The former, however, clearly could not.

But Zhang Meng did not understand this reasoning.

After realizing how sharp this long knife was, he even asked the person who had held the knife for some items to test its sharpness, such as wood, leather armor, and even other weapons.

In the end, everyone was satisfied with the results.

His rigorous performance, so to speak, greatly reduced the possibility of him being a plant.

This “everyone” did not just refer to the onlookers.

Zhang Meng was also clearly satisfied with the current situation.

In his view, with a good knife in hand and his own strength, cutting through gold and jade would be no problem, let alone this road!

Meanwhile, Qiao Yan, watching from afar, couldn’t help but smile.

Someone beside her spoke up: “I see that Your Lordship’s move is not just to showcase this miraculous road, but also to showcase this knife.”

Hearing Cheng Yu say this, Qiao Yan replied: “This can only be considered a secondary effect. Everyone knows that having sharp weapons is essential for victory, and those with iron supervision have long been thinking about how to make knives sharper. We are just doing our best.”

This was not like the qualitative change from dirt roads and gravel roads to concrete roads. In modern terms, this could only be considered an improvement in quality control.

But when Zhang Meng used this knife to cut through a Jing Province visitor’s sword, the way people looked at this knife also changed.

Originally, this place was just a showcase for Chang’an’s new road, but now, from paper to famous horses to the military, and now to weapons, it formed an impression of overwhelming strength without needing to be explicitly stated.

But just such a good knife—

Zhang Meng rubbed his palms, firmly gripped the knife handle, and hacked down at the concrete ground.

In a flash, everyone heard a grating sound of metal bending from the direction where the knife tip met the ground.

This was clearly not the sound of cutting concrete like tofu!

Zhang Meng almost lost his balance and fell to the side, but fortunately, he had some martial skill, allowing him to stand firm.

As soon as he steadied himself, he couldn’t help but look at the knife in stunned silence.

At the moment he exerted all his strength to hack down, he was certain he had used every ounce of his power.

The tremor from the knife blade to his palm even caused his arm muscles to ache and go numb.

If not for his instinctive grip on the knife, it would have surely flown out of his hand.

Because of this stubbornness, for a moment, he even felt like this arm no longer belonged to him.

But this “effort” clearly did not bring the expected reward.

Not only did he fail to leave any mark on the ground, but the knife that could cut through iron like mud now had a noticeable curl at the tip!

If not for the knife’s toughness, Zhang Meng even suspected it would have broken on the spot, with flying shards teaching him a lesson for his overconfidence.

Thinking of this possibility, Zhang Meng couldn’t help but feel a bit of fear.

If such a situation had occurred, he would have had no chance to dodge!

If failing to cut the ground and nearly injuring himself was enough to make Zhang Meng feel an unprecedented sense of defeat, another emotion was even more unbearable.

As he stood there holding the now-useless knife, he felt everyone’s eyes on him, silently saying—look, this is the overconfident one.

This unspoken message made him want to find a hole to crawl into.

Or if only he could have such an opportunity.

To return to the moment he first arrived in Chang’an and take back those dismissive words about this road.

But in reality, most people here, after seeing the knife’s curled edge, immediately looked not at Zhang Meng’s flushed face, but at the seamless ground.

The people of Chang’an had seen this ground being laid, so they clearly knew its original muddy state.

But now?

Now it had become a solid stone that neither people nor vehicles could damage, nor could swords cut through.

What a miraculous sight!

After all, even stone could not form such a flat and massive piece.

So this existence undoubtedly颠覆了他们的认知。

When Zhang Chang pulled the dazed Zhang Meng off the concrete road, the people of Chang’an heard the guards stationed there inform them that once the Son of Heaven and the officials’ carriages had passed from the Gui Palace to the city gate and back, they could step on it themselves to experience it.

After all, Chang’an’s law stated that if there were guardrails on either side of the imperial road, stepping on it would be illegal. So today, with the guardrails removed, they could walk on it, and in the future, when there were no barriers, they could also walk on it.

They could walk on it too?

After confirming with each other that they were not hallucinating, the crowd’s faces lit up with joy.

One moment they were skeptical about Zhang Meng’s knife curling, and now they were all focused on the ground in front of them, afraid they might miss the best spot when it was their turn to walk on it.

Another batch of wheels passed before their eyes and returned, and then they saw the guards who had been blocking them orderly retreating to the end of the long street.

Lu Zhi had just gotten off the carriage and turned to see the long street behind him filled with people.

Thinking of the scene when they passed by earlier, he couldn’t help but want to laugh.

“This is the first time I’ve seen the people bowing to the Son of Heaven and the court officials’ carriages not out of respect for the Son of Heaven’s majesty, but because they were studying the details of this road,” Lu Zhi said to Qiao Yan as she returned from directing today’s demonstration activities.

Qiao Yan teased, “Or perhaps they were thinking whether the weight of the Son of Heaven and the Three Dukes could crush this miraculous road?”

Wang Yun, who had been a bit far away and hadn’t caught Lu Zhi’s words, only heard Qiao Yan mention “weight” and asked, “What weight?”

Qiao Yan replied, “The weight of Mount Tai, perhaps.”

Hearing this, Wang Yun waved his hand helplessly, “Grand Marshal, stop teasing us with such words. I think the four types of paper that appeared today are much heavier than us.”

Not only was Zhang Chang extremely curious about the new types of paper, but even Wang Yun couldn’t help but feel a bit itchy when passing by the white and yellow papers earlier.

But thinking that Qiao Yan would eventually explain, he suppressed his curiosity and asked Qiao Yan, “Speaking of paper, I have a question. Only a few can understand the quality of these papers. Perhaps having a few more people try hacking the ground would be more useful than having these papers appear now. Why did you choose this method?”

Qiao Yan pointed to the crowded road and asked Wang Yun, “In your opinion, would having more people hack the ground to liven up the atmosphere be more effective than letting them experience it themselves?”

Obviously not.

More people are willing to believe what they see with their own eyes, especially something that has never appeared before.

In the scene Wang Yun could see, someone was poking the ground with a carrying pole.

Perhaps because they saw Zhang Meng’s arm had not yet recovered from swinging the knife, no one dared to test it with excessive violence.

Such actions, of course, could not damage the concrete road, but these people still enjoyed it, seemingly quite pleased with themselves.

To Wang Yun, they had further confirmed that this was a miraculous road bestowed upon Chang’an by heaven.

Indeed, it was more effective than having others demonstrate.

“But you still haven’t answered my question. Even so, you could have canceled this segment,” Wang Yun replied.

Qiao Yan smiled meaningfully, “This could be called a little trick to mobilize collective wisdom.”

“What do you mean?” Lu Zhi asked beside her.

“Let me explain,” Qiao Yan said, “If I were to think of a way to promote this road, or have my subordinates think of it, at best it would be what you saw today. But since we want to spread the fame of the Chang’an court and create pressure on the other side, we cannot stop here.”

Hearing this, even though Lu Zhi and Wang Yun knew Qiao Yan was always bold and daring, they still didn’t expect that in this already unprecedented scene, Qiao Yan was still unsatisfied.

She had even grander goals.

She continued, “Think about it, since we can produce such paper in this grand event, there must be a production method. With this capability, who wouldn’t want their books and poems recorded in a more beautiful way, easily翻阅, who wouldn’t want their calligraphy to exist in a more expressive form, who wouldn’t want to try painting on paper instead of rock walls to record what they’ve seen and heard?”

This made Wang Yun vaguely guess something.

Qiao Yan said, “Minister Wang, forgive my bluntness, if you were a noble family member unfamiliar with me, originally here to question me about the alcohol restriction, but now seeing such a product that satisfies spiritual pursuits, what would you do?”








“What choice is there?”

“Another unfortunate fact is that there are still nearly ten days until the wine discussion meeting, and I won’t be able to get any answers for now. This is because I don’t plan to have any direct communication with them before that, and I even left Chang’an for a while earlier to avoid their visits. What should they do to ensure they are not excluded?”

Paper is different from cotton clothes.

For these noble children, without cotton clothes, they still have fur, which can fully meet their needs for winter warmth.

As long as they have money, they won’t freeze to death.

At most, in the propaganda stirred up by Qiao Yan, Princess Yang’an, and Mi Zhu, if they still dress as before, they might seem out of touch with the trend.

But if they still use old-fashioned paper instead of the white and smooth mulberry bark paper, it might be a matter of face.

The face of a scholar.

Why did she bring out four types of paper at this time?

Except for bamboo paper, which she recently obtained, since mulberry bark paper, green sandalwood bark paper, and mulberry bark paper all belong to the category of “bark paper,” they can be analogized during production, so they are not recent acquisitions.

She didn’t bring them out earlier but waited until now because—

She needed to use these two things to get a fair exchange of benefits.

Now is the perfect time.

While using bamboo paper to promote low prices, expand the distribution of Leping Monthly Report, and reduce education costs, she also needs to grasp the lifelines of some others.

Wang Yun tentatively asked, “You mean, since we are promoting this road as a recent focus, they might as well push it further to get information about this paper?”

Qiao Yan replied, “While they are still reluctant to give up the huge profits from the wine industry, of course, this move is the most clever.”

If Wang Yun were to analyze the current situation, it would probably be exactly as she said.

She hasn’t explained the alcohol restriction order yet, but she has already taken the initiative, forcing people to ease relations with her. If these people were to make some “within their power” promotion of Chang’an’s spectacular road, it would undoubtedly be a perfect move.

Once they make such a choice, the information channels and promotional avenues of each family, even their own reputations, can make “Chang’an has a miraculous road” a fact known far and wide without any doubt.

This also does not harm their own interests.

Qiao Yan added, “I think they will each show their prowess.”

The unofficial histories, miscellaneous talks, and biographies written by scholars of various dynasties are each more exciting than the last, and perhaps some bizarre stories like “mud flows in Chang’an, water turns to stone” will be passed down to future generations.

Anyway, let them do their thing.

Lu Zhi felt that Qiao Yan’s words had a bit of a teasing tone, but when he looked at the bustling scene, he couldn’t help but think that this teasing was really a trivial matter.

In this surging crowd, he saw an especially interesting scene.

A guy who was previously responsible for guarding the cement road from being damaged was holding a dog from a nearby neighbor, pressing its paw onto the ground in front of him, which was quite adorable—

Didn’t you always want to step on it before? Now you can step on it to your heart’s content.

The previous encirclement and pursuit ended in such a “harmonious” way, which was indeed somewhat amusing.

If it weren’t for the orderly and peaceful life in the Guanzhong region, there wouldn’t be such a childlike scene.

Or perhaps… this dog might really end up in a pot as the onlookers initially guessed.

Thinking of this, he felt even more the rarity of the scene before him.

Yuan Yao, who was in the crowd, also saw this scene, his eyes flickering slightly.

He was now standing on this special road.

Although swept along by the crowd, he had to admit that he himself was also extremely curious about such a scene.

It wasn’t until the surrounding guards gradually dispersed, changing from blocking them from stepping onto the cement road to dispersing the crowd, allowing the subsequent influx of people to come up and see, that Yuan Yao belatedly realized that he shouldn’t be so engrossed in this and forget his primary mission in coming to Chang’an.

He was here to seek an audience with the Grand Marshal to ask for a doctor for his father!

Yuan Yao quickly walked out of the crowd, following the direction indicated by the guards.

But just as he shifted his gaze from looking down at the ground to looking straight ahead, he suddenly saw a somewhat familiar figure in the crowd.

Even though the person was wearing unfamiliar clothes and kept his head down to lower his presence, they had once been cousins and playmates in Luoyang, so he couldn’t possibly not recognize him.

It was Yuan Shao’s second son, Yuan Xi!

But why was he here?

Thinking that his father’s injury was due to Ju Shou, sent by Yuan Shao, attacking from Chenliu County, and that Yuan Shao was in opposition to the Chang’an court, Yuan Yao didn’t hesitate to chase after him.

If he hadn’t mistaken the person, catching Yuan Xi would be quite a merit.

But there were too many people who came to witness this new road.

Yuan Yao lost sight of Yuan Xi in just a blink.

When he tried to look around the crowd again, he couldn’t see Yuan Xi anymore.

Yuan Yao was sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, so seeing Yuan Xi shouldn’t be a case of mistaken identity.

What a pity he didn’t catch him!

He could only ponder in his heart what Yuan Xi’s intentions might be if he really came here, while heading towards the Grand Marshal’s residence.

To his surprise, before he could even submit his visiting card, he was recognized and ushered in by someone waiting at the gate.

However, Qiao Yan wouldn’t tell him that this was because, as soon as he set out from Yu Province, the intelligence personnel there had already sent the news to Guanzhong by carrier pigeon, so someone had been keeping an eye out for Yuan Yao’s entry into the city.

This made his arrival not entirely unexpected.

But such intelligence reports naturally had their limitations. For example, Ju Shou and Gao Gan’s move towards Chenliu County, since they didn’t bring troops from Ye City, naturally couldn’t be known by Qiao Yan’s people. So when the war report from Yu Province reached Qiao Yan, stating that Ju Shou had mobilized the private soldiers of the Gao family in Chenliu to launch a surprise attack on Runan, led by Gao Shun, Qiao Yan stared at the message for a long time.

Fortunately, this news wasn’t bad for her.

Yuan Shao’s use of such an attack method meant that he couldn’t achieve his goal of conquering Yu Province in a short time. On the other hand, this news also reminded her that even though she was now the Grand Marshal, second only to the emperor, she still couldn’t underestimate her opponents or the butterfly effects.

But when she turned to hear Yuan Yao mention that Yuan Shu wanted to invite Hua Tuo to Runan to treat him, she couldn’t help but laugh and cry.

Isn’t Yuan Shu’s style a bit too flamboyant among the heroes of the late Han?

To put it bluntly, isn’t he a bit too carefree?

At such a time, the first thing he thought of wasn’t how to restore his image in front of the Yuan clan in Runan after such a defeat, but to ask for a famous doctor to treat him.

It can only be said that fortunately, Hua Tuo is indeed skilled in treating external injuries, which is quite appropriate.

It’s also somewhat reasonable.

Unfortunately, Qiao Yan didn’t plan to lend Hua Tuo to Yuan Shu.

“Master Yuanhua is currently busy with other important matters and can’t go to Runan for now,” Qiao Yan replied. “But if Master Yuanhua can’t go, his disciple can. The former general was attacked by rebels and injured while defending the province, which makes him a hero of the Han Dynasty. The court naturally values this and won’t stand idly by.”

These words really flattered Yuan Shu.

Yuan Yao, who had just entered Chang’an, was already impressed by the scene Qiao Yan had created, and now hearing such words, how could he think this was just a trick?

He only felt that Marquis Qiao’s previous lack of support for Runan was likely due to being tied up with other matters, not because she ignored Yuan Shu.

Even now, it wasn’t that she didn’t care about Yuan Shu’s injury, but perhaps it was just not suitable to call on Hua Tuo.

If Yuan Shu knew that sending his son out to fetch a doctor would result in an admirer of the Grand Marshal, he might want to curse himself for making such a decision.

But now he knew nothing about what was happening in Chang’an, nor did he know that his good son, upon learning that Qiao Yan planned to send Fan A, Hua Tuo’s disciple most skilled in acupuncture and health preservation, to calm Yuan Shu’s temper, increasingly felt that Grand Marshal Qiao was truly a good person. He then told Qiao Yan about seeing Yuan Xi in Chang’an.

“Yuan Xi… Yuan Xianyi?” After temporarily settling Yuan Yao in the Chang’an posthouse, Qiao Yan tapped the table, pondering whether Yuan Xi’s appearance could be of any benefit to her.

Although Yuan Yao also said that he couldn’t guarantee Yuan Xi was really here, and there was a possibility of mistaken identity, considering the promotion and motivational records of a certain Yuan in the Leping Monthly Report, it wasn’t strange for Yuan Shao to send someone to Chang’an.

Qiao Yan would also have someone verify the authenticity of this news.

But a bit regrettably, with Tian Feng’s example of failing to steal a chicken and losing the rice, even becoming a trusted minister, Yuan Xi obviously wouldn’t simultaneously engage in undercover activities to join Tian Feng.

Thus, handling Yuan Xi became somewhat troublesome.

If he were caught on the spot, given Yuan Shao’s attitude towards this son, it’s unlikely to be used for profit in a hostage exchange.

If he were let go, he couldn’t really be allowed to obtain some information from Tian Feng and then safely escape from Chang’an.

That would be too much of a loss for Qiao Yan.

He must—

Be made useful in some way.

But what surprised Qiao Yan was that before she received any news about Yuan Xi, she got a response the very next day regarding the reason she and Lu Zhi and Wang Yun discussed for showcasing the paper.

Cai Zhaoji came to see her with a strange tone and said, “My lord, someone came to ask if Leping Monthly Report accepts external submissions for the literary section. It’s about yesterday’s display of the Chang’an road.”

Qiao Yan sat up from her previously lazy reclining position, “Which great talent has produced an instant masterpiece?”

Cai Zhaoji replied, “This person is named Wang Can, the grandson of the former Minister of Works Wang Shumao, but…”

“Whether to use this literary piece or not, please decide after reading it first.”