Chapter 266

Chapter 266

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 8: Chang’an Wine Debate, Autumn Changes Chapter 266: Yuan Xi Returns to Ye

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Can a strategist not ascend the throne?

Chapter 266: Yuan Xi Returns to Ye

When Tian Feng led Yuan Xi to attend this victory banquet, he was on edge, but it seemed that apart from Guo Jia greeting them when they first met, no one else paid them any attention.

It makes sense, the main character of this victory banquet was originally Qiao Yan, celebrating her ability to reclaim the authority to brew alcohol along with salt and iron, ensuring further concentration of resources in the upcoming rectification and expansion.

It had nothing to do with Tian Feng and Yuan Xi.

After the victory banquet, the next steps would be to decide when to release the alcohol, how much to sell externally, and at what price.

Guo Jia, holding a glass of iced tea, couldn’t help but show a frustrated expression.

He originally thought that since it was a victory banquet, there should be a final狂欢, allowing him to indulge his taste buds once more. However, Qiao Yan said that this victory banquet was an internal exchange meeting, aiming for low-key actions, so alcohol was not to be considered.

“You say, if we want Tian Yuanhao and Yuan Xianyi to take a few more steps into the trap, wouldn’t it be better to make them think it’s酒后吐真言 (truth comes out when drunk)?” Guo Jia complained to Xun Yu.

Xun Yu replied, “The Grand Marshal might be afraid that you would really become酒后吐真言.”

Guo Jia: “…”

That comment was quite piercing.

However, not being able to play the酒后吐真言 game might not be a bad thing.

As Qiao Yan said, Guo Jia used the technique of a cat catching a mouse with Tian Feng and Yuan Xi, waiting for the right moment to strike.

The bait from his side had already been delivered, and saying more might alert these two, so it’s better to keep things as they are—

Everyone at the banquet was sober, so naturally, no one informed them of more inside information, forcing them to act cautiously out of self-preservation.

Yuan Xi, sitting at the banquet, heard Qiao Yan say that thanks to everyone’s help, she could produce soy sauce, which had miraculous effects, allowing her to exchange for a share of the alcohol market.

But how soy sauce was made, Qiao Yan did not and could not reveal in her speech.

Only those who had been with her from Bingzhou responded below, saying that this thing could finally be used openly.

Yuan Xi, seeing this harmonious master-servant relationship and the shared glory, was filled with doubts.

He had heard of sauce and oil, but what soy sauce was, he had no clue.

Fortunately, since there was no alcohol at the banquet, there had to be food, and in the dishes, he tasted this thing, which explained his question.

But this explanation did not bring him any comfort; instead, it increased his complex emotions.

As long as he had a normal brain, he could see the impact this thing would have on the salt market once it was launched.

Qiao Yan’s side was fine because the salt used as a raw material in soy sauce was provided by her, but what about Ye City?

Should Yuan Shao block such a thing from entering Ji Province through merchant trade?

If he blocked it, he would offend these merchant forces, limiting useful items that should have flowed into Ji Province, and also offend the noble families producing soy sauce, pushing them further towards Qiao Yan.

But if he didn’t block it, the soy sauce would encroach on the salt market, actually weakening the financial gains of Ji and Qing Provinces.

This was a clear conspiracy!

Yuan Xi tasted the food in front of him, his mouth bitter.

He had previously comforted Tian Feng, saying that to achieve the benefits Qiao Yan hoped for, those old foxes would have to strip some benefits from her.

But in the current situation, whether she had lost benefits was unclear, but Yuan Shao’s losses were definitely greater than hers!

Tian Feng whispered to him, “When the time comes, I’ll find a way to get a few bottles of soy sauce first, and you take them back to the lord, let the lord decide.”

Yuan Xi nodded solemnly.

Things like bean sauce and fermented black bean juice, made by the old fermentation methods, were mostly produced in winter.

Even if the effect of this thing was indeed astonishing, influenced by the fermentation season and the time required, large quantities of soy sauce would not appear until next year.

They had more than half a year to adapt, and perhaps even uncover the secret of this thing.

But how would Yuan Xi know that people in the Tang Dynasty had expressed deep confusion about why the previous dynasty only made sauce in winter.

After the complete fermentation technology replaced the old method of first producing yellow clothes and then sauce, the season was no longer a limitation, and sauce made in summer had a better flavor.

Eventually, they concluded that making sauce in winter was to give people who didn’t participate in farm work and had nothing to do some work, set by the rulers above, and it became a conventional wisdom.

In other words, Qiao Yan chose to propose such a bargaining chip in May and June precisely to allow those who received the new formula and technology to directly engage in the production of new things.

And this was clearly stated in the formula given to them.

Those who received the new formula had to praise her for her generosity.

It was only Yuan Xi and Tian Feng, who were half-informed, who thought they still had enough time to adapt.

After the banquet, Tian Feng hinted that he wanted to buy two bottles of soy sauce to improve their meals, and the person he asked told him that the Grand Marshal’s storehouse had enough stock, and from tomorrow, internal personnel could purchase it at a low price.

He felt that his actions were somewhat ungenerous, but he tried to convince himself that in such a competitive situation, there was no such thing as generosity or not, and then he packed Yuan Xi’s luggage for his return.

“Not considering staying here longer?” Hearing the news of Yuan Xi’s return, Guo Jia came by despite his busy schedule.

After all, he had once taken Yuan Xi around Chang’an, and although Yuan Xi clumsily broke a batch of his garlic essence miracle medicine, it didn’t make much sense to hold a grudge against a colleague’s son.

From his attitude, it seemed he didn’t take it to heart.

He casually flipped through Yuan Xi’s luggage, seeing that apart from his change of clothes and money, there were only soy sauce, garlic essence, and a few types of wound medicine available in Si Li.

The latter was a weakened version of the military’s golden sore medicine.

“Is this all you’re taking? Shouldn’t you bring some Si Li specialties? Otherwise, it makes our place under the Son of Heaven seem shabby.”

Hearing Guo Jia’s question, Yuan Xi couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, replying, “Father’s intention is that this trip back is just to let the family see the situation in Chang’an, bringing a few symbolic things is enough, to show that there is food to eat, illness to treat, and wounds to heal. If I can persuade the family to move here, next time we meet, it won’t just be me visiting father.”

Guo Jia’s gaze seemed to unintentionally sweep over Yuan Xi, noticing that even though it was almost summer, Yuan Xi’s clothes seemed thicker than usual, and the clothes in the luggage also had signs of padding, indicating he had brought something, but he didn’t expose Yuan Xi’s actions.

He just replied, “If that’s the case, it would be great. Your father has been frugal in Chang’an, saving money, even reluctant to send clothes for repair, doing it himself, but unfortunately, his talent really isn’t in this area, his sewing skills are quite poor. If someone could assist him, it would be really great.”

Tian Feng: “…”

No need to remind him that in the past six months, apart from learning how to be a good undercover, he even learned how to sew clothes.

If it weren’t for this, he wouldn’t have thought of sewing the three new types of paper from Chang’an, along with agricultural books and medical skills, into Yuan Xi’s clothes.

What made him even more relieved was that after casually mentioning the sewing, Guo Jia didn’t realize the issue, but instead became more interested in Yuan Xi bringing others back.

“Since Zigu is someone the lord personally values, Zigu’s family should naturally be brought here with all efforts.” Guo Jia stroked his chin, showing a thoughtful expression, “How about this, I’ll make the decision to make this trip back more glorious!”

So when Yuan Xi walked out of Chang’an’s city gate, he was carrying a bag that Guo Jia praised as the summer trend.








Yuan Xi, carrying a cotton cloth bag, rode on a mule.

For some reason, Yuan Xi couldn’t shake the feeling that his current appearance was somewhat off.

But if he had to say, Guo Jia meant well.

According to him, there happened to be a mule that couldn’t carry much weight after growing up, making it a bit of a burden for military logistics. It was better to lend it to Yuan Xi for his journey back to Ji Province, which would be much more comfortable than walking or squeezing into a carriage with others.

The only thing to note was that he shouldn’t slack off on the way.

Although he wouldn’t collide with other mule carts and cause another garlic incident, the journey back to Ji Province would pass through mountains. If something went wrong on the road, it would be troublesome.

Yuan Xi had no choice but to accept this kindness.

So what if his appearance was strange? He had successfully completed his mission to infiltrate Chang’an and gather intelligence!

“What do you think Yuan Shao’s reaction will be when he sees all this?” Qiao Yan, standing on the city wall, watched Yuan Xi ride away on the mule with a playful expression.

He thought he had escaped from a cage, not realizing he had been plucked from a mousetrap by a cat with a mischievous streak.

But sometimes, ignorance can be bliss.

The mule he was riding wasn’t actually from a military transport team but was specially selected by Qiao Yan from three provinces. It could carry much more weight than the ones he had seen before.

Due to the rarity of mules, finding one like this wasn’t easy, and Qiao Yan had put in a lot of effort to acquire it.

With this mule, Yuan Shao would likely be even more convinced that Qiao Yan was raising mules to transport military supplies.

Yuan Xi, who had brought back so many secrets, truly lived up to Yuan Shao’s expectations.

Guo Jia replied, “Mixing truth with lies makes it easier for smart people to believe. Yuan Shao is facing such a situation.”

Avoiding every mental trap is almost impossible for Yuan Shao and his strategists.

“However, Lord Marquis still surprises me,” Guo Jia added after some thought.

Qiao Yan turned to him, “What’s surprising?”

“Your ability to make trade-offs,” Guo Jia said.

Qiao Yan’s gaze swept over the scene of Chang’an, including the new road in the distance, and she felt a sense of calm.

“For us, standardizing farming methods is the foundation for the people of the three regions to interact and for newcomers to integrate. The conditions we’ve accumulated earlier provide the basis for this. Yuan Shao’s situation is different.”

“He needs to test whether the new methods will work for him. Without solid evidence of increased yields, the people won’t accept such a sudden change unless he experiments on his own land for a year. But at least, he’s already missed this year.”

Qiao Yan said, “This seems like a loss, but isn’t it also disrupting the opponent’s plans?”

There’s a saying, “Those who learn from me will live, those who imitate me will die.” But for Yuan Shao, it might be “those who learn from me will also die.”

“The gap created over the years is too wide. Unless the Wei River bursts and Guanzhong is destroyed, Yuan Shao would be better off studying shipbuilding in Qingzhou than trying to catch up.”

Guo Jia couldn’t help but laugh.

Lord Marquis’s words were quite cutting.

Studying shipbuilding in Qingzhou was essentially suggesting that Yuan Shao consider fleeing by sea.

But perhaps what made Guo Jia laugh wasn’t just the teasing but also the confidence in Qiao Yan’s words.

She was in her prime, with the charisma to keep her subordinates constantly improving. In this changing world, she no longer feared anyone copying her.

Because she was always moving forward, staying ahead of everyone, making it impossible for others to learn from her.

On the same day Yuan Xi returned to Ye City, the results of the Chang’an submissions were announced, along with the plan to establish the Painting Institute and recruit personnel.

Painting?

The people of Chang’an had just witnessed a ten-year-old child refuting doubts by drawing a scene from the streets of Chang’an. Now, they saw this new announcement.

In current conditions, most people’s childhoods lacked toys, so many had doodled in the sand or mud to pass the time.

Like early oracle bone script, which resembled drawings more than writing, this was an easy way to express emotions.

But in their minds, painting was still considered inferior to literacy.

So when this news came out, people were puzzled why a formal department was being established for painting.

As they read the announcement, even those who couldn’t read understood the purpose of the Painting Institute.

The announcement featured four images.

The first was a map of the newly opened Wei River canal, informing people that they could reclaim land within the canal’s irrigation range.

The second was an illustration of the “Qu Tian” farming method from Fan Shengzhi’s book, showing the standard farming practices in the simplest way.

The third was an emergency guide for snake bites.

The fourth was a chart matching images to words, explaining the usefulness of images in literacy.

The Painting Institute wasn’t a pastime for scholars but a tool for the illiterate!

When they learned that only painting talent was required, not literacy, the streets of Chang’an buzzed with excitement.

For those wanting to change their fate from farming, this seemed like another path.

“Do you know Zhao Qi, the head of the Painting Institute?” someone in the crowd asked.

Zhao Qi’s age might be a disadvantage in some matters, but here it was an asset.

From his birth in 108 AD to the present year of 192 AD, he had left many stories.

He once fled to Beihai to sell cakes after offending eunuchs and was saved by admirers.

He had served as the Governor of Bingzhou, somewhat connected to the Marquis of Leping, but was imprisoned for over a decade during the Prohibition of Factionalists, during which he completed the “Mencius Commentary.”

He was also transferred to Dunhuang as a Prefect but nearly taken hostage during a rebellion, escaping with his eloquence.

He was an official with bad luck, down-to-earth, and a representative of the upright scholars.

To the people of Chang’an, such a person was well-suited to lead the Painting Institute.

Ten days later, someone stopped at the announcement, focusing first on the emergency guide, his eyes lighting up with delight.

When Zhang Zhongjing received Qiao Yan’s personal invitation, he hesitated at first. It was the high-proof alcohol that finally convinced him to visit Chang’an.

Now, seeing this painting, he suddenly realized that Qiao Yan’s efforts in promoting medicine, though surprising, were all practical.

Only someone like her could support his work in compiling treatments for typhoid fever!

He hadn’t made the wrong choice!

It was time to meet Qiao Yan.

And it was also time for Yuan Xi to meet Yuan Shao.

The mule was indeed hardy and good for long journeys, as Yuan Xi had deeply experienced. By the time he neared Ye City, he wished he could fly to his father to report his findings.

But at the city gate, he was stopped.

After a month or two of traveling, his fair complexion had tanned considerably.

That wasn’t all.

He was riding a creature that looked like a cross between a donkey and a horse, carrying a strange large bag, and wearing poorly patched clothes.

Zhang He stared at him for a long time before hesitantly asking, “Second… Second Young Master?”