The World Online
chapter-807

Since Pang Tong and Zhou Yu were close, why did he turn to Liu Bei after Zhou Yu's death?

Liu Bei had occupied Jingzhou, and Pang Tong was appointed as the County Magistrate of Leiyang. Helplessly, when Pang Tong was appointed, he was sacked because he did not care about county matters.

At this very moment, East Wu Lu Su wrote a letter to Liu Bei to tell him that Pang Tong was not a hundred miles talent.

He was not someone whose skill was limited to ruling hundred miles of land. Lu Su's meaning was simple – he meant that putting Pang Tong into the position of County Magistrate was belittling his ability, and was implying that Pang Tong was a real talent and needed to be well used.

During this period of time, Zhuge Liang also spoke to Liu Bei about Pang Tong. Hence, Liu Bei summoned Pang Tong. After getting to know him, Liu Bei treated him highly and appointed him as the advisor to the Provincial Governor.

In history, it was a mystery whether Zhou Yu or Lu Su had recommended Pang Tong to Sun Quan or not. Maybe they did but Sun Quan rejected it.

Maybe the Jiangdong Group at that time did not lack talents like Pang Tong.

As for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it mentioned Sun Quan looking down on Pang Tong because the latter looked ugly.

Hence, this became the widely accepted viewpoint.

As for the truth, it became a mystery.

Regardless of the truth, with this added layer of relationship between Zhou Yu and Pang Tong, along with how unhappy Pang Tong was there, Ouyang Shuo had reason to believe that his plan would work.

Worst comes to worst, he needed to make Liu Bei distrust Pang Tong and not treat him highly.

Of course, that was the worst-case scenario, and Ouyang Shuo would not take such action unless he was forced.

When Zhou Yu heard that the Monarch was actually referring to such a matter, he heaved a sigh of relief and smiled, "Since it's a mission given by the Monarch, I'll try my best."

Ouyang Shuo nodded, "No rush, just try to do it slowly."

"Understood!" Zhou Yu nodded.

From Pang Tong's letters, Zhou Yu could feel Pang Tong's bitterness, which was why he had a little confidence.

Ouyang Shuo smiled, "General is about to leave for a long trip, so I won't keep you any longer."

Zhou Yu was astonished; he had heard the rumors that the Monarch had a mysterious intel organization that was in charge of monitoring the officials. Who knew that his conversation with his wife was picked up?

Luckily, in his interactions with Pang Tong, there was nothing suspicious or Zhou Yu would have lost his head. Zhou Yu's face was calm and expressionless as he got up and left quietly.

The seed had already been planted, whether it would bloom or not was to be seen.

...

After sending away Zhou Yu, Ouyang Shuo still needed to meet one more person, which was Lei Fan.

A day ago, the evaluation group led by Zhang Tingyu had returned to Shanhai City, submitting an extremely detailed report. The results not only made Xiao He ashamed, but it also shocked Ouyang Shuo.

Based on Zhang Tingyu's evaluation, the Broken Blade House under Lei Fan was not simple.

Let us talk about Broken Blade House first.

Broken Blade House was apart from Shenjuan House, and it was the latest house to be set up in the Zhili Prefecture. However, its financial revenue was leading the prefecture, only behind Mulan House.

Especially after Qiushui River was expanded, more and more merchant ships entered Shanhai City through the Pearl River System. The Broken Blade House took the chance to build a port at Dongla Lake to allow merchant ships to rest along the way. As a result, it became a stop on the merchant trade routes.

With the benefits that Broken Blade House pushed out, some merchants even directly did their business there, greatly promoting the growth of Broken Blade House.

The tax advantage of Mulan House was being weakened, and it was slowly being overtaken by Broken Blade House.

Apart from that, the aquatic rearing industry, the medicine industry, and the silkworm industry were soaring. Making use of the power of gold mines, these industries had really strong economic ability.

The even more amazing part was that the officials were clean and honest.

Although Lei Fan was a mountain barbarian, he definitely was not a reckless person, being able to adapt to the rules of the official field. He kept the charm and toughness a mountain barbarian should possess and solved all the problems in his way.

Such charm and drive was extremely rare even among officials who were scholars.

This also slowly formed Lei Fan's unique charm.

The act of creating a port in Dongla Lake was obviously snatching the business of Shanhai City. Tianfeng House similarly had the ability to do so, but they did not dare to take action.

Reality proved that not only did his actions not harm the core interests of Shanhai City, it even gave birth to a secondary market, splitting away the not core parts of the business, creating a win-win situation.

Seeing that, Tianfeng House started to copy them in Xila Lake, but it was already a step slower.

There were many similar matters.

Not only that, Lei Fan did not discriminate based on race, and he would not give the mountain barbarians benefits because he was a mountain barbarian. He ruled everything fairly.

When pushing out the territory law system, seeing that the mountain barbarians were breaking many laws, Lei Fan did not hesitate to enact heavy punishment.

Lei Fan did not even use the mountain barbarian tribe rules to replace the law system to punish the people, showing his deep understanding of the law system.

As he did things exceedingly fairly, Lei Fan was well loved by both the Han people and the mountain barbarians.

A mountain barbarian being loved and supported by Han people - that alone was an amazing achievement.

Even Zhang Tingyu said honestly, "Our biasness toward the mountain barbarian tribe can be ended from Lei Fan." The racial harmony plan that Ouyang Shuo was pushing for had started to work.

Xiao He was also gracious in defeat, admitting his mistakes. Moreover, he was willing to be fined half a year of his salary.

With that, the last barrier to his promotion was removed. Just yesterday, the Nanjiang Governor-General House had officially announced his appointment, promoting him to Yizhou Prefecture Governor, effective immediately.

The moment the news became public, it caused huge waves in the territory.

Along with his appointment was also the evaluation report by the Official Ruling Department regarding Lei Fan. Apparently, Xiao He stopped all resistance and insisted on releasing it.

With that, they officially gained fame for the mountain barbarians.

Be it those in the Zhili Prefecture, those in Wuzhou, or even those in Tengyue Prefecture, this appointment had a completely deeper meaning.

It represented that their tribe had completed their transformation, saying goodbye to the clumsiness and foolishness from before.

...

Before taking up the role, Lei Fan especially made a trip to Shanhai City.

Lei Fan was not a fool, and he had already heard about the happenings regarding his appointment. Toward the Monarch that supported him, Lei Fan was touched to the point of tears. Hence, before taking up the role, he also wanted to listen to what the Monarch wanted to say.

Seeing Lei Fan, the first thing that Ouyang Shuo said was, "Mister Xiao postponed your appointment was due to his work, and it was not personal. You must understand that."

"I do."

Lei Fan's expression was rather complicated as he obviously knew about the biasness and stereotypes the people felt about them.

Seeing how vast the heavens were, only then would one know how small and lowly one was.

The mountain barbarians who were slowly entering the agricultural system undoubtedly cherished this chance. Their soldiers were willing to accept the toughest training while its people focused all their hearts into learn various techniques.

Officials like Lei Fan were the rare breed.

All of their people were trying hard to adapt to this change, to develop their own strengths in their new domain.

All of this occurred completely because of change.

To not be looked down on, to now be shamed.

This definitely was not an individual matter. Rather, it was the entire race proceeding forward. Luckily, hard work always pays off, and they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel for the mountain barbarian race.

Lei Fan's promotion was a clear signal.

The biggest cause of this was Ouyang Shuo. It was him who contacted the mountain barbarian tribe to get the Xuanniao Tribe to move, which started their road to greatness.

It was the mountain barbarian strategy the Lord used, utilizing the mountain barbarian soldiers in various places, making them the most reliable guards. When Ouyang Shuo let the Boulder Army move into the city, there were obviously people who opposed his decision.

However, Ouyang Shuo insisted.

No one was clearer than Ouyang Shuo about the loyalty of the mountain barbarian race; it was loyalty that stemmed from blood. If any army would not betray him, it would be the Boulder Army.

This was because Ouyang Shuo was their king, and the blood that the ancient mountain barbarians worshiped ran in his veins. Hence, how could he not put them in the imperial city?

...

Ouyang Shuo said, "The Gaoshan Tribe of Yizhou Prefecture is a strong tribe that deserves respect. After going there, try to come into contact with them and calm their worries."

The Gaoshan Tribe mainly gathered in the Central mountain regions of Yizhou Prefecture, the east as well as Lanyu Island. The Gaoshan Tribe in the game was similar to the Li Race and mountain barbarians, and they mainly fished and hunted.

Each forest in Yizhou Prefecture had a designated owner and that was their hunting ground. It was sacred and could not be invaded and entered.

The Gaoshan Tribe people were really fierce, and if someone from another tribe intruded on their territory, they would fight and slaughter the intruder. They even had the habit of hunting for heads, getting the enemy heads as a sign of coming of age.

To say that they were worthy of respect was because they were fearless of being invaded. They did not mind making sacrifices. Although they were clear it was throwing an egg at a rock, they also wanted to show the strength and valor of their tribe.

In the movie Warriors of the Rainbow, the Seediq tribe was the Gaoshan Tribe.

The movie described the famous Musha incident, where Gaoshan Tribe hero Mona Rudao led a thousand tribesmen to fight against the Japanese invaders.

Their population was just 2100 men. In this uprising, 900 were either killed in battle or killed themselves. The women all hung themselves to not be a burden and waste food.

The three thousand Japanese even used poison gas; despite that, half of them still died.

Hence, although the uprising had failed, the Seediq people had showed their strength nonetheless.

The film was blood boiling, showing the savage war between men.

They were true men.

Facing such a tribe, Ouyang Shuo hoped that they were like the mountain barbarians and could slowly move into the Shanhai City System.

In a day in the future, maybe Shanhai City could recruit from there and recruit the strongest Gaoshan Warriors to show the heroic spirit of men.