Chapter 505 The Way of Being a Minister
In Shangdang, Qian Zhao took a carriage into the city and went straight to the county governor's mansion and entered through the back door.

He concealed his tracks all the way and only showed his face after arriving at the county magistrate's mansion.

In the small courtyard isolated in the backyard, Qian Zhao had just washed his face and hands when Cui Yan strode over.

Two soldiers from the Cui clan were guarding the gate to the courtyard. Cui Yan said nothing, but just strode forward, his footsteps making clattering sounds on the corridor floor.

In the living room, Cui Yan sat down with no expression on his face. He had a thick and majestic beard that concealed most of the subtle expressions on his face.

If there is no smile in the eyebrows, then there is no smile.

He had just sat down when Qian Zhao, who was in the courtyard, stepped into the front hall wearing a pair of newly changed clogs and said directly, "I have received a secret letter from Youzhou that someone wants to assassinate Lord Xuande and the Grand Marshal when they meet. What surprised me even more is that the Grand Marshal took Feihu Road, while Lord Xuande took Juyongkou."

Qian Zhao walked to Cui Yan's side, sat down directly, and then said: "Then the Grand Marshal turned east and went out of Feihukou. Lord Xuande seemed to be stationed outside the eastern suburbs of Pingcheng. I suspect Lord Xuande has already noticed that someone in Youzhou is trying to assassinate him, so he changed his route to Juyongkou. Dai County is under the jurisdiction of Sun Qian, and there is Juyongkou between them, which is conducive to his investigation."

After saying this, Qian Zhao stopped and asked, "What unusual movements did the Black Mountain Army make?"

"Before leaving Guanzhong, the Grand Marshal sent a letter to Zhang Yan. Zhang Yan routinely recruited infantry and cavalry. This time, they were particularly well-trained. There were only over 3,000 knights, all of whom were elite troops."

Cui Yan told the intelligence he knew: "The Black Mountain Army has already fallen in love with each other and yearns for Guanzhong. They have not been able to merge until now, and they are just acting as a barrier between the two. In addition, there is news in Yecheng. If the Grand Marshal really goes east through Feihukou and Lord Xuande's troops are stationed in Pingcheng, then there will definitely be changes."

"It seems that Da Sima wants to use himself as bait."

Qian Zhao had seen how the other side fought, and explained according to his own understanding and information: "The stalemate in the war in Jingzhou has lasted for nearly three months. If the situation is not resolved by delaying, Yizhou will inevitably be unstable. But the Grand Marshal left Wuguan and went south to Jingzhou, and he only worried about the Grand General. Now, apart from the Grand Marshal, only the Grand General is the most powerful."

Cui Yan looked at Qian Zhao's profile and said, "Zijing said that the Grand Marshal had already mobilized his troops to march south to Jingzhou, but he also sent his elite cavalry and brave soldiers eastward to Feihukou, in order to lure the general to break the alliance and attack, inflicting heavy damage in one fell swoop and dampening Hebei's fighting spirit. In this way, when he marches south to Jingzhou, there will be no more hidden dangers in Jizhou and Youzhou?"

"Yes, I believe so. Now everyone can see that the past events of the State of Chen have made the Grand Marshal jealous of the people of the world. He no longer trusts... To be fair, he is indeed not trustworthy. Just like you and me, aren't we doing such shameful things?"

Qian Zhao laughed at himself and said, "At first, I wanted to resign and return to Youzhou to follow Lord Xuande. I was worried about this situation, but now I am at a loss."

Cui Yan also smiled, but it was a very forced smile.

If that great general is finished, the general who takes over Guanzhong will surely unify the north.

With the general in his prime, if he gets hold of some letters sent to Guanzhong by our people, it would be more than just us who would die.

Once betrayal is put into action and clues and traces are left behind, there is only one way to go.

Who could have thought that the Grand Marshal, who had returned triumphantly from the expedition to Shu, would actually semi-exile the Chief Clerk Cui Zhouping; Cui Zhouping landed safely, but his people were tossed around in a state of disarray.

After laughing dryly for a while, the two looked at each other and asked directly, "Should we go east or west?"

Cui Yan did not smile, so he asked, "Following your heart, where do you want to go, Zijing?"

"I'm ready to decide whether to stay or go. Based on my understanding of Lord Xuande, he won't be too involved this time. I want to advance and retreat with him."

Qian Zhao turned his head to look at the sky outside the door, squinting slightly: "I have seen Taishi Wengong riding a fierce horse, leaping into the battle array among thousands of troops, and cutting off the Xiongnu battle flag with a single halberd. If I were to fight against such a god, I'm afraid that the Wuhuan people under my command would tie me up before the battle."

For the lower classes in the border counties, regardless of whether they were Han or Hu people, the purpose of life was just to survive.

Survival is the underlying color of the border counties. How much pure loyalty and righteousness can be produced on top of this background?

Seeing Qian Zhao's bottom line, Cui Yan no longer concealed it: "Sun Gongyou of Dai County and Wang Shuzhi, the official of the Grand Marshal's Office, are my classmates and friends. The Cui family in Hebei is prosperous and does not need me. But if I raise an army and betray the general, it is not what I want."

As he spoke, Cui Yan was somewhat hesitant, weighing the pros and cons: "If the general sends troops and the two sides engage in battle, I will resign. Then I will travel around Guanzhong and wait for an opportunity to serve as an official. What about Zijing?"

"I will not turn against the general. If the general is willing to call me to serve on the battlefield, I will not refuse. If he doubts me, I will resign."

Qian Zhao finished speaking, feeling relieved and relaxed. He did not have strong control over the Wuhuan servant knights in his hands, because they were attached to the general and were under his control after being deployed by the general's shogunate. Only a few of them could be taken away. This was normal. If the front-line battle failed, based on his understanding of the Hu people and the Wuhuan people, these servant knights would force him to defect.

Therefore, the Wuhuan servants could not be mobilized individually, but had to be used in coordination with the Shangdang County soldiers and supervised by the county soldiers.

Seeing that they both still had a last bit of bottom line, Cui Yan regained some of his smile: "In this case, I am relieved."

Although Cui Zhouping is Cui from the north and he is Cui from Qinghe in the south, they are actually very close.

Cui Zhouping was semi-exiled, and if he fell out with Hebei, he could be reinstated at any time.

Cui Yan was optimistic about the future. He had learned fencing and hunting when he was young, served in the army when he grew up, and only when he was older did he go to study under Zheng Xuan under the persuasion and introduction of the elders of his clan.

This way of growing up, which is completely different from the family's customs, makes Cui Yan very optimistic about life.

He always had the open-mindedness and tenacity of an old soldier; this character and his high-class family background enabled him to have a wide circle of friends at Zheng Xue's school and be very popular among other students.

It also allows him and Qian Zhao to live in peace without much rift between them.

Cui Yan did not look down on ordinary military officers and veterans, let alone Qian Zhao, who came from a relatively high-ranking family.

However, when Qian Zhao left the county seat, they were almost indistinguishable from each other. Qian Zhao and Cui Yan sent envoys to Dai County one after another.

One went directly to consult Liu Bei, and the other went to find Sun Qian.

After all, Shangdang is located in the mountains, making it inconvenient to transmit information.

Instead of testing Yecheng, it would be better to get new information from Liu Bei openly.

If the situation is not right, just resign and leave.

If you want to survive for a long time, especially under the relatively special rule of a general or a grand marshal, it is best not to turn against your enemies or stab them in the back.

The next day, June 27th, the black bear finally crossed the Juma River and headed towards Liangxiang County, Zhuo County.

The Feihu Road was difficult to travel on. Although they carried spare parts and had Lu Bu and other engineers to build roads and repair vehicles, they still lost nearly 20% of their vehicles.

He rode his horse and looked at the fields on both sides of the road. His emotions and expressions could not be seen through the mask.

In mid-to-late May, Hebei will harvest wheat.

The fields on both sides of the road had been harvested, or had just been harvested.

Millet, corn and wheat are also grown here, and rice is grown in areas close to water sources that are conducive to irrigation.

Looking at the relatively flat lands near and far along the road, they have basically been harvested, which shows that Zhuo County has relatively abundant vitality.

Even for the coarse kind, there is no wasteland near the road.

This means that the local population loss is at most only half of what it was during its heyday!
Youzhou's war potential is as strong as ever.

It was because we had no experience back then. Although we had been to Yecheng, we were unable to analyze the population through the fields on both sides of the road.

But the weather was hot and dry that year, and even though there were large tracts of wasteland, it was impossible to roughly estimate the population.

Population means productivity, mobilization power, confidence, endurance and blood tank for war stalemate.

(End of this chapter)