Chapter 45

"Hiss!"

Instantly, Zuo Feng drew a light breath, quickly closed the boxes, and looked at Su Xuan with a beaming smile, enthusiastically saying: "Hehe! General Su, this humble servant is extremely satisfied with these local specialties! I believe Lord Zhang Rang will also absolutely love them. Many thanks, General."

Two boxes full of money.

The small one had at least 100,000 coins, and the large one was estimated at 500,000 coins.

So that was the kind of local specialty it was.

Zuo Feng expressed in his heart that he loved such local specialties very much and wished that everyone would send him more of them in the future.

"As long as Lord Zuo likes them!"

Su Xuan smiled slightly and invited: "Why not, Lord Zuo, come inside and sit for a while?"

"No need!"

Zuo Feng waved his hand immediately: "I must return to report as soon as possible! I won't stay long this time!"

"Next time, when the General comes to Luoyang, I will host you then! Farewell!"

Having said this, Zuo Feng called for people to carry the two boxes and left directly.

After they had gone far away, Su Yi, who was on the side, asked with a puzzled look: "Big Brother! Why are you so polite to this eunuch? And why send him money? This person looks like a villain at first glance."

Old Dian Wei and Huang Zhong on the side also nodded, expressing their confusion as well.

People in the world were very disgusted by and looked down upon eunuchs.

They did not know why their lord was different.

"You guys! You still suffer from a lack of culture!"

Su Xuan shook his head with a laugh, then looked at Wen Pin, who had not spoken, and asked with a smile: "Wen Zhongye seems to have different thoughts. Can you see why I did this?"

Compared to the straightforward nature of Huang Zhong and Old Dian Wei, Wen Pin was more introspective and had his own understanding of the ways of officialdom.

Huang Zhong and the others heard this and looked at Wen Pin.

Wen Pin smiled lightly and said: "You all misunderstood the Lord. The Lord doing this is just superficial flattery to avoid offending this Zuo Feng and the eunuch faction behind him!"

"The Lord’s foundation is still very shallow, and there are no helpers in the court. Offending the eunuchs would absolutely not be a good thing."

"Moreover, eunuchs are just dogs under the Son of Heaven!"

"Whether they bite people or how they bite people, isn't it all up to the Son of Heaven?"

"Don't just follow the crowd. Seeing the noble clans and powerful families around you loathe and despise eunuchs, you really believe everything;"

"In the end, all of this is just for their own respective interests!"

"Simply put, why was Zuo Feng so friendly to the Lord? It was also just for interests."

The essence of the world is just like this.

"This..."

Huang Zhong and the others were stunned and fell into deep thought.

"Very well said!"

Su Xuan praised, then warned Huang Zhong, Su Yi, and others: "You must understand one thing: villains are the people in this world you must not offend the most;"

"They may not be able to help you succeed, but ruining your affairs at critical moments is what they are best at!"

"Zuo Feng and even most eunuchs can be considered villains, and they are close ministers to the Son of Heaven, capable of influencing or affecting the Son of Heaven’s thoughts and judgments to a certain extent. Such people are the ones you must not offend;"

"Therefore, I would rather appear friendly to them and spend some money to avert disaster than offend them;"

"At least that is the case for now!"

Having said this, Su Xuan paused, then continued: "Furthermore, just as Wen Zhongye said, my foundation is too shallow, and I have no helpers in the court;"

"Without solving this problem, even if I earn merit later, it might still be suppressed or ruined by others;"

"Just like this time, my father’s position as Nanyang Administrator was easily taken away by the Lord Yuan clan!"

"Even for the sake of smooth promotion later, I need to befriend Zhang Rang and others;"

"At that time, they will naturally speak for me at the appropriate time, allowing me to obtain promotion smoothly."

"Fortunately, befriending these eunuchs is easy; just give them money."

"And what our Su family lacks the least right now is money, understand?"

When the time is ripe and there is a need, he can also stand on the same front as the vast number of scholars to loathe and despise eunuchs!

At that time, he can completely describe his current behavior as enduring humiliation for a greater cause, all for the sake of being able to use the eunuchs.

Such things, it’s not like no one among those scholars has done it.

In fact, there are quite a few people who have risen to power in this way.

For example, isn't that the case for Cao Cao’s family?

In fact, even more thoroughly.

Cao Cao’s father, Cao Song, simply recognized the great eunuch Cao Jie as his father.

This is also the reason why Cao Cao has always been criticized and called a descendant of a eunuch.

Fortunately, Su Xuan does not need to go to that extent.

Otherwise, he really wouldn't have the heart to do it.

His befriending the eunuchs is just a relationship of mutual need and mutual utilization.

On this point, he sees it very clearly.

"So that’s how it is!"

Su Yi, Huang Zhong, and others nodded in sudden realization.

They all looked at Su Xuan with apologetic expressions and bowed to apologize: "Lord (Big Brother)! We were wrong! We misunderstood you!"

So, Big Brother (Lord) doing all this was a last resort, enduring humiliation for a greater cause!

They only hated themselves for not being able to help Su Xuan in this matter.

"Alright!"

Su Xuan saw this, felt it was enough, and waved his hand to soothe them: "You were also doing it for my sake! I understand! No need to say more!"

"My appointment has also come down. Let’s go and discuss the next countermeasures!"

Saying this, Su Xuan called for Huang Zhong, Wen Pin, Old Dian Wei, and others, and even had someone call Su Lie.

He told Su Lie about the appointment first.

He also mentioned that Lord Yuan Feng had sabotaged Su Lie from becoming Nanyang Administrator.

Su Xuan warned Su Lie: "Father! We must be careful of the Lord Yuan clan from now on!"

"Especially after I earn more merit and continue to be promoted later;"

"They likely will not sit by and watch us grow;"

"After all, for them, this time can be considered as having already offended us, and they cannot allow a future potential enemy to grow."

"Hmm!"

Su Lie nodded, frowned slightly, and said: "Actually, I never counted on being Nanyang Administrator anyway;"

"I know my own capabilities well enough;"

"It’s just, why did the Lord Yuan clan offend us for no reason? It’s simply inexplicable."

Su Lie was naturally very indignant in his heart at this moment.

He felt he wasn't qualified to be Nanyang Administrator, but that didn't mean the Lord Yuan clan could bully people like this.

Su Xuan heard this, shrugged helplessly, and then sneered: "Perhaps, they never put our Su family in their eyes at all. All of this is just a coincidence, and it just so happened that you, Father, stood in the way of their people!"

Su Lie: "..."

So I was just unlucky?

And they never thought highly of him either?

This made him feel even worse than if they had offended him on purpose.

"Forget it! Let’s not talk about this! Tell me your plans for the next steps!"

This matter was too annoying, so Su Lie simply stopped thinking about it, waved his hand, and asked seriously: "The Huang Jin army in the whole of Nanyang is probably no less than 150,000 now. How do you plan to deal with it? You only have 3,000 iron cavalry in your hands;"

"Even adding the Dengxian county soldiers, it’s only 6,000 people."

The disparity in numbers was too great.

PS: New book uploaded, seeking collections, flowers, and ratings!