Chapter 673

Once Duan Yu said this, it wasn't just Cheng Li who was stunned.

Everyone in the entire hall was stunned.

Xue Fang stared at Duan Yu with a blank expression.

Yet, what he saw was Duan Yu's incredibly earnest expression.

In a dream...

This...

Coming to Donge County just because of a dream.

If this got out, wouldn't it be a bit... a bit ridiculous?

Xue Fang immediately looked at Cheng Li beside him.

His eyes were blinking and blinking hard.

The meaning was as if to say, "Big Brother, you must not laugh."

"If you laugh, your head might really not be guaranteed to stay on."

"You... General Duan..." Cheng Li widened his eyes.

Cheng Li's eyes were not small to begin with; they were large, double-lidded, with slightly sunken sockets.

When he suddenly widened them like this, it looked somewhat eerie.

Cheng Li was tall, but he was the type with a large frame rather than being sturdy.

It was as if... as if he were a larger version of Jia Xu.

"General Duan, you..."

Duan Yu smiled and said, "This General is not joking."

Duan Yu said with an extremely earnest smile, "In a dream, I saw you, right here in Donge County, holding up the scorching sun with both hands."

"Your appearance is exactly the same as what I saw in my dream."

"You... are the man from my dream!"

Xue Fang: "..."

Tie Shitou: "..."

Everyone in the room felt like the tone of the conversation had suddenly changed.

However, just when Xue Fang was worried that Cheng Li would not give Duan Yu face.

Just when everyone in the hall thought Cheng Li would act as he always did.

Cheng Li's actions exceeded Xue Fang's imagination.

Cheng Li, who had just been full of arrogance, took a small step back, then straightened his wide robes, smoothed out the wrinkles, and then used both hands to adjust the black high-mountain cap on his head.

Then he bowed respectfully to Duan Yu with cupped hands: "Cheng Li, courtesy name Zhongde, greets the Marquis."

Yikes!

Xue Fang almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

Was this guy... still the same Cheng Li he knew before?

Before Xue Fang and the others could recover from their shock, Cheng Li spoke the next second: "Marquis, to tell you the truth."

"I often dream of holding up the sun with both hands, but I have never understood its meaning!"

"Seeing the Marquis today, I finally understand the meaning."

"If the Marquis does not despise me, I am willing to follow the Marquis, through thick and thin."

Cheng Li bowed with cupped hands, his expression extremely earnest and serious.

Xue Fang, standing to the side, was completely bewildered.

Real?

Fake?

If Cheng Li were a person who loved to cling to the powerful, Xue Fang would think this might be fake.

But... Cheng Li was not that kind of person.

Having been in Donge County for so many years, no one did not know what kind of character Cheng Li had.

Cheng Li could not do such sycophantic things.

Then it was real?

But... if this were real, that would be too mystical.

Xue Fang quietly glanced at Duan Yu and found that Duan Yu's expression was exactly the same as Cheng Li's.

A term suddenly appeared in his mind.

Mutual attraction.

Could this be the legendary mutual attraction?

Duan Yu looked up and laughed heroically: "Zhongde's dream of holding the sun is 'holding the sun with Li'. I think Zhongde should change his name; using 'Li' is not as good as using 'Yu'. What does Zhongde think?"

Cheng Li suddenly raised his head and bowed again in thanks: "I am willing to follow the Marquis's will!"

Duan Yu immediately stepped forward, helped Cheng Yu up with both hands, and said with a smile, "With Zhongde's help, it is like adding wings to a tiger, like the bright sun in the sky."

"Today, I officially appoint Zhongde as the Army Sima."

"Shitou, set up a banquet; I want to get drunk with Zhongde today."

"You all..."

Duan Yu looked at Xue Fang and the others, then waved his hand and said, "Take your seats as well."

"I will explain the matter of Donge County to His Majesty myself. You all protected the people of the county and were willing to lead by example; that was truly not an easy feat."

"Sit down, sit down."

Once Duan Yu said this, everyone in the hall, including Xue Fang, breathed a sigh of relief.

They looked gratefully at Cheng Li, who had already changed his name to Cheng Yu.

Thanks to Cheng Yu's face, otherwise, it would have been hard to say what would have happened.

It was clear that Duan Yu was showing favor because of his affection for Cheng Yu and did not hold it against them.

Otherwise, abandoning the city and fleeing would have resulted in at least being stripped of their official positions.

Following Duan Yu's order, everyone took their seats.

Cheng Yu was even arranged by Duan Yu to sit right beside him.

Having recruited Cheng Yu, Duan Yu was now very happy.

For more than a year, he had had many military generals under his command.

But he had almost no civil officials who could be considered top-tier.

Although the aristocratic families of the Liangzhou lineage could govern local areas, in terms of talent and foresight, they were far inferior to these great figures of the Central Plains.

But there was no help for it.

For great figures of the Central Plains like Xun Yu, Xun You, and Cheng Yu, if he had come to recruit them a year ago, it would have been almost impossible.

Although Cheng Yu was down on his luck now, his ancestors were extremely glorious.

His ancestor, Cheng Bo Xiufu, was the ruler of the Cheng State.

His descendants included his eldest son, Sima Zhonggeng.

And his second son, Cheng Zhongxin.

This Sima is the Sima clan of Henei today.

In other words, Cheng Yu and the Sima clan were close relatives.

Speaking of the Cheng clan, they were even more ancient than those famous medieval families.

A year ago, even after Duan Yu was enfeoffed as the Administrator of Hanyang Commandery in Luoyang, he was only an Administrator with a salary of two thousand shi.

For the truly great aristocratic families like the Xun, Guo, Chen, and Zhong clans, they didn't know how many dozens or even hundreds of such Administrators they had produced.

How could these people look up to him, a mere small Administrator?

Furthermore, there was the regional limitation.

The scholar-official clans centered around Luoyang.

Once they reached adulthood, they would naturally be recommended as filial and incorrupt by local officials to enter the court as Gentlemen.

They were capital officials at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and their family connections were all in Luoyang; why would they follow him to Liangzhou?

The world today was not yet in great chaos.

These scholar-official clans would not choose to invest at all, so without specific circumstances and reasons, it was basically impossible for them to respond to his recruitment.