Chapter Eighty-six: The Heirloom Jade Seal Changes

  Made of jade, crystal clear and translucent, with a corner on the edge cast in pure gold, four inches square, with five dragons intersecting at the top, and the front engraved with the eight-character inscription "Receive the Mandate from Heaven, Long Life and Eternal Prosperity".

  "This won't do!" Not to mention others, even Lü Bu swallowed his saliva, with a glint in his eyes.

  "That's right, this is the dowry left by the master - the heirloom jade seal!" Yang Hong said with a serious face.

  "He's Token?" Liu Mang had always thought that the imperial jade seal passed down through the ages was just a piece of jade, and whoever got to rule could just make one at will. But now he found out he was wrong.

  The material of the Heirloom Jade Seal is the same as that of the He Shi Bi, which was originally obtained by the people of Chu. Later it fell into the hands of Zhao and eventually led to the incident of "Perfect Jade Returning to Zhao". Qin was willing to exchange fifteen cities for a single piece of jade.

  Later, Qin destroyed Zhao and finally obtained the He Shi Bi. The world was unified, and Ying Zheng was called the First Emperor. He ordered Li Si to inscribe the eight characters "Mandate from Heaven, Long Life and Eternal Prosperity".

  It later fell into Liu Bang's hands and was passed down for several hundred years, until the city of Luoyang changed, when Sun Jian and Sun Wentai retrieved it from a dry well.

  Sun Wentai didn't last long either and died under a hail of arrows.

  Sun Ce had no choice but to use the jade seal and Yuan Shu's troops to plot his own independence.

  The old Yuan would have been better off directly taking it and declaring himself emperor, so in the end he was betrayed by his own people and left with no place to rest his bones.

  It's not that Yuan Shu can be blamed, Liu Mang looked at this heirloom jade seal and suddenly had a hint of greed in his heart. The jade disc was flowing with colors, as if there were rays of light flashing and jumping within it.

  His power is too great, no wonder many heroes have lost their lives for him.

  Chen Gong gazed intently at the object in Yang Hong's hand. As a Confucian scholar and a man of letters, he may not have been familiar with the quality of gold and jade, but the eight large characters on it were indeed written by Li Si of the Qin Dynasty.

  "General Lü, Yang Hong dares to ask a question, does General Lü want to take the road above?!" Yang Hong saw that Lü Bu was still hesitant and emphasized his tone.

  "Huh?!" Lü Bu didn't understand what Yang Hong was saying.

  Yang Hong continued, "General Lü, are you going to take the path of a king or the path of an emperor?" Yang Hong's eyes sparkled as he spoke.

  "What is the King's Way, what is the Emperor's Way?!" Lü Bu shifted his gaze away from the Imperial Seal of Transmission, this thing was too enticing, it could make people do many crazy things.

  "If he takes the path of a king, then with General Lü's strength, he can completely occupy one side and observe the overall situation in the world! General Lü is renowned for his military prowess, no emperor would dare to easily offend him! And General Lü wanting to go to Jiangxia and Xinye is actually just looking for a place to settle down!"

  Yang Hong is right, Chen Gong's current strategy for Lü Bu is to occupy one side and observe the overall situation in the world. Hebei has Yuan Shao and Cao Cao competing with each other, Xiliang also has Ma Teng, Yizhou and Jingzhou have two Liu clansmen, plus Sun Ce in Jiangdong, this world is full of opportunities.

  "What a majestic road!" Lü Bu didn't expect that Yuan Shu also had capable men under him.

  "If it's the Emperor's Road!" Yang Hong glanced at Lü Bu and said bluntly, "To be honest, General Lü can't even pass through now!"

  Yang Hong's words meant that Lü Bu could only achieve something by relying on one of the lords, and if he tried to do it himself, it would be a complete failure.

  Daring to directly strike Lord Lü in front of Lü Bu, Yang Hong's audacity is quite impressive.

  Liu Meng thought Lü Boss would get angry, but unexpectedly Lü Boss calmly said "Continue!"

  "To take the path of an emperor, General Lü must have two things. The first is military power; a strong military and a powerful army are necessary prerequisites for contending with the world!"

  Lü Bu's army had 5,000 iron cavalry, 3,000 vanguard troops, 3,000 city garrison troops, and another 10,000 infantrymen and 5,000 archers. These forces were enough for Lü Bu to contend for the empire.

  At least in this generation of Huainan, there is no vassal who can fight against Lord Lü head-on.

  But having real power is just the first step in contending for hegemony over the world.

  Otherwise, before Xuzhou and Yanzhou, Lü Bu's strength was much stronger than it is now. Even when he was besieged by Cao Cao, he had an army of 70,000 men, but wasn't he also driven out of Xuzhou by Cao Cao?

  Lü Bu wanted to hear was Yang Hong's second point.

  "This is the second point, prestige!" Yang Hong replied.

  "What prestige?" Liu Mang sneered. From the moment Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, didn't his army's prestige disappear? And in the entire Huainan, isn't it only remembered that Yuan Shu was tyrannical and unrestrained?

  Don't look at Liu Mao boasting about Yuan Tzu in Sun Ce's army, he just wants to slap Chen Rui in the face.

  Seeing Liu Mang's smile, how could Yang Hong not know what Liu Mang was thinking? "My lord may have claimed the throne as a great righteousness that cannot be tolerated, but the name and prestige of the Yuan family are still there!"

  Yuan Shu was the legitimate son of the Yuan family, and it can be said that he was the true representative of the Yuan family. He represented the existence of the Yuan family with four generations of three dukes. The descendants of the Yuan family were all over the world. Although Yuan Shu died, the Yuan family did not perish. If Yuan Shu's orphaned children married Liu Mang, those Yuan family descendants would also take care of Lü Bu's army for the sake of this orphan.

  "A noble family!" Yang Hong's words were exactly what he meant. Marrying Yuan Shu's daughter would gain you the support of a noble family, after all, you would be the son-in-law of a noble family and belong to the same class of people.

  It's just like you must think for businessmen as a politician who wants to be a businessman, is a person close to businessmen, and it's best if this person's family members are also businessmen, so many policies will tend towards businessmen.

  Marrying Yuan Shu's daughter is equivalent to marrying into a powerful family's support.

  You might say that ordinary people are still the majority in this world, and how many people can be considered aristocratic families, belonging to a minority. Then you would be greatly mistaken.

  From ancient times to the present, except for modern times, the whole world has been dominated by these aristocratic families. The Eastern Han was a peak period, and which of those vassals did not come from an aristocratic family? Cao Cao was a member of both the Cao and Xiahou aristocratic families, while Yuan Shao was a member of the Yuan aristocratic family with four generations of high-ranking officials.

  Liu Biao entered Jingzhou in order to calm down the influential families of Jingzhou and also married a daughter of the Cai family.

  Liu Bei also married Lady Gan, who was from the family of Tao Qian's wife.

  Lü Bu also had a daughter of Cao Bao, but the prestige of the Cao family was far inferior to that of the Yuan family, let alone that the Cao family was still in Xuzhou and couldn't help much.

  Lü Bu was somewhat moved, but this world was to be exchanged for his own daughter's happiness, was it really worth it?

  "My master only wants to find a good home for the young lady, and if General Lü is unwilling, this jade seal will be returned to General Lü for safekeeping, so as to ease my master's mind!" As he spoke, Yang Hong handed over the jade seal in his hand.

  He pretended to retreat in order to advance, Yang Hong could see that Lü Bu was a man with human feelings, or rather, he had ulterior motives. Yang Hong's move was well played!

  Chen Gong did not speak, although he also wanted Lü Bu to accept the heirloom jade seal, but this after all involved Lü Bu's family affairs, and as an outsider, it was difficult for him to intervene.

  "Go down first! Let me think about it!" Lü Bu waved his hand. Which one was more important, his daughter's happiness or his imperial ambitions? If it were still in Xuzhou and before, Lü Bu might have thrown his daughter's happiness aside without hesitation, because at that time, the path to the throne was what he pursued.

  But after the Xuzhou incident, Lü Bu changed, especially with the betrayal and death of Song Xian and Wei Xu, he became too self-centered, abandoning too much for the sake of imperial power.

  Yang Hong lowered his head and backed out, but on the table was left behind the jade seal that had been passed down through generations.

  "Imperial Road! Imperial Road!" Lü Bu played with the ancient jade seal, a complex feeling in his heart.