Chapter 001: The Fury of an Egg

  Liu Bei said: "Can Liu Zhang of Yi Province be considered a hero?"

  Zhang said: "Liu Zhang is a member of the imperial family, but he's just a watchdog at the gate. What kind of hero is that?"

  In the year 199 AD, in the fourth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao and Liu Bei were drinking together, discussing all the heroes in the world. Meanwhile, Liu Zhang, whom Cao Cao called a "guard dog", was deep in thought within the city walls of Chengdu, Yizhou.

  "A good student like him, how did he cross over? Why did he have to become the weak and timid Liu Zhang, the governor of Yi Province, and be scolded by Cao Cao as a dog?"

  The current Liu Zhang is no longer the original Liu Zhang, but a 21st-century performing arts student. He was preparing for an audition and repeatedly practiced a facial expression until his muscles cramped up and he died. The good-for-nothing from his previous life didn't expect to still be a good-for-nothing after crossing over.

  Liu Zhang was eating eggs while checking the expenditure account book of the provincial governor's mansion. The attendant next to him was surprised, as Liu Zhang had always been indulgent in sensual pleasures and never asked about such matters, which were usually handled by his inner court. Today, why did he suddenly take an interest in looking at the expenses of the mansion?

  Liu Zhang chewed his egg slowly, his face calm, but in his heart he was already furious, his fists clenched tightly.

  "A candle for two hundred coins, a lantern for five hundred coins, an egg for one or two silver pieces... Is this an egg or a bomb?"

  Liu Zhang grew more and more enraged. What did these people in the palace take themselves for, idiots? They were so brazen in taking bribes, and this was just the imperial court - what about the military officers? No wonder Zhuge Liang said he was weak and Cao Cao called him a dog guarding the door.

  "He must be rectified, just like the imperial court's surgery." Liu Zhang secretly made up his mind.

  "Remove that official from the inner court for me." Liu Zhang ordered his attendant. The attendant suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, but did not respond.

  "What's wrong?" Liu Zhang asked.

  The attendant officer said with a quivering voice: "Reporting to the master, the person in charge of the inner court is Zhao Mu, and Master knows his identity. He is the younger brother of General Zhao Wei, who is fighting hard on the eastern front. If you remove Zhao Mu from office, General Zhao will definitely be unhappy."

  "Hsss~~" Liu Zhang let out a deep breath, trying to calm the turbulent flow of air in his chest. His palms almost crushed the edge of the table. Indeed, the situation had turned upside down. As a dignified provincial governor, he was about to remove an internal affairs manager, yet he still had to consider Zhao's face and status. Had he become a puppet?

  Liu Zhang's face showed no signs, but in his heart he had already made up his mind to eliminate this General Zhao, otherwise the inside and outside of Yi Province would not know whether their master was surnamed Liu or Zhao.

  Liu Zhang looked up Zhao Wei's information and found that he was one of the key officials who welcomed Liu Yan to Shu, and also had the merit of supporting himself. He was one of the two most trusted ministers left behind by Liu Yan. Recently, despite having no achievements in several battles, his military power has grown more and more, no wonder he is so arrogant and domineering.

  Zhao Wei had been operating for many years in Yizhou, and Liu Zhang knew that eliminating the Zhao family and consolidating his own power would not be an easy task. The first thing to do was to find someone who could be used. Liu Zhang took out the list of officials in Yizhou and went through it one by one. He didn't rush to look for talented people, as those talents might not necessarily be loyal to him. What was important was to find a few loyal ministers first.

  When I first learned to perform, I also read a lot of Three Kingdoms scripts. Although they are not historical facts, the image of loyal ministers is still very impressive. Liu Zhang only hopes that those screenwriters will not ruin their fathers.

  Liu Zhang looked for half a day and finally found two big loyal ministers, one of whom was Wang Chong. This guy would rather hang himself upside down from the city gate and break his own rope to die than not speak the truth, and he is truly worthy of being called a loyal minister.

  Another one was Huang Quan, Liu Zhang remembered that Huang Quan first followed Liu Zhang, then followed Liu Bei, and finally followed Wei, changing his lord three times, similar to Lü Bu. However, no one criticized him because each time he changed lords, it was out of necessity. Huang Quan resisted Liu Bei's entry into Shu and held on until the end, when Liu Zhang surrendered, he also surrendered. When he followed Wei, it was because Liu Bei suffered a great defeat at Yiling, first withdrawing his army to Baidi, leaving Huang Quan's solitary army sandwiched between Wei and Wu. Huang Quan had no choice but to follow Wei, and even Liu Bei said that he had wronged Huang Quan, while Huang Quan never wronged him.

  In terms of ability, Huang Quan is a well-rounded character who excels in both literature and martial arts. While he may not be exceptionally outstanding, he is far from being mediocre, belonging to the category of characters with an 80-point ability value in the game.

  Liu Zhang issued two orders, appointing Wang Lei as the Shu Cao Book Assistant, to follow him and offer advice, and also to help him handle some miscellaneous tasks. As he was not familiar with the officialdom of ancient times, there were many problems that he could not avoid, and if he did not have a loyal minister by his side, Liu Zhang dared not guarantee that he would not be deceived.

  Wang Can was originally only a subordinate of rank one hundred stones, but suddenly became a book assistant of three hundred stones, and was still a close minister of Liu Zhang. He couldn't help but be surprised by the favor, and worked diligently at Liu Zhang's side.

  Liu Zhang again summoned Huang Quan to enter Chengdu, and Huang Quan was still young at that time, just a county official. Upon hearing the news of being summoned by the provincial governor, he was both shocked and delighted, and that night he packed up his belongings and rushed to Chengdu.

  Liu Zhang became familiar with the provincial government office and decided to go out and take a look at his own territory. At least he had to get familiar with the situation in Chengdu, otherwise he would be like the old Liu Zhang who had been eating eggs for one or two silver coins for so many years.

  Liu Zhang, dressed in casual clothes, sat down with Wang Lei in a tea house, where ordinary people gathered to relax and socialize. From what he observed, life in Shu was still decent, and the region could be considered prosperous. However, few people took Liu Zhang seriously, and instead discussed Cao Cao, Sun Ce, and Yuan Shao from outside Yi Province, or Zhao Wei within Yi Province. Compared to Liu Zhang, who was always cooped up in the provincial governor's mansion, Zhao Wei seemed more like a man in power in the eyes of the common people.

  Listening to the common people's contempt for Liu Zhang and admiration for Zhao Wei, Wang Lei carefully took a look at Liu Zhang's expression. If it were the old Liu Zhang, he would have flown into a rage, scolding and cursing, and would not have hesitated to flog some of the common people. But now, seeing Liu Zhang's calm face, Wang Lei felt slightly relieved, yet also somewhat perplexed - when had his own master become so tolerant?

  "Miss, the adults have instructed us that Chengdu is no better than Langzhong. We must be careful and cautious in all things, and we cannot afford to provoke the powerful. Let's go back."

  On the street, a little maid carefully persuaded her own excited young lady. The young lady was wearing light green clothes, with clear and bright eyes, tied in a double-ring braid, hair scattered to below the shoulders, holding a fan drum in her hand, playing happily. Her light red lips opened slightly: "Cloud, just let me take another look, you see there are so many beautiful and interesting things here, much more than our own Lan Zhong. Don't worry, I won't cause any trouble, just take another look and then we'll go back."

  "Miss..." Yuer stamped her foot in frustration, but could only follow behind Miss, conveniently picking up one small trinket after another that Miss had bought.

  Just then, three or five riders on horseback came galloping over, regardless of the pedestrians on the street. The horse's head rubbed against Yun'er's shoulder as it ran by, and Yun'er was holding many things in her hand, startled, and suddenly scattered all around.

  "What's wrong with you? Can you ride a horse on the main street like this?" The young lady, seeing Yun'er still in shock, couldn't help but step forward and scold.

  "Control"

  The man riding the horse reined in his horse's head and said disdainfully, "This is a major street in Chengdu, no one else can ride horses here, only I can. You don't even ask... huh?" The man suddenly noticed the woman's appearance, her delicate face, fair skin, and slender figure, which made him swallow hard and fall off his horse.

  "Wow, Chengdu has many beauties, but I've never seen one as beautiful as you. Whose daughter are you? Tomorrow, I'll go propose to your family， Zhao Dage， and you can be my ninth concubine."

  The man stretched out three fingers to lift the woman's chin, but was slapped open by the woman, who looked at him with a frown.

  "Hey, it's quite spicy." The man chuckled and the follower behind him immediately said in a high-pitched tone: "You little girl better not be ungrateful, my young master is Zhao Wei Zhao General's younger brother. You're lucky to have caught his eye, don't refuse the wine or you'll get penalized for not drinking it."

  Following the class immediately attracted the attention of Liu Zhang upstairs, and it turned out that this arrogant young master was his own inner court manager, Zhao Wei's younger brother Zhao Hui. He was thinking of using him as a scapegoat, but instead, he delivered himself to the door. Liu Zhang began to pay attention to the movements on the street.