Mythical Three Kingdoms

”After all, it’s a family that has existed since the early Han dynasty, and it should indeed be given a chance.” Zhang Song nodded and said. In reality, regardless of the choice made by the Yong Family, the outcome wouldn’t be good. At least, after this event, the local tyrant Yong Family, which even Emperor Gao was far removed from, was completely finished.

At this stage, no matter how the Yong Family chooses, the best result would only be to preserve a good name, with no more of the aura of a local tyrant; the worst result would be the destruction of the family, leaving no possibility of recovery, with the descendants, if any survive, having no choice but to change their surname.

Wang Lei, despite only adding a hand, pushed the Yong Family to a difficult position, which also shows that although Yizhou Scholars and Warriors are not top-notch, they are indeed people of strategic planning.

In fact, it really was as Wang Lei estimated, the atmosphere of the entire clan of the Yong Family, which previously called the shots in the Yizhou Commandery, had become much heavier.

”Everyone, speak up. What should we do?” The young Yong Kai looked at the silent elders and children of the clan with a heavy expression and asked, what should the Yong Family do now?

All the clan members of the Yong Family were silent. After opening the city gates to let the Southern Barbarians enter the Yizhou Commandery, and upon receiving news that the entire southern Yizhou was rebelling and the Northern Huns were invading from the north, the current head of the Yong Family understood completely that the Yong Family was being roasted in fire, and a choice had to be made.

Choosing the Southern Barbarians, given the current situation, would mean severing ties with the Aristocratic Families Under Heaven. Once the Northern Huns’ war ended, there would inevitably be someone coming after the Yong Family for the reckoning, and in such circumstances, no major aristocratic family would mind using some tactics that are less than honorable.

Choosing the Han Dynasty, considering that a fool from the Yong Family had already welcomed the Southern Barbarians into the Yizhou Commandery, once a choice was made at this time, street battles would erupt. Even if the Yong Family, which was the local tyrant of Yizhou Commandery for four hundred years, fought street battles with the over 20,000 Southern Barbarians already in the commandery and expelled the Southern Barbarians, they would undoubtedly suffer severe losses.

More importantly, the Yong Family became the unquestionable local tyrant in Yizhou Commandery thanks in no small part to the Southern Barbarians’ help, and such behavior of inviting the Southern Barbarians into the city and then annihilating them would not only lose the future friendship of the Southern Barbarians but also result in the rebellious barbarians treating the Yong Family as a thorn to be eliminated immediately.

The Yong Family, already severely weakened by one street battle, would find it difficult to withstand this once more, even with the Yizhou Commandery that stood for hundreds of years, let alone preserve their four-hundred-year legacy after this war.

The elders and clan members of the Yong Family looked at each other in dismay. Such a major matter left them undecided; times have changed. Even before, resisting the Yizhou Inspector with the Southern Barbarians didn’t matter much, but now, with the Northern Huns’ turmoil, such actions belonged to using outside forces to weaken the Han Dynasty, belonging to rebellion against the clan…

To aristocratic families, most laws can be played with, but a few must not be touched, and rebellion against the clan is one that cannot be touched. In this era, there is a clear identification of what constitutes rebellion against the clan, and destroying the survival rights of the Huaxia nation belongs to it.

To put it simply, inviting the Xianbei, Wuhuan, Qiang People, Jie Clan, Fuyu, or Southern Barbarians does not count as rebellion because they can be controlled, and they cannot destroy the survival rights of the Huaxia nation. Even if you lose control, it is you who are ruined, and others can still solve the problem.

Of course, the chaos of the Five Barbarians doesn’t need to be mentioned; the Jin Dynasty thought it was like the Han Dynasty and could control them, but ultimately lost control and destroyed the survival rights of the Huaxia nation. In essence, the upper echelons of the Jin Dynasty had collectively engaged in rebellion against the clan.

As for the late Han, regardless of which country between Wei, Shu, and Wu, they essentially remain nations with the same ethnic group as the main race. The concept of betraying the state is actually very ambiguous. During this period, the common saying was ”clan,” which originated from ”When not of our clan, their hearts are surely different.”

In essence, even if the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu split, they all unanimously recognized the phrase ”When not of our clan, their hearts are surely different.” Their stance towards outsiders remained consistent, considering the other two countries still as their own, which was actually the basis for unification.

If ordinary people considered others to be alien races, then to unify might only be possible through slaughter; there would be no special methods. In short, the alien races must be reduced to a level where they do not threaten the main ethnic group. Otherwise, shaking the foundation of the country and being assimilated is not a joke.

This is what troubles the Yong Family the most now. Choosing to ally with the Southern Barbarians at this time would mean not being on the same battleline as their own race, while the current battleline of their race is to stop internal wars and focus on destroying the Huns.

If they still instigate outside forces to attack their own race, it can definitely be categorized under rebellion, and once in that category, death is not far off. Even if the state doesn’t have time to deal with it now, once they do have time, a swarm of aristocratic families who feel ashamed to associate will take them down.

This is basically the bottom line. After all, not destroying the survival rights of one’s race is a bottom line tacitly agreed upon by all aristocratic families. Once this is crossed, everything of the aristocratic family revolves around succession, and now let alone succession, even the right to survive is threatened. If not targeting you, who else would they target?

”Speak up!” Yong Kai roared angrily, seeing everyone bow their heads in silence, fully aware that this time, regardless of the choice made, the Yong Family would hardly have a chance to rise again. They might not even be able to live in the ancestral home they’ve inhabited for four hundred years.

”Master, we...,” a young member of the Yong Family slightly raised his head, squeezed a few words through his teeth, ”should rebel!”

”Who agrees with his proposal?” Yong Kai shouted angrily, his face showing no sign of agreement or disagreement.

”Let’s attack the Southern Barbarians…” an elder of the Yong Family, appearing to be in his seventies, sighed deeply and said, ”Though we will lose much that way, choosing the other path would pin our Yong Family on the pillar of shame forever.”

”Throughout history, has there ever been an aristocratic family that rebelled against its kind and left any descendants?” the elderly man from the Yong Family said with a bitter smile. ”Severing our ties with the Southern Barbarians is still better than severing ties with the aristocracy. At least if we sever ties with the Southern Barbarians, we can move elsewhere. If we sever ties with the aristocracy, although the world is vast, there would be no place for us.”

Yong Kai fell silent. In truth, he wanted to rebel, given that their dealings with the various Southern Barbarian tribes had been cultivated over hundreds of years, their relationships were not spoken of trivially, and abandoning a centuries-long effort was truly hard to bear.

”Forget it, forget it. The elder speaks reason.” Yong Kai sighed deeply and spoke bitterly, realizing that this way, it would take at least a dozen years to restore their relationship with the Southern Barbarians, and with Liu Zhang in Chengdu watching them closely, the Yong Family no longer had the opportunity to cultivate for decades.