276. Liu Yan's Death & Liu Zhang's Ascension

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Lastly, for funds and manpower, Lie Fan proposed that for funds they could have the merchants and nobles be involved in this project, by having them invest their money, and in return, they would receive lands and strategic locations for their business venture or new mansions, as for manpower since they would not be going to war for a while he feels that his army could also be used a labor force which could also train their physical body.

The suggestions Lie Fan gave were the concepts he had taken from his past life like the fund's investment where corporations can give investments to a country to build an infrastructure and in return they receive something that has the same worth as their investment.

As for the labor problem, while there's no way a military of a country from his previous life will use its army as a labor force, rather than having them lazing around with training and farming where not all of the soldiers are part of the farming corps, rather than disbanding them it's better to use them for something.

Lie Fan's advisors were contemplating the ideas Lie Fan had, Mi Zhu especially liked the idea of having the Merchants and Noble Clans invest their money, of course, he needed to find a way around as to not let Lie Fan lose many strategic locations, but it's a great concept for them to have.

Xun You and Liu Ye on the other hand feel that Lie Fan's suggestions to use the soldiers as a labor force are a great idea, they don't need to be skilled in crafting or building things, and the largest manpower needed is for the new Wall of Xiapi so it's a perfect idea.

Jia Xu, Chen Qun, Chen Gui, and the others also feel that Lie Fan's plan was reasonable, seeing that everyone agreed with his ideas Lie Fan then proceeded to appoint supervisors for each plan.

Jia Xu and Xun You will handle the Oriole matters as always, keeping a lookout and keeping in check all the Warlords, especially the Sun Clan and Sheng Xian.

Mi Zhu, Chen Qun, and Man Chong will handle the fundraising for the Merchant and Noble Clans, while Liu Ye and Zhuge Jin will handle the labor force needed for the construction and expansion of Xiapi.

While the rest will help them according to what Jia Xu, Mi Zhu, and Liu Ye need, all the names that were called by Lie Fan cupped their hand and received the assignment given by Lie Fan.

Next then Lie Fan talked about the vision of what Xiapi would look like after the expansion, which will have two layers of wall with Outer Walls that will be built from scratch several tens of kilometers from the Inner Wall which was the wall they had right now.

After that, the outer wall area will be called the outer city where it will be filled with markets, production, entertainment, army, and commoner and merchants' residence areas, while the inner wall will be called the inner city which will have the same areas as the outer cities but minus the army area and the commoners and merchants residence changed to nobles areas.

Xiapi's Academy also stayed inside the inner city, where in the future it would slowly open for all kinds of backgrounds, his purpose in separating the cities into two other than for security reasons is to group up the nobles in one area that he could monitor more easily.

Of course, this is just his vision and he leaves all of this to Liu Ye's hands as he is the expert on infrastructure, craft, and engineering. Liu Ye hearing this cupped his hand and promised to accomplish his vision.

After that, the meeting continued for some time with Jia Xu and Xun You as Lie Fan's left and right hand men coordinate Lie Fan's advisors and generals for the assignment they have to do for the next couple of months before the next court session.

With that, the court ended and Lie Fan dismissed everyone to do the assignment they were tasked with, which marked the start of Lie Fan's biggest project yet which was to rebuild Xiapi into a befitting Capital for his future dynasty.

While in Xiapi Lie Fan and his retainer began to start the project of expanding and rebuilding Xiapi, in Yi Province, something disastrous happened that shook the foundation of Yi Province and stopped its campaign against the Nanman Tribes in their south.

Liu Yan the Governor of Yi Province and its Lord over last year joined forces with Han Sui and Ma Teng in an attempt to attack Li Jue who held Chang'An to seize it, but the attack failed as Li Jue held Chang'An and with Guo Si gone, Li Jue holds sole command of Chang'An defense making it impenetrable.

In the hasty retreat, Liu Fan and Liu Dan who were Liu Yan's sons were captured by Li Jue's forces as they tried to flee Chang'An and were tortured and then killed.

Liu Zhang his youngest son, however, barely managed to escape and join up with his father Liu Yan, who returned once again to Yi Province, toward their residence in Mianzhu.

In summer of the last year after his defeat caused him to lose two of his sons, Liu Yan's residence in Mianzhu was struck by lightning and burnt down, causing him to relocate to his residence in Chengdu.

The grief caused by the loss of his two sons and the stress from the Mianzhu caused him to develop an illness on his back, which caused him to be bedridden until right now and there was no one who could cure him.

At night when Liu Zhang accompanies his father, suddenly Liu Yan's illness worsens, and when Liu Zhang calls for the doctors, Liu Yan holds Liu Zhang's hand and tells him to always be kind and good-natured, after that he closes his eyes forever.

Liu Yan's death soon was known by all the people in Chengdu, and Zhao Wei and Wang Shang Liu Yan's trusted advisors helped Liu Zhang and his elder brother Liu Mao to hold a funeral befitting Liu Yan's station.

After the grand funeral ended, the matter of who would become Liu Yan's successor was the next agenda to be discussed, since Liu Yan's death was unexpected and sudden, Liu Yan hadn't nominated any successor since the death of his eldest son Liu Da.

So without Liu Zhang and Liu Mao's awareness, Zhao Wei and Wang Shang hold a secret meeting to discuss who will succeed Liu Yan position and become the next Governor of Yi Province, whenever The Emperor and Imperial Court approve they don't care because it was already known by all that Cao Cao was the puppeteer.

Zhao Wei: "So everyone we all gather here today to discuss who will replace Lord Liu Yan since his death was unexpected, He hasn't chosen who will succeed him since Liu Da's death at Chang'An."

Wang Shang: "Our choice is between Liu Mao and Liu Zhang if we are talking by succession line it should be Liu Mao who succeeds Liu Yan, but he is too headstrong and just like Lord Liu Yan while on the other hand, Liu Zhang is timid and kind which led him to not be decisive when he decides something."

Noble A: "Haha I think by what Master Wang Shang has just said, we already knew who we should nominate and choose to become the next Governor of Yi Province."

Noble B: "Haha! I agree with you when Lord Liu Yan was in charge everything was hard to do since he kept a lookout on all of us, if Liu Mao was just like Lord Liu Yan then it better we nominate Liu Zhang, line of succession doesn't matter since we could forge a will that 'was' left by Lord Liu Yan."

Zhao Wei: "I see that everyone can see what Wang Shang and I trying to convey, while we would allow some backhand deals to be made, we also choose Liu Zhang because we could control him and decide Yi Province toward a much more reasonable path."

Noble C: "We understand Master Zhao Wei and Master Wang Shang, a 'more' reasonable path right Haha we understand perfectly don't worry!"

After the meeting ended, Zhao Wei and Wang Shang lead the small group of nobles to expand their beliefs across the entirety of Yi Province Nobles and Merchant Clans in which they support the two of them, of course, some still support Liu Mao but just a small part.

After a couple of days passed from the funeral and the secret meeting that was held by Zhao Wei and Wang Shang, Liu Zhang was nominated to take over the governorship of Yi Province by Zhao Wei and Wang Shang along with other Nobles of Yi Province.

Liu Zhang's ascension as the Governor of Yi Province wasn't taken well by Liu Mao who protested the decision was invalid and that it should be him, as by line of succession he was the oldest of Liu Yao's sons that were still alive.

At this time Zhao Wei took out the forged will they made that indicated Liu Yan appointed Liu Zhabg to replace him due to his kind nature and hoped that Zhao Wei and Wang Shang advised him on his rule as Governor of Yi Province.

Liu Mao who heard this became angry and said that it was all lies as he had never known that Liu Yan made a will and that Liu Yan was a strict man who adhered to tradition so he would never appoint Liu Zhang especially when he was much better than Liu Zhang.

Zhao Wei and Wang Shang who see that Liu Mao could become a thorn in their side, let Lou Mao vent his anger and dissatisfaction for a while. In the meantime, they prepared for Liu Zhang's ascension to become the Governor of Yi Province.

Liu Zhang who hears that he will succeed in his Father's position at first rejected the notion because he thinks that he is unfit to rule due to his timid and kind nature but after Zhao Wei and Wang Shang persuade him and encourage him, he finally relented and divide to accept his Father's 'will'.

On the day of Liu Zhang's Ascension, the weather was moody and there was no sun and a bit chilly but there was no indication that rain would fall so the ceremony went on as scheduled, along the way the ceremony was being held, Liu Mao let his dissatisfaction known by all people present.

While it caused the ceremony to be longer than usual, Zhao Wei and Wang Shang ignored him and let the ceremony continue until it was done, Liu Zhang then was declared the Governor of Yi Province, where letters of the announcement were soon spread all across the land to inform of Liu Yan's passing away and Liu Zhang his youngest son succeed his position as the Governor of Yi Province.

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Name: Lie Fan

Title: Three Heroes Who Defeat Lu Bu

Age: 28 (195 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 2,462,000

Renown: 725

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)

SP: 1,071,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 936 (+20)

VIT: 598 (+20)

AGI: 583 (+10)

INT: 587

CHR: 93

WIS: 509

WILL: 397

ATR Points: 0