Cao Song was immensely wealthy. According to historical records, he spent a fortune—over a hundred million coins—just to buy the position of one of the Three Excellencies. Typically, one could earn back the cost of such a purchase within three months by taking advantage of the position, but Cao Song wasn't too aggressive about it. Within a year, he had recouped his investment, and in the years that followed, he easily made tens of millions more.
In short, Cao Song decided to pack up everything and set off with over a hundred carts filled with money, grain, and other supplies. Naturally, this slowed down his journey significantly, making it unlikely that he would reach Yanzhou, Chenliu within a month or two.
"Zixiu, Anmin, you two should take your younger brothers and go on ahead. I'm sure Mengde and the others are eager to see you. Your uncles and I will follow slowly with the supplies." A convoy of over a hundred carts wasn't easy to manage, and the journey had been dragging on for days. After traveling for more than ten days without even reaching Donghai, the younger generation of the Cao family had grown restless. Understanding this, Cao Song decided to send them on ahead with a group of guards.
"Yes, Grandfather!" Cao Ang responded excitedly, and soon, he, Cao Pi, and their younger cousins, including Xiahou Shang and the others, rode off with three hundred cavalry guards, leaving the convoy behind.
"Little Bazi, why didn't you go with them?" Cao Song asked curiously when he noticed that ten-year-old Xiahou Ba had stayed behind. Unlike his brothers and cousins, Xiahou Ba had chosen not to leave.
"Grandfather, you gave most of the guards to my brothers. Don't you need guards yourself?" Xiahou Ba shook his head. Despite his young age, he had already shown signs of being far more capable than his older brother Xiahou De and cousin Xiahou Mao. As the talented son of Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Ba was already demonstrating great promise.
"Hahaha, Little Bazi, don't worry. Nothing will happen to me here in Xuzhou. Your uncle is a hero who defeated Yuan Shu, and Xuzhou is a prosperous region. There won't be many bandits or thieves around. Once we reach Donghai Commandery, as long as Tao Gongzu isn't a fool, he'll definitely send troops to escort me to Yanzhou. If anything happens to us here in his territory, your uncle won't let him off easily." Cao Song laughed heartily, his confidence evident.
"Oh, I see." Xiahou Ba scratched his head, still not entirely sure, but reassured that his elders wouldn't be in danger.
"Now, Little Bazi, do you want to stay with your grandfather, or go catch up with your brothers and cousins?" Cao Song asked, clearly fond of Xiahou Ba.
"Hmm..." Xiahou Ba hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Go on, go on. You'll feel restricted staying with us." Seeing Xiahou Ba's expression, Cao Song understood and had a horse brought over. He also sent a dozen guards to accompany Xiahou Ba as he rode off to catch up with his brothers and cousins.
It was this decision by Cao Song to send away the younger members of the family that would ultimately save many of the Cao clan's bloodline. Otherwise...
Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jin used the connections left behind by their father, who had once served as an official in Taishan, to make their way to Li You. It didn't take long for Zhuge Jin to impress with his talents, and soon both brothers found themselves in the Taishan Library.
"Zhuge, my young friend, would you be interested in serving here in Fenggao?" Li You was quite pleased with the capable young scholar Zhuge Jin. As for whether he was a bit too young—barely in his late teens—Li You wasn't concerned. After all, Fa Zheng had been put to work when he was only sixteen, thanks to the efforts of Guo Jia, Jia Xu, and Chen Xi. If a young man was talented, Li You had no qualms about bringing him on board.
"Sigh, I feel that I am too dull to achieve great things. I don't deserve such praise from you, sir," Zhuge Jin replied earnestly, with such sincerity that even Li You believed him. Thus, he didn't press further but instead encouraged Zhuge Jin to return to Fenggao after completing his studies. He emphasized that Fenggao was a good place to be.
In other words, although Li You admired Zhuge Jin, he could tell that the young man had a desire to live as a recluse, so he didn't push too hard. Additionally, Li You's mind was busy with work, and he wanted to get back to his tasks, which led him to miss some of the subtleties of Zhuge Jin's words. In the end, Zhuge Jin successfully dodged further recruitment efforts.
Had Li You known that Zhuge Jin possessed a spiritual talent, he wouldn't have cared about whether the young man wanted to be a recluse or not. He would have ensured Zhuge Jin stayed—either by convincing him or by force, if necessary.
Thanks to the spark of inspiration Zhuge Jin had provided, Li You found his own wisdom heightened. He started noticing details he had previously overlooked, making his work even smoother.
When Sima Lang and Sima Yi entered the library through the proper channels, they found Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang already browsing the shelves.
"Brother Boda, Brother Zhongda, you're here too," Zhuge Jin greeted them with a smile.
"Ziyu, since you arrived earlier, have you found any books of interest?" Sima Lang replied with a smile so warm that even Zhuge Liang could feel its sincerity.
"Brother Boda, using your spiritual talent to win people over isn't a good thing," Zhuge Jin huffed, realizing what was behind Sima Lang's warmth.
"All right, all right," Sima Lang replied, retracting his spiritual influence, though still smiling. "Have you found anything that catches your eye?"
"Move, move! Don't block the way!" A voice called out.
"Dare I ask—" Sima Lang began.
Faced with Sima Lang's friendly demeanor, even the previously feisty Cai Er became a bit shy. "I am Yang Cai of the Cai family, a manager here. These books are new military texts and miscellaneous strategies."
"May we take a look at them?" Sima Lang politely asked, bowing slightly. Meanwhile, Zhuge Jin kept a careful eye on Cai Er. Earlier, when he had been browsing, he noticed that the library contained mostly classic texts. The real military and strategic books were in Cai Yan's possession and required her approval to borrow.
"Um..." Cai Er hesitated, considering that these were not particularly important books. "Well, you can take one quickly, but don't let my sister catch you."
Zhuge Jin quietly followed Sima Lang and picked a book from the pile. Of course, he didn't forget to express his gratitude. "Brother Boda, your spiritual talent is truly impressive."
Sima Lang smirked but didn't say much. He led his younger brother to a quiet spot, not expecting too much from the books he had acquired—after all, Cai Er wasn't someone with access to highly valuable texts. But, at the end of the day, a book is a book, and it's better to have something to read than nothing.
Interestingly, the books Cai Er had with her were actually the result of Chen Xi's random musings, based on future theories. In this era, a text of ten thousand words could be considered a book, and Chen Xi could easily dictate a hundred thousand words in a day, with Fan Jian taking notes. It gave Fan Jian something to do, and after a bit of editing, each lecture became a book filled with wisdom...
Given that two thousand years of accumulated wisdom could be casually sprinkled into his talks, some of the ideas in these books were indeed startling. But in reality, Chen Xi had been half-joking when he produced them. The books were full of contradictions, and he couldn't be bothered to revise them. They were meant to inspire the people of this era, not to be masterpieces of literature.