Chapter 517: Since Yi was born, why was Liang born? Liu Xie’s training for his son
“Is there anyone who would vote for me?”

Hearing Jia Xu’s words, Guo Jia was also a little surprised. He was a civil official, not a military general. Why would anyone vote for him?
Jia Xu held the vote tally book, nodded and smiled, “Yes, there are quite a few votes, more than 400 votes, but Kong Ming’s votes are several times yours.”

“He has more than 1,800 votes in total.”

This number surprised both Guo Jia and Fa Zheng.

Fa Zheng couldn’t help but ask: “Aren’t the vice presidents selected from among the military generals? Why are there still people voting for Kong Ming and Feng Xiao?”

“And I remember that Lord Wen only had over 2,000 votes. How come Kong Ming had so many votes?”

He really didn’t understand why the soldiers would vote for the civil officials. It was too strange.

Jia Xu was not surprised and said, “What’s there to be surprised about? Feng Xiao and Kong Ming have both led troops in battles. Although they are not military generals, they have military merits.”

“Isn’t it normal that the soldiers recognize their abilities and vote for them?”

“As for why Kong Ming got so many votes… I think it’s because of the Battle of Red Cliff. That action shocked a lot of people.”

At this point, Jia Xu’s face showed resentment again, and he cursed: “But these guys didn’t even vote for me. I only got more than a hundred votes.”

Although he always stayed behind the scenes and rarely led troops, he made the first contribution in the attack and defense of Chang’an.

He even nearly lost his life for this.

And all his hard work only earned him a little over a hundred tickets, which really made him feel a little unbalanced.

Guo Jia and Fa Zheng couldn’t help laughing when they heard this.

After all, Jia Xu was the head of the Embroidered Uniform Envoy, and the Embroidered Uniform Envoy had a bad reputation outside, so Jia Xu was also implicated and his reputation became somewhat notorious.

Sima Yi looked at the three people who were talking and laughing, his face full of confusion. He felt that the words and phrases they said were extremely unfamiliar.
What to vote for? What to vote for?
He had only taken a leave of absence for more than ten days, but it felt like he had been away from the court for ten years and was completely unable to keep up with the changes.

“that……”

Sima Yi raised his hand, hesitated for a while, and asked: “What does this vote mean? What is the use?”

Upon hearing this, Guo Jia said, “Your Majesty founded the Han Imperial Military Academy. Although the post of president is held by Your Majesty himself, the position of vice president is vacant.”

“In order to be fair, His Majesty has ordered the soldiers to vote for the person they think is most suitable for the position of vice-president.”

“Within ten days, the person with the most votes will be the vice president.”

“At present, General Zhang Liao has the most votes, followed by Lord Wen, General Zhao, and then Zhuge Kongming.”

“Even General Huang has more votes than him.”

Zhuge Liang received a lot of votes, which was unexpected by everyone.

“what?!”

Sima Yi was shocked when he heard this. A bad feeling instantly enveloped his whole body, and his heart felt like it was being grabbed by a pair of invisible hands.

Zhuge Liang is actually secretly planning something big again!
You should know that Zhuge Liang has won great reputation and fame since he shined in the Weishui Debate.

Now he is running for the position of vice president. It is obvious that he wants to suppress him completely and make him unable to stand up forever!
Sima Yi’s heart was in turmoil, but he still suppressed his throbbing and asked, “How many votes do I have now?”

He also participated in and commanded many battles. He became famous for breaking through Tongguan on single-handedly. He didn’t believe that no one would vote for him.

“Let me see……”

Jia Xu picked up the book and flipped through it, then said, “I found it. There are quite a few votes, a little more than Feng Xiao’s. One thousand two hundred and seventy-one votes, very good.”

“It seems that many soldiers recognize Zhongda’s ability.”

One thousand two hundred and seventy-one votes. This number is indeed not small. Chen Gong only had more than three hundred votes.

But after hearing what Jia Xu said, Sima Yi was not happy. Instead, his face turned pale and his body began to shake slightly.

He actually… only had 1,271 votes?
Zhuge Liang had 500 more votes than him!

“Is this the gap between him and me? Not only is he less intelligent than me, but he is also less prestigious in the military.”

“One thousand two hundred and seventy-one votes, one thousand two hundred and seventy-one votes… hehe.”

“Since Yi was born, why was Liang born?”

At this moment, Sima Yi felt disheartened and his heart was filled with deep frustration. He could no longer muster any strength.

From childhood to adulthood, he has always been the “other people’s child” in the eyes of others. It has always been others who feel frustrated in front of him, but no one has ever made him feel frustrated.

But this pride was shattered with the appearance of Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang could easily surpass him in every aspect. Every time he made various efforts to narrow the gap and thought he had finally caught up with the other party, he suddenly found that the gap between them was as far as ten thousand miles.

It’s so ridiculous.

Fa Zheng noticed that Sima Yi’s face looked a little strange, so he asked, “Zhongda, what’s wrong with you?”

Sima Yi slowly came back to his senses and shook his head, “Nothing… I just suddenly felt a little unwell again.”

“I’d better rest at home for a few days.”

After saying this, Sima Yi turned around and left Xuanshi, his back looking somewhat desolate and lonely.

After watching his figure disappear at the door, Fa Zheng withdrew his gaze and asked in confusion, “What happened to him? Why does he look so depressed?”

Jia Xu understood and smiled, “Why else? It’s because Kong Ming got more votes than him.”

“Sima Zhongda was arrogant and always regarded Kong Ming as his rival, competing with him in every way.”

“Kong Ming won the debate with great fanfare, but now he has received far more votes than him, so he naturally feels frustrated.”

“Let him take it easy on himself.”

Although Sima Yi’s ability and intelligence are inferior to Zhuge Liang’s, he is among the best compared to other university secretaries and is on par with Guo Jia.

It’s a pity that Sima Yi was too utilitarian and had too strong a desire to win. If he was willing to calm down, he would not be much weaker than Zhuge Liang.

But this point can only be seen by Sima Yi himself, it is useless for others to say it.

Those involved are always confused.

……

After leaving the palace, Sima Yi returned home in a daze, sat alone in the study, and stayed there until dark.

He was thinking about something of vital importance.

Or a bold plan.

The competition for the position of vice-president may very well be his only chance in his life to surpass Zhuge Liang. If he loses this opportunity, he will never be able to compete with Zhuge Liang on the same stage again.

Zhuge Liang’s momentum will only grow stronger, and no matter how hard he tries to catch up, he will be left far behind.

Therefore, he must be cautious.

“I have two choices before me. One is to accept my fate, give up competing with Zhuge Liang, and be content to be his inferior from now on.”

“The second is to canvass for votes privately and win the position of vice president.”

Sima Yi looked at the flickering candlelight, the light of the candle reflected in his eyes, and constantly weighed the pros and cons in his mind.

Canvassing for votes privately is a dishonorable method, and even if he wins, it would be an unfair victory, but… he is unwilling to accept it.

He was unwilling to be stepped on by Zhuge Liang like this!
Thinking of this, Sima Yi suddenly stretched out his hand, grabbed the burning candle, and extinguished the candle flame in his palm. “Once, just this once.”

Sima Yi muttered to himself, his eyes filled with incomparable determination – he was going to win this competition for the position of vice-president no matter what!
For this, I would even give my soul to the devil!

He just needs to win this time!
……

Ever since he failed in his campaign for votes, Lu Bu no longer cared about his number of votes.

Firstly, even if he wanted to canvass for votes, he couldn’t do so. Secondly, Zhang Liao didn’t even canvass for votes, so it would be somewhat embarrassing for him to take the initiative to canvass for votes.

So he decided to wait patiently for ten days for the final result.

However, what he did not expect was that one person’s votes came from behind and gradually surpassed Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun and him, and finally became equal to Zhang Liao!
“That kid Sima Yi has so many supporters?”

Lu Bu looked at the latest vote count book and said in surprise, his tone full of disbelief.

Sima Yi’s votes have been rising steadily in the past few days.

From more than a thousand at the beginning to two thousand, then to three thousand, and finally to the current 4,682!
His number of votes was 4,100, while Zhang Liao’s was 4,610. Both of them were suppressed by Sima Yi!
This result was something Lu Bu had never expected.

Chen Gong also frowned when he heard this number and said, “I remember Sima Zhongda only had more than a thousand tickets in the first three days? Why did it increase so much in just a few days?”

Lu Bu curled his lips and said, “You ask me, who should I ask? I didn’t expect that this guy, who usually keeps a low profile, is actually so respected by the soldiers.”

“You can’t judge a person by his appearance. I underestimated him.”

Lu Bu’s tone was somewhat emotional.

But Chen Gong was not relieved by his words. He shook his head and said, “Something is wrong. The number of votes is increasing too fast. It shouldn’t increase so much all of a sudden.”

“Are you sure the votes weren’t counted wrong?”

If there were many people supporting Sima Yi, his votes should have caught up with Lu Bu and Zhang Liao in the first few days, rather than a sudden explosive growth after a few days.

Lu Bu laughed and said, “It’s just counting the votes, how could there be any mistakes? Gongtai, you’re overthinking it.”

Chen Gong thought for a long time, and finally nodded and said, “Maybe.”

“Okay, I won’t chat with you anymore. I’m going to the palace to see my wonderful granddaughter. I haven’t seen her for a long time.”

After saying this, Lu Bu patted his butt, stood up and left the tent.

After he left, Chen Gong continued to handle military affairs in the tent, but not long after, he put down the brush in his hand.

“No, I have to go find out what’s going on.”

“That number of votes doesn’t seem right.”

Chen Gong thought to himself that he always felt that Sima Yi’s votes were growing too fast and there was something fishy about it.

It’s not that he was targeting Sima Yi, but the final result of the vote was related to who would get the position of vice-president, and there could be no room for any mistake.

……

Weiyang Palace, inside the Imperial Garden.

A delicate little girl was playing in the garden accompanied by several eunuchs and palace maids.

“I am General Zhao Zilong!”

“You little thief, take my shot!”

The little girl rode on an eunuch, waving a small wooden stick in her hand and hitting his head, shouting in a baby voice, looking extremely cute.

This little girl is naturally the eldest princess Liu Ying.

Although Liu Ying is only a little over two years old now, she has shown talents different from ordinary children. Not only can she run around, she can even speak clearly.

At such a young age, she was already a bully in the palace. She ran around the palace every day, followed by a group of eunuchs who were afraid that something might happen to this little ancestor.

Wherever he went, there was chaos.

Just when Liu Ying was having fun, a figure appeared at the entrance of the Imperial Garden, but she did not notice it and was still riding on the eunuch playing the role of “general”.

Until the figure came behind her and said coldly: “What are you doing?”

Hearing this familiar voice, Liu Ying subconsciously raised her head and saw a frosty face.

“Father, Father?”

Liu Ying was startled, but after she came to her senses, she quickly got off the eunuch, walked forward and hugged Liu Xie’s thigh, saying coquettishly: “Father, hug me…”

But Liu Xie didn’t buy her trick and said calmly, “Why don’t you continue? I saw you swinging the stick just now, and you really looked like General Zhao.”

Liu Ying blinked and asked tentatively, “Really?”

“presumptuous!”

Liu Xie’s face suddenly darkened, and he scolded: “Do you really think I am praising you? When has General Zhao ever bullied a servant? You are the eldest princess, but you bully the eunuchs. Is this what you should do?”

Liu Xie’s tone was very stern, totally unlike his usual fatherly demeanor.

Liu Ying is his child. As the eldest princess of the Han Dynasty, she has an extraordinary noble status. But if she is not educated well, she will only cause countless troubles in the future.

He normally doesn’t have time to discipline his child, but since he bumped into him today, he has to show his authority as a father.

Liu Ying pouted and said nothing, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked extremely adorable.

The eunuchs and palace maids beside them were also distressed when they saw this. The eunuch who was beaten just now whispered: “Your Majesty, I am actually fine. The princess just likes to play…”

Before he could finish his words, Liu Xie gave him a cold look.

The eunuch was so frightened that he immediately knelt on the ground and trembled.

“Come with me to see your mother!”

Liu Xie withdrew his gaze, said these words coldly, then turned and walked towards Lu Lingqi’s palace.

Liu Ying lowered her head, wiped her tears, and followed closely behind.

Liu Xie’s steps were very big and it was a bit difficult for her to keep up, but Liu Xie ignored her and just kept walking forward.

Soon the father and daughter arrived at the Pepper Room.

At this time, both Lu Lingqi and Zhen Mi were there. They were startled when they saw Liu Xie, but soon they saw Liu Ying following behind Liu Xie with tears on her face.

“Your Majesty, what is going on?”

Zhen Mi stood up and asked, with a look of surprise on her face.

As expected of a mother, Lu Lingqi said to Liu Ying with a cold face: “Ying’er, have you gotten into trouble?”

Liu Ying was very afraid of Lu Lingqi and couldn’t help crying again when she heard that.

Zhen Mi felt very distressed when she saw this, so she went forward and hugged her to comfort her, while scolding Lu Lingqi: “Come on, stop scaring the child like this.”

“Sister, don’t spoil her!”

Lu Lingqi’s temper when disciplining her children was not as gentle as she was towards her concubines. Instead, she was quite strict.

(End of this chapter)