บท 67: Talking about the Exam

Days passed since Zheng's birth and the children were all around the baby while Yun was playing with the tigers since they were mostly ignored because of the new attraction in the house.

This went on for three months until Zheng began to explore the manor on his own by crawling on the ground finding himself surrounded by tigers which took sniffs of the curious baby before one of them lifted him up using his mouth placing him on the back of another tiger so he wouldn't be stepped on by accident.

Zheng seemed to like it in the tigers' eyes as he was smiling before leaning his body against the back when Yun noticed that his youngest son was already exploring the house.

He walks over and picks the boy up and says, "It seems that you are more curious than your siblings when they were your age."

Zheng just stared at him confused since he didn't seem to understand him making Yun chuckle before he placed Zheng on Snowflake's back while holding his little hands to make sure he doesn't fall from Snowflake.

Zheng was laughing loudly as Snowflake begins to walk slowly beside Yun when Zheng lays down on the big back of the feline holding on to it making Yun ask himself some questions seeing how his son behaved.

"Snow, bring the little guy to his mother with Lyla," says Yun as Snowflake began to move while a female tiger followed him.

Yun turned to the other tigers as he petted them when Pang Tong arrives with a servant. Pang Tong sees Yun sitting between all the wild cats and hides behind the servant.

"I can see that you are still scared of my big friends," says Yun as he smiles thinking about the first time Pang Tong came across one of his tigers alone.

"A Tiger isn't a house cat. It is a wonder that you are still alive with this many under the same roof," says Pang Tong as Yun stood up knowing that Pang Tong wouldn't enter this room even drunk.

He walks out of the room when he sees the trio running towards them when Yun stops them and asks, "What have your mothers told you?"

"No running in the house," say all three as Yun smirks at them before petting their heads.

"Are you here to play with the cats?" asks Yun as they nod their heads when Pang Tong comes forth from behind the servant.

"They are no cats!" shouts Pang Tong when the tigers roar at Pang Tong for raising his voice which made him hide behind the servant again.

The servant wasn't scared at all since he served for many years in the household and the tigers could have killed him on many occasions but they didn't which made him believe that they are domesticated by their Lord.

"See, that is what happens when you raise your voice towards me," says Yun joking around as the trio went into the room to play with the tigers.

Yun then walked away and told Pang Tong to follow him as they reached his office. The office wasn't big but it wasn't small either as Yun sat down at the table signalizing Pang Tong to do the same while telling the servant to bring them some wine.

"What did you want to tell?" asks Yun as Pang Tong shows Yun a piece of paper.

"I made hundreds of those and told our scouts to pin them against every bullet pin from our surrounding provinces to the south. So everyone knows that we are searching for strategists," says Pang Tong as Yun looked at it.

"A riddle, clever. This way you know who has a brain and who doesn't," says Yun as the people that can solve the riddle will be able to know where they need to go since the answer was within the notice Pang Tong wrote.

"We need people that have a brain. The muscles can be trained afterward, I am the best example of that," says Pang Tong who could hold himself if it was needed to fight the enemy.

"You are right but to make it fair we will hold the second test in three months since the people need to travel here from their home," says Yun who believes that everyone deserves the same chance of being selected to become his next strategist.

"I heard from a confident source that Cao Cao and Yuan Shao want to recruit you for their cause. I heard that you favor Cao Cao but that will put us in a dangerous position in Zhending since Yuan Shao has proclaimed himself Governor of Ji while Cao Cao is in control of half of the Yu Province," says Pang Tong informing Yun about the situation outside the city.

Yun pulled a map from under all of his documents which had the Northern Plains on it. He places it on the table and points at Xu.

"Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are rivals and will sooner or later clash against each other to call the Plains their own," says Yun as he moves his finger toward Puyang in the Yan Province.

"But before they face each other Cao Cao and Yuan Shao will take every other territory around them with Cao Cao taking Yan, Yu, Xu, and Qing while Yuan Shao will take over Ji, You, and Bing," says Yun as his finger didn't move from Puyang before he tapped twice on Puyang.

"Once Cao Cao comes to negotiate with us we will ask for Puyang as our base of operations since it lays beside a river," says Yun as he finally wanted to make Gan Ning happy by creating his first Naval Units.

"Why are you so sure that he will resort to us?" asks Pang Tong as he looked at the map thinking about why Cao Cao would need them.

"Have you forgotten someone just because his name hasn't resonated in some time," says Yun with a smile as Pang Tong opened his eyes wide remembering the Wild Card.

"Lu Bu," says Pang Tong in disbelief as Yun nods at him.

"Exactly, he will be trying to make Cao Cao's territory his while Cao Cao is going to take Xu from Tao Qian," says Yun as Pang Tong began to smile looking like a madman.

"I see, he will be needing our help to secure his rear or better said his territory while he is trying to conquer Xu," says Pang Tong as he walks over towards Yun's chessboard and takes all pieces from it before placing them on the map.

"It seems we will have a long war before us," says Pang Tong as he looked at Yu again.

"Yuan Shu will be dying soon as well which will give Yuan Shao a reason to attack Cao Cao," says Pang Tong thinking ahead since Cao Cao wouldn't allow an enemy to fall into his flank.

"Yuan Shu will die that is true but Yuan Shao won't be able to use him as the reason to attack Cao Cao except he wants to be branded as a traitor," says Yun as Pang Tong looks at him confused before he remembered something.

"Sun Clan," says Pang Tong as Yun smiles at him.

"Sooner or later Sun Ce will return to Yuan Shu's side to make a name for himself. Yuan Shu will have his eyes on him until he has what he wants," says Yun as Pang Tong's mind was already on the next scenario.

"That bastard is even greedier than I thought him to be. He wants to be the next Emperor using the Imperial Seal," says Pang Tong seeing through it.

"That's right and Yuan Shao can't use him as a reason to attack Cao Cao but he has another reason to do so," says Yun as he pointed at Xu again.

"Soon someone really important will be escaping two starving tigers only to enter the lair of a bigger and stronger tiger making Cao Cao more powerful," says Yun as he could only have this conversation with a handful of people.

"Emperor Xian," says Pang Tong as Yun nods at him.

"Who would have thought that Cao Cao would gather so much power in the future. But he is still nothing compared to your insight of those unfolding events that haven't happened yet," says Pang Tong recognizing that Yun has a gift to predict the future as if everyone was just a pawn in his big scheme.

"But we aren't rooting for Team Cao, are we?" asks Pang Tong reading ahead of Yun's actions.

"We will be staying with him for a while until I have decided which Lord I will be serving in the end," says Yun looking seriously at Pang Tong before he stands up and removes all of the chess pieces from the map.

"That is the real question in the end. Who are you going to serve in the end," says Pang Tong as he still wasn't sure who Yun wanted to choose.

"When the time is right you will be the first to know about it," says Yun as he placed the chess pieces on his board his they were standing when Pang Tong looks at it.

"Who are you playing against in this tough battle?" asks Pang Tong as the pieces on the board are on a standstill with white being the next to move in the minefield.

"Against my Godfather," says Yun as Pang Tong dropped the cup of wine he was holding.

"Wait, Wait! The Godfather, the one that is Immortal!" shouts Pang Tong when suddenly a white piece moved on its own making Pang Tong jump for a moment.

"The one and only, he is the only one able to give me a challenge at the moment," says Yun as he ignored the board since Pang Tong was with him.

"Very funny," says Pang Tong as he plays with Yun once in a while.

"We only play for some minutes. This game now goes on for a year and if I win I get something for Diao Chan," says Yun as Pang Tong looked at Yun.

"So you are telling me that you want to get a gift for your wife from your Godfather," says Pang Tong bot believing what he has heard from Yun.

"Something like that. But we should return to your strategists' recruiting. If a boy named Sima Yi arrives for the exam send him directly to me," says Yun as Pang Tong looked at him surprised.

"Sima Yi, is he one of your benefactors from the Sima Clan?" asks Pang Tong as Yun looks at the board.

"He is and if he wants to join us I won't send him away," says Yun as he moved his black piece which put himself as well as Shura in a tough position.

"I will leave you to your game then," says Pang Tong as he leaves to prepare the second exam for the strategists that will come to Zhending.