The first month of the third year of Zhengyuan.
The emperor issued an edict restoring the Three Elders System, having the people select elders who possessed the three virtues of uprightness, resolute overcoming, and yielding overcoming to help the local government offices handle local affairs.
Less than a month remained before the imperial examinations officially began.
At this moment, Cao Mao was also busy to the extreme.
Zhuge Dan came to the imperial palace to complain every day.
"Your Majesty, the generals in the various regions refuse to obey orders and act however they please. We cannot tolerate this situation any longer!"
The situation across the regions was now extremely tense, with faint signs that Great Wei was about to go to war with Shu and Wu simultaneously.
Zhuge Dan believed this was his opportunity to display his talents, so he eagerly issued orders to the generals in the various regions, wanting them to report developments promptly and conduct the war according to his ideas.
The problem was that those generals paid little attention to this Grand Commandant's orders.
They perfunctorily sent him a few letters containing only brief descriptions of the situation, with no intention whatsoever of asking the Grand Commandant for instructions.
By contrast, Chen Qian of the Imperial Secretariat had begun continually contacting the generals on all fronts, closely monitoring developments in every region and starting work on logistical support and coordination.
Zhuge Dan was deeply dissatisfied with this.
Now, as he sat before Cao Mao, the displeasure on his face was already quite apparent.
Cao Mao laughed. "Grand Commandant, do not be anxious."
"You should know that the regions are not actually preparing to go to war. They are merely forcing the enemy to hold back from sending large forces to Jingzhou, providing cover for General