Yi Province, Chengdu.
"Heh."
Deng Ai looked at the letter in his hand, his expression calm. He casually set it aside and looked at the officials before him.
By now, Deng Ai had replaced Zhang Hua as the minister overseeing the Shu lands.
His position in the Shu Kingdom was similar to Chen Tai's in the Wu Kingdom, but Cao Mao had not sent someone like Wang Jing to oversee him, nor someone like Wang Ji to protect him.
Viewed this way, Deng Ai actually held quite a high place in Cao Mao's regard.
Cao Mao trusted Deng Ai deeply.
Even with Deng Ai's past record, Cao Mao still trusted him this much.
Moreover, Deng Ai was almost capable of everything. He needed no one to protect him and no one to conduct oversight for him. Of course, this was partly because conditions in the Shu lands were better than those in the Wu Kingdom.
The great clans of the Shu lands were far weaker than those in Wu territory.
Because of the years of Northern Expeditions, the great clans here might well have fared the worst of any in the Three Kingdoms.
After arriving in the Shu lands, Deng Ai did not rush to issue decrees. He made a circuit of the entire region.
He even went to Nanzhong and toured the whole area.
When he was preparing to go to Nanzhong, many ministers remonstrated with him, saying that he was too old and that if he went to that godforsaken place, he might never return.
Deng Ai, however, demanded disdainfully, "Could its roads be harder to travel than Jinggu Road?"
The officials immediately fell silent.
Having toured the entire Shu lands in this fashion, Deng Ai had only now returned to Chengdu.
What was surprising was that the