With the heads of the two thieves falling to the ground, Lu Bu could only continue on the path of "fighting Liu and Yuan", and he would not be able to change his direction for at least a year.
Chen Deng notified Jian Yong immediately, and Jian Yong reported to Zhuge Jin who was operating behind the scenes.
Zhuge Jin was calm and composed, as if he had anticipated the outcome, and calmly ordered:
"In that case, let's arrange carriages and horses. I will escort all the civil and military family members back to Huaiyin first, and then quickly notify Chief Yun to prepare for the reception.
You and Yuan Long will slowly discuss the rest of the matters according to the conditions I explained, and then we will fulfill our contract and go to Xuchang to have an audience. "
According to Zhuge Jin's plan, returning the families of Liu Beijun's senior generals was only the first important condition for negotiations.
There are still some "mutually beneficial" trade details in the follow-up, as well as the handling of the families of ordinary soldiers and the handling of the die-hard remnants of Xu Dan and others. It is estimated that we can still discuss it for a few days, and the specific delivery will last longer.
In this case, he left the follow-up arrangements to Jian Yong and Chen Deng. He just took Chen Dao first and escorted his family back.
After all, it's a big favor to fish for someone, so of course you have to do it yourself.
…
As mentioned before, it was the third day of the ninth lunar month when Zhuge Jin and his party left Huaiyin and headed north, and it was already the sixth day of the lunar month when they arrived at Xiapi.
It was already mid-September when we were secretly liaising with internal agents and finally reaching the negotiation intention.
The gathering and traveling of family members will definitely be slower than that of the regular army, so they will not be able to return to Huaiyin until at least September 15th.
Liu Bei in the rear was of course very concerned about this and kept sending people to inquire about the current situation. He also plans to go north in person as soon as there is news, just to see his family members as soon as possible.
On the early morning of the tenth day of September, Liu Bei, who was in Guangling, had just finished washing and dressing up and getting ready to attend to business, when his confidants rushed in to report the news.
Liu Bei was overjoyed, and after calculating that the time was almost up, he took the initiative and asked, "But is there any confirmation from Ziyu?"
The attendant was stunned: "There is no news about Mr. Zhuge today - my lord, it is Mi Bie's fleet that has returned from the prefect of King Kuaiji."
Liu Bei then remembered that Mi Zhu had gone south to the sea to prepare military supplies from Wang Lang at the beginning of last month, and now he finally returned to Guangling with a full load.
Although it was not as good as Zhuge Jin's news, it was still a good thing after all. Liu Bei adjusted his mood and immediately went to Hangou Wharf outside the city to greet him in person.
…
In the original history, Liu Bei spent more than 100 million yuan to rebuild his army after his entire army was wiped out.
In this life, because the main force was still there and only needed to replenish military supplies, Mi Zhu's expenses were much smaller, but he still spent thirty to forty million to close the logistics gap.
For example, this time I went to Wang Lang's place and got back more than 20,000 shi of white rice. In troubled times, the price of rice was already several times more expensive than in peacetime, but the shipping cost was even more expensive than the price of rice.
It can only be said that navigation in the Han Dynasty was still too underdeveloped and too risky. Although inland water transportation is very cheap, once it comes into contact with the sea, the cost rises sharply.
This can only be said to be a solution to an emergency rather than to help the poor. It is absolutely impossible to afford this kind of sea food for a long time, unless someone comprehensively upgrades navigation technology.
Mi Zhu felt that she had come back very quickly. She had originally agreed that she would be back in one and a half months, or two months in case of delay.
In the end, the actual round-trip voyage to find and restock the goods took less than forty days.
But what shocked Mi Zhu was that when he came ashore, he originally thought he was going to face a bloody siege camp. When he left, the original plan he heard was that the food would be used as rations for the siege army.
As a result, the Guangling City that Mi Zhu saw was already a well-ordered city that looked like a business traveler. It had been occupied by Liu Bei for a long time.
This really made Mi Zhu, who had been offline for many days, very doubtful about life.
Liu Bei personally greeted him. Seeing the confusion in Mi Zhu's eyes, he told him bluntly:
"Thank you for your hard work, Zizhong. In fact, on the eighth day after you went to sea, Ziyu used a trick to help us capture Guangling City. After only two days of fighting, Liu Xun and Chen Lan collapsed and fled!"
Mi Zhu suddenly felt mixed emotions in her heart, and her sense of accomplishment plummeted. He was happy that Liu Bei had overcome the desperate situation, but also felt frustrated that he failed to make his first contribution.
"In this case, Zhu is doing something unnecessary..."
Fortunately, Liu Bei had a very high emotional intelligence and quickly comforted him: "It's okay! Your batch of food really saved the day in time! Previously, the enemy's counselor Liu Ye was able to see that our army was short of food, so he burned food to avoid fighting.
Although Ziyu noticed it and tried his best to stop it, nearly half of Guangling's grain stock was still lost. Without your efforts to raise funds, I am afraid that people will starve to death during the spring famine next year! The Mi family's kindness will be remembered for a lifetime! "
Knowing that her efforts had helped, Mi Zhu finally felt better, and the two chatted for a while about contacting Wang Lang and good neighborliness.
Liu Bei naturally received various praises and awards for these achievements.
Mi Zhu's mood improved, and he finally decided to talk about something he had been thinking about for a long time on the way back:
"I have something I want to discuss with my lord..."
Liu Bei: "What difference do you and I have? Just say it."
Mi Zhu organized his words: "This time our army was able to turn defeat into victory and stabilize its position, which is indeed a blessing from God. But compared to Xiapi, two-thirds of the counties were lost after all. Xu Tu needs to make progress in the future. , restore vitality.
And the families of the soldiers are trapped, and there will definitely be soldiers fleeing in the future... I think that the first priority to stabilize the morale of the military at the moment is to find the unmarried and widowed daughters of the people in Guangling, so that the soldiers can remarry and marry them.
Moreover, if our general marries someone else, it can also show Lu Bu that it doesn't matter. Maybe when he redeems his family in the future, Lu Bu will ask for a lower price, so that it won't be a rare commodity..."
Mi Zhu's deduction was completely in line with the businessman's thinking inertia.
Businessmen are most particular about scarcity. When their wives and children are in the hands of others, the best way to expect this weakness to depreciate is to find more wives and create more children.
After Mi Zhu laid the groundwork for the truth, he quickly continued: "Zhu has a sister who is twenty-eight years old and knows a little about etiquette. Zhu's family can still collect tens of millions of dowry and two thousand servants..."
When Liu Bei heard this, his eyes flashed a few times, and of course he guessed what was going on.
Thanks to "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", many people thought that Mi Zhen and Mrs. Gan were captured together when Xiapi was stolen, but in fact Mi Zhen was not married at this time.
Historically, Mi Zhu made the above suggestion only after Liu Bei's army collapsed, his family members were lost, and he transferred his army to Haixi County.
Now that Liu Bei did not collapse and did not go to Haixi in person, Mi Zhu had no chance to speak until today.
This is very reasonable, it is the butterfly effect of Zhuge Jin changing his life against the will of heaven.
Of course Liu Bei didn't want to offend Mi Zhu's sincerity, but he felt that with Ziyu taking action now, the success rate of returning home should be very high.
And after all this trouble, he became more and more convinced of his destiny.
Liu Bei hesitated again and again, and sincerely showed his cards: "Zizhong, I appreciate your kindness. No matter whether your sister can harmonize with this good thing or not, your family and I will be as kind as marriage and will never be at odds with each other.
However, I was nearly forty years old and had lost several of my legitimate wives. The fortune tellers all said that my life was too strong for my wife, and I couldn't even pray for her. I am afraid that your sister, a young lady, will not be able to hold the position of my head wife.
What's more, Ziyu has been ordered by me to go to Lu Bu to mediate family matters. I think there will be a reward within a few days. It is better to wait for the result and then make long-term plans. "
Mi Zhu had no choice but to give up after hearing this.
After all, on the eve of the possible release of the other party's concubine, it is a bit unethical to persuade the other party to find another woman.
"That being the case, my subordinates have been sailing for many days and are a little tired. Let's go and have a rest." Mi Zhu stood up and said goodbye.
Liu Bei quickly sent him out in person.
As soon as the two people walked out of the middle gate and walked to the outer courtyard, they saw a servant rushing in at a trot, holding a message bamboo tube in his hand. When he saw Liu Bei, he bowed and presented it.
Liu Bei was overjoyed and had a premonition. With trembling hands, he took out the silk and scanned it.
"Could it be..." Mi Zhu guessed something from Liu Bei's expression.
Liu Bei suddenly rubbed it, clenched his fists hard, and his trembling stopped for a moment: "Ziyu succeeded! Our family members have been released by Lu Bu! Yun Chang has also sent troops to escort us! Zizhong! In the past few days, you and Guo Rang and Help me guard Guangling, Yide and I will go north in person..."
Mi Zhu was stunned for a moment, but also felt happy for Liu Bei, but just reminded him out of caution: "Can't we wait for Yunchang to send the people here?"
Liu Bei solemnly explained: "If they are just family members, there is no need to go to Ling County to welcome them in person. But Tzuyu will soon go to Xuchang with Xianhe and Yuanlong, and he has other important tasks. Such a great kindness can be continued for life and death, how can we not express our gratitude in person?"
