Zhuge Jin defied Cao Cao's immediate attempt to recruit him in a dangerous situation.
It was justifiable that his uncle got the post of Yuzhang Prefect, and he got himself the title of a miscellaneous school captain, which he could use when he attacked Zuo Rong later.
He was able to do all this naturally because he had already thought about the posture he should adopt during today's audience.
Zhuge Jin knew very well that his talent could not be concealed, and he could not hide it——
If you don't show your talent and your own value, why should others give you benefits? He defeated Mi Heng in public and gave Kong Rong pointers in public just to show his talent. This idea is consistent.
After you have shown your talent, and you still have to make people willing to let you go for a year or two, then you can only work on your own character.
For example, if you deliberately expose yourself as a person who is obsessed with MG, once this "human weakness" is caught by Cao Cao, Cao Cao will feel secure.
Sometimes, moderate and targeted “self-defeating” works repeatedly.
After the Zhuge family successfully passed the customs, what was left was to fight for the interests of Liu Bei and Lu Bu - of course, including fighting for the personal interests of Lu Bu's envoy Chen Deng.
Zhuge Jin, as Liu Bei's envoy, took into account his personal and family interests. Chen Deng also followed suit and got a vote for himself. Isn't this too much?
Cao Cao was obviously very good at controlling people's hearts. After he had a deep chat with Chen Deng, he never mentioned the benefits to Lu Bu and focused on winning over Chen Deng personally.
He noticed that Liu Bei's seal stated that Chen Deng was the prefect of Guangling, so he pretended to read it without even thinking about it.
Chen Deng naturally put on a look of tears of gratitude and saluted Cao Cao.
It's just that Chen Deng's mentality in this life has changed greatly compared to the same period in history.
He knew that he could become the prefect of Guangling. It was Liu Bei's initiative in the first place, and only Liu Bei could guarantee his smooth appointment. Everything must be done to Liu Bei, and Cao Cao was just doing it as a favor.
Cao Cao was somewhat familiar with this, so in addition to the official position Liu Bei had announced, Chen Deng had to be given an extra boost - Cao Cao took the initiative to propose that Chen Deng's father, Chen Gui, be given the title of Marquis of Guannei.
The Marquis of Guannai is the lowest level of Marquis, not even a Marquis. He has no fiefdom and only has a salary equivalent to the tax of one hundred households.
From the late period of Emperor Ling to Emperor Xian's move eastward, the price had always been clearly marked at five million yuan, and the price had not been increased in twenty years.
Chen Deng quickly thanked him again.
After handling Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng's personal efforts, Cao Cao spent some time deciding on the rewards for Liu Bei and Lu Bu.
But when things got to this point, Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng had less room to play.
Because Cao Cao's attitude towards the princes outside the town was mainly determined by actual interests. The eloquence of the messenger can only play a small role.
Of course, Zhuge Jin's previous performance, as well as his subtle words and gestures for Liu Bei.
After all, it also allowed Cao Cao to increase the psychological price he originally planned to give Liu Bei by an extra level and a half. This can be considered a considerable contribution.
After listening to their statements, Cao Cao was given a banquet to send Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng away. Then he closed the door and discussed the final decision with Xun Yu and Sima Lang.
…
After he was the only one left in the room, Cao Cao spoke more directly.
He asked Xun Yu: "This time Liu Bei eliminated Yuan Shu's forces in the southernmost part of Xuzhou, and also severely attacked Ji Ling and Liu Xun. He had to give many rewards to show the princes of the world the benefits of serving the imperial court.
Since he is willing to continue the southern expedition and eliminate Yuan Shu's other forces, why not first make him the governor of Yangzhou and lure him to help Liu Yao, who has been disadvantaged by the long war? At worst, in addition to the actual seal, he could also give him a private message, telling him that as long as Yuan Shu's power in Yangzhou was partially eliminated, he would be allowed to replace Liu Yao.
In this way, Liu Yao and Liu Bei can restrain each other. Liu Bei will not be able to become a state pastor, nor will he resent the imperial court. He will only feel that the imperial court cannot bear to deprive Liu Yao of his power - what does Wen Ruo think? "
Xun Yu thought about it for a while and agreed with sincerity: "Sikong Mingjian, this method not only takes into account the merits, but also shows the court's virtue of nostalgic. With Liu Yao and Liu Bei restraining each other, there is no need to worry about whether either side will lose its tail."
Cao Cao stroked his beard proudly: "What should we do with Lu Bu?"
Xun Yu: "As mentioned before, Lu Bu must not take the position of Xuzhou Shepherd, otherwise he will completely get what he needs and can no longer guide him to do things according to the court's wishes. Even the governor of Xuzhou cannot be given.
But while conferring him the post, Chen Deng was asked to bring back a private message, implying that he did not do enough to fight against Yuan Zhong this time. Next time, he would have to conquer a piece of Yuan Shu's territory and annihilate some of Yuan Shu's direct descendants before he could be conferred the state post. Moreover, it will also make Lu Bu and Liu Bei suspicious of each other. "
Cao Cao nodded: "This is quite enlightening. I have already thought of a plan: I will only grant Lu Bu the title of Prefect of Xiapi, but also grant Chen Gongpei the Prime Minister, Zhang Liao the Prefect of Pengcheng, and Mi Zhu the Prefect of Donghai."
In this way, among the counties in Xuzhou, except Langya, three of the prefects are from Lu Bu, and one is from Liu Bei. If Lu Bu wants to expand, he will definitely further covet Liu Bei. The temporary reconciliation between the two parties may break down again at any time.
Moreover, Lu Bu's mastermind Chen Gong and his general Zhang Liao will have the same nominal status as Lu Bu in the future. With Lu Bu's taboo, there will definitely be unrest both internally and externally! "
Xun Yu thought for a while and agreed again, but he also put forward some additional precautions: "Although this method is good, if Lu Bu can be unruly, it will inevitably anger the envoy who does not do well. It is better to summon Chen Deng alone later. Test his eloquence and see if he is confident in dealing with Lu Bu's anger.
Chen Deng's life and death had nothing to do with the imperial court. But if he can successfully survive after being hated by Lu Bu, he will definitely be more willing to serve within the court, which will be of great benefit to him in the future to seize Lu Bu's land. "
Cao Cao thought it made sense, and finally summoned Chen Deng again, telling him honestly that he would not give Lu Bu a state-level position, and asked Chen Deng if Chen Deng was sure of holding Lu Bu in check.
Chen Deng naturally acted as usual and rehearsed it with Cao Cao using the theory of "raising tigers and raising eagles" that he had used in history.
Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard this and finally decided to implement everything as planned.
…
The next day, it was finally the day of the five-day meeting.
Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng, as envoys from Xuzhou, formally went to court to see the emperor and hear the imperial canonization.
There is no need to go into details about the red tape, but it opened Zhuge Jin's eyes. After all, he saw with his own eyes how Liu Xie came to court.
Liu Xie is now sixteen years old, and his movements look somewhat heroic.
As for other appearance details, Zhuge Jin could not observe more due to the distance and the fact that he did not dare to take a closer look.
Throughout the court meeting, Liu Xie had few opportunities to speak, but his voice was full of energy and his mood was slightly excited.
It can be heard that he still seems to have illusions about pro-government, and his relationship with Cao Cao has not yet become tense. In short, he is quite energetic.
After the process is completed, someone will be responsible for reading out the decree:
The emperor promoted Liu Bei, the general of Zhendong, to the general of conquering the south and led the governor of Yangzhou. He assisted Liu Yao, the shepherd of Yangzhou, and continued his crusade against the Yuan Ni forces in the Yangzhou area.
Guan Yu was granted the title of Lieutenant of Zhechong and Marquis of Guannei.
Chen Deng was the governor of Guangling, and Mi Zhu was the governor of Donghai.
The other civil and military personnel under Liu Bei's forces were not qualified to be directly canonized by the emperor, and were not mentioned.
Of course, members of the Zhuge family were also canonized, but they did not appear as Liu Bei's subordinates in name.
The imperial court actually appointed Zhuge Xuan as the governor of Yuzhang. The reason was that it was "a prelude to the posthumous recognition of Liu Biao." Outsiders could not see the relationship between this matter and Liu Bei.
Zhuge Jin was appointed as a general, a young craftsman, and a lieutenant in charge of pacifying the captives. He assisted Zhuge Xuan in defeating the bandit Kou Zuirong who was entrenched in Yuzhang.
This school captain position was first established during the Jian'an period. Cao Cao had just created it a few months ago to solve the problem of too many officials and not enough original school captains.
The reasons for appointing Zhuge Jin as an official were revealed in the edict, but there was no mention of his advising Liu Bei to defeat Yuan Shu.
Cao Cao only asked people to emphasize that he "coordinated for Kong Rong, the great craftsman of the general, to save the huge cost of building the palace in Xudu", so he added another "young craftsman of the general" in front of Pinglu Xiaowei.
In the Han system, the yamen "jiangzuojian" was responsible for royal construction and government projects. It originally had one prisoner and two young guards.
But later, because the department chief and the yamen itself had the same name and could easily be confused, the number one position was changed from "Jiang Zuo Jian" to "Jiang Zuo Da Jiang", and the deputy position was also changed from "Shao Jian" to "Shao Jian".
The opinions on how to deal with Lu Bu's forces in the decree are exactly the same as the results of Cao Cao's private discussion with Xun Yu yesterday:
Lu Bu's general title remained unchanged, still just General Pingdong, but he was also granted the title of Grand Administrator of Xiapi.
Zhang Liao was the governor of Pengcheng, and Chen Gong was the prime minister of Pei. The rest are not worthy of mention.
After Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng heard this, they bowed with great ceremony, accepted the order on behalf of Liu Bei and Lu Bu, and then withdrew from the court.
When he reached the palace gate, Xun Yu stopped him again, so Zhuge Jin could only continue to pretend to be respectful.
Xun Yu had nothing else to say. He just explained to him the reasons for Liu Bei's actions:
"Sikong originally wanted to change Xuande to General Zhennan, lead the governor of Yangzhou, and promote him to the title of Xianghou. However, after consulting the classics, he found that General Zhennan was now occupied by Liu Biao, so Xuande's military title was upgraded to one level, and his title was constant.
Originally, his military achievement of capturing Guangling was not enough to conquer the south. After returning, he had to tell him to keep up his efforts and not to betray the divine grace, so that he could live up to his name. "
Zhuge Jin quickly said that he would bring the words to him.
The Marquis of Yicheng Ting failed to be promoted to the Marquis of Yicheng Township, and his title was lost. But the change from General Zhennan to General Zhengnan seems to be more valuable than the difference in title, and it is indeed a profit.
Thanks to Liu Biao for taking advantage of General Zhennan's trap.
