After five bullets hit the bullseye, most of Liu Bei's subordinates who were qualified and had the capital to request marriage from him had already made their decision.
The political mutual trust between them has deepened to the highest level that can be achieved in this era.
For a political family, absolute loyalty is difficult to exist. When the power reaches its end, loyalty is just a choice, but it is not important.
No one knows when a force will come to an end, but before that, the more imprints it carries, the harder it will be to decouple, the higher the sunk costs will be, and the loyalty will continue to increase.
Now, Liu Bei has full confidence in them, and they can really become a powerful support rather than a hindrance when he competes for the highest power.
Then, only the last family is left.
Liu Bei's gaze spanned thousands of mountains and rivers, and cast his gaze on Luoyang City in the far east, on that cunning and cunning old fox.
Lao Xun.
When do you make your choice?
I have prepared so much, but the real target is not my subordinates, but you. Even if they are tied together, they are not as important as you in my eyes!
Haven't made a choice yet?
Still waiting?
Liu Bei waited for Xun Shuang eagerly. He extremely hoped to get the Xun family's strong bet, and in a sense, tie the Xun family to stand on the same line with him.
He knew it was difficult, but as an excellent fisherman, Liu Bei understood one truth - the harder the fish struggled, the bigger it would be.
He is anxious, isn't Mr. Xun anxious?
He doesn't think so.
After investing so much in the early stage, and seeing the risk of the investment going down the drain, he didn't believe Xun was in a hurry.
Yes, Liu Bei's guess is correct.
Xunshi was really anxious, and Xun Shuang was also really anxious and confused.
Although he still looked calm on the surface, Xun Shuang became less calm after receiving the letter from Xun You.
Liu Bei took a concubine.
Still two idiots.
Xun Shuang didn't take him seriously.
As a mature politician, he knew that the greatest significance of these foreigners to Liu Bei was military help and little political help. They were not players on the same track.
But Xun Shuang also believed that Liu Bei was an excellent politician, even a mature politician. Could everything he did be that simple?
Strictly speaking, Xun Shuang does not even think that Liu Bei must need the help of the people if he wants to achieve the two needs of "stabilizing Sichuan and Shu" and "competing for salt profits".
With Liu Bei's ability, he can still do it without cheating, he just needs to pay more.
Then why does he want to take a concubine?
Judging from his self-disciplined behavior of not having more concubines for so many years, Xun Shuang did not think that Liu Bei did not know the significance of taking concubines to him. In this case, why would he do such a thing?
Xun Shuang looked at this matter from a politician's perspective, observed it from a political perspective, thought about it for a day, and came up with some possibilities.
Liu Bei's move should be a typical killing of two birds with one stone.
Deepening the relationship with the Jin people and becoming their "son-in-law" in the eyes of the people can indeed play a powerful supporting role in his fight for Yizhou's salt interests, but fundamentally, Liu Bei's move may be aimed at him.
To be precise, it was for the Xun family.
The reason is simple.
At present, the only wealthy noble clan in Guandong who has clan members working under Liu Bei is the Xun clan. They are supported by two outstanding clan members and donated a large amount of resources. No matter how you look at it, they must be loyal to the whole clan.
But Xun Shuang knew, and he also knew that Liu Bei knew that Xun had invested, but not completely, but was in a delicate position between investment and effectiveness.
Liu Bei's overall interests are in Guanxi, Liangzhou, and perhaps some of Yizhou's interests now, but his core interests are definitely not in Guandong.
Guandong is the back garden of another group of people, with dense population and fertile soil, while Guanxi, relying on the sales of Liangzhou salt, has almost become an amusement park for the alliance with Liu Bei as the core. Liu Bei is vigorously exporting Liangzhou's excellent products. The products are flowing smoothly in Sanfu and Sanhe.
But Liu Bei didn't seem to be satisfied with playing in the Guanxi amusement park. He also wanted to get involved in the Yizhou salt matter. He wanted to obtain more resources and then open up a wider market.
It is clear that Liu Bei wants to intervene in the interests of salt in Guandong.
Then someone needs to help him open the Guandong market.
Who can help him?
The Xun family, which has a relatively large influence in the Guandong region, is the best choice.
No matter from which point of view, Xunshi is indeed the best helper, but unfortunately, Xunshi has not completely surrendered to him.
Normally speaking, this should be impossible.
Although Liu Bei has sufficient social status and political status, his origin and family heritage are always flawed. In this era, with the Xun family's family status, it is possible to become an ally with the Xun family and fully surrender. At present, , still far from it.
However, things cannot always be generalized.
Based on the current situation in Luoyang City, as a mature politician, Xun Shuang can feel that Liu Bei will definitely return one day.
In other words, from the day Liu Bei left Luoyang, he knew that Liu Bei would definitely come back, but he didn't know the time and reason.
But now he knows.
As the situation escalates, the emperor will inevitably recall Liu Bei as his backing, and use Liu Bei's military power to fight against the Yuan family and the He family.
Xun Shuang is not sure what the future outcome will be, but there will definitely be a winner. If the emperor wins, then it is not impossible for Liu Bei's status to improve and become the first person in the Manchu Dynasty.
The three princes are inevitable, and the general is not impossible. If he is the leader of the clan and a clan member of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei will be so powerful that Xun You can't even imagine.
If Liu Bei only had all the power in the world, it wouldn't be enough to seduce the Xun family. Are there not many people who had all the power in the world for a while and then disappeared?
But Liu Bei is also the leader of Fanyue, and his family is also the Fanyue family. They are currently the first generation to start the family, but they will continue to be passed down...
If there was no in-law relationship and only relied on Xun Yu and Xun You, perhaps the Xun family would not be able to get much from Liu Bei.
This is not in line with Xun's interests in investing in Liu Bei.
To be honest, if Liu Bei was still unmarried when he arrived in Luoyang, and Xun Shuang got to know Liu Bei, then there would be a great possibility to win this potential stock with a female wife.
But there is no possibility of this if.
Because if Liu Bei was still unmarried, he might not be able to come to Luoyang at all, and even if he came, he would not be able to stand.
His background was too low, and Xun stood too high. No matter how he bent down, he could not see the fifteen-year-old Liu Bei, who was mostly buried in the soil.
By the time he became famous, there were already people around him.
But Xun Shuang didn't think about other possibilities afterwards.
When Liu Bei was just gaining momentum, Xun Shuang even had the idea of manipulating Liu Bei to divorce his wife and get rid of the Han family's burden, so that Liu Bei could move towards a better future.
He felt that Han was not worthy of Liu Bei at all.
But this possibility does not exist. Liu Bei is a person with a bottom line. Liu Bei cannot do this kind of thing. If he really does it, Xun Shuang will be worried.
Therefore, all possibilities leading to a perfect solution are zero. There are actually only two roads before him.
Take the concubine as the concubine of the family.
As the concubine, the legitimate daughter of the family.
They are both concubines, but there is still a big difference between concubines and concubines.
For Xun Shuang, this was also a dilemma. He felt that Liu Bei's signal to him was very clear, and it was already a clear notice.
His wave of concubines is very likely to prompt those who are qualified to marry among his old subordinates to think about it and urge their families to complete the marriage with Liu Bei.
An unprecedentedly close political and military interest group is taking shape in Liangzhou. Once this group is established, it will inevitably become an important entity that can affect the national situation of the Han Empire as Liu Bei enters Luoyang in the future.
If he cannot join in, then once the Emperor and Liu Bei win, the Xun family will inevitably be completely eliminated from the core power group.
There is not much opportunity and time left for Xunshi.
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PS: I ate crystal shrimp dumplings this morning. I thought they tasted good and I was in a good mood, so I’ll add another chapter.
(End of chapter)
