Among the people, Liu Bei was the only one whose expression did not change, and the spring breeze blew on his face with a smile, as if he was not affected by Samoko's words at all.
He said: "Be prepared to make no more than an expedient system to benefit the country. When the world is peaceful and your achievements are accomplished, be prepared to retreat and correct your sins. Even if you die, you will have no regrets."
He spoke in a formal manner, and Shamoko couldn't quite understand him. Ma Liang pulled him aside and explained after a while before Shamoke understood what Liu Bei meant and laughed, feeling very shameless.
Others felt very comfortable after listening to Liu Bei's words. The words "Retreat and correct your sins, even if you die, you will have no regrets" are even more impressive.
Over the years, Liu Bei's reputation for loyalty has spread all over the world, and the banner of "supporting the Han Dynasty" has been held high. He convinced everyone in just a few words. It is no wonder that so many people followed him and never left him even though he wandered in the Central Plains.
With Liu Bei's words, Yi Ji and other civil servants relaxed and went about their work.
Shamoko was dissatisfied and started asking for food again. Fortunately, Ma Liang and Ma Di persuaded him, and Ma Liang gave him a piece of Ma family heirloom, and he stopped.
Pang Tong watched with cold eyes, realizing that Ma Liang was eloquent in persuading Samoko, but behind the scenes, he used countless treasures to impress him. As for the Ma Liang brothers themselves, they claimed to be infected by Liu Bei's faith, but in fact they wanted to seize Liu Bei's last chance to make a comeback and see if they could find glory and wealth.
After everyone had dispersed, Liu Bei and Pang Tong sat down to ask questions. There were only two people at the table, Liu and Pang, and the newly arrived Ma brothers from Jingnan were not there. It can be seen that although there were rumors everywhere that Pang Tong was crazy, Liu Bei still only believed in Pang Tong. .
Liu Bei worriedly said: "Zhang Wenyuan is guarding the intersection of the west and south. Our army cannot advance or retreat. Since we cannot return north to Jingzhou, we may have to go east to the Jiangdong Sun family."
Pang Tong shook his head: "If we still hold Xiakou and have 20,000 soldiers, the Sun family will definitely treat Duke Ming kindly. Now that we have fled south, Sun Quan, the son, will not treat us kindly."
Liu Bei said sadly: "What can I do?"
"What happened to the envoy who went south to Cangwu?"
"Not returned."
Pang Tong lowered his eyebrows and thought: "Cangwu is just a temporary place and it is not suitable to go there. There are only 120,000 households in Cangwu County, but only 500,000 people. Even if they go to war, they can only support 30,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses. You can’t conquer the world.”
"What about Jiaozhou?"
"Cangwu is already considered a prosperous place in Jiaozhou. Others such as Hepu and Rinan only have 20,000 households and 100,000 people. Even the richest Jiaozhi County has a population of less than one million. When fighting in the north, Jiaozhou is alone. , the total of the seven counties is only 3 million people, and most of them are southern barbarians, and they have no heart for the Central Plains. If it is not that they are unable to do so, then why should Shi Xie settle in a corner?"
Liu Bei fell silent. Pang Tong's words meant that he still wanted to go to Yizhou, which coincided with his original idea. However, it was impossible to break through Zhang Liao's camp and take Yizhou.
Pang Tong blamed himself very much. He clearly plotted against Zhang Liao, but was defeated by Zhang Liao's reinforcements. The best opportunity was lost last night. Zhang Liao's camp was already established and it would be difficult to capture it.
"In short, we must make progress in Xichuan. If we cannot get Yizhou, we will always be rootless."
Pang Tong made up his mind and a bold idea had been formed.
It's just this method, but I can't tell the kind lord.
He can only bear the infamy.
Anyway, he has already suffered a lot of criticism.
…
In the evening, Liu Bei's counselor Jian Yong appeared in disgrace at the gate of Guangxin County, the capital of Cangwu County.
Compared with the cities in the Central Plains, although Guangxin is a county, the city is very small. Not to mention Xiakou City, which was built as a fortress, it is not big even when compared with Shiyang City.
Jian Yongben brought two old soldiers with him. He did not dare to take the main road along the way and had to cross the high mountains. When he came here, he was the only one left. One of the other two died in the tiger's mouth and the other died in the hands of Zhang Liao's scouts.
Guangxin is quite open and does not check the identities of passers-by at all. It seems that it has been a long time since it has seen weapons.
He paid the entrance tax and entered the city. In Cangwu County, Han people and barbarians lived together. Most of them were Han people, but there were also many barbarians. Their clothes were different from those of the Han people and different from the Wuxi barbarians.
He asked for the location of the prefect's mansion, and then touched the letter in his arms. This was Liu Bei's personal letter, which was more important than his life.
The Lord often said, "Cangwu Prefect Wu Ju and I have an old relationship." Now is the time to verify this old relationship.
He announced his name in front of the prefect's house and asked to see Wu Ju. The guard in front of the house was a Han man. He was polite and did not embarrass him. He just said: "The prefect is seeing guests. Please come back tomorrow."
Among Liu Bei's counselors, Jian Yong was the most flexible. He often traveled around as a lobbyist and was very vigilant. When he heard that the prefect had a guest, he immediately asked: "I wonder who the guest is?"
"The new Jiaozhou Shepherd!"
Jiaozhou Mu?
Jian Yong's heart thumped. Wu Ju used to be under Liu Biao's command, and came to Cangwu together with Lai Gong, Liu Biao's puppet governor of Jiaozhou. Later, the two fell out and Lai Gong fled north. In recent days, he found Liu Bei's army and joined him. Work as Liu Bei's staff.
In addition, the imperial court has not appointed Jiaozhou officials for many years. Where did the Jiaozhou pastor come from?
Jian Yong took a deep breath, suppressed the panic in his heart, and prevented the guards from seeing the problem, and said in a deep voice: "I wonder who the Jiaozhou Shepherd is? I am ignorant, but I don't know that there is a new Governor in Jiaozhou."
The guard looked up and saw that this man was not afraid when he heard the name Jiaozhou Mu. He seemed to have seen the market before, so he said again: "Young man, I don't know which Jiaozhou Mu is. To be honest, there are two in the house." Jiaozhou Muli!"
"two?"
Jian Yong was confused. What was Cangwu Prefect going to do?
…
"Again, the forces in Jiaozhou are divided into three groups. The strongest is the Shixie clan, which has four prefects and four counties. The second is Wu Ju, the prefect of Cangwu, who monopolizes the second largest county in Jiaozhou, and is again occupied by barbarians. Two counties.”
Lu Xun was also preparing to leave for the front line, and made plans with Cao Wu for the last time before going.
Cao Wu nodded and said: "One wave to win over, one wave to divide, and one wave to suppress. Among these three waves, what do you think Boyan should choose?"
Lu Xun talked eloquently: "Shi Xie is the easiest to win over because he is interested in the Central Plains, but Shi Xie is the most powerful. To win over him is equivalent to raising a tiger, and to win over him is equivalent to admitting his separatist regime."
He pointed to Cangwu Road on the map: "There are three roads into Jiaozhou from the north, one is the mountain road in Yizhou, and the other is in Jiangdong. Only the Wuling Road is in our hands, but Cangwu County is here. , without entering Cangwu, there is no way to communicate with other counties. Since Cangwu is the gateway to Jiaozhou and an old part of Jingzhou, it has the greatest value and possibility of winning over."
Cao Wu nodded. In this regard, he and Lu Xun had different opinions: "I don't recommend you to take risks in Cangwu."
Lu Xun raised his head and glanced at Cao Wu, confirming that Cao Wu was indeed unwilling to take risks, and was not worried about running away. Then he said: "However, I am willing to capture Cangwu for the general!"
Cao Wu was also sure that Lu Xun was really going to Cangwu.
"Then Boyan, you will follow the vanguard of Generals Huang and Wei, defeat Liu Bei first, and then capture Cangwu."
Lu Xun asked curiously: "Didn't Kong Ming go to General Zhang's army? He was there to defeat Liu Xuande..."
Cao Wu shook his head: "Kong Ming has a grudge. He only came here to contact Wenyuan. You have to go to defeat Liu Xuande."
After hearing this, Lu Xun thought briefly and immediately made a plan: "Okay, Bo Yan will definitely fulfill his mission."
Lu Xun said goodbye and got out of the car to chase Huang Zhong's vanguard.
Diao Chan squeezed Cao Wu's shoulders and said softly: "Cao Lang finally has his own confidants. Zhuge Kongming and Lu Boyan are both geniuses of the world. Fortunately, they are both loyal. Just now I was worried that Lu Boyan would take the opportunity to leave. Now look It’s because I’ve been worrying too much.”
Cao Wu smiled and said, "Don't be suspicious when you employ people, and don't use people when you are suspicious. It's precisely because Lu Xun is a prodigy in this world that he knows how to measure things."
The two chatted for a while, and Cao Wu asked Diao Chan if he had any information about Jiaozhou Muman Chong, but Diao Chan didn't know either.
This Man Chong seemed to have disappeared from the world. No one has heard anything about him since he came south and took office.
…
With a "crash", Manchong pushed all the fruits on the tables off the table and said angrily: "Isn't this Cangwu the land of the emperor? I came here with the official seal of the state shepherd and the emperor's documents, you Wu Ju You want to keep me here after eating the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard?"
Wu Ju was fat but had small eyes. He was covered with sweat and squinted his eyes, apologetically saying: "The Manchurian Shepherd didn't know something. When you came, I never doubted it. But within a day, another person held the state When the pastoral documents came over, they also said they were Jiaozhou pastoralists. The small temple in Cangwu is so small that I really can’t tell who is real and who is fake!”
Man Chong stood up, pointed at Wu Ju's nose and said: "I started my career as the magistrate of Luoyang. I was the county magistrate of an important town in Gyeonggi Province. I was promoted to the prefect of Runan in a few years. I made Runan's politics more accessible and harmonious. The emperor felt my loyalty and was promoted to the post of Jiaozhou Mu." Position. Where is the state pastor you mentioned and what are its qualifications? Come and let me see?"
Wu Ju waved his hand: "The Manzhou Muzi is true, it is true, but we cannot afford to offend that person."
Man Chong looked down upon Wu Ju more and more, patted the table and said, "Then let me confront him!"
"That person didn't let me arrange a confrontation. I couldn't help it."
Wu Ju spread his hands.
"Then let me take up the post in Jiaozhi County!"
Wu Ju waved his hand again: "Jiaozhi County is poor and evil. The prefect Shi Xie dominates the city and does not serve the emperor. Brothers with the same surname are all prefects. Look, how can there be any reason in this world that four brothers are all prefects? You can't go , went for a meeting..."
"What will happen?"
"Then it's hard to say."
Wu Ju was still smiling, his eyes narrowed on a face made of fat, but Man Chong no longer had any expectations for him.
A few days ago, he received a letter from the state shepherd's office and knew that it was Cao Wu who was seeking revenge on him. However, he was loyal and upright and did not resist taking office in Jiaozhou. He thought that wherever he went, he would always be a pastor and protect the people, so he would not wait for Cao Wu. , he took office alone with more than ten slaves.
Knowing that Liu Bei was still in the Five Ridges, he bought a guide and took an extremely steep path to cross the Five Ridges before Liu Bei and Zhang Liao fought.
He originally wanted to continue to Jiaozhi County and win over Shi Xie first, but he did not expect that Wu Ju, the prefect of Cangwu, weaved a large net in Cangwu, and he and his slaves were caught shortly after they came out of the mountain.
After learning his identity, Wu Ju entertained him with food and drinks, and even used beautiful women and antiques as he wished, but he was not allowed to leave this small courtyard, let alone Cangwu.
He pretended to be angry and went to find out the details of Wu Ju, but Wu Ju was very cunning and did not reveal anything.
Man Chong grabbed his hair and was anxious, and the servants accompanying him had no good ideas.
He didn't know that not far from the courtyard where he was under house arrest, in another courtyard, another Jiaozhou pastor was also under house arrest.
Bu Zhi looked at the courtyard wall with a gloomy expression, trying to figure out how to deliver the news.
Wu Ju is a kind-faced and cruel guy, far beyond their expectations. He must find a way to inform the ambushing troops in the east with the information he has.
There, Zhou Yu and his 10,000 elite soldiers were waiting for news from him.
