Three days later, by the Shishui River.
A strong man was directing his men to load more than ten jars of wine and a tied cow onto the boat.
A little leader looked at the wine jar and drooled from the corner of his mouth: "Zheng Shuai, these are all the fine wines in the camp, do you want to take them?"
There was no trace of reluctance on Zheng Bao's face, and he didn't pay attention to that person.
He just waved his hand to his men to untie the cable without hesitation, then jumped from the shore and jumped directly onto the ship.
"It's okay if you don't drink, but don't give all the wine you have saved to others. I'm still going to have my teeth beaten as a sacrifice!"
But he could only whisper a few words behind his back, and then led a few of his men onto another boat.
…
Shi Shui upstream.
Yuan Yao and Liu Fu picked an extremely wide flat land, pitched a tent, cut firewood and got ready to welcome Zheng Bao.
Liu Fu looked left and right and was extremely satisfied with this place.
Liu Fu pointed to the hills in the distance and the nearby Shishui and said, "Yuan Xiaoyou, this place is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and is flat and open. It is a good site for building a city!"
Yuan Yao smiled and said: "This place is not far from Hefei City, and Hefei County has been dilapidated after several wars. I think it is suitable to rebuild Hefei New City here!"
Liu Fu immediately became excited after hearing this: "Oh! Yuan Xiaoyou and I have exactly the same thoughts!"
Yuan Yao said modestly: "Where is it!"
"I'm just saying casually. I've heard for a long time that Duke Yuan Ying has a lot of research on soil and water construction. How dare I try to do it!"
Yuan Yao said in his heart: As soon as you came here, you couldn't move away. I'm not stupid, how can I not know what you are thinking?
Yuan Yao and Liu Fu have been getting close to each other these days, and the goodwill between them is growing day by day.
But Yuan Yao hasn't figured out how to break through the window paper yet, and has been suppressing the urge to recruit talents in his heart.
If you are too anxious to eat hot tofu, there is no need to rush into things that will happen naturally.
Yuan Yao looked at the camp and saw that he only brought a hundred armed retainers and servants with him on this trip, led by Qi Ji and Qin Yi.
Together with Yuan Bao, these three people are the greatest guarantee for Yuan Yao's life.
As the saying goes, three cobblers can equal one Zhuge Liang.
If Zheng Bao fails to be recruited and has to take action, Yuan Yao hopes that Liu Ye can kill Zheng Bao alone according to the historical plot.
But if something goes wrong, then we have to rely on these three cobblers under Yuan Yao to go into battle.
There's no way the three of them together can't beat Zheng Bao!
Yuan Yao looked at Liu Ye in the distance again. At this time, Liu Ye was still discussing the situation with all his disciples.
Yuan Yao really wanted to tell Liu Ye that none of the soft-footed shrimps under your command can be relied upon later, and it will have to be up to you.
Seeing Yuan Yao looking at Liu Ye, Liu Fu suddenly said:
"Master Yuan is thinking about how to collect Liu Ye into his account?"
Yuan Yao was stunned and said with a smile: "I do have this intention. What does Mr. Yuan Ying think?"
Liu Fu looked at Liu Ye and shook his head: "Although Liu Ziyang has the talent to serve the world and is willing to serve as an official, he is very clever and overly cautious. He always seeks to protect himself."
"His branch of Fuling King has been virtuous for several generations."
"I'm afraid he won't leave Chengde easily and follow the young master southward!"
Yuan Yao couldn't help but nod his head when he heard this. He did agree with Liu Fu's judgment of Liu Ye.
In history, Liu Ye killed Zheng Bao and subdued his tribe, but he did not dare to lead the army because of his clan identity.
Instead, he gave Zheng Bao's subordinates to Liu Xun, the prefect of Lujiang, for nothing, while he only became Liu Xun's staff.
Later, he followed Liu Xun to defect to Cao Cao and became Cao Cao's adviser.
This person is completely the opposite of another big-eared person who claims to be a member of the Han clan.
Of these two people, one was a real clan member of the Han clan, but he did not dare to lead the army for fear of disaster.
The other one claimed to be a clan member of the Han Dynasty and loved to lead his troops around with two of the Five Tiger Generals.
So in fact, it is not difficult to recruit Liu Ye, as long as he gives him a sense of security.
But now Yuan Yao is short of major generals and is the most insecure!
Yuan Yao fell into hard thinking.
…
Shishui flows eastward into Chaohu Lake and then into the Yangtze River through Chaohu Lake.
Zheng Bao's camp is located in a lush area of Chao Lake. If the battle is unfavorable, he can still board a boat and escape.
At this time, Zheng Bao led hundreds of people upstream in a boat and arrived at the future location of Hefei New City.
Yuan Yao and Liu Ye stood at the gate of the camp to greet him, giving Zheng Bao enough face.
Someone under Zheng Bao had seen Liu Ye and identified him to Zheng Bao.
When the boat docked, Zheng Bao jumped off first and bowed to Liu Ye.
"Zheng Bao of Lujiang, I have heard the name of Duke Yang for a long time!"
Liu Ye quickly stepped forward to help him up, and also returned the greeting: "Liu Ye has heard about Zheng Shuai's reputation for a long time!"
Zheng Bao stood up, looked at Yuan Yao and asked, "This must be the new Lujiang Commander-in-Chief Yuan Commander-in-Chief sent by Shouchun, right?"
This time, Zheng Bao was invited to the banquet in the names of Liu Ye and Yuan Yao.
Zheng Bao was hesitant at first, but the retainer sent by Liu Ye quickly explained that Liu Ye was only worried about his personal safety, so he invited the new Lujiang Captain Yuan Yao to accompany him.
To show his sincerity, Zheng Bao chose the banquet place for this meeting.
Zheng Baoyi thought that although he occupied Chaohu, he had never been an enemy of Yuan Shu's army before. He even helped Sun Ce attack the Hefei magistrate who was loyal to Lu Kang when Sun Ce attacked Lujiang.
He just wants the retainers to report back to Liu Ye, saying that they only need to meet at the banks of the Shishui River, and they can go anywhere in the upper, middle and lower reaches.
Zheng Bao, who has always been cautious, was also very satisfied with the place Liu Ye chose today.
First of all, the place is flat and open, and there will be no ambush hidden there.
Secondly, next to the water, the water bandit himself can come and go freely.
Liu Ye smiled and replied: "Zheng Shuai has a good eye. This is Captain Yuan!"
Zheng Bao looked Yuan Yao up and down, but there was no trace of the military atmosphere he imagined.
So he said doubtfully: "I saw that on Mr. Ziyang's invitation, the single name of Yuan Duwei was written with the character Yao, which is the same name as Yuan Shu's son."
"I wonder what the relationship between the two of them is?"
Most people in this era have the same name, so they often have the same name.
For example, there are two Liu Dais, one is the governor of Yanzhou, and the other is a general under Cao Cao; there are two Ma Zhongs, one is a general of the Shu Han Dynasty, and the other is the one who captured Guan Yu in Soochow. There are also Zhang Zhao, Chen Qun, Liu Cong and others who all have the same name.
Therefore, when he killed Zheng Bao, he never thought that the "Lujiang Captain Yuan Yao" posted on the poster was Yuan Yao, the son of a prince!
"Hahaha" Liu Ye said with a smile: "This person is the young master of the Yuan family. Why, hasn't Zheng Shuai thought of it?"
"Ah!" Zheng Bao exclaimed: "Zi Yang, don't try to trick me!"
He still couldn't believe it and thought that this young man was an officer with the same name as Yuan Shu's son Yuan Yao.
"How dare I deceive Commander Zheng?" Liu Ye said seriously: "This is Mr. Yuan. He is a man of great ability and is guaranteed to be as good as he is!"
Zheng Bao looked at Yuan Yao several times, but he still couldn't believe that he, a thief chieftain, would be lucky enough to meet the fourth generation and the third prince, the direct son and grandson of the Yuan family of Runan, the most famous family in the country.
But Zheng Bao quickly came to his senses.
Although this Captain Yuan is tall, his skin is tender and tender, and you can tell he doesn't know how to wield a knife or a stick.
And he seems to be only a young man, but he can serve as the captain of a county.
That can only be explained by the fact that he comes from a famous family and has a noble status.
Zheng Bao wanted to salute again, but he never thought that there would be a scene like today.
I didn't know what etiquette to use.
The dozen or so leaders behind Zheng Bao also showed fear on their faces, and some of them did not even dare to look up at Yuan Yao.
Yuan Yao didn't expect that his identity would have such a shocking effect.
But he soon figured it out. None of these leaders were born as thieves, and most of them came from poor people. Some of them were strong men from famous clans, and they had more or less heard the name "rich families".
In ancient times, there was a strict order at the top and bottom. Although the people could not rule the counties, this did not mean that there was no order of rule in the villages.
Common people use blood relations as ties to form villages and townships based on clan names.
However, these powerful families and surnames generally had no choice but to be manipulated in front of the wealthy and prominent families in counties and counties who had the power to collect food and collect grain.
And these wealthy families who control local power are also subject to the aristocratic families who control central power.
Imagine that you are a child from an ordinary family, and you hang around the patriarch's family in the village.
As a result, after the autumn harvest, you saw the clan leader and his family groveling in front of the grain collector from the county, just to pay one less truckload of grain to the county.
Then when you go out to build a house for a wealthy family in the county, you find the head of the county in his backyard, kneeling before a man called the "prefect" and begging him to help him say a good word in front of the "provincial governor" and put himself in a good position. The son was promoted to be filial and honest.
So you go back to the village and brag to the villagers who have never seen the world that you have met the county governor, and there are even bigger officials above the governor. The patriarch of the village is as big as the sky, and I am afraid that you will give it to the nobles from the county and state. Not even suitable for carrying shoes.
So looking at it this way, it is normal for the leaders behind Zheng Bao to be trembling and afraid to raise their heads when they heard that Yuan Yao was from a famous family.
In fact, this is also the reason why Zheng Bao wants Liu Ye, a descendant of a clan and a member of a wealthy family, to use him.
Yuan Yao spoke at the right time and said: "I have heard for a long time that Zheng Bao of Lujiang has a reputation for being brave and courageous."
"Although I have lived in Shouchun for a long time, I have always admired Brother Zheng for being a hero in the Chaohu area!"
Although Yuan Yao called Zheng Bao by his first name, there was no problem at all to Zheng Bao.
Yuan Yao didn't call him Zheng Anu, which was enough to give Zheng Bao face.
"Captain Yuan has promoted you!" Zheng Bao thanked him.
Yuan Yao helped Zheng Bao up and asked, "You are about the same age as me, do you have a cousin?"
"We can call each other by our names!"
Zheng Bao was a little embarrassed. He was from a humble background and had no reputation.
Words are chosen by educated and educated people. What about Zhang Jiao and his younger brother Zhang Bao, the leaders of the Yellow Turban Army? It’s also just a name without a word.
And not to mention words, even names are not something that most people want to have.
At least there is one person in the village who can read and interpret the characters before they can choose a single-character name after the surname.
Generally, the names of mud-legged people are either numbers, such as Zhu Chongba, Wang Laowu; or they are easy to remember, such as Li Gouzi and Zhao Mazi.
When both parents are illiterate, they will feel that this kind of name is more friendly and easy to remember than Zhu Biao or Li Gan.
So Zheng Bao was not actually named Zheng Bao before he became an adult.
He has five brothers, regardless of gender, they are all called Zheng Dabao according to their ranking, the second is Zheng, the third is the fourth and the fourth is Xiaobao. If his mother gave birth to Liubao and did not die in childbirth, the original Xiaobao would be renamed Wubao, and Liubao would be called Xiaobao.
It wasn't until he convinced a group of powerful clans and became famous that he changed his name to Zheng Bao under everyone's persuasion.
Like Zheng Bao, who officially took a one-character name only after reaching adulthood and still has no first name, Yuan Yao also has someone beside him, and that is Yuan Bao, the chief attendant.
"Bao comes from a humble background and has never had a nickname! I wish I could always have one!"
Yuan Yao smiled and said: "Then I will treat you as brothers!"
"Brother Zheng, if you don't mind, I know a few scholars, and I can give Brother Zheng a cousin after today's banquet."
"Then thank Brother Yuan in advance for your kindness!"
