Chapter 182: Going to your own things

After taking down Luocheng, Liu Bei quickly entered Chengdu. At the same time, he appointed his adviser Jian Yong to Chengdu first to lobby Liu Zhang for surrender. If he could take Chengdu without bloodshed, it would naturally be more worry-free than fighting a big battle. It is also very beneficial to win people's hearts. With two powerful enemies, Cao Cao and Gao Chong, Liu Bei's capital to fight for dominance in the world was not enough. In a sense, it was only Liu Bei's last hope of seeking out Shu.

In the spring of April of the seventh year of Jian'an, Liu Bei's troops arrived in Shu County. At this time, he unexpectedly received a letter from his old friend Xu Jing. After reading the letter, Liu Bei couldn't help but laugh in front of everyone.

All the generals were quite surprised and wrote what was written in the letter that made Liu Bei so happy, because since he was kicked out of Jingzhou by Gao Chong, Liu Bei rarely smiled like this happily on his face.

Zhuge Liang also said in a strange way: "Why is the lord laughing?"

Liu Bei then stopped smiling and said, "Xu Wenxiu is really known as 'human ethics and criticism', but the reality of an unknown scholar is too different from that of a pure stream such as Chen Fan and Li Ying." After that, he handed the letter to Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang looked up and down for a brief moment, raised his head and smiled, "Xu Jing was originally a vase. If you use it to govern the country, it will ruin the country and the people. Why don't you follow the trend? Under Xu Jing as a guise, it is used to attract talents loyal to the Han Dynasty. As for many specific things to be done, let's hand over to your subordinates to do it!"

Liu Bei laughed and said, "The metaphor of the military advisor's vase is really appropriate."

The wonderful use of the vase is that it looks good and is a master who is not good at it. Xu Jing's reputation in the world is known to everyone. Killing him will arouse the anger of the scholars in the world. Even Gao Chong, after learning about Xu Jing and Xu Shao's bad deeds, he would just drive him away.

In fact, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang didn't know that Xu Jing was much more than the one who was willing to be this vase. In Chengdu City, a fierce debate was getting stronger and stronger, and the two sides of the confrontation were two famous scholars: Qiao Zhou and Liu Ba.

Qiao Zhou, whose courtesy name is Yunnan, was eight feet long and had a simple appearance. He was a native of Xichong, Brazil. His father was a disciple of the Shangshu. He was well-versed in the classics and maps. He was a famous scholar in Shu.

Liu Ba's courtesy name was Zichu, and was from Lingling. He was stubborn and honest. He had much backbone than Qiao Zhou. He was very famous when he was young. At that time, Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou, and did not go there. After Gao Chongtong captured the three counties in Jingnan in the second year of Jian'an, Liu Ba did not dare to surrender and ran to Shi Xie in Jiaozhou. As a result, a few years later, Shi Xie was also sent by Gao Chong to fight for pacification. Liu Ba had no choice but to run westward to Liu Zhang, the governor of Yizhou, as if he had escaped.

"When Zhou Ye, I saw stars gathering in Shu County; its big starlight was like a bright moon, which was the image of an emperor. Moreover, a year ago, the children's rumor said: If you want to have a new meal, you must wait for the first lord to come. This is a sign. It cannot be reversed by the way of heaven." Qiao Zhou said in a deep voice.

Liu Zhang was usually generous and kind, and believed in the changes in the celestial phenomena. He heard Qiao Zhou's words and felt a little moved. At this time, a long-sleeved and wide-robed scholar strode out and said sternly: "Qiao Zhou is wrong, please behead him!"

Liu Zhang looked calm and saw that it was Liu Ba, a doctor from Zhongsan.

"Hmph, if you are stubborn again, when the emperor's army arrives, how can you be destined?" Qiao Zhou paused and shouted, saying regret.

"I would rather be a good minister than a ghost!" Qiao Zhou's incompetence made another person in the hall angry, and he looked up and faced Qiao Zhou coldly. This person was Wang Lei, a member of the state.

"Lord, the people of Chengdu are all fighting with strength. Even if Liu Bei is powerful, he will not be able to break the city for a while. As long as we are more than a few days, we will be able to capture the enemy in one fell swoop." The person who spoke was Bo Huang Quan, the central lord of the state. He had been an official in Jiangyang County and participated in the rebellion of the Dongzhou soldiers. After Zhang Ren, Liu Xun, Leng Bao, Deng Xian, Li Yan and other military generals all fought outside, they became the only military general in the capital.

Seeing that Liu Zhang was still hesitating, Qiao Zhou quickly stepped forward and urged: "The lord is the safety of the people in the whole province. Do not cause any impulse to cause any life to be miserable. In that case, there will be a lot of peace!"

Qiao Zhou's words hit Liu Zhang's key point. He was not interested in fighting for the world, and he hoped that the people under his rule could live and work in peace, but the war and the war would inevitably lead to blood flowing into a river.

"Oh, my father and son have been in Shuzhong for more than 20 years. It has been long enough. In Luocheng, seven or eight of the heroes in Shuzhong were killed. If they fight again, they will only be useless. This is not what Ji Yu wants." Liu Zhang said sadly.

"Lord——!" Wang Lei still wanted to give strong advice.

Liu Zhang waved his hand and said, "I'm tired, you all go down. Tomorrow morning, you will put on your official uniforms and go out of the city to pick up your uncle Liu Bei into the city!"

Under Huang Quan, Liu Ba and Wang Lei's unwilling eyes, Liu Zhang's back seemed so lonely and old, although he was only forty years old.

As a prince in a chaotic era, Liu Zhang did not have the ability to take advantage of the times to get millet in chaos, nor did he compete for the world and compete for the Central Plains. He had only the kindness and kindness of protecting the country and resting the people. If this kind of benevolence and righteousness was in peace, Liu Zhang would be a wise ruler, but in a chaotic era, Liu Zhang's actions could only bring him a reputation of "darkness". After looking around, those ambitious figures would first turn their attention to the best fat meat in Shu.

This time, the emperor's uncle Liu Bei was the beast who was watching and trying to swallow the Sichuan.

Outside the gate of the prefecture, Qiao Zhou left with a proud look on his face, leaving Huang Quan, Liu Ba and Wang Lei behind, who were still standing there in a daze. Liu Bei will enter the city tomorrow. What should they do?

"Gongheng, Zichu, how about we persuade the lord again?" Wang Lei said.

Liu Ba sighed, "I see that the lord has decided, so it is useless to persuade him any more."

"Okay--, I'll go with you." Huang Quan said loudly.

Huang Quan was from Langzhong, Brazil. When he was in Jiangyang, he often traveled west from Jingxiang through the waterway. From their mouths, Huang Quan was familiar with Liu Bei's new destruction and raising troops to seize the real power of the state. This shows that Liu Bei was ambitious and would never be willing to live under the jurisdiction of others. Unfortunately, in order to quell the Zhao Wei rebellion, Liu Zhang was not alert to Liu Bei at all.

In the inner room, Liu Zhang, who had already changed clothes and went to bed, heard the eunuch report Huang Quan, Wang Lei and Liu Ba, asking for a meeting. Liu Zhang didn't want to listen to the three people's resolute request for battle.

In the second half of the night, the three people who had been waiting in the mansion for half a night were exhausted. In desperation, Wang Lei asked: "Gongheng, Zichu, what are you going to do next?"

Huang Quan said: "The second young master Liu Chan is in Nanzhong. I intend to escape from the city overnight and go to join me!"

Liu Ba sighed and said, "The lord is sincerely going to surrender, and I have no choice. Gongheng is willing to assist the young master, which is of course good. Unfortunately, a scholar, Bane, cannot play any role in Nanzhong. Therefore, the only thing you can do now is to keep your door closed!"

Looking at the discouraged expressions of the two, Wang Lei stomped his feet and shouted: "Zi Chu is such a bad word. Is there no other way we can do except staying in the door and not leaving? Tomorrow, even if we die, I must stop the lord from surrendering!" After that, Wang Lei angrily held his head up and strode away without hesitation.

Looking at Wang Lei's figure gradually fading away, Liu Ba sighed and murmured: "Gongheng, it's really unlucky to do what he said just now."

On April 12, the seventh year of Jian'an, the sky in Chengdu was covered with dark clouds, and a heavy rain was approaching. Liu Zhang was dressed neatly and ordered his servants to support the seal of the governor of Yizhou to prepare to go out of the north gate to ask for submission.

When he reached the city gate, the attendant in front suddenly screamed: There was a dead person—.

"Release away quickly, don't delay major issues!" Qiao Zhou, who was accompanying Liu Zhang, said impolitely.

"But, but this hanged man is an adult!" The attendant who reported replied tremblingly.

There were originally two people engaged in the state, one was Zheng Du, a native of Guanghan, and the other was Wang Lei. After Zheng Du was unsuccessful in advising Liu Zhang to implement the policy of strengthening the Qing Dynasty, he was dismissed from office and returned to his hometown. Therefore, the only thing he was engaged here was Wang Lei.

Liu Zhang signaled his servant to scatter. He got out of the car sedan chair. Xunsheng looked up and saw a man hanging on the wooden beam at the gate of the north city. The man was wearing court clothes and an official hat. Looking at his face, on his miserable blue face, a pair of eyes suddenly appeared unwillingly, and his tongue stretched out. Who is Wang Lei?

"Why don't you remove this man quickly!" Liu Zhang closed his eyes, waved his hand and ordered.

After Wang Lei's advice to Liu Zhang for no success, he chose the most radical method. He hoped to use his death to change Liu Zhang's decision. Unfortunately, he didn't know that this was just a futile one.

General Zuo and the emperor's uncle Liu Bei, surrounded by the civil and military generals, finally entered Chengdu, the capital of Yizhou. Although he had occupied Pengcheng, the capital of Xuzhou before, that brief experience left Liu Bei only shame, and he hoped that this time would be a new beginning in his life.

Liu Bei was not stingy this time with his subordinates who had been following him for many years. After he took over the governor of Yizhou, he all appointed all his subordinates. Even the dead Guan Yu was posthumously named Zhuang Miao Hou, and the other surrendered generals were awarded titles respectively. For example, Fa Zheng was awarded the title of prefect of Shu County, Xu Jing was the chief of the left general, and Pang Yi was the Sima in the camp. After hearing about Wang Lei's deeds, Liu Bei was even more moved and shed tears.

On the day of the sacrifice to heaven and enthronement, Liu Bei sighed repeatedly in front of the civil and military officials in Shu, "This is really a loyal minister."

Afterwards, Liu Bei ordered people to buried Wang Lei's body with a grand funeral and gave him the posthumous title of Zhonglie Hou. After Wang Lei's identity, he was promoted several levels and granted the title of Cheng Hou, which is unique in history. Liu Bei's purpose of doing this was to use dead people to win over the hearts of the people and show his orthodox style of treating scholars and others.

However, this was a resignation of the civil and military officials of Shu, and he was not very polite to Liu Zhang and Liu Bei of the same clan. He first ordered the Liu Zhang and his clan to move out of Chengdu and settled in the remote Hanjia County, and then exiled Liu Zhang to the Guangrou area where the Qiang and Hu lived. The purpose of Liu Bei's doing this was very clear, which was to prevent those forces who were still loyal to Liu Zhang from launching rebellions under the banner of Liu Zhang.

Just as the beacons in Shu were connected to the sky, the Central Plains was not peaceful.

Cao Cao, who had been eyeing Hebei for a long time, dispatched 50,000 troops to siege Yecheng again at the end of March of the seventh year of Jian'an. This time, the Yuan, Tan and Yuan Shang brothers had no chance of joining forces to fight against the enemy. Because a month ago, a big battle broke out between Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan, and Yuan Shang was defeated. His fiefs, Ganling, Anping, Bohai, Hejian, and Zhongshan, were all occupied by Yuan Tan. Yuan Shang had to go alone to join the second brother Yuan Xi of Youzhou. Now it is the best time to attack Yuan Tan.

Of course, while fighting north, Cao Cao did not let go of his guard against Gao Chong's intention to go north. On the front line of Wancheng, he continued to use the brave general Cao Ren as the main general and led 20,000 elite troops to guard Wancheng. On the front line of Xuyu, generals Yu Jin and Lejin were unified 10,000 soldiers along the Yishui River to prevent Gao Chong's troops from advancing north.

At the same time, Xu Shu, who had been closely following the trends of Bashu, also sent the latest information to Gao Chong, who was far away in Jinling.

In these few months, Gao Chong enjoyed the joy of family life. In the north of Jiangdong, Yinfu Feng, even natural disasters have been avoided. The spring flood that often occurred in previous years did not occur this year. The implementation of water diversion and irrigation measures has greatly increased the area of ​​reclaimed wastelands, especially in Jiujiang and Lujiang counties in Huainan. During the Yuanshu period, the deserted fields were almost completely reclaimed by newly migrated southward refugees.

Refugees - Since Gao Chong unified Jiangdong, the problem of refugees has always been the most troublesome problem for him. Every year at the turn of spring and summer, a large number of refugees fleeing famines will flee from Xuzhou, Yuzhou and other places in the north. They will come out from their hometowns to get a meal and maintain the most basic livelihood.

To support the huge and continuous war, although Cao Cao also implemented the military farming policy, the tax sharing method of the "Fifth Five-Year Plan" proportion is undoubtedly much heavier than the "Three Seven" policy just issued by Jiangdong. This is also the reason why many people risked being beheaded and fled to the south.
Chapter completed!