Chapter 363: Fighting for Talent

Another person who defected to Cao Cao seemed more important at that time, and his name was Li Tong.

Li Tong, whose courtesy name was Wenda, was from Pingchun County, Jiangxia County. He was thirty years old at the age of thirty. He was famous in the Jiangru area for his raids. After he raised an army with Chen Gong, a native of the same county, in Langling, many people surrendered. Within a few years, Li Tong defeated Zhou Zhi, Chen Gong, Chen Qian and other forces one after another. Then Li Tong captured Wu Ba, the commander of the Yellow Turban Army, and annexed his subordinates, and his power increased greatly.

Li Tong loved his subordinates and was good at using troops. During the great famine in Xingping, he dispersed his family's wealth and bought crumbs to share the joys and sorrows with his soldiers. Therefore, the soldiers used their lives. Even Yuan Shu, who had been jealous of him, dared not easily violate this tough bone.

Langling County is in the west of Runan County, which is adjacent to Yingchuan County, which is a barrier to the eastern part of Xudu. At this time, Cao Cao's power had gradually penetrated into Runan County. Yuan Shu's troops were defeated several times, so they strengthened their defenses, and Cao Cao could not continue to expand his territory. Li Tong's surrender allowed Cao Cao to strengthen his control over Runan County. Therefore, Cao Cao appointed Li Tong as the General of Zhenwei Zhonglang and asked him to continue to station in Langling County and control the southwest of Runan County for the court.

Since then, Li Tong has always been loyal to Cao Cao, and firmly guarded Xudu's east gate for Cao Cao and made great contributions. Later, Yuan Shao was willing to call him the general of the Southern Expedition, and Liu Biao sent people to seduce him many times, but he refused one by one. His relatives and subordinates cried and wanted to convince him to agree to Yuan Shao's envoy, because Cao Cao was lonely in Northern Runan, and if something happened, it would be all over. However, Li Tong refused again and held the sword in his hand and shouted angrily: "Cao Gong is very smart and will definitely be in the world. Although Shao is strong, he will be invincible and will eventually be captured. I will die forever." He also beheaded the envoy sent by Yuan Shao and presented the seal to Cao Cao.

For a moment, all the scholars in the world were proud to join Xu Du. Everyone was willing to come, rather than coming for Cao Cao, it was better to say that the court was more attractive. For Cao Cao, this was the most positive effect received by "submitting the emperor to order the emperor to order the emperor to despise the ministers."

Faced with such a situation, even Zhou Yu who had traveled through time had no choice but to increase the search for talents in his area, further expand the collection academy to attract talents, and also ask subordinate officials to actively recommend their relatives and friends, and teachers and disciples come to Yangzhou. Anyone who has successfully recommended them will be rewarded.

At the same time, Zhou Yu secretly ordered Jingwu Guard personnel from all over the country to strengthen activities against local celebrities and scholars. If possible, he would try his best to invite them to Yangzhou.

What Zhou Yu launched was a talent battle with Cao Cao. Among them, the more successful ones were the competition for famous scholars in Jiangnan such as Wang Lang and Hua Xin.

In May of the first year of Jian'an, Cao Cao summoned Hua Xin, Wang Lang, Sheng Xian and others to Xudu in the name of the court. At this time, Hua Xin was responsible for the military farming soldiers in Nanchang. Wang Lang had been invited by Zhou Yu to enter the Collection Academy and worked with Cai Yong, Zheng Xuan and Kong You. Sheng Xian's courtesy name was Xiaozhang, and he was elegant and knowledgeable. He was appointed as the governor of Wujun by Zhou Yu.

Faced with the conscript order issued by Cao Cao in the name of the court, Zhou Yu clearly did not dare to disobey, but behind his back all three of them shy away on the grounds of being weak and sick. Although Cao Cao was unhappy, he had no choice for the time being.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, Jiang Wan, a Lingling native who had made friends with Zhou Yu in Qiaozhuang, came to Yangzhou for a trip and visited Zhou Yu. He was attracted by the new atmosphere of Yangzhou and was impressed by Zhou Yu's demeanor, so he joined Zhou Yu's tent. Zhou Yu ordered him to be the Moling Order, which was a very important position. Jiang Wan had a talent for being a world-class man, and was in good order and rigorous in his work, which made Zhou Yu very satisfied.

Zhou Yu once smiled at Jiang Wan and said, "In the past, Gong Yan's style was impressed by me, so I made friends with you. There were also many young heroes on that day. As I know, Pan Chengming of Wuling is your cousin, and your fellow villager Liu Zichu is your best friend. I appreciate their talents very much..."

Jiang Wan understood the truth and immediately bowed: "The lord is in love with the world, so he is eager to seek talents. Wan is not talented, so he is willing to recruit these two people for the lord."

Zhou Yu agreed happily that Jiang Wan had returned to his hometown. At this time, Liu Ba was still idle at home, observing the general trend of the world, looking forward to the wise ruler. The news that Cao Cao welcomed the emperor to establish his capital in Xu County came, and Liu Ba was also willing to surrender. However, some people said that Cao Cao was cruel and had acted to massacre the city, so Liu Ba was also shaken. After several days of persuasion, Jiang Wan convinced Liu Ba, and then went to Wuling together to find his cousin Pan Jun. Pan Jun naturally followed his cousin's advice and quickly packed up his luggage. The three of them chariots and followed them in a light journey, and successfully arrived at Moling.

When Zhou Yu met the young talent he had met in Qiaozhuang again, he was delighted and immediately appointed Liu Ba as the magistrate of Lujiang County to assist Yuan Huan in governing the richest Lujiang County among the six counties in Jiangdong. Pan Jun was the magistrate of Jiujiang County, assisting the prefect Chen Gong, and general Cheng Pu to resist the invasion of Yuan Shu's forces.

As early as the winter snow melted, Zheng Xuan, a famous scholar of the dynasty who had been devoted to studying in the Collegiate Academy, recommended his favorite disciple Sun Gan to become an official. Zhou Yu had known Sun Gan's name, and had a lot of contact in private. He wanted Sun Gan to help him, but Sun Gan was devoted to studying and serving Zheng Xuan, but he did not agree. After learning the news, Zhou Yu was happy and appointed Sun Gan as the governor of Danyang County to assist the prefect Zhang Zhao in handling government affairs. He could continue to take care of his mentor Zheng Xuan if he had free time.

Since Zheng Xuan returned to Jiangdong, his living conditions have been greatly improved. Zhou Yu took care of them meticulously, giving him a lot of time to study history books and annotate classics. Zheng Xuan was very grateful to Zhou Yu. He knew that Jiangdong was booming and needed a large number of talents. The Central Plains area was a place where talents gathered, so he used his influence to convince his students to come and serve Zhou Yu, the most famous of which was Guoyuan.

Guoyuan, whose courtesy name was Zini, was from Le'angai County, Qingzhou. He was a high-ranking scholar of Zheng Xuan. He came to Jiangdong because he avoided the war. He heard that his mentor was in Moling, so he came to join him. Guoyuan was dedicated to studying ancient times. He often taught in Shanyan in Liaodong. Many scholars admired him, so he became famous. Zheng Xuan once commented on Guoyuan: "Guozi Ni is beautiful, and I look at him, and he will definitely be a national weapon."

Zheng Xuan was highly recommended by such talents, and Zhou Yu also knew Guoyuan's name. In history, he was a famous political minister of the Wei State, and his achievements were even greater than that of Zaozhi, who was the first to advocate military farming. When Guoyuan first returned to Cao Cao, he was in charge of military farming. During his tenure, he "repeatedly reported losses and losses, treated the people, planned the people and established officials, and understood the methods of homework", so that "the granaries were abundant in five years, and the people competed to persuade them to work happily." When Cao Cao conquered Guanzhong, Guoyuan was appointed as the chief minister of the government and commanded the affairs of the remaining capital.

Zhou Yu was bold in using such talents. After Guoyuan's long talk, Zhou Yu appointed him to work as his subordinates in the military farming affairs of the six counties in Jiangdong, two counties in Jingzhou, and three counties in Jiaozhou. Anyone involving the expropriation of land, agricultural supplies and equipment, and grain sharing management, whether it is a civil or military garrison, is uniformly responsible for Guoyuan.

I know what happens next, and listen to the next chapter to explain it.
Chapter completed!