My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 184 Satisfied
Suppressing his excitement, Xin Ping tried his best to remain calm and asked, "Is what you say true, Your Excellency?!"

Liu Bei smiled magnanimously and nodded: "How could I dare to mock Your Excellency? I have personally witnessed Xian Si's abilities. If he were to serve as the governor of Qingzhou, I believe he would be able to pacify the region and allow the people of Qingzhou to enjoy peace again."

"Your words are very wise."

Xin Ping immediately perked up and showered Yuan Tan with praise: "Young Master Yuan, you are so young yet you have the loyalty of so many generals in the army. You always lead from the front in battle, love your soldiers like your own children, and are tolerant of others. You always give credit to your subordinates, which is why you can win their lives."

"The eldest son once told the commentator that when he fought against the magistrate on the battlefield, he was almost defeated by the magistrate several times. If the magistrate had not been repeatedly dragged down by Tian Kai, the eldest son might not have been able to defeat the magistrate."

With such a generous gift from Liu Bei, Xin Ping naturally had to reciprocate.

More importantly, does Liu Bei's move imply his closer relationship with Yuan Tan?

If this attitude is true, then Xin Ping can reap the benefits without lifting a finger and gain a great deal of credit for nothing.

Gaining the support of a powerful vassal like Liu Bei was extremely beneficial to consolidating Yuan Tan's position.

Even Yuan Shao, when choosing a successor, had to consider the attitudes of his allies.

Moreover, the governor of Xuzhou is rising in rank, and once Yuan Tan takes control of Qingzhou, it will border Xuzhou. If the two sides maintain a friendly relationship, not only will they have fewer worries about the future, but they can also trade and exchange goods. Why not?

“I have personally witnessed his remarkable ability to think clearly.”

Liu Bei's attitude was quite amiable, and he seemed to completely disregard his past defeat, which made Xin Ping secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

"However, I have something to say, but I don't know if I should say it or not."

Xin Ping immediately snapped out of his euphoria, realizing that this statement was likely the key to the whole affair.

Liu Bei is making a request.

If Yuan Shao agrees, then this big gift package will be a benefit for Xin Ping and Yuan Tan.

If Yuan Shao cannot agree, then while this generous gift package may not be entirely lost, Yuan Tan and Xin Ping will likely have to pay the price.

Xin Ping rallied his spirits and replied, "Why do you say that, Your Excellency? If you have any thoughts, please feel free to give them."

"Tian Kai has fraudulently claimed the title of governor and has repeatedly crossed the border to plunder. This is the act of a rebel. It is clear that we intend to strike him down in order to quell the rebellion for the country, and we should support him with all our might. However, Kong Wenju is the prime minister of Beihai appointed by the court and a renowned scholar. He himself is also dedicated to protecting the borders and ensuring the safety of the people. He is not in the same boat as Tian Kai."

"Bei had a long-standing friendship with Kong Wenju and they were quite close. He should write a letter to persuade Wenju to stay away from the likes of Tian Kai."

Liu Bei looked at Xin Ping and asked, "I wonder if Xiansi can accommodate Kong Wenju in Beihai?"

Xin Ping understood. Liu Bei's conditions were Kong Rong and the Beihai Kingdom, and perhaps Donglai Commandery as well. If Yuan Tan couldn't control Beihai, he would have to occupy Donglai across the sea if he wanted to control it. This would not only be laborious but also less efficient. Most importantly, compared to the four commanderies including Pingyuan, Donglai didn't have any particularly outstanding advantages at this time.

The main strength of the six commanderies and kingdoms of Qingzhou lies on both sides of the Yellow River, especially Pingyuan Kingdom. It is not only the best in Qingzhou, but also ranks among the top ten commanderies and kingdoms in the entire Eastern Han Dynasty. It is located on the Great Plain, has the power of salt and iron, and is backed by the Yellow River. With a population of one million, it can be described as a fertile land.

Although Beihai Kingdom has a large population, it has many mountains and few mineral resources. Its economy is actually similar to that of Le'an Kingdom, Qi County, and Jinan County, and far inferior to that of Pingyuan Kingdom.

Qingzhou possesses the power of salt and iron, but most of its iron ore resources and iron-mining operations are located in Pingyuan, Qijun, Jinanjun, and Le'an Kingdom. Beihai Kingdom and Donglai County only have a handful of iron ore deposits, perhaps two or three.

Xin Ping quickly made a judgment: if the division were done this way, Yuan Tan might not necessarily be at a disadvantage.

Because Yuan Tan, Xin Ping, and others were already hesitant about whether or not to confront Kong Rong.

In the original timeline, Yuan Tan also launched an attack to destroy Kong Rong in the first year of Jian'an (196 AD), and Kong Rong and his family were captured by Yuan Tan.

Zheng Xuan, who was universally recognized as the foremost scholar of Confucian classics in his time, lost his only son at this very moment.

His son, Zheng Yi'en, was recommended by Kong Rong as a candidate for the civil service examination, thus establishing a bond of friendship between them.

When Kong Rong was defeated and killed by Yuan Tan, Zheng Yi'en was sent by Zheng Xuan to rescue Kong Rong, but he was defeated and killed.

In this current timeline, Liu Bei's Xuzhou group is becoming increasingly powerful, and Liu Bei and Kong Rong have an excellent relationship, which makes Yuan Tan very wary.

This can't go on forever.

Xin Ping came here this time with the intention of discussing the issue of Qingzhou with Liu Bei. This was both Yuan Shao's order and a request from him and Yuan Tan.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei spoke first, and offered quite favorable terms.

"I believe your words are very reasonable, and indeed, they are a profound and well-founded statement."

Xin Ping considered carefully and said, "After I return, I will certainly report the magistrate's goodwill to my lord and do my best to make this happen."

Liu Bei was overjoyed and bowed to Xin Ping in gratitude, saying, "In that case, I will trouble you, Your Excellency, to mediate this conflict."

Xin Ping hurriedly left his seat to make way, and returned the bow, saying, "Your Excellency is the governor of a prefecture, while I am but a mere scholar. How dare I accept such a grand gesture from Your Excellency?"

Liu Bei stepped forward and pulled the other man back to his seat: "Why do you belittle me, sir? I heard of your great name back in Luoyang, but I regret that I was too insignificant to pay my respects to you then. Otherwise, I would not have been able to meet you now."

Xin Ping, moved, shook hands with Liu Bei and said, "What virtue or ability do I possess to deserve such kindness from you, my lord? I am truly ashamed and do not deserve it."

After both parties returned to their seats, Xin Ping spoke again: "My lord heard that the magistrate and Magistrate Cao of Yanzhou had some misunderstandings, and specially ordered me to come here to mediate and clear up the misunderstandings between the two, so as to prevent a greater tragedy from happening."

Yuan Shao's attitude towards Cao Cao and Liu Bei was very clear: Cao Cao was his biological brother, while Liu Bei was at most a foster brother.

However, since Cao Cao's younger brother was not very obedient, Yuan Shao didn't mind using Liu Bei to counterbalance Cao Cao.

However, the closeness or distance of their relationship remains unchanged. In particular, Liu Bei's Xu Province has unexpectedly expanded and surpassed Cao Cao's, which naturally attracts Yuan Shao's attention.

However, it's far too early to talk about suppression and fear.

After all, Yuan Shao's thinking was still stuck in the context of the times. In his view, Liu Bei's prestige was far inferior to his, let alone Cao Cao's.

The reason why the scholars of Xuzhou are able to support Liu Bei right now is because I, Yuan Shao, haven't gone there yet.

If I, Yuan Shao, had gone there, the scholars of Xuzhou would have voted for me with their feet.

That's actually the case; otherwise, Yuan Shao wouldn't have received so many letters from his accomplices during the Battle of Guandu.

The authors of these letters were all Cao Cao's dearest friends and relatives.

Besides this, another very important reason was that Yuan Shao needed Liu Bei to help him suppress his good brother.

Originally, this task belonged to Cao Cao, but now that Lü Bu has stolen Cao Cao's home, he has no time to suppress Yuan Shu.

From Yuan Shao's perspective, if it weren't for Liu Bei, Yuan Shu would have already caused chaos in the southeast.

It was for this reason that Yuan Shao maintained goodwill towards Liu Bei's expansion, especially since Liu Bei chose to head south to seize Guangling instead of venturing into Qingzhou, which pleased Yuan Shao greatly.

Otherwise, Liu Bei would be facing pressure from Yuan Shao at this point, instead of trying to mediate.

"It's easy."

Liu Bei laughed heartily: "To be honest, Brother Mengde's envoy arrived in my Tancheng a few days ago and we have already reached an agreement. We have already resolved our past grievances."

"Ah, is this true?"

Xin Ping was greatly surprised, not expecting that Cao Mengde would send someone to Xuzhou first.

"exactly."

Liu Bei nodded and said, "I have put aside all past grievances with Brother Mengde. Brother Mengde's envoy, Cheng Zhongde, is still in Tancheng. Your Excellency can meet with him at the guesthouse later."

Xin Ping laughed from the bottom of his heart and complimented, "Your Excellency has a magnanimous heart, which is admirable."

Xin Ping's words are not wrong. At present, Xuzhou has a strong army and is willing to make peace with Cao Cao, with whom he has a deep-seated hatred. Liu Bei is obviously very magnanimous.

In reality, there was very little voice of revenge within Xuzhou. It's unclear whether it was because they were terrified of Cao Cao or because of the massacre of the city, which resulted in none of the victims' relatives escaping.

In short, the forces within Xuzhou did not have a strong desire for revenge, and Liu Bei did not even need to suppress them.

This greatly surprised Liu Bei and his son, and it's no wonder that in the original timeline, apart from the rebellion led by Liu Bei, many counties in Xuzhou supported him. Their greatest resistance against Cao Cao at other times was simply non-violent non-cooperation.

Even a scholar from Xuzhou like Chen Deng, who commanded over ten thousand troops in Guangling, didn't dare to provoke Cao Cao during the Battle of Guandu. Let alone actively provoking him, if Chen Deng had simply vacated Guangling and allowed Sun Ce to advance north, Cao Cao might very well have surrendered.

However, this was also a good thing in a way, as it left Liu Bei with almost no political burden or pressure.

Xin Ping was also very happy at this moment. He never expected that this mission to Xuzhou would go so smoothly, and he could easily solve both tasks.

This made Xin Ping somewhat interested.

In addition to the tasks in Qingzhou and Yanzhou, Yuan Shao also assigned Xin Ping another task.

However, this task is different from the previous two; it is not mandatory, but rather allows Xin Ping to judge for himself whether there is an opportunity.

This task is to locate Runan County.

As the second largest prefecture in the country, Runan Prefecture not only boasts the second largest population and economy, but more importantly, it also has a large number of talented people.

Although Runan Commandery suffered several raids and sweeps by the Liangzhou army after Dong Zhuo's usurpation of power, it was still severely damaged.

Compared to the Nanyang Commandery that Yuan Shu had ravaged, the situation there was much better. Moreover, Runan Commandery was originally the second largest commandery in the country.

Most importantly, who was the local tyrant of Runan County?

Isn't that the Yuan family?
The entire Runan Commandery was essentially under the control of the Yuan family of Runan. Therefore, the only ones currently vying for control of Runan Commandery were Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. Otherwise, Liu Feng wouldn't have strongly advised Liu Bei against venturing into Runan.

In the original timeline, why did Cao Cao, who commanded an army of over 100,000, only bring 30,000 to 40,000 when he attacked Guandu?
It's not that Cao Cao only had tens of thousands of men. Think about it: when Cao Cao fought Zhang Xiu, Liu Bei, and Lü Bu, when did he ever lack soldiers? His first major achievement in Yanzhou was defeating the million-strong Yellow Turban army in Qingzhou, from which he selected 300,000 elite troops to form the Qingzhou Army.

Whether the Qingzhou Army was strong in combat or not is another matter, but at least in terms of loyalty, it was very difficult for other warlords to turn them against them.

why?
Because the Qingzhou army was aligned with the Yellow Turbans, it was naturally in a state of hostility with other warlords.

But during the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao only brought tens of thousands of Qingzhou troops. Where did the rest go?

On the one hand, there was a shortage of food, and on the other hand, Runan rebelled again.

This forced Cao Cao to send Li Tong with more than 10,000 elite troops south to quell the rebellion and to garrison Runan. During the Battle of Guandu, Runan not only failed to provide Cao Cao with a single soldier, a single penny, or a single grain, but instead helped Yuan Shao tie down Cao Cao's tens of thousands of elite troops.

In the struggle for Runan Commandery, Yuan Shao is currently far inferior to Yuan Shu, after all, the distance is simply too great.

Yuan Shao was separated by two entire provinces, while Yuan Shu was right next to him.

Even if Yuan Shao wanted to send someone to serve as the governor of Runan, he was worried about the troops under Yuan Shu's command.

Even if someone is not afraid of death and dares to take up a post in Runan County, he cannot bring many troops with him, and Yuan Shu can destroy him with a snap of his fingers.

But if they could get Liu Bei's support, the situation would be completely different.

Yuan Shao was confident that he could easily gain the support of the entire Runan Commandery.

However, he also knew that this request was somewhat excessive, as Yuan Shao could not offer any corresponding benefits at the moment.

Therefore, he handed over the leadership of this task to Xin Ping, allowing him to make the decision freely.

Seeing that Liu Bei was so easy to talk to, Xin Ping couldn't help but feel a little restless.

What if Liu Bei
If he can even accomplish this, then he will have made a great contribution when he returns, and Yuan Shao will surely reward him with an important position.

So Xin Ping tentatively asked, "I wonder what your opinion is of Runan, sir?"

Liu Bei was taken aback, not understanding Xin Ping's meaning.

Xin Ping had no choice but to continue, “Runan is a land of outstanding people and abundant resources, with a large population. It is also the hometown of Yuan Jizhou. To be honest, Your Excellency, the people of Runan all hope that Yuan Jizhou can return to his hometown, or at the very least, recommend an excellent prefect for his hometown.”

At this point, Xin Ping sighed: "It's just a pity that Yuan Gonglu interfered, relying on his strong military force to repeatedly drive away and coerce the Runan Prefect recommended by my lord."

Liu Bei sighed and said, "Yuan Gonglu is truly hateful. Your Excellency may not know this, but he previously sent troops to invade our territory, intending to seize Guangling. Fortunately, the capable ministers and fierce generals in the province fought a bloody battle and were able to defeat him."

Liu Bei had by then figured out Xin Ping's meaning, but he politely declined.

With nearly half of Pei still in Yuan Shu's hands, where would I find the resources to interfere in Runan, let alone benefit someone else?

So Liu Bei began to complain, telling Xin Ping about Yuan Shu's powerful influence. Not only did Yuan Shu have his sights set on Pei in the north and plot against Guangling, but he also sent Sun Jian's son, Sun Ce, to launch a surprise attack on Dantu in the south, and now Yuan Shu was sweeping through Wu Commandery.

Xin Ping knew some of this information, but not all of it, and even the information he did know was not as detailed and accurate as what Liu Bei was saying.

Yuan Shao was well aware of Yuan Shu's resurgence and growing strength, not to mention that Huainan was practically adjacent to Runan, and Yuan Shu's influence over Runan had long surpassed that of Yuan Shao.

This also caught Yuan Shao's attention, which made him anxious. He frequently put pressure on the front lines, hoping that they could completely destroy Gongsun Zan as soon as possible.

At the beginning of this year, Ju Yi defeated Gongsun Zan in the Battle of Baoqiu. Together with the Youzhou coalition, they advanced rapidly, reaching Gongsun Zan's stronghold, Yi County, and their momentum was excellent.

To Yuan Shao's surprise, for more than half a year, Ju Yi's troops were stuck outside Yi County, making no progress but consuming a large amount of grain.

In contrast, Yuan Shu, who had been defeated and forced to flee in terror by his own subordinates, not only successfully established himself in Huainan but also began to expand his territory. How could Yuan Shao remain uneasy about this?

Meanwhile, Cao Cao was preoccupied with internal strife in Yan Province, and Liu Biao was ambivalent towards Yuan Shao. This was the fundamental reason why Yuan Shao was tolerant of Liu Bei's expansion, because he could only rely on Liu Bei to suppress Yuan Shu.

Xin Ping's mind raced, and he tentatively suggested, "My lord, Runan Commandery is located in the heart of the Central Plains, bordering the Huai and Si Rivers to the south, Luoyang to the north, Peng and Pei to the east, and Nanyang to the west. If Yuan Shu were to gain control of this place, it would be detrimental to you and Xuzhou. I am not talented, but I urge you to take this matter seriously as soon as possible and not to be careless."

Liu Bei sighed, “Alas, how could I not know the importance of Runan? But the Yuan family is deeply rooted in Runan, and the people all submit to them. Unless Brother Yuan can go south to Yuzhou, who can stop Yuan Shu from taking control of Runan?”

Xin Ping nodded in agreement, but some thoughts were already forming in his mind.

It seems that Liu Bei understood the importance of Runan Commandery and even had something to ask for it, but he lacked confidence and therefore avoided entering.

If that's the case, then Xin Ping has some ideas.

However, Liu Bei's agreement alone was not enough; Yuan Shao's approval was also required.

Therefore, Xin Ping changed his tone and stopped trying to steer the conversation toward Runan County.

Afterwards, Liu Bei hosted a banquet for Xin Ping and Guo Jia, which lasted until late at night.

Liu Bei personally escorted Xin Ping and Guo Jia to the outskirts of the prefectural capital, and only turned back to his residence after watching the convoy leave.

"Father, it seems that Yuan Shao still wants to compete with Yuan Shu for Runan."

Xin Ping's behavior was so obvious that most people present, except for the military officers, could see it.

Liu Bei's face was flushed, clearly indicating that he had drunk quite a bit of wine.

Supported by Liu Feng, he said as they walked, "Feng'er, you are so concerned about this matter. Could it be that you are worried that your father will be trapped in Runan?"

Liu Feng laughed and shook his head: "Times have changed. If Yuan Shao can really support us in terms of official status, Runan can indeed compete for it. However, I think that greed is never enough. What is most important for Xuzhou right now is to consolidate its foundation and spend a year or two developing the military farms. Once the military farms are fully developed, Xuzhou will have enough food to increase its troops and expand its army."

"In this way, the initiative is in our hands, rather than relying on Yuan Shao to endorse us."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei nodded slowly, understanding Liu Feng's meaning.

If Liu Bei were to contest Runan in Yuan Shao's name, the short-term results would indeed be very good. However, Runan would still ultimately belong to the Yuan family, posing too many future threats and only benefiting Yuan Shao. More importantly, if Yuan Shao suddenly withdrew his endorsement, Liu Bei's side would not only have no means of countermeasures but would also lose all its previous efforts.

Sometimes the battle is for that one or two-year window of opportunity.

If Cao Cao and Lü Bu hadn't fought a fierce battle in Yanzhou, how could Xuzhou have so easily taken Rencheng, Lu, and Pei?

It is likely that even a mere touch upon Fei County and Hua County in the two mountain valleys would attract Cao Cao's massive army.

Unlike now, Cheng Yu personally came to the door, offering kind words and paying extra prices, all to appease Xuzhou and prevent him from doing anything foolish.

Such a good thing couldn't have happened even if it had been delayed by a year or two, or even a month or two, after Cao Cao had driven Lü Bu out of Yan Province.

(End of this chapter)