My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 213 Split the Land East Lai
At this time, the title of "Miscellaneous General" was actually a very important and prestigious position. Don't look down on this title. Liu Biao and Liu Yao were only "Miscellaneous Generals". Before this year, Yuan Shao was also a "Miscellaneous General". Cao Cao even claimed the title of "Miscellaneous General" by himself.

Currently, the four top generals positions are vacant, as no one is qualified to take them, while the four regular generals in front, behind, left, and right are already filled.

In the fourth year of the Chuping era (193 AD), Gongsun Zan was promoted to the position of General of the Vanguard, and he retained the title of General of the Vanguard until his death in the fourth year of the Jian'an era.

The title of General of the Rear was initially given to Yuan Shu, but in the third year of the Chuping era (192 AD), the Eastern Han central government dispatched Grand Tutor Ma Ridi to Guandong to pacify the warlords. He first went to Shouchun to appoint Yuan Shu as General of the Left and Marquis of Yangdi.

Yuan Shu held the position of Left General until Cao Cao installed Emperor Xian of Han on the throne. In order to sow discord between Yuan Shu and Lü Bu, Cao Cao gave the position of Left General to Lü Bu in the second year of Jian'an.

As for Yuan Shu's original position of General of the Rear, it was taken over by Guo Si, who remained in that position until his death and the extermination of his clan in 197 AD.

The position of Right General was first given to Fan Chou in the Xiliang army. At that time, Fan Chou single-handedly defeated Ma Teng and Han Sui, showing great bravery and fighting spirit. Moreover, he nominally protected the emperor and Chang'an, and made outstanding contributions.

Several months after Fan Chou's death, the central government appointed Yuan Shao as Right General.

So let alone Liu Bei's seniority and achievements, he wouldn't even be eligible for a high-ranking general position; even if he were, the positions would already be full.

Emperor Xian of Han was already moved by Liu Bei's generosity in granting him a minor general title, which was an extraordinary promotion.

It should be noted that Liu Biao, Tao Qian, and Cao Cao all went west to Chang'an to pay tribute, and what they received was only a minor general title and a promotion from governor to provincial governor.

Cao Cao's title of "General of Miscellaneous Ranks" was only obtained after he welcomed Emperor Xian to the throne and quelled the remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Yingchuan.

Therefore, Emperor Xian was extremely generous to Liu Bei. Although the value of the miscellaneous general titles had been depreciated, it was only in Guanzhong due to the zero-dollar purchase by the Xiliang army. In Guandong, however, the value remained quite high.

Granting Liu Bei a general title of a minor rank was clearly a courtesy, but that alone was not enough.

Yang Biao continued, "Furthermore, Liu Bei's position as Governor of Xu Province was obtained from the former Governor of Xu Province, Tao Qian. The Emperor can appoint him directly from the central government, thus relieving Liu Bei of any worries about his future."

This is a well-worn topic. In today's world, there are countless people who exchange gifts privately, such as Liu Bei, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and even Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu, without the approval of the central government.

On the contrary, regional warlords like Liu Biao and Liu Yao, who had been removed from their posts by the central government, actually became a minority.

"Yes, what the Grand Commandant said makes a lot of sense."

Emperor Liu Xie readily agreed, nodding, and then added, "By the way, Liu Qing should also be promoted."

After a moment's thought, Liu Xie clapped his hands and said, "Shall I enfeoff Minister Liu as the Marquis of Guangling?"

After a moment's thought, Yang Biao nodded and bowed in admiration, saying, "Your Majesty is wise."

Liu Bei was the governor of Xu Province, and the capital of Xu Province was Tan County in Donghai State. Logically, Liu Bei should have been granted the title of Marquis of Tan.

The problem is that Donghai Kingdom is a kingdom, not a prefecture. There is a King of Donghai in Donghai Kingdom, and Donghai Kingdom is theoretically the fiefdom of the King of Donghai. How can it be granted to Liu Bei again?
Of the four kingdoms and one prefecture in the entire Xuzhou region, only Guangling Prefecture was abolished as a kingdom and became a prefecture, no longer the fiefdom of a vassal king.

Therefore, Liu Bei could only become the Marquis of Guangling.

The Marquis of Guangling here is not a commandery marquis, but a county marquis of Guangling.

Guangling is simply a prefecture and county that happen to share the same name.

Afterwards, Yang Biao left the tent and let Liu Xie rest inside.

Around noon, Liu Xie got up, and Jian Yong presented him with carriages and horses. He personally led two hundred armored soldiers to escort the emperor, empress, and important officials such as Yang Biao to Dayang County, the nearest county in Hedong. At the same time, he sent someone ahead to An County, the capital of Hedong Commandery, to inform Wang Yi, the governor of Hedong.

Upon arriving in Dayang County, Bai Bo and Li Le came to greet them.

The following day, Emperor Xian ordered his attendant to draft an imperial edict, appointing Liu Bei as Governor of Xu Province, General Jianzhong, and Marquis of Guangling. At the same time, he ordered Liu Bei to immediately lead troops westward to protect the emperor.

In addition, Jian Yong was appointed as the Prefect of Jiujiang, and his deputy Liu Yan was appointed as the Prefect of Lujiang.

Judging from these two rewards, the central government still harbored considerable hatred towards Yuan Shu.

Both of these prefectures were territories occupied by Yuan Shu, and Jiujiang was the capital of Yangzhou. This was practically an open call for Liu Bei to attack Yuan Shu.

At the same time, it also carried a slight intention to divide Liu Bei's camp.

This is a familiar tactic used by the central government. When Tao Qian sent people there before, Zhao Yu and Wang Lang were appointed as the governors of Guangling and Kuaiji respectively, for the same reason.

However, the imperial court treated Liu Bei quite well this time.

Both Jiujiang and Lujiang were located north of the Yangtze River, adjacent to Guangling Commandery of Xuzhou and Pei State of Yuzhou.

The relationship between Liu Bei and Yuan Shu was already extremely bad, with constant conflicts between them, so there was no need for the central government to sow discord.

On the contrary, the imperial court's appointment gave Liu Bei the best pretext to attack Yuan Shu, and also gave Liu Bei a strong claim to Jiujiang and Lujiang counties.

Don't underestimate this powerful claim. Even in the chaotic late Han Dynasty, the difference between having it and not having it is still enormous.

Let's take a very simple example.

After Jian Yong was appointed by the court as the Prefect of Lujiang, Liu Bei could openly win over Zhou Yu and the Zhou family, and the probability of success was quite high.

If the Zhou family, the most powerful clan in Lujiang County, is like this, it wouldn't be surprising if other small and medium-sized clans, who can't tolerate Yuan Shu's exploitation, become even more proactive. They might even secretly send people to Xuzhou to express their loyalty to Liu Bei and implore him to send troops as soon as possible.

People often praise Yuan Shu as a great healer with first-class logistics and supply capabilities, but his generals are too weak, making him a typical example of someone with high health and money but low attack power.

In the early stages, they supplied Sun Jian, and later they supplied Sun Ce, both of which swept across a large area.

However, this statement is not entirely wrong, but it can at least be considered as having opened the six orifices.

Yuan Shu's logistical capabilities were all one-off, purely obtained through exploitation and plunder of local areas.

Nanyang was the largest prefecture in the world, with a population equivalent to a province. It was surrounded by vast plains and also housed the largest iron smelting station in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

This precious land was ruined by Yuan Shu in less than two years.

Is this what you call a wet nurse?

This is called being childless by choice!

After Yuan Shu fled to Huainan, he improved himself a little, but not much.

Even this slight progress allowed the people of Huainan to hold on until the natural disaster that was unique to Yuan Shu finally struck, causing their complete collapse.

This shows just how bad Yuan Shu's management was, so there's really no point in exaggerating his healing abilities.

This is why the Zhou family, in their desperation, resorted to desperate measures and even jumped ship to the Sun family's ship through Zhou Yu's mediation.

After receiving the imperial decree, Jian Yong immediately went with Liu Yan to express their gratitude. Then, together with Chen Dao and two hundred armored soldiers, they traveled day and night back to Tancheng.

Just as Jian Yong was on his way to Tancheng, Liu Bei, accompanied by Liu Feng, came to the guesthouse to visit Marquis Lü Wenhou.

When Liu Bei arrived, Chen Gong happened to be with Lü Bu, and the two were discussing what to do next.

Many people in later generations thought that Chen Gong was Lü Bu's subordinate, but in fact, the two were also partners, with Chen Gong representing the interests of the major shareholder of Yanzhou.

This is also the main reason why Chen Gong later instigated Hao Meng to rebel and wanted to get rid of Lü Bu.

Because Chen Gong was a pro-Yuan Shu faction in Lü Bu's camp, and was a mortal enemy of the pro-central government and anti-Yuan Shu faction, such as Chen Deng and his son.

Seeing that Lü Bu was increasingly favoring Chen Deng and his son, Chen Gong became anxious and naturally wanted to resort to some underhanded tactics.

"Lord Wen, we came here hoping to get Liu Bei's help to return to Yanzhou."

Judging from his appearance alone, Chen Gong is definitely a kind and honest person. He has a square face and a simple and honest appearance, and he is a bit dull. However, his words after careful consideration always have good insights.

This person's biggest flaw is that he lacks quick wit, has a narrow perspective, and a limited vision.

Objectively speaking, Chen Gong was not a purely bad person, but he was limited by the interests of the Yanzhou gentry throughout his life.

Later, Cao Cao was willing to forgive him. Although their past friendship played a part, the most fundamental reason was that he wanted Chen Gong to be a bridge for reconciliation and communication between Cao Cao and the gentry of Yanzhou. However, Chen Gong ultimately refused.

"Looking at it now, it seems that Cao Cao and Liu Bei have already secretly reconciled, but outsiders are unaware of it."

Chen Gong's judgment was quite correct, but it took him seven or eight days to arrive at this conclusion.

Fortunately, Lü Bu not only didn't know this, but also didn't believe his judgment.

Upon hearing Chen Gong's words, Lü Bu frowned and retorted, "I observed that Liu Bei treated us very warmly, and according to Zhang Mengzhuo, he even agreed to help him retrieve his family and relatives. Cao Mengde is treacherous by nature and hates Mengzhuo to the bone. How could he easily release them? In my opinion, Cao and Liu will soon go to war!"

After hearing Lü Bu's words, Chen Gong found the other party's idea laughable, but for a moment he couldn't find the words to refute it.

Just then, a servant came to report that Liu Bei and his son Liu Feng had come to pay their respects. Upon hearing this, Lü Bu was overjoyed: "Gongtai, quickly come with me to greet them."

Chen Gong then got up and went out to greet them together with Lü Bu.

Sure enough, as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the Second Hospital, Liu Bei and Liu Feng were already standing outside. Behind the father and son stood three bodyguards. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei naturally followed Liu Bei, while Pan Zhang even abandoned his troops and handed them over to his deputy, while he himself followed Liu Feng as a bodyguard.

That is to say, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin all went back, and Taishi Ci also went to select promising knights. Otherwise, the burly men behind Liu Feng would definitely have already surpassed his own father.

"I apologize for my unauthorized visit, Lord Wen."

Liu Bei bowed politely, showing both courtesy and propriety.

"Xuande, why do you say that? You and I are brothers!"

Lu Bu, however, acted quite tactlessly, brazenly addressing Liu Bei by his courtesy name, which directly revealed his wolfish ambition to become Cao Cao's elder brother.

Cao Cao treated Liu Bei like his own younger brother.

Liu Bei frowned almost imperceptibly. In fact, Big Ear Brother was quite disgusted by Lü Bu's excessive closeness.

In particular, Lü Bu was very bad at upholding loyalty and righteousness, so his compatibility with Liu Bei was naturally not good. Even so, he still kept talking about brothers, so it's no wonder that Liu Bei felt as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a fly.

This time, however, I came for the sake of Zhang Liao.

So Liu Bei had no choice but to force a smile and say a few words in response.

Chen Gong, watching from the side, was speechless and sighed inwardly. If he had known that Liu Bei was so capable, why did he even bother to find Lü Bu? Wouldn't it have been better to have welcomed Liu Bei into Yanzhou than to have Lü Bu?

Look at what Liu Bei did in Xuzhou that year: he pacified Zang Ba, recovered Guangling, and even extended his reach to Yangzhou.

In the north, Yuan Shao was willing to cede a third of Qingzhou as leeway, and most importantly, he showed special respect for scholars.

Chen Deng was promoted to governor of a prefecture in just a few months. In order to get Chen Deng into the position, Liu Bei even went so far as to divide up Langya.

This made Chen Gong extremely envious. Looking at his own Marquis Wen, who was disobedient and unyielding, Chen Gong could only ask Chen Deng, "We are both surnamed Chen, so how come your judgment is so much better than mine?"

Everyone says Lü Bu is a formidable fighter, but now it seems he's not even worthy of carrying Liu Bei's shoes.

If it had been Liu Bei who came back then, Cao Cao would probably have been driven across the Yellow River by now.

To be fair, Liu Bei was already so skilled in battle, yet he was repeatedly defeated by Yuan Tan in the Qingzhou Plain. Just how strong must Yuan Tan be?
No wonder Liu Bei went to great lengths to recommend him for the position of Maocai. With a son like this, what more could one ask for?

As Chen Gong was lost in thought, he suddenly heard Liu Bei's slightly frightened voice.

"Lord Wen, what is the meaning of this?"

Chen Gong quickly looked up and saw that Lü Bu had actually summoned his wife, Lady Wei, and daughter, Lü Qi.

Liu Bei was known for his deep cunning, yet even so, he was completely bewildered and unsettled by Lü Bu's divine move.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were also completely bewildered, unable to understand what Lü Bu was doing.

Liu Feng secretly thought to himself, "This is going to be a memorable scene."

Logically speaking, Lü Bu's move should be called entrusting his wife and children to someone else, which not only expresses intimacy and virtue.

The problem is, you need to have the right connections.

Liu Bei and Lü Bu had no prior dealings and had only just met. You immediately barged into his home, offering your wife and children. Anyone would suspect something was amiss, right?
Perhaps Prime Minister Cao is an exception.

Lü Bu then warmly introduced Liu Bei, saying, "Brother, please take a seat. This is your elder brother and sister-in-law, and this is your niece."

After saying this, Lü Bu said to Lady Wei and Lü Qi, "You two may bow to Xuande and offer him tea."

Wei and Lü Qi were extremely obedient to Lü Bu, and they actually served him tea with great respect.

Liu Feng hid behind Liu Bei, his eyes lowered.

Although he is not very old now, he has already reached adulthood.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, no one cared how old you were. Once you came of age, you were considered an adult. How could Lü Bu's wife and daughter be looked at so casually?

Liu Bei forced himself to suppress his displeasure, put on a normal demeanor, and accepted the tea with a smile.

Only after Lady Wei and Lü Qi left did Liu Bei secretly breathe a sigh of relief, and his opinion of Lü Bu worsened even further.

"Xuande, what brings you here today?"

Lu Bu asked casually. In his opinion, even though Liu Bei was the lord of Xu Province, he, Lu Bu, was Liu Bei's elder brother. Liu Bei himself had just tacitly agreed to that.

Zhang Fei was already furious with Lü Bu's antics, but he couldn't vent his anger on Wei Shi and Lü Qi. He finally snapped and shouted, "What are you saying? My brother is the lord of Xuzhou. Is there any place in Xuzhou that he can't come to?"

"Yide, you mustn't be rude!"

Although Liu Bei was also very unhappy, he still managed to suppress Zhang Fei.

I'm here to get things done, not to argue.

"Lord Wen and Lord Chen, I have come here today to inquire about your plans for the future."

Liu Bei's words silenced both Lü Bu and Chen Gong.

The two exchanged a glance, somewhat surprised by Liu Bei's question.

In fact, neither Lü Bu nor Chen Gong had any plans for what was to come. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but that they simply couldn't think of any.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have come to seek refuge with Liu Bei. The fact that they would come to seek refuge with Liu Bei, with whom they had no prior relationship, means that they couldn't go to anyone else.

The brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu should thank Lü Bu for avenging their family, but would Lü Bu still dare to go to the two Yuans?

Zhang Miao did mention going to join Yuan Shu at the time, but Lü Bu and Chen Gong joined forces to oppose it.

In other words, Liu Bei is currently suppressing Yuan Shu, which has made Zhang Miao less optimistic about Yuan Shu. Otherwise, he would have gone to Yuan Shu to his death, just like in history.

Finally, it was Lü Bu who spoke up and replied: "Alas, I, Lü Bu, have rid the world of evil and restored the Han Dynasty, but I never expected to be stranded in Guandong and unable to gain the favor of the warlords there. In the midst of my defeat, I came to join Xuande, hoping to work with you to accomplish great things. I wonder what your opinion is?"

When Liu Feng heard the words "a life adrift," he was truly startled. He almost forgot all about Lü Bu's previous behavior of wanting to be Liu Bei's elder brother, and nearly thought that the other party wanted to become his brother.

Liu Bei glanced at Liu Feng and realized that his eldest son was right again; it would be best to send Lü Bu away as soon as possible.

"Lord Wen righteously eliminated Dong Zhuo and restored the Han Dynasty. He is an outstanding figure in the world. What virtue or ability does Liu Bei have to command Lord Wen?"

Liu Bei stopped Lü Bu from interrupting and continued, "Donglai Commandery is currently without a ruler, and I am temporarily acting as its governor on behalf of the court. I intend to divide it into three parts, recommending that Marquis Wen be appointed as the governor of Donglai, Zhang Mengzhuo as the governor of Changguang, and Gongtai as the governor of Ye Commandery. I wonder if you two gentlemen are willing?"

Prefect of Donglai?

Lu Bu and Chen Gong were greatly surprised, never expecting Liu Bei to bring such a generous gift.

At present, Lü Bu and Chen Gong are like stray dogs, and their greatest hope is to be taken in by Liu Bei.

Of course, once they were taken in by Liu Bei, they naturally wanted more, but right now they really didn't think they could get a piece of land from Liu Bei.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei took the initiative to give up the territory. Although it was divided into three parts, it was indeed a county, and it was given to the three of them.

As long as the three of them continue to stick together, wouldn't the entire Donglai County remain in their hands?

"Please take a look, gentlemen."

Liu Bei also brought a map, which he spread out in front of Lü Bu and Chen Gong.

"Donglai has a total of thirteen counties. Bei intends to establish Changguang Commandery with Changguang, Buqi, Changyang, and Gelu counties, and recommends Meng Zhuo's brother as governor, who will govern Changguang. Subsequently, Yexian, Luxiang, and Dangli counties will be established as Ye Commandery, and Gongtai's brother will be recommended as governor, who will govern Yexian. The remaining five counties will remain Donglai Commandery, and Wenhou will be recommended as governor of Donglai, who will govern Huangxian."

Liu Bei's arrangement was extremely appropriate.

Yexian was the seat of Donglai Commandery during the Western Han Dynasty and the first half of the Eastern Han Dynasty, so its establishment as an independent commandery is historically documented. As for Changguang Commandery, it makes even more sense. These counties were always divided between Langya and Donglai, and were later established as Changguang Commandery by Cao Cao.

Liu Feng simply brought all of this forward.

(End of this chapter)