My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 47 Guo Jia and Xun You

“Xun Gongda was exceptionally quick-witted and intelligent from a young age, and was able to distinguish between loyalty and treachery even when he was young.”

"Several years ago, Xun You served as a Gentleman Attendant at the Palace Gate in Chang'an. He conspired with Zheng Tai, a Gentleman of the Palace, He Yong, a Chief Clerk, Zhong Ji, a Gentleman Attendant, Wu Qiong, a Cavalry Commandant, and others to assassinate Dong Zhuo."

"Unfortunately, some of them were not discreet and leaked the news, so Xun You was immediately imprisoned and punished."

He Yong, who was imprisoned with him, committed suicide, but Xun You continued to eat and drink as usual, and eventually waited until Dong Zhuo was executed and the whole country was granted a general amnesty, and he was released without charge.

“Right now he has applied for the position of governor of Shu Commandery, but he is stuck in Xiangyang, Jingzhou because the roads are blocked. This is the perfect opportunity for Father to recruit him.”

Liu Bei was stunned. He really wanted to ask his son how he knew all this.

But the words stuck in his throat.

Upon careful consideration, Liu Bei knew the answer even without asking.

These are the words of the immortal in my dream.

If Liu Feng hadn't been living with him, even if he were his own son, Liu Bei would have found it difficult to fully trust him.

But now, he has no choice but to believe.

"Very well, I will find a long essay to write this afternoon, and then send someone to Xiangyang to recruit Xun You."

Liu Bei continued, "And who is the other person?"

"The other man is named Guo Jia, courtesy name Fengxiao. He is from a distant branch of the Guo family of Yingchuan. He currently serves as a minor official under Yuan Shao, but is frustrated and unfulfilled."

"Speaking of which, after meeting Yuan Shao, Guo Fengxiao, along with his clansman Guo Tu and in-law Xin Ping, made two comments that I think were very insightful, fully pointing out Yuan Shao's weaknesses."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei was immediately eager to try his luck. He knew that Yuan Shao was a behemoth who was about to unify Hebei. Liu Bei, nicknamed "Big Ear Brother," couldn't even defeat Yuan Shao's son, Yuan Tan, and was beaten so badly that he lost the entire Pingyuan Kingdom.

It's incredibly satisfying to hear people say bad things about Yuan Benchu ​​now.

"What did Guo Fengxiao say?"

Liu Feng replied, “He said that Yuan Shao is fond of seeking out talented people but does not know how to use them, and he is fond of devising schemes but does not understand the principles behind them. As a result, he has gained many people but cannot make full use of them. He has many schemes but no decisiveness. If he encounters a great disaster, he will surely be in danger.”

Liu Bei clicked his tongue and slowly nodded: "What Guo Fengxiao said is true. Yuan Shao is indeed prone to making plans but lacks decisiveness. Back in Luoyang, Cao Mengde earnestly advised Yuan Shao to unite the northern and southern armies, join forces with Ding Yuan, and drive out the traitor Dong Zhuo. But Yuan Shao refused no matter what, only asking us to give him time to think it over. It was really driving me crazy."

Liu Feng glanced at Liu Bei and saw that his father's face was full of anger at his father's lack of ambition, which made him secretly amused.

You can just take Guo Jia's words with a grain of salt; after all, there's a lot of exaggeration in them. Why are you even taking it to heart?

When Yuan Shao was in Luoyang, how could he possibly have joined you in driving out Dong Zhuo?

You should know that back then, Dong Zhuo was a member of the Yuan family. Yuan Shao's own uncle, Yuan Kui, was Dong Zhuo's patron. In the eyes of the Yuan family, the troops under Dong Zhuo's command were much more loyal and reliable than Cao Cao and Liu Bei.

However, judging from Big Ears' tone, he was in Luoyang during the Luoyang Incident and even had a close friendship with Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.

This reminded him of some later analyses that Liu Bei had already known Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and others when he was studying under Lu Zhi.

No wonder Liu Bei was so popular wherever he went in the future; after all, they were all old acquaintances, friends from his youth.

Liu Bei was truly an inspirational old man who got better and better as he went along.

Liu Bei was very satisfied and praised Liu Feng, even imagining, "If all these virtuous men recommended by Feng could gather together, how could Xuzhou not prosper!"

Liu Feng quickly poured cold water on him.

“Father, these men are all outstanding talents of our time. It is a blessing for Xuzhou to recruit even one of them. We dare not hope to gather them all under our command.”

Liu Feng didn't say it aloud, but he actually had something on his mind. When Taishi Ci first met his father, he admired him quite a bit, and both sides had a good impression of each other.

However, Taishi Ci had lofty ambitions, and his starting point was not low either. He was already a high-ranking official in the prefecture when he was just over twenty years old. Later, he fled to the ends of the earth to help the prefect, and his good name spread throughout Qingzhou.

Later, to repay Kong Rong's kindness, he fought his way through the Yellow Turban rebels besieging the city, displaying unparalleled bravery and gaining widespread fame.

At this time, if you want to recruit Taishi Ci, the most basic price is a separate commander with a salary of 600 shi (a unit of grain), or a military officer.

Otherwise, Taishi Ci will suspect that you went not to recruit him, but to humiliate him.

If you want to be on the safe side, give him a captain or a county magistrate.

At present, Liu Bei only has a small number of troops and is short of money and food. Giving him an empty title of colonel shows a lack of sincerity.

Therefore, Liu Feng's suggestion to Liu Bei was to appoint him as the county magistrate and concurrently as the commander of a separate department, with treatment comparable to that of Zhao Yun and Tian Yu. In addition, he could offer Taishi Ci the position of martial arts officer, which showed his sincerity.

After all, Taishi Ci ranked relatively high in Liu Feng's heart and was one of the key targets for winning him over.

If it's an instrument, then it's the most likely one to get one.

After all, he wasn't famous at the time, nor did he come from a prestigious family, and he wasn't favored by Kong Rong, so he was probably the easiest person to poach.

But Liu Feng remembered that Shi Yi also left Kong Rong this year and went south to join Sun Ce.

Therefore, whether Shi Yi can succeed depends entirely on whether he has already set off for Jiangdong.

Wang Xiu has the greatest reputation, has demonstrated the strongest abilities so far, and currently holds the highest official position. Even with Kong Rong's help, he would probably be the most difficult to obtain.

Whether Liu Feng could persuade Wang Xiu depended on whether his carefully prepared letter could move the other party.

As for Xun You and Guo Jia, these two are too clever. Even if Liu Feng boasted of having two thousand years more of experience, he wouldn't dare to guarantee that he could outsmart these two.

Liu Feng persuaded Liu Bei to show his sincerity, and at the same time hoped that Xun You could continue to uphold the principle of diversified family investments, and, considering that Xun Chen and Xun Yu belonged to different regions, stay to help Liu Bei.

Therefore, the letter of invitation sent was not only sincere, but also merely an invitation for the recipient to visit Xuzhou and make a casual visit, with the decision on whether to remain in Xuzhou to be discussed later.

After discussing business, the food had already gone cold.

However, Liu Bei and Liu Feng did not let their attendants take the food away, but instead ate the cold rice with hot water.

Because they were in such high spirits, the two quickly finished off the food.

Liu Bei was certainly very busy, and Liu Feng also had a lot of things to do.

The two parted ways after the meal.

Liu Bei went to the front hall to continue handling state affairs, while Liu Feng went to the back courtyard to deal with trivial matters.

Liu Feng said he was busy, but he wasn't lying to Liu Bei.

He has several things to deal with right now.

One of the most important things was to expand Liu'er Camp.

Due to financial constraints, Liu Feng was already struggling to support the existing hundred or so youths, so naturally he had no spare capacity to expand further.

You should know that these teenagers have a really big appetite, even comparable to that of strong men.

(End of this chapter)