The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 44: Conquering the Rich Man (Please Read!)
After listening to Li Yi's analysis, Liu Bei was conflicted for a moment.

His policy for Xuzhou was to make friends with Yuan Shao in the north, appease Cao Cao in the west, and strike hard at Yuan Shu in the south.

This was also the foreign policy that Li Yi helped Liu Bei formulate.

As a place surrounded by wars on all sides, Xuzhou was tightly surrounded by various princes.

If you can't dance well and be tactful in dealing with people, you are doomed to perish.

Yuan and Cao are very powerful and difficult to deal with.

Although Yuan Shu of Huainan had a strong foundation, he had one incompetent general who exhausted the entire army. In addition, Sun Ce started a rebellion, which set a fire in his backyard.

The princes around Yuan Shu were the first targets that Liu Bei's group decided to deal with after discussion.

From a God's perspective, Li Yi planned and placed Chen Deng in Guangling.

Rather than restricting Yuan Shu, it would be more accurate to say that it was restricting the future of the Sun family.

Because in history, neither Sun Ce nor Sun Quan had ever defeated Chen Deng.

It was after Chen Deng's death that the Sun family began to grow wildly.

Later, every time Cao Cao went to the river, he regretted not using Chen Deng's plan.

"So, we are powerless over in the North Sea and cannot intervene?"

"...Haha, Kong Wenju and the lord are old friends. I think if the lord doesn't save him, he might feel bad. So why not save him?"

"But we cannot send troops to Beihai. It would be better to let Kong Wenju abandon Beihai and enter Xuzhou."

Li Yi proposed a new idea.

"Kong Wenju is a model teacher throughout the country. If we can keep him in Xuzhou and use him, it will help the lord win the hearts of the people."

"What do you think, my lord?"

Kong Rong is just not suitable to be a lord, but if he were just a civil official, he would be a good person.

Li Yi was mainly attracted by his reputation.

For the Han Dynasty, which advocated Confucianism, the title of Confucius' 20th-generation grandson was very useful.

Moreover, although Kong Rong was somewhat extreme in terms of "loyalty and filial piety", he was indeed a man of integrity and incorruptibility.

As early as when he was an official in the court, he had offended General He Jin, who wanted to kill him, but had to give up because of Kong Rong's great influence.

A similar situation occurred later when Dong Zhuo came to power.

Dong Zhuo did not kill Kong Rong, but transferred him to Beihai, hoping to use the Yellow Turban Army from Qingzhou that was rampant there to kill Kong Rong.

Both things show that Kong Rong was indeed very influential at that time.

Even people like He Jin and Dong Zhuo would be wary of him.

If such a person could be invited to Xuzhou and treated as a mascot, and his fame as the descendant of Confucius could be used to recruit talented people, it would definitely be very effective.

What's more, Kong Rong did a good job in running a school. As long as he was allowed to focus on teaching and not interfere with other things, it would be pretty good.

This is called making the best use of everything and making the best use of people’s talents.

And if you can get Kong Rong into the group, you can also get Wang Xiu for free.

As mentioned before, Kong Rong’s criteria for hiring people were that they had to be able to fight, be knowledgeable, and have a good family background.

After all these years, Kong Rong actually found one, and only one.

This person is Wang Xiu.

Wang Xiu was Kong Rong's subordinate, and the two were also close friends, so he would definitely come with Kong Rong.

Liu Bei showed his delight:

"The military advisor's plan is the best of both worlds. It doesn't offend Yuan Shao, and it can help Kong Beihai at the same time. It really couldn't be better!"

Liu Bei was a man of great talent and the ability to appoint the right people to the right positions. Moreover, as a man of chivalrous origin and a man of loyalty, he could not bear to watch Kong Rong die without helping him.

If we could bring him to Xuzhou, wouldn’t it be great if we could all work together to govern Xuzhou?

After the discussion was completed, Liu Bei returned to the posthouse to meet with the Beihai envoy and explained his attitude to him.

After seeing off the envoy, Liu Bei issued recruitment orders one by one according to the talents recommended by Li Yi and sent people to look for them.

Li Yi went to find Mi Zhu to discuss the release of refined salt with him.

Several days passed in a row.

On this day, Li Yi and Liu Bei went together to discuss the political affairs of Xuzhou.

Because the emperor and his ministers were inseparable, many officials in Xuzhou joked about them in private.

After hearing these words, Liu Bei was very happy and compared Li Yi to himself as a close friend.

Like a fish in water.

"...Well, the amount of money and grain..."

Liu Bei and Li Yi were chatting happily when Chen Dao came running over excitedly. Li Yi saw his expression and knew that there was good news, so he joked:
"I am very happy, and I will report good news to you, my lord."

Liu Bei also became interested and asked Chen Dao what was going on.

Chen Dao explained that the official Liu Bei had sent out to recruit scholars a few days ago had returned.

"Oh, so fast?"

Liu Bei was eager to find talented people, and when he heard that a wise man responded to the call, he was immediately excited.

Li Yi was observant and asked:

"A scholar came, but Shu Zhi was so happy."

"Is there something else?"

Chen Dao chuckled and scratched his head:
"Nothing can be hidden from the military advisor."

"This gentleman who came here is really remarkable. Not only did he come by himself, he also brought his servants with him."

"More than a dozen carts of money and grain were transported here, at least several thousand bushels."

Hmm, it turns out to be a rich guy.

No wonder Chen Dao was so excited.

Who could have imagined that when recruiting a talent, they could also give him money and food as a gift.

"This must be Lu Zijing!"

Li Yi concluded that it was Lu Su who came, because only he could be so rich and so generous.

In addition, he was a native of Xia Pi, so it was normal for him to apply first.

"Oh yes, yes!"

Chen Dao nodded repeatedly, "That person seemed to say his name was something like, Lu Su!"

Liu Bei was overjoyed and could no longer suppress the smile on his face.

"Military division! Let's go!"

"……Um."

The two of them rushed to the main hall together.

Lu Su had been waiting there for a long time. There was a pile of money and grain outside the house, and the servants were unloading them bag by bag.

Liu Bei was surprised and hurried into the main hall.

Seeing the strange figure behind him, he hurriedly bowed and said:
"Are you Lu Zijing from Dongcheng?"

Lu Su turned around and saw that Liu Bei's ears were longer than his shoulders and he had a handsome appearance. He was secretly amazed.

Immediately returned the greeting:
"I am Lu Zijing, the humble one. The other day I received the envoy's order to recruit you. I felt extremely terrified and uneasy."

"So I prepared some small gifts to show my respect."

Liu Bei stepped forward, shook Lu Su's hand, and said with emotion:

"I have heard of your great name for a long time, and Ziyu has praised your talent to me many times."

"Looking at you now, you are indeed outstanding, with a dignified demeanor. You are truly a rare talent."

The corners of Lu Su's eyes twitched, and he cried out in his heart that he couldn't take it anymore.

He had long heard that Envoy Liu was courteous to the wise and humble, but he did not expect to see with his own eyes today that he was truly eloquent, sincere, and genuine in his attitude towards others.

Although he was the governor of Xuzhou, he was not arrogant at all and was able to value his own talents.

A gentleman will die for his friend. Although Lu Su has the spirit of a knight-errant, he has great ambitions in his heart.

I have always been looking for an opportunity to realize my ambitions.

I didn't expect to meet you here today.

Li Yi just watched from the side without saying a word.

Now all we have to do is let Lao Liu use his "succubus" skills; he is good at this.

He just needed to watch the show from the side, and when Lu Su was moved enough, he would give him a few more hits.

That's it!

……

……

　Thanks to book friend 20221112113506355 for his two monthly tickets, thanks to brother Poor man fighting rich man for his three monthly tickets, and thanks to my brothers.

　　By the way, please give me a follow-up read, thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)