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

Chapter 89 Yuan Tan is moved, Zi Yu and I are as close as brothers (Please subscribe!)

After some analysis, everyone understood the political significance of Yuan Tan.

Releasing Yuan Tan was to allow the Yuan family to continue their internal struggles.

The reason why Liu Bei recommended Yuan Tan as a talented person was to show goodwill to the Yuan family.

Yuan Tan was in the wrong when he attacked Xu, but Liu Bei repaid him with kindness.

If this matter were to be spread out, how would the people of the world praise the virtue of Lord Xuande?

It’s like killing three birds with one stone.

At the same time, Liu Bei will also become Yuan Tan's sponsor.

As mentioned before, the places at Maocai are very precious.

According to the customs of that era, if Liu Bei died, Yuan Tan would have to cry out loud even if it was just for show.

There was a serious dispute over succession in the Yuan family, so Li Yixian helped Liu Bei buy a share of Yuan Tan.

This is the principle of helping the weak rather than the strong.

Yuan Tan couldn't defeat Yuan Shang, so he stood on Yuan Tan's side.

It does not mean that he must help Yuan Tan to secure his position as the crown prince of the Yuan family in the future. It is just to take advantage of the chaos in the future dispute over the succession in Hebei to get a piece of the pie.

Liu Bei was extremely impressed by Li Yi's insight:

"I didn't expect the military advisor to think so far ahead. I already know it."

"Since that is the case, I will first order Ziyi and the others to bring Yuan Tan to Lanting County, and I will personally go out to greet him."

……

One day later.

Yuan Tan and others were escorted to Lanting County.

Although he was being escorted, Taishi Ci did not make things difficult for him because of Liu Bei's instructions.

Not to mention shackles and chains, they even found a carriage to escort them.

This move left Yuan Tan, Guo Tu, Zhang He and others confused as to its meaning.

When they arrived at Lanting, Liu Bei led Li Yi, Liu Ye, Zhao Yun, Tian Yu and other civil and military officials to greet them.

Seeing such a scene, Yuan Tan was terrified and at a loss.

Liu Bei had already stepped forward and held his hand.

He has a friendly demeanor and a warm smile.

"Xiansi, Liu Bei has been looking forward to seeing you here for a long time."

Yuan Tan was ashamed and afraid to look Liu Bei in the eye.

The so-called sincerity is the last resort.

Yuan Tan was already in the wrong for deploying his troops in Xuzhou, and being defeated and captured was even more humiliating.

Now Liu Bei led all the civil and military officials out of the city to welcome him and treated him with great courtesy.

Yuan Tan was immediately ashamed.

I could only bow my head and blame myself:
"Tan, I have offended Lord Xuande's majesty. I am ashamed of you and the people of Xuzhou."

"I hope Lord Xuande will punish me!"

In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will find that Yuan Tan's character is not uncommon.

He looked down on the lower classes, could not understand the hard work of farming, weaving and harvesting, and he treated the people like slaves.

But he also liked to receive guests and admired celebrities.

When he was recruiting talents, Yuan Tan would not blame them even if some of them did not come or failed to take up their posts on time.

This is actually the typical character of the rich second generation.

He only respected celebrities of the same class as himself, but looked down on the lower class people from the bottom of his heart.

"Xiansi doesn't need to blame himself."

"I know this is not your original intention. It must be a treacherous villain who made false accusations."

"So it is not your fault that Xiansi was misled."

Yuan Tan nodded repeatedly:

"Yes, it was Man Boning who instigated me."

"I originally did not want to deploy troops in Xuzhou, but my advisers all said that this is a good opportunity."

"I lost my mind for a moment, and that's why I made a big mistake."

"Even if I die, I cannot deny my guilt!"

As he said this, he was about to kneel down and apologize to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei hurriedly squatted down, put his arm around Yuan Tan's shoulders, and forced him to stand up.

"Xiansi, I have never blamed you."

"As I just said, you were misled by a villain. It's not your fault."

"Xiansi was able to pacify Qingzhou in less than a year, which was even better than Bei. He is a hero of the time."

"We should treat him with the courtesy of a hero and not let Xiansi suffer under the stairs."

If there was still some acting in Yuan Tan's performance before, then at this moment he was completely moved by Liu Bei.

He burst into tears and his eyes turned red.

He held Liu Bei and refused to let go, just like a child who had been wronged.

Li Yi watched from the side.

Seeing with my own eyes Yuan Tan wiping his tears and snot on Liu Bei's clothes, I suddenly felt fortunate that I was not the lord.

Winning people's hearts and lowering yourself to a low position is not an easy job.

But the scene was still quite touching.

Along with Yuan Tan came generals from Qingzhou, including Zhang He and Guo Tu.

The generals saw it all and felt sad.

Many people had a look of shame on their faces.

Zhang He was particularly moved, thinking to himself:
"People say Liu Bei is magnanimous and generous, and knows how to treat people well."

"I didn't think so at first, but I see it today."

"He truly has the spirit of Emperor Gaozu and the tools of a hero."

While the generals felt ashamed, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Along the way they were worried about what would happen to them if they were captured.

Judging from what Liu Bei said, he probably won't make things too difficult for them.

Afterwards, Liu Bei invited everyone into the county government.

A banquet was held to welcome everyone.

Liu Bei pulled Yuan Tan to sit next to him, making him and Li Yi the only two people sitting at the same table with him.

The three of them sat side by side and chatted.

Yuan Tan admired famous scholars and was treated well by Liu Bei, so naturally he had no grudge against the two of them.

As the conversation went on, I realized that Liu Bei was able to manage Xuzhou in an orderly manner within a year, and this time he used the unique strategy of attacking from the sea.

All of this was planned by the young man next to him.

After learning about Li Yi's series of deeds for Liu Bei in the past year, including recruiting talents, offering advice on farming, and even conquering Langya, Yuan Tan shook his head and said that he could not learn it. He really could not learn it.

"Tan is a mortal man who cannot recognize a hero."

"It is like a frog in a well, looking at the sky from the bottom of the well, thinking that the world is just that big."

"Only until today do I realize the power of the wise lord and the wisdom of the master."

"If I had known this would happen, I would have surrendered without fighting."

Yuan Tan was filled with shame and kept shaking his head and sighing.

To prevent Yuan Tan from further humiliating himself, Liu Bei raised his wine cup and patted him on the shoulder:

"The past is like the wind, gone and not mentioned again."

"From today on, your Qingzhou and my Xuzhou will reconcile. Is that okay?"

From what Yuan Tan heard, Liu Bei meant to let him go back.

Nodding hurriedly:
"Of course! I was confused for a while before. If Lord Xuande can really let me go back to Qingzhou."

"I will stop stirring up trouble in Xuzhou!"

Liu Bei was very satisfied to hear this, as this was the answer that both he and Li Yi wanted to hear.

In order to prevent Liu Bei from not believing him, Yuan Tan immediately bowed and said:

"My Lord is so righteous!"

"If you really let me go today, Tan will definitely provide me with good food, fodder, gold, silver, and silk in the future to repay you for your kindness today."

Liu Bei was overjoyed. He helped Yuan Tan up and sat him down again and drank with him.

"It doesn't have to be like this between you and me."

"I just hope that the two families can live in harmony in the future and never bring disaster to the people again. That's enough."

Yuan Tan exclaimed:
"Lord Xuande is a man of unrivalled talent, benevolent and generous, and his kindness and righteousness are known to the world."

"From today on, Tan will never dare to invade Xuzhou again."

good!
Liu Bei put down his wine cup, took out a document from behind him and handed it to Yuan Tan.

This is……?
Yuan Tan was a little confused. When he opened it, he found that it was a letter from Liu Bei in his capacity as the governor of Xuzhou, wanting to recommend him as an outstanding talent.

"Lord Xuande, this!"

Yuan Tan was shocked. He was defeated and captured, but not only was he released, but he also picked up a talented person for free?
"If you want to thank someone, thank Mr. Li."

"It was you who recommended this year's Maocai quota to Xiansi."

Yuan Tan had always admired famous scholars, and when he heard that it was Li Yi who gave him the position of Maocai, he was immediately moved.

"The ancients said: A gentleman should be as noble and unyielding as an orchid."

"I have seen countless people, but I have never seen anyone like you."

"A true gentleman is like jade, and his temperament is like a literary scholar."

"The dragon's figure and the phoenix's appearance are the manifestation of the sun and the moon."

"Tan's admiration for you is like the waves of a river, endless."

"..."

Yuan Tan said all the compliments he could think of in his life at one time, so much so that his tongue was trembling.

Li Yi was also quite good at handling things. He raised his wine cup and said:
"I know Xiansi's thoughts. No need to say more. They are all in the wine."

"I only offer this little wine to Master Yuan."

"From now on, I will never let you down!"

"Thank you, sir!"

Yuan Tan burst into tears and drank the wine in the cup in tears.

When they were half drunk, Li Yi decided to give Yuan Tan another shocking tidbit.

He took out a brocade box and handed it to Yuan Tan while he was drunk.

After the banquet, Yuan Tan and Li Yi had become quite familiar with each other.

"...Zi Yu, Tan has been bothering me for a long time."

"How can I accept your gift again?"

Li Yi smiled slightly:
"Brother Tan is my respected elder brother. Now I have to leave and cannot serve you. I am deeply sorry."

"So I gave you a small gift to express my love for you."

After hearing this, Yuan Tan was even more moved and opened the brocade box to take a look.

What's in it is refined salt.

"This is……?"

Yuan Tan's eyes widened. He had never seen such white salt in his life.

"Why is this salt whiter than ordinary table salt and tastes saltier and fresher?"

Yuan Tan reached out and tasted a little, feeling deeply moved.

"This is refined salt, which I extracted last year."

"Brother Tan, what do you think of its appearance?"

Hey!

When Yuan Tan heard that it was Li Yi who refined it, he admired him even more.

As an older brother, I feel very proud of it.

"Zi Yu is truly a contemporary genius."

"I see that the people of Hebei are all mediocre people in front of Ziyu."

While praising Li Yi, Yuan Tan also did not forget to diss the people in Hebei.

The main reason was that they all supported Yuan Shang and not himself, so Yuan Tan naturally had no good impression of them.

"If we sell this salt to the public, what do you think the profit will be, Brother Tan?" Li Yi asked again.

"Oh? Could it be that there is still a lot of this refined salt and jade?" Yuan Tan asked with his eyes wide open.

He originally thought that Li Yi had spent a year to refine it, but from the tone of his voice, Xuzhou still had a lot.

And it can also be sold to the public.

"Yes, many people in Xuzhou can already eat refined salt."

Li Yi also secretly sighed that Mi Zhu and his family did have strong control over refined salt.

Qingzhou is next to Xuzhou. In a year, not only is there no refined salt flowing out, even the dignitaries in Qingzhou have never heard of this thing.

It is worthy of being a family that has been doing business for generations.

"Since Brother Tan is in Qingzhou, he is willing to make peace with Xuzhou."

"Why don't we stop fighting, stop fighting, live in harmony with the people, and then trade with each other."

Yuan Tan nodded quickly and said:

"It's my wish, but I don't dare to ask for my ear!"

Li Yi said again:

"But refined salt is precious, and I don't want to hand it over to private salt merchants to sell. It's better to let Brother Tan manage it himself."

……

(End of this chapter)