My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 225: Liu Biao's flesh was cut by a blunt knife

Pang Tong was ultimately unable to convince his uncle Pang Degong, but it was not his fault.

Because in history, Pang Degong was so resolute in refusing to take up an official position, and the reasons he gave were all mentioned in history.

This is actually a disguised form of "multiple bets". People feel that the world is too chaotic and they cannot see the future clearly. They may not live long no matter who they bet on. It is better to be honest and work hard on the land instead of being an official. At the same time, they have a good reputation for being noble.

Ordinary thieves and bandits dare not kill them, and officials in power struggles are unwilling to kill them. The life threats from both sides are eliminated, and the family can live safely.

Pang Tong could understand his uncle's conservatism, so he would not force it. At most, he would report these words to his lord through appropriate channels after returning.

It would be best if Liu Bei could understand the difficulties of these hermits, be more lenient towards his meritorious officials in the future, come up with a set of ruling methods that can reduce the suspicion between the two sides, and be able to control the situation more peacefully than Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu.

If Liu Bei only had this idea but no political wisdom, he could only rely on Zhuge brothers and Lu Su to find a solution. Pang Tong asked himself that he was not good at this.

……

Just two days later, Pang Tong, Sima Hui, Xu Shu, Shi Tao and others boarded the ship and left first.

Xiang Lang first went to Xiangyang, and met Liu Biao in person with humbly and courteously, explaining his attitude that "I am not yet fully educated and dare not take on the role of a county magistrate", while at the same time expressing his gratitude to Liu Biao for his appreciation.

In fact, Liu Biao did not pay much attention to Xiang Lang. After all, he only appointed him as a county magistrate. His original intention was to lure out Sima Hui and make all his disciples willing to work for him as idle staff and counselors.

He can provide some reference opinions when there are doubts, and he doesn't need to occupy a position of power or arouse the vigilance and hostility of the local aristocratic families in Jingzhou.

So when Liu Biao heard that Xiang Lang didn't want to do it, he just asked a few questions and then pretended to be magnanimous and let him go.

It is normal for an old man who is almost 59 years old to have declining energy and be unable to take care of so many trivial matters.

However, although Liu Biao was not energetic and did not care about details, it did not mean that the powerful people around him who were still young and strong would not care about details.

Xiang Lang had just left after paying his respects when he met Zhang Yun, who had come to report on Jiang defense affairs, at the gate of the Jingzhou Mu's Mansion.

Zhang Yun had just made some achievements under his uncle Liu Biao last year, and it was all thanks to the support and good words of his aunt Cai, so he had a very harmonious relationship with the Cai family.

A few months ago, when Huang Zu was defeated, Su Fei brought more than 2,000 remaining Jiangxia elite soldiers and returned to Liu Biao after many hardships. However, because Su Fei "might spread Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence, righteousness and trustworthiness", Cai Mao advised him to deprive him of his military power, assign him to another idle position, and issued a gag order.

Cai Mao also advised Liu Biao to hand over the more than 2,000 elite troops from Jiangxia to Zhang Yun, who had just taken charge of the military power and lacked his own direct followers.

Zhang Yun finally transformed from a nominal captain without trusted followers into a general who actually controlled the standing army. Naturally, he was even more grateful to Cai Mao and followed Cai Mao's lead.

A few days ago, Zhang Yun noticed that there were more and more Yangzhou ships traveling on the Han River, and the ship types seemed to be getting more and more advanced. Several batches of fast ships entered the country at night. Even if the Jingzhou navy discovered them, they could not catch up with them and could not board the ships for inspection.

When we searched again at daybreak, they were nowhere to be found. The terrain on both sides of the Han River is complex, with many places densely covered with reed marshes and tributaries, and it is not easy to search for a speedboat hiding in them.

Zhang Yun was deeply concerned about this, and finally heard yesterday that a suspicious ship appeared in the area of Deng County and Lumen Mountain. Zhang Yun immediately led his troops to the area, only to find out that the ship was actually a guest of Huangjiazhuang and his uncle's brother-in-law. He did not dare to investigate further, but only roughly investigated the movements of the visitors and then reported to his uncle for a decision.

Seeing Xiang Lang outside the Jingzhou Mu Mansion at this moment, he felt that he looked slightly familiar. After all, he had just entered the officialdom not long ago. He was very cautious and paid great attention to recognizing people. He tried his best to remember everyone he had met in the officialdom.

However, he really couldn't remember the person in front of him, so he had to give up his memory. After walking a few dozen steps into the inner courtyard, he met Wang Wei, who was in charge of Liu Biao's guards. Zhang Yun asked directly: "Brother Wang, who did my uncle summon just now? I met him outside the door and thought he looked familiar, but I can't remember him."

Wang Wei did not think it was necessary to keep such public information secret. The other party was the nephew of the envoy, so he told him everything he knew: "Oh, the man seems to be called Xiang Lang, a disciple of Mr. Shui Jing. He came today to thank the envoy and decline the appointment."

When Zhang Yun heard this and compared it with the other intelligence he had received two days ago, he immediately sighed and said, "Not good! I heard the other day that Mr. Huang had returned from Yangzhou and Mr. Shuijing had also gone to visit his old friend. Now these people have refused their uncle's invitation and are probably going to join Liu Bei!"

Wang Wei naturally put Liu Biao's interests first. After hearing the news, he hurriedly helped Zhang Yun pass the message and asked him to go in and petition immediately.

When Liu Biao saw Zhang Yun, he was a little surprised: "Why is Yun'er here?"

Zhang Yun quickly expressed his concerns: "Recently, while inspecting the river defenses, I saw many suspicious ships heading in the direction of Wuchang, heading against the Han Dynasty. The ships were light and swift, and often hid during the day and came out at night, appearing and disappearing like ghosts.

I also heard that Mr. Huang temporarily went back to Deng County and Lumen, and then Mr. Shuijing's disciples who had originally intended to become officials also frequently declined the invitations. I'm afraid that Liu Bei is trying to win over and recruit the exiled northern scholars from Jingzhou!
"Liu Bei is a man of great ambition. He ceded the southern part of Jiangxia County to me and gained 200,000 people and more than 10,000 soldiers. Now he is trying to win over the hearts of the people and make friends with knowledgeable people. Uncle must be on guard!"

"Is this really true?" Liu Biao finally perked up a little, not as depressed as before.

"No wonder Xiang Lang hesitated for many days and suddenly came to decline the offer! Liu Bei is going too far, coming to my Jingzhou territory to snatch people!
Three years ago, Zhuge Liang claimed to go to Yuzhang to rescue his uncle, and took Gan Ning with him. In the end, Zhuge Xuan and Zhuge Liang did not work for me in Jingzhou, but directly joined Liu Bei! I treat scholars so generously, but these people are still not satisfied! "Zhang Yun heard Liu Biao's indignation and hurriedly said, "Do you want me to lead troops to stop them? Or at least strengthen the river defense inspection?"

Liu Biao was shocked to hear Zhang Yun's extreme words, and quickly calmed down:

"Mr. Shuijing's reputation is well-known. How can we use force against them? Do we still want to maintain our reputation as a good scholar among the exiled northern scholars?

Besides, Brother Huang is my brother-in-law, and he is also involved in this matter, so how can we act rashly! Go and invite Degui first, and we need to think about this matter carefully!"

Zhang Yun received the order and had to go find Cai Mao first. Cai Mao was also in Xiangyang City and arrived in just half an hour. Along the way, Zhang Yun told him in detail what had happened.

So as soon as Cai Mao entered the room, he had already thought of a countermeasure and directly advised Liu Biao:

"Brother-in-law, we can no longer tolerate Liu Bei! Liu Bei is so aggressive. He used the excuse of attacking Huang Zu to occupy our land and population in Jingzhou. Now he is trying to recruit talents from Jingzhou. With his wolfish ambition, he will definitely be a disaster for Jingzhou in the future!

In my opinion, we should quickly send a fast boat to intercept Sima Hui and his men, otherwise more and more people will flee from Jingzhou in the future! At worst, we should block the river defenses and prevent any commercial travel to Yangzhou from going there, and no ships will be allowed to pass!"

Liu Biao was reminded by Cai Mao, and he felt more and more annoyed, but he didn't want to break up with him, so he couldn't help but hit him in the back:
"You are so reckless? Do you think Jingzhou is not in trouble now? Zhang Xiu has just surrendered to Cao Cao, the north is unstable, and if you are still at odds with Liu Bei at this time, how can you have peace in the future!"

After being scolded, Cai Mao restrained himself a little, but he also tested his brother-in-law's bottom line. He knew that his brother-in-law hated Liu Bei in his heart, but was indecisive only because of his lack of strength and hesitation.

Cai Mao thought about it and changed his words: "In my opinion, even if we cannot be enemies with Liu Bei at the moment, we must remain vigilant in our hearts. If Liu Bei is too threatening in the future, I would rather learn from Zhang Xiu and befriend Cao Cao..."

Liu Biao's face turned pale when he heard this, and he immediately interrupted, "Even if Xuande wins over the hearts of the people, the harm he will cause cannot be compared to Cao Cao! Are you asking me to give up the wolf and welcome the tiger?"

Cai Mao patiently analyzed: "Brother-in-law, don't let Liu Bei deceive you! Although Cao Cao is greedy, he is still tolerant of those who don't resist. Liu Bei now not only has the position of General of Chariots and Cavalry and Governor of Yangzhou, he even sought the position of Zongzheng from Cao Cao last year!

Brother-in-law, think about it. Now we have planned to let Cong'er and my daughter get engaged, and Liu Bei holds the power of Zongzheng. In the future, he will definitely use this power to interfere in the internal affairs of Jingzhou. Liu Bei is nearly 20 years younger than brother-in-law... A hundred years later, Liu Bei will definitely find a reason to harm Cong'er in order to weaken and nibble at Jingzhou, so we must not help the enemy now!"

"Stop talking! Do you want to bring disaster to our family? You are thinking too far ahead! I am still strong! You don't have to worry about what happens after I die!" Liu Biao was touched on his reverse scale, and he angrily picked up an inkstone and threw it at Cai Mao.

Cai Mao also knew that if he suddenly brought the topic to this point, his brother-in-law would be furious. This would be reminding him of what happened after his death, which was a big taboo.

But Cai Mao was also taking a risk today. He knew that he had to appear to be wholeheartedly concerned about this big family of "Liu and Cai community of shared destiny" in order to plant the seeds of complete estrangement and suspicion of Liu Bei in his brother-in-law's heart.

So he didn't dodge at all, letting the inkstone fall to the ground and shatter, with a few pieces of stone splashing onto him. After the pieces settled, he still kowtowed and begged:
"I am wholeheartedly devoted to the interests of Jingzhou and the safety of the governors! Liu Bei wanted the position of Zongzheng last year, which must have been his malicious intention to interfere in the family affairs of the Liu clan in the future!"

Seeing that his brother-in-law did not even avoid his gaze, Liu Biao could not help but hesitate, and was deceived by the other party's seemingly sincere appearance.

The most important thing is that Liu Biao knew that what Cai Mao said was legally correct.

In the Han Dynasty, the Zongzheng could intervene if they encountered a local king or marquis of the same surname who was illegal in appointing a crown prince or other titles, or violated the order of seniority and the order of legitimate and illegitimate children. If the case was serious, they could even petition the emperor to explain the illegality and depose the title.

Many members of the Han Dynasty lost their titles because of "being punished by paying tribute to the emperor". Liu Bei's ancestor, Liu Zhen, the sixth son of Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan and the Marquis of Luchengting, lost his title because of "being punished by paying tribute to the emperor". This was done by the Zongzheng at that time.

Liu Bei held the position of Zong Zheng, which was a time bomb for other members of the Liu clan.

After being reminded by Cai Mao, Liu Biao couldn't help but think: If he really planned to let Cong'er take over in the future and not pass the title of Chengwu Hou to Qi'er, then Liu Bei would definitely use the tiger's skin and raise a banner to "correct" their family's mistakes and get rid of Cong'er.

As for whether Liu Bei would return everything he had robbed to Qi'er after taking it away, or whether Liu Bei would annex the land and population of Jingzhou himself and then only return the title of Chengwuhou to Qi'er, it all depended on Liu Bei's conscience.

Liu Biao even thought that even if he obediently passed the title to his eldest son, Liu Bei would really not make trouble? Is it possible that he could just find an excuse to say that the eldest son Liu Qi was "unvirtuous" and then insist on "correcting" him?

Liu Biao felt that he was too insecure.

After pondering for a long time, Liu Biao finally decided to take some precautions: "Well, Mr. Shuijing, you must not intercept them, but from now on, you are allowed to stop all ships on the river indiscriminately.

From the Yangtze River above Shaxian, no ships are allowed to pass through. From the Han River above Jingling, the river surface is directly blocked and no ships are allowed to pass! Only ships within our Jingzhou are allowed to sail short distances and trade within their respective sections of the river.

If this method can stop some of the exiled northerners from fleeing to Yangzhou, we should not make it public, and should not appear to be targeting anyone, so as not to anger Liu Bei. In the past two months, Yuan and Cao have been treacherous, so we should not act rashly and wait and see. For now, we just want to temporarily stop the loss of talent!"

(End of this chapter)