Xuzhou Xiapi City

In the mansion arranged by Tao Qian for Liu Bei, at this moment, Liu Bei was discussing something with his subordinates, and the atmosphere seemed to be a little dignified.

In the lower row of Liu Bei's right hand sat Wen's subordinates, namely Sun Qian, Jian Yong, and Mi Zhu, and in the lower row of his left hand sat Wu's subordinates, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Chen Zhi.

Chen Zhi was originally sent by Tao Qian to assist Liu Bei, but he actually came to monitor Liu Bei. However, Tao Qian didn't expect that his mediocrity and incompetence had made Xuzhou officials disagree, and basically no one in Xuzhou counted on Tao Qian. Therefore, after Chen Zhi had a hearty conversation with Liu Bei, he learned about Liu Bei's extraordinaryness and ambition, so he decided to follow Liu Bei. As for Mi Zhu, of course, he listened to Yuan Chang's words and temporarily ran to Liu Bei's command.

Since seeing Liu Bei come to Xuzhou, Mi Zhu has been convinced of what Yuan Chang said at the beginning. Therefore, he took the opportunity to get close to Liu Bei, and he sent food and money, and now Liu Bei is still in the stage of despair, and he will not let Mi Zhu, the rich man who sent him to the door. Therefore, after coming and going, Mi Zhu became Liu Bei's "subordinate". Of course, now that there is the variable of Yuan Chang, Liu Bei still thinks that it is impossible to get both people and money. Today's Mi Zhen is in Beijing, as for who will be the flower, it is unknown.

"Lord, if there is chaos today, time is not waiting, the lord should make a decision as soon as possible, so that he can become a hegemon in this era of the rise of the heroes, and then take advantage of the situation to dominate the world!"

Previously, Chen Zhi proposed that Liu Bei take Xuzhou. It's just that in order to maintain his benevolent face, Liu Bei did not agree to Chen Zhi's proposal, and it was still the time for Cao Cao to attack Xuzhou, so Chen Zhi did not continue to insist. Now, Cao Cao's stronghold, Yanzhou, has withdrawn due to variables, and Xuzhou has no foreign enemies, and it is time to discuss the next issues. Therefore, Chen Zhi once again put forward his previous proposal.

Of course, for Chen Zhi's proposal, Liu Bei naturally agreed in his heart. It's just that the benevolence and righteousness he has always maintained are the foundation of his survival. In this day and age, reputation is a very important condition. As long as there is this reputation, Liu Bei will not worry that there will be no talent to work for him. If Liu Bei destroys his original image now, who will come to serve him in the future? Just as Liu Bei in history has always taken benevolence and righteousness as his arm, so he can toss and turn among the heroes of the world. Even if any force wants to attack Liu Bei, they must take into account whether they will be condemned by the world, so that they dare not attack Liu Bei. Liu Bei did not take the opportunity to seize Xuzhou when he was in Xuzhou, although in the end it was Tao Qiansan who gave it to Liu Bei, as for what the real situation was, no one knew; and when he arrived in Jingzhou, Liu Bei was also committed to maintaining his benevolent and righteous image, and did not seize Jingzhou, and in the end, Jingzhou was sent to Cao Cao by Mrs. Cai and others. Perhaps, after experiencing the previous lesson, in the face of the problem of Yizhou, Liu Bei finally tore open the shell of his benevolence and righteousness, exposed her true character, and prepared to occupy the magpie's nest to seize Yizhou. Of course, in the end, Liu Bei also succeeded in capturing Yizhou, and based on Yizhou, he laid down the world of his own Shu Han. However, there is an indisputable fact, that is, after Liu Bei seized Yizhou by force, the number of people who served under Liu Bei was significantly reduced. Except for the local talents in Yizhou, no one else has joined Liu Bei's command.

Perhaps, everyone understands a truth. Any power lord is the same virtue, and there is no benevolence at all. Since they are all urine and have no good reputation, why do they want to work for Liu Bei. After all, at that time, Cao Wei was the largest force in the world, and no matter how you look at it, he had a better future than Liu Bei. Therefore, when the early days of the establishment of the Shu Han Dynasty died, the death of the deceased, and the late Shu Han Dynasty had a situation of lack of success, and no one could support the beams of the Shu Han Dynasty. On the contrary, it was Cao Wei, who had talents one after another, and finally laid a good foundation for the Sima family to usurp power. Therefore, aside from Zhuge Liang's personal reasons, Liu Bei tore apart his benevolent appearance, which is also a reason for the lack of talent in Shu Han.

Therefore, although Liu Bei was very moved by Chen Zhi's proposal, he was still hesitating whether to expose his true colors or continue to maintain his benevolent image.

Putting aside the appearance of benevolence and righteousness, he will be able to seize Xuzhou immediately, and then use Xuzhou, which is rich in food and goods, as the foundation, and then try to plot the world; if he still wants to maintain the image of benevolence and righteousness, he will continue to suffer and wait for the opportunity. Of course, there are pros and cons to each of the two options, and everything depends on Liu Bei's own choice.

"Lord, my subordinates think what Captain Chen said is very beneficial!"

As Liu Bei's partner since childhood, Jian Yong naturally didn't want to see Liu Bei give up such a good opportunity. Jian Yong has been following Liu Bei, of course, because he is optimistic about Liu Bei, and he also thinks that he has the opportunity to make contributions. Now, the opportunity is in front of him, if Liu Bei is let go, then I don't know how long I have to wait. Therefore, Jian Yong naturally wanted to persuade Liu Bei to do it, instead of waiting aimlessly like before.

In the north, Yuan Shao occupies Qingzhou, Jizhou, and Bingzhou, and Yuan Chang occupies Youzhou; in the south, there are Liu Biao in Jingzhou, Yuan Shu in Yangzhou, and Sun Ce in Eastern Wu; in the south, there are Cao Cao in Yanzhou, Li Dao and Guo Yan in Guanzhong, Liu Zhang in Yizhou, Ma Teng and Han Sui in Liangzhou. Now, only Tao Qian in Xuzhou is old and mediocre, if Tao Qian continues to control Xuzhou, at that time, Xuzhou may be consumed by him into such a depressed place. Now, taking advantage of the fact that Xuzhou is full of rich businessmen and abundant grain and grass, the lord won it in one fell swoop, with Xuzhou as the foundation. Although Yuan Shao in the north occupies Qingzhou, Jizhou, and Bingzhou, he naturally cannot take care of both, and the lord can also take Qingzhou by standby. Occupy the land of the three states, defend the territory by itself, and develop slowly; when all parties are vying for hegemony, the lord can attack and retreat, and he can also defend it, and implement the policy of long-distance friendship and close attack, and finally achieve a career, it is not impossible!"

"What Xianhe said is very reasonable!"

Liu Bei listened to Jian Yong's words and nodded in agreement. Of course, Liu Bei has great ambitions and can establish a country of Shu Han, so he is naturally not an incompetent person, and he is naturally clear about what Jian Yong said. It's just that since Liu Bei has great ambitions in his heart, he has naturally thought about how to establish his career in the troubled times. That is to have a good name, which is called the name of righteousness.

Throughout the dynasties, from the Xia, Shang and Zhou, to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Qin and Han dynasties. A monarch who can exist for a long time can only be supported by the people if he shows benevolence and righteousness. Any violent monarch can't last long, Xia Jie, Shang Xun, King Zhou You, Qin Shi Huang and even Huan Ling of the Han Dynasty were all overthrown by the people of the world because they did not have the reputation of benevolence and righteousness. In addition, Liu Bei doesn't have any capital to rely on, so the only thing he can rely on is reputation.

Like Yuan Shao, the Yuan family of the fourth and third princes, when he started out, he was a Bohai County Taishou, and then because of the reputation of the Yuan family, the Jizhou Shengsheng of Han Fu in Jizhou was taken away by Yuan Shao; and Yuan Shu, also because of the reputation of the Yuan family, and he is also a son-in-law, and there are many famous civil and military talents to serve Yuan Shu; as for Cao Cao, it will be worse than Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu brothers, but after Cao Cao's incident, there are still children of the Cao family and the Xiahou family who serve Cao Cao. Therefore, compared with these forces with identity and background, he Liu Bei has nothing, and he can only rely on his own efforts to win. Liu Bei was a little skeptical, if he tore apart his reputation for benevolence and righteousness, would his future development still be so smooth?

Suddenly, Liu Bei remembered something, looked at Chen Zhi, and asked, "Uncle Zhi, how much do you know about Yuan Chang?"

"The lord of Qiqi, his subordinates are incompetent, so his subordinates don't know much about Youzhou Mu Yuan Chang. Chen Zhi said with a proud face, Chen Zhi is engaged in intelligence, and he has analyzed and understood all the forces in the world, and after comparison, Chen Zhi selected Liu Bei. As for Yuan Chang, he didn't have a very good performance before, and then he suddenly jumped up like a rocket, so Chen Zhi didn't know much about Yuan Chang.

"Uncle Zhi, you don't have to blame yourself for this matter, no one would have thought that Yuan Chang would be able to get to this point. Liu Bei said with a calm face.

The first time I saw Yuan Chang was when the Princes Alliance was discussing Dong, and Yuan Chang behaved like a villain at that time. Even Liu Bei, who thought he had the wisdom to know people, failed to see Yuan Chang's extraordinaryness, and Chen Zhi was in Xuzhou at that time, so how could he pay attention to Yuan Chang.

"Uncle Zhi, tell me how much you have obtained from the investigation of Yuan Chang's intelligence. ”

"Yes!"

Chen Zhi bowed down in response, and then said solemnly: "My lord, after Yuan Chang was under Yuan Shao, he was appointed as the county magistrate of Dongping County, and he did not perform well; Therefore, Yuan Chang entered Yuan Shao's eyes and was promoted by Yuan Shao to the Taishou of Bohai County. ”

"I see! Yuan Chang gave this new salt, which is really a blessing for all the people in the world, Yuan Chang is so open-minded, it is really amazing!"

Now the new salt has been circulated in the world, more refined than the tribute salt dedicated to the imperial court in the past, and the price is cheap, any common person can use it, so Liu Bei naturally has also eaten the new salt, and he also knows about the new salt, but he didn't expect that this new salt was actually made by a talent under Yuan Chang. Of course, he said this on his lips, but in his heart he was jealous and ridiculed Yuan Chang. Yuan Chang was so stupid as to offer new salt to Yuan Shao, and the price was so low. If he Liu Bei got this new method of salt, why would he be so low-key and forbearing, he would have soared to the sky with this and would have become one of the world's heroes.

Mi Zhu secretly served as Yuan Chang's subordinate, although he was a businessman, it was his nature to pursue profit. However, for Yuan Chang's noble approach, Mi Zhu felt very proud and proud in his heart.

As a businessman, Mi Zhu's ability to observe words and colors is naturally not false.

In history, Mi Zhu was Liu Bei's subordinate, and Mi Zhu was also optimistic about Liu Bei, not only giving money and food, but also giving his sister to Liu Bei. Now, Mi Zhu has been under Yuan Chang, the purpose of which is to observe Liu Bei's actions by Liu Bei's side and collect intelligence for Yuan Chang. At this moment, he has been paying attention to Liu Bei's expression, although Liu Bei is praising Yuan Chang, but the real thoughts in Liu Bei's eyes are captured by Mi Zhu. Therefore, Mi Zhu, who previously felt that Liu Bei was quite benevolent and righteous, has now thoroughly seen through Liu Bei, and his idea of loyalty to Yuan Chang is also more firm.

After Yuan Chang was appointed by Yuan Shao as the Taishou of Bohai County, he gradually began to show his ability, building colleges, reforming processes, reforming taxes, etc., and won the love of the people of Bohai County. After that, for some reason, Bohai County became independent of Jizhou, and Yuan Shao had no right to interfere with Yuan Chang's administration. Then, Yuan Chang and Yuan Shao jointly attacked Youzhou, and Yuan Shao actually gave up the captured Youzhou to Yuan Chang. These are the information collected by the spies arranged in Youzhou. ”

After listening to Chen Dao's account, Liu Bei pondered for a moment and continued to ask, "And then?"

"No more!"

Chen Zhi shook his head with a heavy face, and under Liu Bei's puzzled look, he explained: "Since I collected the information that Yuan Chang became the pastor of Youzhou, I have never been able to collect any information about Youzhou. Previously, the subordinates agreed with the spies arranged in Youzhou to send information back every three days. However, after a long time, the spies did not continue to transmit information back, and the subordinates knew that something had happened. Subsequently, his subordinates sent several waves of spies to Youzhou, but, without exception, none of the spies could send back the news. Therefore, his subordinates believe that there are also the same departments in Youzhou as his subordinates, which can investigate intelligence and eliminate enemy spies. Moreover, according to Youzhou's reaction, the ability of the Youzhou spies is stronger than the ability of the spies cultivated by his subordinates. ”

Liu Bei calmed his face, thought for a moment, and said to Chen Zhi: "Uncle Zhi, since this is the case, give up the collection of intelligence on Youzhou, and there is no need to give the lives of the soldiers in vain." Although Yuan Chang is not bad, it is not easy for Yuan Chang to sit big. Youzhou is located in the border area, there is foreign infestation, and Yuan Shao is pressing on his head, so it is not our turn to worry about Yuan Chang's affairs. ”

"Yes, the lord is lenient, and his subordinates should obey their orders!"

For Yuan Chang, Liu Bei was actually extremely jealous in his heart. However, with Liu Bei's qi cultivation kung fu, he is naturally quiet, so that people can't see his thoughts.

"Big brother, you should make a decision quickly, I think what Uncle Zhi and Xianhe said is reasonable. Anyway, Xuzhou is getting worse and worse under Tao Qian's management, why don't the eldest brother take it as soon as possible, and he can also rescue the people of Xuzhou from the dire situation. Now even Yuan Chang's thief can be the pastor of Youzhou, and the eldest brother has never even occupied a city, so I am not worth it for the eldest brother!"

Zhang Fei's words completely aroused Liu Bei's jealousy of Yuan Chang, and also made Liu Bei make up his mind. (To be continued.) )