At this time, Mi Zhu said to Liu Bei: "Duke Xuande, since the lord has said so, for the sake of the overall situation, Duke Xuande should also agree to the lord's request first, temporarily act as the pastor of Xuzhou, and after the war in Xuzhou is over, it is not too late to discuss the succession." ”

Chen Deng also said: "That's right, if we are still arguing about who will replace Tao Qiangong in charge of Xuzhou, in the end, it will be Cao Cao who will benefit, or Xuande Gong will first focus on the overall situation and temporarily take the position of Xuzhou pastor." ”

Mi Zhu and Chen Deng rarely put forward the same opinion, which was extremely difficult to see when Tao Qian was in power, even if the problem was obvious, but because the relationship between the two families was not harmonious, they would also argue over some trivial matters.

But now, in the face of Liu Bei, who has just arrived, they have a rare unanimity of opinion, and they all think that Liu Bei is temporarily taking the position of Xuzhou pastor is the best choice at present.

"Please Xuande Gong take the overall situation as the priority and act as the pastor of Xuzhou!"

Seeing that Tao Qian's son was difficult to carve, Chen and Mi supported Liu Bei for the first time, even if others were stupid, it was impossible to stand in the wrong position at this time, so everyone asked Liu Bei to act as the agent of Xuzhou Mu.

Liu Bei looked embarrassed, but the matter had come to this point, he had no choice, so he sighed and said: "That is the case, Liu Bei can only reluctantly make it difficult, temporarily take the position of Xuzhou pastor, and after repelling the Cao army, return the position of state pastor to Tao Qiangong." ”

Hearing that Liu Bei was finally willing to agree to take over Xuzhou, Tao Qian finally breathed a sigh of relief, and he said to his son: "Go and hand over the Xuzhou brand seal to Xuande Gong." ”

When Tao Qian's son heard his father's words, he nodded, turned around and walked into the inner room, and soon after, he walked out with a golden box in his hand.

After seeing his son take out the box, Tao Qian said with his last strength: "Xuande Gong, this is the Xuzhou brand seal, and the matter of Xuzhou will be bothered by Xuande Gong in the future." ”

Liu Bei respectfully took the box, although the box was not heavy, but Liu Bei felt a huge pressure, this was the first time he took over a large state, and he had not yet figured out what to do, but he had to face many problems and crises, even if he had lofty ideals and ambitions, in the face of this almost desperate situation

, I can't help but feel a lot of pressure.

Although the pressure is huge, since Liu Bei has taken over the heavy responsibility, he will not regret retreating.

He held the stamp representing the power of Xuzhou and said to Tao Qian respectfully: "Tao Qiangong, please rest assured, since Liu Bei has agreed to take over Xuzhou, he will do his best to ensure that Xuzhou is not lost and will never disappoint Tao Qiangong's expectations!" ”

After hearing what Liu Bei said, Tao Qian relieved his heart, and it was only at this time that he suddenly felt that the strength in his whole body was gone, and his body seemed to be pressed by a heavy boulder, and he couldn't move.

Tao Qian smiled slightly and said to Liu Bei: "Great, so I can rest assured." ”

Tao Qian continued: "Let me talk to my son alone. ”

After everyone heard it, they all knew that Tao Qian might want to explain the future.

So everyone withdrew from the room one after another, and Liu Bei held the card seal, and after saying goodbye to Tao Qian, he also retreated.

As soon as Liu Bei walked out of Tao Qian's room, Tao Qian's subordinates bowed to Liu Bei outside the door and said, "Congratulations to Xuande Gong!" ”

Seeing this, Liu Bei hurriedly said: "Everyone, the Cao army is about to attack the city soon, how can he have it?" ”

Chen Deng stood up first and said to Liu Bei: "Back to Xuande Gong, everyone is congratulating Xuande Gong on becoming the lord of Xuzhou in the near future. ”

When Liu Bei heard this, his face changed greatly, and he said: "Tao Qiangong is critically ill, Liu Bei agreed to temporarily act as an agent for Xuzhou affairs, and when Cao Jun retreats, he will return the card seal to Tao Qiangong, please don't misunderstand, Liu Bei will never be greedy for the position of Xuzhou pastor." ”

At this time, Mi Zhu said: "Of course we know this, but we still want to congratulate Xuande Gong on his appointment as Xuzhou pastor, Xuzhou is governed by Xuande Gong, and he must be able to turn the danger into a disaster." ”

Seeing the tacit expressions of these people, Liu Bei felt a little uncomfortable, it seemed that this position of Xuzhou pastor would be his sooner or later, but now for Liu Bei, how to resist the attack of Cao Jun is the top priority, as for the future, he can only take one step at a time.

Liu Bei said: "Everyone, Liu Bei is shallow in learning, not deep experience, the first time he came to Xuzhou to take over the important task of Xuzhou pastor, it is not a secret, Liu Bei is deeply uneasy, and I hope you can help Liu Bei to protect."

Xuzhou does not lose in order to live up to the trust of Tao Qiangong. ”

Everyone replied in unison: "I wish to listen to Xuande's dispatch!" ”

In this way, Liu Bei became the acting state pastor of Xuzhou by mistake, and unexpectedly, Tao Qian's former ministers, without exception, felt trust in Liu Bei, who had just come to Xuzhou not long ago, and chose to support him, which shows that the people who served under Tao Qian have long hoped that there will be an excellent person to replace the old and confused Tao Qian as the new master of Xuzhou. They are also willing to assist Liu Bei in governing Xuzhou well and rejuvenating Xuzhou.

But the biggest problem in front of everyone is the overwhelming threat of Cao Juntai, although Cao Cao explained in his reply that he agreed with Liu Bei's suggestion, the two sides stopped fighting, shook hands and made peace, but behind the scenes, there seemed to be some scheme, the alert Chen Deng, caught the evidence that Cao Cao wanted to confuse everyone, that is, after he replied to the letter, he wanted to buy the Xuzhou messenger, and from the messenger's mouth, he asked some of the content of the conversation between Cao Cao and Guo Jia, and it is not difficult to guess from the content of their conversation that Cao Cao is likely to plan to launch a surprise attack on Xuzhou City, Hit them off guard.

Just after Liu Bei took over the position of acting Xuzhou pastor from the critically ill Tao Qian, he immediately began to discuss with everyone the countermeasures to defend against Cao's attack, and immediately began to strengthen the defense of Xuzhou City.

When Tao Qian was in office, Xuzhou City had not experienced war for a long time, and the most recent one was the time when Guo Jia led the tiger and leopard to ride into the city of Xuzhou, but fortunately, due to the rebellion of the Qingzhou Army in the rear, Guo Jia had to lead the tiger and leopard cavalry back to the army station overnight, and handed back the city of Xuzhou at his fingertips, leaving a huge regret.

After the crisis, Tao Qian also began to order the strengthening of the defense of Xuzhou City, reinforcing the city walls that had fallen into disrepair, and sorting out the weapons in the warehouse.

But it was only at this time that Liu Bei discovered that the defense of Xuzhou City was so lax, although Tao Qian had already ordered the rebuilding of the city wall and the sorting of weapons, but because he usually did not give strict orders and lacked prestige, this order was executed, and his soldiers were not very active in implementing it.