After Li Su's secret meeting with Lu Zhi, the discussion on Liu Bei in the DPRK and China seems to have temporarily entered a low period.

It wasn't until four days later, on the 10th day of the ninth month, that Lu Zhi seized the opportunity to ask for a separate meeting after the court meeting, saying that he was willing to share his worries for His Majesty because of a major event, so he was able to go to Bi Guiyuan to perform in private.

Of course, this kind of opportunity is definitely not just something that can be waited for, Lu Zhi also stuffed a full fifty horseshoe gold cakes for the captain of the military academy Jian Shuo through some obscure and roundabout channels, and also sold Lu Zhi's own face, so he got this opportunity to speak!

The wool came out of the sheep, and the money was finally given by Liu Bei's camp. But what's the solution? Whoever let the money-loving Emperor Ling still rely on immortality, to spend the emperor's last days safely, it is inevitable to spend money on escort.

Emperor Ling's days of getting out of bed and walking around now are not as good as lying down to recuperate, and it is obvious that the emperor also has an understanding of his physical condition, and his countermeasure to this is that since the second half of this year, he has gradually become more and more favored in military affairs involving military affairs, and deliberately alienated the general He Jin.

This is clearly because he likes Wang Meisheng's youngest son, so he wants to set aside He's relatives.

But as an aside, Emperor Han Ling, even when his body is so weak, still doesn't know how to control himself. I feel empty when I get out of bed and take a walk, but I don't relax at all in terms of the palace maid, I just know that excessive lust will make him die early, but I just can't quit.

The official history does not clearly record the cause of Emperor Ling's illness and death, but after indulging in wine and depleting excessively, he still did not stop until he died, which is obviously strange. I can't get out of bed and don't forget to let the palace maid move by myself, which is like looking for death.

On this day, it was originally after the end of the court meeting, Jian Shuo was going to report back to the courtiers on the handling of recent military affairs, and said that since he had taken Lu Zhi's gold, Jian Shuo blew the wind in his ears:

"Your Majesty, recently, the ministers of the court and the central government have some new strategies for how to comfort the generals who have not returned to their lives for a long time. The slave maid heard that Shangshu Lu Zhi had some suggestions for the matter of Liu Bei in Liaodong, which seemed to be quite feasible, why didn't Your Majesty take the time to listen to it? ”

Liu Hong lay on the bed for two days and didn't come down, but he was still a little concerned when he heard this, and waved his hand to ask Jian Shuo to summon Lu Zhi in.

Rich people, that's what is wrong with this, the more sick they are in bed, the more boring and lack of entertainment activities they have. The more recreational activities I have, the more I think about that bit of, and then the condition worsens, and the vicious circle becomes.

After Lu Zhi saw the ceremony, he paved the way slightly, and sincerely asked for the performance: "...... Your Majesty, when the generals were puzzled, the minister asked Liu Bei, the Taishou of Liaodong, to be an official in Beijing, to set an example and relieve the doubts of the masses! ”

Recall Liu Bei back, so that other generals who have not been called back can also see how neatly and neatly Liu obeyed his orders after being called, so as to optimize the atmosphere of all the side generals.

The logic of this hand, Liu Hong can understand it after thinking about it a little.

For example, before Shang Tang was defeated, Yi Yin asked Shang Tang not to act rashly, but to temporarily interrupt the attack on the Xia Dynasty to test the Xia Dynasty's reaction.

As a result, Xia Wei was furious and ordered "Jiuyi" to crusade against Shang Tang, and Yi Yin hurriedly persuaded Shang Tang to quickly ask Xia Wei for his guilt and restore the tribute.

Because "Jiuyi is still obedient to Xia Wei's orders", this in itself will convey a signal to other princes that "Xia Wei's appeal is still strong".

Even Shang Tang can be frightened by this kind of show of muscles of political prestige, let alone ordinary border generals?

Of course, Liu Hong quickly understood the benefits of this kind of political showmanship, he was just worried: "But Liu Bei's business...... Didn't the misunderstanding be cleared up a few days ago? Immediately after he was beheaded in Wusu, he humbly offered his service to the imperial court, and since then he has not moved his troops without any wrongdoing.

I will summon him to Beijing again now, will he not be resentful? Isn't it a bit of a bully for honest people? I remember that Lu Qing was still Liu Bei's teacher. ”

Even Liu Hong himself feels that he is bullying honest people: Isn't this a model case for whoever is more loyal?

And Lu Zhi's response was very beautiful: "Why did Your Majesty say this? As the so-called thunder and rain dew, all are Jun En, the monarch wants the ministers to die and have to die, His Majesty recruited Liu Bei to be transferred from Taishou to Beijing official, this is also the performance of Jun En, he can't bear to suffer from the wind and sand anymore, and by the way, he can also grind his temperament, let him know how the center of the court does errands, this is an experience, and it is not harmful to him, what is there to be sorry not to?

And it is precisely because the minister is Liu Bei's master that the minister understands Liu Bei's temperament better and knows that he only wants to serve the country with a thief. As long as he receives the edict from the imperial court, he will definitely put down his military power and enter Beijing without any hesitation. Such a prudent person can serve as a model for the world. ”

The subtext that Lu Zhi didn't say was: If you don't take Liu Bei as a model, but invite the current Liu Yan and Dong Zhuo back to be Beijing officials, are they willing? Even if the emperor's authority is still there, they don't dare to refuse, at least they have to find an excuse to delay for a little longer, right?

And the subtext of Lu Zhi's words is already like a packed ticket: If you summon Liu Bei, Liu Bei will not only come, but also come immediately without reservation! Play the exemplary role of Jiuyi to Xia Ji.

Of course, this is definitely not saying that Liu Hong is Xia Wei! This must be clarified!

Speaking of this, Liu Hong couldn't help but be moved: "I can't imagine that Lu Qing is so sure of Liu Bei's loyalty, since this is the case, I won't bear him, so let's use him as a touchstone." What is the name of the official position when he is summoned to Beijing, Lu Qingke has also thought about it? ”

Lu Zhi delayed this question a little, and even said some other spare tire options to reduce the emperor's disgust with his "premeditated" treatment, and finally returned to the option of "Zongzheng Shaoqing".

Then, I picked out the first two points that I could say now, and packaged them a little and said them again.

The specific wording will not be repeated.

After Liu Hong heard this, he really felt that it was very possible, so he approved it and asked Jian Shuo to help draft the purpose.

However, the emperor obviously had much more to consider than Lu Zhi and Liu Bei, and he soon had to think about the candidates who would take over after Liaodong was completely pacified.

This question is inconvenient for Lu Zhi to suggest, because as long as he suggests, it seems very fake, and it is easy for the emperor to feel that the courtiers are calculating him.

After Liu Hong asked a few words, Lu Zhicai naturally "just thought of it", and replied: "Your Majesty, Liu Bei has sent his deputy Liaodong Changshi and Wuhuan Captain Li Su to Beijing to report on his work and clarify the day before yesterday. In the affairs of Liaodong, Liu Bei was good at military strategy, and Li Suming was in internal affairs.

Since the war in Liaodong has been extinguished in the future, and the herdsmen should be the first, why didn't Your Majesty summon Li Su to ask him to see if there was a candidate? Moreover, if His Majesty is willing to let Li Su serve as the Taishou of Liaodong, it is also possible to directly let him change from Changshi to Taishou. ”

This sentence was not taught to him by Li Su, if Li Su was also present at the moment, I am afraid that he would sweat when he heard it.

If Liu Hong really obeyed, then he would leave Li Su alone in Liaodong to be the emperor of the soil.

However, Liu Hong also knew that Li Su had a good relationship with many of Liu Bei's subordinates, and if Li Su was left to serve as the Taishou of Liaodong for a long time, it would be tantamount to not having the effect of "preventing the separation of people who are far away".

So he waved his hand weakly: "If Li Qing is allowed to take over, wouldn't it be in vain to make so many twists and turns, not to mention that I originally had the intention to keep Li Qing as a Beijing official." Anyway, just call Li Qing and ask him if he has any other candidates. ”

……

Jian Shuo hurriedly went to spread the word, and at the same time asked Lu Zhi to go to the garden first to find another place to rest and give food, and after a meal, Li Su was summoned to Bi Guiyuan to meet you.

"Captain Li Su, the protector of Wuhuan, knock to see Your Majesty."

After some etiquette and daily questions, Liu Hong mentioned what he had just said and asked Li Su to recommend the future Taishou candidate.

Li Su pretended to think for a while, and also said some clichés that "the war has subsided in the future, and civil affairs should be the priority", but he knew the situation better, so he said more than Lu Zhi, and specially emphasized that "in the past two years, Liaodong needs a big government to guard it, have enough money and grain reserves, and be able to fully manage the people's ration loans and land reclamation".

Liu Hong heard this kind of information for the first time, and after listening to it, he felt that it made sense, so he asked Li Suzhi to say the candidate.

Li Su pushed Mi Zhu out: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Mi Zhu Mi Zizhong, who is currently in Youzhou and previously served as a wartime transporter, can take this position." Mi Zhu is a huge rich man in the East China Sea, good at management, although his talent is not as good as Sang Hongyang, but it is also extraordinary. Let him dispatch the people's forces, unify the camp to open up the wasteland, and help the people to overcome the famine, so that the people can definitely live.

It's just that Mi Zhu's previous official rank was still lower, and he directly took over as the Taishou of Liaodong, for fear that some people would not be convinced. If Your Majesty has the heart, you can let him take over the long history of Liaodong and temporarily reside in the deputy position, instead of setting up a main post. To see the after-effects, if this winter and the next year's spring famine, the hungry people in Liaodong are properly arranged, and no people frequently starve to death due to lack of green and yellow, it means that Mi Zhu has made remarkable political achievements, and then he will be turned into a Taishou. If the relief of the famine and the hungry people is not effective, it will not hurt to withdraw the investigation. ”

Li Su said this in order to appear as selfless as possible, and to see the effect of giving official positions, and the emperor was more likely to believe it.

Liu Hong nodded frequently, feeling that Li Su's suggestion was very old-fashioned and serious, and it was very in line with the needs of the actual situation.

Seeing this, Li Su finally quietly added a killer sentence: "Your Majesty, and Mi Zhu has had many creative strategies before, and I feel that because of the long-term hunger in Liaodong, according to the ordinary tax collection method, I am afraid that it will be difficult for the imperial court to have income for many years."

Therefore, he felt that since there were wealthy businessmen who helped the government to take care of the overall planning of land reclamation, the people's taxes should also be tried to be contracted. He once calculated that if he was to take charge of Liaodong's taxes, he could give the imperial court 50 million yuan a year. ”

Liu Hong's eyes lit up violently.

it! The Taishou in the remote areas have a lot of tax shortages for the imperial court every year!

In the broken place in Liaodong, there is no discount at all according to the actual amount of money, it is estimated that it is only 40 million, and Mi Zhu reported 50 million, obviously counting all the new displaced people.

But for normal court taxes, new refugees will find a way not to pay in the first two or three years! Mi Zhu, isn't this every time there is an additional population to pay taxes in full that year, what kind of efficiency is this!

You must know that Liu Hong has sold his official position for so many years, and a considerable part of the reason is also due to the collapse of the tax system, and part of the money from selling officials is actually discounted by "tax package" - I don't care how much you can collect when you take office, as long as you pay 20 million a year to the court, the court will admit it if you can't collect taxes.

Mi Zhu's name is much better than directly giving money to buy officials and repair the palace. People are engaged in a tax package system as a big businessman with a side business, and what they give is a package tax.

Liu Hong patted the bed board: "Okay!" This Mi Aiqing really has the talent of Sang Hong sheep, the so-called people do not add endowment and the country is sufficient, this is also said! This will first give him the long history of Liaodong, and if the people are really safe in the spring of the next year, he will immediately be officially added as the Taishou of Liaodong! Jian Shuo, first prepare both wills, and don't forget when the time comes. ”

Jian Shuo: "Yes, the slave will do it." ”

Mi Zhu is equivalent to giving Liu Bei 300 million before and after, and giving the emperor 50 million to make an exception to buy official money (for those with enough normal qualifications, only 20 million or 30 million is enough), and it took a total of 350 million to become the emperor of Yongzhen Liaodong.

Of course, he also took his son as a hostage to Liu Bei, and his sister as a concubine for Liu Bei, which is equivalent to being a hostage.

After arranging the civilian duties, Liu Hong quickly thought about the military affairs in Liaodong: to prevent the remnants of Liu Bei's forces from being overthrown, he must not continue to leave the private soldiers of the Liaodong army loyal to Liu Bei there.

Moreover, to verify whether the people were doing well during the Mizhu probationary period, whether they could not get food loans and starved to death on a large scale, and whether they could be turned into regulars at that time, a relatively independent airborne official of the imperial court was required to monitor it.

Liu Hong's IQ is not low, and the emperor who has been doing it for so many years also understands the art of the emperor.

After thinking about it for a while, he decided to appoint a lieutenant of Liaodong to preside over the military affairs of Liaodong, and by the way, monitor Mi Zhu and verify Mi Zhu's probationary work, so as to transfer Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and others.

However, he obviously won't ask Li Su or Lu Zhi this kind of question anymore, and Liu Hong, the candidate who asked Li Su, doesn't trust it.

The emperor is to listen to everything.

Therefore, Liu Hong only thought for a while, and then asked Jian Shuo: "Jian Shuo, the Northern Army of the Beijing Division, the Xiyuan Army, and the Si Li Zhuwei, is there any suitable candidate to be the captain of the Liaodong vassal state?" It is best to know the soldiers, there is not much difference in rank, and the place of origin and resume are also suitable for working in Liaodong, and understand the situation to adapt to the water and soil. ”

Jian Shuo listened respectfully to the lecture and sorted out the emperor's requirements one by one in his heart.

This Jian Shuo is also a person who has been a military captain for several months, and he is more familiar with the army and generals of the central government, and after thinking about it, he quietly attached to Liu Hong's ear and whispered a suggestion:

"Your Majesty, the slave maid thinks that Xu Rong, the captain of the revolving door, roughly meets the requirements of His Majesty - Xu Rong, his ancestral home is Xuanfu County, Liaodong, before the first year of Zhongping, he served in the Liaodong Border Army for many years, successively served as the Marquis of Qu Jun, and had just been promoted to Sima of other departments that year.

After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the imperial court guarded Gyeonggi, and set up a captain to guard the pass in the eight passes of Luoyang, and the general also called the counties to raise brave and brave people who knew the art of war into the division and were subordinate to the captain of the guard, and Xu Rong was transferred from Liaodong to Luoyang at that time. In the fourth year of Zhongping, he guarded against the rebellious army entering Xingyang and Chenggao at the revolving gate, and he also made a lot of contributions, and he was cautious in the army. This person has led troops in Liaodong for many years and can be of great use. ”

Jian Shuo's words may not be understood by laymen, so it is necessary to talk a little about the military forces near Luoyang.

In the late Han Dynasty, there were mainly three military forces, one was the traditional eight captains of the Northern Army, that is, the Tun cavalry Hu cavalry shooting sound those, a total of eight battalions and 40,000 people. The second is the newly established Eighth Captain of the West Garden, those in the upper army, the middle army and the lower army, and now they are in charge of Jian Shuo and Yuan Shao.

And the third force is the Luoyang Baguan garrison that began to expand in the first year of Zhongping when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out.

In the Han system, wherever there is a pass, there will also be a commander and 2,000 soldiers to defend each pass. The rank of the military attache guarding the pass is the same as that of the military attache guarding a county, and they are all captains.

There are eight defensive checkpoints next to Luoyang, including Yique, Guangcheng, Otani, Yuyuan, Revolving Gate, Mengjin, and Xiaopingjin (in fact, there are six checkpoints and two ferries. Mengjin and Xiaopingjin, the two names of Jin, are both ferries on the banks of the Yellow River in the north of Luoyang)

Historically, Xu Rong was the commander of the revolving gate pass, which was within the Tiger Prison Pass, facing Xingyang and Chenggao, so Xu Rong was very familiar with the terrain here.

Later, Dong Zhuo burned Luoyang to kidnap the Son of Heaven and moved westward, and Cao Cao led 5,000 headquarters soldiers to chase and kill Dong Zhuo, and the reason why Dong Zhuo sent Xu Rong to intercept and kill Cao Cao in Chenggao was because Xu Rong had been guarding the revolving gate for seven years (as of the year of the discussion of Dong), and he knew the nearby geographical advantages very well.

From this point of view, Xu Rongneng defeated Cao Cao in history, and he also had a certain geographical advantage in home battle.

In addition, just because Xu Rong is a native of Xuanfu County, Liaodong, after Dong Zhuo moved westward in history, Liaodong Taishou was vacant, Xu Rong's suggestion to recommend candidates was very weighty, and he made a lot of military achievements for Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo listened to him and appointed Xu Rong's fellow townsman Gongsun Du as the Liaodong Taishou.

This is also because Xu Rong himself is purely a military attache and does not know civil affairs, so he can't be a guard, so he chose Gongsun Du, who had political experience in assassination history, to be the one.

But the current situation is obviously different, because what Emperor Ling of Han needs is not a candidate for the Taishou of Liaodong, but a candidate for the governor of Liaodong, what he wants is a military attaché, or let Jian Shuo recommend it, and it is normal to choose Xu Rong, who is close to the capital.

In the entire scope of the division, he is the only one who is from Liaodong and is at the rank of lieutenant.

Gongsun Du can't be the governor of Liaodong.

Liu Hong listened carefully to Jian Shuo's careful analysis, nodded, and then announced loudly: "I ordered Xu Rong, the commander of the revolving door, to be reappointed as the governor of Liaodong, to prepare for Xianbei and Fuyu, and to investigate the people's situation in Liaodong, and assist Mi Zhu." ”

When he heard this will, Lu Zhi didn't react, but Li Su was shocked.

it? Wouldn't that lead to history being changed too much? And this Xu Rong is a ruthless person, although he himself should just want to be a general and has no political ambitions, can Mi Zhu suppress him?

When the time comes, when the work is handed over, he will have to keep an extra hand, either to pull Xu Rong into the water, or to guard against him, in short, he can't be bought by other princes in the future and oppose Mi Zhu.

Moreover, if Xu Rong is transferred away by the emperor, when he fights Dong in the future, is it possible that Sun Jian or Cao Cao will directly defeat Dong Zhuo with the butterfly effect? If such drastic changes occur, I don't know what the general trend of the world will evolve into, and Li Su can't deduce the imaginary state at all.

However, it doesn't seem to be possible.

Even if Cao Cao and Sun Jian achieved more battle-level victories, they would not be able to break through the Hangu Pass. Even if Dong Zhuo suffered a little defeat, it was nothing more than a little more embarrassed when he fled back to Chang'an.

"That's it, I don't think about that, let's think about how to stabilize the situation when handing over work with Mi Zhu. Alas, plans can't keep up with the rapid changes. The emperor is really not stupid, and he also knows to arrange military attachés to monitor. Li Su secretly thought in his heart.