Xuzhou, Yancheng.

Tao Qian, who was haggard on the sickbed, couldn't help coughing, coughing up a lot of blood from time to time, and the maids on the side immediately stepped forward to serve Tao Qian, Tao Qian waved his hand and signaled them to retreat, leaving only Mi Zhu and Chen Deng who were waiting on the side.

Mi Zhu looked at Tao Qian with a complicated mood: "Lord, do you have anything to explain?" ”

Tao Qian sighed and coughed: "Hasn't Liu Bei come yet?" ”

Chen Deng immediately handed the handkerchief to Tao Qian: "It's already on the way, the lord doesn't have to be anxious, Xiao Pei is only half a day's journey from here, I believe that Liu Yuanjun is almost there." ”

Tao Qian sighed self-deprecatingly, trying to squeeze out a smile, but there was infinite regret and reluctance on his face: "I can't imagine that I really can't survive this year, people can't disobey the old, and they can't disobey their orders!" ”

Suddenly, two voices sounded outside the door: "Father, the child asks to see!" ”

"Ahem, it's Shang'er and Ying'er, right? Come on in! Tao Qian heard the tone of his two sons, Tao Shang and Tao Ying, and coughed twice.

Two young men pushed the door in, one was full of spirits, the other was clear-eyed, and worshiped in front of Tao Qian's couch.

Tao Qian looked at his two sons in front of him in a daze, and sighed for a long time: "Zizhong, Yuanlong, you go out first!" ”

"No!" Mi Zhu Chen Deng knew that Tao Qian must say something to his son, so he answered and went out.

The pottery merchant sat in front of the couch to support Tao Qian, and kept giving Tao Qian a good breath: "Father, you have to take care of your body, the people of Xuzhou still need you!" ”

Tao Ying also changed Tao Qian with a clean veil: "Yes, father, I heard that Tanma reported that Cao Cao had the intention of attacking Xuzhou again, if this is the case, Xiao Pei's Liu Bei is afraid that he will not be able to resist it!" ”

The potter glared at Tao Ying fiercely: "Brother, you are still using this to annoy your father at this time!" ”

Tao Qian waved his hand with difficulty: "Don't worry, Ying'er is young and vigorous after all, Shang'er, dad doesn't have much time, do you have the confidence to govern this Xuzhou well?" ”

The pottery merchant was shocked: "Thank you father for your love, if there is no war on all sides, the child can still have the confidence to govern this Xuzhou, but now Yuan Shao and Cao Cao in the north are serving the tiger, and Yuan Shu and Liu Miao in the south are coveting, and the child can't ask himself if one of them is in case!" ”

Tao Ying said unhappily: "Brother, how can you grow up with other people's ambition to destroy your own prestige?" You are the eldest son of your father, if you don't inherit the position of Xuzhou pastor, do you want to give it to others? Let everything that my father did in Xuzhou go down the drain? ”

The potter was silent and didn't know what to say, why did everyone have to fight and kill, couldn't they get along in harmony? One by one, under the guise of protecting the country and the people, one by one, they regard the lives of the people like ants and trample on them at will, isn't my father also such a person? Didn't my father also have a company with the anti-thief Dong Zhuoque?

Tao Qian knew the entanglement of the potter, he barely squeezed out a smile, patted the potter's shoulder and said: "Child, dad knows that your ideal has always been to be an ordinary magistrate, really do something practical for the people, and let future generations praise him, but you should know that this is a troubled era, not a peaceful world, many things are not something we can decide, many ideals may not be able to be really realized, what we have to do is nothing more than to adapt to the requirements of this era, and do our best to do what we want to do under this premise." Sometimes it seems hard and difficult, but when you look back, isn't that a great way for people to grow? ”

The potter had never heard Tao Qian say such incisive words, and a light began to flicker in his eyes.

"Sometimes people don't have to be just good times, more often than not, bad times!" Tao Qian coughed twice and said, "Don't you see how many big figures in history have become mature, steady, and more comprehensive and cautious in the face of adversity?" ”

The potter muttered, "But the boy just wants to be an ordinary person!" ”

"Confused!" Tao Qian reprimanded, "Aren't those big people ordinary people? Who is not from a nameless ordinary person to come over, to see how your heart is, to see how your will is, sometimes an ordinary person to endure the temptation and test is not necessarily small, people live a lifetime, but ask for a clear conscience, leave a name in history, do not let future generations see your name in the history books in the future and feel that there is nothing remarkable at all, that is not only your sorrow, but also my Tao Qian's sorrow! ”

What else did the potter want to say, but Tao Ying had already taken the lead: "Big brother, my father trusts you so much, what else do you have to blame?" ”

The potter asked, "What if the child has great ambitions?" The father also said that the child is not worthy of a state! ”

Tao Qian said unhappily: "There are Mi Zhu Chen Deng's assistant, Mi Fang Cao Bao as the general, and Liu Bei and his second brother Guan Yu Zhang Fei as the wings!" Are you still worried that you won't be up to the task? Is it strong to be a father? Brave as Mi Fang, not as good as Chen Deng, not as good as Mi Zhu, don't you also govern Xuzhou in an orderly manner? For the handsome person does not have to be you in the front, you do not have to do everything yourself, as long as you can be virtuous, make the best use of talents, make the best use of things, everything will naturally develop benignly, otherwise nothing will be accomplished! ”

Tao Ying said: "What my father said is very true, eldest brother, you can't live up to your father's hard work!" ”

The potter hesitated: "But what about the enemies on all sides?" ”

Tao Qian had expected Tao Chamber of Commerce to ask this, and immediately followed: "Externally, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are allies, Yuan Shu and Liu Miao are mortal enemies, and Lu Bu's advisor Chen Gongshang You know that it is our people, so after I die, before they make a move, you must send people to every prince to offer a big gift and humble peace and ease the relationship, Cao Cao must have no time to look east now, even if he can defeat Lu Bu, it will take at least a year, and Yuan Shao's way to attack Xuzhou was blocked by Lu Bu, And I heard that Yuan Shao was seriously injured by the assassin sent by the Black Mountain thief Zhang Yan, so Yuan Shao will definitely agree to peace talks, as for Yuan Shu and Liu Xuan, they really have to take precautions, fortunately, Yuan Shu's route to attack Xuzhou must pass through Xiaopei, although Liu Bei is not Cao Cao's enemy, it is more than enough to deal with Yuan Shu, Liu Xiang I know this person very well, he is a person who only guards his own inheritance like me, and will not invade other people's territory! Therefore, the current situation in Xuzhou seems to be surrounded by enemies, but in fact it is not so optimistic! ”

The potter suddenly brightened: "It's still my father who sees things thoroughly, but it's a pity that ......"

"It's a pity that the sky doesn't live long!" Tao Qian laughed, and then coughed violently.

In fact, Tao Qian still has a sentence that he didn't say, that is, Gao Yi, although this person is not at odds with Xuzhou now, and even has a great favor in Xuzhou, but it is difficult to guarantee that he does not covet Xuzhou's heart, Tao Qian almost watched Gao Yi become a big prince from a nobody, if anyone will have the strength to level the world in the end, it will definitely be Gao Yi, this young man takes a different path from anyone else, Tao Qian really wants to see what this Gao Yi really thinks in his heart.

Unfortunately, his time is running out.

"Tao Fujun, Liu Bei asks to see you!" Suddenly, Liu Bei's voice sounded outside the door.

Tao Qian was taken aback, and Tao Ying, a pottery merchant, was even more surprised, when did this Liu Bei come?

Tao Ying stepped forward and opened the door, and saw that Liu Bei was holding something in his hand, and his face was still the same as before, so that people couldn't see whether he was happy or sad.

Liu Bei entered the room and bowed down to salute Tao Qian: "Tao Mansion Jun is fine, and the two sons are also here!" ”

Although his words were peaceful, he faintly gave people a feeling of being breathless, and the atmosphere was suddenly very strange.

Tao Qian smiled reluctantly and said: "Xuande is here, hehe, I haven't seen you for many days, Xiaopei is still used to it!" I heard that Xuande also married another concubine in Xiaopei, and her skin can glow at night, as smooth as jade, Xuande often compares it to mutton fat jade beauties, I don't know if there is such a thing! ”

Liu Bei's expression remained unchanged, and he replied calmly: "The clumsy Jing Gan clan is not worthy of the praise of the Fujun, I heard that the Fujun is seriously ill, and I have prepared some supplements, I hope the Fujun will recover soon!" As he spoke, he offered what he had in his hand.

Tao Qian said: "Shang'er, you take it for me!" ”

The potter stepped forward to take the tonic in Liu Bei's hand, and said humbly: "Thank you, envoy! ”

Tao Qian said self-deprecatingly: "I know that Xuande is honest, and I am also very poor, but every time I ask someone to send these valuable supplements, but unfortunately the old man's body is not angry, day by day is not as good as day, maybe after today, I will never need it!" ”

Liu Bei was stunned and said: "What are you talking about, hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou are grateful to Fujun, and the former Lian Po is still a general, how can Fujun self-destruct?" ”

"Hehehe!" Tao Qian looked at Liu Bei meaningfully, and instructed Tao Ying, "Ying'er, call Mi Zhu to get the letter!" ”

"No! Father! Tao Ying replied in his mouth and went out.

Liu Bei seemed to realize something, but he still asked Tao Qian suspiciously: "Mansion Jun?" ”

Tao Qian took a deep breath and said: "Now there are only three of us here, there is no need to say anything else, Xuande I am in such a hurry to summon you this time, you should know what it is for, maybe today is the last time I meet you with Xuande!" ”

Liu Bei immediately knelt on the ground: "If the prince of the palace has any orders, Xuande will definitely agree, and he will never give up!" ”

"Ahem!" Tao Qian suddenly coughed violently again, "I want you to agree, in the future, you must do your best, self-denial and public service, treat the people of Xuzhou as your own relatives, be conscientious, no matter what happens, you can't treat the people of Xuzhou as unjust, assist-" Speaking of this, Tao Qian didn't mention it in one breath, and fainted.

Liu Bei lowered his head and didn't notice Tao Qian's situation at all, and when he heard the word assistant, he thought that Tao Qian wanted to do his best to assist the Han family, so he swore with his hand: "I, Liu Bei, swear here, do my best, self-denial and public service, regard the people of Xuzhou as my own relatives, and be conscientious, no matter what happens, I can't wait for the people of Xuzhou to be in dire straits. ”

"Father, father, wake up!" The pottery merchant didn't have the heart to listen to Liu Bei's oath, and when he saw Tao Qian fainting, he panicked for a while.

Tao Qian woke up faintly, seemed to hear Liu Bei's oath, smiled and nodded, and then died.

Everyone saw Tao Qian's smile, including Mi Zhu and Chen Deng, who had just walked in with the seal letter, and they immediately knelt in front of Liu Bei with the seal letter: "Sure enough, there is no one who can stabilize Xuzhou except for the envoy, the prince of the mansion has passed away, and Xuzhou cannot be a group of dragons without a leader, please make the envoy take up the post of Xuzhou pastor!" ”

Tao Shang was stunned for a moment, then remembered Tao Qian's words just now and Liu Bei's oath, laughed miserably, and ran out of the room.

Liu Bei wanted to chase out: "The eldest son, he? ”

Chen Deng said: "The eldest prince is too sad, I'll take a look!" So saying, he chased after him.

Mi Zhu was still holding the seal: "Please make the king take up the post of state minister!" ”

Liu Bei sighed: "Taofu Junsan let Xuzhou, and now if you are ready to let it again, it will be rude, that is, you have the right to lead the state affairs, and then choose the virtuous person to let it!" ”

Suddenly, Tao Ying's cry came from outside the door: "Big brother, why did you commit suicide by throwing yourself into a well!" ”

Liu Bei Mi Zhuju was shocked: "I didn't expect the eldest prince to be such a filial son!" ”

At the same time, they looked at Tao Qian, who was already dead on the bed, and shook their heads helplessly.