。。。

Liu Bei and Liu Yi left Tao Qian's residence and returned to the inn where they lived, and at the same time, Tao Qian gave Liu Bei the seal, and the city knew about it, and Liu Bei did not expect that unexpected people would come to visit.

"Chen Deng and Chen Yuanlong meet Xuande Gong."

"Yuanlong doesn't have to be polite, please take a seat."

Chen Deng sat down peacefully, and both sides were looking at each other.

Liu Bei took the lead and said: "What is the so-called matter of Yuanlong here, you must already know about Tao Gong's matter."

Chen Deng hurriedly got up and replied: "Chen Deng is here to represent the Chen family to return to the Duke of Xuande, and I hope that you will accept it." ”

Liu Bei laughed and said: "Tao Gong gave the seal to Bei, but Bei never wanted to be in charge of Xuzhou. ”

Liu Yi looked at Chen Deng with a smile on the side, he has great talent, but he has no great ambition, maybe this is the reason why Chen Deng is trapped in Xuzhou and can't get on the stage of the world.

Chen Deng said with a smile: "It's just a matter of time." ”

Liu Bei smiled slightly, and said casually: "The Chen family is willing to take refuge in Bei, of course Bei is welcome, does Yuanlong believe that Bei can take Xuzhou well?" ”

Welcome, welcome a hammer, cunning old fox, Chen Deng secretly defined Liu Bei, no, you have to fool him before he can speak: "Now Xuande Gong, if you sit in Qingxu Erzhou, there will be 200,000 people with armor, and looking at the world, there are very few people who can compete with the envoy." Youzhou Gongsun Zhan is strong and strong, but he is stubborn and self-serving, and it is difficult to achieve great things. Yuan Shao of Jizhou, the fourth and third dukes, the people of the family are vying to cling to each other, and there are many capable people under him. However, if he wants to dominate the world, he must first solve Gongsun Zan in Youzhou, and both sides have their own advantages, and the outcome is unpredictable. Even if one side wins, it will not be a matter of time, and no one in the north will pose a threat to Xuande Gong for the time being. Cao Cao of Yanzhou has a strategy, but the first battle of Xuzhou has been broken by Xuande Gong, and he has no sharpness, and it is difficult to recover for a year and a half, so he can only be on the defensive. Yuzhou Yuan Shu, what a great joy, is really a straw bag. Liu Biao of Jingzhou, riding Jingzhou alone, can be regarded as having some ability, and Yangzhou Liu Xuan, who has few soldiers, not to mention. After Xuzhou was slaughtered by Cao Cao, the people's hearts were shaken, and the Xuande Gong should be the first to set the list to calm the people, encourage the people to cultivate, reserve grain, grass and ordnance, and train soldiers. In just two years, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou can be attacked. It's just that Deng didn't approve of attacking Cao Cao, among these princes, although Cao Cao's strength was a little worse, but I couldn't see through this person, this is a person born for troubled times, Xuande Gong is not very sure that it is best not to touch him. ”

Talent. Although Liu Bei knew that Chen Deng was not simple, it was rare to have such an opinion. Liu Bei looked at Liu Yi and wanted to hear Liu Yi's opinion, at least Liu Bei's Chen Deng's opinion was passed.

Liu Yi smiled and nodded, this kind of thing is still not mixed, it depends on what Liu Bei and Chen Deng are singing, before Chen Deng still looked like he wanted to squeeze out Liu Bei, and he wanted to watch on the wall to see what Liu Bei wanted to do, how could it become so fast, is this just Chen Deng's meaning, you must know that Chen Deng is now the representative of the Xuzhou family, is it really that if he gets the seal, there will be nothing left, and the family will surrender, I really don't understand, then let Liu Bei and them talk about it, anyway, it is the best situation to accept Xuzhou peacefully.

Liu Bei smiled and said, "Very good." Yuanlong is talented, but it can be of great use. I already know your intentions, and when I am ready to take over Xuzhou, I will need Yuanlong's help. ”

Chen Deng hurriedly bowed down and said, "Thank you, lord." ”

Looking at Chen Deng who was leaving, Liu Bei secretly pondered: How did this Chen Deng behave so well-behaved, was he afraid that he would kill chickens and make an example of monkeys and embarrass their Chen family. Since you are willing to use it for yourself, of course, it is the best. Although Liu Bei didn't understand the purpose of Chen Deng's visit this time, wasn't there someone next to him who understood.

"Ziang, what kind of drama is this Chen Deng going to sing, I'm a little confused", Liu Bei looked at Liu Yi suspiciously, and at this time he had to rely on Liu Yi.

"Xuande Gong, adapt to the situation, Chen Yuanlong is not a fuel-efficient lamp, but since he wants to take the Chen family to us, then we will accept it, it is best to take over Xuzhou peacefully, no matter what tricks they play, we don't have much to ask for in Xuzhou", Liu Yi said with a smile, this is what he just said without desire, you have a conspiracy, but what's the use, the purpose of taking Xuzhou is not as complicated as you think, whatever you toss, anyway, when Liu Bei and Liu Yi leave, the Xuzhou family will also torture their own people. At present, Liu Yi has not thought much about the arrangement of Xuzhou, but with these families, he must not put the focus of development here.

In the evening, Liu Bei Liu Yi took Dian Wei to Cao Mansion, ready to test Cao Bao, Zhao Yun did not follow, let Zhao Yun contact the white robe army, but Dian Wei was originally Liu Bei's guard, inseparable all day long, to protect Liu Bei's safety, he did not let Dian Wei stay in the inn, and when he finished his business in Xuzhou, he should leave, Cao Bao took a family to greet him at the door, and started a banquet in the compliments of everyone. Push the cup and change the lamp, talk and laugh. The atmosphere was a joyful one.

After three rounds of drinking, Cao Bao glanced at the door, and after a while, a young girl walked in.

Cao Bao laughed a little drunken and said: "Xuande Gong, this is a servant girl of a certain family, who can sing and dance, and specially came out to cheer up Xuande Gong." ”

The maid hurriedly came to Liu Bei's face, and Yin Yin bowed with a blushing face: "The little girl visits Xuande Gong." ”

Cao Bao observed Liu Bei's expression on the side, and saw that he was admiring the beauty of the maidservant, so he hurriedly smiled: "Qing'er, don't pour wine for Xuande Gong yet." ”

The maidservant girl named Qing'er smiled shyly: "Xuande Gong, the little girl pours wine for you." ”

Seeing the maid leaning over, Liu Yi also hurriedly came back to his senses, is this using a beauty trick? No wonder how many heroes in ancient and modern times have all been planted on this, I have to say that Cao Bao's maid is really beautiful, otherwise Cao Bao would not have called her out alone, Liu Bei has never enjoyed this kind of glamorous blessing, and he won't be tempted.

"Xuande Gong, drink less wine, beware of getting drunk", Liu Yi opened his mouth to remind, pun on Liu Bei, you must not be intoxicated in Cao Bao's gentle township.

Liu Bei came back to his senses, noticed his gaffe, and said with a smile: "General Cao, can you send everyone down, I have something I want to talk to you alone." ”

Cao Bao hurriedly smiled: "Have you heard Xuandegong's words?" It's not going back yet. ”

When everyone left, only Cao Bao, Dian Wei, Liu Bei, and Liu Yi were left in the main hall.

"Although Xuande Gong has something to say, Xuzhou has a battle, and I haven't thanked Xuande Gong for saving his life", Cao Bao said with a smile.

It's time to eat, it's time to drink, the beauty is appreciated, and it's time to get down to business.

"With a gesture, the general asked your maid to come out, did you want to use a beauty trick to tempt you?" , Liu Bei said with a smile, and there was no anger on his face.

But Cao Bao didn't dare to be sure if Liu Bei was angry, and said with a shocked face: "Don't misunderstand Xuande Gong, this maid is the most proud all-rounder in the family, drinking and admiring the moon, how can there be no beautiful women to help the fun, there is no other meaning at all."

This has just suffered a defeat, fortunately Tao Qian is dead, at this time, there is no accounting to Cao Bao's head, Liu Bei inexplicably got the seal, what does Cao Bao do, after thinking about it, I still decided to see Liu Bei's reaction to act, if the two can talk, it is nothing to return to Liu Bei, anyway, Liu Bei can't stay in Xuzhou all the time, Qingzhou still has a lot to deal with.

"Alright." Liu Bei waved his hand, the smile on his face disappeared, and he said with a serious face.

Cao Bao was a little apprehensive in his heart, what does this Liu Bei mean, he came to the house at night, wasn't it good to eat, drink and have fun just now, how did it happen like this now, could it be that Liu Bei took a fancy to that servant.

Cao Bao asked tentatively: "Xuande Gong sits on the two states of Qingxu and Xu, the world can be expected, and there are not a few beauties around to serve, since ancient times, beauties with heroes, how about this maid give to Xuande Gong"

Liu Yi was really dumbfounded, this Cao Leopard talent, in the future society, he will definitely be able to mix people like dogs, but he doesn't understand Liu Bei, how can he accept this thing casually.

Liu Bei waved his hand, turned his head to look at Dian Wei beside him, and suddenly found that Dian Wei was now nearly thirty years old, and he was still single. As the leader of his own guards, Liu Bei, the boss, can't just think about his own enjoyment. In fact, Liu Bei also has a deeper idea, that is, try not to be involved with these families.

"General Cao, I already understand what you mean. This is my guard Dian Wei, comparable to the evil of the ancients, why don't you give him your maidservant, it just so happens that my subordinates have no marriage and concubines", Liu Bei said with a smile, this trip is to test Cao Bao's attitude, Chen Deng's operation really stunned Liu Yi and Liu Beixiu.

"This..." Cao Bao looked at Dian Wei, he didn't dislike Dian Wei's appearance, but he thought about Liu Bei before, and wanted to have a good relationship with Liu Bei, so what else is faster than sending a woman, why did he become Dian Wei now?

Liu Bei saw Cao Bao hesitating and said, "Does General Cao know what the position of the guard is?" Evil can be said to be my most trusted subordinate, my net worth and life are entrusted to him, you gave him the maidservant, can I treat your Cao family badly? ”

Seeing that Liu Bei's face was gloomy, Cao Bao had no choice but to say: "General Dian is brave and unstoppable, this maid can follow the general, that is the blessing she has cultivated." ”

Seeing that Cao Bao was still a little reluctant, Liu Bei comforted: "General Cao, rest assured, there is Dian Wei, no one will let the Cao family be wronged, wait until Xuzhou settles down, this time I will not stay in Xuzhou for long, and Xuzhou will need someone to take care of it in the future", Liu Bei began to blatantly hint, anyway, this kind of thing is empty and unfounded, and there is no need to use it in vain.

"Xuande Gong rest assured, Cao Bao will definitely take care of Xuzhou for you and give you a stable rear", Cao Bao said with some excitement, showing his loyalty very casually.

Liu Yi really can't understand it, Liu Bei is in a hurry, it doesn't matter if you want someone else's maidservant, who doesn't have ten or eight handmaids, this is the case in ancient times, just rely on this. can believe that Cao Bao asked Cao Bao to serve him, it is too abrupt, and besides, Cao Bao promised so happily, it really doesn't seem like a sincere submission.

"Okay, okay, then we'll leave first", Liu Bei said with a smile.

Then Cao Bao sent a distance, and Liu Yi, Liu Bei, Dian Wei and others left.

After Liu Bei left, the smile on Cao Bao's face gradually disappeared.

"Liu Xuande, Liu Xuande, how can the Xuzhou family be so easy to handle, it is really unbelievable, unless you stay in Xuzhou all the time, otherwise Xuzhou is still ours", Cao Bao remembered what Chen Deng said when he summoned them to these big families before, and couldn't help but smile.

"Xuande Gong, things are too weird, I feel that everything is going too smoothly, it's like acting for us", Liu Yi shook his head and said helplessly, Chen Deng definitely has a problem, the Chen family is such a big family, can he go to Liu Bei, Qingzhou is Liu Bei's foundation, he can't not know, and although Cao Bao is a little bit good at cooking and leading the troops, he is not so kind, yes, it is kind, what you want, you don't have a temper at all.

"Ziang, they want superficial peace, I also want superficial peace, this is officialdom, you are still young, you may not understand", Liu Bei said with a smile.

Liu Bei also has some guesses about what those families think, no matter what, both sides can achieve their goals, no matter what they do, Xuzhou Liu Bei also has his own considerations, so he doesn't care too much about these imaginary things, if you want to play, you can play with you.

Liu Yi found things a little tricky, the difficulty of the family is far beyond Liu Yi's imagination, in fact, originally in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the family was bullish, but in the Tang Dynasty it declined, the so-called "in the old days, Wang Xie Tang Qianyan, flew into the homes of ordinary people", this is the phenomenon.

For example, the Legend of the West Chamber in the Tang Dynasty, although it is fictional, but the prototype of Cui Yingying is the Boling Cui family of the northern clan, if it were not for the middle of the family, how could it not have anything to do with Zhang Sheng, a commoner. Liu Yi thought about it carefully, why did this kind of decline of the family happen?

suddenly thought of the imperial examination system, it gave the children of the common people a ladder to rise, as the so-called "Chao is Tian Shelang, and the twilight is ascending to Tianzitang", and then this wave of hard-working honest children killed the children of those big families. This is an intuitively sound explanation. The family should have declined because of the imperial examination, but the culprit who killed them was not the children of the commoners, but another role played by the imperial examination system, this is interesting, you think, the imperial examination is the exam, and the exam requires reading. In the Tang Dynasty, not everyone had the conditions to study, you had to at least have money and time. Although there was engraving and printing in the Tang Dynasty, most of them were used in the field of religion, and there were no large-scale thread-bound books, and education was not popularized, so books and teachers were scarce resources. At that time, there were not a few commoner children who had both money to buy books and time to study, and the gap between the educational resources mastered by the children of the commoners and the children of the family was too big, so if they only competed in the examination room, how could they kill the family family, and only 50% of the more than 400 prime ministers in the entire Tang Dynasty were born in the imperial examination, and about 50 of them were born in the imperial examination, and the proportion was very low. And the Cui family in the world, there are 32 prime ministers in one door, and this Cui family is Cui Yingying's Cui family. So, since the power is still in the hands of the family, how did they decline? The answer is still the imperial examination.

The essence of the imperial examination system is not to give the people of the world a fair chance for promotion, but to let the people of the world consciously enter the system controlled by the state, the most typical example is that all the candidates have become "protégés of the Son of Heaven", and the champions are all hand-picked by the emperor, and this right is in the hands of the imperial power.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was actually quite expensive for the family to maintain their own power base, at least you had to be a local landlord, able to control many people, and could organize armed forces, and you had to maintain local personnel relations. They relied on their local power and imperial power to fight, so they were good.

But after the imperial examination, the way for the big families to gain power was much simpler, they could study, have money to hire teachers, and have some connections, and they could easily enter the country's political system.

People will always take the better path, but ignore the price paid.

In the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examination was carried out, and after a long time, the big families gradually gave up their local power base, and all the families went to Chang'an. The final result, in 905 AD, the later Emperor Wu of Liang Zhu Wen invaded Chang'an, and killed 30 high-ranking officials of the clan in one breath by the Yellow River. They are used to living in Chang'an, and their ancestors' local foundation has been completely lost.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the relationship between the court and the clan was one of cooperation and confrontation: either you are good and I am good, or you live and die. The Sui and Tang dynasties' approach was to let the Shi clan enter the power system they had designed, so that they would slowly lose the basis of power. Therefore, no matter how powerful power seems on the surface, there is actually a foundation, and once the foundation is lost, the power is very fragile

Although Liu Yi knows such a thing as the imperial examination system, he doesn't dare to take it out at all now, it's useless, what's the use of you implementing it in Qingzhou, and the whole world doesn't recognize it, the time has not yet come, and the problem of the family is estimated to have a headache for a long time, it's really helpless.