Since the death of Wang Rui, the assassin of Jingzhou, the entire land of Jingzhou has fallen into chaos. Originally, those powerful and ambitious local sect thieves took this opportunity to raise troops one by one to defend themselves. Let's not mention that Nanyang Yuan Shu stationed troops in Luyang, and the momentum of Nanyang and Runan counties was unstoppable. Wu people Su Dai appointed himself as the Taishou of Changsha, and Bei Yu was the chief of Huarong, and they also claimed the king and hegemony in the local area according to the militia.

I heard that the imperial court has sent Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao to Jingzhou, which made these thieves all frightened, although these people are powerful in the local area, but Liu Biao has the appointment of the imperial court after all, accounting for the elements of righteousness, and many celebrities and nobles in Jingzhou are willing to sincerely join them. The most important thing is that Liu Biao, a strong dragon, entered Jingzhou, obviously to suppress them.

Originally, including Yuan Shu, these Jingzhou thieves still wanted to intercept and kill Liu Biao halfway, but they didn't expect Liu Biao to abandon the honor guard and enter Jingzhou alone, and secretly came to Yicheng.

The two brothers Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue from Zhonglu County, and Cai Mao, a native of Xiangyang, heard that Liu Biao had entered Jingzhou, and they all came to Yicheng to meet Liu Biao and conspire with each other.

Liu Biao faced the chaotic situation in Jingzhou, and asked Yu Kuailiang and others: "The scourge of the thieves in Jingzhou has been eroded so far, and the people are centrifuged, so Yuan Shu has made trouble, and he sees that the disaster is coming." I want to recruit troops here to quell the troubles, but I am afraid that the people will not cling to me, so I wonder what your countermeasures are. ”

Kuai Liang was the first to reply: "The people do not come to rely on them because the benevolence of the rulers is insufficient; To be attached but unable to flourish is the lack of righteousness of the ruler. If the ruler can administer benevolent and righteous government, the people will inevitably come to the country like mountains and rivers, so why worry that those who come will not ask for a strategy for raising an army? ”

Liu Biao nodded frequently after listening, and then asked Ji Kuai Yue, who replied: "The peaceful world should put benevolence and righteousness first, and the troubled times should be heavy on power and strategy." It's not about the number of soldiers, it's about whether you can find useful people. Yuan Shu is brave and unbreaking, Su Dai and Bei Yu are all martial artists, so there is no need to worry. The thieves of the Jingxiang Sect seem to be powerful, but their leaders are greedy and incompetent, and their subordinates are worried. I have some talented people who can be sent to lure the thieves, and the thieves will surely lead the crowd to come. When the time comes, the king will kill the corrupt and incompetent leaders, and appease their subordinates, and they will surely win their support. In this way, Jingzhou will not flee because of the war, so that the benevolence of the king is prosperous, and the people will inevitably help the old and the young to come to attach, and then the soldiers will be strong and strong, and the population will be sufficient, so that the south of the king will be based on Jiangling, and the north will guard Xiangyang, and the eight counties of Jingzhou can be determined, even if Yuan Shu and others send troops to come, they can not do anything. ”

Liu Biao was overjoyed when he heard this, and praised: "Zirou (Kuai Liang Zi) is the theory of Yongji, and the plan of Heteroduity (Kuai Yue Zi) is the strategy of the murderer." "Note 1

After everyone made a decision, a few days later, Kuai Liang and Cai Mao jointly sent an invitation to the Jingzhou thieves, inviting them to come to Yicheng to conspire together.

Kuai Liang is a famous person in Jingzhou, and Cai Mao is a famous family in Jingzhou. The two of them jointly invited, and the thieves in Jingzhou naturally wanted to give face.

In particular, the Cai family is even more powerful in Jingzhou. Cai Mao's father, Cai Wei's sister, married Zhang Wen, a prominent minister in the current imperial court, and his eldest daughter married Huang Chengyan, a famous scholar in Jingzhou, that is, Zhuge Liang's father-in-law. The second daughter later married Liu Biao. The Cai family has both the backers of the court and the support of local celebrities in Jingzhou, so those thieves are eager to get the support of the Cai family and enhance their own strength. Fifty-five clan and thief leaders, including Su Dai and Bei Yu, all came to Yicheng to meet Kuai Liang and Cai Mao.

Cai Mao held a feast in his mansion, and Cai Mao suddenly proposed to everyone: "Now that Jingzhou is chaotic and the people are displaced, I want to propose a capable person to lead Jingzhou and stabilize the villagers, I don't know what everyone thinks?" ”

As soon as the leaders of the thieves heard Cai Mao say this, they all came to their senses, and they looked at Cai Mao one by one, hoping that he could say his name. With the support of the Cai family, the Jingzhou clan, it is naturally not a problem to rule Jingzhou.

However, Cai Mao's name made everyone stunned.

"Gaoping Liu Jingsheng is a famous man in the world, a benevolent and righteous person, and can be the lord of Jingzhou!"

The thieves all opened their mouths in astonishment and froze in place. Before they could react to their words, Cai Mao's eyes suddenly showed a fierce light and slammed the wine glass in his hand to the ground.

Some of the puzzled thieves felt strange in their hearts when they saw it. You Cai Mao recommended Liu Biao as the lord of Jingzhou, and it was clear that he was the enemy of us, and we didn't have time to get angry and smashed the cup, why did you fall first?

didn't react for a while, but the ambush soldiers hiding in the shadows had already heard Cai Mao's signal and rushed out. It was a slash against the leader of the thieves, and these people were quickly killed on the spot before they could prepare.

A drinking banquet became a slaughterhouse for killing, and waiting for the crying of his father and mother to gradually disappear, Liu Biao turned out from behind the screen.

Cai Mao said with the courtesy of his subordinates: "Envoy, the matter here is over. ”

Kuai Yue behind Liu Biao reminded: "There are still sect thieves outside the city, so you should cut off the heads of the leaders and order them to surrender." ”

Liu Biao nodded and said good, and ordered Cai Mao to send someone to cut off the head of the leader of the thieves and spread it to the thieves outside the city, ordering them to surrender.

Most of the thieves originally felt that they had no future with these clan leaders, and as soon as they saw that the leader was dead, they immediately surrendered to Liu Biao, and some of the stubborn ones also let Liu Biao send troops to extinguish them.

The subordinates of the thieves were co-opted, and for a time Liu Biao's troops won a big victory. Only the Jiangxia thief Zhang Hu and the Xiangyang thief Chen Sheng were entrenched in Xiangyang, and they did not obey Liu Biao's orders, so Liu Biao sent Kuai Yue and Pang Ji to surrender alone.

Kuai Yue is really a clever tongue, and his words made Zhang Hu and Chen Sheng fearful, and finally surrendered to Liu Biao.

Finally, I have to talk about the initiator of the Jingzhou Rebellion, Wuling Taishou Cao Yin. At the beginning, this guy was still in the mood to watch a good show, waiting to see how Liu Biao would gain a foothold in Jingzhou and whether he could learn something from it again. Unexpectedly, with the support of the two families of Kuai and Cai, Liu Biao quickly quelled the rebellion of the thieves in Jingzhou, and passed on the surrender of the counties.

Cao Yin was afraid, fearing that the imperial court would dig up his false transmission and punish him. When I was restless, I finally thought of the sentence that a good man does not eat the loss in front of him, hung up the seal and abandoned the official, and immediately smeared oil under his feet.

In addition to him, there were many county guards who were afraid of Liu Biao's prestige and chose to untie the seal and leave. Liu Biao took advantage of this to distribute his henchmen to the counties. Since then, all the counties of Jingxiang have been under the name of Liu Biao, and at the beginning of the Jiangnan Peace, Liu Biao trained troops in Xiangyang to observe the changes in the world.

**************

After the New Year, it is the Shangyuan Festival. Chang'an's Shangyuan Festival is not inferior to Luoyang in terms of liveliness.

Especially this year, after experiencing the rebellion of Li Dao Guo Yan, the people of Chang'an, who had suffered from the war, released all the pressure of nine deaths and a lifetime through the carnival of the Shangyuan Festival.

Liu Wei has issued an edict to exempt the people of Chang'an from paying taxes for three years and serving for five years, and since the beginning of winter, it has snowed several times in Chang'an, indicating that the coming year will be a bumper harvest.

Liu Wei has already issued an edict to all Chang'an officials to take a day off except for a few people on duty. Take it easy. And the people of Chang'an, who are looking forward to a better future, have taken to the streets on the night of the Shangyuan Festival, or to help the old and the young to celebrate with their families, or to travel with three or five confidants.

Some vendors saw the opportunity and set up a night market to sell loudly. There are also craftsmen who perform unique skills, shadow puppetry, juggling, and tricks. The whole Chang'an is very lively.

The lanterns of the Shangyuan Festival began as early as the Ming Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, originating from the practice of Buddhist monks viewing Buddha relics on the fifteenth day of the first month of Buddhism and lighting lamps to worship the Buddha. The edict of Emperor Ming, who believed in Buddhism, was promoted throughout the country and gradually penetrated into the people.

It's just that the types of lanterns at this time are still relatively single, and the style is simple, but with a traveler like Liu Wei from the future, there is no need to worry about the single variety of lanterns in the Shangyuan Festival. In addition, Liu Wei also appeared in the Han Dynasty in advance of customs such as lantern riddles and eating Lantern Festival, making the Shangyuan Festival more colorful and attracting people to linger.

At night, Liu Wei and Tang Ji stood at the highest point of the palace, overlooking the endless flow of people in Chang'an City, and a sea of red paved with countless lanterns.

Liu Wei held Tang Ji in his arms, and the two of them were silent, but each other's hearts were close together, as if they were telling each other their thoughts.

After the lively Shangyuan Festival, Liu Wei began to get down to business. The first important thing is to finalize the personnel who will negotiate with the Qiang.

The negotiation venue was set at Bailongjiang in Qiangdi, but the person in charge of the negotiation, Liu Wei chose himself.

Hearing this, Zhong Xuan, Cao Cao and other ministers suddenly became anxious. Isn't Liu Bian's decision a sheep into the tiger's mouth? If the Qiang people have bad intentions, and your eldest brother has three long and two short, then what should we old and young masters do? You think you are Athena, who has nothing to do and likes to be a hostage in the hands of the enemy, and the brothers are not five Xiaoqiang who can't be killed, and they can't stand your toss like this.

Zhong Xuan, Cao Cao and others, who were sweating profusely, came to Weiyang Palace together and advised Liu to stop his decision.

Zhong Xuan told Liu Wei that the Son of Heaven was a matter of all people, and he should not take risks easily, and it was enough to leave things like this to other countries to competent personnel.

And Liu Bei even recommended himself to say that he had been to the military camp of Ma Teng Han Sui, and he had rich experience in foreign-related negotiations, and he could do the negotiation with the Qiang people this time, and he would definitely not humiliate his mission. Your Majesty, you can rest wherever you are.

Zhong Miao and other ministers came up with a lot of reasons, and tried to persuade Liu Wei again and again, but they were unmoved, but told them their reasons:

"The Han and Qiang have been hating each other for a long time and distrust each other. This negotiation is a good time to defuse mutual hatred. If I go to the Qiang land, I will definitely be able to show my trust to the Qiang people, so that the negotiation will come naturally. ”

In the end, he couldn't even look at the fascination, although Liu Wei's approach moved him very much, but it was also a little too much. He told Liu Wei that His Majesty had no intention of going to him in person, but the negotiation location did not need to be located in the Qiang land, and it could also be on the border between the Han and Qiang ethnic groups.

Liu Wei said to him: "The Han and Qiang tribes are brothers, and I go to the Qiang land to go to the brothers' house, what's wrong?" ”

The fan was moved, and immediately said that he was willing to break his bones to protect the Son of Heaven.

The ministers' persuasion was useless, so they had to let Liu Wei go. But Liu Wei was not a reckless person, and it was impossible to go alone, but chose Zhao Yun to take the cavalry of the upper military camp plus Hu Che'er to lead a group of palace guards to protect him and go to Qiangdi together.

The reason why Zhao Yun was chosen was not only to value his force value, but compared to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, both of them had the bad deeds of not protecting Liu Bei's wife and children into the hands of the enemy in the romance, but Zhao Yun was seven in and seven out to escort Adou back to Liu Bei's side. This sense of responsibility alone is very important to Liu Wei.

As for Hu Che'er, he was originally a Qiang person, and he was loyal to him, and being escorted by him could not only ensure safety, but also show faith to the Qiang people.

Zhang Fei also wanted to be clamoring to escort him to negotiate with Liu Wei, but was dissuaded by Liu Wei to stay in Chang'an in a few words.

"Chang'an is an important place, and the soldiers defending the city are newly recruited, inexperienced, and urgently need a general to guard it to deter the small ones. Among the generals of the view, only Yide can be competent, so he sent Yide to guard this place, and trained the new army of three auxiliary forces with Xu Rong. ”

Liu Wei touted it, and Zhang Fei, who ate soft but not hard, finally obediently stayed in Chang'an to train the army.

In fact, Ren Hongchang also once persuaded him, saying: "The husband kills the enemy for the country and makes meritorious contributions, and the concubine does not stop him, but on the contrary, he is willing to put on armor and hand the sword to the husband." However, serving the country is not something that can only be done on the battlefield, holding on to important places, so that the court has no worries about losing the land, and the people have no difficulty hanging upside down, which is also a heroic act for the country and the people. ”

Zhang Fei was deeply impressed by Ren Hongchang's words.

In terms of Wenchen, Cao Cao, like Zhang Fei, also took the initiative to ask to go to negotiate with Liu Wei, but before Liu Wei could dissuade him, Cao Cao's words made Liu Wei extremely moved.

"The death of the monarch and the minister is the norm of the monarch and the minister. Although the minister is not talented, he also knows the word integrity. If Your Majesty has any mistakes, no matter where the ministers are also loyal to the festival, why let the ministers stay out of the matter? ”

If you die, I'll die with you, and my buddy will be out anyway. You like to play with heartbeats, so come along.

In addition to Cao Cao, Liu Wei also ordered Liu Bei, who had "negotiation experience", to accompany him. Although Zhong Xuan also asked to go with him, Liu Wei still stayed on the grounds that Chang'an was an important place and needed to be guarded by important ministers.

After the selection of the personnel of the negotiation team, Liu Wei did not delay any longer, and immediately set off to the Hanqiang border.

At this time, Ding Yuan's Bingzhou wolf rider also came to the border to meet, and Lu Bu was afraid that seeing her would hurt his heart because he heard that Ren Hongchang had also come to Chang'an, so he told Ding Yuanchen that he wanted to return to Bingzhou. Ding Yuan saw that the war in Xiliang had stopped, and that it might only be a threat to the Qiang people, and that there was no need for Lu Bu to go out again, so he agreed to return to Bingzhou, and led his troops to the border to join Huangfu Song.

After Liu Wei arrived, Huangfu Song and Ding Yuan, who had already learned that Liu Wei was going to Qiangdi for peace talks, also spoke out to prevent Liu Wei from taking risks easily.

Huangfu Song is a full martial arts faction, and regardless of the presence of the Qiang envoys such as Midang, he bluntly admonished Liu: "How cunning the Qiang people are, Your Majesty must not be on guard, it is better to order the Qiang people to come to us to negotiate." ”

The fans on the side were very dissatisfied after hearing this, pursed their lips, and thought to themselves: "Speaking of cunning, you Han people are scheming, and you are embarrassed to talk about us." ”

Although the fan was dissatisfied, he didn't say anything else, just to see what Liu Wei said.

Liu Wei said with a smile: "The Han and Qiang tribes have been vendetta against each other for a long time, and they naturally want to use conspiracies and tricks against each other on the battlefield. I went to my relatives in order to gain the trust of the Qiang people and resolve their grudges with each other. ”

Ding Yuan said beside him: "Since Your Majesty said so, how about letting the minister or Yizhen Gong lead troops to escort Your Majesty?" ”

Liu Wei shook his head and said: "When the army goes, the Qiang people must be suspicious, how can they see the sincerity of the negotiation." ”

Huangfu Song and Ding Yuan saw that Liu Wei did not listen to the persuasion, so they had no choice but to give up. However, when it came, Huangfu Song still said loudly: "We are deeply favored by the emperor, and we will definitely smear your majesty's liver and brain." If His Majesty makes any mistakes, the ministers will not live alone, and after hating His Majesty, they will die. ”

This is to say this to Midang and others, so that they can understand that if something happens to Liu Wei, it will inevitably lead to the crazy revenge of the imperial army, and everyone will die together.

Huangfu Song is famous, and Mi Dang and the others naturally trembled when they heard him say this. Liu Wei thanked Huang Fu Song and others for their loyalty to him, patted Huang Fu Song's arm, and said with a smile: "I will definitely succeed when I go, and you are waiting for my good news." ”

Note 1: Yongji and Mortar. Both of them were advisors under Duke Wen of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period. On the eve of the battle between Jin and Chu Chengpu, Duke Wen of Jin once asked the two for advice. The molars advocate the use of deception. Yong Ji said that although the scheme can succeed for a while, it is not a long-term technique to win. Later, Jin Wengong used deception to win, but when he was rewarding, he ranked Yongji in front of the culprit. Puzzled, Jin Wengong explained: "Yongji's remarks are beneficial to the cause of a hundred generations, but the strategy of the murderer is only to solve the temporary problem. How can we let the solution to the problem of the moment be put in front of the rhetoric that is beneficial to the foundation of the century? ”

(To be continued, stay tuned for the next chapter)