Li Sheng did not get an answer to the troublesome question after all. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info just to stop worrying his wife, but he kept the matter in his heart and never showed it again. For Li Sheng, it is hard enough for his wife to give up the comfortable life of the Longzhong family and come to Xiyang, where all this is in ruins, to take care of herself, and as the head of the family, she should really be more considerate of her, and she can't be worried anymore. Since the wife let herself give up temporarily, then she should stop thinking about those things. Anyway, it's not a bad thing for more people to come to themselves, on the contrary, it should be a good thing.

Putting aside this question that he could never figure out the answer to, Li Sheng really enjoyed a few days of peace. Because of Xu Shu's help, ordinary things don't need to be handled by Li Sheng himself at all. In addition to very important things happening, what Li Sheng does every day is to go to various places to take a look, and then spend an hour listening to Xu Shu's one-day work report. This kind of life is very leisurely, compared with Xu Shu and the others who are busy every day, Li Sheng is simply living in a fairyland.

The newcomers, Ma Liang and Liao Li, were also assigned new tasks: Ma Liang was sent to be the gentlemen of the officials, so that those who had just been selected from the common people could learn how to handle political affairs; Liao Li was directly taken by Li Sheng's side and became an "advisor" on an equal footing with Zhang Ji, so that Shi Tao, who is now in this position, can have more energy to do his original work - to be responsible for the administration of the entire Li Sheng's territory.

For such an arrangement, Ma Liang accepted it with peace of mind and quickly prepared. But Liao Li found Li Sheng with some dissatisfaction. He is arrogant, and always wants to make a career at once and let the world know his name. He saw that Ma Liang, who came here with him and was not as good as himself, became the head of the party alone, but he was firmly chained to Li Sheng's side by the title of "consultant" and couldn't do anything, and his heart suddenly became dissatisfied with Li Sheng.

"Why should I be asked to be this can't do anything consultant?" He found Li Sheng and questioned him unceremoniously.

"You're capable!" Li Sheng asked him.

"Naturally!" The arrogant Liao Li replied confidently.

"In that case, how can a general job suit you?" Li Sheng said with a smile: "Gongyuan is a great talent, I intend to let you be the head of one party." I am now in charge of four counties, and although there are only two people who are really responsible, the roads are blocked, the government decrees are not smooth, and I don't know what the implementation of the new policies is in Yinyang, so I want to send someone to be in charge of it and directly govern Yinyang. I originally circled you for this candidate. It's just that considering that you are new to the new country, you are not very familiar with all aspects of the new deal, and you are not very familiar with the overall planning of the new deal, so I have to leave you first, let you stay by my side for a while, familiarize yourself with the management of the various items first, and then send you over. ”

"Oh?" Liao Li laughed when he heard this, he was very satisfied with Li Sheng's explanation. Out of confidence in his own talent, he inevitably has a bit of arrogance in treating people and things. Even in the face of Li Sheng, he is the same. He was originally an ambitious person who was unwilling to be subordinated to others. Although he himself understands that he does not have the courage to become a monarch, he also wants to rely on his ability to become a person "under one person and above ten thousand". He thinks he can and should be able to achieve this.

Liao Li went satisfied. What he talked about with Li Sheng was brought by Li Sheng to discuss with Shi Tao, Cui Hao, and Xu Shu. Among the forces of Xiyang, if it is said that everyone is close to the sovereign Li Sheng, then Shi Tao and others, who entered the curtain as Li Sheng's classmates and friends, are undoubtedly the closest to Li Sheng's subordinates. Of course, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Xu Ding, Peng Ling, Luo Zhao and others, who were also close to them, covered most of the officials and generals under Li Sheng. In fact, under Li Sheng, there are only Ma Liang and Liao Li, who have recently voted, and they have not received Li Sheng's absolute trust for the time being.

"Well, that's the way it is. I made such a promise to Liao Li. I knew that this might cause an imbalance in your hearts, so I came to you and talked to you about it. Although he was already regarded as a monarch by everyone, Li Sheng, a monarch, still seemed quite immature and explained what he had done to his subordinates. Ordinary lords don't do it, but Li Sheng does it so naturally, it seems that there is no so-called face problem at all. It was a little flustered that a few people on the side looked at it.

"There's no need to say it, right? You are the lord, our boss! Everyone looked at Li Sheng a little dumbfounded, and only after a long time did they understand a little: "At some point, the lord still doesn't have the consciousness of being the lord. ”

However, since Li Sheng came to them solemnly and told them about this, it also means that Li Sheng really thinks that these things need to be discussed with them. I don't really know if this is necessary, but since it's all here, we must continue to discuss it.

"We all know Gongyuan's reputation, and with his ability, he can indeed do this. It's just that I want to understand why the lord explained such a thing to him, I'm afraid it's not as simple as trying to win his loyalty. Xu Shu spoke. He has a keen sense of military affairs, and he is also quite sensitive to general matters, and he immediately grasps the key to this problem.

"Hmm!" Li Sheng nodded with a smile, he didn't answer Xu Shu's question directly, but asked everyone another question: "What do you think of Gongyuan?" It's not about ability, I'm talking about his personality. ”

"Gongyuan's character?" Hearing Li Sheng's words, Xu Shu, Cui Hao, Shi Tao and others began to think about all kinds of things related to Liao Li.

The Han Dynasty used a recommendation system, and only by being favored by high-ranking officials could they have the opportunity to become officials. In such a situation, people who are famous undoubtedly have more opportunities than those who are not. People like to compare. When they find that the comparison between them is conducive to the improvement of their reputation, they prefer to compare. Not only are there all kinds of gossip rumors circulating in the neighborhood, but there are also all kinds of gossip among literati, students, officials, and generals. Although there are true and false in it, whether it is true or false, it contains a kind of evaluation of a person by some people. For two celebrities who don't know each other well, such comments often make the difference in their attitude towards each other when they first meet.

Xu Shu, Cui Hao, and Shi Tao, who were active in the Xiangyang area, were not familiar with Liao Li, who lived in Wuling, but they knew many rumors about Liao Li. For this guy who is known as "the first genius in Southern Jingzhou", there are countless news about him on the market.

Among the many news, of course, the most talked about is how good Liao Li is, but some of them are about how he treats people and things.

Xu Shu and the others tried hard to recall, searching for the situation about Liao Li from various rumors, and after a long time, they slowly spoke: "Gongyuan seems to be arrogant and righteous. The brain seems to be a little strong.,As long as he thinks it's the right thing.,Won't give up anyway.,It seems to be quite strong.。 It is said that he and his classmates did not get along very well. ”

"That's why some people say he's a bad guy." Cui Hao added.

"It is really because of this that Wuling Taishou has repeatedly wanted to conquer Gongyuan for filial piety, but it has been fruitless due to the opposition of the students in the city. Lord Liu Biao has recently taken Wuling, and he has not been too touched by the local forces in Wuling, which makes the current Wuling Taishou quite difficult. Shi Tao also said with a smile. He learned about this from Luo Zhao.

"Well, that's about it." The smile on Li Sheng's face deepened: "Speaking of which, I think you should understand why I brought Gongwei with me." That guy doesn't handle people well, so he let him out like this, just afraid that he will offend a group of people. I don't want my newly established force to crack because of that guy's uprightness! After all, you can't do it all by yourself anyway. ”

"Makes sense." The three of them nodded in unison when they heard Li Sheng like this. Originally, when they didn't hear Li Sheng mention it, they didn't expect it, but after listening to Li Sheng talk about it at this moment, they realized that this is also a very important point in doing things - "doing things is also being a person." ”

"But why did you promise Liao Li?" Shi Tao asked. He always thinks so little about things outside of his duties. Although he is in charge of political affairs, he often deals with people, but he does not have so many complex utilitarian thoughts, he always remembers the point that Li Sheng told him before, "To deal with official affairs, you must do official things." He was very strict with it, but this constant compliance made his personality seem to become a little more upright, and his speech gradually became harder.

"Gong Yuan is a proud man. Do you want to be like him, and you can listen to people's advice? Sometimes speaking too bluntly can hurt someone's heart, so tactfulness is also necessary. To do something, you don't need to go straight to the point, sometimes it's okay to do some twists and turns, of course, that must be done without breaking the principle. Li Sheng taught his senior brothers a lesson in an old-fashioned manner. His serious appearance made Xu Shu and the others want to laugh in their hearts, but the words that came out of his mouth made them unable to laugh.

It was a very formal word, although it seemed a little strange to say it from Li Sheng, the youngest of the crowd and rarely a serious person, but the experience in his words was thought-provoking. Therefore, they endured it after all, and did not laugh in the end.

"Gongyuan has great talents, and its ability is by no means a county that can be controlled. If we can improve the problem of interpersonal relations, cooperate well with you, and develop our own forces, then in a few years, we will undoubtedly have a much thicker confidence in the face of the powerful Cao Army. Li Sheng continued—this is the real reason why he was like that to Liao Li.

In the history he knew before, in the Shu Kingdom, there were three main people whose abilities were not considered to be under Zhuge Liang: Pang Tong, Liao Li, and Li Yan. It's just that among these three people, except for Pang Tong, the relationship with Zhuge Liang is not very good. They all looked at Zhuge Liang's status and used certain means against Zhuge Liang, but these methods were prevented because of Kong Ming's caution. Both Li Yan and Liao Li were exiled after losing the political struggle against Confucius.

This can be said to be caused by their own arrogant personalities, and no one else is to blame. If someone kindly changes their personalities beforehand, then with their ability to cooperate with Zhuge Liang, then there may be a different situation. Talents, whether it is Liao Li or Li Yan, are talents. Although Li Yan is not in his hands now, he already has Liao Li. How far he can be changed, then we have to try it first.

"A force or a country, like an organ, is made up of parts, large and small. Human abilities are big and small, just as the parts of the mechanism are good or bad. What we do as superiors is not to avatar the omnipotence to perform the role of each of these parts in the mechanism, but to let each part, large and small, find the most suitable position from the perspective of a mechanism maker, so that the mechanism can achieve the optimal configuration. Li Sheng said solemnly: "Only the most optimized organs can play their greatest role and be best used by us." That's what I want you to achieve. Although our current power is weak, it will one day grow stronger. And you will become the true ones as our power grows. By then, if you were as busy as you are now, you would be really tired. ”

"Huh!" The three of them smiled a little awkwardly as they said this, they knew that Li Sheng was tactfully criticizing them for being too "responsible" in doing things. They can understand Li Sheng's metaphor for organs. Because they have been with Li Sheng, Kong Ming, and Huang Shou for a long time, and under the influence of the three guys who all like organs, even if they don't know how to do organs, they still have some understanding of some basic knowledge of organs. Naturally, they know that this mechanism is in fact a complex thing made up of seemingly simple parts, which can do many things for people.

"Understood. We will all remember what the lord said. At the end, the three of them said together.

"Well, it's best to be able to do that. After all, you are all my friends and classmates, and I hope to see with you this powerful empire in a hundred years. Li Sheng smiled, but his expression was very firm, "The future must be created by us." ”

"Hmm!" The three of them nodded heavily, agreeing with Li Sheng's words. After all, they are all young people, no matter how stable and old they are on the surface, no matter how secretly they still have their own passions. They will never object to things that have made contributions to making history and creating them.

*****

Peace is what everyone wants, but peace in troubled times is always interrupted by one thing or another. On March 20, the sixth year of Jian'an, a sudden but unexpected disaster befell Xiyang, interrupting the construction plan of Xiyang City, so that the soldiers who had been training for a long time and were eager to go to the battlefield to show off their performance got the opportunity they had been waiting for for many days -- on this day, news came from Yunshui Village in the north of Xiyang, and the remnants of the Yellow Turbans from the Dabie Mountains had ransacked this village with nearly 100 households. Not only did they plunder the property, but they also slaughtered the people and set fire to the houses, completely turning Yunshui Village into ashes.

The incident happened ten days ago, but because the entire village was slaughtered, no one escaped alive, and the remote environment of the village itself, the news did not reach Li Sheng's ears until the 20th.

"Damn!" Li Sheng was inspecting the outskirts of the city when he heard the urgent report from the officials, and when he heard this news, although he had long thought of such a possibility, he immediately kicked the ground in front of him in annoyance, and the huge force poked an obvious small pit in the place where his toes touched.

It is very likely that the remnants of the Yellow Turban Party will plunder Xiyang in this green and yellow day when they have not reflected on their side of Xiyang, which is something Li Sheng has long expected. In fact, the information that Li Sheng learned through Luo Zhao also showed that a large number of armed forces had been repeatedly mobilized in the mountainous areas in the southern part of the Dabie Mountains recently. Li Sheng was not surprised by the tragedy.

But Li Sheng never imagined that the tragedy would reach such a fierce level - when he came to this time, the flames of the Yellow Turban Rebellion had been extinguished, and some of the remaining remnants of the party's activities were in the mountains, so he had not heard much about the Yellow Turban Army. In his previous education, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was placed on the side of the peasant uprising, and most of the peasant uprisings were good, and some only had a relatively positive education, so he did not have much antipathy to the Yellow Turban Army.

Although he understands that many of the current Yellow Turban Army are doing some disgraceful things, he only thinks that they are all for survival, and he didn't think that the slaughter of the village would happen. In his memory, the massacre seemed to be the only one done by a warlord with a strong personality like "Cao Cao", and the Yellow Turbans were originally from peasants.

However, the news he got today was completely beyond Li Sheng's expectations. He never thought that these people would do such a thing.

"Is the real history different from what we know, or is it something else?" Li Sheng was puzzled and quickly returned to the hall of Xiyang County.

A moment later, the drum tower standing opposite the gate of the county government rang out. This huge and solemn voice quickly echoed over the county town within a radius of ten miles. The sound spread heavily, making every soldier, every officer, and every official involuntarily feel a stir in their hearts: "Could it be that something big happened?" ”

The people below panicked, while their boss hurriedly rushed towards the hall of the county office. This is the drum beat of Xiyang City to convene the officials for urgent deliberations, unless you are not in Xiyang City, otherwise you haven't felt the hall of the county government after the drum beat passed three times, then you just wait to accept the cane.

Although it is said that he is not a doctor, the current county commander of Xiyang County is Li Sheng, who announced as early as the day he took over Xiyang: "Xiyang is now chaotic and peaceful, and it is an extraordinary time, and the county needs to be ruled by military law." ". Since the army was under Li Sheng's control, although the old masters who still survived were very unhappy with such an order, not many of them dared to oppose him openly. This military regulation was smoothly implemented under the muttering of a few unwilling guys among the crowd.

The implementation of the ordinance, which is very different from common sense, is naturally not a smooth sailing thing, and naturally many people did not regard the ordinance as one thing and violated it at first. However, under Li Shengna's relentless law enforcement, these violators, regardless of their status, were punished with canes in accordance with the provisions of the regulations. Although Li Sheng's stipulation of the number of canes was not large, no more than 20 boards, it was an embarrassment for these self-esteemed civil officials. After a few times, everyone was already a little afraid of the regulations of the military administration, and no one dared to take the things above as a thing.

As soon as the drum was heard, the stewards of several departments closest to the county government had already arrived in the lobby.

The two drums fell, and the officers in the barracks outside the city had already arrived.

After the three drums were over, the lobby of Xiyang County was already full of people, and no one from all the officials and generals who joined the army was left behind.

The drums gradually faded away, and Li Sheng sat in the hall of the county government with a serious face, his face tightened, and he looked coldly at the people below. There was silence in the lobby, and everyone couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive when they saw that even the usually amiable county magistrate had become so rigid now. All of a sudden, they felt the oppression of the atmosphere at the moment.

"What the hell is going on?" They would love to ask about that. However, looking at Li Sheng's cold and angry look in his eyes, they couldn't help but shiver, but in the end they didn't say anything.

"Ladies and gentlemen......" Everyone was silent for a while in this unbearable atmosphere, and Li Sheng finally spoke: "I just got the news that Yunshui Village in the north of us was attacked by yellow turban thieves, not only was the village looted, but even the villagers were all slaughtered, and no one survived. ”

"What......?" Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and then quickly calmed down. They were surprised because Li Sheng said this in an unusually solemn tone, and when they calmed down, they thought it was not a big deal. After all, this is a troubled time, a world full of strife and chaos. Although the anecdote of Tu Village is rare, I have occasionally heard it. Compared to Tu Cheng, Tu Village seems to be a bit pediatric, and that doesn't seem to be very appalling.

"Don't you all feel ashamed?" Looking at their appearance of quickly returning to normal, Li Sheng obviously felt the indifference of their mentality, and this attitude of cold-eyed bystanders made him suddenly angry, and he couldn't help but raise his voice: "Xiyang is our territory, and the people of Xiyang are our people." What do they usually call us? It's the parents! They think that those of us who are in power are their top parents. Now that your territory is being wantonly invaded, and your people are being slaughtered at will, you ......! Those of you who are usually called 'parents' are indifferent. Do you still have a heart? Is it already frozen in your place? Have those of you soldiers long since lost their blood? Answer me, you! At the end of this, Li Sheng almost roared and shouted.

“……？” Everyone lowered their heads, quite speechless. For Li Sheng's sudden outburst of anger, they were still a little disapproving: "What? Won't a few ordinary people die? People have been dying every day all these years. They thought so, but their faces remained calm. They are all people of a certain level, and naturally understand that these words must not be said in the current situation.

"What do you think we should do now?" Shi Tao asked. He was friends with Li Sheng, and he was one of the first people to follow him, and it was really good for him to break the silence in front of him.

"Send troops and wipe them out completely." Li Sheng said slowly. But no one understands the determination that is as firm as a mountain after these slow words—Li Sheng's mind has been decided.

"Yes......!" Everyone in the hall stood up like soldiers and responded in unison. After a long time under the control of that military order, their behavior can't help but bring a bit of the spirit of a soldier, and they are not as weak as before.

"And what is the arrangement here......?" When everyone unconsciously stood up and replied that they had returned to their seats, Shi Tao asked.

"It's been nearly five months, and I want to know about the situation here." The blood boiled and then there was a calm with a little excitement, although when he came here, Li Sheng had already decided to send troops no matter what, but what is the scale of the troops, and how should this battle be fought? Is it necessary to solve it quickly? You can still be a little calmer, these are all things that Li Sheng needs to consider at the moment. Out of an abundance of caution, he had to listen to the reports of the people below before making a decision.

"Grain officer, what is the current grain and grass in the army?" Li Sheng opened his mouth with a solemn expression.

"Our army began to purchase grain and grass from all over Jingzhou three months ago, and now we have 100,000 stones of grain and 50,000 stones of forage, which is enough for my 3,000 soldiers and horses to eat for two years." The answer to Li Sheng was a small officer sitting on the general's side, although he was only wearing a set of leather rope armor, and his body was a little thin, but the light in his eyes and the sonorous and powerful momentum between his words made people feel his extraordinary. His name is Shang Qu, the word is reversed, is a native of Jiangxia, eight years in the army, although he has killed countless enemies, quite a military exploit, but has always been just a small soldier, and later Li Sheng saw that he was a shrewd person, not only extraordinary courage and good at financial management, so he promoted him to serve as this important grain officer, enjoy the treatment of the cavalry governor.

"Where is the armament officer? What is the state of armament of our army? After listening to Shangqu's report, Li Sheng nodded slightly, and then asked about another item.

"There are 3,000 men in the headquarters of our army, including 1,500 foot soldiers, 800 archers, and 500 cavalry. The foot soldiers are armed with a military uniform as the inner lining, and the whole body is covered with leather armor, and is equipped with a spear, a combat knife, a hand shield, and a dagger; The archer is equipped with a military uniform as the inner lining and light leather armor as the outer cover, and is equipped with a hand crossbow, a heavy bow, a dagger, and two pots of arrows (one hundred arrows); The cavalry was equipped with a military uniform as the inner lining and light leather armor as the outer cover, and was equipped with a riding bow, a war knife, a hand shield, a spear, and two pots of arrows (100 arrows). In addition, there are 200 ordnance soldiers, who are responsible for the manufacture of heavy ordnance in wartime, and all the materials required for them are prepared, and suitable bed crossbows and catapults can be built at any time according to the requirements of the lord. Sitting next to Shang Qu was an officer named Wei Ke, who was needed by Li Sheng's army to count ordnance armaments, and now when he heard Li Sheng ask, he couldn't help but stand up with his huge tower-like body, and said with a face like a black cauldron. He didn't look like an ordnance officer but a killer on the battlefield, but everyone else in Li Sheng's army understood that this guy named Weike Zi Yunsheng was really one of the best craftsmen in the whole army.

"Not bad!" Li Sheng nodded with satisfaction, and then asked again: "What about Xiangyong?" ”

"Well...... Wei Ke's dark face was a little unnatural: "Since I have paid more attention to the soldiers and horses of my headquarters in the past two months, I don't pay much attention to Xiang Yong's side." It's just that according to the information reported below, it seems that the equipment produced and repaired now can meet the requirements of about 3,000 Xiangyong. Wei Ke paused, and finally reported the actual situation to Li Sheng's side.

"That's not bad, either." Li Sheng smiled, and then turned his head to Shi Tao: "I will bring 1,000 Xiangyong and 2,000 soldiers and horses from my headquarters over for this attack, and the rest of the matter will be left to you to coordinate." I believe that there should be no problem in handing over my rear to you. As he spoke, he put away his smile and ordered everyone sitting in the hall with a serious face: "The officials of all ministries must obey Lord Shi Tao's orders during my expedition. Except for the 1,000 soldiers and horses guarding the city, the rest of the townsmen were all stationed outside the city, and they were not allowed to enter the city for half a step without being ordered, and all military affairs were under the control of Governor Song Desong. The army is not allowed to interfere in politics, and ordinary officials are not allowed to be involved with the soldiers. ”

"Yes......!" All of them were in awe. For a time, there was a solemn state in the hall......