Liu Xin laughed: "Gonghe, you are too careful. I treat people with sincerity, so why be afraid? ”

The officials in Wuling City stood on both sides, listening to Liu Xin's frank words, and seeing the natural expression on his face, they all secretly admired, no wonder this person can govern Jingzhou in an orderly manner.

Liu Xin raised the horsewhip lightly in his hand, and he had already entered the city first.

In the hall of the Taishou Mansion, Cao Yu was escorted up, his eyes bloodshot. Last night, he was lying in bed and couldn't sleep, who expected that his officials suddenly attacked, rushed into the Taishou Mansion, and the guards around him also defected together, Cao Yu almost didn't even have a chance to resist, so he became a prisoner under the stairs. Cao Yu knew that it was already a lot of bad luck today, so the surname Suo straightened up, and shouted loudly as soon as he came in: "Liu Xin, you and I have always guarded the border and not disturbed each other, today you forcibly occupied Wuling for no reason, if the emperor knows, he will not spare you!" ”

Liu Xin looked at Cao Yu and said coldly: "I am the Jingzhou Mu appointed by the imperial court, and this Wuling County is also the place under my rule. As the Taishou of Wuling, you are talking to me about 'both sides'. With these words, I can cure you of the crime of treason! ”

Cao Yu's eyes widened, and he roared angrily: "You dare! ”

Liu Xin sneered: "What do I dare not dare to deal with you anti-thieves?" Jiangxia Taishou Huang Zu conspired to rebel, and he has already been conferred the head, so you can go down to accompany him. Someone came, pushed Cao Yu out and beheaded the public, the family property was confiscated from the official, and the family members were used as official slaves. ”

Cao Yu struggled and scolded: "Liu Xin, I won't let you go if I'm a ghost!" ”

Liu Xin is funny, there are too many people who have said this kind of thing, when has it worked? Am I going to let you go because of one of your cruel words? It's boring!

These days in Jiangxia, Liu Xin thinks about it a lot. Now that the troubled times have not yet arrived, why do the Taishou everywhere dare to ignore the imperial court, and they can't wait to establish themselves as kings? It's because they have too much power in their hands! They went on the horse to manage the army, dismounted to manage the people, and also controlled the local finances and taxes, making it like a kingdom of reading power, no wonder the history of the crusade against Dong Zhuo, all of a sudden came to the princes of the seventeen towns.

The Yellow Turban Uprising the year before last became an excuse for the local Taishou to refuse to pay taxes, and they had money and food, as well as soldiers and horses, how could their ambitions not swell. Liu Xin didn't want this phenomenon to occur in Jingzhou under his jurisdiction, so he implemented the division of military and political affairs, and now it seems that it is not enough. These days, he has already thought about a separation of powers, which will completely separate the political, military, and financial powers of each county.

In this way, there is also the advantage that who will hold the position of Taishou in the future will not be so important. Tian Feng and Han opera, who are good at strategy and have great wisdom, do not need to be chained to small county towns. However, Jiangxia and Wuling still need them to stabilize the local situation for the time being.

It took almost no soldiers to take Wuling County, which also made Liu Xin's generals full of confidence, and they all clamored to capture Lingling and Guiyang Counties. But Liu Xin felt that the progress was too fast, and he needed to take a little rest, his plan was to pay the tax owed to the imperial court by May, if the action was too fast, it showed that he had not really worked hard before, so the generals' requests for war were suppressed by him.

After taking Jiangxia and Wuling, Jingnan and Jingbei will be connected, and Liu Xin's two biggest heart problems will be removed, and how to deal with Lingling and Guiyang counties will not be so urgent. The army stayed in Wuling to rest, Liu Xin was not idle, he had been thinking about when it was a good time to attack the two counties.

At this moment, Fu Zhu walked in with a worried face and said, "Lord, a messenger from Xiangyang is coming. ”

Liu Xin's heart tightened, and he hurriedly asked, "What happened to Xiangyang?" ”

Fu Zhu took out a letter from his sleeve and said: "Everything is safe in Xiangyang, the news came from the Luoyang Palace, it is really a little difficult to do, please make a decision." ”

Liu Xin took the letter and said suspiciously: "What big things can be in the palace?" ”

Indeed, in his impression, there should be no major events in the capital at this time, and the real chaos will not be until Liu Hong returns to heaven three years later.

With the development of the Phantom Spy, Liu Xin also paid more and more attention to the news from the palace, but it was not easy to insert his eyes and ears into the palace. Fu Zhu also once proposed to castrate a few secret spies and send them to the palace to be eunuchs. Liu Xin felt that this was too cruel and did not agree. In the current situation where eunuchs can compete with courtiers, it is difficult to buy a few people from the palace for their own use. Therefore, the Phantom has always been unknown about what happened in the palace.

The reason why the news came out of the palace this time was because of Zhang Rang's uncle and nephew. Just after the New Year, Liu Xin arranged for someone to send Zhang Rang a generous gift, and also gave Zhang Gou'er a copy by the way. Since that time in Juchao, Liu Xin has been indispensable to Zhang Gou'er every time he goes to Beijing to give gifts.

As the saying goes, eating people with a short mouth and soft hands is soft, Zhang Gou'er is far from getting mixed with his uncle Zhang Rang's status, and he is a little reluctant to accept Liu Xin's so much courtesy. Zhao Zhong and Liu Xin can't get along, outsiders don't know, but they can't hide it from Zhang Rang's uncle and nephew. Originally, Zhang Gou'er was a junior, and Zhang Rang was in the same breath as Zhao Zhong, so he didn't dare to tell Liu Xin these things. Now that he had received another generous gift, he was embarrassed to hide it any longer, so he secretly wrote a letter and asked someone to bring it to Liu Xin, so that he could prepare early.

The letter arrived in Xiangyang and was handed over to Ma Yun. After reading the content of the letter, she already knew that Liu Xin had taken Wuling, so she didn't dare to slack off at the moment, so she hurriedly asked someone to send it over.

There are two letters, one is Ma Yun's private letter, and the other is Zhang Gou'er's letter to Liu Xin. Liu Xin didn't open the private letter first, but directly picked up Zhang Gou'er's letter and read it. Fu Zhi peeked from the side, and nodded secretly, Liu Xin can put public before private, and he is really a master, and he is not with the wrong person.

Liu Xin finished reading Zhang Gou'er's letter, there was no expression on his face, he put the letter down gently, and then opened Ma Yun's private letter, he knew that this letter was not an ordinary family letter, and there would definitely be Ma Yun's opinion on this matter. Sure enough, Ma Yun thought that Liu Xin's movements were too fast, and now he needed to slow down, and for the time being, he should not use force against Lingling and Guiyang counties, but should spend more energy to win the support of the imperial court.

Putting down the letter in his hand, Liu Xin closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

With the power of consecutive victories, he directly took Lingling and Guiyang, and the problems that plagued him for more than two years can be solved once they are solved. However, in this way, it is inevitable that some people in the DPRK and China will take advantage of their tongues and make irresponsible remarks about themselves. Ma Yun's worries are not unreasonable, if Liu Hong is suspicious of himself, and Zhao Zhong is fanning the flames next to him, it is difficult to guarantee that he will not be exempted as a Jingzhou pastor. It seems that if he wants to win Liu Hong's favor, he will inevitably have to have another blood.

Thinking of this, Liu Xin opened his eyes and said, "In this way, let Xu Huang and Zhang Fei return to Xiangyang, Huang Zhong will return to Changsha, and Zhao Yun will stay in Wuling." Gonghe, you write two more letters, respectively to Lingling Taishou Zhang Zhi and Guiyang Taishou Pang Ji, saying that I am waiting for them in Wuling, and ask them to come over this month. In addition, arrange for someone to go to the capital, send a heavy gift to Zhang Rang, and ask him to help me say a few good words in front of the emperor, what to do, I think he should understand, my money can't be spent in vain all these years. ”

Although he hated such a eunuch, he thought that these people might be bad behind his back, so he still hesitated and said: "Why don't you also give Zhao Zhong a gift, lest this villain drag the lord behind." ”

Liu Xin said firmly: "No! If you want to blackmail me, there is no door! ”

Frustrated and wanted to persuade again, he said, "But ......"

Liu Xin interrupted him unceremoniously and said, "Gongyou, I know what you want to say, yes, the eldest husband can bend and stretch." But this time is different from when Huang Zu used Cai Mao to blackmail me, I can't let others lose their lives for myself. Zhao Zhong is a eunuch, if he wants money, tell me well, I may be able to give him some. Now, he is making some small moves behind his back, just trying to force me to comply, it's just wishful thinking! ”

Through this action against Jiangxia and Wuling, he has seen that the current situation is still different from the troubled times of the Three Kingdoms. The officials of each county are not of the same mind as the Taishou, those officials know very well that the interests of the Taishou do not represent their interests, and they do the same thing for whomever they do, and these officials do not have the habit of calling the Taishou the lord, they are all appointed by the imperial court, and they have little to do with the Taishou of each county. The only people who really don't want to be controlled by him are those who are in power.

Guiyang Taishou Pang Ji received Liu Xin's letter, and this time he didn't dare to throw aside the official document sent by Xiangyang as before, but read it many times. Liu Xin's letter was clearly written, asking him to give up his current power, hand over his military and financial powers, and implement the tax policy he had stipulated. If it was in the past, similar Kumon Pang Ji would have been treated as a joke, but now he didn't dare. The letter also listed the fate of Huang Zu and Cao Yu and the reaction of the officials and people of Jiangxia and Wuling counties to Liu Xin's arrival.

After several hesitations, Pang Ji finally made a difficult decision - to be loyal to Liu Xin! At this time, there were less than ten days left before the deadline stipulated by Liu Xin, Pang Ji hurriedly packed up, took Jun Cheng, Changshi and other cronies and subordinates, and rushed to Wuling together. When these officials learned of Pang Ji's choice, they were all secretly relieved, if Pang Ji chose to confront Liu Xin, they would be really embarrassed.

Pang Ji left Guiyang, traveled for two days, and came to Lingling County. He also has some friendship with Lingling Taishou Zhang Zhi, and he has already arrived here, so naturally there is no reason to not even see each other, so he asked people to go to the Taishou Mansion to report.