It was Tao Ying, the second son, who had been kneeling on the ground, who had been kneeling on the ground, who spoke up, and when he saw that his father was desperate to give up Xuzhou to others before he died, he couldn't hold back any longer, jumped up, and shouted loudly: "Xuzhou is the Xuzhou of our Tao family, how can we give it to outsiders!" ”

Everyone's eyes were focused on Tao Ying's body, but no one knew what Tao Ying's virtues were on weekdays, so there was almost no praise in everyone's eyes, but there was a slight hint of ridicule and contempt.

The potter hurriedly pulled Tao Ying's cuffs, and said in a low voice: "Brother can't be rude, Xuzhou is a big deal, your own father is in charge, you have to talk nonsense!" ”

Tao Ying coldly shook off his hand and said: "Xuzhou is the foundation that our Tao family has worked so hard to save, even if my brother is unwilling to take over his father's position, the heirs of the Tao family have not yet reached the state of death, how can outsiders be involved!" ”

"Shut up! You rebel! Tao Qian was furious, coughed violently a few times, and scolded angrily: "Hello-hello-"

Mrs. Gan looked at Tao Ying with her eyes and asked him to step back and stop talking, but Tao Ying didn't pay attention to it at all, but instead said like a river: "The father dies and the son succeeds, it is the right way." What is the reason why people with different surnames dare to steal the position of state pastor by virtue of the merits of the small end? ”

Tao Qian was so angry that he spit out a mouthful of blood, bluffing Mrs. Gan into hurriedly wiping it and scolding: "You unfilial son, look at your father's anger, don't hurry up to your father to make amends." ”

Tao Qian shouted angrily: "I, Tao Qian, a hero, actually gave birth to this kind of son of a dog and a dolphin, woo hoo lament!" You me off. It's just that I, Tao Qian, have never had your disobedient and unfilial obstacle! Get out of here! ”

Tao Ying snorted coldly and walked away with a huff.

Tao Qian's anger did not subside, leaning on the pillow and gasping.

Liu Ze arched his hand and said: "Tao Gong is angry, what the second son said is not unreasonable, the father's business and the son's inheritance are justified, this seal of Xuzhou, Ze will not dare to accept it, Ze is willing to do his best to protect the two sons to guard Xuzhou." ”

The rebel son is not good, which makes Runde Gong smile. Runde Gong, you also saw it with your own eyes. How can this kind of unsuccessful thing allow me to hand over the millions of people in Xuzhou to him as a scourge. Runde Gong. Xuzhou is a big responsibility, and the old man will die, if Xuzhou is not a person. The old man must not be blind when he dies. I hope that the Duke of Runde will have mercy. No excuses! Tao Qian said hoarsely.

Liu Ze excused himself and said: "Ze is afraid that he will be shallow in his talents, embarrassed by his great responsibilities, and lose the hope of Tao Gong." ”

"Ma'am. Help me up. Tao Qian was also anxious and asked Mrs. Gan to help him get off the ground.

"What does Tao Gong mean by this?" Liu Ze hurriedly stopped him.

Tao Qian cried: "If the old man refuses to accept the old man's dying trust, the old man is willing to kneel and die in front of the father." ”

Liu Ze hurriedly knelt down in front of the couch and said eagerly: "Tao Gong is seriously ill, don't do this." ”

Mrs. Gan wept and said: "This is the last long-cherished hope of Tao Gong in this life, I hope my sister and uncle will be fulfilled!" ”

Liu Ze had no choice but to bow: "Meng Tao Gong is in love, although Ze is not talented, he has to be brave enough to accept it, and he is terrified." ”

Tao Qian saw that Liu Ze was finally willing to accept it, and couldn't help crying with joy, and handed over the seal ribbon to Liu Ze, as if he had unloaded the burden of a thousand jun, he took a long breath and said: "Runde Gong is willing to accept the Xuzhou seal, Xuzhou is very lucky!" The people are very fortunate. Looking back, he said Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, Cao Bao and others: "Liu Gongnai is a masterpiece in the world, and you should do your best to assist him, and there must be no mistakes!" ”

All the officers bowed to the chief. Tao Qian said to Liu Ze again: "The princess of Xuzhou, the rest of his wish will be fulfilled, and he will die with peace of mind." Millions of people in Xuzhou, the old and young people in Taofu, the old husband are entrusted to the public, the public should be self-respecting, don't lose my hope! ”

Liu Ze kowtowed and wept again: "Tao Gong, please rest assured, there is still a breath of Youze, and the peace of all the people in Xuzhou will be guaranteed, and the Tao family will be rich and rich, if you violate the oath, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed!" ”

Tao Qian pointed to his palm, smiled and said three "good" words in a row, and passed away suddenly.

The cry first sounded from the house, then the whole house responded, and then the whole city mourned, and all the people mourned together.

Tao Qian's funeral was naturally presided over by Liu Ze. Tao Qian is the marquis of Liyang who was enshrined by the imperial court, and Xuzhou Mu is the position of 2,000 stones, according to the Han system, the funeral ceremony after the death of the official can be a higher level, Tao Qian will be buried with the ceremony of the three dukes. On the day of the festival, the whole army hung filial piety, 10,000 people wept together, inside and outside the city of Xuzhou, a piece of vegetarian, it was supposed to be the first month of the second year of Xingping that all the people celebrated, but Xuzhou City was shrouded in a white vastness, crying and mourning, and the tears flowed. On the day of Tao Qian's burial, the people of Xuzhou poured out of the city, burned incense and bowed, and called on the road.

After the funeral, Liu Ze officially took office. However, he did not work in the original state pastoral mansion, and the original mansion was still inhabited by Tao Qian's widow, Mrs. Gan, and the old and young of the Tao family, but the plaque of the state pastoral mansion at the door was replaced by the Tao Mansion, and the other ones remained the same.

And the plaque of the State Pastoral Mansion was hung by Liu Ze at the door of the former Taishou Mansion of Donghai County. Xuzhou's state governance is in Tancheng, and the first county of Donghai County is also in Tancheng, the same city of the state and county, although the scale of the Taishou Mansion is much worse than the State Pastoral Mansion, but for Liu Ze, all he needs is an office location, and the size does not matter at all. The previous Taishou of Donghai County was unfortunately killed by a stray arrow during the siege of Cao's army, and the position of Donghai County Guard has been vacant since then.

In fact, not only the position of the Taishou of Donghai County, but also the number of vacant seats in the entire Xuzhou cannot be counted, the civil official position is better, and the position of the military attache has almost become a decoration. It's not that Tao Qian doesn't want to settle, in the battle of Pengcheng, half of Xuzhou's army was killed and wounded, among the generals, the only remaining fruits are now only the captain Cao Bao, the tent captain Cao Hong, and the cavalry captain Zang Ba, the captain Zhang Min killed people and defected, and Lu You and several other captains died on the bank of the Surabaya River, Tao Qian is indeed useless.

In order to calm the morale of the military and the people in Xuzhou, the first order announced by Liu Ze after taking office was that all officials in Xuzhou should be retained in their original positions, and the arrears of salaries of the officials should be paid in full at one time. At the beginning of the war in Xuzhou, the salaries of the officials had been stopped, and it was nothing for those high-ranking officials, but for the middle and lower-level officials who had only one or two hundred yuan a year, this move could be described as a relief in the snow, after all, people relied on this to support their families.

Xuzhou Prefecture herd change hands, for Xuzhou political circles, that is equivalent to a nine-magnitude earthquake, whether it is a high-ranking official in the important position of the minister of the country, or an ordinary official at the lower level, everyone is in danger, I don't know how Liu Ze will exercise his rights after taking charge of Xuzhou. As soon as Liu Ze's first decree came out, everyone was at ease, and the government was stable.

Jia Yijian yì Liu Ze immediately presented Tao Qian's testament to the court, and sent someone to hand over Xuzhou's taxes to the court. After all, Liu Ze's position was given by Tao Qian privately, as Zhao Yu said, if the name is not right, it is not good, although the Kwantung princes swarmed up and abandoned the decree of the court, but for Liu Ze, it is very important to be officially appointed by the court.

Liu Ze obeyed Jia Xu's construction and sent someone to escort the tribute to Chang'an. At this time, Li Dao and Guo Yan were fighting in Chang'an, Li Dao held the Son of Heaven hostage, Guo Bi detained the minister, Guanzhong land, white bones in the wild, no chickens crowed for hundreds of miles, grain millet was worth millions, and many people starved to death. As soon as Liu Ze, the new governor of Xuzhou, arrived in Chang'an, Li Dao jumped up happily, regardless of whether they had a grudge against Liu Ze, and completely laughed at the tribute. In return, Liu Ze also got the edict from the court enshrined him as the pastor of Xuzhou, and the seal of the Son of Heaven was straightforward.

Chen Deng was appointed by Liu Ze as the chief secretary, and the main book was under the work of Zhu Cao of the Prefecture Pastoral Mansion, and compared with his original position as the captain of the agricultural school, it was only a flat tone. The reason why Liu Ze did not immediately promote Chen Deng was because he was afraid of being criticized, after all, Chen Deng was the most active in Tao Qian's concession to Xuzhou, and some people even scolded him for betraying his lord and seeking glory. However, the position of the chief Bo is light and heavy, and he assists the state pastor in handling clerical and official duties, which is not the same as an official position such as the captain of the agricultural school. Chen Deng understood Liu Ze's thoughts and was very grateful. Chen Deng's father, Chen Qi, was hired by Liu Ze as a senator, and the old man, who had been a minister of resignation and refused Tao Qian's invitation several times, was happy to appear this time.

The eldest prince Tao Shang originally served as a Peng official, but after Liu Ze took office, the court was honored by Tao Qian and the title of Marquis of Liyang, and he was promoted to the ministry of the county. Tao Ying has not yet reached the crown and cannot be outstanding, but Liu Ze still praised him as Yu Linlang.

As for the vacant lieutenants of the four counties of Donghai, Pengcheng, Xiapi, and Guangling, Liu Ze appointed Guan Yu as the governor of Donghai County, Zhao Yun as the governor of Xiapi County, Zhang He as the governor of Guangling County, Xu Rong as the governor of Pengcheng State, and Zhang Fei as the governor of Xiaopei to stay in Xiaopei. Due to the huge shortage of troops in each county, it was only natural for the four captains to lead troops into the city

In this way, in addition to Langya State, the military power of the four counties of Xuzhou was firmly in Liu Ze's hands.

The reason why Liu Ze was able to take over the military power of the counties in Xuzhou so smoothly was not unrelated to Cao Boss's military attack on Xuzhou, the Xuzhou army lost troops and lost generals, which made the people who were originally lacking in talent in Xuzhou even more lacking, Liu Ze took office at the beginning of his tenure, these positions were all vacant, and Guan Yu and others naturally filled the vacancy, which made Liu Ze, who was still racking his brains for how to get the military power of Xuzhou, breathed a long sigh.

Although at the beginning of the troubled times, the traditional concept of emphasizing literature and ignoring military force in the Han Dynasty has not changed much, and many literati still sharpened their heads and wanted to climb to the positions of assassinating Shi Taishou County Commander, how can they understand the truth that power comes out of the barrel of a gun, so all parties reacted very coldly to the appointment of Liu Ze's four lieutenants. Liu Ze easily managed to get the military power of the four counties, which was enough for him to steal the fun for a long time. (To be continued......)