So far, Lu Meng is still an inconspicuous small character, but this is only before he lives in Liu Biao's mansion.

When Lu Meng, as Zhao Xing's plenipotentiary envoy, quietly moved into the mansion of Mu Liu Biao in Jingzhou, it was not only his identity and status that changed, but also the pattern and situation of Jingzhou.

Zhao Xing, the king of Pingxi, is such a majestic and strategic, eye-catching person, looking at his way of employing people, there are very few two kinds of people under his command. One is the "two five boys" who eat inside and outside, and the other is the "two hundred and five" of the corpse vegetarian meal. Since Zhao Xing dared to let Lü Meng handle the affairs of Jingzhou on his behalf, it was enough to show that Lü Meng's current ability was enough to be competent for this important task, and it also proved that Lü Meng, who was born in Jiangdong, had fully integrated into Zhao Xing's core group.

In the eight years of Guangxi, King Pingxi has never been out of the party. Because of his dormant and low-key, in this year, there were very few soldiers in the territory of the Han Dynasty, except for the northwest Yumen Pass outside Guan Yu to the Western Regions with troops, Linyu Pass outside Zhang Xiu and others in the northeast region, looking at the land of Kyushu, it is actually the wind and rain, the country and the people are safe. Of course, if it weren't for the bubonic plague that suddenly broke out in the Xiliang area, perhaps the eighth year of Guangxi could be called a "golden year" by later historians.

The fact that King Pingxi stayed at home does not mean that he has lost his correct judgment of the situation in the world. On the contrary, it is precisely because he has always been in the middle of command and dispatch and has not been caught in a local offensive struggle that he can more comprehensively and objectively analyze and assess the changing situation in the Central Plains and make breathtaking deployment and response strategies.

In this year, great changes have taken place in the Luoyang court, and with it, the power of several states in the Central Plains has also undergone many changes. Seeing that the new general Cao Cao and Prime Minister Liu Bei had completed the trick of combining vertical and horizontal under Zhao Xing's nose, and made various arrangements for the Jin State and the King of Pingxi, Crouching Tiger City, which has always affected the nerves of the world, was surprisingly calm, and it seemed that he could not see the huge challenge of Cao Liu's alliance to himself.

This is precisely the reason why there has been no large-scale civil war in the eight years of Guangxi, although there has been an undercurrent.

When Zhao Xing received a letter of inquiry sent by Jiangdong Sun Jian about the marriage between his eldest son Zhao Zhenbang and Sun Jian's eldest daughter Sun Ren, he not only laughed a little. At that time, Zhao Xing said in a mocking tone to Chen Jue, Chen Gong, Li Jinsi, Li Ru, Lu Meng and others around him: "See, I'll just say that the prospective in-laws in Jiangdong are indifferent to us and will definitely be anxious and can't sit still! No, it's obviously asking about Zhenbang's marriage with his daughter, but secretly he wants to find out the truth of the Jin Kingdom!"

Several strategists let out a knowing laugh, and said in their hearts that no matter who wants to be in-law with King Pingxi, they are afraid that they will not be able to take advantage of much. Haven't you seen that since Jiangdong Sun Jian hooked up with Jin Guo, he has always been at a disadvantage of passively coping?

Zhao Xing wrote a letter to Sun Jian, clearly saying that it was not yet time to make the marriage of Zhao and Sun's two families public, so that Sun Jian should not be affected by the changes in the outside situation, and he could deal with it safely.

After some time, an urgent report suddenly came back from Luoyang, saying that the imperial court had announced to the world that the second prince Liu Xie was the king of Xiangyang, and the fief was the entire Jingzhou region.

When Emperor Ling was there, he was very fond of the second prince Liu Xie, and he had the intention of abolishing the prince and establishing Xie as the crown prince. If it weren't for the Yellow Turban Riot in Luoyang City that frightened Emperor Ling and scared this old boy from Luoyang to Chang'an, I am afraid that it will not be Liu Bi but Liu Xie who is sitting on the dragon chair now. It is precisely because there is such a layer of competition between Liu Ban and Liu Xie that after Liu Ban ascended the throne, he controlled Liu Xie and confined him in the Zongren Mansion to prevent him from contacting outsiders.

Now that the imperial court suddenly announced to the world that it would crown Liu Xie as the king of Xiangyang, and also divided such a huge territory as Jingzhou for him, this matter is a little weird no matter how you look at it.

If something goes wrong, there must be a demon, so Zhao Xing gathered the strategists around him to discuss the matter.

Li Ru said: "Some time ago, Liu Biao of Jingzhou said that he was ill in Jiangling, so that the imperial court had nowhere to say anything about him. Now Liu Bei and Cao Cao have come up with the idea of occupying the magpie's nest again, and they clearly still want to plot Jingzhou. ”

Chen Qi said: "Liu Biao is now in the middle of a crack, and now he has to face the king of Xiangyang who was forcibly stuffed by the imperial court, I am afraid that life will be even more difficult." Once Jingzhou **, several forces have the intention to get their hands on Jingzhou, which is a good thing for us. ”

Chen Gong analyzed: "Jingzhou is now attracting the attention of all forces, but it has bought us a lot of time for development, but it is difficult to delay it for a long time. Once Jingzhou is acquired by either party, it will not be a good thing for us in the future. ”

"The key is that if the war lasts too long, you will greatly damage Jingzhou's vitality if you fight for it, which is not the result we want. Li Jinsi said with some concern.

Lu Meng said: "We have always had contacts with Jingzhou, and the two sides have never really made a move, if we help them a little, maybe we can dominate the situation in the whole Jingzhou." ”

Zhao Xing summed up everyone's opinions and said: "According to our predetermined strategy, the time to launch a full-scale attack on Yizhou is in the spring of the following year, so we still need to be patient for at least a year. Now the situation in Jingzhou has touched the nerves of all forces, and if it is used properly, it can buy us more than a year. I am going to send a special envoy to Xiangyang, who will assist Liu Biao in holding Jingzhou, attract the troops of all sides to the Jingzhou area, and create an incident for him to carry out internal friction!"

Li Ru then asked, "I don't know how the lord is going to help Liu Biao?"

"The main thing is to provide Liu Biao with excellent weapons and equipment, send senior command personnel to assist Liu Biao in military deployment and command operations, and if the situation worsens in the later stage, then directly increase troops to the Jingzhou area through Fangling Port!" Zhao Xing replied.

"The Western Liang Army of the Liangzhou Army has been fighting outside the territory, and our primary target is Yizhou, if we send troops to reinforce Jingzhou, it will inevitably cause a shortage of troops to be put into the Yizhou battlefield, how to solve this problem?" Chen Gong reminded Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and replied: "After a year, the war in the Northeast will definitely end, in addition to the Blue Wolf Army continuing to stay, two new armies can be formed in the Northeast to be responsible for local defense, and the Black Mountain Army and the Xiong Zhen Army will all be transferred to the Western Front battlefield." At the same time, the Kunlun Army can also be drawn from the Western Regions to reinforce the Yizhou battlefield, so that the troops will be basically enough. ”

Seeing that Zhao Xing's mind had been decided, Lu Meng then recommended himself and said: "Lord, Meng Bucai, I beg you to go to Jingzhou for a while." ”

Zhao Xing also felt in his heart that Lu Meng was the best candidate to go to Jingzhou, because his talent had not yet been discovered, and others were not familiar with his military routines, so he could win by surprise. So Zhao Xing said: "Then it's hard for Ziming to go to Jingzhou, it's a long time to go to Jingzhou, and everything needs to be calculated and leveraged!"

Lü Meng then received the order, first to Gaoping, then to Hanzhong, and finally arrived in Xiangyang.