The news of Sun Quan's proclamation as emperor reached Yecheng Cao Pi was furious, and when it reached Chengdu, Liu Bei was also very angry.

Like Cao Pi, Liu Bei really couldn't think of any reason for Sun Quan to be the emperor.

However, now is a troubled time, the world is divided into three, Sun Quan does not have a reason to be the emperor, but he has been in Jiangdong for a long time, and he has enough soldiers and food, and he does have the capital to cut the emperor.

And something has happened, Liu Bei knows very well that Sun Quan can't remove the honorific title because of other people's opposition, if he does this, the hearts of the people in Jiangdong will be scattered, and Sun Quan won't live long.

The problem that Liu Bei is facing now is actually the same as Cao Pi - how to face Sun Quan's move to become emperor.

At the beginning, Liu Bei and Cao Pi had similar ideas, Sun Quan was a rebel when he called the emperor, and as the orthodox emperor of the Han Dynasty, he should raise troops to fight against the rebellion.

But Ji Han's problem is even more serious than Cao Wei's problem.

The first is that Ji Han's economy and population cannot be compared with Cao Wei.

Although the last Northern Expedition took the northern regions of Liangzhou and Yongzhou, there is one thing to say, these two places have never been areas that contribute large amounts of taxes and Dingkou, especially Liangzhou, where they still have to pay money to maintain stability and development.

Therefore, after the last Northern Expedition, in fact, the loss on Ji Han's side seems to be much smaller than Cao Wei's, but Cao Wei's family has a big business, and he can recover after a year of recuperation, while Ji Han's side, if you count the investment in developing Liangzhou, it will not be able to recover at all in three years.

Now it has only been more than a year since the last Northern Expedition, and even if Liu Bei wants to conquer Jiangdong Sun Quan, the current grain and grass logistics will not support it.

Second, Ji Han had just been established, and after its establishment, the central bureaucracy was reformed, and many things were in the running-in, if the army was wantonly raised to conscript Jiangdong, at least half of the senior central officials had to go out with the army, and the reform and run-in of the central bureaucracy would become procrastinated and ineffective, which was not conducive to the completion of the reform.

Therefore, Liu Bei also encountered a situation similar to Cao Pi, or Liu Bei's situation was even more difficult than Cao Pi.

Cao Pi sent troops to attack Jiangdong, but there were difficulties, and there was no guarantee that he would win, and he could still send troops if he sent troops. But Liu Bei, he simply did not have the capital to send troops to attack Jiangdong.

But if you don't respond to Sun Quan's claim to be emperor, you must have a certain reaction, otherwise Liu Bei's Ji Han's status in the eyes of the world will collapse, and it will just be reduced to a local secession regime.

A regime that does not guarantee the territorial integrity of its own country will not be highly evaluated at any historical stage.

Liu Bei also had no choice, he was in a hurry to die during this time, so he hurriedly convened a meeting of officials and military representatives from the three provinces and six ministries to discuss how to face the current situation.

If you can't fight, then you can only solve this problem from a political point of view. How to define Sun Quan.

This problem, even Zhuge Liang is very numb.

This has deviated from the situation and environment when he formulated "Longzhong Pair", and Zhuge Liang did not expect that Sun Quan would brazenly claim the emperor.

In Zhuge Liang's view, the current situation, in fact, is the most beneficial to Sun Quan is to keep the title of King Wu of the Han Dynasty and make a fortune quietly, neither accepting Cao Wei's reward, but also dealing with Liu Bei's side perfunctorily, and watching the Wei and Han families fight.

In this way, although there is a danger of letting Sun Quan sit on the throne, Zhuge Liang believes that as long as the Han side can suppress Cao Wei and occupy the Central Plains region first, then he can continue to maintain the suppression of Sun Quan and cut off the possibility of Sun Quan and Cao Wei uniting at the same time.

But Sun Quan is now emperor, and all plans are messed up.

Sun Quan's title of emperor was not only unbearable for Cao Wei, but also for the Han Dynasty.

But if the Han also sent troops to attack Sun Quan, then Sun Quan would definitely not be able to support the joint attack of Cao Wei and the Han Dynasty.

Once Sun Quan perishes, and Liu Bei's group cannot seize the Yangtze River defense line, then it will be too difficult for Cao Wei's family to resist Cao Wei alone with the economic strength and military strength of Liu Bei's group.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang's suggestion was that the legitimacy of Sun Quan's claim to be emperor could not be recognized, and at the same time, Sun Quan could not sit idly by and watch Sun Quan perish.

Zhuge Liang's suggestion is similar to Jia Xu's suggestion, that is, to send an envoy to reprimand Sun Quan for "arrogating the emperor", but there are also differences, Zhuge Liang just suggested that Guan Yu and Wang Ji in Jingzhou strengthen the deployment of troops in Jiangling, Wuling, Lingling, and Jiangxia counties, and make it look like they want to attack Jiangdong, but in fact, they did not move and sat back and watched the battle between Jiangdong and Cao Wei.

Jia Xu suggested that Cao Pi really fight, but how to fight needs to be planned well, but the Han side really doesn't have the ability to really fight, so he put on a posture to show the world, and look back at Sun Quan's reaction, whether this problem can be solved by political means.

Liu Bei thought about it, and after weighing the pros and cons repeatedly, he reluctantly accepted this suggestion.

Zhuge Liang made a decision, and Liu Bei, the emperor, adopted it, so the rest of the matter was that Shangshu Province was to implement it, and Menxia Province was responsible for supervising it.

After Fa Zheng received the order, he called Liu Ba, the secretary of the household department, and Zhang Xi, the secretary of the military department, to discuss with them about changing the deployment of Jingzhou's troops.

This question is actually just a formality, after all, Guan Yu is a general, and at the same time, he is also a fake festival, the governor of Jingzhou's military and political affairs, as long as Liu Bei gives Guan Yu a holy decree, Guan Yu can decide how to do it himself.

But this is not the reform of the central bureaucratic system, there should still be a process, without the endorsement of Liu Ba and Zhang Xi, this holy decree of Menxia Province will not be issued.

This is a matter of process, so Liu Ba and Zhang Xi just went through the motions and stamped their consent on the decision book of Zhongshu Province.

Liu Ba doesn't care, as long as he doesn't really use soldiers, he doesn't object. When you are a secretary of the household department, there is no one who does not pick the door, and when you reach this position, you can't do it without picking the door.

If you really want to send troops to attack Eastern Wu, then Liu Ba must be the first to write against it, saying that the household department is short of money and food, there is a lack of money for everything, and the people can't eat enough, and now is definitely not the time to fight. But now it's just a mobilization of troops, and the grain and grass that need to be consumed are very small, so there is no need for Liu Ba to cry poor even about this little thing.

As for Zhang Xi. To be honest, Zhang Xi has no real sense until now, how did he become the secretary of the military department?!

Although the position of the secretary of the military department really doesn't need the first person in the military to sit on it, isn't it a little inappropriate to hand it over to yourself? !

Zhang Xi thinks that he is a person with no prospects, and his qualifications and experience are not enough, so it is too risky to let himself be the secretary of the military department and be in charge of the military of a country? !

Let's do this, when Zhang Xi learned the news, he went to Zhuge Liang and wanted Zhuge Liang to help him tell Liu Bei, is it really no problem to hand over such an important position to himself? !

Then Zhuge Liang looked at Zhang Xi with a smile and asked Zhang Xi a question - if it is not handed over to Zhang Xi, then who can it be handed over to make Liu Bei really feel at ease? !

Zhang Xi was stunned for a moment by this question, but then thought for a while and found that. I really have to do it myself.

The position of the secretary of the military department is very important, and it can only be held by someone whom the emperor trusts, and this person must not have much to do with any forces in the court, and must have a certain degree of independence.

And under the command of Liu Bei Group, there are actually three people who meet such characteristics - Zhuge Liang, Zhang Xi, and Xu Shu.

Even Fa Zheng and Pang Tong can't, although Fa Zheng is a Dongzhou faction, but in the general situation, he is the representative of the Yizhou wealthy family, and Pang Tong is the representative of the proper Jingzhou family.

Even if these two people are trustworthy in their own character, their decisions in important positions will inevitably be influenced by their own representative group.

If it's just daily government affairs, it doesn't matter, the position of the secretary of the military department to decide the country's military affairs, Liu Bei is not so stupid to hand it over to these two people.

In terms of ability, in fact, Fa Zheng and Pang Tong are both better at military affairs than government affairs, but Liu Bei would rather put these two in the two important government decision-making units of Shangshuling and Shizhong than let any of them serve as the secretary of the military department, so there is no such consideration.

And among the three candidates, Zhuge Liang has to take on more important responsibilities in the Zhongshu Order, Liu Bei can't let him be the secretary of the military department, Xu Shu needs to stay in Jingzhou to assist Guan Yu, after all, the situation in Jingzhou is much more complicated than Chengdu, Liu Bei is also afraid that Guan Yu alone will not be able to deal with it, so Xu Shu must stay in Jingzhou.

After thinking about it like this, isn't it only Zhang Xi, a person who can be trusted by Liu Bei, but at the same time has no interests with the Jingzhou faction and the Yizhou faction, to be the secretary of the military department? !

Besides, the older generation of generals of the Han Dynasty are still there, Liu Bei is also the emperor immediately, and Zhang Xi's military department is just to deal with the signs of some county soldiers and garrison soldiers, and there is nothing important for him to decide.

This period of time is also the time for Zhang Xi to slowly learn and familiarize himself with the duties of the secretary of the military department, and when Zhang Xi is needed to take charge in the future, he will not be in a hurry.

Liu Bei's outlook on and employment of people can be said to be unique in the world, which is not necessarily comparable to Cao Cao.

After Zhuge Liang's persuasion, Zhang Xi finally understood why he became the secretary of the military department, and he also knew his responsibilities. But to be honest, this military department secretary really doesn't have much to do now.

The conscription of soldiers and the launching of conscription to recruit garrison troops, Zhang Xi handed over to his two squires, Zhang Yi and Jiang Wei.

Zhang Yi is an old qualified civil official, and he once went out of the town, with outstanding political achievements, the only drawback is probably that his temper is too big, and he will spray things that he is not used to, but because of this, he has a feud with Yang Hong, the boss of the Yizhou faction, Liu Bei probably took a fancy to Zhang Yi, so he asked him to come to the military department as the second-in-command of the waiter.

As for Jiang Wei, it is obvious that this is a signal that Jiang Wei has entered Liu Bei's talent entrainment, and Liu Bei intends to vigorously cultivate Jiang Wei.

These two people, one has the ability and experience, and the other is not bad in talent and ability although he is not experienced enough, with the help of these two, Zhang Xi only needs to focus on big things.

But now the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei has just been proclaimed emperor, the ministries are very busy, the household department and the Ministry of Industry are even more busy, but the military department is relatively idle, no one will wage war with the outside world as soon as the emperor is proclaimed, and now is the time to recuperate.

In this way, Zhang Xi actually feels that it is not unacceptable.

(End of chapter)