Although he has a deep relationship with Gan Ning, Gan Ning is a straight person, and even if he has read books, he is often rejected because of personality problems.

For example, when he was under Liu Zhang, he betrayed Yizhou because he was disgusted with Liu Zhang's father and son.

Later, under Liu Biao, because he was depressed, he said that he would leave, and wanted to go down the river to Sun Quan in Jiangdong.

Therefore, although Shen Chen's words were very sensitive, they felt very comfortable in Gan Ning's ears.

He was originally a person who could do whatever he wanted, these were his true thoughts, Shen Chen just said what was in his heart.

For a while, he and Shen Chen were like a pair of old friends, chatted a lot of heart-to-heart things, and were very happy when it came to Nong.

Soon the dishes came up, and the wealthy Gan Ning was really very luxurious, and the meals were all venison and bear's paws, no wonder he was not welcomed.

co-authored a rich second generation to experience life in the military camp, and his immediate boss Zhang Yun was not so extravagant.

Seeing that the meal was so rich, Deng Hong, who was reserved before, suddenly felt that the dry food he had eaten before was not fragrant, and he cooked several bowls of venison.

Although he gained weight by eating supper, Shen Chen was the time to grow his body, so naturally he did not refuse to come, and his mouth was full of oil.

The two talked happily with Gan Ning, and after eating, they talked about some scriptures and articles, and then they went to sleep.

The next day, the ancestors and grandsons were ready to leave again, Gan Ning sent them outside the south city gate, and when parting, he said: "Ah Chen is very smart, what are your plans for the future?" ”

Shen Chen glanced at Nanyang in the distance, and said softly: "Nanyang will be in war in the next few years, I want to grow strong here, and I can lead the people of my headquarters to break away from Zhang Yun and walk with me at that time." ”

"Liu Biao won't mind?"

Gan Ning wondered.

Breaking away from Zhang Yun is equivalent to breaking away from Liu Biao, even if this is another defection, and how can Liu Biao let the forces he can't control in his own territory?

Shen Chen said with a smile: "Liu Biao can't wait for it, he needs someone to guard the northern gateway for him in Nanyang, as long as he respects him, even if he listens to the tune or not, he can't care about it." Look, I'll tell you what to do next year. ”

"Okay then."

Gan Ning nodded yes, it was precisely because he had read books and had the ability to discern and learn that he admired Shen Chen's knowledge incomparably.

However, Gan Ning also understands that reading books only increases people's wisdom, and does not mean that they can understand the situation in the world after reading books, so he is only listening to it at present, and when he is convinced, he still needs time to research.

It's as if there are a large number of Confucian scholars in Jingzhou who often discuss the general trend of the world, but Sima Hui, a famous scholar in Yingchuan, disdain them, and only Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong can enter his eyes.

It is because although these Confucian scholars have read books, their ability to analyze the situation is very poor, and they are far from reaching the realm of Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang, so they naturally can't.

However, Shen Chen's analysis seems to be very reasonable, for example, he said that the reason why there was a war in Nanyang was because of the chaos in Guanzhong, and the internal struggle of Li Dao and Guo Yan would inevitably crowd out some of the warlords in Guanzhong, and these people were likely to come to Nanyang along Wuguan.

In addition, after the situation in Henan stabilizes, the princes of Henan will definitely covet the land population of Nanyang. Liu Biao does not practice martial arts, and his military ability is very poor, so there will definitely be a conflict in Nanyang at that time.

It's just that after all, these are just the current judgment of the situation, whether it can be fulfilled or not needs to be based on facts, so Gan Ning doesn't have anyone to say anything, he will believe anything, and when he finds out that what Shen Chen said is correct in the future, he will naturally make his choice.

After bidding farewell to Gan Ning, the grandfather and grandson set off again in a donkey cart, came to the wharf in the south of Fancheng, got on a ferry boat, and crossed the river to Xiangyang.

The Han River is magnificent, and Xiangyang still stands on the other side of the river, and it and the Nanyang Basin in the north seem to be two worlds.

The Nanyang Basin stretches as far as the eye can see, except for dense forests and vast grassland-like plains, only the faint silhouette of the Funiu Mountains and the Dabie Mountains can be faintly seen in the distance.

Xiangyang, on the other hand, is nestled in the easternmost part of the remaining veins of Daba Mountain, a branch of the Qinling Mountains, and behind it seems to be surrounded by boundless mountains, lush and surrounded by trees.

In the forest shade, the first thing that catches your eye is the vast land on the northeast bank, where countless village houses are lined up neatly one after another, spreading from the distant Da Hyeon Mountain all the way to the bank of the Han River, stretching for more than ten kilometers.

A large number of Xiangyang people live on this land, and most of them are big families. For example, Xiangyang Ponzi, Kuai's, Cai's, etc.

When Liu Biao first came to Jingzhou, he relied on these three families to gain a foothold.

Now since the Pang family helped Liu Biao to get Jingzhou, Pang Ji died of illness, Pang Degong is reluctant to go out, so at the official level, especially the Cai and Kuai families.

However, most of these two clans lived in the city, and the large area of land near Hanshui outside the city was mostly inhabited by the Pang clan and other ordinary people.

The boat that the ancestors and grandchildren took was not an ordinary small boat, but a large boat that could accommodate hundreds of people, and at this time there happened to be a large family that migrated from Guanzhong, although it was not as good as the Huangmen Pavilion of thousands of people, but there were also more than a hundred.

Deng Hong and Shen Chen talked with the relocated troops on the road, and learned that they were from Guanzhong, surnamed Zhang, because since the beginning of this year, Guanzhong has been in chaos, and there is no one in Dingkou, so they have to move to Jingzhou.

After inquiry, I learned that the original clan surnamed Zhang was also considered a strong family in Shangluo, and the family had more than 200 hectares of land, barely surviving last year's drought. But since this year, the situation in Guanzhong has deteriorated.

The main reasons lie in drought, plague, locust plague and other problems, and the secondary reason lies in the internal discord between Li Dao and Guo Yan.

At the beginning of this year, Li Dao killed Fan Chou, which led to the openness of the conflict, and the two sides called friends to attack each other in Chang'an City and the surrounding areas of Chang'an, and the people of Guanzhong were in dire straits.

The key is that they just fight it, and they also set up troops to plunder the people. Originally, the people were not rich, but now the situation is worse, even Haoqiang can't hold on, so he can only choose to leave his hometown.

During the interrogation process, Shen Chen got a key piece of information, Liu Xie, the son of heaven, was held hostage by Li Dao, and Guo Yan held Yang Biao, Zhang Xi and other ministers hostage.

It seems that history is still moving forward according to his process, and nothing has changed because of this little butterfly from Xuzhou.

Maybe it almost changed.

For example, if Cao Ren is killed, then Cao Cao's future battles may have great changes because of this.

But in that case, Liu Bei's situation will be very poor.

Therefore, Shen Chen could only swallow this breath temporarily, waiting for the next day to find an opportunity, and then avenge the gathering of hundreds of relatives in Jinyang.

After the grandfather and grandson got off the boat, they bid farewell to the Zhang family, and slowly drove to Xiangyang City in a donkey cart.

This city, which will be in turmoil for more than a thousand years, has grown by leaps and bounds in numbers due to the chaos in the north.

Yizhou and Jingzhou are two of the few relatively stable areas at present, so all industries are prosperous, commerce and trade are developed, and there are countless foreign merchants and migrants from the north and south, bringing prosperity to this ancient city.

After entering the city, what you see is a scene of the market, along the East Street all the way in, there are many shops on the left and right, street vendors shouting, and countless merchants and people shuttle.

There are few ragged beggars on the streets, and compared to the countless miserable people I saw along the way from Xuzhou, Jingzhou is a short-lived peaceful paradise with no quarrel with the world.

What's more important is that this is far from reaching the peak, Liu Biao has just pacified Jingzhou for less than four years, in recent years the north has been drought, but the south is still smooth, grain production remains stable, creating this prosperous era.

In a few years, when Liu Biao completely pacified Jingnan, the overall strength of the forces and Jingzhou reached a very high level, with more than 100,000 people with armor, which was even stronger than Cao Cao at that time.

From Dongjie all the way to the south, to the mansion of the governor in the city, Deng Hong asked the doorman to report, and learned that the ancestors of the Deng family had finally come, so Liu Biao asked them to take them to the central hall.

After entering the atrium, what was surprising was that in addition to Liu Biao, there were several people in the atrium, and one of them was actually an acquaintance.

Zhuge Xuan.

After Deng Hong and Shen Chen entered the door, they first saluted Liu Biao and said, "Hong and Chen have seen the envoy. ”

"Sit."

Liu Biao looked around and introduced: "This is the descendant of the Deng family who migrated from Xuzhou, Deng Hong, the character is young, and his grandson Shen Chen, I saw that they were talented, so they were recruited. ”

After that, he pointed to a person and said: "Deng Hong Shen Chen, let me introduce to you, this is my main book, Kuai Liang, the words are soft." ”

The two looked over.

I saw Kuai Liang sitting in the first seat under Liu Biao's right hand, obviously with a high status, about forty years old, with a clear face, a goatee, and a rather sharp look.

"I've seen the master book."

The two saluted.

Kuai Liang also nodded in greeting.

Liu Biao pointed to another person: "This is my governance in Deng Yi, the word filial piety." ”

"I've seen Deng Zhizhong."

Deng Hong asked curiously: "I wonder if there are new savages in Zhizhong?" ”

Deng Yi replied: "I am from Zhangling. ”

"Oh."

Deng Hong didn't speak.

Nanyang Deng is a big family, but it does not mean that those surnamed Deng in Nanyang are all descendants of Deng Yu.

For example, Deng Ai may not be a descendant of Deng Yu, and there are other surnames Deng, which may have been one family 800 years ago, but now it has been distinguished from the descendants of Deng Yu.

Liu Biao continued: "This is my other driving engagement, Liu Qi, the word is strong. ”

Liu Gaozhi?

Shen Chen next to him looked surprised.

Deng Hong saluted and said, "Don't drive if you've seen it." ”

Shen Chen's reaction was quite fast, and he immediately followed suit.

Liu Qi didn't pay attention to this, and nodded in the same respect.

The last person is Zhuge Xuan.

Zhuge Xuan said with a smile: "Don't work to make Jun introduce, I have known Youshuo for a long time. ”

"You've known each other before."

Liu Biao was very surprised, and suddenly patted his head again and said: "Oh yes, look at my brain, Yinyi is from Xuzhou, and so is Youshuo, is it on the road?" ”

Zhuge Xuan nodded and said: "We met in Yuzhang, if it weren't for Ah Chen, I'm afraid Xuan would have become a ghost under Liu Xuan's knife." ”

"What happened?"

Liu Biao asked.

Zhuge Xuan told the story again, and finally said: "I followed the method that Ah Chen said, while asking Yuan Shu for help, I sent someone to write to Zhu Hao." Sure enough, Yuan Shu did not lead troops to help, but Zhu Hao took Liu Xuan's army to Yuzhang, if I hadn't written to him a long time ago, I wouldn't have returned to Jingzhou safely. ”

When everyone heard his words, their eyes looking at Shen Chen suddenly became different.