Just when Cai Mao and Kuaiyue were discussing major matters, in Xiling County, Jiangxia County, in Liu Qi's room at this moment, Huang Zu and Shen Chen were sitting opposite each other.

The medicine in the room was fragrant, and Liu Qi's face was pale on the bed, his complexion was not very good, and he was still recuperating.

This serious illness also damaged Liu Qi's foundation, making him very weak at the moment.

But in order to discuss important matters with Huang Zu Shen Chen, he still held his body strongly, and waited for Huang Zu Shen Chen to enter the room and sit on the seat next to the bed before he spoke: "Yuanyang Gong, Xiaoqing, how is it?" ”

Shen Chen said in a deep voice: "The person I sent has returned, and now the entire Xiangyang has been locked down. I expect Cai Mao and others to be secret, just to deceive the eldest prince to return to Xiangyang, and then secretly assassinate, and then support the second prince to ascend the throne, maybe at this time, the second prince has already ascended the throne and called the emperor. ”

Huang Zu gritted his teeth, patted the case and said: "Damn, Your Majesty has always been ruthless and cut off Cai Mao Yue and others." The second prince is cowardly by nature, held by Cai Mao and others, and now that he has ascended the throne as the emperor, isn't Jingzhou ruled by them? ”

"I'm afraid that Your Majesty doesn't want to cut them off, but that you can't cut them off."

Shen Chen sighed: "At the end of last year, His Majesty was still able to handle government affairs, and he personally wrote an edict for the prince to recruit me to lead troops and escort the prince to Xiangyang, but he died in less than a month. ”

"Could it be that they assassinated His Majesty?"

Huang Zu's eyes widened.

Shen Chen said: "The most urgent thing now is not to find the truth, but how the eldest prince should deal with it. ”

The two looked at Liu Qi, Liu Qi's face turned pale, and said, "What do you mean by this?" ”

"Do you want to fight with the second prince or stop there."

"How about fighting, how about stopping?"

"If you fight together, you will naturally have to find a way to strengthen yourself and fight with Cai Mao and them."

Shen Chen said: "If you stop here, you will die down and give Jingzhou to the second prince." It's just that if you do that, Your Majesty's foundation will also be obtained by Cai Kuai's second family, and the prince is afraid that it will be harmed. ”

"Me"

Liu Qi looked around at the two, gritted his teeth and said: "I don't want to be assassinated by them, and I don't want my father's inheritance to be taken away by them, does Xiaoqing have a way?" ”

Shen Chen said: "Now they are standing still and blockading the city, because they want to trick the eldest prince into returning to Xiangyang to get rid of it. Now that the prince has fled, there is no point in blockading the city again, and I expect that they will make a big deal about the enthronement of the second prince in the next two days, so that the generals from all over Jingzhou will submit, and an edict will come soon. ”

"Hmph."

Huang Zu snorted coldly: "This false edict is also, I should not obey it." ”

Shen Chen said: "Duke Yuanyang should not obey, but what about the others in Jingzhou?" At that time, Jingzhou Jiaozhou, except for Jiangxia, will be obtained by Cai Mao and Yue, and the Duke of Yuanyang and the eldest prince will be difficult to support alone. ”

"Xiaoqing."

Liu Qi hurriedly asked, "What can you do?" ”

Shen Chen pondered: "Whoever is famous as a teacher, if what I expected is not bad, Cai Mao and Yue and others will inevitably find an excuse to get rid of the eldest prince, I think the prince fled back to Jiangxia that day, and not going to Xiangyang is the best excuse." ”

"How's that for good?"

Liu Qi asked anxiously.

"We should also look for reasons to retaliate."

Shen Chen said with a smile: "The prince immediately sent someone to contact Liu Pan and Wen Ping, and sent troops to eliminate these two thieves on the grounds that Cai Mao was secretive and did not mourn, and it was clear that His Majesty had died of illness a few days ago, and he would summon the eldest prince back to Xiangyang in the name of His Majesty's serious illness to assassinate and do Zhao Gaolisi's affairs." ”

"Okay."

Liu Qi nodded again and again, he had to stand in order to seize the righteousness.

Shen Chen said again: "This matter cannot be delayed, it is best for the eldest prince to go to Jingnan to lobby Liu Pan in person." ”

"That"

Liu Qi gritted his teeth and said, "Then I'll set off tomorrow." ”

Huang Zu worried: "The prince is seriously ill and has not recovered, so he is tired of running around."

"If the prince goes in person, he is very sure, but the condition is indeed a big problem."

Shen Chen pondered for a moment and said, "Why don't you write a letter, then take out the seal token, hand it to Zhuge Liang, and let Kong Ming go to lobby Liu Pan." ”

Now Liu Bei has not actually entered Sichuan, but is stationed in Zigui, that is, the Three Gorges area, and there are only 30,000 horses around him.

At this time, he had quietly grown to more than 50,000 people in Jingnan, in addition to the 20,000 elite soldiers brought down from Wancheng at the beginning, there were also 20,000 Xichuan soldiers who surrendered by Wu Yi.

Finally, there are the recruits he recruited in Jingnan and the troops brought by many Jingnan families when they defected, adding up to more than 53,000 people.

Liu Bei brought 30,000 when he entered Sichuan, leaving 20,000 people still in southern Hunan, controlled by Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang, if Liu Qi could not go in person because of illness, then write letters and tokens to Zhuge Liang, let him persuade Liu Pan.

Liu Qi and Zhuge Liang are also old friends, after all, they are their own relatives, so they nodded and said, "Okay, just follow Xiaoqing's words." ”

At that moment, Liu Qi wrote a letter, and then took out the letter around him, and asked his cronies to go to Jingnan to find Zhuge Liang immediately.

And at the beginning of February, Jingzhou, which had been dead for nearly a decade, seemed to come alive overnight, and a large number of messengers were sent out of Xiangyang and Xiling every day.

Liu Qi has no queen, even if he inherits Liu Biao's position, he will pass it on to Liu Cong's descendants in the future, so why does he have to fight with Liu Cong?

The reason is simple.

He didn't want his father's inheritance to be taken away by Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others in the end.

Liu Cong's personality is cowardly, basically Cai Mao is what they say, once he does not come forward to fight, then the power of the entire Jingzhou will belong to Cai Mao Yue, and the country laid by Liu Biao will be completely controlled by others.

This is something that Liu Qi cannot tolerate.

In addition, it is the key to survival.

Liu Qi is a thorn in the eyes of Cai Mao and Yue, and he must be eliminated, and in order to survive, Liu Qi naturally has to go all out.

And Cai Mao and Yue control power, of course, they don't want Liu Qi to inherit the throne, and they are new and old hatreds.

Therefore, both sides will begin to win over the middle forces, wanting to control the military power of Jingzhou.

The rest of the people Liu Qi is not very easy to compete for, but Liu Pan and Wenpin can fight for it, without it, Wenpin has always been sensible, and Liu Pan has a deep friendship with Liu Qi.

And so.

Both factions went into action.

And two days later, Xiangyang really sent a false edict.

The edict declared that Liu Biao did not come to visit Liu Qi on his deathbed because he was unfilial, so he passed the throne to Liu Cong, and gave Liu Qi to death in the name of unfilial piety.

Huang Zu was furious, killed the envoy, and sent people to Jingnan, Nanyang and other places to send a letter to the generals and Taishou, saying that His Majesty had died early in many days, and Cai Mao and others had not mourned secretly, and recalled Liu Qi in the name of the first emperor and wanted to assassinate the eldest prince, because His Majesty wanted to pass on the eldest son.

Both sides soon began preparing for a battle for fame and support before the war.

Liu Cong's accusation to Liu Qi was that Liu Qi deliberately delayed time before Liu Biao's death and did not return to Xiangyang, because of unfilial piety, which caused Liu Biao to be disappointed in him in the end, so he passed on the throne to Liu Cong and issued an edict to let Liu Qi commit suicide, but he became the king and wanted to stand on his own.

Liu Qi's countermeasure was to say that Liu Biao had already been assassinated by Cai Mao and others, and before he was edicted to go to Xiangyang, Liu Biao had already died for several days.

For a while, the whole Jingzhou was turbulent, Liu Biao's body was still covered with a mat in the Xiangyang Palace, and before the coffin was even entered, the two sons were already fighting and fighting for power.

But the cause of this incident itself was that Cai Mao Yue wanted to murder Liu Qi, and Liu Qi had no choice but to resist. And Cai Mao Yue was also worried that after Liu Qi took the throne, they would definitely die, so he struck first.

There is no right or wrong in this kind of thing, power and position are contending, you just live and die.

Soon February 6, Jingzhou Xiangnan.

Zhuge Liang is handling official business in the county government of the county seat.

In the name of General Zuo, Liu Bei opened a government in southern Hunan. Liu Biao also acquiesced, and even transferred the original Xiangnan and Xiangxiang county orders away, and gave him the two cities.

Therefore, Xiangxiang County, Xiangnan County, that is, Xiangtan City and Xiangxiang City in Hunan in later generations, are currently owned by Liu Bei.

"Report!"

At this moment, a guard came in from outside the door and said, "Military advisor, the eldest prince has sent a messenger here." ”

"Oh?"

Zhuge Liang raised his head from the table and said, "Please." ”

"Yui."

The guards immediately went out.

A moment later, the messenger hurried in, knelt down on one knee and said, "Mr. Kong Ming." ”

"Hurry up, what's the matter with the eldest prince?"

Zhuge Liang asked.

The messenger presented the letters and tokens in his hand to the table, and said: "Sir, Your Majesty has died, Cai Mao's more secret is not mourning, and he wants to assassinate the eldest prince, and now he has supported the second prince to ascend the throne, and the eldest prince wrote a letter and took the token, and wanted to ask Mr. to persuade General Liu Pan." ”

"I see."

Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "I'll leave this matter to me." ”

"Thank you, sir."

The messenger was a close confidant of Liu Qi, and he bowed happily.

After letting the messenger go to rest first, Zhuge Liang fell into thought.

He actually got the news of Liu Biao's death in the past two days.

Although Cai Mao and Yue blocked the city, the major families in Jingzhou were not vegetarians.

What's more, this in itself is a matter of wanting to cover up, and smart people know with their toes that something big happened in Xiangyang.

And if such a big thing can lead to the closure of the city, it can only be Liu Biao's death.

So this kind of news can't be hidden at all, there are many Jingzhou families behind Zhuge Liang, and it is naturally easy for him to get any news.

The key at this moment is what happened after Liu Biao's death.

Liu Qi is kind and filial, and he is very knowledgeable, and even once persuaded Liu Biao not to be the emperor, so as not to be hated by the people of the world.

It can be seen that he doesn't really attach much importance to the position of the emperor.

The reason why he is willing to resist is that he is worried that Liu Cong will be controlled by Cai Mao and others, his father's inheritance will be taken away, and he will be killed by the other party.

Therefore, Liu Qi's purpose is likely to get rid of Cai Mao and Yueyue and keep the foundation left by Liu Biao.

Of course.

It is also a reason for Liu Biao's descendants to continue to prosper.

After thinking about this, Zhuge Liang suddenly became enlightened.

The civil strife in Jingzhou is also beneficial to them.

So Zhuge Liang immediately went to the military camp to find Guan Yu and explained the situation.

That night, Guan Yu sent Zhou Cang to lead 500 people to protect Zhuge Liang to Liling and go to Liu Pan's military camp to lobby.

(End of chapter)