The city was indeed breached.

Hearing the messenger's words, Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen glanced at each other and nodded slightly.

Liu Bei turned his head to look at the two, and then said without hesitation: "Suspend the sending of troops, you go back and tell Yuan Zhi and Shi Yuan, and wait until I mourn for Bo Rui first." ”

"Yui!"

The messenger stepped back and departed.

After he left, Liu Bei looked at Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen and said, "Kong Ming, Xiaoqing, you won't blame me for not sending troops at this time, right?" ”

"No, it won't."

Shen Chen shook his head and said, "Sending troops at this time is naturally the best time, but if you leave without even dealing with the funeral of the eldest son, it will be too hurtful." ”

If Liu Bei chooses to send troops ruthlessly and unjustly now, it will not be Liu Xuande, who values love and righteousness.

"Ugh."

Liu Bei sighed: "It's not that I'm afraid of hurting the hearts of the people of Jingzhou, it's just that since I promised Bo Rui to take care of his wife, children and brothers, I don't dare to leave at this time, at least I have to deal with the funeral and settle his relatives before leaving." ”

Zhuge Liang hesitated slightly: "It's just that this may delay the war, the eldest son has a lot of virtue, not only the officials of Jiangxia and Jingnan will come to mourn, but even Jiangdong, the imperial court, and Cao Cao will also send people, this funeral may be done for a month or two, or even a few months, in case Liu Zhang can't hold on, Yizhou will"

Shen Chen suggested: "You can order General Guan to go first, go north along the river, take Ba County first, wait for the follow-up grain and grass to be replenished, and then go up the river, while watching the situation, step by step, waiting for General Zuo to arrive in person." ”

"Hmm."

Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "Then send someone to inform the second and third brothers, Yuan Zhi and Shi Yuan, let them go first, enter Jiangzhou, wait for me to take care of Bo Rui's funeral, and then go to Xichuan." ”

This is the more helpless choice.

In the matter of capturing Xichuan, Liu Bei had to be present in person.

Because their purpose is certainly not to defeat Zhang Lu and save Liu Zhang, but to seize Hanzhong and Yizhou.

As the backbone, he had to be there in person.

Whether it is how to save Liu Zhang, how to let him smoothly give Yizhou to himself, or to appease the people and fix the heart of the Yizhou scholars, he has to do it.

The simplest example is that many officials in Yizhou are already dealing with Liu Bei.

For example, Zhang Song and Fa Zheng and others.

If Liu Bei didn't communicate with them personally, but instead sent others, he would be disrespectful and unkind to them, which would make Zhang Songfa and others feel guilty.

Second, it is difficult to stabilize people's hearts, and it will make those who take refuge in him loosen up, so as to retreat.

Therefore, Liu Bei must personally deal with such a major matter of planning the country.

Otherwise, like Yuan Shao, he obviously has the most suitable time, but he doesn't go because of bad things such as his son's illness, and he regrets his life to do big things, how can this work?

At that moment, Liu Bei sent people to inform Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, asking them to take the first step and stay in Jiangzhou to wait and see the situation.

The whole month of March was a time of change.

Envoys and letters were constantly exchanged between Jiangdong and Jingzhou, discussing the details of the alliance, and Sun Quan originally wanted to marry Sun Shangxiang as soon as possible, so as to make Liu Bei relax his vigilance, but he was also delayed by Liu Qi's death.

Cao Cao in the north was defeated at the beginning of the year, and for three months he has been sitting in the court of Chendu, constantly cutting off heresies and rejecting loyalty, including Kong Rong, a doctor in Taizhong, who was exterminated by Cao Cao.

The main reason is that Cao Cao's prestige fell sharply after his defeat, and the royalist faction in the rear was noisy, and it was very powerful in the court, which had the meaning of overwhelming Cao Cao's faction.

After losing Wang Bi, a close confidant, Cao Cao sent another confidant, Xi Xi, to control Liu Xie.

But Xi is not as ruthless as Wang Bi, although he is responsible for helping Cao Cao deal with dirty work like Wang Bi, but after all, he was born in a famous family, and he still has to save face, and he doesn't dare to do many things secretly.

In addition, Xun Yu, Yang Xiu and others did not suppress the royalists at all, but secretly helped each other, so that Kong Rong and other royalists grew stronger and stronger, which made Cao Cao jealous.

This time, Cao Cao returned to Chendu and made a ruthless move, immediately signaling Xi to frame the royalists and kill Kong Rong and many other loyal Han courtiers of the royalists.

For a while, the court was silent, and Liu Xie was even more tightly controlled, and no one dared to oppose Cao Cao anymore.

However, due to Cao Cao's defeat, he needed time to recover the north, so in order to appease Liu Qi and Liu Bei, he announced to the world that Liu Biao was deceived by others, so he would not deprive him of the title of King of Chu, and Liu Qi would take the title.

It's a pity that as soon as the edict arrived in Jingzhou, Liu Qi died of illness, and before he died, he had already gone to the imperial court and asked the imperial court to make Liu Bei the pastor of Jingzhou.

However, in order to respond to Liu Bei, Cao Cao redrafted the edict, continued to retain the line of the king of Chu, and was inherited by Liu Xiu, the third son of Liu Biao, and no longer set up Jingzhou Mu, but was directly governed by the Chu Wangfu.

Obviously, he definitely didn't want Liu Bei to get Jingzhou justifiably.

It's just that because Liu Cong ascended the throne as a puppet emperor, he is not suitable to inherit the position of King of Chu. Otherwise, he would definitely let Liu Cong attack the lord, so that Liu Bei could not directly manage Jingzhou, thus allowing Liu Cong's faction to respawn and causing civil strife in Jingzhou.

By the end of March, envoys from the imperial court and Jiangdong had already come to mourn Liu Qi.

On this day, close to early summer, the sun was shining, the spring flowers were blooming, and after seeing off Liu Ai, the envoy of Zongzheng, Liu Bei returned to the palace of the king of Chu.

In the side hall, there were already a few people waiting.

Shen Chen, Zhuge Liang, and an old man who was nearly sixty years old, with a goat's beard, was dry and thin.

"My lord."

"General Zuo."

When Liu Bei came in, all three of them got up and saluted.

"Mr. Wenhe."

When Liu Bei saw the old man, he also saluted him back, "Sir, please take a seat." ”

"Thank you, General Zuo."

The goat-bearded old man was none other than Jia Xu.

After Liu Cong's defeat, he abandoned his official position and fled back to Zhang Xiu in the city.

In the Battle of Pingting, Jia Xu persuaded Zhang Xiu to help Liu Bei.

After this battle, the two sides had many contacts and exchanged letters with each other.

Now that Liu Qi has passed away, Jia Xu and Zhang Xiu immediately came to officially defect in the name of condolences.

After Liu Bei sat down, he shook his head and said, "Cao Cao really said that I didn't want to take away the foundation of the same sect, but now I am also burdened with Bo Rui's expectations, but he let Liu Xiu take the throne." ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "He can be regarded as taking care of the face of the imperial court, otherwise, if he lets Liu Cong attack the lord, after the general goes to Yizhou, it is not good to say that Liu Cong's remaining party will take the opportunity to make trouble, this should be what Cao Cao wants to see the most, but unfortunately if he does this, it will only damage the majesty of the imperial court." ”

"Did he do less damage?"

Liu Bei's face sank suddenly, and he remembered the edict of the clothes belt, which was the past he had personally experienced, Cao Cao's killing of the concubine, the prince's uncle, and the cruelty of more than ten ministers were still vivid.

Zhuge Liang shook his head and said, "Although Cao Cao himself hijacked the Son of Heaven, brutalized the ministers, and damaged the majesty of the imperial court. But outside, it is still necessary to maintain the law of the imperial court, because now that the north is stable, it needs the face of the imperial court to maintain it, otherwise, who will defect to him? ”

Liu Bei said: "It's just that now that the imperial court has named Liu Xiu as the king of Chu and ordered him to take the affairs of Fuzhou as the king of Chu, I can't justifiably control Jingzhou." ”

Jia Xu smiled on the side and said: "Although the general has not become the pastor of Jingzhou, who knows about Cao Cao's hijacking of the Son of Heaven?" Cao Cao's edict, why should the general pay attention to it? This big man is not his Cao Cao's big man, but the big man of the Liu family and the people of the world. ”

Liu Bei was surprised and asked, "What does Mr. mean?" ”

Jia Xu clasped his hands in his sleeves and said softly: "The general has won the hearts of the people of Jingzhou, if the king of Chu leads the officials of Jingzhou, and the people of the whole city invite the general to Fuzhou affairs, it is also a matter of course that the general should go." ”

Zhuge Liang and Shen Chen glanced at each other, and both of them also got up and said: "Yes, before the eldest son died of illness, he also made concessions to the state three times, and the general is winning the hearts of the people, and the people of Jingzhou all hope that the general can control Jingzhou and help the king's affairs." ”

"Hmm."

Liu Bei nodded noncommittally, got up and said: "Now Jingzhou, the imperial court and Jiangdong, have already mourned Borui, and Borui will be buried tomorrow, I will accompany him." ”

After saying that, he walked out of the side hall and went to the main hall of the mourning hall.

After he left, Shen Chen looked at Jia Xu and said with a smile: "Mr. Wenhe used to be the concubine of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, and he was highly respected in Jingzhou. ”

Jia Xu looked at Shen Chen, his eyes rolled and said: "Xiaoqing was once a trusted general of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, and now he is also the god of soldiers in Jingzhou. ”

Shen Chen rolled his eyes and said, "Forget it, I'd better be in the back, let my grandfather be on top of something." ”

"Ahh

At this moment, in Deng Hong's mansion, Deng Hong inexplicably felt uncomfortable in his nose and sneezed.

Following.

Liu Qi is about to be buried.

Jingzhou officials, big and small, all arrived in front of the hall.

Liu Biao's Chu Wangfu is actually very large, covering an area of more than 300 acres, and there is a huge courtyard in front of the central main hall, and there are nearly 100 people in the courtyard at this moment.

The whole courtyard is now covered with white plain curtains, and the main hall has a word "lai" hanging on it, and the coffin is placed in the center of the hall.

Although Liu Qi died of illness before the edict of the king of Chu was issued, the imperial court did not take away Liu Qi's title of king of Chu, but let Liu Xiu inherit it, so he was still buried as the king of Chu, and the specifications were also princely specifications.

All kinds of spices, cattails, and ice cubes were piled up all over the ground in the hall, and although the embalming work had been done, it was still inevitable that the corpse would be deformed.

Therefore, it should be put into the coffin as early as possible and buried as soon as possible.

In fact, the Han Dynasty was calculated, and the Son of Heaven generally stopped for a month or two, and it was almost time to be buried.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhou Tianzi was miserable, and he had to wait for the princes from all over the country to mourn before he could be buried, a little faster for half a year, a slower one for a year or two, and the embalming work was in place again, and the burial had to become white bones.

At this time, Liu Bei was kneeling and sitting by the coffin in the main hall, Liu Qi had no family, only two younger brothers and a few concubines, and several concubines were crying and crying beside them.

Outside the hall, the officials and close relatives who came to the funeral were arranged in this way.

Standing at the forefront is Liu Qi's third brother Liu Xiu, the current king of Chu, followed by Jia Xu, Liu Qi, Liu Xian, Deng Hong, Wen Ying, Liu Guan, Cheng Qi, Wang Wei and other important ministers of the original Liu Biao and the state capital.

In addition, Liu Cong, Zhang Xiu, Liu Pan, Huang Zhong, Huang Jie, Wen Ping, Lai Gong, Han Xi, Kuai Jun, Kuai Qi, Zhang Cun, Xi Zhen, Yang Yi, Xiang Lang, Song Zhong, Qi Wuhong, Wang Cang, Fu Xun, Du Kui, Meng Yao, Xu Yan, Hu Fu, Liu Rong, Cai Yan, Cai Zhan, Cai Du and other generals, families, and officials were almost all present.

There are also people who shouldn't be here, but who are here.

For example, Huang Jie just handled his father's funeral last month, and he was supposed to be filial piety for Huang Zu, but now he is coming to Liu Qi's funeral again.

and Lai Gong is the Jiaozhou assassin sent out by Liu Biao, who was driven away by Wu Ju, the Taishou of Cangwu, and ran back by himself. Needless to say, the rest of the people are all well-known scholars in Jingzhou, who were scattered all over the country and all came back.

Only Cai Mao and Kuai Yue were not there, the two of them could be exempted from capital crimes, but they could not escape the living crimes, and they were imprisoned as sinners and were not eligible to participate. Originally, Liu Cong was too, but he was Liu Qi's younger brother, and it was extra generous to be able to stand here and have a corner.

There are more than 100 people outside the hall, which is currently the list of officials of all sizes in Jingzhou.

Shen Chen was also among them.

His position is still very high, just behind Deng Hong, and he is considered to be one of the top five big names in Jingzhou.

On the contrary, except for Chen Dao, who was in charge of guarding the palace, only Zhuge Liang was in Liu Bei's faction, and the rest of the people had now gone to Yizhou, preparing to seize Bashu.

Soon everyone was there, and the time was about the same.

Liu Bei got up, Chen Zhi led the guards at the door, he came to the outside of the hall, looked around at everyone, and said loudly: "Everyone, today's Bo Rui Xian brother is mourning, after I help the spirit to bid farewell to the virtuous brother, I will also lead the troops to go out, this Jingzhou, will be handed over to the king of Chu." ”

Liu Xiu glanced around, a little dazed, and suddenly saw Jia Xu glaring at him, so he hurriedly stood up and said, "Please also ask General Zuo to come to Fuzhou!" ”

After that, he came to Liu Bei, bent down and bowed, and the etiquette standard was very high.

"Please also ask General Zuo to come to Fuzhou!"

The audience was overwhelmed, and they all bent down to give their hands.

Liu Bei was startled, and hurriedly went up to support Liu Xiu and said, "King Chu, why is this?" ”

Liu Xiugui is the king, and the title is far above Liu Bei, the pavilion marquis, such a big gift is indeed something that Liu Bei did not expect.

"Although I was enthroned by the imperial court and attacked the king of Chu, I am shallow and incompetent."

Liu Xiu said according to the words taught to him by Jia Xu: "Now Jingzhou, it takes people with both ability and political integrity to be the master, before my brother died of illness, he repeatedly told us that only General Zuo can protect Jingzhou and revive the Han clan, so he is willing to give in to the state." ”

Liu Bei hurriedly said: "I was originally invited by Burry to help him quell the chaos. Although Burry has repeatedly asked me to take Jingzhou by myself, I have never thought of taking the foundation of the same sect, and this Ji Xu is the king of Chu, so I should cheer up Jingzhou. ”

Liu Xiu had already been helped up by Liu Bei, but he bowed his head and said: "But I don't have the talent to lead Jingzhou, and I am only willing to bury my head in the scriptures and write articles." ”

"This"

"Please also ask General Zuo for my brother's sake, and agree."

"General Zuo, please!"

Many state capitals also said in unison.

Liu Xiu said again: "If the general is unwilling, I will abandon the lord and go, preferring to escape into the mountains." ”

"Ugh."

Liu Bei sighed and said, "Although I can't bear to take away the foundation of the same sect, I am moved by the hearts of Ranberi, Ji Xu and all of you." Well, it's up to you. ”

"Thank you, General Zuo!"

The crowd shouted again.

At the moment, under the leadership of Liu Bei, Liu Qi went to the funeral.

On the second day, Liu Xiu personally wrote an edict to the imperial court, stating that Liu Bei was the pastor of Jingzhou, and Liu Bei had full authority to manage Jingzhou, and he was only willing to be an idle prince with no power.

Cao Cao saw that he couldn't stop it, so he finally agreed, and pushed the boat down the river, which was regarded as appeasing Liu Bei and buying time for him to recover the north.

Second, and most importantly, it doesn't really matter if he disagrees.

Like Liu Bei when he was a Xuzhou pastor in the early days, he was not a Xuzhou pastor canonized by the imperial court, but was elected by Xuzhou officials after Tao Qian's death.

So as long as all the officials in Jingzhou recognize Liu Bei, he actually can't control it.

Since then.

Liu Bei is justified and controls Jingzhou!

(End of chapter)