After Zhang Yun and Dian Wei attacked Guiyang County and Lingling County, Zhao Fan sent someone to ask Liu Qi in Guiyang, hoping that Liu Qi could recruit him as a clerk, and follow Liu Qi north to Xiangyang and stay with him to serve.

Zhao Fan's letter to Liu Qi was extremely humble at that time. In Liu Qi's opinion, he almost reached the point of kneeling and licking, but the more he licked, the more something was wrong with Liu Qi.

Zhao Fan is not a good person in history, he is the kind of villain who is fickle and has many ideas.

His excessive attentiveness towards Liu Qi aroused Liu Qi's alertness, so when he was in Changsha, Liu Qi asked Liu Pan to investigate him secretly.

After investigation, Liu Qi probably figured out Zhao Fan's family. He learned that Zhao Fan had a brother, Zhao Yu, who died in the attack and defense battle in Changsha.

Died from the stupa...haha!

Liu Qi just made a brief association and guessed that when he was helping Huang Xu in the West City of Changsha, he shot a enemy general to death...

Although he had never mentioned his name to the other party at that time, Liu Qi could probably guess through the number of Zhang Xian's troops, the formation of the opponent's troops, and the combat power of his soldiers at that time that he could be a very good general, and he should be an important figure under Zhang Xian.

The Zhao brothers were highly valued under Zhang Xian's command.

Based on this, Liu Qi can understand the situation.

That person should be Zhao Fan's brother, and Zhao Fan gave up the generous treatment he arranged for him in Changsha and insisted on staying with him with a stern face. He probably wanted to... find an opportunity to kill himself to take revenge?

After Liu Qi guessed the truth, he didn't care about Zhao Fan. He let him do it. He just handled his own affairs one by one.

Zhao Fan, the official position appointed by Changsha, did not force him, and Zhao Fan followed Zhang Yun back to Nanjun without hesitation, and Liu Qi did not care about it.

He just wanted to see what other tricks Zhao Fan could do.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Fan was quite beyond his expectations. Seeing that Liu Qi was leaving him alone, the other party simply took the initiative to sell his own business and bribed Zhang Yun with a large sum of money, asking him to recommend him to Liu Qi again, and begged Liu Qi to let him enter the curtain.

Zhao Fan used to introduce Zhang Yun and Dian Wei to Guiyang County as a guide. During this process, he and Zhang Yun were quite familiar with each other. Now Zhao Fan gave Zhang Yun a heavy gift...

Zhang Yun is a greedy person, so he naturally cannot resist this temptation.

However, although he was surprised by Zhao Fan's actions, Zhang Yun's performance was also expected by Liu Qi.

If Zhang Yun was righteous and unfair, Liu Qi would definitely give him a high incense and call him a good brother.

...

The next day, Liu Qi and Zhang Yun led a group of people to Yi County to meet Zhao Fan.

For Liu Qi, Yi County was his first stop to settle in Jingzhou, the place where his dream began, and the place where he participated in the troubled times.

This place has a very special relationship for Liu Qi.

After arriving in Yi County, Yi County Magistrate Li Zheng came to greet Liu Qi in person.

Although Li Zheng surrendered to Liu Qi in the past, he was a traitor after all. He had no hope of serving as the county magistrate again. However, Liu Qi was concerned about his achievements in luring Zhang Hu and Chen Sheng, so he advised Liu Biao and asked Liu Biao to continue to let Li Zheng serve as the county magistrate of Yi County.

Liu Biao agreed to Liu Qi's recommendation and restored Li Zheng to his post.

"The last official Li Zheng, I have met the Lord of the Mansion!" After seeing Liu Qi, Li Zheng bowed and greeted him with a very humble attitude.

"No need to do this." Liu Qi smiled and helped him up with a weak hand, and said with a smile: "A few days ago, I specifically asked the ministers of the Mufu Palace that Yi County has achieved excellent political achievements this year, which is enough to be called the champion of Nanjun. Mr. Li really lives up to my expectations!"

Li Zheng bowed long and said, "If the Duke had not helped him become the county magistrate, how could Li have the present day? The Duke's kindness will never be forgotten."

Liu Qi shook his head and said, "You have all your credit for today, so why should I thank me? By the way, how old is Mr. Li's son?"

"You are seven years old when you go back to the house."

"I'm already seven years old." Liu Qi nodded suddenly and said, "I'm almost old, and I can send it to Xiangyang Academy to study and study the scriptures this year."

When Li Zheng heard Liu Qi say this, he hurriedly said, "Can you enter the Xiangyang Academy at such an age?"

"Of course, you can train early and graduate early, and you can also participate in the academic examination as soon as possible. If your child has extraordinary talents, you can also become an official as an official as soon as possible. As an official in Jingzhou, we do not pay attention to those unnecessary turnover procedures. As long as we pass the exam and then undergo training, Liu Jingzhou will be given priority."

Li Zheng hesitated for a moment and said, "What if my son fails the exam?"

Liu Qi smiled and chased his forearm with his arms, saying, "With me here, how could he fail the exam?"

Li Zheng naturally understood what Liu Qi said, which was clearly telling him to go through the back door.

He was overjoyed and hurriedly thanked Liu Qi.

According to Liu Qi's idea, if the system of becoming an official in the academic court is implemented, it is necessary to open a convenient door for local gentry to misunderstand the examination and think that the examination is just a formalism, and even if their children fail the examination, they can still become officials.

Otherwise, the academic graduating and scientific examination officials would definitely receive unprecedented resistance from the gentry and give up some institutional benefits. This is an inevitable preliminary step in implementing scientific examinations.

However, with the implementation of the examination system over the years, when this system has become a rule of inertia that is defaulted to by the whole people, it is the best time for the royal group to fight back on the personnel system.

Of course, this is all a story.

Li Zheng accompanied Liu Qi to Yicheng and said as he walked: "I heard that Liu Jingzhou has issued a military order. I asked Liu Fujun to lead his troops to Jiangxia County and go north with Huang Fujun to attack Runan?"

“That’s exactly that.”

Li Zheng hesitated for a moment and suddenly said, "Li wants to go to Jiangxia County with the Duke. I wonder if it is feasible?"

"You?" Liu Qi said in confusion: "As the magistrate of Yi County, you are guarding a county, why are you going there?"

Li Zheng said to Liu Qi: "I will not hide it from the Duke. Li is from Pingchun County, Jiangxia. The Li family is also a strong clan in Pingchun. For several generations, there were several county lords with 600 stones. Although they are not considered a family, they are also a good family. However, in my generation, the entire family has changed their paths. Except for me, I am still on the way to officialdom, most of the rest follow my brother to do the things of building a Wubao and training the clan army."

Liu Qi knew what Li Zheng meant.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, many families evolved from scholars and families, as well as local tyrants that had annexed large tracts of land, many families who had developed to a certain extent would build huge estates on their own land.

Because they cover thousands of hectares of land and their private territory is too vast, these manors will become increasingly large as a result...

Gradually, because the manor was expanded too much, it developed into a Wubao, just like building a small city-state on its own private land.

In addition, the remits of Guizhou heads who were annexed land had to rely on these strong tribes and gradually became private soldiers of the strong tribes. They would conduct armed training and defend their territory during the slack farming period, just like a "reformed feudal system".

Although there are many such prominent families in Jingzhou, they are still within the scope of acceptance of Liu's father and son in terms of quantity and strength.

The only ones that could threaten Liu Biao and Liu Qi were the Cai family, Kuai family and other tribes, Su Dai, Bei Yu, Zhang Fang and Jingnan, who supported Zhan Zhang Xian, had been eliminated and absorbed by the Liu family's father and son on the grounds of rebellion.

But Liu Qi had been in the Han Dynasty for several years after all. He knew that this kind of "strong feudal clan" was only a few in Jingzhou. What really had a huge threat was actually concentrated in economically developed areas such as Henan and Hebei, which were north of the Yangtze River and on both sides of the Yellow River.

Liu Qi asked Li Zheng, "Where is the clan brother you mentioned now?"

Li Zheng advised, "My clan brother is a son of the family. He has been fond of martial arts since he was a child. When he was young, he became famous for his knights. A few years ago, he was young and energetic. He persuaded the clan members to move to Huairu with him and raise troops in Langling County... It is reported that he and the other two people raised their troops at the same time. Using the excuse of eliminating the Yellow Turban thieves, he built Wubao and gathered thousands of disciples. He was extremely powerful. Now he is a domineering Huairu... The young master wants to attack Runan, and if he wants to recruit my brother to help the young master, it will be of great benefit."

Liu Qi looked at him in confusion and asked, "What's your brother's name?"

"My clan brother is named Li Tong, and his courtesy name is Wenda."

Liu Qi suddenly realized it when he heard this, but at the same time he was a little more solemn.

If we say that among the many powerful people gathered in the Central Plains at the end of the Han Dynasty, there should be three famous families in Liu Qi's impression.

The family is the Li family in Yanzhou represented by Li Jin, Li Qian, Li Dian and others. Their family business is astonishing. From Cheng family to the east of Lihu, almost all the lands of the Li family. They have more than 3,000 clan tribes under their command. If there is any emergency, they can mobilize an army of ten thousand people, which can be called the most powerful man in the Central Plains.

The second is Xu Chu, Qiao County, who also kept a thousand households in captivity and established a Wubao on his own land. He formed his own power. The clan soldiers under Xu Chu could gather thousands of people at most, far less than the Li family in Yanzhou. However, because Xu Chu himself was too brave and became famous by martial arts. After surrendering to Cao Cao, his reputation became even more famous, so he became famous and well-known to future generations.

The third is Li Tong from Langling, Runan.

When Langling was at its most powerful force, Li Tong also kept more than 2,000 households in captivity and dominated the Huairu land for seven or eight years.

When it comes to the number of household registration he has, he can almost compete with the Li family in Yanzhou.

Awesome, after Li Tong took the initiative to follow Cao Cao in the first year of Jian'an, he was immediately appointed by Cao Cao as the General of Zhenwei and stationed in the western border of Runan County. Without the merit of size, he became a chief official in the border area.

Yuan Shao and Liu Biao also sent people to win over Li Tong during the Battle of Guandu, hoping that he could turn against each other.

A powerful ranger who relied on building a fortress and gathered people to rule over the country could actually make the three princes in the world desperately win over and show their favor. It is conceivable how powerful Li Tong was when Huairu was in full swing.
Chapter completed!