There were so many gifts from the people that Liu An had no choice but to load a few more carriages for shipment.

However, when Liu An went to Liangzhou, he also brought a lot of homing pigeons to Lin Fang, which also needed carriages to transport them.

Adding a few more carriages to carry the gifts given by the people would not slow down the journey.

After leaving Jiuyuan, Liu An and his party crossed the Yellow River and went south to Xihe County. After passing Shangjun, they passed Fengyi on the left and Fufeng on the right before entering Liangzhou.

The straight-line distance between Jiuyuan and Guzang County, Wuwei County is actually not much different from that between Jiuyuan and Zhuoxian.

However, traveling in the western part of Bingzhou is difficult, with vast stretches of desert land, so we can only take a detour to Xihe County and then head south and west.

So it was not until the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month that a group of people arrived in Liangzhou.

After entering Liangzhou, Liu An was on his way while sending people to inquire about the whereabouts of Jia Xu and Li Ru.

He only remembered that Jia Xu was from Liangzhou, and Li Ru had been with Dong Zhuo from Liangzhou for a long time, but he really didn't know where they were from.

After asking around all the way, after passing through Anding County and entering Wuwei County, Liu An finally found out that Jia Xu was from Guzang County, the seat of Wuwei County.

And some anecdotes about him were also talked about by many people to Liu An.

The most famous thing is that when Jia Xu was young, he was praised by the famous scholar Yan Zhong as a talent like Zhang Liang and Chen Ping. When he resigned due to illness and returned to his hometown early, he encountered a rebellion by the Di people.

He was so prestigious that when the Di people heard that Jia Xu was Duan Ying's grandson, they did not harm him.

Someone was even sent to escort him home, but everyone else who passed by was killed.

Jia Xu's ability to generate wisdom out of haste enabled him to avoid disasters many times in his future career, which is what Liu An values.

At a similar time, Liu An heard a lot from others, which also proved that Jia Xu had a very high reputation in Wuwei County and was respected by many people.

However, Liu An did not find any trace of Li Ru at all.

I don’t know if I remembered it wrong, or if I have already been taken under Dong Zhuo’s command and treated as his first adviser.

Although the journey from entering Liangzhou to arriving in Guzang County was not long, Liu An and his party traveled for eight days before finally entering Guzang County because of inquiring about information along the way.

Guzang County is not only the county government of Wuwei County, but also the county government of Bingzhou. It integrates the Prime Minister's Office, the County Government and the Governor's Office into one county.

As soon as Liu An and his party entered Wuwei County, they came into the presence of officials from aristocratic families in the city.

Therefore, many officials in Wuwei were waiting at the gate of Guzang County early to welcome the new governor Lin Fang.

The position of governor is different from that of a county magistrate. It is only responsible for supervising the work of local governors, but will not interfere with their actions. Relatively speaking, the conflict of interest is much smaller.

Under the premise that the conflict of interest is minimal and the governor plays a role in supervising their work, officials from various places are more inclined to have a good relationship with the governor rather than being tough or ignoring them.

After all, the governor's term of office is generally only three years, and he will leave once the term is up, which will basically not affect the development of powerful local families.

Under the enthusiastic support of many officials, Liu An followed Lin Fang into the Governor's Mansion.

He did not let Lin Fang inform others of his identity. A county magistrate did not go to the county jounin he was responsible for, but instead followed the previous Shangguan to take a detour to Bingzhou. If word spread, it would have a negative impact on Lin Fang.

If the princes in the court suspect that he is a noble man, Lin Fang's life will be in danger.

Moreover, during Liu An's tenure, Lin Fang never gave Liu An any great favors. He had no reason to escort Lin Fang, and there was no reason for Lin Fang to be escorted by Liu An.

After entering the Governor's Mansion, Liu An returned to the residence he had arranged for himself to rest, while Lin Fang held a banquet in the Governor's Mansion and entertained officials of all sizes from Wuwei County.

Early the next morning, Liu An and Lin Fang went to visit Jia Xu, who was currently idle at home.

Jia Xu's family is well off, and the Jia family is also a large and wealthy family in the local area.

Now in his mid-thirties, Jia Xu has taken over the position of family patriarch. When he heard that the new governor was visiting, he immediately put down his affairs and went to the door to greet him.

In this way, Liu An also saw the differential treatment brought about by different statuses.

When he first came to the Han Dynasty and was still a commoner, he went to visit Gongsun Zan, who was the magistrate of Zhuoxian County at that time. The steward took him to see Gongsun Zan.

This is just to see Liu Ming's face. If it were only Liu An himself, he probably wouldn't even be able to see Gongsun Zan's face.

But now when the Jia family came to visit the local wealthy family, Jia Xu, the patriarch, actually greeted him personally.

Moreover, Liu An believed that if instead of showing Lin Fang's demeanor as a polite corporal and letting Lin Fang come to the door in person, he just sat in the Governor's Mansion to summon Jia Xu, Jia Xu would definitely accept the summons honestly and go to the Governor's Mansion to see Lin Fang.

Jia Xu is dressed in plain clothes. Judging from his attire, he does not look like the patriarch of a wealthy family at all.

Liu An didn't know his exact age, but he only felt that the man looked to be in his thirties, and his body in the prime of life looked a little thin.

At the age of 30, he may have lost the sharpness of his youth. His eyes were calm and rarely wavered. The look he looked at Lin Fang was neither humble nor arrogant. He neither deliberately faced the wind nor showed any rejection.

Liu An, who has seen this person's methods, is more willing to believe that he is as wise as a fool, can protect himself wisely, hides his strategies in his chest, and reveals his plans in times of crisis.

Jia Xu took Lin Fang all the way to the living room, and Liu An and Lu Bu followed him as his personal bodyguards.

The other attendants stayed outside the hall for the time being.

Jia Xu ordered people to prepare tea and snacks for Lin Fang, and the two of them kept chatting about something and nothing, and neither of them mentioned anything serious.

In the end, Lin Fang couldn't continue the conversation. His knowledge, wisdom and ink were much inferior to Jia Xu's. Moreover, he was mainly here to work for Liu An, so he didn't dare to stay too long.

Secretly looking at Liu An's eyes, Lin Feng said to Jia Xu after getting a slight nod from Liu An:

"When I first came to Liangzhou, I was short of talented people. Mr. Ren Yan Wenhe has a good talent. I want to appoint Mr. Wenhe as my staff. What do you think of Mr. Wenhe?"

"To be honest, Lin Shijun, I am suffering from a physical illness, and I'm afraid that my heart is full but my strength is not enough." Jia Xu declined politely.

When Liu An heard this, his eyes suddenly dimmed a little.

Although I had expected it, I was still disappointed when I heard Jia Xu's rejection in person.

Lin Fang had no power in the court, nor did he come from a wealthy family. In addition, he lacked prestige and reputation. Although he was appointed the governor of Liangzhou due to Xianbei's service, it was far from enough to impress a wise man like Jia Xu.

When Lin Fang heard Jia Xu's refusal, he didn't know what to do.

He was treated as a distinguished guest by Jia Xu based on his status, which was the limit.

If he wants to do anything else, it depends on his own abilities.

However, Lin Fang's ability in all aspects was average, otherwise he would not have been forced by many powerful men in Wuyuan to refuse guests behind closed doors and pretend to be addicted to wine and sex.

Who was Jia Xu? Even though the eye contact between Liu An and his servant was extremely obscure, he could tell from this alone that the relationship between the two was unusual, and he couldn't help but glance at Liu An a little more.

But as smart as he was, he didn't point out the matter. Jia Xu didn't want to cause trouble for himself. He still understood that the more he knew, the faster he would die.

Then he simply pretended not to notice, lowered his head and concentrated on drinking his tea, allowing Liu An and Lin Fang to communicate with each other casually with their eyes.

Lin Fang saw that Jia Xu didn't pay attention, so he looked at Liu An, waiting for him to give the next instruction.

Liu An was thinking hard about attracting Jia Xu's attention to his own camp. After a while, when he glanced at Jia Xu, he found that he had been drinking tea with his head down and had not looked up at the guests sitting there for a long time.

This was obviously very rude. Liu An didn't believe that Jia Xu's wisdom would make such a low-level mistake.

After thinking about it carefully, Liu An knew that Jia Xu might have discovered his abnormal relationship with Lin Fang.

Liu An simply stopped pretending, simply stated his identity and ambition, and extended an invitation to Jia Xu with a frank heart. If that didn't work, he could only coerce him.

However, Liu An believed that with Jia Xu's wisdom, he would be able to guess that if he still refused to submit after revealing his true feelings, he would definitely kill someone and silence him.

Therefore, even if it was just to temporarily save his life, he would definitely stabilize Liu An for the time being, agree to his request, and then think about a way out of trouble.

After Liu An entered Jia Xu's house, he had already noticed that Jia Xu was a simple man, and his home furnishings and clothes were very simple.

Likewise, he had very few servants in his family.

There are only a few old ladies doing laundry and cooking, an old man responsible for cleaning, and three or four young men who carry heavy objects and do chores.

These people, even Liu An and Lu Bu, would not notice them at all, not to mention there were twenty personal guards outside the door.

After considering his words, Liu An stood up from behind Lin Fang, bowed to Jia Xu, and said:

"My dear Liu An, named Changsheng, has met Mr. Wenhe."

When Jia Xu heard someone talking to him, he couldn't pretend anymore. He put the tea cup aside and stood up to greet Liu An, but he still looked at Lin Fang with a puzzled look on his face.

Asked: "Lin Shijun, this...?"

"I dare not hide it from Mr. Wenhe. This is my Ming Gong, the former magistrate of Jiuyuan County, who has now been moved to the county magistrate of Zhuo County. I wonder if Mr. Wenhe has ever heard of County Magistrate Liu who defeated Xianbei?"

Jia Xu has been cultivating his moral character for a long time and has long been able to keep his emotions and anger intangible. However, when Lin Fang said the words "This is my Ming Gong", he couldn't help but be shocked.

He could see that the relationship between Lin Fang and Liu An was unusual, but he could not imagine that Lin Fanggui, as the governor of a state, was willing to worship such a young man as his master.

He originally thought that Liu An was the son of Lin Fang's benefactor or a child of a wealthy family, but he didn't expect that the two of them were actually master and servant.

Later, I was even more surprised when I heard Lin Fang say that this person was the Jiuyuan County Magistrate who defeated Xianbei.

Most people who often pay attention to world affairs have heard about the fact that the magistrate of Jiuyuan County led the county soldiers to defeat Xianbei in the west on the orders of the governor of Wuyuan County.

However, they only know that the surname of Jiuyuan County Magistrate is Liu, and he is known as Magistrate Liu, but their specific name and age are not clear.

Jia Xu looked at Liu An. Although this man was around the age of 18, he looked like he was not yet there.

Jia Xu couldn't help but sigh: "It's true that a hero comes from a young age! County Magistrate Liu... No, Magistrate Liu can achieve such great achievements at such a young age, and his future achievements will be limitless."

Jia Xu said this, but did not mention a word that Liu An was Lin Fangminggong's business.

It was obvious that he did not want anything to do with this matter.

But Liu An would definitely not let Jia Xu get away with it. He smiled bitterly and said:

"The future is limitless? How long this big man... can last is unknown. The fate of you and me, and the fate of all life in the world is unknown. Mr. Wen He, let me tell you, why is there such a saying that the future is limitless?"

"This..." Faced with Liu An's rebellious words, Jia Xu looked embarrassed at the right time and asked doubtfully: "Why did County Magistrate Liu say this?"
To be continued...