As soon as he returned to the Tao Trading Company, Liu Jing received news that Liu Biao sent someone to find Taoli in the morning.

In fact, Liu Biao looked down on the Tao family in his bones. On the one hand, he enjoyed the huge amount of money and grain provided by the Tao family every year. On the other hand, he ignored the Tao family's feelings and forced the Tao family to offer their daughter Tao Zhan to Liu Cong as a concubine. It was this incident that caused strong dissatisfaction from the Tao family, and thus interrupted the offering that had been incurred for more than ten years.

After only one interruption of the offering, Liu Biao felt huge pressure on money and food, which made him quite regretful and wanted to appease the Tao family and save the situation. Therefore, this time he celebrated his birthday, he specially invited the Tao family to attend as a VIP.

It should be said that Liu Biao's attitude towards the Tao family was as expected by Liu Jing. The money and grain provided by the Tao family were very important to Jingzhou. He felt it deeper after coming to Xiangyang. If Liu Biao continued to ignore the Tao family, this would be a strange thing.

Although expected, Liu Jing still felt a little uneasy, after all, the Tao family is equally important to him.

Without hesitation, Liu Jing immediately entered the inner hall and found Tao Li, who was Tao Lie's second son and the second person in the Tao family. He was mainly responsible for the business in Jingzhou, while Tao Lie's third son was responsible for the business in Jiangdong.

This time, Tao Li was represented by Tao Li when the Tao family visited Liu Biao several times. It was the head of Tao Sheng, and he was highly respected. However, this time, Tao Lie decided to let his second son be the representative of the Tao family, which was also his shrewdness.

This time, the Tao family was not independent, but was just a vassal of Liu Jing. In this case, it is not advisable to let the head of the family come forward, but a secondary person appears to show the Tao family's low-keyness.

Tao Li had just finished lunch and was about to take a nap when Liu Jing's voice came from outside the door, "Do you want to rest?"

Tao Li quickly got up to greet him, bowed and smiled, "Why are you here?"

Although Liu Jing followed Tao Zhan's name and called him the second uncle, Tao Li had to be ungrateful, and could not really regard himself as the "second uncle".

"I want to talk to my second uncle for something."

Taoli nodded, "Please come in and say!"

Tao Li invited Liu Jing into the cabin. The two of them sat down. Tao Li poured him a cup of hot tea and said with a smile: "Young Master, just say it straight."

Liu Jing smiled and said, "I want to talk about the Tao family's birthday celebration this time."

Although Liu Jing did not mention that Liu Biao sent someone to come, Tao Li knew that Liu Jing came to him at this time, which must be related to this matter.

Before Liu Jing could continue, he took out an exquisite invitation and put it on the table and pushed it to Liu Jing. "This is an invitation written by the provincial mu and invited me to meet at the provincial government tomorrow, but I won't go, I will refuse because of the disease."

Liu Jing looked at the invitation carefully, and the smile on his face disappeared, and he pondered for a moment: "Frankly speaking, this time the Tao family's birthday is actually a key condition for my negotiations with the provincial governor.

When I was in charge of Chaisang, the biggest opinion of the provincial governor to me was that the Tao family no longer paid tribute to him, which led to his military expenditure being tight. Today, he specially sent an invitation to invite his second uncle to meet at the provincial government office, which shows his importance to the Tao family."

Tao Li nodded, "The Tao family pays a huge amount of money and grain to Jingzhou every year. The provincial governor has said more than once that the Tao family is the pillar of Jingzhou. On the birthday of each year, the Tao family is the guest. We know the importance of the Tao family to the provincial governor."

After pausing, Tao Li said again: "My father also talked to me before leaving. The Tao family will fully cooperate with the young master's trip to Xiangyang. This time, the Tao family will never act alone. They will follow the young master to celebrate the birthday."

The so-called foiling birthday celebration means that you will sign Liu Jing’s name in the book. This situation is often used for exchanges between disparity in status, such as saying “Congratulations to someone’s subordinate” on the book, etc., to use another person with higher status to improve yourself.

Although the Tao family itself is highly valued by Liu Biao, they must be low-key this time, so they will write the words "Chaisang and Liu Sima" on the birthday greetings to indicate the relationship between the Tao family and Liu Jing.

Tao Li said this to Liu Jing, and no matter how Liu Biao tempted him, the Tao family would never betray him.

Liu Jing nodded. Since the Tao family is so sensible, he doesn't need to say more. He stood up and smiled and said, "Since the second uncle is going to rest, I won't disturb you much."

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Liu Jing returned to his room and planned to take a nap. At this time, a soldier reported outside the door, "Report to Sima, the governor of Xiangyang County, Wang Ji, asks for a meeting!"

Wang Ji was Liu Biao's son-in-law and a backbone of the Kuai Party in Jingzhou. He gave Liu Jing great help in handling the slave trafficking in Ganning the year before yesterday and made 500 false slave contracts. For this reason, he was heavily blamed by Liu Biao and was demoted to the magistrate of Zhonglu County for a while. He was not reinstated until the beginning of this year.

Liu Jing has always felt guilty about him in this matter. When he heard him visiting him, Liu Jing quickly responded: "Hurry up and invite him to the guesthouse!"

After saying that, he felt it was inappropriate, so he came out in person. Outside the gate, Wang Ji stood with a smile and held his hands behind his back. Wang Ji came from a famous family and was an official in Jingzhou for many years and had a strong qualification. In addition, he was Liu Biao's son-in-law, so he had a very good reputation in the officialdom of Jingzhou, but among the Jingzhou faction, he belonged to the Kuai Party and was Kuai Yue's number one ally.

"Let Wang Junzhu wait for a long time!" Liu Jing walked out quickly and bowed with a smile.

Wang Ji replied with a smile and said, "Young Master Jing is busy with affairs, and I am also here to disturb me. I am very sorry."

"Mr. Wang is so polite!"

Liu Jing smiled and waved his hand, "Please come in!"

"please!"

Wang Ji followed Liu Jing into the guest hall. The two of them sat down with guests and hosts. A soldier served tea. The two exchanged a few greetings. Wang Ji praised Liu Jing for Jiangxia's great victory and became famous. As soon as the topic changed, he gradually entered today's topic.

"Did Mr. Jing find that Zhou Mu's body is wrong?"

Liu Jing nodded, "I went to visit my uncle last night and found that he was very old, just like a person in his seventies or eighties. I was a little surprised, why did he suddenly become so old? Is there any inside story?"

"Why!"

Wang Ji sighed, "The Palace Master once suspected that he was poisoned, but no matter how he was examined, there was no sign of poisoning. Later, Yizheng Zhang said that it may be that the Palace Master worked too much when he was young and accumulated the root of the disease. After the person was over 60, these roots of the disease were immediately exposed. With such an explanation, everyone believed it."

Liu Jing pondered for a moment and asked again: "How many years will my uncle have to do this?"

Wang Ji stretched out three fingers, "Yi Zheng Zhang said, it will last for two or three years at most, but I will only tell you privately. Only a few people know that even the Lord of Zhou himself dares to say it."

Liu Jing was silent. At this time, Wang Ji said again: "Now the senior officials of Jingzhou are in panic and are worried about the future of Jingzhou. Master Jing, I might as well tell you the truth. Master Qi is worried."

Liu Jing frowned, "You mean my uncle is very likely to make Mr. Cong the heir?"

Wang Ji nodded, "From the current situation, it is very likely that it is Mr. Cong, alright! This cannot be blamed for being biased by the Lord of Zhou. Mr. Qi is sometimes really disappointing."

Liu Jing thought of what Yi Ji said to him and asked, "So, is it true that Mr. Qi is visiting a prostitute?"

Wang Ji sneered, "That one is pretty light, the worst thing is that he dares to do anything when he is interested. He loves Li Qingmei, a famous prostitute in Jiangling, and once took her to the study to review documents on his behalf, and made decisions, which led to the release of seeds from the official fields in spring this year for two days, which made the public complaints.

This incident was later sued to the prefecture yamen, and Cai Mao secretly brought Li Qingmei to Xiangyang to confront the prefecture gamble, adding fuel to the fire. It was this incident that made the prefecture gamble and basically ruined Mr. Qi's future. This time, the prefecture gambled him and did not allow him to participate in the preparations, nor did he allow him to come to Xiangyang."

Liu Jing felt a headache. If this was the case, it would be difficult for Liu Qi to help him up.

At this time, Wang Ji looked at Liu Jing deeply and said slowly: "If Liu Cong becomes the lord of Jingzhou and the Cai family is in power, we will be done. So I discussed with Gong Kuai and we are considering giving up Mr. Qi and supporting Mr. Jing."

Liu Jing smiled and shook his head, "How could I be? The governor of the state will not consider making his nephew a successor. I suggest you find a way to reverse the decline of Mr. Qi. This is the way to win."

Wang Ji sighed, "We have invested so much money on Mr. Qi. Whenever there is a front-line opportunity, we will strive for it. However, without long-term plans, we must have immediate worries. We must make the worst plans. So I discussed with Mr. Kuai and I that while we strive for it for Mr. Qi, we must also support Mr. Jing ascend the throne."

Liu Jing bowed and bowed, "Thank you, the county magistrate, for thinking about it for me. However, Liu Jing was a little talented and knowledgeable, and was not a heir. I am afraid he would let down your expectations..."

Before Liu Jing finished speaking, Wang Ji waved his hand and said, "Young Master Jing is too arrogant. You have long admired Mr. Jing defeated the Jiangdong Army in Jiangxia. Not only us, but many senior officials in Jingzhou hope that Mr. Jing is the lord of Jingzhou. We want to use his current reputation to strike while the iron is hot, try to win over the senior officials of Jingzhou as much as possible, and lay the foundation for the young master to inherit the lord of Jingzhou."

Speaking of this, Wang Ji said sincerely: "The key is that the young master needs to express his attitude and give many senior officials who support the young master a reassurance, including me."

It should be said that Wang Ji's suggestion was exactly what Liu Jing dreamed of. If Kuai Yue had not talked to him this morning, he might have agreed without hesitation, but since he and Kuai Yue had already had a deep conversation, he felt that he should not have too much interaction with others.

Moreover, this kind of thing is not something that can be discussed with others casually. Although he owes Wang Ji a favor, this favor is not enough to the extent that he and Wang Ji have a close relationship.

However, Liu Jing didn't want to refuse at once. After all, Wang Ji had a high status and deep connections. If he really supported him fully, it would be of great help to Liu Jing in the future. He also wanted to try his best to fight for this relationship.

After pondering for a moment, Liu Jing also responded sincerely: "First of all, thank the county magistrate for his support, but this matter is of great importance. Let me think carefully and I will definitely give the county magistrate a satisfactory answer."

Wang Ji smiled happily, "Of course, this matter must be discussed for a long time."

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At night, in Liu's study, Liu Biao listened to Wang Ji's report with a focused expression. After listening to Wang Ji's final statement, Liu Biao frowned and asked, "You mean, he did not express his clear intention to participate in the battle for the position of governor of the state?"

Although Wang Ji belonged to the Kuai Party, it was only for Cai Mao. In front of the prefectural governor Liu Biao, he did not have any disputes over the faction. More importantly, he was Liu Biao's son-in-law, and Liu Biao could entrust him with his confidant.

Just this morning, Liu Biao handed over an important task to him and asked him to test Liu Jing's ambition, that is, whether he had a plan to seize the governor of Jingzhou. So Wang Ji visited Liu Jing in the afternoon.

Wang Ji was very loyal to Liu Biao and did not hide it at all. He told him the meeting with Liu Jing in its entirety, but he did not mention that Liu Biao had two or three years of life left, which would make people sad.

"Reporting to my father-in-law, the son-in-law repeatedly tried, and felt that Liu Jing was very cautious. Although he did not make a clear statement, he did not refuse clearly. It was just that I was not familiar with him and he refused to show his sincerity in front of me. But I can see that he really thought that Jingzhou had an opportunity and had the ambition to annex Jingzhou."

Liu Biao's face turned pale. Without Wang Ji's explanation, he had already understood Liu Jing's ambition from Wang Ji's narrative. His fists slowly clenched, "This ungrateful and ungrateful bastard actually wanted to gain the foundation of his son!"

At this moment, Liu Biao's murderous intent suddenly arose!

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Chapter completed!