Zhao Yu and Xue Li were both the ones Liu Bei wanted to win over at first, but now they were both killed by Zuo Rong, which naturally made Liu Bei extremely uncomfortable.
Moreover, Zuo Rong not only killed these two important Xuzhou officials, but also sent troops to plunder property and kill people. The local people's livelihood was in decline, and Liu Bei still had to find a way to deal with the aftermath.
But Zuo Rong was a thief, he would change places after killing people, but now he continued to flee south, went to Yangzhou territory, and took refuge with Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou.
Now the sky is high and the emperor is far away, Liu Bei cannot catch up even if he wants to. Moreover, Liu Yao and Yuan Shu are in opposition, so naturally they will not hand over Zuo Rong.
Liu Yao was a clan member of the Han Dynasty, loyal to the current Han Dynasty, and could not deal with Yuan Shu, who had a desire to be independent. The focus of the dispute between the two was the governor of Yuzhang County, a subordinate of Yangzhou.
Yuan Shu privately appointed Zhuge Xuan of the Langya gentry as the governor of Yuzhang, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the Han court, so he sent Zhu Hao to Yuzhang County to replace Zhuge Xuan.
Zhu Hao, courtesy name Wenming, was from Kuaiji. He was good at treating others with sincerity and had the style of an elder. His father was Taiwei Zhu Jun.
Zhu Hao found Liu Yao and borrowed troops to attack Zhuge Xuan. Zhuge Xuan was defeated and retreated to Xicheng. Zhu Hao entered Nanchang and the two sides faced off.
It happened that Zuo Rong defected to Liu Yao, so Liu Yao asked him to assist Zhu Hao. Zhu Hao knew Zuo Rong's name of worshiping Buddha and treated him as a distinguished guest.
At this time, the famous scholar Xu Shao ran to Liu Yao and told him that Zuo Rong was a villain and extremely dangerous, and Zhu Hao needed to be on guard against him, but Liu Yao didn't believe it.
Now Liu Bei is in a dilemma.
He wanted to get close to the Han court, but after Gongsun Zan killed Liu Yu, he was regarded as a traitor by the Han court, and Liu Bei was also in a dilemma.
Although everyone privately understood what was going on, it was an indisputable fact that Gongsun Zan was abandoned by the Han court.
Tao Qian died, Tian Kai was driven out of Qingzhou, and now Liu Bei's only apparent ally was the rebel Yuan Shu.
There are also conflicts between rebels and rebels. Yuan Shu's biggest enemy now is his brother, another rebel Yuan Shao.
Now Liu Bei is in a very awkward situation in Xuzhou. To the north is Yuan Tan of Qingzhou, to the west is Cao Cao of Yanzhou, and to the south is Liu Yao of Yangzhou. If he does not rely on Yuan Shu who occupies part of Yangzhou and Yuzhou, he will really be surrounded!
Liu Bei actually still loves the Han Dynasty, but the current situation makes him at a loss as his advisers have many differences, he doesn't know who he wants to be with, and he can't see a way out at all.
This is why Chen Qun does not agree with Liu Bei taking over Xuzhou. This is a piece of honey containing poison. If it is not handled well, it will choke people!
But from Chen Deng's perspective, Liu Bei had no other choice. Although he might die later if he ate it, he would die if he didn't eat it now.
The difference between the two sides lies not only in the matter of Zuo Rong, but also in hearing that Yuan Shao sent envoys to Xuzhou.
Liu Bei coughed and said, "I would like to hear your opinions on the matter of Yuan Benchu sending people to Xuzhou."
He was also a little depressed because he didn't have many people under his command, but they were divided into several factions.
Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, and other Xuzhou nobles risked their fortunes and lives with him, so their relationship was naturally closer.
Similar to this sect are Sun Qian, who was just recruited into the army, and Jian Yong, who had followed Liu Bei since childhood.
The other faction is the Yuzhou gentry conquered by Liu Bei.
Although Liu Bei's governor of Yuzhou has some unfair names and has not yet occupied actual territory, he has a great advantage.
You can open a government and recruit subordinate officials.
One of them is to recruit Chen Qun to work for others.
Chen Qun is the son of Chen Ji, who was born in Yingchuan County, Yuzhou. Chen Ji served as Pingyuan Prime Minister at first. When Yuan Shao and Tian Kai fought in Pingyuan, Chen Ji did not want to get involved and ran back to his hometown. Pingyuan Prime Minister was vacated, and Liu Bei was able to
Upper position.
With such a relationship, Liu Bei reciprocated and conquered Chen Qun.
The second is to recommend Yuan Huan of Chen County as a talented person.
Yuan Huan is a son of the public family, and his father Yuan Pang and Cai Yong are cousins. They served as Situ during the reign of Emperor Ling. It can be said that Yuan Huan has a higher status than Chen Qun in a sense.
The two remaining people are Liu Yan and Chen Dao.
In later history, these two people have always followed Liu Bei, and it can be said that they have followed Liu Bei forever.
These people are vaguely divided into two groups, just because their starting points are different.
The Xuzhou gentry naturally tended to develop in Xuzhou, and the Yuzhou gentry tended to conquer the world in Yuzhou. This was where the gentry's local sentiments and interests lay.
Because of this reason, they had subtle differences in their future development strategies.
Because Yuan Shao's minion Cao Cao massacred Xuzhou, the Xuzhou nobles were more disgusted with Yuan Shao, while the Yuzhou nobles were the opposite.
Now that Cao Cao occupies half of Yuzhou, the Yuzhou nobles naturally don't want to offend Yuan Shao and implicate their own family.
Therefore, they had been arguing over Yuan Shao's mission to Xuzhou.
Seeing that everyone couldn't figure it out, Liu Bei turned to Kong Rong who had been silent and said, "What do you think, sir?"
The opinions of the Xuzhou gentry and the Yuzhou gentry must be adjusted by a neutral faction. Kong Rong was a famous figure in the world and had a transcendent status. It was most appropriate for him to have the final say.
When Chen Deng and Mi Zhu heard that it was Kong Rong, they all looked at each other with joy. Kong Rong had just been defeated by Yuan Shao's two sons in Qingzhou. This time, it was the second son Yuan Xi who participated in the visit to Xuzhou. Could Kong Rong not object?
What surprised them was that Kong Rong thought for a while and said: "Although the Yuan family boy defeated me, I can't let the people of Xuzhou get involved for my own selfish reasons."
"Xuzhou can no longer make enemies on all sides now. Since the other party is interested, it would be good to see what the conditions are like."
After hearing this, Liu Bei nodded and said: "What Duke Wen Ju said is reasonable. Yuan Shao personally sent his son here to show his sincerity. If he refuses rashly, it will be difficult for Yuan Shao to use an excuse to send troops."
When everyone saw what Kong Rong and Liu Bei said, they knew that the matter was a foregone conclusion. No one had any objections at the moment, and they all agreed to welcome Yuan Xi to the peace talks team in Xuzhou.
Everyone dispersed, and Chen Qun and Yuan Huan walked out side by side. When they were far away, Chen Qun smiled at Yuan Huan and said, "Yao Qing, this time the Yuan family is here, you can take the opportunity to build some connections, which may not be needed in the future.
Woolen cloth."
Yuan Huan said sternly: "Brother Changwen's words are wrong. Not to mention that I, the Yuan family of Chen County, do not rely on the Yuan family of Runan. Moreover, I am now under the Xuande family. How can I secretly communicate with foreign enemies?"
After hearing this, Chen Qun shook his head and said, "Yao Qing, you are still so rigid."
Chen Qunlai was quite dissatisfied with Liu Bei's failure to adopt his opinion, and wanted to express some complaints, but seeing that Yuan Huan was very loyal to Liu Bei, he swallowed the words in his stomach as soon as they came to his lips.
Regarding this matter, Chen Qun had already vaguely decided that Liu Bei was not the best candidate for his lord, but he was also hesitant, what should he do in the future?
Yecheng, Wei County.
Gao Lan was training troops in the military camp for days and nights. Zhen Rong had nothing to do, so he went to Zhen Mansion to chat with Zhen Mi.
At that time, Yuan Shao had received a reply from Liu Bei agreeing to the peace talks. Since the matter was conducted secretly, he sent Yuan Xi to quietly visit Xuzhou with a fleet of vehicles.
Zhen Ronghe was not in high spirits, knowing that he could not worry about Yuan Xi, so he couldn't help but make fun of Zhen Mi.
When she heard that Yuan Xi had come to Zhenmi's small building before leaving, her expression was a little subtle, "He and you are alone in the small building?"
Zhen Mi nodded and said shyly: "I originally thought he was a gentleman, but I didn't expect him to be arrogant and rude."
Zhen Rong's heart skipped a beat: "What did he do to you?"
Zhen Mi smiled and said: "In addition to touching my hand in private, he also did the same thing to the fourth sister."
"What!" Zhen Rong was like a thunderbolt. Doesn't this mean that he was touched all over his body, which is almost equivalent to losing his virginity!
She lost her voice: "How can he be so rude and bold!"
"Yes!" Zhen Mi nodded: "When he touched my face, I almost fainted."
Zhen Rong was stunned, "It's just the face?"
"Yes, what else can we do?" Zhen Mi nodded and said, "When he touched my hand, I felt my face was hot. I thought I was sick, so Mr. Yuan Xi stretched out his hand and touched my hand.
Forehead."
"This caught me off guard. For some reason, my face became even hotter."
"I heard Wu Zhao say last time that when my sister was framed, the master didn't meet her, but I always felt that she was lying to me."
"When my sister was helped into the carriage, her whole body was very hot. I'm afraid Mr. Yuan Xi also touched my sister's face, right?"
Zhen Rong became at a loss and stammered: "I couldn't remember clearly at the time. It should be like this, right?"
Zhen Mi frowned, "That's not right. The young master's hand touched my forehead and my face felt hot. My sister's whole body felt hot. Doesn't that mean..."
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Zhen Rong gritted his teeth and said, "I feel hot all over because I was drugged! Drugged, do you understand?"
After hearing this, Zhen Mi quickly smiled and said, "I made a mistake. Sister, don't blame me."
Zhen Rong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He finally got over the deception. Sometimes the little sister is very smart, sometimes she is very naive.
A convoy set off from Yecheng, Wei County, from Qinghe County to Jibei County, Yanzhou, then to Lu County, Pengcheng County, Xuzhou, and finally arrived at Tancheng, Xiapi County.
The road passed through Yanzhou in the middle, and the advantage was that there was no fighting along the way, and because they were using the identity of the Jizhou caravan, and with the guidance of the Yuan family, it was smooth sailing in Yanzhou.
When we arrived in Xuzhou, the road guide was changed to Xuzhou's.
Yuan Xi was in the carriage at this time, with two women sitting opposite him.
A beautiful middle-aged woman with a reserved expression, and a young girl in her prime were secretly looking at Yuan Xi with her big, bright black eyes.
When Yuan Xi looked over, the girl quickly hid her face behind the beautiful woman's sleeves.
Yuan Xi turned to look out the window and said: "This trip is a cover-up, but it has caused a lot of inconvenience to the lady and the girl. Please forgive me."
The beautiful woman hurriedly said: "Young Master has been too humble. My concubine and my daughter were left in the city. If I hadn't rescued you, I would have died long ago."
Yuan Xi thought to himself that this was true. The beautiful woman and girl in front of him were Kong Rong's wife and daughter.
Kong Rong was a man of words, but he didn't expect that his true colors would be revealed when he escaped. He even left his wife behind and was taken over by Yuan Tan.
After Yuan Xi learned about it, he asked for it from Yuan Tan as a bargaining chip in Xuzhou's negotiations.
He had already sent a secret message in advance to inform Kong Rong that Kong Rong had a very high reputation and if his wife could not come back, she would become the laughing stock of the world, so he fully supported the peace talks between Yuan and Liu.
The reason why Yuan Xi was curious about Kong Rong's daughter was not because of her appearance, but because of her future identity.
Yang's first wife Kong.
After Kong's death, Yang Xi's second wife was Cai Zhaoji's sister Cai Zhenji.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi couldn't help but sigh at the wonder of fate.
This big family in the Three Kingdoms, who love and kill each other, is really full of relatives.