Jia Xu's fat figure sat on the straw mat, and the winter sun fell on him, helping him dispel the chill. When he had nothing to do, Jia Xu liked to hide in his yard and bask in the sun.
After Chu Nan, Lu Bu and others came out of the secret realm, they sent someone to send a copy of the meditation method. When the Central Plains was vigorously promoting the meditation method, Chu Nan did not force Nanyang to do anything. He just sent the meditation method over. Didn't say anything.
Jia Xuneng roughly understood what Chu Nan meant. This was another wooing. The struggle between the north and the south was inevitable. Nanyang was dependent on the imperial court, but relatively independent. The appointment and dismissal of officials, military power and even finance were still in Zhang Xiu's hands.
But for this reason, the Nanyang nobles were quite repulsive to Zhang Xiu.
Is there a rule? Except for the life of the scholars under Chu Nan's rule, it was still the same in other places. Once local officials were rejected by the nobles, they would be constrained everywhere, even for a prince like Zhang Xiu who held military power. the same.
Of course, Zhang Xiu can also choose to follow Chu Nan's old path and sacrifice the butcher's knife, but Zhang Xiu obviously does not have the courage, and Jia Xu does not recommend doing so. The world is still uncertain, and he will be unlucky in the end if he makes a premature bet.
He doesn't want to live a busy life and live in the shadow of being assassinated all day long.
However, it is possible to cooperate with the imperial court, such as material trade, exchange of goods and services, and even the New Deal can be used. After all, this is the imperial decree, and we are right to do things according to the imperial law. The nobles usually make troubles openly and secretly. If you dare to forcefully stop him at this time, you will deny him a way out and force Zhang Xiu to use the butcher's knife.
The nobles obviously also understood this truth. In order to avoid completely pushing Zhang Xiu to Chu Nan's side, they made some compromises, making Nanyang look quite peaceful now.
As long as there is no chaos, Jia Xu doesn't care about other things. Nanyang will eventually choose a force to join, and it will be fine after the northern overlord is decided.
If it were Cao Cao, Jia Xu would suggest Zhang Xiu defect now, but if it were Chu Nan, Jia Xu thought it would be better to wait. After all, Chu Nan's path was different from Cao Cao's and it was too risky.
As for the ultimate benefit, Jia Xu doesn't care. Take your time. Safety is the most important thing. Although you won't get any big benefits, you won't take any big risks either.
It's just that Jia Xu didn't quite understand the process of Chu Nan taking over power.
Isn't this too easy?
It seemed to be a natural excess, and this was the first time in his entire life that Jia Xu had seen such a peaceful internal transfer of power.
Sure enough, it is impossible to forget all the things in this world. Let’s take a closer look at whose hands this battle for overlordship in the Central Plains will ultimately fall.
"Master!" An old servant walked in quickly and saluted Jia Xu.
"What's the matter?" Jia Xu asked with a smile.
"The envoy is here." The old servant bowed and said.
"Please come quickly!" Jia Xu stood up unsteadily, straightened his clothes, and wandered to the main hall.
In the main hall, Zhang Xiu had already arrived first. When he saw Jia Xu, he quickly stood up and said, "Sir."
"Your Majesty, please take a seat." Jia Xu quickly motioned for Zhang Xiu to sit down, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is a monarch, and I am a minister. How can a monarch treat his ministers as a courtesy?"
"Sir, please don't say that. I am able to sit here in Nanyang thanks to your advice." Zhang Xiu obeyed and sat down. He looked at Jia Xu and said with a smile: "I know that you like to be quiet, so I don't want to disturb you, but I don't want to disturb you." There is something undecided today, so I would like to ask Sir for advice."
Jia Xu was very satisfied with Zhang Xiu's attitude. Looking around the world, it was a bit difficult to find such a lord who would support his subordinates.
It's a pity that Zhang Xiu has no heroic appearance, and Nanyang is the place of the Four Wars, so it is really difficult to develop. Otherwise, it cannot be said that he is a prince that cannot be ignored in the world.
"It doesn't matter what you say." Jia Xu was still smiling.
"Liu Biao sent a letter today, inviting me to Xinye to have a talk." Zhang Xiu frowned and said, "I wonder if it has something to do with the war situation in the Central Plains?"
Although the fight between Chu Nan and Yuan Shao has not started yet, the competition between the two sides has already begun. It can be seen that Jingzhou began to gradually reduce the trade with Chu Nan. Liu Biao was tying Yuan Shao to wave the flag.
"Your Majesty, have you agreed?" Jia Xu asked after thinking for a moment.
Xinye belongs to the buffer zone between Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu. Liu Biao made an appointment with Zhang Xiu here, which can be regarded as quite sincere.
But if you really want to scheme against people, it's too easy.
"I haven't replied yet, let me ask what you want sir." Zhang Xiu shook his head. He followed Zhang Xiu's advice. Whenever he had any undecided questions, he would ask Zhang Xiu immediately instead of making his own decision.
"If you believe me, I will decline the invitation." Jia Xu sighed.
Liu Biao is looking for Zhang Xiu for two purposes. One is to let Zhang Xiu draw a clear line between Chu Nan. After all, in name, Nanyang is also under the rule of Jingzhou. Before dealing with Cao Cao, the relationship between Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao
It's still an alliance.
Now it is not strange for Liu Biao to cheer for Yuan Shao and draw Zhang Xiu, who is attached to Chu Nan, to his side.
Another reason may be a bit sinister. Liu Biao wants to recapture Nanyang. If this is the purpose, then Zhang Xiu's trip will be dangerous. Since Liu Biao has invited Zhang Xiu to go, he is sure to keep Zhang Xiu.
Once Zhang Xiu died in Xinye and Liu Biao took advantage of the situation to advance towards Nanyang, the Nanyang nobles would probably be the first to greet him. Without Zhang Xiu in charge, Nanyang would be too easy to capture.
No matter what the possibility is, there is no benefit in going there, and there is even a risk of losing your life, so why go.
"This..." Zhang Xiu hesitated, but still nodded.
Jia Xu looked at his appearance, shook his head and smiled. This man's character was the kind of person who was intolerant of feelings and not good at rejection.
"In this way, I sent you a letter in reply, saying that I have been busy with official duties in recent days, and there was an assassination. I was frightened and unable to do anything. If you have something important, you might as well come to Nanyang to discuss it." Jia Xu straightened his body and said:
Zhang Xiu came up with an idea.
Put the meeting place in the final place. If the other party really wants to persuade Zhang Xiu, he can just send an envoy over. If he doesn't come, it is probably the second one, who wants Nanyang and Zhang Xiu's life.
"Okay!" Zhang Xiu looked much more relaxed after hearing this. He nodded and said, "Then I'll go."
Jia Xu nodded and stood up to see him off.
Looking at Zhang Xiu's hurried away figure, Jia Xu shook his head and continued to go back to the yard to bask in the sun. Before the end of the war between the North and the South, there would probably be no scenes in Nanyang. He just happened to have some leisure time, which was good.
On the other side, Zhang Xiu followed Jia Xu's suggestion and wrote back a letter for the envoy sent by Liu Biao to take back.
However, the envoy did not return directly to Xiangyang, but went directly to Xinye.
"Lord!" After the envoy saw Liu Bei, he saluted Liu Bei and called him "Lord."
"Did Zhang Xiu agree?" Liu Bei said nothing, but Jian Yong stood up and looked at the envoy.
"I don't know about my humble position, but General Zhang just replied to this letter." After the soldier finished speaking, he handed over Zhang Xiu's letter.
Jian Yong quickly took it, took out the letter and opened it.
After a while, he shook his head to Liu Bei with some disappointment: "That Zhang Xiu refused to come because he was busy with official duties. If there is something important, I want Jing Shenggong to go to Wancheng to discuss it."
Liu Bei nodded silently, raised his hand, and asked the soldiers to retreat.
Naturally, this letter was not written by Liu Biao, but by Liu Bei.
When the three Liu Bei brothers were defeated by Lu Bu in Heilu Stream, Zhang Fei died in battle and Liu Bei was seriously injured. Guan Yu only took his personal guards and Zhang Fei's coffin and fled south with Liu Bei, looking for famous doctors along the way to treat Liu Bei's injuries.
It was also Liu Bei who unexpectedly met Zhang Ji who was traveling and helped him heal his injuries.
After Liu Bei learned the news of Zhang Fei's death, he did not cry, but stayed in a daze for a long time. He took Guan Yu and the remaining soldiers to bury Zhang Fei silently.
Since then, Liu Bei has been silent a lot.
After recovering from his injuries, Liu Bei took Guan Yu and others to join Liu Biao.
They were both members of the Han clan, and Liu Bei was well-known. Liu Biao took good care of this brother of the same clan and always treated him as an honored guest. However, he always ignored Liu Bei's suggestion of a northern expedition to Lu Bu.
Recently, Liu Biao accepted Yuan Shao's alliance, and then Liu Bei and his brothers were stationed in Xinye.
Xinye is indeed the easing zone between Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu. Normally, Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao would not care about it, but at this time Liu Biao occupied Xinye, and Zhang Xiu had no information due to the rejection of the nobles. In addition, Xinye already belonged to his power.
Out of range, no news was received for a while.
After Liu Bei settled in Xinye, he actively prepared for war. At the same time, he thought about capturing Nanyang as his base. With Liu Biao's back, he prepared to take advantage of the decisive battle between Lu Bu and Yuan Shao to sabotage it from behind and avenge his third brother.
The first plan was to use Liu Biao's name to trick Zhang Xiu into coming to Xinye and kill him before the news of the occupation of Xinye reached Zhang Xiu, and then take advantage of the situation to seize Nanyang.
Now it seems that this plan has failed.
"Where is Yun Chang?" Liu Bei looked to his left and right, and saw that his second brother was no longer around, and asked with some confusion.
"The second general is practicing the drill." Sun Qian smiled and said, "I'll go and invite him here."
"No, just let Yunchang continue training. I will discuss it with him when he comes back." Liu Bei sighed.
Zhang Fei's death was also a huge blow to Guan Yu. After Zhang Fei was buried, Guan Yu worked hard and practiced battle formations every day. Especially after the idea of self-viewing spread, Guan Yu almost focused on showing off and admiring it, and his cultivation became more and more sophisticated.
It's just that I haven't seen him smile for a long time, even when facing his own son, he has never smiled again.
"Lord, our army now only has a small territory in Xinye, with no more than two thousand soldiers. If we want to seize Nanyang with a small but powerful force, we need a clever plan!" Jian Yong looked at Liu Bei and said.
Liu Bei nodded, but he didn't know that with just two thousand soldiers and horses, he wanted to capture Nanyang, which was a bit wishful thinking, so he wanted to trick Zhang Xiu into killing him, and then it would be much easier to capture Nanyang.
"Why not contact the heroes of Nanyang, maybe something can be done." Sun Qian suddenly said.
Nanyang hero?
Liu Bei heard this and looked at Sun Qian: "However, Bei and Nanyang Haojun have never been friends. I'm afraid..."
"My lord, I'm looking down here. The Nanyang nobles are quite repelled by Zhang Xiu's closeness to Lu Bu. Since trapping and killing him is not possible, it is better to use the title of lord and try to win over Nanyang's heroes. If they can help, Nanyang will be easy to capture!"