Liu Xin laughed loudly: "Gongyu, you are too careful. I treat others with sincerity, so why should I be afraid?"
All the officials in Wuling City stood on both sides with their hands folded. They listened to Liu Xin's candid words and saw the natural expression on his face. They all secretly admired him. No wonder this man could manage Jingzhou in an orderly manner.
Liu Xin raised her riding whip lightly and entered the city first.
In the hall of the Prefect's Mansion, Cao Yu was brought up, his eyes were bloodshot. Last night, he was lying in bed unable to sleep. Unexpectedly, his officials suddenly got into trouble and rushed into the Prefect's Mansion, and the guards around him also turned against him.
, Cao Yu barely had a chance to resist, so he became a prisoner. Cao Yu knew that today was already in danger, so he straightened up and shouted loudly as soon as he came in: "Liu Xin, you and I have always been in different directions.
Guard the borders and do not interfere with each other. Today you occupied Wuling for no reason. If the emperor knew about it, he would not spare you!"
Liu Xin looked at Cao Yu and said coldly: "I am the shepherd of Jingzhou appointed by the imperial court. This Wuling County is also the place under my rule. Since I have been entrusted by the emperor and have the responsibility to protect the land, it is your duty to come here to visit. You
As the governor of Wuling, you are talking about 'both sides' with me. Just by saying this, I can punish you for treason!"
Cao Yu's eyes widened and he roared: "How dare you!"
Liu Xin sneered and said: "What dare I not do to deal with you rebels? Huang Zu, the governor of Jiangxia, conspired to rebel. He has been beheaded. You should go down and accompany him. Someone came and pushed Cao Yu out and beheaded him in public. His property was confiscated and sent to the official.
The family members serve as official slaves."
While struggling, Cao Yu cursed loudly: "Liu Xin, I will never let you go even if I am a ghost!"
Liu Xin is funny. Too many people have said this, but when has it ever worked? Am I going to let you go just because of your harsh words? How boring!
These days in Jiangxia, Liu Xin has thought a lot. Before the troubled times, why did the governors from all over the country dare to ignore the imperial court and all of them couldn't wait to establish themselves as kings? It's because they have too much power! They mounted their horses to manage the army.
, dismounted to manage the people, and also controlled local finance and taxation, making them look like independent kingdoms. No wonder that in the history of the crusade against Dong Zhuo, seventeen princes came to attack.
The Yellow Turban Uprising the year before last became an excuse for the governors to refuse to pay taxes. They had money, food, and soldiers, so how could their ambitions not expand? Liu Xin didn't want this phenomenon to happen in Jingzhou under his jurisdiction, so he implemented
It seems that the separation of military and political power is not enough. These days, he has already thought about a separation of powers to completely separate the political, military and financial power of each county.
In this way, there is another advantage. Who will serve as the prefect in the future will not be so important. Tian Feng, Han Xi and others who are good at strategy and have great wisdom will not be tied to a small
The county town. However, Jiangxia and Wuling still need them to stabilize the local situation for the time being.
Wuling County was captured with almost no effort, which also made Liu Xin's generals full of confidence. They were all clamoring to capture Lingling and Guiyang counties. But Liu Xin felt that the progress was too fast.
He needs a little rest. His plan is to pay the owed taxes to the court in May. If he moves too fast, it means that he has not really put his heart into it before, so he has suppressed all the petitions from the generals.
.
After taking Jiangxia and Wuling, Jingnan and Jingbei became one, and Liu Xin's two biggest worries were removed. How to deal with Lingling and Guiyang counties next was not so urgent. The army stayed.
While resting in Wuling, Liu Xin was not idle. He had been thinking about when would be a good time to attack the two counties.
At this moment, Jushou walked in with a worried look on his face and said, "My lord, a messenger from Xiangyang is here."
Liu Xin felt nervous and asked quickly: "What happened in Xiangyang?"
Jushou took out a letter from his sleeve and said: "Everything is safe in Xiangyang. The news came from Luoyang Palace. It is really difficult to deal with. Please make a decision, my lord."
Liu Xin took the letter and asked suspiciously: "What big thing can happen in the palace?"
Indeed, in his mind, nothing major should happen in the capital at this time. The real chaos would have to wait until Liu Hong's death in three years.
With the development of the Phantom Secret Agent, Liu Xin paid more and more attention to the news from the palace, but it was not easy to insert his own eyes and ears into the palace. Jushou also once proposed that several people should be sent to the palace.
A secret spy was castrated and sent to the palace to be a eunuch. Liu Xin thought this was too cruel and did not agree. In the current situation where eunuchs can compete with courtiers, he wanted to buy several people from the palace for his own use.
, the difficulty can be imagined. Therefore, Phantom has always been ignorant of what happened in the palace.
The reason why the news was able to spread from the palace this time was thanks to Zhang Rang's uncle and nephew. Just after the New Year, Liu Xin arranged for someone to send a generous gift to Zhang Rang, and also sent one to Zhang Gou'er.
Ever since that time in Juchao, every time Liu Xin came to Beijing to give gifts, Zhang Gouer was indispensable.
As the saying goes, people who eat short-tongued people are soft-handed. Zhang Gou'er is far from reaching the status of his uncle Zhang Rang. He feels a little sorry for receiving so many courtesy from Liu Xin. Zhao Zhong and Liu Xin are not getting along. Outsiders don't know, but they keep it secret.
But Zhang Rang's uncle and nephew. Originally, Zhang Gou'er was a junior, and Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong were on the same page, so he didn't dare to tell Liu Xin these things. Now that he had received another generous gift, he was embarrassed to hide it anymore, so he secretly
I wrote a letter and asked someone to bring it to Liu Xin so that he could make preparations in advance.
This letter arrived in Xiangyang and was handed over to Ma Yun. After reading the contents of the letter, she already knew that Liu Xin had captured Wuling. She did not dare to neglect it at the moment and had someone deliver it quickly.
There were two letters in total, one was a private letter from Ma Yun, and the other was a letter written by Zhang Gou'er to Liu Xin. Liu Xin did not open the private letter first, but directly picked up Zhang Gou'er's letter and read it.
They stood up. Jushou secretly watched from the side and nodded secretly. Liu Xin was able to put public affairs before private affairs. He was indeed a wise man. He was not with the wrong person.
After Liu Xin read Zhang Gouer's letter, there was no expression on his face. He put the letter down gently and then opened Ma Yun's private letter. He knew that this letter was not an ordinary letter from home. There must be something in it.
There will be Ma Yun's views on this matter. Sure enough, Ma Yun believes that Liu Xin's actions are too fast and he needs to slow down now. He should not use force against Lingling and Guiyang counties for the time being, but should spend more energy to fight for
The support of the imperial court.
Putting down the letter in her hand, Liu Xin closed her eyes and fell into deep thought.
Taking advantage of the power of the winning streak, he went straight to Lingling and Guiyang, and the problems that had troubled him for more than two years could be solved once he did so. However, it was inevitable that someone in the court would use his words to make irresponsible remarks against him. Ma
Yun's worries are not unreasonable. If Liu Hong becomes suspicious of her and Zhao Zhong continues to fan the flames, there is no guarantee that he will not spare her as a Jingzhou shepherd. It seems that in order to win Liu Hong's favor, she will inevitably have to do something again.
There was blood once.
Thinking of this, Liu Xin opened her eyes and said: "In this way, let Xu Huang and Zhang Fei return to Xiangyang, Huang Zhong return to Changsha, and Zhao Yun stay in Wuling. My lord, please write two more letters to Zhang, the prefect of Lingling.
Zi and Pang Ji, the prefect of Guiyang, said that I was waiting for them in Wuling and asked them to come over this month to talk. In addition, they would arrange for someone to go to the capital and send a heavy gift to Zhang Rang, asking him to help me in front of the emperor.
Say a few nice words and I think he will understand how to do it. My money over the years cannot be wasted in vain."
Although Jushou hated such eunuchs, but thinking that these people might be causing trouble behind his back, he still hesitated and said: "Why don't you also give Zhao Zhong a gift, so that this villain will not hinder the lord in the future."
Liu Xin said firmly: "No! If you want to hold me hostage, there is no way!"
Jushou wanted to persuade him again and said: "But..."
Liu Xin interrupted him rudely and said: "Gong Yu, I know what you want to say. Yes, a man can bend and stretch. But this time is different from when Huang Zu used Cai Mao to threaten me. I can't give in for myself."
Others lost their lives. Zhao Zhong, a eunuch, if he wants money, tell me well, I might be able to give him some. Now, he is making some small moves behind his back to force me to submit. It is simply a wishful thinking!"
Through this action against Jiangxia and Wuling, he has seen that the current situation is still different from the troubled times of the Three Kingdoms. The officials in each county and the prefect are not of the same mind. Those officials know very well that the interests of the prefect do not represent their interests. They
In fact, it is the same no matter who they work for. These officials do not have the habit of calling the prefect their lord. They are all appointed by the court and have little relationship with the prefects of each county. The only ones who really don't want to be controlled by him are those who hold great power.
Prefect.
Pang Ji, the prefect of Guiyang, received Liu Xin's letter. This time he did not dare to throw away the official document from Xiangyang as he did in the past. Instead, he read it over and over again many times. Liu Xin's letter was written very carefully.
It is clear that he is required to give up his current power, hand over military and financial power, and implement the tax policy stipulated by him. In the past, Pang Ji would have regarded similar official documents as a joke, but now he does not dare to do so. This letter also contains
Listing the fate of Huang Zu and Cao Yu and the reaction of officials and people in Jiangxia and Wuling counties to Liu Xin's arrival, Pang Ji had to consider his wife and children even if he didn't care about his own life.
After several hesitations, Pang Ji finally made a difficult decision - to be loyal to Liu Xin! At this time, there were less than ten days left before the deadline set by Liu Xin. Pang Ji quickly packed up and took the Jun Cheng with him.
, Chang Shi and other close subordinates rushed to Wuling together. When these officials learned about Pang Ji's choice, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Pang Ji chose to confront Liu Xin, they would be really in trouble.
Pang Ji left Guiyang and traveled for two days to Lingling County. He also had some friendship with Zhang Zi, the prefect of Lingling. Since he had already arrived here, there was no reason why he would not see him face to face, so he sent someone to the prefect's mansion to inform him.