When Mrs. Cai saw Cai Mao asking about Liu Biao, she told the truth and asked: "Your brother-in-law has been uneasy these days and seems to have something on his mind. Although he lives in the house without a director, he is not seriously ill. How does my brother know?"
"I was reporting some military affairs to my brother-in-law. After I came to the mansion, I found out that my brother-in-law was ill and had not seen visitors. He had also ignored political affairs for many days, so I stopped by to say hello to my sister."
"If there is an important military matter, it must not be delayed. Brother, please go with me, and I will report to you personally." Mrs. Cai frowned. This Liu Biao was too big a person. When his brother-in-law came, he didn't show up because he was sick. How could it be unreasonable?
"Then I'll help my sister." Cai Mao stood up, wishing he could see Liu Biao earlier, otherwise, Liu Qi's 200 armored soldiers escorted Zhang Hu, Chen Sheng and more than 200 corpses arrived, even if Cai Hao had a hundred people
Don't argue.
Cai Hao followed his sister, Mrs. Cai, to Liu Biao's dormitory. Cai Hao was waiting at the door of the dormitory. After a moment, he saw Liu Biao's complexion was not good. He faced Cai Hao, cheered up and humbled himself: "I have been feeling unwell recently, so I have neglected General Cai."
"My Lord, you must take care of yourself. I can retire without disturbing your Lord's rest with just a few words." Cai Maocheng was frightened and showed a rare humble posture in front of Liu Biao, which actually made Liu Biao feel uncomfortable.
"Madam, please step aside. I have something important to discuss with your brother." Liu Biao waved his hand to Madam Cai who was standing by.
Mrs. Cai muttered, looked at Cai Hao with encouraging eyes, and reluctantly bowed to Liu Biao and saluted: "Yes, I'm resigning."
She said she was resigning, but in fact Mrs. Cai hid behind the landscape screen, holding her breath and eavesdropping on the conversation between Liu Biao and Cai Mao. This was not the first time that Mrs. Cai had snooped on Liu Biao's privacy.
After Mrs. Cai left, Liu Biao sat in the middle of the meeting hall. Remembering that he refused to see Cai Hao on the pretext of illness, but Cai Hao brought his sister in and forced her to see him, Liu Biao felt very unhappy. He immediately acted like the governor of Jingzhou and reluctantly said to watch.
, asked: "General Cai has come to see you urgently. What official matters do we have to discuss at this time?"
Cai Mao said respectfully: "I once surrendered Zhang Hu with my lord, and General Chen Sheng suddenly took away three hundred soldiers today. I don't know where they are going. I came here to report to my lord."
Liu Biao said calmly: "Oh, is there such a thing?"
"Exactly, there was no sign beforehand. I heard that the eldest son Liu Qi was promoted to be a sergeant and was suppressing bandits. Is it Zhang Hu who was a bandit? Chen Sheng and Chen were frightened and fled after hearing this?" Cai Mao tried to guide Liu Biao's thoughts.
Later, when Liu Qi took the bodies of Zhang and Chen to hand over, it confirmed what Cai Mao said about the death of Zhang and Chen.
"Mountain bandits have ulterior motives, and over time they will have different intentions. I should have killed them in one fell swoop in the first place. I regret listening to Pang Ji's words." Liu Biao criticized Pang Ji quite a bit, and vaguely felt that Zhang Hu and Chen Sheng would have different intentions sooner or later.
When Cai Mao revealed that Zhang Hu and Chen Sheng had taken troops and were sentenced to escape, Liu Biao was not surprised and believed Cai Mao's lies without thinking.
"Zhang and Chen are really hateful. They don't want to repay the kindness of the lord, but they want to plot chaos. It's true that the bandits have not changed their nature. They will not be spared next time." Cai Mao responded, seeing Liu Biao's thoughtful look, and asked
He said, "My lord looks a little haggard. Are you concerned about the eldest son's mission to suppress the bandits?"
Cai Mao's words touched Liu Biao's mind, and Liu Biao put down his aloof attitude and sighed: "What General Cai said is exactly what he said. Although I have no big worries, it's just that Liu Qi was engaged in the task of exterminating the bandits for the first time. I don't know whether Liu Qi can take on this task."
A heavy responsibility? If anything goes wrong, I might not be able to live up to Mrs. Chen, who has been with me for more than ten years."
"My lord, you are worried too much. Mrs. Chen knows the knowledge and will definitely protect the young master. I see that the eldest young master is as talented as the lord. However, the eldest young master has experienced disasters, but he can always turn disaster into good. It must be
Blessed people." When Cai Mao said this, he felt that it was fake. He thought of Pang Ji's advice. He had to say a few nice words to Liu Qi in front of Liu Biao, which would surely eliminate Liu Biao's suspicion of Zhang Hu and Chen Sheng.
Cai Mao's suspicion.
"It's a good thing to be blessed. I'm afraid Liu Qi is too young, hot-blooded, impulsive and irritable, and it will be bad if he causes trouble. This is exactly what I worry about." Liu Biao, who put down his attitude, was honest with his brother-in-law Cai Mao. At this time
I still don’t understand that Cai Mao was persecuting Liu Qi so hard at one moment, but at the same time he was praising Liu Qi so much. The completely different attitude before and after, Liu Biao couldn’t help but arouse suspicion, but Liu Biao hid it very well, with a calm expression, and looked like he was indifferent to the world.
appearance.
Talking about Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived. When Liu Biao and Cai Mao were chatting, the guards in front of the palace came to report: "My lord, the eldest son has brought 200 soldiers and escorted ten carriages to see your lord."
"Oh, let's go and have a look." Liu Biao perked up when he heard that Liu Qi was coming. He counted on his fingers and found that it was the last day Liu Biao ordered Liu Qi to suppress bandits in ten days. It seems that Liu Qi can take on the important task.
"Lord, I'm going to meet my nephew too." Regardless of whether Liu Biao agreed or not, Cai Mao got up from the low stool and followed Liu Biao out of the dormitory. He secretly warned himself to be calm when he saw Liu Qi and never be impulsive. Impulsiveness is the devil and he gets angry easily.
A person who is unable to achieve great things.
Liu Biao and Cai Mao walked out of the governor's mansion at the same time. They saw ten large carriages covered with big white cloths in the spacious area in front of the mansion. Two hundred soldiers were lined up in neat rows. They were all wearing iron armor. They were majestic and more imposing than before.
.
Liu Qi, on the other hand, was wearing a splendid cloak and stood in front of the soldiers. He looked very majestic. Next to Liu Qi stood Chen Wen, Chen Wu and other six extraordinary guards of the mansion. The only exception was Liu Zhong, the piggyback steward who always accompanied Liu Qi.
Seeing the handsome Liu Qi, Liu Qi seemed to see the shadow of himself when he was young, and was very happy. However, when Cai Hao saw the autumn wind stirring up the white cloth covering the corpses of ten carriages, his heart was bleeding, and he secretly made up his mind.
A blood debt must be repaid with blood.
"Greetings to father." Liu Qi saw Liu Biao and Cai Hao welcoming him out of the house at the same time. He was stunned for a moment, then returned to normal, took two steps forward, knelt down on one knee, and turned around to face Cai Hao, "Greetings to uncle."
"See my lord, see General Cai." Chen Wen, Chen Wu and other guards stood aside and raised their fists to Liu Biao and Cai Mao. Liu Qi's visit to Liu Biao and Cai Mao was a family ceremony, so Chen Wen and other guards did not need to do the same.
Liu Qi also knelt down on one knee.
"My son, please get up quickly. No courtesy for you heroes." Liu Biao was greatly surprised when he didn't see Liu Qi for ten days. He found that Liu Qi's demeanor was different from the past. When he brought his troops, his appearance was as impressive as that of Huang Zhong, the general of the army.
Cai Mao, Wenpin and other generals, it seems wise to let Liu Qi take charge of the army.
"Thank you, father." Liu Qi stood up and thanked him. Although he is a father and son, the etiquette in ancient times is so complicated, and there are indispensable red tapes. Otherwise, as a dignified son, don't let others mistakenly think that he is uneducated and has no education.
quality?
"Thank you, Lord." Several of Chen Wen's guards thanked him loudly. This battle greatly encouraged Liu Biao. His son was promising. These heroic and high-spirited armored soldiers were after all generals under the governor.
"Following his father's orders and inspired by his divine power, the sons and ministers spared no effort to suppress the bandits. After investigation, they discovered that Zhang Hu was actually a bandit. Chen Sheng did not change his banditry and launched a rebellion. When the sons and ministers wanted to suppress the bandits, Zhang and Chen attacked first.
My son left the mansion. After a bloody battle between the guards and 200 soldiers in the mansion, except for thirty people who escaped, they were all wiped out. A total of 262 corpses were counted, and the bandit's first tiger and Chen were presented to his father.
The living head."
Liu Qi briefly stated the facts in public, but did not point out that among the soldiers who attacked the young master's residence, there was also Cai Mao's general Pang Ji, in order to save some face for Cai Mao, and more importantly, not to embarrass Liu Mian when facing Cai Mao.
.
"My lord, the eldest son is mighty. Zhang Hu and Chen Sheng rebelled against the bandits. They dared to resist the eldest son who was carrying out military duties to suppress the bandits. You are really doing your own evil." Cai Mao wiped the sweat from his forehead. He didn't expect Liu Qi, a kid like this.
He actually had some conscience, and was able to pay homage to his uncle in front of everyone regardless of previous suspicions, and ignored Pang Ji's siege of the Young Master's Mansion, and did not point out Zhang Hu, who was Chen Sheng's backstage boss. It seems that this Liu Qi has a plan, he is really a
He is not a simple person. If we don't find opportunities to get rid of him in the future, Liu Qi will gain power, let alone his nephew Liu Cong, who will not be able to take over. Even the powerful Cai family may fall out of favor.
Hatred still occupied Cai Hao's brain. Instead of being grateful to Liu Qi for his kindness and generosity, Cai Hao intensified his determination to kill Liu Qi.
Liu Biao looked back at Cai Hao indifferently, without much expression. At this time, Chen Wen and Chen Wu each held a red silk tray and handed it to Liu Biao. Liu Biao was not shocked and unwrapped the red silk packages with his own hands.
Afterwards, it was confirmed that it was Zhang Hu, Chen Sheng's head, and he waved his hand to signal Chen Wen and Chen Wu to retreat, with an expression of indifference.
Liu Qi seized the opportunity and asked for instructions: "Father, in order to suppress the bandits, I spent all the money in the palace to quickly buy two hundred pairs of armors. However, Zhang and Chen are brave and fierce. Fortunately, the lord donated two hundred soldiers and bandits."
After a bloody battle, four guards in the mansion were killed, many others were seriously injured, and the housekeeper was injured in the femur and could not go there in person. The palace was empty, and the son had no choice but to ask his father to support the brave and injured soldiers, and to promote those who fought with extraordinary bravery.
, to inspire the soldiers, and ask my father to agree."
"This..." Liu Biao hesitated for a moment. This eldest son Liu Qi was really proud of himself. He thought he had merit and even took the initiative to ask for rewards. However, Liu Qi did indeed have merit in suppressing the bandits. He actually killed more than 260 bandits with very few casualties.
It can be regarded as a remarkable achievement. Liu Qi's request for a reward to encourage the soldiers is reasonable, and Liu Biao seems to have no reason to refuse Liu Qi's reasonable request.
Liu Biao's hesitation was not unreasonable. What Liu Biao was concerned about was not the pensions and rewards for the casualties. That was not a problem. The governor of Jingzhou with a rich treasury was not short of money. But Liu Biao's heart was stung by the word "gift" uttered by Liu Qi.
After a while, the gift meant that Liu Biao had already promised to donate 200 personal soldiers instead of allocating 200 personal soldiers. He originally thought that Liu Qi would take back the military power after suppressing the bandits, but he did not expect that Liu Qi would point out this matter in public. Liu Biao was right.
I can't explain it clearly, but I'm too embarrassed to take back these two hundred soldiers. After giving them away, how can there be any reason to take them back again? The ancients knew that a word is true, let alone the dignified governor who controls the seven counties of Jingxiang.
"My lord, the eldest son cares about the soldiers and clearly distinguishes rewards and punishments. This is actually the lord's benevolence and righteousness that loves his soldiers as his own sons." Cai Mao said, at this time, he must sell some favors to Liu Qi, otherwise he will look modest in front of others.
Lang Jiang Cai Mao was narrow-minded.
"Cai Mao, you are such a reckless man. You have a lot of troops, but why don't you dispatch one of them? You know what the heck, I only have a few thousand soldiers, but this guy Liu Qi took away my 200 soldiers with just a word of gift."
, Don’t you feel bad if someone else’s child falls to death?” Liu Qi scolded Cai Hao in his heart, but would not show it on his face.
Since Cai Mao stepped forward to speak good words for Liu Qi and add fuel to the flames, Liu Biao had no choice but to reluctantly give up his love. Although he was the governor, he took office alone. In the current situation, Liu Biao had to rely on Cai Mao's strength to control Xiangyang. Shortly after Chen's death,
The marriage with the Cai family was a clever move by Liu Biao to secure the seven counties of Jingxiang.
Liu Biao thought about it and thought that when Liu Qi's power grew up, he might have more power to compete with the Cai family and be able to check each other. In the future, Liu Biao would not have to worry about Cai Mao's rebellion, so he would give Liu Qi two hundred soldiers as a gift.
It was a clever move to make the next three moves. At this time, Cai Mao also agreed to reward Liu Qi's soldiers, which happened to be a favorable favor and killed two birds with one stone.
Liu Biao figured it out, understood everything, was relieved by the word of gift, became energetic, and showed the magnanimity that the leader of Jingxiang should have. He faced Liu Qi and Cai Mao and said loudly: "People are dead, let's forget the past. The three hundred bandits
The corpses were immediately buried together in a mass grave. According to wartime regulations, the wounded and dead soldiers in the government were compensated, and those with bravery were promoted one by one, from the highest officials to generals. The young masters would be awarded rewards and books by themselves, and the losses incurred during the suppression of bandits would be transferred to the government treasury.