Chapter 379 Shi Yuan offers advice
The fundamental reason for the frankness between Liu Fenghui and Pang Tong is that the advantages of frankness outweigh the disadvantages.
Any knowledgeable person can more or less detect Liu Feng's desire and desire for Jingzhou, and there must be someone who has already advised Liu Biao to guard against Liu Bei.
Just like Cao Cao, he and Yuan Shao had a brotherly relationship, but as early as 800 years ago, someone warned him to be wary of Yuan Shao crossing the river to fuck him.
When Cao Cao was so depressed that he was worried that he would die in battle and his wife and children would be left without protection, Cheng Yu refused to let him send his family across the Yellow River to join Yuan Shao. Could it be that he was really loyal to Cao Cao deep down?
There is loyalty, but there is also some selfishness.
It was my bet that I, Cheng Yu, follow you, Cao Cao.
You took my bet, why did you want to quit the game without asking me?
If Cao Cao really had sent his son across the river at that time, even if he won the battle of Yanzhou, he would probably be the new Liu Bei.
With his family members all under Yuan Shao's control, how could Cao Cao be so stubborn with Yuan Shao?
The same is true in Jingzhou. The scholars in Jingzhou bet on Liu Biao. As long as Liu Biao can represent their interests, the scholars in Jingzhou will not hesitate to devote their loyalty.
But this loyalty is not selfless.
If there is a potential stock that is more promising than Liu Biao and is more generous to them, even if they don't change boats, it wouldn't be too much to diversify their investments, right?
What's more, Liu Bei and his son have now occupied the three states. Their current situation is far above Liu Biao, and it will be even more incomparable in the future.
Liu Biao had no room for expansion except in the direction of Jiaozhou.
To the east is Liu Bei, to the north is Cao Cao, to the west is Liu Zhang, and to the south is Zhu Fu for the time being, but as soon as Zhu Fu is finished, the replacement Zhang Jin will have a big hatred against Liu Biao.
Not to mention that Liu Feng was still ready to make a move at this time. He might even be able to directly intervene in the selection of Jiaozhou Mu and bring Jiaozhou into his jurisdiction.
However, this difficulty will be relatively high, and Liu Feng is not sure.
Although Jiaozhi is not strong, Liu Bei and his son now have two and a half states on the ground. If they want to pursue Jiaozhi, unless they pay a price that can satisfy both the emperor and Cao Cao, it will be very difficult to do so without breaking up. too high.
Liu Biao's current situation of being surrounded by enemies on all sides can be noticed by all the high-ranking families in Jingzhou.
But the directions they sought help from were actually very wide, including Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and even the emperor was considered a way out. Originally, Liu Bei and his son had no share, but now that Liu Feng swept across Jiangdong and captured the entire Yangzhou, he had a ticket.
Therefore, Liu Biao will definitely get advice to guard against Liu Bei, but at the same time, there will also be Jingzhou scholars who will give good words to Liu Bei's group.
Therefore, Liu Feng's honesty to Pang Tong would not reveal his purpose.
It is impossible to hide Jingzhou's plot. We can only downplay it as much as possible, but we cannot completely hide it.
Since it can't be hidden, there is no need to worry about Pang Tong leaking the secret. In other words, the secret has been "leaked" long before Pang Tong.
The so-called heroes think alike.
The next day, Pang Tong proposed three strategies to Liu Feng to capture Jing.
"My lord, Liu Jingsheng, although his name is not worthy of his name, he has been in charge of Jingxiang for nearly ten years. He is able to stabilize Jingzhou, resist Yuan Shu and Xiliang warriors in the north, and expand Jiaozhi in the south. He is quite powerful."
Liu Biaodan rode into Jingzhou in the first year of Chuping, which was 190 AD, and now it is 198 AD, which has been a full nine years.
A state pastor has been in charge of a state for nine years. Even if he is a waste, he can have a high reputation, and Liu Biao is still a very powerful person.
Liu Biao's reputation is not worthy of his name, compared to the world's heroes Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Liu Bei.
"Therefore, if you want to take Liu Biao, you must give him first!"
Pang Tong's first plan was to give before he wanted.
"Last year when my lord wiped out Yuan Shu, Liu Xun defected and was taken in by Liu Biao."
Pang Tong said with a hint of probing in his eyes: "Right now, Liu Xun is still trapped in Shu County, living in the southwest of Lujiang River, relying on Liu Biao to resist the imperial court. For Tong's sake, it is better to grant Liu Xun the post of Lujiang Prefect to give Liu Biao leniency. ”
"Liu Jingsheng has been frightened by the hussar ever since he was sent to hunt down thieves and was ordered by the emperor to go south and sweep across Yangzhou. If he cannot resolve the fear in his heart, the most important thing he will control will be me, the East."
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Pang Tong chose to serve Liu Feng now because he was favored by Liu Feng.
Therefore, while making suggestions, he also wanted to see if Liu Feng really valued him.
After hearing this, Liu Feng nodded slowly and asked, "Shi Yuan's plan is very insightful. He just rashly transferred the post of Lujiang Prefect to Liu Xun. I'm afraid it's too deliberate and may cause Liu Jingsheng to be confused. ”
After Pang Tong thought carefully, he nodded. It was indeed as Liu Feng said. Their purpose was to appease Liu Biao. If they could not achieve this effect, then giving it to a prefect for nothing would be a loss-making deal.
After Liu Feng pondered for a moment, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said: "The trade between our state and Jingzhou is prosperous, especially the purchase of grain and other matters are quite profitable."
Xuzhou was short of food before, and the shortage was not even a little bit.
It was only thanks to the recapture of Guangling and the import of millions of shi of food from Jingzhou that the most difficult breath was relieved.
It's not that Liu Bei will collapse without Jingzhou's food.
But the speed of development will inevitably be greatly affected, especially the expansion of population and farming. Without those millions of stones of food, the scale will have to be reduced by at least three to five times.
This is essentially a snowballing model. Although Liu Feng can still snowball without Jingzhou's food, the speed will not be as fast as now.
Now Liu Bei has 100,000 soldiers under his command, and he still has enough supplies, military rations, and financial resources to more than double his army at any time.
In fact, the soldiers are all ready-made. Liu Feng has sent more than 100,000 young men to the two counties in Jiangbei.
At present, there are still 40,000 to 50,000 Shanyue in Beihui, among which the proportion of young and middle-aged men is quite high, at least more than 20,000. The number of young and middle-aged men who can be directly used to expand the army is at least 10,000.
Nowadays, Xuzhou has become a big city in farming. Due to the large-scale construction and maintenance of water conservancy projects by Liu Bei and his son, the drought situation in Huaibei has been greatly improved this year.
Although the weather is still extremely dry, the existence of water conservancy projects has made the drought in Huaisi this year not as scary as in history, when the entire year was wiped out and no crops were harvested.
From Liu Bei's letter, we learned that this year's summer harvest in the entire Huaisi region was actually close to 70% of previous years.
This is a harvest under extreme drought conditions. If this were a normal year, I am afraid that Huaisi's harvest this year would be a bumper harvest that exceeds previous years by more than 30 to 40%.
This shows the horror of these water conservancy projects.
But this is also due to the geographical advantage. Who told the Huaisi area to be located between the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River?
There is no shortage of water here at all, what is lacking is the channels to carry the water.
If you move to an area with less water, no matter how well the water conservancy project is done, if the weather is not favorable, the river will dry up and expose the river bed. Then what's the point of building the water conservancy project well?
Now Liu Bei and his son are no longer short of food. In other words, although the more food the better, they no longer need to ask Jingzhou to sell food.
Therefore, Liu Feng originally planned to gradually reduce the proportion of food purchased from Jingzhou, and instead purchase other strategic materials, such as giant trees, tung oil, medicinal materials, ordnance, minerals and other materials.
But now after listening to Pang Tong's suggestion, Liu Feng had a new idea.
"I would like to send an envoy to Xiangyang to ask for an audience with Mr. Liu."
Liu Feng stood up, walked around in the hall, and looked at Pang Tong: "I am going to report that there is a severe drought in Huaisi, and several counties have lost their harvests. I want to buy a large amount of grain to help the victims. To express my gratitude, I am willing to give up the post of Lujiang Prefect to Liu Feng." Xun, what do you think, Shiyuan?”
"Wonderful!"
After Pang Tong thought about it, he clapped his hands and applauded: "This is a plan to hide the truth! If there is a shortage of food, you can't use troops. If you give up the throne, you will show your kindness. In this way, Liu Jingsheng will have no worries." "Lord!"
Pang Tong's face was full of admiration: "You are really a god, otherwise An could have come up with such a wonderful plan that seems to be made in heaven. If I were Liu Jingsheng, I would definitely fall into the lord's plan!"
Pang Tong's words came from the bottom of his heart, without any lies, and his dull face became vivid.
Liu Feng burst out laughing: "A scholar has too much reputation."
Afterwards, Liu Feng pondered for a moment and said: "In that case, I will go north to Shouchun, face my father, and make this plan."
Pang Tong strongly supported this plan: "This plan should be carried out quickly. The east of the Yangtze River has been secured. When there is no big thing to talk about, it is the time to plan the westward move. Yuan Benchu is in Hebei, and Gongsun Zan is stubbornly resisting. Although his power is strong, it must be the end of his powerful crossbow. , the momentum cannot last long.”
"Looking at it from a unified perspective, I am afraid that Gongsun's overthrow is close at hand."
Pang Tong had a solemn look on his face and bowed his hands: "I hope my lord will prepare early. With the power of Gongsun, once they are destroyed, Yuan Shao will no longer have anything to worry about. In the blink of an eye, he can turn the spearhead and wait for the opportunity to go south."
Pang Tong's insights can be described as extremely brilliant.
This was the case in Yuan Shao's history. He destroyed Gongsun Zan in the first half of the year, selected 100,000 elites in the second half of the year, and began to move south across the river at the end of the year.
The idea of suspending troops to support the people was not at all what was expected, and it actually caught Cao Cao off guard.
If Jia Xu and Liu Bei hadn't done Cao Cao a huge favor each, Cao Cao wouldn't even be qualified to fight Yuan Shao in Guandu.
The fact that Pang Tong was able to see this level is enough to prove his excellent ability.
"I deeply believe what Shi Yuan said."
Liu Feng immediately decided to terminate the county administration and transferred the supreme power of Beihui to Taishi Ci. Wang Lang was stationed in Shanyin to take charge of government affairs. Taishi Ci was the capital of Beihui's military affairs. Liu Feng temporarily left Shangyu with Pang Tong and Pang Shanmin. Heading towards Shouchun, Jiangbei.
In order to rush on the road, Liu Feng only brought with him a retinue of 500 personal guards led by Xu Chu himself, and the other soldiers and horses returned to their own homes.
Starting from Shangyu, first take a boat to Yuji, then cross the Qiantang River by land, enter Zhenze via Dongtiao River, then transfer to Lishui, exit Wuhu and enter the Yangtze River.
The whole journey was by water, and the speed was very fast. It took only half a month to reach the outside of Shouchun City.
When Liu Feng entered Jiujiang from Ruxushui, there was a peaceful scene along the way. The fields were full of seedlings and people were working in the fields. Although the sun was scorching, it was a scene full of vitality.
This comforted Liu Feng, and he only hoped that God could flap his wings a few times as a butterfly and make it rain more.
When passing by Hefei, Liu Feng just sent someone to the city to say hello to his second uncle, but he directly passed through the city and headed towards Shouchun. He didn't expect that after Zhang Liao learned about it, he chased him out of the city to see him.
"When Zhengnan went south, he never took Liao with him. Now he is passing through Hefei but not entering. Could it be that there is something disrespectful about Liao that makes Zhengnan dislike him?"
As soon as Zhang Liaofu got on the ship, he pushed down the jade pillar from the golden mountain and paid homage to Liu Bei. At the same time, he complained aggrievedly.
It's no wonder that since Zhang Liao defected to Liu Bei, he mostly acted under Liu Feng.
Liu Feng also loved Zhang Liao very much, and always appointed him with the rank of breaking the army. Zhang Liao was a smart man, so he naturally respected Liu Feng more and more.
However, this time when he went south, Zhang Liao was placed under Guan Yu's command and was stationed in the important area of Hefei.
Although he and Guan Yu have similar temperaments, they have a good relationship.
But compared with the peaceful years in Hefei, Zhang Liao undoubtedly missed the days of fighting under Liu Feng even more.
Not to mention Zhang Liao, even Guan Yu was a little panicked.
Therefore, Zhang Liao's pursuit this time actually had the intention of asking for directions.
Liu Feng naturally liked Zhang Liao very much. In terms of ability, Zhang Liao was a very talented person.
At present, the career of Liu Bei and his son is getting bigger and bigger. For the time being, there are only four people, Liu Bei, Liu Feng, Guan Yu and Chen Deng, who can take charge of their own affairs. But regardless of his status or achievements, Zhang Fei is naturally the best candidate for the next high-ranking position.
The next competition will be much fiercer. Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, Qian Zhao, Zhang Liao, Zhou Yu and others all have sufficient abilities and achievements.
But in this position, it is no longer just about ability and merit.
In terms of pure ability and merit, Sun Ce is actually qualified. Sun Ce himself even has the combat power to sweep Jiangdong. With this achievement, except Liu Feng, no one can really hold him back.
But can Sun Ce be on his own?
Of course it was impossible. Even if all the Sun family members had been sent to Shouchun, Sun Ce still had the tag of needing to prove his loyalty.
Zhang Liao also felt this, so he especially hoped to be with Liu Feng.
Under Liu Feng's command, not only can he achieve a lot of military exploits, but he can also gain the trust of the leader, cultivate the relationship between the two parties, and express himself in front of the leader.
It can be said that it kills four birds with one stone.
Zhang Liao was naturally very excited.
"Why did Wen Yuan say this?"
Liu Feng pulled Zhang Liao up and said jokingly: "Second uncle treats Wen Yuan very well. He will discuss everything with Wen Yuan. Aren't you afraid of hurting my second uncle's heart?"
Zhang Liao, however, chuckled and said, "Why are Zhengnan deceiving me with such big words? Don't say it's me. Even Brother Yun has been thinking about Zhengnan for a long time. He often tells me that although Zhengnan people are young, their use of troops is like divine help. Even more so." Far above it. Even Brother Yun is willing to be driven by Zhengnan."
Liu Feng was shocked after hearing this and looked carefully at Zhang Liao's expression.
Zhang Liao, on the other hand, looked at him with an expressionless expression, showing no sign of timidity.
Liu Feng hesitated and said: "My uncle really said this?"
Zhang Liao nodded heavily: "It's true, Liao'an dared to deceive Zhengnan."
Liu Feng couldn't help but mutter in his heart, could it be that his second uncle was sending a message to him?
With his second uncle's status, there is no need to bow to him.
Even though most of his father's territories are now taken by himself, the influence of his second and third uncles on his father is unquestionable.
Especially with the arrogance of the second uncle, is he bowing to himself in a subtle way, indicating that he is willing to obey him?
In fact, Liu Feng's guess was really right.
The reason why Liu Feng was doubtful was mainly because the second master of later generations was too arrogant.
It's just that Liu Feng has ignored his current contribution and influence to the Liu Bei Group. He has even surpassed Liu Bei to a certain extent and is also the iron heir.
(End of chapter)