Chapter 380 Meeting Liu Bei
The most profound impression on Liu Feng was the second master who controlled Jingxiang alone, flooded seven armies, shocked the Central Plains, and forced Cao Cao to almost move the capital.
Therefore, he ignored the difference between the two planes.
Now the most capable commander under Liu Bei is not Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, but Liu Feng himself.
Under such circumstances, how could Guan Yu still be unruly in front of Liu Feng? Guan Yu was just a proud character, but he was not a fool.
Moreover, Liu Bei had no biological brothers. Guan and Zhang were not simply positioned as generals. They were members of the clan recognized by Liu Bei.
In the original time and space, only Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had clan status. Guan Yu was released to be the commander-in-chief, while Zhang Fei was to be used as a relative.
Liu Chan married Zhang Fei's daughter, which essentially continued the tradition of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Therefore, as long as Guan Yu is clear-headed, he will never compete with Liu Feng for military glory.
In fact, Zhang Liao was able to leave the city to catch up with Liu Feng this time because of Guan Yu's accommodation. Otherwise, Zhang Liao would have left his post without authorization and acted under military law, which would have been punishable by death.
It can be seen that Guan Yu himself was happy to see this. Zhang Liao thoughtfully did it for him if it was inconvenient for him to do. Why wouldn't he do it?
After listening to Zhang Liao's advice, Liu Feng felt a little changed.
Now, he is the master and Guan Yu is the minister. This is the great destiny.
Although I respect Guan Yu, I don't need to be afraid of him.
With his current reputation for military exploits, he is enough to serve as ambassador to heavyweight uncles like Guan and Zhang.
Therefore, Liu Feng immediately expressed his position: "Wen Yuan can tell his second uncle when he returns. The reason why I returned north to see my father is to plan a new campaign. If my father agrees to the plan, there will be a big war ahead. Even if he doesn't agree, The stability of Jiangdong also requires additional troops, so I will ask my father for help.”
Zhang Liao was immediately overjoyed: "I will thank you for conquering the south!"
After sending Zhang Liao back, Liu Feng took Pang Tong and others and continued northward to Shouchun.
After Liu Bei learned the news, he personally brought his civil and military confidants out of the city to greet him.
After Liu Feng saw his father, he hurriedly dismounted and walked to meet Liu Bei.
"The child is unfilial and went to work for his father to go out of the city to greet him. He deserves death. Please forgive me!"
Liu Bei's face was full of smiles, and the corners of his eyes were full of affection. He pulled Liu Feng up from the ground.
"My son is marching east and south for the imperial court, and is stabilizing the southeast. He is not as fond as his father, so how can I punish you? Get up quickly and follow me into the city."
Liu Bei was followed by Chen Deng, Xun You, Lu Su, Liu Ye and others, who all stepped forward to greet Liu Feng.
Liu Feng had no sense of self-importance and immediately returned the courtesy, and then everyone followed Liu Bei into the city.
That night, Liu Bei held a banquet to wash away Liu Feng's dust, and then took Liu Feng back to the harem with him, and father and son slept together on the same bed.
It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day, when Liu Feng and Liu Bei were alone, that he handed out the Jingzhou ambitions on a tray.
After Liu Bei heard this, he was shocked and said: "Liu Jingsheng is a clan member of the Han Dynasty, and he has always been deferential to the court. A few years ago, he delivered a large amount of grain, weapons, and money to Luozhong, which was approved by the emperor. How can we not violate this order?" ?”
Liu Feng had been mentally prepared before he came. Liu Bei was probably not very supportive or even opposed to taking Jingzhou from the west. But Liu Feng also had his own reasons to lobby the other party.
"Father, Liu Jingsheng is respectful to the imperial court because he needs the imperial court. Although he is a member of the clan, he is quite ambitious."
Liu Feng immediately told Liu Bei what Liu Biao did to his neighbors after entering Jingzhou.
"Now he has gone south many times to raise troops in Jiaozhi, hoping to privately appoint Lai Gong as the shepherd of Jiaozhou."
Liu Feng did not hesitate to put a blame on Liu Biao. Liu Biao actually did this in the original time and space. It is difficult to say in this dimension, but it will definitely not be wrong to put this label on him first.
Hearing this, Liu Bei frowned.
Liu Bei's power is growing day by day, and the number of scholars and warriors who are defecting to him is increasing day by day. Even many dissatisfied scholars from Jingzhou are coming down the river and coming to Jiangbei to join him.
Among these people were local scholars in Jingzhou, as well as northern scholars who came from the north to escape the disaster.
This is undoubtedly a good phenomenon, but what follows is that Liu Bei's strength continues to increase, which triggers differentiation within the group.
This is inevitable factional differentiation, which is unavoidable even in the case of unification, let alone now.
Fortunately, the division of Liu Bei's group did not start with the succession situation.
Now Liu Bei has three sons in total. The eldest son Liu Feng is thirteen years old. The other two sons are both concubines. The second son Liu Chan is only six years old now, and the other brother Liu Yong is only four years old.
However, this Liu Chan and Liu Yong are not the same people as the Liu Chan and Liu Yong of the original time and space. It's just that Liu Bei prepared the name order of Feng Chan and Yongli for his sons early, so Liu Chan and Liu Yong still appeared.
Although Liu Bei currently has three sons, under the current circumstances, whether it is to establish a leader, establish a virtuous person, or perform meritorious service, Liu Feng is the only candidate. No scholar or family would dare to bet on Liu Chan and Liu Yong under such circumstances.
Therefore, the factional disputes over successors that had occurred between Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and even Liu Yanchu could not cause trouble at all in Liu Bei's case.
Therefore, the differentiation of factions under Liu Bei is mainly based on geography, but it is not as clear-cut as Yuan Shao's.
It also contains a lot of divisive influences on the current situation of the Han Dynasty.
For example, Xu Qiu is the largest emperor faction among the Xuzhou factions. Most of the officials in Xu Qiu's group are from Xuzhou, especially from Guangling. Their political philosophy is to be loyal to the emperor.
When Liu Bei was loyal to the emperor and brought peace to the world, he could naturally get their help and assistance. But once Liu Bei wants to stand on his own feet, these people are likely to give up their support for Liu Bei, and the radicals may even turn against him.
Similarly, the Hussar faction represented by Chen Deng has already been secretly thinking about the merit of following the dragon.
Most of the people in this faction are locals in Xuzhou, and they are all from humble families promoted by Liu Bei and Liu Feng and their sons. Lu Su and Liu Ye are the backbone of this faction.
Similarly, there were also some figures from other states, such as Jia Xi and Jia Kui from Hedong, who were favored by Liu Bei and Liu Feng and became their confidants. Therefore, they were accepted by Chen Deng, Lu Su, Liu Ye and others.
Generally speaking, the biggest contradiction within the Liu Bei Group today is the emperor theory.
Fortunately, Liu Bei and his son have always bound themselves to the emperor. This time they went south to conquer Yuan Shu, and they also specifically persuaded the emperor to issue an edict to attack the opponent.
In addition, Chen Deng and others are relatively loose, but the most powerful Hussar faction is in charge, and the entire Liu Bei group is quite united and powerful.
Liu Bei had such a reaction at this time. In addition to being a little bit intolerable towards Liu Biao, he was also more concerned about whether his unknown mission would arouse opposition from officials within the faction.
In the original time and space, Cao Cao broke up with the Emperor prematurely. This resulted in the decisive battle between him and Yuan Shao, and there was no way for Yuan Shao's group to use the Emperor to divide the opponents.
Because both the scholars in Hebei and Henan think that Cao Cao is a Han traitor, and they are the rebels who came to rescue the emperor.
Don't look at the sound of Ju Shou's cannons. He beeps in front of Yuan Shao every day. Cao Cao is once again rescuing the chaos and punishing the violent, which is called a righteous army. It is also the Cao family to welcome the emperor and secure the palace for Xudu. Now he raises his troops to the south, which is contrary to justice. In the end, he praised Cao Cao nakedly for his effective execution of his laws and his capable soldiers.
He even did not hesitate to say that Cao Cao's military righteousness was invincible and that Yuan Shao's arrogance would be destroyed first.
But this was just Ju Shou's attempt to get Yuan Shao to listen to his words. If Ju Shou really thought so, then he was captured by Cao Cao after the war and even his son couldn't escape. Why would he rather die than surrender?
Shouldn't he surrender to the rebel Cao family in his mind?
On the contrary, many scholars in Cao Cao's camp betrayed Cao Cao and took refuge with Yuan Shao.
I just feel that Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are the same thing. If that is the case, Yuan Shao is the fourth and third prince in the world, and you, Cao Cao, are an eunuch and your family background is not as good as mine. Then I will admit defeat and have to admit someone who can convince me. Bar?
Therefore, it is indeed not wrong for Liu Bei to have such concerns.
Righteousness is sometimes worthless, but sometimes it is worth thousands of gold, and can indeed serve as a million-strong soldier.
After hearing the dirty information Liu Feng said, Liu Bei was quite moved.
"If the emperor could see clearly what Liu Biao did and see through his disobedient heart."
Liu Bei tried: "This may be feasible."
Liu Feng understood that his father still did not want to have a showdown with the center to prevent the group from being torn apart.
It's just that the temptation of Jingzhou is too great, especially the God-given opportunity of Zhang Xian and Huan Jie's rebellion. Liu Feng really doesn't want to miss it. How could he give up because he is afraid of the alienation of a small group of nobles within.
"Father, Yuan Benchu will definitely defeat the former general within these two years."
Liu Feng began to put pressure on Liu Bei from another direction: "After Yuan Benchu defeated Hebei, his troops would inevitably turn south. At that time, millions of people from Hebei would cross the river and go south, and Liu Jingsheng would lead the eight counties of Jing and Xiang to meet them from the north. If The general surrendered without a fight. How can my father help the big man? ”
Liu Bei suddenly raised his head and stared at Liu Feng closely.
Liu Feng, however, looked back without flinching, and the two sides stared at each other for a whole cup of tea.
"In your opinion, what should we do?"
Finally, Liu Bei spoke first, but his voice became much colder.
Liu Feng sighed secretly in his heart, Liu Bei was still too soft-hearted.
In fact, it can be seen from Liu Bei's resume in the original time and space that Liu Bei was actually forced by Cao Cao to fight for the world.
There is very objective evidence.
In the fourth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei took advantage of Yuan Shu's opportunity to go north to defect to Yuan Shu through Xuzhou. He launched a mutiny in Xuzhou and reoccupied Xuzhou. He turned to Yuan Shao without hesitation.
If Liu Bei were not afraid that Cao Cao would kill him, it would be absolutely impossible for him to do so.
Because Yuan Shao was far more powerful than Cao Cao at the time, if Cao Cao wins, the small princes can still survive. Once Yuan Shao wins, he will be a hero several times more powerful than Cao Cao.
It can be seen that before Liu Bei went to Jingzhou, he had no idea of competing for the world.
He just wanted to switch to Yuan Shao because he couldn't survive with Cao Cao.
After all, the sentence "The only heroes in the world are the emperor and Caoer" is too scary.
Who else can sleep peacefully after hearing such words?
Cao Cao's artistic temperament once again deceived him. This sentence directly scared away all his favor and respect for Liu Bei.
"Father, even if we don't take Jingzhou, our military strength is not enough now."
Liu Feng cupped his hands and suggested: "For the current plan, we must expand the army."
Hearing Liu Feng say that he wanted to expand his army, Liu Bei fell into deep thought. After a moment, he nodded slowly.
"Today's military strength is indeed insufficient."
Now Liu Bei's total strength is about 100,000, Liu Feng has led 30,000 to 40,000 troops south, and another 20,000 to 30,000 troops have been stationed in the north. Now Liu Bei only has more than 10,000 troops stationed in Shouchun.
Liu Bei couldn't help but feel worried when he thought of the big boy's eyes.
Not to mention that there will be a severe drought in Huaisi.
Last winter was fine, with heavy snow falling, but since the beginning of spring, the five counties of Huaisi and Huaisi had not even experienced a single rain or snow. If it had not been for the large amount of manpower and material resources invested in the construction of water conservancy projects in the past half year, Huaisi and Huaisi would not have experienced this year. Among them, Jiujiang and Lujiang are really going to have nothing to gain.
"We should expand the army with 200,000 troops."
Liu Feng said categorically: "Now my father has a hundred thousand soldiers under his command. I have swept across Jiangdong and sent nearly a hundred thousand prisoners one after another. They are all young and strong, and have experienced battles, so they are the best soldiers. Now the labor service is about to end." At the end, this unit can be integrated into various ministries to expand the military strength. ”
At present, the water conservancy project in Huaisi has been almost completed, and these captive laborers will certainly not let them rest.
Once it stops, rebellion can easily breed.
Even if Sun Ce surrenders, he still cannot completely calm these people.
Therefore, military expansion is a top priority.
"Two hundred thousand!?"
Liu Bei looked surprised. This number was too big, almost doubling his army.
"Father, now you are in charge of the military affairs of the three states. Yuzhou and Yangzhou are even more vast and rich in resources, and Yangzhou is newly settled. Shanyue and Jingman are ready to move, ignoring the laws of the Han Dynasty and repeatedly going down the mountain to rob the people."
Liu Feng had some time to persuade and said: "If there are not enough troops, Yangzhou may not be able to stabilize, let alone deter Liu Jingsheng."
As soon as Liu Feng's words came out, Liu Bei immediately remembered Liu Xun's incident.
Liu Xun now only has four or five counties in the southwest, and he also suffered from severe drought.
According to detailed intelligence reports, the summer harvest in Liu Xun's territory has also failed, with no harvest at all. The people are now surviving on tree bark, wild vegetables and the remaining grain.
The price of grain in Shu County has risen to 400 yuan a bucket, a surge of more than ten times.
Even so, there is still a price but no market. Whenever a little bit of food comes on the market, it will be sold out immediately.
Liu Xun had already sent people to Jingzhou to ask for help and begged Liu Biao for help.
In the past six months, thousands of people have secretly fled into Liu Beijun's sphere of influence. It is foreseeable that the number of fleeing people will only increase, and in the end, Liu Xun will be left with only a few empty cities. It is even possible that before the empty city, local nobles and powerful men would contact Liu Bei to ask for surrender.
Liu Bei was quite angry with Liu Xun, and the other party's actions undoubtedly slapped Liu Bei hard in the face. And Liu Biao, who supported Liu Xun in the background, obviously didn't take Liu Bei seriously at all.
I'm afraid that in Liu Biao's mind, Liu Bei was still the weakling who needed to beg him to sell grain.
(End of chapter)