Chapter 185 Guo Jia offers suggestions
The next day, Liu Bei, using Chen Qun as his envoy, went to the Yingbin Hall to recruit Guo Jia as his minister.
Guo Jia readily accepted and went to the state capital to express his gratitude.
After the two parties went through the process, Liu Bei asked with some expectation: "Fengxiao is a wise man in this world. Can you have anything to teach me? I hope Fengxiao can speak frankly. I will be happy if I hear it. If Fengxiao "Filial piety has something to say, and I must obey the emperor's words."
Liu Bei's attitude made Guo Jia excited. He had planned to talk to Liu Bei before he came.
This is not only a way to repay Liu Bei's respect, but also a test for Liu Bei.
So, Guo Jia opened his mouth and said: "I am so kind to you, how dare you disobey me?"
After pondering for a while, Guo Jia said: "Jia heard that the world is strong and weak, and the wise man Victory. In the past, Xiang Yu commanded the princes of the world, but they were destroyed by the Han ancestors. Why? Today, all the heroes are fighting, and the small ones are in the county, and the big ones are in the counties. At this time of troubled times, in order to take a good view, Ming Gong should make three important things, which must be changed as soon as possible, otherwise, it will be a long-term problem."
Liu Bei and Liu Feng suddenly became energetic after hearing this.
Although Guo Jia's words were a bit alarmist, Liu Bei was not dissatisfied because of Liu Feng's foreshadowing, but planned to listen carefully.
Liu Bei even expressed his position: "Please feel free to speak out and be prepared to listen attentively."
The attitude of Liu Bei and his son made Guo Jia excited, but he still kept a calm mind and said: "First, since Ji Han The excessive etiquette, extravagance, and tendency of comparison made the county officials not care about governing the people, but focused on doing business. This was one of the shortcomings that Duke Ming of Xuzhou inherited from Tao Gongzu, and Tao Gong used to be extravagant. It is well-known, and everyone in Xuzhou wants to follow suit. If Ming Gong does not rectify it as soon as possible, sooner or later Wen Tian will be in trouble. By then, it will be impossible to protect Xuzhou, let alone enter the Central Plains. "
Liu Bei looked calm? , did not speak, Liu Feng nodded slightly.
Xuzhou was indeed extravagant when Tao Qian was there. Which of Tao Qian's close and important ministers was not busy embezzling, accepting bribes, and buying properties?
Cao Hong had only been in Xuzhou for a few years and had already accumulated millions in property, while Zuo Rong was even more exaggerated. He actually took hundreds of millions of Tao Qian's money and food and ran away to Yangzhou.
Cao Bao and Xu Dan were slightly better, but the difference was only fifty steps and a hundred steps. They were still on the same road.
As the saying goes, what is good at the top must not be good at the bottom. Tao Qian and his cronies are like this. How can the entire Xuzhou officialdom improve?
Xu Qixing County has discovered many problems before, which is evident.
Guo Jia continued: "The second thing is to employ people. Ming Gong is thirsty for talents, and his reputation has long spread far and wide. Jia is often heard about in Hebei. When Jia first came, he didn't know who Ming Gong employed. For the time being, Yuan Benchu’s mistakes in employing people should be used to advise Ming Gong. The first thing to do in employing people is to use them, and the second is to ask for them. The people of Hebei fight with the people of Henan, the people of Jizhou fight with the people of Youbin, the people of Yuan Tan fight with the people of Yuan Shang, and the people who seek profit and gain fight with those who have the world in mind."
"Such a struggle for power and profit is all due to Yuan Benchu's request for help and the inability to employ people. Don't say that everyone should use their strengths and talents to the best of their ability. I'm afraid they won't even be able to do their own thing. If this continues, how can we remain undefeated?"
Guo Jia looked sincere and spoke with sincerity: "Jia hopes that Duke Ming can take the original trouble as a warning and put people first. He does not expect people to do their best, but only needs to keep their duties."
Liu Feng was shocked when he heard this.
Guo Jia's words can be described as flying dragon's face, and he also meant to remind Liu Bei of Yuan Shao's problem.
He couldn't help but look at Liu Bei, worried that his father would be furious.
But he saw that his father was still as calm as water, and he was neither angered by Guo Jia's advice nor did he agree with the other party.
Seeing that Liu Bei remained silent, Guo Jia continued: "Thirdly, since the Ji Han Dynasty, the laws of the world have become increasingly lenient. The powerful and the bad have no scruples. Officials in various places bend the law for personal gain and even collude with each other. When Tao Gong was there, he wanted to win. The local tyrants indulge in illegal activities. If the Ming Dynasty wants to help the Han Dynasty and bring peace to the world, the law must not be abolished and the officials must be disciplined. ."
Facing Guo Jia who was paying homage to him, Liu Bei finally made a move.
I saw him getting up and walking quickly to Guo Jia, helping him up. Then when the other person was surprised, he bowed and thanked him: "Sir, you taught me your golden words and good words, so that I can thank you for all the people in the world. "
How dare Guo Jia be Liu Bei's thank you? He quickly stepped aside to avoid it.
But Liu Bei prostrated himself respectfully, kowtowing meticulously and thanking him.
"Sir's words are not just for preparation, but for the people of the world."
Liu Bei said sincerely: "Bei is for the people of the world to thank you."
Liu Bei Feng looked a little confused from the side. It is true that the problems Guo Jia mentioned are indeed the problems that Xuzhou should solve as a priority at the moment.
But Guo Jia is not a leader who pleads for the people. The reason why he advised Liu Bei to solve these problems is in the final analysis to enhance Xuzhou's strength and ultimately aspire to the Central Plains.
But now Liu Bei regards Guo Jia as a person who loves the people like himself. I don’t know if this is a wonderful coincidence.
Regarding Guo Jia's opinions, Liu Bei's attitude was to accept them all and follow them without exception.
In fact, Xuzhou has also begun to rectify its internal governance system. Chen Deng was in Langya, Xu Qiu was in Donghai, and Liu Feng was in Guangling in the future, and they all captured many low-level officials who committed heinous crimes.
It’s just that there are not enough talents on hand, otherwise even county-level officials with insufficient abilities should be adjusted.
Liu Bei took Guo Jia's hand and said: "As a filial piety, I would like to ask you to serve as a military officer and be responsible for all external espionage operations."
This position was also chosen by Xun You before, but Xun You didn't want it and chose Chang Shi to do it.
In this case, then Guo Jia is a very suitable candidate.
In the original time and space, Guo Jia was doing this kind of thing for Cao Cao, providing Cao Cao with the most accurate intelligence.
Subsequently, Liu Bei personally hosted a banquet for Guo Jia and arranged a residence for him in the state capital.
After the banquet, Guo Jia said goodbye to Xin Ping and went to the state capital to take up his post.
Three days later, Liu Bei crowned Liu Fengyuan in the state capital and gave him the title Zisheng.
From then on, Liu Feng, named Zisheng.
At the same time, there were also envoys from all sides watching the ceremony. Even Kong Rong from the north sent an official, and that person happened to be Zheng Yi, the son of Zheng Xuan.
After the ceremony, the envoys from all parties began to leave Tancheng.
Xu Shao set out for Chen State, accompanied by Bu Zhi who was temporarily called back and entrusted with important tasks.
Bu Zhi was entrusted by Liu Bei and his son to accompany Xu Shao and Teng Zhou to the State of Chen to discuss matters such as borrowing and buying grain.
Cheng Yu returned to Yanzhou and Xin Ping returned to Jizhou.
When bidding farewell to Cheng Yu and Xin Ping, under Liu Feng's suggestion, Liu Bei showed a completely different attitude.
For Cheng Yu, it was a polite and polite farewell.
For Xin Ping, it was a warm and profound farewell.
Not to mention anything else, the various gifts alone are worth millions, of which frosting sugar and snow salt account for half of the value.
Xin Ping was greatly shocked by this and refused repeatedly, but Liu Bei refused.
"Zhongzhi, when we hit it off, I just wish I could have your help. These gifts are just a token of my sincerity. I only hope that Brother Ben Chu can sweep the world and help the Han Dynasty in the future. You and I can work together." As a minister in the palace, we will be able to communicate with each other, and sooner or later we will hear Zhongzhi’s good words.”
Such great love. I hope you can take good care of your health and fight against my lord in the future, so that we can help the Han Dynasty again."
Cheng Yu looked on with cold eyes. He did not feel at all that Liu Bei favored one over the other. Displeased.
On the contrary, Cheng Yu gave Liu Bei a high look because of this.
If Liu Bei wanted to drive a wedge between him and Cao Cao, he would be a villain in vain.
The world only knows that Cheng Yu was not conquered by Liu Dai, but he was delighted when he heard that Cao Ze was like a villain.
But is Liu Dai worthy of Cheng Yu’s assistance?
He, King Cheng Yu, is so talented, but because of his humble background, he cannot choose his own lord?
A mere Liu Dai recruits him, so he has to be as grateful as a dog?
It was obviously him who helped Liu Dai, but the whole Yanzhou spread that he did not know what was good and what was good, and even laughed at him for going against Cao Cao's instructions.
Therefore, Cheng Yu never regarded himself as the same as the people at the bottom.
Liu Bei then told Xin Ping that there were gifts worth two million yuan in the car, of which 1.5 million was for Yuan Shao, and of the remaining 500,000, 300,000 were for The last gift given to Yuan Tan was 200,000 yuan, which was given to Guo Tuguo Gongze. I hope Xin Ping can deliver it on his behalf.
Xin Ping was a little surprised. If he was giving gifts to Yuan Shao and Yuan Tan, giving gifts to Guo Tu was too unexpected. In fact, Liu Bei didn't have this idea either, it was entirely Liu Feng's instigation.
Liu Feng was very aware of Guo Tu's energy. It would not be an exaggeration to praise Hebei Jia Xu unceremoniously for Guo Tu Guo Gongze.
Guo Gongze acted all his life, only coveting personal gains and losses, inviting favors to Yuan Shao, trying to figure out his original intentions, and not caring about right and wrong.
This is a complete villain, much more disgusting than the selfish, sophisticated and self-interested Jia Xu.
After all, Jia Xu tried his best to do good things without hurting himself, such as discouraging Li Jue and Guo Si from massacring hundreds of officials, and pushing the situation to get Li Jue to agree to Emperor Xian of Han's return eastward, etc.
It can be seen that Jia Xu still has a conscience, although not much.
But the problem is that often, although such villains cannot accomplish anything, they can do bad things.
Therefore, Liu Feng urged Liu Bei to hand over Guo Tu, and he might not be able to use Guo Tu to control Cao Cao in the future.
Besides, Guo Tu himself looked down on Cao Cao. If he could add another flame, even if it just made the relationship between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao more rigid, the hundreds of thousands of dollars would be worth it.
If it weren't for fear of scaring Guo Tu, Liu Feng would have given him 5 million as a gift.
Anyway, it’s mainly frosting sugar and snow salt. Liu Feng is really not short of these dozens of kilograms of goods.
After hearing Liu Bei's praise of Guo Tu, Xin Ping felt a little disgusted with Guo Tu.
He could clearly see Guo Tu's attitude toward Liu Bei before. Now looking at Liu Bei's admiration for Guo Tu, he almost praised him as equal to himself.
This made Xin Ping a little unhappy, and he even had the idea of telling Liu Bei Guo Tu's true attitude.
However, this was just an idea. Of course, Xin Ping could not really do this. On the contrary, he wanted to thank Liu Bei for his generous gift on behalf of Guo Tu.
After sending Xin Ping away, Liu Bei and Liu Feng returned to their mansion.
At this time, only Liu Xian, the Jingzhou envoy, Mi Zhu, Xun You, Guo Jia and others were left in Tancheng. The others naturally returned to their respective posts.
Liu Feng also mentioned Mi Zhu's intention to serve as Prime Minister of Pengcheng with Liu Bei.
Liu Bei thinks it is feasible. After all, Pengcheng is not a big place, but it is fertile soil. It would be a pity if it was left abandoned. Not to mention that Pengcheng is located on a major transportation road, with abundant business and travel, and also has a large amount of iron ore and coal mines and other resources.
So, Liu Bei came to discuss with Mi Zhu and confirmed that Mi Zhu indeed wanted to be appointed as the Prime Minister of Pengcheng, as Liu Feng said.
Immediately, Liu Bei recommended Mi Zhu to be the Prime Minister of Pengcheng.
In this way, Xuzhou Biejia's position became vacant.
Liu Bei asked Liu Feng what he thought of Bie Jia, but Liu Feng laughed.
"Father, have you forgotten Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong? In addition to these two people in Guangling, there are also Qin Song, Chen Duan and others. They are all talented people in the prefecture and county, and they should be conquered together. "
Hearing Liu Feng's words, Liu Bei looked a little worried.
Zhang Zhao was really too disrespectful. He campaigned twice and refused twice. And Zhang Hong was not much better. He sent people to conquer the land before, but he was too old and weak to respond.
Liu Bei obviously did not forget this.
"Father, Zhang Hong is a talented person in this county. He traveled to Luojing when he was young, entered the Imperial Academy, and studied under Dr. Han Zong. During the reign of Emperor Ling, he was even trained by General He Jin, Taiwei Zhu Jun, and Sikong Xun Shuang's three palaces were appointed as vassals, but they all refused."
Liu Feng said with a smile, "Father, who is more noble among you?"
Liu Bei looked embarrassed. , coughed dryly and said: "It is the custom of our dynasty for a general to be ordered to assist in government. How can he compare with being a father? Zhu Jun is your father's old official. He quelled the Yellow Turban and quelled civil strife. He has made outstanding contributions and is respected by the world. Xun Shuang is a famous scholar in the world, and he also participated in Although he died before he succeeded in killing the director, he was still respected by the people of the world. "
"How can I compare with these three people as a father?"
Liu Fengkuan explained: "Father, since Zhang Hong can refuse the conquests of these three people, why should my father be worried about it? Besides, the child has some guesses about what these two people think. If his father is interested, My child, I can talk to you."
Hearing this, Liu Bei was really interested: "Okay, I will listen to you as a father."
"These two people are wise and wise. Although a scholar has no ability to sacrifice himself for the people and the country, he can still see the world clearly, so he retreats from the world and wants to be alone."
Liu Feng carefully analyzed: "Therefore, Er Zhang refused before. My father is really not optimistic about his ability to rule Xuzhou for a long time. Therefore, it is Er Zhang who should be ashamed now, not you, my father."
"Both Zhang and Zhang are currently living in Guangling. Hong is in Jiangdu and Zhang Zhao is in Haixi. They are nothing more than observing the times and avoiding trouble in the east of the Yangtze River."
At this point, Liu Feng laughed: "But father, you see, our strategy is to take Yangzhou first and stabilize Huaisi. Er Zhang can naturally see this with his eyes. Their retreat has been for us. "How can you be lucky to get it?"
Liu Bei also laughed. Thinking that something was wrong, the two Zhangs fled across the river, but if they could get it for themselves in Yangzhou, these two Zhangs would not Is it still unable to escape from the palm of my hand?
"It's just that Er Zhang is a famous person with integrity after all, and his father still needs to treat him with courtesy."
Liu Feng explained: "At the beginning, Tao Gong praised Zhang Zhao as a talented person, but for The latter refused to accept the offer and refused to compromise even if his life was in danger. "
"Although Zhang Hong is not as fierce as Zhang Zhao, he is also famous for his moral integrity."
Liu Feng continued to persuade: "These two are famous people in Xuzhou and have many close friends in Xuzhou. If I can get the help of these two people, my father's reputation in Xuzhou will be three points higher. Even if they really don't want to follow me, You can also let them leave freely. Don't forget about Cao Yanzhou's killing of the border. "
This is really not a joke. If Liu Bei really killed Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao, he would not be like Yanzhou. Everyone in Xuzhou rebelled, but it is very possible that most of the scholars in Xuzhou would leave.
Zhang Zhao is from Pengcheng and Zhang Hong is from Guangling. They are both well-known celebrities in Xuzhou. Their relatives and friends are all in Xuzhou. It is possible that even Chen Gui had to personally come forward to save something.
In this case, if Liu Bei killed two people forcefully, how could he not be chilling?
Liu Bei's expression changed, and then he rolled his eyes at Liu Feng angrily: "Is your father so virtuous in your eyes? How could he kill people so randomly?"
Liu Feng smiled and said: "Of course father won't, the child just has one more mouth to talk to."
Liu Bei turned to think for a moment: "In your opinion, it is obvious that I want to invite Zhang Zhao to say goodbye. Did Zhang Hong come to treat me?"
Liu Feng admitted directly: "That's right."
Liu Bei nodded: "In that case, you can go and take my father's place. Go and invite these two people to come to the state court."
Liu Feng was stunned at first. He said so much, but he actually wanted to invite Liu Bei to take action in person.
But now that I think about it, it would really be inappropriate for Liu Bei to take action in person.
There has never been such a precedent. The dignified Zhou Bo personally went to conquer the other country. There was no such thing in the entire Ji Han Dynasty.
If this is done and Zhang Zhao is accepted, then everyone will naturally be happy.
But if Zhang Zhao thinks that Liu Bei's behavior is unreasonable and gets angry and refuses to conquer, then Liu Bei will really be a different person inside and outside.
But Liu Bei's idea was correct. It was very sincere to let his son run once in person. Moreover, Liu Feng was a junior, so even if the conquest failed, he would not lose anything.
Liu Feng also had a lot of things on his hands.
Whether he is moving troops from Guangling to the north, or planning to attack Yanhao in the East China Sea, Liu Feng has reported these matters to Liu Bei, and the other party also knows how busy he is.
Unexpectedly, facing Liu Feng's resentful eyes, Liu Bei actually smiled and said: "Why should my son be so pretentious? It is said that those who can do more work."
Liu Feng had no choice but to obey his orders. .
But thinking on the bright side, if he runs it himself, he thinks the success rate will be much higher. And once Er Zhang is really invited, it will indeed greatly benefit the Liu family's rule over Xuzhou.
Everything is done while the iron is hot. After Liu Feng accepted the order, he left Tancheng on the second day and headed for Haixi via Qu County.
(End of this chapter)