cite Han

Chapter 256 The Lobbyist

Regarding whether to recruit Liu Jing, the two coaches of the Jingzhou Army had a serious disagreement.

Kuai Yue insisted on surrendering. Judging from the information he has obtained so far, Liu Jing's strength has expanded rapidly in recent years, and he is not much weaker than Zhang Xian.Unless Liu Biao greatly increases his troops, otherwise, with the current strength of the Jingzhou Army, it may be another protracted battle.

In contrast, recruiting and surrendering Liu Jing is undoubtedly the least costly way to unify Jingnan, even if it is very cost-effective to give high-ranking officials a generous salary.

Cai Mao was firmly opposed to recruiting Liu Jing. In the battle last year, he was defeated by Liu Jing. Not only did he lose half of his warship, but also six members of his clan Kundi died. He was always deeply ashamed.

Where will Liu Jing be placed if he is recruited to surrender?At that time, he will definitely be ridiculed by the people of Xiangyang. Only by killing Liu Jing can he regain his prestige and comfort his brothers in the clan...

Liu Jing must die!This was the only thought in Cai Mao's heart.

However, with Liu Biao's order, the dispute between the two ended.

Cai Mao was short of breath, but he couldn't get angry, so he could only walk away to show his dissatisfaction.

Kuai Yue ignored Cai Mao's rudeness, and immediately wrote a letter, and handed it to Lai Gong together with Liu Biao's letterhead, ordering him to go south immediately.

Lai Gong immediately packed his bags and took a boat to Ling County.After the great battle last year, the Jingzhou navy was severely injured, and could only shrink back to within an inch of Linxiang. Even today, it has not fully recovered its vitality. The south of Linxiang has completely become the world of Liu Jing's water army.

Lai Gong's boat had just left Linxiang for a hundred miles, when it encountered Chimazhou, a scout of Liu Jingshui's army.

In order to avoid misunderstanding and being attacked by the other party, Lai Gong hurriedly explained the purpose of the trip, and then with the red horse boat as his guide, the journey was safe and sound.

The farther the boat traveled south, the more people fled. The whole family and even the clan moved south, which made Lai Gong sigh in his heart.

He really didn't want such a scene to be staged again in his hometown Lingling.

Liu Jing is now the only force in Jingnan that can fight against the Jingzhou army. Lingling and Guiyang counties are waiting and watching. As long as Liu Jing can be persuaded, Jingnan will return to peace in an instant.

For this trip, Lai Gong was quite optimistic. In order to recruit Liu Jing, Liu Biao did not hesitate to offer Zhang Ling to pay him, which can be said to be full of sincerity.It should be known that Liu Jing is only 22 years old this year. From ancient times to the present, it is rare to be able to become the prefect of a county in his early twenties.

As for Liu Jing's current title of Prefect of Lingling, Lai Gong didn't take it seriously at all.Zhang Xian himself is only the prefect of Changsha, what qualifications does he have to appoint someone else as the prefect?

In Jingzhou, only Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, was qualified to appoint and dismiss the prefect.

Just when Lai Gong went south with full confidence, Liu Jing transferred all the generals stationed outside back to Ling County in order to prepare for the Jingzhou Army.

Among the generals, Liu Xiu, the elder brother of the clan, is the strongest. In addition to his own troops, he also managed more than 2000 people from Wu Ju's old department. In addition, he has recruited some in Zhaoling and Liandao in the past year, and now his troops are strong. Break through the [-] mark in one fell swoop.

Followed by Liu Liang, he is stationed in the relatively stable and affluent Chaling, Youxian, and Rongling counties, so his army has expanded to 600.

Next came Cai Sheng, who was stationed in Liling near Linxiang, so he was instructed by Liu Jing to expand his army to more than 1000 people.Ma Zhou guarded Ancheng, with powerful internal defenses and Yuzhang rebels outside, with a force of [-] or [-] people.

Liu Zong and Han Guang each have more than a thousand people.

In addition to the 700 Lingxian County soldiers in Serious hands, the total number of infantry under Liu Jing's command reached more than [-].Although it is less than one-third of the Jingzhou army, it is more than enough to defend the city.

In addition, when Chu Fang came back, his original trilogy is currently in the hands of Liu Liang. Liu Liang was a servant of Chu Fang in the past and was deeply favored by him. To Chu Fang.

In this regard, Chu Fang did not show any dissatisfaction, and readily accepted it.

At the beginning, he insisted on going north to repay Zhang Xian's past favors. Although he had a good reason, he failed Liu Jing after all, so no matter what Liu Jing did, Chu Fang had no complaints.

After receiving the news that Lai Gong was coming to Ling County, Liu Jing immediately notified his sister-in-law Lai Ci.

Lai Ci couldn't help being overjoyed. She and her brother hadn't seen each other for a long time. The last time was when her husband passed away five years ago. At that time, she was silently mourning the loss of her husband. There was no joy in her heart about reuniting her brother and sister.This time I finally had the opportunity to get together to show my missing brother.

On the day Lai Gong arrived, Liu Jing and Deng Yuan accompanied his sister-in-law Lai Ci and nephew Liu Qun to welcome him to the Xiangshui Ferry outside Ling County.

Deng Yuan is still in the filial piety period, if it is someone else, naturally there is no need to come in person, but Lai Gong is the acceptor of Liu Jing and Deng Yuan's wedding, so Deng Yuan made an exception to come here.

As soon as Lai Gongfu, who was wearing a bountiful robe and wearing a tight hat, landed, he saw his sister Lai Ci holding his nephew Liu Qun, looking at him with tears in his eyes.

Lai Gong couldn't help his eyes getting sore, he quickened his pace and came to Lai Ci, and looked at it carefully from top to bottom.Seeing her beautiful face in a high bun and fine clothes, knowing that her younger sister has gradually recovered from the pain of losing her husband, she felt very happy for her, and couldn't help expressing emotion: "Brother is now forty years old, and recently his temples have started to turn white. , and Li Ji is still as beautiful as before."

Lai Ci wiped away his tears and said in embarrassment: "Why does elder brother make fun of me as soon as we meet?"

"These are all words from the heart of my brother, why are you joking?" Lai Gong shook his head with a smile, and then looked at his nephew Liu Qun. The ten-year-old Liu Qun has perfectly inherited the good genes of his parents. Lang Xing is gentle and gentle.Lai Gong was very satisfied with his nephew, and asked, "Hutou, do you still know my uncle?"

"How can you not know uncle?" Liu Qun immediately bowed down and said, "Nephew Liu Qun, pay respects to uncle."

"Haha, you don't need to be too polite with a tiger head." Lai Gong helped Liu Qun up.

Only then did Liu Jing and Deng Yuan come forward to salute Lai Gong: "Mr. Lai..."

Lai Gong looked at the majestic Liu Jing, who had a tall figure, a handsome appearance, and a very dignified appearance, and his mood was very complicated.Back then, when Liu Jing was a young boy studying in Xiangyang, he lived in his family for two years. Lai Gong asked himself that he had completely seen through Liu Jing, and concluded that he would be mediocre in the future and would hardly achieve anything.

However, who would have thought that when the two met again, Liu Jing had already become the crown of Jingzhou scholars, famous for his virtue and talent in Jingchu.But this time they met, Liu Jing became the person who could influence Jingnan's trend. Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, had no choice but to take out a county to win him over.How could Lai Gong not be filled with emotion for this?

Lai Gong regained his composure, looked at Liu Jing and Deng Yuan standing together, as straight as a pair of people, and sighed: "How quickly time flies, it seems like yesterday for Zhong Da Deng's family to accept the prize, I heard that you Already gave birth to an heir?"

Liu Jing replied with a smile: "Yes, the son's name is Liu Qi, and he just expired last month."

"Very good, very good..." Lai Gong couldn't stop nodding.

"Mr. Lai, there are too many people here, so it's not a place for conversation." Liu Jing raised his hand and pointed to the carriage behind him, and said, "I have prepared the carriage and horse for Mr. Lai, please get in the carriage."

Lai Gong nodded lightly, got into the carriage, except for a few attendants, the rest of the people stayed on board, there must be people with ulterior motives lurking inside, Liu Jing sent people to monitor closely.

As the carriage got closer and closer to Ling County, Lai Gong's expression became more and more serious. He had heard before that although Ling County was small, it was built like a fortress by Liu Jing. Seeing it now, it was even more so than the rumors.

With this fortified city, perhaps only [-] soldiers would be enough to defeat an enemy ten times stronger, causing the Jingzhou army to be smashed to the ground.

For this trip, Lai Gong suddenly lost his confidence as before.This city cannot be built in a short period of time. Liu Jing had been preparing for the Jingzhou Army's southward advance a few years ago, and his plan was so deep!

When Liu Jing returned home, he immediately hosted a banquet in honor of Lai Gong who was exhausted.

At the banquet, Lai Gong wanted to talk about the purpose of this trip, but Liu Jing stopped him on the grounds that "Mr. Lai is here for the first time, and today he only talks about personal affairs, not business affairs. If there is anything, we can talk about it tomorrow."

Lai Gong couldn't figure out Liu Jing's attitude for a while, so he could only give up temporarily.

The next day, Lai Gong was going to look for Liu Jing, but was told that Liu Jing suddenly encountered an urgent matter and went south to Zhongshui and Pingyang Townships.

After inquiring, Lai Gong learned that Zhongshui and Pingyang Townships are located a hundred miles south of Ling County, and it would take at least a few days for Liu Jing to come and go.Lai Gong couldn't help but "thump" in his heart, Liu Jing's move was obviously delaying time, and this attitude didn't seem like he was going to surrender.

Lai Gong knew that it was useless to be anxious, so he managed to suppress his worries and stayed with his sister Lai Ci all day long, teaching his nephew Liu Qun to read.

After five days in a row, Liu Jing finally came back. Lai Gong held back his anger and snorted coldly, "Why did Zhong Da leave without saying goodbye? Wouldn't it be impolite to leave guests at home?"

Liu Jing looked calm, smiled and saluted, "I didn't mean to neglect Mr. Lai on purpose, but actually encountered a rather difficult matter, so I left without saying goodbye. Please forgive me, Mr. Lai."

Lai Gong didn't believe a single word of what Liu Jing said, so he cut straight to the point and said, "I'm here this time under the order of the general to worship Zhongda as the prefect of Zhangling." After speaking, he took out Liu Biao and Kuai from his bosom. Yue's handwritten letter was handed over to Liu Jing.

"Oh?" Liu Jing raised his eyebrows slightly upon hearing this, and had to admit that Liu Biao had indeed shown enough sincerity in order to recruit him.After all, under Liu Biao's rule, there were only Nanjun, Zhangling, Jiangxia, Wuling, and a part of Nanyang, and there were only four and a half counties, although Zhangling was the smallest among them.

Liu Jing unhurriedly opened Liu Biao's letter and read it roughly.

In Liu Biao's letter, nothing more than talking about how he appreciated his talent back then, and regretted that he failed to accept Maocai.

Then the conversation changed, and when it came to the sufferings of the people in Jingnan, he showed a gesture of compassion, claiming that he did not want to see the people in Jingnan continue to suffer from the war.

In the end, he praised Liu Jing fiercely, not only praised him for his ability and political integrity, but also won the hearts of the people in Jingnan, and wanted to worship him as the prefect of Zhangling.

Liu Jing couldn't help but laugh, did Liu Biao want to use Jingnan people to forcibly set him up?

Liu Jing opened Kuai Yue's letter again. Since the two had never met each other, most of the letter contained praises and compliments that were not nutritious. Liu Jing almost read it at a glance.

Putting Kuai Yue's letter down, Liu Jing raised his head again, and smiled at Lai Gong: "The general's appreciation for me, and his compassion for the people in Jingnan, I already know it all."

Lai Gong asked, "Does Zhong Da agree?"

Liu Jing shook his head lightly and said: "The general wants to worship me as the prefect of Zhangling, and I am very grateful, but Zhangling Xinye belongs to my wife's family. This move may violate the laws of the country."

Lai Gongdao: "During the Emperor Huan's reign, the imperial court was afraid of 'states and counties, and the relationship between people and Zhou', so they established the 'Three Interactions'. However, the taboos of the 'Three Interactions' were too strict, and often 'the taboos were transferred to secrets, and the selection was difficult.' , Ji Erzhou's chief officials 'do not make up for long-term shortages'. The general knows the disadvantages of the three mutual laws, so he can't help it."

"Mr. Lai's words are wrong." Liu Jing said in a calm and unhurried tone: "The country has established laws and regulations. Regardless of whether there are shortcomings or not, we must strictly abide by them. Even General Liu is no exception. Otherwise, where will the country's majesty be placed? ?”

Hearing what Liu Jing said, Lai Gong immediately knew that he was not very satisfied with the position of prefect of Zhangling. He was secretly surprised, but this was beyond his expectation. Prefect Ling?"

Liu Jing said with a smile: "If you don't want to, you really don't dare. The state's laws and regulations don't dare to violate."

Lai Gong asked back, "Then Yi Zhongda, what do you mean?"

Liu Jingdao: "I was born in Si and grew up in Si, and I don't want to leave the hometown of Jingnan. Zhang Changsha was appointed as the prefect of Lingling in the past. General Liu may as well follow the example. If I am guarding Jingnan, General Liu can rest easy."

Lai Gong looked at Liu Jing, speechless for a long time, if Liu Biao really did this, it would be tantamount to killing wolves and raising tigers, and Liu Biao would never agree to this condition.

After a long while, Lai Gong sighed, "Zhongda is difficult for a strong man."

Liu Jing said calmly: "Mr. Lai, this is my condition."

Lai Gong tried hard to persuade him: "Zhong Da, do you know that once you reject the general, the war in Jingnan will immediately resume. Don't think that you can bully the general because you defeated the Jingzhou navy last year. Now the navy is not only It's all over again, and it's even better than before. With the general's order, Jingzhou's [-] water-stepping troops will arrive at the city in an instant, and by then Zhongda will regret it too late."

Liu Jing smiled and said: "Mr. Lai's words can only deceive ignorant and foolish people, but they cannot be deceived. If the strength of the Northern Army's boat division is restored, why don't they dare to take a step out of Linxiang? Besides, the general's name is Jingzhou Mu, There are only a few counties under the rule, and there are Cao Mengde in the north, Liu Jiyu in the west, and the Sun family in the east. All three sides need to be guarded by heavy troops. How can there be [-] soldiers in the south? In my opinion, there may not be [-]."

Lai Gong said: "Even if there are only [-], it is not what Zhongda can do."

"No." Liu Jing retorted: "Soldiers of the Northern Army will be homesick after being away from home for a long time; Can't enter Lu Jin.' The Northern Army looks powerful, but it is actually vulnerable. If it goes south, it will undoubtedly be defeated."

(End of this chapter)