At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 375 Asking for advice
There is only Hongze Lake between Suiling and Xutai.

After Zhuge Liang received the news that Liu Bei had entered Suiling, he did not dare to neglect and hurriedly took his brother Zhuge Jin towards Suiling.

The two parties met and the ceremony was completed.

Liu Bei directly expressed his thoughts, that is, he wanted to lead his soldiers across the Huaihe River and find a place to settle in Guangling County.

When Zhuge Liang heard this, he asked calmly: "May I ask the envoy, what are your plans for the future?"

Zhuge Liang's title for Liu Bei here is very interesting. It is not "king" but "envoy".

The reason for this is that Liu Bei's "King of Qi" was canonized by Yuan Shao, but Xuzhou Mu was canonized by the Emperor of Han. There is a fundamental difference between the two.

By calling him this, Zhuge Liang was clearly telling Liu Bei that neither he nor the entire Chu State would recognize the other party's title of "King of Qi".

Liu Bei was also a bereaved dog at this time and was in a dilemma.

Naturally, he wanted to occupy Guangling County so that he could reorganize his troops and rebuild his business.

In fact, despite the strong smell of gunpowder between the two sides, they are actually testing each other's bottom line, and there is absolutely no possibility of internal strife at this time.

Seeing that the two sides were about to fight, Liu Bei's timely scolding came.

However, it was difficult to say these words clearly, so Liu Bei could only pretend to be helpless and said: "To be honest, Bei is now desperate. If there were not so many people under his command following him, he might have wanted to retire to the countryside."

Liu Bei secretly instructed Zhang Fei to come out and cause a scene, not only to express his dissatisfaction with Zhou Qi for not sending troops to help, but also to tell Zhuge Liang that he really needed a place to settle his troops.

Zhang Fei jumped out at this time and said: "Guangling County was originally under the rule of a certain brother. Only because Zhou Ziyi promised to send troops to rescue Xuzhou, my brother ceded Guangling County to Chu State."

As for Ma Chao, he also used his own attitude to reject Liu Bei's appeal.

Liu Bei had a very low profile and was very aware of current affairs.

Zhou Qi now has a distinguished status. If he is a prince like Liu Bei, it would be barely reasonable to call Zhou Qi by his first name.

Zhang Fei looked like this, but he angered a hero in the Chu army. When he saw Ma Chao, he stood up and pointed at Zhang Fei and shouted: "How can you, a man like you, be good at mentioning the name of His Highness the King of Chu?"

Zhang Fei was only a general under Liu Bei, but he dared to call Zhou Ziyi directly without any honorific, which was naturally quite rude.

Zhuge Jin also hurriedly walked to the two of them and stopped the two who were about to fight.

When Ma Chao saw that Zhang Fei dared to call Zhou Qi by his nickname, he immediately became furious. He drew out the sword from his waist and prepared to fight with Zhang Fei.

There were some words that Liu Bei and his counselors could not say out loud, so letting Zhang Fei, who was known for his short temper, say it out could not only express the Xuzhou Army's attitude, but would not be too abrupt and leave room for maneuver, which would be great.

"boom!"

"However, the lives and fortunes of all the soldiers are tied to Bei. I can only shamelessly ask His Highness the King of Chu to provide a place for Bei and his subordinates to stay."

"Yide retreat, stop talking nonsense!"

When Zhang Fei saw this, he was not afraid at all. He also protested and said, "What is said by so-and-so is wrong? Zhou Ziyi took over Guangling County, but sat back and watched the Yuan army besieged Tan County for nearly a year, and never sent a single soldier. Soldiers come to the rescue.”

"He broke his promise first. We want to go back to Guangling County. What's wrong?"

After all, Ma Chao is also Zhou Qi's future son-in-law, so he naturally has to maintain the dignity of his father-in-law.

"Now that Tan County has been defeated and almost all of Xuzhou is occupied by Yuan Shao, Chu State has not sent a single soldier to rescue. Naturally, the previous decision to cede Guangling County will not work."

"We are here just to occupy Guangling County!"

Zhang Fei sat down angrily, while Ma Chaoyou stared at Zhang Fei menacingly.

"My younger brother has a reckless character and speaks without restraint. Even I often have headaches. General, please don't blame me!"

Liu Bei looked at Ma Chao's angry look and apologized quickly.

Ma Chao's expression softened slightly, he sat back down with a cold snort and said no more words.

When Zhuge Liang saw this, he also stepped forward to smooth things over, and then never mentioned the matter of letting Liu Bei go south to the Huaihe River and enter Guangling County. Even though Chen Gong and others brought the topic here several times during the dinner, Zhuge Liang only talked about him.

Seeing Zhuge Liang like this, Liu Bei couldn't help but feel anxious. When the banquet was about to end, he stepped forward and said directly to Zhuge Liang: "I want to lead my men to live in Guangling County temporarily. I wonder what you think, sir?"

Seeing that there was no way to avoid it, Zhuge Liang simply staggered, then closed his eyes and fell directly towards the ground.

Gan Ning had quick eyesight and quick hands, and hurriedly stepped forward to hug Zhuge Liang, and said apologetically to Liu Bei: "Sir, you must be so happy to see the envoy today that you drank too much, and now I am afraid that you are drunk from too much alcohol. "Let me continue to play music and dance, and let me take my husband back to rest first!"

After saying this, Gan Ning didn't stay too long and directly supported Zhuge Liang and walked out the door.

After Gan Ning left, Ma Chao also put down his wine glass and said, "I still have military duties to attend to, so I can't drink too much. I'll leave for now!"

Until Gan Ning and Ma Chao led their men to leave, finally only Liu Bei and his subordinate Wen Wu were left in the house.

Liu Bei and others looked a little unhappy when they saw the Chu State's civil and military performance.

"boom!"

Zhang Fei snapped the case and said angrily: "Brother just wants to go back to his Guangling County. The civil and military officials of the Chu State are trying to push him back. He is simply too much of a bully!"

"Brother, give me 20,000 troops and horses. Since he won't give it to me, I will take it for myself!"

When Liu Bei heard this, his expression changed slightly, and then he shouted sternly: "Sit down Yide, stop talking nonsense!"

It would be a bit too ignorant to say such words at this time. Once it reaches the ears of the civil and military officials of Chu State, I am afraid that a gap will arise between the two parties.

Liu Bei is now a bereaved dog and has to live under someone else's roof.

Moreover, due to the hurry, most of the food, grass and baggage in Tan County were not taken away, and they would definitely have to rely on others in the future.

Angering the civil and military forces of Chu at this time would do them no good at all.

Zhang Fei sat down angrily and drank alone.

Seeing the different expressions of his subordinates, Liu Bei finally set his sights on Zhuge Jin and asked: "Tzuyu, you have been with Kong Ming for some time, do you know what he is thinking in his heart?"

Zhuge Jin said: "This is a big matter. My brother is no more than the governor of a county. I'm afraid he won't be able to make the decision."

"If my prediction is correct, I am afraid that my younger brother's memorial has been sent to Xiangyang all night long. I am afraid that it will ultimately require His Highness the King of Chu to decide whether Guangling County should be returned to Duke Ming."

In this way, Zhuge Liang settled Liu Bei and others in Suiling, sent food, grass and baggage, and asked Ma Chao and Gan Ning to withdraw.

Although Liu Bei didn't want to stay here, he didn't dare to take Guangling County by force.

What's more, he may not really have the strength to cross the Huaihe River and seize Guangling County. He can only order his soldiers to strengthen the city defense and prepare to meet the enemy.

As Zhuge Jin expected, Zhuge Liang presented all of Liu Bei's thoughts and demands to Zhou Qi.

After Zhou Qi read the article, he frowned slightly, and then hurriedly summoned several of his advisers to discuss countermeasures.

The fall of Tan County was beyond Zhou Qi's expectation. Before the fall of Tan County, he did not send any soldiers to rescue him, which was indeed his fault.

At this time, Liu Bei led his troops south and wanted to reoccupy Guangling County. Zhou Qi also felt that it was a bit difficult.

If Guangling County was returned to Liu Bei, it would be equivalent to tearing a hole in his unbreakable defense line. Liu Bei's attitude at that time could even be related to the national security of the entire Chu State.

If Guangling County is not returned, the two sides will inevitably turn against each other. This will only allow Yuan Shao to reap the benefits, and the gain will not be worth the loss.

Zhou Qi explained the current situation in detail, then looked at Jia Xu, Xu Shu, Tian Feng and others, and asked: "Liu Xuande has no place to stay now and wants to occupy Guangling County. What do you think?"

When the three heard this, they all frowned.

It is impossible for these top counselors not to know the importance of Guangling County. If they give it to Liu Bei, they will be controlled by others.

If not, Zhou Qi would not have tried so hard to seize Guangling County from Liu Bei.

But in the current situation, Zhou Qi broke his promise by not sending troops to help. In addition, Liu Bei had no place to stay, so it was reasonable for the other party to want to live in Guangling County temporarily.

Seeing the different expressions on the three people's faces, Tian Feng and Xu Shu both frowned and thought hard, obviously thinking of countermeasures.

Only Jia Xu is still there.

Zhou Qi's heart moved slightly and asked, "What do Wen He have in mind?"

Jia Xu stretched out his hand and pointed towards the north and said, "Let Liu Xuande station his troops here and all problems will be solved!"

(End of this chapter)