Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 93 Banquet
A day passed without any movement in the city.

On the next day, Liu Xuan received a joint invitation from a big family in the city.

The heads of the Chen family, Zhang family, Fan family and several other families in Guangling invited Liu Xuan to attend the reception banquet hosted by them, which was located at Jiangdu Pavilion in the south of Guangling city.

Also present at the reception banquet were representatives of the people from various streets in Guangling City.

Such a grand ceremony gave Liu Xuan enough face, and Liu Xuan had no reason to shirk.

Then he took Lu Bu and Jia Xu to Jiangdu Pavilion.

Guangling County City stands beside the river, and outside the south gate is the outlet of the river.

From Jiangdu Pavilion, you can overlook both sides of the river.

Several big families rented out the entire Jiangdu Pavilion for Liu Xuan to take over.

We also invited famous people's representatives from various streets in the city to attend.

It can be said that Liu Xuan was given enough face.

Liu Xuan sat down at the main seat, and sitting next to him were the heads of the major families in the city.

Chen Cong, the head of the Chen family, took the lead in moving to the table.
"Guangling Chen Cong, on behalf of the people of the city, held a banquet in Jiangdu Pavilion to welcome Commander Liu."

"Firstly, it is to apologize, and secondly, it is to show loyalty. Representatives of all the major families and people in Guangling City are here today. I hope that Governor Liu will not dislike my good intentions."

Liu Xuan nodded calmly,
"The heads of the family have gone to great lengths to support me. How can I dislike it? I just want to apologize. Where do you come from?"

"On the day Governor Liu entered the city, we were originally going to greet him outside the city. However, Yan Baihu led his troops out of the city that day. We thought that there would be a big battle outside the city, which would have affected all our families, so we did not go to greet him. Today, we I specially held a banquet here to welcome the county governor, which is regarded as an apology."

Chen Cong's words were reasonable and well-founded, but Liu Xuan couldn't see any flaws for the moment.

He said, "Mr. Chen's concerns are not unreasonable. Don't worry about trivial matters."

"Liu Xuan would also like to thank everyone for understanding the general situation and cooperating with the work of the county guards to successfully complete the handover of salt, iron and other government-owned industries."

Chen Cong smiled and waved his hand,
"These are all our duties. When it comes to the salt and iron industry, it's not that we are greedy for profits and occupy the government property. In fact, the former county governor Yan Baihu was a distinguished man and was an expert at attacking cities and villages. But When it comes to running an industry, I know nothing about it.”

When several other family heads heard this, they all nodded. Chen Cong smiled bitterly and said,
"Yan Baihu came to Guangling and turned a bunch of government-owned industries into a mess. Not only were there no profits, but they were also incurring losses. This was not only a hardship for the people of Guangling, so our families had no choice but to work hard to assist Yan Baihu in running these industries. , Only then did we turn losses into profits.”

"Now that Governor Liu is finally here, we can finally take a break. We will return the property that should be returned to the officials according to the rules."

"I would also like to tell the representatives of the people here that from now on, our major families will no longer interfere in the salt and iron industries that belong to the official family. It can be regarded as the major families in Guangling City showing their loyalty to Commander Liu."

"If Governor Liu needs it from now on, the land transportation channels of my Chen family, the water transportation channels of their Zhang family, and the sea transportation channels of the Fan family will all be at the disposal of County Governor Liu."

Chen Cong deserves to be the head of the largest family in Guangling. He speaks in an orderly manner and has no flaws in his logic.

Even with Liu Xuan's experience and experience as a person, he couldn't detect anything wrong.
I had no choice but to invite everyone to the table, drink and chat, and drink and drink together, and the atmosphere was harmonious.

The heads of these aristocratic families are all human beings, and they can handle this kind of flattering situation with ease.

Even though Liu Xuan was always vigilant in his heart, he couldn't help but have a slightly different impression of these people.

After drinking for three rounds, Chen Cong stood up and said,

"Although County Sheriff Liu has actually taken over Guangling County, as far as I know, the matter has not yet been heard by heaven. If the position of County Sheriff can be officially appointed by the imperial court, it must be of great benefit to County Sheriff Liu, right?"

Liu Xuan's expression froze, but Chen Cong's words touched on his own pain point.

From the moment he captured Huaiyin, Liu Xuan took charge of the county magistrate himself.This is actually a characteristic of this era. Because the imperial court was declining and it could not control many places at all, so except for the official appointments of officials in the DPRK, many other places were appointed by themselves.

Even because Cao Cao controlled the government, appointed officials in the court, and awarded various titles, he could draft a seal and stamp it on the emperor.

A man like Yan Baihu, who was born as a bandit and a handsome man, could occupy Guangling by force and become the prefect of Guangling. There was nothing the court could do against him.

Although Liu Xuan is the Queen of Huaiyang, she is still Cao Cao's territory, and ordinary people cannot see the emperor at all.When he occupied Guangling, he only made himself the prefect of Guangling.

This is just like the Pheasant University in later generations. Although it is a college student in name, it has no official recognition, which is a bit embarrassing.

Thinking of this, Liu Xuan bowed his hands and said,
"Could it be that Mr. Chen has a channel to write to the court?"

Chen Cong had some pride on his face, stroked his beard and said,
"My Chen family has lived in Guangling for hundreds of years. There are some talents in the family. To be honest with Governor Liu, my nephew Chen Deng and Chen Yuanlong are now serving as ministers in the court and are highly regarded by Prime Minister Cao."

"If I write a letter and ask Chen Deng to express his gratitude to the emperor, please make you the prefect of Guangling. This will definitely succeed."

Liu Xuan was overjoyed and took the initiative to pick up the wine bottle and said to Chen Cong,
"In that case, Liu Xuan would like to thank Mr. Chen in advance."

After a banquet, Liu Xuan was a little tipsy.

Lu Bu and Jia Xu stood by to protect him, and nothing happened until the banquet ended.

"Have these family heads really figured it out?"

Liu Xuan couldn't help but wonder, could he be worrying too much?
After more than ten days in a row, various government affairs in the city were going smoothly.

Moreover, Chen Cong's work efficiency is very high. In more than half a month, the official appointment from the court came down.

Liu Xuan was appointed as the prefect of Guangling, and Huaiyin, Sheyang and other counties were also under his rule.

Cao Cao also specially wrote a congratulatory order and sent it to Guangling along with the appointment documents.

Liu Xuan knew that this was Cao Cao's favor to appease himself.

As long as Liu Xuan's strategy focuses toward the south, Cao Cao can safely deal with Yuan Shao in the north.

Guangling City East Street, an ordinary people’s home,

Today is a happy day. Xu Daniu, the mainstay of the family, received his salary.
I bought a sea fish from the market and a small handful of salt bati to take home.

The weather is getting colder, so Xu Daniu wants to make some fish soup for the three children.

The wife carefully cooked the fish, put it in the pot, and sprinkled a little salt.

"Sprinkle more salt to make it taste better." Xu Daniu couldn't help teasing as he watched his wife counting the salts one by one.

"Just a little bit is enough. Salt is precious."

"It doesn't matter, just let it go." Xu Daniu stood up and came over, took the earthen pot from his wife's hand, grabbed a handful of salt and sprinkled it into the soup.

"Since the salt business was changed from private to government-run, the price has become much cheaper, and we can afford salt every day. Let the children have a good meal today."

The wife couldn't resist Xu Daniu, so she had to roll her eyes at him and said to the children guarding the stove,

"Get the bowl quickly, the fish soup is ready."

"Yeah, I'm eating fish, it smells so good!"

(End of this chapter)