Liu Bei killed Liang Gang, but worshiped Qin Yi as Zhonglang General, letting him command his own and Liang Gang's four thousand troops, while Qiao Rui and Liu Xiang's troops were commanded by Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others.

Although the success of Shouchun this time relied on Zhou Ping's strategy of besieging the city and forcing the enemy, Qin Yi's surrender was the key, and Liu Fu's persuasion of Qin Yi was the key among the keys.

Therefore, Liu Fu was also a man of great merit.

After cleaning up the general's mansion where Qiao Rui lived and calming the people in the city, Liu Bei asked Qin Yi to invite Liu Fu.

"Thanks to Yuan Ying, I was able to achieve longevity so quickly!"

When Liu Bei saw Liu Fu, he seemed very happy, not only because of Liu Fu's meritorious service, but also because Zhou Ping praised Liu Fu as a talent.

Someone who can be praised by Zhou Wen'an, who is good at understanding people, will definitely be good.

Liu Bei has been granted the title of Marquis of Yicheng by the imperial court, and he can now call himself an orphan.

"The general's longevity depends on the general's majesty, the strategy of the military advisor, and the righteousness of General Qin Yi. Fu just followed the trend and said a few words to General Qin."

Liu Fu replied modestly.

Zhou Ping laughed and said: "Haha, you talk a few words, but you can stand up to tens of thousands of warriors!"

"General Zhou Zhonglang has been rewarded. Both Fu and Zhou Zhonglang are from the state of Pei. When General Liu was the governor of Yuzhou before, he distributed military rations to help the people of Yuzhou. This was a benevolent act. It can be seen that General Liu is a person who cares about the people of the world. With such a benevolent monarch, all aspiring and righteous people want to return home. General Qin must first have the intention to surrender, and only then can he have the words of persuasion."

"Since you and I are from the same county, you don't want to call me Zhonglang General. That would seem too foreign. Just call me Wen'an."

"How can you be rude?"

Liu Bei laughed: "Hahaha... Yuan Ying, why don't you do the same as Gu and call Wen An sir."

Liu Fu hurriedly said: "It's so good, it's so good!"

Before Lu Su's troops could reach Shouchun, Liu Bei had already captured Shouchun, so he asked him to lead his troops back to Hefei.

Now that Jiujiang has been leveled, the next step is to march into Lujiang.

But Jiujiang also needs to leave soldiers and horses to garrison, so the choice of Jiujiang governor is key.

Zhou Ping's intention was to let Taishi Ci be the governor of Jiujiang.

The purpose was to make Taishi Ci loyal to Liu Bei.

"My lord, do you think that Taishi Ziyi should be appointed as the prefect of Jiujiang?"

Zhou Ping came to Liu Bei and said:

"Why?"

Liu Bei looked surprised and had a puzzled look on his face.

"Taishi Ziyi is very brave and courageous, and has the talent of a general. With him guarding Jiujiang, we can also march to Lujiang with peace of mind."

"Of course I know Ziyi's talent, but he is still Liu Yangzhou's subordinate..."

Although Liu Bei said he sent troops to assist Liu Yao, how could he fight so hard to capture Jiujiang and then give it away?

"I once heard that someone recommended Ziyi to be a general before. Liu Zhengli disagreed because of Yi's disrespectful status. He only asked him to lead the Qingqi detectives. It can be seen that Liu Zhengli did not put Ziyi in high regard. If the lord entrusts him with the important task of Jiujiang Prefect, he can make Ziyi Yi knows that his lord treats him well, so he can be loyal to his lord."

"I have thought about what you said. In the past, Ziyi came to ask for help when Kong Beihai broke out of the siege. It can be seen that he is a man who values ​​righteousness. Now he follows Liu Zhengli from Tongzhou. Although he is not reused, he will not abandon righteousness. It belongs to me. I want Yunchang to take over the post of Grand Administrator of Jiujiang. As for Taishi Ziyi, he only calls himself the Grand Administrator of Danyang now. I can formally recommend him as the Grand Administrator of Danyang. What do you think, sir?"

Zhou Ping thought about it carefully and felt that what Liu Bei said seemed to be the best arrangement at the moment.

In this way, he could not only show his respect for Taishi Ci, but also not let his own people be looked down upon.

Moreover, Zhou Ping knew that Liu Yao might be dying soon. Once Liu Yao died, Taishi Ci could officially belong to Liu Bei.

But Liu Bei didn't know that, and Jiujiang was very important to Xuzhou and could not be given to others casually.

Taishi Ci gathered a crowd and claimed to be the governor of Danyang. Liu Yao, as the shepherd of Yangzhou, did not go to the court to rectify his name for him. Now Liu Bei went to the court for him, which is enough to show that he values ​​Taishi Ci.

Anyway, Danyang County is not in my hands now.

It can be given to anyone.

Zhou Ping felt that he was looking at the long term, while Liu Bei was mainly looking at the immediate future. They saw different things, were in different positions, and had different ideas.

"My lord, this arrangement is very good, but Ping didn't think carefully enough." Zhou Ping said to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei walked over and held his hand: "Haha, sir, what you said is serious, and what you said makes sense. It's just that the land of Jiujiang is connected to Xuzhou and Yuzhou in the north. We have to move our troops southward. This place is very important and cannot be missed."

It's not that I can't trust Ziyi, it's just that with Yun Chang guarding here, I can rest assured."

Zhou Ping returned to the room and finally realized something.

I look at the general trend, and when it comes to hiring people, I mainly hire people based on their talents.

Liu Bei was different. In addition to the general trend, he also looked at interests. When it came to employing people, in addition to talent, closeness was an even more important factor.

At present, the five prefectures and counties in Xuzhou are prime ministers. The prime minister of Pengcheng is Xiao Jian from Donghai. The governor of Guangling is Chen Deng from Xiapi.

man of.

Only Langya Prime Minister Zang Ba was from Taishan, Yanzhou. Although Zang Ba obeyed Liu Bei's orders, he did not recognize Liu Bei as his lord, so he was not truly one of his own.

Even his wife's brother, Mi Zhu, mainly represents the interests of Xuzhou's powerful people.

Therefore, in Yangzhou, Liu Bei must let his own people control the power of the county guard. Only in this way can the territory he occupies be stable.

Zhou Ping also thought of something, that is, he is just a counselor and can recommend talented people to Liu Bei, but how to use them is Liu Bei's business.

If Liu Bei didn't know how to employ people, then he wouldn't be a good lord, and it would be difficult for him to survive and develop in this troubled world.

If you recommend Taishi Ci to Liu Bei as the governor of Jiujiang, you may arouse Liu Bei's suspicion.

Because if Taishi Ci knew that it was Zhou Ping who recommended him, he might be more grateful to Zhou Ping who recommended him instead of Liu Bei who appointed him.

Liu Bei had reason to believe that Zhou Ping was planting his own party, which would be tabooed.

Zhou Ping didn't know if Liu Bei would think so, but he would never do it again in the future.

In addition to the power of life and death, the power of appointment and dismissal must also be firmly in the hands of the monarch.

A few days later, Liu Bei petitioned Guan Yu to be the governor of Jiujiang, and petitioned Tai Shici to be the governor of Danyang, allowing Liu Fu to be appointed magistrate of Hefei.

In fact, Liu Bei's two sworn brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, it is said that Zhang Fei deserves more credit, but in terms of overall ability, Guan Yu is much stronger than Zhang Fei.

Therefore, Liu Bei will first appoint Guan Yu as the county guard, and then Zhang Fei.

Taishi Ci was very happy to be recommended by Liu Bei.

When he was in Danyang before, he just gathered a group of people and called themselves the governor of Danyang, but no one recognized him at all.

Now Xuzhou Mu Liu Bei declares that he is the governor of Danyang. Although this identity is still untrue, it can at least be used. When Danyang arrives, more people will recognize and support him, and then he will be the real governor of Danyang.

.

After thinking about the attitudes of Liu Yao and Liu Bei towards him, Taishi Ci still felt that Liu Bei was better at employing people, and he also had more respect for Liu Bei in his heart.

Liu Fu did not refuse, and directly accepted the appointment of the Hefei Order. After taking office, he immediately recruited people to repair the city wall and build more trees and stones to defend the city.

Liu Bei asked Guan Yu to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses, together with Tai Shici's 5,000 soldiers, to station in Liyang. On the one hand, he wanted to attract Sun Ce's soldiers and horses to disperse, and at the same time, he collected and built boats, waiting to capture Lujiang River again.

You can cross the river from Jiujiang and Lujiang at the same time and seize Jiangdong.

When he arrived in Hefei, Liu Bei met Lu Su and appointed him as the commander of another department, and he continued to lead the troops as usual.

After resting in Hefei for a few days, in early May of the first year of Jian'an, Liu Bei, with Zhou Ping, Zhang Fei, Lu Su and others, led more than 40,000 troops, left Hefei and marched towards Lujiang River.

Liu Bei brought only 30,000 soldiers and horses from Xuzhou. With Shouchun's nearly 10,000 surrendered soldiers and Lu Su's more than 10,000 soldiers, if you include Tai Shici's 5,000 soldiers, there were more than 50,000 soldiers.

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But Guan Yu and Tai Shici left 15,000 men to garrison Liyang, and he only took more than 40,000 men to attack Lujiang.

Yuan Shu took more than 26,000 soldiers and horses from Shouchun, but he lost 2,000 to 3,000 in pursuit by Tai Shici. Liu Xun, the prefect of Lujiang, originally had more than 10,000 soldiers, so now there are more than 30,000 soldiers and horses in Lujiang.

Previously, Liu Bei had no way to take Shouchun, and Yuan Shu was secretly happy, thinking that in a short time, Liu Bei would retreat because he could not capture Shouchun, just like Cao Cao retreated because he could not capture Tancheng.

In that case, he can return to Shouchun.

But he was not happy for a few days when he heard that Qin Yi and Liang Gang had betrayed, killed Qiao Rui and Liu Xiang, surrendered to Liu Bei, and let Liu Bei get the news of Shouchun.

This news greatly surprised Yuan Shu. He expected that Liu Bei had captured Shouchun, and his next step might be to march towards Lujiang.

For this reason, he hurriedly sent people to ask Sun Ce to lead troops to help.

At the same time, in order to stop Liu Bei, he asked Wu Jing and Sun Ben to lead 6,000 troops to guard Shu County, and asked Zhang Xun to lead 10,000 troops to guard Juchao.

Since Sun Ce crossed the river and defeated Liu Yao, his military strength has increased greatly. Now his strength is almost the same as Yuan Shu, or even stronger than him.

Yuan Shu also felt that Sun Ce was trying to break away from his control intentionally or unintentionally. When he first ran from Shouchun to Wan County, he sent someone to ask Sun Ce to lead troops to aid Shouchun, but Sun Ce said at that time that he wanted to suppress bandits.

Wait until the thieves are eliminated before coming to help.

This was clearly a rejection of Yuan Shu's military order, but he had no choice but to lead troops to attack Sun Ce!

Fortunately, Wu Jing and Sun Ben are still with Yuan Shu, and now it is time for them to lead the troops to guard Shu County. They are just waiting for Liu Bei's army to arrive to see if Sun Ce will come to help.

With the two lines of defense of Wu Jing and Sun Bi in Shu County and Zhang Xun in Juchao, it is much more stable than Yinling and Xiquyang in Jiujiang.

Liang Gang and Qin Yi would rebel, but Wu Jing, Sun Bi, and Zhang Xun would not rebel. Yuan Shu was very confident about this.

Moreover, Yuan Shu knew that Sun Ce would definitely lead troops to help, so he was not very worried now.

A few months ago, Sun Ce pursued Tai Shi Ci and Zhou Ping to Spring Valley. Not only was he unable to pursue them, but he also lost Chen Wu.
To be continued...