When the emperor passed away, the new king had not ascended the throne for a long time, Chang'an was in chaos, Jizhou was in a state of surrender, and internal differences were also serious. As the governor of Youzhou, Taishi Ci naturally had to prepare for the war, so he sent Jian Yong to form an alliance with Liu Bei to test Liu Bei's thoughts. If Liu Bei was willing to form an alliance, he would jointly send troops with Liu Bei. If Liu Bei was unwilling to form an alliance, then he would be welcome and deal with Liu Bei first.

Liu Bei's heart was clear, and before Jian Yong finished speaking, he smiled.

"Since Xianhe is a guest Cao, I believe that he has already discussed with the Wuhuan tribes along the way? If I don't agree, are you planning to join forces and take Youzhou first?"

Jian Yong did not hide it, nodded calmly, and said, "Not only Youzhou, but also Bingzhou."

Liu Bei's smile froze, then his eyes flashed, and he smiled as if nothing had happened. According to Feng Ji and others' plan, he was ready to plunder the Yanmen westward in the autumn and the counties in the Yunzhong. These counties were no longer under the control of the court and were occupied by the Xiongnu and Xianbei people. Now the Huns are in decline. The Xianbei people were severely injured by the emperor's western expedition two years ago. They have not recovered yet. It is a good opportunity to attack. Taishici also wanted to take Bingzhou, so he couldn't help but worry. If Taishici saw through his plan, this matter would be a little difficult to deal with. There is no need to pay more. As long as Taishici was posing for moving west, his main force would not dare to leave lightly.

"The Grand Historian Ziyi and the Wuhuan people are so close, it is contrary to the King of Wu's killing of Hu Ling."

"The general is outside, and the emperor will not accept the order. Besides, the Grand Historian Governor has reported to the King of Wu, and the King of Wu has no objection, otherwise the Grand Historian Governor would not have enough supplies to open the market."

Jian Yong smiled and seemed to say casually, but Liu Bei felt like he was stabbed in his heart, and he was so painful. Taishi Ci controlled Liaodong and opened Hu markets in Liucheng and Xuantu, and traded with Hu people. Most of the Hu people nearby went there to trade. Even the Wuhuan people in Shanggu and Dai County were willing to go there when they had a large business. In contrast, Zhuo County did not have the merchants from Zhongyuan, and the business was controlled by Zhongshan merchants. He became the king of Zhongshan. After controlling Zhongshan, even Zhongshan merchants did not follow this business path and would rather go to Liaodong.

In this way, he did not lack income and even war horses became a problem. He could only buy medium or even inferior war horses, and all the best war horses were sent to Liaodong and sold to Taishici. In the long run, the benefits of the cavalry in Youzhou would be lost, at least they would not be Taishici's opponents.

Jian Yong mentioned this sentence at this time, not just casually, but reminded him of the shortcomings of Youzhou. Without Qingzhou and Jizhou's financial support, he could not last long with only Youzhou and only half of Youzhou.

"It's good to have money." Liu Bei smiled bitterly: "The King of Wu lives in the six states of the Central Plains, and even the emperor is not his opponent, let alone me. Xianhe, let's go, let's go to the city and talk slowly."

Jian Yong nodded and followed Liu Bei out. Liu Bei held his hands behind his back and said as he walked: "Xianhe, let's talk to each other later on. Let's say a few words of kindness first. If I surrender to the King of Wu, how will the King of Wu deal with me? Should I be placed under house arrest, become a rich man, or be a vassal prince, or just kill him to prevent future troubles?"

Jian Yong said lightly: "If the King of Wu wants to kill you, why wait until today?"

Liu Bei curled his lips. "I would rather he killed me in the first place."

Jian Yong glanced at Liu Bei. "There is nothing more than life and death. Since the king is not afraid of death, what should I worry about?"

Liu Bei laughed loudly and reached out to pat Jian Yong on the shoulder. "Xianhe, you are still the same, and you haven't changed at all." He then sighed. "We will drink a few more drinks later, and it's been a long time since we felt like this."

——

Jian Yong stayed in Zhuo County for a few days. While reminiscing about the past with Liu Bei, he visited relatives and friends. He could not see many old friends, but he never saw Guan Yu, who had been in Zhuo County for many years. He accidentally asked the familiar county officials, and the county officials either smiled bitterly or were silent. Jian Yong was surprised and asked Liu Bei several times indirectly. Liu Bei just said that Guan Yu was busy, but he didn't mention what he was busy with.

Zhang Fei did not show up, but he could find out more information than Guan Yu. He heard that he was training troops in Dai County and politicized the Wuhuan people. Zhao Yun went to the court and became a national lieutenant. Now all the important tasks of the northern border fall on Zhang Fei alone, and it is very hard.

Jian Yong was very surprised. How could Zhang Fei get along peacefully with the Wuhuan people? He should be the one who conquers the Wuhuan people. Zhang Fei commands the central army. Why did Liu Bei make such arrangements?

However, he quickly realized that most of the civil and military officials in Zhongshan came from aristocratic families, especially the Jizhou family, where Yin Cui Jun of Zhongshan was the best. With the help of Cui Jun's influence, Liu Bei stabilized Zhongshan and Hejian countries, and eased relations with the Youzhou family, but was also subject to the aristocratic families. Even the prefect of Zhuo County was replaced by Xing Yong, a native of Hejian.

Zhang Fei went to the most remote Dai County. Because Tian Yu came from the Tian family and had a good relationship with the aristocratic family, he was able to stay in Guangyang, lead the military affairs of Yuyang and the Youbeiping, and assumed the responsibility of preventing Taishi Ci from advancing westward.

As a counter-attack, Liu Bei arranged his clans in various counties, but those people had neither administrative experience nor military experience and could not bear much responsibility. They could only be county magistrates. Only Liu Xiu was the only one who was the prefect, and was arranged to be Yuyang, which Liu Bei originally managed.

Jian Yong did not meet Liu Xiu on his way. It is said that he inspected the Great Wall area of ​​the Northern Line, intending to repair the pass and prevent the Hu people from invading outside the border. Without the merchants and commodities from the Central Plains, and being defeated by Taishi Ci last year, Liu Bei is neither able to tempt nor intimidate him now. The Hu people gradually did not take him seriously and repeatedly invaded the pass and invaded the pass and Yuyang and Youbeiping are the hardest hit areas.

This may also be the reason why Liu Bei had to bow his head to the aristocratic family. At any time, it is always the most important thing to survive, especially for Liu Bei.

A few days later, Cui Jun rushed to Zhuo County and met Jian Yong.

Cui Jun is Cui Jun's brother, whose courtesy name is Zhouping. Unlike Cui Jun, Cui Jun is not interested in fame and fortune, and likes to study and travel. After Cui Jun decided to support Liu Bei, he strongly recommended him to be a Dianke. Jian Yong was a guest Cao, so it was appropriate for him to receive him, but it seemed a bit deliberate. Ji Mingming, the fully responsible Zhongshan Kingdom, was in Zhuo County, but he refused to meet and insisted on summoning Cui Jun, which made Jian Yong dislike it.

Jian Yong has always been careless and can't help but mock Cui Jun. Cui Jun has a good temper and doesn't mind, so he sent Jian Yong a book: Cui Yin's collection, including dozens of articles written by Cui Wang, which was just published in the world not long ago.

Jian Yong looked through the collection of essays with a smile. He knew Cui Shi's reputation and knowledge, and could also guess the significance of the Cui brothers' printing this book at this moment. As soon as this book was published, scholars from Jizhou and Youzhou naturally had to look up at the Anping Cui family, and Cui Jun himself could also benefit from it. He is now the Yin of Zhongshan, and one step further, he naturally took a fancy to the prime minister of Feng Ji. Feng Ji was from Qingzhou. He had no other advantages in Zhongshan Country except for Liu Bei's trust. Fighting against the advantages of the northern Hebei family, Liu Bei could not hold on for long.

This is the nature of aristocratic families, and they will never forget internal strife at any time.

The negotiations between Jian Yong and Cui Jun are destined to have no result. Sun Ce's reputation for looting the aristocratic family is notorious, and the Jizhou aristocratic family will not easily accept this fate and bow down to the emperor. Without their consent, Liu Bei would not have accepted it, otherwise no one could say how many days he, the king of Zhongshan, could be.

Jian Yong did not bother to leave Zhuo County and returned to Liaodong.

When he reached Yuyang, he stopped for a while, walked up the water, and headed straight for the capital of Yuyang County. Before he could reach Yongnu County, Liu Xiu showed up and stopped him halfway.

When Jian Yong saw Liu Xiu, he was very unhappy and pointed at his nose and said, "Deran, you are not a friend enough to do this. Even if we are each of us, I pass by your jurisdiction, you should do the best of the landlords, right? What is the reason for avoiding it? Isn't it the way to treat guests in Zhongshan?"

Liu Xiu was embarrassed and apologized repeatedly, and ordered people to take out the prepared wine and food, hold a banquet on the roadside to welcome Jian Yong.

Jian Yong didn't mind, so he sat down happily, and drank and chatted with Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu was a little reluctant, and Jian Yong saw it and laughed. "Deran, don't worry, today is the reunion of old friends, just reminiscing about old love, not talking about business."

"Okay, that's fine." Liu Xiu smiled embarrassedly, raised his glass and toasted Jian Yong. Speaking of which, he was a subordinate of Jian Yong at the time, and he had gained a lot of knowledge with Jian Yong on his way. Otherwise, it would be hard to say whether he could become Liu Bei's relatives and serve as the prefect of Yuyang today. He thanked Jian Yong repeatedly, and after drinking a few glasses of wine, the atmosphere finally relaxed a little.

"Deran has a great show of his might, and it is a joy to congratulate him. Have another drink." Jian Yong raised his glass and congratulated Liu Xiu.

Liu Xiu waved his hands repeatedly. "Xianhe, don't joke, this is not a good job. Speaking of which, you are just foresighted, and now you can be so free and easy, hiring thousands of miles away, and treating each other with courtesy wherever you go. Unlike me, you are not a human inside or outside."

Liu Xiu said, poking his heart, and his grievances were beyond words.

"How can Deran say this? Although Yuyang is not rich, it has iron, and it has the benefits of mountains and seas. It is worthy of agriculture and animal husbandry. It has been peaceful in the past two years, so it should be quite good."

Liu Xiu became more and more angry as he thought about it. He patted his thighs and sighed. "Yuyang has iron, but there are no craftsmen. Mining, iron smelting, and making tools. Which one does not require people? Especially for making tools, they are also humans, but the things they make are very different. Some can make sharp weapons, while others can only play kitchen knives and farm tools. Now the side is tight and they are attacked from all sides. They need a lot of weapons, all pointing to the iron in Yuyang. But where can I find enough craftsmen? Fuck his mother, they all touched their mouths and said lightly. I was unlucky, so busy that I hit the back of my head was useless, and I was scolded every now and again."

Seeing that Liu Xiu was so thick that Jian Yong couldn't help laughing, he glanced at Liu Xiu for a while, and said with a smile: "Are they Cui Jun and others you are talking about?"
Chapter completed!