From Duanmu Ruoyu's intelligence, it was learned that after Chen Deng persuaded Liu Bei, Liu Bei still did not take office immediately.

And coincidentally, in order to make the career of the life-saving benefactor go to the next level, Kong Rong, a big celebrity in Beihai, also worked tirelessly to come to Xiaopei to persuade Liu Bei. Kong Rong has always spoken more directly, and this time is no exception, he first pointed out that Yuan Shu is a very unreliable person, as for his family's cattle ancestors have long since died, what do you care about them? Then, as a university scholar, Kong Rong made an assertion from the perspective of heaven and man induction: "Today's things, the people and the ability, the sky and the non-take, regret cannot be chased." ”

Now that he has said this, Liu Bei no longer shirks, takes office, and becomes the pastor of Xuzhou.

Of course, in Ma Chao's opinion, Kong Rong only scolded Yuan Shu, and Liu Bei listened to it. As for what celestial and human induction sets. Liu Bei should be in the left ear and out of the right ear. Perhaps, after listening to Kong Rong's persuasion, Liu Bei felt that he was too embarrassed by Chen Deng, and just in time for Kong Rong's appearance, he borrowed the donkey from the slope.

But no matter what, Liu Bei finally took the position of Xuzhou Mu. After ten years of hard work, I finally got through!

Now Liu Bei is no longer a poor boy who sells straw shoes on the streets of Zhuoxian County, no longer an aspiring young man who has no way to serve the country, and no longer a rootless duckweed wandering under the fence, he finally has his own territory, becoming a prince of a town, and his development prospects are very good.

But Liu Bei knows that in such an era when the world is public, it is still unknown how long he can be a pastor in Xuzhou.

Xuzhou is not a small place with only a few cities, but one of the thirteen states in the country at that time, with jurisdiction over Donghai County, Guangling County, Langxie State, Pengcheng State, Xiapi State, a total of five counties (countries), 62 counties, according to the census figures of the Han Shun Emperor period (126-144 years), a total population of about 2.8 million, is a veritable big place.

What is an upstart person? Now Liu Bei is.

But the nouveau riche also has the difficulty of the nouveau riche, that is, Liu Bei is worried that he will not be able to keep this windfall: even if it is Xuzhou Mu who has fallen from the world, since it has fallen into his own hands, of course he is unwilling to share it with others.

This is a common problem of vested interests.

Liu Bei is not exempt from vulgarity, and what is even worse is that Liu Bei really doesn't have much bargaining chips at this time, he has a thin foundation, shallow roots, and has little confidence to settle down in Xuzhou.

Let's start with military strength. Liu Bei's descendants at this time, Ma Chao knew about Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Tai Shici, and Guan Hai. It seems to be a lot, and they are all people with outstanding force, courage and strategy. But Zhao Yun and Tai Shici are only guest generals, and Guan Hai is a yellow turban general, so he doesn't dare to use it much. Therefore, after ten years of mixing, Liu Bei's descendants are still Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

And the troops under his command are a lot, and they have really expanded to 50,000 troops at once. But in his hands, after excluding the more than 2,000 soldiers and horses under Zhao Yun and Tai Shici, there were only more than 3,000 cavalry under Zhang Fei and 3,000 infantry under Guan Yu left, and there were less than 7,000 who could listen to Liu Bei's orders and rush up during the battle. It is difficult to say that the other troops in Xuzhou really support Boss Liu, and they can only be regarded as a mixed meal. In peacetime, if you pay me on an errand, the days will be mixed, and whether it is reliable or not at the critical moment will be a big question mark.

Let's talk about the staff of Wenchen. Liu Bei's original Wenchen was only Jian Yong, and when he was Xiaopei, he selected Yuan Jian, a Fule man from Chen County, and when he took office in Xuzhou, he selected Sun Qian, a native of Beihai, Qingzhou.

What Liu Bei can really rely on is Lu Zhu and Chen Deng.

Lu Zhu, whose name is Zizhong, is a native of the East China Sea in Xuzhou, and his ancestors have been wealthy businessmen for several generations, and he is quite rich, and there are tens of thousands of slaves and servants in his family. When Tao Qian was in office, Lu Zhu served as the secretary general of the Xuzhou government, and he had a certain prestige among the local bureaucracy and powerful landlords. The most important thing is that Lu Zhu was very optimistic about Liu Bei, and later even let Cao Cao's recommendation go too long and followed Liu Bei all his life.

Chen Deng, whose name is Yuanlong, is a native of Xiapi, a rare talent, and can be said to be an all-round talent in civil and military affairs. When Tao Qian was in office, Chen Deng served as the director of the Xuzhou Department of Agriculture in charge of Tuntian affairs. It should be noted that agriculture at that time was absolutely the basic industry and leading industry of the national economy, and tuntian was the top priority of agriculture. Chen Deng was also very optimistic about Liu Bei, so he made every effort to promote Liu Bei to take over as Xuzhou Mu. Two or three years later, Chen Deng returned to Cao Cao as the Taishou of Guangling, and when he chatted with others and commented on the celebrities in the world, he still admired Liu Bei very much: "Erudite and strong, Qiyi Zhuoju, I respect Kong Wenju (Kong Rong); Outstanding majestic posture, with the strategy of a king, I respect Liu Xuande. ”

The dignified feudal official Xuzhou Mu Liu Bei can only rely on this pitiful capital.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the powerful landlords in various places were very powerful, and most of the local cadres were selected among them. They wanted money, people, status, and status, and they were the backbone of society at that time. For foreign leaders to gain a foothold, they must have their support. And if you want to get their support, it is not a matter of one sentence, you need to have time and strategy to operate step by step. For example, today we will go to the village of Li Zhuang to have a drink, and tomorrow we will go to Wang Xianling's house for a meal, and only by going back and forth to strengthen contacts can we establish a profound revolutionary friendship.

After all, Liu Bei has only been in office in Xuzhou for half a year, and he has not had time to make many achievements and win many people's hearts. He gave Ma Chao a difference, he did not start in Yongzhou, where the foundation of the powerful landlord was not too deep, and he did not have Ma Chao's long-term entrenchment, so he could use his iron and bloody wrists to get rid of those Haoqiang who dared to oppose him. All he could do was to contact those people first and get their support. But even though Liu Bei has pretended to have a humble attitude, it can be inferred from the intelligence that most of those heroes still think that Liu Bei's foundation is too thin and his starting point is too low, and they do not regard him as a potential stock.

After all, coaxing the people of Li Shu who can't survive is not the same thing as encircling those heroes: the people only need a vague hope, and what the heroes pay attention to is interests!

Therefore, although Xuzhou is large, the power that Liu Bei can control is very limited.

However, Ma Chao just took a fancy to this, after listening to all the information of Duanmu Ruoyu. After thinking quietly for a while, he pointed out on the sand table simulation map before leaning over and whispering to Diao Chan: "Cicada, I have already thought about going to Xuzhou." ”

"Husband, what do you want? .........After all, Diao Chan's political vision is inferior to Ma Chao, and after hearing that Ma Chao is finding out all the information about Liu Bei, he solemnly made this decision. couldn't help but wonder about Ma Chao's original intention, and asked, "Does the husband want to meet that Liu Bei?" ”

"Yes, since Liu Xie in Xuchang has made a move, the Ma family naturally can't stand still." Speaking of this, Ma Chao motioned to Duanmu Ruoyu and Diao Chan to look at the sand table simulation map, and explained: "Today's Han is already complicated to an unspeakable situation. On the surface, there are currently two main camps in the Central Plains: one is Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Liu Biao; the other faction is Yuan Shu, Gongsun Zhan, and Sun Ce; And Liu Bei's Xuzhou is just stuck at the juncture of the competition between these two factions. So, he was very uncomfortable. But don't forget, in addition to these two factions, there is also our Ma family! ”

"Once our Ma family participates in Xuzhou, it is conceivable that the situation in Xuzhou will be more complex and changeable." Ma Chao reasoned his thoughts, to be honest, the consequences of the Ma family's rash participation in Xuzhou were not estimated by Ma Chao. But he knew that the Ma family was just a superficial alliance with Liu Bei, which was enough to make Liu Bei's heart flutter. But if Liu Bei really has a stir, the Ma family is so far away, and it is normal for the whip to be out of reach, and it will not affect the overall situation of the Ma family.

In the process of plotting the entire Han Dynasty, Ma Chao did not make any progress except for the fact that he was forced to carry out the seizure of Nanyang and the occupation of Yingchuan during the disaster period. At this moment, it is not without benefit to take Liu Bei of Xuzhou as a signal to the princes from all walks of life.

At least, he wanted to see the reactions of the two bigwigs, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. In this way, he can formulate the future development plan of the Ma family.

What's more, Liu Bei's future development is unlimited. Making an emotional investment in advance will not do any harm to the Ma family.

Of course, in this way, Ma Chao can have a reasonable excuse to enter Xuzhou openly and honestly, and by the way, to investigate the matter of the Mi family's official hat chair........