Gongsun Du mentioned in the letter that he was terminally ill, although he used the prescription given by Fan A, his health improved, but his body was not as good as before, and he may die soon, hoping that after his death, his son Gongsun Kang would inherit the title of Marquis of Liaodong, but no longer hold the official position of Liaodong Taishou, hoping that the imperial court could send someone to be the Liaodong Taishou.

The content of the letter is these, and between the lines, it reveals a sense of sincerity.

However, this made Zhang Yan fall into deep contemplation, and the former Li Caicai sent a letter to him, saying that Gongsun Du was dead, and his son Gongsun Kangmi was not mourning, and secretly assembled troops to plot evil. But the latter Gongsun Du sent someone to send such a sincere letter, which made things confusing.

But no matter what, the problem of the Gongsun clan in Liaodong had to be dealt with, Zhang Yan quickly gathered his staff, and Zhang Zhao, Chen Qun, Gu Yong and other henchmen came to the Yanwang Mansion one after another.

Zhang Yan showed the two letters in front of Zhang Zhao, Chen Qun, and Gu Yong, and after the three of them hurriedly read them, they already roughly knew the purpose of Zhang Yan asking them to come.

"You have all read the letter, no matter whether Gongsun Du dies or not, the problem of Liaodong must be satisfactorily resolved. Do you have any opinions? Zhang Yan asked.

Chen Qun took the lead and said: "His Royal Highness King Yan, his subordinates think that Li Cai will not lie, but Gongsun Du may not really be dead. ”

"What do you mean by that?" After Zhang Yan heard this, he suddenly became interested and hurriedly asked.

Chen Qun said: "It is very likely that Gongsun Du already knew that King Yan had sent Li Cai to Liaodong, so he deliberately took a false message to deceive Li Cai. And let King Yan be suspicious of Li Wensheng. It is not difficult to see from the letters of Gongsun Du. This is a cunning man. He knew that His Royal Highness King Yan would attack Liaodong sooner or later, so he prepared in advance, although he proposed to only let Gongsun Kang inherit the title, but did not let Gongsun Kang be the Taishou, and proposed to let King Yan appoint the Taishou, which was a strategy to retreat into advance. The Gongsun clan has been entrenched in Liaodong for many years, and its shili has long been ingrained, and it is necessary to uproot it by normal means. It's harder than climbing to the sky. Even if His Royal Highness King Yan sent a Taishou, the actual power was not in the hands of the Taishou, and sending it would not have much effect, but would cause contradictions. ”

Zhang Yan felt that what Chen Qun said was very reasonable, and asked, "Then in your opinion, how should this king deal with it?" ”

"Continue to maintain the original status quo of Liaodong, and order Gongsun Kang to be the Taishou of Liaodong and inherit the title of Marquis of Liaodong. Regardless of whether Gongsun Du is really dead or faked, in this way, Liaodong can be temporarily stabilized. His Royal Highness has just pacified Hebei. It will take a lot of effort to make the people of Hebei stable, and it is not appropriate to start another war for the time being. This is the only way to temporarily restore peace for several years. A few years later, it will not be too late for His Royal Highness to clean up the Liaodong Gongsun clan! Chen Qun said.

After Zhang Yan heard this, he was still very sure of the strategy given by Chen Qun, even if he did what Chen Qun said, he ordered Gongsun Kang to inherit the title of his father Gongsun Du Liaodong Marquis, and served as the Liaodong Taishou, Gongsun Du's youngest son Gongsun Gong, was named the Marquis of Joseon County, Lelang Taishou, and promulgated it in the form of a holy decree.

The north was unified, and the world was initially decided, however, Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Sun Ce in Jiangdong all felt the pressure brought by Zhang Yan. However, in terms of strength, Liu Biao is far stronger than Sun Ce under economic sanctions.

Just after the first month of the first year of Wude, a very important guest was welcomed in the city of Xiangyang in Jingzhou, who was none other than Liu Bei, who was appointed by Liu Biao as the governor of Jingnan.

Liu Bei has been the governor of Jingnan for several years, last year Zhang Yan led a large army to the north, after Liu Bei heard the news, he took the initiative to persuade Liu Biao, hoping that Liu Biao would lead the troops of Jingzhou to take advantage of Zhang Yan's northern expedition to attack Zhang Yan's rear.

However, Liu Biao rejected Liu Bei's suggestion, only saying that Zhang Yan was strong and had a strong army, and he would definitely not leave the rear empty, so he did not take any action.

When Zuihou Liu Biao learned that Zhang Yan was going north to conquer Hebei with all his might, he suddenly woke up, and then wanted to act, Zhang Yan had returned to Pengcheng, which can only be said to be a kind of resentment.

For this reason, Liu Biao also appreciated Liu Bei's foresight, so he decided to let Liu Bei come to Xiangyang for a small gathering, and hoped to talk to Liu Bei about his future plans.

Liu Bei, accompanied by Guan Yu and Yi, rode three horses and rushed all the way from Changsha to Xiangyang.

When Liu Biao learned of Liu Bei's arrival, he sent someone to arrange Liu Bei in the post house, preparing to meet Liu Bei early tomorrow morning.

Early the next morning, Liu Biao sent someone to the post house to greet Liu Bei, and Liu Bei took a carriage, accompanied by Guan Yu, and came to Liu Biao's mansion together.

Liu Biao waited early in the square in front of the house, and when he saw Liu Bei and Guan Yu coming, he hurriedly came to greet him.

Liu Bei got out of the carriage and was quite moved when he saw Liu Biao coming to greet him in person, and before he could say the words of gratitude, he was grabbed by Liu Biaoyi.

"Brother Xuandexian, it's so hard to wait for you for my brother." Liu Biao grabbed Liu Bei's hand hard, and his eyes showed a little appreciation, and he was the first to speak.

Liu Bei said: "How can Xuande let Brother Jingsheng come to greet him personally?" ”

Liu Biao said with a smile: "You and my brother, not to mention anything else, it is also appropriate for my brother to come to greet me." Brother Wei has already asked people to prepare a banquet in the mansion, so brother Xian should follow me into the mansion quickly. ”

Liu Bei and Guan Yu, under the leadership of Liu Biao, directly entered the mansion, and in the hall, a table of wine banquets was set up early.

Liu Biao, Liu Bei, and Guan Yu sat down, Liu Biao raised his wine glass, toasted Liu Bei first, and the two drank it all, and then Liu Biao began to reveal that he had not listened to Liu Bei's opinion before, so that he missed a good opportunity.

Liu Bei said: "It's all over, Brother Jingsheng doesn't have to mind so much." Now that Zhang Yan has unified the north and is called the regent, he is actually a thief who steals the country, the new emperor is young and ignorant, Zhang Yan takes all the power in his own hands, what is the difference between him and the emperor? However, although Zhang Yan pacified Hebei, it still took a long time to digest, during this time, if Brother Jingsheng did not make any moves, I was afraid that Zhang Yan would continue to sit big, and when he regained his strength, it would be even more difficult to deal with Zhang Yan. ”

Liu Biao sighed heavily and said, "Brother Wei has always thought that Zhang Yan is a minister of society, but with Zhang Yan's further expansion, Brother Wei also feels the threat brought by Zhang Yan. These days, Zhang Xiu, the Taishou of Nanyang, kept sending people to send secret reports, saying that Zhang Yan was mobilizing troops one after another, and Chen Bing was on the border of Jingzhou, and he was suspected of having troops in Jingzhou. It has always been difficult for his brother to cause trouble, but if anyone dares to touch Jingzhou, his brother is not a vegetarian, and he will definitely let them have no good fruit to eat. Brother Xian has always looked at things in a very unique way, I don't know what Brother Xian thinks is the general trend today? ”

Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "In today's situation in the world, Zhang Yan's family is dominant, Jiangdong has Sun Ce, Xichuan has Liu Zhang, Jiaozhou has Shixie, Hanzhong has Zhang Lu, Liangzhou has Ma Teng and Han Sui, although they all have their own heavy troops, but they are too scattered, and everyone does not have a subordinate, can not form a very haode alliance, if they can form an alliance with each other and fight against Zhang Yan together, they may be able to fight against Zhang Yan!" ”

Liu Biao said: "What does the virtuous brother mean is to form an alliance with all these people and advance and retreat together?" ”

Liu Bei nodded and said: "There is no need for everyone to form an alliance, now facing Zhang Yan's threat, in addition to Brother Jingsheng, there is another person who has a headache, when I was in Changsha, I heard that Zhang Yan imposed so-called 'economic sanctions' on Sun Ce, so that the entire Jiangdong has become very poor, plus Jiangdong is full of mountains, Sun Ce's life is not easy." However, Sun Ce is brave and good at fighting, and there are many talents under his account, including Zhou Yu, Lu Fan, Sun Jing, and Cheng Pu, Han Dang, Huang Gai and others, these people are enough for Sun Ce to stand firm on the foundation of Jiangdong, especially Zhou Yu, who is young, but talented, and very good at using soldiers, it can be said that Jiangdong can continue to this day, and Zhou Yu has made great contributions. ”

Liu Biao said: "I have heard these brothers mention, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are indeed not simple characters. ”

Liu Bei said: "Brother Jingsheng, I think that if you want to fight against Zhang Yan, it is far from enough to rely on our family's liliang, we must unite all the princes, especially Sun Ce in Jiangdong, this is a liliang ...... that cannot be ignored."

Liu Biao suddenly interrupted Liu Bei's words and asked: "Sun Ce's father Sun Jian died in Jingzhou back then, it can be said that he has an unshirkable responsibility for his brother, and since then, Sun Ce has treated his brother as an enemy, how can he be willing to form an alliance with Jingzhou?" ”

Liu Bei said: "It's man-made, if you don't try it, how do you know that you can't form an alliance?" If Brother Jingsheng agrees, I am willing to go to Jiangdong on behalf of Brother Jingsheng to persuade Sun Ce to form an alliance with Jingzhou and jointly fight against Zhang Yan in the north. ”

Liu Biao thought for a moment and said, "Okay, if the virtuous brother can really promote Sun Ce to form an alliance with Jingzhou, it will be a great achievement, and the virtuous brother will be rewarded heavily at that time." ”

"Thanks to Brother Jingsheng's care, Xuande can settle in Jingzhou, Xuande does things for Brother Jingsheng, and he doesn't want any rewards, just to repay Brother Jingsheng's kindness to Xuande. If Brother Jingsheng agrees to form an alliance with Sun Ce in Jiangdong, then Xuande will go to Jiangdong tomorrow, and if Sun Ce is not convinced, he will never return to Jingzhou! ”

"Good! Xuande, although you go to Jiangdong to see Sun Ce, if he has any requirements, you can send someone to inform your brother, if you can meet it, try to meet him for your brother! Liu Biao said.

Liu Bei nodded, hugged his fists and said: "Brother Jingsheng, in addition to Sun Ce, Liu Zhang of Yizhou, Shixie of Jiaozhou, Zhang Lu of Hanzhong, Ma Teng and Han Sui of Liangzhou, must send people to form an alliance, if it is successful, if it is not successful, it will not matter if it is not a big deal, the most important thing at the moment is Sun Ce." ”

"Okay, although Xuande can rest assured, he will send people who can speak well to form an alliance with Liu Zhang, Shi Xie, Zhang Lu, Ma Teng, Han Sui and others. Xuande, come, I will toast you again for my brother, and I wish you a smooth sailing trip to Jiangdong! ”

As he spoke, Liu Biao raised his wine glass and drank it all with Liu Bei...... (To be continued......)