"My lord, the last general thinks that it is inappropriate to say otherwise, it is really short-sighted, too short-sighted!"

Cai Mao spoke disrespectfully as soon as she opened her mouth, and she didn't care about the face of the Kuai brothers.

After a pause in his tone, Cai Mao glanced at the Kuai brothers coldly, and continued: "Although the territory of the Yufu Luo barbarian army is in the territory of Xiliang, it is still the territory of my Han Dynasty after all. This time, the general was ordered to rebel, set up a altar at the north gate of Chang'an, and asked His Majesty to ascend the altar to worship the sky and swear to go on the expedition. This is the first time since His Majesty ascended the throne to pay tribute to the ancestors of heaven and earth, and set up an altar to worship the commander. If the general is unfavorable this time and loses to the hands of the barbarian army due to lack of food and grass, it will not only damage the prestige of the general, but even His Majesty will lose face, and the prestige of the Son of Heaven will be lost! ”

Speaking of this, Cai Mao said respectfully: "My lord is a member of the Han family, a royal bloodline, and an uncle who is the son of today." The princes of all towns can disobey the edict of the Son of Heaven, but our lord cannot ignore the Son of Heaven, because to despise the Son of Heaven is to ignore the orthodoxy of the royal family. Therefore, the last general thought that the lord should be edicted, and still paid the grain and grass in full, helping the general to succeed in suppressing the thieves and establishing a prestige for the Son of Heaven! ”

"Huh?" When he heard Cai Mao's last words, Liu Biao was shocked, and he groaned in a low voice, and a trace of brilliance flashed in his eyes.

Cai Mao's words, only the last sentence spoke to Liu Biao's heart, and this was the key to his hesitation.

According to Liu Biao's habit in the past, when encountering this kind of thing where the princes fought and caught him in the middle, he always pursued the principle of non-participation and non-interference. Others can fight as much as they like, anyway, it has nothing to do with him, as long as he guards the nine counties of Jingzhou, what does other things have to do with him?

That's exactly what happened this time. Yuan Shao of Jizhou wrote a letter saying that he would form an alliance with him Liu Biao to jointly fight against Li Li of Xiliang. The letter also said that as long as he stopped providing food and grass to Li Li. Even if it is an alliance with Yuan Shao. And Li Li also wanted to form an alliance with him Liu Biao in his handbook, and also promised a bunch of benefits, full of sincerity.

If Liu Biao had difficulty making a decision when he received such a letter, he would put it aside and make a decision after the situation became clear. But this time is different. This was the first time that his imperial nephew Liu Xie appeared on the altar, and he publicly enshrined Li Li as the general of the world's soldiers and horses, and swore to go on the expedition.

As Cai Mao said, other princes can not give face to the Son of Heaven, but he Liu Biao can't ignore the face of the royal family. In this time of great controversy. If the face of the orthodox Son of Heaven of the royal family is not even maintained by him, the imperial uncle, then who else in the world will take the Son of Heaven in his eyes? If this is the case, the four hundred years of the Liu family will really be completely destroyed!

However, once Liu Biao was edicted to escort 100,000 stone grain and grass to Si Li, it would be tantamount to offending Yuan Shao and the princes who regarded Li Li as their enemy. In the future, Jingzhou's situation may not be as stable as it is now. However, Liu Biao is not afraid of this, after all, the more than 200,000 troops under his command are not vegetarians. And he, Liu Biao, is not a good person who can be slaughtered by others.

Although Jizhou Yuan Shao's strength is getting stronger and stronger. But it is far away from Jingzhou, and the whip is beyond reach. Yanzhou Cao Cao himself was difficult to protect, he was beaten by Lu Bu and lost the city and land one after another, and he was defeated and retreated, seeing that Yanzhou's nest was almost unable to be saved. As for Yangzhou Yuan Shu, Liu Biao was not afraid. Because he trained the navy in his early years to deal with Jiangdong Sun Jian. Now it is to guard against Yuan Shu's invasion of Jingzhou, not to mention that Yuan Shu does not have a naval army now, and he has not been able to capture the entire territory of Yangzhou.

After careful consideration, Liu Biao suddenly found that his current strength was not weak. It is only slightly inferior to Xiliang Li Li, and as for the other princes, they are not afraid.

As soon as he thought of this, Liu Biao raised his eyes to look at Huang Zu who was sitting next to Cai Mao, and asked, "What do you think?" How should the old man choose? ”

Huang Zunian is about forty years old, has entered middle age, tall and strong, wearing black armor, sitting on the front of the chest, the waist is straight, quite majestic. He is a general raised by Liu Biao, and has served as the Taishou of Jiangxia for more than four years, which is the same as the time Liu Biao served as the pastor of Jingzhou. Two years ago, he designed an ambush for Sun Jian, and one of the fatal arrows came from him. Now he and Cai Mao are each in charge of half of the navy, and they are deeply relied on by Liu Biao, and he has always been loyal to Liu Biao, so that whenever there is a major event, Liu Biao will call him back to discuss matters.

Hearing Liu Biao's question at this moment, Huang Zu didn't answer what he asked, and said: "The last general is about to report to the lord this time, and the treasure there has been obtained by the general. ”

"What?" Liu Biao was shocked when he heard this, and immediately got up, revealing his burly figure about eight feet five inches long.

Walking quickly in front of Huang Zu, Liu Biao asked urgently: "The general is far away in Xiliang, why did he appear in my Jingzhou, and how did he know such a top-secret thing?" ”

"This matter is true, and the last general will not dare to hide it from the lord!" Huang Zu nodded solemnly, and said with great certainty: "Half a month ago, Su Fei, the captain of the last general's account, came to join the army with more than ten Jinfan thieves, among which it was inadvertently revealed that the Jinfan thieves had led the crowd to the place where the treasure was hidden a month and a half ago, and then salvaged all the treasures and led the crowd to Sili. ”

"What about the poison? How do the thieves deal with the poison, and if the poison cannot be removed, how can the thieves go into the water to salvage the property? Liu Biao asked with a stunned expression.

Huang Zu was gloomy when he heard this, and said in a low voice: "The poison was killed by the general himself, most of the Jinfan thieves belonged to the general, and the property was enough to fill twelve big ships, and all of them entered the territory of Sili more than 20 days ago, and now I am afraid that it has been transported into Chang'an." In addition, the feat of slaying the dragon of the great general, which is widely spread in various places today, came from this, so this matter is absolutely true and there is no falsehood. ”

"Oh? I see. Liu Biao groaned with a complicated expression, and then slowly walked to the main seat, sat down slowly, and thought about it.

"What happened? Why is the lord so excited? Seeing Liu Biao stunned after sitting down, Kuai Liang asked Huang Zu softly.

Huang Zu raised his eyes to look at Kuai Liang when he heard the voice, and then turned his head to look at Liu Biao, and only after Liu Biao nodded lightly did he tell the truth to everyone in the hall: "You must know what I said to the lord, or you have heard of it. Poison Dragon Pond, you must be familiar with it, right? ”

"Poison Dragon Pond!" When everyone in the hall heard this, they immediately lost their voices and exclaimed.

Kuai Liang forcibly calmed his mind and said: "Could it be the poisonous dragon pool where the lord was attacked by a dragon when he entered Jingzhou alone four years ago, and the boat capsized and fell into the water?" ”

"Exactly." Huang Zu nodded and said, "Four years ago, the lord traveled to Jingxiang by water, and encountered a poisonous dragon on the way, and all the attendants and belongings and ships were sunk. Afterwards, the lord escaped by luck and was rescued by the general, and then I escorted the lord to the state governor's mansion to take office. Since then, I have been ordered to garrison Jiangxia, staring at the Poison Dragon Pond all year round, and I know all the secrets in it. Because my Huang clan lived at the exit of the Poison Dragon Pond in the early years, but they were wiped out by the poison dragon a hundred years ago, and the huge family was wiped out once, and there were few survivors. The poisonous dragon has survived in the pond for hundreds of years, and especially prefers to collect hard and glowing goods, so the cold pool where the poisonous dragon is located is a treasure trove of treasures accumulated for hundreds of years. ”

Speaking of this, Huang Zu sighed lightly: "It's a pity, the poisonous dragon's body is huge, the sword is difficult to hurt, and it is ferocious and bloodthirsty. Subsequently, this matter was somehow known to the Jinfan thieves of Shu County, and in the past two years, they often came along the river and sneaked into the poisonous dragon pond to steal property. A month and a half ago, the Jinfan thief hijacked the general and a group of six people to go to the poisonous dragon pool, it is said that the general is amazingly watery, far above the Jinfan thief leader Gan Ning. So Gan Ning wanted to use the power of the general to entangle the poisonous dragon, so that they could sneak into the cold pool to get money. As a result, the Jinfan thief stole the chicken and rice, and the thief leader Gan Ning was severely injured by the poisonous dragon, and his life and death were unknown, and hundreds of thieves were slaughtered by the poisonous dragon.

In the end, the general and the flying tiger general Huan Fei teamed up to deal with the poisonous dragon, and the general's martial arts were extremely strong, first severely wounding the poisonous dragon, and finally killing the poisonous dragon. As a result, the vast majority of the Jinfan thieves and thieves belonged to the general and salvaged Hantan's property, and only a small number of water thieves who were unwilling to leave their hometown were dismissed, and then defected to our Jiangxia Navy and informed me of this matter.

After learning of this, I led the troops to inspect it in person, just as the water thief said. Now that the poisonous fog above the Poison Dragon Pool has dissipated, there is nothing in the cold pool, and millions of gold, silver and jewels have all fallen into the general's pocket, including the body of the Poison Dragon. In recent days, the Chang'an dragon slaying event that has been spreading in the streets and alleys has come from this. The rumor is true, the poisonous dragon was indeed killed by the general's own hands, the dragon body is more than eight feet long, the head is born with dragon horns, the body is full of scales, the abdomen has four claws, and there is a poisonous poison sac that seals the throat with blood, which is very terrifying! ”

"It turns out that the rumors are true!" Kuai Liang was stunned and muttered to himself. Then he turned his head to look at Kuai Yue, shook his head with a complicated expression, and the two brothers looked at each other, looking preoccupied.

"Ahem!" Seeing the different expressions of the cronies in the hall, Liu Biao coughed lightly and said in a deep voice: "The matter of the poisonous dragon is not a rumor, the old man once saw it with his own eyes. Since the general was able to get rid of such monsters, it was beyond the old man's expectations. It can be seen that the general Wen Ke Anbang Wu Ke can slay the dragon, and now he is deserved to be promoted to the position of hussar general. Thankfully, this time the general invited the Son of Heaven to sacrifice to the Heavens, regardless of whether he was loyal to the Son of Heaven or not, but this move was extremely beneficial to the Son of Heaven. If this battle is won, the prestige of the Son of Heaven will definitely increase, and my Liu royal family is hopeful. ”

After a pause in his words, Liu Biao stood up and ordered Kuai Liang: "Since that wealth has fallen into the hands of the general, it means that the general is not short of money and food now. This edict from the Son of Heaven is just an opportunity for the general to test me to see if the old man is loyal to the Han family and whether he has any different intentions. In this case, there is no need to discuss this matter, the old man is edicted!

Kuai Liang, there is no need to rush to reply to Yuan Shao for the time being, or you can be perfunctory. However, you have to do your best to mobilize 100,000 stone grain and grass to transport to Sili, and you must hand it over to Pingnan General Xu Rong within half a month, and there must be no mistake! ”

After speaking, Liu Biao looked at the people in the hall with a solemn expression, and then slowly walked out of the lobby and walked towards the back hall of the inner courtyard.

"No!" Although Liu Biao had left the main hall, Kuai Liang still bowed down to receive the order. Then he and Kuai Yue glanced at each other, a hint of helplessness flashed in their eyes, and they nodded tacitly.

Obviously, the two brothers no longer insisted on what they had said, and could only follow Liu Biao's order to raise grain and grass and send it to Si Li.

――――――――――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......)