I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 575: The Foolish Governor

Tao Qian is also an old man who has been involved in official circles for many years. He understands that to untie a bell, you need someone to tie it.

Since Liu Bei started this rumor that is now spreading among the people in Xuzhou, the best way to solve it is naturally to end it personally.

As long as he, Liu Xuande, is willing to stand up and explain, and explain that he, Tao Qian, is not a profit-seeking person, but is also an elder who has been very helpful to him, Liu Xuande, then this rumor will be self-defeating in Xuzhou.

It's just that what we did this time was really wrong to Liu Bei, so how could we have the nerve to let Liu Bei stand up and explain for us?
The calculating energy in Tao Qian's heart came out again.

He lay on the bed, half-closed his eyes, and began to think about this matter carefully.

Cao Hong hurriedly raised his hands to Tao Qian and said:
"Why do you have any hesitation in your heart? Then Liu Bei eats our food and drinks our food in our Xuzhou, and our Xuzhou supplies all the expenses for his troops and horses. There is a reason why he did not respond to him this time. After all, we have just suffered a disastrous defeat!" If Liu Bei returns to Xuzhou, the envoy will directly make a request to him and ask him to stand up and explain to all the Xuzhou nobles and heroes."

"Let him tell everyone in Xuzhou that we are not going to rescue him this time. It was Liu Bei himself who wrote to the envoy, saying that Sun Jian and Cao Ren on the front line can be stopped by Liu Bei alone, and they will win without any trouble, so the envoy will send troops. Therefore We didn’t send troops to help.”

"After all, our situation at that time was a crushing defeat, and it was difficult to mobilize troops and horses to help. This was a strategic mistake on both sides, not man-made. Liu Bei had no reason not to agree to the envoy."

The four Xuzhou courtiers present, including Mi Zhu, Chen Gui, and Wang Lang, looked at Cao Hong in surprise when they heard this. They really couldn't imagine how he could say such shameless words.

And judging from his tone, it seemed that he was unable to give in to Liu Bei.Instead, we must use a relatively tough attitude to ask Liu Bei to stand up and clarify this fact for himself.

Wang Lang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I feel that there is something wrong with what Mr. Cao said. The reason why I just advised you is that I hope that you can explain the matter to Xuande Gong and ask Mr. Xuande for help." Not as Cao Gong said..."

But Cao Hong smiled coldly: "If we break things with Liu Bei, won't it make Liu Bei think that he has taken advantage of him? Later, if Liu Bei uses this as a threat and makes demands on us, don't we all have to agree to him? Didn't Liu Bei ask the envoy? Do you want Xuzhou to give up the governance power of Xuzhou? Don’t you think about the power of this?"

Wang Lang sneered and said, "Sure enough, Duke Cao has a profound plan. Then I would like to ask Duke Cao, if Liu Bei really wanted to seize Xuzhou, why did he send his army to surrender Xuzhou twice in a row, but Liu Xuande refused?"

When Cao Hong heard this, he said contemptuously: "Can't the prince understand this trivial matter?"

"What was the situation in Xuzhou back then! Cao Cao and Sun Jian's armies were pressing down on the border, and the situation was extremely dangerous. Under such circumstances, if Liu Bei accepted Xuzhou, wouldn't it make Cao Cao and Yuan Shao angry?"

"I predict that the two of them will march to Xuzhou with an army that will overwhelm the country. How can Liu Bei be the lord of Xuzhou?"

"Now that Cao Cao and Sun Jian have retreated, all our troops and horses have been lost, and Yuan Shu has no idea where he has fled. Liu Xuande's family is the only one in power! How can he not be dissatisfied? Maybe he, Liu Bei, is secretly creating this rumor. In order to create a reason for us to seize Xuzhou, how can we be polite to such a despicable person!"

Wang Lang smiled coldly and said, "Humph! What a villain."

When Cao Hong heard this, he couldn't help but became furious. He hurriedly raised his hands to Tao Qian and said, "Master, I have a sincere heart. What do you mean by these words?"

Tao Qian also looked at Wang Lang with some dissatisfaction.

"Jingxing, what you said is a bit inappropriate."

Wang Lang hurriedly saluted Tao Qian and said, "I forgive you, but I was just in a hurry! That's why I said this without any malice!"

"Lang thinks that Duke Cao's words are really inappropriate. Xuande is our friendly army. He just rushed back from the trap of Sun Jian and Cao Ren. We saw that the enemy army had retreated, so we treated each other like this. Is the reputation of these envoys ruined? No impact?"

"What you want is to be called a virtuous person, not a villain!"

"Please think again!"

Wang Lang's words spoke to Tao Qian's heart.

He was about to speak, but then he felt a tightness in his chest, then turned his head and coughed twice.

His illness is still not serious.

Then Tao Qian took two deep breaths, looked at Wang Lang and sighed, "What Jing Xing said makes sense."

"Don't let the reputation of my Tao family be damaged because of temporary anger and small profits. This is absolutely not allowed."

Finally, Tao Qian gently glanced at Cao Hong next to him and said, "What you just said is a bit rash."

However, Cao Hong said confidently: "Your Majesty! Who said we must be the ones who are in the wrong? The last official just said it. There are so many rumors about Liu Bei's achievements in Xuzhou, and there are so many rumors that slander your reputation. How could it be like this if no one was acting secretly behind the scenes?"

"If you think about it carefully, how could it be possible to reach such a large scale in such a short period of time without a promoter and just relying on folk rumors? There must be someone behind this! And Cao is willing to use his life as a guarantee to exercise control behind this." The scheming person must be Liu Bei!"

After Cao Hong said this, not even Tao Qian, nor the other three people refuted.

In fact, according to Chen Gui and Mi Zhu's resourcefulness, as well as their previous understanding of Liu Xuande...at least on the surface, Liu Bei would not be able to do such a thing.

If Liu Bei couldn't do such a thing, then who would do it?
Mi Zhu naturally understands best.Chen Gui probably knew something in his heart.

Others are not sure at the moment. After all, Liu Jian's army is retreating quickly, and the specific battle reports on the front line have not yet reached Tancheng. Therefore, Tao Qian does not know the specific details of the southern war yet. Someone revealed Liu Jian's name.

Tao Qian was not a dull person. He didn't think about it at first.

However, when Cao Hong revealed this information, Tao Qian had to think about it.

Tao Qian has a very bad temper, and he is not a good person to begin with.

Tao Qian couldn't help but feel angry and gritted his teeth when he thought that this rumor was written by Liu Bei and damaged his reputation.

"Liu Xuande, I treat you like this, how dare you arrange for me?!"

Mi Zhu on the side said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, please don't jump to conclusions based on what Mr. Cao and his family say. Mr. Xuande fought in the north and south for our Xuzhou. He can be said to be a great contributor to our Xuzhou. Your Majesty, please don't make any mistakes because of such a trivial matter. Just put Xuan in a place of forgetfulness, everything is just Duke Cao's guess, if you just put these charges on Duke Xuande, wouldn't it be unfair to him?"

Tao Qian is currently in a weak state, his thoughts are not very clear, and he seems to be following what others say.

Just now Cao Hong said this, and he felt that what Cao Hong said was reasonable.

At this moment, Mi Zhu said this again, and Tao Qian felt that Mi Zhu was right.

"Yes, what Zizhong said makes sense. These things are just speculations and there is no real evidence. How can we just arbitrarily put these charges on Xuande's head."

Cao Hong glared at Mi Zhu fiercely.

"Haha, were Mi Gong familiar with Liu Bei in the past?"

"Unfamiliar."

"Since we are not familiar with each other, why are we so helpful?"

Mi Zhu didn't even bother to look at Cao Hong.

In the end, after all this debate, Tao Qian still couldn't make up his mind on what to do, so he temporarily dismissed everyone and stayed in the room to meditate.

The ministers summoned by Tao Qian each left, but Cao Hong was the only one who did not give up.

To be honest, the reason why Cao Hong did this was not because of how loyal he was to Tao Qian.

It's because Cao Hong is Tao Qian's direct subordinate, and he is not a native of Xuzhou. Instead, Tao Qian summoned him and Cao Bao from his hometown in Danyang County after Tao Qian arrived in Xuzhou.

Therefore, for people from Danyang County like Tao Qian, their vital interests in Xuzhou are deeply bound to Tao Qian.

Only when the Tao family is in charge of Xuzhou can their interests in Xuzhou be guaranteed.

If the Tao family loses power in Xuzhou, then people like Chen Gui Mi Zhu will definitely not allow the influence of people like them who were born in Danyang to continue to take root in Xuzhou.

The world is bustling, all come for the benefit, and the world is bustling, all go for the benefit.

Today's debate is essentially a division and game of interests.

But Tao Qian, as the referee, is unclear now.

Cao Hong was really anxious. He was far more anxious than Mi Zhu and others.

After some consideration, Cao Hong went to meet the other two people.

That person was Tao Qian's eldest son Tao Shang and his second son Tao Ying.

Because Cao Hong understood that in terms of interest binding, the interests of these two Tao Qian's sons were completely consistent with his own.

Cao Hong exaggerated Liu Bei's threat in front of the two young masters.

These two young masters from the Tao family made Cao Hong feel a little trembling in his heart.

(End of this chapter)