I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 793: The king chooses his ministers, but the ministers also choose their king

Yuan Shang quickly gathered his people and led a group of elite soldiers and generals, taking advantage of the fact that Jiangling City was heavily fortifying the north and began to move south.

Their primary target is Changsha.

Compared with the other major counties in the four southern counties, Changsha is still the richest and most densely populated place. It is also close to the Xiangjiang River, so it has certain dangers to defend and a lot of cultivated land.

It can be used as a position against Liu Jian.

In short, this time Yuan Shang did not obey Yuan Shao's instructions. He was determined to recruit soldiers in Changsha. No matter what, he had to defend his own land.

After Yuan Shang left, Yuan Shao finally had no worries.

He summoned the generals of Jiangling City and carefully consolidated Jiangling City's defenses to prevent Liu Jian from launching a new attack on Jiangling.

But what surprised Yuan Shao was that Liu Jian was not in a hurry to launch an attack on Jiangling City.

He still asked Lu Bu to expand the camp outside Jiangling City.

At the same time, he still asked Zhang Liao, Xu Huang and others to take turns throwing rocks on the Han River outside Jiangling City to threaten Jiangling City.

However, he did not perform any of the other unnecessary actions.

The people in Jiangling City lived in fear every day, especially the sound of huge rocks being thrown into the city, which really frightened the soldiers and civilians in the city.

During this period, powerful generals such as Lu Bu, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou also requested Liu Jian's orders many times, hoping to launch a general attack on Jiangling City.

But Liu Jian always said to wait, wait, he was not in a hurry to launch a major attack on Jiangling City, and just let Lu Bu continue to build camps near Jiangling.

Liu Jian actually didn't have any special ideas. He just wanted to put off the attack on Jiangling City as late as possible, see what kind of response Yuan Shao would make, and wait for information from Jiangdong.

In addition, Liu Jian also dealt with the affairs of Wei Yan and Gan Ning during this period.

Gan Ning was captured alive by Zhao Yun at first. Although he was unwilling to surrender, after meeting Liu Jian, he was finally impressed by Liu Jian's magnanimity.

After all, although Liu Jian is the overlord of the world, he is still very open-minded. Compared to Yuan Shao, Liu Jian's attitude towards Gan Ning seems to be closer, and he can better understand the heart of people like Gan Ning.

After Liu Jian met Gan Ning, he did not directly tell him to surrender. He only held several banquets, invited Gan Ning to the banquet, and talked with him about all the world affairs.

Liu Jian gave Gan Ning a rough description of the new policy layout that the imperial court had made in the world in recent years, and what he expected the Han Dynasty to be like in the future.

When Gan Ning was under Yuan Shao's command, he was indoctrinated with the wrong ideas about how bad Liu Jian's work was and how much harm Liu Jian did to the world.

It can be said that his original understanding of Liu Jian was somewhat off track.

And until this moment, when he heard Liu Jian describe the purpose of his actions in the north and his lofty ideals, Gan Ning couldn't help but feel moved. Just like Yan Yan and Zhang Ren in the past, he is now gradually Understand how ambitious Liu Jian's actions were.

I can’t say it’s noble, but it’s really fascinating.

Liu Jian was not in a hurry to get Gan Ning to surrender to him.

He informed Gan Ning that his ancestral Gan family in Shu County had now surrendered to him and had a certain cooperative relationship with his business association.

The generals in Shu, led by Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, have also expressed their allegiance to him.

I think Gan Ning would also know a little bit about the appeal of these people in Shu and their personal virtues.

So Liu Jian asked Gan Ning to return to his family in Shuzhong first.

After arriving in the middle of Shu, Gan Ning must have come into contact with the Yan family and many other local families in Shu counties, and learned through them how he governed Shu.

Thinking about it, when the time comes, he will willingly return to Jingzhou to find himself and serve the imperial court.

Liu Jian still needs to make good use of people like Gan Ning.

After sorting out Gan Ning's affairs, Liu Jian met with Wei Yan again. After Wei Yan met Liu Jian, he hurriedly expressed to Liu Jian his desire to join Liu Jian and serve the court, and expressed that he would do his best to be loyal to Liu Jian in the future.

In response to Wei Yan's statement, Liu Jian didn't say much. He just asked Wei Yan:

"If you want to be loyal to me, then how should I respond to the flag-changing trip on the Yangtze River in the future?"

Wei Yan's heart suddenly sank after hearing what Liu Jian said.

He actually knew very well that based on his previous performance on the Yangtze River, although he helped the Northern Army conquer the Southern Navy and made great progress, there were many subsequent problems.

Wei Yan also knew in his heart that after Yi Qi, Liu Jian would not have too much trust in him.

After all, in this era, rebellion and surrender after failure are two different concepts.

In a society with a dual monarchy, those who do not devote their lives to the Lord and turn to others are already looked down upon to some extent.

And someone like Wei Yan, who changed his court before going into battle and stabbed his master in the back, directly leading to his own defeat, was more likely to be despised by others, and at the same time, the new monarch would not trust him.

This is a characteristic of this era.

Job-hopping is not the norm in this era, it is a special case.

Wei Yan was very clear about this result, but the reason why he still did this was because he knew that it would be very difficult for him to make achievements in front of Liu Jian after Liu Jian conquered Yuan Shao.

With his young qualifications, I am afraid that he will not be able to catch Liu Jian's eyes.

Although Liu Jian would be disgusted with him by changing his flag before the battle, his achievements cannot be erased.

Based on Liu Jian's past attitude towards heroes and his actions, Wei Yan knew that he was a person who could distinguish right from wrong and was fair in rewards and punishments. Even if he had prejudices against him in his heart, he would not ignore or belittle him because of his grudges. Himself, he will admit his merits.

After Wei Yan thought carefully, he decided to take the risk.

After making great achievements on the battlefield, he would never regret it even if Liu Jian did not use him seriously in the future, or had some intolerant view of him because of this.

Immediately, Wei Yan adjusted his mood, and then said to Liu Jian seriously:

"Does the Prime Minister think that I am not worthy of trust and that the general is a treacherous person who cannot be reused?"

Liu Jian smiled and said, "Aren't you?"

"I'm!"

"It's just that compared to my loyalty to Yuan Shao, I know better what I want to pursue in my heart."

"Since a certain family was young, they had heard about the deeds of the prime minister and generals such as Guan, Zhang, and Zhao.

"It can be said that I yearn for it very much."

"Unfortunately, the last general was born in Yiyang, which has been ruled by Yuan Shao for many years. After the last general reaches adulthood, if he wants to join the army, he can only defect to Yuan Gong."

"Because it is impossible for the general's family to move north just because of the last general."

"But after following Mr. Yuan for many years, I discovered that Mr. Yuan is not the famous master that I really need in my heart."

"Mr. Yuan always looks at things from the perspective of members of the fourth and third generations of the family. He has never been able to truly select people based on their talents."

"At the end of the day, I will follow Mr. Yuan, but I feel no hope!"

"Of course, if you wait for the Prime Minister to pacify Jingzhou and then take refuge under the Prime Minister, it will not be the temperament of a late general!"

"The king chooses his ministers, but the ministers also choose their king."

(End of this chapter)