Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 113 Wei Feng: Someone throws faster than me

Seven miles north of the Pu River beside Juyang County, you can see red and yellow wormwood all over the ground. There are few trees surviving on the barren hills, and occasionally birds fly over the branches.

Liu Bei used the baggage carts to face outside, erected large shields and set up a temporary camp. More than a thousand auxiliary soldiers and craftsmen were busy digging trenches and piling up earth.

The Hengqiang Battalion remained in place to rest in case of an enemy attack. The Huben cavalrymen fed the horses with beans and brushed their fur to comfort them.

The scouts were scattered all around and climbed up to look around.

Liu Bei called everyone together to discuss matters. Suddenly, he heard a military officer report that Wei Feng from Jiyin wanted to see him. He replied, "Let him in."

After a while, a scholar in a cloth robe with a pleasant face, led by a military officer, bowed respectfully and said, "Wei Feng from Juyang, Jiyin, pays homage to Lord Xuande."

"I am making this trip to send a gift to Lord Xuande."

"What gift?" Liu Bei asked thoughtfully.

"What I'm sending you is Jiyin County in Yanzhou. I wonder if Lord Xuande is willing to accept it?" Wei Feng straightened up and bowed again.

The etiquette is very appropriate and has the style of a Confucian scholar.

Liu Bei smiled. The efforts of the Juancheng Wu family for him only brought along the Juye Li family. This was because the powerful families in the three counties of Juyang, Chengyang and Chengshi had many marriage relations and they advanced and retreated together.

After watching for so long, he finally thought of coming over when his troops were at the gates of the city.

These typical powerful families will really help whoever is stronger.

Seeing that Lord Xuande did not speak, Wei Feng thought that his words were not powerful enough, so he said, "The Wei family of Juyang, the Wen family of Jiyin, the Ma family of Chengshi, and the Zhong family of Chengyang have admired Lord Xuande for a long time and are willing to do what we can for you. The four families will send a total of 6,000 soldiers to serve you, and will also give you 80,000 bushels of millet, 90 oxen, 600 craftsmen, and 580 bolts of cloth and fine silk."

Although Wei Feng acted polite and respectful as if nothing had happened, he was actually sweating heavily in his hands, but he just couldn't let Envoy Liu find out.

The wealthy families, county officials, three elders, and county lieutenant of Lihu County, who refused to surrender, along with their manors, did not even survive a day before they were conquered by the Qingzhou army. Some of their clansmen died, and some were scattered.

All the money, grain, cloth, fine silk, livestock, and dependent people in the manor were confiscated, and the women, concubines' daughters, and legitimate daughters were all married to military officers and soldiers.

The news made several powerful families east of the Pu River terrified.

Isn't it said that Liu Xuande is kind and benevolent? Why did he launch a heavy attack in Jiyin?
The wealthy families in Dongjun have been trying to be won over, but none of them have been directly exterminated. Why are they being wiped out if they don't take sides? Who can sit still and do this?

Thinking about the fact that Li Qian and Li Jin of Chengshi County had 3,000 followers and were rumored to have had contacts with Liu Xuande for a long time, their son Li Zheng had previously transported grain to Juancheng and said that he sold it to the Wu family. But who knew that the Wu and Xue families worked very hard for Liu Bei and even carried out the land measurement plan wholeheartedly.

Zhou Bo led the Northern Army to support Liu, but these two families were determined to support Liu Bei and completely ignored Liu Dai, a member of the royal family.

Now that the Qingzhou army has arrived, the choice is whether to destroy the entire clan or surrender. Several families chose to surrender to Lord Xuande without hesitation. The Chengshi Li family usually consults with the villagers when encountering problems, but in the past few days, all the houses have been locked and all the clan members and troops have been ordered to retreat. I don't know what they are plotting.

When the head of the Ma clan from Chengshi County saw this, he was immediately shocked and cursed angrily, "Li Qian, you want to use the heads of my Ma clan members to gain merit!"

In order to prevent Li from succeeding, Ma contacted various powerful families with whom she had marriage relations to discuss how to welcome Lord Xuande. In any case, she would not fall behind Li.

As a descendant of Lord Mafu of the Warring States Period, he was granted the title of Mafu for his meritorious services to Zhao, and thus changed his surname to Ma to be proud of it. The Cheng family, a branch of the family, had been around for hundreds of years, so how could they sacrifice their entire clan for Liu Dai?

Even if King Huiwen of Zhao were to be resurrected, Ma Fu's descendants would not work for him.

Liu Bei pondered for a moment. It was a good thing for him that these families were willing to shed blood. The three counties could surrender without bloodshed, and the army could go straight to Dingtao, the capital of the county. If they captured Yuanju, they could shake Chenliu and force the Zhang brothers to surrender the county. It was almost November now. If they did not open up Henei County and Henan Yin next year, when the court returned to Luoyang and saw that the capital was in ruins, it would be difficult if Emperor Liu Xie tricked the ministers close to the Yuan family into going to Yecheng.

The prestige that Yuan Benchu ​​gained by holding the emperor hostage and commanding the princes was much higher than that of Cao Mengde.

Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou, will definitely surrender to the imperial court, and the Xiongnu tribes in Bingzhou will also attach themselves to it. With righteousness in hand, he will make Yanzhou and Xuzhou attack Qingzhou from behind, and then attack in the name of the emperor.

The situation will then take a sharp turn for the worse.

Liu Bei thought deeply: "We must not let Yuan Shao get the emperor, otherwise the justice will be lost..."

Liu Xie's situation is exactly the same as Xiong Xin's during the Chu-Han period. Both the living and the dead will make people passive. If you don't take it, others will use it against you.

But it would be a bit uncomfortable to hold in the hand, and those ministers and relatives of Liu Xie's concubines would definitely jump out to disgust people.

Liu Bei thought for a moment and thought to himself that given his situation, he would not be like Cao Mengde, who would easily start an internal rebellion.

After all, Emperor Xiaoling passed the throne to his son Liu Bian, and Liu Xie was enthroned by Dong Zhuo after he murdered the emperor. If someone really caused trouble under his nose, don't blame him for following Emperor Guangwu's example and refusing to recognize the legitimacy of Emperor Gengshi.

"Wei and other families have longed for the envoy, but were blocked by Liugongshan. We were unable to meet him earlier. I hope Lord Xuande will understand."

Wei Feng quickly bowed and said.

He looked at Lord Xuande quietly, not daring to say anything else, but suddenly he saw murderous intent in Envoy Liu's eyes, which made him break out in a cold sweat.

It's just that we are a few steps late, why would Lord Xuande do this? Every family has already taken out their savings to seek refuge with us, and they really can't take out any more.

Wei Feng complained in his heart and made up his mind that he must master the skill of speaking eloquently in the future. He did not ask for the eloquence of Zhang Yi, Su Qin and Gongsun Yan, but at least he could have half the eloquence of Li Shiqi, so that he could at least live up to the trust of the clan leader.

Hearing the voice, Liu Bei came back to his senses and chuckled, "I will accept the kindness of the four families of Wei, Wen, Ma, and Zhong."

"It just so happens that the Li family of Chengshi County also wants to lead their troops to join forces with me to capture Dingtao. You families can compete to be the first to achieve the first merit."

Liu Bei felt uneasy if he didn't use so many soldiers to attack the city, so he recruited them to fight in wartime and tried to recruit them into the military after the war.

This is how we suppressed the Yellow Turbans and dealt with some powerful families. We are very familiar with the operation process.

Once the powerful clan's troops are in his hands, don't expect him to give them back easily.

When Wei Feng heard the promise of the envoy Liu, he was overjoyed and bowed down, saying, "Wei will serve you like a dog or a horse."

At this moment, we need to express our views on behalf of the Wei family. Although the other three families have common interests and are related by marriage, in the final analysis, the interests of the Wei family should come first.

I believe others will understand and won't mind if they put it behind, and there are still people who have taken the lead.

"Li really has surrendered to Lord Xuande. No wonder he behaved out of character." Wei Feng thought to himself.

Fortunately, they surrendered quickly, otherwise they would have been sold out by Li Qian and his gang.

(End of this chapter)