Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 412 Liu Bei: I can also recite the "Teacher's Ceremony"
Zhuge Liang was slightly surprised. He did not expect that the emperor would have such expectations of him and asked him to compare himself to Guan Zhong and Yue Yi.

How could one not see the emperor's careful support for him? He wanted to put him beside the Taifu as a clerk, nominally a minor official, but in reality to let Taifu Lu teach and answer questions. The prince had not even handed over his elementary education to Taifu Lu, but instead ordered Zhuge Liang to follow him to Luoyang.

"Your Majesty..." Zhuge Liang looked solemn and bowed, wanting to refuse.

How many descendants of the rich and powerful want such an honor? How could the Zhuge family of Langya be able to receive such a great favor from the emperor? Once the news gets out, it will surely be envied by scholars all over the world.

Even if his brother Zhuge Jin was working in Youzhou, he would still be talked about.

Liu Bei seemed to have expected this. He immediately waved his hands and said with a smile, "Don't worry, Kong Ming. This matter is known to you, me, and the Grand Tutor. Apart from this, even your brother Zhuge Ziyu should not tell the truth in a letter."

"Guan Zi said: It takes ten years to grow a tree, and a hundred years to cultivate a person. Now the world seems to be gradually calming down, but in fact there is a raging fire under the cauldron, which can only be seen by those who are far-sighted and far-sighted."

"If we don't make plans early, when natural and man-made disasters come together, the Han Dynasty will surely fall within a hundred years."

"If we don't cultivate rising talents, all the efforts of the people in the world will be wasted."

Liu Bei still remembered that in history, from the first year of Taishi of Emperor Wu of the Western Jin Dynasty (265) to the second year of Yuanxi of Emperor Gong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (420), it was a period of severe Little Ice Age disasters.

Not only did the climate turn colder but there were also continuous droughts, leading to many records of summer frost and snow.

In August of the third year of Xianning in the Jin Dynasty, frost damaged three crops in the four counties of Pingyuan, Anping, Shangdang and Taishan. In that month, violent storms and ice formed in the river, and frost damaged the valleys in five counties and states.

In May of the fifth year, hailstorms damaged wheat in Julu and Weijun, and hailstorms damaged autumn crops in Yanmen. In June, hailstorms damaged more than 1,300 hectares of autumn wheat and destroyed more than 120 houses in Jijun, Guangping, Chenliu, and Xingyang, and hailstorms also damaged Andingjun.

In July, it rained and hail fell in Weijun and Xinxingjun. In August, it rained and hail fell in Henan, Hedong and Hongnong counties, damaging the autumn crop.

In March of the first year of Taikang, frost and hail in Hedong and Gaoping damaged mulberry and wheat. In April, rain and hail in Henan, Henei, Hedong, Weijun, and Hongnong damaged wheat and beans. In May, rain and hail in Dongping, Pingyang, Shangdang, Yanmen, and Jinan damaged wheat, rice, and beans.

In the second month of the second year, frost fell in Jinan and Langya, damaging the wheat. In the fifth month, hail fell in Chengyang, Zhangwu and other fifteen counties, damaging the crops.

In June, there was rain and hail in the county, and in September, there was heavy snow in Nan'an and trees were broken.

The constant natural disasters will lead to man-made disasters. There will be nothing to eat and people will eventually resort to cannibalism.

It was because he knew the countless tragedies that would follow that Liu Bei made every effort to open up the Western Regions, build ships, develop near-shore navigation, and head east along the coast to find what the Han Dynasty needed.

This is something that must be done regardless of the cost. Otherwise, within a hundred years, the world will be littered with corpses and rivers of blood.

By then, even if Liu Xuande still had a spirit in heaven, he would only be able to stare blankly in the mausoleum when he saw such a tragic scene.

Even if Zhuge Liang could not predict what would happen decades later, he could still make some inferences from the emperor's urgency.

After thinking for a while, he bowed again and said: "Your Majesty, we are in urgent need of talented people. If you do not mind my humble opinion, I would like to recommend a few people who are loyal and honest. I have known them for a long time and their talents are enough to handle the affairs of a county or a prefecture."

Liu Bei laughed loudly when he heard this, pointed and said, "It is not necessary to avoid relatives when selecting talents. Kong Ming, please feel free to speak."

Even after hearing what His Majesty said, Zhuge Liang did not dare to overstep the mark. He carefully considered his words, bowed and said, "Yingchuan Shi Tao and Shi Guangyuan, Boling Cui Jun and Cui Zhouping, Runan Meng Jian and Meng Gongwei... Xu Shu and Xu Yuanzhi all have the talent to be provincial governors and county magistrates. They are kind-hearted and not greedy. They can be good ministers. If Your Majesty needs talented people, you can summon them and appoint them as county officials to test their abilities." After Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he bowed to the emperor again.

When recommending Xu Yuanzhi, he originally wanted to put him first, but then he remembered that Yuanzhi had fled from Yingchuan to Nanyang for refuge, so after a little hesitation, he put him last and omitted the word Yingchuan.

When the emperor really intends to summon him, let Xu Yuanzhi explain it in person.

In fact, there is another talented person in Jingxiang, named Pang Tong, also known as Shiyuan. Last year, he went to Yingchuan to visit Sima Gong, who was good at judging people and discussing the world. Sima Gong gave him a thumbs up and called him "the crown of scholars in the southern province!"

From then on, his reputation gradually grew and he was known as the Phoenix Young Scholar in Nanyang. Unfortunately, he visited Pang Degong several times but did not meet the famous Pang Shiyuan.

Zhuge Liang wanted to recommend another talented person from Jingzhou to the emperor, but he had never met him before and did not dare to recommend him based on his words, so he gave up the idea.

Little did Liu Bei know that when he heard Xu Yuanzhi's name on Kong Ming's recommendation list, he couldn't help but slap his head, wondering why Liu Biao forgot to find Yuanzhi when he surrendered.

It was just that he had too many trivial matters to attend to and did not see the specific list of officials placed in front of him, and he almost forgot about Xu Shu.

As for the other three friends of Zhuge, they can be considered as unexpected gifts.

When Liu Bei thought of this, he turned around and asked Fa Zheng to write a document immediately to recruit several people to come to Guanzhong in the name of the emperor. It happened that the counties in Guanxi were in a mess and good officials were urgently needed.

Zhuge Liang was also a little stunned when he saw that the emperor heard his words and ordered the clerks of the Secretariat to get busy without thinking.

The emperor treated him completely unlike a subject he had just met. Not only was he very close to him, but he also trusted him so much. It was really strange.

Liu Bei happened to see Kong Ming's surprise, and smiled as he explained, "Kong Ming, you don't know that when Emperor Guangwu ascended the throne, he dreamed of riding a dragon and soaring into the sky. However, recently, I have often dreamed of another strange thing. Not only Kong Ming, but also Xiao Zhi appeared in my dream, working hard to help me support the Han Dynasty."

Fa Zheng, who was busy writing documents, could not help but look up when he heard the emperor's words, not to mention Zhuge Liang who was already stunned.

Liu Bei stood up and put his hands behind his back, then said thoughtfully, "I remember that Kong Ming devoted himself to the Han Dynasty until his death."

After he finished speaking, he saw that the two men still looked unconvinced, so he could only recall with a strange expression: "In my dream, I still remember a memorial that said:... Today, the world is divided into three parts, and Yizhou is exhausted. This is truly a critical moment for survival..."

"…I am a commoner, tilling the land in Nanyang, trying to survive in this chaotic world, not seeking fame and fortune among the princes…You visited me three times in my thatched cottage and consulted me on current affairs. I was grateful for your kindness, so I promised to serve the late emperor…"

With a complicated look on his face, Liu Bei paced and recited the Memorial to the Emperor on Leaving the Capital. Then he stopped in front of Zhuge Liang, put away his melancholy mood, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Kong Ming, it is hard to know whether the dream I had is true or not, but the Han crown has been restored, the Han Dynasty has risen, and the Central Plains has been fully recovered. This is true and clear."

"Although the thatched cottage is nice, it can help the country and the people. We still need you and I to join hands and build a worldly cause together!"

"Kong Ming, don't feel tired when you go to Luoyang. You should work hard, work hard!"

"Your Majesty...it's really true..."

Zhuge Liang could not hold back his tears and was speechless. He could only kowtow and apologize.

(End of this chapter)