The Duke of Shu Han began guarding Jingzhou in place of Guan Yu.

Chapter 290 Not thinking about progress

Upon hearing Zhang Zhao deliberately use the distant term "envoy," Zhuge Qiao knew that the visitor had ill intentions.

Actually, it's not difficult to refute this question.

The key point is that this reveals the attitude of the rulers and ministers of Jiangdong.

Do the people of Wu still want to remain on the sidelines?

At this moment, Dong Hui saw that Zhuge Qiao was speechless and mistakenly thought that he had lost his tongue, so he whispered urgently:

"The captain should quickly refute him, saying: Huo Shaoxian once followed General Wei to defeat the Southern Barbarians, so he is not ignorant of military affairs. Moreover, General Wei manufactured paper books to supply the Eastern Palace to broaden the knowledge of the Emperor. Although he and the Emperor are not in the name of teacher and student, he has been imparting knowledge to them. How can you say that the Eastern Palace has no experienced generals who know military affairs?"

Zhuge Qiao already possessed similar rhetoric.

But upon hearing Dong Hui's words, he gained a new understanding.

So she smiled and nodded at him, then turned to Zhang Zhao and said slowly:

"When Qiao was in Jiangdong, he heard that the former King of Wu often rode a horse to shoot tigers whenever he went hunting. Once, he was pounced on by a tiger and fell onto the saddle, almost losing his life."

"At that time, Zhang Gong dared to speak frankly and said: 'The right path for a ruler is to govern heroes and command wise men. How can he engage in fierce battles with wild beasts in the wilderness?'"

"If anything goes wrong, we will only be ridiculed by the world."

Seeing Zhang Zhao's expression suddenly change, Zhuge Qiao's smile became even more composed:
"Although the emperor is young today, he is fortunate to have the legacy of the late emperor. All the ministers deeply cherish the special favor the late emperor has shown and wish to repay it to the current emperor."

"Therefore, the guards and officials worked diligently inside, and the loyal soldiers risked their lives outside."

“For example, General Wei Shishan, while serving his ailing parents, was also driven out of his home by the Minister of Works to answer His Majesty’s questions, thus fulfilling the duty of loyalty and filial piety.”

"From this perspective, the so-called 'overbearing general' is nothing but the slander of petty people, not worth a second glance."

"Who are you calling a villain!" Zhang Zhao slammed his fist on the table and stood up, his hair and beard bristling with anger.

Like a raging bull.

But apart from Dong Hui subconsciously frowning, even Sun Deng, the youngest person present, had already gotten used to it.

Zhang Zhao, feeling awkward, turned back and glared fiercely at Zhuge Jin, then snorted:

"What a fine son you gave birth to!"

Zhuge Jin could only bow and apologize.

He was naturally happy that his son was doing well.

It's just that it's not appropriate to show it in this situation.

At the same time, he thought to himself:

His younger brother, Zhuge Liang, was so busy that he had no time to teach his son.

For years, Zhuge Qiao had served as an official under the Miwei Gate.

The two sides had both the title of master and subject and the reality of teacher and student.

The fact that Zhuge Qiao has grown into the person he is today shows that this General of the Han Dynasty has some ability as a teacher and mentor.

If the current Han emperor truly has a mentor-student relationship with him, then the future is indeed promising.

Thinking about it this way, if the Shu Han dynasty were to unify the Central Plains in the future, and Jiangdong were to lose its value, how would the Sun clan preserve their royal title and ancestral temples?
If you're going to place a bet, you have to do it early.

Having made his decision, Zhuge Jin wanted to strike while the iron was hot and advise the King of Wu.

Before he could even speak, Lu Xun pressed him down.

"General?"

Lu Xun shook his head secretly, then gestured with his eyes to the two prime ministers sitting at the head of the table.

Zhuge Jin then suddenly realized what was happening.

Both the Right Chancellor Sun Shao and the Left Chancellor Gu Yong were people who knew etiquette and were tactful.

They deliberately let Zhang Zhao speak so aggressively just now, so how could they not have a tacit understanding in private?

As expected, after a brief silence, the Left Chancellor Gu Yong, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke:

"Bosong is unaware of something."

"In the past two years, the mountain tribes and barbarians have frequently rebelled, and our country has been exhausted from fighting them. Our granaries are usually less than half full."

"Not to mention the letter from Lu Dai, the former governor of Jiaozhou, saying that Shi Xie was critically ill and that his son Shi Hui harbored rebellious intentions and would surely rebel next year."

"If this is the case, it may be difficult for our country to send troops across the river next year to support the superior state in attacking Wei!"

"I hope that after returning, Bosong will explain this matter properly to the Han Emperor and Prime Minister Zhuge, so as not to cause any misunderstanding between the two families!"

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Qiao subconsciously glanced at his "uncle," Zhuge Jin.

But then he saw that the latter was looking directly into Lu Xun's eyes, both of them looking rather melancholy.

Then it became clear. My earlier premonition was correct.

As expected, the rulers and ministers of Jiangdong harbored conservative intentions and lacked ambition.

People like his "uncle" and Lu Xun, who had long-term vision, were ultimately a minority.

It's no wonder that Sun Quan always had such a strong desire to launch a northern expedition, which led to his downfall and death, and he was criticized for his reckless and aggressive military campaigns.

He probably knew all along that most of his ministers were opportunistic and that if he didn't become a little greedy and reckless, and instead focused all his efforts on the Northern Expedition, the people of Wu would become more and more complacent in their corner of the country as time went by, and would no longer have the ambition to contend for the Central Plains.

Zhuge Qiao couldn't tell whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

However, it is foreseeable that the mission of allying with Wu against Cao will likely be difficult to achieve.

In the following days.

Unsurprisingly.

No matter how hard Zhuge Qiao and Dong Hui tried to persuade them, the attitude of the people of Wu was always ambiguous and evasive.

Everyone said they must fully support the Han emperor's campaign against Wei.

But when it comes to the specific time for sending troops, they either complain about the lack of food or angrily denounce the barbarians for doing bad things.

Anyway, it will take several more years.

Fortunately, the Prime Minister and General Wei had already made multiple preparations.

They did not place all their hopes for a northern expedition on the rulers and ministers of Jiangdong.

Disappointed, Zhuge Qiao did not linger and returned north with Sun Deng's letter, which was ostensibly a "memorial to the throne" but was in fact a sophistry.

When they parted, Zhuge Jin brought Zhuge Ke along to see them off.

Zhuge Jin first ordered his eldest son to lead men to guard the shore, then dismissed his attendants and boarded the boat with Zhuge Qiao.

Zhuge Jin: "Go to Chang'an and tell your father: In Jiangdong today, only Lu Boyan and Zhu Yifeng still have lofty ambitions."

However, due to the great principle of loyalty between ruler and subject, he could not go against the emperor's wishes.

“When the army of the superior nation arrives in Yanghuai in the future, the two generals will surely provide support.”

"Until then, all we can do is wish that the royal army will pacify the Central Plains and drive out the traitors."

Zhuge Qiao was not surprised; instead, he stared intently at the other person.
“Since you know the general trend, why don’t you choose a better tree for your family to protect your family?”

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Jin gave his "nephew" a deep look, then glanced back at his eldest son, who was lounging on the shore, and sighed:

"Han officials received special treatment from the late Han emperor, and Wu officials received the same from the late Wu king."

"Go back and serve your ruler, father, and teachers well, and do not dwell on the past."

"If anything happens in the future, please help your cousin preserve one or two bloodlines so that I will not be without an heir. That would be enough to honor our friendship."

After leaving those words, Zhuge Jin stuffed a packet of tea leaves into his son's hand and hurriedly disembarked.

Zhuge Qiao watched his "uncle's" departing figure, smelling the familiar aroma of tea porridge.

He couldn't speak for a long time.

……

The river flowed eastward with gentle murmurs, and five years of Zhangwu passed in the blink of an eye.

At the grand court assembly at the beginning of the new year, Emperor Liu Shan of Han officially announced the change of the era name to "Jianxing".

This was the first year of Jianxing.

As the saying goes, the year's plan starts in spring.

The name "Jianxing" clearly foreshadows the great achievements of the new emperor.

Therefore, regardless of age or rank, all the officials submitted memorials with suggestions and advice after the ceremonial court assembly.

In a short time, the memorials from the Ministry of Personnel were piled up like oxen.

All the ministers were amazed that Mi's paper had already been widely promoted.

Otherwise, just flipping through the bamboo slips would damage your wrists.

With such a massive number of policy proposals, it was impossible for the emperor to personally review them all.

Instead, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang and Minister of the Imperial Secretariat Ma Liang each led their own teams to quickly review the documents, extract the key points, and eliminate superfluous words before submitting them to the imperial palace.

On this day, Minister Ma Liang was opening a memorial from Liao Li, the Commandant of the Changshui Cavalry.

I thought it was just a routine security measure.

But upon seeing the first line of text, he was immediately horrified and his face turned pale.

(End of this chapter)