Brother, stop curling up! You're curling up like the founder of the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 150 Serving the Emperor to Punish the Rebellious, Liu Bei Formulates a Grand Strategy (Seeking Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets)
Chen Dao exclaimed in agreement, "I thought I could be called a divine archer if I could hit the green-robed man from a hundred paces away, but I never imagined that there are always gods beyond gods. I call myself a divine archer, but Huang Zhong of Nanyang can be called the God of Archery!"

The surrounding knights also shouted and cheered, "Archer God! Archer God! Archer God!"

The cheers left the surrounding Nanyang residents even more stunned.

How did he suddenly become a god of archery?
Isn't he just a country bumpkin?

I, Yin Zhao, refuse to accept this!
Although they were resentful, those who had been whispering and gossiping earlier dared not mock or despise them anymore.

An arrow from a hundred paces away can break a bamboo pole; if it were to hit a person, wouldn't they die instantly?

People may gossip, but nobody wants to lose their life.

Huang Zhong was deeply moved.

Born into a poor family, he naturally felt inferior.

His arrogant temperament stemmed from his pride.

For those who come from humble backgrounds but possess great abilities, arrogance is the last line of defense against inferiority.

As long as strangers stay away, not many people will know about his humble origins.

Being born into poverty will lead to being looked down upon; that's a reality.

Just now, Huang Zhong was despised by the people of Nanyang around him simply because Liu Bei revealed his humble origins.

Over the years, Huang Zhong has gotten used to it.

Therefore, when he heard the mockery and disdain, Huang Zhong did not argue, but silently endured it.

However, Liu Bei's response far exceeded Huang Zhong's expectations. Whether it was the iron-rimmed bow, the green robe, or Chen Dao and the knight's tacit shouts, it was as if he had anticipated that Huang Zhong would be despised.

Huang Zhong was even more moved when he thought that Liu Bei had sent someone to recruit him when he was still in Xiyuan Military Camp.

I never imagined that the Imperial Uncle knew of Huang Zhong!

I politely declined the imperial uncle's offer of service, but he was still willing to promote my name.

Huang Zhong was fortunate to have met such a benefactor.

As the saying goes, a gentleman will die for his friend.

Liu Bei made Huang Zhong famous, so that those who mocked and despised Huang Zhong no longer dared to look down on him. He was so grateful that he was willing to die for him!

Before Huang Zhong could recover, another knight led a fiery red warhorse toward him.

To Huang Zhong's astonishment, Liu Bei laughed and exclaimed, "This horse is named Liaoyuanhuo, a fine steed from the Western Regions that I recently acquired. How can a general in the army be without a fine horse? I will present it to you today."

Looking at the fiery red warhorse without a single stray hair, Huang Zhong was both surprised and delighted.

Gritting his teeth, Huang Zhong didn't hold back. He mounted his horse and galloped back and forth, displaying his ambidextrous archery skills, which astonished the people of Nanyang present.

Liu Bei laughed with delight: "Your horsemanship and archery skills are on par with my fourth brother's."

Among Liu Bei's valiant generals, Guan Yu was the most outstanding in terms of martial prowess; and Zhao Yun was the best in terms of riding and archery. Even Guan Yu, who was the most valiant in martial arts, was far inferior to Zhao Yun in riding and archery.

Despite being from Nanyang, Huang Zhong was able to rival Zhao Yun, who grew up in the north, in horsemanship and archery, which demonstrates his talent and hard work.

Huang Zhong's archery skills on horseback are not something that can be mastered by talent or hard work alone. Only with exceptional talent and tireless effort can one achieve such skill.

Liu Bei liked talented geniuses, and he liked even more talented geniuses who were also hardworking.

Amidst laughter and conversation, Liu Bei noticed Huang Xu and Wei Yan clapping and cheering in the carriage, and was slightly surprised: Could Huang Zhong have two sons?

Upon approaching and asking, Liu Bei was even more surprised: Wei Yan? Is this the Wei Yan I'm thinking of?
Looking at Wei Yan's arrogant expression and the unintentional stubbornness he revealed, Liu Bei grew to like him more and more.

As the saying goes, "You can tell what a child will be like at three, and what they will be like in life at seven."

Regardless of whether it was the Wei Yan he was thinking of, Liu Bei had a very good initial impression of Wei Yan.

With proper nurturing, they will surely achieve great things in the future.

Only at the very end did Xu You emerge from the carriage, cupping his hands in congratulations: "Congratulations, Imperial Uncle, on gaining another valiant general."

Liu Bei laughed loudly: "It is all thanks to Ziyuan."

He then led the group into the pass and treated them to food and drink.

period.

Xu You recounted to Liu Bei the events that had occurred during his time in Nanyang, giving Liu Bei a clearer understanding of the current situation in Nanyang.

During the conversation, Xu You mentioned the letter he had sent to Liu Xiang, the governor of Jiangxia. Liu Bei was slightly surprised and asked, "What is the relationship between Ziyuan and Liu Xiang?"

Xu You shook his head: "Although we've met a few times, we're not very familiar. Does the Imperial Uncle intend to recruit Liu Xiang?"

Liu Bei held the wine cup, pondering deeply.

Liu Bei was unaware of Liu Xiang's abilities and character.

But Liu Xiang's son, Liu Ba, was a prodigy who even amazed Zhuge Liang.

Although Liu Ba always avoided Liu Bei in history, at that time Liu Ba's father, Liu Xiang, was killed by the people of Nanyang because Sun Jian killed Zhang Zi, the governor of Nanyang.

Liu Biao disliked Liu Xiang and wanted to kill Liu Ba. He even deliberately sent Liu Xiang's confidant to deceive Liu Ba. Afterwards, he repeatedly summoned Liu Ba to serve, but Liu Ba refused each time.

To put it simply: Liu Ba had a personal grudge against Liu Biao, and Liu Bei was on good terms with Liu Biao. Liu Ba hated Liu Bei because of his dislike of Liu Biao and looked down on Liu Bei's status as a military man, so naturally he was unwilling to submit to Liu Bei.

However, the situation is different now.

Sun Jian did not kill Zhang Zi. Xu You wrote a letter to Liu Xiang to persuade Liu Biao to remain neutral. Liu Bei was the emperor's uncle, while Liu Ba was just a boy of a few years old.

For Liu Bei, nurturing a brilliant young scholar and warrior was a source of great pride.

How could a disciple of the emperor be an ordinary person?
After a moment's consideration, Liu Bei said, "Liu Biao appears refined but is suspicious at heart. Liu Xiang remains neutral rather than helping Liu Biao, and I predict that he will not be tolerated by Liu Biao."

“If it weren’t for Liu Xiang’s help, Ziyuan would not have been able to visit Zhang Zi and meet Hansheng. If I did not help Liu Xiang when he was in trouble, it would be unrighteous of me.”

“Ziyuan, you can send someone to Jiangxia to deliver a message, saying that if Liu Xiang does not wish to stay in Jiangxia, he can come to Guanzhong to find me.”

Xu You found it strange, as if Liu Bei was making a far-fetched connection. However, Xu You couldn't guess that Liu Bei meant Liu Ba rather than Liu Xiang, and he couldn't figure out the doubts in his heart.

Unable to figure it out, Xu You simply stopped thinking about it and replied directly, "Since Imperial Uncle has this intention, I will send someone to summon him again."

Afterwards, Liu Bei discussed sending He Man to relocate the people of Gebei and having He Yi, He Man, and Gong Du bring three thousand Gebei soldiers to Wancheng in the future. Xu You, however, was not optimistic, saying, "Huang Yuzhou has governed Yuzhou quite steadily these past two years. It will probably be difficult to get the people of Gebei to leave their homes."

Liu Bei frowned: "If you refuse to leave, these three thousand Gebei soldiers and more than one hundred thousand Gebei troops may fall into the hands of others. Especially those three thousand Gebei soldiers, who were personally selected and trained by me back then."

"If I hadn't been unable to take it with me when I had no foundation, I wouldn't have left it in Yuzhou; I also truly couldn't bear to see those more than 100,000 people of Gebei suffer from the ravages of war again. Ziyuan, do you have any good ideas to help me?"

Whenever Liu Bei thought about the possibility of the soldiers and people of Gebei falling into Yuan Shu's hands, he felt a lump in his throat.

Those are my soldiers!
“This is a difficult problem to solve.” Xu You thought for a while and said, “If Yuan Shu abandons Nanyang, he will definitely go to Runan. If he knows that there are more than 100,000 people in Gebei and that a city is being built there, he will definitely go and plunder it.”

Liu Bei frowned: "A moment of kindness has backfired, and I've become trapped in my own web. I should have known better than to build the city at Gebei."

Runan is too far away, and Liu Bei is currently unable to reach it.

Moreover, if we were to launch a lone expedition for the sake of Runan and Gebei, it would not only violate the original plan to contain Yuan Shikai, but would also affect the plan to deal with Dong Zhuo.

a long time.

Liu Bei put the Gebei matter aside: "Forget it. Let nature take its course. I cannot afford to interfere in the affairs of Yu Province right now. Yuan Shu has been defeated, and Yuan Shao is not far from being defeated as well. My primary enemy from now on will change from the Yuan family to Dong Zhuo."

Xu You pondered for a moment, then lowered his voice: "If Imperial Uncle gets rid of Dong Zhuo, who will take charge of the court? Will Imperial Uncle personally sit in Luoyang to control the officials, or will someone else be temporarily appointed to lead the country, while Imperial Uncle remains in Chang'an?"

Without hesitation, Liu Bei replied, "I have considered it, but I have not yet made a decision."

“If I were to personally oversee Luoyang, I could serve the emperor to punish the disloyal; but with the emperor by my side, any action must be reported to the emperor. If I obey, my power is too small; if I disobey, I am disobeying.”

“Ziyuan, you know that the Emperor does not trust me. If I were to remain in Luoyang, the Emperor would surely cultivate his own confidants to eliminate me in order to consolidate his power.”

Xu You shook his head and said, "I know that my uncle has great ambitions, but things in the world change from time to time."

"The current situation is different from that at the end of the Qin Dynasty. Although heroes have risen up and occupied various prefectures and counties and gathered followers, it is not a situation where 'the Qin lost its deer, and the first to seize it became king.'"

"At present, the Yuan family is very powerful. Although Liu Biao, Liu Dai and others have allied with the Imperial Uncle, after their power grows, they will not submit to the court for their own interests."

“Imperial Uncle not only wants to be an enemy of the Yuan family, but also to check and balance Liu Biao, Liu Dai and others, and to constantly support new people to temporarily take charge of state affairs and then compete with them, and even compete with the emperor. I think this move is quite inappropriate.”

“I know that you are worried that if you take control of Luoyang, you will be suspected by the emperor for being too powerful, and there will be rumors to slander you and restrict your actions. But you are different from Dong Zhuo.”

"The Imperial Uncle's surname is Liu. He is a member of the imperial clan. He was entrusted with the important task of being the caretaker of the young emperor by a secret edict from the late emperor, and the emperor himself bowed to him as the Imperial Uncle in front of all the civil and military officials."

"The emperor was supported by the imperial uncle, so why should the imperial uncle fear the emperor's suspicion? Anyone who dares to slander the imperial uncle in front of the emperor should be killed."

"In the past, before Emperor Guangwu conquered the world, he also respected Emperor Gengshi. If the emperor does not repent and continues to follow Emperor Gengshi's example and harm the imperial uncle, the imperial uncle can also follow Emperor Guangwu's example."

"With your courage and talent, Imperial Uncle, and now that you have defeated Yuan Shu, it is not impossible for you to rule the world. No one but Imperial Uncle can shoulder this heavy responsibility."

“If we lose the power to punish the disloyal emperor because of fear and suspicion, I think it would be quite unwise.”

Liu Bei did not immediately agree or disagree with Xu You's words; the turning of the wine cup was also a way of weighing the pros and cons.

Although they occupied Yongzhou, Yongzhou was too barren, with few people and little wealth.

At first, Liu Bei wanted to transport money and grain into Yongzhou, but he found that the transportation was too poor and it was too unrealistic.

Later, when they considered relocating people to Guanzhong, they found that the process was too slow and might not keep up with the changing times.

The relocation of people to Gebei also served to address the difficulty of insufficient household registration in Guanzhong.

However, in essence, it was still Liu Bei's subconscious avoidance of "Wang Mang's humility before his usurpation".

Liu Bei did not want the reputation of usurping power. Once he was accused of usurping power, he would be like Zhu Di, unable to clear his name no matter what.

Therefore, Liu Bei always wanted to push Liu Xie away, first to Dong Zhuo, and then to Yuan Shao or Cao Cao.

The more this happened, the more Liu Bei found his path becoming increasingly difficult.

If Liu Bei had remained in Guanzhong and observed the affairs of the world, the only place he could have taken next would have been Yizhou.

But Liu Bei had already taken Guanzhong, so going back to take Yizhou would be putting the cart before the horse.

By the time Liu Bei finishes taking Yizhou and then digests it, Yuan Shao will probably have already unified Hebei.

At that time, it wouldn't be Liu Bei who would dominate the world, but Yuan Shao. Liu Bei would instead become like Dong Zhuo, who moved the capital to Chang'an, and would be gradually ignored by the warlords of Guandong.

Xu You's words just now also served as a reminder to Liu Bei.

Things in the world change from time to time.

Everything must be linked to the actual situation, rather than remaining unchanged.

For Liu Bei at this point, if he were to remain in Luoyang, the Gebei troops would not need to enter Nanyang. Since he was stationed in Luoyang, Yuzhou would be a crucial place that Liu Bei had to take.

Liu Bei didn't need to worry about the Gebei people and three thousand Gebei soldiers being taken by others, and he could focus on completely eliminating the Yuan family's power in Runan.

Most importantly, Liu Bei has already defeated Yuan Shu, and his fame will soon spread to all the prefectures and counties.

Once Dong Zhuo is dealt with, Liu Bei's prestige will be further enhanced. Why should he hide in Guanzhong just because Liu Xie is in Luoyang and lose the opportunity to control the world?

"If it weren't for Ziyuan's reminder, I would have almost gone astray. Chang'an is nice, but it's not suitable for the current situation. If we want to eliminate the rebellious people in the world, we still have to go to Luoyang." Having figured out the key point, Liu Bei felt relieved and raised his cup to Xu You.

Liu Bei was a very decisive person.

Having decided to personally govern Luoyang, he would no longer hesitate or weigh two, three, or four strategies, ultimately accomplishing nothing.

If he hesitates and loses control of the situation, then Liu Bei will become like Yuan Shao, who could have succeeded by listening to anyone but changed his mind constantly, going from one thing to another.

Xu You added, “Since the Imperial Uncle has made a decision, we can prepare in advance. Military Advisor Jia is too comfortable in Guanzhong. In the past, Military Advisor Jia was borrowed by the Imperial Uncle from Dong Zhuo to learn about the situation in Guanzhong.”

"Now that Guanzhong is pacified, and the Imperial Uncle intends to personally oversee Luoyang, it is time for Military Advisor Jia to go to Luoyang and rejoin Dong Zhuo's ranks."

Thinking of Jia Xu now lying leisurely in Chencang, Liu Bei did indeed have some strange thoughts in his mind.

It's roughly like this: We're all part of the same group, sharing honor and disgrace, life and death. We're all fighting desperately, while you're just lying around in the back.
Especially considering that Jia Xu had tricked Guan Yu, causing Guan Yu to work day and night on miscellaneous tasks, and ultimately Liu Bei had to clean up the mess, Liu Bei really wanted to put Jia Xu in a busy position.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei's lips curled up: "Indeed, Wenhe should be sent to Luoyang for a visit. Otherwise, lying in Chencang every day will make his brain stiff. As the saying goes, there is endless joy in fighting with others, and I should also find some fun for Wenhe."

"But Ziyuan, you absolutely mustn't let anyone know that it was you who suggested sending Wenhe to Luoyang. Otherwise, if Wenhe gets angry and throws a tantrum, he might just pull off a 'dark tactic' and offer your head to Dong Zhuo."

Xu You felt a chill run down his neck and said awkwardly, "This is the last time. If it weren't for the Emperor's grand plan, I wouldn't want Military Advisor Jia to risk his life in Luoyang."

(End of this chapter)