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

Chapter 233 Chen Mi is about to rebel, Liu Bei waits for Yuan Shao in a relaxed manner (Seeking subscriptions and monthly votes)

Zhang Kai's assassination attempt failed, Xiang Kai suddenly died, and Que Xuan responded to the new policies. This series of changes left Chen Yu and Mi Fang completely bewildered.

Que Xuan, don't you want to be the emperor anymore?

It's fate!
How could you resist the temptation of being blessed by destiny?
Xiang Kai, such a famous sorcerer, has come specifically to deliver a talisman to you. Shouldn't you believe him without a doubt?
The most tragic one was Mi Fang.

Que Xuan claimed that Xiang Kai was a guest in Chen Yu's household, but he could not provide any evidence.

But the money and grain that Mi Fang sent to Que Xuan were genuine.

Even the Mi family slaves who transported money and grain were still in Que Xuan's camp.

Mi Fang hurriedly found Chen Yu and immediately launched into a barrage of questions: "Chen Yu, why was Xiang Kai killed? Why did Que Xuan respond to Liu Bei?"

Chen Yu was already annoyed, and Mi Fang's questioning only made him angrier: "Mi Fang, I want to ask you the same thing. You were in direct contact with Que Xuan, and now that Que Xuan has responded to Liu Bei and Xiang Kai is dead, could it be that you have secretly sided with Liu Bei and are deliberately plotting against me?"

Mi Fang, her temper flaring, retorted, "Chen Yu, stop twisting the truth! What benefit would I gain from joining Liu Bei? Would I scheme against you? You were the one who suggested and encouraged Que Xuan to become emperor, and Xiang Kai was also someone you recommended!"

"Now that Xiang Kai is dead and Que Xuan has rebelled, you're still trying to shift the blame to me? My servants are still being held in Que Xuan's camp! Let me tell you, if anything happens to me, you won't escape either!"

Chen Yu sneered: "If that's how you want to talk, then I can tell you clearly. Xiang Kai was a fugitive who conspired with Wang Fen to depose the emperor. What does it have to do with the Chen family of Xiapi if a fugitive goes and instigates Que Xuan to become emperor?"

“You supported Que Xuan, who was instigated by a fugitive, to become emperor. Que Xuan didn’t want to become emperor, so he killed the fugitive and detained your Mi clan’s slaves. This has nothing to do with my Xiapi Chen clan. Why should I run away?”

Seeing Chen Yu shamelessly shirking responsibility, Mi Fang was so angry she felt like her head was about to explode.

He thought he could outsmart Chen Yu, but the cunning old fox Chen Yu outsmarted him instead.

When the argument continues.

Chen Gui sternly rebuked, "Alright. Gongwei, say less. The dissolution of the Mi family will not benefit the Chen family. Zifang, stop arguing about who is right and who is wrong."

"Que Xuan was originally just a pawn to test Liu Bei's attitude. Whether he succeeds or not is not important. Now Liu Bei's attitude is very clear: he wants all the powerful families and clans in Xuzhou to respond to the new policy."

"There are only two paths now: either respond to the new policy or raise an army to establish their own independent state. The Chen family will definitely not respond to the new policy, and Yuan Shu has already replied that he will send troops to attack Xiapi. At that time, Sun Jian will definitely mobilize troops to resist."

"Once Sun Jian leaves, we can launch a counterattack on Xiapi, capture Sun Jian and his family, and cut off their supplies. Sun Jian will collapse without a fight. Even if Liu Bei is in Xiapi, it will be of no use."

Chen Gui was also a ruthless person. He hesitated at first, but became extremely decisive after making a decision. This series of moves was also planned in advance.

However, Chen Gui was unaware that Liu Bei had been dawdling on the road, even spending ten days in Xiaxiang, all to entice Chen Gui to seduce Yuan Shu.

Liu Bei's methods of eliminating powerful bandits in the Three Auxiliary Regions and the powerful bandits of the Governor of Henan were basically the same: he deliberately sent his army to fight the rebels to create the illusion that the defenses of the rear cities were weak, thus luring the powerful bandits to gather their troops and attack the cities. Finally, he eliminated the powerful bandits on a legitimate basis to deter the rest of the disloyal subjects.

If Liu Bei really wanted to directly target the Chen and Mi brothers, he wouldn't need to linger on the road; he could have arrived in Xiapi with lightning speed.

However, this would prevent the complete eradication of the Chen and Mi families' power bases. After all, even if Liu Bei came, the two families could claim that Gai Xun and Sun Jian had tacitly approved it or that the matter was too broad to handle gradually.

In the end, the big issue was reduced to a small one, and the small issue was resolved by simply arguing between the two sides. Liu Bei could no longer keep an eye on things in Xiapi.

If we cannot act decisively and swiftly, we will fail to deter Xuzhou.

In contrast, by driving the Chen and Mi families to desperate measures and colluding with Yuan Shu, Liu Bei was able to swiftly and decisively eradicate both factions.

By eliminating the two most powerful families, the remaining powerful clans of Xuzhou will either flee or respond to the new policy, thus achieving the goal of promoting the new policy in the shortest possible time.

It's already November, and Liu Bei doesn't want to drag things out in Xuzhou for too long, since Yuan Shao in Hebei isn't one to stay idle and cause trouble.

Chen Gui's words acted as a reassurance, calming the anxieties in Chen Yu and Mi Fang's hearts.

After seeing that the two had stopped arguing, Chen Gui instructed again: "After Yuan Shu sends his troops, you must have Chen Deng and Mi Zhu go with Sun Jian to attack Yuan Shu. Only in this way can Liu Bei lower his guard."

Mi Fang exclaimed in surprise, "If that's the case, wouldn't Chen Deng and my brother be in great danger?"

Chen Gui sneered: "Those who do great things, how can they be afraid of death? As long as we succeed, Sun Jian's family will be in our hands, and Liu Bei will be doomed. How could Sun Jian dare to harm Chen Deng and Mi Zhu? If we are lucky, I can even turn Sun Jian against us."

"With Sun Jian's help, it will be much easier to resist Liu Bei's old subordinates and confidants; moreover, if Liu Bei dies, Yuan Shao will surely go south to attack Cao Cao in Yan Province. We only need to cooperate with Yuan Shu to defeat Guan Yu in Yu Province."

"As long as everything goes smoothly, the world will be a contest between the two Yuans from now on. No matter who wins or loses, we, the powerful families, will have to rely on each other to govern Xuzhou."

Mi Fang hesitated: "What if everything doesn't go smoothly?"

Chen Gui's gaze toward Mi Fang now held even more disdain.

Even at this point, they still don't dare to fight desperately.

If the opponent wasn't Liu Bei, Chen Gui wouldn't have wanted to recruit Mi Fang.

However, Liu Bei was too strong. Even with Yuan Shu's troops, Chen Gui was not confident that he could deal with Liu Bei alone.

Therefore, the Mi family, the most powerful family in Xuzhou, must be won over.

It would be best to let the Mi family continue to provide funds, food, and manpower to lead the charge.

Chen Gui continued, "That's why I sent Chen Deng and Mi Zhu with Sun Jian to attack Yuan Shu. If all goes well, we can save their lives. If things don't go well, they can protect the Chen and Mi families and ensure their survival."

"If the Mi family wants to truly become a powerful clan, it must be prepared for the brothers to separate. They cannot entrust the future of the family to one person, nor can they support only one power before the world is settled."

"Now the Mi family only has you and Mi Zhu left. If you are not willing to risk your life, you two brothers can only study and make a name for yourselves in the future. Perhaps you can barely become a minor official by the time you are fifty years old."

Chen Gui's words were very persuasive.

Although Mi Fang became the most powerful man in Xuzhou by taking the right side and annexing the rebels' businesses, his mind did not change as a result of the increase in wealth.

Instead, they arrogantly believe that they have everything they have today because of their own abilities.

However, in Chen Gui's eyes, Mi Fang was just a clueless new recruit who didn't have the intelligence to match his wealth.

The best choice for Lady Mi now is to decisively hand over all her businesses to Liu Bei, actively cooperate with Liu Bei to promote the new policies in Xuzhou, and finally send her sister into the palace. By virtue of her status as a maternal relative, she can send her children to the palace and let them receive the elite education prepared by Liu Bei.

Within three generations, the Mi family was able to completely transcend social classes, transforming from a nouveau riche into a scholarly family with generations of officials.

but.

If Mi Fang had been smart enough, he wouldn't have opposed Mi Zhu's initial proposal.

Although Mi Zhu was more intelligent than Mi Fang, he was not much more so, and lacked both insight and decisiveness. Historically, Mi Zhu only offered his family property and sister to Liu Bei when Liu Bei was weak and vulnerable.

If we had invested earlier, we wouldn't have let a weakened Lu Bu steal our base.

Liu Bei was already isolated and outnumbered, so what would be the point of investing further?

However, they were afraid of being completely exploited by Lü Bu, so when the Mi clan was also facing destruction, they wanted to win a great favor by helping them in their time of need.

The funniest thing is that Mi Fang won a bet in one go, but then he surrendered Jiangling. It really proves the saying: "When the wind blows, even pigs can fly; when the wind blows away, pigs fall to their deaths."

Under Chen Gui's persuasive words, Mi Fang hardened her heart and said, "Then let's go with the plan. I'll go back and prepare, just waiting for Yuan Shu to send troops."

After deceiving Mi Fang, Chen Gui met with Chen Yu to discuss: "Yuan Long is intelligent. If we try to hide it directly, we will surely succeed. We can lie to Yuan Long and say that the Chen family is willing to respond to the new policies, so that Yuan Long can contact Liu Bei. This will make Liu Bei lower his guard."

Chen Yu also said, "That's excellent. Even if we can't kill Liu Bei in Xuzhou this time, we should at least prevent him from ever seizing Xuzhou again. The Chen family's ancestral business cannot be abandoned just because Liu Bei wants to implement new policies."

the other side.

After returning to see Mi Zhu, Mi Fang lied and said he would go back to Donghai first, so as to avoid being unable to help the two brothers if they met in Xiapi.

Mi Zhu also had this concern, so he sent Mi Fang back to Qu County in Donghai to observe the situation.

The eighth day of the eleventh month of the first year of Zhangwu.

Liu Bei arrived at Xiapi City.

Sun Jian led his civil and military officials out of the city to welcome them.

Liu Bei remained hidden as Zhao Yun's personal guard, with Zhao Yun, the Grand Master of Ceremonies, handling all the specific reception matters.

Only after arriving at the governor's mansion did Sun Jian secretly meet with Liu Bei.

"Your subject Sun Jian pays his respects to Your Majesty. It is my fault that Your Majesty has had to come and endure such hardship."

Sun Jian adopted a very humble attitude.

After all, Sun Jian's performance as governor of Xuzhou was indeed very poor, far below Liu Bei's initial expectations.

Seeing that Sun Jian was in a good mood, Liu Bei did not criticize him. After gesturing for Sun Jian to stand up, he said, "My identity still needs to be kept secret. You can call me Commandant Jian to outsiders."

After giving a detailed account, Liu Bei inquired about the specifics of Sun Jian's connections with the powerful families and clans of Xuzhou.

Sun Jian told him the truth in detail.

"What are your impressions of Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, and Sun Qian, Wen Tai?" Liu Bei asked again.

Without hesitation, Sun Jian said, “Chen Deng is indeed a man of extraordinary talent and strategy, and he is also a man of great courage and righteousness. He is a man worth befriending. However, Chen Deng’s father, Chen Gui, and his cousin, Chen Yu, rely on their family’s status as descendants of the Three Dukes and often look down on me, the governor of Xuzhou.”

"Chen Deng also supports His Majesty's new policies, and even quarreled with Chen Gui and Chen Yu over them. He was also scolded as an unfilial son because of the new policies. However, Chen Deng was just a junior member of the Chen family, and his voice was weak."

"As for Mi Zhu, he is quite adept at business, and is also very shrewd and sophisticated. He likes to cultivate an air of refinement and often associates with scholars. However, he prefers to wait for the right price and is vague about His Majesty's new policies, neither clearly expressing his support nor his opposition."

"Judging from his intentions, he wanted to wait for the Chen family of Xiapi to express their opinion first. His brother Mi Fang, on the contrary to Mi Zhu, was ruthless. The Mi family became the largest powerful family in Xuzhou by annexing the rebel army's property. Mi Fang was in charge of the specific management of all of this."

“Sun Qian was a student of Zheng Xuan. Of the three people Your Majesty recommended to Governor Gai in the past, only Sun Qian was of the highest moral character. He was very supportive of the new policies, did not like to build up his own property, and his hobby in his spare time was collecting all kinds of books.”

"However, Sun Qian is from Beihai and has no roots in Xuzhou. Although he is a disciple of Zheng Xuan, his personal reputation is far inferior to that of Zheng Xuan. Even if he supports the new policies, he cannot change the long-standing problems in Xuzhou."

After learning about the three women's specific behavior from Sun Jian, Liu Bei had a general plan for dealing with Lady Chen and Lady Mi.

Although Liu Bei initially recommended three people to Gai Xun based on preconceived notions, there is a significant difference between whether the recommended individuals were used by Liu Bei himself and by others.

As a result, the Chen and Mi families have become so powerful in Xuzhou that they are now difficult to control.

As they were talking...

People reported that Chen Deng and Mi Zhu requested an audience.

To lull Liu Bei into a false sense of security, Chen Gui lied and claimed that the Chen family was willing to support the new policies, thus sending Chen Deng to find Liu Bei.

Chen Deng then went to find Mi Zhu and informed him of Chen's decision, which greatly surprised Mi Zhu.

Mi Zhu was a businessman by nature, and seeing that the Chen family had chosen to respond to the new policies, he also chose to follow suit.

Although he didn't understand why Chen Gui and Chen Yu had changed their attitude, Mi Zhu understood even more clearly that following the Chen family in responding to the new policies at this time was definitely the right thing to do.

Whether Chen would continue to outwardly comply but inwardly defy Liu Bei after he left is another story.

Before this, Mi Zhu would not have resisted the new policies and caused trouble for the Mi family after Que Xuan and Chen Shi had responded one after another.

Liu Bei did not reveal his true identity and still had Zhao Yun in charge of receiving Chen Deng and Mi Zhu.

Upon learning that both men were seeking an audience in response to the new policies, both Sun Jian and Zhao Yun sensed something was amiss.

The attitudes of the Chen and Mi families changed far too quickly.

Just because Que Xuan expressed his opinion, did they all follow suit and express their opinion?
Que Xuan was merely one of the powerful clans in Xuzhou, far inferior to the Mi clan, and certainly not comparable to the Chen clan.

The idea that the Chen and Mi families responded simply because Que Xuan did is utterly bizarre.

If they really had this idea, they should have expressed their opinion before Que Xuan even responded.

After expressing his appreciation for the two men's support of the new policies, Zhao Yun dismissed them and then returned with Sun Jian to report to Liu Bei.

"It's just a delaying tactic, nothing more than an attempt to lower our guard and make us mistakenly believe that the Chen and Mi families are truly sincere in responding to the new policies." Liu Bei saw through the Chen and Mi families' intentions immediately; this little trick couldn't fool Liu Bei.

However, Liu Bei paid no attention to the tricks of the Chen and Mi families, but was more concerned about Yuan Shu's whereabouts: "After waiting for so long, Yuan Shu should make a move by now. If he doesn't come, my plan can't proceed."

Sun Jian suddenly realized what was happening and exclaimed in surprise, "Your Majesty's intention is that the Chen and Mi families are outwardly supporting the new policies, but in reality, they are secretly colluding with Yuan Shu to surrender Xuzhou?"

In his shock, Sun Jian was also indignant: "I will immediately lead troops to capture Chen Gui and others, and eliminate the internal traitors before Yuan Shu invades Xuzhou."

"No rush," Liu Bei reassured Sun Jian, smiling slowly. "If we arrest Chen Gui and the others now, it would be like framing them with false charges, and I wouldn't be able to appease Xuzhou. Even if we were to arrest them, we should wait until Chen Gui and the others raise an army, and then use a reasonable and legal method to wipe them out in one fell swoop before we can show our kindness and authority to others."

(End of this chapter)