Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 165 Let Sun Lang deal with Liu Xuande

Liu Bei comforted Cao Bao and then asked him why he was mourning in front of the county government.

Cao Bao remembered the important matter, and he bowed his hands and pretended to be dumb and said, "Lord Xuande, I didn't collude with Zuo Rong, so why was I dismissed from the position of captain? I hope you can understand it clearly."

Liu Bei smiled and asked, "Who said you were dismissed because of the Zuo Rong incident? It's obvious that you were dismissed because you were just a figurehead and incompetent."

"what?!"

Cao Bao was caught off guard and stood there in a daze with his mouth wide open. It took him a few breaths to realize that Lord Xuande was not joking.

"Envoy Liu, what do you mean by this?"

Cao Bao looked confused and didn't understand where the pot came from.

Liu Bei returned to his seat and said solemnly, "The commander is responsible for supervising military affairs and recruiting soldiers. I would like to ask Commander Cao, when my superior entered the city, some county soldiers dared to shoot with bows and arrows. Is this the commander's responsibility?"

"Lord Xuande, I..."

Cao Bao had no way to defend himself. Could he say that he was not in Xia Pi County at the time and that it was the personal behavior of the county soldiers and had nothing to do with him?
No! The Han Dynasty's official performance appraisal system rewarded meritorious officials and punished guilty officials. Moreover, the captain in charge of military affairs could be seriously suspected of assassination.

"Lord Xuande..."

Liu Bei chuckled, then said sternly: "Lord Cao asked for justice without mercy, so I will meet your request. We will capture this beast, put him in jail and torture him severely. We will see if there are any other people in the county who are involved in the assassination. If we find anyone, we will not let them off easily."

Cao Bao's face turned pale and before he could say anything he was tied up with ropes by Dian Wei and his men and carried out.

Twisting like a slaughtered pig, he cried miserably, "Envoy, Leopard is wrong. Just pretend I have never been here and let me go."

Soon the sound stopped.

Liu Bei sighed, and shook his head at the dozens of officials who were silent in the hall, saying, "I originally wanted to deal with him with sympathy, severely punish him, but I didn't expect that Cao Jun thought dismissal was too light, and came to ask me to investigate and act. Now I'm holding him accountable according to the law, but he is unwilling to do so. He refuses to accept my toast and only drinks the penalty wine. Don't follow his example in the future."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

"The petty official dare not."

Many officials in the county government explained in trembling voices.

Some people were even worried that Cao Bao could not bear the severe punishment in prison, so they implicated all those who had disagreements with him, so that the governor could use it as evidence to dismiss his subordinates at will. Even the leaders of the powerful families behind them did not dare to speak out, for fear of being implicated in the assassination.

Liu Bei suddenly remembered something, so he smiled and asked, "Recently, I heard that there is a rumor in Xuzhou near Huainan that the one who replaced the Han Dynasty was Dangtu Gao, Yuan Gonglu of Runan, and Xiapi is next to Jiujiang County. Have you heard of this?"

The officials looked at each other.

Even Lord Xuande had only been in Xia Pi for a short time when the news came. If they said they didn't know, they were incompetent. If they said they knew, why didn't they report it?

This is actually an act of treason. Are we going to use the dead Zuo Rong to take the blame?
All the officials bowed their heads to the ground and said, "This humble official has failed in his duty. Please punish him, my Lord."

"Sir." A senior official pondered for a moment and said, "I wanted to report this to the prefecture, but was blocked by the traitor Zuo Rong. I have been so busy these days that I forgot about this matter. I hope you will forgive me."

After hearing this, Liu Bei smiled and said, "What do you think of Yuan Gonglu? Do you think he can accomplish anything?"

"As long as Lord Xuande is here, Yuan Shu will never be able to accomplish anything."

The officials shook their heads.

If we talk about the most powerful person who replaced the Han Dynasty, it was Yuan Shao. In addition, with the reputation of three generations of officials, they felt that they might be able to compete with Liu Shijun.

But if Yuan Shu were to rebel, he would be in imminent danger of surrendering his head.

The short-bearded official clasped his hands and said, "If Yuan Gonglu of Huainan dares to endanger the country, he will be like a withered bone and rotten meat, and the people of the world will condemn him and criticize him, and the reputation of the Yuan family of Runan for many years will also be infamous."

All the officials nodded in approval. Liu Bei sat at the table, watching everyone finish their performance, and then said with a smile: "If Yuan Shu has the intention to usurp the throne, you must take good care of your children. If they are involved in treason, they will have to be exterminated. It is not easy to get away with it. I intend to show mercy, but I am afraid that the emperor and the three dukes and nine ministers will not allow pardons."

"Sir, we have been enjoying the Han salary for a long time. We will be Han's subjects for the rest of our lives. There is no second thought."

The officials spoke passionately.

They were all glaring and looking angry, as if they would not let anyone who dared to rebel against the Han Dynasty get away with it.

Liu Bei smiled and said nothing.

I hope they will have this awareness when they are farming, otherwise the knife will still fall.

"It's time to recruit a group of new county officials to handle government affairs," Liu Bei thought to himself.

This group of people are too slow in their work, and it would take a whole day to complete a minor task. Otherwise, he would not have transferred these people to his presence for his personal supervision.

All the clerks and officials were dismissed and this group of people were promoted to try out the positions, but they did not know how to perform and instead dared to be cunning and treacherous.

After dealing with the current situation, there will be a lot of things that need to be cleaned up and more county officials will need to be trained.

Liu Bei then spread out the bamboo slips, picked up the rabbit-hair brush and began to write letters. Then he found a clerk and asked him to take it to the post office and send it to all the counties in the state to announce the call for talents.

……

Yuan Shu of Jiujiang County in Yangzhou heard that Liu Xuande suddenly led his cavalry to Xiapi to capture and kill Zuo Rong, and was still preparing his troops as if he was planning to attack Yangzhou.

When the coalition forces of various princes attacked Dong Zhuo, he suffered a lot from the cavalry of Liang Province. Jiujiang County only had mountainous areas near the east of the Yangtze River, and the rest were plains that were conducive to the cavalry's galloping.

His soldiers' armor and weapons are not ready yet. How can he resist if Liu Bei is summoned now?

Yuan Shu quickly called his chief secretary Yang Hong and asked him to slowly spread the prophecy to Huainan and Xuzhou. At least he had to wait until Liu Xuande returned to Qingzhou before he could rest assured.

"Mr. Yuan, I'm afraid it's too late. Some counties in Xuzhou had already spread the news half a month ago."

Yang Hong said with an embarrassed look.

Rumors spread very quickly. He simply sent someone to sing a nursery rhyme, but he didn't expect the people to spread it further and further, and the rumors became more and more outrageous.

The two thousand gold coins given by Yuan Gong as funding had not even been used one-third of it but the effects were already evident.

After Liu Xuande recaptured Xia Pi, he ordered Taishi Ci to lead half of the Huben cavalry and more than a thousand auxiliary soldiers to continue marching down the river without stopping, stationing troops in Huailing County and Dongcheng County, and heading straight to Jiujiang County, clearly targeting Tu Gao Yuan Gong of the Dai Han Dynasty.

Yuan Shu said angrily: "I have not yet mobilized troops in Runan, and I have not yet seized Chen, Liang, and Pei in Yuzhou. If I fight Liu Xuande now, how can I be his opponent?"

"Lord Yuan can dispatch Ji Ling to guard Yinling to guard against Liu Bei, and dispatch Sun Ce to guard Zhongli to threaten Liu Xuande's retreat. If he dares to advance to Dongcheng, he will be dispatched to cut off his food supply. War horses consume a lot of bean fodder and straw, and there is no river for transportation within a hundred miles. Liu Bei will not be able to hold out for long and will have to flee back to Xiapi in panic."

Yang Hong thought for a moment, then looked up and offered a suggestion.

If he doesn't give Yang Hong a plan to repel the enemy, what if Yuan Shao follows Emperor Jing's example and pushes him out to be beheaded like Chao Cuo, and then sends his head to appease Liu Bei to buy time for his future title? In that case, Yang Hong would be at a great loss.

Yuan Shu could not help but frown, and after thinking for a while, he felt that this strategy was feasible. Even if Sun Bofu attacked Jiujiang and Lujiang, he had not fulfilled his duties as the prefect, and he was afraid that it would be difficult to transfer them again.

After hearing Lord Yuan's concerns, Yang Hong laughed and said, "Lord Yuan holds Sun Ce's military supplies and money, so he dare not disobey. Both Sun Ce and his son are former officials of the Yuan family and dare not betray their master. We can first recommend them as the Prime Minister of Pei. After Liu Bei withdraws his troops, let them plunder Pei to attract Liu Xuande's attention, which can avert disaster for Lord Yuan."

"Okay, the Chief Secretary is indeed a good planner. I will follow your plan and let Sun Lang deal with Liu Xuande."

Yuan Shu slammed the table, stood up and laughed.

(End of this chapter)