Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 174 The Importance of Public Opinion

As soon as Zuo Bo's answer sheet for the test was handed in, Liu Bei read it carefully and found that among the top five in the test, only Bu Zhi ranked first, Liu Ye was narrowly ranked fifth, and Wei Jing was slightly inferior, ranking eighth.

When seeing Liu Ye's answer, Liu Bei was still thinking about whether to remove him from the top five. He asked for advice on how to take Huainan. Liu Ziyang, who was from Jiujiang County, not only did not put forward some practical suggestions, but instead praised Liu Xuande in his article.

It seemed that as long as the banner was waved, Yuan Shu and Liu Yao in Huainan would surrender.

Liu Bei frowned slightly. Liu Ye was still young at this moment.

Just when he was about to rank Liu Ye's answer as the sixth, Chen Deng dissuaded him, saying, "Sir, I have also heard of Liu Ziyang in Xuzhou. I know he has real talent. But now he is still under the age of twenty and has not been exposed to the administrative style of Qingzhou. He does not know that Lord Xuande likes hard-working officials. It is inevitable that he is not well-considered."

"Although many of the Liu clan members serve as officials under your rule, only a handful of them are from the lineage of Emperor Guangwu. Liu Ye is a descendant of King Fuling, and he has become famous in Huainan after being evaluated by the famous scholar Xu Shao. If I take the risk to surrender now, and even the secretary around you cannot stay, I am afraid that it will disappoint the people of Yangzhou and our clan members."

Chen Deng turned his head, bowed and spoke softly.

Let Liu Bei give some face to the relatives of the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as the King of Langya, the King of Donghai, the King of Xia Pi, and the King of Pengcheng. These heir princes have average status in the eyes of scholars all over the world, but as long as they are related to famous scholars, their status becomes different.

The circle of celebrities in the world is not big, but not small either. They all make a living by relying on their fame. Once your fame cannot be monetized, other people will be less willing to join you.

Celebrities often control public opinion. Unless others have no choice but to rely on you, then you can ignore celebrities.

But now the world has not really settled down yet, celebrities can run around and spread rumors, so we should be cautious with these people.

Liu Bei couldn't help but nodded.

He thought of two things. One was that in history, the governor of Yangzhou, Liu Yao, was afraid of being ridiculed by Xu Shao and did not dare to appoint Taishi Ci, a fellow villager from Donglai, as a general.

Second, before Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty, Sun Quan pledged allegiance to Cao Wei. Zhong Yao advised him not to trust him easily, but Cao Pi replied confidently: If Sun Quan dared to betray me, he would order Xu Shao of Runan to re-execute the Yuedan review, and let famous scholars comment on Sun Zhongmou, making him a laughing stock among scholars.

Although both of them are counterexamples, they also show the influence of celebrity comments and public opinion hype on the hearts of people around the world.

Whenever Liu Bei acted, whether he was sending troops to attack the princes or surveying the land to eliminate the powerful, he always made sure to have a legitimate reason so that no one could find any evidence against him.

As for the famous scholars who offended him, they were not killed after being caught. At most, they were just placed under house arrest. Just like Liu Dai, he could now freely travel with other Confucian scholars in Donglai County. Apart from some fishing intentions, as long as he did not escape privately, Liu Bei would basically not do anything to him.

Liu Bei understood the importance of propaganda better than the other celebrities. His current fame was inseparable from the stories and songs composed by the common people and the wanderers in the streets.

Perhaps in a few decades, some of his legendary stories will become as well-known to the common people as Emperor Gaozu's uprising by slaying the white snake.

Unlike Xiu'er who only makes prophecies and follows the path of the wealthy and powerful families.

Liu Bei used both prophecies and easy-to-understand stories. The prophecies made the nobles and powerful families dare not underestimate him, while the catchy stories let the common people know that Liu Xuande was famous for his kindness. In addition, he added many minor officials in the villages to prevent the nobles and powerful families from easily inciting the people to oppose him.

After hearing Chen Deng's reminder, Liu Bei naturally knew what to do and moved Liu Ye's ranking up.

The fifth place was transferred to the Household Department, which was considered as some compensation. After handling the county official examination, he wrote to Mi Zhu, Guo Jia and others to finalize the ancestor worship and Nuo opera event this year. After all, this was a grand ceremony organized by Lord Xuande a few months after he took over Xuzhou. He had dismissed many officials before, which made the people of Xuzhou panic.

This opportunity was also intended to appease the gentry and people of Xuzhou. Since Guo Fengxiao, Mi Zizhong and Chen Yuanlong all believed that it could not be neglected and must be handled with great care, and some money could still be taken out from the Xuzhou treasury, Liu Bei just let them do as they pleased.

In mid-December, Man Chong lived up to expectations and found out that there were as many as eight wealthy families who, after Liu Jiao, the King of Chu in Pengcheng, had occupied the common people's land, allowed slaves to kill people, and evaded taxes in recent years. Some of them even seized the farmland of the same clan and took advantage of the orphans and widows to make a living. The official document written by Man Chong and delivered to Xia Pi made Liu Bei furious.

Just when he was about to go to Pengcheng County in person, news came from Luoyang and Dongjun that the Guanzhong court had sent envoys to Xuzhou, and the envoy was Zhao Qi, the Grand Coachman, which made Liu Bei slightly stunned.

I thought to myself, "Why do all these things happen at the end of the year? What are Li Jue and Guo Si doing now?"

When he issued the manifesto to attack Zhang Yang, he had already torn relations with the Guanzhong court, and the two sides were exchanging documents and insulting each other.

Now they suddenly sent another envoy. Even if the Grand Coachman Zhao Qi came with the emperor's edict to dismiss him, what would it matter? The court officials and the emperor had been occupied by the Liangzhou bandits for a long time. All the edicts that came to dismiss Liu Xuande, the descendant of the Liu family who rebuilt the ancestral temple in Luoyang, were just forged edicts by the Liangzhou bandits.

The officials of the three states of Qing, Yan and Xu would not accept the imperial edict at all. At this moment, the convoy from the Guanzhong court that came to convey the imperial edict was detained by Zhang Fei and Xun You in Wen County of Henei County.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei both sent people to ask how to deal with Taifu Zhao Qi and others.

Liu Bei wrote back asking them to find out the contents of the emperor's edict. If he came to dismiss Liu Xuande from his post as governor, he should let them go back to where they came from.

In fact, Li Jue and Guo Si had reconciled by sending hostages to each other when Liu Bei led his army to attack them half a year ago. They also sent soldiers to guard the emperor and ministers in turns, and their relationship was restored to what it was before.

This made the Liangzhou warriors such as Jia Xu and Zhang Ji who rushed to persuade them to make peace feel relieved.

But ever since Liu Bei disobeyed the imperial edict from Guanzhong, Liu Biao of Jingzhou followed suit and ignored it. After Liu Zhang of Yizhou broke up with Zhang Lu, no envoys went to Chang'an again.

Yuan Shao of Jizhou had already privately carved a seal, and Yuan Shu of Yangzhou even angered the Grand Tutor Ma Ritian, who went to deliver the imperial edict, to death.

The other princes in Guandong either had their roads cut off or ignored the imperial court.

Li Jue and Guo Si did not expect that after turning against Liu Bei, it was the people of Liang Province who would suffer in the end.

The emperor and the three dukes and nine ministers all became decorations. In the past, the princes would sometimes send some cloth and fine silk to pay homage to the emperor, but now there is nothing. The Sili, the hub of the world, was also cut off by Liu Xuande.

Under the persuasion of the court secretary Jia Xu, it was asserted that Liu Bei had no intention of attacking Guanzhong at this time. After careful consideration, the warriors of Liangzhou decided to put aside their past grudges with Liu Xuande.

He then sent Zhao Qi, the Grand Coachman, to Guandong to appoint Liu Bei as the governor of Xuzhou. Li Jue decided to add fuel to the fire by asking the emperor to appoint Liu Xuande as the Marquis of Ye and the acting governor of Jizhou.

When two tigers fight, one will die and the other will be injured. As long as Yuan Shao and Liu Bei fight fiercely, it will be good for Guanzhong.

　The weather is getting colder, so everyone should keep warm. I have caught a cold these days and feel dizzy.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)