Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 77 Xun Yu is good at recruiting talents
Liu Bei was busy in Dongjun until the eighth day of November, when he had almost finished cleaning up the damage left by the flood.

The bodies of the people need to be buried, the houses need to be rebuilt, the silt everywhere needs to be cleaned up, and the birds, beasts and fish that died in the water cannot be eaten by the people.

During this period, he also led his troops to besiege Puyang and launched two tentative attacks on the city. He found that there were sufficient rolling logs and rocks in the city, and that a forced attack would result in too many casualties.

He simply divided his troops to capture Bai Ma and Yan counties, and repelled the reinforcements sent by Zhang Miao, the prefect of Chenliu.

He acted as if he was going to attack Chenliu, which frightened Chenliu so much that he quickly returned to the city to defend it.

Liu Bei's troops surrounded Puyang City, but Cao Mengde still refused to surrender. Because he had cut down too many trees previously, a lot of trees flooded into the city when the flood came.

There may already be someone sick in the city by now.

Liu Bei couldn't help but wonder, "Is Cao Cao still planning to follow Zang's example and not come out?"

If Cao Mengde was really determined not to leave the city and surrender, he should wait until the food was finished and then bring out his concubines to share the food.

Liu Bei admitted that he did not have so much time to waste. Xun Yu had already sent him several letters, saying that if he did not withdraw his troops, the army would run out of food.

Otherwise, the grain reserves intended to alleviate famine next year will have to be used.

Guo Jia also persuaded Liu Bei to withdraw his troops temporarily, as the current biggest enemy was not Liu Dai of Yanzhou, but Yuan Shao of Jizhou.

At this time, Gongsun Zan was retreating step by step, Hejian had been lost, and half of Bohai County fell into the hands of Yuan Benchu.

It was rumored that Yuan Shao formed an alliance with the Wuhuan leader Tadun, granted him the title of Chanyu and seal, and ordered him to send troops to attack Gongsun Zan.

Qingzhou and Jizhou will definitely not seem peaceful again. If there is drought in various places next year, Yuan Shao will definitely lead his army to invade Pingyuan County.

Liu Bei had already thought of Guo Jia's worries.

Once Yuan Shao frees up his hands to fight Qingzhou, he will not be able to stop in a short time.

They had sufficient food and grass, and could hold him back just like they did Gongsun Zan, until Liu Bei ran out of food and then engage in a decisive battle.

In order to eliminate worries, he first sent troops to Yanzhou to remove Cao Cao, the thorn.

The goal was almost achieved, so Liu Bei left behind some soldiers to garrison and withdrew the main army.

He stopped Yuan Shao from sending troops to Dongjun, and left Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, Guan Hai, and Han Mu to guard Dongjun, as well as the Hengqiang Camp, Shengshe Camp, and 4,000 auxiliary soldiers.

He also dispatched Qian Zhao to Jibei County and Zhao Yun to guard against enemies from Taishan County and Dongping County.

After arranging all matters, Liu Bei led his army back to Pingyuan County on the 23rd of that month.

There were two more people in the army, Cui Yan and Yu Jin. Yu Jin was found by Zhao Yun in Bao Xin's defeated army and was transferred to the Xiandeng Camp as a team leader. Cui Yan became a military clerk and handled military affairs with Guo Jia.

The expeditionary troops arrived in Pingyuan County one after another, and Liangdu Camp returned to the border between Le'an and Beihai to continue stationed.

The auxiliary soldiers were disbanded and sent back to the local military offices in batches to register. Their weapons and armor were put back into the armory, and then they returned to their hometowns.

Liu Bei placed the female musicians and dancers he obtained during the conquest of Dongjun in the state government office in charge of rituals, music and sacrifices.

Guo Jia advised him that it would be better to select beautiful maids to take them into the mansion. Isn't it too poor for such a huge governor's mansion to not even have musicians and dancers?

Liu Bei then smiled and said, "It's not time to enjoy yet. When the world is at peace, it won't hurt to play every day."

"It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. If I become a hedonist, you will regret it."

After returning to Pingyuan County, Xun Yu came up and gave Liu Bei an unexpected surprise.

"Xuan De has finally returned. Someone from the Xun family has been waiting for you for a long time. He has come all the way from Jingzhou and is now a guest in Qingzhou." Xun Yu bowed respectfully and reported. "Which Xun family talent is this?" Liu Bei asked in surprise.

Xun Wenruo would recommend talents to him every once in a while, and apart from Guo Jia, there were no less than five or six of them.

He writes letters every day to encourage old friends to come to Qingzhou. Now that he has established a firm foothold in Yanzhou, I'm afraid more people will come in the future.

If he continues like this, Cao Mengde will soon have all his connections dug out by him.

"Nai Yu's cousin Xun You, whose courtesy name is Gongda, was arrested and imprisoned for plotting to assassinate Dong Zhuo, but fortunately he escaped. I learned that he was staying in Jingzhou, so I wrote a letter to invite him to Qingzhou for a reunion," Xun Yu explained.

Liu Bei was instantly overjoyed, for this was the man who had made every possible effort, Xun Gongda. In history, half of Cao Cao's military achievements during his conquests were attributed to Xun Gongda.

"Please come in, or I will go and greet Gongda myself... Let's go..."

Xun Yu hurriedly grabbed Liu Bei's sleeve and said, "Xuan De, don't be anxious. Just listen to what I have to say."

"Although Gongda is a guest in Qingzhou, he is not in Pingyuan County at the moment. He is still traveling in Beihai. After he has inspected the farming affairs in Donglai, he will return to Pingyuan. According to his travel time, he will probably be back by the end of the year."

"Don't worry, Xuande. Xun Gongda won't run away."

Xun Yu was a little amused and helpless. Xuande was eager to find talented people. He had said before that as long as it was recommended by Xun Yu, the person must have rare talent and should be taken seriously.

It feels so good to be valued by others, which is why he would not hesitate to write letters to his good friend who had declined the offer and said that Qingzhou was too far away and he did not want to come.

In his letter, Xun Yu made a detailed analysis of the situation in the world and pointed out the various advantages of Lord Xuande.

He said bluntly: "When Emperor Guangwu was not yet in power in Hebei, you didn't come all the way here to join him. Why did you join people like Liu Xuan, Liu Penzi, and Gongsun Shu who were only close to home but had no real talent and could only become defeated generals?"

At that time, I entered the court as a surrendered official and competed with the younger generation for the position of two thousand stones. For decades, I was old and gray, but I was doing nothing. Life is like a flash of lightning, so why throw away a pearl?

Xun Yu’s friends were speechless after hearing what he said in the letter.

This has aroused the interest of many people, who want to come to Qingzhou to see Liu Xuande and see if he is as great as Xun Wenruo boasted.

Being able to use Gaozu and Guangwu as a comparison makes it seem as if other princes in the world are not worth mentioning.

Xun You was one of them. He had met the wise Emperor Liu Xie of Han, the famous scholar Wang Yun who dominated the government, and Liu Biao, one of the Eight Talents. He already had an idea of ​​what kind of people could accomplish great things.

In his letter, Xun Yu asked him, if the Xinmang Rebellion broke out, should the Xun family surrender to Emperor Gengshi in Chang'an or Emperor Guangwu in Hebei?

The former enabled the Red Eyebrow Army to capture Chang'an, while the latter was able to pacify the people, restore order and bring peace to the country.

Now that his uncle had said so much, what else could Xun You say? He could only bid farewell to his good friends in Jingzhou and head north again.

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, thinking that Xun You would not leave so easily after coming, otherwise why would he go to various places in Qingzhou to have a look, obviously wanting to see it for himself.

It would be better to find a way to keep him. It is neither difficult nor easy to get talented scholars to assist you at the moment.

As long as you let him see hope in you, he will stay.

Whether that hope can bring him fame, fortune, or anything else is fine.

Unlike the so-called scholars later, who would not release the eagle until they saw the rabbit, they must first see the tangible benefits, otherwise there is no point in talking about anything.

Liu Bei said with emotion: "If Gongda were with the army, Liu Bei would not be afraid of the princes of the world."

(End of this chapter)