My younger brother Zhuge Liang
Chapter 131 Asking for an official position for Liu Bei: Left General and Governor of Yangzhou
Chapter 131 Asking for an official position for Liu Bei: Left General and Governor of Yangzhou
At the first day's welcoming banquet, Zhuge Liang responded fluently and controlled the entire rhythm very appropriately, making Yuan Shao feel very happy without obviously offending any of Yuan Shao's advisers.
Although no substantial results were achieved, Zhuge Liang was not in a hurry. It was impossible to reach a conclusion in a situation where there were too many people and too many opinions. The opportunity to have a private meeting later was the key.
This is completely different from the situation when Zhuge Liang was sent to the Eastern Wu in history - in history, Zhang Zhao and his ilk were all capitulationists, who had offended Sun Quan and disagreed with him. So whether or not they offended Zhang Zhao did not affect Sun Quan's attitude.
Now Yuan Shao's camp is still thriving, and most of Yuan Shao's advisers have not shown any tendency to be alienated or distrusted by Yuan Shao. In this case, if you offend any adviser, it will add obstacles to the subsequent tasks.
No matter how good a person is at speaking, he cannot just criticize for the sake of criticizing. Criticism must serve the purpose.
In the next two or three days, Zhuge Liang attended many small group activities of his advisers, and basically followed the rhythm of speaking human words to human beings and speaking ghost words to ghosts. However, he also kept the bottom line, and tried his best to make ghosts feel involved without breaking the moral bottom line of human words.
This way you won’t leave any future troubles, so that ghosts of different beliefs won’t accidentally confront each other in the future and find out that you are actually a “Yeah, right, right” Mr.
The wonderful application of it is beyond the knowledge of outsiders.
……
Time quickly came to October 22nd, which was the fourth day after Zhuge Liang arrived in Yecheng.
Even if Yuan Shao was not interested in Liu Bei's diplomatic demands, it was time to stop chatting and get down to business.
So Yuan Shao summoned Zhuge Liang again in the general's office early that morning. However, only Ju Shou and Guo Tu were present. In addition, his eldest son Yuan Tan was also invited to sit in, but Yuan Shao had told him not to speak in advance.
Ju Su was invited to participate because he was now the highest-ranking strategist in Yuan's army and even had the power to supervise the armies. Guo Tu was invited because he was good at pleasing Yuan Shao, who thought he was tight-lipped.
As for the three higher-ranking advisers under Yuan Shao's command, Xun Chen was chosen because the Xun family was betting on both Yuan and Cao. Yuan Shao was worried that Xun Chen would not be able to handle issues involving Cao Cao fairly, so he deliberately did not inform him.
The same situation also happened to Xu You, who also had a good relationship with Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, so he consciously avoided suspicion. In the end, Tian Feng was simply because of his foul mouth. Yuan Shao did not want to bring him with him in private occasions except for large meetings.
Because of the foreshadowing of the previous few days, Yuan Shao already knew what Liu Bei wanted him to do. But there were some things he still had to ask clearly, such as whether doing so would ensure that the Yuan family's interests in this matter would be maximized, and whether there were any options that would be more beneficial to the Yuan family.
So Yuan Shao was very straightforward and took the initiative to ask for advice:
"Brother Xuande asked me to put pressure on Meng De to promote the mediation between Cao and Lu, so that both of them can secretly accept my favor. I already know your intention. However, it is not appropriate for foreign vassals to interfere in the court's decision-making. I haven't asked about the affairs of Xudu for a long time, and I don't know if there are cruel officials who are acting recklessly. Some statements still need to be considered."
Yuan Shao's words were watertight. He didn't say he would not help, but just left a way out. If he didn't help, it was because he respected the court's decision. If he really helped, it was naturally because the benefits were great enough.
Upon hearing this, Zhuge Liang thought to himself: I guess I will definitely ask Ju Shou to be the villain and work out the details of the benefits.
However, since Ju Shou had not spoken yet, Zhuge Liang could only remain unchanged in the face of change and emphasize the main benefits of intervention to Yuan Shao:
"General, please understand that to mediate the case of General Yang, you can first make both the Cao and Lu families accept your favor. This is one of the options.
Once Cao Cao agreed to the conditions for mediation and severely punished the "cruel officials" in Xu Du, he would no longer be able to use Yuan Shu's case of treason as an excuse to implicate others, and the case would be completely over.
Perhaps Yang Taiwei himself could have survived this crisis without the help of the general, but the Yuan family's disciples and former officials were intertwined and if this matter was not resolved once and for all, there would be hidden dangers in the future, like dry grass on the prairie, which could not be burned by wildfires but would grow again in the spring breeze. This is the second reason."
Zhuge Liang paused for a moment here, his tone a little awkward, mainly because he could not help but "quote" what his elder brother had said to him during the rehearsal before he set out on this journey.
When in Guangling, Zhuge Jin talked about the case of Yang Biao. If it could not end with the Xudu court admitting its mistakes and reflecting on them, then in the future whenever Cao Cao wanted, he could still bring up old scores, or at least the cost of breaking the trust for committing old scores would be very low, and would not shake Cao Cao's credibility in the hearts of the people of the world.
At that time, Zhuge Liang felt that what his elder brother said, "Wildfires cannot burn it all, it will grow again with the spring breeze," was very vivid.
When Yuan Shao and the others heard this, their eyes lit up slightly, and they obviously felt that Zhuge Zhang's conversation was exquisite.
Zhuge Liang struck while the iron was hot and continued his analysis: "In addition, if Cao Cao agreed to accept mediation and severely punish cruel officials, it would definitely alienate Cao Cao's subordinates, especially those flatterers who are greedy for fame, wealth, official positions and benefits. Who would sincerely work for Cao Cao in the future?
They must be worried that if they help Cao Cao do something dirty, will Cao Cao abandon them without hesitation when he wants to clear himself in the future? If Cao Cao has improper intentions in the future and the general needs to correct the chaos, these wavering people will return to the general like water... This is the third reason. With these three benefits, why not act early? "
Yuan Shao nodded slightly. The three benefits Zhuge Liang mentioned were all true for him, and Yuan Shao could tell the good from the bad.
He just couldn't confirm whether his own interests were maximized, whether he could get more, and whether Liu Bei's benefits from this matter would be greater than his.
However, Yuan Shao certainly could not ask these questions in person, so Ju Shou next to him soon spoke up - of course, Ju Shou only spoke like this in private among a few people. If it was in public with all the advisers present, Ju Shou would not ask like this.
Ju Shou asked, "Mr. Kong Ming's words are not without reason, but they are not necessarily perfect. If you secretly put pressure on Cao and Lu to mediate, it is true that they will accept your request, but if you delay, Cao Cao will inevitably be further weakened.
Even if Lu Bu is unable to expand the victory in the end, as long as he maintains a stalemate, he can cause Cao Cao to suffer great losses in manpower and material resources. If it is confirmed in the future that Cao Cao really has improper intentions, it should be more convenient to rectify the chaos and send the righteous army from Hebei to the south.
"Mr. Liu, Lu, and Cao are probably hoping that the three families will attack Yuan Shu together, weaken or even eliminate Yuan Shu first, and then talk about the internal grievances of each family, right? In this way, the person who benefits the most is undoubtedly Liu Xuande!"
Seeing that there were few people around him, Zhuge Liang did not need to consider giving the other party face, so he responded and refuted: "Ju Gong's words are wrong. Ju Gong assumes that Cao Cao is not a problem at present, and Lu Bu's banner of clearing the court is unreasonable. Therefore, we should not mediate and let Cao Gong give in to Lu Bu's unwarranted slander.
On the other hand, it was assumed that if Cao Cao was discovered to have improper intentions in the future, the Hebei Volunteer Army would need to go south to purge the court.
In this case, if Cao Cao is fine now, and he is being attacked by Lu Bu without reason, shouldn't the general, as a Han minister, immediately send troops to defend the court? After all, Cao Cao is not an ordinary prince. He has the emperor in his hands, and the general has always had a good relationship with him. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility to contribute to the court. Sitting back and doing nothing will be detrimental to the general's reputation! Even if Cao Cao is to be weakened, it should be done when Cao Cao really shows unreasonable thoughts and acts of usurpation in the future. How can we fight among ourselves when the princes are still fighting against the usurper? The general's status is delicate. Once the general hesitates and is not firm enough in supporting the court when Yuan Shu usurps the throne, he is likely to be suspected and stigmatized.
Moreover, if Cao Cao fell at this time, would Lord Ju want the general to deal with Yuan Shu personally? After dealing with him, how would he face the world? "
Zhuge Liang asked several questions in a row, and actually he was trying to switch concepts at the beginning. For example, Ju Shou only said "don't mediate for the time being", but he didn't say "why don't mediate for the time being", nor did he judge who was right or wrong between Cao and Lu.
However, Zhuge Liang directly pointed out the right and wrong judgment that Ju Shou tried to blur, and forced Ju Shou to express his position: "If the court is not wrong, why don't you help the court. If the court is wrong, why don't you immediately persuade the court to correct it?"
Then we can further deduce that "if you don't mediate immediately, you think the court is not wrong." Then the next time you want to say that the court is wrong and Cao Cao has a problem, you will be confused in your thinking, which will not be conducive to formulating a consistent foreign policy approach. Soldiers and generals will not be easily inspired by the righteousness and will only feel that their lord's attitude changes every day.
In this case, it is better to say now that "Cao Cao has some problems, so we want to persuade him to change his ways." If you really fall out with Cao Cao next time, you can say "We asked Cao Cao to change last time, but he didn't change completely, or Cao Cao is treacherous and cunning, and he only pretended to change, but in fact he is still deceiving his superiors and subordinates."
In this way, Yuan Shao's attitude towards "traitors" will be consistent, and the efficiency of mobilization will be improved in the future.
Yuan Shao was also a man who cared about his reputation, so after hearing Zhuge Liang's analysis, he roughly understood what he meant - Ju Shou wanted to help him try and see if he could take all the benefits and get more, while Zhuge Liang advised him that "it is more important to be consistent and not jump left and right."
Yuan Shao thought about it carefully and felt that the little benefit that Ju Shou had fought for was not as great as the loss of people's hearts and minds. In that case, he decided to be heroic.
He is a great general, how can he be so petty?
The truth becomes clearer the more it is debated.
Moreover, Zhuge Liang’s last words had a profound impact on him.
If Cao Cao fell, would Yuan Shao have to deal with Yuan Shu himself? He wanted to destroy Yuan Shu's power, but he didn't want Yuan Shu to completely perish in his hands. He didn't want to make the final blow himself, as that would be too ugly.
Moreover, if I kill Yuan Shu with the attitude of killing the thief who usurped the Han Dynasty, what if he wants to do the same thing as Yuan Shu in the future? Wouldn't that be a slap in my face?
Therefore, it would undoubtedly be best to let Cao Cao devour Yuan Shu as soon as possible - and it would be best if he could eat Yuan Shu together with Lu Bu and Liu Bei, so as to prevent Cao Cao's family from increasing its power too quickly.
Yuan Shao needed Cao Cao as his white glove to avoid being branded as "brothers who cannot get along".
"Forget it. What Lord Ju said just now is indeed a bit too petty. As a great general, how can I be so mean and seek small gains? Cao Cao favored Man Chong, was greedy for merit and reckless, and framed loyal officials to seek fame. This was really wrong. Lu Bu had his reasons for attacking him.
However, the princes of the world should work together to eliminate the thieves who usurped the Han Dynasty first. Minor mistakes should be temporarily put aside to give Meng De a chance to reform himself. Meng De was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou by Lu Bu, Man Chong was punished, and Yang Taiwei was released, showing the world his sincerity in accepting advice and correcting his mistakes.
If Lu Bu still refuses to obey, it will be enough to prove that his purge of the emperor's entourage is just an excuse, and he actually wants to spy on the court. At that time, I will join forces with Xuande and Mengde to defeat Lu Bu!"
Ju Shou was nearby and added some details to the confrontation, and the deal was finally settled.
However, Guo Tu endured till the end, and only when he saw that his lord's attitude became clear did he sing praises, emphasizing that Yuan Shao "put greater justice first, and did not care about the gains and losses of petty profits."
Yuan Shao felt comfortable with his flattery and became even more determined.
……
Two days later, Yuan Shao asked Chen Lin to write a private letter and a public memorial to cover up the private letter. They were all written and sealed with seals.
Then Xin Ping, an official from the General's Mansion, was sent as an envoy to go south from Yecheng to Xudu to convey Yuan Shao's intention to Cao Cao. After going to Xudu, he would also go to Suiyang to meet Lu Bu.
In addition to mentioning the matter of mediation in his letter, Yuan Shao also specifically emphasized that he should not be involved in this matter because of his relationship with Yang Biao and Yuan Shu, and there were some things he needed to avoid.
But it was common knowledge that Liu Bei had already been working hard to mediate the dispute, so Liu Bei's contribution could be clearly stated. Yuan Shao also hinted to Cao Cao that he should attribute the credit for the successful mediation to Liu Bei, as he did not want this false reputation.
Zhuge Liang and his entourage naturally stayed in Yecheng. It was estimated that it took the envoy more than half a month to travel from Yecheng to Xudu and back.
During this time, Zhuge Liang could be summoned by Yuan Shao every day to chat, ask questions, and talk about interesting stories and recent developments in the south. He could also help Yuan Tan with other things.
After Xin Ping set out, he arrived safely in Xu Du at the end of October.
After receiving pressure from Yuan Shao, Cao Cao did not dare to be negligent. Even though he hated Lu Bu deeply, he was worried that Liu Bei would have the opportunity to become more powerful after gaining a righteous reputation. He had to follow Yuan Shao's request and approve the official positions given to Lu Bu and Liu Bei first.
Of course, to complete the process and confirm that the other party is willing to accept the decree, it would require an envoy to go back and forth, and more than half a month for the imperial edict to be implemented.
However, the official positions of Liu Bei and Lu Bu have already been determined.
Cao Cao drafted a plan in the name of the emperor: as long as peace was reached between him and Lu Bu, Lu Bu would declare war on Yuan Shu.
Then, Lu Bu was appointed as the Right General and the Governor of Xuzhou (the position of Right General had been occupied by Guo Si before. After Liu Xie returned to the east, he did not issue a special decree to abolish Guo Si's official position. However, Guo Si was killed by his subordinate Wu Xi in Mei County in the first half of this year, which is the second year of Jian'an. The position of Right General was just vacated)
At the same time, Liu Bei was appointed as the Left General and Governor of Yangzhou, but his title remained unchanged (before that, when Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, Liu Bei actively resisted Yuan Shu, and Cao Cao had already given him a higher title, from Marquis of Yichengting to Marquis of Yicheng Township, but he did not give him a promotion. This time he was promoted, so his title remained unchanged)
After Cao Cao made the offer, the truce between Cao and Lu and the situation in which the three princes in the Central Plains joined forces to fight against Yuan Shu finally entered the final implementation stage.
(End of this chapter)
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