My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 241: I'm not afraid of shamelessness, I'm afraid of comparison

When Liu Bei saw Gao Shun's miserable and humiliating state, he felt a little dazed.

To be honest, in the eyes of those princes who are at odds with Lu Bu, Gao Shun's threat and hatred value is actually higher than Zhang Liao's.

Because Gao Shun was even more unreserved and difficult to compromise when carrying out Lu Bu's orders, which allowed Lu Bu's capriciousness and injustice to be brought into full play.

The sharper the double-edged sword is, the greater the harm it will cause when it is in the hands of an evil person.

However, since Lu Bu was already dead, Liu Bei thought he could still control this double-edged sword. It was just that all this was too magical, and he still didn't know how to characterize Lu Bu, so he didn't dare to draw a hasty conclusion when they met.

In the end, Liu Bei just patted Gao Shun on the shoulder and gave him a fake support:
"The recent changes in Xudu are so drastic that it is hard to see clearly. But no matter what, General Gao is willing to come and help support the Han Dynasty in the future, so he will be a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.

It's been a long journey, and crossing Tongbai Mountain at this time must be very difficult. Let's go into the city to rest and heal our wounds first, and then we can make plans for the rest."

Liu Bei also noticed that many of Gao Shun's men were in tattered clothes and injured.

With Liu Bei's experience and vision in the battlefield, he could of course see that most of these were not battle injuries, but more like falls, frostbite and the like.

Gao Shun didn't know what to say for a moment, so he had to let Liu Bei settle his followers and the families they were escorting first, and then he reported:

"I know that the General of Chariots and Cavalry may not believe it, but this time the Xudu Incident... there is indeed a hidden story! The General of Guards and the Right General did not rebel against Cao on their own initiative, they were probably acting on orders!"

Once these words were spoken, they finally caused an uproar like a stone that stirred up a thousand waves, causing an uproar among Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Gan Ning and others.

Liu Bei raised his eyebrows, and subconsciously a hint of shock flashed across his face, followed by a hint of relief, as well as other complex emotions.

How should I put it? It's much more complicated than when Jim Hack heard that the former prime minister had died.

But Liu Bei's ability to manage facial expressions far exceeds Jim Hack's, so the degree of surprise on his facial features is much less and not so exaggerated.

"General Wei and General You were actually ordered to kill Cao... I mean, to fight the enemy under the imperial order? Is there any evidence? Did General Gao also conspire with them in advance?" Liu Bei asked, gasping for breath.

Gao Shun had thought it through during these days on the road, and he quickly sorted out everything he knew: "Although Shun was not able to participate in the conspiracy, the General Wei and the Right General entrusted their families to them, which shows that they have been planning for a long time.

Later, after hearing about the incident in Xudu and the pursuit of Cao's army, I asked General Wei's young children, and they said that before General Wei entrusted them to move, General Wei had personally told them that "Your Majesty has entrusted me with important matters to do," but he did not tell them what the specific matter was. This happened the night before we left Beijing.

Later, Cao sent people to pursue us. In Tongbai Mountain, our army also wiped out a group of soldiers from Xudu who were on a mission, captured several of them alive, and tortured them to find out about the recent situation in Xudu. We learned that all of General Wei’s relatives in Xudu had been killed, including Concubine Dong in the palace.

If Cao the thief had not committed the crime of deceiving the emperor, how could he dare to enter the palace and kill your majesty's concubines? Even if Dong Cheng was guilty, the concubines had already entered the palace, so how could they be implicated? "

After all, Gao Shun was much more informed than Liu Bei. Although he was also on the run, by piecing together various clues over the past ten days, he was able to piece together roughly 70% to 80% of the truth.

After a while, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others accepted a premise: Dong Cheng and Lu Bu both claimed that they were ordered to fight the enemy. Although the edict could no longer be seen, Cao Cao certainly did not admit it, but he still killed Concubine Dong.

Based on this point alone, it basically makes sense to say that Your Majesty wants to kill the thieves who deceive the emperor.

Liu Bei also thought that Cao Cao might be attacked by others and that he might be accused of deceiving the emperor, but he never expected that this time it would be so thorough and even the emperor would intervene.

This drastic change inevitably caused Liu Bei to have a brief wavering in his own positioning and feel a little confused - mainly because he suddenly realized that he didn't know how to face and characterize his life experience in the past few years of obeying Cao Cao's orders.

Liu Bei could not help but whisper to Zhuge Liang beside him: "Alas, Cao thief has finally come to this point! Kong Ming, now that I think about it, in the past four years, I have obeyed every edict issued by Cao Cao in the name of the emperor. Will people in the future say that I have also helped the tyrant to commit atrocities?"

In his heart, Liu Bei knew that he had done nothing wrong and had a clear conscience.

But everything changed too suddenly. The man who was nominally the Prime Minister of Han the day before suddenly became a complete traitor to Han. Everyone below needed to re-position themselves psychologically, and a temporary confusion and shock was inevitable.

Fortunately, Zhuge Liang reacted very quickly and immediately helped Liu Bei to resolve his inner demons: "My lord, why worry so much! Treacherous people are not born treacherous. Even a traitor like Dong Zhuo, when he suppressed the Qiang Rebellion in Xiliang in his early years, could barely be considered a famous general and a capable henchman.

When Cao Cao first met the emperor, he only took over the entire Yanzhou and two counties of Yuzhou. Out of caution, he did not dare to deceive the emperor. How could the governor of another place know about it?
Now, Cao Cao expelled Yang Feng, who was escorting the emperor back to the east, in the first year of Jian'an.

In the second year of Jian'an, the Grand Commandant Yang Biao was implicated because of Yuan Shu;
In the third year of Jian'an, Zhao Yan, who had been working for the emperor to rule the country, was killed;

After destroying Yuan Shu in the fourth year of Jian'an, he continued to expand his attacks, destroying Lu Bu externally and oppressing other loyal military officials internally, which finally made Your Majesty unable to bear it. Therefore, the edict issued by Cao Cao in the name of the emperor in his early years should be the emperor's original intention. What's wrong with the emperor we worship? The differences between Cao Cao and Your Majesty can be determined to have gradually become irreconcilable after Zhao Yan requested to allow Your Majesty to rule the country and was killed by Cao Cao.

So far, the lord has only raised troops twice: to attack Yuan Shu and to destroy Huang Zu. Yuan Shu is indeed a traitor, and the whole world should punish him together. Huang Zu killed the angel of the court, so he should also be punished, without any doubt.

In addition, before my lord took office as the governor of Yangzhou, my brother and uncle had also received orders from Your Majesty to kill the Danyang bandit Zuo Rong and suppress Zu Lang. These were not fights between the court officials, but battles against rebels. My brother should have a clear conscience.

As for the lord's taking over of Xiapi County last autumn, it was because Yuanlong was forced to surrender, and he had no choice but to take him in to avoid revenge from Lü Bu and Cao Cao. Cao Cao once issued an edict in the name of the emperor, asking the lord not to intervene in the war to destroy Lü Bu, and the lord endured it and did not fight Lü Bu.

Therefore, the imperial edicts that our army obeyed were either to suppress the traitors who claimed to be emperors, or to attack other rebels who established their own regimes and did not respect the Han Dynasty, or to kill the thieves who killed the imperial emissaries. From the beginning to the end, there was no imperial edict to fight a civil war among the Han officials, so why should the lord be worried? "

After some analysis, Zhuge Liang sorted out all the things Liu Bei had done in the past nearly four years in accordance with the edict from Xu Du, pointing out that each of them was "for the overall interests of the Han Dynasty, and there was no fighting and division of spoils among Han officials."

After listening to this, Liu Bei finally understood: My resume for the past four years was so clean! If it weren't for Kong Ming's help, I wouldn't have realized it!
It is true that a gentleman does what he should do and does not what he should not do.

The other generals who were accompanying them were not surprised by these words, such as Gan Ning and others.

Some of them don't care about justice at all. They have long felt that in such troubled times, the bigger the fist, the more right it is. The lord is really too cautious and values his reputation too much.

Some people have the idea of righteousness in their minds, but are too lazy to think about it. They have never sorted it out in their daily lives. At this moment, they are confused and simply stop thinking about it.

Gao Shun, who had just come over, was deeply touched.

Gao Shun had no previous experience with Liu Bei, and this time he surrendered because he was desperate. He had never thought much about Liu Bei's moral superiority. After hearing Zhuge Liang's analysis, Gao Shun felt a little ashamed.

Because he subconsciously compared himself with his former master Lu Bu, and the more he thought about it, the more embarrassed he felt.

In the past four years, when Lu Bu beat people, did he ever consider whether it was righteous or not? Did he ever consider the excuse or reputation for starting a war? He just beat anyone who could benefit from it.

Not to mention anything else, just the fact that Liu Bei took in Lu Bu and Lu Bu immediately stole his benefactor's home was against the will of heaven.

Gao Shun had not thought about these questions before, or maybe he deliberately did not think about them. He could always remind himself psychologically:
Although Marquis Wen was indeed shameless, in such a time of great contention, all the princes in the world were shameless.

Yuan Shao usurped the throne and forced Han Fu to death, Yuan Shu forced many Han officials and governors who were officially appointed by the court to death, Gongsun Zan murdered his superior Liu Yu, Cao Cao casually killed Jiujiang governor Bian Rang, which led to the rebellion of the entire Yanzhou to welcome Lu Bu...

Isn't this what everyone in the world does?

Gao Shun had never sorted out what Liu Bei had done, so he just got away with it.

Until this moment, Zhuge Liang had reviewed everything in detail in front of him, so Gao Shun could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb. He was forced to clear his memory and became speechless.

Gao Shun finally couldn't help but bow and said, "My Lord, there is no need to be modest. In the past four years, who among the princes of the world has not obeyed the imperial edict? Those who completely disobeyed the imperial edict are all traitors.

Among the princes, only the Lord obeyed the imperial edict to suppress the rebellion and the rebels, and did not participate in the struggle for personal interests among the Han officials. Even outsiders could see it clearly! This time, the news that the families of General Wei and General You were ordered to suppress the rebels and came to the Lord must be God's will.

The heavens must have seen through this, knowing that among all the princes in the outer regions of the world, only the lord is dedicated to serving the public and supporting the world. Please, lord, uphold justice for the world!"

The other generals also reacted at this time. Gan Ning was the first to take the lead and prayed: "My lord, please uphold justice for the world! Drive out the Han thieves!"

Liu Bei was still hesitating on the verge of self-blame, but when he heard his subordinates express their opinions in unison, he felt uncomfortable and said quickly, "Of course I will obey the imperial edict to fight against the enemy, but your majesty's edict to fight against the enemy is not for me.

In my opinion, it is better to inform General Yuan in Hebei first, gather the forces of loyal ministers in various states, and then make long-term plans. After all, our army is not as strong as the general. The general controls Qing, Ji, You and Bing, and has no worries. It reaches the desert in the north and the Yellow River in the south, so we can go all out to fight against the rebellion.

"We are located between Jingyang, surrounded by enemies, and there is no strategic location to defend the border with Cao. Our military strength is weaker than Cao's. I don't know how many princes in the world are willing to believe your Majesty's edict to attack the enemy. If some flatterers, for their own benefit, deliberately pretend not to believe your Majesty's secret edict and collude with Cao to attack Jingyang, our army must be on guard!"

Liu Bei's words set the tone for the subsequent fight against the enemy, and were mainly used to appease Gao Shun.

Gao Shun certainly hoped that Liu Bei would attack Xu Du directly to avenge Dong Cheng and Lu Bu, but Liu Bei must first clip the wings of other people who respected Cao Cao and did not obey the imperial edict.

(End of this chapter)