My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 50: General of the Southern Expedition and Governor of Yangzhou Liu Bei

Zhuge Jin managed to avoid Cao Cao's immediate attempt to recruit him.

He also legitimately obtained the post of Yuzhang Taishou for his uncle and got himself the title of a miscellaneous captain, which could be used in the subsequent campaign against Zuo Rong.

The reason he was able to do all this was naturally because he had already thought about the attitude he should adopt during the audience today.

Zhuge Jin knew very well that his talent could not be concealed, and he could not hide it.

If you don't show your talent and your value, why should others give you benefits? He confronted Ying Niheng in public and gave instructions to Kong Rong in public just to show his talent. This idea was consistent.

After showing your talent, if you still want people to be willing to let you go for a year or two, then you can only work on your character.

For example, if he deliberately exposes himself as a person obsessed with fame and title, once Cao Cao catches this "weakness of human nature", he will feel safe.

Sometimes, moderate and targeted self-mockery always works.

After the Zhuge family successfully passed the test, all that remained was to fight for the interests of Liu Bei and Lu Bu - of course, this also included fighting for personal interests for Lu Bu's envoy Chen Deng.

Zhuge Jin, in the capacity of Liu Bei's envoy, took into account the interests of both himself and his family. Chen Deng followed suit and tried to make some money for himself. Isn't that too much?
Cao Cao was obviously very good at controlling people's hearts. After having a deep conversation with Chen Deng, he never mentioned the benefits for Lu Bu and focused on winning over Chen Deng personally.

He noticed that Liu Bei's memorial recommended Chen Deng as the prefect of Guangling, so he pretended to approve it without thinking.

Chen Deng naturally pretended to be grateful and paid great tribute to Cao Cao.

However, compared with the same period in history, Chen Deng's mentality in this life has changed greatly.

He knew that he could become the prefect of Guangling because of Liu Bei's initiative, and only Liu Bei could guarantee his smooth appointment. Everything was due to Liu Bei's favor, and Cao Cao was just doing him a favor.

Cao Cao was more or less aware of this, so in addition to the official position recommended by Liu Bei, he also gave Chen Deng an extra bonus - Cao Cao took the initiative to propose to give Chen Deng's father Chen Gui the title of Guannei Hou.

Guannei Hou is the lowest level of marquis, not even a marquis. He has no fiefdom, only a hereditary salary equivalent to the taxes of one hundred households.

From the late period of Emperor Ling to the eastward migration of Emperor Xian, the price had always been clearly marked as five million coins. One paid the money and received the title of nobility, and the price had not increased in twenty years.

Chen Deng quickly expressed his gratitude again.

After dealing with the personal enticement of Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng, Cao Cao spent some time deciding on the rewards for Liu Bei and Lu Bu.

But when things got to this point, Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng had less room to maneuver.

Because Cao Cao's attitude towards the foreign princes was mainly determined by actual interests. The eloquence of the envoy could only play a small role.

Of course, Zhuge Jin’s previous performance and the good words and gestures he subtly said to help Liu Bei.

In the end, it allowed Cao Cao to raise the price he originally intended to give to Liu Bei by an extra level or two, which was considered a significant contribution.

After listening to their statements, Cao Cao arranged a banquet to send Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng away. Then he closed the door and discussed the final decision with Xun Yu and Sima Lang.

……

When Cao Cao was the only one left in the room, he spoke even more directly.

He asked Xun Yu, "Liu Bei has eliminated Yuan Shu's forces in the southernmost part of Xuzhou and severely defeated Ji Ling and Liu Xun. He has no choice but to reward them generously to show the princes of the world the benefits of working for the court.

Since he was willing to continue the southern expedition and eliminate Yuan Shu's other forces, why not first appoint him as the governor of Yangzhou and lure him to help Liu Yao, who was in a disadvantageous position after a long battle? At most, in addition to the actual appointment, he could also send a private message to hint that as long as he partially eliminated Yuan Shu's forces in Yangzhou, he would replace Liu Yao.

In this way, Liu Yao and Liu Bei can check each other. Liu Bei cannot become a governor, and he cannot resent the court. He will only think that the court is reluctant to deprive Liu Yao of his power. What do you think, Wen Ruo?"

Xun Yu pondered for a moment and agreed wholeheartedly: "Sikong Mingjian, this method not only takes into account the reward of merit, but also shows the court's nostalgia. With Liu Yao and Liu Bei restraining each other, there is no need to worry about either side becoming too powerful."

Cao Cao stroked his beard proudly and said, "What about Lu Bu?"

Xun Yu: "As mentioned before, Lü Bu must not take the post of governor of Xuzhou, otherwise he will completely get what he wants and cannot be guided to act in accordance with the will of the court. Even the post of governor of Xuzhou cannot be given to him.

But while granting him the position, he also sent Chen Deng back with a private message, implying that he had not contributed enough in the fight against Yuan Shu this time, and that he would need to actually capture a piece of Yuan Shu's territory and annihilate some of Yuan Shu's direct followers next time before he could be granted the position. Moreover, it would make Lu Bu and Liu Bei suspicious of each other."

Cao Cao nodded and said, "This is quite inspiring. I have come up with a plan: only appoint Lü Bu as the governor of Xiapi, but appoint Chen Gong as the prime minister of Pei, Zhang Liao as the governor of Pengcheng, and Mi Zhu as the governor of Donghai.

Thus, in all the counties of Xuzhou, except Langya, three governors were Lü Bu's men and one was Liu Bei's men. If Lü Bu wanted to expand further, he would certainly covet Liu Bei. The temporary reconciliation between the two sides could break down again at any time.

Moreover, Chen Gong, Lü Bu's strategist, and Zhang Liao, his general, will nominally have the same status as Lü Bu in the future. Given Lü Bu's jealousy, he will surely be in turmoil both inside and outside the country!"

Xun Yu thought about it and agreed again, but he also raised some additional precautions: "Although this method is good, Lü Bu is so unruly that he will definitely vent his anger on the ineffective envoys. It is better to summon Chen Deng alone later to test his eloquence and see if he is confident in dealing with Lü Bu's anger. Chen Deng's life or death will not affect the court. But if he can survive after being hated by Lü Bu, he will definitely be more willing to be an insider for the court, which will be of great benefit to taking over Lü Bu's territory in the future."

Cao Cao thought it made sense, and finally summoned Chen Deng again. He told him the truth that he would not give Lu Bu a state-level position, and asked Chen Deng if he was sure he could keep Lu Bu stable.

Chen Deng naturally performed as usual, taking out the "theory of raising tigers and eagles" that he had used in history and rehearsed it with Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard this, and finally decided to carry out everything as planned.

……

The next day, the day of the grand court meeting that was held every five days finally arrived.

Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng, as envoys from Xuzhou, formally went to the court to meet the emperor and listen to the court's enthronement.

There is no need to elaborate on the red tape involved, but it did open Zhuge Jin's eyes, after all, he saw with his own eyes how Liu Xie attended court.

Liu Xie is now sixteen years old, and his every move seems quite heroic and determined.

As for other details of the appearance, Zhuge Jin couldn't observe more because of the distance and the fact that he didn't dare to look closely.

During the entire court meeting, Liu Xie had few opportunities to speak, but his voice was full of energy and his emotions were slightly excited.

It can be heard that he still seems to have illusions about ruling the country personally, and his relationship with Cao Cao has not yet become strained. In short, he is quite energetic.

After the process is completed, someone will be responsible for reading out the will:
The emperor promoted Liu Bei, the General of the Eastern Frontier, to the General of the Southern Frontier and appointed him as the Governor of Yangzhou. He ordered him to assist the Governor of Yangzhou, Liu Yao, and continue to fight against the Yuan rebels in the Yangzhou area.

Guan Yu was granted the title of Zhechou Xiaowei and Guannei Hou.

Chen Deng was the prefect of Guangling, and Mi Zhu was the prefect of Donghai.

The rest of Liu Bei's civil and military officials were not qualified to be directly conferred titles by the emperor and were not mentioned.

Of course, some members of the Zhuge family were also canonized, but they did not nominally appear as Liu Bei's subordinates.

The court actually appointed Zhuge Xuan as the governor of Yuzhang on the grounds of "recognizing Liu Biao's prelude". Outsiders could not see the relationship between this matter and Liu Bei at all.

Zhuge Jin was appointed Junior Craftsman of the Imperial Army and Colonel of Suppressing the Enemy, and ordered to assist Zhuge Xuan in suppressing the bandit Zuo Rong who was entrenched in Yuzhang.

This post of colonel was first established during the Jian'an period. Cao Cao had just created it a few months ago to solve the problem of him appointing too many officials and not having enough colonels.

The reason for conferring an official title on Zhuge Jin as stated in the decree did not mention at all his advice to Liu Bei and his campaign against Yuan Shu.

Cao Cao simply had someone emphasize that he "coordinated with the Chief Architect Kong Rong and saved the huge cost of building the palace in Xu Du", so he added a "Junior Architect of the Army" before the title of Captain of Pinglu.

In the Han system, the "Jiangzuojian" government office was responsible for royal construction and government projects, and originally had one supervisor and two deputy supervisors.

However, later on, because the head of the department and the yamen itself had the same name and were easy to confuse, the name of the top leader was changed from "Jiangzuojian" to "Jiangzuo Dajiang", and the deputy position was also changed from Shaojian to Shaojiang.

The advice on how to deal with Lu Bu's forces in the decree was exactly the same as the result of Cao Cao's private discussion with Xun Yu yesterday:

Lu Bu's general title remained unchanged, he was still only the General of Pingdong, but he was also granted the title of Prefect of Xia Pi.

Zhang Liao was the governor of Pengcheng, Chen Gong was the prime minister of Pei. The rest are not worthy of mention.

After listening to it, Zhuge Jin and Chen Deng bowed deeply, accepted the order on behalf of Liu Bei and Lu Bu, and then withdrew from the court.

When he reached the palace gate, Xun Yu called him again, and Zhuge Jin had to continue pretending to be respectful.

Xun Yu had nothing else to say, but just explained to him the reason why Liu Bei handled it:

"Sikong originally wanted to change Xuande to General Zhennan, Governor of Yangzhou, and promote his title to Marquis of Xiang. But after checking the classics, he found that the General Zhennan was now occupied by Liu Biao, so Xuande's military title was promoted by one level, and his title remained unchanged.

Originally, his military achievement of conquering Guangling was not enough for the title of Zheng Nan. When he returns, you must tell him to keep up the good work and live up to the emperor's grace, so that he can be worthy of the title."

Zhuge Jin quickly said that he would definitely convey the message.

Marquis Yichengting failed to be promoted to Marquis Yicheng Township, so he lost a little in terms of title. But the title of General Zhennan became General Zhengnan, which seemed to be more valuable than the difference in title, so he did gain something.

Thanks to Liu Biao for taking the lead in setting up the trap for General Zhennan.

(End of this chapter)