My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 574: Liu Bei: You can advise me as you please. If I don't listen to you, then everything will be fine.
Faced with the grand issue raised by Liu Bei: "How to stabilize people's hearts and how to make everyone get promoted and progress together."

Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and other core staff members naturally knew the importance of this matter.

Zhuge Liang in history was not a pedantic person. He certainly knew that justice must be upheld. But while upholding justice, it is equally important to ensure that like-minded colleagues and comrades have a good future.

Otherwise, if we just shout slogans without giving any benefits, who will do their best to support the Han Dynasty?
The power comparison between Cao and Liu is now showing signs of a complete reversal. In the view of knowledgeable people like Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong, the question of how to distribute the power of the world after the rebellion of Cao is really defeated is an issue that cannot be avoided.

Most people followed Liu Bei to support the Han Dynasty, hoping to leave their names in history and have their descendants become rich and powerful. If Liu Bei himself was too modest, the result would only be "the hearts of the people were lost", and the team would be difficult to lead.

However, although everyone knew this truth, there was still a gap between Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang in terms of specific styles of doing things and far-reaching considerations for long-term stability. Other aides who were greedy for wealth and fame were even more short-sighted.

So, at this moment, Zhuge Liang was still considering, while Pang Tong, who was more radical and less concerned about his reputation, rushed to speak first:

"My lord, in the current situation, it is imperative to reward the merits of the civil and military officials by granting them the titles of generals of the four directions, or even the positions of the nine ministers and the Shangshutaige. If the position of the lord is not respected enough, how can the generals dare to accept the titles of generals of the four directions with peace of mind?
In my opinion, as a member of the royal family, my lord, it is not wrong for you to petition the emperor and ask for the title of king. Although there are no princes in the world who have been crowned kings, Cao the thief only crowned himself as prime minister. But that is because Cao Cao is not of the Liu family, and if he wants to establish a fiefdom, it would violate the White Horse Alliance. "

Pang Tong still spoke so radically, and the idea he put forward at the very beginning directly scared Liu Bei.

Of course, Liu Bei had to put on a stern face and admonish him to be careful with his words: "Shi Yuan! How can you say such things carelessly? Since this is said in private, I will not blame you. You should take care of yourself! Although it is not against the laws of the Han Dynasty to make a king of the Liu family, it can only be made because of relatives and nobility, not because of merit! I don't want to be slandered by the world!"

Pang Tong wanted to argue, so he explained the key points of the law: "Although the bloodline of the lord is a little distant from that of the emperor, the lord is a clan leader, and a clan leader recognized by all the Liu surnamed prefects in the world, which is enough to make him a 'noble relative'. Combined with his merits in suppressing the rebellion, the people of the world can understand that he submitted a petition to request a title."

Pang Tong's additional explanation made this matter seem a little more feasible.

After all, Liu Bei's starting point in this life was higher, and he had the identities of "Zongbo" and "Leader of the Liu Family Fangbo Alliance", which were bargaining chips that he was not able to get in history.

These two levels of relationships are indeed helpful for the enthronement of the king and can also strengthen its legal support.

However, he would eventually have to bear some slander for being the first in the world, and Liu Bei still felt that the time was not right.

Considering that Pang Tong was not trying to persuade the emperor to ascend the throne randomly and was just racking his brains to come up with an ideal excuse, Liu Bei did not want to directly scold and stop him. He also hoped to reason with Pang Tong and think of another way, so he hinted to Zhuge Liang with his eyes and asked Zhuge Liang to come up with some ideas.

When it comes to reasoning, Liu Bei is not good at talking and cannot win over Pang Tong. Liu Bei just relies on his political intuition to realize that this cannot be done at the moment.

Zhuge Liang was still deliberating, but seeing his lord repeatedly hinting at him, he could only throw out some ideas and refine them as the conversation went on.

Zhuge Liang cleared his throat and suggested tactfully, "My lord, this is a serious matter. What we have said today can only be used as a reference. Before making the final decision, my lord should gather the wisdom of all parties and consult with my brother, Zijing, Yuanzhi and others."

Liu Bei nodded immediately: "Of course, this matter is not to be trifled with. But today I will listen to your advice first, and it will be fine to set the general tone. Please feel free to speak your mind."

Zhuge Liang then made a serious analysis and said, "I think what Shi Yuan said was indeed a bit hasty. Although the lord has just defeated Cao Cao, his sudden declaration of the throne may still cause those who want to save Han to worry. I am not talking about those patriots who have already joined the lord's army, but those who are still trapped in Cao's camp. We should also win over and win over those people, and we must not let them down."

When Liu Bei heard this, he was stunned at first, but he quickly reacted.

Indeed, declaring oneself king is actually only beneficial to people in the same camp, with no disadvantages. Those who have already followed Liu Bei will not develop a grudge against him because of his reckless behavior. They will only think that they can also make progress and just keep quiet and make a fortune.

This is human nature.

Therefore, the adverse effects of becoming a king mainly affect those people who "have not yet surrendered to Liu Bei, but are still loyal to the Han Dynasty in their hearts", making those people uneasy and hesitant to move forward.

This may sound difficult to understand at first, but it will become clear if we give an example.

Today, in this world, those who are under Liu Bei's command are definitely loyal to Liu Bei himself, there is no doubt about that.

Most of Liu Biao and Liu Zhang's subordinates were loyal to them. Of course, there were also a few wavering ones who were secretly partially loyal to Liu Bei or Cao Cao.

The area with the most complicated public support and loyalty in the world is actually the Xu Du court, or the area controlled by Cao Cao.

Because Cao Cao's subordinates can be divided into two groups in terms of their sincerity: one group is loyal to the Han Dynasty and the emperor, at least they can't get rid of the face of directly serving the emperor, so they go to Cao Cao. The other group no longer has the Han Dynasty in their hearts, and they don't care about the Han Dynasty at all, they just want to be loyal to Cao Cao and seek wealth.

Of course, in history, when Liu Bei later became the King of Hanzhong, the situation in the court of Xudu was not that complicated, because Cao Cao had already done a lot of things, such as the story of Xiao He, the title of Duke of Wei, the title of King of Wei, and the killing of the queen.

Every time Cao Cao made a move, someone in the court of Xudu or Yecheng would jump out to oppose him, either openly or secretly, and then Cao Cao would raise his butcher knife and kill all dissidents.

After nearly ten years of purges, when Cao Cao finally became the King of Wei, there was hardly a single staunch supporter of the Han Dynasty left in Xudu and Yecheng. Those loyal to the Han Dynasty were either killed or fled.

Therefore, in history, when Liu Bei was named King of Hanzhong, there were actually not many "loyal Han talents in Xudu/Yecheng" who could be offended by Liu Bei, as most of them had been killed by Cao Cao.

But the situation is different now. In this life, these potential "Xudu loyalists" are still alive. For example, Geng Ji, Wei Huang, Ji Ping and other anti-Cao patriots who later rebelled in history.

If Liu Bei ignored the court, acted completely on his own, accepted whatever was said, made anyone a king or an official he wanted, those "loyal Han faction in Xudu" might become frightened and worry that their status would be lost in the future.

Because Liu Bei started a completely new system and appointed officials on a large scale, Xu Du originally had front, back, left, right, generals of the four expeditions and four garrisons, and nine ministers and secretaries, and Liu Bei also appointed a set of front, back, left, right, generals of the four expeditions and four garrisons. So in the future, after he kills Cao Cao, wouldn't all those high-ranking officials in the Xu Du court who "have overlapping positions" have to make room for Liu Bei's people?
Zhuge Liang took this into consideration and felt that it was necessary to hold back for now. You can express your feelings, but you can't just "act out and accept everything" after you express your feelings. This way, you can temporarily unite more people.

As for the future, Liu Bei could only make further progress after Cao Cao committed further treasonous acts or the loyal Han faction in Xudu was further purged by Cao Cao.

After Liu Bei roughly understood Zhuge Liang's ideas, he was quite impressed and felt that he was really thoughtful.

However, Liu Bei still had no idea how to do it, so he continued to ask Zhuge Liang for advice.

Zhuge Liang then laid out all the strategies he had just thought of: "For example, I think the memorial that Shi Yuan just mentioned, which is to persuade the lord to be crowned a king, can be submitted, but the lord does not necessarily have to accept it.

We can just test the waters first, and after someone submits a petition, the lord can submit another petition to humbly decline the proposal, or compromise and accept some of the content that does not violate taboos. In this way, we can also observe the public opinion of various forces in the world. "

With just two sentences, Zhuge Liang hit the nail on the head.

The matter of persuading Liu Bei to become king is not a big problem in itself - if you are afraid of a bad reputation, you can just refuse it! Originally in history, Liu Bei's title of King of Hanzhong can actually be divided into three steps according to the nature of each stage.

The first stage, which was the mildest, was when Ma Chao and a dozen others presented a petition to Emperor Xian of Han to confer the title on Liu Bei. During this stage, Liu Bei would not be discussed by the world, because he could have refused.

The second stage was when Liu Bei himself submitted a memorial to Liu Xie, expressing his response to the memorial from Ma Chao and others. Only at this point did people begin to talk about Liu Bei.

The third stage was when Liu Bei directly built an altar and held the ceremony. This meant that Liu Bei thought, "Although I didn't receive your Majesty's reply, I think that was only because your Majesty was held hostage by Cao Cao. So your Majesty must be willing in his heart, so I did it according to your Majesty's wishes."

Although Zhuge Liang was not a time traveler and did not know history, he used common sense to infer that the first step was completely feasible, and the second step could be done selectively, rejecting some taboo parts and accepting those that were not so taboo.

As for the third step in history, it is definitely completely impossible now.

Liu Bei was originally in a dilemma, but Zhuge Liang gave him this way out, and he immediately felt enlightened.

Yes! I don’t have to accept advice! It’s okay to let others persuade me first!

"Kong Ming's idea is very good! Let people consider it carefully first..." Liu Bei couldn't help but comment to himself.

Pang Tong, who was standing by, was also a little anxious when he heard that his lord seemed to have been persuaded and that his plan to persuade Zhuge Liang to ascend the throne might be shelved. Fortunately, Pang Tong was also quite quick-witted. After checking it out in his mind, he actually found a loophole in Zhuge Liang's plan and quickly pointed it out:

"My lord! If you are afraid of slander from the world and hesitate to move forward, you may lose the opportunity! If you follow Kong Ming's words, it may seem safe, but in fact it has some obstacles.

My lord, think about it, if you really want people in the world to think that you have no intention of becoming king, then how can you simply refute or reject the advice?
The person who submitted the petition must be severely punished to show the Lord's intention. But if the person who submitted the petition is really severely punished, wouldn't it discourage those who hope that the Lord will make progress? "

When Liu Bei heard this, he felt a slight chill in his heart and frowned.

What Pang Tong said was indeed reasonable - if one refuses the offer to ascend the throne to become king, one must not just talk about it verbally, but must show real action.

For example, in history, before Cao Cao was conferred the title of Duke of Wei and King of Wei, there were people who persuaded him to ascend the throne. Cao Cao asked Xun Yu about the persuasion, and Xun Yu acted like a moral role model and said: My lord, not only should you refuse, you should also kill those villains who persuaded you to ascend the throne and put you in an unjust position, so that the people of the world can see clearly your ambitions.

This is of course nonsense. Cao Cao certainly would not have killed the Xilu branch's advisers, and he hated Xun Yu for this, which led to his suspected attack on Xun Yu later. But Cao Cao's refusal to punish the advisers obviously added to his bad reputation.

Liu Bei's reputation is much better than Cao Cao's, and he also cherishes his reputation very much, so he naturally has to be cautious in this regard.

So after being reminded by Pang Tong, Liu Bei immediately turned to Zhuge Liang and motioned for Zhuge Liang to explain.

If it were someone else, they might not be able to react to such a sudden rebuttal.

However, this question does not arise when the person being asked is Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang did not think twice and answered, "It is normal for Shi Yuan to have such concerns, but this is easy: we want to show the lord's humility, but we cannot severely punish those who rashly submit a petition. Then we can find an outsider who is not under the lord's command, or several outsiders, to submit this petition together.

Even if the lord sees this persuasion and feels very ashamed and wants to refuse it urgently, it is not appropriate to punish outsiders casually, right? It is not that the lord does not want to, but that he does not have the authority to do so. "

Zhuge Liang resolved this difficulty with just a few words.

If it was one of his own people who submitted the petition, Liu Bei would refuse it. In order to show the firmness and sincerity of his refusal, he would of course punish them severely.

But how can you punish an outsider who has submitted a report? You can only raise it high, put it down lightly, and give it a verbal criticism.

"Yes! Why didn't I think of that? Or maybe Kong Ming was quick to react..." Liu Bei felt ashamed in his heart, and then hurriedly asked humbly,

"Then who would be the most suitable person for this outsider to choose?"

Zhuge Liang then listed them one by one: "From the perspective of the reputation and status of the advisers, it is of course best to let Jing Shenggong and Liu Jiyu advise. However, they may not be willing to drive the fish into the deep and use their own reputation to build the prestige of the lord.

As a second choice, the lord can consider letting Yuan Qingzhou submit a petition. Although he has actually pledged his allegiance to the lord, he can still be considered a local lord in name. Even if his actions are reckless, the lord cannot punish him.

The second is to seek Ma Chao and Wu Yi to submit a petition. These two generals have just joined the army, so the lord can treat them vaguely and just treat them as guest generals. If they say something wrong, they can't be blamed. Moreover, these two have some magical uses:
It can be said that Ma Chao's father was coerced by Cao Cao and had no choice but to express his true feelings, so his persuasion to ascend the throne was not only his personal opinion, but also a righteous statement on behalf of his father.

Although Wu Yi had fought with our army for nearly half a year, he was nominally a general under Liu Jiyu, and was only seconded to listen to the orders of his lord during the war. Wu Yi's memorial could also be attributed to Liu Jiyu.

Although the rest of the people are also useful, they are not as flexible as these few candidates. If necessary, we can discuss it later."

Zhuge Liang listed and analyzed all the candidates he thought could be used. He also pointed out sharply that if these people were used to submit a memorial, the content of the memorial would not only be to persuade the emperor to make Liu Bei a king, but also to include other content.

At that time, the lord can adapt to the situation and submit a memorial to reject the proposal of enthroning the king, and selectively adopt the other contents. This is also a manifestation of seeking truth from facts and accepting advice with an open mind.

After Liu Bei sorted out Zhuge Liang's ideas, he finally felt enlightened, and the haze in his heart was swept away.

He immediately gave orders and wrote letters to Zhuge Jin, Guan Yu, Lu Su and Yuan Tan to contact and discuss relevant matters and determine the details.

Among them, a copy of the letter to Yuan Tan was made in advance and shown to Zhuge Jin on the way to ensure that there were no problems and no objections before submitting it.

Then, Liu Bei discussed in detail with Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong how to write the secret letter to Liu Qi and Liu Zhang.

Especially through the series of detailed operations of Wu Yi to pull Liu Zhang into the water, there are still many points to be improved. It is also possible to ask Liu Zhang for money, food, military supplies, and other benefits, and combine them to deal with a series of things, and weigh the trade-offs of all parties.

The negotiations with Liu Zhang will further involve Liu Bei's army's withdrawal plan this winter, as well as how much Liu Zhang should pay to see him off and how to exchange interests if Liu Bei withdraws part of his troops from Shu.

These things are extremely complicated and require careful planning by the Zhuge brothers and Pang Tong.

(End of this chapter)