Chapter 233 The Storm in Jingzhou on the Eve of the Civil War 1
Chapter 233 On the eve of civil strife, storm in Jingzhou (1)
While Cai Mao and Kuai Yue were discussing important matters, in Xiling County, Jiangxia County, in Liu Qi's room, Huang Zu and Shen Chen were sitting opposite each other.
The aroma of medicine filled the room. On the bed, Liu Qi's face turned pale and his complexion was not very good. He was still recuperating.
This serious illness also seriously damaged Liu Qi's foundation, making him very weak now.
But in order to discuss important matters with Huang Zu Chenchen, he still held up his body and waited for Huang Zu Chenchen to come into the room and sit on the table next to the bed before he said: "Yuanyang Gong, Xiaoqing, how are you? "
Shen Chen said in a deep voice: "The people I sent have returned, and now the whole city of Xiangyang has been sealed off. I believe that Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others did not announce the funeral secretly in order to deceive the eldest prince into returning to Xiangyang, and then secretly assassinate and support him. The second prince ascends the throne. Maybe by this time, the second prince has already ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor."
Huang Zu gritted his teeth and slapped the table and said: "Damn it, your majesty has never been able to be ruthless and cut off Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others. The second prince is cowardly by nature and is controlled by Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others. Now that he has ascended the throne as emperor, isn't Jingzhou controlled by them? Call the shots?"
"I'm afraid it's not that your Majesty doesn't want to cut them off, but that it's just that you can't cut them off anymore."
Shen Chen sighed: "At the end of last year, His Majesty was still able to handle government affairs. He personally wrote an edict asking the prince to recruit me to lead troops and escort the prince to Xiangyang. However, he died in less than a month. There are many doubts in it. I'm afraid. There is an inside story."
"Did they assassinate His Majesty?"
Huang Zu opened his eyes wide.
Shen Chen said: "The most urgent thing now is not finding the truth, but how the eldest prince should deal with it."
The two looked at Liu Qi, who looked pale and said, "What do you mean by this?"
"Should we fight with the second prince or let it go?"
"How about fighting, or how about giving up?"
"If we want to fight, we will naturally find ways to strengthen ourselves and have a good fight with Cai Mao and Kuai Yue."
Shen Chen said: "If we give up here, we will cease all activities and surrender Jingzhou to the second prince. However, if we do that, His Majesty's inheritance will also be obtained by the Cai Kuai family, and the prince may be harmed by it."
"I"
Liu Qi looked around the two of them and gritted his teeth and said, "I don't want to be assassinated by them, nor do I want my father's inheritance to be taken away by them. Is there anything Xiaoqing can do?"
Shen Chen said: "Now they are standing still and blocking the city. They want to trick the eldest prince into returning to Xiangyang and get rid of him. Now that the prince has escaped, there is no point in blocking the city. I predict that they will publicize the second prince's enthronement in the next two days. , and ordered the generals from all over Jingzhou to submit, and an edict will come soon."
"snort."
Huang Zu coldly snorted and said, "This is a false edict, and I will not obey it."
Shen Chen said: "Young Master Yuanyang will not obey, but what about the other people in Jingzhou? By then, all Jingzhou and Jiaozhou, except Jiangxia, will be acquired by Cai Mao and Kuai Yue. Duke Yuanyang and the eldest prince may not be able to support themselves alone."
"Xiaoqing."
Liu Qi quickly asked: "What can you do?"
Shen Chen thought deeply: "Everyone has a reputation for being a teacher. If my prediction is correct, Cai Mao and Kuai Yue and others will definitely find excuses to get rid of the eldest prince. I think the prince fled back to Jiangxia that day. It would be best if he did not go to Xiangyang." Good excuse."
"What should we do?"
Liu Qi asked anxiously.
"We should also find reasons to fight back."
Shen Chen said with a smile: "The prince should immediately send someone to contact Liu Pan and Wenpin. Since Cai Mao and Kuai Yue are secretly not mourning, it is clear that His Majesty has passed away from illness a few days ago, and the prince is summoned back to Xiangyang in the name of His Majesty's serious illness. He is going to do it." On the grounds of Zhao Gaolisi's incident, we sent troops to eliminate these two thieves."
"good."
Liu Qi nodded repeatedly, he must stand and seize the righteousness.
Shen Chen added: "This matter cannot be delayed. It is best for the eldest prince to go to Jingnan in person to lobby Liu Pan."
"That"
Liu Qi gritted his teeth and said, "Then I will leave tomorrow."
Huang Zu worriedly said: "The prince is seriously ill and has not recovered yet, so he is tired from traveling around like this."
"If the prince goes there in person, he will be sure of it, but the fact that his condition has not recovered is indeed a big problem."
Shen Chen pondered for a moment and said, "Why don't you write a letter, take out the seal and give it to Zhuge Liang, and let Kong Ming go and lobby Liu Pan."
Now Liu Bei has not actually entered Sichuan, but is stationed in Zigui, which is the Three Gorges area, with only 30,000 troops around him.
At this time, he had actually quietly grown to more than 50,000 people in Jingnan. In addition to the 20,000 elite soldiers he brought from Wancheng, there were also 20,000 Xichuan soldiers who surrendered under Wu Yi.
Finally, there are the new soldiers he recruited in Jingnan and the troops brought by many Jingnan aristocratic families when they defected. Added up, the total is more than 53,000 people.
Liu Bei brought 30,000 people with him when he entered Sichuan, leaving 20,000 people still in southern Hunan, under the control of Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang. If Liu Qi cannot go in person because of illness, write a letter and a token to Zhuge Liang and ask him to persuade Liu Pan.
Liu Qi and Zhuge Liang were also friends for a long time. After all, they were relatives, so he nodded and said, "Okay, let's do what Xiaoqing said."
At that moment, Liu Qi wrote a letter, then took out the seal from his side and asked his confidants to immediately go to Jingnan to find Zhuge Liang.
And at the beginning of February, Jingzhou, which had been dead for nearly a decade, seemed to come alive overnight. A large number of messengers were sent out from Xiangyang and Xiling every day.
Liu Qi had no descendants. Even if he inherited Liu Biao's position, it would be passed on to Liu Cong's descendants in the future. So why did he have to fight with Liu Cong?
The reason is simple.
He did not want his father's inheritance to be taken over by Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others.
Liu Cong has a cowardly character. Basically, Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others will do whatever they say. Once he does not come forward to fight for it, the entire power in Jingzhou will belong to Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, and the country Liu Biao has built will be completely controlled by others.
This is something Liu Qi cannot tolerate.
Another point is that it is the key to life and death.
Liu Qi is a thorn in the side of Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others, and must be eliminated. In order to survive, Liu Qi will naturally go all out.
As Cai Mao and Kuai Yue controlled power, they certainly did not want Liu Qi to inherit the throne and settle old and new grudges with them.
Therefore, both sides will begin to win over the middle forces, hoping to control the military power of Jingzhou.
Liu Qi, the remaining horse, is not easy to fight for, but Liu Pan and Wenpin can fight for it. Otherwise, Wenpin has always been sensible, and Liu Pan has a very close friendship with Liu Qi.
Ever since.
Both groups started taking action.
And two days later, a false edict was sent from Xiangyang.
The edict declared that Liu Biao passed the throne to Liu Cong because Liu Qi was unfilial and did not visit him before his death, and ordered Liu Qi to die in the name of unfilial piety.
Huang Zu was furious, killed the envoys, and sent letters to the generals and prefects in Jingnan, Nanyang and other places, saying that His Majesty had passed away many days ago. Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others did not mourn in secret, but recalled him in the name of the late emperor. Liu Qi wanted to assassinate the eldest prince because His Majesty wanted to pass on the throne to the eldest prince.
Both sides quickly began to make preparations to compete for honor and gain support from all parties before the war began.
Liu Cong's charge against Liu Qi was that Liu Qi deliberately delayed Liu Biao's death and did not return to Xiangyang, which was unfilial. Liu Biao was ultimately disappointed with him, so he passed the throne to Liu Cong and issued an edict to Liu Qi to commit suicide.
The king wants to be independent.
Liu Qi's counterattack was that Liu Biao had been assassinated by Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others. Liu Biao had died several days before he was ordered to go to Xiangyang. Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others did not announce the death secretly and wanted to assassinate Liu Qi.
Suddenly, the whole Jingzhou was in turmoil. Liu Biao's body was still covered with a mat in the Xiangyang Palace. Even before the coffin was put in, the two sons were already fighting fiercely, fighting for power.
But the cause of this incident was that Cai Mao and Kuai Yue wanted to murder Liu Qi, and Liu Qi had no choice but to resist. Cai Mao and Kuai Yue were also worried that they would surely die after Liu Qi came to power, so they acted first to gain advantage.
No one is right or wrong in this kind of thing. Power and position are competing for each other. It's just a matter of life and death.
Soon February 6th, Jingzhou, Xiangnan.
Zhuge Liang was handling official business at the county government office in the county seat.
In the name of General Zuo, Liu Bei opened a palace in southern Hunan. Liu Biao also acquiesced and even transferred the original county magistrates of southern Hunan and Xiangxiang and gave him two cities.
Therefore, Xiangxiang County in Xiangnan County, which later became Xiangtan City and Xiangxiang City in Hunan Province, is currently owned by Liu Bei.
"Report!"
At this moment, a guard came in from outside the door and said: "Military advisor, the eldest prince has sent a messenger."
"oh?"
Zhuge Liang raised his head from the desk and said: "Please come quickly."
"only."
The guard went out immediately.
After a while, the messenger hurried in, knelt down on one knee and said: "Mr. Kong Ming."
"Get up quickly, what's wrong with the eldest prince?"
Zhuge Liang asked.
The messenger presented the letter and token in his hand to the table and said: "Sir, your Majesty passed away. Cai Mao and Kuai Yue kept the mourning secret and wanted to harm the eldest prince. Now they have supported the second prince to ascend the throne. The eldest prince wrote the letter and took the token. I want to
Please sir, please persuade General Liu Pan."
"I see."
Zhuge Liang nodded and said, "Leave this matter to me."
"Thank you sir."
The messenger was a close confidant of Liu Qi, and he bowed happily.
After letting the messenger go to rest first, Zhuge Liang fell into thinking.
In fact, he also received the news of Liu Biao's death in the past two days.
Although Cai Mao and Kuai Yue sealed the city, the major families in Jingzhou were not vegetarians.
What's more, this is something that needs to be covered up. A smart person can guess with his or her toes that something big has happened in Xiangyang.
And the only thing that could lead to such a big thing as closing the city was Liu Biao's death.
So this kind of news cannot be hidden at all. There are many Jingzhou families behind Zhuge Liang, so it is naturally easy for him to get any news he wants.
The key at this moment is what happened after Liu Biao's death.
Liu Qi was kind, filial, and very knowledgeable. He even persuaded Liu Biao not to proclaim himself emperor, lest he be hated by the world.
It can be seen from this that he actually did not attach much importance to the emperor's position.
The reason why he was willing to rise up and resist was that he was worried that Liu Cong would be controlled by Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others, that his father's inheritance would be taken away, and that he would be harmed by the other party.
Therefore, Liu Qi's purpose was probably to get rid of Cai Mao and Kuai Yue and preserve the foundation left by Liu Biao.
certainly.
It is also a reason for Liu Biao's descendants to continue to prosper.
After figuring this out, Zhuge Liang suddenly became enlightened.
The civil strife in Jingzhou is also beneficial to them.
So Zhuge Liang immediately went to the military camp to find Guan Yu and explained the situation.
That night, Guan Yu sent Zhou Cang to lead 500 people to protect Zhuge Liang and go to Liling to lobby Liu Pan's military camp.