Among the princes in the south, Yuan Shu was indeed the most powerful.
Cao Cao and Lu Bu fought fiercely, and their combined strength was only one-third of Yuan Shu's.
Needless to say, Liu Bei was the smallest in power, with less than 10,000 soldiers and horses. Compared with Yuan Shu, he was like an ant and an elephant.
But having more soldiers and horses does not mean that he is powerful. Yuan Shu does have an army of 170,000 people now. He can succeed with many soldiers, but he can also lose with many soldiers.
The weather in Huainan is relatively smooth this year, and Yuan Shu's granaries are abundant, enough to support his troops.
But in history, in the second year of Xingping, that is, next year, a severe drought occurred in Henan, which affected Huainan and caused a significant reduction in grain production.
It wouldn't matter if Yuan Shu had fewer soldiers, but the daily consumption of more than 100,000 troops and land was huge, which caused him to run out of food, so he went to the Lujiang prefect Lu Kang to ask for it.
Lu Kang had a good relationship with him this year, and he brought his son Lu Ji to visit. However, Yuan Shu fell out with him the next year, which shows his capriciousness.
After Lu Kang refused his unreasonable request, Yuan Shu sent people to break through the Lujiang River and kill the Lu family almost to death, with only half of them escaping.
Then in the Jian'an year, Huainan was constantly in the midst of natural disasters. Yuan Shu didn't care about the life or death of the people. He lived a luxurious life in order to become emperor, but the army and the people were in dire straits.
After proclaiming himself emperor, everyone rebelled against his relatives, and in the end he committed suicide. Despite being so powerful, he could not accomplish anything. Yuan Shu was indeed worthy of being called the Skeleton King.
It can only be said that this year was Yuan Shu's last glory, with sufficient food, many troops, and a large territory. But next year, he began to decline, and finally ended up vomiting blood and dying.
Therefore, Shen Chen knew very well that following Yuan Shu had no future.
Now he is banqueting guests in a high-rise building and looking at the scenery. But next year, the house will collapse in the blink of an eye. If you follow him, you will die.
After Yuan Shuna came out, Deng Hong once again greeted his tribesmen to set off south and rushed to Yuzhang without stopping.
It is close to Huainan from Xuzhou, but it is very long to take a detour from Huainan to Jingzhou.
More than a thousand Huangmenting villagers migrated with difficulty. They went south from Shouchun and then passed through Hefei and entered the territory of Lujiang River. Lujiang River has not been disturbed by Yuan Shu yet, and the people are relatively stable.
The migrating villagers on the road were dusty, and there were also village elders along the way. County magistrates from various places would come to ask about the situation, and Deng Hong also answered them one by one.
Lu Kang, the prefect of Lujiang, learned that Deng was passing by and sent someone to express his condolences and also gave him some grain, grass and salt as gifts.
Deng Hong reciprocated the favor and replied with a letter, secretly telling him to be careful about Yuan Shu.
When passing through Shu County, Shen Chen thought of Zhou Yu, but he was from a prominent family in Shu County, and they were just bereaved dogs who had left their hometown. They had no qualifications or reason to visit, so he gave up.
In this way, by late August, the team finally entered Yuzhang County. On August 26, they traveled more than 500 kilometers from Shouchun to Nanchang.
By this time, Zhuge Xuan had already served as the governor of Yuzhang for more than a month.
At this time, the governor's mansion in Nanchang City, Yuzhang.
I heard that a wealthy family who moved from Xuzhou took Yuan Shu's seals and tokens and asked to see him. Since Zhuge Xuan was recommended by Yuan Shu as the governor of Yuzhang, he had to repay this kindness, so he immediately let him in.
It was still Deng Hong and Shen Chen who came. As soon as they entered the middle hall, Shen Chen felt that Zhuge Xuan looked familiar.
He actually already knew that Zhuge Xuan was the governor of Yuzhang now, and Zhuge Liang must be in Yuzhang now, but he didn't expect where he seemed to have seen him.
After the two parties greeted each other, Zhuge Xuan found that Shen Chen had been staring at him and asked curiously: "Is there something wrong with my face?"
"There is nothing wrong with your face," Shen Chen replied.
Zhuge Xuan smiled and said: "If that's the case, why do you keep staring at me?"
Shen Chen said: "For some reason, Mr. Fu looks familiar. I don't know where I have seen him before."
"You are from Xuzhou."
Zhuge Xuan thought for a moment and said, "I went south from Xuzhou in April and arrived in Jiujiang in June. I may have seen him somewhere in between."
"Nicho Mountain!"
Shen Chen suddenly opened his eyes wide and said in surprise: "When Cao Jun came, our family took refuge in Niqiu Mountain. Later, we heard that Cao Jun might have retreated and the clan members wanted to go back to investigate. At that time, we saw Fujun's carriage and horses on the road."
At that time, it was just a casual encounter. Shen Chen did see a convoy of officials heading south at that time, but at the time he didn't know that it was the Zhuge family's relocation force, so he missed it completely.
Zhuge Xuan moved his family to the south much earlier than Huangmenting Village. He had already set out in April. In addition, the Huangmenting clan moved slowly and there were too many messy things. Therefore, although the two parties met in Xuzhou, But the Zhuge family arrived in Huainan nearly two months earlier than Huangmenting Xiang Lao.
In just two months, Zhuge Xuan was not only recommended by Yuan Shu to become the governor of Yuzhang, but also now has his clan settled in Yuzhang County. He obviously did not expect that there was another group behind him. Large army.
Hearing Shen Chen's words, Zhuge Xuan also immediately remembered that when passing by Niqiu Mountain, more than ten horses came out of the mountains. For this reason, there was a commotion among the people who were migrating, fearing that they were marauding bandits.
However, the two sides just passed each other, without saying hello or talking, so the impression was not very deep. Who would have thought that everyone had met before?
Thinking of this, Zhuge Xuan suddenly laughed: "It turns out that we had already met at that time. We are really destined."
"When I met Fujun's motorcade, I also met an extremely handsome brother."
Shen Chen thought of the twelve or thirteen-year-old boy he saw in the car, and instantly looked at Zhuge Xuan with expectation.
Sure enough, Zhu Ge My mansion."
"Thank you, Mr. Fu."
Shen Chen was overjoyed, he did not expect to be able to contact Zhuge Liang so quickly.
In fact, he wanted to hang out with Zhuge Liang not only because he was Zhuge Liang, but also because of the Zhuge family's status in Jingzhou.
He didn't remember the specific history very clearly, but he knew that Zhuge Liang had relatives everywhere in Jingzhou.
After traveling to the end of Han Dynasty, he finally understood the importance of the power of aristocratic families.
In the eyes of the top management, people at the bottom are no different than grassroots.
Only those who belong to a famous family are considered human beings.
These aristocratic families possess knowledge, control the vast majority of social means of production and productivity, and even have private soldiers who can participate in the current situation.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, those feudal lords who were divided everywhere were basically members of aristocratic families, except for a few.
Even Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan, who had the worst backgrounds, one had a clan title, the other father-in-law was the prefect of the county, and their teachers were the great scholar Lu Zhi, and the great scholar Liu Kuan.
It is very difficult for ordinary people to enter the upper class circles without the ticket of a noble family background.
For example, although Tao Qian wanted to invite him to become an official, it was only because Shen Chen was indeed talented. However, he did not see him forcefully forcing him to become an official like he did to Zhang Zhao and Zhao Yu.
Just because Shen Chen was not a child of a wealthy family, Tao Qian especially liked to use children of a wealthy family as officials in Xuzhou. Shen Chen was nothing, and he admired him, but he would not force him to follow him.
So Shen Chen had considered it.
After going to Jingzhou, how should I establish myself in Jingzhou?
There are three ways.
One is to marry into the Jingzhou family, just like the Zhuge family.
There are wealthy families in Jingzhou, including Cai, Kuai, Pang, Huang, Ma, Xiang, Yang, Xi, and Zhuge Liang, who have connections with almost every family.
One of the two sisters married Kuai Qi, a descendant of the Kuai family, and the other married Pang Shanmin, the son of Pang De.
His wife is Huang Chengyan's daughter, and Huang Chengyan's wife is the sister of Liu Biao's wife, Mrs. Cai. The two are brothers-in-law.
Zhuge Liang married Huang Yueying and wanted to call her uncle Liu Biao, Mrs. Cai's aunt, and uncle Cai Mao.
At the same time, he has a very good relationship with the Ma family, Xiang family, Yang family, Xi family and other descendants. Ma Liang even calls Zhuge Liang brothers, which shows their relationship.
The second is to become a disciple, just like Xu Shu.
Liu Biao encouraged education and established Confucian schools in Jingzhou, attracting a large number of Confucian scholars to set up schools in the south.
For example, the great scholar Song Zhong, the great scholar Qi Wukai (qi.wu.kai), as well as Huang Chengyan, Pang Degong, Sima Hui and other celebrities all started teaching in Jingzhou.
If you can be named by people like them and be appreciated by them for your studies, you can enter the circle of celebrities.
In the late Han Dynasty, the easiest way to make a person famous was to spread it among celebrities.
They themselves were some of the people who were praised by the world at that time. If they could get their praise, they would soon be valued by the superiors and become officials.
It’s just that this requires a certain amount of human sophistication, and the teacher-student relationship is the most important part. Otherwise, no matter how talented you are, it has nothing to do with others, so why should they help you become famous?
The third way is to hug the thighs.
There is no doubt that the Zhuge family is a big leg. Zhuge Liang has not yet gone to Jingzhou, his network of connections has not yet been spread, and his status is not much higher than that of Shen Chen.
If you build a good relationship with Zhuge Liang before the Zhuge family becomes prosperous, wait until Zhuge Xuan moves to Jingzhou, use his previous contacts in Jingzhou to marry Zhuge Liang's two sisters, and then wait for Zhuge Liang to marry Huang Yueying, the Zhuge family will become rich overnight. Fly up a branch and become a phoenix.
Shen Chen has a good relationship with Zhuge Liang, and one of them can ascend to heaven with a chicken or a dog. With the help of Zhuge Liang, he will soon be able to open up the situation in Jingzhou, and the two families of Deng and Shen will naturally be able to establish themselves in Jingzhou.
Therefore, it can be said that on the one hand, wanting to meet the Marquis Wu who has been passed down through the ages, on the other hand, Shen Chen also has his own little plans.
certainly.
In fact, there is still another way to gain a foothold in Jingzhou, and that is to fight it out yourself.
The two families of Deng and Shen moved to Nanyang, which was the ancestral home of the Deng family. Liu Biao's power only covered Nanyang, but he did not leave many troops there.
If Shen Chen can find a way to create some foundation in Nanyang, he can establish himself in Nanyang before Zhang Xiu comes.
After having soldiers and horses, Liu Biao would naturally look up to him.
But this method is too difficult. Without money, food, or weapons and equipment, ghosts will follow you to conquer the world.
Second, it is equally difficult to integrate into the core circle of Jingzhou.
Zhang Xiu took over the army after the death of his uncle Zhang Ji and was recruited by Liu Biao. He is nominally Liu Biao's subordinate, but has he integrated into Jingzhou's inner circle?
So this road is almost impossible to pass.
The simplest and most effective way is actually one, Shen Chen marries the daughter of a famous family in Jingzhou, then becomes a famous scholar as his teacher, and then hugs the Zhuge family tightly.
A three-pronged approach ensures that Shen Chen will be able to occupy a position in Jingzhou within five years.
but..
Looking at his small arms and legs, it was really difficult for him to marry a wife at the age of eight.
Even if I think about it in my mind, my body won’t allow it.
Shen Chen looked at his sixth uncle beside him...
He remembered that his sixth uncle went on a study tour in his early years and only returned to his hometown in recent years, so he never married.
Judging from his appearance, he looks pretty good. He is from the Xinye Deng family, maybe...