Chapter 359: Dialogue between Fish and Water: Anomaly in Nanzhong
When Zhuge Liang expressed all his concerns, Liu Bei did not show worry on his face.
He looked at Zhuge Liang with gentle eyes and said with relief in his words: "Meeting you back then was the luckiest thing that happened to me in my life."
The ancients used their own names as a form of modesty.
If others call themselves this in front of Zhuge Liang, it is naturally normal.
It's just that the person standing in front of Zhuge Liang now is the Emperor of Han.
As a monarch, Liu Bei claimed his name in front of his ministers, which shows that what he said now is the truest thought in his heart.
Liu Bei has always regarded Zhuge Liang as his most important arm in achieving great things, rather than as a subordinate whose life and death is under his control.
Zhuge Liang's eyes narrowed slightly after hearing Liu Bei's self-promotion.
He has always been loyal and loyal, and now he should have reminded Liu Beili that he cannot be abolished.
But when he saw the sincere look in Liu Bei's eyes, Zhuge Liang couldn't say those words.
After more than ten years of staying together through thick and thin, and more than ten years of close intimacy, the relationship between Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei has already transcended the boundaries of ordinary monarchs and ministers.
After saying this, Liu Bei handed the document in his hand to Xiao Huangmen aside, and then continued to say to Zhuge Liang:
"When I became a disciple of Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu once taught me what the Six Honest Ministers are."
"My wife, the bud has not yet moved, the signs have not been seen, but the chance of survival and failure, the key to gain and loss, have been clearly seen, and the prohibition has not yet happened, so that the country is transcendent and almost invincible. Such a person is also a holy minister."
"I was still young at the time, and I always thought that the kind of holy ministers mentioned by Lu Gong only existed in history books.
But when I met you, I knew who this holy minister was."
"Whether it is your concern about the situation in Liangzhou today or your judgment on the situation in the world before, it is enough to prove that you are my holy minister.
I feel happy to have you as my subject.
But Kong Ming, you have some shortcomings that always make me worried."
Hearing Liu Bei's change of subject and saying that he had some shortcomings that made him feel worried, Zhuge Liang immediately straightened his face, bowed to Liu Bei and said:
"I hope your Majesty will correct me."
Everyone knows that Zhuge Liang played the most important role in making Liu Bei what he is today.
But what the world doesn't know is that Liu Bei often taught Zhuge Liang in the past.
Just as Zhuge Liang called Liu Bei his lord, Liu Bei was his lord in Zhuge Liang's heart, and he was also the wise man who often taught him.
Seeing Zhuge Liang bending down to ask for advice humbly like before, Liu Bei's face showed a smile.
"The reason for using you as prime minister, including my intention to bypass the Shangshu Ling, so that you have no constraints on political affairs, is because I value your talents that are comparable to Guan Zhong.
I know that with you here, you will handle the political affairs of Han Dynasty for me very properly.
It's just that, Kong Ming, although you are far-sighted and loyal in your duties, you have not learned this advantage from me.
When it comes to running the country, I am far inferior to you. When it comes to marching and fighting, Yun Chang, Yide, Zisheng, etc. are all above me.
However, I am not the best in the world in military and political affairs, but I am able to reopen the Han Dynasty because I have always known people well and assigned them well.
As you said, Zisheng's taking over Wu Yi's military power may cause dissatisfaction among many Yizhou nobles.
However, the Yizhou nobles have always been at odds with Zisheng. If Zisheng does not take over Wu Yi's military power, won't those ignorant people be dissatisfied with Zisheng's rule over Liangzhou and his arbitrary power over the world?"
"Furthermore, even if those Yizhou nobles want to disrupt the situation in Liangzhou.
But now that I have appointed Zi Sheng as the pastor of Liangzhou, he must have means to rectify these undercurrents.
This is also something he should solve.
If he is incompetent and needs me for everything, or if you are behind his back to eliminate hidden dangers for him, is that a good thing for him and Liangzhou?
Is this another good thing for you, Kong Ming?"
The more Liu Bei spoke, the deeper the warnings in his words became.
But when he said the last sentence, Liu Bei looked at Zhuge Liang, who was just over forty years old and had a lot of gray hair on his temples, and his tone changed to worry.
When his tone changed, Liu Bei sighed and said, "I know that you came to the palace to see me today because you were thinking about the future of the Han Dynasty. You were worried that the situation in Liangzhou would be unstable.
Just like when you handle political affairs, you must do everything carefully and make sure there are no omissions.
But Kong Ming, you know, the reason why I spared no effort to promote Zi Sheng is to let him share your worries in the future. I just don’t want you to work too hard anymore.
If the mental energy is wasted too much, what good will it do to the body?"
This is the deepest worry in Liu Bei's heart today.
Ever since Zhuge Liang was highly regarded by Liu Bei in Jingzhou and began to become the de facto "prime minister" in Liu Bei's shogunate, Zhuge Liang's character was noticed by Liu Bei.
Because of Zhuge Liang's hands-on character, in the past no one has slandered Zhuge Liang for his strong desire for power and his preference to take power into his own hands, rather than appoint talented people.
But Liu Bei knew that Zhuge Liang was not such a person.
In the past ten years, Zhuge Liang recommended and promoted many talents, such as Pang Tong, Jiang Wan, Ma Liang, Yang Hong, etc. None of them were heroes for a while, and none of them had ever held great power.
Zhuge Liang is not a person who is obsessed with power.
Just because Zhuge Liang had a strong sense of responsibility in his heart, he was used to planning ahead and thought a lot about all the important military and political affairs of the Han Dynasty.
Zhuge Liang knew very well that the current Han Dynasty was not a powerful country, which made his character more cautious.
A big man with a poor national power cannot make a single trip, otherwise he may end up in a place of eternal disaster.
Judging from Zhuge Liang's talents and his position, his character had a strong catalytic effect on the improvement of the Han's national power.
In the past few years, no matter how proud Guan Yu or Mi Yang achieved on the battlefield, everything was inseparable from Zhuge Liang's painstaking efforts and steady progress behind the scenes.
Zhuge Liang's character is a benefit to the country.
For Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang's character also allowed him to sit back and relax and be an emperor on horseback with peace of mind.
But for Zhuge Liang, his character will affect his physical health to a great extent.
The growing white hair on Zhuge Liang's temples is proof of this.
Therefore, for Liu Bei, what he should worry about now is not the possible unrest in Liangzhou, but Zhuge Liang's health.
Because even if there is a turmoil in Liangzhou that even Mi Yang cannot handle, Liangzhou is not far from Yizhou. As long as he and Zhuge Liang are still together, the situation will not be too corrupt.
If he hadn't been worried about Zhuge Liang's health, Liu Bei would not have specially issued a decree to Zhuge Liang to take supplements at noon.
But Liu Bei knew that his behavior was always treating the symptoms rather than the root cause.
If Zhuge Liang does not change his character, his physical health will only get worse.
When Liu Bei expressed his worries, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but be stunned.
He didn't expect Liu Bei to be worried about this.
After understanding Liu Bei's worries, Zhuge Liang felt a strong sense of warmth in his heart.
But Zhuge Liang had his own opinion. Zhuge Liang raised his hands to Liu Bei and replied: "This is what your Majesty taught."
"However, the war in the world has not ceased, and China has not yet regained its unity.
How can I not try my best at this time, and how can I dare to relax even a little bit?"
Zhuge Liang's eyes were sincere when he said these words, because this was what was in his heart.
Zhuge Liang came from a famous family, and this background led to him receiving a good education from childhood to adulthood.
But at the same time, Zhuge Liang was born in troubled times. Even Zhuge Liang, who was born into a famous family, suffered from the troubles since he was a child.
There were even many unspeakable things that he had witnessed with his own eyes.
It is precisely because of this past experience that Zhuge Liang made an oath when he was young that he would become a famous minister like Guan Zhong and Le Yi to assist the Ming Dynasty in rebuilding the broken mountains and rivers.
Zhuge Liang is not unaware that excessive use of mental energy will affect his physical health.
But compared to the peace of the world and his inner aspirations, why should he care about his own safety, honor and disgrace?
This was Zhuge Liang's original intention, and it was his original intention that attracted countless people in later generations to admire him.
Seeing that although Zhuge Liang sincerely accepted his teachings, he did not intend to truly accept his warnings, Liu Bei couldn't help but shook his head.
For a person like Zhuge Liang, his true intention cannot be shaken by anyone.
Even as Zhuge Liang's lord.
However, Liu Bei was not completely helpless about this matter.
He is an emperor after all.
Liu Bei raised the Liangzhou document in his hand and said to Zhuge Liang: "Tell the state and county clearly about Zi Sheng's document and issue a clear reprimand to Zi Sheng."
Zhuge Liang felt a little confused when he heard that Liu Bei was going to write an article to reprimand Mi Yang.
He admitted that he wanted Liu Bei to eliminate hidden dangers for Mi Yang, but his reprimand was too much.
After all, judging from the current situation, what Mi Yang did was not wrong.
Zhuge Liang was about to give Liu Bei some advice, but Liu Bei reached out to stop Zhuge Liang.
It seems that he has made up his mind to reprimand Mi Yang.
The content of the reprimand document Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang to send to Liangzhou was: He reprimanded Mi Yang for not taking any responsibility as the shepherd of Liangzhou and actually submitting a letter for everything.
When Zhuge Liang heard that this was the content of the reprimand document Liu Bei asked him to send to Liangzhou, he immediately understood Liu Bei's intention.
Explicit documents must be announced to the world according to the standing system.
But most of the people in the world were illiterate, so the so-called clear announcements were only for the children of the gentry.
It was not unheard of for the emperor to be dissatisfied with the state pastor and expressly issue a reprimand in the past.
But the important thing is the reprimand document Liu Bei sent to Mi Yang. Its content is easy to imagine.
When the Yizhou nobles saw this reprimanding document, they would think that Mi Yang displeased Liu Bei because of her autocratic rule.
Or do you think Liu Bei is giving Mi Yang an obvious political signal?
There is no need to report everything in the future.
It's obviously the latter.
Everyone with a discerning eye knows what this political signal means.
Liu Bei has always spared no effort in trusting the Yuan Cong Department.
Moreover, Zhuge Liang also knew that Liu Bei's move was not only to announce a political signal to the world, but also to use the power of the emperor to distract him from worries about Liangzhou affairs.
Liangzhou has Mi Yang who is guarded by the Han Dynasty.
After understanding Liu Bei's two-tiered intentions, a smile appeared on Zhuge Liang's face.
Liu Bei has always cared for him in every possible way.
When Liu Bei saw a smile on Zhuge Liang's face, he knew that Zhuge Liang understood his intentions.
The communication between fish and water is so effortless.
After handling this matter, Liu Bei seemed to ask something inadvertently: "Is there any news coming from Zilong recently?"
After Liu Bei became emperor, Zhao Yun, who had always followed Liu Bei and led his troops, was not in Chengdu.
That's because Nanzhong was unstable during that time.
Zhuge Liang was worried that Nanzhong would cause trouble at the critical moment when Liu Bei became emperor, so he suggested that Liu Bei send Zhao Yun to guard Nanzhong.
It has been two years since Zhao Yun led the army to guard Nanzhong.
When Zhao Yun arrived in Nanzhong, just as Zhuge Liang expected, some unrest in Nanzhong was quickly suppressed.
Even though Cao Wei sent envoys to contact the foreign tribes in Nanzhong before, those foreign tribes never made any move.
Gradually, everyone in the Han court became less wary of Nanzhong.
Upon hearing Liu Bei's inquiry, Zhuge Liang replied: "According to the last letter from Zilong, it has been several months. In the last letter from Zilong, he stated that everything in Nanzhong is stable."
Nanzhong is the collective name for several counties in the south of Yizhou.
There are dense forests and miasma there, and the roads are all mountainous, so transportation to the outside world has never been smooth.
It is not uncommon for Zhao Yun to send a petition within a few months.
But Liu Bei saw some clues from this news.
"Why is Nanzhong so stable?"
Liu Bei's doubts seemed sudden, but they were not groundless.
Due to geographical and historical factors, Nanzhong has always been a gathering area for foreign ethnic groups in Yizhou.
In the Han Dynasty, those who could be called aliens were those who did not understand etiquette and drank blood like hair.
For such a group of people, loyalty is undoubtedly very cheap.
Survival and profit are what they value most.
In addition, Nanzhong is underdeveloped and has limited resources.
Therefore, Nanzhong often undergoes turmoil for survival and interests.
Even though the foreigners in Nanzhong could not afford to fight against the Han, they often fought among themselves for their own interests.
It's just that the unrest may be big or small.
This is the norm in Nanzhong.
However, according to Zhao Yun's letter, Nanzhong seems to be quite stable recently. It seems that many ambitious people in Nanzhong have learned their lesson and are doing good.
Is this possible?
Liu Bei, who knew human nature well, was determined not to believe this.
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster.
With the current anomalies in Nanzhong, there must be something big happening somewhere that ordinary people are not paying attention to.
Just like before the storm, there will be an extraordinary calm.
Under Liu Bei's confusion, Zhuge Liang quickly realized this.
Zhuge Liang frowned and said without thinking: "Your Majesty is worried that there will eventually be chaos in Nanzhong?"
Seeing that Zhuge Liang guessed the hidden worries in his heart, Liu Bei nodded.
"What I'm worried about is not that South and Central will rebel now, but that they will rebel when I launch a large-scale Northern Expedition."
"So I want to take the first step to eliminate this hidden danger for Yizhou."