After Ma Su defeated Lu Dai, he relied on the huge reputation accumulated by the scholar family in Jiaozhou for decades and spread the word to decide Jiaozhou.
The news reached Jianye, the capital of Wu State, as quickly as possible.
East Palace.
All civil and military officials looked solemn.
"The three scholars have caused chaos and Jiaozhou has fallen. Can the princes have a good plan to alleviate the worries?"
There was silence in the hall.
Sun Quan looked around at the ministers and frowned eighteen times.
After a while, he walked away.
During the thirty-two years he took charge of Jiangdong, he experienced "Cao Cao's 800,000 troops stationed troops south to Chibi", "Liu Bei's 700,000 troops marched eastward to Yuyiling", "Cao Pi's 200,000 troops attacked Wu in three directions", " Cao Rui's 200,000-strong army attacked Wu on three fronts" and many other situations that were ten times more severe than today, were ultimately saved by him one by one.
But today, the attitude of the civil and military officials, or the attitude of the children of the aristocratic family, made Sun Quan feel a chill down his back for no reason.
The problems currently facing Soochow are not only the Jiaozhou Incident, but also the teasing from Gongsun Yuan, the prefect of Wei and Liaodong.
Originally, in February, Gongsun Yuan sent an envoy to declare his vassal status to Soochow.
This was originally a good thing. The two countries Wei and Wu had been secretly competing for Liaodong for a long time, with both overt and covert tactics frequent.
In order to win over Gongsun Yuan, Sun Quan paid a huge amount of money, a large amount of materials and beautiful women, and finally Gongsun Yuan made up his mind to attach himself to Wu.
But as soon as the envoy from Liaodong arrived in Jianye and heard the news about the change of ownership in Jiaozhou, they took a boat overnight and left.
Even the procedure of meeting the ministers and giving gifts was omitted.
This made Sun Quan furious for a while, wishing he could mobilize the navy immediately, pacify Liaodong, and press the capricious Gongsun Yuan to the ground and rub him a hundred times.
But this idea can only be thought about. Liaodong is remote and beyond reach, and Soochow is facing internal and external troubles. Sun Quan understands that there is nothing he can do to Gongsun Yuan.
Frankly speaking, Sun Quan would not be so worried if he just lost a Jiaozhou with little strategic value.
What worried him was the rebellion from the Lu family.
Before finding out whether Lu Xun was involved in this matter, Sun Quan would not be able to entrust the former with important tasks.
Soochow lost the entire eleven counties of Jiaozhou in a short period of time, lost the dependence of Gongsun Yuan, and lost its most capable commander Lu Xun.
This is no longer about cutting off an arm.
This is a severed leg.
Sun Quan could not imagine Lu Xun standing on the opposite side, just as he could not imagine losing his father Sun Jian when he was nine, he could not imagine losing his elder brother Sun Ce when he was eighteen, he could not imagine losing his right-hand Zhou Yu when he was twenty-seven, and he could not imagine losing his right-hand Zhou Yu when he was thirty-six. Like Lu Su, the minister of string bones, he could not imagine that he would lose Lu Xun at the age of sixty-three.
When Sun Quan first learned that the Lu family had switched to Shisan, he was shocked, surprised, puzzled, confused and many other emotions surged up. He could not sleep at night and was worried.
The Lu family has deep roots in Jiangdong and has many talented people. Currently, there are no fewer than ten officials in the court alone.
With the huge size of the Lu family, the attitudes of its children are enough to influence other aristocratic families.
How did things get to this point?
Sun Quan was a little confused.
More than a month ago, he was indifferent to the Jiaozhou Rebellion and scorned Lu Kai's switch to "Shi San", believing that Lu Kai would definitely be punished for this stupid decision.
But after Jiaozhou changed hands in an instant, Sun Quan had realized that it was not simple.
Sun Quan knew all the information about the descendants of the Shi family, but there was no such person as Shi San among them.
The first time he came to this conclusion, Sun Quan immediately realized that Jiaozhou could be recovered later. The most important thing at the moment was to figure out the identity of "Shi San" and stabilize the situation.
Therefore, he quickly sent fast horses to recall the 50,000 troops who were sent to rescue Jiaozhou, and sent intermediaries to Guiping, Chengdu, and Luoyang to collect news about Shi San.
Being calm in times of crisis has always been a good quality in his character.
After the Battle of Yiling in the past, when faced with the pressure of Cao Pi's three armies and the war was about to break out, Sun Quan still "humbled and submitted a letter"; after barely resisting Wei's attack, on the one hand he restored the alliance with the Shu Han envoys, and on the other hand
He still maintained relations with Cao Wei. It was not until the relationship between Wu and Shu warmed up and Cao Pi imprisoned Wu's envoy Feng Xi that Sun Quan completely severed ties with Cao Wei and finally successfully resolved the crisis.
Sun Quan's strategy has always been to seek self-protection first, then expansion. If there is no particularly good opportunity to take advantage, even if Soochow's strength is stronger than that of his opponents or allies, he will try to keep his posture as low as possible.
It can be said that among the Three Kingdoms, only Soochow has always had allies. Sometimes the ally is Shu, and sometimes the ally is Wei. Therefore, Soochow can gradually grow in size. When he took over, there were only six counties in Jiangdong, and now it has developed
Own the land of three continents.
This has always been the source of Sun Quan's confidence.
But now, the land of three continents has suddenly become two states, and the situation has suddenly become serious.
Sun Quan did not let himself be immersed in the pessimism of "Lu Kai's rebellion" for too long. Although this incident was regrettable and disappointing, it should not cause confusion.
According to the information currently known, although Lu Kai has voted for "Shi San", Lu Xun seems to be unaware of it and has not participated in the matter. In other words, there is still room for redemption.
In view of this, Sun Quan decided to maintain the highest degree of patience with Lu Xun and not force him to go to the opposite side.
…
Jiaozhou, Guiping City, Yulin County.
After taking full control of Jiaozhou, affairs suddenly became more complicated. Officials from various counties and counties came to visit him every day, presenting household registration and official information, reporting on the situation, and getting closer to the people talking about Xinjiaozhou.
Ma Di and Lu Kai were busy from the first day of March to the middle of March. Only then were they able to meet with all the officials from the other ten counties except Rinan County. They encouraged everyone and promised that as long as they paid their taxes on time
, all subordinate duties at the county level are arranged by each county governor on his own, and he will never interfere.
Lu Kai slapped his hand on the table and said angrily: "The officials of Rinan County are so stubborn and trying to resist the power of God, we must not let them go lightly!"
"My intention is to immediately send out three thousand troops to attack Ninan. I wonder what my brother-in-law wants?"
After taking Jiaozhou, Lu Kai was appointed as the governor, taking charge of all affairs in Jiaozhou. Therefore, he was very concerned about government affairs.
Especially after Ma Su revealed his intention of "land and horse sharing the world", Lu Kai became more interested and completely regarded the eleven counties of Jiaozhou as his own territory to run.
However, in order to show fairness in handling matters and to allow his sister to rest for a while, Lu Kai dragged Ma Su to work at the office for half a month and did not let his brother-in-law go home.
After half a month, Ma Su was very tired.
When Lu Kai asked, he nodded sadly, rubbed his waist and said, "Just do what brother wants."
After that, he got up and left.
However, Lu Kai grabbed him and asked with a serious face: "How will my brother-in-law deal with the incident involving General He Hong?"
Ma Di thought for a while, "He killed someone without a nod, so in view of his great achievements this time, I paid him enough money and let his family go."
"That's fine." Lu Kai nodded.
People like He Hong can betray the first time, and they can betray the second time. According to Lu Kai's idea, it must be a click of a knife, and the whole thing is over.
But Ma Su couldn't do this kind of thing, just chop him off with a backhand knife after using him, but he couldn't keep him by his side, so he simply let him go.
In any case, it was impossible for He Hong to return to the Kingdom of Wu. If he wanted to earn a living in the army, he had no other choice but to surrender to Shu.
After Ma Di left, Tao Ji, the governor of Nanhai, came to Guanshu with his three sons and the Nanhai household registration list.
The guard briefly checked Tao Ji's seal and ribbon, then let him in and told him that Lu Kai was working in the left wing.
Tao Ji carried this large stack of household registration lists, walked to the left wing, knocked on the door, and heard a "Please come in."
Then he pushed open the door and entered.
"Lord Governor, this is the household registration list of Nanhai County."
Tao Ji put down the list, held up his hands and said with emotion: "Brother Jingfeng, we have been apart for so many years, but I never thought that when we meet again, you will already be the governor of Jiaozhou, and I will be the governor of Nantai. Life is so unpredictable."
"Brother, please sit down, please sit down." Lu Kai returned the greeting warmly, and the two held arms and talked.
"I think back on the past when my brother and I were together in Wuhou... Oh no, we worked under Sun Quan, Emperor Wu. It seems like just yesterday. I don't want to be in the same place as ministers today." Lu Kai also sighed with emotion and glanced behind Tao Ji.
The three young men looked surprised and said: "Are these three young masters?"
"It is these three useless dogs, Tao Huang, Tao Jun, and Tao Kang."
The three young men hurriedly walked over and bowed in greeting. Lu Kai accepted it calmly and said with a smile: "Brother uncle, I'm afraid you didn't come here specifically to deliver the household registration list? You can just leave this kind of thing to the clerks or servants.
alright."
Tao Ji smiled sheepishly: "The three sons are all grown up. They are idle all day long and do not do their job properly. Therefore, I want to ask Brother Jingfeng to find a job for them in Fucheng so that they can listen to the Master's teachings morning and night."
Lu Kai looked at Tao Ji with a smile: "Easy to say, easy to say!"
The two old acquaintances looked at each other and smiled.
it is more than words.
The Tao family is also one of the Jiangdong aristocratic families. Although it is not as big as the Lu family, it is still a medium-sized family.
Unlike Ma Su who doesn't like to use the children of aristocratic families, Lu Kai, who was born in the same aristocratic family, is well aware of the power of the aristocratic family, and this kind of arrangement of errands to bring them closer is unavoidable.
Usually, if a child from a wealthy family is really talented, he will definitely be reused; if he is not talented, it will just be appointed to a idle position.
This move did not cost much money in the treasury, but it brought the various families and the rulers closer together. This then formed a class relationship in which "the rulers manage the families, and the families manage the people."
This is the current social form of Soochow.
At first, Ma Di wanted to wipe out the aristocratic family and plow Jiaozhou from head to toe.
After Lu Kai learned of this plan, he immediately stopped Ma Su's reckless behavior.
Because even if the aristocratic family is eliminated, Ma Su will not be able to control Jiaozhou more deeply, and may even face the risk of losing control.
There is no other reason. In this era, most ordinary people are illiterate, but all the children of aristocratic families are literate. If there is no aristocratic family, who will manage the people scattered in various places?
Relying on the people to govern themselves?
That would definitely lead to chaos.
It was after that argumentative debate that Ma Di changed his mind and left all affairs in Jiaozhou to Lu Kai.
With his thoughts gathered, Lu Kai looked at the three young men respectively, tested their talents one by one, and then closed his eyes and began to think deeply.
I was thinking about what positions to assign to these three mediocre juniors.
………
On the second floor of the largest "Southern Wine Restaurant" in Guiping City, Huang Xi, Li Sheng, Zhang Xiu, and Yang Wanwan sat down and looked at the crowded streets downstairs, sighing in unison.
The previous war that occurred outside Guiping City did not cause any losses to the people in the city. On the contrary, because two families were killed one after another, many unowned properties and fields were vacated, and more people benefited from this and lived a good life.
.
So they were very enthusiastic and walked around the city with the mentality of watching the excitement, expecting that the new governor could kill more wealthy families. Therefore, the streets were much more lively than usual.
Yang Baiwan drank a glass of wine and asked with a puzzled look on his face: "Old Huang, why are you sighing?"
Huang Xi sighed again: "Why else? I have accumulated some private money for several years, but I don't know if it was stolen by that rat. I'm so angry!"
"I never expected that an honest person who usually looks simple and honest would turn out to be this kind of person!"
As he said that, he glanced at Zhang Xiu.
Everyone said "Oh" and turned their attention to Zhang Xiu.
Zhang Xiu blushed and argued: "Didn't I see that you were about to be punished, so I kept it for you?"
Huang Xi's eyes widened: "What about my money?"
Zhang Xiu suddenly felt depressed: "I don't know which traitor took him away."
As he said that, he glanced at Li Sheng.
Everyone turned their attention to Li Sheng again.
At that time, there were only six people with positions above the rank of general in the village (only those above the rank could move in and out of the village at will), namely Ma Su, A Xiu, Yang Wanwan, Huang Xi, Li Sheng, and Zhang Xiu.
Naturally, Ma Su and Axiu would not covet their meager savings. If the buried money disappeared, then the scope of suspicious persons would be very small.
Either the young man Yang Wanwan, or the old cunning Li Sheng.
Li Sheng also sighed and said truthfully: "I did take the money, but when I went back to look at it later, it was gone."
Hearing this, everyone looked at him with suspicion.
Li Sheng suddenly became anxious.
"Brothers, please believe me, I really didn't take it all to myself! I was just joking with you..."
Everyone cheered.
just kidding?
As a joke, do you need to dig out the money from the front mountain and bury it in the back mountain?
What a fool!
Seeing that everyone didn't believe it, Li Sheng looked depressed. The problem was that the money was really missing.
If he really had spent such a large sum of money on his own, he wouldn't be able to afford these meals, and Yang Million would have to pay for each meal.
Huh? Yang Wanwan pays?
Where did he get the money?
A meal of wine and food in this restaurant is not cheap.
Li Sheng was thinking while sipping his dull wine. After a few glasses of wine, his mind suddenly became clear.
The tacit understanding developed over the years caused the three of them to look at each other, look at Yang Wanwan together, and ask in unison:
"Where did you get the money?"
Yang Baiwan shrank his neck and said weakly: "What do you think I am doing?"