Liu Bei and Zhou Ping were full of expectations, but only one person came in and said: "Your Majesty, Lu Su has rejected the invitation!"
The two of them couldn't help but be stunned at the same time.
Refused?!
Liu Bei couldn't understand why he wanted to appoint Zhou Wen'an as the governor in Yuzhou, but he refused at that time. Now when he came to Xuzhou, he wanted to invite Lu Su to be the governor, but he was rejected again.
Could it be that this Lu Su, like Zhou Wen'an, was a man of great intellect and did not want to rule the country?
But this is not right. Zhou Wen'an expected that he would come to Xuzhou, so he did not accept the appointment of governor. But now that he is in Xuzhou, why doesn't Lu Su accept it?
Do you want to leave Xuzhou?!
Liu Bei stopped thinking about it and looked at Zhou Ping. Wasn't he like a god? Why didn't he expect that Lu Su would reject his proposal? He hoped that he could give him an answer. After all, he recommended the person.
Zhou Ping was also thinking in his mind at this moment, why did Lu Su refuse?
Ruling the Central Government was already an important position, so Lu Su probably didn't mind that his position was low.
Could it be that he also wanted Liu Bei to go and ask for it in person...
Although Dongcheng belongs to Xiapi, it is far away from Xiapi City, more than 400 miles away. It is south of the Huaihe River and is located on the boundary between Xiapi and Jiujiang County.
Dongcheng originally belonged to Jiujiang County of Yangzhou. In the 15th year of Emperor Yongping of the Ming Dynasty, he established the King of Xiapi. In the fourth year of Jianchu, Dongcheng Zhongli and other counties in Jiujiang County were included in the Xiapi Kingdom. In the first year of Taikang in the Jin Dynasty, Xiapi was included in the Huainan Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The county was divided into Linhuai County, so the historical records record Linhuai Dongcheng. In fact, Dongcheng County was under the jurisdiction of Xiapi State at that time.
The current internal situation in Xuzhou is so complicated that it is impossible for Liu Bei to leave Xiapi and invite him in person.
If he wanted to go, he would go to Zhou Ping.
But as we were about to move to Xiapi, we could only wait until after Xiapi.
"My lord, when we get to Xiapi, I will visit him personally and I will definitely be able to invite him here."
Zhou Ping thought for a long time but couldn't figure out why Lu Su refused, so he could only think so.
Liu Bei nodded helplessly: "That's fine, I just have to work hard again!"
Zhou Ping responded: "The soldiers are working hard in front of the battle, how can I dare to talk about the hardships when I work hard?"
"How lucky I am to have my husband help me!" Liu Bei said with emotion.
This time when they went to Langya, Xu Chu, Chen Dao and Zhang Wu showed their power in front of the people in Mount Tai. They were all considered to have made meritorious service, and each received a reward of 10,000 yuan from Liu Bei.
Zhang Fei seemed a little jealous: "Zhou Wen'an..."
Liu Bei glared at him, and Zhang Fei hurriedly changed his words: "Sir, if I had known there would be such a huge reward, why didn't you take me there? If you had taken me, I could easily win against five of them... Hehe, brother,
I won’t say anything anymore.”
Zhang Fei saw Liu Bei staring at him as if he wanted to eat him up, so he didn't dare to say any more and just laughed.
Guan Yu didn't say anything, and he didn't care about the reward Xu Chu and the others received. In Guan Yu's eyes, Xu Chuchen thought that they just defeated a few soldiers, and there was nothing to be proud of.
A few days later, Tian Yu came back from Ju County and brought back good news. Xiao Jian was willing to move to the post of Prime Minister of Pengcheng, and he should have left Ju County to take up the post in Pengcheng.
The marriage between Liu Bei and Mi Zhen was also carried out simply, and everyone called Mi Zhen their wife.
On the fifth day of the second lunar month in the second year of Xingping, Liu Bei led many people and more than 20,000 troops to leave Tan County and move to Xiapi.
Xu Xuan, Prime Minister of the East China Sea, sent him out of the city and waved goodbye.
Tan County is not too far from Xiapi, only about two hundred miles away. However, due to the large number of soldiers and horses and the accompanying family members, we walked more slowly, and it took us five days to reach Xiapi.
Sun Kang had arrived at Xiapi a few days in advance, took office as the order of Xiapi, and followed Xiapi Prime Minister Cao Bao out of the city to greet him.
"Xuande, the guesthouses in the state capital are ready. Please come into the city." Cao Bao said to Liu Bei, the smile on his face looked unreal.
Cao Bao was about forty years old. He called Liu Bei Xuande instead of envoy. This shows that he did not have much respect for Liu Bei, the shepherd of Xuzhou.
Zhang Fei suddenly became angry and was about to explode when he was stopped by Guan Yu, who was standing next to him. He shook his head to tell him not to speak, and then he restrained himself.
Liu Bei didn't seem to care and smiled at Cao Bao: "We said goodbye to Tancheng last year. We haven't seen each other for a long time. I didn't expect that General Tao would be gone so soon... Alas!"
"Yes, it would be great if General Tao was still here!" Cao Bao really hopes that Tao Qian is still here. With Tao Qian here, he can live a better life in Xuzhou.
The two reminisced about old times and then entered the city.
Zhou Ping met Cao Bao for the first time, and his impression was not good. He felt that this man was disrespectful to Liu Bei. Disrespect would mean disloyalty. As long as there is a chance, this man will definitely rebel and must be eliminated.
Liu Bei arranged a small house for Zhou Ping, not far from the Prefecture Mufu.
After settling in, Gan Qian held her hand against the wall and vomited for a while, but couldn't vomit anything. Zhou Ping initially thought it was due to fatigue from the journey and that she would be fine after taking a rest. However, two days later, Gan Qian was still retching from time to time.
Zhou Ping quickly called the doctor for a consultation. After the doctor examined her, he told him that Gan Qian was pregnant and had been pregnant for more than a month.
Unexpectedly, he was going to be a father so soon. Zhou Ping was overjoyed and told Gan Qian to pay attention to her recuperation, while not forgetting important things.
It is already late February. If nothing goes wrong, Lu Bu will be defeated by Cao Cao around July or August and surrender to Xuzhou, so Yuan Shu must be attracted and defeated before then.
This time is too tight.
It is easy to lure Yuan Shu, but it is not easy to defeat him without sufficient preparation.
Zhou Ping discovered that Yuan Shu now had 60,000 troops and horses. Even if he wanted to leave troops to defend the city, there would still be 40,000 to 50,000 troops to attack.
However, Xuzhou now only has more than 40,000 soldiers including Danyang soldiers and Taishan soldiers. They also have to keep troops to defend the city. In a confrontation, Xuzhou's soldiers and horses will definitely be fewer than Yuan Shu's.
The most important thing at the moment is those Danyang soldiers. We have to find a way to capture them or kill Cao Bao.
But it is not easy to kill Cao Bao. Assassination will definitely not work. This is the stupidest method. It may immediately provoke the Danyang soldiers to rebel.
After much deliberation, Zhou Ping felt that the only option was to transfer Danyang soldiers away from Xiapi and then conquer or seize military power.
Zhou Ping asked Liu Bei to convene everyone for discussion. In addition to them, there were also Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, Tian Yu and Bie Jia Mi Zhu. Xu Chu and Chen Dao were also called. These are all people Liu Bei trusts, and Zhang Wu is the guardian.
Outside the door.
A map was spread out on the table in front of Liu Bei, with Zhou Ping and others standing under it.
"Now, Yuan Shu's general Sun Ce is leading an army to attack Yangzhou. Yuan Shu also calls himself Xuzhou Bo. This shows that he is determined to conquer Xuzhou and will surely lead his troops to attack sooner or later. Cao Cao and Lu Bu are fighting for Yanzhou. The two sides seem to be evenly matched.
I think Lu Bu will definitely lose to Cao Cao and will eventually be defeated."
Zhou Ping said to everyone.
"Whether it's Lu Bu or Cao Cao, if Lu Bu is defeated, he will most likely defect to Xuzhou. This person has always been treacherous and only seeks profit. He stabbed Ding Yuan in the back first and Dong Zhuo in the back. If he comes to Xuzhou, he has plans to attack and capture it.
We must guard against the dangers of Xuzhou. Cao Cao has attacked Xu twice. If he stabilizes Yanzhou, he will raise his troops to attack again."
"Therefore, Xuzhou currently has three enemies. We need to defeat Yuan Shu before Cao and Lu fight to determine the outcome, so that he no longer dares to covet Xuzhou. Only in this way can Xuzhou be stable."
After Zhou Ping finished speaking, he looked at Liu Bei.
Liu Bei then said to everyone: "Sir's intention is to take advantage of the dispute between Cao and Lu to attract Yuan Shu and then defeat him. Do you have any good strategies?"
Although Zhou Ping already had a countermeasure in mind, he still wanted to listen to other people's opinions. Maybe others could have a better strategy.
