On the first day of April in the second year of Xingping, Zhou Ping, Zhuge Jin, Xu Sheng and others returned to Xiapi.
When Liu Bei learned that Zhou Ping was back, he hurriedly went out of the mansion in person and went down the steps to greet him.
"Sir, you are back! These days, I have been worried about you day and night, for fear that something bad might happen to you. Now that you are back, haha, I can sleep peacefully!"
It can be seen that Liu Bei is very happy.
"My lord is worried. When I went to Dongcheng this time, I didn't expect that Lu Zijing had already left with his family and didn't know where to go. Fortunately, I went to Qu'a, Wu County and brought two people back for my lord."
After Zhou Ping saluted Liu Bei, he began to introduce Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng.
"Zhuge Jin, courtesy name Ziyu, was born in Yangdu, Langya. He studied in Luoyang when he was young. His father was once the magistrate of Taishan County, and his uncle is now the prefect of Yuzhang."
"Xu Sheng, courtesy name Wenxiang, is from Langya Ju County. He is very brave and courageous. When he passed Guangling, Chen Yuanlong said that my lord has these two people, and he will be even more powerful than a tiger!"
Zhou Ping deliberately mentioned Zhuge Jin's family background and Chen Deng's evaluation of the two of them, hoping that Liu Bei would pay attention to them and reuse them, so that their talents would not be ignored.
Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng quickly saluted Liu Bei.
Liu Bei looked at the two of them, and saw that one was gentle and honest, and the other was tall and resolute. He laughed, and directly stepped forward to hold the other by the hand, and said: "Tzuyu, Wen Xiang, come, let's go into the house and talk slowly."
After saying that, he took the two of them and walked towards the house.
Zhou Ping was a little dumbfounded, but he was relieved that Liu Bei valued him so much. It was also an incentive for the talents who came to seek refuge.
The accompanying family members of Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng were also received by government officials.
Entering the mansion, Zhou Ping spoke in detail about his experiences during this trip. Regarding Lu Su's family's avoidance and Chen Jiao's being taken a step ahead by Chen Deng, Liu Bei sighed deeply: "My virtue is so weak that I have lost my talent! I'm afraid Lu Zijing has defected to Yuan Gongliu."
Already."
"My lord is so virtuous that he was able to win over Tzuyu and Wenxiang. Chen Jibi is a meritorious official in Guangling. Although he is serving as a county, he is also doing his work for the state. As for Lu Zijing, I predict that he will not defect to Yuan Shu."
Zhou Ping guessed that Lu Su would most likely either defect to Zheng Bao or find a place to live in seclusion. He would not defect to the Sun family yet, let alone Yuan Shu.
Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng had just been led into the mansion by Liu Bei, and they were very moved at the moment.
"To make you worry about the country and the people, even if one person avoids it and three people come, this is the way to win over others. Although Jin is not very talented, he is willing to do his best for you and Xuzhou!" Zhuge Jin said with cupped hands.
The three people he mentioned include Chen Jiao.
Xu Sheng would not say such nice things. He suddenly stood up and left the table, knelt down on one leg to Liu Bei, cupped his hands and said: "To make you prosperous again, Sheng Wei's death is just retribution. From now on, Xu Sheng swears to follow the lord to the death!"
He calls Liu Bei "lord", which means he recognizes Liu Bei as his master and is willing to be his subordinate.
Liu Bei was overjoyed when he saw this. The gloom on his face just now was wiped away. He hurriedly stood up and helped Xu Sheng up: "Wen Xiang, get up quickly."
Zhuge Jin moved his body at this time, as if he was about to stand up, but stopped again.
Compared to a warrior like Xu Sheng, he has more things on his mind.
Although Liu Bei is now the pastor of Xuzhou, Zhuge Jin can see that Xuzhou is a place for supremacy. If nothing else, Yuan Shu will definitely come to fight for it.
As for whether Liu Bei can hold Xuzhou, Zhuge Jin is not very confident. He has to wait and see before he can be sure. However, even if Yuan Shu captures Xuzhou, he will not treat himself badly. His uncle Zhuge Xuan's Yuzhang prefect was appointed by Yuan Shu.
.
Moreover, he is a scholar and feels that it does not matter whether he recognizes his master or not, as long as he does his best for the emperor.
Zhou Ping felt a sense of accomplishment when he saw Xu Sheng recognizing Liu Bei as his lord. All he could do now was mainly analyze the situation and recruit talents for Liu Bei.
Analyzing the situation can help Liu Bei choose the right direction, and recruiting talents can help Liu Bei go further and more steadily in the right direction.
Xuzhou is a place of struggle for supremacy, but it is also a dangerous place, but the territory that is contested is a good territory.
If it had been a few years later, Zhou Ping would never have persuaded Liu Bei to come to Xuzhou, because Cao Cao would have been idle by then and would never have allowed an ambitious person to stay in Xuzhou and develop.
But it's different now. Cao Cao is very busy now. He is fighting for Yanzhou with Lu Bu. After fighting for Yanzhou, he has to fight for the Han Emperor. This is a good opportunity for Liu Bei's development.
As for Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan has not been destroyed yet, so Yuan Shao cannot possibly get involved in Xuzhou, and even Qingzhou cannot be completely controlled by him.
Sun Ce has not yet conquered Jiangdong, and it is even less likely that he will come to fight for Xuzhou now.
Therefore, except for Yuan Shu in Huainan and Lu Bu who was about to be defeated and fled to Xuzhou, Liu Bei actually had no enemies, and these two were not that difficult to deal with.
Although Lu Bu is fierce, he was defeated and his strength was greatly reduced. All you need to do is guard against being attacked by him.
As for a few years later, when Liu Bei has established a firm foothold in Xuzhou, Cao Cao will have nothing to fear.
Moreover, when Cao Cao has the Han Emperor in his hands, his relationship with Yuan Shao will begin to break down, and Yuan Shao can be used to jointly deal with Cao Cao.
Liu Bei finally appointed Zhuge Jin to be in charge of governance and Xu Sheng to be in charge of military affairs.
Zhou Ping also asked Liu Bei to send people to Langya to ask Zang Ba about recruiting troops.
Liu Bei's own recruitment of troops is also in progress. Now Xu Sheng is working as a soldier, and he is in charge of recruiting troops.
Zhou Ping told him to hurry up, because the battle with Yuan Shu is coming soon, and these newly recruited soldiers may not be sent to the battlefield by then, but they can be left to defend the city in Xiapi, to guard against both Lu Bu and Cao Bao.
…………
Guan Yu led his troops to Xuyi and entered the city to camp.
As they traveled along, they kept announcing that they would cross the river to Jiangdong to aid Liu Yao, the herdsman of Yangzhou, and fight against Sun Ce.
"Magistrate Hu, the city wall is so damaged, why didn't you repair it and reinforce it?"
Guan Yu took Xuyi County Magistrate Hu Li and Danyang Soldier Commander Ma Xiaobao to inspect the city wall. Seeing many damages on the city wall, he couldn't help but ask Magistrate Hu.
"There is no war in Guan Sima and Xuyi. Although the city wall is damaged, it is not a problem." Magistrate Hu replied carefully.
"Be prepared for danger in times of peace. There is no war now, but maybe there will be in the future. There are trenches outside the city. Look, the silt is so accumulated and the trench is as shallow as flat ground, but you turn a blind eye. Quickly enlist the people, strengthen the city walls, and clean the trenches.
"
Guan Yu stood on the city wall, pointed at the ditch outside the city, with anger on his face, and ordered to Magistrate Hu.
"this……"
Magistrate Hu hesitated to answer, thinking that Xuyi City was neither a strategic location nor a place governed by a state or county, so how could there be an enemy attack?
"Um."
Guan Yu didn't hear the answer and turned to look at him, his eyes narrowed slightly and he glared angrily.
"No, I'll go right away."
Magistrate Hu felt Guan Yu's anger and quickly answered with his hands raised.
Sima Xiaobao was puzzled by Guan Yu's actions: "Guan Sima, we are going to Jiangdong to assist Liu Shijun, not to guard Xuyi. The damage to the city wall and the accumulation of silt in the ditch have nothing to do with us, so why should we care about these things?"
As a fellow Sima, Xiao Bao felt unhappy that he had to obey Guan Yu's orders.
"Xiao Sima, we have to wait for the transportation of grain and grass in Xuyi, and we won't leave for the time being. Since we have troops here, the city defense must be complete."
"Even if we are waiting for food and grass, can't we wait when we get to Jiangdu? Why wait here?"
"This is your envoy's order."
Guan Yu's tone was a little serious.
"snort!"
Xiao Bao snorted, turned around and left.
Guan Yu held back his anger and looked at Xiao Bao's back, gritting his teeth and blushing with anger. If Liu Bei hadn't given him many warnings, for the sake of the overall situation, he would have wanted to kill Xiao Bao right now.
Before leaving, Liu Bei told him to have a good relationship with Xiao Bao and win him over so that he would no longer be controlled by Cao Bao.
However, Guan Yu was not good at this kind of dealings, but he was not as reckless as Zhang Fei, who would kill him whenever he said it.
Guan Yu knew the seriousness of the matter, so he suppressed his anger.
