Three days later, I heard that Zhuge Liang had arrived at Xiapi, but Zhou Ping did not go to see him.
Regardless of their age, status, or Zhou Ping's concern for them, Zhuge Jin should have brought them to visit him.
Sure enough, two days later, Zhuge Jin personally brought Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jun to visit him.
Zhou Ping did not appear excited when he saw Zhuge Liang, nor was he himself excited.
Zhuge Liang is famous, but that is just a memory impression from his previous life. Now, Zhuge Liang is just an unknown boy.
Although Zhuge Liang is already seven feet five inches tall, has a majestic appearance, and looks a bit like an adult, in fact, he is only a fifteen-year-old boy now.
In one month, he will be sixteen.
Zhuge Jun is three years younger than Zhuge Liang, and he is relatively more childish.
"Zhuge Liang pays homage to General Zhonglang, the military advisor!"
Zhuge Liang bowed and saluted Zhou Ping, and Zhuge Jun followed suit.
"Hahaha... I'm a few years older than you, so you can just call me brother."
Zhou Ping laughed and helped Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jun up.
"Sir, thanks to your concern, I asked my lord to send someone to look for the escort. Unexpectedly, they were robbed by bandits on the way. No wonder there was no news before. Fortunately, they got here safely without incident, so I brought them here today to thank you sir.
"Zhuge Jin cupped his hands and said.
"Where was it robbed?"
Zhou Ping secretly rejoiced that Zhuge Liang did not die on the way because he wanted him to come to Xuzhou.
"At the junction of Lujiang and Jiujiang counties."
There was no fear on Zhuge Liang's face when he spoke, as if he was not frightened by the robbery, but there was some fear on Zhuge Jun's face.
"Then how did you escape?"
Zhou Ping wanted to know how Zhuge Liang used his own wisdom to escape from the hands of the bandits.
"Someone let us go..."
It turned out that Zhuge Jin sent people to Yuzhang. Zhuge Xuan knew that he was appointed as the governor in Xuzhou, and that Liu Bei had defeated Yuan Shu and Lu Bu successively. Xuzhou had been stabilized, so he agreed to let Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jun return to Xuzhou to follow his brother.
Originally, Zhuge Liang's parents died early, and Zhuge Jin fled to the east of the Yangtze River and had no fixed place to live, so Zhuge Xuan took his two young brothers with him.
Now that Zhuge Jin had found a stable place, he asked them to return to Xuzhou.
Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jun followed the men sent by their elder brother. Because Sun Ce was still crossing the river to attack Liu Yao at that time, it was difficult to travel by water, so they chose the land route.
He first crossed the river to Lujiang County, and then headed north along the river until he reached the border between Lujiang County and Jiujiang County, which is around Chaohu Lake, when he was robbed and kidnapped by a group of thieves.
However, after the bandits heard that their uncle was the governor of Yuzhang, they did not dare to harm them and just detained them.
There was a bandit leader who came to see them immediately after hearing that their brother was in charge of Xuzhou.
That bandit leader turned out to be Lu Su.
"Lu Su Lu Zijing? Is he the leader of thieves?"
According to what Zhuge Liang said, they were robbed in the Chaohu area on the border between Lujiang and Jiujiang counties, and Lu Su was the leader of the thieves. It seems that Lu Su really went to join Zheng Bao.
Zhou Ping's original guess was correct.
"It's Lu Zijing. He is from Dongcheng, but there is a bandit leader above him."
Zhuge Liang said again.
"That must be Zheng Bao." Zhou Ping smiled.
Zhuge Liang was slightly surprised: "How do you know, sir?"
"Haha, my lord first wanted to send Lu Zijing to rule the country and sent people there. Unexpectedly, he refused and even evacuated his family for the sake of it. I personally went to his house to look for him, but I couldn't meet him. I don't know.
Where did he go? This man is quite talented. Since he is among thieves, and the thieves are the strongest in Chaohu area, the only one who can be above him is Zheng Bao."
Being called sir by Zhuge Liang, Zhou Ping felt a little proud.
"Yes, sir, he really knows everything about the world. Lu Zijing also told me about this matter. He regretted that he misjudged the situation and the people that day, thinking that Liu Shijun could not defend Xuzhou. Unexpectedly, Liu Shijun
Now not only has Xuzhou been defended, but it has also become so powerful, which is something he could not have expected."
Zhuge Liang continued: "He even did not expect that Mr. Yuan would repeatedly devise ingenious schemes to defeat Yuan Jiujiang and then kill Lu Bu. He also said that with Mr. Wang's wisdom, he should now persuade you to raise troops to seize the two cities of Jiujiang and Lujiang.
Jun Liang also thinks this should be the case."
"Oh, why did he say that? And why do you think it should be like that?"
Zhuge Liang and Lu Su were both men of extraordinary intelligence. Although Zhuge Liang was only fifteen years old, Zhou Ping still wanted to hear why they had such views.
"Lu Zijing thought that Liu Shijun had now stabilized Xuzhou and had many brave soldiers, so he could not stick to one state. Yuan and Cao in the north were of the same mind, so they could not compete with him at this time. Only in Yangzhou, Yuan Qiu was defeated repeatedly.
Although the army is numerous, it is already weak. If you want to capture Yangzhou, you must first have two counties in Jiangxi. With these two counties, you can cross the river to fight with Sun Ce."
After listening to Zhuge Liang's words, Zhou Ping nodded and said, "That makes sense. Why do you think it should be like this?"
Zhuge Liang glanced at his brother Zhuge Jin first, and when he saw his brother nodded secretly, he said: "Liang thinks that since you have the ambition to conquer the world, and Sun Ce's military strength is strong now, you will be in great trouble in the future. If you don't get it first,
If Sun Ce takes the opportunity to cross the Yangtze River and go north, Xuzhou will be surrounded by enemies from both sides and will be difficult to resist. If he wants to capture the east of the Yangtze River, he must first capture the two counties of Jiangxi Province, otherwise it will be difficult to cross the river."
Zhou Ping had already thought about this.
If he goes to fight for Yanzhou with Cao Cao without attacking Sun Ce first, there is no guarantee that Sun Ce will not cross the river to fight for Xuzhou. If Xuzhou is lost, Liu Bei will have no place to live and may have to go back to the old historical path and run around.
But if you want to defeat Sun Ce, you must first defeat Yuan Shu. Without Jiujiang and Lujiang, it will be difficult to cross the river to compete with Sun Ce.
Zhuge Liang, who was only fifteen years old, could have such knowledge, which really made Zhou Ping very happy.
When Zhou Ping chose to assist Liu Bei, the most important thing was to search for and recruit talents for him.
Liu Bei doesn't need to do everything himself, he just needs to be able to use people, trustworthy people and capable people.
Zhuge Liang is still young now. As long as he is allowed to study and practice for a few more years, he will definitely be as talented as in history.
Zhou Ping is not jealous of talent, nor is he afraid that others will have more merit than himself or be given more weight than himself. What he pursues is not power.
He just wanted to assist Liu Bei to bring peace to the world, so that the people of the world would be at peace, and then re-establish the Han Dynasty. He just wanted to make his life worthwhile.
He wanted to recommend a great talent like Zhuge Liang to Liu Bei.
"Mr. Wen An has taken into consideration all the concerns you two have." Zhuge Jin said with a smile.
Zhou Ping also smiled and said: "It is rare for Kong Ming to have such insight. It seems that Lu Zijing let your two brothers leave?"
When Zhuge Liang left Yuzhang, Zhuge Xuan gave him the nickname Kongming.
"Yes, Lu Zijing also said that if Liu Shijun raises troops to attack Jiujiang, he will lead his troops to help." Zhuge Liang replied.
Zhou Ping was greatly surprised and asked urgently: "Did Lu Zijing really say this?"
Although Zheng Bao's followers were a mob, they could still use their momentum to intimidate Yuan Shu.
Originally, Zhou Ping only had a 70% chance of winning by sending troops to attack Jiujiang. If he could get help from Zheng Bao and Lu Su, he would have a 90% chance of winning.
"Yes, Zheng Bao now has more than 10,000 people. If the emperor sends troops, they can form a combined attack with the emperor. Yuan Shu will not be able to defeat him. I am afraid he will abandon the city and flee."
"Hahaha... Having said that, I would like to meet Lu Zijing in person."
Zhou Ping also told Zhuge Liang to study hard. With his talents, he will be put to great use by the emperor in two or three years.
After sending away the three Zhuge brothers, Zhou Ping hurriedly came to the state capital to find Liu Bei. He had something important to say.
