Xi Zhicai didn't know what kind of choices he would make if his bet failed. No one could say what would happen in the future, even if he claimed to be a wise man.
But as Wang Xuan said, he had very little choice.
Although the Han Dynasty had a vast territory, there were too few to choose from. Dong Zhuo in Guanxi definitely couldn't choose. Xishu was too exclusive and the Jingzhou family was already saturated. Wang Xuan didn't even bother to mention it, and Xi Zhicai didn't bother to ask either.
Jiangdong is the territory of the four major families, and the rest of the Central Plains has been taken care of by Wang Xuan. Xi Zhicai really has no good choice.
It was Wang Xuan who made a time lag and Cao Cao had not yet risen again. Otherwise, Xi Zhicai would definitely have chosen Lao Cao nearby.
However, if Qingzhou is really won, Liu Bei can really challenge any of the princes.
For Xi Zhicai brought back by Wang Xuan, Liu Bei received him with the highest etiquette. All the officials in the camp, big and small, were dispatched. The momentum was so grand that even Xi Zhicai was flattered.
Regardless of what happened in the past, Liu Bei is now one of the numerous princes in the Central Plains and a member of the Han clan. To be able to do this is a great honor to Xi Zhicai.
The big bronze cauldron was pulled out by Liu Bei again. The fire was a little brighter and everyone started to have a big meal. Liu Bei took Xi Zhicai's hand and personally fished out a piece of meat for Xi Zhicai and brought it up. He looked at Xi Zhicai before he dared
Looking as if he was about to cry, Wang Xuan curled his lips and shook his head. People in this era are too easy to trust!
Liu Bei was really happy now. He went to visit the Xun family today and was turned away again. Oh, I can't say that. I must have gotten in, but... no one wanted to visit anymore. They all visited relatives and friends.
Going there, this face was completely wiped out, which made Liu Bei, who had been quite prosperous recently, very disappointed.
Now that Xi Zhicai has come to vote, Liu Bei is of course happy. Besides, he knows Wang Xuan's temper very well. If he is not a real talent, Wang Xuan will definitely not take action himself.
At this point, Yingchuan had no big gains, but compared to Liu Bei who was a little frustrated, Wang Xuan didn't care. The only thing that made Wang Xuan regretful was that Xi Zhicai said that Guo Jia didn't give up and went to Yuan Shao
Where to try your luck.
During this time, Xi Zhicai also became busy, not so much with official matters, but with reading.
Xi Zhicai's eyes almost popped out of his head when he heard that Wang Xuan planned to take over the palace library. It was the royal library, and the collection was richer than any other family in the world.
In Xi Zhicai's words, with this library, how can we recruit talents? We only need to promote the banner of the Royal Library. Maybe the top aristocratic families will not care, but there are countless children from poor families or those with no hope of studying in the world.
There will definitely be a rush to vote.
Others may not have the qualifications or the courage to use the word "royal", but Liu Bei is still a clan member of the Han Dynasty. There is nothing to say except that it is destined by God!
This is because Wang Xuan didn't throw out his two real trump cards, the chalk and the blackboard, otherwise Xi Zhicai might have been frightened to death.
Since ancient times, the cost of cultivating a scholar has been very high. Firstly, it requires a lot of time. Secondly, books, bamboo slips, pens and ink consume a lot of money, and ordinary families cannot afford it.
The invention of chalk and blackboard simply reduced the cost of learning to an outrageous level. Once these things became popular, even in the late Han Dynasty, nine-year compulsory education was no longer a necessity, but when it came to training lower-level officials, Wang Xuan
I definitely dare to play it, and I can play it perfectly!
It's just that this takes some time.
Liu Bei, who had completely given up his heart, still completed the "Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage" as instructed by Wang Xuan. He just wanted to see how these people would regret and beat their chests in the future.
The large army set off again. This time, in addition to stopping at cities along the way and visiting local noble families, they began to march all the way towards Qijun.
If they encounter a place that is not affluent enough, they might as well go directly there without even bothering to stop.
At Wang Xuan's request, they kept marching at a rapid pace along the way and had three meals a day. No one dared to complain, and half a month later they hurried to the border of Qingzhou.
The entire junction of Yanzhou and Qingzhou is very desolate. It is an exaggeration to say that there are no people for a hundred miles, but it is indeed too sparsely populated.
When entering Jinan Junli City, the group of people looked at the dilapidated city, their expressions were very ugly. There were people in the city, and there were quite a few of them. The signs of human life were very obvious, but it was obvious that as soon as the army approached, the people either ran away or hid.
The whole city is in a state of anarchy.
Liu Bei looked at it for a while, then turned to look at Wang Xuan with a frown, as if he was hesitant to speak. Wang Xuan knew what Liu Bei meant without asking.
"Isn't this better? You are a ray of light, bringing hope of life to the people!" Liu Bei and others were speechless that Wang Xuan was still joking.
Don't look at the fact that they have more than 10,000 people here. To be honest, the three million Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou are not a joke. They don't have to come all of them. Even if they come, two to three million will crush them to death just by their numbers.
In other words, if Beihai County was not close to Xuzhou, and the county's Yingling Mausoleum was close to Xuzhou Langye, Beihai would have been in danger long ago.
In fact, Wang Xuan also had some surprises. This Qingzhou is really too clean. Not to mention the aristocratic families, there are no government agencies. It is a den of thieves. The most important thing is that although these thieves can also farm and work, they are not completely
Without any planning, Qingzhou is so big that it is difficult to feed three million people. It's really... having too much freedom is not a good thing.
There is still more than 800 miles from Licheng to the destination of Linzi, the seat of Qi County. If we march in a hurry, it will take ten days, not to mention the heavy baggage and the fact that many roads are damaged, making it impossible to go quickly.
"Zai Zhi, what should we do? I feel like we can't go on like this!" Liu Bei looked at Wang Xuan with a bitter look on his face.
Wang Xuan looked at Xi Zhicai, but Xi Zhicai didn't say a word. He just wanted to see if Wang Xuan had any good ideas. Of course, Xi Zhicai himself was a little numb in this situation.
"Simple, work in teams!"
"How to divide it?"
"Zhao Yun, you lead a thousand cavalry and go straight to Linzi to clear out the large group of yellow scarf thieves around Linzi. You don't want to annihilate them, but they must be dispersed. There cannot be large groups of bandits within a radius of fifty miles. You can think of your own method."
"I obey my orders!" Zhao Yun stepped out of the queue and saluted with clasped fists.
"Zhou Cang, Sun Xia, you guys dare to go back to your old business, no one will give you two hundred backbones, surround Linzi and help me develop my power, annex the small groups of bandits, and try to grow as many as possible."
"Don't worry, young master, we are familiar with this routine!" Although they all recognize Liu Bei as their master now, these old people still like to call him young master Wang Xuan. These guys were originally from the Yellow Turban Xiaoqu handsome family, and they have some prestige among the Yellow Turbans. Now they follow Wang Xuan
If they are literate and have two hundred backbones, as long as they have enough time, it won't be a problem even if they can unite the entire Qi County Yellow Turbans.