Hearing what the potter said, the water bandit leaders began to cry for father and mother again, kowtow and beg, and there was a sandstorm in the tent.
Seeing the endless croaking of the water thieves, the pottery merchant was really upset.
"Okay, okay... Tao will help you settle this matter." The potter sighed helplessly: "I have been a gentleman for twenty years, but I still fell into ruin at the hands of you bastards.
I don’t know whether I owe it to you or you owe it to me to clear my name for this lifetime.”
These words only made these water pirate leaders blush, and they didn't know how to answer them.
When I was young, I saw Village Leader Liu asking Tao Shang obediently: "Master Fu, how do you plan to help us solve this matter?"
Tao Shang smiled and stared at Village Leader Liu, saying: "Then how does Liu Xiaowei think Tao should handle this matter?"
It was a matter of his own life and death, and Village Master Liu did not dare to neglect it. He lowered his head and thought for a long time, and then said hesitantly:
"Mr. Mansion, maybe he wants to come forward in person, use kind words to persuade me, and ask Shengxian to show his noble hand and let me go."
The pottery merchant smiled and looked at the expectant Master Liu, feeling very helpless.
Brain is a good thing, but it's a pity that these guys don't have it.
If Tao really went to tell Sheng Xian like this, then there would be no possibility for him to interfere in Wu County's affairs.
In this world, the most useless method is to ask others!
Without any planning, without any right to speak, success or failure can only depend on the charity of others...
"You go down first and go to Zhou Tai to hand over the military power. As for the matter of you lying about the military situation and taking credit, Tao will go to Sheng Xian to resolve it. Don't worry."
The potter didn't want to talk too much nonsense with them. He was afraid that talking to them too much would lower his IQ.
These water pirate leaders had no other choice but to stand up and exit the tent, and go to Zhou Tai to hand over military power as the pottery merchant said.
Xu Rong stayed with the pottery merchant all the time. Seeing that these bandit leaders had retreated, he hurriedly said: "Fu Jun really intends to help them solve the problem of taking credit for themselves."
The pottery merchant sighed helplessly and said: "Although these people are stupid, greedy and hateful, they helped me defeat Yuan Shu in the first place. Now I take the opportunity to seize their men and horses and incorporate them into the Jinling Navy."
, if they are allowed to die, I am afraid it will affect my gentleman's reputation to some extent. Reputation is the key to recruiting talents from all over the world, and it cannot be lost easily... Therefore, I still have to help them find a solution for the crime of lying and taking credit.
.”
Xu Rong frowned and said: "What a crime it is to take credit for taking credit. Even if you try to suppress Sheng Xian in the name of Liu Yao as the governor of Yangzhou, he may not be willing to accept it. We don't care about this matter..."
The pottery merchant tapped the table gently with his hand and said calmly: "Then make the unreasonable things reasonable. General Xu, do you know how Sheng Xian found out that these stupid thieves lied about their military merits?"
Xu Rongyi shrugged and said: "These stupid people lied about the military situation, saying that they had wiped out the Shanyue clan thief Zu Lang. However, within a few days, Zu Lang's soldiers rushed out of the mountain..."
Tao Shang smiled when he heard this: "Did Sheng Xian see it with his own eyes?"
Xu Rong shook his head and said: "How can he, the head of a county, go to the ravine every day to spy on bandits... Of course there is no such thing."
"Then how does he know that the soldiers and horses that come out of the mountains and are considered to be Zulang's army must be Zulang's men and not impostors from other mountains?"
Xu Rong was a little confused at first when he heard this, but then he slowly began to understand.
Is this brat trying to muddy the waters again?
The pottery merchant smiled and said to Xu Rong: "You go to my brother Tao Ji. He is a native of Danyang and knows something about Zu Lang. If you find out clearly, send a few more teams to pretend to be Zu Lang's soldiers in Wu County."
When you show up in each county, remember to stay as far away from each county as possible, as long as they can see it, and you are not allowed to harass and rob civilians, just show up and let people see it... I want to make Wu County full of people everywhere overnight
Zulang."
Xu Rong pondered for a moment and said: "Tao Ji may not have actually seen Zu Lang's troops, and the general may not pretend to be like them."
The pottery merchant laughed when he heard this: "Even if you pretend to be different, if you really pretend to be, who will think it's fake?"
There is really no one who fishes in troubled waters day by day.
…
…
At the Taihu Lake, Tao Shang took back the navy troops under the command of the water thieves who had been careful in the past, and idled all the "virtual captains" he had originally conferred, and then ordered Xu Rong to send out more than ten groups of soldiers.
Horses, disguised as the soldiers and horses of Shanyuequ Commandery, showed their prominence in various parts of Wu County.
After the matter was settled, the pottery merchant led his troops straight to Wu County, the seat of Wu County.
Sheng Xian was a scholar of the gentry, and he was a party member in the past. His reputation as a scholar was so great that he could almost compete with scholars of the gentry like Kong Rong, and he himself had an irreversible relationship with Kong Rong.
This is the reason why the pottery merchants coveted Wu County, but it was always inconvenient for them to grab it directly.
The pottery merchant did not want to fight directly with the well-known literati. He himself was a gentleman, and Sheng Xian was a literati. We all belonged to the same school. It was for the high-end people in the cultural circle and the literati to fight against the literati. It was not for those who just wanted to fight against the literati.
The barbarian who knew how to fight saw the joke
Mr. Tao's favorite thing is to persuade others with virtue.
Hearing that the pottery merchant and his troops were about to arrive in Wu County, the cultural man Sheng Xian was a little at a loss.
He wanted to send troops to stop the potter's progress, but he didn't dare.
The military power of Jinling City was not something that his soldiers from Wu County could withstand. What's more, Tao Shang's entry to attack Shanyue was authorized by Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou. It was justifiable for him to send troops to Wu County.
Shengxian was upset and didn't know how to deal with it.
I heard that although the pottery merchant was called Prince Taiping, he was very bad at fighting with troops. Even Lu Bu was taken away from his mount by him.
If he gets rough with me, even if I am a scholar, I will be stripped of my pants.
But it was obvious that the pottery merchant did not intend to use violence against him, at least not for the time being.
Tao Shang first sent a letter to Sheng Xian, stating that his purpose of coming to Wu County this time was to serve the general of Yangzhou Governor Liu Yao to attack the local clan traitors in Wu County, and he did not want to fight with Sheng Xian.
If any conflict arises, please don't take it too seriously.
The potter's name was very upright, and the letter he wrote was very polite. He was so polite that Sheng Xian had no reason to reject him.
He didn't even have a reason to plot against the potter.
Sheng Xian's reputation, family background, and his literary character do not allow him to be as reckless as ordinary heroes in dealing with this kind of issue, because reputation is more important to him than life.
Therefore, he could only order his men to unfurl banners and warmly welcome Prince Taiping to bring troops to Wu Commandery.
The two met in this way.
Regardless of anything else, Sheng Xian asked the pottery merchant for advice as soon as they met. Why did the pottery merchant send a group of captains from Danyang County to a subordinate county of Wu County?
being polite.
Sheng Xian planned to seize the opportunity and give the pottery boy a righteous blow.
The pottery merchant was silent and took out the admission document stamped with Liu Yao's seal from his arms.
Wu County does not belong to you personally, it belongs to the court. If Wu County is compared to your home, then you can be regarded as a low-cost tenant at most. The court has the right to let others rent a house with you.
It's such a simple thing, you are making a fuss.
Sheng Xian then started the second round of Q&A.
Sheng Xian asked Tao Shang again how to deal with the situation of those stationed captains who lied about military information and falsely claimed military merit.
Your low-rent tenant used to live with me, but ended up luring a wolf into the house and harboring a thief. Will the court handle this matter?
The potter laughed.
He had already prepared for this.
He took out a stack of official documents, which were all reports brought back by the spies he sent to the counties under Wu County in the past few days.'
Tao Shang told Sheng Xian that there were Shanyue soldiers pretending to be Zu Lang appearing everywhere in Wu County, and Zu Lang appeared in more than ten places. It was obvious that there were other Shan Yue clan thieves pretending to be Zu Lang, so this
It cannot be proven that the application forms submitted by the stationed captains are fake. What if the people they killed are real? Isn’t it unfair to convict them because of so many fake ones?
At least one must go through argumentation and careful screening before a conclusion can be drawn.
Sheng Xian gritted his teeth angrily and asked the pottery merchant: Why do you conclude that among these fake clan thieves, there is no real ancestor?
The potter asked him: Then why do you conclude that among these people, there must be Zhenzu Lang?
After speaking out some strong words and shameless words, Shengxian almost lost his breath and fainted.
But he really had no reason to refute the potter.
Sheng Xian made the wrong calculation from the beginning.
He wanted to show off his power to the pottery merchant, so he might as well come up and compete directly with the pottery merchant, in which case he would have a greater chance of winning.
But he just messed around with Tao, wasn't he looking for death?
Sheng Xian wanted to question the pottery merchant again, but he saw that the pottery merchant interrupted him and turned back to the guest and asked him another question.
"Xiao Zhanggong, it is said that in recent years, Sun Ce of the Sun family has been keeping filial piety in Ding You, Fuyang County, which is under Wu County. But after Tao entered Wu County, he sent people to Fuyang to search for traces of Sun Ce, but found this man
His family members have long since disappeared. Sun Jian was the governor of Yuzhou when he was still alive, and Sun Ce's mourning period has not yet passed. If his family members are to be moved from Wu County, they must have a road lead marked by you personally.
Do you dare to ask Duke Xiaozhang, Sun Ce himself is no longer in Wu Commandery, how should you explain this matter to Governor Liu?"
Sheng Xian's face immediately turned red when he heard this, but he still said unconvinced: "Although Sun Ce's mourning period has not yet come, all the elders of his clan have signed a petition. The relocation of the clan is a matter discussed by the clan, and it is not Sun Ce himself who has done so.
For the sake of filial piety, even though Sheng is the county guard, what reason does he have to stop him?"
Tao Shang looked at Sheng Xian with a smile but not a smile, and said: "The reason, then I'll tell you a reason! Duke Xiaozhang doesn't care whether Sun Ce is filial or not. Tao doesn't care. His own father was killed by him.
It has nothing to do with us... But did you know that Sun Ce's father, Sun Jian, was a vassal of Yuan Shu? In the past, the cholera epidemic in Jiangnan, the actions of killing Wang Rui, the governor of Jingzhou, Zhang Zi, the prefect of Nanyang, and Kong Min, the governor of Yuzhou, were all caused by these two people.
Because, the Sun family is a nuisance. Sun Ce is within your jurisdiction, and you don’t want to control him. Instead, you let the tiger return to the mountain. If there is trouble in Jiangnan in the future, you will be the chief culprit!"
Sheng Xian's face turned red because of Tao Shang's anger, but he couldn't say anything.
Sun Ce's father, Sun Jian, was a vassal of Yuan Shu, and this fact was known to the whole world. Yuan Shu and Sun Jian continuously caused a bloody storm in the south of the Yangtze River, and Sheng Xian also knew about this.
But precisely because of this, Sheng Xian did not dare to provoke the Sun family at will.
Although Sun Ce was keeping filial piety to Sun Jian in Wu County, it did not mean that his troops were lost. His cousin Sun Ben was now taking over Sun Ce's place in command of Sun Jian's army. If he blocked Sun Ce at will and did not lead Sun Ce's way, he would be captured the next day.
One can imagine the consequences of Sun's revenge on Shengxian.
Not all literati are strong-willed.
Tao Shang seemed to have seen what Sheng Xian could not say, and then said: "It seems that what Liu Prefect said is not wrong. Jiangnan is in trouble now, and you, a scholar, seem to be unworthy of being the head of this county. Duke Xiaozhang
, you let Sun Ce go, and he sent troops to the south of the Yangtze River on the beautiful day, and everyone was in ruins. Even if you die a hundred times, you will not atone for your sins. For the sake of your years of character, Tao will not make it difficult for you. You take the initiative to become an official and hand over the power of Wu Commandery.
Come out, Tao will make the decision on Liu's behalf, and this page will be turned over, how about?"