Yuan Shao's envoy asked the pottery merchant to hand over Tian Feng. This matter seemed quite simple, but in fact it was quite difficult.
First of all, it is to worry about the reputation of the world.
Prince Taiping, the Taifu during the late emperor's time, the hero who abolished the three princes and installed the prime ministership, just a few days after taking Tian Feng in, he obediently handed Tian Feng back to Yuan Shao?
How much of a coward does this have to be?
If this spreads out, the imperial court established by the pottery merchant will lose all its prestige.
Wouldn’t it be better for the princes not to show off to the potters?
This is a matter related to the dignity of the imperial court and must not be done!
In addition, even the pottery merchant's subordinates were all looking at how the pottery merchant would handle this matter.
The master who cannot protect even one surrender, how can he protect them the next day?
Naturally, ministers must be loyal to their master, but the master must also show due courage and sense of responsibility to protect his trusted ministers.
Therefore, no matter from any aspect, the pottery merchants must not back down.
When the envoy threatened the pottery merchant and asked for Tian Feng on the grounds of non-alignment, the pottery merchant stood up immediately and said to him righteously: "A man does something and doesn't do something. Tian Yuanhao was defeated by Yuan Shao and his men."
He was persecuted, and he came to me when he was in a desperate situation. It would be unjust for me to hand him over! Yuan Shao killed Tian Yuanhao's family, causing harm to his family. This is really the behavior of an animal. If Yuan Hao falls into his hands, he will be slaughtered. If I
It is unkind to do this."
Having said this, Tao Shang turned around and looked around at the counselors and soldiers around him, and said, "Unkind and unjust Lord, do you want this?"
"No, no!"
"You are an unkind and unjust man and ask me to do such a dirty thing. Will you agree?"
"No, no, no!"
"A gentleman values face. If I abandon Tian Yuanhao, I will lose the name of this gentleman. As a gentleman, do you want to lose face?"
"Shameless, shameless..."
Everyone almost shouted, feeling something was not right, so they all shut up.
Only Xu Chu, Zang Ba, Ji Ling and others were still shouting happily, but several generals around them hit their arms with their elbows. After they regained their composure, they shut up.
Tao Shang glared at Xu Chu, Ji Ling and others fiercely, then turned to look at the messenger and said: "You saw it, go back and report to Yuan Shao. It's not because Tao doesn't want to agree to him, but it's the general trend and the will of the people. I
You cannot go against the will of everyone.”
The envoy bowed his head and said calmly to Tao Shang: "The Prime Minister is indeed a rare gentleman in the world. He lives up to the name of the Prince of Peace. I admire him very much. However, there are some things that must not be acted upon by emotion. General Yuan asked me before I came.
I have a message for the Prime Minister. Don’t think that with a city and a foothold in Hebei, you can safely pass this winter. Some things are not as simple as you think, Prime Minister... There is no severe winter in the south, and there is no need for thick clothes.
We need charcoal fire, but now Prime Minister Tao has an army of 100,000 here. Without these winter supplies, what will the 100,000 generals do?"
The messenger's words immediately stunned the pottery merchant.
What I said seems to make sense...
But no matter what, the pottery merchant cannot be cowardly at present, he must stand up and earn enough face for the court.
He sneered and said to the envoy: "You don't have to worry about this matter, Mr. Yuan. Tao has his own opinion on this matter. At that time, I had a small army and few generals, but I was still able to lead troops to Bingzhou to quell the Baibo army. It was also the same at that time."
We have overcome the cold winter, and now we have soldiers and generals. Why do these little things matter? There is no need to worry about it."
After saying this, the messenger was so ashamed that he left in anger.
After the envoy left, the generals laughed heartily and shouted "Mighty!"
But it was today's face-to-face contest that gave our side great confidence. For a time, everyone was excited and their morale was high.
Especially the generals, led by Xu Chu and others, who had followed the pottery merchant for a long time, were all happy and grinning from ear to ear.
I didn't expect that my own Prime Minister could be so domineering. He was completely different from the humble and gentle man he usually was. It was really admirable.
The pottery merchant sat quietly on his seat and muttered to himself: "I'm bragging too much. Yuan Shao has drained the military heating supplies in Qingzhou and brought them back to Jizhou for unified deployment.
How should I round up my words...isn't this a joke?"
…
That night, Tao Shang summoned Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi to his side and explained the matter to them.
Zhuge Liang didn't want to get to the bottom of this, so he just shook his feather fan without making a sound.
On the other hand, Sima Hui said to the potter: "Teacher, the problem of winter supplies still needs to be solved in Hebei. It is not difficult to make it, but it depends on how to do it... We are all outsiders and don't know much about the situation here. How can we do it in Hebei?"
Can we do it without disturbing the people? We have to let Hebei locals make up their minds."
The pottery merchant understood the meaning of Sima Yi's words. This matter was indeed easy to solve, but the consequences were disastrous.
The solution? Very simple! Forcibly collect it from the local people!
But the pottery merchants were unwilling to compete with the people for profit. The water could carry the boat but also capsize it. We arrived at Qingzhou and occupied two counties. Now that a graceful decree has not been implemented, we must first seize other people's winter supplies.
If you really want to do this, you don't need to think about it. Just think with your toes, the people of Qingzhou are eager to let the Tao go out immediately.
As for what Sima Yi said about why local people are needed, there is no doubt that he is referring to Tian Feng.
Because of Tian Feng, the pottery merchant lost the opportunity to delay Yuan Shao. Naturally, the only person who could seal the hole for the pottery merchant was Tian Feng.
The pottery merchant then went to find Tian Feng.
Tian Feng has now calmed down a little. After listening to the pottery merchant's advice, he pondered for a long time and then said: "This matter is difficult to say, but it is also simple to say. I dare to ask the Prime Minister, when Bai Bojun was defeated,
, where do you get the supplies for the winter?”
The pottery merchant was stunned when he heard this, and after pondering for a moment, he said: "Of course it is from the local noble families in Taiyuan, the Ping family in Pingyi, the Li family in Yewang County, the Sima family in Wen County..."
When he said this, Tao Shang suddenly slapped his head and said: "Mr. Yuan Hao, what you mean is that we can repeat the old plan?"
Tian Feng nodded, then shook his head.
"The things for the winter naturally have to fall on the heads of the local nobles, but it is different from the past. Back then, the prime minister had 10,000 Xuzhou troops. Now, the prime minister has 100,000 elite troops, plus thousands of war horses. What is needed
There are several times more things than in the past, and it is definitely not something that an ordinary family can afford. If you want to come up with so many supplies at once, you must have a very deep family background."
The pottery merchant smiled and said, "Can you please Mr. Yuan Hao to recommend one to me?"
Tian Feng said word for word: "The Zhen family from Zhongshan can take this position."