Chapter 24: The Emperor's Uncle Shows Kindness

  (PS: Still two updates today, and the second update is still at night.)

  Time flies like an arrow, and in the blink of an eye, Junzi Army led by Tao Yinghe and Tao Ji has relocated to Wuzhou for more than three months. During these three months, there have been many changes in the five counties of Xuzhou and its surrounding areas.

  The flames of war have temporarily subsided, and the five counties of Xuzhou, which had experienced the chaos of Cao's army, began to recover their vitality. However, due to the massive reduction in population, both manpower and material resources were scarce, resulting in a very slow recovery of the economy and people's livelihoods. This, in turn, affected the main force of the Xuzhou army, which had been severely damaged by Cao's army, making it difficult for them to rebuild. The planned scale of reconstruction was repeatedly reduced, and it is unknown when they will be able to recover to their former prosperity.

  The weak are bound to be strong, the actual strength of Xuzhou's government army has been greatly reduced. The big and small warlords and bandits in Xuzhou naturally took advantage of the opportunity to expand their forces. Zhang Bao's troops, who were stationed in Kaiyang, took advantage of Tao Qian's weakness to expand their forces to over 15,000 people, reversing the situation and surpassing the main force of Xuzhou. On the other hand, in Guangling, Xu Zhou's number one traitor, Qiao Rong, also took advantage of the opportunity to surrender and defect, expanding his forces and gathering over 10,000 mobs in the Guangling area, making a big show of their power. They even shouted out the slogan of advancing into Pengcheng, capturing Tao Qian, and offering him to Cao Cao to secure Xuzhou. Tao Qian hated this traitor to the bone, but unfortunately, he was seriously injured and lacked the strength to do anything about it, so he could only suppress his anger and pretend to be deaf and dumb.

  However, compared to the mediocre and incompetent Xun Yu and Zhang Miao, the one who really made Tao Qian's life difficult was our Liu Bei. Just like in the books, our Liu Bei governed Xiao Pei with kindness and integrity, spreading his benevolence far and wide, without offending anyone, and levying light taxes, giving the people of Xiao Pei a chance to live in peace. He quickly won over the hearts of the people of Xiao Pei, causing refugees from the five counties of Xuzhou to flock to Xiao Pei, with everyone singing his praises and extolling his virtues.

  In comparison, Tao Qian and his son, who had just experienced the chaos of Cao's army, still had to extort grain and taxes from the people of Xuzhou, which naturally made the people and scholars of Xuzhou extremely dissatisfied. The miserable Tao Qian and his son were also even more unable to eat or sleep peacefully.

  People look good, Tao Qian and his son have a hard time speaking out, but actually our Liu Xiang's days are not much better. To buy people's hearts, to spread kindness and virtue, the first premise is that there must be money and grain. Although Liu Xiang's army has expenses paid by Tao Qian, it's only enough to barely maintain a living. If you want to further expand your power, the economic foundation is absolutely far from enough. And Liu Xiang, in order to buy people's hearts, insisted on implementing light labor and low taxes, as a result, people's hearts were bought, but the money and grain that Liu Xiang could collect in Xiaopei were pitifully small. Without money or grain, it is impossible to massively recruit soldiers, so in Xiaopei, where there are still four months left, Liu Xiang only expanded his army to 5,000 men, far from meeting Liu Xiang's expectations.

  There are two major issues that keep Liu Bei awake at night. The first is the threat of Cao Cao, and Tao Qian's intention in keeping Liu Bei in Xiaopei was to use him as a shield against Cao Cao's advances, making Xu State raise a watchdog for itself. Liu Bei, who understood this situation well, was reluctant to abandon Tao Qian, yet worried that if he stayed, Cao Cao would attack Xu State again and push him to the forefront of the battle, wasting his already limited resources.

  It's okay, Liu Xuanzhi learned from the scout that Lü Bu was quite spirited after being surrounded and defeated by the three stars of Peach Garden. With Chen Gong's strategy, he successively defeated Cao's army in the area of Puyang and almost beheaded Cao himself. So for a while, Cao wouldn't have time to bother Liu Xuanzhi and Tao Qian. Liu Xuanzhi only needed to help Tao Qian suppress some small bandits to practice his military skills, and temporarily didn't need to consider using his life-saving skill on the battlefield to save himself and Tao Qian from Cao's blade.

  The second thing that worries Liu Bei is the father and son of Tao Qian, to be exact, it's Tao Ying, the deputy director. Previously, Tao Ying had taken advantage of the situation and snatched away the credit for defeating Cao Cao, making the people of Xuzhou look up to him, which had already disrupted Liu Bei's plan for benevolent governance. Now, Tao Ying has created a powerful army that is not under anyone else's control, and his intentions are clear. From the fact that Tao Qian fully supports Tao Ying in establishing this army, it can be seen that this old sly fox is making preparations for something big. Liu Bei had already seen a glimmer of hope for his ambitious plans, but they may be strangled in the cradle.

  At the very least, if Tao Qian were to reveal enough talent to satisfy Tao Qian himself, Liu Xuande would not dare hope for Tao Qian to yield Xuzhou three times - to be exact, Liu Xuande would not dare hope to obtain Xuzhou through gentle means.

  In mid-July, Liu Bei once again welcomed his old friend Mi Fang to Xiaopei City. Mi Fang brought the number of farmland mu and estimated grain production for the five counties of Xuzhou this year, as requested by his brother Mi Zhu, so that Liu Bei could use the amount of money and grain in Xuzhou to negotiate with Tao Qian and try to get as much money and grain as possible from the foolish Tao Qian. However, due to the war and sharp decline in population, the autumn harvest situation in Xuzhou this year is absolutely not optimistic. Therefore, Mi Zhu brothers privately estimated that even if Liu Bei forced Tao Qian to jump into the Yellow River, he might not get much money.

  What surprised Miao Fang was that Liu Bei's attention was not on the top-secret intelligence brought by his brothers, but as soon as he got rid of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, those two troublesome straight-talking men, and finally had the opportunity to have a private conversation, Liu Bei immediately asked Miao Fang: "What about Tao Ying's situation? Has there been any unusual movement recently?"

  "Report to Lord Xuande, Tao Ying's son is still the same, hiding in Wu County to practice military training, not once returning to Xuzhou." Zou Fang replied respectfully: "Tao Ying's son has designated the surrounding twenty miles of Wu County as a forbidden area, prohibiting civilians from entering and exiting at will. In order not to add trouble for Lord Xuande, Zou Fang and his brother did not dare to send someone to secretly enter Wu County, so they didn't know much about the situation in Wu County. They only noticed one unusual situation: Tao Ying's son consumed a large number of arrows during military training. Cao Hong, the traitor, sent fifty households of arrow craftsmen to Tao Ying and also sent a large amount of materials for making arrows."

  "Are arrow branches consumed in large quantities?" Liu Bei frowned, thinking that Tao Ying was playing some trick, wondering if he wanted to create a horse bow and arrow team? But on the battlefield, without the coordination of infantry, the cavalry archery team cannot play a decisive role in winning or losing.

  After thinking for a moment, Liu Bei asked Xiangfang again: "How is Tao Yinggong's governance in Wuyuan? Is there any benevolent government for the people of Wuyuan?"

  "Please rest assured, Lord Guan. Tao Ying's son is not much better than his father in terms of governance." Zou Fang smiled and replied: "From the information gathered by my brothers, Tao Ying's son can at most be considered mediocre in governance. He hasn't done anything remarkable like you, Lord Guan, who has attracted a large number of refugees, nor has he developed the economy and improved people's lives like you have. However, unlike those two scoundrels Cao Pi and Cao Hong, he doesn't allow his soldiers to harass the civilians, so there haven't been any complaints from the people of Wu County to the authorities in Peng City that would embarrass Tao Yan and his son. But I think this is also because the population of Wu County has greatly decreased, with only less than 150 households left in the entire city, making it easier for Tao Ying's son to restrain his soldiers from harassing the civilians."

  Liu Bei remained expressionless, but in his heart he secretly cursed Tao Qian for being as stupid as a pig. He thought to himself that Tao Qian's son had only taken over the county of Wu four months ago and was still learning how to govern, just like him when he first started developing the land and improving people's lives. Moreover, Tao Qian's governance was not bad, which showed that he was a cautious and practical person who did not seek to take credit or advance recklessly, and did not make mistakes. In the eyes of old man Tao Qian, such a son would probably be the most suitable heir.

  Unable to gather more information about Tao Ying from Mei Fang, Liu Xuan turned his attention to Tao Qian and asked Mei Fang: "Zifang, how has Lord Tao's health been lately? Has his condition improved?"

  "This...". Mei Fang hesitated for a moment before saying in a low voice, "I'm afraid we'll have to disappoint Lord Xuande. Recently, the illness of the Tao family's master has shown some improvement. My brother thinks it might be related to the weather. Lately, the rainfall in Pengcheng has been normal and the climate is relatively humid, so the Tao family's asthma has improved a lot. Even when it does occur, it's not as severe as during winter."

  "Zi Fang is really good at joking, Tao Fu Jun's condition has improved, Liu Bei is overjoyed and hasn't had time to come back, how can Zi Fang say that Liu Bei will be disappointed?" Liu Xiong Sheng laughed and said, but in his heart he was extremely depressed - this old man Tao Qian, how did his condition improve? Indeed, it's true that 'old but not dead is a thief'!"

  "Please forgive me, Lord Guan." Zou Fang also found himself too outspoken and hurriedly apologized. Then, Zou Zhu hesitated for a moment, looked around to make sure no one was listening, and said in a low voice: "Lord Guan, Zou Fang has always had an idea, wanting to bribe Zhang Hang, the imperial physician most trusted by Tao Qian. In this way, whenever Lord Guan wants Tao Qian to pass away, Tao Qian will pass away."

  Liu Bei's eyebrows slightly moved, and he began to consider the feasibility of this idea. He thought that if Tao Qian suddenly died, Xuzhou would be in chaos without a leader, and he, as a guest general, would have the full support of the wealthy Mi Fang family, and naturally, he would also have a great opportunity to take advantage of the situation. However, this idea was extremely risky, and if the plan were exposed, his good reputation, which he had built up over many years, would be ruined in an instant!

  Seeing Liu Bei's hesitant expression, Mi Fang hurriedly whispered: "Lord Xian, I think this plan should work. You can think about it, Lord Tao has no heir so far, and he has proposed to give Xuzhou to you twice. If Lord Tao suddenly dies, it would be improper for his two young sons, Tao Shang and Tao Ying, to inherit the title. My brother and I will forge another letter, saying that it was Lord Tao's last will, leaving Xuzhou to you. Wouldn't you then be able to take control of the five counties of Xuzhou?"

  Liu Bei still didn't speak, only tightly calculating, while Mi Fang again said in a low voice: "Lord Xian De, please be at ease. I have already carefully considered this. Once Tao Qian dies, my brothers and I will naturally fully support you in taking over Xuzhou. Chen Gui's father and son have always been ambiguous in their attitude, and even if they don't assist you, they won't stand on the side of those two little brats Tao Shang and Tao Ying. As for Zhang Miao, he has no great ambitions, only seeking to occupy one region. Your relationship with him is good, so it will only take a few words to promise that he can forever govern Langya, and he will certainly support you in taking over Xuzhou! In this way, among the three major forces of Mi, Chen, and Zhang in Xuzhou, you will have two on your side, while the Chen family remains neutral. Even if those two little brats Tao Shang and Tao Ying have great abilities, they won't be able to stir up any waves."

  Liu Bei still didn't speak, and after a long while, he said in a low voice: "What about Cao Jie? Did you forget to count him?"

  "Cao Jiao is not worth worrying about." Zou Fang smiled and said: "Although Cao Jiao is the nominal commander-in-chief of Xuzhou, he is actually a low-ranking official with no military ability. He can't even command an army properly, let alone be a match for Lord Guan. Moreover, this man is sly by nature, good at taking advantage of situations and being opportunistic. Seeing that Lord Guan's power is great, in order to gain wealth and glory, beautiful wives and concubines, he will naturally make the wise choice."

  Liu Bei's heart was moved, but his face remained calm and expressionless, truly achieving the state of "hiding one's emotions". Cao Fang waited for a long time without seeing Liu Bei make a decision, and couldn't help but urge: "Lord Xian, opportunity is fleeting, if lost it will never come again! Previously, Lord Xian, you twice declined to take over Xuzhou, already missing the best chance, and gave Tao Qian's young son the opportunity to gain fame throughout the land and win the hearts of the people of Xuzhou. Now, Tao Qian is obviously treating his young son as a legitimate heir! If we delay for too long, and Tao Qian suddenly establishes an heir, passing on Xuzhou to either Tao Shang or his young son, it will be difficult for Lord Xian to take Xuzhou again!"

  "Zi Fang, your last sentence is correct." Liu Xuan Shu finally spoke up, his voice low and hoarse: "Although the Tao family had not established a clear heir, what if before you took action, the head of the Tao family suddenly established an heir? Or, what if on his deathbed, he designated one son to inherit Xu Zhou - Tao Gong Zu treated Liu Bei with great courtesy and kindness, their bond was deep, how could Bei bear to take away his father's legacy?"

  "Lord Guan, Xuzhou is a land of the great Han dynasty. You are a close relative of the emperor and should be in charge of it. Why do you want to give it to the Tao family?" Zou Fang's voice rose in urgency: "Besides, Xuzhou is a place of constant war, with enemies all around. Only a ruler who can bring order out of chaos can govern it! Lord Guan is a man of great benevolence and righteousness, do you really want to sit idly by and watch the five counties of Xuzhou be ruined in the hands of those two insignificant children Tao Shang and Tao Ying, causing the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou to suffer and bleed, with rivers of blood flowing?"

  "Liu Xuande shook his head and said calmly: 'In my opinion, Tao Shanggongzi is naturally kind and filial, learned and knowledgeable, with unmatched talent and virtue. He should be made the heir by Lord Tao and inherit Xuzhou. Therefore, I think that you two brothers should quickly submit a memorial to request that Lord Tao establish Tao Shanggongzi as his legitimate son, so that I can fully assist him in inheriting the great undertaking.'"

  "Lord Guan, are you joking?" Mei Fang almost jumped up, "Let us brothers persuade Tao Qian to make Tao Shang his heir, what will you do then, Lord Guan?"

  "It's exhausting to talk to foolish people." Liu Xuanzi complained in his heart, and seeing that Zou Fang really didn't understand his good intentions, he had to ask in a low voice: "Zifang, in your opinion, which one is harder to deal with, Tao Shang or Tao Ying?"

  "Of course, Tao Yingxiao is difficult to deal with." Mei Fang replied without thinking: "Tao Yingxiao appears loyal and honest on the surface, but is actually cunning and treacherous inside, with a deep understanding of city politics and clever strategies. He also has great ambitions, far surpassing his brother's cunningness. On the other hand, Tao Shangxiao is stupid and foolish, as silly as a pig or dog, much easier to deal with than Tao Yingxiao."

  "If so, why did Brother Zi Fang still want to stop Lord Tao from establishing his eldest son as the heir?" Liu Bei said in a low and mysterious tone: "Since ancient times, deposing the elder and installing the younger has been a way of creating chaos. If Lord Tao establishes his eldest son, Tao Shang, as the heir, then even if Tao Ying Gongzi is not satisfied, he should understand the kindness of his ancestors - but if Tao Ying Gongzi refuses to accept this and plots rebellion, I will lead an army to punish him and eliminate the rebellious minister for the sake of Tao Shang!"

  After being stunned for a long time, Mei Fang's pitiful brain cells finally turned around, and he excitedly waved his hand, saying: "I understand! Mr. Xuande wants to let the two young brothers Tao Shang and Tao Ying fight each other, and then take advantage of the situation to reap the benefits!"

  "Scoundrel!" Liu Bei cursed in his heart, then shook his head and said: "No, I had no such intention. I just felt that as the younger brother of Tao Qian, he took control of the military power, seemingly with an intention to deceive his elder brother. Seeing injustice on the road, so I drew my sword to assist."

  "Lord Guan's wonderful plan, Zou Fang understood." Zou Fang was overjoyed and hastily cupped his hands to say: "Please rest assured, Lord Guan. After I return to Xuzhou City, I will immediately report this matter to my brother and let him act according to the plan."

  Liu Bei nodded slightly and said faintly, "Then trouble Zuo Bi and Zi Fang. Zi Fang can pull in some more officials from Xuzhou to help with the situation. If Lord Tao doesn't agree, then Zi Fang and Zuo Bi must use their seniority to advise him repeatedly, absolutely cannot let Lord Tao abandon the elder and establish the younger, bringing disaster upon himself."

  Mi Fang smiled and nodded, tacitly agreeing. Liu Bei paused for a moment before adding: "Zi Fang, earlier you mentioned that Zhang Hang, the imperial physician trusted by Lord Tao, since Lord Tao's condition is worsening, when you have time, you should visit him more often to keep abreast of his condition - if at that time Tao Ying Gongzi is dissatisfied with his elder brother being made heir by Lord Tao and does something foolish, Lord Tao's condition may worsen."

  Xu Fang was confused again and asked in a daze: "What does Lord Xuande mean by this, can you explain it clearly?"

  "Zi Fang, take this message back to Zi Zhong." Liu Bei found it difficult to explain again to Cao Fang, and calmly said: "He can understand, and also grasp the opportunity."