Chapter 329 A Pair of Credentials

Outside Nanxiang County, the population is dense.

Since May, about 10,000 strong laborers have been engaged in loading, unloading and transporting work here.

Taking into account the sailors and merchants traveling on the Danshui and Hanshui canals, many idle farmers from near and far gathered in Nanxiang, and the service industry boomed.

It was once as prosperous as Xiangyang and Jiangling.

This kind of liveliness is attractive.

Liu Bei was no exception. Before he went on the expedition, he took time out to drive to Nanxiang with his wife and two half-grown daughters.

He travelled light and with a small group of people, making him inconspicuous compared to other business travelers.

The county magistrate Yi Ji also knew about this early on, and sent people to secretly guard him, and also arranged for the big families in the south to contact Liu Bei.

At the bamboo building on the shore, Lou Gui extended his arms to invite him, and pointed to the wooden building next door and said, "Sir, this is the building where the Grand Marshal lived when he was stationed in Nanxiang."

"I heard something."

Liu Bei nodded. Except for the storage barracks, all other barracks near and far from the river were used to accommodate the loading and unloading workers and the canal sailors. The mountain people, small merchants and handicraftsmen gathered from the surrounding areas could only live in huts further out.

Lou Gui led the way, and Liu Bei followed him up the steps of the bamboo building and came to the suspended second floor.

The second floor is relatively spacious. Apart from a screen facing the door, the rest of the space is unobstructed and there are no other small compartments.

Liu Bei's guards had already checked once by transporting wine and drinks, so Liu Bei followed Lou Gui inside.

After turning around the screen, he saw Pei Qian and Xu You sitting at the table. At this moment, they also stood up to greet him and bowed, "Greetings, Your Excellency."

"Hello, gentlemen."

Liu Bei also returned the greeting and took a seat under the guidance of Lou Gui, sitting in the first seat on the right, while Lou Gui sat in the second seat on the right.

Pei Qian, as the Guanzhong negotiation envoy, sat first on the left, and Xu You sat opposite Lou Gui.

After the four people were seated, the guards from both sides came in with dishes to greet them. A young boy who had followed Liu Bei, who was strong and sturdy, picked up the wine jar and served wine to everyone.

Liu Bei rolled up his sleeves and heard Xu You say, "As far as I know, Jingnan intends to make the Liu family of Changsha the king and establish the Changsha Kingdom."

Seeing that Pei Qian and Lou Gui had no reaction, Liu Bei looked surprised: "Oh? Is this true?"

"I dare not hide it from you, sir. They sent envoys to visit us and set up the State of Changsha to protect the territory and the people. When the state was established, the sons of the King of Changsha would be sent to Guanzhong as hostages."

Xu You smiled as he spoke: "Pang Shiyuan is aggressive and aggressive. Although the people of Jingnan like General Fu Bo's generosity, they hate his lack of opinions. As the saying goes, it is better to surrender the greater than the smaller, so they have the idea of ​​becoming independent."

Liu Bei raised his wine to signal him to drink, and Xu You also raised his wine to enjoy Liu Bei's toast, and the two drank a glass each.

Then Liu Bei spoke up: "So when I marched into the Central Plains this year, there were few reinforcements from Jingzhou?"

Xu You nodded and said, "May I ask, sir, how many reinforcements did Liu Jingsheng and his son agree to?"

"There are 30,000 reinforcements, 10,000 of which will be led by Wen Pin, and will follow me to pursue the enemy. The remaining 20,000 will be distributed to various cities along the Jing-Yu highway to protect the grain route."

Liu Bei sighed and said, "Xiahou Dun is hard to persuade. Without Gan Xingba to hold him back, it would be difficult for our army to attack with all its strength."

Xiahou Dun in the north was too tenacious and firmly pinned himself to the Heluo area, blocking the external radiation of Guanzhong and threatening the supply line of Wankou.

Xu You was not surprised to hear this. With Fu Xun staying by Liu Qi's side, there would not be much secret in the intelligence of Jingzhou.

Xu You thought for a moment and said, "Envoy Liu, you should prepare for the worst. This time, Liu Jingsheng and his son can at most send 5,000 reinforcements, or maybe only 3,000."

If Jingnan really supported the Liu family of Changsha to become king, how could Liu Biao and his son have the spare energy to reinforce and borrow 3,000 soldiers?

Liu Bei's face was grim: "So, the Grand Marshal agrees to establish Changsha as a country?"

"I don't know yet. I haven't seen Da Sima's reply yet."

Xu You's face remained emotionless. "Regarding the establishment of the Liu family in Changsha, please put yourself in my place and think about it from my perspective. What good thing is there to refuse when it comes to this?"

Liu Bei remained silent. Now the other party no longer called him Lord Xuande, but called him Envoy Liu all the time.

Xu You added: "When the Grand Marshal was in Jingzhou, he discussed the advantages of Jingzhou's abundant population. It is only a county and eight counties in the southern part of Jingzhou, which is not enough to shake the arrogant spirit of the people of Jingzhou. If Jingnan is established as a country, Jingzhou will be divided into three parts, north and south, and the Grand Marshal will have nothing to worry about. This is actually a good thing for the vast majority of the people in Jingzhou."

Liu Bei did not argue, because objectively speaking, this was a good thing for the people of Guanzhong and Jingzhou, and the only ones who suffered were Liu Biao and his son. He was not a person who would ignore objective facts and force a debate for the sake of profit, and he also knew that Guanzhong could not be convinced by a few words.

The people in Guanzhong were similar to him. They would either force him into submission or argue with more legitimate reasons.

As for things like avenging the emperor and killing traitors, you can tell other people about it, but it won't work on the people in Guanzhong.

Because Black Bear would rather go and conquer the Hetao Hu people himself, and he doesn't care about the political prestige that comes from avenging the emperor.

The political legacy of the Han emperor is there, Black Bear doesn't care, and the people under the Grand Marshal's office can only pretend not to care.

Liu Bei felt more and more that the establishment of a kingdom by the Liu family of Changsha was most likely guided and facilitated by certain people in Guanzhong.

For example, Fu Xun, Pei Qian, there are too many people who have the connections to act as bridges.

After a moment of silence, Liu Bei was ready to skip this topic and asked, "How much rice can be provided in Nanxiang, as well as reinforcements?"

This was not Xu You's business. Xu You turned his head to look at Pei Qian. Pei Qian said, "When you are fighting against the traitors, if there is a shortage of food and fodder, the rice stored in Nanxiang can be shipped at any time. This was instructed by the Grand Marshal before he went to the battle. We will not do anything about food and fodder, but it is difficult to dispatch reinforcements."

Liu Bei nodded and said, "If there is no reliable reinforcement, the food and fodder may be lost and scattered in the mountains after leaving Nanxiang. Our Nanyang territory will naturally allow the allied forces to pass through."

"Your Excellency is an ally of my family. I am not worried about the soldiers from Guanzhong passing through Nanyang. I also don't care if Liu Jingsheng and his son or Pang Shiyuan have any grudges against me."

Pei Qian had other concerns. He wanted to mobilize troops to reinforce Liu Bei. It was easy to mobilize troops, but who would lead them was a huge problem.

There is no shortage of outstanding generals in Guanzhong, but the focus of the war is now on Hetao, and many officers are ready to wait for the final call-up.

Therefore, the most capable and ambitious generals would definitely not be willing to come to Nanyang and the Central Plains to fight; and the soldiers would rather stay in Guanzhong and wait for an opportunity to go to Hetao than come to the Central Plains to form an alliance and fight.

Pei Qian also knew that although the Grand Marshal's reasons for starting a war were very capricious, every battle was carefully planned before it was launched.

In other words, Guanzhong’s deterrent power now comes from every victory it is sure to win and the fact that it has never been defeated.

If we send a second-rate general with a group of ordinary troops to reinforce, if we are defeated, it will cause internal and external turmoil.

Pei Qian pondered in silence, and Liu Bei went to see Xu You, whom he was quite familiar with.

Xu You understood and coughed lightly a few times to signal Lou Gui opposite him.

Lou Gui finally found his sense of existence and said to Pei Qian, "I know a little about what Wenxing is worried about. How about this? If Lord Xuande's troops are blocked and urgently need reinforcements, we will go out again."

Pei Qian frowned: "Using troops is a big deal, how can we gather them hastily?"

"No, what I mean is not to move the troops in Guanzhong, but to recruit the men from Nanxiang and Jingshan."

Lou Gui went to see Liu Bei again and said: "I will be solely responsible for the transportation of food and fodder when the war begins. If the war on the front line is not going well and needs support, my men will unite with the soldiers of Nanxiang County and set up the banner of the Guanzhong Army. Then, we can march to Wankou to support Lord Xuande."

Lou Gui is not short of money now, but he urgently needs a channel to turn money into influence and status.

Liu Bei nodded and went to see Pei Qian as well.

Pei Qian nodded: "I can agree to this expedient matter. However, my reinforcements from Guanzhong will be recruited in an orderly manner and will be assembled in Shangyi. When the war is urgent, our army will be transported to Nanxiang via the Danshui Canal."

Pei Qian went to see Liu Bei and said, "Sir, you can take the food and fodder as you like, and there will be no shortage of reinforcements. But now, what can you rely on?"

Liu Bei's smile faded: "What do you mean by that, Wenxing?"

"The Grand Marshal is in Hetao, 3,000 miles away from here, so it's inconvenient to communicate back and forth."

Pei Qian said calmly: "The Grand Marshal doesn't care about these trivial matters, but as ministers, we should be cautious when discussing important matters. Please hand over the receipt so that we can explain to the Grand Marshal."

Liu Bei took out the seal bag from his waist and asked: "How about the seal of the left general?"

Pei Qian shook his head: "Your Excellency is kind to the world, so you must also love your children. When the Liu family of Changsha was about to claim the throne and establish a country, all of their sons were sent to Guanzhong as hostages. Please take this as an example."

Liu Bei looked tangled: "My son was left behind in the chaos. I can't take him as a hostage in Guanzhong, right?"

"Daughters are also fine."

Pei Qian did not smile: "If you succeed, we will return it. If you fail, we can also protect your bloodline."

(End of this chapter)