Chapter 369 Huge Differences
On September 15, Yuan Shang arrived in Hefei with his chief clerk Li Fu as an envoy.

After a banquet, Li Fu and Zhang Zhao said goodbye at the gate of the newly renovated mansion.

Zhang Zhao was impressed by Li Fu's demeanor. He grabbed Li Fu's arm and said with emotion: "There are so many heroes in Hebei, but they are controlled by the Grand Marshal."

This was a fact, and Li Fu did not refute it, but just said: "Now he has more than 100,000 armored soldiers under his command, and no less than 200,000 Hu servants. Jianghuai is far away and his strength is unknown. Our officials and people in Hebei are all terrified. Therefore, I think he will not agree to the promotion of Grand Marshal, let alone accepting the title of king and submitting to others."

Zhang Zhao was silent for a moment. After he proclaimed himself emperor, he would definitely confer titles on many vassal kings.

During this process, Huainan obtained the title of emperor, the princes of the Liu clan were able to formally establish their own country and become kings, and Cao Cao was able to wash away most of the infamy of the crime of murdering the emperor.

The only things that were divided up were the country and system of the Later Han Dynasty, which existed in name only.

The scholars, powerful people and big families in various places will also lose the legal basis to check and balance the Liu princes, and they will become prey.

In this process, everyone will become stronger.

But can this enhanced strength resist the invasion of Guanzhong?
Therefore, before sending troops from Guanzhong to retaliate, out of courtesy, Zhang Zhao attempted to confer the title of King of Guanzhong on him and give him all the honorific titles he could.

It would be best to do it in one step and appoint the other party as the crown prince or something like that.

Li Fu and Hebei knew that Guanzhong was strong and powerful, but didn’t the people in Jianghuai know that?

A bold idea came to Zhang Zhao's mind, but it required the joint promotion of other heavyweight forces.

Hebei is a very suitable place, as the enemy has been half-surrounded by Guanzhong; as long as the war can be effectively resolved, the people of Hebei will follow suit.

Seeing that Li Fu was relatively pessimistic about the future, Zhang Zhao immediately said, "Since the title of king cannot satisfy the Grand Marshal, what about the Crown Prince?"

Li Fu's eyes lit up when he heard this bold proposal: "Does the King of Huainan know what you said?"

"Now the king has no good plan."

Zhang Zhao lowered his voice and looked regretful: "The Crown Prince is far away in Guanzhong. If he can make the Grand Marshal the Crown Prince, it will be a blessing for the people of the world and the Han Dynasty."

As long as there is no war and everyone sits in the court for meetings, we can have fun slowly.

"If this is possible, it will be a blessing for us."

Li Fu sighed sincerely, but restrained his expression and said seriously: "Based on my understanding of the Grand Marshal, I am afraid that even if the states of Jianghuai, Hebei, Jingyi and others jointly persuade him to ascend the throne, the Grand Marshal will not accept the honorable position."

"Is there no room for maneuver?"

"No, ever since King Chen was murdered and his family and children were slaughtered by the treacherous ministers, we have no way out, let alone room for maneuver."

Li Fu grabbed Zhang Zhao's hand and said, "Otherwise, if the Grand Marshal had the intention, why would he have given up the title of Huainan?"

Zhang Zhao was silent again. Huainan's persuasion was a tentative signal from the beginning. If Guanzhong was interested, the King of Huainan would naturally lead the ministers in the kingdom and the governors of the counties and prefectures in Yangzhou to submit a petition to persuade Guanzhong to ascend the throne.

However, Guanzhong adopted a cold treatment and allowed Fu Xun, Pei Qian and others to split Jingzhou and incite Jingnan to establish Changsha State.

He ignored the title of Huainan and took the initiative to reduce the mobilization power of Liu Biao and his son, making it clear that he wanted to suppress Jingzhou with brutal means.

Immediately, Li Fu asked, "I heard that the people of Jianghuai thought Shouchun was an unlucky place and wanted to establish their capital in Moling, Danyang?"

Shouchun was the capital of Yuan Shu's pseudo-dynasty. It was very unlucky that this strange country was destroyed in a flash.

Zhang Zhao didn't want to answer this question, so he said: "The Sikong Mansion has also proposed several times to invite the King of Huainan to Xudu to ascend the throne. Because the people of Xuyang refuted it, it couldn't be done." This was to establish a new dynasty, not to inherit the Later Han Dynasty. How could he go to Xudu to ascend the throne?
After hearing this, Li Fu observed the other officials who were seeing him off. Seeing that they all looked evasive, Li Fu understood and could not help but sneer, "So, the capital will be in Moling?"

"It's not Moling, it's Jianye."

Jiang Gan, who was a few steps away from Zhang Zhao, spoke as if it was a matter of course: "The Grand Marshal is working hard to govern the country, and his soldiers are extremely brave and invincible. We can only take advantage of the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, improve politics at home, and raise soldiers and horses. When the weather changes, we can march north and stabilize the country again."

"The weather has changed? Are you referring to the fact that the Grand Marshal died of a sudden illness, or that he coveted women? Or that he lost support due to his lack of virtue, and that the heavens and people resented him?"

Li Fu had obtained Yuan Shang's highest authorization, and he was not afraid of the group of people in front of him. He glanced at Jiang Gan and said, "If this is the case, please forgive me for not being able to join the conspiracy in Hebei."

His deputy envoy Ju Hu also spoke up: "We all respect the King of Huainan to ascend the throne, but you are thinking of retreating to Jiangdong, using the Yangtze River as a natural barrier and us as shields. This is really chilling!"

Li Fu also expressed his opinion: "If you want Hebei to obey the King of Huainan as the emperor, you should have the sincerity to unite the army to resist the enemy; at the very least, you should also send money, food, and equipment to replenish the military supplies."

Zhang Zhao was not in a hurry either, as Hebei had no choice.

But he could not show sarcasm, Zhang Zhao said seriously: "This is what should be done. Building the capital in Jianye is intended to attack the Shanyue, and take their resources and people's strength for the military and the country. Moreover, in the past hundred years, there have been prophecies saying that there is a royal aura in the southeast. Temporarily setting the capital in Jianye is just in line with the will of heaven and the military and the country."

Jiang Gan also spoke up: "The Grand Marshal is stubborn and strong. If the capital is located in Jiangbei, if the capital is surrounded, it will affect the entire body and it will be difficult to unite forces to resist the enemy. Only by establishing the capital in Jiangdong can we calmly mobilize the forces of all parties."

Li Fu just sneered after hearing this, took a few steps back and bowed to the others: "Let me think about it carefully."

Zhang Zhao and Jiang Gan also bowed and saw them off. As they watched the ox cart go away, Jiang Gan gently waved the emerald green feather fan with a whisk in his hand and asked Zhang Zhao, "Prime Minister, do you know what they need?"

"Today, I am only asking for the title of king."

Zhang Zhao stood with his hands behind his back, looking into the distance: "As Li Fu said, when the Grand Marshal was conquering Hebei, we could not do much. All we could do was to offer support, money, food and weapons."

They had no way out. Ever since they persuaded the King of Huainan to ascend the throne, they had been tied to this ship.

There is no question of regret, as the Han Dynasty established by King Huainan was also one of the orthodox Han dynasties.

The emperor died suddenly, leaving the country without a leader, and no one stepped forward to inherit the throne or become emperor. This in itself is unreasonable.

Under this unreasonable situation, all parties supported the King of Huainan to become emperor, so he was the legitimate emperor.

Even if the Southern Han Dynasty is destroyed in the future, the descendants of Zhang Zhao can still boast of being the prime minister of the Southern Han Dynasty.

Zhang Zhao has a tough personality. If he holds great power, why wouldn't he gamble?
If you lose the bet, just accept your fate; people will die anyway, so just use the rest of your life to pursue your ideals.

Was he lucky enough to die of old age, illness, or be killed by his political enemies before the Guanzhong troops crossed the river?
People in troubled times are afraid of death, but they are more afraid of death being meaningless and life being meaningless.

In terms of fighting to the death, Zhang Zhao was the one who refused Yuan Shu and Tao Qian after Sun Jian's death, and dared to invest in Sun Ce to cross the river together.

Zhang Zhao has no lack of courage to fight.

He was more afraid of being humiliated than dying.

Zhang Zhao saw the carriage turning in the distance, so he turned sideways and said to Jiang Gan, "Hebei has no other choice. I still hold the same view. We cannot give him the throne or dukedom, but we can still appoint Yuan Shang as the general, give him the title of county marquis, and give him a fief of 10,000 households."

The general is a temporary official. In the future, when Yuan Shang is defeated and flees to Jiangdong, the general who can still play a role is the county marquis and the fief of 10,000 households... which can ensure that Yuan Shang has enough food and clothing and lives a decent life.

Jiang Gan just smiled when he heard this. When he saw the ox cart coming to him, he said, "Prime Minister, please come to the king and ask him to make the decision."

(End of this chapter)