Chapter 466 The importance of society
May is the month when the river dries up.

At the Jiangdong army’s Baqiu camp, Lu Yi took a boat into Dongting Lake and landed on Junshan Island.

Tea gardens had already begun to be planted here, and Lu Yi drank tea with Lu Su, Huan Jie, Liu Ba and other famous scholars from Jianghuai and Jingnan.

In the pavilion by the water, the white-haired fisherman cooked fish soup for them in a clay pot, while simmering rice in a hanging pot.

Lu Yi sat at the top, with a warrior standing behind him with a sword on his back.

He held the teacup and sniffed it carefully, then said to his attendants, "According to reports, the rain stopped in April and the troops from Guanzhong have already marched towards Hanzhong. There are about 50,000 of them, and together with the troops that the Grand Marshal had collected before, there are almost 80,000 of them. These are all the best troops from Guanzhong. Many people in Shu are uneasy, and some have communicated with King Liang."

Huan Jie and Liu Ba looked at each other. Liu Ba said nothing. He had already begun to regret the independence of the four counties in southern Jing.

With the death of Liu Biao, Liu Ba's depression caused by his father's death also dissipated.

After regaining his composure, he became pessimistic about the current situation.

Originally, he just wanted to make trouble with Liu Biao, and what he wanted was to be affiliated with Guanzhong respectively, rather than being controlled by Liu Biao and his son.

Previously, the scholars in southern Jing had simple ideas. Their fundamental motive for pushing the King of Changsha out was to cut ties with Liu Biao, avoid being suppressed by the scholars in northern Jing, and prevent human and material resources from being taken away by northern Jing for contribution.

Anyway, they are all under the jurisdiction of Guanzhong, so why should Jingbei and Liu Biao and his son be superior?
Are you still using Jingnan’s resources to please the shogunate?

After all the commotion, the shogunate looked down on the four counties of southern Jing and did not give them adequate treatment in the first place.

As a result, he was affiliated with the Huainan court without knowing it. When the news of Liu Biao's death came, there were many people like Liu Ba who regretted it.

Not only Liu Ba, but Huan Jie also began to change his position. He no longer desired to achieve great achievements or use war to seek a higher position.

As long as the people of Jingnan can maintain peace in the country and wait for the chaos to end, they will have the manpower and resources to launch an attack on the court.

Their ultimate goal is to establish an independent state and completely get rid of the oppression of the scholars in Jingbei and Nanyang.

Therefore, Lu Yi's proposal was just a proposal to Liu Ba and Huan Jie, and they did not give a clear and proactive response.

Seeing this, Lu Su, who was wearing a square black gauze crown, said: "If there is no chaos in Shu, the Grand Marshal will not act rashly. The court wants to use Cao Mengde's power to force Hebei to surrender, so it must guide and promote changes in Shu. Otherwise, the Grand Marshal will stay in Guanzhong and watch the world, and it will be difficult for our army in Jingzhou to make a breakthrough, and it will be difficult for Hebei, Qingxu and other places to achieve anything."

He looked at Liu Ba and Huan Jie: "The Grand Marshal uses his power to check and balance other places. There are many dissatisfied people in various places. However, they are afraid of his tyranny and dare not take the initiative. The wealth of Shu has already become the fat meat of Guanzhong. When the heroes of Shu can no longer tolerate the exploitation, they will raise an army to resist the harsh government."

We must speed up our actions, otherwise once the collective thinking of the scholars is clear, the motivation and courage to resist will rapidly decline.

As Huan Jie and Liu Ba were drinking tea, Lu Su stared at Liu Ba and said, "Mr. Zichu, I heard that many of the former subordinates of Marquis Lü Wen in Guanzhong said that the Grand Marshal was a descendant of Marquis Lü Wen, and now he is pretending to be a member of the royal family and wants to usurp the four-hundred-year-old Han Dynasty. You are a wise man from the royal family of Jingnan, how can you remain indifferent?"

Liu Ba put down his teacup, put his hands on his knees, and asked Lu Su with a smile: "Mr. Zijing, what you said is not right. Since the Grand Marshal raised his army to wipe out the troubled times, when has he ever claimed to be a descendant of the royal family? His surname has not changed until now, so how can he be said to be pretending to be a royal family? Moreover, he was able to rule the five western states of the world because he was a master of military strategy, just like the Marquis of Huainan, not because of his four hundred years of achievements in serving the country."

Liu Ba turned his head and looked at Lu Yi, "The Grand Commander also knows military affairs. May I ask how many people have been captured and killed 300,000 of the Hu people in the past 400 years?"

Lu Yi was an objective person in this regard, and replied with a smile: "If the power of the state could be so effective, the world would not be in such chaos. Mr. Zichu's words make sense. The foundation of Guanzhong was established by the Grand Marshal himself, braving the swords and arrows, holding a three-foot sword, not by the ancestors."

Lu Yi also put down his teacup and looked at Liu Ba seriously. "You are a virtuous man from the Jingnan royal family, and a role model for the state. Now the Grand Marshal has the power to usurp the Han Dynasty, and his origins are unclear and he has not explained them. I think you should write a letter to Guanzhong to inquire about this matter. This is not only a matter for Jingnan and the royal family, but also a matter for us, the officials of the Han Dynasty."

He looked at Huan Jie again: "If the Grand Marshal is indeed a descendant of the State of Chen, and if he wants to stabilize the world and reduce the suffering of the common people from war, the emperor will certainly let him take over. The emperor has also discussed this matter in public and has repeatedly expressed his feelings. If it were not for the change in the current situation, the emperor would not want to bear this burden of the country."

Huan Jie nodded seriously: "I have also heard the emperor's words in Jingnan. Now the prince is in Guanzhong, and he is also taken care of by the Grand Marshal. There are even rumors in Guanzhong that if the prince wants to return to Jiangnan to pay respects, the Grand Marshal will let him go and send envoys to escort him. It can be seen that there is no personal hatred between the emperor and the Grand Marshal, and the two families are quite friendly." At this time, he also turned his head to look at Liu Ba: "Brother Zichu, if the Grand Marshal can tell his life story, the world can avoid more than ten years of chaos and save millions of soldiers and civilians. This is such a great merit. Brother, as an elder of the royal family, how can you sit idly by and watch?"

Not only them, but King of Liang Liu Zhang also wanted to figure out this matter.

As a wandering king living in southern Jing, as long as he could push the southerners to submit to Guanzhong, this achievement would be enough for him to be confirmed as the King of Liang... Even if he changed his title, he could accept it.

There were only six people in the pavilion, including the white-haired fisherman cooking fish soup outside, so the topic was naturally private and explosive.

Liu Ba listened to the persuasion of several people, shook his head and said: "In the past, Emperor Guangwu restored the country and the Han Dynasty was able to continue. But the accumulated problems of the former Han Dynasty have not been eliminated. With this lesson, how can the Grand Marshal take it lightly? If you worry about the long-term stability of the world, if I were the Grand Marshal, I would have the foundation I have now and I am so old, why would I worry about the unification of the world?"

He filled the teacup with water and sighed to the silent crowd: "Although we are in our prime, we are already autumn leaves compared to the Grand Marshal. This must be the reason why the Grand Commander led his troops up the river but was unwilling to start a war easily. The clothes of Hedong and Taiyuan counties are a lesson for us."

If they were alive, they might be able to rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to fight against the northern troops.

When they are gone, it will be the turn of their descendants, relatives and fellow villagers to pay the price.

Given the current development momentum of Guanzhong, how could it be possible to compromise voluntarily?

But by the same logic, why should the South voluntarily back down and tie its own hands?

Now we are not really afraid of Black Bear rushing out to fight a war of unification. What we are afraid of is that the other party will recuperate behind closed doors.

When the middle and low-level officials in Guanzhong have risen to high positions, or have accumulated enough merits and are waiting for official positions to become vacant, these officials, not to mention the Grand Marshal, will also close the door to surrender from the south.

People will eventually age, and the inheritance of a family cannot rely on the breakthrough of just one generation.

For people like them, the family business has already been established, and how to pass it on is far more important than creating further glory.

The continuation of their family lineage is itself a process of absorbing the vitality of the empire; if they want to be glorious, they must devour the flesh and blood of the empire.

For now, people in southern Jing do not want to be the first to provoke Guanzhong.

Jingnan didn't want to do this. Could he rely on the Jiangdong army or the big families in Jiangdong to do such a thing?

Liu Ba thought about it and said, "If the emperor allows, I will submit a petition to the King of Changsha and go to Guanzhong in June or July to consult the Grand Marshal in person and inquire about his life experience. However, you all know that the Grand Marshal has a great ambition to sort out the world, and I am afraid that the Grand Marshal will not give us the answer we want."

After hearing this, Lu Yi raised his hands and clasped his fists, saying sincerely, “Thank you, Mr. Zichu.”

Huan Jie and Lu Su also bowed to express their gratitude.

As for Lu Su being shaved... With the current power of the Grand Marshal and role models like Jiang Ji and Guo Jia, there is really nothing to be ashamed of.

After all, it was because the Grand Marshal loved his talent and couldn't bear to kill him.

If it were anyone else, there would have been no trace left.

Lu Su thought about this very thoroughly.

(End of this chapter)