The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

Even if Chen Deng had an idea, he still needed to consult with his father before making a decision.

In Xuzhou city.

Chen House.

Chen Gui summoned a group of Tao Qian's original troops to discuss the current situation outside the city surrounded by Liu Zheng's army.

There were not many people, that is, Tao Qian's original two sons, Chen Gui and his son, as well as the famous scholar Zhang Zhao, and the captain Zhang Kai.

"Everyone, now Xuzhou City has been besieged. Although we recruited Xiangyong overnight and gathered more than [-] soldiers and horses, the man outside the city is Liu Zheng. It is not easy, if we are determined to fight, we are likely to be defeated."

Chen Gui naturally didn't want the Chen family to make any mistakes in this turmoil, but Chen Gui still needed to listen to other people's opinions before making some decisions.

In fact, the main reason is the meaning of Tao Qian's two sons, Tao Shang and Tao Ying,

The two of them are the key to deciding whether it is war or peace.

"Uncle Han Yu, the two of us have no objection, and we want to listen to your opinion, because the two of us know nothing about marching and fighting, so whether it is war or peace, we can only follow your opinion."

Tao Shang is Tao Qian's eldest son. Although he doesn't want to be an official, it doesn't mean he is a fool. On the contrary, Tao Shang is smart. He knows that he is relying on his father's afterglow in Xuzhou City. Now that his father Tao Qian is dead, he It is useless to talk to younger brother Tao Ying, everything is decided by the Chen family and his son.

So when Chen Gui asked, the pottery merchant directly handed over the right to speak to Chen Gui.

Hearing what the Tao merchant said, Chen Gui first expressed surprise with a flattered look, then sighed again, expressing again that Tao Qian's departure, he was also very sorry, but the matter has come to this point, people cannot be resurrected, they are alive People should also think about their future.

After all, if you really fight against Liu Zheng, there will be no good end. Instead of this, it is better to consider the peace talks.

Chen Gui said so, how could the potter not know what Chen Gui meant.

"Uncle Han Yu, everything is up to you."

After the pottery finished speaking, Chen Gui turned his attention to the others.

The people present did not have a high right to speak, and Chen Gui and his son were the main decision-makers, so they didn't speak. Only Zhang Zhao glanced at the crowd and said something.

"My lord, if you can negotiate peace, try your best. After all, Liu Zheng is not a bad guy. If Xuzhou is going to fall into Liu Zheng's hands, it's better to let everyone have a place to live and live."

After Zhang Zhao finished speaking, Chen Gui immediately nodded his head.

"I understand. Since everyone does not advocate fighting against the enemy, let's talk about how to negotiate peace. Although the peace talks are peace talks, Liu Zheng must first ensure our safety. At the same time, we can surrender the city, but the people in the city There can be no loss, and if they can't do that, we won't think about surrendering."

Everyone started to discuss here and stated a series of conditions.

An hour's time will come soon.

Chen Deng, Chen Gui and others appeared on the Xuzhou city tower again.

Liu Zheng also appeared under the tower at the appointed time.

When the two sides met again at this time, it was still Liu Zhengxian who asked on the tower.

"Mr. Yuanlong, the time is up, how is your discussion going?"

"Master Liu Zheng, we discussed it together, and we didn't want to make unnecessary resistance. After all, Mr. Liu Zheng, your army is invincible. We have heard it for a long time. If you resist with thousands of soldiers and horses, you will end up with a dead end, so your Excellency If you can promise us some conditions, it is not impossible for us to offer the city and surrender."

Chen Gui didn't respond to Liu Zheng, but continued to let his son Chen Deng talk to Liu Zheng.

When Liu Zheng heard Chen Deng's answer, he knew in his heart that the other party already wanted to surrender and was just negotiating conditions. As long as the two sides could reach an agreement, then there would be no need for a war in Xuzhou.

He was naturally satisfied with this ending, so he answered immediately.

"Okay, no problem, you can ask for whatever conditions you have, but I will never refuse anything I can meet."

Liu Zheng didn't immediately agree to the other party's conditions, but first listened to what conditions the other party offered, and then considered whether he could accept them.

Seeing that Liu Zheng agreed, Chen Deng began to talk about the conditions they discussed one by one.

"First, we can surrender, but Liu Zheng, you must ensure the safety of the people in Xuzhou City, and you must not indiscriminately kill innocent people in Xuzhou and harm a person's life. If you can't guarantee this, we will not surrender!"

Although the first condition said that Chen Deng wanted to protect the lives of the people in the city, in fact, he wanted to protect the interests of the big families in Xuzhou City more, and prevent Liu Zheng from attacking them and robbing their money.

After all, Liu Zheng was always from the bandit Yellow Turban Army, which would always make these aristocratic families feel a little scared.

For Chen Deng's conditions, Liu Zheng naturally didn't even think about it, and agreed directly.

"Yes, I agree to this condition. I am not a bloodthirsty person. Moreover, I don't want to get Xuzhou to get Xuzhou's territory, but I have a fancy to Xuzhou's talents. I will definitely not offend the people of Xuzhou by committing crimes." , On the contrary, I will be kind to this place and try to exempt Xuzhou from taxes in various places. Presumably, you have heard of the policies I implemented in Yangzhou and Jiaozhou, so I don’t need to say more about the rest.”

Liu Zheng's attitude towards the Yangzhou family is actually quite good. These Xuzhou family are also very close to Yangzhou. They have heard of Liu Zheng's deeds more or less, so they naturally understand that what Liu Zheng said still counts. He said that if taxes are reduced, less taxes will be collected.

And the most important point is that Liu Zheng's subordinates are not conscription system, but a recruitment system, which prevents Liu Zheng from easily using force against aristocratic families, which allows many people from aristocratic families to earn a lot of money.

Seeing that Liu Zheng was so straightforward, Chen Deng agreed to the first request.On the contrary, there were some smiles on his face, and then he continued to talk about his second point.

"Then let's talk about the second point. Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou, died in Qingzhou, and the body has not been seen until now. The governor's son hopes that the Lord can return the body of Governor Tao Qian to him."

This is the condition proposed by Tao Qian's son, Tao Shang. In ancient times, filial piety was very important. Tao Qian's death made Tao Shang very sad, but people cannot be resurrected after death. The only thing Tao Shang can do is to collect his father's body. Have a good burial, and then keep mourning for three years.

Chapter 6 and Eight

For this kind of human nature, how could Liu Zheng refuse the performance of filial piety? Although Liu Zheng and Tao Qian are independent and belong to rivals, Liu Zheng still respects Tao Qian in history anyway.

After all, Tao Qian, as a prince in history, was able to not leave the position of governor of Xuzhou to his son, but to Liu Bei instead. Such a move is enough to make people feel a little admirable for him.

"Okay, this condition is reasonable, I will naturally satisfy the filial piety of the potter!"

Liu Zheng also agreed to the second condition, and Chen Deng smiled even brighter, and then raised the third condition.

"Very well, we have seen the sincerity of Mr. Liu Zheng. We only have one last condition left. If Mr. Liu Zheng can agree to the third condition, then we will open the city to welcome Mr. Liu Zheng to enter the city."

"Go ahead."

"Lord Tao Qian's death has made us ministers very sad, so I beg you to give us an explanation, hand over the murderer who killed Tao Qian's governor, and let us deal with it. As long as the person agrees to this condition, we will open the city. "

Liu Zheng thought what kind of condition Chen Deng would propose, but he didn't expect it to be such a sentence. Presumably it should also be the condition proposed by Tao Qian's family.

For a person in power like Liu Zheng, facing such conditions, it is actually possible to fool around.

Randomly launching a scapegoat, saying that he killed Tao Qian, and then handing it over to Chen Deng's caveman is enough to perfectly fulfill the condition proposed by Chen Deng and others, but Liu Zheng still rejected this condition from Chen Deng.

"Mr. Yuanlong, the condition you put forward is a bit embarrassing for me."

"What's so embarrassing, my lord only needs to hand over the murderer to us, and the whole Xuzhou city will belong to my lord. This deal should be worth it."

Liu Zheng smiled lightly, and the expression on his face immediately became a little ugly. That kind of smile was not a pleasant smile, but rather a cold one.

"Mr. Yuanlong, you may not know me, Liu Zheng, and I feel sorry for Tao Qian's death, but your Excellency asked me to hand over my soldiers and horses to you. Isn't this asking me to slap myself in the face? Battlefield The little soldier who killed Tao Qian above, I will at least promote him to three ranks and various rewards, but in a blink of an eye I will hand him over to you, who will obey me on the battlefield in the future? , who will work for me?"

"Your Excellency, you want me to personally force my brother, who has lost his life and friendship, to a dead end. Do you think I, Liu Zheng, will agree to this kind of condition?"

Liu Zheng can discuss other conditions, but Liu Zheng will never agree to such a condition of disregarding the fate of his brothers and subordinates. After all, Liu Zheng is a modern person, he is not cold-blooded, and he also knows the word loyalty in the Three Kingdoms era Very important.

Just like Liu Bei has nothing, just a word of loyalty can make many civil servants and generals under his command turn to him, relying on Liu Bei's own personal charm.

And this kind of personal charm is what Liu Zheng needs to cultivate, at least he can't chill the hearts of those who follow him.

If he really agreed to Chen Deng, it would definitely make those who followed Liu Zheng feel chilled, thinking that Liu Zheng was not a trustworthy master. Liu Zheng could abandon anyone at will, and similarly, he could abandon himself at any time.

Just like Cao Cao, for the issue of military rations, he could kill the food supervisor and let the food supervisor convict him, but this matter was placed on Liu Bei, and Liu Bei would never be able to do it.

Similarly, Liu Zheng couldn't do it either.

Even if he finds a scapegoat, such a story will definitely not satisfy his subordinates.

So Liu Zheng chose to refuse Chen Deng's conditions. Not only did he want to maintain his own image, but he also assured his subordinates that Liu Zheng definitely treated them as brothers, not a chess piece that could be given up at any time. .

Liu Zheng's refusal made all the people on the tower look at each other in blank dismay. After looking at each other, they didn't know how to answer for a while.

Chen Deng couldn't decide, he turned his head and looked at his father Chen Gui who was behind him.

In fact, Chen Gui still hoped that Liu Zheng would agree. After all, if Liu Zheng agreed to hand over the person who killed Tao Qian, it would be a step backward, and it would send a signal to the nobles in Xuzhou that Liu Zheng would be subdued. This is why Liu Zheng wanted to win them over. signal of.

But with Liu Zheng's attitude, Chen Gui also didn't know what to say.

"Deng'er, Liu Zheng values ​​his soldiers. If he doesn't agree, let's take a step back and tell him that we won't hurt that man's life, but will impose some punishment."

Liu Zheng disagreed, and the peace talks still had to continue, so Chen Gui and the others had to make concessions first, assuring Liu Zheng of that person's life, and would not kill the person Liu Zheng handed over.

After Chen Deng listened to his father's advice, he quickly returned to the battlements again, and asked Liu Zheng at the bottom of the city again.

"Lord Liu Zheng, are you worried that we will kill the person you handed over? Don't worry, we can guarantee his safety, but he is always the one who killed the governor of Tao Qian. We want to give the people in the city a Confess!"

Chen Deng made some concessions, but Liu Zheng still rejected Chen Deng.

"Man, I will not hand it over. After all, I am responsible for my soldiers, and I am responsible for the brothers who followed me."

Liu Zheng's words made the people on the city tower a little embarrassed. They thought that they had taken a step back, and Liu Zheng would agree. After all, if they want to continue the peace talks, it is impossible to keep stalemate on this issue.

But Liu Zheng was firm and rejected him straight away.But both Chen Deng and his son felt embarrassed.

"I will not hand over my people, but in order to express my sincerity, I am willing to apologize to Governor Tao Qian's family for my people, how about that?"

Chen Gui and the others took a step back. Of course, Liu Zheng had to make a proper concession, otherwise the discussion would collapse, and the discussion would collapse. After a big battle, Liu Zheng was always unwilling to see it, so in order to get the best of both worlds , he can only stand up by himself.

In doing so, it can reflect Liu Zheng's good reputation of protecting his subordinates, and at the same time, it can facilitate peace talks, and it can also give Chen Gui, Chen Deng and others a good impression. It is like killing three birds with one stone, so Liu Zheng did this.

On the tower, Chen Gui and his son nodded immediately when they heard Liu Zheng's words. After all, Liu Zheng's concession can also achieve their intentions. At that time, they only need to hold a funeral for Tao Qian in the city, and Liu Zheng will apologize in person. , appease Tao Qian's family, and this matter will pass.

Six chapters and nine chapters Xuzhou governor

With Liu Zheng's concession, the peace talks this time have finally reached a point where both parties can agree.

Then it officially entered the part of surrender.

Chen Gui and his son went out of the city to open the gate, and then a group of civil and military officials from Xuzhou stood on both sides of the official road to welcome Liu Zheng's soldiers and horses into the city.

Liu Zheng let his people enter the city first, and then got off the horse to talk to Chen Gui and his son. On the one hand, he wanted his people to go to the city to confirm whether it was safe, and on the other hand, he wanted to get close to Chen Gui and his son.

After all, Liu Zheng's idea was to recruit Chen Gui and his son, and it was necessary to deal with Chen Gui and his son more.

After Xuzhou City was captured so easily by Liu Zheng, Liu Zheng asked Mi Zhu and Tai Shici to take over Xuzhou's city defense affairs, and on the other hand, he began to tell Chen Gui and his son that he wanted to hold a banquet in the city for Tao Qian's former subordinates. .

Of course, at the same time, the principals of those aristocratic families in Xuzhou City should also be invited to meet. After all, this Xuzhou will belong to Liu Zheng in the future, and Liu Zheng must get to know these people first.

Chen Gui and his son naturally had no objections. That afternoon, Xuzhou City was under the control of Tai Shici and Mi Zhu.

In the evening, Liu Zheng had already held a banquet in the city to entertain the respectable figures in the city.

Xuzhou is a big city, and there are many big and small families here, but politically, the Chen family is the strongest, and financially, it is the Mi family.

Now, Liu Zheng has received the full assistance of the Mi family. If the Chen family joins Liu Zheng again, basically, Xuzhou will already belong to Liu Zheng.

So although it seemed that Liu Zheng was entertaining celebrities from all walks of life in Xuzhou at this banquet, in fact, the most important thing was that Liu Zheng just wanted to win over Chen Gui, Chen Deng and his son.

As long as Liu Zheng gets the support of the two of them, the entire Xuzhou aristocratic family will basically not oppose Liu Zheng. If Liu Zheng continues to make some favors, Xuzhou can be settled.

At the banquet, there were dozens of people, mainly the heads of some families, as well as Tao Qian's old department in Xuzhou.

In fact, Tao Qian didn't have many old minions, and those who were trustworthy either died on the Qingzhou battlefield, or there were only a few left in front of him.

Chen Deng and his son, Zhang Kai, two sons, and some less important officials.

Liu Zheng first entertained them with delicious food and drinks. Everyone was not very interested in eating and drinking. After all, they didn't come here for Liu Zheng's meal. The people who came here wanted to know the purpose of Liu Zheng's banquet. .

Seeing that everyone was relatively silent, Liu Zheng knew that they were waiting for him to speak, so Liu Zheng didn't hesitate, picked up the wine glass, and began to talk about his thoughts to the patriarchs present.

"Everyone, I, Liu Zheng, am not the governor of Xuzhou appointed by the imperial court. I know that many people will not accept the capture of Xuzhou today, and they will even have some hatred for me in private. People who like to kill, as long as you don't hinder my Liu Zheng, I have no malice towards you, and I, Liu Zheng, will not touch your family and property in Xuzhou, it belongs to you or yours."

"Of course, if some of you still have a good impression of me, Liu Zheng, you can support me. At this point, I might as well tell you a plain word. In today's world, the Han Dynasty is declining, and the Han Dynasty Sooner or later, the Shi court will come to an end, why can't it be me who will end the Han Dynasty?"

"I, Liu Zheng, may, one day in the future, be defeated and die. Maybe one day, I will seize the world and let the current baby emperor sit in my place. If there really is a day, you who follow me now will naturally rise in the future. The one next to you, Mi Zhu, the Patriarch of Mi Zhu in Xuzhou, must be familiar to you all, so I don’t need to introduce him further.”

Liu Zheng held up his wine glass, but didn't drink. After he finished speaking, he glanced at Mi Zhu. Mi Zhu also stood up knowingly, and gestured to all the adults present with a smile.

Everyone present knew who Mi Zhu was. No one didn't know about Mi Zhu. After all, Mi Zhu's business spread throughout Xuzhou. Almost all the major cities and towns in Xuzhou had Mi's business. They have contacts with the Mi family, and some of them have already secretly joined the Mi family.

Seeing that everyone present knew Mi Zhu, Liu Zheng continued to speak.

"Mr. Mi Zhu made it easy for me to get acquainted many years ago, and helped me recruit soldiers and horses. He has a deep friendship with me. Over the years, he has also helped me a lot in the open and in the dark. It can be said that I, Liu Zheng, can have such a day. The Mi family has helped me a lot. So now that I occupy Xuzhou, the first person I want to repay is the Mi family."

"I would like to announce to everyone that Xuzhou will be managed by Mi Zhu from the Mi family from now on. He is the governor of Xuzhou I appointed."

When Liu Zheng said these words, the expressions of everyone present changed drastically.

Some people were surprised, some were terrified, some were envious, and some were dejected.

After all, with a single word from Liu Zheng, the Mi family, who used to have little political status in Xuzhou, became the lord of Xuzhou. How could this not be envied by others.

Even the father and son of the Chen family, who had a detached status in Xuzhou, couldn't help but feel moved after seeing Liu Zheng so easily promised Xuzhou to Mi Zhu.

There was some surprise on Chen Gui's usually steady face, but Chen Deng was fine. He was more stable than his father. Although there was no surprise on his face, something strange could still be detected in his eyes.

"Having said so much, in fact, everyone should understand what I mean. Everyone present, if anyone is willing to take refuge with me, Liu Zheng, after this meal, you can stay and have a good talk with Mi Zhu. The people I, Liu Zheng, will not force, the road is facing the sky, let's go each side."

After Liu Zheng finished speaking, he drank the water and wine in the glass in one gulp.