Liu Xin laughed loudly: "Gongyou, you are too careful. I treat others with sincerity, why should I be afraid?"
The officials in Wuling City stood on both sides, listening to Liu Xin's words frankly and frankly, and seeing his natural expression on his face, they all secretly admired him, it is no wonder that this person can manage Jingzhou in an orderly manner.
Liu Xin's whip lightly raised, and he entered the city first.
In the lobby of the Prefect's Mansion, Cao Yu was taken up with bloodshot eyes. Last night, he was lying in bed, unable to sleep. Unexpectedly, his officials suddenly attacked and rushed into the Prefect’s Mansion, and the guards beside him also turned their backs. Cao Yu almost didn’t even have a chance to resist, so he did the next step. Prisoners. Cao Yu knew that today was too bad, so he straightened his body, and shouted as soon as he came in, "Liu Xin, you and I will guard the borders in each direction and do not invade each other. Today you have taken Wuling for no reason. If the emperor knew," I will not spare you!"
Liu Xin looked at Cao Yu and said coldly: "I am Jingzhou Mu, appointed by the imperial court. This Wuling County is also the place under my rule. It is entrusted by the emperor and has the responsibility to guard the land. Come here to look for it and take it for you. You As the prefect of Wuling, I talked about "both sides" with me. With these words, I can punish you for the crime of treason!"
Cao Yu opened his eyes wide and roared: "Dare you!"
Liu Xin sneered, "What can I not dare to deal with you anti-thief? Jiang Xia prefect Huang Zu has conspired to rebel, and he has given the lead, so go and accompany him. Come on, push Cao Yu out to behead to show the public, and the family property confiscates the income officer. , The family members serve as official slaves."
While struggling, Cao Yu yelled, "Liu Xin, I will not let you go if I'm a ghost!"
Liu Xin is funny. There are too many people who have said this. When will it work? Would I let you off because of your cruel words? It's boring!
In Jiangxia these days, Liu Xin has considered a lot. Now that the troubled times have not arrived, why do the prefects everywhere dare to ignore the imperial court, and all of them can't wait to become kings on their own? It is because they have too much power in their hands! They took charge of the army and dismounted the people, and they also controlled the local finances and taxes, making them look like independent kingdoms. No wonder that in the history of the crusade against Dong Zhuo, the princes of the seventeen towns came all at once.
The Yellow Turban uprising of the previous year became an excuse for the prefects to refuse to pay taxes. They had money and food, and soldiers and horses, so how could their ambitions not swell. Liu Xin didn't want this phenomenon to happen in Jingzhou under his jurisdiction, so he implemented military and political divisions, which seems to be insufficient now. These days, he has already thought about a separation of three powers, which will completely separate the political power, military power, and financial power of each county.
In this way, there is another advantage. Who will hold the post of prefect will not seem so important in the future. People like Tian Feng and Han Opera who are skilled in strategy and have great wisdom do not need to be tied to small counties and cities. However, Jiangxia and Wuling still need them to stabilize the local situation for the time being.
Almost without a single soldier, he took Wuling County, and Liu Xin's generals were full of confidence, all clamoring for the trend to take down Lingling and Guiyang County. But Liu Xin felt that the progress was too fast, and he needed a little rest. His plan is to pay the tax owed to the court by May. If the action is too fast, it means that he did not really care before, so the generals are pleased to fight. The books were all crushed by him.
After winning Jiangxia and Wuling, Jingnan and Jingbei became one piece, and Liu Xin's two biggest heart problems were also removed. Then how to deal with Lingling and Guiyang counties did not seem so urgent. The army stayed in Wuling for rest and recuperation. Liu Xin was not idle. He had been thinking about when it was a good time to attack the two counties.
At this moment, Jushou walked in with a worried expression and said, "Master, there is a messenger in Xiangyang."
Liu Xin's heart tightened, and he quickly asked, "What happened to Xiangyang?"
Jushou drew a letter from his sleeve and said, "Everything is safe in Xiangyang. The news came from Luoyang Palace. It's really hard to handle. Please make the decision."
Liu Xin took the letter and said with suspicion, "What can happen in the palace?"
Indeed, in his impression, nothing major should happen in the capital at this time. The real mess will have to wait for Liu Hong to return to heaven in three years.
With the development of the Phantom Spy, Liu Xin paid more and more attention to the news from the palace, but it was not easy to insert his eyes and ears into the palace. Jushou also proposed to castrate a few secret spies and send them to the palace to be eunuchs. Liu Xin felt that this was too cruel and did not agree. And in the current situation where the eunuch can fight against court officials, it is hard to imagine how difficult it is to buy a few people from the palace for their own use. So Mirage has always been ignorant of what happened inside the palace.
This time, the news came from the palace because of Zhang Rang's uncle and nephew. Just after the New Year, Liu Xin arranged for someone to give Zhang Rang a generous gift, and by the way, he also gave Zhang Gou'er a copy. Since that time in Juchao, every time Liu Xin goes to Beijing to give gifts, Zhang Gou'er has been indispensable.
As the saying goes, eating people with short mouths makes people soft, and Zhang Gou'er is far from getting into the position of his uncle Zhang Rang. After receiving so much courtesy from Liu Xin, he feels a little sad. Zhao Zhong and Liu Xin couldn't make it through. Outsiders didn't know it, but they couldn't hide it from Zhang Rang's uncle and nephew. Originally, Zhang Gou'er was a junior, and Zhang Rang was on the same side as Zhao Zhong. He didn't dare to tell Liu Xin these things. Now that he received another generous gift, he was embarrassed to keep it secret, so he secretly wrote a letter and asked someone to bring it to Liu Xin so that he could prepare early.
The letter arrived in Xiangyang and handed over to Ma Yun. After reading the content of the letter, she already knew that Liu Xin had taken Wuling. She didn't dare to neglect at the moment, so she hurriedly sent someone over.
There are two letters, one is a private letter from Ma Yun, and the other is a letter from Zhang Gou'er to Liu Xin. Liu Xin didn't open the private letter first, but directly picked up Zhang Gou'er's letter and read it. Jushou peeked around and nodded secretly. Liu Xin was able to go public first and then private. He was indeed a master, and he did not follow the wrong person.
After Liu Xin read Zhang Gou'er’s letter, there was no expression on his face. He gently put the letter down, and then opened Ma Yun’s private letter. He knew that this letter was not an ordinary letter from home, and there must be something in it. There will be Ma Yun's views on this matter. Sure enough, Ma Yun believed that Liu Xin's movements were too fast, and now he needs to slow down. For the time being, he should not use force against Lingling and Guiyang counties, but should spend more energy to win the support of the court.
Putting down the letter in her hand, Liu Xin closed her eyes and fell into deep thought.
With the prestige of winning streak, he went straight to Lingling and Guiyang, and the problems that had troubled him for more than two years could be solved once. But in this way, it is inevitable that some people in the DPRK will take advantage of their tongues and make irresponsible remarks to themselves. Ma Yun's worries are not unreasonable. If Liu Hong is suspicious of himself and Zhao Zhong is fanning the flames next to him, it is hard to guarantee that he will not exempt himself as Jingzhou Mu. It seems that in order to win Liu Hong's favor, he will inevitably have to bleed again.
Thinking of this, Liu Xin opened his eyes and said, "Let Xu Huang and Zhang Fei return to Xiangyang, Huang Zhong to return to Changsha, and Zhao Yun to stay in Wuling. Gongyou, you write two more letters to the prefect of Lingling. Zhang Zi and Guiyang prefect Pang Ji said that I was waiting for them in Wuling and asked them to come over this month. In addition, they would arrange for someone to go to the capital to send a gift to Zhang Rang and ask him to help in front of the emperor. I would like to say a few good things about how to do it, I think he should understand that my money can't be spent in vain over the years."
Although Jushou hated such eunuchs, he hesitated to think that these people might be doing bad things secretly, and said, "Why don't you give Zhao Zhong a gift too, lest this villain drags the lord behind him."
Liu Xin said firmly: "No! There is no door to hold me!"
Jushou wanted to persuade him again and said, "But..."
Liu Xin interrupted him unceremoniously and said, "Gongyou, I know what you want to say, yes, a man can bend and stretch. This time is different from Huang Zu's use of Cai Hao to threaten me. I can't let it for myself. Others lose their lives. Zhao Zhong is a castrate. If he wants money, he tells me that I might give him some. Now, he makes some small actions behind his back to force me to give up. It's just wishful thinking!"
Through this action against Jiangxia and Wuling, he has already seen that the current situation is still different from the troubled times of the Three Kingdoms. The officials and the prefects of each county are not in the same mind. Those officials are very clear that the interests of the prefects do not represent their interests. In fact, they are the same for whom they do. These officials do not have the habit of calling the prefects lord. They are all imperial courts. The appointment has little to do with the prefects of the counties. The only people who really don't want to be controlled by him are the prefects who are in power.
Pang Ji, the prefect of Guiyang, received Liu Xin's letter. This time, he dared not to throw the official document sent from Xiangyang aside, as he did before. Instead, he repeated it many times. Liu Xin's letter was written very clearly, that he must give up his current power, hand over military and financial power, and implement his taxation policy. If it were in the past, similar official documents Pang Ji would be treated as a joke, but now he dare not. The letter also listed the fate of Huang Zu and Cao Yu and the reactions of the officials and people of Jiangxia and Wuling counties to Liu Xin's arrival. Even if Pang Ji ignored his own life, he had to consider his wife and children.
After several hesitations, Pang Ji finally made a difficult decision-to be loyal to Liu Xin! At this time, there were only less than ten days left before the deadline set by Liu Xin. Pang Ji hurriedly packed up, and took the county Cheng, Chang Shi and other relatives to Wuling. When these officials learned of Pang Ji's choice, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Pang Ji chose to fight Liu Xin, they would be really embarrassed.
Pang Ji left Guiyang, traveled for two days, and came to Lingling County. He also had some friendship with Zhang Zi, the prefect of Lingling. He had already arrived here, and naturally there was no reason to not even see each other, so he was sent to the prefectural palace to report.