The next morning, Lin Wen donated all the money and food on the island to build a shipyard. There were already traps and mechanisms on the island for the development of warships, which were just right for keeping secrets.
After everything was arranged, they came to the lobby, only to see Liu Xian bringing Zhou Buyi and his mother, and thanking Liu Qi again for saving their lives.
Liu Qi smiled and said, "Don't mention that the deputy driver is an official in the court, I should rescue him. Even if ordinary people in Jingzhou are in danger, I will never allow bullies to bully them."
Liu Xian said to Xu Shu: "This time, I am grateful to the military advisor for personally risking his life and saving his mother and son. I have no way to repay you for saving my life. I want to order my nephew to take the military advisor as his adoptive father. If you can give me advice in person, it will be a great honor for me. I wonder what the military advisor thinks."
Zhou Buyi clasped his fists and said, "I have long admired your great name, Advisor. Even if you are unwilling to accept me as your adopted son, I will be satisfied if you can listen to my teachings sooner or later. I will repay you for saving my life in the future."
Xu Shu was very fond of this clever child. He stepped forward and touched his head, saying with a smile, "It's not that I don't want to take him in, but my mother is here, so I dare not make a decision on my own. Now it's better to wait until we return to Xiangyang and ask my mother before making a decision."
Liu Xian knew that Xu Shu was very filial to his mother, and he also thought that he had never married yet, so he nodded and said, "That's good. When we get to Xiangyang, I will bring my son to visit the old lady in person."
After breakfast, everyone went their separate ways. Liu Qi had to inspect Changsha County, while Liu Xian and Xu Shu returned to Xiangyang. Now that the new policy was being implemented, many things needed to be dealt with urgently.
Originally, they wanted Gan Ning to stay in Dongting, but Gan Ning was worried about going to Guiyang alone and insisted on following, so they had to hand over the naval affairs to Guo Youzhi and Dong Jue. It is still in the formation stage, and Lin Wen, Zhang Yan and other naval generals are enough.
With Yang Ling's troops escorting him, he arrived in Changsha smoothly. The prefect Han Xuan went out to greet him in person. He saw that Liu Qi was a completely different person compared to when he first left Xiangyang. It seemed that his defeat of Cao Cao was no accident.
After Liu Biao put down the Zhangjin Rebellion, he appointed Han Xuan to Changsha. In the past two years of governing the county, he has governed the people in a good manner. He is not as irritable as the one in the novels, and can be considered a well-behaved official.
At this time, there was no Huang Zhong and Wei Yan in Changsha. There was only Yang Ling as the captain to train the troops. The strength was far less than when Liu Bei went south to fight. It even became the weakest among the four counties.
A banquet had already been prepared in the city. After three rounds of drinking, Liu Qi said directly: "Dongwu has coveted Jingzhou for a long time. Zhou Yu is training troops in Chaisang and intends to seize Jiangxia. I have ordered Guan Yu to guard it to ensure that it will be safe. If Zhou Yu fails to take Jiangxia, he will definitely attack Jingnan. Changsha is the place where the Sun family prospered. Sun Jian once had great prestige here. I am afraid that you are not capable of suppressing the situation within the territory. I want to send another general to guard Changsha. I hope you don't mind."
Han Xuan clasped his fists and said, "General, what are you talking about? When Liu Mu ordered me to take charge of Changsha, I was extremely nervous. Fortunately, I had the help of General Liu Pan, so I dared to take office. I didn't expect that he would be impeached by Cai Mao. I have been worried about this matter recently. Changsha is an important town in southern Jing and is connected to the border of Eastern Wu. It should be filled by a capable person. I am willing to give way to the virtuous man."
Liu Qi raised his cup and said with a smile: "Your Excellency is very righteous and is a blessing to Jingzhou. I want to merge the four counties in southern Jingzhou and manage them as if they were the same state. I would like to ask your Excellency to serve as the deputy driver and supervise the four counties to comfort the people. What do you think?"
Han Xuan clasped his fists and said, "It is my honor to be able to share the general's worries."
Han Xuan was made governor of the four counties by managing them separately. It seemed that he was relieved of his post as prefect of Changsha, but in fact he had more power and all the unhappiness in his heart disappeared.
As for the best candidate for the prefect of Changsha, Liu Qi had already made a plan. Deng Zhi was the only one who could be the governor of four counties.
As a great general in the late Shu Han Dynasty, Deng Zhi guarded southern Jing, guarded against Eastern Wu, and helped build the navy. His abilities were sufficient for the task.
In addition, with the military generals Yang Ling and Wu Ju, and Huo Jun being transferred, plus Gan Ning's navy in Dongting Lake, Changsha can be safe.
After the banquet, Liu Qi discussed with Han Xuan and others, "Guiyang Governor Zhao Fan once colluded with Zhang Jin, but fortunately he pulled back from the brink and did not make a big mistake. Now he has his own troops to defend himself. How strong is he?"
Han Xuanyan said: "Zhao Fan is originally from Hebei. Since he came to Guiyang, he has rarely interacted with the outside world. His two brothers have close contacts with Jiaozhou. After the death of their elder brother, they recruited soldiers and horses to defend themselves. Now they have 30,000 soldiers and two generals."
Liu Qi laughed and said, "General? I heard that these two were hunters. How can they lead an army?"
Han Xuanyan said: "Although these two are hunters, they are highly skilled in martial arts. Chen Ying is good at using flying forks, and Bao Long once shot and killed two tigers. They are known as the two pillars of Guiyang. We should not underestimate them."
Seeing that Zhao Fan still had these two men under his command, Liu Qi felt relieved and asked again, "If I go to Guiyang this time, what do you think will be a good or bad outcome?"
"This... Please forgive me for not making any assumptions!" Han Xuan clasped his fists and said, "General, why don't you invite Zhao Fan to Changsha to meet with you? If this person has ill intentions, he will not dare to come. If he comes, you can deal with him. Isn't this killing two birds with one stone?"
Liu Qi waved his hand and smiled, "I am here to inspect southern Jing this time, with the intention of winning people over with virtue. We are all officials of Jingzhou, so why are we fighting each other? There is no need to kill innocent people unless it is absolutely necessary."
"The general is extremely courageous and will surely be able to defeat Zhao Fan." Han Xuan could not have imagined that Liu Qi, who looked weak, had such a magnanimous bearing, even better than Liu Biao when he entered Jingzhou alone.
Liu Qi asked about the situation in Guiyang, which was basically the same as in history. He was accompanied by Huang Zhong and Gan Ning, whose strength was even stronger than when Zhao Yun took Guiyang, and was more than enough to deal with Chen Ying and the other two.
The most important thing was that he succeeded Liu Biao, who was the legitimate governor of Jingzhou. Zhao Fan had no reason to send troops without a reason and raise an unknown army, which would only bring about his own defeat.
Before setting off, Liu Qi had asked Zhao Linger to write a secret letter to reassure Zhao Fan, telling him that Liu Qi did not know about Cao Cao and that as long as he did not raise an army, his life would not be in danger.
As long as we can successfully enter Guiyang and control Zhao Fan, everything will be easy. Zhao Fan can surrender to Liu Bei, let alone Liu Qi
After learning about the situation in Guiyang, Liu Qi ordered Yang Ling to stay in Changsha. If Zhao Fan dared to raise an army in Guiyang, he would lead the Changsha troops to attack. In addition, Pang Tong persuaded Liu Du and his son that Guiyang alone would not cause much trouble.
The next day he left Changsha and headed straight for Guiyang with 500 guards. Going south from Changsha, he arrived at Jiuyi Mountain. During the Han Dynasty, this place was already a remote frontier area, and most of the exiles were sent to this area.
After crossing mountains and ridges, we arrived in Guiyang in no time. It was already mid-July. The weather in the south was hot and humid, and the people and horses moved even more slowly.
In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient and people had to rely on their two legs to travel. During this journey, Liu Qi truly felt the profound meaning of the four words "fatigue from traveling by car and horse". His buttocks and legs were numb and he felt like they were not his own.
This is only within the territory of southern Jing. Thinking about going to the desert and traveling to the Western Regions, my scalp starts tingling. It seems that I need to practice more.
Finally we arrived in Guiyang and saw a group of people waiting on the road from afar.
With flags flying and colorful clothes and gongs and drums beating, it didn't look like they were going to start a fight, so Liu Qi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
In this situation, if the enemy takes advantage of their rest, they can really wipe them out in one fell swoop, and even ten Gan Nings cannot stop them!