Three Kingdoms: I switched to Liu Bei, why are you crying, Cao Cao?

Chapter 68: Crouching Dragon's Brother, a Tiger Minister

Speaking of Zhuge Jin's arrival, it was quite dramatic.

This was because Qin Zhen had previously suggested to Liu Bei that he should recruit talents based on their abilities and was preparing to recruit talents from the surrounding counties.

Liu Bei had no choice but to respond at that time, but when he thought about it later, he felt that something was wrong!

It is said that only the talented are promoted, but how do you know that the other person is talented?

He is quite good at judging people, but he cannot interview every person personally.

From this he found Qin Zhen again and expressed his concerns.

So, Qin Zhen suggested to Liu Bei that it might not be possible to tell just by looking, so why not imitate the Imperial College examination to find talents!

When talking about recruiting talents through examinations, later generations always think of the imperial examination system.

In fact, the system of selecting talents through examinations was not first created by the imperial examination system. As early as the period of Emperor Wu of Han, Taixue had been established, and talents were selected directly through examinations.

Students had to study Confucian classics such as "Spring and Autumn Annals", "Book of Rites", "Book of Changes" and "Book of Songs" in the Imperial Academy. After completing their studies, they would be examined. Those with excellent results would become officials, while those with poor results would be punished.

Therefore, the examination system was not unfamiliar to Liu Bei.

He thought that he didn't have any aristocratic families under his command, so relying on recommendation and recruitment wouldn't work, but examination was one solution.

After thinking for a while, he simply handed the matter over to Qin Zhen to arrange.

Qin Zhen was naturally happy about this. If he wanted to break the monopoly of the aristocratic families, he should start now when his strength was still small.

Then he directly opened a talent recruitment hall to welcome the talents who came to join him and was responsible for the selection.

The questions were set by him personally and were divided into two subjects: civil and military. The civil subject was still the essential Confucian knowledge for examining the literati of this era.

There was no way. He wanted to take other exams, but the scholars of this era might not be able to do so.

They now focus on quantity rather than quality, and selection based on basic knowledge is the easiest.

Compared with the liberal arts, the military subject is simpler, and mainly tests the interpretation of some words and sentences in the art of war.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t read. There is a big stone mill at the door. If you can lift it up and walk around it three times, you will be considered qualified.

After this was decided, Qin Zhen looked forward to recruiting talented people.

No matter how busy I am every day, I will always take time to take a look.

As a result, his talent selection hall was empty. After a lot of effort, only two or three kittens came, but none of them even learned the complete "Analects of Confucius".

There are some men who can lift the millstones, but unfortunately they can hardly read.

Faced with this situation, Qin Zhen naturally had to pick and choose, either sending them to do miscellaneous tasks or sending them to the military camp to let Xu Shu choose on his own.

He had already given up hope, but as soon as he got off work that day, an assistant came to him with two pieces of cloth, looking excited and saying:
"Military advisor, the wise man has arrived! All the questions raised by the military advisor have been answered by the wise man!"

Qin Zhen was just about to go home, but when he heard the news, he took the cloth to take a look.

As a result, I saw that it was filled with elegant handwriting, and it indeed answered all the questions as the clerk had said.

After reading many bad articles, this one was a real eye-opener for him.

Then when he saw the signature, Qin Zhen was immediately happy.

He originally wanted to try to catch some fish, but unexpectedly he caught a big fish, and it was Zhuge Ziyu!

Now that Zhuge Jin is here, how far can Zhuge Liang be?

Let’s not talk about Zhuge Liang for now. Zhuge Jin himself was also a great talent. He became famous at a young age and was well-read in the Book of Songs, Book of History, and Zuo Zhuan.

According to the original history, after he defected to Sun Quan, he was highly valued and promoted to the general of the Wu Kingdom.

Although he is not as talented in both civil and military affairs as Zhuge Liang, he is also a first-class talent in governing the country, which is extremely rare for them.

In joy, he looked at another piece of silk book.

As a result, one of them kept silent. Guess who the other one was?
Jiang Biao’s fierce minister, Xu Sheng!
Compared with Zhuge Jin, Xu Sheng was a late bloomer.

He initially followed Sun Quan, and after Bi Yan'er came to power, he served as Sima of the Separate Department.

With less than 200 soldiers, he resisted several thousand men led by Huang Zu's son Huang She and defeated them.

Later, he resisted Cao at Ruxukou and resisted Liu Bei at Yiling.

Until the later period, he resisted the southward advance of Wei State and was known for his courage and bravery.

They are currently lacking this kind of talent in their army.

However, seeing this, Qin Zhen was puzzled again. Logically speaking, Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng had no relationship at all and should not appear together!
Now that they were together, he was still a little surprised.

After thinking for a while, he decided not to go home and asked the clerk to take him to Zhaoxian Hall to meet the two of them.

It was already night, and Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng were preparing to go to bed.

When they heard that Liu Bei's second-in-command had arrived, they both hurriedly got up to greet him.

When he arrived in the hall and saw the two people, Qin Zhen confirmed their identities again and looked at their appearance carefully.

Zhuge Jin had a handsome face, regular features, and was a talented man.

The only pity is that his face is a bit long, quite like a donkey's, and he has a short beard under his chin, which shows that he is obviously not very old.

Xu Sheng, on the other hand, was tall and strong, with a sparse beard around his mouth, and looked more mature than Zhuge Jin.

After examining him like this, Qin Zhen asked:
"You two are from Yangdu, Langya, and Juxian, Langya, how could you come to our Pei State together?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhuge Jin stepped forward and bowed, saying:

"I dare to let the military advisor know that we did not come here together, but met on the way and came here together!"

As he spoke, he recounted the reasons why the two of them came.

It turns out that it was a coincidence that the two of them got together.

The story begins with Zhuge Jin.

Nine years ago, Zhuge Jin's father died young. Because his brothers and sisters were still young and there were no elders around, the funeral was handled by his uncle Zhuge Xuan.

After the funeral, Zhuge Xuan saw that Zhuge Jin and others were young, so he suggested to his widowed sister-in-law that the whole family should move south to Jingzhou. However, his widowed sister-in-law was not the biological mother of Zhuge Jin and others, but only his step-wife. When she heard this, she naturally did not want to agree.

Zhuge Xuan had no choice but to take the young Zhuge Liang and others south, leaving the fourteen-year-old Zhuge Jin to serve his stepmother.

Therefore, Zhuge Jin was left in Langya until three years ago, when his stepmother died of illness.

After three years of mourning, Zhuge Jin finally gained his freedom. Thinking that his uncle was working in Jingzhou, he wanted to go south to join his uncle.

But when he arrived in Donghai County, he heard that the traveling merchant Liu Bei was recruiting talents in Pei State.

At this time, Yuan Shu in Huainan was at war with Lu Bu. Zhuge Jin thought that the journey south was long, so it would be better for him to work for Liu Bei first.

I will go south to find my brother when I have the chance.

Then he changed direction and headed towards Pei State.

But before he reached Pei State, he was robbed by gangsters and almost died.

Fortunately, Xu Sheng came to the rescue and the danger was avoided.

After Zhuge Jin was rescued, he asked Xu Sheng where he came from. Xu Sheng then told him that because Zang Ba attacked and killed Xiao Jian of Ju County, he took his mother south to Jiangdong for refuge to avoid the war.

When Zhuge Jin heard this, he felt that this man was filial and respectable and could be befriended. He immediately told Xu Sheng that the journey to Jiangdong was thousands of miles away and that they had no roots, so they would have nowhere to stay in Jiangdong.

Now I heard that Liu Bei is recruiting talents in Pei County, so I plan to give it a try. Since you are such a brave man, I might as well go with you.

After listening to this, Xu Sheng felt that this made sense. His family was very poor, and if he went to Jiangdong, he would have to live a hard life with his elderly mother.

It would be better to try your luck under Liu Bei.

He had also heard of Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence and righteousness, and thought that he would be no worse than Jiangdong.

After thinking about the pros and cons, he nodded in agreement and escorted Zhuge Jin all the way to Pei State.

When they arrived here later, they realized that they still needed to take an exam and pass selection before they could meet Liu Bei.

Fortunately, the two of them were not without talent, and they answered the questions in the civil and military subjects one by one.

Originally, they took the test with a tentative mindset. If they could do it, they would do it. If not, they would leave.

They never expected that Qin Zhen would come to see them in person late at night.

This behavior really made the two of them feel flattered.

So after recounting his experiences, Zhuge Jin bowed to Qin Zhen and said:

"We came here just to seek refuge with you, Lord. We didn't expect the military advisor to come here in person. We are so happy to see him!"

To be honest, his attitude was quite humble.

After all, the man in front of them holds a high position and has great power, while they are commoners with no reputation, so they dare not act presumptuously.

But when Qin Zhen heard this, he smiled and said to the two of them:

"I see that both of you have talents and are willing to join our army, which is also a blessing for our army!"

"Have a good rest tonight. Tomorrow morning, I will take you two to meet the Lord!"

When Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng heard that they would be able to meet Liu Bei tomorrow, they were both surprised and nervous, and they immediately bowed and thanked him.

After saying thank you in this way, Qin Zhen left Zhaoxian Hall in a very good mood.

Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng are both talented, so there is no need to say more.

In addition, Zhuge Jin's arrival also has another purpose - to attract scholars from Jingzhou to surrender!
Zhuge Liang is of course the most important, followed by Pang Tong, Ma Liang and others.

Some people in later generations said that the three families of Zhuge’s family would not be bet together.

But in Qin Zhen's opinion, such remarks are nonsense.

In fact, for the aristocratic families in the late Han Dynasty, once they invested in a force, they had to support it with all their strength.

Trying to play both sides and make investments at the same time is like playing both ends and you will never be valued.

Just as Xun Yu surrendered to Cao Cao, his cousin Xun Chen, as Yuan Shao's early strategist, helped Yuan Shao to seize Jizhou.

But when the Battle of Guandu broke out, he was still left to sit on the bench.

The reason why the Zhuge family had three officials at the same time was because the Zhuge family had declined, and its members were scattered everywhere, and three talented people who left their names in history happened to appear.

It is not the kind of situation that some marketing accounts in later generations marketed, where a family predicts the future and places bets separately.

Now that Zhuge Jin is here, and after some operations, Zhuge Liang will naturally not be able to escape.

With Zhuge Liang around, you can recruit other people one by one through the circle of friends.

Later, we will go south to seize Jiangdong, advance west to Jingzhou, gather the elites of Wu and Shu, and then launch a northern expedition. It will be difficult to lose!

With this idea in mind, Qin Zhen introduced the two of them to Liu Bei the next day.

Seeing that they were talents recommended by Qin Zhen personally, Liu Bei naturally did not dare to neglect them and talked with the two of them one by one.

Afterwards, they came to the conclusion that Zhuge Jin was a talented person of the time and could be used, while Xu Sheng, although brave and strong, lacked experience and still needed training.

After reaching the conclusion, Liu Bei appointed Zhuge Jin as the chief clerk and Xu Sheng as the commander of the troops, and kept them in the army to serve.

The two were entrusted with important tasks by Liu Bei, and they secretly thought that Liu Bei was truly a wise leader who recognized talent.

They originally planned to stay here temporarily and then plan their future.

Now that he was suddenly given such an important position, it would be difficult for him to leave, so he stayed and worked in Liu Bei's army with peace of mind.

At this point, Liu Bei's army was fully equipped with both civil and military forces and had grown to a considerable size.

Qin Zhen and Xu Shu gave advice and suggestions, while Jian Yong, Sun Qian, Mi Zhu, Liu Yan, Zhuge Jin and others took care of various matters.

The Wu army was led by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and commanded by Chen Dao, Qiao Rui, Mi Fang, Fu Shiren, Xiahou Bo, Xu Sheng and others.

Deploy troops in Pei State, train soldiers and horses, purchase food and fodder, and wait for the situation to change.

In this way, time came to mid-June, and the envoy from the court urging the army to advance finally arrived in Xiang County.

(End of this chapter)