The beginning of the Three Kingdoms Cheng Yuanzhi

Chapter 248 Appointment of the Prefect
On the north bank of the Han River, in the Chinese army's tent.

Cheng Yuanzhi sat in the middle, and sent someone across the river to Xiangyang to summon Liu Cong to see him.

Liu Cong was afraid and did not dare to come, so he sent Cai Mao and Zhang Yun instead.

The two had secretly joined the imperial court before, so there was a lot of flattery in their words, which attracted Cheng Yuanzhi's men and soldiers to look sideways frequently, showing disdainful expressions on their faces.

Cheng Yuanzhi always showed good looks towards his own people, and asked with a smile, "How much money and rations do you have for Jingzhou's army and horses?"

Cai Mao replied truthfully: "20 cavalry, [-] infantry, [-] navy, a total of [-]. Half of the money and food are in Xiangyang, half in Jiangling, and there are many other places. It is enough for Jingzhou's army and horses for three years."

Cheng Yuanzhi asked again: "How many warships? Who will command the water, army, and horse?"

Cai Mao replied: "There are more than [-] large and small warships. The navy was originally commanded by me and Zhang Yun, and the cavalry and infantry were commanded by my younger brothers Cai Zhong and Cai He."

In short, the entire military power in Jingzhou is under the control of the Cai family.

Cheng Yuanzhi looked at Cai Mao and said, "Since Liu Cong has surrendered, I will play the role of the emperor and make him the lord of Jingzhou forever. I will also make you the Marquis of Zhennan and the Commander of the Navy, and Zhang Yun as Marquis of Shunnan, Deputy Commander of the Navy."

"Thank you, Prime Minister!"

The two were overjoyed when they heard the words, and hurriedly bowed their thanks and bowed to leave.

Since Jia Xu was instructed by Cheng Yuanzhi last time, she has become much more active. She is no longer silent all day long, with a wise and protective attitude.

After the two left, he stepped forward and said, "For flatterers like Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, why did the prime minister give him such a generous gift, and entrust him with the important position of being the commander of the navy?"

Cheng Yuanzhi smiled and said: "Wenhe, don't worry, Jingzhou is newly accepted, and we will temporarily use two people. I will make my own arrangements when I have complete control."

Jia Xu felt relieved and went back to Lieban.

Xun You came out and said: "Cai Mao's army does not include the four counties in southern Jing. Although Liu Bei has fled today, Liu Qi is still in Wuling. These two people are definitely not people who can be determined. The prime minister should muster his remaining courage and make peace. .”

Cheng Yuanzhi thought so, but considering that Jiangdong was already under his control, Sun Quan was far away in Jiaozhou, and Liu Bei relied on Wuling alone, it was impossible to overthrow the world, so he laughed and said, "That's very true."

So he drove his troops across the Hanshui River, and entered Xiangyang to receive the city; at the same time, he ordered people to go to Jingnan to read out the imperial decree, and summoned the eunuchs and future guards from all over the country to see him.

After setting up the list to calm the people, he entered the city and sat down in the mansion. Cheng Yuanzhi named Liu Cong the governor of Yanzhou and told him to leave immediately.

Liu Cong was shocked when he heard that, and said goodbye: "Cong does not want to be an official, but wants to guard his parents' homeland."

Cheng Yuanzhi said solemnly: "The Son of Heaven is in Yanzhou, you are the head of the imperial family, you should be an official with the court, and always accompany your majesty, so as not to be harmed by others in Jingxiang."

Liu Cong didn't want to go at first, but the reason Cheng Yuanzhi gave was so high-sounding that he couldn't refuse at all.In desperation, Liu Cong had to go to Xudu with his mother Cai.

Starting the next day, among the civil and military personnel in Jingzhou, only the old general Wang Wei followed, and the rest of the officials were only sent to the mouth of the Han River and then returned.

At that time, Jia Xu was beside him, and said in a low voice: "Prime Minister, you can send Qingqi on the way to get rid of Liu Cong's mother and son, so as to avoid future troubles."

Standing on the tower, looking at the river, Cheng Yuanzhi waved his hands and said, "Liu Cong has made meritorious deeds in the state, this is not appropriate! Besides, except for Wang Wei, all the civil and military personnel in Jingzhou have severed their ties with him. This person is no longer a problem, so there is no need to do anything extra." .”

Jia Xu praised: "Prime Minister is really a benevolent master."

Cheng Yuanzhi turned around and looked around the crowd, and said: "Xiangyang has been settled, and there are still four counties in southern Jing that need to be pacified. What advice do you have?"

Xun You said: "Jiangling is close to Wuling, and it is an important place for Jingxiang to garrison grain. If Liu Bei occupies this place, it will be a serious disaster. He should first map this place, and then recover the four southern counties one by one."

Cheng Yuanzhi thought so, and asked, "Where is Wenpin?"

Cai Mao replied: "Since the prime minister arrived, Wenpin has been imprisoned at home and thanked guests behind closed doors. The general will send someone to invite him."

After a while, Wenpin came to see him and bowed under the hall.

Cheng Yuanzhi looked at him and asked: "After I arrived in Jingzhou, all civil and military officials came to see him, why didn't you come?"

Wenpin replied: "As a minister, but he can't make the Lord protect the whole territory, he feels so ashamed that he has no face to pay homage to the prime minister."

Cheng Yuanzhi said: "This statement is wrong. There is no king in the world. Liu Biao's Jingzhou Shepherd was granted by His Majesty 18 years ago. Your lord should be the current emperor, not Liu Cong. Why did you lose the situation? Tuyi said?"

Wenpin cupped his hands and said, "After listening to the prime minister's words, Pin Maosai suddenly understood."

Cheng Yuanzhi said "Yes", "I ordered you to garrison Jiangling, would you like to go?"

Wenpin responded quickly: "The general is willing to go at the end."

Cheng Yuanzhi turned his head, looked at Huang Zu and said, "Why didn't you go to Beijing with Liu Cong?"

Huang Zu seemed to have already thought about his words, so he said calmly, "My lord is the Prime Minister, the Son of Heaven, not Liu Cong."

Cheng Yuanzhi glanced at Huang Zu approvingly, and ordered Han Song to be the prefect of Jiangxia, Li Dian to be the prefect of Nanjun, and Le Jin to be the prefect of Xiangyang. Except for the captains of the navy, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, their positions remained unchanged, and all the commanders of the other armies were replaced.

The original prefects and generals were all transferred back to Yecheng to listen to them.

After all the arrangements were made, a detective came to report: "Liu Bei took more than ten thousand people and traveled dozens of miles a day to Wuling."

When all the civil and military officials heard the words, they all proposed to send troops to catch up.

Cheng Yuanzhi didn't want to chase after him, because people in this era think that Liu Bei is someone who will become a big event sooner or later.Cheng Yuanzhi never found Liu Bei difficult to deal with.

Therefore, I don't want to send people to chase.

Even if Liu Bei occupies Wuling, so what?

The situation in the world at this time is really too unfriendly to Liu Bei.Jiangdong and Jiangbei are all under the control of the Northern Army.Next, what Cheng Yuanzhi has to do is to firmly control the four Jingnan counties little by little, forcing Liu Bei to flee westward and enter Yizhou.

Instead of staying in Wuling and harming Jingnan.

In a few days, wherever the preaching went, the counties fell in anticipation.

Han Xuan, the prefect of Changsha, Zhao Fan, the prefect of Guiyang, and Liu Du, the prefect of Lingling, all made it clear: they are the prefects of the great man in life, and they are the officials of the great man in death.

The three of them hardly hesitated, seeing the envoy sent by Cheng Yuanzhi, they immediately opened the city to offer their official seals.

There is no other way if you don't surrender. First, Cheng Yuanzhi's power is too scary. Eleven of the fourteen prefectures in the world have more than one million soldiers, and even Jingzhou has newly won 20 soldiers.

And their three counties, apart from more than a thousand soldiers in the city, have almost no defensive force.

The disparity in power is so great that they dare not have the idea of ​​​​resisting at all.

Second, after Liu Biao's death, Liu Cong's prestige in Jingzhou was not established, and everyone refused to accept him.

The prefect of the three counties not only refused to accept Liu Cong, but also Liu Qi.

Therefore, when they heard that the court envoy had come, the three of them surrendered without hesitation. Even some officials who were still loyal to Liu Biao, under the general trend, made it clear that they would take refuge in the court.

When the news came back, all civil and military officials were overjoyed. They all believed that the imperial court had control over the four counties, so they stopped making any other plans and focused on Wuling County, because the prefect of Wuling Liu Qi did not surrender.

And Wuling not only has Liu Qi, but also Liu Bei.

But Cheng Yuanzhi knew that this view was wrong.

In fact, there are more than four counties in Jingnan, plus Jiangxia County, there are five counties in total.

In Dahan, the consideration of whether a warlord has control over a certain county mainly depends on who is appointed as the prefect of the county.

In the Han Dynasty, the prefect of the county had a high level of treatment (two thousand stones), and his actual power was greater than that of the original governor, only slightly lower than that of the prefect.

Since each county has armed forces such as county soldiers, the prefect is actually the chief official in charge of civil and military affairs.

Therefore, whenever a piece of territory is laid down, the first thing Cheng Yuanzhi has to do is to arrange for his trustworthy and most capable officers to serve as prefects in order to ensure absolute control and mastery of the territory.

This meeting started at three quarters in the morning and lasted until a quarter in the afternoon.

During this period, Cheng Yuanzhi has been arranging the transfer of personnel in various counties.

Wenpin was the prefect of Jiangling, Han Song was the prefect of Jiangxia, Li Dian was the prefect of Nanjun, Le Jin was the prefect of Xiangyang...

The original prefects were all transferred to other places.

(End of this chapter)