Chapter 117: A humble and humble person, a bird chooses a tree Nothing happened that night, and the next day came in the blink of an eye. In the afternoon, at the agreed time, Liu Bei brought Zhao Yun, Qin Zhen and a group of followers to Liu Ye's house. You must know that in ancient times when visiting someone, unless introduced by an acquaintance, one had to pay attention to the time. After setting the time, you need to arrive on time. When Liu Bei came to visit, Liu Pu's mansion had already been decorated with lights and lanterns, and he was waiting outside. Seeing Liu Bei coming, Liu Pu stepped forward to greet him and said with a smile: "I heard that the distinguished guest has arrived from afar, so I came to greet him. I am Liu Pu, and I am honored to meet you, Your Excellency!" Seeing that Liu Pu had gray hair and beard, Liu Bei did not dare to be arrogant, and hurried forward to help him up and said: "You are an elder, you can't do this. I came here to pay my respects, how can I let an elder perform formalities?" As he spoke, he helped Liu Pu up and bowed to him.

Seeing this, Liu Pu was secretly shocked. He thought that Liu Bei was in a high position, but he was still like this. It showed that his reputation for kindness was not false. He asked again: "I heard that the envoy is related to my family, but I wonder who your ancestors are?" Liu Bei laughed when he heard this: "Bei is the descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan, the great-great-grandson of Emperor Xiaojing. I heard that Lord Liu is the King of Fuling, a descendant of Emperor Guangwu, so he is related!" Liu Pu was also an elder. When he heard that Liu Bei was a descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan, he felt strange. It should be noted that Emperor Xiaojing was from the lineage of Emperor Wen of Han, but they were descendants of Emperor Guangwu. Although their ancestors were all Liu Bang, the relationship was very different. But he was an old and wise man after all, and knew that he could not lose Liu Bei's face, so he smiled and said: "So that's how it is. If that's true, then we are indeed related, but the family tree is hard to find, so I don't know our generation." "I am a few years older than you, so I have the nerve to call you brother. Is that okay?" Seeing this, Liu Bei naturally followed suit and said: "So I will follow your wish, brother. But since we are related, you should not address me as your Excellency. You can call me Xuande!" The two of them became much closer after this, and Liu Pu then called Liu Bei into his mansion to entertain him. Between the two of them, one wanted to curry favor with the powerful, while the other wanted to be humble and submissive, so they naturally had a mutual understanding. After a while they began to call each other brothers and had a very pleasant conversation. After chatting for a long time, Liu Bei saw that the time was almost right, so he smiled and said to Liu Pu: "I have heard that you have two sons, both of whom are talented. Would you please come and meet them?" Liu Pu was already prepared, and he said: "I was just about to introduce my son to Xuande, but I didn't expect Xuande to mention him first. If Xuande wants to see me, I will call him here right away!" As he spoke, he asked someone to call his two sons and said to Liu Ye and others: "This is Liu Yuzhou's envoy Liu. Xuande and I are brothers, and you should treat him with respect as a father!"

Seeing this, brothers Liu Ye and Liu Huan bowed and said: "We are here to see our uncle!" Liu Bei was delighted when he saw this. He felt that although Liu Huan was older, he had no intelligence. On the contrary, Liu Ye was a heroic and dashing man, which was very much to his liking. Then he smiled at Liu Pu and said: "They are all talented people. It shows that you are a good parent." When Liu Pu heard this, he dared not even say anything. However, Liu Ye smiled at Liu Bei and said: "I have long heard that my uncle led the army to fight and quell the rebellions. I admire you very much." "I am very happy to see it now, but I have a question that I would like to ask my uncle to answer!" Liu Bei had always been impressed by Liu Ye's heroic appearance and knew that he had talent, so he was naturally pleased with him. Seeing that he took the initiative to ask questions, he smiled and said: "Zi Yang, if you have any questions, just ask. If I can answer them, there's no reason not to tell you!" But Liu Pu saw this, fearing that Liu Ye might offend Liu Bei, and hurriedly said: "How rude of you! Xuande has come from afar and has not even had his meal yet, why are you asking so many questions?" When Liu Ye heard this, he smiled at Liu Pu and said: "Father, you don't know. I have a question in my heart that I don't know the answer to. Only my uncle can answer it. If I don't ask him now, who will I ask him when he passes away in the future?" Seeing this, Liu Bei smiled at Liu Pu and said: "Brother, please don't be angry. I am very happy to see Zi Yang. If he has any questions, I will answer them." After saying that, he looked at Liu Ye: "Zi Yang, you can ask as much as you want!" Liu Ye looked at Liu Bei, nodded secretly, and asked with a smile: "If you want to ask me something, you must first answer my question. I heard that you brought several thousand soldiers with you to the south. Are you going to take Hefei?" Seeing him state his goal right away, Liu Bei nodded and said: "That's right. I'm heading south this time to take Hefei!" But as soon as he finished speaking, Liu Ye smiled and said: "If that's the case, it's strange. I've heard a lot about my uncle's kindness. When he was in Xuzhou, he treated the people with great respect." "Then I heard the emperor's order and went south to attack him." "My nephew thinks that Yuan Shu is a traitor who is plotting to usurp power, and he should be attacked." "However, this time, it is not just my uncle's family that is coming to attack Yuan Shu. The families of Sun Ce and Lu Bu are also coming." "Logically speaking, the three of us are friendly forces, so why did we run into trouble as soon as we entered Shouchun?" "Why did Sun Ce lead his troops here but was defeated by his uncle and Lu Bu in Shouchun?" "If you want to defeat Yuan Shu, you should work together. If you, uncle, have no selfish motives, you should make friends with both families, and then you can accomplish great things!" "Why did my uncle turn against me when the matter was not settled? Is this a righteous act?" As soon as Liu Ye said this, Liu Bei's face darkened. He thought that Liu Ye would ask some ordinary questions.

I didn't expect Liu Ye's question to be so sharp. Liu Pu's eyes suddenly widened, and he glared at Liu Ye and said: "It is not the place for a child to discuss matters of national importance. How rude! Get out of here!" Although he was angry, Liu Ye was not afraid. He just looked at Liu Bei and smiled: "I wonder if my uncle can answer my nephew's question?" When Liu Bei saw this, he was speechless. The three families were attacking each other, and there must be something dirty about it. Of course, he couldn't tell them directly. But he couldn't blame himself for this, so he remained silent for a while and couldn't help but look at Qin Zhen. Qin Zhen saw this and immediately stood up and said: "If you ask me about this, it would be inconvenient for me to answer you. How about I answer it?" He had long noticed that something was wrong with Liu Ye's behavior, and knew that this kid must be trying to provoke Liu Bei to test Liu Bei's tolerance. When he saw Liu Bei's eyes, he knew it was his turn to appear. Without waiting for Liu Ye's response, he said: "If we talk about this matter, in fact, our army is also very ashamed, because our army came south to fight against the bandits, and we are dedicated to the public and have no selfish motives." "However, our army was like this, but Sun Ce was not. He came from Jiangdong and captured many cities one after another. When he saw our army attacking Shouchun, he was afraid that Shouchun would be captured by our army, so he abandoned Hefei and headed north, intending to compete with our army for it." "When our army saw this, they had no intention of making enemies with them and were determined to capture the city." "After Shouchun fell, Sun Ce saw that there was no food in the city and heard that there was commotion in the rear. He thought our army was plotting against us, so he wanted to ask Lu Bu to attack us!" "Fortunately, our army is on good terms with Lu Bu, so he informed us of everything in advance." "Although our army did not want to embarrass him, we had no choice but to passively defend. Seeing that Sun Ce was determined to attack Shouchun, we had no choice but to attack him!" "It is just as you said, it is not in line with the principles of humanity to turn against our enemies and attack them, but the fault is not only ours!" "We can't just wait for Sun Ce to start a war and then our army will go and die, right?" "If this is true, then what is the use of benevolence and righteousness? If Emperor Gaozu used this method to govern the army, I am afraid that the four hundred years of foundation of our Han Dynasty would have been destroyed!" The essence of Liu Ye's question is to deny Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness, and to mock Liu Bei as a hypocrite. He took the opportunity to bring up Liu Bang. If Liu Ye made trouble again, he would use Liu Bang as an example! When it comes to dirty things, Liu Bang did a lot of them. I dare to say it, but it depends on whether you dare to ask. After he said this, Liu Ye was suddenly speechless. Even his ancestors have been brought up, what else can he say! However, Qin Zhen's remarks also made him pay attention to Qin Zhen, and he couldn't help but ask: "May I ask sir?" Qin Zhen immediately smiled and said: "My name is Qin Zhen, with the courtesy name Zixuan. I have a little reputation, and you may have heard of me!" When Liu Ye heard this, his pupils dilated, thinking that the rumor was true and Qin Zhen was indeed working under Liu Bei. I've heard that Qin Zhen is eloquent, and now it seems to be true.

After thinking for a moment, he smiled again: "So I am so disrespectful to such a great sage in front of me!" "But I still have a question, please answer it, sir!" As soon as he said this, Liu Pu became angry again: "Rebellious son, you already know the master's name, why do you come here to show off your ugliness again!" Of course, he had also heard of Qin Zhen's name. When he saw Qin Zhen rejected Liu Ye's question, he knew that this man was not as kind as Liu Bei. If Liu Ye asked again, it might cause trouble. But when Qin Zhen heard this, he smiled at Liu Pu; "Mr. Liu, there is no need to do this. I see that you are intelligent and I am very pleased with you." "Sir, please ask with an open mind, and I will answer your questions one by one!" Then he looked at Liu Ye and said: "Sir, please speak again!" Seeing Qin Zhen's attitude, Liu Ye felt depressed and felt that everything he thought and felt could not escape the other party's eyes. But he was a man of insight. He knew that since he had asked, he might as well ask for clarification, and then asked again: "Since the teacher has said so, I will boldly ask." "Just now, the boy said that your army's march south to fight the enemy is the right thing to do." "But now there is a drought in all the counties, and people are short of food. If your army takes Shouchun, why don't you comfort the people and provide relief to the refugees as soon as possible? Why mobilize troops to disturb the people and then go south to take Hefei?" "You must know that this year's drought is unusual. Even the wealthy families are in danger of food shortages, and ordinary people are in dire straits." "With your army's actions like this, where do you think the people of Huainan will be?" His words still questioned Liu Bei's purpose. Since you founded your business on benevolence and righteousness, now that there is a drought, instead of rushing to provide disaster relief, you are expanding your territory. What is your idea? When Qin Zhen heard this, he waved his feather fan and chuckled: "I've heard people say that General Xu once said that you have the talent to help the world, but now I see that you are just so-so!" "Your Excellency's question does not clearly sort out the main and secondary contradictions. You only know that Huainan suffered a severe drought, but not the disaster caused by Yuan Shu." "If we talk about the drought, it is a natural disaster. Our army should save the people. But before the natural disaster, there is also the man-made disaster!" "Yuan Shu is a tyrant and his officers are as fierce as wolves and tigers." "Drought is so severe that the people are suffering, and Yuan Shu is also suffering. Our army is benevolent and will not make things difficult for the people." "Yuan Shu was violent and reckless. Now he has suffered this disaster. How can he make amends? He will definitely bring disaster to the people!" "So our army went south, not to ignore the people, but because of the people's difficulties, we went south to save them." "Why is it that such a righteous act is mentioned by the young master, but the people are not aware of where our army puts them?" "Do you think, sir, that Yuan Shu will settle the people if our army does not march south?" "Or in your opinion, the people in the north of Jiujiang are human beings, but the people in the south are not human beings?" Of course they wanted to rule Huainan, but before ruling Huainan, they had to take Huainan and distinguish between the primary and secondary contradictions.

What Liu Ye said is a typical Confucian thought, which only focuses on superficial benevolence and righteousness and does not consider the overall situation at all. After he said this, Liu Ye was speechless again. Even though he was criticized, he could not refute it. He could only smile awkwardly and said: "I am unwise, thank you for clearing my doubts!" After saying this, he bowed to Liu Bei and stepped aside. Seeing this, Liu Pu naturally couldn't let the situation calm down, so he smiled at Liu Bei and said: "This rebellious son is so rude, it makes Xuande laugh!" Liu Bei watched Liu Ye being persuaded to retreat by Qin Zhen, and he smiled nonchalantly and continued chatting and laughing with Liu Pu. In such an atmosphere, the banquet ended. Liu Bei met with Liu Ye, and then retreated with Qin Zhen and others. As soon as everyone left, Liu Pu called Liu Ye and angrily scolded him: "You bastard, I was almost killed by you today!" "Who is Liu Xuande? His troops are all outside the city. Are you not afraid of his wrath by making unfriendly advances against him?" "Even if Liu Bei is not angry, is Qin Zhen someone he can get along with?" But when Liu Ye saw it, he shook his head and laughed: "Father was only afraid that Liu Bei would get angry, and didn't see his wisdom. The reason I asked him just now was to see his broad mind. Now I see that he is indeed not a frivolous person!" When he asked this question today, he wanted to see Liu Bei's magnanimity and also wanted to see Liu Bei's cunning. If you don’t have a broad mind, you cannot be a leader; if you are not shrewd, it will be difficult to accomplish great things. Liu Bei's behavior was quite to his liking. When he was questioned, he neither blamed him nor got angry. This showed that he was a man of great tolerance and shrewdness. With the assistance of talents like Qin Zhen, it is clear that great things can be accomplished. He naturally had the intention of becoming an official, so he smiled and said: "I will go and see you tomorrow, and I promise that Envoy Liu will not blame me for today's crime!" Liu Pu looked at Liu Ye and wanted to scold him, but he felt helpless and could only say in a deep voice: "If you provoke him again, don't blame your father for not recognizing you as his rebellious son!" When Liu Ye heard this, he sneered, stood up and left. On the other side, Liu Bei came out of the mansion and thought of what had just happened. He couldn't help but sigh to Qin Zhen: "Now that I have seen Liu Ziyang, I have not seen his talent. I am afraid he is just an empty talker!" Qin Zhen heard this, shook his head and laughed: "This is not just empty talk. This person wants to see your magnanimity. Now that he has seen it, he is convinced." "You can invite him to come and see me again tomorrow. I will definitely see his talent!" Liu Bei listened without saying anything, thinking to himself that he should give Liu Ye another chance. He returned to the county government with Qin Zhen and spent another night there. As a result, early the next morning, the guards came to report: "My lord, Liu Ye is outside the palace asking to see you!" When Liu Bei saw Liu Ye coming by himself, he was surprised and hurriedly called him into the mansion to meet him.

When he entered the mansion, he saw that Liu Ye had changed into a loose robe. Compared with his heroic appearance yesterday, he became quite elegant. Seeing this change, Liu Bei suddenly said: "Why are you here today, nephew?" As soon as the voice fell, Liu Ye bowed directly and said: "Because I know that my uncle wants to take Hefei, I have come to offer some advice. I have a method that can help my uncle take Hefei without bloodshed!" When Liu Bei heard this, he was stunned. I didn’t expect that what Qin Zhen said was right. Yesterday was just a test, and today is the day to see the truth! (End of this chapter)