Chapter 143 Recruiting Taishi Ci and sending an envoy to Jiang Gan Taishi Ci, courtesy name Ziyi, was a native of Huang County in Donglai. He was seven feet and seven inches tall, with a beautiful beard, arms as strong as an ape and an expert in archery, never missing a target. He was also one of the most regrettable characters in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He loved to study since he was young, and when he first became a county official, he was very loyal. Because there was a conflict between the county magistrate and the provincial governor, he was ordered by the county magistrate to destroy the official seal, committed a serious crime, and fled to Liaodong to avoid disaster. Later, because Kong Rong, the Prime Minister of Beihai, knew his name, he summoned him back home. Also, because the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou was a threat, he went north alone to seek help from Liu Bei. This made Liu Bei famous in the world and embarked on the road to hegemony. During this journey, the two formed an indissoluble bond. At that time, Liu Bei wanted to recruit Taishi Ci to serve him, but Taishi Ci had already been summoned by Liu Yao, so he had to leave. Since then, Liu Bei felt deeply regretful and thought about it day and night. Because before in Xia Pi, Qin Zhen wanted to lure out Zhao Yun, which made Liu Bei think of Taishi Ci, a powerful general.

Unfortunately, they were far away in Pei State at that time. With Liu Yao's defeat, Taishi Ci disappeared. Therefore, although Liu Bei wanted to get Taishi Ci, he had no idea where to find him. However, Qin Zhen took it to heart and prepared to help Lao Liu recruit this person. Because in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Taishi Ci was captured by Sun Ce at Shenting and then became a general under Sun Ce. But the actual situation was that Taishi Ci fought a fierce battle with Sun Ce at Shenting and then returned to Liu Yao's army. Later, Liu Yao was defeated and fled to Yuzhang. Taishi Ci had no choice but to escape to Wuhu, escape into the mountains, and proclaimed himself the prefect of Danyang. It was not until 198 AD, when Sun Ce completely pacified Danyang, that Taishi Ci was trapped in Jing County, defeated and captured, and then surrendered. That is to say, at this point in time, Taishi Ci is most likely still in a mountain somewhere in Danyang County. So after arriving in Huainan, Qin Zhen asked Jian Yong, who was in charge of intelligence, to send people south to inquire about Taishi Ci's whereabouts. Unexpectedly, hard work pays off and Jian Yong finally finds Taishi Ci's whereabouts. So after hearing the news, he hurried to Liu Bei's mansion. When I entered the mansion, I saw Liu Bei and Jian Yong sitting together, seemingly discussing something. Seeing this, he walked into the mansion, laughing as he walked: "I heard that Xianhe has found the whereabouts of Taishi Ci, an old subordinate of Liu Yao. Is this true?" As soon as he spoke, Liu Bei and Jian Yong naturally raised their heads. Seeing that it was Qin Zhen, Liu Bei said with joy: "This is of course true. Xianhe has already found Ziyi's whereabouts!" "I know this matter was arranged by the military advisor, so I invited the military advisor to come and discuss it!" Seeing Liu Bei like this, Qin Zhen smiled, went to his seat and looked at Jian Yong and said: "I wonder where Taishi Ziyi is now?" Seeing this, Jian Yong stroked his beard and smiled:

"Speaking of this matter, it took me a while to find it!" "Just after entering Shouchun, the military advisor wanted to go down to look for the whereabouts of Taishi Ziyi. I will send people south to look for him along the way through Wuhu." "However, Liu Zhengli was defeated last year, so it's easy to find him, but Taishi Ziyi is nowhere to be found." "I had no choice but to find out what was happening in the south. I learned that after Liu Yao's defeat, he went south to Yuzhang, then stationed troops in Pengze and sent Zuo Rong to attack Nanchang." "Later, Zuo Rong rebelled and was defeated by Liu Yao, who then stayed in Yuzhang." "I am thinking that if Liu Yao does not use Taishi Ci, Ci will be angry and will definitely not follow him." "This man had made great contributions and must have a high prestige. So I asked the people of Danyang about it and found out that Taishi Ci had left Liu Yao's army when he was in Wuhu." "Afterwards, this man first went to Chungu, and then went down to Wanling. Seeing that Wanling was difficult to break, he fled into the mountains southwest of Jing County." "During this year, he claimed to be the governor of Danyang in the mountains, recruited soldiers and horses, and most of them were joined by the Shanyue people." "Upon hearing this, our spies went to investigate and indeed saw a camp on Niugu Ridge with soldiers coming and going frequently. It is likely that Taishi Ci is stationed there!" Listening to Jian Yong's words, Qin Zhen nodded secretly. The information in my mind is not much different from what I know. However, he did not expect that Taishi Ci would become independent from Liu Yao's army as soon as he left Wuhu, which showed that he had already given up on Liu Yao! While thinking, he looked at Jian Yong and asked: "So, our spies haven't come into contact with Taishi Ci yet?" Upon hearing this, Jian Yong shook his head, leaned back, showing one of his big feet, and said with a smile: "Military Advisor, what you said is wrong. You only asked me to find him, but you didn't ask me to summon him!" "Without the order from the military advisor, how dare the spies contact you so easily?" He had always been used to being casual in front of Liu Bei, and his behavior at this time was also quite casual. But Old Liu didn't care. He just looked at Qin Zhen and said: "Now that we know where Ziyi is, why not send someone south to summon him to the north?" Speaking of Taishi Ci, he was the person Liu Bei had been longing for but could not get. Now that he had discovered Taishi Ci's whereabouts, he naturally wanted to summon him to meet him urgently. But as soon as he finished speaking, Qin Zhen shook his head and said: "I know that Taishi Ci has a friendship with my lord, but the times are different and people's minds are hard to predict." "Taishi Ci was alone in the past, but now he commands an army." "Although there is a favor before, it may not be possible to repay it now!" "If we suddenly send someone to recruit them, it might lead to misunderstanding!" This is also the difference between reality and games. Sometimes you can't just recruit people just because they are in the wild. If Zhao Yun led his troops in Danyang, Qin Zhen would definitely let Liu Bei recruit him without hesitation, but Taishi Ci was different. Zhao Yun was a die-hard fan of Liu Bei and was able to wander around for several years for Liu Bei. Taishi Ci didn't even look at Liu Bei at the beginning and instead joined Liu Yao's army.

From this we can see that Taishi Ci is more ambitious and realistic than Zhao Yun. As for the friendship between Liu Bei and Taishi Ci, at most Taishi Ci asked for help and Liu Bei sent troops to rescue him. At most, Taishi Ci owed Liu Bei a favor. If Taishi Ci was just a commoner, he might come alone when faced with the recruitment. But now Taishi Ci is independent and has troops under his command. He is considered a small warlord and may not necessarily lead his troops to surrender. Moreover, if Taishi Ci really wanted to surrender, he would have done so to Sun Ce long ago, and there would be no need to establish himself as the prefect of Danyang. Therefore, Qin Zhen analyzed that Taishi Ci's current mentality was probably that he was tired of Liu Yao and wanted to go it alone. This can also explain why Taishi Ci would seize Jing County and recruit Shanyue people to fight against Sun Ce. At this time, relying on Liu Bei's friendship to recruit people would probably have the opposite effect. Faced with his words, Liu Bei frowned and wanted to refute, but didn't know where to start. All in all, he and Taishi Ci had not known each other for as long as Zhao Yun. Although they have old feelings, they are not as close as Zhao Yun. Judging from their previous interactions, Taishi Ci is a man with great ambitions. He may not necessarily want to dominate, but he definitely wants to do something. Having not seen each other for several years, he was not sure what Taishi Ci's current mentality was. Thinking about this, Lao Liu said with regret: "If we can't recruit him, what else can we do? Ziyi is extremely brave and loyal, and he is truly a great general!" "You can't let Ziyi go astray knowing that he is in the south!" Seeing Liu Bei's regretful expression, Qin Zhen smiled and said: "My lord, do you really want to recruit him?" "Of course. Ziyi is such a great general, who wouldn't want to recruit him for their own use?" Liu Bei rarely showed an anxious look and said: "I know the military advisor must have a good plan to recruit him, why don't you tell me?" He knew that according to Qin Zhen's habit, if there was no way to recruit Taishi Ci, he would not take the initiative to look for him, and now he was probably just keeping it a secret. As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Zhen smiled and looked at Jian Yong and said: "Just now I heard Xianhe talking about Liu Yao. I wonder where Liu Yao is now?" As soon as he asked the question, Jian Yong smiled and said: "Liu Zhengli died of illness in Yuzhang last month!" "It's just that Yuzhang is so remote that the matter has not yet been reported to the court." Hearing this, Qin Zhen nodded again and said to Liu Bei: "If that's the case, I have a plan to recruit Taishi Ziyi to our army!" "But this method is quite against etiquette, and I'm afraid the lord would not want to do it!"

Seeing that he really had a plan, Liu Bei quickly leaned forward and said: "But if you have a plan, why bother with false courtesy?" "Military advisors only need to speak their mind. As long as it does not violate morality, you will be able to do it." Seeing this, Qin Zhen stood up and pondered: "If my lord will ignore the false courtesy, then our army can act!" "I am thinking that Taishi Ci has now declared himself the ruler of Danyang. I am afraid that this is because he has displeased Liu Zhengli and does not want to surrender to Sun Ce." "He established himself in Danyang and recruited the Shanyue people to serve him. It is clear that he wanted to restore the reputation of Danyang." "Under such circumstances, if our army recruits him, he may not respond to orders, so we must recruit him for the sake of justice!" "It just so happens that Zi Yang has come to the capital to seek the position of governor of Yangzhou. With Zi Yang's talent, he will surely be able to fulfill his wish." "In this case, we might as well send an envoy in the name of Yangzhou Governor to appoint Taishi Ci as the governor of Danyang and the commander of Yuzhang, and order him to go south to receive Liu Zhengli and other troops." "It just so happens that Liu Zhengli has passed away, and his old subordinates are leaderless. We can bring them under the command of Taishi Ci." "We can also send a letter to Hua Xin, the governor of Yuzhang, to ask him to supply food and fodder, so that Taishi Ci can gain a foothold in Yuzhang." "Then, after our army captures Lujiang, we can march south and take Jiangdong together with Taishi Ci." "At that time, Taishi Ci has a sworn brotherhood with the Lord, and is nominally under the jurisdiction of our army, so he will naturally be under our command!" "If we carry out this plan, our army will not only be able to gain the help of Taishi Ci and Liu Yao's former subordinates, but we will also be able to occupy Yuzhang first, which will serve as the foundation for our army's march south!" His strategy was actually a roundabout way to save the country. Since they are now fully confident of recruiting Taishi Ci, they should use a transfer order to make Taishi Ci a guest general under their command. Anyway, what Taishi Ci lacks now is a clear reputation. They sent envoys south to appoint an official position, and Taishi Ci would definitely not refuse. Similarly, they allowed Taishi Ci to legitimately recruit Liu Yao's old subordinates, which would be beneficial to him, and Taishi Ci would not refuse! After these two gestures of goodwill, and given that Taishi Ci owed Liu Bei a favor, it was natural that Taishi Ci would help Liu Bei when they went south to Jiangdong in the future. In this way, after they captured Jiangdong, Taishi Ci, the guest general, would naturally become their subordinate, and there would be no need to go through the trouble of recruiting him. And there is another advantage to this. At present, Hua Xin, the governor of Yuzhou, has not yet defected to Sun Ce. With Taishi Ci leading the troops, Hua Xin's independence can be guaranteed in the early stage. Even if Hua Xin would not surrender to them first, at least he could ensure that Yuzhang would not fall. With Yuzhang as their forward base, it would be easier for them to capture Jiangdong. The only problem is that Liu Bei has not yet accepted the position of Governor or Mu of Yangzhou. So now that they have issued this letter of authorization, it is actually an act of usurpation. However, Qin Zhen obviously underestimated Liu Bei's obsession with Taishi Ci. After he finished speaking, Liu Bei stood up and said with a smile: "I know that the military advisor has a good plan in mind. How can I not implement this plan that has the best of both worlds?"

"Now our army is about to take Jiangdong. If we can first get Yuzhang and a great general, that would be our wish." "I will write a letter myself and send it to Ziyi in the south, so that he can act as soon as possible!" As he said this, Lao Liu asked someone to get some cloth to write a letter. Seeing this, Jian Yong reminded: "Since we are going to assign this task, it will be difficult for spies to carry it out. We should send an envoy." "I wonder who the lord wants to send as his envoy?" When these words were spoken, Liu Bei was stunned. The choice of this envoy was a problem. Now the scholars under his command are all busy and assigned their own tasks. If we choose a minor official to go, it would seem disrespectful. After thinking for a while, he looked at Qin Zhen again and said; "Does the military advisor have any candidates for envoys?" Seeing Liu Bei looking at him, Qin Zhen thought for a while and then smiled: "There is a man who is very gifted in debate. He has just joined our army and may be of use." When Liu Bei heard this, he naturally asked who it was. Qin Zhen blurted out a name - Jiang Gan, Jiang Ziyi. (End of this chapter)