Chapter 210 The banquet is not over, borrow external forces The poem that Qin Zhen copied this time was called "Looking at Jingshan", which was written by Jiang Yan, a talented scholar in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In terms of literary talent, it is quite good, the choice of words and sentences is elegant and natural, and the tone is bright, which is really excellent. The problem lies in the last six sentences. Compared with the narrative and descriptive content of the first eight sentences, the last six sentences are quite sad. The mood is sad and mournful, making the listeners linger in sorrow and feel depressed. If it were an ordinary time, Qin Zhen's copying of this poem would probably have drawn praise. But we're at a banquet now, and everyone just wants to have fun. But you compose such a sad poem. How can the banquet continue? Therefore, after hearing the last six sentences, all the great scholars frowned and remained silent. Liu Biao even put down his wine glass, thinking that the banquet would most likely not be able to continue. The atmosphere was made sad by Qin Zhen, so the banquet naturally could not be held! While thinking, he looked at Qin Zhen with a bad face and said: "We are in a state of joy here, how can your poem be so sad?" "Could it be that I am not welcoming you enough and you don't like this trip?"

This statement is a heart-piercing one, questioning what Qin Zhen is doing! Qin Zhen shook his head and sighed, seeming to be helpless: "I'm afraid Liu Mu may not know that although this poem is sentimental, it reflects my mood!" "It is because of this mission to Jingzhou that when I saw the prosperity of Jingzhou, I couldn't help but think of the scenery of Huainan." "Since last year, there has been a severe drought in Huainan, causing lice and fleas to grow on the nails, and thousands of people have died." "Bone bones are exposed in the wild, no roosters crow for a thousand miles, only one out of a hundred people survives, the thought of it breaks one's heart." "Those people are all my Han people. Although Huainan has been restored, the land of Jiangdong is still plagued by frequent wars." "The people are in dire straits, waiting for us to rescue them." "I have come here with this important mission, but I have not yet discussed it with Liu Mu, so it is difficult for me to drink happily." "It's not that Liu Mu didn't treat me well, but I was so upset. If I made Liu Mu unhappy, I hope you can forgive me!" He naturally knew that Liu Biao wanted to use him to adjust the atmosphere. But this time he came not to make friends with Liu Biao, but to discuss a war between the two families. Now that there has been no talk, there is no way he can make Liu Biao feel good. Anyway, he had already said that he was in a bad mood and didn't want to compose poetry, and he only spoke because everyone begged him to. Under such circumstances, Liu Biao had no reason to blame him. On the contrary, Liu Biao ignored state affairs and invited him to the banquet, which was obviously unreasonable. Now a group of old scholars are watching here, and he wants to see how Liu Biao will respond. After he finished speaking, Liu Biao frowned and remained silent, thinking, you kid have already said all the words, what else can I say? For a moment, he had to put down his cup and said directly: "I see. In that case, now is not the time for a feast!" "But I also made it clear that I would discuss this with you tomorrow, so you shouldn't talk about this today!" "After we return to rest for a night, I will invite you to come and see me tomorrow. How do you think?"

Seeing that he had given the confirmation, Qin Zhen nodded and sighed: "I also know that you have good intentions. This is my fault. I will drink a cup as a punishment to show my apology!" After saying that, he pretended to feel a little guilty and drank a glass. At this point, with the tone set, the banquet could no longer go on. Everyone wanted to have a feast, but when they thought of the tragic scene described by Qin Zhen, "bones exposed in the wild, no rooster crowing for a thousand miles," even though there were delicious food in front of them, it tasted like chewing wax. After eating for a while, Liu Biao left on the pretext of feeling unwell. Upon seeing this, all the great scholars stood up and left, and the banquet ended. However, before leaving, Song Zhong and others pulled Qin Zhen aside to encourage him again. First, it expresses that Qin Zhen’s idea of ​​prioritizing governing the country is indeed correct, but it also states that the study of Confucian classics can be used to cultivate oneself and should not be neglected. Qin Zhen responded to them one by one with humility. He had no ill feelings towards people like Song Zhong, Ying Rong, and Xie Gai, but he didn't have much of a good impression of them either. Because these people are the culprits who lead to the gradual rigidification of classes. But because of the influence of everyone, he didn't want to offend them. Only after everyone left did he take Zhuge Liang and Wang Can out of the house. As soon as he got outside the palace and boarded the carriage, Wang Can said with a smile: "Great! Great! Brother, you have refuted everyone this time and spread the name of Master Cai. It's really great!" "Therefore, the last poem is even more exquisite." "I saw that Liu Jingsheng's expression was unchanged and he was not easy to attack, so I felt quite refreshed!" Ever since he was ignored by Liu Biao, he has been unhappy with Liu Biao. Now that he saw Qin Zhen making Liu Biao suffer a defeat, he naturally felt happy. But as soon as he finished speaking, Qin Zhen put his index finger to his lips and said, "Be quiet for now, and we will talk again when we get back to the inn!" After all, this is not their territory, so they can’t say anything. Seeing him like this, Wang Can couldn't help but think that Qin Zhen was still so cautious. He had to suppress his excitement and followed him all the way back to the inn. After entering the residence, Qin Zhen smiled and looked at Wang Can and said: "Speaking of which, I have to thank you for your advice. Otherwise, if I go there unprepared, I will definitely humiliate Master Cai. I hope you will accept my greeting!" As he was about to salute Wang Can, Wang Can stopped immediately and said with a smile: "Brother, why are you so polite today? Brothers like us should help each other. Why should we thank you?" "But although it's a pleasure this time, I'm already unhappy to see Liu Jingsheng. I'm afraid it will be difficult to accomplish anything if we meet again tomorrow!" He also knew that Qin Zhen's purpose was to seek help, not to slap Liu Biao in the face.

It is indeed a pleasure to get slapped in the face now, but discussing business tomorrow may not be easy. When Qin Zhen heard this, he smiled calmly and said: "Whether Liu Jingsheng likes it or not, this matter must be discussed!" "Do you think Liu Biao will be happy if I don't say anything today?" "This person didn't want to send troops at all, that's why he set up this situation." "Otherwise, now that the two armies are already at the border, he may not take the initiative to do good, but he will not take the initiative to do evil either!" Wang Can frowned upon hearing this, but Zhuge Liang nodded and said: "Teacher, you are right. In my opinion, Liu Biao's action today is that he does not want to send troops!" "He has put a group of scholars here to force you to give up when you realize the difficulty." "If you don't do this today, this matter will never be accomplished." After listening to Kong Ming's analysis, Qin Zhen turned around and said: "Could Kong Ming possibly find out why Liu Biao was unwilling to send troops?" After all, he didn't know much about Liu Biao, so it was difficult for him to understand Liu Biao's mentality in detail. At this time, Kong Ming's opinion is crucial. "According to my opinion, the reason why Liu Biao did not send out troops was that there was no profit to be made!" Facing Qin Zhen's question, Zhuge Liang analyzed it for him: "I have heard the Master say that the general trend of the world is vast and powerful, and all come for profit and all go for profit!" "Although Biao is one of the Eight Talents and a relative of the Han Dynasty, he may have had the aspirations of Duke Zhou in his early years, but now he is old and weak and only wants to hold on." "Now we have Zhang Xian in the south, who is always at odds with Liu Biao, and Cao Cao in the north, who is always planning to invade the south." “Thus, although Jingzhou is strong, it is also surrounded by powerful enemies. Therefore, although Liu Biao is hostile to Sun Ce, he is happy to see our army confront him.” "Only if the two families confront each other for a long time in the lower reaches of the Chu River can Liu Biao be guaranteed to be safe in the east." "What our army is asking for this time is nothing short of asking Liu Biao to break this balance, which certainly makes Liu Biao unhappy!" Qin Zhen rubbed his temples and said thoughtfully: "What Kong Ming said is not much different from what I thought, so I came here this time to make friends with the nobles of Jingzhou and give them advice!" "But now it seems that Liu Biao is quite afraid of our army!" "If I make friends with many people everywhere, Liu Biao will be displeased. People like the Kuai brothers probably don't want to get involved in this matter." "And Cai Mao must have seen through Liu Biao's intentions and deliberately opposed our army in order to gain Liu Biao's trust." "Now that Cai Mao is making things difficult for our army, Liu Biao can hide in the rear and get involved with our army." "To break this situation, we need help from outside forces. Do you two have any candidates?" He had said before that he would try to ask Cai Mao for help, but after he came, he found that Cai Mao was not an ordinary person! Judging from his performance, Cai Mao had no connection with them, so he should not have hindered this diplomatic mission.

But after meeting Cai Mao, he found that Cai Mao was by no means a simple villain. He was the key figure Liu Biao used to check and balance the aristocratic families. Allowing the Cai family to dominate is to suppress the continued growth of the Kuai and Huang families. This is also the reason why the Huang and Kuai families showed their goodwill one after another on the way here. They were not trying to go against Liu Biao, but against Cai Mao! Similarly, Cai Mao and Liu Biao were completely bound together, and everything was done according to Liu Biao's preferences. He knew that Liu Biao did not want to send troops, so he took the initiative to jump out and act as a shield. I think this is also the reason why the Cai family was able to dominate Jingzhou many years later. It can be said that Jingzhou is completely a vortex of intertwined power, and the conflicts of interest cannot be broken in a short period of time. Therefore, he must find an external force to break this deadlock! When Wang Can heard this, he scratched his head and said: "Brother, you know that I don't like this. If you ask me how to break the impasse, how can I know?" Seeing him like this, Qin Zhen shook his head and smiled: "My dear brother, you must not only indulge in poetry and prose, but also pay attention to the study of practical application in the world!" "Otherwise, even if you join our army in the future, it will be difficult for you to succeed." "Discuss with Kong Ming more often when you have time. It will definitely be beneficial to you." Although the interpersonal relationships in their army are relatively simple now, as their power grows, they will only become more and more complicated. But Old Liu was not a monarch who liked poetry. If Wang Can wanted to get along well, in addition to being a good writer, he also had to take care of state affairs. Otherwise, in their army, the best you can do is be a propaganda officer. As his senior brother, he couldn't just ignore Wang Can. After giving this warning, he looked at Zhuge Liang again. Kong Ming thought for a while and suggested to him: "If you want to seek external help, I have two candidates." "The first is Zhao Gong, the minister of Zhao Bin. He went south to Jingzhou two years ago and now lives in the suburbs of Xiangyang." "Since Master Cai left, Lord Zhao has become the pillar of support in the hearts of the scholars of the time. If we can get Lord Zhao's help, we will surely be able to break the impasse!" "The first is Cai Zhongsong, the husband of Mr. Cai, the uncle of Liang's brother-in-law, Mr. Huang, and also the husband of Liu Shijun." "Although Lord Cai is from a noble family in Xiangyang, he is of the same generation as Master Cai. If we can persuade Lord Cai to help, we will surely be able to persuade Madam Cai!" "I heard that Envoy Liu is henpecked. With Madam Cai's help, this can be accomplished!" The Zhao Binqing he mentioned was named Zhao Qi, and Qin Zhen had also heard of this old gentleman's reputation.

When Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan were fighting for Jizhou in the past, Zhao Qi was passing by as an envoy. The two armies specially stopped fighting and came to pay a visit. Later, Dong Cheng assisted Emperor Xian in moving eastward, and the imperial palace became difficult to repair, so Zhao Qi was sent as an envoy to Jingzhou. When Liu Biao heard that Zhao Qi was coming, he quickly sent people north to build the imperial palace and also sent a large amount of military supplies. It can be said that as long as Zhao Qi was persuaded to come forward, Liu Biao would have to send troops even if he was unwilling. The other Cai Zhongsong was actually Cai Mao’s father, Cai Feng. He had never been an official and was not a great scholar. Looking at his life experience, it is actually similar to He Jin's, both of them relied on women to rise to power. His elder sister, Cai, married the Grand Marshal Zhang Wen, and later his two daughters married Liu Biao and Huang Chengyan respectively. Compared with Zhao Qi, Cai Feng is obviously more transparent, but also easier to win over. Hearing these two names, Qin Zhen immediately had an idea and nodded and smiled: "These two are good choices, but Lord Zhao is already old, so it is not convenient for him to come forward again." "How about this, Kong Ming, prepare some gifts, and when I return tomorrow, introduce me to Lord Cai!" When Zhuge Liang heard this, he knew that Qin Zhen was probably going to make friends with his relatives again, so he nodded in agreement. After the two men had thus agreed, they dispersed, and looked for a room to rest for the night. The next morning, the two of them went their separate ways. After Qin Zhen washed up, he walked towards the government office, while Zhuge Liang followed him out and went to Cai's house to deliver a visiting card. (End of this chapter)