Chapter 69: The Gaze of a Third Person

  Compared with the hustle and bustle of daytime, night is silent, but only under the cover of darkness will the true masters of the situation make their appearance one by one.

  At the same time when Cai Mao visited Liu Cong, in front of a civilian house with an area of about 8 mu in the north of Xiangyang City, a black shadow hurriedly came from the corner of the street. In the dark, his appearance could not be seen, but his footsteps were urgent and seemed a bit anxious.

  He walked up the steps, knocked on the door, and after a moment, the door creaked open, letting out a faint light that shone on the face of the person who had knocked. It turned out to be Jin Cao Li Jun, the low-key and mysterious person that You Shou had been searching for all along.

  Li Jun slipped inside and asked in a low voice, "Is Mr. Jia in?"

  "In there, he's waiting for you." said a man holding a lantern.

  Li Jun hastily walked towards the inner courtyard, in front of a house door stood two burly men, Li Jun stepped forward and bowed his head, "I want to see Mr. Jia."

  A tall man immediately reported: "Sir, Li Jun requests an audience!"

  "Let him in!"

  Two big men stepped aside, Li Jun took a deep breath, calmed down his tense emotions, and pushed open the door to walk in.

  The room was softly lit and simply furnished with a table and couch. Along the walls stood several rows of bookshelves, which were filled with various bamboo scrolls.

  A middle-aged man was sitting on the couch reading a book, he looked slender and refined, but his eyes showed a sharpness that ordinary scholars did not have.

  His name is Jia Hong, a ordinary staff member under Cao Cao's command, responsible for sorting out some documents. Last year he was sent to Jingzhou by Cao Cao and became Cao Cao's eyes and ears in Jingzhou, in charge of managing the entire Jingzhou area's Cao army intelligence work.

  At this time, Li Jun hastily walked in, knelt down and saluted, "Your humble servant Li Jun, pays his respects to the master!"

  "Li Tunzhang dispensed with the formalities and invited him to take a seat!"

  Li Jun sat down, he was actually one of the countless undercover agents planted by Cao's army in Jingzhou. He was originally a scout commander of Cao's army, clever and capable. Two years ago, he came to Xiangyang and was placed in You Jiaosuo by the pro-Cao high-level officials of Jingzhou, serving as Jin Cao.

  Although the official position is not high, the power is not small, and a large amount of intelligence can be brought in. It has always been valued by Jia Hong, but since Liu Jiong took over as the supervisor of Youjiu, Li Jun's importance was once again demonstrated. Jia Hong directly found him and asked him to collect intelligence on Liu Jiong every day, which is a direct order from Cao Cao himself.

  Jia Hong was also looking forward to Li Jun's arrival. Today's events had spread like wildfire throughout the two cities of Xiangyang, and the punishment of naval commander Zhang Yun was a major event that needed to be reported to Cao Cao in a timely manner. However, only Li Jun knew the true details and circumstances surrounding the incident.

  "Let's talk about what happened today! I'm getting a bit impatient." Jia Hong said with a faint smile.

  "What happened today was truly exciting and thrilling, with many twists and turns. I really admire Liu Jing's quick wit and calmness."

  Although Li Jun's true identity was a Cao army spy, he indeed admired Liu Xuan. Having taken office for only half a month, he had already captured Zhang Ping and defeated Zhang Yun, leaving him covered in dust. And Liu Xuan was just a sixteen-year-old youth, it was truly astonishing to think about.

  Li Jun then slowly and in detail told Jia Hong about what had happened today, and Jia Hong wrote it all down with flying pen.

  He put down his pen and looked at it carefully again, frowning slightly, "Is he that formidable?"

  "This matter I have been involved in from start to finish, every sentence is true. Moreover, I have some news: he actually released those 500 military slaves."

  "Oh? Is that really true!" Jia Hong was somewhat incredulous, after all, freeing slaves was still a rare occurrence in this era.

  "It shouldn't be wrong, I heard it from Liu Hu, he and Liu Jing went north together today, should be to deal with the slave matter."

  Jia Hong supplemented and finished writing this matter, then handed over the written thing to Li Jun, "Take a look, is there anything I missed?"

  Li Jun took over the white paper and read it carefully. It was basically consistent with what he had said orally. He nodded, "No problem!"

  After Li Jun left, Jia Hong's face also showed a look of surprise. The fire at the Youjiao Temple, the battle of wits with Zhang Yun, and the release of the military slaves all happened in one day, and they were all centered around a young man. This undoubtedly stirred up a small wave in the quiet officialdom of Jingzhou, which had been calm for several years.

  Not simple, worth watching, even Jia Hong realized that more and more wonderful stories would happen on Liu Xiu's body.

  He rearranged it again, put it in an envelope, and handed it to a messenger: "Hurry to Xuchang and give this letter to the prime minister."

  The messenger received the letter and hastily left. Jia Hong gazed at the receding back of the messenger, feeling a bit puzzled in his heart. The prime minister seemed to be very concerned about Liu Xuan's situation, but why?

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  Cai Fu, Cai Nang sat on the couch, listening to Cai Zhong's report on contacting Zhang Yunzhi. Due to Zhang Ping being severely injured in a big fire, it was feared that he would be hard to save.

  Zhang Ping's connection with the Cai family has been lost, and Cai Zhong is Zhang Ping's brother-in-law. He took on the responsibility of reconnecting the two families.

  Today he specially went to find Zhang Yun for this matter, hoping that the Cai and Zhang factions would formally form an alliance, which was what Cai Mao had repeatedly instructed him to do.

  "I reported back to my brother, Zhang Yun is now in a very low mood. I said I was willing to join hands with him to deal with Liu Xuan, but he was very discouraged and said that he had been warned by the governor of the state and did not dare to act rashly again. No matter how I persuaded him, he refused to agree, it's really disappointing."

  "This is not disappointing but a sign of him getting smarter."

  Cai Ma sneered, "Getting rid of Liu Xuan, I think it won't bring any benefits, just venting some anger, but the cost is so heavy, he even lost his command, if he still doesn't learn from this lesson, next step he can't even keep his military position."

  "But..."

  Cai Zhong wanted to say more about Liu Xuan and the Kuai family, but Cai Man impatiently waved his hand, interrupting Cai Zhong's words. "I don't want to hear about Liu Xuan now, let's talk about the alliance between Cai and Zhang, have you discussed this with him?"

  Cai Man did not necessarily not want to deal with Liu Xuan, he just didn't want to discuss this matter with Cai Zhong. This man was foolish and reckless, if he knew his own thoughts, who knows what kind of trouble he would stir up.

  Cai Zhong was somewhat disappointed, and even the host of the Lian family had lost interest in Liu Xuan. Only he remained, how could he deal with Liu Xuan? He felt disheartened and had to temporarily put this matter aside, shifting his thoughts to the problem with his brother.

  "I've reported back to our elder brother, I've talked it over with him."

  "What attitude does he have?"

  Cai Zhong shook his head, "His attitude is not very cooperative, and he seems to be not very interested in the alliance between Cai and Zhang."

  "Why?" Cai raised an eyebrow and asked in puzzlement.

  "He said... why didn't his elder brother speak up for him in the matter of the department, and refused to help him explain, he couldn't feel his elder brother's sincerity."

  "What sincerity does he want!"

  Cai Man grunted heavily, actually a bit annoyed and embarrassed. In fact, he knew what Zhang Yun was referring to. He was also present when Zhang Yun was punished that day, but he remained silent.

  This Zhang Yun is not unaware of the situation at that time, Liu Biao was just taking advantage of the opportunity to seize power, who dared to oppose it at that time, and besides, wasn't he speaking on his behalf?

  Cai Zhong sighed and said, "Brother, last time he was willing to form an alliance. I think these two days he's just in a bad mood and spoke impulsively. Once he calms down, I'll go talk to him again and the problem won't be big."

  Cai Mao nodded, the Kuai family was their common enemy, and he also thought that an alliance between Cai and Zhang should be no problem.

  "Regarding the alliance with Zhang Yun, I'll leave it to you. This matter must be successfully negotiated, go first!"

  Cai Zhong bowed and hastily retreated, Cai Ma walked to the window, looking at Cai Zhong leaving the yard, his mind was filled with thoughts.

  He tried to clarify his mind, distinguishing between primary and secondary things. Although Liu Xuan was hateful, he had not harmed the fundamental interests of the Cai family after all. In Jingzhou, it was far from posing a threat to the Cai family.

  The ones that truly threaten the interests of the Cai family are Liu Bei, who was invited in by Liu Biao and is a wolf in sheep's clothing, and the Kuai family, who are secretly competing with the Cai family. These two are the true enemies of the Cai family, and they should be dealt with, not some young whippersnapper.

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  A carriage came to a gentle stop in front of the Liu mansion, escorted by dozens of cavalrymen. The leader was Zhao Yun, who cautiously observed his surroundings. A soldier stepped forward and opened the door, helping Lord Liu Bei out of the carriage.

  Liu Qi, who was waiting at the gate, hastily ran down the steps and came forward, kneeling on both knees to pay his respects: "Nephew Liu Qi pays his respects to Uncle."

  Liu Bei hastily helped him up and smiled: "Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, is your father here?"

  "Father is waiting in the study room, please follow me, Uncle."

  Sun Qian also walked out of the carriage and smiled: "Master, then I won't go in."

  Liu Bei nodded, "Alright! You wait outside for a moment."

  Liu Bei followed Liu Qi into the inner gate of the mansion, and the steward invited Zhao Yun, Sun Qian and others to rest in another place.

  "Uncle, there's something I need to remind you of."

  Liu Qi saw that there was no one around and whispered: "It's best if Uncle doesn't mention Zhang Yun's matter."

  "Oh! Why is that?" Liu Bei asked with a smile.

  "This afternoon, my aunt came to plead for Zhang Yun on her own initiative. Not only did my father not agree, but he also scolded my aunt, saying that she was spoiling her son too much. My father's anger has not dissipated yet. Uncle must not mention Zhang Yun's matter again. What the nephew means is that you should not plead for him."

  "I understand now, thank you for reminding me, young man."

  Liu Bei thought to himself that this young master was indeed sincere and trustworthy, so he smiled and asked: "Can you tell me about the matter concerning Master Jing?"

  "This is nothing, Father thinks that this time Zhen brother was innocent, just now he even praised Zhen brother's righteous act, and actually released all 500 slaves, ordinary people can't do it."

  There was such a thing, and Liu Bei was slightly surprised in his heart, he didn't know about this matter.

  Moreover, Liu Biao surprisingly appreciated this matter. Generally, people who free slaves are judged by scholars and literati as a righteous act, but those in power will not support it because it would offend other large estate owners who own slaves, that is, the wealthy and powerful class.

  If Liu Biao appreciates this matter, it can only be explained that the number of self-cultivating farmers in Jingzhou has sharply decreased, which has affected the government's revenue, and Liu Biao is worried about this.

  If it is true, will Liu Biao reduce the financial support for Xinye?

  Liu Bei's heart tightened and he quickened his pace, following Liu Qi towards the study.

  In the study, Liu Biao was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. He was indeed in a good mood today, having taken this opportunity to severely punish Zhang Yun by stripping him of his post as Administrator of Commandery. From now on, no one would dare to privately use the troops under his command, and perhaps this cancer afflicting Jing Province would be cut out.

  Today, Zhang Yun complained for an entire afternoon that he was wrongly accused. He repeatedly explained that it wasn't him who set the fire and that he wouldn't have burned his own younger brother to death as well. Liu Biao also understood this, even if Zhang Yun had a hundred times more courage, he still wouldn't dare to burn down the government office on New Year's Day. This fire was indeed suspiciously set, perhaps it was really Liu Xun's desperate plan.

  However, Liu Biao did not want to investigate the matter. It was not important who had set the fire; what was important was that he had intimidated all officials. Zhang Yan was his nephew and had also been stripped of his troops. From now on, let's see who else dared to use troops arbitrarily.

  From this point on, Liu Jue's display of wisdom and strategy in this matter was quite impressive to Liu Biao.

  At this time, a report came from outside the house: "Report to the master, Liu Xiong has arrived!"