After taking over the three counties in southern Jingzhou, Liu Bei ordered Guan Yu and others to prepare for the three counties. Once they received news that Liu Biao was actually dead, they immediately brought troops to assist Liu Bei in attacking Xiangyang together.

Perhaps it was Liu Bei's pious prayer that worked. Three days later, Liu Biao died and traveled westward. After receiving this news, Liu Bei was very sad on the surface, but he was so happy that he pretended to endure the grief and hid in the tent alone, not allowing others to enter. As for whether Liu Bei cried or laughed alone in the tent, only Liu Bei himself knew.

After coming out of the tent, Liu Bei immediately summoned the troops from the three southern counties, held high the banner of killing Cai Mao's rebels, avenging Liu Biao, Liu Qi and his son, and began to besiege Xiangyang in an open manner and carried out a blatant action to seize power. After Liu Biao's death, the Kuai family, which had always been inconsistent with the Cai family, collectively rebeled from Xiangyang and surrendered to Liu Bei under the leadership of the brothers of Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue. Liu Bei was very happy with the surrender of the Kuai family and immediately appointed the two as staff officers in the army. With the Kuai family as an example, those who felt that the situation was hopeless and were good at protecting themselves secretly ran out of the city and were loyal to Liu Bei.

We can't blame the Kuai brothers and others for being unscrupulous. When Liu Biao was still alive, the family they represented was incompatible with the Cai family represented by Cai Mao. However, at that time, Liu Biao could still suppress conflicts between all parties well. Now without Liu Biao's mediation and suppression, Cai Mao seized the military and political power of Jingzhou. The Kuai brothers and others had to consider their future prospects. Obviously, Liu Bei, who had occupied the three southern counties, had a chance to make a comeback; but if they stayed in Xiangyang, it would not take long for their heads to be moved by Cai Mao to try every means to do so. Between life and death, they of course had to choose to serve Liu Bei.

There are also some officials from Jingzhou who usually have a good relationship with Liu Bei, such as Yiji. Yiji was the first to surrender to Liu Bei after the Kuai brothers, and Yiji did not come alone. He also brought his friend Ma Liang and the navy captain Wenpin. The literary and military officials who came Yiji were all famous figures in history, and Liu Bei also valued these two people quite well. Liu Bei would not think that there were too many such talents. In Jingzhou, there were several officials like Yiji. They were all depressed and unsuccessful under Liu Biao's rule. It was expected that their status would become more dull under Liu Cong or Cai Mao, so they simply stood on Liu Bei's side.

In just a few days, there were more than 30 civil servants and military generals who surrendered from all over Jingzhou, which made Liu Bei's subordinates die from the withering of talents and suddenly became full of talents. With a full range of ambitions, Liu Bei began to use troops to Xiangyang. As soon as the battle began, Cai Mao ordered that all the family members of the civil and military in the city be forced to the provincial governor's office to prevent anyone from going out of the city to surrender to Liu Bei. Unexpectedly, Cai Mao's decision made some swaying people who wandered in the middle completely lose hope for Cai Mao and secretly reached an agreement with Liu Bei. They would secretly open the city gate and welcome Liu Bei to take over Xiangyang. Liu Bei also promised them that their official positions would not be removed afterwards and would allow them to continue to hold their existing positions.

So, after only one day of internal and external cooperation, Cai Mao's persistence was declared failure. Cai Mao himself was also killed by Guan Yu, and more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in Xiangyang were all owned by Liu Bei. The first thing Liu Bei did after entering Xiangyang was to confiscate the Cai family. The entire Cai family was beheaded, and no one was left. As for Liu Cong, Liu Bei did not kill him, but sent him to a remote mountain village in Lingling County. The name was to let Liu Cong live in that beautiful place for retirement.

After Liu Biao's death, Jingzhou would not be without a master for a day. Under the planning of Pang Tong and Ma Liang, Liu Bei's old subordinates and newly joined Jingzhou officials unanimously requested Liu Bei to serve as the new governor of Jingzhou. Liu Bei pretended to refuse again and again, and finally pretended to be unable to push it. He reluctantly agreed to temporarily serve as the governor of Jingzhou. When he found a truly talented person in the future, he abdicated and gave way to the wise. As for whether the day of abdication and giving way to the wise in the future, no one has thought about this issue seriously. Some words, the speakers said very beautifully, and the obedient people also listened attentively. Whether the content is verified is no longer so important.

When Liu Bei was wearing a brocade robe and holding the seal of the Jingzhou Mu in his hand, he slowly walked to the hall of the provincial governor's mansion, with a hint of unhidden pride on his face, he looked back at Pang Tong and said, "Military advisor, can I sit in the position of Brother Jingsheng before his death?"

Pang Tong smiled and said, "The lord is already the governor of Jingzhou, but it's okay to sit there."

Liu Bei smiled slightly, walked to the main seat, turned around and sat down. Just as Liu Bei's butt was put on the seat, a pleasant sound of drums and music suddenly came to the hall. It was a group of Jingzhou officials who congratulated Liu Bei and congratulated Liu Bei on ascending to the throne of the governor of Jingzhou, they also expressed their loyalty to Liu Bei in this way.

The two brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei strode into the hall with joyful laughter and saw Liu Bei sitting on the throne of the state governor. They laughed and said to Liu Bei: "Brother, we finally have a territory of our own." Listening to the two of them, Liu Bei suddenly felt unhappy in his heart. What is our territory? That is my territory alone! Liu Bei was Liu Bei after all, and he quickly adjusted his mentality and praised Guan Yu with a smile. Liu Bei knew very well that without the followers of these two brothers for more than ten years, he would not have the same situation today. Moreover, in the days ahead, Liu Bei would have to rely on the two to conquer the country for himself. Don't forget that Liu Bei, the governor of Jingzhou, now only controls the four counties of the nine counties of Jingxiang. There will be a lot of battles in the days ahead.

Turning to look at Pang Tong, Liu Bei smiled and said, "I can take charge of Jingzhou, and the military advisor has made great contributions. Today is happy. What are the requirements of the military advisor, but it doesn't matter!"

When Pang Tong heard this, his expression suddenly changed. He sighed and said, "It is not a soldier of benevolent people." This means that the joy of striking the foundation of the clan brothers is not what the benevolent should do. When Liu Bei heard this, the smile on his face disappeared instantly. He looked at Pang Tong coldly and said slowly: "When King Wu attacked King Zhou, he also sang and danced in the past. Can people who are happy be called benevolent? Go away!"

Pang Tong didn't do anything polite. He looked at Liu Bei deeply and turned around and walked out of the hall. Pang Tong submitted his support to Liu Bei in fact to protect his family and the majority of Jingzhou officials who surrendered. It was the same purpose, but Pang Tong advanced the time for the support. In essence, Pang Tong and the officials of Jingzhou were both from gentry, while Liu Bei was from a civilian family. It seemed very unreasonable to let a group of gentry serve the common people. It was forced by the situation and Liu Bei had to follow the situation.

Zhou recognized Liu Bei as the main person. Although Pang Tong did not feel wronged and even devoted himself to making suggestions for Liu Bei, what Liu Bei said just now really made Pang Tong not happy. For Pang Tong, Xiangyang was his hometown, and he did not want to hear anyone enjoying trampling on his hometown, including Liu Bei. Pang Tong was upright. He did not refute Liu Bei, but just said what he said in his heart. But he chose the wrong time. Liu Bei was in a good mood. He couldn't listen to such words.

After Pang Tong left, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were very unhappy when they saw Liu Bei, and quickly comforted him: "Brother, the military advisor has worked hard and made great contributions. Why do you have to worry about the disrespect of just a few words with him?"

When Liu Bei heard this, he also woke up and knew that he was too stingy just now. Pang Tong's role was the same as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Without Pang Tong, it would be impossible for Zhang Fei to take half of Jingzhou by Guan Yu alone. Liu Bei quickly reached out and pointed out, "Why don't you go and get the military advisor back!" Guan Yu and Zhang Fei got the order, hurriedly ran out, and took Pang Tong back to the hall with all his pulls and pulls.

Liu Bei stood up hypocritically and saluted Pang Tong. He said in a self-blame tone: "Military advisor, Bei just said something wrong and violated the military advisor in words. Please don't worry about it." In order to show his sincerity, Liu Bei did not claim to be his mansion, but changed his previous claim. Seeing Liu Bei apologizing to him, Pang Tong was not good to be tough, even though he knew that Liu Bei's words might not be sincere.

"The king and his ministers have made a mistake, so I hope the lord doesn't care." Pang Tong bowed to Liu Bei and said calmly. Liu Bei laughed, stepped forward and grabbed Pang Tong's hand, restoring his previous respect for Pang Tong.

Today may be a day when Liu Bei is extremely happy and sad. After a small episode of dissatisfaction with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Pang Tong's words once aroused Liu Bei's displeasure. After taking the initiative to apologize and restore a good relationship with Pang Tong with his ministers, Ma Liang walked into the hall again and continued to make things difficult for Liu Bei.

Ma Liang was very strange, and his two eyebrows were white. Therefore, there was a proverb in the Jingxiang area called "The Five Constant Ma Family, the White Eyebrow is the most beautiful". It means that the five brothers of the Ma family each had great talents, and the most outstanding one was Ma Liang with white eyebrows. Because of his outstandingness, Liu Biao asked Ma Liang to serve as an intelligence officer during his lifetime. After Liu Bei took over Xiangyang, he retained this position of Ma Liang.

However, today, Ma Liang did not come to report good news to Liu Bei, but to report bad news: "Lord, I just received the news that Sun Ce was not dead at all. He led Lu Meng and Ding Feng to attack Jiangxia County. Changsha, near Jiangxia, was originally the place where Sun Jian once ruled, and now it has turned to Sun Ce's territory, Jiangxia and Changsha County, now it is Sun Ce's territory."

"What did you say?!" Everyone in the hall exclaimed in unison! This was an unexpected situation, and even the extremely intelligent Pang Tong could not predict the slightest. Sun Ce actually pretended to die and took the opportunity to capture Jiangxia and Changsha, the two counties, which were the places where Jingzhou's grain storage was, especially Jiangxia. Half of the money and grain in Jingzhou had to pass through Jiangxia. One Jiangxia County was equivalent to one third of Jingzhou!

More importantly, the Jiangdong and Jingzhou families had a grudge against their father. Now that Liu Bei succeeded as the governor of Jingzhou, it was naturally equivalent to inheriting this hatred. Sun Ce now occupied Jiangxia and Changsha, which was equivalent to extending his tentacles from Jiangdong to Jingxiang, and he could launch a war of territorial possession against Jingzhou at any time.
Chapter completed!