After all, Gongsun Du did not take the imperial edict from Chang'an and headed straight for Liaodong thousands of miles, but was stopped by the war. Just on the plains, the Bohai Sea was dragged down for more than half a month.

Therefore, the appearance of Gongsun Du is not a sudden one for Mi Zhu.

As the number one rich businessman in the East China Sea, Mi Zhu's official business has grown bigger and bigger in recent years. Especially before Li Su handed over the work with him, he helped him open a little bit and improved the sea shipbuilding technology. Mi family's "large river and sea dual-purpose sand ship" has since become unique in the East China Sea.

From the Qiantang River mouth to the north, all the way to the Liaodong Bay, and even the east bank of the Korean Peninsula, it is the world of Mijia merchant fleet. Because of the dual use of rivers and seas, it occasionally goes deep into the rivers along the coast to trade in inland river ports. Kuaiji along the Qiantang River, Guangling, Moling, Huaihe River, and Shanggang along the Yellow River, all have traces of Mijia boats.

Just a while ago, when Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan were fighting, Cao Cao and Zang Ba were fighting, a merchant fleet of Mi Zhu quietly took humanitarian attention and brought some Northeast specialties such as rosin, musk, Schisandra chinensis and other medicinal materials into the Yellow River and went to the Plain County to sell. Some of these medicinal materials were used for the treatment of golden sores, while others were used to prevent dysfunction.

Anyway, whenever there is a war, the profit of selling medicinal materials will definitely be considerable. After working in a maritime business for many years, there is still some keenness. Mi Zhu's goods were sought after by both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and they were sold out soon. Yuan Shao, who was rich and powerful, even bought all the injured medicines at a higher price, which made his younger brother Cao Cao so angry that he secretly scolded Benchu ​​for being unrighteous.

After his subordinates sold the medicine, Mi Zhu also received information that "Gongsun Du was stranded in Pingyuan County, and the imperial court appointed him as the prefect of Liaodong."

Because it took time for the return journey by sea, it was actually half a month after Mi Zhu received the news. He quickly sent a detailed investigation and learned that the latest progress was that Gongsun Du had defected to Gongsun Zan.

Mi Zhu was quite anxious when he heard the news and thought to himself: "What should I do? Gongsun Zan is very likely to help Gongsun Du. After all, Gongsun Du has an imperial edict. As long as he promised Gongsun Zan the conditions that were good enough, he would be famous for his master.

We have always followed the commander of the envoy. The envoy never raised the banner to challenge Dong, and the counties in Youzhou have also remained silent. If we don’t challenge Dong, there will be no reason to refuse to implement Dong Zhuo’s imperial edict... There is no way, why not immediately raise the flag and announce the bidding of Dong Zhuo immediately in the name of our Liaodong County. It is just to find a way to win the trust and support of the envoy and let him know that we have no choice."

Those who don’t understand the current situation in Youzhou may be confused about Mi Zhu’s concerns: Isn’t Gongsun Zan a good brother to Liu Bei? Mi Zhu has not offended Gongsun Zan in recent years, and there are also many gifts to give during festivals. Gongsun Zan should not have planned on him, right?

However, there is a key here, that is, in real history, whether it is Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou, or the prefect of Liaoxi, or the general Gongsun Zan of Liao, they did not raise the flag to challenge Dong. Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei participated in the challenge to Dong, which was the plot in the Romance.

Without asking Dong, the legitimacy and possibility of personnel appointments and removals were retained in accordance with the Dong family's imperial edict. On the other hand, since Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao went to war, the conflict between Gongsun Zan and his superiors and Youzhou Governor Liu Yu has become increasingly fierce.

Liu Yu always did not support Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao to go south to seize the territory of the people of Jizhou (in fact, Gongsun Zan did not dare to take over the title of robbing Jizhou territory from the beginning. His initial name of sending troops south was to attack the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou)

At the same time, Liu Yu did not support Gongsun Zan's practice of suddenly slaughtering a Wuhuan tribe in the past two years and dividing his property. He felt that Gongsun Zan wanted to destroy his policy of winning over the Hu people. The two became more and more irritated. According to the original historical development, Liu Yu had lived less than two years and was about to be killed by Gongsun Zan. Because Mi Zhu inherited Liu Bei's attitude, he gained some benefits from it.

Some of the inner tribes that were slaughtered by Gongsun Zan fled from western Liaoning to Liaodong to surrender to Mizhu. Mizhu was already the main force, and used the barbarians to control the barbarians to use these Wuhuan people who could farm to farm. Xianbei people who could not farm also paid wages to bite dogs with Fuyu people and Gogurye dogs to eliminate external border troubles.

In history, Liu Bei directly defected to Gongsun Zan and failed to get in touch with Liu Yu, so he was able to support Gongsun Zan. However, Liu Bei in this life belonged to Liu Yu directly, and he was always grateful to Liu Yu for his kindness of knowing and admiring the grace of promotion. When Gongsun Zan was rescued from the siege of Guanzi City in western Liaoning, Liu Bei was promoted by Liu Yu to be only half a level away from Gongsun Zan.

This means that Mi Zhu took over Liu Bei's foundation in Liaodong, and he had to inherit Liu Bei's attitude of "supporting the envoy as the main force, trying not to interfere, and not offend Brother Bo Gui" in the conflict between Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan.

So in the past two years, Mi Zhu basically gave some money and gave Liu Yu more money in the past two years. However, he would not provide weapons and military supplies to Gongsun Zan, and would not provide military support.

Gongsun Zan has long been dissatisfied with their preference for Liu Yu.

"I'd better find a way to see if it's possible to not tear apart, and just let Thunder deal with Gongsun Zan's ambitions. I've given too many things in the past few years, making him feel weak and bullied. I want our Liaodong to completely turn to support him instead of the envoy, but unfortunately this is impossible."

Mi Zhu Sizhi repeatedly decided to use a way of thinking similar to "agent war" to stop Gongsun Zan's fantasy.

In other words, don’t go to war directly with Gongsun Zan’s troops, but if Gongsun Zan dares to lend a small amount of troops to Gongsun Du and let Gongsun Du enter the country with the power of the imperial edict, then the force lent to Gongsun Du is eliminated. In this way, at least the two sides will not directly tear each other apart, which shows that they are not weak to be bullied. If there is still captives, the captives will still have to return them to Gongsun Zan, just treat it as a matter of reassurance and let Gongsun Zan’s hatred continue to spread to Yuan Shao, so that Mi Zhu will not be able to wade into this muddy water.

Although Mi Zhu had never heard of the saying "If peace is achieved through struggle, peace will exist; if peace is achieved through compromise, peace will perish", the businessman's natural mediation mentality made him very clear about this truth.

When doing business, you have to bluff the bill. How can you just show your favor by showing your weakness? I have been giving gifts for several years, and I have to occasionally be tough.

One punch can be opened so that hundreds of punches will not come.

As soon as he got the news, Mi Zhu quietly stopped doing business in the sea fleet. He would rather make less money than divide the transportation capacity first and go to Donglai to take over the troops of the Donglai Duwei Taishi Ci. It was also thanks to Cao Cao who fought to the death with Zang Ba in extreme anger last month, and he beat Zang Ba a little bit crippled. So Taishi Ci didn't have to worry about the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou at least this year, so he could take his hands out.

At the same time, Mi Zhu also sent a secret envoy to prepare a heavy gift to ask for Liu Yu. Dongzhu, who was a small grain, brought a whole two dou to express his difficulties, hoping that Liu Yu would not stop Liaodong County from raising the banner of begging Dong alone.

After Taishici came back, Mi Zhu had to finally confirm Xu Rong's position. In order to know Xu Rong's true thoughts, Mi Zhu invited Xu Rong to have a meal on the day after Taishici was recalled, and did not let Xu Rong know that Taishici had returned.

Xu Rong was quite righteous and did not think much about it. He went straight to Xiangping's prefect's mansion to attend the banquet.

"Mengfu Jun summoned me, I don't know what's important?" After Xu Rong entered the door, he bowed and greeted him, and noticed that there were other guests in his eyes.

"We don't have to be polite, sit down." Mi Zhu pointed to the mat on the side of his right hand and asked Xu Rong to sit down, and then introduced him, "Can you know this Liu Biejia, Xu Duke?"

Xu Rong paused his head: "Rong Yijie's martial arts husband, neglected to greet him."

Mi Zhu: "This is the confidant of the envoy. Liu Ye and Liu Ziyang, the commander of Youzhou, was promoted to Liu Ye and Liu Ziyang. When the general of the Western Expedition started to attack Zhang Chun, General Guan went to Yangzhou to recruit Danyang soldiers and suppress Zheng Bao, the commander of Danyang Hao. This Liu Bie was trapped in the thief's nest, but he decisively abandoned the secret and threw himself into the open to kill the thief's head. He was introduced to the commander of the Western Expedition to listen to him."

Mi Zhu introduced, Liu Ye greeted Xu Rong while showing off, and Xu Rong naturally returned the gift, which was considered to be acquaintance.

Mi Zhu continued: "I want to announce to Xu Duwei today a decision of our county, that is, we will formally raise the flag to challenge Dong. I have secretly asked the envoy to ask the envoy for the title. After weighing the pros and cons, I decided to agree that our Liaodong County would be able to challenge Dong alone, which has nothing to do with the attitude of the other counties in Youzhou."

It turned out that Liu Ye was the replyer sent by Liu Yu, who brought Liu Yu's attitude.

Mi Zhu didn't say anything else in his secret message to Liu Yu, but just pointed out two advantages and disadvantages: So far, the four counties in Liaodong have always firmly supported Liu Yu in the conflict between Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan also had other ideas about Liaodong. Although he did not dare to break up and ended up in person, he was willing to cultivate an agent.

Therefore, if Liu Yu did not support Liaodong to raise the flag alone to challenge Dong Zhuo's illegal imperial edict, he would have to bear the adverse consequences of Liaodong being puppetized by Gongsun Zan, and Liaodong's civilian, military and financial resources could also be annexed by Gongsun Zan's war machines.

For Liu Yu, who didn't want to see Gongsun Zan do whatever he wanted, it was clear how to choose.

Coupled with the effect of the two bells of pearls given by Mi Zhu, Liu Yu's final attitude was: Liu Ye, a faction, came to express his support for Mi Zhu's individual flag to challenge Dong, but did not express his opinion in public. In this way, Liu Yu's support could be used by Mi Zhu to calm the hearts of the people inside, but not for diplomatic occasions.

Xu Rong was shocked when he heard Liu Ye’s statement on behalf of Liu Yu: “Even the envoys support the lord of the mansion to raise the flag to attack Dong? But… Our Liaodong is located in the border area, which is thousands of miles away from the Guanzhong area where Dong thieves robbed and moved the emperor. How can we attack Dong?”

Even within Youzhou, those counties closer to Guanzhong and Central Plains did not challenge Dong, but Liaodong was the first to pull the flag, with so many neutrals separated by... It was not reliable no matter how you look at it.

Fortunately, Mi Zhu quickly resolved his doubts: "Emperor Xu, there is now an opportunity to fight Dong - Dong's thief tried to rely on the edict to disrupt the lives and disturb the local area. I wonder if Xu's thief would lead troops to intercept Dong's thief Gongsun Du?"

"Gongsun Du!" Xu Rong was shocked. After all, he was just a captain. Those naval ships and merchant fleet Mi Zhu had always been responsible for other people, so Xu Rong did not have much information. It was the first time he heard that Gongsun Du was sent.

Mi Zhu: "At present, I don't hide it from Xu Duwei. I have always known that Xu Duwei and Gongsun Du have old age. Dong Bidder made an edict this time to let Gongsun Du take over Liaodong and disrupt my Liaodong. Xu Duwei thought what."

Xu Rong thought for a while and sighed: "The Lord of the House has treated me with kindness in the past few years, how can Rong not know? Moreover, the Lord of the House has implemented benevolent governments, and the people are in peace and well-being, and all the people live in peace are obvious to all. But Gongsun Du and Rong are indeed fellow villagers, and there are some family friends.

If the Duke has any doubts, Rong is willing to hand over the military power, and the Duke will send another person to lead the troops to resist it. Although Rong has not led the troops to fight for the Duke, he has helped the Duke train and strictly regulate the military discipline in the past two years. Now the troops in the battle are all refined and have calculated their duties. He is worthy of the favor of the Duke."

It is definitely impossible to resist Mi Zhu. First, Mi Zhu is very polite to him, and second, Taishici has had a lot of troops in Donglai in the past two years, and Taishici's personal bravery is even better than him. Moreover, the families of the soldiers in the army all live in Dashi County and have been assigned to a lot of land.

Moreover, Liu Yu hoped that he would challenge Dong, so there was no suspicion that "Mi Zhu was speculating on Dong for his own selfish interests". He was endorsed by the credit of "The Light of the Great Han Dynasty". For the sake of loyalty and righteousness, Xu Rong could not choose anything else.

Mi Zhu: "How could I not believe in Xu Duwei? If Xu Duwei is willing to serve the country, he would have done more. If you lure him with the 'leading army as an internal support', he would definitely be unprepared. If we capture him in one go, we can commit less murder."

Xu Rong: "Thank you, the Lord of the Mansion, for not doubting the employment of people, but selling friends to seek honor is an unlucky thing. Although Gongsun Du has not had a deep friendship with me, he is still some old friends. If I lure and kill him, wouldn't it be ridiculed by the world? The reputation of the Lord of the Mansion is probably unfavorable."

Mi Zhu stood up, personally cupped Xu Rong a few cups, and persuaded him: "Let me say that, I think Gongsun Du can't borrow many soldiers from Gongsun Zan. If he traveled hundreds of miles away, he would clearly fight with my Liaodong army, Gongsun Du would definitely not be an opponent, but many innocent soldiers killed and injured him, which was not my intention.

If you are willing to tempt him with slander, I promise not to kill Gongsun Du after the matter is completed, and I can even give him a safe salary and transfer him to an official position, as long as he can ensure that his ambitions no longer threaten our Liaodong.

If you have to choose a bloody battle, then there is no room for a person to leave a line of life, and in the end, he will definitely not be able to save his life. Whether Gongsun Dudu is alive or dead depends on how Xu Duwei decides."

Xu Rong raised his eyebrows: "Is Fujun trying to put him under house arrest afterwards? Or does it take other measures?"

Mi Zhu: "I respect Xu Duwei's opinion. You can accept it if you think it is done. If I think it is OK, then do it. If you don't have house arrest and put him in a place where you can't come back for a safe place in ten or twenty years, I can also discuss it."

Xu Rong immediately felt much better: We are not betraying our fellow villagers, we are preventing our fellow villagers from going further and further on the wrong path, so we help him stop and save his life.
Chapter completed!