Liu Bei's body is indeed failing.

Zhou Mo hadn't seen Liu Bei for only two or three months, and his appearance had already undergone tremendous changes.

First, he became thinner, his cheeks were hollow and fleshless, his eye sockets were sunken, his sparse gray hair was as dull as dry grass, and his face was covered with deep groove-like wrinkles and patches of age spots.
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Although the former Liu Bei was older, he was always firm-eyed and full of fighting spirit, as if he had inexhaustible power.

Today, Liu Bei is just a haggard, dying old body. Although his eyes are still sharp, the heroic fire in his eyes has become dim.

As soon as the monarch and his ministers met, Liu Bei immediately announced the reward.

He added Huang Yuan as the general of Fu Rong and added a thousand troops, and the command of the county remained the same.

Zhou Mo was granted the title of Lieutenant General of Huben, and was given the title of Intermediate Attendant (allowing free access to the palace), and he and Li Yan were in charge of the Imperial Guards inside and outside Yong'an Palace.

The leader of the Yanniu barbarians, Langmi, was granted the title of King Yanniu Pi, and he was allowed to pay tribute to Chengdu every year.

"Huang Yuan, come forward." Liu Bei said after reading out the reward.

"Yes." Huang Yuan walked forward and knelt beside Liu Bei's bed.

"Twenty words in your own hands."

"Your Majesty?" Huang Yuan thought he heard wrongly.

"Slap yourself twenty times as punishment for lying to me."

"Pah! Pah! Pah!" Huang Yuan spread his palm as big as a cattail fan and slapped himself twenty times, until the corners of his mouth were red, swollen, and bleeding.

"Although I am about to be away and my life is not in check, you dare to pretend to be a rebel. You are a bit too courageous! In any case, can't you write me a secret letter to explain the whole story? I am very ill now because

What happened to your kid? I couldn’t eat or sleep for days and nights. Do you know your guilt?"

Liu Bei's voice was slow and weak, but to Huang Yuan's ears, every word seemed to have a huge force, making him breathless.

"I am guilty of death." Huang Yuan knocked his head on the ground and choked.

"Okay, get up. I think you are still loyal to me, and you have done something great this time. I will punish you slightly, and your anger has gone away. But you remember, before you act in the future and make any decisions,

Don’t forget, I’m watching you from behind!”

"I will remember His Majesty's teachings and never forget them!"

"Step back. Zhou Mo comes forward."

Huang Yuan gradually retreated, and under the guidance of his ministers, he withdrew from Liu Bei's palace.

Zhou Mo stepped forward and waited in front of Liu Bei's bed to obey his orders.

Liu Bei said: "Zhou Mo, you used this move to get the best of you. It was really clever. Not only did you take Gao Ding's life, you also saved Huang Yuan's life."

Zhou Mo smiled and said, "Your Majesty, have you guessed everything?"

"Huang Yuan is a common man who is brave but not resourceful. If you say he dares to rebel, I believe you. But if you say he can come up with such a plan, it is absolutely impossible."

"Sure enough, nothing can be hidden from Your Majesty."

"A letter came from the Crown Prince of Chengdu, saying that the Crown Prince has suddenly changed his mind in recent days and is no longer playful. He only studies hard with Dong Yun and Fei Yi every day, and discusses military affairs in his spare time. Mr. Lai said that this is also your contribution.

I am deeply pleased to hear this."

"I just gave you some advice. The key is that the prince has grown up and understood the responsibilities of being a prince."

Liu Bei nodded with satisfaction, and suddenly said: "By the way, I also heard that you married a barbarian woman?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. She is the daughter of the leader of Yanniu, Lang Mi."

"This decision is not good, it is too hasty." Liu Bei said, "Even if it is to make peace with the Yanniu tribe, you can just take her as your concubine. If the media is marrying her, the sacrifice for you will be too great."

"I'm going to say something that I shouldn't have said. You are a good man with a bright future. If you can't unite with other Yizhou clans in marriage, the loss will be immeasurable. I'm afraid your elders in the Langzhong clan will also suffer.

It’s hard to accept.”

Zhou Mo said: "At that time, I wanted to gain the full trust of the Yanniu tribe and set up a Hongmen Banquet on their territory to let them kill each other. It would be really difficult to do it if I couldn't show full sincerity."

At this point, Zhou Mo paused briefly, raised his voice slightly, and said seriously: "If the small sacrifice of my personal sacrifice can bring the southerners' sincere submission and long-term peace and stability, then what does it mean? It only benefits the life and death of the country.

Why should we avoid it because of misfortune and fortune!"

"Gou...what?"

"If you only care about the life and death of the country, how can you avoid it because of misfortunes and blessings!"

"Okay! That's great! What a good poem!" Liu Bei looked pleased and said slowly, "Zhou Mo, the country owes you a favor when it comes to marrying a wife."

……

On the second day, Zhou Mo joined Huben and started a new job. He was responsible for taking charge of the imperial guards inside and outside Yong'an Palace together with Li Yan.

This job is equivalent to Liu Bei handing over his personal safety to Zhou Mo. It will not be granted easily to people who are not very close and careful.

As a newcomer to the Shu Han officialdom who has just entered Liu Bei's field of vision less than half a year ago, the favor and trust Zhou Mo has received is evident.

The job is actually very simple and boring, just like the concierge’s top platinum version.

The only interesting thing is observing Li Yan.

Seeing him pretending to be nonchalant every day, but actually being angry and hating Zhou Mo, Zhou Mo wanted to laugh.

Liu Bei arranged for Zhou Mo and Li Yan to jointly take charge of key positions such as garrison guards, which has his own reasons for political checks and balances.

But as soon as Zhou Mo came, Li Yan had half of his power taken away from him, so he was naturally very unhappy.

Therefore, Li Yan took on the role of a senior in various trivial matters, picked on Zhou Mo's faults, and guided Zhou Mo's every word and deed.

However, Zhou Mo didn't bother to argue with Li Yan about such trivial matters. He just did what Li Yan said and never contradicted him.

Zhou Mo has more important things to consider.

According to historical records, after another two months, Liu Bei finally had a premonition that he was about to die soon, so he summoned Zhuge Liang from Chengdu to Yong'an to give instructions about the future, which was known as Yong'an Tuogu in history.

From then on, the Shu Han Dynasty will officially enter the Zhuge Liang era from the Liu Bei era.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!

By then, Li Yan will be squeezed out of Zhuge Liang's power center and become a very embarrassing existence.

So, let him play the game for the last two days.

……

On this day, a small boat sailed up the river from the lower reaches and arrived at Yong'an.

It’s the envoy from Soochow, Taizhong doctor Zheng Quan.

Liu Bei cheered up, drank a large bowl of ginseng soup, put on the full imperial attire of the Han Emperor, and greeted the envoy in the front hall of Yong'an Palace.

Li Yan, Fu Wei, Cheng Ji, Zhou Mo and other civil and military ministers were divided into two groups, standing on both sides.

Zheng Quan came with the order of Sun Quan, King of Wu, to make peace with Shu Han.

After winning the battle, you still want to ask for peace? This is obviously not Sun Quan's style.

In fact, Soochow was under great threat from Cao Pi's three armies and was afraid that Liu Bei would make some small moves in the west, so he came to ask for peace as a last resort.

Liu Bei clearly saw this point in Sun Quan's heart.

Two months ago, Li Yi and Liu Abe of Soochow were stationed in Wu County, looking ready to attack Yong'an. Now as soon as Cao Pi's army arrived, Sun Quan immediately gave in. Not only did he quickly withdraw his troops, but he also immediately sent envoys to make peace.

From raising a sword to greet each other with a smile, it only takes a blink of an eye. Looking at the world, only Sun Quan's thick skin can control this skill to perfection.

But Liu Bei was still prepared and sent Zong Wei to pay a return visit to Soochow.

There was no other way. In the battle of Yiling, almost all the 50,000-strong army was wiped out. Liu Bei's not-so-rich family was already severely damaged and he was really unable to fight anymore.

Politics can be so cruel sometimes. On the surface, everyone is reasonable, but secretly they only care about your strength.

After seeing off the Soochow envoy, Liu Bei left Zhou Mo and Li Yan behind and asked them a question.

"This time Cao Pi's three armies go south, what will be the fate of Soochow?"

Li Yan answered loudly: "According to the frontline reports, Cao Wei's three-pronged army this time, the eastern route is led by Cao Xiu, who supervises Zhang Liao, and Zang Ba exits the cave, the middle route is led by Cao Ren, who leads out of Ruxu, and the west route is led by Cao Zhen, who supervises Xiahou

Shang, Zhang He, and Xu Huang surrounded Zhu Ran in Jiangling. All Cao Wei generals could send out this time. Even in Chibi back then, there was no such a large formation. Such a large-scale effort must have

Big ambition."

"However, Soochow Wu had just faced off against our army at Yiling for many years. Before it had time to repair and recover, it immediately turned north to defend Cao Wei. The Wei army was waiting for work, and its military strength was far stronger than Soochow. Therefore, I heard that Soochow

Although the country will not be destroyed, it is inevitable to lose a few cities and a few pieces of land."

"What Zhengfang said is very good." Liu Bei praised, then turned to ask Zhou Mo, "What do you think?"

Zhou Mo smiled and said only one sentence: "Cao Pi will definitely gain nothing and return without success."

Liu Bei was a little surprised and asked: "Why did you say this?"

Zhou Mo said: "Cao Pi is a dandy, an incompetent person. With Sun Quan's cunning and changeable attitude, and Lu Yi's talented generals, the two of them worked together in a conspiracy. Even His Majesty fell into their tricks. How could Cao Pi be his opponent?"

?"

"Hahaha." Liu Bei laughed happily.
Chapter completed!