Chapter 74, Chapter 5: Understanding Each Other

Liu Jun was indeed Liu Jun. After experiencing great changes, he only rested at his residence for three or four hours before ordering Lu Jing to personally invite Wen Qiao to the headquarters for discussions.

Perhaps at Liu Jun's behest, Lu Jing was reporting to Wen Qiao about the situation of the guests and staff of the shogunate. After he finished speaking, they arrived at the shogunate.

Before they could even stand still, Liu Jun stepped out of the gate and personally came out to greet them, leading them into Jushitang.

All of this went so smoothly that it must have been rehearsed countless times, or that someone had been relaying messages along the way.

"Hearing the commotion of carriages and horses, I knew my brother-in-law had arrived," Liu Jun said with a smile, as if he could read his mind.

Wen Qiao nodded and saw that Jushitang was actually a thatched hut. Apart from all the daily utensils, there were almost no gorgeous clothes, rare treasures or precious items in the room. He felt that it was the simplest residence of a king or nobleman that he had ever seen.

Lu Jing washed his hands and began to brew tea, while Liu Jun personally pulled back one of the curtains, revealing several maps. He grinned at Wen Qiao, showing a hint of youthful excitement, "Brother-in-law, please look, the entire Central Plains are contained within this small space."

Wen Qiao laughed and said, "Yanshi, you have quite the spirit."

He got up and walked to the map, noticing that the ink was quite fresh. "Do you redraw it every now and then? This map is finely made and requires a good eye..."

"Not so," Liu Jun said with a smile. "This is my way of testing my staff. I will have them revise the drawings from time to time based on the general situation of the world. If the drawings are accurate, I will reward them; if they are not, I will punish them."

“In this day and age, every inch of land is fought over, and the world situation is changing in an instant. How can you know whether it is accurate or not?” Wen Qiao said with great interest.

Liu Jun poured him tea and water, saying, "I have my own intelligence. If there are any objections, I will personally send someone to investigate again. What's so difficult about that?"

Wen Qiao exclaimed with admiration, "I had already sensed this back in Liangzhou, and now, looking at it again, Mao Tou's military strategy has reached a great level!"

"Why are you calling me by my childhood name again, instead of my courtesy name?" Liu Jun sat with his knees bent to the side, one hand on his knee and the other holding a cup, which gave him a somewhat unconventional and romantic air.

Wen Qiao's gaze lingered on Bingzhou. "Now Liu Yao is coming on strong, saying that the son's debts must be repaid by the father. Bingzhou has been at war for years, and the losses have been enormous. After Tuoba Yilu's death, the external forces of the Xianbei are also negligible. I am a little worried that my uncle will not be able to hold on this time."

“Actually, what I fear most is not Liu Yao attacking Bingzhou, but that he will feign an attack on Chang’an, and then Shi Le will attack Bingzhou from behind. That would be a situation where we are attacked from both sides and the world is in danger!” Liu Jun said in a deep voice.

Wen Qiao nodded, "It's not impossible."

"If that's really the case, do you have a solution, brother-in-law?" Liu Jun asked anxiously.

Wen Qiao pondered for a moment and said, "When we were in Bingzhou, my uncle once sighed to me, 'Shi Le is a hero of the world. We didn't join forces with Wang Jun before, but instead let him grow stronger. This is like raising a tiger to cause trouble.' You've fought against his adopted son, Shi Hu. What do you think of his military tactics?"

"Among the officials in the court, few can surpass him," Liu Jun sighed. "After the two consecutive calamities of the Rebellion of the Eight Princes and the Yongjia Rebellion, most of the court's valiant generals perished, and the rest fled south. Even valiant generals like Jia Pi, who remained in the Central Plains, are now in their twilight years. It's truly lamentable. Although I have been recruiting talent all these years, it's easy to find a fine horse, but difficult to find a truly talented person!"

"I do have an idea, but I don't know what you think?" Wen Qiao asked hesitantly.

"Brother-in-law, please speak freely."

"The northerners are skilled warriors, and many have been displaced and lost their land, becoming refugees. Furthermore, powerful families built fortified villages to house these refugees, ultimately concealing their household registrations. As a result, the number of people the court can control is even smaller. How can the court contend with the powerful and well-equipped Five Barbarian tribes in the long run?"

Liu Jun's heart stirred. This was indeed the matter he had been worrying about, a chronic problem that had been difficult to solve since the Three Kingdoms period. He sat up straight and asked, "Does my brother-in-law have any good ideas?"

"Try to gather the leaders of the refugees and make sure they don't fall into the hands of Sima Rui, the Prince of Langya," Wen Qiao said solemnly. "To be honest, Yanshi, Jiangdong also tried to recruit me before, and I was indeed tempted, but in the end, I couldn't bear to leave my homeland. I always felt that if I went there, I would probably never see the scenery north of the Yangtze River again in my life."

Liu Jun laughed and said, “I have heard that the people who crossed the river to the north often feasted at Xinting and sighed, ‘The scenery is the same, but the mountains and rivers are different.’ Wasn’t it at that time that Wang Dao changed his expression and vowed to work hard for the royal family and conquer the Central Plains, instead of becoming a prisoner of Chu and weeping? Your Majesty has been on the throne for three or four years now. Have you seen a single soldier of these gentlemen? From this, it can be seen that the people of Jiangdong are not as good as the leader of the refugees!”

Although Wen Qiao had some connections with many famous scholars who had migrated south, he had to admit that Liu Jun's words made sense. He smiled and said, "It seems you've also considered this idea, but I wonder who you've chosen?"

Liu Jun lowered his head in thought, then raised his eyes and smiled, "I will give important positions to all those recommended by my cousin."

Seeing that Wen Qiao remained silent, Liu Jun continued, "I'm afraid that if we have different opinions about the right person, we might miss out on a talented individual. It would be better to listen to your opinion first."

"Since I'm sitting here, why would I hold anything back?" Wen Qiao dipped his finger in the tea and glanced at him sideways.

Liu Jun chuckled and, using water as ink, wrote his name on the table.

"What a coincidence!" Wen Qiao laughed.

On the table were two names, one written with a flowing, cloud-like style, "Fangbo," and the other with a powerful, dragon-like style, "Yanzhou."

At that time, Xi Jian, along with Li Shu (recruited by Xun Fan) and Liu Yan (sent by Liu Kun), were both governors of Yanzhou. The fact that one province had three governors was a peculiar sight. Later, after the recapture of Linzhang (Yecheng), Liu Yan continued to garrison Linzhang, meaning Li Shu and Xi Jian essentially divided the empire. Li Shu was a complete incompetent fool; he had once attacked Jiao Qiu, whom Liu Kun had initially sent. It was only because Liu Kun didn't want the Jin officials to fight amongst themselves that he withdrew Jiao Qiu; otherwise, they would have already been at war with each other.

Xi Jian was very popular in Yanzhou. Even if the people caught birds and field mice to eat, they would not betray him. In the blink of an eye, he had tens of thousands of followers. He and seven other people, including Ruan Fang, Cai Mo, and Yang Man, were collectively known as the "Eight Earls of Yanzhou". He was the head of the group.

"Should we follow the example set by our ancestor?" Liu Jun said slowly, "and appoint Xi Jian to a high position? Could we pull him away from Sima Rui's side?"

He then shook his head. “Xi Jian and Sima Rui have a tacit understanding. He is probably not as detached as our ancestor. His Majesty has treated him with great courtesy over the years. Although he is very polite, he doesn’t seem to be very close to him. If we want to be of one mind with him, we will probably have to use some wisdom and put in a lot of hard work.”

"Unfortunately, although he and his uncle were not exactly at odds, their relationship was really just so-so," Wen Qiao sighed.

Liu Jun toyed with the pebble in his hand, which had been smoothed by the early morning. "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. If we can kill two birds with one stone, defeating Liu Yao and also sowing discord between Xi Jian and Sima Rui, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Wen Qiao clapped his hands and laughed, "Excellent!"

"I would appreciate it if you could help me make some plans, brother-in-law." Liu Jun raised his glass.

"How dare I disobey!"