Chapter 270 Zuo Rong's Plot
From the perspective of the owner of this voice, Tao Qian put in a lot of effort to stabilize Xuzhou.
The three counties of Guangling, Xia Pi and Pengcheng were able to achieve grain turnover at the fastest speed, and the people were able to change from their original disorderly state to "good citizens", which was closely related to his development of Buddhist beliefs in this area.
Zuo Rong didn't think there was anything wrong with him making a considerable amount of wealth from it.
Tao Qian's instruction to him was to control the people's hearts and minds in the three counties in the hands of the provincial government. So he entertained monks with generous gifts, enlightened the people with Buddhism, and let everyone eat and drink to their heart's content at grand banquets, in order to recruit more Buddhist believers with the grand scenes. He was exactly following Tao Qian's instructions.
It was not easy for him to come up with slogans and teachings that would allow Buddhism to take root and develop here and make the people submit to him.
If not for this, these fools would still cause trouble sooner or later, instead of being immersed in the temptation of the Buddhist kingdom on earth like they are now, and still maintaining their foolish behavior.
These people believed that Buddhists were exempt from corvee labor, and at the same time voluntarily joined the team building the pagoda temple.
Later, with the rapid development of Buddhist temples in Guangling, those who were brought under his command were not only those from the three counties where he was in charge of transporting grain, but also refugees from Langya, Donghai and other counties.
This made Zuo Rong feel more and more that his role in assisting Tao Qian was not insignificant.
Then it is only natural for him to accumulate wealth and provide himself with enjoyment!
But what made Zuo Rong feel unhappy was that Tao Qian did not seem to have any intention of making him an important figure.
Guangling is a large county adjacent to Yangzhou, and is directly connected to Jiujiang, Danyang and Wujun of Yangzhou. Only powerful figures can be stationed here to prevent Sun Ce, Zhou Yu and others in the south from going north.
If such a vast area with a large population and a strategic location requires a prefect, it should be Zuo Rong.
However, he sent someone to inquire about Tao Qian's whereabouts, and inadvertently learned that Tao Qian not only had no intention of making him the prefect of Guangling, but instead preferred the young boy Lu Su.
It was only a little over a year since he was employed by Tao Qian, but he was promoted to the position of chief clerk in a very short period of time. Seeing that he was about to receive such an appointment, Zuo Rong was extremely anxious and angry.
He looked at the Buddhist believers coming and going in front of him.
These people all regarded themselves as the pillars of this Buddhist kingdom on earth, unlike Tao Qian, who only saw him as an ordinary subordinate.
So Zuo Rong couldn't help but ask this question:
Since Tao Qian treated him "harshly", was it possible for him to replace Tao Qian when he already had thousands of county residents as his believers?
If you really want to seize power, now is undoubtedly the best opportunity!
Tao Qian felt safe at the moment because of the disputes between the North and the South, and Zuo Rong felt the same way.
When everyone's attention is not on Xuzhou, it is precisely his best opportunity to take action!
After hearing what he said, his trusted subordinates were naturally willing to follow Zuo Rong to do great things. After all, those who have been able to follow him until now should be considered to be like-minded.
But this man was not stupid. He considered his words and replied to Zuo Rong: "Tao Gongzu is not Dong Zhongying."
Tao Qian is certainly not Dong Zhuo.
Chen Deng, Zhao Yu, Lu Su and others he employed all governed Xuzhou in a way that was truly in line with the law and the people's livelihood, which made it impossible for him to lose the support of the people like Dong Zhuo.
Although he intended to take a wait-and-see approach and not make any rash moves while observing the situation in the world, he was still different from Dong Zhuo, who had lost some of his spirit.
What's more, Tao Qian's wife, Gan, came from a wealthy family in Danyang and had some assets in Xuzhou, making it much easier for Tao Qian to gain the support of the local powerful than Dong Zhuo in Chang'an.
With the above differences, if Zuo Rong rashly makes any move to provoke Tao Qian and want to replace him, not only will he fail to defeat Tao Qian, but he will lose everything he has now.
Therefore, if he really does not intend to change the idea of replacement, he needs to get more people's support and make sure to hit the target in one stroke!
Only in this way can he realize his desire to transform the original Guangling Buddhist Kingdom into the paradise of Xuzhou!
He took a sip of wine, and the greed and calculation in his eyes made him look more like a butcher than a master even in a monk's robe.
Seeing his subordinates anxiously waiting for his answer, he waved his hand and said, "You are right. This matter cannot be rushed. Tao Qian is not someone who can be easily dealt with."
But once Zuo Rong came up with the idea of replacing Tao Qian, he became increasingly dissatisfied with Tao Qian's recent performance.
If he were in Tao Qian's position, he would definitely take over Wu County, which had a lot of complaints about Sun Ce, while Sun Ce was advancing to Kuaiji County in Yangzhou.
Although Sun Ce is a fierce tiger, he can be pinned to death.
Just like his father Sun Jian died miserably at the hands of Liu Biao, Sun Ce could also be killed by the people of Xuzhou.
At that time, the Mu of Xuzhou was no longer just the Mu of Xuzhou, but also the overlord of the southeast.
How can one be so hesitant as Tao Qian is now!
Zuo Rong, who had high expectations but poor skills, did not even think about how much ability it took for Sun Ce to transform from a poor bandit who was almost expelled from the country by Liu Biao after the death of his father to the governor of Yangzhou today.
This was definitely not a breakthrough that someone like him could experience.
In short, faced with the news that Tao Qian was very likely to appoint a young prefect to Guangling County within a year, Zuo Rong made up his mind and took action.
Speaking of which, even Qiao Yan would have to praise him for being decisive in doing such rebellious things.
Because Zuo Rong quickly sorted out the people he could use for his own purposes.
The first are his followers.
These people have believed in his Buddhist teachings and follow him just to have food to eat and live a comfortable life.
That's easy.
Zuo Rong was still in charge of transporting grain, and Tao Qian had no plans to mobilize troops recently. In this way, even if he withheld more grain during the transportation and used it to bribe his subordinates, it would not be discovered at all.
This is also a subordinate that is loyal to him.
The second group is the people from Wu County, which borders Guangling.
Among them were vagrants like Zu Lang, as well as the Wujun gentry who bore a grudge against Sun Ce for killing Gao Dai, Wang Sheng and others.
If Zuo Rong is willing to lend them a helping hand, they would not mind giving Zuo Rong some support first.
However, Zuo Rong was very aware that now that Sun Ce already had the legitimate title of Governor of Yangzhou and had once used force to suppress the Wujun gentry, this support was bound to be very limited, at least not enough to achieve a qualitative change.
Otherwise, before they could get any feedback from Zuo Rong, they would be attacked by Sun Ce.
It can only be said that something is better than nothing.
Compared with the support from the south, it is more likely that the north will find allies.
The northern ally that Zuo Rong had in mind was not Yuan Shao, who was as far north as Qingzhou, but the counties further north than Xuzhou.
Just like Lu Su, no matter how talented he is, if no one recommends him, he is just a local tyrant. There are many talented people in these places who have not been placed in high positions. Is it possible that there are some among them who can be used by him?
Furthermore, since he dared to oppose Tao Qian, is it possible for him to think of something else and win over another force that did not hold an important position in Tao Qian's office?
"You said you wanted to make friends with the Mi family?" Bao Hong looked towards Zuo Rong and sized him up and down for a long time, as if he was judging the significance of his making friends.
Zuo Rong first asked him a lot of questions about his experiences in this place, and then talked to him about Buddhism for a while, which made Bao Hong dizzy.
Fortunately, he understood the last sentence - Zuo Rong wanted to get to know Mi.
"Yes, the new head of the Mi family is young and promising. I really admire his ability to lead his followers. Unfortunately, due to the governor's entrustment, I cannot leave my post and go to see him. Recently, there have been several moral lectures and Buddha Bathing Festival meetings, so I can only invite Mi Zizhong to Guangling. I will definitely welcome him and will not let the Mi family of Donghai suffer any loss." Zuo Rong replied calmly.
Another ally he chose was the Mi clan of Donghai.
Even though Lu Su, who was now trusted by Tao Qian, was recommended by Mi Zhu, Zuo Rong himself worked under Tao Qian, so how could he not see that Mi Zhu was quite perfunctory towards Tao Qian.
I'm afraid that compared to Tao Qian, Mi Zhu would be more willing to deal with powerful officials and heroes like Qiao Yan.
Since October last year, Mi Zhu started to deal more frequently with Bingzhou on the pretext of making money from cotton-padded clothes.
This is why Zuo Rong chose him.
Mi Zhu might also look down on Zuo Rong, but that didn't matter.
Anyway, all he wanted was to find a chance between these different positions.
The more this happened, the less Mi Zhu would have thought that Zuo Rong was not just trying to get someone to make friends with him, but had a bigger agenda.
But he couldn't be so direct and send someone to find Mi Zhu, in case Tao Qian saw that he had any inappropriate thoughts, so he had to be more roundabout.
He had no friendship with Mi Zhu originally, which also prompted him to find a suitable medium to convey the message.
He asked people to carefully search for the Buddhist believers under him, and they actually found a surprise -
This person is Bao Hong.
More than two years ago, Bao Hong followed Qiao Yan's instructions and sent Mi Zhu back to Xuzhou, and then stationed a guard force in Xuzhou.
Once there is a change in Xuzhou, the Mi family of Donghai will need to move towards Bingzhou, and Bao Hong will have to take on the responsibility of protecting them.
After all, he still had some members of the five schools of the Northern Army under his command, so the combat effectiveness of the team he led was not bad.
Even though he was only responsible for delivering the imperial edict of Emperor Ling of Han to purge the court to Qiao Yan, he was not limited to being a courier.
However, after arriving in Xuzhou, as he had nothing to do temporarily, Mi Zhu announced to the public that Bao Hong had saved his life and treated him differently from ordinary guests. This led to Bao Hong, out of curiosity, wandering all the way to the territory of Guangling and joining Zuo Rong's team.
There are lively things to watch and good food and wine to eat here, but it's not too interesting.
This is what Bao Hong felt before he was approached by Zuo Rong.
In Zuo Rong's opinion, although he did not know Bao Hong's previous background, judging from his various performances in Guangling, this person was an easy target to win over.
When it comes to eating, drinking and having fun, Bao Hong is really good, and he is even a little greedy.
Since he came to Guangling, he has only hung out with monks he could chat with, and has never considered listening to other voices.
There was really no intention of getting to the bottom of Zuo Rong.
This flawless way of handling things dispelled Zuo Rong's initial doubts.
How could such a person be deliberately sent to him by others?
There was no need for Zuo Rong to be schemed against like this.
But how could Zuo Rong have imagined that Bao Hong's behavior was entirely influenced by his time as a captain in Luoyang.
Of course, he is not called Bao Hong now.
In order to prevent others from recognizing his identity, he now changed his name to Bao Cheng and pretended to be a distinguished guest of the Mi family.
After hearing what Zuo Rong said, Bao Hong asked without thinking, "Didn't the Buddha Bathing Festival take place on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month?"
Zuo Rong was stunned on the spot by Bao Hong's words.
How on earth did this person manage to capture only the three words "Buddha's Bathing Festival" among so many words he said?
Is this what should be the focus at this time?
Zuo Rong was silent for a long while before he replied, "There are more and more new believers. We need to make them more aware of the doctrine. If we hold another Buddha Bathing Festival, the Buddha will not blame us. This is necessary for preaching."
Bao Hong nodded, "That's true, but what does this have to do with the Mi family?"
Zuo Rong said, "The incense for the Buddha Bathing Ceremony, the building materials for the pagoda, and the printing of Buddhist scriptures are all big businesses. I want to cooperate with the Mi family of Donghai to make all the preparations perfect to show my sincere response to the Buddha."
He was also afraid that when Bao Hong heard this, Mi Zhu would make a fuss. Mi Zhu would then just treat it as a business and randomly choose a useful subordinate to do the job. That would be completely different from the effect that Zuo Rong wanted.
So he thought for a moment and added, "Besides, I have an important business to discuss with Mi Zizhong, so please ask him to come in person."
The word "important" was specially emphasized by Zuo Rong.
Bao Hongben thought that there was no problem. It was just a matter of sending a message from one sponsor who provided food and drink to another sponsor who provided food and drink.
But when he was on his way back to Donghai County, he thought about Zuo Rong's words again and felt that something was wrong.
etc!
Why does it seem like Zuo Rong's words are trying to snatch subordinates from Lord Qiao?
Bao Hong stopped subconsciously.
What did Zuo Rong want to do with Mi Zhu? With his not-so-useful brain, he couldn't figure it out. Otherwise, he wouldn't have really felt in the past two years that Guangling County, where Buddhism was prevalent, could be regarded as a paradise of a different flavor.
Fortunately, he is still very smart in one aspect.
He knew very well that the reason he could still enjoy his freedom and have such a comfortable job was obviously not because he was blessed by the Buddha, but because he was cared for by Qiao Yan.
If he had to choose between this seemingly omnipotent Buddha and Qiao Yan, Bao Hong would definitely choose Qiao Yan.
With this comparison, he couldn't help but wonder in his heart -
Zuo Rong is so confused! It doesn't look like he's going to do anything good.
That won’t work. It would be better if I could inform Lord Qiao first.
Bao Hong was not a person who liked to make things difficult for himself, so even though he couldn't figure out the trick, he just thought about the lively celebration of the Buddha's Bathing Festival while he sent a message to the intelligence point left by Qiao Yan in Xuzhou without hesitation, letting the carrier pigeon fly quickly to Guanzhong.
After completing this step, he leisurely returned to Donghai County and conveyed this sentence to Mi Zhu.
"Do you have something important to discuss with me?" Mi Zhu repeated suspiciously, wondering if Zuo Rong wanted to secure the position of Guangling governor for him, so he came to him.
But when Qiao Yan received the news a few days later, he did not dare to regard this matter as just a dispute over the position of Guangling prefect.
Zuo Rong is a real troublemaker, and he has an appetite far greater than his ability.
In the development of his Buddhist monastic community, he used many dirty and inferior means to amass wealth, which made the Xuzhou Buddhist Temple become prosperous for a time.
Not only that, when it comes to betrayal, what Zuo Rong did in history was far more terrible than what Lu Bu did.
When Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, Zuo Rong didn't care how much food and grass Tao Qian had consumed due to his reckless behavior over the past few years. After receiving the news that Xuzhou was in trouble, he took his men and fled, leaving Tao Qian behind.
After he escaped to Zhao Yu's side, he envied the other side's abundant wealth, so he killed Zhao Yu, looted all the wealth, and went south to join Xue Li in Moling.
Xue Li suffered the same fate as Zhao Yu, and the next to suffer was Zhu Hao of Yuzhang County.
Zhu Hao's death angered Liu Yao, the then governor of Yangzhou, which led to Zuo Rong being killed by his own subordinates after being forced to flee into the mountains, thus ending this absurd series of killings and annexations.
Even though all this has not happened yet, Qiao Yan, who is in Chang'an, does not dare to underestimate Zuo Rong's appetite.
He used the guise of religion to wrap himself in a layer of Buddha's light, but he was actually a man with evil ambitions!
Qiao Yan held the letter and read it for a long time, and felt that he could make a bolder guess about Zuo Rong's goal.
What Zuo Rong wanted was not Guangling County, but Xuzhou!
Thinking of this, she hurriedly picked up a pen and wrote a letter and asked someone to send it towards Bingzhou.
In her original plan, Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting should not start their formal work until autumn. Before that, they should focus on studying with Jia Xu and Li Ru. But now Xuzhou seems to have changed, so their plans can be changed.
It would be better to let these two sisters go to Xuzhou for her first!
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