Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 206: Envoy from the Prime Minister’s Residence
"Uncle Wenhe, I'm sorry to have caused you trouble." Zhang Xiu said to Jia Xu embarrassedly.
In private, Zhang Xiu treated Jia Xu with respect, that of a junior.
"Hmph." Jia Xu snorted with a droopy brow.
Previously, Zhang Xiu acted impulsively and directly surrendered to the General of Chariots and Cavalry’s mansion, and his behavior of making final decisions indeed caused Jia Xu a lot of "trouble"!
This directly changed Jia Xu from being the one being persuaded to the one who needed to actively persuade Zhu Zhi, and... he had not yet succeeded. Obviously, Bai Tu had already specifically asked him to go to Jinling, and Zhu Zhi would not let him go at all .
"Uncle Wenhe, you will also go to Nanjing later. Mr. Bai has also promised to ask Duan Wei for your family. It is said that the climate in Nanjing is pleasant, and you can enjoy your family life there." Zhang Xiu explained with a shameless face.
When Jia Xu abandoned Duan Wei and joined Zhang Xiu, his family was left behind in Huayin.
Duan Wei was originally afraid of Jia Xu, and was actually happy that he had wisely left. He also wanted to attract Zhang Xiu for external support, so he took good care of Jia Xu's family, but did not let them go.
Zhang Xiu's face was not enough to ask Duan Wei for people, especially the locations of Huayin and Wancheng. Zhang Xiu insisted on asking for Jia Xu's family. Duan Wei might suspect that he wanted to annex him.
However, Bai Tu was different from Zhang Xiu and had much more face. Duan Wei also understood that if Bai Tu really wanted to do something to him, it would be useless even if he kidnapped Jia Xu's family. Therefore, he only needed a piece of paper and was not afraid that he would disobey.
"Enjoying family life? It's good enough to be alive." Jia Xu didn't look very happy.
"My lord, haven't you already said that Uncle Wenhe was just trying to survive before? The rampage in Guanzhong was all Li Jue and Guo Si's fault. Uncle Wenhe still has a chance to make up for his mistakes... With Uncle Wenhe's abilities, he will definitely be able to display them better in the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion than with me," Zhang Xiu complimented.
"Show? Humph, if I only wanted to show my strengths, I would have been pissed to death by you long ago. How could there be such a day?" Jia Xu curled his lips.
Jia Xu's principle is "If you are poor, you should take care of yourself; if you are rich, you should preserve yourself." Compared with ordinary conspirators and people who harm others for personal gain, Jia Xu is a passive person who harms others. Just like when he was a minor official in the Xiliang Army, even though he was not young, Jia Xu never did anything harmful to advance himself as long as his own safety was guaranteed.
It was probably because, in his opinion, there would be more dangers after becoming rich, and being able to be a minor official and "keep to oneself" would be the happiest thing. As for becoming rich...compared to helping the world, what he wanted to do more was to "protect himself" and not be suspected or harmed by his enemies.
Therefore, in history, even the suspicious Cao Pi relied heavily on Jia Xu.
If Jia Xu had been ambitious, he would have been the most terrible conspirator, a more ruthless poisoner than Li Ru who suggested burning Luoyang, but... Jia Xu was the type who had no ambition and was just a passive poisoner.
"Hehe, my lord is naturally different from me... Besides, there are many capable people in the General of Chariots and Cavalry's mansion. I guess... that word is... filling in the numbers? No... fishing in troubled waters?" Zhang Xiu was at a loss for words for a moment.
I saw Jia Xu looking at me with dead eyes.
However, Jia Xu already understood what he meant - if he had said this to other counselors, they would definitely feel insulted, and if it had been to those petty-minded people under Yuan Shao, they would probably have beaten their brains out.
However, for Jia Xu, these words touched his heart.
Before, Jia Xu was optimistic about Cao Cao, mainly because Cao Cao had many smart people under him. When he persuaded Zhang Xiu, he said that Cao Cao needed him more and was more likely to be reused, while Yuan Shao only regarded him as dispensable.
But in fact, Jia Xu's plan for himself was just the opposite. He hoped that Cao Cao would not pay too much attention to him, so as not to be dragged into the vortex. In comparison... Yuan Shao's subordinates were better at infighting, and Jia Xu did not want to put himself in danger.
"Alas, Jiangdong... is a place full of aristocratic families, and Lord Bai is kind and benevolent in his actions, but he is stubborn and his way of dealing with things... can even be said to be reckless. I don't know whether this trip will be a blessing or a curse." Jia Xu was not completely reassured.
The reason why Bai Tu's ranking in Jia Xu's mind is lower than Cao Cao is, firstly, because Jiangdong, where Bai Tu started his career, is a place where aristocratic families are strong , which means... xenophobic; another concern comes from Bai Tu himself. As a prince who, from the current secular perspective, can even be said to be "morally obsessed" and whose moral values are very different from those of ordinary people, Jia Xu feels that he and he will definitely not get along.
No matter what, now that he had heard what Bai Tu had conveyed, Jia Xu knew that at least he had no intention of killing himself to serve the Han Dynasty, so he did not want to take the risk of running away.
In a few days, Jia Xu would return to Jinling with Zhu Zhi, while Zhang Xiu would continue to be stationed in Wancheng - not retaining "his Wancheng", but guarding Wancheng as a captain of the front department of the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion.
The fall of "colonel" to a grassroots official position began with the proliferation of generals with miscellaneous titles and lieutenants-general. However, the real colonels with official positions were still of high value. For example, in the capital, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu all served as the Eight Colonels of Xiyuan.
The five colonels of the front, back, left, right and center were subordinate officials of the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Office, and their official rank was equivalent to that of a two thousand stone official.
Bai Tu specially appointed Zhang Xiu to a position in the General of Chariots and Cavalry's mansion in order to show his closeness.
Lu Meng was also ordered to stay in Wancheng temporarily and serve under Zhang Xiu, while the woodcutter... still had to return to Nanjing.
Originally, Zhang Xiu wanted to keep his junior fellow apprentice in Wancheng to work together to achieve great things, but the woodcutter refused.
The woodcutter only asked to go with Cao Cao because the guy who "looked like his senior brother" was going to defect to Cao Cao, so he was dissatisfied. In fact, he still had a knot in his heart.
Afterwards... Zhang Xiu was able to hold his head high. Now he had gone to the General of Chariots and Cavalry's mansion, and he kept saying "follow the lord and fight for the people". He began to look down on his junior brother who had talked to him before from a moral perspective.
However, the woodcutter would not be able to regain his fighting spirit by this level of provocation.
…
When Jia Xu and Zhu Zhi arrived in Jinling, Bai Tu had already met the "Prime Minister's Office Expedition" from Xu Du - that is, Cao Pi!
On the one hand, Cao Pi's caravan was indeed slow, and on the other hand... Jia Xu was much more agile than Zhu Zhi had imagined.
Because his family was still with Duan Wei and he had no property, Jia Xu returned to Nanjing almost alone with Zhu Zhi. Jia Xu had been in the army for a long time, and although he was not good at martial arts, he was a good horse rider, which really surprised Zhu Zhi.
After Cao Pi arrived in Jinling, Sima Lang, as a celebrity, visited the officials of the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion on his behalf. The next day, Cao Pi washed up and went to meet Bai Tu obediently.
As for Xiahou Juan...he was now disguised as a minor clerk in the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Originally, Cao Pi wanted Xiahou Juan to disguise himself as a male servant and not go out normally, but Xiahou Juan naturally disagreed. In the end, the result of the two people's compromise was that Xiahou Juan dressed as a man, but not as a male servant, but a small clerk.
