Chapter 257: The Power of the Poisoner, So Terrifying

Jia Xu was confused.

When this person heard his name, he came up and asked if he wanted to acknowledge him as his master.

For the first time in his life, Jia Xu showed a surprised expression.

It was really beyond his expectations.

This time when escaping from Luoyang, Jia Xu did not have to surrender to Jin Mao, but he also wanted to conduct an investigation.

I can no longer stay with Dong Zhuo.

Li Ru had been exposing him. Dong Zhuo's temper was too brutal, and Jia Xu really didn't want to stay in such a dangerous place.

That's right!

The person who wrote the letter to Liu Ping was Jia Xu.

During the riot at the east gate of Luoyang, Jia Xu did take advantage of the chaos to send his family away. This was all planned.

Offering advice to Dong Zhuo was naturally part of the plan, and everything has gone well so far.

The only loophole was something Jia Xu could not figure out.

He knew how "notorious" Jinmao was.

Dong Zhuo was only a little cruel, but he did not restrict people's freedom.

The story of Jin Mao and several counselors became a legend. Jia Xu could naturally analyze that once he was targeted by Jin Mao, he would not be able to escape.

But he just couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong.

Before Jia Xu could figure it out, Jin Mao began to press him, "It's okay if you don't want to recognize me as your master."

"Let's just be brothers. You can treat this place as your own home and come and sit down anytime you want."

No mention of leaving.

"There is still a lot of time in the future, so you can slowly understand it."

However, apart from being surprised at the beginning, Jia Xu was now calm. No matter what Jin Mao said, he would not say another word.

Unless there is only one situation.

"Somebody come!"

Jin Mao was preparing to host a banquet for Jia Xu, but his men came to report that scouts near the east of Luoyang had found a group of people acting suspiciously.

For such people, Jinmao generally adheres to the principle of "less trouble is worse than more trouble" and lets them disappear where they are.

"Let's find a better place to bury it."

Without waiting for the messenger to go down, Jia Xu hurriedly asked, "Are we talking about a group of people found near Hulao Pass, thirty miles east of Luoyang?"

After getting Jin Mao's permission, the messenger nodded.

Jia Xu immediately bowed to Jin Mao and said, "Please be merciful, Governor of Yangzhou. They are my family members."

Jia Xu was not depressed, because that place was thirty miles away from the main battlefield. Even if Jin Mao's army was spread out, it would be impossible for them to search that far.

How could he know that Jin Mao's army was on the south bank of Luo River, and Hulao Pass was less than ten miles east of Luo River.

This range has always been the patrol and reconnaissance range of his army.

Jia Xu shouldn't have let his family run south. It would have been impossible to let them run in other directions.

Unfortunately, Jia Xu's attempt to catch Songshan and escape backfired, but he was caught by Jin Mao.

"So they are your family!"

Jin Mao was overjoyed. No matter whether Jia Xu would sincerely submit to him or not, as long as he had his family in his hands, where else could Jia Xu run?
Wouldn't this allow me to control Jia Xu for the rest of my life?

"Be polite to me!"

"To treat them like my family, remember?"

"Yes!" The messenger went down.

Turning around, Jin Mao immediately changed his expression and asked Jia Xu with a smile: "Do you think this arrangement is okay?"

Jia Xu bowed his hands in thanks, cursing in his heart.

Did he just say no?
Is there anyone in the world who is more cruel to the gentry than Jin Mao?
Jia Xu had never heard of such a person!
Even the historical Wang Mang did not kill as many people as Jin Mao!

If you ask me how many aristocratic and powerful people Jinmao has killed so far, I guess I don’t know either.

But one thing is clear, that is, the blood of nobles and powerful people on Jin Mao's hands is much more than the number of soldiers who died at his hands!
Would a man like Jin Mao and a man like Jia Xu, who put his life above all else, dare to test his bottom line with his entire family?

Crazy!
Therefore, Jia Xu understood what to do next in an instant.

Since you can't run away, just bear it silently and agree to whatever conditions the other party has.

Jia Xu and Dong Zhuo once had a relationship of monarch and subject, but it was severed just like that.

Even if they acknowledge their master, there are many ways to serve him. In later generations, there was Xu Yuanzhi who was "in Cao's camp".

How could a man as smart as Jia Xu not know his limits?

Seeing Jia Xu's good attitude, Jin Mao started to think again and asked again: "Can you recognize me as your master now?"

Jia Xu had already prepared himself mentally, and he immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed three times and nine times, performing a grand ceremony of recognizing his master.

Jin Mao said ecstatically: "Someone come!"

"Pass the order down, our army will have one more military advisor from now on!"

"Tonight I will discuss important matters with the new military advisors Jia Xu and Jia Wenhe!"

Jia Xu's face was filled with helplessness; he had not expected Jin Mao's rogue style of play.

In this way, the whole world will know that Jia Wenhe has become Jin Mao's military advisor. If he wants to join others in the future, it depends on the mind of the new master.

Of course, Jia Xu believed that anyone who could defeat Jin Mao must have a mind as broad as the sea.

You have to know that Dong Zhuo was beaten badly by Jin Mao, so you can imagine how strong the person who defeated Jin Mao had to be.

Soon, the banquet began.

Jin Mao said in embarrassment: "The military advisor has just arrived, and I should treat him with good wine and meat, but as the commander-in-chief of the three armies, I should lead by example."

"Therefore, I can only use tea instead of wine to toast the military advisor!"

At this moment, Jia Xu was filled with awe. Even if he had no idea in his heart, it had to be reflected in his actions.

"My lord has never drunk wine, so how can I dare to drink wine? Please give me a water bag."

"Military advisor, you don't have to do this."

After some arguing between the two, Jia Xu successfully persuaded Jin Mao to replace the wine with tea.

Jin Mao looked at Jia Xu with a much more pleasing eye.

In an instant, Jia Xu noticed the change in Jin Mao's expression and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Jia Xu's ability to adapt to changing circumstances was still there, and he finally passed the first level.

At this time, Dian Wei came into the tent and reported: "My lord, Military Advisor Xun is here to visit."

"Gongda is here." Jin Mao said happily, "Prepare another seat for Military Advisor Xun. I want to have a good chat with the two military advisors."

"Here!"

When Xun You walked in, Jin Mao stood up and said, "Wenhe, this is Xun You, Xun Gongda, my chief military advisor!"

"Gongda, this is Jia Xu, Jia Wenhe, my newly recruited military advisor. He has now abandoned Dong Zhuo and joined me."

The two men bowed to each other and praised each other before sitting back in their seats.

The seating arrangement is also very interesting. Originally, Jia Xu sat on the left, but when Xun You came, he immediately sat on the right.

He pretended to be confused and said, "Look at my memory. I actually sat in the wrong seat."

Jin Mao seemed to have seen through Jia Xu's trick and said, "Since Wenhe likes that seat, just sit there. This is a private banquet, so don't worry about these details." Xun You also echoed, "Yes, the lord is always very easy-going when dealing with people."

On the surface, Jia Xu readily accepted the advice. He picked up the wine jar and drank it all, saying, "I'm new here and don't know the rules very well. I'll drink three bottles of wine as punishment!"

Then, Jia Xu forced himself to drink three bottles of boiled water, and his stomach instantly became full.

Seeing the satisfied smile on Jin Mao's face, Jia Xu's hair stood on end and cold sweat soaked his back.

terrible!

Jia Xu finally understood why Jin Mao preferred to drink boiled water instead of fine wine at banquets.

Who can keep drinking water?

If it comes to the drinking contest, the scene will be so beautiful that I can’t even imagine it.

Therefore, Jia Xu had a very high opinion of Jin Mao.

This is a smiling tiger!

Much scarier than a wild tiger like Dong Zhuo!
At least when Dong Zhuo wanted to kill someone, everyone knew.

When facing a smiling tiger, you won’t even know how to die!
"The rumor is wrong!" Jia Xu was alert.

Jin Mao was completely unaware of this. He just felt that Jia Xu was much more pleasing to the eye than what was rumored in later generations, and did not have the cruelty of a vicious scholar at all.

On the other side, Xun You felt a sense of alarm in his heart.

Jin Mao didn't see how powerful Jia Xu was, and Xun You couldn't see it either. They were all good at plotting and scheming, and no one knew who was better!

"Where did the lord find such a person?" Xun You thought: "If my uncle or Zhicai were present, they would definitely be able to find out his details!"

Unfortunately, Xun You is not good at speaking and has social phobia, so the only thing he can do is to come and help Jin Mao to calm the situation.

Just as Xun You knew Jia Xu's background, Jia Xu, as a strategist of a higher level, could not fail to see Xun You's background.

In addition, Jia Xu had just been frightened by Jin Mao, and now with Xun You in charge, he put all his little thoughts aside.

After Jin Mao had eaten his fill, Jia Xu put down his food almost simultaneously and bowed, saying, "I've always heard that the food in Yangzhou is the best in the world. It really lives up to its reputation!"

"I've eaten too much today!"

This compliment immediately made Jin Mao very happy. He waved his hand and said, "What's this?"

"After this battle is over, I will take you to taste some real food!"

Although the barbecue at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was delicious, it lacked spices such as cumin, so it lacked some flavor.

In addition, there were very few iron farm tools in people's homes, let alone iron pots. There were very few cooking methods, and the food culture was still at the most primitive stage.

What Jinmao meant was that he would figure it out himself when he had free time.

However, Jia Xu didn't understand.

Xun You is a socially anxious person and can't explain.

Fortunately, Jia Xu was a community leader, and he immediately bowed and said, "It is better to obey than to be respectful."

Jin Mao nodded with satisfaction and turned the topic to Dong Zhuo.

"Wenhe."

"To be honest, my original intention of coming to Luoyang this time was not to eliminate Dong Zhuo's followers. After all, I only have 70,000 soldiers, and it is difficult to wipe out twice as many enemies."

"What's more, Dong Zhuo is hiding in his shell and Luoyang is a strong city. Now the annihilation has become a negotiation, but Dong Zhuo doesn't want to talk!"

"What can I do?"

Jia Xu had too little information to make a correct inference, so he asked, "What does the lord want to do?"

Jin Mao spoke truthfully: "I heard that Luoyang Dongguan has a collection of more than 30,000 books. I want to get this cultural treasure!"

Jia Xu nodded in understanding and continued to ask about the details of sending envoy Liu Ping for peace talks.

After learning that Jin Mao had hidden this purpose among many requests, and associating it with all previous actions, Jia Xu knew that there was an expert behind Jin Mao.

This expert is about to emerge, and it must be Xun Yu without a doubt.

According to Jia Xu's understanding, among Jin Mao's advisers, only Xun Yu possessed such a strategic vision. The others all had their own strengths, but were not quite up to par.

After understanding the cause and effect, Jia Xu said truthfully: "My lord, you have missed a good opportunity."

"Ah?" Jin Mao asked in disbelief, "Do I have no chance at all?"

Seeing Jin Mao's desire for books, Jia Xu couldn't help but feel an illusion in his heart.

“Isn’t this too serious?”

You know how many people died in this war, but Jin Mao only cares about some books?
No matter how valuable a book is, it cannot compare to fame and fortune.

And now that you have fame and fortune, shouldn’t you have as many books as you want?

However, Jia Xu would not say what he was thinking, but said: "It's not that there is no solution."

Jin Mao grabbed a life-saving straw and asked hurriedly, "What's the solution?"

"Wenhe, tell me quickly!"

Jia Xu stood up and bowed, then asked, "My lord, do you only want the classics and historical books in the Eastern Palace, or do you only want the books with words and pictures?"

Jin Mao wondered, "What's the difference between the two?"

Jia Xu explained: "Luoyang's library is indeed in the East Pavilion, but the books and archives are kept in the Lantai and the Stone Chamber."

Jin Mao looked at Xun You in confusion. Seeing him nod, he couldn't help but wonder, "So the books in the East Pavilion are classics and historical books annotated by famous scholars of all dynasties, while the records of astronomy and geography are all in the Lanting and Shishi?"

Jia Xu nodded in affirmation.

Jin Mao slapped his forehead and said in annoyance: "That's exactly what I want!"

What’s the use of classics and historical books!

Jin Maocai disdained the books that the nobles and powerful families regarded as family heirlooms.

Tang Mao once took out the Tang family's collection of books, but kept a small part of the heirlooms. Later, Jin Mao became the son-in-law of the Tang family, and Tang Mao no longer hid them and gave away the heirlooms.

However, Jin Mao just took a quick look and showed no interest at all, as they were the so-called classics and historical books.

Fortunately, the wealthy and powerful families regard it as a treasure, so Jinmao is not interested in it.

How can they be better than the miscellaneous works of the Agricultural School, Mohist School, etc. They are the summary of the experience of the predecessors and the crystallization of the wisdom of China for three thousand years!
It is much better than any ideological classics.

When Jia Xu heard Jin Mao say that this was what he wanted, he was stunned for a fraction of a second and tried to cover it up before being discovered.

"If so, my lord, you should allow Dong Zhuo to complete the relocation of the capital."

Jia Xu bowed again and said, "I heard that Minister Wang Yun is collecting the treasures of Lanting and Shishi."

"My lord, just send an elite team to intercept Wang Yun's convoy halfway, and you will get what you want!"

Hiss~!

Jin Mao couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. The power displayed by the poison master was so terrifying.

How many people would have died if Dong Zhuo was forced to move the capital just for a few books?
But looking at Jia Xu's expression, it seemed that the number of deaths was just a number and he had no feelings about it at all.

Suddenly, Xun You couldn't help but stand up and said, "My lord! You can't do this!"

Luoyang is the only giant city in this dynasty with a population of over one million!
As long as the capital is moved, even if half the people die, it will be a small number.

"What's Gongda's opinion?"

It was the first time that Xun You was in a situation where he was at a loss as to what to do, and his mind went blank.

I can only force an explanation: "Moving the capital will cause the greatest harm to the people!"

Jin Mao knew this very well, but he had no way to force Dong Zhuo to submit.

At this moment, Jia Xu's words made Jin Mao interested.

(End of this chapter)