Chapter 72 Section 2 General of Xizhou

For quite a long time, Kai Xiao and Liu Xiu were like two parallel lines, which had no intersection with each other. Kaixiao, styled Jimeng, was born in Chengji, Tianshui. His family was a prominent family in the Northwest, Qiangzong in Liangzhou.When Kaixiao became an official at a young age, he was highly regarded by Wang Mang's national teacher Liu Xin, and he was introduced as a corporal. From this, he became famous in Chang'an, and together with Dou Rong and Laishe, he was called the three heroes of Chang'an.After Liu Xin's death, Kai Xiao returned to Tianshui, kept a low profile, and quietly watched the changes in the world.

In the first year of Gengshi (AD 23), Liu Xuan proclaimed himself emperor, while Wang Mang was defeated in a series of battles, and his collapse was imminent. Kai Xiao, his uncles Kai Cui and Kai Yi took advantage of the situation to raise troops, gathered 100,000 people, and captured the whole of Liangzhou. In the second year of Gengshi, Liu Xuan established his capital in Chang'an, sent envoys to recruit Kai Xiao, Kui Cui, Kai Yi and others, and worshiped Kai Xiao as the right general.In the winter of this year, Kui Cui and Kui Yi were unwilling to submit to Chang'an, and wanted to rebel and return to Tianshui to rule the roost and separate regimes.Kai Xiao still had illusions about the reform regime, so he exterminated his relatives righteously and denounced the two of them.Liu Xuan killed Kui Cui and Kui Yi, and promoted Kai Xiao to be a doctor of censors.

In the summer of the third year of Gengshi, the Red Eyebrow Army entered the pass, and the Sanfu disturbed them.Huaiyang Wang Zhang Ang, Rang Wang Liao Zhan, Sui Wang Hu Yin, and Ping Shi Wang Shentu Jian conspired to kidnap Liu Xuan and return east to Nanyang, and Kai Xiao also participated in it.The conspiracy was revealed, and Kai Xiao and dozens of cavalry rushed out of Chang'an overnight, and returned to Tianshui. They summoned the old troops, surrounded Liangzhou, and claimed to be the general of Xizhou. After Liu Xuan's defeat, the Sanfu became more and more turbulent, and Liangzhou was peaceful and prosperous under the governance of Kaixiao. In addition, Kaixiao was known as a humble and loving scholar, so Sanfu Qi, senior scholars and bureaucrats all came to join him.All of a sudden, elites gathered under Kai Xiao's tent, and there were a lot of talents.Kui Xiao took Chang'an Gu Gong as the doctor in charge of the field, Pingling Fan Qun as his teacher and friend, Zhao Bing, Su Heng, and Zheng Xing as the sacrificial wine, Shen Tugang and Du Lin as the book holders, Yang Guang, Wang Zun, Zhou Zong and Ping Xingxun from Xiang, Wang Jie from Ayang, and Wang Yuan from Changling were the generals, and the subordinates of Ban Biao, Du Ling and Jin Dan were the guests.As a result, it became famous in Xizhou and heard in Shandong.

In the first year of Jianwu (the twenty-fifth year of the A.D.), Liu Xiu proclaimed himself emperor, but he still had no direct contact with Kai Xiao, and they were just famous for each other.It wasn't until the second year of Jianwu, when Deng Yu entered Kansai to attack the Red Eyebrow Army, and inherited Bai Kaixiao as the general of Xizhou, and dictatorship of Liangzhou and Shuofang, that Kaixiao had a relationship with Liu Xiu for the first time. Deng Yu's military level is not high, but his politics is quite brilliant. Liangzhou has eight counties under its jurisdiction, namely Tianshui County, Longxi County, Anding County, Jincheng County, Wuwei County, Zhangye County, Jiuquan County, and Dunhuang County.Among them, only the two counties of Tianshui and Longxi are really in the hands of Kaixiao.As for the five prefectures of Jincheng, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang to the west of the Yellow River, their prefects formed an alliance to protect themselves, and Dou Rong was publicly elected as the head, and the other was an independent kingdom.

In fact, no matter how many counties there are in Liangzhou, it has nothing to do with Deng Yu. Naturally, Deng Yu was very happy and granted all of Liangzhou to Kai Xiao. Anyway, I gave it to you in name. It's up to you.Not only that, Deng Yu even sent Shuofang as a gift, and the reason is the same. In view of Kai Xiao's reputation and strength, even though Kai Xiao accepted Deng Yu's title and was already Liu Xiu's minister in name, Liu Xiu did not dare to take it lightly.When Liu Xiufan interacted with Kai Xiao, he did not regard himself as the emperor, but used the etiquette between countries to express equality; when dealing with Kai Xiao, he used words to match each other to express respect.

Liu Xiu also ordered his cousin to come to Tianshui and stay next to Kai Xiao, similar to the current ambassador abroad, which not only facilitates communication with each other, but also has the meaning of undercover surveillance.Kui Xiao, Lai She, and Dou Rong from Hexi, the three heroes of Chang'an in the past, have now reunited in the northwest frontier. In the third year of Jianwu, Feng Yi replaced Deng Yu and guarded Guanzhong.Lu Tuan, a native of Chencang, has tens of thousands of people, and he is connected with Gongsun Shu, and the three assistants are plundered.Kaixiao joined forces with Feng Yi and defeated Lu Tuan, who fled to Bashu.

After the battle, Kai Xiao wrote to Liu Xiu to win.This was a happy event, but it also posed a problem for Liu Xiu. During the Western Han Dynasty and Wang Mang, the political center and cultural center of the empire were combined into one, both in Chang'an.Today, however, the political and cultural centers of the empire have been separated.Although Liu Xiu's Luoyang became the new political center, most of the cultural elites in Chang'an defected to Kaihuo. Therefore, the new cultural center was in Tianshui in Kaihuo. Every letter written by Kaixiao was ghostwritten by a well-learned person, and the Chinese language and chapters were beautiful and impressive. The scholars and bureaucrats of the world competed to recite and write, and Luoyang was the most expensive paper.

It is conceivable that Liu Xiu faced enormous cultural pressure when he wrote back to Kai Xiao.The intellectuals on the Tianshui side may be watching with folded arms, waiting to see the jokes of the Luoyang court. The reply letter to Kai Xiao is by no means just a simple article. To a greater extent, it is related to the success or failure of the United Front Work. To a greater extent, it represents the image of the empire, and even concerns the national dignity. To conquer Kuihuo, culture precedes force.A good reply is as effective as a thousand troops. Medieval scholar Occam once said a famous saying to King Louis IV of Bavaria: "You protect me with the sword, and I protect you with the pen." It is true that there are specialties in the art industry, and the emperor only needs to hold the sword tightly. As for edicts and the like, His own Shangshu wrote on his behalf.

Shangshu drew up several drafts one after another, but Liu Xiu was not satisfied, so he simply did it himself. As a dropout from Taixue back then, Liu Xiu personally wrote the following reply to Kai Xiao: When Kai Xiao got the book, he showed it to the literati and asked, "What do you think?" After reading the literati, they all felt lost.Zheng Xing sighed: "This book must be written by Liu Xiu." Kai Xiao asked, "How can you see that?" Zheng Xing replied: "Liu Xiu once entered the Taixue, and what he learned was the "Shangshu". This book is deeply impressed by the wonderful writing of "Shangshu", and it is majestic and imperial. It is definitely not what other people can do."

Kai Xiao was not happy to hear the words, and Ban Biao was the most talented in writing under his command, so he asked Ban Biao again: "If you write it, can you pass this book?" Ban Biao said: "The diction may be better than that, but the bearing is not." The writing of the husband emperor's book is not in rhetoric, but in momentum.Before the Great Battle of Chibi, Duke Meng De wrote a letter to Sun Quan, saying: "Those who are close to him will be punished with resignations, and Liu Cong will be tied to the south. Now there are 800,000 sailors in command, and Fang and the general will hunt in Wu." Thirty short Words, so frightened the monarchs and ministers of Eastern Wu that they turned pale and surrendered almost immediately.

Liu Xiuzhi's book is also full of confidence, with unfathomable power between the lines.As Zheng Xing said, it is the natural expression of his emperor's mind, and his grandeur is definitely beyond the reach of a small official with a knife and a pen. After listening to everyone's discussion, Kai Xiao felt sad.Kai Xiao is also a person who is proud of his talents, the more Liu Xiu shows his ability as an emperor, the more rebellious he feels in his heart. It happened that Gongsun Shu sent envoys to Tianshui, tried his best to win Kai Xiao, and offered him very generous conditions: he was granted the title of King Fu'an and Da Sikong. Kai Xiao knew very well that Liu Xiu was steadfastly adhering to the rules set by Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty.In other words, if you follow Liu Xiu, even if your credit is greater than the heavens, you can only be a marquis at the highest.Gongsun Shu wanted to make him king as soon as he came up, and the temptation was really hard to resist.You know, the difference between Hou and Wang is almost the difference between Pan Changjiang and Yao Ming. No matter how powerful the warlord is, he still worries about following the wrong boss.Kaixiao followed the Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan at the beginning, but he left on a whim and returned desperately. The lesson was not painful.Now, Liu Xiu and Gongsun Shu are the two bosses in front of him. He has learned Liu Xuan's lesson and is determined to investigate carefully and choose carefully. The so-called seeing is better than hearing a hundred times, the best way is to send a trustworthy envoy to meet the two emperors face to face, and then bring back the most intuitive impressions and opinions.And the important task of this emissary fell on Ma Yuan, who was most trusted by Kai Xiao.