When facing the crisis of the regime, the superiors often become more suspicious of their subordinates. This is a law that has been difficult to break since ancient times, and Sun Quan is no exception.

With the precedent of the major families of Wujun and Kuaiji County abandoning Jiangdong for the sake of family interests, Sun Quan was even more suspicious of his subordinates. He did not hesitate to restart the notorious Eagle Beak in Jiangdong, a secret investigation agency that was deeply hated by the officials and people of Jiangdong.

Since Wang Ning was executed, Eagle Beak was disbanded, but not long ago, Sun Quan restarted the secret investigation agency and appointed his confidant Zhao Jian as Eagle Beak Captain.

Zhuge Jin was the first important minister to be closely monitored. The root cause of his suspicion by Sun Quan was that he sent his son to Jiaozhou and adopted him as his son. This was not a big deal in itself. Zhuge Liang had no son and it was normal for his brother to adopt his son.

But Zhuge Jin did not choose the right time to do this. Just when Jiangdong was facing a crisis, Sun Quan asked for help from Jiaozhou, but Jiaozhou remained silent, which made Sun Quan even more annoyed. He suspected that Zhuge Jin was preparing to abandon Jiangdong and escape to Jiaozhou.

In fact, Sun Quan's speculation is not wrong. Today, when the crisis in Jiangdong is getting worse, not many people are willing to die for Jiangdong, especially Jiangdong has become a regime that is full of military forces and traps the people in the fire and fire. Not only does the aristocratic families ruthlessly abandon it, but ordinary people also hate it to the core. In this case, how could civil officials and ministers who have always cherished their reputation as life fall into a regime that destroys their ideals and ambitions?

At that time, Dong Zhuo and Li Kui planned to rebel one after another, causing chaos in the north. Cao Cao used the emperor to make the princes and disliked the literati and famous scholars. The Yuan Shao regime was in danger. The Jiangdong regime was just like the rising sun, safe and prosperous. Sun Ce and Sun Quan attracted talents and were humble, which attracted the attention of countless people, and made Zhuge Jin surrender to Jiangdong without hesitation.

Nearly twenty years have passed, Jiangdong has been ruined by Sun Quan's repeated strategic decision-making mistakes and the struggle for power and profit within the Sun family. Today, the fire of ideals in Zhuge Jin's heart has been extinguished. His and his family's lives have been threatened. How could Zhuge Jin not feel disheartened? Why would he still want to serve Jiangdong? But he himself doesn't know where to go?

This morning, Zhuge Jin received a secret letter from his brother Zhuge Liang, asking him to go to Jiaozhou for refuge. Zhuge Jin realized that his brother Zhuge Liang was actually paying attention to the situation in the Central Plains at all times, and he knew very well that the Jiangdong crisis had arrived.

But he was really hesitant to ask him to take refuge in Jiaozhou. On the one hand, Jiaozhou was too remote, which made him feel lost from the political situation in the Central Plains. Secondly, even if Zhuge Jin could escape, his wife and children could not escape and were closely monitored by Sun Quan.

Just now, Zhuge Jin got the three conditions proposed by Liu Jing from Yan Yan, and he realized that in ten days, the war was about to begin and he had to prepare for the arrival of the war.

Zhuge Jin boarded the carriage and left Jianye City, and rushed to Moling County. At this time, the city gate had been closed long ago. Sun Quan had an order that no one was allowed to enter and exit the county town, but the officials in Jiangdong were exceptional. They needed to go to Jianye Palace to discuss matters and had to go to the county town. Zhuge Jin was not bound by the city gate.

Moling County is about three miles away from Jianye City. There is a spacious and flat official road between the two cities. On both sides of the official road are large woods. A distance close to the county town, the forest gradually disappears, and the official road is covered with countless shops, taverns and hostels.

After a while, Zhuge Jin's carriage was driving along the official road towards the county town. The official road was very quiet. Except for his carriage, there were no other pedestrians.

For some reason, Zhuge Jin felt uneasy in his heart. If Wu Hou wanted to deal with him, this would be the best opportunity. He kept looking at the forests on both sides and urged the coachman to speed up.

But at this moment, the coachman suddenly stopped the carriage. Zhuge Jin was shocked and asked anxiously: "Why did you stop? What happened?"

"Master, there is someone in front!" said the coachman in a trembling voice.

Zhuge Jin poked his head out of the car window, and his heart suddenly became cold. There were more than a dozen men in black standing in front, blocking the way. Not only were there people in front, but there were men in black in front, back and left and right, surrounding his carriage.

"Who are you?" Zhuge Jin asked uneasily.

At this time, a man in black riding a horse stepped forward and bowed and said, "Please don't be afraid, Mr. Zhuge, my master, please invite Mr. Zhuge and his party."

When Zhuge Jin heard that his words were quite polite, he felt relieved and asked, "Who is your master? What do you want me to do?"

The leader in black smiled and said, "Who is my master? The gentleman will know when he sees it. If the gentleman is unwilling to go, he will not force him."

He waved his hand, and the men in black who were blocking the road retreated one after another. The leader in black apologized: "The road is blocked just to protect the gentleman's carriage, and there is no malice. If the gentleman is unwilling to go, he will never stop him even if he is on the road."

When Zhuge Jin saw that all the black clothes had been removed, the only man in black clothes was left on the avenue, and he could indeed leave at any time. Not far ahead were several shops. Zhuge Jin pondered for a moment and asked again: "Where is your master?"

"You will be there after walking three miles west."

Zhuge Jin nodded, "Since that's the case, I'll go and meet your master. Please lead the way!"

The man in black riding a horse was overjoyed and turned his head and said, "Please follow me!"

Zhuge Jin ordered the coachman, "Follow him."

There was an intersection ahead. After walking less than dozens of steps, the carriage turned west and followed behind the black-clad horse, heading west calmly. Zhuge Jin felt that the other party had no malice and should not hurt him. He was also very curious about who was going to see him.

The carriage took about three miles, and the official road gradually approached the Yangtze River. From a distance, only a large ship was parked by the river. Zhuge Jin remembered that it was an abandoned pier, so why did a large ship stop?

The carriage stopped in front of the big ship. Zhuge Jin got off the carriage and looked at the big ship with doubt in his eyes. The man in black bowed and smiled, "My master is waiting on the boat, please get on the boat."

After hesitating for a moment, Zhuge Jin finally followed the man in black onto the big ship. He walked into the cabin and saw that the cabin was brightly lit. A man wearing a long gown and a golden crown was looking at him with a smile.

"Your Highness!"

Zhuge Jin was stunned. The man in front of him who was about to see him turned out to be King Liu Jing of Han. He was confused and stood there blankly.

Liu Jing smiled and said, "I'm sorry if you want Zhuge Gong to come so late!"

Zhuge Jin then woke up. He was at a loss and went forward to salute and said, "See Your Highness!"

Liu Jing pointed at the small table and smiled, "If Zhuge Gong is not in a hurry to go back, we might as well have a chat."

Zhuge Jin nodded and sat down at the small table. Liu Jing sat down opposite him. The guard came in and served two cups of tea. Liu Jing picked up the tea and said with a smile: "I also had a temporary idea when I saw Zhuge Gong. My scout reported that Zhuge Gong was wandering outside Jianye Palace alone, and seemed to have something to do, so I invited Mr. to come and did not inform him in advance. Please forgive me."

Zhuge Jin then realized that his every move was observed by the Han army scouts, but he immediately realized that the Han army scouts were not monitoring him, but were monitoring Jianye Palace. They were hiding outside Jianye Palace, and they saw him.

Zhuge Jin felt much more comfortable after thinking about this, and Liu Jing was very polite to him, which also satisfied his inner self-esteem.

Zhuge Jin smiled and said, "I came out outside Jianye Palace to wait for Yan Man to find out some situations. I already know the three conditions offered by Your Highness."

"Will Mr. Zhuge think the three conditions will Wu Hou agree?"

Zhuge Jin shook his head, "He will not agree to any condition. Not to mention the tax exemption for three years, even if it is a tax exemption for one year, the Jiangdong government will close immediately. At the beginning of the year, the Marquis of Wu borrowed 200,000 stones of grain from major families in Jiangdong, and was counting on repaying it with taxes. It would be great if he didn't increase the tax. He also asked him to be exempted from taxes, and he would not agree to kill him."

Liu Jing was amused when he heard Zhuge Jin's tone of "kill him", which shows how deeply Zhuge Jin's resentment towards Sun Quan. He also knew that Zhuge Jin was being monitored by Sun Quan. However, Liu Jing did not mention this matter and asked calmly: "What about the second and third conditions?"

"The second condition is to let the people of Jiangdong be free, and they are not allowed to stop them. If they really let go, within half a year, the people of Jiangdong will run away cleanly and can go to Jingzhou to enjoy light taxes. Who is willing to bear heavy taxes in Jiangdong? If the skin is gone, where will the hair be attached? If the people of Jiangdong run away, the soldiers will also flee. Jiangdong will naturally no longer exist. The third article is even more impossible. The second article may still have time to fight for it. The third article is that Sun Quan stepped down from the world, restored the counties, and the Jiangdong regime will disappear. How could Sun Quan do this kind of self-determination of his life!"

Zhuge Jin's analysis coincided with Liu Jing's idea. Of course, Liu Jing knew that Sun Quan would not agree. He only gave ten days to give Jiangdong civil and military officials a chance to choose, hoping that a virtuous minister like Zhuge Jin could serve him.

Liu Jing said slowly again: "Some people say that my attack on Jiangdong this time is in line with the previous line. When Jiangdong attacked Jingzhou and attempted to annex Jingzhou, it is just the opposite. In fact, it is not the same thing. This time, I attacked Jiangdong to unify the south, take the first step of unifying the world, so that the people of the world can rest and recuperate, and allow the great man to be revived. This ambition is also the ideal of countless wise and virtuous scholars. I believe that Mr. Zhuge also had this idea in his mind. Seeing that the Jiangdong building was about to collapse, why did Mr. Zhuge still defend this regime that was hated by the people of Jiangdong and go against the public's opinion?"

Zhuge Jin lowered his head and sighed for a while: "I have long been discouraged by Jiangdong and will not be foolish and loyal to Sun Quan. Today, my brother wrote a letter to ask me to go to Jiaozhou for refuge. I was already moved, but my family was monitored and could not get out, so I was worried."

"Go to Jiaozhou to take refuge?"

Liu Jing shook his head, "When you go to Jiaozhou, you will be far away from the Central Plains and the opportunity to revive the Han Dynasty. Why did Mr. Zhuge make this unwise choice?"

Zhuge Jin lowered his head for a while and said nothing. How he wanted to go to Jiaozhou was just an indescribable thing. Liu Jing understood the self-esteem of scholars, so he sincerely said to him: "If Zhuge Gong is willing to join the camp of reviving the Han Dynasty, the position of the Minister of Rites will be filled with the teacher."

Liu Jing gave Zhuge Jin enough face. How could Zhuge Jin still refuse? And he was the position of the Minister of Rites. He was excited and stood up to salute Liu Jing deeply, "My minister Zhuge Jin is willing to work hard to revive the Han Dynasty!"

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[This book of Three Kingdoms is indeed not satisfied with the writing. The key is that I am not familiar with the Han Dynasty and can never find the feeling of history. Fortunately, I finally gritted my teeth and persevered, and did not give up halfway. The book ended in December, and thanks for the hard work that everyone has followed for so long.

The next book will return to the Tang Dynasty that Lao Gao was familiar with. In the Wu Zetian era, the subject matter is no longer about the battle for hegemony, but rather the flow of power and life.

Lao Gao also found that the first half of his book was more exciting, while the second half was dull. This is also a common problem of the competition for hegemony. The protagonist has reached a certain position, his behavior and thoughts have been fixed, and it is difficult to have any outstanding features. Therefore, if the protagonist tries to maintain his freedom as much as possible, the story will be more exciting.

So for the next book, we will move closer to this aspect. I believe that Lao Gao’s return to the Tang Dynasty will bring you a wonderful history of the Tang Dynasty.

Why did we choose the Wu Zetian era? Because this era is the most complex, various forces are fighting openly and secretly, such as Wu Zetian's direct power (represented by cruel officials, face heads), civil officials headed by the prime minister, Wu family forces, Li family royal forces, Guandong geniuses, Guanxi geniuses, Guanlong aristocratic forces, Shangguan Wan'er, Taiping Princess, Empress Wei and other harem forces, and even the Li family royal forces are divided into Zhongzong and Ruizong forces, so it is very complicated, and various power struggles run through it, and there are many things that can be written.
Chapter completed!