The Xi family has a good reputation in Jingzhou. Xi Zhen cherishes his feathers and does not lie to Yang Kui for false words, nor does he force Yang Kui to lead his troops to obey his own dispatch.

Xi Zhen apologized deeply and said it was a temporary borrowing.

But Yang Kui and the others are not at the point of desperate situation, so they naturally don’t need to use food and grass that is more precious than real money and the lives of their confidants in exchange for those blank checks from Xi Zhen.

Xi Zhen’s martial arts and wisdom are not very outstanding. Even in the Xi family, he is not considered to be a look. His younger brother Xi Hong is not only not inferior to him, but his strategy is also incomparable to him.

Just because he is the eldest son of the eldest son, he must bear the burden. Fortunately, Xi Zhen is kind and steady, and is also a qualified person in charge.

The loyalty of the Xi family to the Han Dynasty is unquestionable, because his ancestors were the famous Xi Yu.

Xiyu, whose courtesy name is Wentong, was from Xiangyang, Jingzhou.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped power, and Xi Yu followed Liu Xiu to raise an army, opposed the Xinmang regime, and made great achievements. He served as the Minister of the Huangmen, Shizhong and other close followers.

Xi Zhen once followed Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu, to visit Liqiu (now north of Yicheng, Hubei). Because he had the same dream as Liu Xiu, he was commended by Liu Xiu and was named the Great Honglu. He recorded his achievements and was named Marquis of Xiangyang.

Xi Yu returned home in glory and followed the method of raising fish by Fan Li, a doctor from Yue State in the late Spring and Autumn Period, built a 60-step long and forty-step wide earth dike at the foot of Baima Mountain, and led the Baima Spring to build a pond to raise fish. It is called Xijia Pond.

Xijia Pond, also known as Gaoyang Pond, is located in the south of Xianshan Mountain in Xiangyang, on the west bank of the Mian (Han) water.

There is a double-eaved two-story hexagonal pavilion built on the round platform in the pond, commonly known as the "Pavilion in the heart of the lake". It is surrounded by carved stone railings, and you can enjoy the lotus from the water and enjoy the fish leisurely.

The Xi family lived in Jingzhou for generations, and because of the glory of his ancestor Xi Yu, he was very respected in the local area.

This time, Liu Bei did not use Ma Su, and hesitated to appoint Xi Zhen as the commander and general in the northern part of Lingling, which was also related to Xi Yu's Yu Yin.

After receiving the appointment document sent by Liu Bei to the envoy, Xi Zhen was valued by Liu Bei, so the Xi family naturally supported Liu Bei to support the Han Dynasty.

The army led by Xi Zhen was stationed in Wuling for nearly a year, and the military supplies were provided by the Xi family.

Although the Xi family has a great family and a great business, most of the industries are in Xiangyang. Although Cao Cao has not yet confiscated, they are still used free of charge by old relatives and cannot collect the rent back.

Wuling and Lingling also have some land, but the production is not abundant, so it can barely be enough for the family members to survive.

Xi Zhen and his clan came to Wuling to take refuge, and the family property brought was very limited. They had to resettle their clan members, support the lives of the entire clan, and also support thousands of troops, which was a great burden.

After more than a year of consumption, the family is overwhelmed and cannot continue to provide food and grass to the army.

Thousands of troops were about to be short of food and would soon collapse.

Xi Zhen is reluctant to give up this amount of capital and has been thinking about a solution.

Although Sun Quan did not have many troops in Lingling, Xi Zhen certainly wanted to take over the 1,000 troops under Yang Kui, but because of the lack of food and supplies, he could only give up for the time being.

He had nearly 3,000 troops under his command, and he consumed a lot of food and grass every day. He was about to lose food, so Xi Zhen had no choice.

After thinking hard, Xi Zhen had no other choice and did not care about exposing his strategic intentions. Before Liu Bei counterattacked Jingzhou, he was eager to go to Lingling, and wanted to use war to raise troops and solve the major problems of food and grass shortage.

Zhong Yue and Yang Kui decided to tell that Xi Zhen was not outstanding in his own ability, and the army was about to face a dead end to food. He definitely had no future with him, so he could only wait for news from the other two.

Not long after, Fu Li also came back. Although his face was not too ugly, he looked disdainful.

After he came back, he did not rush to speak, but lifted the teapot, got a big bowl of tea, raised his neck and drank it all, wiped his mouth, and then said simply:

"This Fan Zhou is unreliable and he is full of ravings. I think he can't do anything!"

Zhong Yue and Yang Kui were confused and took turns asking questions before they could figure out the inside story.

It turned out that Fu Li was visiting Fan Zhou, and the other party's enthusiasm made Fu Li unable to withstand it.

Without waiting for Fu Li to provide the conditions, as long as Fu Li agrees to lead his troops to join, Fan Zhou will be appointed as an official and make a wish and will follow everything.

But in fact, Fan Zhou's situation was not good. Even the soldiers guarding outside the camp were not well-dressed and had a good face.

But Fan Zhou was quite familiar with Fu Li's situation and tried his best to convince him to join him.

Fan Zhou was not from a big family with a profound background, but a family of merchants.

He himself did not have any military talents, nor was he a erudite scholar.

Because their Fan family is not short of money, the children of the Fan family have also learned literature and martial arts since childhood, but they are different from those big families.

As the saying goes, businessmen are not traitors. They learn literature, focus on eloquence and tricks, and do not require erudition and talent.

When practicing martial arts, you are even more illusory, and you never practice hard, just be able to master martial arts.

Because they believe in "wealth can make the devil push the grind", as long as they find ways to put other people's money in their own pockets, they don't need to learn literature and martial arts at all.

They believe that as long as they are willing to spend money, they can hire people with high martial arts to guard the house, or hire people with rich education to serve as accountants.

Fu Li looks big and thick, but his rough appearance hides a meticulous heart.

He had long seen that Fan Zhou's words were unreliable, but he didn't want to offend him for nothing. He could not refuse in person, nor could he turn around and leave.

However, Fan Zhou developed the skills of the merchant family and spoke nonsense, and could always find topics to talk to Fu Li, which made Fu Li talk a lot, making him dry and he got back.

None of the three of them gained anything. Zhang Zhuang, who went to find Ma Su, had not come back yet. The three of them exchanged opinions. Although there were a few choices, it was still more reliable to follow Ma Su.

After another meal, Zhang Zhuangcai was late.

The three of them were about to complain a few times, but suddenly they found Ma Su who was following behind. Then they turned angry and stood up to greet him.

Ma Su gave them time to choose, and he knew that they had no choice. After Zhang Zhuang found him, he did not talk about his plan, but instead invited him to have tea very enthusiastically.

After drinking a pot of tea, it was time to eat again. Ma Su invited Zhang Zhuang to have a sumptuous dinner together, and then came to meet Zhong Yue and the others. Zhang Zhuang was confused and really didn't know what Ma Su was planning, with an unnatural look on his face.

Fortunately, Ma Su came here in person, so he didn't need to explain.

Ma Su hurried their appetite and revealed his plan to go to Yueling.

With Shamoke's support, Ma Su has already arranged the matter along the way, just waiting for their consent.
Chapter completed!