Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1085 The traitor
Yuan Xi brought Zhao Yun, Yang Feng, Mrs. Ding and others to the dock, preparing to board the ship for the return trip. Tian Yu and Cao Ang came to the dock to see them off.

Cao Ang brought his new wife Gongsun Shuo to say goodbye to Madam Ding. The three of them gathered together. Madam Ding whispered something and without any hesitation, turned around and got on the boat.

But when the ship left the dock, she couldn't help but turn her head back while standing on the side of the ship, looking at Cao Ang who was kneeling on the ground and bowing down.

The big ship sailed into the sea, and the dock gradually turned into a small black dot. Mrs. Ding felt lost and listened blankly to the sound of waves hitting the bottom of the ship.

Yuan Xi's voice sounded behind her, "Did Lord Cao ask if my wife and I have any relationship beyond friendship?"

Such a depressing remark almost made Mrs. Ding vomit blood. What is a relationship beyond friendship?
There's nothing wrong between you and me, okay?
Fortunately, I didn’t say such things in front of Cao Ang, otherwise how would I defend myself?

She said in a hateful voice: "My king, please respect yourself. How can you say such things carelessly?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I didn't say that casually."

"In the eyes of outsiders and even Cao Hou, Cao Ang's treatment must be due to a secret transaction between you and me."

"At least based on Marquis Cao's experience in the Cao family, it is reasonable to think so, because Cao Cao treats the women in the inner house well because they are his concubines, right?"

"From his perspective, how would you guess the relationship between you and me?"

Mrs. Ding was immediately confused. She gritted her teeth and argued, "The clear ones are clear, and the turbid ones are turbid!"

"He's not like that!"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "But I am."

Madam Ding finally lost her temper. She rushed into the cabin in anger. Yuan Xi shouted from behind, "Madam, slow down. I'll go over later. There's no rush."

Mrs. Ding staggered and almost fell, and fled into the cabin at the speed of a fly.

Yuan Xi was very proud. He had conquered Baekje and destroyed the Jiangdong fleet, and he had the chance to flirt with Mrs. Ding to spice things up. It was truly a joyful thing in his life.

At this moment, Yang Feng's voice sounded coldly behind him, "Are all those who fight for the world so shameless?"

Yuan Xi turned around and joked, "No, at least your father is quite normal."

Yang Feng was choked for a moment. She said bitterly, "I think your ability to talk is first-rate!"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Do you want to try it?"

With a swish, Yang Feng placed the ring-handled knife in his hand on Yuan Xi's neck, "Are you itching for trouble?"

Her action frightened the guards around Yuan Xi so much that they subconsciously drew their swords. Yuan Xi stopped them and asked them to walk away before saying to Yang Feng, "Why are you so angry lately?"

Yang Feng put away the knife and said, "I have never done anything for you smoothly!"

"Why do normal things become full of intrigue and intrigue when they come into your hands? Why do they become awkward at every turn?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi stared at the sea in silence for a long time before he said, "Because this world does not allow people to act completely uprightly, and does not allow such people to exist."

"Such a gentleman of morality will only encounter setbacks everywhere and end up making wedding clothes for others, just like Liu Xuande."

"The world is in chaos and good people have no place to stay. Such people can only exist in the peaceful and prosperous times of the future."

"And if we want to survive now, when that day comes, good people must learn how to be bad people. At least we need to know the methods of bad people, so that we can have a chance to defeat them."

"You should not have the intention to harm others, but you must be on guard against others. If you can't do the former, you are Cao Cao, and if you can't do the latter, you are like you in Black Mountain back then."

Yang Feng thought for a long time before finally saying, "I can't argue with you."

"But that doesn't mean I admit that what you did is right."

Yuan Xi knew that Yang Feng was talking about inciting Qiu Tai to rebel and let him destroy himself, so he replied: "Yes, I admit that what I did was not right."

"But if it happens again, I will still do it this way. This is the way I can think of that will cause the least number of deaths."

"Someone has to do the dirty work. If the lord doesn't do it and the subordinates don't do it, the soldiers will pay the price with their lives."

Seeing Yang Feng hesitate to speak, Yuan Xi sighed, "I know that I have made you do a lot of dirty and tiring work over the years, and I am really sorry for you."

"But please remember one thing. I am the instigator. If there is backlash in the future, I will be the first to bear the brunt."

"But I don't intend to embarrass you any more. I'll let others do this kind of thing in the future." Yang Feng pursed his lips and sneered, "Who do you think I am?"

"My hands were once stained with blood, so why would I care about this?"

"And if I hadn't done the dirty work myself, who knows if you would have crossed the bottom line and done something?"

Yuan Xi couldn't help laughing, "Okay, okay, you can stare at me. It's true that if a person is not bound by anything, he will do whatever he wants."

Yang Feng raised his eyebrows proudly, "Why, are you scared?"

Yuan Xi nodded repeatedly, "Very scared."

"Then let's see who can last longer."

"If you can, keep an eye on me for the rest of my life."

Yang Feng was about to speak when he suddenly realized what was happening. He stomped his feet in anger, leaving a long crack on the plank beneath his feet. This frightened Yuan Xi's personal guards in the distance and made them nervous again.

Yang Feng finally left angrily. Yuan Xi looked at her back and thought that if there were more people like her who cared about the world, the troubled times would end sooner.

When Yuan Xi's fleet returned to Jicheng, the news that Jiangdong was defeated and two generals were killed finally reached Nanchang, the capital of Wu.

At that time, Sun Quan was hugging Madam Xu and admiring the moon. After hearing the news, he suddenly felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground.

Almost half of his fortune, his last trump card, nearly a thousand warships, and tens of thousands of soldiers were buried in the icy waters of the East China Sea?

How did Xu Sheng and his men fight the war?
However, Xu Sheng and others had just returned to Kuaiji County at this time, and the urgent report was sent by someone along the way via Jianghuai. The letter was vague, so Sun Quan had no way of knowing the details and had to swallow the bitter fruit helplessly.

But no matter what, Sun Quan's current situation is worrying. On the one hand, he has suffered another major defeat and his strength has been severely depleted. This means that he has completely been excluded from the ranks of those competing for world domination and is in danger of being destroyed at any time!
The threat came not only from Yuan Xi, who might invade his hometown at any time, but also from Liu Bei, who fled to the south of the Yangtze River and established a foothold in Changsha and Lingling in Jingzhou.

After Liu Bei crossed the Yangtze River, he relied on the navy trained by Guan Yu to firmly block the expansion momentum of Cao's army. After suffering several losses, Cao's army had to honestly build water forts and take a defensive stance. As a result, the threat to Liu Bei from Cao Cao was greatly reduced.

So after Liu Bei gained a firm foothold, he began to take the opportunity to expand. Not to mention the west and the south, he even directly threatened Yuzhang, the base camp where Sun Quan's capital was located.

After several small-scale conflicts between the two sides, Jiangdong did not gain the upper hand, but Liu Bei was also afraid of Jiangdong's navy and did not expand the scale of the battle. But in the long run, the border between the two sides is land, which is disadvantageous to Jiangdong.

Another person who had troubled Sun Quan before was Shi Xie of Jiaozhou, who was unwilling to submit to Sun Quan. So Sun Quan sent Zhou Yu to lead troops to defeat Shi Xie and force him to surrender.

Shi Xie was a fair and just ruler. Under his rule, people in Jiaozhou lived a stable life and were prosperous. Sun Quan's intention to seize Jiaozhou was naturally to use Jiaozhou as a backup for his counterattack to the north, so after he gained control of Jiaozhou, he increased taxes.

Among the Three Kingdoms in later generations, Wu was also the one with the heaviest taxation. The people could only get one or two out of ten harvests. Now Sun Quan's new tax was several times heavier than Shi Xie's previous tax, causing the people of Jiaozhou to suffer terribly and often rebel.

In response to this, Shi Xie wrote to Sun Quan, requesting tax reduction or exemption. Sun Quan was extremely dissatisfied after reading it. This was the critical period for him to fight for the world, and you came to hold me back?

How about killing Shi Xie and replacing him with someone else?
When Sun Quan was hesitating, he happened to hear about the Liaodong naval battle. The cavalry he sent out was wiped out. He had to suppress this idea temporarily. After all, what he feared most was that the evil tiger would take the opportunity to attack him, or even join forces with Liu Bei. If that happened, he would be in danger!
Thinking of this, Sun Quan felt even more frightened and quickly wrote two letters and sent them out.

The first letter was to Cao Cao. Sun Quan didn't know that Cao Cao had also suffered losses in Qingzhou, so in the letter he still asked Cao Cao to send troops to attack Yuan Xi, and Jiangdong could send troops to cooperate if necessary.

The second letter was to Yuan Xi, saying that the battle was all a misunderstanding and hoping to make peace with Yuan Xi and jointly deal with Cao Cao.

After writing these two letters, Sun Quan felt a little relieved. Although his strength was temporarily damaged, it might be possible for him to take advantage of the conflict between Cao and Yuan and force them to commit suicide and attack each other, so that he could benefit in the end!

However, a few days after doing these two things, when Sun Quan was sitting happily in a dream, a letter came from Yuan Xi.

After Sun Quan opened the letter, he felt dizzy after reading a few sentences and almost died of anger.

The letter was written in a rather impolite manner, one could even say it was a stab in the heart of Sun Quan.

It begins by saying that Sun Quan's biological mother, Mrs. Wu, was not dead, but Sun Quan held a funeral for his mother and declared her dead, which made him truly an unfaithful and unfilial beast.

The letter then said that Mrs. Wu had remarried Yuan Xi, so legally speaking, Yuan Xi was Sun Quan's adoptive father. However, Sun Quan sent troops to attack and kill his adoptive father, which was simply treason.

Sun Quan is no longer worthy of being the ruler of Jiangdong due to his evil deeds, and the title of King of Wu is not justified. I hope Sun Quan will repent and surrender. Yuan Xi will spare the life of this rebellious son for the sake of Madam Wu.

Otherwise, Yuan Xi would mobilize an army of one million, cross the Yangtze River, and completely destroy Sun Quan. At the same time, he would expose Sun Quan's evil deeds of bullying his mother and betraying his father to the world, making Sun Quan's infamy passed down to future generations and leaving a bad reputation for eternity.

Sun Quan was shocked and angry when he saw this, and at the same time, he was filled with great fear, because whether he would attack or not was another matter, but if Yuan Xi announced that he would marry Madam Wu, it would be a piece of cake. If this matter got out, how could he hold his head up in front of the people of the world?
He could no longer bear it, his body swayed, and he fainted on the ground. Madam Xu was so frightened that she shouted for help and asked someone to treat Sun Quan.

(End of this chapter)