Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1094 ancestor worship
Because of the winter truce, the defense pressure in Yuan Xi's territory was greatly reduced, so this time Yuan Xi summoned all the advisers from the Youji Defense Zone.

In addition to Guo Jia who was still in Shouchun, assisting Lu Xun in deploying defenses to suppress Jiangdong, the counselors Ju Su, Zhuge Liang, and Tian Feng who were still in the north all gathered in Jicheng.

In fact, there was another person in Jicheng, that was Xin Pi's brother Xin Ping.

He and Guo Tu assisted Yuan Tan at the beginning, which caused considerable trouble within the Yuan family. Later, Yuan Tan and Guo Tu died in the Battle of Qingzhou, and Xin Ping was captured by Yuan Xi.

For quite a long time, Yuan Xi was investigating what Xin Ping had done. Later, he found that Xin Ping was indeed unaware of many things that Guo Tu had done, and he had also advised Yuan Tan against his actions, so in the end he did not hold Xin Ping accountable.

Xin Ping was naturally grateful, but when he learned that Xin Pi had defected to Cao Cao, he was already in an awkward situation. Moreover, as Yuan Shao's advisers, Shen Pei and Xu You were arrested one after another, but Xin Pi was the only one who was valued and climbed higher and higher. Now Xin Ping was even more confused.

So when Yuan Xi asked him to return to government service, Xin Ping said he was only willing to handle routine internal affairs and was unwilling to be involved in military affairs. He only wanted to do clerical work.

Yuan Xi understood his difficulty and did not force him. He let Xin Pi be in charge of Youzhou's government affairs. Today they were discussing military strategies for the war, so he did not let him come.

There was another person who was also engaged in clerical work, but Yuan Xi did not summon him after careful consideration. He was Jia Xu, who had made contributions in the Battle of Baekje.

This was not because Jia Xu was not loyal enough, but because the Jizhou battle the following year was Yuan Xi's open revenge battle. Most of Jia Xu's strategies were unconventional and did not play a very obvious role in such a war.

Today was the day when Tian Feng rushed back from Jizhou. As an old acquaintance, Ju Shou naturally went to greet him outside the city on behalf of Tian Feng. When the two met at the city gate, they naturally sighed. Ju Shou held Tian Feng's hand and sighed, "I'm afraid we haven't seen each other for five or six years, right?"

Tian Feng thought about it and said with a wry smile: "I'm afraid it's almost seven years."

"We met again. Both of us have grayed out a lot. We are old now."

As the man with the highest prestige and the greatest military power among the Jizhou nobles, Ju Su was inevitably suspected by Yuan Shao. In order to pave the way for Yuan Shang to inherit the Yuan family, Yuan Shao found an excuse to divide Ju Su's military power and sent him to Youzhou as a deputy driver.

This seems to be a horizontal transfer, but Youzhou and Jizhou are not comparable at all. Other counselors think that Ju Shou's life is over. When Yuan Shang comes to power, the most important counselors around him will be Shen Pei and Xu You. How can there be any room for Ju Shou?

As a result, what happened in the next few years was beyond everyone's expectations. Yuan Shao died of illness, the three sons of the Yuan family fought with each other, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang died one after another, and Yuan Xi became the final winner.

Most of the counselors who were attached to Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang did not have a good end. Shen Pei, Xu You and Guo Tu were killed by Cao Cao, and Xin Ping was marginalized. On the contrary, Ju Shou and Tian Feng, who were once feared and excluded by Yuan Shao, turned around and lived in Youzhou and Jizhou respectively, and were even more valued than before.

The two men wanted to get on the carriage, and Ju Su said, "The Lord was originally going to come to meet him personally, but he was not feeling well, so he asked me to come and meet Yuan Hao."

Tian Feng was startled and lowered his voice, "My lord, what's wrong?"

Ju Shou shook his head and said, "He said he caught a cold, it's just a minor ailment, nothing serious."

"Originally, the Yuan family was going to offer sacrifices to their ancestors yesterday. As the clan leader, the master was supposed to preside over it, but due to illness, it was postponed to today. But until I came out, I heard that the ancestor worship had not started yet, and I don't know if it can be carried out normally."

Tian Feng shook his head and said, "My lord, you don't take care of your health!"

"In the past few years, he has been personally involved in everything and has led the army personally. In a year, he has been fighting for ten out of twelve months. This frequency of going to the battlefield is unprecedented. When Wei Huo was the same age, he didn't fight like this, right?"

"You should know that when the lord was young, his physical condition was only that of an ordinary person. Even an iron man can't stand the frequent battles in recent years. The Champion Marquis repeatedly went on long-distance raids in the past, but he fell ill due to the wind of taking off his armor. This is a lesson from the past. Gong Yuchang has always been by the lord's side, but he has not played the role of giving advice. It is really a dereliction of duty."

Ju Su listened and smiled bitterly: "After not seeing you for many years, Yuan Hao is still unforgiving with his words."

"I have advised him many times, but my lord said that I can indeed defeat him in battle, but it is not urgent to act as bait to attract the enemy to start a war."

Tian Feng shook his head when he heard this. "This is evil. My lord wants to rule the world. If there is a mistake, what will happen if the good situation collapses?"

"Just like Benchu ​​Gong back then, although Cao Cao rebelled repeatedly, Jizhou had always been well defended. Who would have thought that Benchu ​​Gong would suddenly pass away and the situation would deteriorate to the point it is now!"

"If it weren't for the Lord's efforts to turn the tide, the Yuan family and the rest of us would have been crushed to pieces!"

"Fortunately, the Yuan family has a lord who has helped turn the situation around. Now is the critical moment in the fight with Cao. If it were the lord..."

After hearing this, Ju Shou also sighed and said, "I heard that Cao Cao's health has also deteriorated. We can only hope that something bad happens there first."

Tian Feng sneered, "This is retribution. This treacherous villain should have died long ago. Back then, he was beaten by Xu Rong and fled back to Yanzhou without any troops. If it weren't for the lord's repeated assistance to him, how could he be where he is today?"

"In the end, he stabbed the Yuan family in the back. If it weren't for him, even if the Yuan family couldn't take Guanzhong, they would at least have five states, which might be even larger than the lord's current territory."

"Haven't you heard that this bastard took Mr. Benchu's original wife, Madam Liu, as his concubine, and built a high platform in Yecheng to have fun day and night?" Ju Su smiled bitterly and said, "I am in charge of the Northern Procuratorate, so of course I know all these things."

"This matter is not good for the master, so we can't bring it up. After all, although Madam Liu is not the master's biological mother, she is still his mother in name. Maybe Cao Cao wants to use this to attack the master."

Tian Feng laughed loudly, "What a bullshit!"

"Others may not know, but how can we not know what happened to our lord in Yuan's family?"

"Otherwise, why would you go to Beixin City alone?"

"It's just that the Yuan family lost some face, but wasn't Cao Cao's first wife also captured by the lord?"

"If it was the Lord... Tsk tsk, with this exchange, the Lord would be of the same generation as Cao Cao. It's unclear who would be embarrassed."

Ju Shou was both angry and amused, and said, "After so many years, you still haven't changed your temper. Don't be so outspoken when you see the lord. Although the lord is magnanimous, he is the King of Jin after all, so we should be more or less respectful."

After hearing this, Tian Feng rarely refuted out loud, because this was indeed what anyone with a discerning eye could see. In this chaotic world, being crowned king was actually just a thin layer of window paper away.

When the two arrived at Yuan Xi's residence, a guard had already come to greet them and whispered, "The king is going to worship his ancestors today, and asked you two to come over this afternoon."

Ju Su heard this and said with a smile: "There is still half a day left. I will take Yuan Hao to see the weather in Jicheng today!"

Tian Feng was also curious. "When we were in Ye City, we saw the prosperous scene and the bustling crowds. We felt that this was the best city in the world."

"But I woke up just now and found that although Jicheng is not as big as Yecheng, its layout is very different. What's going on?"

Ju Su said proudly: "This is my masterpiece that I have carefully crafted over the years under the order of my lord. Come, today I will introduce it to Yuan Hao. This layout is different from other big cities in the world!"

The two of them got on the carriage and headed towards the city center. In the Yuan Family Ancestral Hall inside the mansion, Yuan Xi, wearing a thick fur coat, was leading everyone in worshiping their ancestors.

After Yuan Xi was crowned king, he established ancestral temples and altars of grain according to the etiquette of the Han court, and all the institutions were of higher standards.

According to the etiquette, the ancestral hall was indeed a bit small, but Yuan Xi was on the eve of his expedition to Baekje and did not want to make a big fuss, so he did not demolish it, but only partially rebuilt it.

There were quite a few members of the Yuan clan in Jicheng. In addition to Yuan Xi's family, there were also some men. Among them, the one who was qualified to hold the ancestral treasures of the country was Yuan Shao's fourth son, Yuan Mai.

He was still young, born to Yuan Shao's favorite concubine. After Yuan Shao's death, Liu killed all of Yuan Shao's concubines. Yuan Mai was only two or three years old at the time, and his life was not good from then on.

Afterwards, Yecheng was breached and everyone tried to break out. Yuan Xi asked Yang Feng to bring his men to escort the Yuan family members. However, facing the large number of Cao's army, it was inevitable that they would lose sight of one thing while focusing on another. Many Yuan family members were either killed or abducted in the chaos.

However, Yuan Mai, who was only a few years old, miraculously survived. When Yuan Xi saw this, he felt very sad as he also was a bastard's son. So he took Yuan Mai to Jicheng to raise him, and it has been several years now.

In addition, Yuan Shao had a fifth son who was younger and died of illness before the fall of Yecheng.

Yuan Xi took the ritual vessel from Yuan Mai and sat down according to the steps strictly. He didn't like these red tapes. But this thing was not made for himself, but for the clan and the people of the world to see. It was also a means for the clan to build momentum and public opinion.

He looked around slowly, and the scene before him vaguely resembled the ancestor worship he experienced when he was a child.

However, the Yuan family was so prosperous at that time that there was almost no room in the entire ancestral hall. Now, the ancestral hall is quite deserted. On one side are the wives of Yuan Xi, because after Yuan Xi became king, his wives and concubines became officials and were qualified to worship their ancestors; on the other side are the Yuan family members who survived the Battle of Yecheng.

Among them, apart from the adopted son that Yuan Xi found among the relatives of the deceased Yuan Shang, there were only a few distant male descendants, as well as the daughters of Yuan Shu, Yuan Tan and others.

Under Yuan Xi's instruction, Yuan Shu's daughter and Tian Yu had almost completed the six rituals and were just about to get married. However, she was delayed due to the Battle of Baekje. Now Tian Yu still had to fight the Three Han Kingdoms, so it would take half a year for him to return.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi felt a little guilty. The environment in the north was extremely complicated, and most of the time he had to rely on people like Tian Yu, who were of Han descent and had high prestige among the Han and Hu border people, to do things. However, Yuan Xi did not have many such people under his command.

Yuan Xi thought that when his advisers met next, he would have to reorganize his subordinates and start over.

He looked a little further away and saw that the person kneeling behind Yuan Shu's daughter was Yuan Tan's daughter.

(End of this chapter)