Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1164 Power
Faced with the information received from several parties, Yuan Xi fell into deep thought, hesitating about what action to take next.

Logically, he should have rushed back to take charge of Jizhou after the battle had taken place like this. But after thinking it over, he felt that the combination of Zhuge Liang and his old subordinates from Jizhou, including Ju Shou and Tian Feng, had done a good enough job. Even if he went back, he could not change anything. It was better to let them do their best.

At the same time, Yuan Xi believes that in the current environment, there are at least three things that are more suitable for him to do.

The first was to organize troops in Shouchun to support Wei Yan's attack on Yuzhou and disrupt Cao's logistical supplies.

The second is to focus on the direction of Wu. Since Wu is still unwilling to give up, then it seems like a good idea to simply launch a war to annihilate Wu in advance, right?

Fighting on two fronts seems to be a big taboo, but in Yuan Xi's view, the Jianghuai navy cannot help Jizhou now, and all they have to consume are some military rations and supplies.

And the most important reason is that Yuan Xi has allies in the Yangtze River Basin.

Liu Bei.

Liu Bei still proclaimed himself king and established a country, but he was not the King of Hanzhong as in his previous life, but the King of Hannan.

Because Liu Bei did not obtain Hanchuan at that time, but obtained the Jingnan area south of the Han River, the name of his country naturally became Hannan.

However, compared to Shuzhong, although Hannan is also quite prosperous, it has one biggest problem, which is the instability in the surrounding areas.

To the northeast of Hannan is the territory of Jiangxia and Yuan Xi, which is relatively stable for the time being, but to the north is the territory of Wei, which faces Liu Bei across the Han River. To the west is the territory of Liu Biao, who is about to die. To the south is the Nanman tribe, and to the east is the Wu Kingdom. There are great hidden dangers on these three sides.

Not to mention Liu Biao, he had already decided to make Liu Cong his heir, and the family behind Liu Cong, headed by the Cai family, were inclined to surrender to Cao Cao. If Liu Biao died, Liu Bei would inevitably fall into the disadvantage of being controlled by Cao's army upstream.

The Nanman in the south were even more troublesome. The area where they lived was full of malaria and the terrain was dangerous, so the barbarian soldiers liked to plunder. They had invaded southern Jing many times before, and Liu Biao could only buy peace with money at that time.

But now that Liu Bei has taken over, there is a lot of work to be done. It is time to recruit soldiers and increase his strength. Moreover, Liu Bei did not have a strong foundation to begin with. Facing the threat from the southern barbarians, how could he have so much wealth to buy peace?
Therefore, facing the frequent invasions of the Southern Barbarians, Liu Bei was already overwhelmed enough, so after informing Yuan Xi, he signed a ceasefire agreement with the State of Wu so that he could concentrate on dealing with the invasions of the Southern Barbarians.

But for Sun Quan, his development space was more limited. On one side was Liu Bei, on the other side was Yuan Xi, and the last side was Shi Xie of Jiaozhou.

So he could only plot against Shi Xie for the time being. After sending the Jiangdong army to attack the border, Shi Xie had no intention of resisting and surrendered.

Afterwards, Sun Quan did something unkind. He found an excuse and killed Shi Xie.

Shi Xie was a man of clear and fair administration and very low taxes. Under his governance, the people of Jiaozhou lived a relatively stable life, so he had a very high prestige. However, as soon as Sun Quan took over, he increased taxes several times, causing public resentment.

For this reason, Shi Xie went to Yuzhang to negotiate with Sun Quan, but was accused of deserting his post and was executed. The State of Wu took the opportunity to take full control of Jiaozhou.

Sun Quan did this because he wanted to completely control Jiaozhou and place his own people in various important positions. Shi Ji, who was extremely prestigious in Jiaozhou, became a stumbling block, so his fate was already doomed when he defected to Sun Quan.

However, this was too unfair, so it aroused the anger of the people of Jiaozhou, and there were occasional rebellions in various places. Jiaozhou was located between the territories of Liu Bei and Sun Quan. When the people rebelled against Wu, they would naturally flee to Hannan, but the territories bordering Liu Bei often offered their cities directly.

Naturally, Liu Bei would not refuse this, otherwise who in the world would dare to follow him?
So Sun Quan now got the opportunity. After obtaining Jiaozhou, he had no idea where to expand. Next, he had to either fight Xiong Hu or Liu Bei, but Sun Quan could not easily gain the upper hand over either of them.

In recent years, the generals of Jiangdong have been traumatized by Yuan Xi, so they naturally chose Liu Bei, who was weaker and had just established a country. However, Liu Bei's sheltering of the rebellious people in Jiaozhou gave Sun Quan an excuse, so he tore up the agreement and started fighting on the border between the two countries.

In fact, in Yuan Xi's view, it is difficult to say who is right and who is wrong between the two countries. It is always like this between countries. The weak is wrong. The reason why Sun Quan did not dare to provoke him was that he won the battle on the battlefield. Yuan Xi could stop the war if he wanted to, only because he was the stronger party and had the right to speak and the initiative.

The reason why Wu State chose to take action at this time was actually because it saw that Jin and Wei States were fighting fiercely in Jizhou and had no time to take care of other things. However, Sun Quan never expected that Yuan Xi happened to go to Xuzhou and came to Jianghuai.

Yuan Xi looked at several reports from left to right but couldn't make up his mind. Lu Lingqi was dressed in tight clothes and was doing the Five Animal Exercises to stretch her body. She was indeed very talented in martial arts. Although this set of boxing was used to strengthen the body, it gave off a murderous aura.

And the wonderful thing is that she moved forward and backward, turned and moved around in an area of ​​several feet. Her silk stockings stepped on the floor without making any sound. Her footsteps were like those of a ghost. It was obvious that she had reached a very high level of control over her body.

Suddenly she leaped up and instantly came behind Yuan Xi. She clenched her fists, arched her left and right arms inward, and smashed her fists on Yuan Xi's temple like hammers!
This action was extremely violent, his sleeves fluttered in the wind, and there was a loud sound of wind and thunder. When Yuan Xi heard it, the fist was only half an inch away from his head!
Then the next moment, the momentum of the fist stopped abruptly and turned into a slender hand, which gently pressed on Yuan Xi's temple and began to massage lightly.

Yuan Xi laughed and said, "I get scared every time by you. You are a mother, but you still like to play so much."

"It's a good thing you're all talk and no action, otherwise I wouldn't know how many times my head would have exploded."

Lu Lingqi chuckled, "Husband, isn't it the same at night?"

"I also hope that my husband can make it rain heavily one day." Yuan Xi looked embarrassed and almost vomited blood, but she couldn't refute. She had been busy with work in the past few years and seemed to have entered middle age early. She was teased by Lu Lingqi, but she was powerless to fight back!

He snorted angrily, "Just be proud for a few days. When Mr. Yuanhua comes back from Changsha, I'll ask him to prescribe some medicine. I don't believe that he can't cure you!"

When he said that, Lu Lingqi shook her head and said, "Forget it, I won't make fun of you. You should take less medicine. Lord Benchu ​​died young from poisoning. You should be careful."

Yuan Xi nodded. When he came to this position, his life was very different from the carefree days before. There were people checking three meals a day, and only the closest people could cook. Even the ingredients purchased from outside were bought through secret channels, and the sellers didn't even know that the goods were for King Jin.

Yuan Xi put down his pen, stood up, and said, "There are too many things in my head. Let's go outside and change our mood."

Lu Lingqi cheered. The two wanted to call Madam Mi, but they heard from the maid that she had gone to the dock to check the goods.

After hearing this, Yuan Xi called for a carriage and took Lu Lingqi to the dock. Of course, the guards rode on horses in front and behind to protect them. There were as many as thirty or forty people surrounding them.

Yuan Xi saw people along the way avoiding the scene and standing on both sides of the road waiting for him. He lowered the curtain and sighed to Lu Lingqi, "I've conquered more and more territory, and my status has risen, but I can no longer find the carefree feeling I had before."

"Nowadays, when you go out, you are the center of attention. Everyone says that the emperor is great, but I don't see what's good about it."

Lu Lingqi smiled and said, "The good thing is, it's the emperor's reputation. How many people don't fight for a title?"

"But the one in Xudu must be very pitiful. Not only can he not do whatever he wants, he can't even protect the queen's life. It's really boring to be the emperor."

Yuan Xi sighed, "So being born into an imperial family is not necessarily a good thing. It is true that you can decide the fate of others, but no matter how high the imperial power is, the emperor is just an ordinary person. He will also experience birth, old age, sickness and death, joy, anger, sorrow and happiness. He will also be deceived and cheated, and he will also feel angry and unwilling."

"It's not his fault. This is because the world itself revolves around the imperial power. People with power naturally have the desire to fight for power."

"The emperor is like this, not to mention the common people. Their fate in troubled times is even worse than the filth in the mire. People die silently all the time, but how many people speak up for them?"

"In troubled times, humans and animals are no different. Only when there is peace can the whole world move forward steadily. Then sooner or later, everyone will be like a dragon, everyone will be able to control their own destiny, and everyone will be able to work together for a common goal."

Lu Lingqi listened in fascination and couldn't help but ask, "Will there really be such a day?"

"This is what my husband once said: everyone for me and I for everyone, right?"

"But since I was born, I have seen that everyone is trying to protect themselves and survive."

"People are selfish. Is there anyone who would really give everything for others?"

Yuan Xi sighed, "I don't know either, but I am willing to believe that this day will come, even if it takes thousands or tens of thousands of years. If there is no such ideal, what is the purpose of people's lifelong struggle?"

"This ideal is anti-human. After all, human savagery is naturally predatory in order to survive. This is why it is said that the sublimation of morality is a process of preserving the laws of nature and eliminating human desires."

"People must fight against their own wild desires in order to strip away their own noble sublimation. Therefore, the higher the morality of a person, the more painful and contradictory his life will be among the masses, just like Mr. Xuande."

Lu Lingqi also nodded and said, "That's right. If King Hannan had been a little thicker-skinned, he wouldn't have ended up like this."

"As his adopted daughter, Madam Mi didn't seem to get any benefits, but was dragged down by the Mi family. In the end, she was used as the manager of the caravan by her husband. It's really miserable."

Yuan Xi was sweating, "Don't talk nonsense, it makes me look like a bad guy who takes advantage of my wife."

Lu Lingqi chuckled, looking as if she understood what was going on.

When Yuan Xi saw this, he became furious and thought that Lu Lingqi really deserved to be punished. Just as he was about to punish Lu Lingqi, the guards reported that they had arrived at the dock.

Yuan Xi lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw dock workers carrying goods coming and going. Then he saw a large group of people surrounding a carriage in the distance. The logo on the carriage was that of Madam Mi.

Yuan Xi immediately called Sun Li over and said, "Go and see what happened."

(End of this chapter)