Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1180 Interception
In fact, according to Yuan Xi, Zhang Fang was as good as most of the generals of the time in terms of both martial arts and military strategy. He was the kind of person who would make a name for himself if given a suitable opportunity.

However, Yuan Xi had not seen any record of Zhang Fang's name in later historical books. Yuan Xi even felt that in the normal historical line, Zhang Fang might have been an unknown officer, or might have died in battle early, or even never joined the army and spent his life in obscurity.

Compared with Zhang Fang's current experience of making achievements, those are completely different worlds, and the key to the difference lies in this so-called right opportunity.

When the luck is right, heaven and earth are on your side; when the luck is gone, the hero is helpless. No matter whether it is Guan Yu or Zhao Yun, if they did not encounter the right opportunity, they would have been unknown for many years, with great abilities but no way to display them.

Not until they meet someone who appreciates them and gives them the opportunity to display their talents do they have the opportunity to become famous.

Of course, this is because Guan Yu and others are indeed talented and will not miss an opportunity once they get it. On the other hand, it is also because of the general trend of the times that chose them.

There are also many people who have similar talents but are unlucky. They encounter opponents with stronger abilities and fortunes, and end up being defeated and killed, which results in the opponent becoming famous while their own abilities are wasted.

These people were stronger than most people, but they happened to meet stronger people, which resulted in their deaths before they could show their abilities to the world.

This situation is not only related to personal ability, but also depends on the lord one follows. For example, among Yuan Shu's subordinates, there are many second-rate generals with good abilities. They may have changed their lord and made great achievements, but they followed Yuan Shu, which led to them being besieged by several princes and thus suffered defeat.

Yuan Xi's direction was completely opposite to Yuan Shu's. Relying on the knowledge of later generations, he recruited and made friends with a large number of contemporary heroes. These people were not only strong, but also able to motivate each other and form healthy competition after gathering together. At the same time, they were able to drive the progress of potential young generals around them.

Zhang Fang is a typical example. He was unknown in later generations and no one knew where he came from, farming in some mountain valley. But by chance, he followed Yuan Xi and came into contact with a large number of outstanding military generals and counselors, which broadened his horizons and honed his martial arts. Step by step, he finally became a capable general.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. If one wants to succeed, one not only needs his own talent, but also needs to find a circle that can improve himself and find noble people who can appreciate and use him. Only then can he make rapid progress step by step. Otherwise, he may waste half his life or even be frustrated for the rest of his life.

This is the illusory fortune. Throughout history, countless people who have been talented but not recognized for their talents mostly lack this little bit of luck, and thus their lives have embarked on a completely unpredictable path.

This is true for talents and lords. The two complement each other. If a talent does not have a lord who can recognize his talent, he will be buried in the wilderness, just like if Liu Bei had not visited Zhuge Liang three times at his thatched cottage, he might have been a country bumpkin all his life.

At the same time, if the lord does not have talented people to help him, he may not be able to find the most suitable path and cannot survive in the cruel struggle for hegemony, just like Liu Bei could not find the strategic direction before he got Zhuge Liang.

At this time, Yuan Xi could deeply feel the improvement in his fortune brought about by recruiting talented people.

He knew very well that without the knowledge from his previous life, he could not compare with Cao Cao, Liu Bei and others relying solely on his own talents. That was why he tried his best to recruit talents while also personally going into battle as much as possible to improve his own abilities.

It is impossible for a lord hiding in the rear to conquer the world. The founding monarchs of all dynasties throughout history must be the most capable fighter among the princes. Only in this way can he convince the people, win the loyal support of his subordinates, and avoid the disasters that happened in the Jin Dynasty.

Cao Cao was a good fighter, but he did not have the chance to publicly declare himself emperor in later generations. As a result, after Cao Pi's death, the Cao family gradually lost power because the aristocratic families under his command were not convinced.

The same was true of Sima Yi. He was also a good fighter, but his descendants were even worse and did a series of quite ridiculous things. In addition, Sima Yi was treacherous, which led to the fact that when the Jin Dynasty was established, even Sima himself did not believe that destiny was on his side.

How could such a dynasty turn the tide when it encountered a crisis?
And now Yuan Xi is very proud of seeing the middle-level officers represented by Zhang Fang growing up with him in the battles.

This not only means that Yuan Xi's method of cultivating talents is effective, but also shows that he has the ability to provide opportunities and platforms for these talents who are most likely to be buried. At the same time, it proves that Yuan Xi's so-called fortune is gradually accumulating and growing into a trend.

As long as they can win a few more key battles and drive Cao Cao out of Jizhou completely, Yuan Xi will be unstoppable by then, and no one in the world will be able to stop him!
When Wen Pin saw Yuan Xi and Zhang Fang talking, for some reason, he felt a sense of envy in his heart. A thought came to his mind: if Yuan Xi was replaced by the current Liu Cong, I'm afraid he would not bow to Cao Cao either, right?

He found this idea to be a little dangerous, so he quickly dismissed it. Yuan Xi turned his head and said to him, "General Wen, you will recover on my ship from now on."

"I will show you how I fulfill my promise to Lord Jingsheng."

On that day, the city of Jiangling opened its gates and surrendered at Hao Zhao's invitation, but Guan Yu did not occupy Jiangling, but handed the city over to Yuan Xi.

This was not because Guan Yu was repaying a favor on his own initiative, but if Guan Yu occupied Jiangling, he would have to face some very troublesome problems.

First, Guan Yu had no extra troops to defend against Cao Cao's reinforcements. Liu Bei's supply line was too long to deal with Cao's attack. Occupying Jiangling would bring little benefit but a lot of trouble. Second, if Jiangling was occupied, Hao Zhao and the garrison would be difficult to relocate. If they stayed, there was no guarantee that there would be no accidents. So Guan Yu simply took Hao Zhao with him and focused on supporting Liu Bei.

After some thought, Guan Yu simply did a favor. After all, Jiangling and Jiangxia were adjacent to each other, so it would be convenient for Yuan Xi to send troops to garrison there.

Yuan Xi gladly accepted this. Jiangling was quite important for the defense of Jiangxia. After he captured the city, he would be able to cut off the connection between Cao Cao's forces and Jingxi and prepare for the attack on Yiling.

After hastily reorganizing the army, Yuan Xi left two thousand men to guard the city, and together with Huang Zhong, he took a boat and rushed towards Yiling.

Guan Yu also brought Hao Zhao with him and followed on the river. The two sides, one in the north and the other in the south, had a tacit understanding. This would also be the dividing line between the two forces in the future. Yuan Xi occupied the north of Jing and Liu Bei occupied the south of Jing. In the end, the two sides would block the eastern exit of Yizhou together to resist Cao Cao.

The two sides traveled day and night, bypassing Maicheng and heading straight for Yiling, supporting Liu Bei and Lu Xun as quickly as possible, and finally entered the battlefield when Zhang Yun came to help and attack Lu Xun.

He arrived at the right time and immediately blocked Zhang Yun, who was trying to retreat, on the river.

Zhang Yun was already in an extremely embarrassing situation because of the unexpected surrender of Yiling. He retreated very quickly, but still ran into the arriving Yuan Xi navy. With the battle between the two sides, Zhang Yun's fleet, which was attacked from both sides, was naturally defeated and fell into complete chaos.

Wen Pin, who was recuperating on Yuan Xi's ship, stood by the side of the ship. Seeing the heavy casualties of the Jingzhou navy, he felt sorry for it. After hesitating for a long time, he finally asked Yuan Xi to surrender the Jingzhou army himself.

After hearing Wen Pin's request, Yuan Xi had anticipated it and said cheerfully, "Then I'll leave it to the general."

Zhang Yun was trying hard to resist. His retreat was completely blocked. He thought he was going to die this time, but suddenly he found that the arrows from Yuan Xi's navy became sparse. Just as he was puzzled, someone reported that there was a speedboat coming ahead and said it wanted to talk to Zhang Yun.

Zhang Yun let the other party come over, but found that the person opposite him was Wen Pin. He couldn't help but said angrily: "Wen Pin, you actually surrendered to the fierce tiger!"

"No wonder the fierce tiger came so quickly. Did you offer Yiling?"

Wen Pin said in a deep voice: "Reporting to the Governor, Pin fought with all his strength, but was defeated and captured. He did not betray us in battle. It was simply because he was inferior to his opponent in skills."

"Although Pin has been captured, he has not surrendered to the King of Jin. This time, I came here to bring the King of Jin's words to the governor."

"Young Master, if you surrender to Cao Cao, you will be killed by him sooner or later. If you surrender to the King of Jin, the King of Jin will guarantee the safety of your family, and of course the same goes for the Governor."

Zhang Yun didn't believe it. He sneered and said, "Wen Pin, you talk so nicely, but who knows if that fierce tiger is lying to us?"

"If he goes back on his word, won't the lives of the young master and my Jingzhou family all be lost to the ferocious tiger?"

Wen Pin said in a deep voice: "Ping can guarantee with his life that the King of Jin is not a treacherous person."

"Besides, the King of Jin has a legitimate reason to send troops."

He told the story of Liu Biao's letter, and finally said: "The governor also knows that joining Cao Cao is like seeking the skin of a tiger. The governor can definitely guarantee that Cao Cao will not destroy the bridge after crossing the river?"

Zhang Yun couldn't help but ponder. He knew that compared with himself and Cai Mao, who were pro-Cao people, Wen Pin was very reluctant to join Cao Cao, but what he said did not seem false.

The most important thing is that Zhang Yun knew that if he didn't surrender, he would be doomed to death. Wen Pin just gave him a way out. Should he miss this opportunity?
Zhang Yun looked at his soldiers around him, all of whom had expectant looks on their faces. He suddenly realized in his heart that he had been completely defeated at this moment.

Regardless of whether Wen Pin said it intentionally or not, these words, when heard by the soldiers present, actually gave everyone hope of survival. If they refused, it would be tantamount to continuing the war and pushing the soldiers present to death.

For the Jingzhou soldiers who didn't want to fight in the first place, this would undoubtedly turn their hatred towards him. In order to survive, they would then very likely turn their guns around and kill him to take credit for it!
This is a blatant trick!
Thinking of this, Zhang Yun said to Wen Pin dejectedly: "Please report to the King of Jin that I am willing to surrender."

(End of this chapter)