Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1413 Frightened
The reason why Yuan Xi did not intend to recruit Xiahou Yuan or Ma Chao to serve as an official in Jin State was based on many considerations.

Cao Wei generals such as Xiahou Yuan and Ma Chao have fought many battles with the Jin State over the years, and a large number of Jin army generals and soldiers have died at their hands. The Jin army, especially the middle and lower-level soldiers, have hatred for the Cao Wei generals.

In order to appease these soldiers, Yuan Xi clearly knew that recruiting Xiahou Yuan might bring him many benefits, but overall it seemed that the cost outweighed the gains.

In fact, in this era, recruiting surrendered generals was a very common thing. After all, when two sides fought, it was the soldiers who died. The top generals didn't care, and the lord cared even less.

This is the common practice among the princes, and it is also the reason why Cao Cao still tried to recruit Guan Yu and Zhao Yun even though they killed so many Cao Wei generals. After all, when it comes to unifying the world, a general is much more important than thousands of soldiers.

But Yuan Xi could not do so. He was taking the middle and lower level route. If he recruited generals like Ma Chao and Xiahou Yuan, how could he explain to the soldiers and people who supported him?
But keeping Xiahou Yuan as a supporter was not a solution. After much consideration, Yuan Xi finally came up with the idea of ​​letting Xiahou Yuan explore the outer seas.

Even if Xiahou Yuan had ulterior motives, Yuan Xi would only lose some ships. Moreover, given the location of Wei in Yizhou, Xiahou Yuan had no way to go back unless he could go around the Indian Ocean to Siam, then cross the Himalayas and head north to Yizhou.

Given the travel restrictions of this era, this is obviously unrealistic. Yuan Xi has fundamentally blocked this possibility, so in all likelihood, Xiahou Yuan will accept Yuan Xi's conditions and take the fleet to explore Central America.

In the past two years, Yuan Xi has found many sailors who are willing to go to sea. Most of them are northern Hu and Han border people, ranging from Wuhuan Xiongnu to Xianbei and Goguryeo. Although these people are hard-working, they are extremely unruly and need a general with outstanding leadership to lead them.

But Yuan Xi has not found a suitable candidate. There are many experienced leaders in the Mi and Zhen caravans, but they are only from the common people after all. To explore the ocean, militarized management must be exercised to prevent possible riots and disturbances.

Yuan Xi suddenly remembered Xiahou Yuan yesterday and connected the two things together. The more he thought about it, the more reliable it seemed, and he felt that he had solved a big problem.

However, a few days later, Yuan Xi encountered another troublesome situation.

Xiahou is here again.

Because Madam Mi had been in charge of the trade routes with the Kingdom of Hannan, Xiahou and Madam Mi had become more familiar with each other in recent years, and Xiahou had helped Madam Mi a lot in several matters.

Mrs. Mi naturally had something to ask of Xiahou Shi, but in order to trade the specialty products needed by Jin State through Hannan State, she could not directly offend the other party. At the beginning, Mrs. Mi also wrote a letter to Yuan Xi to ask what to do, and Yuan Xi's answer was to drag it out.

As a result, this delay lasted for three or four years, but Xiahou was apparently extremely obsessed with the burial of Xiahou Yuan. She came to Shouchun every year to smooth relations and even became familiar with Madam Wu.

Although Madam Wu knew the truth, she could only hide it from Mrs. Xiahou because Yuan Xi did not say anything. However, their relationship became better and better. As a result, this year, when Mrs. Xiahou heard the sad news of Madam Wu's death, she immediately rushed from Changsha to express her condolences.

By that time, Madam Wu had already been buried. After Xiahou went to the grave to pay her respects, she found out that the Emperor of Jin was in the city. She immediately realized that the opportunity was not to be missed. If she asked in person again this time, would the Emperor of Jin still use what he said before to evade her?

Yuan Xi took the Xiahou family business card handed over by Da Qiao and couldn't help but sigh: "This Lady Xiahou is really persistent."

"It seems that Xiahou Yuan's love for her in the past is indeed unforgettable to her."

Da Qiao said softly, "I heard that the famine was very severe at that time. General Xiahou's own son starved to death in order to save food. Madam Xiahou must have been very upset about it."

"If Your Majesty doesn't give her an explanation, I'm afraid she will never live a peaceful life."

Yuan Xi tapped the table with his hand and sighed, "I still have some concerns."

"If she knew that Xiahou Yuan was not dead, and went back to ask Hannan to make an exchange with me, I would be in a difficult position."

Da Qiao asked, "My lord, are you so afraid of General Xiahou?"

"Since he was defeated by the lord, he shouldn't be much of a threat, right?"

Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "I am worried that he will give Hannan Kingdom unrealistic fantasies."

"As for Hannan, I have actually made some plans. Guan Yu, the number one figure in the army, owes me a lot of favors, so as long as Guan Yu is here, Hannan is unlikely to fall out with me."

"This state is the best for both countries. As time goes by, the gap in strength between the two countries will only grow larger. When the older generation of officials and generals pass away, Hannan will be unable to develop and will sooner or later be incorporated into Jin."

"But if Hannan gets Xiahou Yuan, everything will be different. Even if they don't collude with Wei to cause trouble for me, Hannan's expansion momentum will change, and I don't want this change to happen."

"You can say I am narrow-minded or mean to my allies, but in this position, I must plan ahead to prevent anything that is unfavorable to Jin from happening."

"So I can't promise anything to Xiahou Shi. If she knew that Xiahou Yuan was still alive and that I had sent him to sail, who knows if she would go back and persuade Hannan to take over Jiaozhou Port and find a ship to take Xiahou Yuan back?"

Da Qiao laughed and said, "Your Majesty, you are too cautious!"

"How can a woman like her have the ability to interfere in state affairs?"

Yuan Xi said, "It may not work now, but it may work in the future."

"I guess her daughter will most likely become the Queen of Hannan in the future, so she will naturally be able to intervene."

Da Qiao thought to herself, is this another result of stargazing?
She thought for a moment and said, "Since Your Majesty knows about this, why not try to stop it?"

Yuan Xi reacted, "You mean..." Da Qiao suppressed her laughter and said, "I heard that Liu Chan is still young. Even if he gets married, it will be more than ten years later."

"Xiao Qiao and I both have sons. Your Majesty, why don't you choose one of them and arrange a marriage for him with Lady Xiahou?"

"Your Majesty is the emperor who wants to unify the world. Rather than choosing Liu Chan, it would be a better choice for Xiahou to choose your Majesty's offspring, right?"

Yuan Xi couldn't help laughing. He knew that Da Qiao was teasing him for thinking too far ahead. She was right. Who knew what would happen in a dozen years?
I keep thinking about it all day long. I am about to unify the world. Should I care about such trivial matters?

He smiled and said, "Madam, you reminded me well. I was just worrying too much."

"Tell someone to bring her in."

When Lady Xiahou followed Da Qiao in, she saw Yuan Xi and bowed quickly, saying, "Lady Xiahou pays respect to Your Majesty."

Yuan Xi saw that Lady Xiahou was still in mourning clothes and asked in surprise, "Three years have passed, why is Madam still in mourning?"

Xiahou whispered, "Three years for my late husband, and three years for my father. If we count them separately, six years have not yet arrived."

Yuan Xi finally understood and sighed, "Hannan Kingdom still adheres to the Han system."

"It's good to uphold filial piety, but I think this period is too long and affects normal life, so Jin State has changed the system before, all mourning days are seven days, and the longest is no more than one month."

"The dead are gone, and the descendants will eventually have to step out, face reality, and start a new life."

Xiahou lowered her head and said softly, "Since my husband passed away, I have been like a dead body and a withered tree, my heart is like a dead tree, and I have no interest in life except raising children."

Yuan Xi and Da Qiao looked at each other. Although they knew that Lady Xiahou was playing the victim, her words did not sound like lies. It seemed that she had not had a good life in the past few years.

Come to think of it, the two most important people died one after another in a short period of time. For a woman like her, if she didn't have children, she would have probably lost the desire to live, right?

Yuan Xi thought about it, but changed the subject and said, "Regarding the marriage between General Zhang and his wife, I heard from the captured general Xiahou of Wei that General Zhang saw his wife while she was collecting firewood and abducted her and forced her to marry him?"

A trace of red flashed across Xiahou's face, "That's all nonsense. I married you in a formal ceremony."

"Your Majesty, I will not hide it from you. At that time, Cao Wei wanted to win over the three brothers of Lord Xuande, so my father married me off in the hope of winning over Lord Xuande."

Yuan Xi said, "Didn't it happen around the time of the Battle of Xuzhou? After you got married, Cao Cao suddenly attacked Liu Xuande, right?"

Xiahou bit her lip and said depressedly, "It is true."

"I didn't know at the time that this marriage was used to confuse Lord Xuande, causing my late husband to misunderstand me for a while."

Yuan Xi asked, "Your marriage was taken advantage of by others. Madam, don't you hate General Xiahou?"

Xiahou said, "My father treated me as his own daughter. I believe my late father was unaware of this. I can only blame myself for my bad luck and for becoming a pawn in the struggle between the two sides."

"Now that the past is over, I won't blame anyone."

Yuan Xi and Da Qiao looked at each other, Yuan Xi sighed, and said to Da Qiao: "Go out and talk to Sun Li."

Da Qiao understood what he meant and walked out immediately. For a moment, only Yuan Xi and Xiahou were left in the room.

When Mrs. Xiahou saw this, she suddenly became nervous. She tightly grasped the collar of her linen mourning clothes and couldn't help shaking.

When Yuan Xi saw the other party's expression, he realized that there was a misunderstanding. He subconsciously raised his hand to explain, but Xiahou screamed and tears streamed down her cheeks.

Yuan Xi's scalp suddenly tingled, and he couldn't help but ask, "Is my reputation that bad?"

Xiahou replied subconsciously: "Doesn't your majesty like the widows of famous people the most?"

"From Madam Wu to Madam Hou, from Madam Feng to Madam Du"

Yuan Xi was sweating, "How do you know so much?"

He immediately realized that this was probably Madam Mi trying to scare Lady Xiahou so that he wouldn't harass her, but she didn't expect it to have the opposite effect!

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi was too weak to complain, but he heard Xia Hou bit her lip and said timidly: "If I agree to your majesty, can your majesty return my father's remains?"

Yuan Xi was both angry and amused. You were the one who proposed this?
This is too easy. How about I kill Xiahou Yuan now and give you his body?
(End of this chapter)