Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1442 Accident
Liu Chan naturally didn't know that the eunuch Li, whom he trusted very much, had actually been bribed by the State of Wei. He immediately pulled out the cork of the bottle and saw a bottle of powder inside. He wondered, "How do I use this?"

"Does it do anything?"

Just as Eunuch Li was about to speak, he heard the eunuch outside the door report that Prime Minister Xu Shu wanted to see him.

Liu Chan was so frightened that his hands began to tremble. He quickly stuffed the bottle into his sleeve and asked someone to invite Xu Shu in.

Xu Shu hurried in with a memorial in his arms. When he saw Liu Chan, he bowed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, there is urgent news from the front line."

Liu Chan quickly sat up straight and said, "Prime Minister, please speak."

Xu Shu handed over the memorial and said, "First, the Wei army on the front line launched another attack. Although our army repelled it, the losses were quite heavy, and the logistics were not sustained. If the Wei army comes back again, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist. I hope the king can make a decision as soon as possible."

"Second, ..." Xu Shu hesitated for a moment and looked at the eunuchs around him. Seeing this, Liu Chan asked the strangers to wait and said, "Prime Minister, please go ahead."

Xu Shu continued, "According to secret information, many officers and generals of the Wei army privately sent letters to General Guan."

"However, General Guan did not report this to the court, so the content is unknown."

Liu Chan heard something unusual and asked, "Could it be that the Prime Minister is doubting General Guan?"

Xu Shu said in a deep voice: "It is a military and national matter. Although General Guan is a fake emperor, he should not hide such matters from the king."

Liu Chan laughed and said, "Prime Minister, you are probably overthinking. General Guan is my uncle. When my father passed away, he asked me to treat him like a father. Uncle Guan is loyal and righteous. How could he do something that would let me down?"

Xu Shu said, "Your Majesty, I have no intention of alienating you from General Guan. I just think that General Guan's behavior is inappropriate."

"And now both routes are under the control of the Guan family. I do not doubt General Guan's loyalty, but General Guan Ping's route is unstable. I am worried that he will fall into Wei's trap."

Liu Chan said, "Isn't there still military advisor Pang in charge?"

Xu Shu said, "I am worried about Pang Shiyuan. It's not that he is disloyal, but his health is getting worse and worse. According to the information I have received, I am afraid he will not live more than half a year."

"Pang Shiyuan is a man of great talent and ambition. He is absolutely unwilling to die in such an ordinary way, so he will definitely adopt a radical strategy and encourage Guan Ping to attack Hanzhong with all his strength, so as to achieve great merit before his death."

"But if he does this, his route will inevitably be unstable. If he is taken advantage of by the Wei army, he may suffer a disastrous defeat."

Liu Chan knew that Xu Shu was very foresighted in both domestic and military affairs, so he was panicked when he heard this and asked, "What should we do then?"

Xu Shu submitted a memorial, "So I would like to ask the king to order the rapid recall of General Guan Ping and have him abandon Shangyong and defend Xiangyang. This is the safest strategy."

"What's more, the Jin army is now paving the way and building bridges, and will reach Hanzhong in a few days. With them in the lead, why should Hannan be a scapegoat for them?"

"And in my humble opinion, the Jin State is delaying in order to deliberately consume the national strength of Hannan. We are being pushed to the front and become pawns of the Jin Army. There is no need for us to stand in front of them."

Liu Chan listened, his face was uncertain, "But if we give up Shangyong, won't the Wei army rush out of Jingzhou and directly enter Jianghuai?"

"When they spread out their battle lines and the situation becomes more active, won't it be even more difficult for me, Hannan, to deal with them?"

Xu Shu said, "Once they enter Jianghuai, they will face Jiangxia and Nanyang of Jin. As long as we hold Xiangyang, the Jin army will definitely send troops to attack us. Hannan is weak now, so there is really no need to do such a thing that will harm ourselves and benefit others!"

Liu Chan said: "But the agreement between the two countries..."

Xu Shu said with great sorrow: "Your Majesty, do you still think that Jin's plan is a good one?"

"If Wei is destroyed by Jin in the future, where will Hannan go?"

"Don't you want to protect the legacy of your predecessor?"

Liu Chan had been completely convinced by Xu Shu. He sat down on the chair dejectedly and said, "Then let's do as the Prime Minister says."

"Send a letter to Pang Tong and Guan Ping, asking them to abandon Shangyong and Fangling and retreat to Xiangyang."

Xu Shu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

He was about to say goodbye and leave, but Liu Chan stopped him and said, "Prime Minister, Uncle Guan has no objection to my selection of a concubine."

"But on the Zhang family side, Madam Xiahou has been resisting. I thought she was unhappy with Miss Zhang being a concubine, but someone told me privately that it seems that Madam Xiahou has made an agreement with the State of Jin to marry Miss Zhang to the heir of the King of Jin. What should I do?"

Xu Shu listened, thought about it, and then laughed, "How is this possible? No matter who the girl marries, she will not marry the offspring of the fierce tiger. It would be better to marry the fierce tiger himself."

Liu Chan was surprised and said, "How is it possible that there is a difference of more than 20 years between the two sides? How can this be possible?"

Xu Shu sighed, "Your Majesty, have you forgotten that Xiong Hu married Lady Mi, the adopted daughter of the previous king?"

"In terms of seniority, Xiong Hu is the junior of the late king and the two generals Guan and Zhang, and is of the same generation as Miss Zhang!"

"If he didn't marry Madam Mi, it wouldn't be considered a disorder of the generations, but with Madam Mi as his wife, how could he let his offspring marry Miss Zhang?" Liu Chan was relieved when he heard this. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "Thanks to the Prime Minister, he can see it so clearly."

Suddenly his face changed, "Oh no, what if he really wants to marry the Zhang girl to win over the Zhang family?"

Xu Shu said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, don't worry. The Zhang family is in Changsha. Madam Xiahou will never take the Zhang family's..."

He suddenly shuddered, "My king, where did you hear the rumor about the marriage between Zhang and Jin?"

Liu Chan subconsciously said: "It was the eunuch who told me, he..."

Xu Shu immediately became alert and asked sternly, "Who is it?"

"Your Majesty, how could he, a eunuch who never leaves the palace, know such secret information that even I don't know?"

"There must be something wrong with this person. He is either a spy from the State of Jin or a spy from the State of Wei. The latter is more likely!"

"We must investigate this person immediately. If there is such a person around the king, he might harm the king one day!"

This frightened Liu Chan so much that he tremblingly told the eunuch's name. Xu Shu called the guards and pulled out the eunuch Li. Eunuch Li still cried out that he was innocent, but Xu Shu waved his hand and ordered his men to drag him away and take him back for interrogation.

Xu Shu was about to leave, but suddenly turned around and asked, "Has he never been exposed to the king's food?"

"Or have you ever given the king anything?"

When Liu Chan tremblingly handed the bottle of Wu Shi San to Xu Shu, Xu Shu took it and smelled it, then nodded and said, "This thing is very problematic. Your Majesty, you must stop at the brink of death. It was a close call."

"Please pay attention to your diet and daily life recently, and don't let others take advantage of you."

After hearing this, Liu Chan nodded quickly. He breathed a sigh of relief only after Xu Shu left. Just as he was about to get up and go back, he suddenly felt panicky and short of breath, as if something was biting his body. He couldn't help but stagger a few steps and suddenly fell to the ground.

In Jicheng, inside Yuan Xi's palace, he was chatting with Madam Feng when they talked about the conditions for winning over Madam Xiahou. Madam Feng smiled and said, "Your Majesty married Madam Mi, who is Madam Xiahou's junior. How can you ask your son to marry her daughter?"

Yuan Xi just said this to Madam Xiahou casually at the time, without thinking about it carefully. But now after hearing it, his face changed, "How could I forget this!"

"Will the other party think that I am deliberately perfunctory and deceiving?"

Madam Feng looked amused. "Your Majesty, I'm afraid you have other intentions. I heard that Madam Xiahou is still young and has a unique charm. Your Majesty was probably thinking about Madam Xiahou so much at the time that you forgot about the seniority issue?"

Yuan Xi said angrily, "I might have been that kind of person when I was young, but now the affairs of state are more important. How can I put women first in everything?"

"But this is troublesome. With Madam Mi's relationship, the marriage between the two families may be ruined?"

Madam Feng thought for a moment and said, "I have been in the palace before, and although I am ignorant, I always feel that this may not be the case."

"But I don't know much about this kind of thing. I heard that Madam Cai is a historian, so she should know a lot about it. Why don't you invite her over?"

After hearing this, Yuan Xi asked Cao Jie to go and ask Cai Zhaoji to come. Not long after, Cai Zhaoji arrived. After hearing the whole story, she couldn't help but laugh and said, "This matter is big and small at the same time."

"I say it's big because there are families that really care about it. I say it's small because there are more families that don't care. There have been many families like it since the Han Dynasty, especially the imperial families."

"Emperor Hui of Han, Liu Ying, married his sister's daughter. King Huainan, Liu An, was the uncle of Emperor Wu of Han, but his son married Emperor Wu's niece. Emperor Xuan of Han was the grandson of Emperor Zhao of Han, but he married Huo Guang's daughter. Emperor Zhao of Han married Huo Guang's granddaughter. If we count them carefully, it would have been a mess long ago."

"So, we shouldn't take seniority too seriously. After all, people of the same generation may be hundreds of years apart, and people of the same age may be several generations apart."

Madam Feng laughed and said, "But from what I hear, it seems that the royal family makes more exceptions."

Cai Zhaoji glanced at Yuan Xi and said, "Rules are set by the royal family. The so-called rules are for the people who make the rules to restrict others, not themselves. This is the imperial power."

Yuan Xi was silent for a while, then said, "So sooner or later, the imperial power will disappear."

"If you can't even abide by the rules you set, how can you gain the support and trust of the people of the world?"

The women present looked at each other in bewilderment. Cao Jie couldn't help but ask, "What about the marriage with Madam Xiahou..."

Yuan Xi sighed, "Let's try our best. After all, I'm not a good person either."

"Let future generations bury the dynasty. I don't have the courage to put a noose around my neck, and the world is not yet at the right time."

As time went by, late autumn came. The urgent order from Changsha reached Shangyong. Guan Ping was shocked and doubtful after reading it, and hurriedly took it to find Pang Tong.

At that time, Pang Tong was already unable to walk. He leaned on the couch and listened to Guan Ping's words. He slowly opened his eyes and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes. "The king suddenly fell ill, and the prime minister asked us to give up Fangling?"

(End of this chapter)