Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1446 Time
Yuan Xi left in a hurry this time, and could be said to have traveled light. Before leaving, he specially called Tian Yu and Qian Zhao over and arranged a trip for them to the north.

He said to Tian Yu: "You two will take my edict and patrol the border on my behalf. Guo Rang will go to Goguryeo and the Eastern Xianbei, and Zi Jing will go to the northern grassland alliance. Before I come back, you must ensure the stability of the north."

After hearing this, the two of them quickly took the imperial edict and received the order. Yuan Xi instructed: "Before I come back, you must keep a close eye on the movements of all parties. If there are any unusual movements in the border areas that need to be dealt with urgently, you can use force immediately without sending a letter to me for permission."

"If you feel that you are not strong enough, you should immediately send a letter to Jicheng asking for reinforcements. Do not let the unrest escalate."

Both of them responded with orders. Seeing their serious expressions, Yuan Xi consoled them, "That being said, we have technological advantages. The only difficulty is that the border is too vast, and it is not convenient to mobilize a large army."

"Otherwise, if we can deploy our forces to any region at will, no one in the world can be our opponent."

"Our advantage over the tribes outside the Great Wall relies on technology. This is a great opportunity for expansion and unification. If we miss this period, future generations may have to spend countless times more time, countless times more manpower and material resources, and may not even succeed in the end."

"So you must remember that those who are not of our race must have different hearts. Unless they completely surrender to the Han people and are now vassal states, as long as they hold a tough attitude towards preserving traditions, they have different hearts. For such tribes, any key technologies must not be leaked to them. Remember this."

Seeing Yuan Xi's serious words, the two men leaned forward and said, "Your Majesty's words are in our hearts and we will never let you down!"

Yuan Xi patted the two men on the shoulders and said, "I am very confident in your work. We will never tolerate enemies, but we will treat friends with sincerity and integrity. This is the way we treat people in our dynasty, combining firmness with flexibility."

"In the future, the Jin Dynasty will surely be a prosperous situation where all ethnic groups merge and the world becomes one family. We will definitely see this day in our lifetime. Before that, you must take care of your health."

The two men knew that Yuan Xi was talking about Ju Shou, whose health had been failing recently and the important matters were slowly being transferred to the hands of Xin Ping and others. They sighed in their hearts, agreed, and then took their leave to reorganize the army.

Yuan Xi thought about it, then took Mrs. Feng out of the palace and headed towards Mrs. Ding's residence.

At that time, Madam Ding was spinning and talking to Cao Qing who was embroidering. When they heard that the Emperor of Jin was coming, they both got up and went to greet him.

Yuan Xi walked in and said, "You two, please stand up. No need to be polite."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, he went straight to the point and said to Mrs. Ding: "I would like to ask you to write a letter."

Madam Ding said, "Since your majesty has given the order, I will certainly obey it, but I have said before that this letter may have the opposite effect. After all, the current King of Wei is not my own, and his biological mother, Madam Bian, is still with him."

Yuan Xi said, "Madam is right, so this letter is not written to Wei Wang Cao Pi, but to Madam Bian."

"To be honest, the fall of Wei was already doomed. Cao Pi's resistance to Jin is mostly out of a sense of pride. He just doesn't want to accept it."

"Although it is only a matter of time for me, the process is related to the survival of hundreds of thousands of people, so I still want to fight for it."

"If Wei resists too much and many civilians and soldiers die, I will have to give an explanation to the world after I conquer Wei. By then, what the Cao family has done may not be so easily covered up."

"So in your letter to Madam Bian, Madam needs to find a way to make Madam Bian understand this truth."

After hearing this, Mrs. Ding stood up from the loom, walked to the table and started grinding ink. Mrs. Feng quickly spread out the blank brocade she had brought.

Madam Ding moistened the tip of her pen, thought for a moment, and began to write, saying, "Madam Bian is also a very opinionated person. She may not listen to me, and I cannot guarantee the outcome."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "It's okay, just write it down, and leave the rest to me."

Cao Qing had already served the tea. Yuan Xi took a sip and whispered, "Long time no see, how are you, girl?"

Cao Qing curled her lips slightly, "Not long, just over three years."

Yuan Xi was stunned. Has so much time passed without him noticing?
He looked at Cao Qing's face and suddenly found that there were a few gray hairs on her temples. The tea in his mouth suddenly became sour and bitter. He swallowed the tea and said in a hoarse voice, "The girl is over 20, right?"

Cao Qing said calmly, "I'm almost 28. In two years, I'll be 30."

Yuan Xi's hands trembled. He had been running back and forth over the years, and unknowingly, people around him were dying and growing old. Yuan Xi also unconsciously ignored the wrinkles on his face to escape this cold reality.

But now Cao Qing's words made him truly feel that even if he was escaping, he and the people around him were indeed getting older day by day.

He recalled the first time he met Cao Qing, when she was captured and taken to Shouchun with Madam Ding. At that time, she was still young, so he said, "I remember that in Shouchun, you were only..."

Cao Qing was also somewhat absent-minded after hearing this. "Your Majesty, I still remember that I was eighteen years old at that time. It has been almost ten years since then."

Yuan Xi was in a trance. Has so much time passed?

Madam Feng was sitting in front of Madam Ding, grinding ink and listening to the conversation between Yuan Xi and Cao Qing in the distance. She caught a glimpse of Madam Ding's hand writing. It shook slightly, and the handwriting on the silk book also split. She sighed in her heart. For all women, aging is a cruel thing. It's okay for people like her and Madam Ding who have experienced many ups and downs and all kinds of things in the world, but Cao Qing is staying alone in an empty room at the youngest age when she should be the most blooming. His Majesty is really cruel.

To be honest, Cao Cao is already dead, and the sisters Cao Xian and Cao Jie also told Your Majesty at that time that they no longer cared about the women of the Cao family. Why is Your Majesty still obsessed with this?
Yuan Xi was lost in thought. He lifted the tea bowl to his lips and poured the tea into his mouth. With a mixture of tastes in his mouth, he turned his head to another direction and whispered, "It will be soon. Now Wei only has Yizhou. Within three years, I can reach Chengdu and the world will be pacified."

Cao Qing was looking down and twiddling her fingers. Her wrist trembled when she heard that. She said, "Then I would like to congratulate Your Majesty in advance on unifying the country."

"I have often gone to the streets to see this over the years, and I have to admit that compared to the Cao family, it is much better for the people if the world is unified by Your Majesty."

"It's not a loss for the Cao family. This is destiny."

Yuan Xi said softly: "It is not destiny, but the common choice of all people in the world."

"I won't let them down. I don't want to let down...everyone."

Mrs. Ding finally finished writing. She put down her pen, stood up, and presented the silk book to Yuan Xi. Yuan Xi glanced at it and said, "It's very well written. Thank you, madam."

He stood up and said to Madam Feng, "I will go back to the palace first. You don't see each other often, so you can stay here for me and ask Madam Ding if she has any difficulties or needs, and then send someone to the inner storehouse to get them."

Mrs. Feng agreed and saw Yuan Xi out. Mrs. Ding and Cao Qing also stood up and followed her to the door. Yuan Xi got on the carriage, nodded slightly to everyone, and the carriage went away.

Madam Feng escorted her to the gate of the courtyard, then returned and smiled at Madam Ding, "Congratulations, Madam. His Majesty seems to have softened his heart."

Madam Ding looked at Cao Qing, who was still standing at the door in a daze, with a trace of pain on her face. "The injustice committed by the Cao family must be borne by the entire Cao family. This is the retribution from heaven."

"If I had advised that man to stop killing people when I was in the inner house, the Cao family would not have ended up like this..."

Madam Feng consoled her, "Madam, don't worry too much. His Majesty is not the kind of person who would kill everyone."

"If Wei could surrender, the Cao family should be able to survive."

Madam Ding shook her head and said, "You don't understand the current King of Wei. That child has been stubborn since he was young, and his temper is worse than his father's. If he insists on something, I'm afraid no one can change his mind."

"What I am most worried about now is that he will be unable to get over it and drag the entire Cao family and the Wei Kingdom down with him for his failure."

Yuan Xi returned to the palace and ordered the eunuch to seal the silk letter and prepare to send it to the post station to be sent to Wei State. But in the end, he thought about it and put the letter away. Then he called Yang Xiu and asked, "How is the ship preparation going?"

Yang Xiu said: "Five steamships and five hundred elite soldiers are already on standby at the dock and can set off at any time."

He then asked, "Are the people you brought this time a little too few?"

Yuan Xi waved his hand and said, "It's okay. Let's go to Yecheng first and then to Jianghuai. There's no danger along the way and there's no need to mobilize a large army."

"Pass on my order. We will set out early tomorrow morning."

Yang Xiu agreed, and just as he was about to get up and leave, Yuan Xi said, "Dezu has been following me for the past few years, and he has never had a good rest. It's really hard work."

"After a few years, when the world is settled, we won't have to travel around anymore."

Yang Xiu smiled and said, "I have followed Your Majesty for these years and have seen new things that others would never see in their lifetimes. This is not in vain."

"Moreover, your majesty's pioneering work is unprecedented and will be recorded in history. In the future, Xiu will also be able to benefit from your majesty's glory and have his name written in history books. This is something that many people cannot ask for."

Yuan Xi stood up with a smile, shook Yang Xiu's hand and said, "Okay, let's write the final chapter of the unification of the world in the history books together!"

Yecheng had just entered winter today, and Zhuge Liang was holding a banquet at home according to custom, inviting only family members, namely his two widowed sisters, Huang Yueying, and concubine Yuan, so there were only five people at the family banquet.

Zhuge Liang saw that his two sisters were now much more cheerful than when they first arrived in Yecheng. He picked up the wine bowl and was about to speak when a guard came in and said that Yuan Xi's fleet had arrived two days ahead of schedule and was now almost at the dock.

After hearing this, Zhuge Liang hurriedly stood up, said something to the women, and then hurried out to summon the officials to welcome him.

Huang Yueying snorted when she saw this: "Your Majesty came so quickly that I couldn't even have a good meal!"

(End of this chapter)